Mike

The Dirtbag Left

Posted on July 16, 2026 by Mike Leave a comment

Mucho kudos to Big John Fetterman for calling ’em like he sees ‘em, straight up, no chaser.

As the 2026 midterm elections get closer, there are plenty of scenarios to speculate about. Will traditional conventional wisdom win out and Republicans lose? Will the rapid takeover of the Democratic Party by Democratic Socialists announce their presence with multiple wins across the country? While most Democrats have a deer-in-the-headlights stare when they are asked about the party’s massive surge to the left, there is one who continues to call out his own party, regardless of what it may mean for him personally.

One of the biggest, and seemingly ongoing points of speculation comes in the form of Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA). Fetterman has repeatedly expressed concern about the party shift to the left, and, while he says he has “no plans” to leave the party, if it officially becomes the “anti-Israel” party, he’s done. Fetterman attended the Hill Nation Summit in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, where he stated:

“My long-term concern has been with the Democratic Party, as I am a member of that, is that our party is going to back away and turn their back to Israel. If our party ever becomes, and just makes it official, the anti-Israel party, that’s when I would leave because that’s been a moral clarity for me.”

Back in May, Fetterman penned an Op-Ed in The Washington Post, entitled, “I haven’t changed. Here’s what has.” In it, he wrote:

Though I was elected as a Democrat, I’m proud to serve all Pennsylvanians. It has become increasingly lonely to serve in that way, but I firmly believe it’s what is needed. My party cannot simply be the opposite of whatever President Donald Trump says. The president could come out for ice cream and lazy Sundays, and my party would suddenly hate them. Such pointless pile-ons and attacks are unproductive. The American people want us to work together to find solutions on issues they and our country face.

So, what are Fetterman’s “lines in the sand?”

Israel

Open borders

Party Toxicity

Anti-Trump reflex

Obstruction and government shutdowns

Defund the police

Lack of “working across the aisle”

Poor candidate vetting

Rejection of voter ID

Isn’t this basically the Democrats’ entire platform? Fetterman also mentioned support from people like Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), also a self-described Democratic Socialist, and his strong support for scandal-plagued former Maine Senatorial candidate Graham Platner, which, Fetterman said, made him “angry.” He also would not discuss what he referred to as “private conversations” with Republicans about leaving the Democratic Party, but in his Op-Ed, said he would become an independent first.

Given his positions on things like abortion, legalized marijuana, LGBT rights, and being pro-labor, Fetterman was refreshingly honest and concluded his Op-Ed saying, “I’d be a terrible Republican who still votes overwhelmingly with Democrats.” But at some point, will he sound like many from his own party, and even former President Ronald Reagan, also a former Democrat, and admit that, “I didn’t leave my party; my party left me”?

What John Fetterman looks like to me is a pretty typical old-school liberal Dem, a sincere patriot whose ideals and principles were totally mainstream before the party’s recent radical swerve to the extreme Left. It’s a damnable shame that he’s quite the rara avis these days, and it hurts the entire country that this should be so.

Memezapoppin’!Memezapoppin’!

Posted on July 15, 2026July 15, 2026 by Mike Leave a comment

Welcome to this week’s installment of our Wednesday meme feature, folks. Links to the “found via” sources will be attached to the specific MiQ’s (Memes in Question) whenever I can remember them, which likely won’t be very often. Only the first two memes will appear above the fold to save on bandwidth usage, since I assume not everybody who shows up at this here websty will want to see all of them. This intro will appear at the top of each week’s Memezapoppin’! post. Enjoy, funny-pitcher lovers.

Continue reading “Memezapoppin’!Memezapoppin’!“ →

Some things are transitory

Posted on July 14, 2026July 15, 2026 by Mike Leave a comment

Other things, however, will never change. The brutality, cruelty, and inherent, witless violence of Pisslam would definitely be in that category.

A Kiss in Indonesia and Its Aftermath Reveal the Heart and Soul of Islam
A kiss is still a kiss, as the old song goes, but in Indonesia’s Aceh province, it’s going to cost you. Not in terms of money, but in terms of the skin off your back. A young couple in Aceh just found that out after they shared a kiss on a TikTok stream, and found themselves hauled before a Sharia court and charged with violating the rules of modesty and the proper decorum that is to be maintained between an unmarried man and woman.

For that, they were each sentenced to 21 lashes, and the sentence was recently carried out before a gaping crowd of righteously indignant Sharia-adherent Muslims who know now never, ever to livestream a kiss. And so once again we see the true heart and soul of Islam: terror. While Muslim and non-Muslim Islamic apologists in the West continue to insist that the true Islam is benign and cuddly, and that terrorism is only a tiny minority of extremists’ “hijacking” of the religion, in reality, terror is at the very center of Islam. This latest caning in Aceh shows that anew.

The South China Morning Post reported Friday that “as each blow landed on their backs, the unnamed man, 22, and woman, 25, visibly grimaced. The woman later burst into tears, wailing in pain as the public punishment continued.” The Post noted that video of the canings had kicked up the usual firestorm: “It was far from the first such case to gain international attention and the response has become familiar: footage spreads online, rights groups condemn the punishment as inhumane and Aceh’s status as the Muslim-majority country’s sole sharia-enforcing province is thrust back into the spotlight.”

Yes indeed: “In a statement issued the same day as the flogging, Amnesty International said all forms of corporal punishment constituted torture or other ‘cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment,’ while its co-regional director, Montse Ferrer, called the caning of the couple ‘a horrifying act of discrimination.’”

In Aceh, however, they simply don’t care: “Nurjani, a 62-year-old housewife in Banda Aceh, said she supported caning because it ‘was about religion’ and in line with sharia law.” She explained: “If you do not do anything wrong, then there is nothing to fear. I support caning and I believe that if you lead your life in the right way and walk the right path, no one will question you.” Another Aceh resident, Muhammad Nasir, agreed, saying: “If someone is caned, it will be a lesson for them so that they do not do the same thing again. It has a physical element to it, but it is mostly social and designed to make the person ashamed of their crimes.”

Yes, and more than just ashamed: terrified. The caning is designed to make people afraid to violate Allah’s law again. People who have been caned in Indonesia have ended up collapsing and being hospitalized. If you don’t want to end up permanently injured, or at very least to suffer agonizing pain in front of a crowd that has gathered to watch you suffer, then don’t kiss a girl on TikTok.

This has nothing to do with virtue, the idea of choosing to do what is good because it is good. This is all about fear from the beginning to the end. The Qur’an tells Muslims to “strike terror in the enemies of Allah” (8:60), and lest any of Allah’s obedient slaves are tempted to violate his law and thus become his enemies as well, they get terrorized, too.

Every Westerner possessed of even a mere modicum of decency, compassion, and integrity is obligated to do everything he possibly can to aid in the destruction of Pisslam, one of the foulest, most fearful scourges ever to begrime our poor Earth.

The nightmarish blight that is Pisslam and all its evil works have been tolerated by the West for far, far too long now. We all know the score; without exception, every thinking person well knows deep in his heart what this vile pseudo-religion really is—what it intends, what it demands of its troglodytic followers, what wickedness and blood-drenched atrocities they gleefully commit, again and again, in its unholy name—yet in our disgraceful torpor, to our eternal shame we do nothing.

Pisslam must be obliterated, its loathsome adherents crushed until all that’s left is an unpleasant, rapidly-fading memory. Any lazy, gormless Westerner who keeps on puking forth one sad, sorry excuse after another for his political “leadership’s” flat refusal to take action to stanch the blood-dimmed tide of Mohammedanism—to foil the Musselman’s creeping, incremental conquest of all humanity—is guilty of de facto complicity in his own subjugation, and will reap the whirlwind he hath sown ere the end. I guar-on-gott-damn-TEE you he ain’t gonna enjoy it, either.

So there you have it, folks. We don’t have to like it, no…but we DO have to do it. There is no easy, fun, safe, pain-free option for us here. Success is by no means a sure thing, alas. Still; as the old saying goes: ROOT, HOG, OR DIE. Time’s nearly up; best get to it before what time we still do have expires completely.

Success story

Posted on July 14, 2026July 15, 2026 by Mike 3 Comments

It ain’t all that common, really, but there’s a fair number of bands with a similar backstory.

When Kansas got signed…
In 1974, Kansas had one shot to impress a record producer. The meeting was set in the tiny town of Ellinwood, Kansas – population around 800. They needed a full house. So they came up with a simple plan: offer free beer to everyone who came to the show. The room was packed. The energy was electric. And the producer (Don Kirshner) was impressed enough to sign them to a record deal.

A little free beer, a lot of loud music, and a career that was just getting started. Kirshner financed the band out of his own pocket through four albums. When they released ‘Carry on wayward son’, they finally hit gold and the rest is history. A version of the band still tours to this day…

Kinda reminds me just a smidge of a certain hit song from Ye Aulden Thymes.

Back when the BPs were on Miami-based Teen Rebel Records, I remember the owner/proprietor/sole employee of said label giving us the low-down on the inner workings of major-label A&R departments (Artists and Repertoire, ie the folks whose job it is to go out to shows; evaluate unsigned artists and/or their commercial potential, if any; and, ideally, arrange recording contracts for the likelier prospects).

According to our boy Teen Rebel Tony, A&R staff could be broken down into two basic types:

Those who have “the power of NO” (which is pretty much every single one of any given label’s employees)
The exalted few endowed with “the power of YES,” by which Tony meant those authorized to sign an artist entirely on their own initiative, without ever having to beg permission in advance or ask forgiveness later from anybody…well, at least until several of those independently-signed recording artists end up A) bombing badly with their first three (3) releases; B) slaughtering each other in the recording studio over some random, unfathomable dispute; C) becoming crackheads; or D) are caught in bed with one or more same-sex children

In plain words, then, the Category Twos are in effect the only folks in A&R who truly matter.

99 times out of a hundred, the “power of NO” types would notify you well in advance, with inordinate pridefulness and braggadocio, that they’d be coming to check out your show at Club Shithole on such and such a date. Said notification enabled them to luxuriate in feeling like Big Shots whom the band, the supporting act, the venue staff, and basically all and sundry within a five-mile radius would want to suck up to, buy drinks for, introduce their hot girlfriends to, shamelessly flatter, and other such-like industry inanities.

These useless pustules to be compared/contrasted to the “power of YES” people, who disdain to give any kind of notice at all, to anybody, of anything. In fact, you’d usually never even know they were in the joint unless/until they A) approached you after the show; B) introduced themselves and explained who they worked for, in what capacity and why they’d come; and C) expressed at least some interest, albeit slight, in offering you a contract with the label they work for.

Ironically enough, it’s the latter category of A&R rep, rather than the former, that the smart performer with knowledge and experience in such matters will be interested in schmoozing, flattering, and buying cocktails for. Tony also called these the “power of the pen” people—a somewhat more apt and directly descriptive appellation of who they are and what they do, perhaps.

In sum, then, the “power of NO” kids are basically popinjays, pricks, and douchetools. The “power of YES” guys, on the other hand, are professionals who take their roles, their industry, and their artists seriously, with no use for fumble-fucking around, preening, posturing, or obnoxious self-indulgence. Said pros are the crucial first step in the long, wearying slog of getting the music recorded, packaged, and released into the wider world—where it will then stumble or soar on wings the A&R rep provides.

A&R people are in the main unacknowledged and unheralded, even wholly unknown to the world outside of the music biz. Even so, they’re nonetheless bona fide heroes for all that, at least to those of us on the “talent” side of the business.

Understand: this is the old, traditional music industry we’re speaking of here. What with internet sales, streaming, and downloads dominating everything these days, the once-untrammeled power of the major labels such as Sony, Columbia, Epic, Atlantic, &c has diminished greatly, as have their profits, influence, and credibility. Which, if you think about it, would in turn make the job of the Category 2 A&R guy tougher than it’s ever been before.

Over lo, these many years, I’ve personally known far too many of the Cat One types, as well as far too few examples from Cat Two. It’s been years and years since I moved in those circles, alas; I can only wonder what became of them all, and where they are today.

Survey says

Posted on July 14, 2026July 14, 2026 by Mike 2 Comments

No more nor less than you would expect from a dyed-in-the-wool Enemedia outlet, that’s all.

CNBC survey mocked after top 10 ‘worst places to live’ are all red states
CNBC faced a wave of online mockery Monday after releasing its annual quality-of-life rankings, which exclusively placed conservative red states in all 10 spots of the “worst places to live” — even as official U.S. Census data shows some of those states are leading the nation in population growth.

Critics quickly took to social media to call out the outlet for what they alleged as blatant liberal bias embedded in its ranking criteria.

Counting down from the tenth-worst place to the first, CNBC ranked the bottom ten states as Arkansas, Oklahoma, Alabama, Missouri, Utah, Georgia, Louisiana, Indiana, Texas, and Tennessee.

All 10 states are Republican-led and voted for President Donald Trump in 2024.

“Shocking. All deep red, conservative states. But somehow California and New York — with the highest taxes in the country, insane cost of living, and endless progressive policies — didn’t crack the top 10?”

“This is correct. Please believe this. Tennessee is HORRIBLE. You definitely shouldn’t move here…,” conservative Newsmax contributor Chrissy Clark wrote with sarcasm.

The corporate media outlet took direct shots at local conservative legislation across the board.

Tennessee was dinged for the state’s “bathroom law” — which requires transgender individuals to use facilities corresponding with their biological sex at birth — as well as a law barring localities from passing their own local antidiscrimination ordinances.

The outlet also took aim at a joint resolution signed by Gov. Bill Lee this past April designating June as “Nuclear Family Month,” while also noting it had low rankings for crime and drug deaths.

Utah, ranked sixth-worst, was hit for its $7.25 minimum wage, low availability of childcare providers and air quality.

Georgia, the fifth-worst in the survey, was explicitly called out for offering “few protections for LGBTQ+ people, making it one of America’s least inclusive states.”

Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom immediately seized on the study, taking to X to point out that every single state on the list leaned red.

Quelle shock, said nobody at all. Left unmentioned by anyone involved here is why it might be that most if not all of these supposedly godawful states are seeing such YUGE surges of in-migration from Shitholistan cities/states like NYC, Shitcago, San Fran, Seattle, and LA, among lots of others. Could it be that those aforementioned transplants know something that the CNBC scribes don’t?

Update! Hawkins responds:

Yes, the worst places to live are where everyone is moving and the best places to live are actually the left-wing socialist states everyone is moving out of or something. pic.twitter.com/vxzUyJs5A4

— John Hawkins (@johnhawkinsrwn) July 12, 2026

Hey, great minds, right John? Heh.

Reality bites

Posted on July 14, 2026July 14, 2026 by Mike 3 Comments

Sucks to be you, cupcake.

Transgender American regrets fleeing to the Netherlands because all the Muslim migrants want to kill him
No, this is not a Babylon Bee story. This is real life.

It’s scary. It’s legitimately scary. I decided that my mental health is degrading so substantially being here that I just need to get out.

The situation I have in the U.S. as a trans person – not good, right? – but here I will be hurt or killed.

Best bit? Gotta be this right hyar (bold mine).

This interview took place in Ter Apel, a Dutch town with only 10,000 residents.

Like many small Western towns, the government has decided to fill Ter Apel with cultural enrichers – most of them military-aged Muslim men who love jihad.

Over 2,200 “refugees” now live at a center in the town – more than a quarter of the native population – putting residents in fear.

Hm. Sounds like somebody’s figured out the whole mishegas might actually be what you call one of them self-solving problems.

Y’know, I’ve read that historically, the Dutch were a pretty dang tough bunch. Having been to the Netherlands myself a time or two and mingled with a fair few of them over there, I can definitely tell you that ordinary, rank ‘n file Dutch folk ain’t at all happy with the Moslem immivasion foisted on them by their Ruling Class politicians.

Yeah, schwarma and falafel are pretty good, I like ’em both. But they ain’t worth the price you ultimately gotta pay to enjoy easy, regular access to them, I don’t think.

(Via Stephen Green)

Tax the rich

Posted on July 14, 2026 by Mike Leave a comment

Lose your shirt.

The Shocking Cost of New York’s ‘Tax the Rich’ Experiment Has Finally Been Exposed
New York has spent years aggressively taxing its wealthiest residents in the name of fairness, and the results are now in. Suffice it to say, they’re not pretty.

A new study released Monday by the Citizen Budget Commission (CBC) reveals the state’s share of America’s millionaires has dropped sharply since 2010, triggering a nearly $11 billion shortfall in tax revenue in a single year as high earners quietly packed up and left for lower-tax states.

The analysis shows New York’s share of millionaires fell from 12.7% in 2010 to just 8.7% in 2022 — the steepest decline of any state in the country.

As a direct result, personal income tax collections in 2022 alone were roughly $10.7 billion lower than they otherwise would have been if they had maintained their share of the wealthy folks. The study makes clear that the people leaving pay a disproportionately large share of state taxes, creating a painful hole in the budget that affects everything from public services to infrastructure funding.

This represents tangible evidence that the “tax the rich” mantra does not yield higher revenue to subsequently spend on public services for lower-income families or improve general infrastructure. It is actually taking money away from the state and those residents who might benefit.

Taxing the rich is a platform for the economically illiterate. Unfortunately for the Empire State, the economically illiterate hold significant positions in government.

Not to mention the 80-90% of NY’s population who are also “economically illiterate” their own selves.

Shut ’em down, Marco!

Posted on July 13, 2026July 13, 2026 by Mike 2 Comments

Yes, yes, a thousand times yes.

“Independence is our birthright. We don’t intend to trade it for rule by a self-appointed priesthood of ‘international law.'”—Marco Rubio

The International Criminal Court (ICC) is going down. At least, it is if Secretary of State Marco Rubio has anything to do with it.

“Most of us would struggle to imagine a world in which U.S. soldiers, police officers, Border Patrol agents, and elected leaders could be dragged before an international court, tried by judges from random countries across the globe, found guilty under international laws we neither consent to nor control, and then imprisoned thousands of miles from America,” Rubio wrote in an op-ed that appeared in the Wall Street Journal on Monday. “But that is what the International Criminal Court now claims the power to do.”

If you’re unfamiliar, the ICC, which is located in The Hague, Netherlands, was established in 2002 under the Rome Statute to handle the absolute worst crimes in the world, like genocide. It claims it can investigate people of any nation if it feels their own government won’t, and the United States has never bought into this ridiculous idea that is simply a globalist slippery slope.

“Both of our major political parties opposed the prospect of handing a distant global court the power to prosecute and jail our own citizens,” Rubio writes. “President Clinton refused to submit the Rome Statute (the ICC’s founding charter) to the Senate for ratification due to his ‘concerns about significant flaws in the Treaty.’ Two years later, a bipartisan Senate supermajority passed the American Servicemembers’ Protection Act, authorizing the president ‘to use all means necessary’—including military force—to prevent the ICC from detaining or arresting Americans.”

I was vehemently opposed to it myself back then, which opposition led me to compose one of my most popular CF parodies ever: ICC and the Dark Lord, ostensibly a Grauniad report on Frodo Baggins being tried at the ICC for wantonly destroying the One Ring.

Frodo Baggins of Bagshot Row, Hobbiton, The Shire, Middle Earth, has been called before the International Criminal Court to answer charges of war crimes brought by Sauron the Dark Lord and Saruman the White in a joint filing.

Baggins refused comment on the matter from his home at Bag End, simply moaning and holding his head. But his former valet and gardener (now mayor of Hobbiton) Samwise Gamgee spoke with reporters from his “bit of garden,” saying that “you people ought to know better, coming here bothering my master and trampling my taters and all. This is just about the dumbest thing I’ve heard of since Master Merry and Master Pippin started up that Broadway show of theirs. That didn’t work out so well, either, but all’s well as ends better, as my Gaffer used to say.” Gamgee was referring to the spectacular failure of “Mount Doom – the Musical,” which debuted on Broadway last year and closed the same night, bankrupting its producers and principal investors Meriadoc Brandybuck of Buckland and Peregrine Took of the Tookland, both in the Shire.

The charges brought by Sauron and Saruman are serious and were commented on at length by the Dark Lord himself at a press conference held after he delivered the formal papers to the Court. As a full signatory to the Court’s original charter, Sauron is legally entitled to bring charges before the Court, and the Court’s decision will be binding on Mr. Baggins, per the charter establishing the authority of the Court over the entire world, whether the particular defendant lives in a member country or not. The Shire has repeatedly refused to ratify a proposal to join the Court; the proposal has languished in the legislature, bogged down by stalling tactics employed by right-wing and unilateralist legislators intent on blocking it. Gondor and Rohan have likewise not joined the ICC, for similar obstructionist reasons.

Heh. I slay me.

Was he or wasn’t he?

Posted on July 13, 2026July 13, 2026 by Mike 4 Comments

Only his hairdresser knows for sure.

The (Pink) Elephant in the Room: Why the Whisper Campaign About Lindsey Graham’s Sex Life Matters
I worked in South Carolina talk radio in the early 2000s. (Shout out to 1250 WTMA, “Your news-talk leader in the Low Country.”) At the time, the sexual escapades of South Carolina politicians were fodder for gleeful gossip — especially our nonagenarian senior senator, Strom Thurmond. More than one Capitol Hill staffer told me his behind-the-scenes nickname was “Spermin’ Thurmond” — and his eye for (much younger) ladies was the stuff of legend.

This was a few years before Lindsey Graham became a senator. Back then, he was still just a congressman, but everyone in South Carolina already knew who he was.

Rep. Graham was an ascending superstar; his political talents were obvious. From pressing the case in President Bill Clinton’s impeachment trial to his (nonstop) visits to TV studios, Graham was inescapable.

As were the rumors that followed him.

Because I certainly heard them. WTMA’s reporters heard them. Our audience heard them.

It was an open secret: Lindsey Graham was gay, but he stayed in the closet to protect his political career.

Yet despite this rumor’s enduring popularity, it’s entirely possible it wasn’t true at all. Who knows for sure?

But Lindsey Graham stayed scandal-free. He never embarrassed his supporters.

Not even once.

His body is still warm, but some very nasty allegations are already being aired.

Of course, it’s also possible that these allegations are bull[expletive]. It’s easy to lie about someone when they’re not around to defend themselves.

Still, the contrast between the Republican Party and the Democratic Party is glaring. For all the talk of the GOP’s “homophobia” and “closed-minded Christian morality,” Sen. Graham was welcomed into the Republican Party with open arms. He was so welcomed that he confidently ran for president in 2016.

He was treated as an individual — instead of as a cardboard cutout for a preassigned special interest group.

Sen. Graham carved his own identity as a military hawk, an unapologetic interventionist, and a global champion of freedom. If you were an ally of America, Graham would defend you until his dying breath.

And now, he’s gone. But he won’t be forgotten.

That’s safe enough to say, I reckon. Gay or no, he was indeed one of a kind; there never was any sort of template or mold to force-fit him into. He went his own way always, which you gotta respect.

Update! Sen Graham’s fill-in replacement has been named.

We now know who will replace the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who suddenly passed away over the weekend. Gov. Henry McMaster (R-S.C.) appointed Darline Graham Nordone, the late senator’s younger sister, to take his place in the Senate until the election in November.

“Lindsey has always been there for me, and now I will be there for him,” Nordone told reporters at a press conference with McMaster on Monday afternoon. “It is such a privilege to get to finish some of his important work, and I promise to work hard over the next several months to support the president and carry forward the efforts of my brother on behalf of the citizens of South Carolina and the United States.”

“To Lindsey, I miss you more than I can even put into words,” she added. “But I’m going to do this. I got it.”

Of course, Nordone’s name came up when President Donald Trump suggested that McMaster nominate her in a post on Truth Social: “I recommended, to Governor Henry McMaster, Lindsey Graham’s wonderful sister, Darline, to serve as interim Senator from the Great State of South Carolina. This would be a fabulous tribute to Lindsey, who loved her dearly! President DONALD J. TRUMP”

Pretty unequivocal endorsement, woontchasay?

Iran Prez Mahmoud Ahmajihadi: Israeli spy…?

Posted on July 13, 2026July 13, 2026 by Mike Leave a comment

Ace brings us the deets of an extremely intriguing, if unexpected and wildly improbable, tale.

A rector from the University of Budapest sent an invitation to Ahmadinejad to attend a “climate change” conference. His hope was to get him close to Israeli delegates so that they could talk and maybe eventually broker a peace treaty.

The yearslong effort to groom the former Iranian president as an intelligence asset culminated in a dramatic effort to take him to an Israeli safe house in the early days of the war. But the plan fell apart.

Mr. Ahmadinejad’s 2024 visit to the university and a second one the following year were part of a yearslong Israeli effort to groom him as an intelligence asset who, when the time came, could be installed as Iran’s new leader, according to both American and Iranian officials familiar with the operation, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe sensitive intelligence.

Recruiting Mr. Ahmadinejad was of such priority for Israel that the country’s then-spy chief David Barnea even traveled to the Hungarian capital in 2024 to meet with Mr. Ahmadinejad personally, according to former American officials. Soon afterward, they said, Mossad, Israel’s foreign intelligence service, notified the C.I.A. that it had been in contact with Mr. Ahmadinejad.

Israel’s decision to build a regime-change plan around Mr. Ahmadinejad is an extraordinary twist in the saga of the country’s relations with the former president, who was known for accelerating Iran’s nuclear program, calling regularly for the destruction of Israel and denying the Holocaust.

In recent years, according to American officials, Israel secretly paid money to Mr. Ahmadinejad for housing and travel, and Israeli operatives met him abroad on several occasions, including during his trips to Budapest.

The effort culminated in late February of this year — during the first days of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran — with an audacious operation to relocate the former leader, who had been living under strict surveillance in Tehran. The goal: to set in motion the plan to topple the current regime and install Mr. Ahmadinejad.

The plan failed.

On Feb. 28, an Israeli airstrike hit Mr. Ahmadinejad’s compound, targeting the building of his bodyguards and his armored vehicle. After the strike, according to four senior Iranian officials, a black Peugeot car arrived, picked up Mr. Ahmadinejad and whisked him away at high speed from the chaotic scene.

American and Iranian officials with knowledge of the operation said the car had been driven by Mossad operatives, who took Mr. Ahmadinejad to a secret safe house in Iran.

But the former Iranian leader was upset about the frantic rescue operation, and he appeared to be disillusioned about the Israeli plan to return him to power, according to people with knowledge of what occurred.

He eventually left the safe house under circumstances that are still unclear. Mr. Ahmadinejad was not seen in public again until last Monday, when he made a brief appearance at the funeral procession for the slain supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

His current status remains uncertain. But four senior Iranian officials said that Mr. Ahmadinejad was in the custody of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ intelligence wing, under house arrest now that Iran has learned about much of his interactions with Israel.

A key part of the plan was that Kurdish Iranians would march on Tehran.

But, as Trump lamented months ago, that never happened. That was supposed to be the ground element which is absolutely essential in actually winning a war.

The story continues from there, and it’s all fascinating stuff.

Sen Tim Scott, class act

Posted on July 13, 2026July 13, 2026 by Mike 2 Comments

Shitlibs, take note. Not that you ever will, natch.

Watch: Friend and Fellow SC Sen. Tim Scott Sends Off Lindsey Graham With Lovely In Memoriam
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina was one of those members of Congress you figured would live forever, like the late Sen. Bob Dole of Kansas or someone else of that generation of elder statemen in the GOP. It seems like he’s always been around Washington to this Gen Xer. But as readers likely know, he passed away on Sunday at age 71 after a brief, sudden illness. (Later in the day, we got a little more information on Graham’s death, in case you missed it.)

Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) appeared on CNN’s State of the Union program on Sunday morning, in part to send off his fellow SC senator – and friend – with a beautiful and poignant in memoriam. It’s worth watching in full, but I’ll share some excerpts below.

Vidya at the link, excerpts from Scott’s segment below.

…[O]ne of the most important stories about Lindsey Graham is that, when I was a new senator, he welcomed me in.

He knew that my path was different. He understood the power of change in South Carolina and how much our state had changed. But he was one of the first folks in the Senate to welcome me in with open arms. And I will say that I do a South Carolina prayer breakfast there every year in D.C.

And I called Lindsey the first time. And Lindsey says: “Tim, if this thing starts before 10:00 a.m., I’m not coming, because I’m not going even if Jesus comes back before 10:00 a.m.”

And I just laughed out loud, and, of course, it started at 8:30. And he [sic] walked in the door at 8:31? Lindsey Graham. He was just the kind of committed person that you don’t really appreciate how much — how committed he was to America.

Because of the pain of his past, his father dying of a massive heart attack at I think it was 69 years old, his mother dying of cancer, Lindsey Graham had a passion for so many of the important issues around cancer research and around taking care of people.

He didn’t want anyone to feel invisible in his presence. And he used levity and wit to help people go through really hard times. And I got to tell you, it’s just a devastating loss for our state of South Carolina, and, frankly, for me as an individual.

Scott goes on from there to discuss Graham’s relationship with Trump, which was quite rocky in the beginning but later matured into a very cordial friendship as…go on, take a wild guess…uhhh, GOLF BUDDIES?!?

…[A] lot of times, friendships happen not at a kitchen table, not, frankly, in the Oval Office, but, for them, it happened on the golf course. And these two guys loved golf. I think Lindsey would say, the president wins more than I do, but he played pretty aggressively against the president.

And I think it was that competitive spirit that they both loved and admired about each other. And Lindsey was super smart and witty. He had the ability to make you laugh, but he was making a point in the midst of it.

And President Trump really understood that, and their relationship over the next 10 years, so to speak, from the time they were running against each other, became something that Lindsey could count on, and President Trump could count on too.

I can tell you, they played golf together more than any two other folks in public office at any time of, I think, in history.

Well, whatever floats your boat, I suppose. Good for them.

Update! Another eulogy from Kruiser:

Lindsey Graham is the man who launched a thousand opinions. Nobody was neutral when it came to Graham, which I think is one of the highest compliments that anyone can receive. You could find the full gamut of opinions among just Republicans. He could be infuriating at times, then he could be the GOP pitbull that you needed to send after the Democrats.

I Will freely admit that I never much cared for the guy, by and large considered him just another all-sizzle-no-steak Vichy GOPe blowhard, and didn’t hold back on ripping him to kibble and/or bits here many times over the years. Then again, though, there was his stellar performance during the Kavanaugh dustup:

Graham was absolutely on fire during the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation hearings in the summer of 2018. The Democrats were frothing at the mouth with their “Believe All Women” nonsense, and Graham was having none of it. At one point, he refused to yield his time and UNLOADED on the Democrats.

Matt wrote about it in detail and summed it up well here:

Make no mistake about it, Graham aimed that speech at three audiences at once. President Trump was watching, and Trump responds to the fighters. Undecided Republican senators needed cover after Ford’s performance rattled the room. The American public needed someone to say out loud what everyone on the right was thinking.

It worked. Kavanaugh’s odds of confirmation had been sinking before Graham spoke. Afterward, it looked like he had a chance again, and sure enough, he ended up on the Supreme Court. Graham deserves as much credit as anyone for that outcome.

I remember exactly what it felt like watching that hearing live: Kavanaugh looked cooked, and then, in less than five minutes, Graham changed everything. He stopped Democrats from smearing a good man out of a seat he’d earned.

Whatever misgivings any Republicans may have had about Lindsey Graham prior to that vanished right then. As Matt said, it was his “greatest moment.”

I don’t expect to have to agree with any politician all of the time. It was easy to overlook any disagreements I had with Graham after that, because the wave of goodwill he was riding after the Kavanaugh confirmation was so big. I remember how spitting mad that I was back then, and the “HELL YEAH!” feeling after Graham teed off on the thoroughly evil Democrats.

Greatly to his credit, for sure and certain. Godspeed, Sen Graham.

The way things is

Posted on July 13, 2026 by Mike Leave a comment

Our old chums over at Flopping Aces lay it all out for us.

America’s ruling class has performed another miracle.

They took the most basic truths in human civilization … crime needs punishment, borders need enforcement, schools should teach, welfare should be temporary, families matter, merit matters, and taxpayers should not be looted by professional parasites … and somehow rebranded all of that as “extremism.”

Incredible work, really.

Apparently, a “compassionate” society is one where the violent repeat offender gets another chance, the victim gets a candlelight vigil, the taxpayer gets the bill, the schoolkid gets passed along illiterate, the fraudster gets a grant, the NGO gets another contract, the illegal alien gets services, and the working American gets told to shut up and be more inclusive.

What a beautiful system.

Soft justice did not stay in the courtroom. It metastasized. It became soft borders, soft schools, soft parenting, soft welfare, soft standards, soft men, and soft bureaucrats explaining why every obvious solution is “too harsh.”

Lock up predators? Cruel.
Deport illegals? Hateful.
End generational welfare? Lacking empathy.
Punish fraud? Complicated.
Restore merit? Problematic.
Teach kids to read? Probably colonialism by Tuesday.

A serious country protects the innocent from the guilty. A decaying country protects the guilty from consequences and makes the innocent finance the experiment.

That’s America’s real crisis.

Not poverty. Not “root causes.” Not another fake expert panel.

Consequences.

We stopped imposing them on the people destroying the country, so now the country imposes them on everyone else.

That’s merely the Twitter/X-cerpt from the full, somewhat lengthier article, findable here and eminently worth your while.

Jagger to Springstein: shut up and “sing!”

Posted on July 13, 2026 by Mike Leave a comment

Love him or hate him, he’s right, and you damned well know he is.

Mick Jagger Just Said What Millions of Concertgoers Have Been Thinking
Mick Jagger has spent over 60 years commanding stages, reading crowds, and understanding why people leave home to hear live music.

His conclusion isn’t complicated: Fans came to escape their problems, enjoy the music, and have fund.

They didn’t buy tickets to hear lectures.

Asked about Bruce Springsteen’s habit of attacking President Donald Trump from the stage, Jagger said performers shouldn’t preach to their audience. A Rolling Stones concert should let people forget their mortgages, work pressure, and daily troubles for a few hours.

While I do certainly get the concept of artistic expression’s potential for changing minds, provoking thought, and, ultimately, moving mountains, I also have no patience whatever with entertainers possessed of a certain ideological bent indulging the presumptuous assumption that I’ll ever be willing to sit still for a political lecture from them during a rock and roll show. Sorry, O Great Gazoo, but…NO.

Jagger’s point is sharp because he doesn’t demand political silence from musicians. Songs have carried social and political messages for generations.

He draws the line at turning a paid performance into a speech delivered to people who can’t respond without abandoning seats that may have cost hundreds of dollars.

Springsteen repeatedly crossed that line during his Land of Hope and Dreams tour. He called Trump “reckless, racist, incompetent, and treasonous” and accused his administration of destroying the American idea.

And the beat goes on:

Fans who arrived expecting “Born to Run” also received several minutes of Bruce Springsteen’s keen political analysis.

After all, for the previous many decades, Springsteen has lived among the unwashed, uneducated, and unwitting yocals, listening to us everyday Americans struggle through life.

Pfft!

Of course, he has every right to hold those (überliberal) beliefs and express them. Fans also have every right to wonder why they paid premium prices to hear opinions available free on television, podcasts, and social media.

Some 2026 Springsteen tickets started near $200 for New York shows. Other markets saw resale prices climb far higher, depending on the date and seat. At those prices, promoters might consider adding a warning besides “limited view” and “service fees”; tickets include political commentary whether requested or not.

Of course, it must also be mentioned that any Springstein-licker willing to pony up for said exorbitantly-priced tickets not only well knows beforehand that lectures, Leftard hectoring, and Wokester sermonizing all come along with the price of admission, but also most likely approve wholeheartedly of the opinions they’ll hear their third-rate idol express between BROOOOOOCE! groaning out the tuneless medley of hit “songs.” Such low-IQ refugees from a Pavlov behavioral-science experiment are far more likely to be singing along with every grunt, belch, and incoherent mumble—clenched fists waving and tears streaming down their stubbly cheeks—than to be annoyed and insulted by all the t’ween-songs speechifying.

Personally, I’d rather go to Dearbornistan and sit, shackled and chained to my chair, through a three-hour recording of the Mooselimb call to prayer at high volume than be subjected to “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out” yet another gott-damned time. But hey, that’s probably just me, right?

Q: Can the no-referee, no holds barred Death Match inside the traditional padlocked 30-foot cage featuring the Mickster and the aging, addled ex-Boss be very long in coming? Will said match be viewable gratis on a regularly-scheduled WWE broadcast, or will it be a PPV exclusive? Enquiring minds want to know, McMahon.

Famous flyboys of Star Trek

Posted on July 12, 2026July 12, 2026 by Mike Leave a comment

Never knew this about Roddenberry, but the story of Worf’s aviation addiction I’ve red of before.

From the Star Trek Set to Flying Jets
In his high school days, Gene Roddenberry borrowed a copy of Astounding Stories from one of his classmates. This was to become the start of Roddenberry’s fascination with science fiction.

Not many people know that Roddenberry, the creator of Star Trek, started his career as a military pilot flying 89 combat missions on the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress. During his military career, he was involved in two aircraft crashes and was awarded the Air Medal and the

Distinguished Flying Cross
It was in the South Pacific where he first started writing, selling stories to flying magazines, and later poetry to publications such as The New York Times. Upon leaving the military Roddenberry joined Pan-Am, flying long-haul on the Clipper Eclipse for four years. One day he was deadheading on a Lockheed L-049 Constellation when his plane experienced an engine failure and subsequent fire.

Crashing in the Syrian Desert with 36 people on board, seven crew members and eight passengers were killed in the crash, and Roddenberry, aged 25 years old at the time, was the ranking surviving flight officer.

Taking command of the situation, he was credited with saving the lives of the remaining passengers and facilitating their rescue. After this event he resigned and began writing for television, and Star Trek was born.

Now to that half-breed Klingon bastige.

Acting in Star Trek Leads to Aviation
Fast forward a few years to the second Star Trek series, ‘The Next Generation’ and we get to the star of our story, Michael Dorn who plays Worf, the first Klingon to serve in Starfleet.

Dorn’s Worf would become a fixture on the show, appearing in 175 episodes of ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’ between 1987 and 1994, and in 102 episodes of ‘Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’ between 1993 and 1999.

He appeared on the big screen in ‘Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country’ (1991), ‘Star Trek: Generations’ (1994), ‘Star Trek: First Contact’ (1996), ‘Star Trek: Insurrection’ (1998) and ‘Star Trek: Nemesis’ (2002). As Worf, Dorn appeared onscreen in more Star Trek episodes and movies as the same character than anyone else. He recently reprised the role of Worf in Season 3 of Star Trek Picard.

Dorn had always had a fascination with aviation, leading him to many air shows and a collection of years’ worth of Air Classics Magazines. In 1988, Greg Benson, a friend who worked on the show with him, suggested he take up flying. This coincided with a writers’ strike, giving him a five month break from the show, so Dorn contacted Gunnell Aviation at Santa Monica Airport to work towards his license.

His journey into flying began the same way many do, in a Cessna C172. He still recalls the nerves he felt ahead of his first solo flight. “You pull over to the side, [the instructor] gets out, and he says, ‘OK, take it around’.

“I got to the end of the runway and was getting ready to take off, and I thought to myself, ‘OK, Mr Big Talk, you wanted to learn how to fly. Let’s see what you can do’.

“I was nervous the whole time until I came around and landed. After that first landing, it was just like one of those things where you say, ‘OK, I can do this’. I just kept going around and around. In fact, they had to tell me to stop.”

Then, one day, he got a phone call inviting him to fly with the Blue Angels. They had contacted Woody Harrelson from ‘Cheers’ to go down and do one of their media flights, and he had bailed at the last minute. Somebody had told them Dorn flew and they called him.

Dorn really enjoyed his flight with the Blue Angels, and, realizing it was possible to own an ex-military jet, he started down an adventurous and rewarding new path.

He damned sure did at that, living the dream via owning, among quite a few others, a YT3 Shooting Star, a Cessna Citation 501SP business jet, and the crown jewel of his collection: this gorgeous F86 Sabre.

From where I sit, Dorn looks to be one hellaciously lucky sumbitch.

Gracias, mucho gracias

Posted on July 11, 2026 by Mike Leave a comment

Most humble thanks to esteemed author and former Frogman Matt Bracken, for kindly including the Eyrie in his Substack “Recommended by…” section. I’ve glommed so many new Eyrie subscribers off Matt’s recommendation, I don’t have even a vague idea of how many of them there’s been. But It’s a crap-ton, I do know that much; like, ten or more per day, every dang day. Thanks again to ya, Matt.

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