"Beautiful places, generous government programs... but beautiful in the frozen wasteland for long periods of time kind of way."

Love the people, it's pretty, but it has the worst weather on earth. No kidding.

I was up there in may and booked a cabin in the mountains I was going to hike in to. My buddy said "nope. you'll die."

He has told me that on several occasions.

"Norway over Ivory Coast as we speak. I wonder if Megan Kelly does not mourn the lack of immigration from Ivory Coast to the US?"

ROW!!!

"Then move ---- ----. We won't miss you at all."

Norway needs people. You could likely get a job in Tromso or Vardo with little problem.

Most of the low-skilled people working in Norway are from Africa. At least in Northern Norway. I don't really like it up there. I think they probably like it even less.

"Is it illegal in Germany? Or is it just certain historic homes not allowed (without heavy permit fees)?"

No. It is not illegal.

A lot of the new builds have A/C. It's the older ones, those built prior to the last 3-5 years that don't. And European homes don't have central heating, which means they can't have central cooling.

I do question why a house with heated floors couldn't have cooled floors though.

Anyone here eaten whale? I think it's more popular in NOR than Lutefisk. Stockfish seems to be the most popular.

I have a chunk of smoked whale in my fridge right now.

"All the ---- you NEED to survive in Norway is the same price, cheaper or free."

Telling me you've never been to Norway without telling me you've never been to Norway.

C. Oops.

Daily forecasts are between 30-35C for the next ten days or so.

It was 41F here in Kaiserslautern on Saturday and Sunday. And NO air conditioning.

As an answer to the Bluesky question...raise your hand if you want the US to implement a VAT.

In Norway, it's 25%. The cheapest beer I've seen at a Restaurant is 10 EUR.

I went to go buy a small notebook at a stationary shop when I was there last month. It was 22 EUR.

Now you know the answer.

We do have Norwegians coming to the US. There is a mixed Dutch/Norwegian F-35 squadron at Luke Air Force Base in AZ. There is a Finnish F-35 squadron in Little Rock, Arkansas.

You'd be surprised how many Norwegian fighter pilots have US passports. A lot of them are legacy. Their dads were pilots, and so they spent a lot of their youth in Tucson.

One of the Norwegian pilots I work with grew up almost entirely in the US. His dad was a USAF F-15 pilot. Mom was a Viking.

"Your "Nightmare" is the rest of the world finding ways to counter the Militarism and Arrogance of US Policy."

Dude, if I saw a Jellyfish swarm anywhere, it would freak me out. My first impression was either hallucination, or more UFO ----.

A swarm of Jellyfish is known as a "smack," BTW. I found that out.

When we first received the reports, which were classified at the time, we were like "WTF." Nightmare fuel.

The back-seater is actually taking over as a division chief in my unit.

I also worked with Tom Bussiere, another 4* who unexpectedly left after Trump took office. You can't blame these guys for leaving. Their credibility is where their real authority lies. Lose that, and you become a star-studded joke.

Donahue was a force of nature. I first came across him when he was the 18th Airborne commander running Task Force Dragon (which later became SAG-U). The dude used to show up to his daily Commander's Update Briefing in gym clothes. Not even Army PT gear. It was always a rumor that he would have a short tenure at USAREUR. Not because he was getting fired, but because he would be quickly promoted to Commander, USEUCOM. Which would have also made him NATO's Supreme Allied Commander of Europe as well.

IIRC, the lowest approval rating of any president ever was 22%. I wonder if Trump will brag about beating that record?

"The Leopards Eating People's Faces Party you probably voted for is coming for you now."

Good sir, I would have voted for someone who called themselves a Democratic Socialist over Trump. Especially knowing what I know now.

I fortunately have other options. A nice little house in Calabria.

You have options too.

There was a poll conducted recently. The results were posted on DR. Trump was voted the second-most popular president in the last 40 years. I'm starting to think that maybe the US is just not my country anymore. No harm, no foul, but it's just baffling to me that modern -day Repubs rate Trump higher than Reagan. Or higher than anyone for that matter.

"So why bother? Why'd Trump and Netanyahu do their decapitation attacks?"

You're asking me? Hell, I don't know.

Why do kids eat Tide pods? To get noticed.

I still have no clue what the objectives of OEF were...

"This was our shot at regime change, and we blew it."

It was never going to be possible with the extremely limited scope of this operation. It may not have been possible period. It wasn't in Afghanistan. Afghans simply decided they liked what the Taliban had to offer more than they liked what the US-backed government was offering.

Pete's plan is audacious and silly, but likely not possible.

I think Trump is trying to see just how ridiculous he can get, while still getting rubber-stamped by his sycophantic supporters in the legislature. But the next presidential election is a little over 2-years away. Most of what this administration does is going to be immediately reversed.

You can feel sorry for the civilians that the US and Israel killed, but you can't really claim they have been betrayed. This was their shot at regime change, and they stayed home. If I were a betting man, I would put my money on the notion that a significant portion of the population either likes the regime or is indifferent to it. Those people are lucky, because Epic Fury and this "peace deal" have set the foundation to make it the most powerful country in the region. And it will be run by the Revolutionary Guard Corps.

"I bet the word "Palestinian" or "Palestine" was barely-- or not even -- mentioned in the article."

Why would it be?

Palestinians are not Iranians.

The region commonly referred to as Palestine is nowhere near Iran.

"US announces military review as European leaders brace for cuts"

"The People protested shining a bright light on the case and the courts followed the Law and forced Trumpy and his acolytes to follow the Law."

That shining bright light was focused on an illegal immigrant who was abusive to his wife. Maybe a gang member.

This is the hill you guys want to die on?

I also watch the BBC occasionally. Pretty they don't believe the maga lies you are currently spouting.

Because it's outside the realm of possibility that Good hit the ICE officer?

She had been so rational and calm up to that point?