Some dude comments

"This is an unfortunate situation and Mr. Ishiba clearly failed to read the air", announced one voter on condition of anonymity, before reiterating his intention to vote LDP for the rest of his natural life.

This stuff fascinates us non-Americans. The purportedly most powerful nation in the world seems to make an annual event of this whole "we're going to shut down the entire government over political ideology" thing.

It's as if neither side really gives a toss about the country at all.

Cars/dealerships/charging stations being firebombed, gun attacks with said locations being peppered with bullets, firearms being discharged into office spaces, arson, incendiary devices, bomb threats.

If you have the capacity for reflection, ask yourself why this doesn't happen to any other brand of car.

If we're going to have to continue to make weapons of war, might as well make them with countries we can trust. As opposed to, say, countries who could turn them against us with a press of a button if we don't wear a suit and say thank you.

*Japan's top government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi underscored the need to strengthen ties with Canada, saying it shares with Japan fundamental values such as* freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law, along with strategic interests.

Hayashi then said, under his breath, "at least someone up there still believes in those things"

X is down Musk blamed Ukrainian hackers and gave warning over Starlight

Which is pretty funny because a totally different group claimed responsibility, and apparently has the receipts.

Plus, as has been pointed out, if someone has the wherewithal to hack X, they're not the kind of amateurs who would leave their IP address lying around.

It must be odd for Musk stans, fanboys, and cumguzzlers to see that there are people who actually disapprove of the behaviour of their idol, and that outside of their little sphere, his actions have real world repercussions.

Heck, he's even got his (equally unpleasant) mother tweeting on his behalf, using the r-word slur. (No, not "republican", the other one).

For most people, he can't suffer enough and he can't lose enough money. His downfall and subsequent ignominy is going to be a source of great worldwide joy.

The United States, once Ukraine's main ally, has upended its policy on the conflict in its stated pursuit of a rapid end to the fighting, engaging directly with Moscow while stopping military assistance and intelligence sharing for Ukraine...

To be fair, I think at least 75,017,613 Americans still understand and hate the fact that what their government is doing is craven submission to Russia. The rest - either those who voted for the felon, or those who couldn't be bothered at all - are complicit, and should never be forgiven.

I know very little about Canadian politics, but anyone who starts off with a statement like "we will maintain our tariffs until the Americans show us respect" is off to a good start in my book.

Course that means until Trump either quits, is impeached and removed, or does us all a favour and drops dead, because the only person Trump "respects" in any sense of the word is sitting somewhere in Russia, figuratively pulling Trump's strings.

stormcrowToday  07:39 am JST

How many times did Trump file for bankruptcy? 

I'm sure his DPS (ditzy press secretary) will soon be at the podium to announce the release of a new set of Official US Social Studies textbooks, in which every single business venture started by Trump was a massive success and resulted in profits so massive they had to invent a new mathematical term for them.

Europe (and I still include the UK in that despite the idiocy that was Brexit) is rapidly getting sick of the clown show in the US. Tesla dealerships have been set on fire, and now this.

We can't directly influence US government policy (nor, it seems, can the feckless democrats), but we can do our bit...

Dialogue with whom? That's the problem.

Is there a single person in the current US administration who genuinely wants to do right by Ukraine and who wouldn't instantly renege on any deal made because Trump ordered them to?

Zelenskyy may be committed to doing whatever he thinks necessary - that's what a real leader does - but it takes two to tango, and he's looking at trying to deal with a group headed by a man who openly hates him and whose rhetoric in recent days and weeks is almost openly pro-Russia.

Basically the media of most countries (excluding Russia, presumably) are now showing open disdain and mockery for Trump. He's managed to make himself, and his country, a disgrace and a laughing stock - simultaneously - within a matter of weeks.

If this trajectory continues, the USA's international reputation may take decades to recover.

This is so weird. (This thread, not the actual issue at hand).

I spent ten years living and working in Brighton. Now anyone who knows Brighton will be aware that it might be the most gay-friendly city in the UK. It's certainly up there, anyway. I worked with openly gay people; I knew openly gay students at university.

I suppose this is why I find it so hard to get my head around the absolute, visceral hatred on display from some quarters here. Unless a gay individual personally did something heinous to you, there doesn't seem to be a very logical reason to get whipped up (ooh, Matron) into such a frothing rage every time the issue of gay rights comes up.

With a boss like Elon Musk, the morale at spaceX must be free falling, just like their rockets

Some smart hackers broadcast an image of his "salute" onto Tesla HQ somewhere in Germany if I recall. If they could add Tom Petty's "Free Falling" chorus to that, we'd have something pretty close to perfection.

Nakatani san looks pleased that he's dealing with an equal and not with an alcoholic, underqualified oaf.

This could be a tricky one to spin for Those Who Carry Water for Trump.

https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/trump-tariffs-canada-mexico-china-stock-market-today-03-04-2025/card/lutnick-says-u-s-might-work-something-out-with-canada-and-mexico-1aecsjNP8qz0nnpEo3gD

Already folding like a cheap suit.

Everyone outside his cult can see what's going on. He attempts to ambush and humiliate Zelenskyy at the White House, succeeds only in making a petulant idiot of himself, and now he has a hissy fit when Europe sensibly decides that he's far too compromised to have any input on the Ukraine situation. Plus he's all but parroting the Kremlin party line anyway.

He can bellyache all he wants to his followers, to Fox news (and their parent corporation Big Russian Media) but the rest of the world won't fall for it.

Being banned from Russia should be worn as a badge of pride.

He's hardly exaggerating. Europe used to be able to assume that it was, by and large, on the same page as the US. That is now very much in doubt.

I don't know if Zelenskyy and Ukraine can afford to completely burn their bridges with the US, but if it's possible to do so, he should make it a top priority and work with Europe, Canada, Australia, etc...countries which don't have Kremlin-controlled toddler puppets in charge.

He means "I will suck whatever appendage is necessary in order for Trump not to say mean things about me on social media"

The USA using a crisis to practice extreme capitalism? Say it ain't so.

Roundabouts FTW. Proven to improve traffic flow, assuming people know how to use them.

The silver lining is that for everyone but the MAGAts, it's now so clear that the current administration is on Team Putin that a blind man could see it.

Time for the rest of the world to put the US to one side.

No longer a country worth dealing with in any way.

I'd love it if there were any Japanese reporters with a spine, because they could really get under Ishiba's skin.

Back in the day, when Tony Blair and Bush Jr were the respective leaders of their countries, the latter hoodwinked the former into joining his idiotic war in Iraq. When Blair was on a popular news show at the time, one of our better journalists hit him point blank by asking (of his relationship with Bush)

"Do you pray together?"

Blair's face was priceless.

I would love to hear some Japanese journalist throw that at Ishiba. I mean Ishiba's a sky fairy guy and Trump at least has to pretend to be one, for the evangelical vote...wonder if that factored into the decision.

Mind you, as long as he's only buying US planes, and not US air traffic control, that's something at least.

Lou Reed wrote this in 1989. Little seems to have changed.

Give me your hungry, your tired, your poor - I'll piss on 'em

That's what the Statue of Bigotry says

Your poor huddled masses, let's club 'em to death

And get it over with and just dump 'em on the boulevard

Give it another decade and there will be a 1:1 ratio of "births" to "emergency meetings about why there are so few births and how we have done nothing to rectify it".

Our PM forgot the magic words from childhood: "Vladdy says".

It's essentially "Simon says" adapted for Trump. Example:

Starmer: "A security guarantee is an essential part of any future negotiation or plan"

Felon: "No can do"

Starmer: "Vladdy says, a security guarantee is an essential part of any future negotiation or plan"

Felon: "That is a great idea. I will ask Elon if I'm allowed to do it".

A poster on a bus shelter has Musk atop a Tesla and the slogan "Zero to 1939 "

Poms do satire very well

We do, and that's one of our great strengths. While we have our share of A-grade morons (see: Brexit), we know how to take people down a peg. As another example, our Baby Trump balloon, which I hope sees more action if he comes to the UK again.