Brett Wilkins Jun 16, 2025

Flight-tracking websites showed dozens of Air Force aerial refueling planes departing from military bases in the United States and heading to Europe on Sunday, fueling speculation of direct U.S. involvement in the widening Israeli-Iranian war.

Military-focused news sites reported that around 30 U.S. Air Force KC-135R and KC-46A tankers were identified by flight-tracking software in what The Times of Israelcalled an "unprecedented mass deployment" to Europe.

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[–] 43 points 1 year ago (24 children)

Wasn't Trump the peaceful dove?

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  • [–] 19 points 1 year ago (18 children)

    Everyone knew he wasn't going to be able to curtail democratic elections without the excuse of a war. This is on schedule.

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  • [+] 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (15 children)
  • [–] 12 points 1 year ago

    I mean, Trump just illegally deployed the national guard and the marines in California. He needed the state’s permission (which he didn’t get) to deploy the guard and deploying the marines is on a whole other level of illegal.

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  • [–] 6 points 1 year ago

    We've got an election in NYC right now, with a pro-Palestine Muslim threatening to upset Trump's close friend Andrew Cuomo. Weird that nobody is claiming this election is being threatened by Trump, given that NYC has an enormous stock of Trump/Kushner accumulated capital.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago* (6 children)

    Not anymore. The SCOTUS ruled already that they must have their ballots approved by the Feds, and feds can overrule their ballots.

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  • [+] -2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (5 children)
  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago (4 children)

    So, Donald wasn't allowed to appear on the Colorado ballot, being an insurrectionist?

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  • [+] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)
  • [–] 0 points 1 year ago* (2 children)

    So, the SCOTUS ruled the feds control who is on the ballots in each state, right?

    There is no such thing as a federal ballot.

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  • [+] 0 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 child)
  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago

    Didn't the SCOTUS rule that the state of Colorado MUST allow Trump to be on the ballot, even though the state had already determined he is ineligible per their rules?

    I'm starting to think either you don't understand the topic, or you're being purposefully incorrect here.

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  • [–] 14 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    No.

    We had a lot of "I'm willing to make deals with anyone" rhetoric from the Trump campaign that low-info voters took to mean he was anti-war.

    But the underlying Pentagon leadership hasn't significantly changed between Biden and Trump (or Bush and Trump, for that matter). Its all the same neoconservative think tanks writing variations on Project For A New American Century for the modern government.

    The idea that you were going to elect an anti-war president went out the window during the primaries. Vanishingly few federal office holders have shown opposition to attacking Iran. Less than what we had in 2003 against Iraq.

    Everyone from Richie Torres to Mike Lee seem on board with a brand new Holocaust in the Middle East.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    But the underlying Pentagon leadership hasn’t significantly changed between Biden and Trump (or Bush and Trump, for that matter). Its all the same neoconservative think tanks writing variations on Project For A New American Century for the modern government.

    That isn't congress or the president. Pentagon leadership doesn't declare war. Congress has the power to declare war which hasn't happened for some time and since then the president has basically done so, although arguable that it's been a "formal" declaration of war.

    This is what people voted for, up and down the ballot. US voters put Trump at the top and yes men in the house and senate.

    Vote better next time, I guess.

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  • [–] 0 points 1 year ago

    Congress has the power to declare war

    That they fully abdicated with the 2001 AUMF, which they keep renewing specifically so they don't have to ever make these decisions.

    This is what people voted for

    The people vote for candidates, not policies. And they candidates they vote for routinely talk out of both sides of their mouths. NDAAs regularly pass with overwhelming bipartisan support, even as a super-majority of Congresscritters campaign against this or that component of them.

    Vote better next time, I guess.

    I was told to VOTE BLUE NO MATTER WHO because there is a Cheeto In The White House. If both major parties field pro-war candidates, what's the move?

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago*

    But the underlying Pentagon leadership hasn’t significantly changed between Biden and Trump (or Bush and Trump, for that matter).

    That's not strictly true. Trump purged a lot of leadership that was loyal to the Constitution rather than personally to him.

    But your overall point about the war-hawkishness remains valid.

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