This man, making Christmas calls from the White House, believes the world is a sphere. And he has even flown around it! So has our beautiful FLOTUS, who happens to be his wife!
Truth and common sense must be valued by us, as individuals, in order to lastingly disempower the authoritarian fake news media. This includes the perniciously smarmy science media, which never answers for its errors and lies. I believe that the media has been responsible not only for leftist pathologies like scientism, medical fascism, and radical gender ideology, but also for reactionary movements like modern flat Earth, rejection of all medicine, and Biblical geological literalism.
Just as Wheatie’s Stormwatch Monday Open Thread was created as a place for people to openly express their thoughts and opinions, so, too, is this Thank God Thursday Open Thread, where honest but civil discussion of all topics is encouraged. This thread is also to be known as Theistic Evolution Thursdays, due to the author’s expected “pontification” about his scientific, religious, and political opinions. You are welcome to pontificate back! Free speech matters!
Please label all AI-generated content as being such, unless it is patently obvious (e.g., humorous AI images). It is important that we as individuals not begin to pretend that socially derived artificial intelligence is actually our own, as this form of stealthy social information averaging and feedback would be one more pretense and deception between people, in service of stupid Marxist socialism, and of those who wish to substitute their communally protected lies for actual truth.
The source of alleged truth matters, not for the truth itself, but for validation.
And yes, it’s THURSDAY…again.
And that’s it. We’re done stealing from Wheatie.
OK – maybe her rules need to be posted.
- No food fights.
- No running with scissors.
- If you bring snacks, bring enough for everyone.
Other rules may be derivable from these, and that conjecture is left for discussion.
If there is nothing beyond the “W” below, then this is a placeholder. For health reasons, I can’t always post a timely opinion before each Thursday, but I will try. Otherwise, you have this placeholder post, where YOU provide the content. Enjoy!
W
We have some interesting but powerful trinkets today. Gird up thy loins.
(1) How about the top 15 discoveries make *by* AI as of 7 months ago? That’s right – things that were discovered or figured out *BY* AI.
(2) Are you ready to let a white chick with blue-black hair and green eyes show you three colors that can’t physically exist as hues of real things, but that you can trick your eyes into seeing? This actually works! They’re called “impossible colors” – and you can see them.
Explanation HERE:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impossible_color
(3) The 5 biggest stars in this universe, that we know about. They’re so huge, it’s almost hard to imagine.
OK, that’s it. Back to placeholders, mostly. TTYL!
W
New Schlichter —
https://townhall.com/columnists/kurtschlichter/2026/04/23/what-do-immigrants-owe-us-n2674773
Terrorism isn’t working too well, so they’re considering vandalism….
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/dmitri-bolt/2026/04/22/iran-just-reached-for-another-piece-of-levrage-n2674898
“BREAKING: The IRGC warns of cutting the seven submarine internet cables that pass through the Strait of Hormuz, which would trigger a “digital catastrophe” for Gulf states that depend on them for over 90% of their internet, banking, and cloud services, per Tasnim.”
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No problem.
Elon’s Starlink satellite Internet service is:
A) impervious to islamo-fascists
B) available and ready for duty
So, I guess all their ‘leverage’ are belong to us now.
I doubt that they can actually put vehicles deep enough to work on these cables — not that there aren’t a whole lot of ships down there, but their crews aren’t as effective as they once were.
Those cables have to come up out of the sea somewhere in Iran. Guessing pretty close to the beach.
If I was the islamo-fascists, I’d probably start cutting the cables there. Wouldn’t even have to get their sandals wet.
Unless America blew up their overland Internet connection that goes through Turkey.
Then the islamo-fascists would have to do some hard thinking about whether to cut the cables going through the Hormuz, and in the process, cutting themselves off from the Internet for the remainder of the war.
Which would also give DJT one more leverageable choke point.
Say ‘how high’ when I say jump, or we’ll blow up your only remaining connection to the Internet 😁
A lot of those cables might go between, say, UAE and India. There’s no reason to surface in Iran or Pakistan.
You are correct:
Brave AI:
Overview of Undersea Cables in the Strait of Hormuz
The Strait of Hormuz is a critical global chokepoint, not only for oil and gas shipments but also for undersea internet cables that carry vast amounts of international data traffic.
These submarine fibre-optic cables lie on the seafloor and connect regions including the Gulf countries, Asia, Europe, and Africa.
While the strait itself is a narrow and shallow passage — as shallow as 200 feet — the cables passing through it generally remain submerged and do not “come up to the surface” within Iranian territorial waters in an operational or accessible way.
Cable Landing Points Near the Strait
Undersea cables must make landfall at designated cable landing stations to connect to terrestrial networks.
These stations are heavily secured and typically located in coastal facilities equipped with repeater power feeding and network infrastructure.
In the Persian Gulf, most major cables avoid landing in Iran due to geopolitical tensions and regulatory challenges.
Instead, they are routed through and land in neighboring countries such as:
• Oman (especially on the eastern side of the Strait)
• United Arab Emirates (e.g., Fujairah)
• Saudi Arabia
• Bahrain
• Qatar
Do Cables Land in Iran?
There is no public evidence that major international undersea internet cables passing through the Strait of Hormuz make landfall in Iran.
According to analyses from TeleGeography and reports from Rest of World and India Today, cables are deliberately laid through Omani territorial waters to bypass Iran entirely.
This routing decision stems from long-standing concerns about regional instability, access restrictions, and security risks.
As a result, Iran is not a hub for international cable systems, and no major global cables surface within Iran along the Hormuz route.
While Iran has its own domestic and international cable connections (e.g., to India or via the Caspian Sea), these do not involve the primary cables transiting the Strait of Hormuz.
Key Cable Systems in the Region
Several major submarine cable systems traverse or near the Strait of Hormuz, including:
• AAE-1 (Asia-Africa-Europe)
• FALCON (Fiber-Optic Link Around the Clock)
• Gulf Bridge International (GBI)
• Tata-TGN Gulf (TGN-Gulf)
• SEA-ME-WE (South East Asia–Middle East–Western Europe)
These systems are vital for data connectivity in Gulf countries, supporting banking, cloud services, AI infrastructure, and communications.
However, they do not surface in Iran — they are designed to bypass it.
Geopolitical Risks and Infrastructure Vulnerability
Although the cables do not land in Iran, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has issued warnings about potentially targeting undersea infrastructure in the Persian Gulf.
This raises concerns about sabotage, even if cables do not physically come ashore in Iran.
The shallow depth of the strait makes cables more vulnerable to damage from anchors, mines, or deliberate cutting.
Repair operations are also hampered during military conflicts, as specialized ships cannot safely operate in hostile waters.
Despite redundancy in global networks, simultaneous disruptions in both the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea could lead to significant delays and rerouting of data traffic, affecting internet speeds and reliability across Asia, Africa, and Europe.
Conclusion
No, the undersea internet cables passing through the Strait of Hormuz do not come up to the surface in Iran.
They are intentionally routed through Omani and UAE waters and land in neighboring Gulf countries to avoid Iranian jurisdiction and security risks.
While Iran has the potential to disrupt these cables due to its naval presence, the cables themselves do not make landfall or surface within Iran.
This strategic bypass ensures that global data traffic remains resilient — though not immune — to regional conflicts.
.
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Me: So how would the IRGC cut the cables as they have threatened to do? Do they have submersibles capable of severing cables on the sea floor at 200 foot depth?
Brave AI: Yes, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has the capability to cut undersea internet cables in the Strait of Hormuz, even at depths of around 200 feet (60 meters).
According to multiple reports, the IRGC Navy possesses:
• Ghadir-class midget submarines, which are small, stealthy, and capable of operating in shallow waters.
• Combat diver units trained for underwater sabotage.
• Remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) or underwater drones that can locate and sever cables.
These assets enable Iran to conduct underwater interdiction operations against cables lying on the seafloor.
The shallow depth of the Strait of Hormuz makes cables particularly accessible compared to deeper ocean routes.
While no confirmed cable cuts have occurred as of April 23, 2026, the IRGC has issued explicit threats, and companies like Alcatel Submarine Networks have declared force majeure, halting repair operations due to the conflict.
This means any severed cable would remain unrepaired for the duration of hostilities — potentially months.
.
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Me: Are these IRGC assets part of the Gay Ayatollah Brigade?
Brave: No, the Gay Ayatollah Brigade is not a real military unit.
It does not exist as part of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) or any other official Iranian military structure.
“Iran relies on these cables for less than 40% of its internet, with the rest routed overland through Turkey. Gulf states have no comparable backup. IRGC described the cables as “strategic pressure points” alongside ports, shipping lanes, and energy facilities.”
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Then it seems like a well-placed missile to deactivate the ‘overland’ Internet connection through Turkey would make the islamo-fascists 100% dependent on the undersea cables in the Strait of Hormuz.
Thereby making the islamo-fascists much less likely to cut those undersea cables.
It’s like playing wack-a-mole where all the holes are plugged but one.
Good point.
A lot of those undersea “cables” are actually fiberoptic.They can carry fantastic amounts of data through what is known as “Wave Division Multiplexing”.
If you look at the cover of Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon” album, there is a prism breaking down a beam of white light into colors.
Now just imagine if a separate transmitter was running red, then orange, then yellow, green and blue. You could be running five different channels of information in that single white line by combining them through a prism. At the other end, you could use a similar prism to take them back apart.
Mind you, the actual “colors” used in WDM on fiber lines are all invisible to the human eye, but the principle is much the same. Standard fiber has optical windows at about 1310 nm and 1550 nm where red is roughly 700 nm and blue is about 475 nm.
The “color” video was interesting, but I was only able to see the orange one, which was a very intense orange!
I could also see the last one, but only momentarily before it turned to black. The second one only gave me a white screen.
I only saw a white screen on the second one, too, and a black screen on the last one.
Serpent-head was never a moderate.
BREAKING: Secretary of the Navy John Phelan FIRED
Does anyone know why he was fired?
REPORT: Thousands of People in California Are Finally Getting Permits to Rebuild After the Wildfires – Now That Trump Has Gotten Involved
From the New York Post:
Why would anyone want to rebuild in a place where the government obviously hates them so much?
They have a Fiancee who won’t get with the program?
Deleted. False rumor. 🙄
Which one?
Good point. There are too many to choose from. There’s one going around about various singers, saying that they have voiced the opinion that children should be raised naturally (i.e., not indoctrinated with LGBQ+ propaganda), and that leftists are boycotting their music because of it. Why someone would go to the trouble to invent such stories is beyond me. They’re just liars.
And just like that, Robert Plant concerts became a much better and more enjoyable experience, in the absence of any alphabet lunatics.
Hopefully other musicians will make similar statements to spark LMNOP boycotts.
Theme parks could do it too.
And schools.
Everyone!
I thought the same thing, but unfortunately, it’s fake. Someone is circulating this kind of rumor about various singers.
Kevin Sorbo:
He forgot one:
> Any foreigner found in violation will cause the nation of origin to have all H-1B visas suspended for a period of not less than 5 years
Give corrupt foreign governments a little incentive to prevent abuse on their end.
> Prohibits the Federal Government from sponsoring or employing nonimmigrant workers
Nonimmigrant workers… that’s Americans, isn’t it?
Sounds like it means the federal government is prohibited from sponsoring or employing Americans, and can only sponsor or employ immigrant workers.
This thread by Data Republican contains screenshots that I have omitted to save space.
I had forgotten some details about Unite the Right. Wiki says:
Data Republican: