#1 | Posted by reinheitsgebot at 2026-05-22 08:46 AM | Reply

How many S-400 and S-300 did Iran lose, and what's the price tag on those?

3 of the F-15E shot down by one Kuwaiti princess.
5 KC-135 mission killed (but eventually fixable) on the tarmac, 2 to a midair.
Both MC-130J destroyed by US forces after landing in Iran and being unable to take off because the field was too soft and they got stuck.

I don't think we've seen airframe losses on this scale in 35 years.

Here's the TLDR et al.

The reason this site exists is also the reason why Dem messaging sucks and leads to election losses. Same messages.

@78
Your post took up more than a page. Thus I just close the tab.

#80 | Posted by et_al at 2026-05-22 09:19 AM | Reply

If you did you wouldn't be posting in the thread.

Also, its 2026, update your display.

Lets analyze all of these Retort headlines, in the context of Democrat Party problems.

Does this site attempt to fix any of it? Or is it a microcosm of systemic party problems? Lets explore further!

What can we identify, just looking at the current headlines on both the front and back page.

1) The Base Content Is Extremely "In-Group" Coded
2) The Curated Front Page Softens Tone " But Not Strategy
3) The Editorial System Is Optimized for Engagement, Not Persuasion
4) Missing Working-Class Emotional Identity
5) Hyper-Online Culture Leakage
6) The Front Page Accidentally Confirms the "No Positive Vision" Critique
7) The Curators Understand the Problem Better Than the Userbase
8) The Ecosystem Incentivizes Permanent Emergency

The backpage/frontpage split reveals three separate Democratic ecosystems operating simultaneously:

1. Grassroots emotional ecosystem
2. Institutional curation ecosystem

3. Missing ecosystem

The one the report argues Democrats need:

optimistic
working-class
identity-expanding
future-oriented
patriotic without embarrassment
masculine-inclusive
economically tangible
locally rooted
emotionally aspirational

The report essentially argues Democrats cannot rebuild durable majority support if ecosystem #1 continues to dominate the emotional center of Democratic political culture.

Democratic Party Problems Identified

* Loss of trust among working-class and rural voters. (there's more professors in the UAW than car assemblers nowadays.)
* Weak state-party infrastructure after years of underinvestment. (the consultant class drive really nice Mercedes though)
* Overreliance on national presidential campaigns.
* Poor messaging consistency. (blame shifting doesn't work for either party, it's weakness)
* Failure to connect with male voters and non-college voters. (they're watching Tony Hinchliffe tell Puerto Rico jokes and having a laugh)
* Excessive focus on urban/suburban coalitions. (the burbs only want to visit the urbs occasionally, not live like them)
* Weak engagement with irregular/new voters. (have we tried depression support groups? has to be candidates there)
* Heavy dependence on anti-Trump messaging instead of positive vision. (the constant apocalypse preaching isn't exactly positive. try some Talarico.)

That wasn't self-inflicted.

#11 | Posted by jpw at 2026-05-22 06:11 AM | Reply | Flag:

That's a matter of perspective.

Tariffs, taxes on American consumers to try and force them to buy American..the Chinese producers have an entire world to sell their products in, many really don't need the US.

#11 | Posted by Hughmass at 2026-05-21 06:41 AM | Reply | Flag:

"The Biden administration imposed a 100% tariff on all Chinese-made electric vehicles (EVs) under Section 301 of the Trade Act. Finalized in September 2024, these steep duties replaced an earlier 25% tariff and are intended to shield American automakers and auto workers from state-subsidized Chinese overcapacity."

As far as being the primary factor, effectively non-existent.

Stated differently, reducing overtime costs is OK even if more plane accidents occur.

#2 | Posted by LampLighter at 2026-05-15 09:02 PM

While we're out here lighting lamps. Did we first investigate what % of crashes are caused by ATC shortages or high workloads compared to all other aircraft crash factors?

I'll save you some leg work. It's < 5% as a contributing factor.

It's pilot error and bad maintenance that kill you.

If they think it's 1.2, then it's 3.6.

Last I saw it was > 14 Predator-B lost.

I am not yet convinced of that.
In Iran, the US seems to have been quite behind in the deployment of drones.
Expending multi-million dollar anti-aircraft items to shoot down multi-thousand dollar Iranian drones.
#9 | Posted by LampLighter at 2026-05-13 11:37 PM | Reply | Newsworthy 1

Your posts are getting.. less intelligent over time. Drones are a catch all. A Predator-B with a 66' wingspan and a quad with a 9" rotor span are both drones.

We threw away Predators over Iran like they were candy to draw out the remaining S-300 and theater scale defense systems.

"Critics say the paring back has gone too far. Inequality is soaring in this traditionally egalitarian country. Gang violence has surged in dozens of immigrant-heavy suburbs, creating areas where local criminal networks challenge state authority and hinder policing. A public debate is raging over for-profit schools, which critics say make money by skimping on playgrounds, libraries and staff."

"The Meta Pixel (formerly Facebook Pixel) is a JavaScript code snippet for websites that tracks visitor actions, enables ad retargeting, and measures ad effectiveness. It helps optimize ads by monitoring actions like purchases or page views."

It's a Facebook Pixel. They're in most sites you visit, but not this one.

She should run on Hope & Change.

ffs, just use JLB or DHL. Reliable and commonly used. Never opt for the worst delivery service.

Nobody reads EULAs.

#17 | Posted by snoofy at 2026-05-09 01:16 PM | Reply | Flag:

Nor the manuals. Paradox of the Active User. "Why don't people read the manual?" -Dennis Novick, Nobody reads the documentation': true or not?" -Ben van Loggem, etc.

What does having an LLM local to your browser really do? Slightly lowers the need for data centers through distributed computing.

Quick, everybody rabble! RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE!

most are not that successful at doing it.

looks great for the front... past that though.. not good.

It was intolerable. Literally every app interaction had some sort of notification or upgrade request.

#11 | Posted by jpw at 2026-05-09 02:09 AM | Reply | Flag:

Like, did you read the manual at all? The notification settings screen? That lets you turn on and off notifications per every installed app?

My surveys say that users say they read the manual and EULA.
My analytics say that 1% of users read the manual, and 0.01% read the EULA.

A company that wasn't run by a bunch of self-absorbed piles of s*&^ wouldn't sneak this s*&^ in constantly under the radar.

#9 | Posted by jpw at 2026-05-09 12:32 AM | Reply | Flag:

When is the last time you read a EULA?

No vehicle has ever screamed "LOOK AT ME" more than one of these.
Has anyone ever seen one used as a truck?

#1 | Posted by Dbt2 at 2026-05-08 03:58 PM | Reply

Many vehicles are designed to scream "LOOK AT ME", most are this successful at doing it.

"The Second Amendment is not a blank check for gun rights advocates," Carter said. "It has always allowed for the regulation of particularly dangerous weapons and for weapons that are not in common use for self-defense."

#3 | Posted by Corky at 2026-05-05 03:27 PM | Reply

Going by the standards of the Founding Era is pretty wild. Civilians owned artillery, warships and fortified vessels (cargo ships converted to warships), repeating arms, grapeshot loaded swivel guns, crates of pistols, etc. Military and Civilian use is the same thing.

Do you know anything about the cultural/political divisions between the Japanese Army and Navy in World War II? Never knew much before yesterday and it explains so much.

#14 | Posted by Zed at 2026-05-06 09:31 AM | Reply | Flag:

Extreme inter-service rivalry. That disorganization was a blessing for the rest of the world, especially China.