ROK Drop Open Thread – August 14, 2026

Let’s start the day with the national anthem of Setnaffaria.

Song of Setnaffaria

Verse I
On a very legal patch of land,
We drew a brand-new line,
With a Sharpie and a master plan
Scribbled out in wine.
No more forms, no more experts,
No more facts to check,
Just vibes, resolve, and confidence
And a glorious flag we’ll spec.

Chorus
Oh Setnaffaria! Loud and proud!
The greatest, some have said,
A perfect nation, huge and strong,
At least inside our head.
We’re winning big, we always were,
Despite what maps may show,
Setnaffaria marches on
In tweets and overflow.

Verse II
With trusted friends from far away
Who swear they mean us well,
They loan us tanks and talking points
And promise not to tell.
From Beijing’s scripts to Moscow’s nods,
Such generous advice!
They say our freedom’s very real
(Just don’t read the fine-print twice.)

Chorus
Oh Setnaffaria! Bold and new!
Uncancelled, free, and loud,
A nation built on grievances
And feelings deeply proud.
We’ve got the best beliefs around,
The strongest truths by far,
Setnaffaria shines so bright
It blinds the fact-check czar.

Bridge
We love free speech so very much
We shout it into law,
Unless you disagree with us,
Then that’s a serious flaw.
Courts are fake, but justice real,
As long as we agree,
And every loss is rigged, of course—
Except our victories.

Final Chorus
Oh Setnaffaria! Stand and cheer!
Salute the chosen few,
Where loyalty is currency
And facts are optional too.
So raise the flag (design TBD),
And sing both near and far,
Setnaffaria forever reigns—
The best that never was.

I feel like the old heads have a good read on each other and wouldn’t be surprised at who we would meet if we were to ever cross paths in the real world.

While we don’t divilge too much personal information, I think most of us have been honest about our stations in life, our achievements, failures, motivations and concerns.

Even the classic, leftist antagonists over the years left breadcrumbs and clues to piece together a rough idea of their true personality.

Tbone was likely a mentally ill, substance abusing, constant victim English teacher complaining about a country he chose to live in.

Teadrinker was a Canadian liberal who was a bit full of himself when he wasn’t just going through the left leaning talking points.

I notice some here never share any life lessons that shaped their world view. Like they have never experienced anything and simply exist to debate strangers on the internet.

It’s almost impossible to conceive what it would be like to grab a coffee with them and have an honest conversation about politics, careers, family, or anything really.

It feels just like conversing with Gemini except maybe with the settings on aggressive and the logic has been corrupted.

I typed something similar yesterday but maybe it got stuck in spam folder. If it double posts my apologies.

If any of us were to cross paths in the real world I don’t think we would be surprised by who we meet. By conversing all these years, I think we have a good understanding of the personalities on the other end.

Even the leftist antagonists of the past somewhat let us know who they were.

Tbone was probably just as whiny in real life, maybe more so. But you know what you are getting. If his actions and mannerisms mirrored his writing style, you might even pick him out in a crowded room. The “Samesux” phone would give him away.

Teadrinker was probably a typical Canadian liberal. Maybe not as smart, progressive, or muscular as we were led to believe, but if you carried on a conversation in person it would be consistent with the person who posted here.

There are people who post here now that I have a hard time trying to visualize what that real life encounter would be. They haven’t shared any achievements, failures, hopes, dreams or anything a normal person experiences in life.

It’s like talking to an AI that has been set to aggressive.

There was a pilot in the captain upgrade (I attended because…free hotel room, it was cool) who did nothing but complain the whole time, like a whiny b*tch. Every good deal they got (this was enormously awesome) he complained about because it wasn’t better. He also complained about women the whole time (his “wife was too fat” and all that…never met her but must assume they were well matched). He came from the civilian world and was never military. It definitely showed.

Chickenhead, Shane Gillis says the folks in that photo are doing well and are more consistently happy than the rest of us so I don’t think they fit the bill.

Liz, I know the type. Sometimes I stop and reflect on whether my complaints are valid or reasonable. It’s a personal fear of mine to be that person. I feel shame for times in the past when I should have just shut up, put my head down and went through whatever it was that bothered me in that moment.

I keep hoping I’ll find time to visit South Korea again… but I don’t worry about meeting the KTs. They’re likely in Vancouver, Portland, or LA.

Would love to find a place with good coffee and good pie…

CH, I will be proud to pass on my knowledge.

Here’s a teaser for the KTs to chew on. Note the specialized equipment required.

Hi @Nomad! Great to see you!

Unless you are in the predator class, leftism and stupidity¹ have a very strong correlation.

So when people yap about leftist political fetishes like global warming alarmism, the science of covid masks, the stunning bravery of child trannies, free everything for illegal aliens, the heroism of black criminals, gays for Islam, the wonders of communism, and other insanity, we know they are little people with little self-worth that seek (false) self-value by attaching themselves to some cause that they can relate to emotionally, as rationality is beyond them.

Somehow, we attract them here and they are harder to get rid of than a sticky booger.

But, eventually they go.

¹There are many types of stupidity. Believing all this leftist nonsense is one type… and an evil type when trying to force it all on the productive class. Having a good heart and wanting to save all the puppies and stop all pollution and empty our jails of misunderstood products of society is another type of stupid… with an inability to think things trough. There are many other types of stupid. Perhaps i should list them sometime.

The “homeless budget” for LA City was just $10m in 2013. Mayor Eric Garcetti inflated that to $955m in 2021. Bass continued this trend.
Result was a massive increase in homelessness.
Have to keep the homeless on the street to justify the “solution” non-profits. And those non-profits want the money to keep rolling.
Much like other leftist programs.

Side note: I probably mentioned this already, but I watched the decline of a city (Denver) in real time, when I lived in Colorado. Then moved to Florida (back to Florida) and it’s filled with generally happy and comparatively productive people. There are homeless but they are not allowed to solicit at traffic lights. To the naive let me explain what happens there: cops rarely enforce this law, it is in place for the purpose of keeping situations like Colorado from happening. Every stop light had vagrants swarming the cars. Because Colorado is largely a cashless state now, these vagrants took out there phones asking to be paid via venmo. I am not kidding (really wish I was).

Allowing homeless people to camp in front of stores and hassle customers while passing laws that essentially decriminalizes shoplifting and parking lot burglary is knowingly intentional, calculatedd maliciousnous, and deliberately self-destructive to society and the productive taxpaying class.

Anybody who does this is objectively evil. Anyone who supports this is objectively stupid or insane.

As always, I offer the stupid and insane left to explain the benefits if this. As always, I will get an irrational reply in the rare case I get one.

This issue is but a single facet on a massive crystal of intentional leftist dysfunction.

Korea Thing, Biden negotiated the cost sharing agreement intentionally early so it was done before Trump was elected and it extends until after he leaves office.

No Trump in this equation.

This is yet another example of American politicians doing stuff not in America’s interests. Baffling.

Korea is not yet ready to have America leave.

So it doesn’t matter what anyone thinks.

I support whatever North Korea does as long as they keep it to themselves.

What are they doing:

– not causing me trouble

– appear to be developing missiles and nukes to rationally protect the regime (externally and internally) rather than looking to cause irrational religion-based international trouble like Iran.

– bonus development: South Korea’s future rocket and defense industry

With this in mind, leaving them alone could be considered “support” but it is really just leaving them alone…

…as America does with large sections of the world, because there is no gain in hassling them.

But the real thing to consider is there is a MASSIVE difference between communists Over There leaving me alone and communists Over Here trying to redistribute my labor.

So, I have two different levels for my hate of communism.

The real problem with communism, and a lot (but not all) of socialism, is it wants to solve other people’s problems with my money.

I earned my money working smart, working hard, taking calculated risks, delaying gratification, formulating clear priorities, thinking things through, etc.

I have zero interest in paying for those who fùcked off on noisy-flashy shìt instead of doing any of that but now want me to fund their equal outcomes.

Go be communist over there. Communism is its own punishment. Not my problem.

Start pushing communism onto me and it becomes an existential threat.

Existential threats can work both ways.

“Oh, come on. It’s obvious Trump and MAGA have chosen North Korea over South Korea. Is this any surprise?”

Is it obvious?

The best part is if Trump does anything against a horrible nation causing trouble for everyone around them for decades, he is provoking them.

But if he doesn’t hassle a horrible nation that seems mostly interested in being left alone, he has “chosen” them.

“Both MAGA and North Korea are very similar – strong-man leaders”

Did you forget that part about Trump winning two elections and stepping down for the one he lost? (Despite the fact that all circumstantial evidence suggest the election was fraudulent.)

“isolationists”

…and the bad part is?

Globalism has done its best to transfer wealth from America to… the globe. Now it is time to keep the good parts of globalism and put the self-destructive parts back.

“racially nationalistic”

It is unclear what that means. I think you mean culturally nationalistic. The successful parts of American culture should not be diluted with 3rd world failure. I can see your confusion, as there is a great deal of overlap between culture and race. But you will never succeed in understanding what is good and bad in the world if you always look at it through meaningless race rather than attitudes and behavior.

“always angry”

Lots to be angry about these days… but Trump has a long history of being focused and driven but rather pleasant.

“and always sparking war conflicts everywhere through invasions.”

Unclear where “everywhere” is. Iran and… not recalling any other wars.

“Both are going to starve this winter due to crop failures last spring and summer, all due to North Korean and US farmers dealing with massive mismanagement in their farm policies caused by their cultic ideology of worshipping their gods.”

Nobody is going to starve in America. In fact, America will feed large segments of the world.

“I always knew Trump and MAGA were commies.”

Can you see how everything you just whined about is unrelated to communism?

All the Korea Things have the same irrational and uninformed whine… almost as if they were the same person.

@GIKorea

You know what they say. Moderation is key.

I think they are referring to Bobbo when they say it.

Nobody conceals records of good deeds and non-events.

…

Fauci Adviser David Morens Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy to Hide Federal COVID Records

On August 18, 2026, Dr. David Morens, a longtime senior adviser at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiracy to commit offenses against and defraud the United States.

Morens worked as a senior adviser in the NIAID Director’s Office from 2006 to 2022, during most of Anthony Fauci’s tenure as director.

Morens admitted participating in a scheme to evade the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and federal records requirements while conducting government business.

The concealed communications concerned COVID-19 research grants and issues connected to the debate over the origins of COVID-19, including the NIH grant involving bat-coronavirus research that was subcontracted to the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

Morens used personal email accounts rather than his government account for official communications in order to keep some correspondence outside normal government records searches.

Previously released emails showed Morens discussing deleting emails, avoiding government email systems, and methods for preventing communications from being discovered through FOIA requests.

Prosecutors said Morens conspired with others to conceal records while discussing the terminated coronavirus-research grant, efforts to restore its funding, and related COVID-origin issues.

The guilty plea is important because the concealment of these records is no longer merely an allegation from congressional investigators or journalists. Morens has now admitted criminal conduct connected with evading federal transparency and recordkeeping requirements.

The plea does not establish that COVID-19 originated in a laboratory, nor does it establish that Fauci participated in Morens’ conspiracy. Fauci has not been charged in this case.

Morens faces a maximum of five years in federal prison. Sentencing is scheduled for November 12, 2026.

The FBI and HHS Office of Inspector General investigated the case, and according to the Justice Department, the investigation remains ongoing.