Believe it or Else

Today’s Strange Weather in the South

Posted on January 25, 2026 by Barry Leave a comment

Well, after some 65 years of weather study*, I see something that I don’t recall ever seeing before. Normally we expect the coldest weather in the mountains in western NC / eastern Tennessee. Notice in the hot off the press that temperatures east and west of the Appalachians are lower than in the mountains.

Odd!

*begining at age 7 (1960) when I tied a stool in the top of a pine tree in order to have a nice seat for my weather observations. I had on hand there a thermometer, barometer, weather vane for wind direction, and a funky hygrometer for humidity (catgut as I recall)

Ever-shifting shitib opinions, values, and mores

Posted on January 17, 2026 by Mike 2 Comments

First, this happened (bold mine).

Curtis Houck
@CurtisHouck

Jim Acosta: “[JD Vance is] the future of MAGA. It is a — a — it is a fascist, authoritarian, white nationalist MAGA.”

Jennifer Welch: “It’s worse than Trump.”

Acosta: “It is worse than Trump.”

Welch: “He’s worse.”

Acosta: “It’s Trump with staying power. You know, Trump, the other day is, you know, he’s — he’s — he’s asking, am I gonna go to heaven? Am I gonna go to heaven?”

Welch: “Yeah.”

Acosta: “It must be dawning on him that the sand in — in Dorothy’s hourglass is running out, you know, in the Wizard of Oz.”

Welch: “The curtains are closing.”

Acosta: “The curtains are closing. JD Vance doesn’t have to worry about that. This whole crew of guys who are going to try to come in after it, they’re — they’re not worried about that. The American people have to show that movement the door. I’m not talking about — Republican presidents want to come in, and act like Mitt Romney and — and — and folks like that —”

Welch: “Right.”

Acosta: “— everybody can deal with that. Everybody can stomach that. If — if Mitt Romney had been president instead of Donald Trump in 2016, you and I probably wouldn’t be talking right now —”

Welch: “That’s right.”

Acosta: “— because you — you know, Jen, you’d be down in Oklahoma enjoying your life”

Welch: “Instead of doing interior design, yeah.”

A pair of half-assed, half-baked Leftard bullshit artists, these two. Remember back when Mittens Romneycare was himself a demonic Hitlerite spawned in the hottest pits of Hell, anyone? Nah, me neither.

Mitt Romney is owed an apology for how he was attacked in 2012. He’s unlikely to get it
“Romney didn’t win, did he?”

That was former Senate Democratic majority leader Harry Reid’s response to whether he regretted lying about then-GOP presidential nominee — and now Utah senator — Mitt Romney.

Reid accused Romney on the Senate floor in 2012, when he was running for president, of not having paid any taxes in four years. It was absolutely untrue and was discredited by Washington Post fact-checkers and others at the time. But that didn’t stop the onslaught of unfair and inaccurate accusations and innuendos.

The Mitt Romney who ran for president in 2012 went on to vote for conviction in President Trump’s impeachment trial. And that same Romney became the first known Republican senator to march with the George Floyd protesters over the weekend.

You remember 2012, right? That was the year of the last presidential election before Donald Trump’s victory. And the way liberals attacked Romney’s presidential campaign on opinion pages of newspapers, news broadcasts and in the media echo chamber of blue check-mark Twitter, has a lot to do with how the next election went — and how this one will go. Their treatment of Romney was an inflection point for many on the right.

It’s straight out of the Left/lib/Progtard playbook: any and everyone not a flaming, Red-in-tooth-and-claw Leftist who dares to run for office against a sheep-dipped Woketer revolutionary will be duly vilified, defamed, and slandered outrageously right up until the next cloven-hoofed GOPe “rising star” emerges, at which juncture the previous Two Minutes’ Hate target will be miraculously rehabilitated as perhaps misguided, but in the main a decent, fair-minded centrist.

You keep using that word, law-abiding

Posted on January 16, 2026January 16, 2026 by Mike 2 Comments

I do not think that it means what you think it means.

If law-abiding Minnesotans were actually being thrown to the ground, detained, pepper-sprayed, and threatened, I would agree with you.

But these are not law-abiding Minnesotans. Not a single one.

— Cynical Publius (@CynicalPublius)

January 16, 2026

Via Insty.

The most dangerous job

Posted on January 16, 2026January 16, 2026 by Mike Leave a comment

If ever I’ve seen the ultimate justification for a lightning-fast mag dump, this lumbering Cape Buffalo provides it in spades here.

We were told body cams would show police “racism”, or something of the sort

Instead they show officers calmly issuing the same reasonable orders dozens of times, and then being attacked anyway by some of the worst people on earth, and forced to defend themselves https://t.co/g9yaRzP6Xk pic.twitter.com/rt3sCNehxM

— Will Tanner (@Will_Tanner_1)

January 10, 2026

*shudder* I’d certainly want to be packing something a lot more hefty, a damned sight more brawny, than that itty-bitty little ole Glock to drop that stampeding wildebeest.

2

2026 is the Payoff Year…

Posted on January 11, 2026 by Barry

Just one year under Trump has done the following:

Fixed a stalling economy on a downward spiral. That bad economy is not an accident or due to some misfortune, it is the plan of the left to destroy America. The fix is fairly simple, just adhere to American first principles, the kind that help Americans.

Confront our mortal enemies across the world: Russia, China, Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Brazil, Colombia.
Confront the enemies masquerading as friends: Mexico, Canada, European Union.

The success is rolling in heavily now. There is an interrelationship to defeating our enemies, reining in the “friends” bad habits, and strengthening our economy.

I stated prior to the election that Trump Version 2 would see Iran go down, Venezuela go down, and from the ashes of each would rise a self generated country of freedom. Russia would implode as it becomes clear it is a weak 3rd world country. China’s ambitions would be halted as the world turns their collective backs. Mexico and Colombia took note of the ease with which The US Military took out a vicious dictator, killing several hundred men with not a single American life lost. The pair of cartel run states are now in sheer panic realizing there is nothing they can do stop the US from making them pay a price for their drug production and drug running into the United States. Mexico and Canada have now sent the Chinese back home as the US says no to imports as a pass through. The EU feels the heat of reciprocal tariffs, no longer getting a free pass. Their bullshit green agenda is in tatters. The German economy is in the dumpster, their industry shackled.

The prediction was for 4% growth in 2025, 5% in 2026, and 6+% in 2027. We have surpassed that and are well on our way to 5+ in 2026, maybe even hitting 6% by year end. Inflation is down, pay is up, the middle class is better off than ever. There is so much good news on the economic front that it is too long to report. Do recall that the “experts” stated the tariffs would cause inflation and prices to rise. Neither occurred, just the opposite in fact. Inflation came down, price increases stopped and came down in many cases. It is an economic miracle some would say, and yet it is just using common sense to guide economic and foreign policy.

2026 will be big. Trump will continue to battle the domestic communists and we, the American people, will win. 2026 will be the greatest year in American history.

4

Butt-ugly Leftybitch can’t stand the heat, needs to get the hell out of the kitchen

Posted on January 10, 2026January 10, 2026 by Mike

Welcome to the jungle, twatwaffle.

Zohran Mamdani’s woke, privileged tenant advocate Cea Weaver breaks down crying when asked about hypocritical gentrification comments
Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s newly instated radical-left tenant advocate, Cea Weaver, broke down Wednesday as she dodged questions from reporters about her gentrification hypocrisy.

The 37-year-old, who has faced backlash for blasting homeownership as a “weapon of white supremacy” in the past, teared up when she emerged briefly from her apartment building in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, at about 9 a.m.

Weaver, who was tapped by Mamdani to be his new director of the city Office to Protect Tenants, quickly ran back inside after she was asked about the $1.6 million home her mother owns in Nashville, Tennessee.

I read someplace that not only did this big-talking gutless wonder break down crying upon being asked the first pointed question she’d ever faced in her entire life, she also ran screaming down the street before regaining control of herself and sneaking back into her own crib.

4

1

Tale of the tape

Posted on January 10, 2026 by Mike

Why yes, the hard-Left flat-rocker bint WAS doing her level best to commit vehicular homicide and instead got herself shot all to Hell and gone for her trouble, why do you ask?

Social media is crawling with self-proclaimed forensic analysts poring over footage of Wednesday’s ICE shooting in Minneapolis and insisting it shows the agent who shot Renee Nicole Good lacked justification. Some of the takes are downright embarrassing, with left-wing influencers confidently analyzing the wrong ICE agent altogether, pointing to the one at the side of the vehicle instead of the agent positioned in front of it. Some simply post the same footage we’ve all seen and merely declare the video proves the agent is a murderer.

I’ve seen it all, and let me tell you, of all the analyses out there, podcaster Tim Pool has delivered the clearest and most persuasive breakdown of the video evidence from the shooting I’ve seen yet.

After initially giving Good the benefit of the doubt, Pool says slowed-down footage forced him to reverse his position completely, and his frame-by-frame analysis is fantastic.

Pool began by acknowledging his earlier assessment and then explained why it no longer holds up. “While I initially said that I believed she wasn’t intending to hit the officer and was trying to flee, but still put the officer in fear of harm — uh, no, I’ve changed my mind,” Pool said.

What changed his view was a close examination of the video at reduced speed. And trust me, lots of people have slowed down and/or enhanced the video, but most have simply done so and claimed it only proved their original conclusion.
Pool, however, walked viewers through the footage and pointed out details that are easy to miss at full speed, details others either missed or ignored, starting with the officer’s feet.

“I’m gonna show you the slowed-down footage that I believe proves this woman was intending to kill that ICE agent. Watch the officer, who has his gun drawn,” he said.

Pool highlights the moment the vehicle makes contact. “Look at his feet right here in the back left. … Notice his feet both slide backwards,” Pool explained. “You see his foot sliding? Yeah, he’s not taking a step. He’s being hit by the vehicle.”

Anticipating the usual defenses, Pool concedes a narrow point before dismantling the broader claim. “Now, I can already hear you saying, ‘Hold on, Tim, if you’re up against a vehicle and it accelerates and it pushes you out of the way, that doesn’t warrant shooting somebody.’ Agreed,” he said.

From there, Pool reversed the sequence to show how the officer ended up directly in harm’s way, and it’s a critical detail.

“Here’s the vehicle reversing. The officer is not in front of the vehicle,” Pool said. “She reverses and now he is in front of the vehicle.” He adds critical context about timing and positioning: “He initially is to the right of the vehicle. By all means argue he should not have placed … himself in this position. We’re talking about seconds.”

The most damning detail comes next.

Eh, if you say so, Matt. Myself, I never from the git-go had the slightest problem believing that—after ceaseless exhortations to interfere, impede, injure, and/or kill ICE officers in the course of doing their jobs emanating from vicious, violent Leftards—one of those mouthbreathers would actually go and do something like this. All things considered, why wouldn’t they? The wonder is that it doesn’t happen four-five times a week, every week.

1

War, peace, all that

Posted on January 10, 2026January 10, 2026 by Mike

The Jeddak of Jeddaks expounds on…well, pretty much everything, basically.

The Caracasian Cut
Regime decapitation and the consequences of competence

We might ask, in the spirit of an augur inquiring after the flight of a dove at daybreak, a circling hawk at high noon, or the cold gaze of a crow in the gloaming, what is the meaning of the Caracas raid? We do not need to assume that the meaning we look for in this action is intentional, though we should not rule this out, either; what matters is how the act will manifest symbolically, how it will be interpreted in the minds of onlookers, which it will do regardless of intention.

The superficial import of the action is clear enough. America has seized control of Venezuela’s vast oil reserves, the largest in the world, and at a stroke applies crippling pressure to the economies of China, Iran, and Cuba (who were Venezuela’s best grey-market customers), as well as to the economies of its adversary Russia and its wayward sibling Canada (both of which depend for their prosperity upon high oil prices). Both China and Russia have been deprived of a key New World ally, and thus the Monroe Doctrine is reasserted, and foreign powers pushed out of Washington’s sphere of influence. A hostile communist government has been decapitated, opening the way for the millions of Venezuelans displaced by Bolivarian tyranny, refugees whose presence has destabilized Venezuela’s neighbours for many years now, to return home.

Trump’s declaration that America now owns Venezuela’s oil feels a bit premature. Can one really claim control, without boots on the ground? I confess that it is not at all clear to me exactly how this is all supposed to work. Perhaps it is meant to function through pure intimidation: whoever ends up assuming power in Venezuela, they will know that if they don’t do as they’re told, they might be next, and perhaps will not be given the grace of an arrest and a show trial but simply executed without warning by drone; meanwhile, America offers itself as the sole legitimate customer for Venezuela’s sole marketable product, while providing its oil industry engineers to rebuild (and assume control of) infrastructure fallen into disrepair following Chavez’ nationalization and subsequent decades of neglect and mismanagement. Trump holds out one hand in an offer of assistance and mutual benefit, while holding back his other curled in a mailed fist, a threat made plausible by the fact that he just punched them hard in the mouth.

Still, all of this is nothing more than realpolitik, the hard edges of power in the material world.

The real meaning, the symbolic importance, lies deeper. It is not measured in dollars or barrels of oil. It is a message.

Over the last several months of military buildup in the Caribbean, many have issued dire predictions of the inevitable boondoggle that would result if the US allowed itself to be drawn into an invasion and occupation of Venezuela. A repeat of Iraq and Afghanistan, or worse yet Vietnam, an ugly guerrilla war in the steaming tropical jungle that would drain American blood, treasure, and will into the fetid third world swamp in tragicomic counterpoint to MAGA’s promise to drain the swamp at home. There was excellent reason for this cynicism. Every military adventure of the GWOT has been a debacle. Trust is as thin as ragged tissue paper.

Calmer heads pointed out that there was little prospect of an invasion: the forces being assembled in the Caribbean could land at most a few thousand troops, enough for a punitive expedition but hardly sufficient for an occupation. The plan, therefore, was clearly something other than an occupation, though exactly what it was no one could say for sure. My personal guess was that they were simply intending to squeeze the Venezuelan communists to death, enforcing the embargo on oil exports by interdicting contraband tankers flying under the false flags of countries they weren’t actually registered in, and watching from a safe distance as the unpaid military and unfed people turned on one another like starving jackals behind their besieged walls. Ugly, with an immense human cost, but effective.

I certainly never expected them to simply descend like Odin with the Wild Hunt and snatch the country’s president in a lightning raid.

Neither, of course, did anyone else expect such an audacious manoeuvre. Which was the point.

This being a characteristically superb piece in the grand old John Carter style, you’ll definitely want to read it all.

Update! Okay, after scanning through the piece again, I realized just how profoundly remiss of me it would be not to include this delicious bit.

This is the same American military that spent twenty fruitless years fighting to replace the Taliban with the Taliban, climaxing with a humiliating route from Kabul in which billions of dollars of military equipment were abandoned to the very Taliban that the military fought so hard to replace the Taliban with.

It is the same American military that, until just a year ago, was struggling to fill its ranks, because the warrior class had concluded that it was not a military worth belonging to, that a government which held them in such contempt was not a government worth fighting for.

Only one thing changed: a year ago, when Trump won the election, the American state was decapitated.

Because Trump won the election, he could fire the fat bureaucrat Lloyd Austin as Secretary of Defence, and appoint in his place the energetic, muscular young Hegseth as Secretary of War. Because Hegseth was the Secretary of War, he could begin eliminating the dross of the Cancelled Years and refocus the American military on its actual mission.

It turned out to be that simple. Change the leadership, replace the dance troupe of hollow men and men in dresses that has cavorted through the halls of power for far too long with platoons of competent men, and allow the competent men to do what they know how to do, without interference from politicians, lawyers, and ideologues. Just point them in the right direction and get out of their way.

OOOF! That one’s gonna hurt all the right people in all the right ways, for all the right reasons.

1

Yet she persists

Posted on January 9, 2026January 9, 2026 by Mike

Directly, hilariously related to tonight’s Eyrie topic, your feel-good video of the week month year century.

If you block a federal agent during an operation, you’re not getting a safety briefing, you’re getting moved.
That’s not “violence,” it’s necessary!
And when the mission’s federal, hesitation’s not an option. pic.twitter.com/c4XTXukiDG

— Desiree (@DesireeAmerica4)

January 8, 2026

Almost perfect, except ol’ Two-Ton Tallulah there seems to have survived her foolhardy brush with the Law, regrettably. Better luck next time, officers.

Update! A cpl good un’s via the Ace Place.

Masked "transfemme" Antifa goon from Portland, OR, issues death threat to ICE agent who shot a woman that tried to run him over.

"We have your face… we will get justice for a fallen comrade, whether it be judicial justice or street justice…"

Cc @thejusticedept pic.twitter.com/2WNbUWGkq3

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) January 8, 2026

Do your worst, bitches. Since it appears you may have forgotten already, I’d like to remind you again of who it is that has all the guns in this badly-broken nation.

This is the best video I've seen today 🤣pic.twitter.com/kYJ25fJNQL

— (news) DOGE (@DOGE__news) January 8, 2026

Q: Are ALL “transgenders” depraved, degenerate lunatics?

Posted on January 7, 2026January 7, 2026 by Mike

A: Yes. Yes, they most certainly are.

The girl who filmed the video of a man m*sturbating in the women’s bathroom in Planet Fitness says the workers did nothing…

Planet Fitness’ policies allow men to invade the women’s locker rooms

Planet Fitness isn’t safe for women.https://t.co/M9MreZwDYF https://t.co/hGBR39OFTU

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok)

January 5, 2026

For those who don’t feel like watching the vid, I’ll go with Ace’s description of what’s depicted therein.

The very obvious man pounded it out like he was John Bonham playing Kashmir at Wembley.

The male public masturbatior jerked off openly with women present. When one woman reported him to the staff, they kicked her out of the Planet Fitness and let the sex criminal stay.

Because he’s “transgender” and so he’s allowed to pull his dick like choad-flavored taffy.

The mentally-ill man and sex predator was in a stall, but you could see what he was doing in the shadows beneath him. It’s obvious he’s jerking off. Either that or he’s trying to start an outboard motor he keeps on his belt.

Planet Fitness instructs its female clients to show “understanding” towards publicly-masturbating men invading their private spaces.

This took place near San Francisco — of course. A place called Concord.

Of course.

Who ever said crime doesn’t pay?

Posted on January 4, 2026January 4, 2026 by Mike

Couldn’t prove it by übercorrupt ProPol Faux Jaux Bribem, that’s for sure.

Biden’s ‘extravagant’ pension is largest of any president in history – and even more than what he earned as prez
Former President Joe Biden’s long career in politics allowed him to retire with the largest taxpayer-funded pension of any ex-prez in US history — $417,000, or more than his presidential salary, an expert says.

Biden, 83, was in line to rake in the massive amount from two pension funds in his first year as former president, according to an analysis by National Taxpayer Union Foundation Vice President Demian Brady.

“It’s pretty unusual, historically unusual, to have such a large pension amount,” Brady told The Post.

The hefty estimated annual sum is double what Biden’s former boss, Barack Obama, has received in retirement pay after leaving the White House and $17,000 more than Biden’s $400,000-per-year presidential salary.

It also reflects Biden’s “unique situation” as a former senator, vice president and president, a career path that has allowed him to take advantage of a “loophole” letting him tap into multiple taxpayer-backed retirement funds, Brady said.

Biden, who once described himself as “one of the poorest members” of Congress, is able to collect the lucrative payouts by double-dipping in benefits established under the Former Presidents Act of 1958 as well as the Civil Service Retirement System for ex-senators.

Fucking crook. What a scumbag, eh? Far from being a lucrative career choice, being a ProPol ought to be legally sanctioned as a Federal felony, punishable by firing squad. There really should be a bounty on the shit-slurping oxygen thieves; in a more perfect world, they’d be hunted for sport, the pelts redeemable at any local bank for your choice of a toaster oven, a handsome Atlanta Braves baseball cap, or These Magic Beans™.

Not Too Old Jaux though, right? I must say he was worth every penny, if only for the entertainment value: hilarious pratfalls, incoherent mumbling, and losing control of his bowels during a grip-n-grin with British royalty.

Pure opposition

Posted on January 4, 2026January 4, 2026 by Mike

For its own sake, and nothing whatsoever else.

vittorio
@IterIntellectus

most political issues nowadays can be explained by understanding that american leftists dont have positions, they have oppositions.

their entire belief system is defined by negation of whatever the right supports.
this is why portland chants “free maduro” while actual venezuelans celebrate in the streets.
they’re not pro-venezuelan or pro democracies, or pro tyrant, or pro maduro, they’re simply anti-american-right.

they’ve outsourced their worldview to institutional narratives for so long that genuine self-reflection would require questioning everything.
for them it’s much easier to just oppose. the beliefs arent coherent because they were never meant to be coherent. they only need to signal tribal membership, and leftist membership is gained by opposing the right.

trump does X?
the left screams and cries because they wanted Y

trump does Y?
the left screams and cries and riots because even if they said they wanted Y, what they meant is that X was the way to go

trump cures cancer?
they’ll argue that the cancer cells are alive have a right of free determination

trump saves lives?
they’ll protest because somehow those lives didn’t matter and should have been ended

no coherent word model. no logic. pure opposition

at some point you just have to stop engaging with it as if it’s a real political position. it’s not. it’s aesthetic opposition wearing the costume of ideology

And the followup:

the tell is they always speak FOR populations who overwhelmingly disagree with them.
“free palestine” from people palestinians would hate.
“free maduro” while venezuelans celebrate.
the pattern reveals the game
it was never about the people, it was about the posture

Yet another reason, as if any more were needed, why the D卐M☭CRAT criminal organization masquerading as a political party needs to be forcibly disbanded, legally proscribed, and destroyed utterly. At the very least, they should be ignored completely, treated as if they are invisible, and if/when they take their “protest”-theater productions out into rush-hour traffic, they should be run over and left bleeding in the street until the garbage truck arrives to shovel up the remains and haul them off to the landfill.

As has been demonstrated again and again and again, Leftists have nothing constructive to say, nothing useful to offer, and nothing needful to contribute. They are parasites; as such, our society has no obligation to tolerate them any longer.

(Via Insty)

Further thoughts update! These worthless skinbags firmly believe several things which are NOT in evidence:

That they are the smartest people in the room, no matter who else is in there with them
That they are paragons of moral virtue
That they are courageous, caring “warriors” for fairness, decency, and true justice
That we lesser breeds should admire, respect, and honor them for their innumerable virtues, acknowledge their clear, God-like superiority to all other mortals, and do our best to emulate their sterling example

Best take yet on the Maduro takedown?

Posted on January 3, 2026January 3, 2026 by Mike

This.

Hey @TuckerCarlson, GO FUCK YOURSELF. TRUMP JUST SPIT-ROASTED VENEZUELA LIKE IT WAS YOUR WIFE. GO GET SUCKED OFF BY GLENN GREENWALD YOU GAY RETARD

— Matt Forney (@mattforney)

January 3, 2026

There’s also this:

Kurt Schlichter
@KurtSchlichter

The 10 Best Things About Trump’s Venezuela Victory:

10. America’s enemies are terrified

9. Democrats went from siding with Somali fraudsters early in the week to communist narco terrorists who ignored democracy by the weekend

8. Libertarians are upset

7. Unleashing Venezuela’s oil production will screw the Iranians and the Russians

6. We blew up Chavez’s tomb. Screw that guy.

5. Everybody who had doubts about Pete Hegseth has to contend with the fact that our recruiting is through the roof, Iran has no nukes, and Maduro is worried about picking up the soap

4. The video of cheering Venezuelans

3. Trump has made the Monroe Doctrine great again

2. The Cuban communists are literally wetting themselves

1. It was the Army and Delta Force instead of the Navy and the SEALs

No “Show more” screwing around this time. And one more thing Schlichter neglected to mention:

What can one say but, heh. Indeed.

Update! More Maduro news.

U.S. Will Run Venezuela For Now, Second Military Wave Stands Ready
The United States will run the country of Venezuela until a replacement for dictator Nicolás Maduro can be found and sworn in, President Donald Trump announced at a press conference today.

The Trump administration plans to send American oil companies down to take over the lucrative Venezuelan oil business, according to the president. And the U.S. military stands ready for a second and bigger attack on Venezuela should that be necessary, Trump promised. Maduro “will never again be able to” terrorize Americans, Trump promised. The captured dictator and his wife face charges in New York for their role in fueling the deadly American drug war and sending here many terrorist cartel members, including Tren de Aragua killers. Maduro is now on his way to America.

Trump lauded the “overwhelming American military power, air, land and sea was used to launch a spectacular assault. And it was an assault like people have not seen since World War II.” Maduro sent terrorists, criminal kingpins, convicted criminal prisoners, and more to America. He stole American oil infrastructure. and was behind the drug crisis killing hundreds of thousands of Americans, Trump stated. Now Maduro is deposed and in handcuffs, and the new Monroe Doctrine is alive and well —the “Don-roe doctrine,” Trump joked.

Heh. You tell ’em, Mr President, sir.

Updated update! Strong message follows, from Hegseth.

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth referred to previous destruction of Iranian nuclear capabilities and seemingly indicated that terrorist regime could suffer the fate of Maduro. “Welcome to 2026,” Hegseth said. This is a strong and powerful America.

From the PJM link cited previously, that one is.

3

2

They don’t have any idea what is next. There is a next.

Posted on January 3, 2026January 4, 2026 by Barry

The Venezuelan operation was a complete surprise – to Venezuela, to our own press, to our enemies around the world. There are no moles inside the Trump administration. There were no leaks, anywhere, to anyone.

What is next? They don’t know. Our enemies are very uncomfortable today.

Update: There are reports that leaks occurred to the NYSlimes and Washington Compost, bu they declined to report prior to the operation. True? Beats me. It was a large operation involving many people so I would not be surprised that someone told someone that told the two fake news organizations, but I do not believe they had any details to report, and that would be the main reason for a non-report.

2

In praise of meat

Posted on December 31, 2025 by Mike

Or, in this benighted day and age, it might be more appropriate to say “in DEFENSE of” etc etc. Which, as the title of the article shows, the author knows well enough.

In Defense of Steak: Listen to Your Body, not the Bug People
There is a particular smell that quiets a room or backyard: beef hitting heat, butter melting, fat crackling over open flame. Conversations pause. Children wander closer. Adults become very present, childlike in their eagerness. Something ancient has briefly reclaimed priority.

This response appears across cultures, centuries, and cuisines, persisting despite decades of scolding lectures about moderation, sustainability, and restraint. No one salivates at the thought of cricket flour. No one waxes poetic about lab-grown protein slurry. Even people committed to eating less meat tend to speak about steak the way one speaks about a lost love. We are told this reaction, this anticipation of pleasure, reflects indulgence, weakness, or conditioning, but a simpler explanation exists.

Pleasure can be information.

Indeed so, and there’s every bit as much solid, useful information in this piece as there is pleasure in eating a fat, juicy filet mignon. For example:

Meat is often treated as interchangeable with whatever happens to meet a protein target, as though nourishment were merely arithmetic. This misses what meat actually is: an exceptionally efficient nutritional delivery system shaped by evolution to meet human needs with minimal friction.

Animal protein arrives complete, providing all essential amino acids in proportions the body immediately recognizes and uses. Absorption is high. Muscle repair is straightforward, using precisely the amino acids our meals just provided. No pairing, combining, or supplementation is required. Fat, so long maligned, provides stable saturated and monounsaturated fats that slow digestion, stabilize blood sugar, support hormones, and carry fat-soluble vitamins. Speaking of fat, humans did not spend thousands of years figuring out how to obtain more fat because it was harming them.

Then there are the nutrients rarely discussed in fashionable debates but central to human function: vitamin B12 for neurological health, heme iron that the body absorbs efficiently (iron in supplements or vegetables is poorly absorbed), zinc for immune function and growth, creatine and carnosine for muscle and brain performance, choline for liver and cognitive health. These are not optional extras. They are foundational for good health and a properly functioning body.

Claims that humans do not “need” animal protein hinge on a technicality. With careful planning, supplementation, fortified foods, and modern logistics, it is possible to assemble these nutrients without meat. That is not equivalence. It is compensation. A diet that requires constant vigilance to avoid deficiency is not revealing a hidden natural balance; it is leaning heavily on modern intervention and often industrially manufactured frankenfood.

I repeat: indeed. Butbutbutbut…but…WAIT, they whine. What about Eating Ze Bugs, shitlib fascists snivel. Wilson outs paid to that codswallop with a quickness.

Insects are often presented as the logical successor to meat, reduced to the claim that they “contain protein” and are therefore interchangeable. Biology is less accommodating.

Insects contain chitin, the substance that forms their exoskeletons, which humans do not digest well. Chitin inflates protein numbers on paper while reducing absorption in practice because it resists breakdown and in fact interferes with nutrient uptake. From a nutritional standpoint, counting chitin as protein is a bit like counting fingernails as food: it contains nitrogen, which looks impressive on a label, but the human body cannot do much with it. Edible, yes. Nourishing, not really.

Digestive discomfort after eating bugs is common enough that most insect products are heavily processed into powders, undermining both nutritional and environmental claims. Amino acid profiles vary widely by species, but they all tend to be lower in key amino acids such as leucine, which plays a central role in muscle maintenance and repair, particularly as people age.

Micronutrients present further problems. Vitamin B12, heme iron, and creatine are unreliable or absent, requiring supplementation to compensate. Allergy risks are also underplayed, as insects share protein structures with shellfish. Insects are edible, certainly, but edible is not the same as optimal, and bug protein is not in any way an upgrade over beef, chicken, or fish.

Annnnnd bingo, there you have it. Myself, I don’t give a fiddler’s fuck about how smart the person telling me to switch from steak to cricket paste thinks he/she/it is, I simply ain’t gonna do it.

There’s only one song I can think of that will suit.

Tell it true now, Jim.

2

1

CF Search

Login, RSS, &c

CF Archives

Categories

2A/Mostly Guns

Alt-American

Big Dogs

Essayists

Mil

Nuttin’ But News

Odds Bodkins

Overseas/Non-US

Portals

Pure Bloggery

REAL Journalism

Substack Scalawags

The Funny Pages

Comments policy

CF Glossary

Subscribe to CF!

Shameless begging

Correspondence

Allied territory

Notable Quotes

RSS feed

.