This was published in Santa Barbara Current.
“Russia is providing Iran intelligence to target U.S. forces” (Washington Post)
Very un-intelligent of Russia, not least because their “intelligence” changes nothing.
Plus this kind of fruitless meddling will not sit well with Trump, who may finally grasp that Mad Vlad is not his buddy—a realization that hopefully bodes well for Ukraine.
Far from intelligence, this is Russian stupidity—and token at best.
“Putin and Iran’s Pezeshkian Hold Phone Call as Middle East War Escalates” (Moscow Times)
“Iran rains down missiles across Middle East in latest wave of retaliatory attacks as Israel mounts new ‘broad scale’ strikes on Tehran after Trump warned regime must ‘surrender or die’” (Daily Mail)
The last hurrah of a desperate regime: Piss off every other country in the neighborhood.
“Intel report warns large-scale war ‘unlikely’ to oust Iran’s regime” (WaPo)
It doesn’t matter.
Decimating the regime’s navy, air force, missiles, launchers, drones, radar systems, nuclear facilities, IRGC and secret police compounds is good enough to ease their 47-year “Death to America” threat and lay the groundwork for a popular uprising.
After that: Thanks for the memories—maybe see you again next year!
Sure, support the Kurds for a boots-on-the-ground invasion if they’re up for it.
But otherwise, adios, amigo (aside from managing a continued oil flow through the Strait of Hormuz).
“Senior Iranian leader issues chilling warning to Trump following continued US-Israeli air strikes: ‘He must pay the price’” (California Post)
This would be Ali Larjani—secretary general of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (a.k.a. Dead Man Walking).
I like Ali Larter better…
“Cuba will fall soon, says Trump” (The Telegraph)
Another regime that should have been taken out decades ago. Say, in 1961—which might have saved JFK’s life.
Time for Cubans to breathe again after generations under an oppressive Communist Party. And for American criminals to no longer roam free in a safe haven under the guise of “political asylum.”
“The Prince of Monaco, secret dossiers and a ‘Stalin-like purge’” (Sunday Times)
Cry me a friggin’ waterfall.
This piece is largely about Thierry Lacoste, the disgraced ex-personal lawyer to Prince Albert, who now postures himself as a victim.
The man who once told me…
…now wails about being “betrayed with a capital B” and that “the prince is now surrounded by dishonest people.”
None more dishonest than Lacoste himself, who tried to terminate Albert’s intelligence service after learning it had uncovered evidence of his corrupt dirty dealing (in cahoots with Palace accountant Claude Palmero) on a huge Monaco real estate deal.
Read about it in…
The Spymaster of Monte Carlo, Amazon
Publication: 19 March
“Epstein prison guard googled him minutes before body found — and made mysterious deposit before pedophile’s suicide” (NY Post)
Looks to me like prison guard Tova Noel is not only corrupt—she’s also a moron.
She gets paid five grand in cash (presumably to make herself scarce the night Epstein is murdered) and deposits it ten days beforehand. Then she Googles “latest on Epstein in jail” at 5:42 a.m. and again at 5:52 a.m., apparently checking to see if the deed was done and she could return to her post.
“Caretaker couple who ran Epstein’s island and his ‘human experiments’ Zorro Ranch vanished... now our investigation uncovers dark secrets - and staggering sum they got in his will” (Daily Mail)
Zorro Ranch sits in the New Mexico desert like a forgotten crime scene the size of a small country.
For nearly three decades Jeffrey Epstein used the property as a private playground—a sprawling compound with its own airstrip, guest houses, and enough acreage to keep curiosity comfortably at bay. Survivors say abuse happened there. Guests came and went. Yet somehow the place remained one of the least investigated addresses in the Epstein universe.
Enter Brice and Karen Gordon.
The New Zealand couple served as caretakers of the ranch—the people who kept the lights on, the gates closed, and the machinery of the estate running smoothly. In any normal criminal inquiry, the individuals responsible for managing a suspect’s property would be among the first people investigators speak with at length.
Yet for years they have drifted through the story like supporting characters who somehow never had to take the witness stand.
Which raises the obvious question:
How does a compound of this size—allegedly hosting victims, high-profile visitors, and operations tied to one of the most notorious sex-trafficking rings in modern history—remain effectively untouched by investigators while its owner was alive?
Or even after he was murdered?
The official answer has always been bureaucratic fog: jurisdictional confusion, federal investigations elsewhere, prosecutors avoiding “parallel cases.”
Translation: nobody wanted to open that particular door.
Why not?
Now, years after Epstein’s conveniently timed death, lawmakers in New Mexico are finally attempting to reconstruct what happened out there in the desert.
But time has a way of erasing evidence.
Witnesses move. Memories fade.
That’s what elites always count on.
Meanwhile, the Gordons, the staff, the guests—all of them hold fragments of a story that should have been assembled long ago.
Instead, Zorro Ranch remains what it has always been:
A very large piece of land sitting quietly in the desert.
And the most under-examined crime scene in America.
“Netflix dumps Meghan Markle in latest blow to troubled As Ever brand” (NY Post)
“Her show did not go on so it did not make sense to continue the partnership,” an industry source exclusively told Page Six.
It never made sense to start the partnership.
Call it what is was: Royal pandering.
And fresh from Blighty…
“Flying Union Jacks on lampposts dubbed ‘tool of hate’ in leaked Labour cohesion strategy document” (GB News)
Yup, sounds like Keir Starmer’s. Ashamed of their own flag. (Reminds me of the Biden Administration.)
It appears to have upset funnyman John Cleese (who’s not laughing)…
“As war rages in Iran, woke MoD asks troops: ‘Guys, do you want to wear make-up and nail polish?’” (Daily Mail)
Yup, it’s Biden time in Britain.
“Trump tells Starmer: We don’t need your aircraft carriers” (The Telegraph)
US president says he will remember lack of support from ‘our once Great Ally’ for war he’s ‘already won’
Earlier, Trump said, “This is not Winston Churchill we're dealing with.”
And finally…
Montecito: other side of the tracks…
What a week—whew!
And you should too.