ROK Drop Open Thread – September 11, 2026
It is hard to believe it has been 25 years since the 9-11 terrorist attacks. What was everyone doing that day when the attacks happened?:
It is hard to believe it has been 25 years since the 9-11 terrorist attacks. What was everyone doing that day when the attacks happened?:
…
A story I don’t tell much is that my best friend in the entire world died on 9/11. He was my ideological and political soul mate.
I was in Korea and my early flip phone rang. It was an international number on the display and I answered with a tentative hello.
It was my friend. His voice was controlled but there was definitely nervous tension. He said he was on a hijacked jet and they were flying low over New York City and were going to hit a building.
I was like WTF are you talking about?
He repeated that he was on a hijacked jet flying at max speed over New York City and they were going to hit a building. He accepted his fate.
An then he said his profound last words to me and he was gone.
“Oh, you’re a feminist? Name five children you have strangled.”
CH, I’m sorry that happened to you. I’m not certain I knew anyone who died that day; but there were many who should have had a lot longer lives, like the 2 year old from Boston, born of Korean parents, who thought she was going to Disneyland in California.
I am grateful to God that I was not in a position of authority on that day. I would have called Moscow and Beijing, told thjem preemptively to sit down and shut up, and nuked every country where people were celebrating the attack. Millions of innocents might have died.
Then again, having seen the way they act when they come to the USA, maybe my reaction was righteous.
9/11 and covid have been the 2 things that have had the most negative impacts on our society in the past 30 years. You all may have different thoughts and my mind could possibly be changed.
The “This is what they took from you” memes are too true.
Sorry about your friend CH.
A friend of a friend is a retired pilot who normally flew the route of one of the planes but was off rotation that day and one of his good friends flew the fated flight instead. I believe he has survivor’s guilt.
I don’t like the endless wars that spawned from the tragedy but I accept that sometimes as a country we need to roll up our sleeves and send people to which ever flavor of eternal reward they prefer.
Not even a drop of curiosity.
“And then he said his profound last words to me and he was gone.”
“Allahu Akbar!”
I think it works better in person where you get watery eyes and explain every detail like a extended shaggy dog story.
Anyway.
Yesterday, I sent 58 texts to people.
“Do you remember what happened?”
Two people did. One from Texas and one non-Muslim from a Muslim country.
Twelve responses were based on appoligies or fears they did something while drunk.
Thirty six people knew I was up to something and were clear that they weren’t suckers… but… curiosity got the best of them.
Eight didn’t respond… not the curious type or simply disgusted at my juvenile behavior and wanted no part of it.
To the curious, I sent a nice picture of the twin towers with “Never Forget” in flowing scrip and the vibe of a pink unicorn poster, with real rainbow glitter, on the bedroom wall of a 1980s middle school girl.
“Good Job, Islamaboo.”
The responses ranged from, “Oh shìt” to “WTF dude, I’m not even American” to “I can’t remember my wife’s birthday.”
But the best response from the wisest guy:
“New York City voted in a Muslim mayor and an appeasing governor. If they don’t care, why should I?”
To be fair, NYC voted for him because he is a communist, not a Muslim.
Anyone tired of all this winning?
Although the crowd was small enough that it did not fill the arena, Trump got the absolute loyalty he demanded from those who had turned out. At the event, he led the crowd in an oath. “Please raise your right hand,” he shouted. “I pledge to the greatest president in the history of the United States. That loves us so much he can’t even breathe.” The crowd chanted dutifully after him.
“That I will go out with my family, my friends, I’ll do it any way—I don’t care if I’m registered or not, I’m going to try and cheat like hell like they do, they’d never, there’s never been bigger cheaters, they don’t care. I am gonna go out and I’m gonna get my friends, my family, and we are going to vote on November third or we are going to vote before that!” The crowd erupted in applause.
Once again, he promised that if the Republicans held control of the House and Senate after the midterms, he would distribute a $5,000 check to all adult U.S. citizens, a plan that would cost more than a trillion dollars even if it were legal for him to do so (which it is not).
But while the Trump show in Dallas was being broadcast to the president’s fans, reality was very much on the minds of those watching events in the Middle East.
There are two main shipping routes for oil and other products out of the region, and both have strategic chokepoints. The Strait of Hormuz sits on the eastern side of the Arabian Peninsula where the Persian Gulf empties into the Arabian Sea. The Bab el-Mandeb strait sits on the western side of the Arabian Peninsula. It pinches the outlet of the Red Sea on its way to the Arabian Sea and from there to the Indian Ocean and world markets.
When Trump struck Iran in February 2026, Iranian forces took control of the Strait of Hormuz, largely stopping traffic of oil through the outlet. And so Saudi Arabia, which is the world’s largest oil exporter and a close ally of the United States, relied on sending exports via the Red Sea route, passing through the Bab el-Mandeb strait.
It did so by moving oil across the Arabian Peninsula from the Persian Gulf to the Red Sea through the East-West oil pipeline, which runs about 750 miles (1,200 kilometers) across Saudi Arabia. It can move about 7 million barrels of crude oil per day and has been sending about 5 million a day since the outbreak of the war on Iran. From there, oil can be loaded onto tankers and shipped down the Red Sea, through the Bab el-Mandeb, and on to global markets.
Yesterday Iran-backed Houthi militants swept along the shoreline of the Red Sea toward the Bab el-Mandeb. They captured the seaport and city of Mocha, which is about 50 miles (80 kilometers) from the strait, from Saudi-backed Yemeni forces.
Today Yemeni government officials told Mohammed Ghobari, Eman Abouhassira, and Yasmine Ghania of Reuters that the Houthis have taken the coastal town of Dhubab, which sits on the Yemen mainland at the point of the strait. The sources said Yemeni forces had also evacuated the island of Perim, which sits about a third of the way between the mainland and the Djibouti shore to the west. Later this afternoon, sources said the Houthis had captured the island.
Although the Houthis do not control the Djiboutian side of the strait, they now threaten shipping through the passage. Saudi Arabia’s East-West pipeline has also come under attack. Spencer Kimball of CNBC reports that the Saudi Energy Ministry announced the pipeline had been shut down as a precautionary measure after it had sustained a number of attacks. Kylie Atwood, Katie Bo Lillis, Thomas Bordeaux, and Zachary Cohen of CNN added that the attacks apparently originated in Iraq, that U.S. officials had told them that pumping stations had been hit, and satellite imagery showed smoke coming from one of them and fire damage at another.
The price of oil briefly jumped to about $110 a barrel on Friday. Diesel prices moved to $6.06 a gallon, up 60% since the U.S. and Israel first attacked Iran in February.
https://www.facebook.com/heathercoxrichardson/posts/pfbid02cNuhcXz7taCic9DgjVcUyrpowksvKpJNFvoj1DVHXhg28z8JwhrySK45s4nAy1vql
“Once again, he promised that if the Republicans held control of the House and Senate after the midterms, he would distribute a $5,000 check to all adult U.S. citizens, a plan that would cost more than a trillion dollars even if it were legal for him to do so (which it is not).”
You don’t see the play.
Everybody rational knows this isn’t going to happen… financially, legally, national economicly… etc.
But rational people aren’t his target with this clear insanity.
Do you know who is the target?
Minorities and the poor…
…and dummy lefttards with reactionary outrage blinding any ability to think for a few minutes.
American minorities and the poor have a generational culture of entitlement and dependence… and a long record of voting for whoever promises to give them free stuff.
Trump just took it to the next level.
But not everybody is in on the joke… like you.
Somewhere, “I ain’t never vote for no dàmn republican but they gonna git me my gibs.”
Of course they won’t.
Just like decades of Democrat promises and spending has solved exactly nothing.
Do you see it now?
Trump just made a shameless Democrat play of buying the dumbest level of voters with big, fat lies. And he is going to get out of doing anything the shameless Democrat way, with more big fat lies. And then blame the Democrats.
Don’t hate the playa… hate the Democrat game that Trump just mastered.
Don’t feel good to have your weapons used against you, does it.
So the birdbrain admits the Orange clown is lying to get votes. Damn. That’s the first truth he shamelessly admits to.
But rest assured, we are not dummies. We all know these are ridiculous lies from a desperate regime that will never happen. The United States is now a morally and financially defunct, weak country. Its military is collapsing all around the world, its leadership is no longer looked upon as the world leader, and its people are facing runaway stagflation despite the laughable propaganda coming out of the White House every day.
The sooner the US is forced to take its dirty, incompetent fingers off world affairs, the safer this world will be.
You may not admit it, but you are not just morally bankrupt, but you are also WEAK and vulnerable.
Bad news for Trump: the US miscalculated, thinking it had leverage over Canada, but it turns out it’s the opposite. The US tariffs on Canada will do nothing. Because Canada has the hammer over the US head, find out why:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=AU9C9FyjxSI&ra=m
And some doofus will inevitably say, “then we will just take them and make it our 51st state”. Try it, and see how swarms of drones that Canada is building by the millions currently, will destroy your cities in no time.
Chickenhead, jihad me going there for a minute.
Bob, it makes more sense when you look at everything he does as a negotiation tactic.
Personally, I don’t love everything he does, but I haven’t forgotten that the democrats are diametrically opposed to how i think on every single issue I care about for me and my family .
“Not even a drop of curiosity.”
I fell for that one last year, CH.
Fool me once…. 😉
“Oh, you’re a feminist? Name five children you have strangled.”
A friend who has worked in DC a long while came for a visit last month. He told us what happened with an undersecretary that Biden hired. Her objective was to keep women fighter pilots in the cockpit during pregnancy. Keep in mind between the radiation and G forces this is already very difficult on an adult human’s body…we have absolutely no evidence of what it will do to a developing fetus, and this is if everything goes right during training and there is no reason to eject. Another friend of ours was fired when she called him to the room and demanded that he agree pregnant women should be okay to fly fighter jets (his approval was needed to push this policy through). He refused. Two women fighter pilots later took his place and they both also refused…and they were also fired. After that someone agreed and it was pushed through….but this policy was overturned last year.
“Try it, and see how swarms of drones that Canada is building by the millions currently, will destroy your cities in no time.”
I bet before the 3rd city is destroyed, they can get the targeting coordinates reprogram on those nuclear missiles America keeps ready.
And then my dad is going to beat up your dad.
Bob must be smoking “Labrador” again…
Pro-tip: never take advice on drugs from Cheech and Chong.
@Liz
I mean, we don’t necessarily have any evidence against it either to be fair.
I remember when my wife was starting to dilate but wasn’t ready to be admitted, they told us to go walk around base for an hour and come back when she felt like it was time.
Imagine if instead female pilots could go flip off a mig pilot while in a 4g inverted dive to speed the contractions along.
Just think outside the box a little.
“Keep in mind between the radiation and G forces this is already very difficult on an adult human’s body…we have absolutely no evidence of what it will do to a developing fetus, and this is if everything goes right during training and there is no reason to eject.”
Liz, you are clearly a science denier.
The answer is a requirement that ALL female pilots must be pregnant before they are allowed in the cockpit.
This is the proper way to collect data for things you aren’t quite sure of but you don’t want to be bothered with too many controlled studies.
We know this because it worked so well during covid.
We also should investigate the effects on trans pilots, as trans women are real women.
And, since “some men can be pregnant”…
Hahahahahahahahahha now old Donnie is trying to blame Ukraine’s attacks on Russia’s refineries on the high price/shortage of diesel. Can one of you red-hatters please tell him that most of the diesel fuel used in the United States comes from crude oil refined at U.S. petroleum refineries, with additional supply coming from imports—primarily Canada, and to a lesser extent Saudi Arabia and Mexico and that
additionally, Russia refines all of their diesel from their own oil reserves.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
https://www.wisn.com/article/trump-ukraine-russian-diesel-shortage-strikes/73706824?utm_campaign=snd-autopilot
“Hahahahahahahahahha now old Donnie is trying to blame Ukraine’s attacks on Russia’s refineries on the high price/shortage of diesel.”
Ukraine’s attacks on Russian refineries have reduced Russian refining output and forced Russia to restrict diesel exports. Russia is one of the world’s largest diesel exporters, so removing that supply tightens the international diesel market, not merely Russia’s domestic market.
The IEA says intensified Ukrainian attacks have helped drive Russian product exports close to a halt.
So, Trump is right.
You could have verified this if you had spent 5 minutes on the internet.
Instead, you chose to clown yourself.
“So the birdbrain admits the Orange clown is lying to get votes. Damn. That’s the first truth he shamelessly admits to.”
What is the shame in using the tactics of the enemy against them? The Art of War, a pretty credible text, somewhat recommends this.
“But rest assured, we are not dummies.”
I’m not feeling very assured.
“We all know these are ridiculous lies from a desperate regime that will never happen.”
“We” know it, but not “all” know it.
The cognitively lowest 20% of the population only hear “fo’ free”. They have no idea about basic math or economics. They constantly vote for whomever promises the most “fo’ free” (yet never delivers). This election cycle, it is Trump.
“The United States is now a morally and financially defunct, weak country.”
We have been hearing that since Bush. Yet it keeps going.
“Its military is collapsing all around the world,”
No it isn’t.
“its leadership is no longer looked upon as the world leader,”
Yes they are.
“and its people are facing runaway stagflation despite the laughable propaganda coming out of the White House every day.”
America is not facing stagflation. Economically, there is risk but not the definition.
“The sooner the US is forced to take its dirty, incompetent fingers off world affairs, the safer this world will be.”
America’s fingers are showing more competence under Trump than it has for a long time. In this case, ending Iran’s regional influence and nuclear ambitions makes the world safer in the long run. You can’t see that because you are me me me now now now, as rhe lower classes generally are, and you are poor so gas prices are important to you.
“You may not admit it, but you are not just morally bankrupt, but you are also WEAK and vulnerable.”
An argument can be made for morally bankrupt… likely since the founding of America… but perhaps less than many other nations.
Weak is harder to argue, especially when most of your whining is based on America’s strength in doing things you don’t like.
Vulnerable? Constantly. Fortunately, America’s enemies are generally so incompetent they can’t take advantage of it… and when they do, it isn’t fully clear that America didn’t allow it to get the support of the me me me now now now population to do things that normally couldn’t get any support.
In the end, everything you have just cried about and predicted has been done before and been done better… since, at least, the time I first became politically aware as a child.
Get some new material.
And suffer in the fact that everything you don’t like is going to continue and some things will get worse (for you).
Headline: New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and mayors around the country filed a joint lawsuit Monday seeking to stop President Donald Trump from making it harder for lawful immigrants to receive green cards or visas.
Missing 5 words at the end: if they are on welfare
The left’s policy of always looking for the most shìtty and self-destructive policies to support makes it easy to question their mental health, if not their humanity.
When the leftards cry about why they can’t get free healthcare, this and many other places is where you can point.
Then say, “Now go pay your student loans so an illegal alien can get in-state tuition.”
Trump kinda DOES play 4D chess.
Even the dummies now admit pulling Venezuela from the Chinese orbit to the American one before creating further disorder in the mideast oil supply was a brilliant and calculated move.
Now everyone is wondering why Trump is letting Saudi fight the Houthis alone.
Apart from the media going on about an expanded quagmire, or whatever nonsense label they will come up with over some airstrikes, there is gain for America to have the Saudis get their àsses kicked for a while.
Saudi has now fallen in line with Trump’s wishes and stopped all oil exports to Europe.
Europe has some difficult choices ahead.
Which is how the Eurotards always need to be managed.