“The Iran war has been a stunning aerial success” (The Economist)
The USA just showed Russia how it’s done.
The good news: Russia has neither the expertise, training, nor equipment to do what the U.S. armed services can do.
Russian military equipment is old and not properly maintained due to the rampant corruption among their senior military offers, who siphon funds meant for maintenance into their own pockets.
Beyond that, their morale these days—with Mad Vlad Putin driving Russian troops into a meat grinder—sucks to holy hell.
“NATO Air Defenses Shoot Down Iranian Missile Headed Toward Turkey” (NY Times)
NATO’s Article 5 is unambiguous and the alliance’s most sacred clause.
The “one for all” guarantee: If you attack one of us, you are attacking all of us.
Turkey is not just another country in the region.
Turkey is NATO.
And it just got attacked by Iran.
Is NATO watching? Sleeping? Or just plain ineffective like the UN?
“Thousands of Kurdish fighters launch ground offensive into Iran against regime” (i24 News)
No American boots on the ground.
That’s what the Kurds are for.
Let them at their century-old enemy—then cut a swath of Iran to create Kurdistan as a real country instead of just a geo-cultural region suppressed by Turkey, Iraq, and Iran.
“Iran’s new Ayatollah vows to ‘shed Trump’s blood’ in chilling televised address” (Daily Express)
That would be Ayatollah Abdollah Javadi Amoli—one of Iran's most senior Islamic clerics.
Dead man walking.
“Jeffrey Epstein’s New Mexico ranch is finally being scrutinized like his island” (The Week)
Or is it?
Last I heard, New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez requested the DOJ provide his office with all of the Epstein Files—without redactions—as his starting point.
Remains to be seen if DOJ will comply.
An earlier “investigation” of Zorro Ranch was shut in 2019.
Why?
DOJ demanded that New Mexico State Police transfer it to the FBI.
Instead of doing that, the state police shut it down.
Why?
It may have something to do with the influence of former two-term NM Governor Bill Richardson, who was accused by Virginia Giuffre of having sex with her (trafficked to Zorro Ranch by Epstein) when she was only 17 years old.
“Trump Ousts Kristi Noem from DHS” (WSJ)
Washington has seen its share of vanity projects, but nothing quite like the taxpayer-funded Kristi Noem Show—a swirl of glamorous of jet-setting optics and PR contractors.
As secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Noem turned the agency into a personal branding exercise.
A staggering $220 million advertising campaign featured the secretary herself urging migrants to self-deport, prompting bipartisan incredulity on Capitol Hill and reportedly angering President Trump into firing her.
“Trump says Kristi Noem lied to Congress about getting his approval for $220M ad campaign featuring herself” (NY Post)
Cabinet secretaries are supposed to run departments, not star in commercials—publicity that seems as if she was posturing herself to follow Donald Trump’s footsteps into the White House.
Directing that production: lover-boy Corey Lewandowski—a Svengali who never met a camera he didn’t want pointed at his client.
Within Department corridors, the pair were said to make little effort to conceal their relationship (despite both being married) or their unusual power arrangement: Lewandowski—a political hack—able to shape decisions that affected one of the largest security bureaucracies in the United States.
Lewandowksi, who led a reign of terror at DHS while serving as Noem’s de facto chief of staff, despite being an unpaid special government employee, is now likely out of a job at DHS.
One source said they “don’t know who would want him.”
“James Talarico wins Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate in Texas” (Axios)
A gentle way of saying…
JASMINE CROCKETT’S OUT!!!
(Praise the Lord.)
“Tim Walz’s face says it all as he’s grilled over Somali fraud ring: ‘Did you even prepare for this hearing?’” (Daily Mail)
“GOP lawmaker floats theory in heated hearing about why Kamala Harris chose him as VP” (Fox News)
“It’s been widely reported that in 2008, when Barack Obama was choosing his vice presidential candidate, he had three criteria. He wanted to make sure he picked someone that wasn’t as smart as him and had less talent and charisma and couldn’t possibly outshine him, so he picked Joe Biden,” Fallon said in the House Oversight Committee hearing.
“And then Joe Biden in 2020 used the exact same criteria,” Fallon continued. “He wanted to make sure he picked somebody that wasn’t as smart as him, had less talent and charisma, and wouldn’t outshine him, and he picked Kamala Harris.”
Fallon went on to say that in 2024, "I think it's very evident why Kamala Harris picked you."
“Steven Seagal’s Moscow Mansion Hits Market at Shocking Price” (imbd)
The property, located in Rublyovka, one of Russia’s most exclusive neighborhoods, is listed at £6.6 million. That’s nearly seven times what local real estate agents say it’s actually worth.
Which means Seagal’s property reflects his ultra-inflated ego.
An amazing few days—whew!
And you should too.