Believe it or Else

Chumped!

Posted on March 15, 2026 by Mike 1 Comment

Did Trump just play that dumbass Tucker Carlson like a cheap violin? Hmmmm, could be, could be.

New Theory Emerges: Was the Supreme Leader Set up by a Leaker Named… Tucker Carlson?
Hmm. So Carlson admits he was “talking to people in Iran before the war.”

To whom was he talking — and what was he talking about?

Because we know he spoke directly to the leadership of Iran. Less than a year ago, he bootlicked Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian in an astonishingly powder-puff “interview.” And when a journalist (or whatever Carlson is) has relationships like that, he tends to use ‘em.

It gives you a competitive advantage: Access is power.

Furthermore, before the Iran War began, we know Tucker Carlson made numerous trips to the White House. Multiple outlets reported that Carlson was attempting to convince President Trump not to go to war against Iran.

Yet once war broke out, Carlson insisted Israel must’ve somehow talked Trump into it.

It’s all very intriguing, because one of the biggest mysteries of this war is, why the heck were the Iranian mullahs and their “supreme leader” so careless and stupid to meet all together in broad daylight? It decapitated Iran’s government.

Anyone with half a brain would’ve known how dangerous that was!

And now, finally, an explanation emerges.

Perhaps the reason why the mullahs and their “supreme leader” were lulled into a false sense of security was because Tucker Carlson told them that the president was bluffing: There were no strikes coming, so there’s nothing to fear.

Full disclosure: I don’t know for sure if this theory is true. Just like Tucker Carlson, I’m “just asking questions.”

But as far as conspiracy theories go, you’ve gotta admit, the pieces fit quite nicely.

Don’t they just. You can just about hear Trump laughing his ass off from all the way over here.

1

Islamophobia is real

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

And, at least according to the theory propounded by the always-insightful Robert Spencer, that’s a good thing (bold mine, needless to say).

After Four Jihad Attacks in Two Weeks, Guess What It’s the International Day to Combat
Sunday, March 15 is the International Day to Combat Islamophobia, and the day couldn’t possibly have come at a better time. It looks as if it was planned this year specifically in order to demonstrate the fact that “Islamophobia” is a spurious propaganda concept designed to intimidate people into thinking it’s wrong to stand against jihad violence and Sharia oppression of women.

It’s the best possible time because there have been four jihad attacks in the U.S. in the last two weeks, demonstrating in the most vivid and indelible way possible that criticism of Islam is not only not a manifestation of “hatred” or “bigotry,” much less “racism,” but a healthy manifestation of a society’s will to survive.

Ladies and chunnelmens, those bells, horns, and wildly flashing lights mean that we have ourselves a WINNAH! Onwards.

The latest lessons in the dangers of “Islamophobia” propaganda came on March 1, when a Muslim migrant opened fire in a bar in Austin, Texas, killing three people and injuring 13 others. Then on March 7, two pro-ISIS Muslims screaming “Allah akbar” threw a homemade shrapnel bomb at a crowd of pro-freedom protesters in New York City. Five days after that came two jihad attacks in one day, when a Muslim crashed his car into a Michigan synagogue and opened fire, while another Muslim started shooting at Old Dominion University, murdering one person and injuring two others.

After all this, UN Secretary-General António Guterres wrote late on Saturday evening, “Islamophobia” Day Eve: “Muslims worldwide often face institutional discrimination, socio-economic exclusion, biased immigration policies & unwarranted surveillance & profiling. This International Day to Combat Islamophobia, let’s re-commit to the equality, human rights & dignity of every person, no matter their faith.”

Guterres’ statement was more noteworthy for what it didn’t say than for what it did. He had nary a word to say about the four recent jihad attacks in the U.S., or about any jihad attacks anywhere. In fact, for Guterres and other “Islamophobia” propagandists, there are no jihad attacks. Those who commit jihad attacks are by the very act of doing so rendered non-Muslim.

And so New York Gov. Kathy Hochul wrote on Sunday, barely more than a week after a couple of Islamic State jihadis tried to commit mass murder for Allah in New York City: “On this International Day to Combat Islamophobia, and at a time when fear and division are rising in many places, New York stands firm: Hate has no home here. Muslim New Yorkers strengthen our communities every day, and we will always stand together against Islamophobia.

Oh, I’m sure. Too bad you don’t seem to give much of a shit about standing together against Pisslamic terrorism—not even in NYC, which says nothing whatsoever flattering about the mouthbreathing chowderheads who persist in residing in the crumbling hellhole.

Update! Absotively, posilutely related, from the incomparable Mark Steyn.

The Ground We Surrendered
Alas, very few people are really “conservative”, which is why so little has been conserved – up to and including, ultimately, the continuing existence of the nation-states of the west. The killer of Brandon Shah checks all Senator Simpleton’s boxes – as, indeed, the killer of those poor Southport schoolgirls checks all Nigel Farage’s. Mohamed Jalloh emigrated from Sierra Leone and became a naturalised US citizen. An alumnus of Old Dominion, he subsequently joined the Virginia National Guard, so he’s not only a brother-in-arms of Colonel Shah but also one of those “seventy-two Virginians” we used to hear so much about.

Unfortunately, Mr Jalloh was “compelled to leave the US military” after he was discovered to be a big fan of Anwar al-Awlaki, the late “spiritual advisor” to the Fort Hood killer, three of the 9/11 hijackers and many others – oh, and also the author of the popular book Forty-Four Ways to Support Jihad. Mr Jalloh expressed his desire to pull off his own Fort Hood-style mass murder, and shared his admiration for the 2015 Chattanooga attack, when a gunperson killed four Marines and a sailor.

So the US military gave him an “honorable” discharge, rather than – as healthier societies would – a blindfold and cigarette. Like Ted (Cruz, in a Xweet Steyn embedded, but I did not—M) says: “Legal? Good. Illegal? Bad.” The senator is, in my limited experience, a pleasant enough fellow, but an unserious man who will cost you your country.

Thus, the year after departing the National Guard – 2016 – the legal and good Honorable Mr Jalloh was arrested for attempting to provide material support to Isis. In 2017 the prosecution agreed a plea bargain and asked for twenty years – so that would be 2037, right? But the Bush-appointed judge sentenced him to eleven, plus five years “supervised release” – which would bring us to …2033, is it? Also he was ordered to participate in a “computer monitoring program”.

But Mr Jalloh was out in 2024 and fortunately the federal probation office that supervised his “supervised release” supervises with such a light touch that Mr Jalloh was free to stroll into Colonel Shah’s classroom and kill him. Even the “computer monitoring program” does not – surprise! – appear to have worked.

Lest we forget, it was Steyn who encapsulated the bottom-line issue with the Pussified West’s supine (non-)response to jihadi terrorism, saying in essence: Why must it always be US who is expected to adjust OUR behavior, OUR lifestyles, even our physical environment, to accommodate these bloodthirsty troglodytes? THEY are the ones stabbing, bombing, gang-raping, and mass-murdering their way through contemporary Western Civ; THEY are the ones who steadfastly refuse to depart from their 10th-century beliefs and embrace modernity; THEY are the ones who have successfully overrun most of what once was the UK and Western Europe, remaking entire nations and/or cultures to suit their own ideology of conquest, brutality, and what was referred to in A Clockwork Orange as a bit of the old ultra-violence. Doesn’t all this sorta suggest that THEY’RE the ones who ought to be adjusting themselves to accommodate the rest of US?!?

Updated update! Bless their hearts, the Maori ain’t having any, thanks.

🇳🇿 In New Zealand, native Māoris protest against Islamic immigration and destroy the jihadist flag while performing the traditional Haka.

“New Zealand is Christian. Muslims are not welcome here!” pic.twitter.com/HT0moU2xI0

— Wolf 🐺 (@PsyGuy007)

March 7, 2026

PREACH it, brothers!

Tell it like it is

Posted on March 14, 2026March 14, 2026 by Mike Leave a comment

At last. At long, fucking last.

KISS Legend Gene Simmons: Celebrities Shouldn’t Lecture Americans About Politics
Legendary KISS bassist Gene Simmons continues to serve as a voice of common sense and reason in an entertainment industry currently experiencing an epidemic of Trump Derangement Syndrome. I already count myself as a huge fan of the band, and I got the opportunity to see them on their last tour, which ended up becoming my son’s first concert experience. Imagine your first show being a KISS concert. What a time to be alive.

Actually, it just so happens that MY first show was a KISS concert as well: in 1976, that was, the CLT date on the band’s Destroyer tour. Somewhere around here, I should still have my advanced-ticket stub from that show, resplendent with the world-famous KISS logo and the price clearly visible underneath: a whopping six (6) bucks. Back over to Gene for more of this incredible story.

The KISS co-founder launched into his rebuke after TMZ asked how he felt about actor and director Ben Stiller calling out President Donald Trump’s White House for allegedly using a clip from one of his movies in a “propaganda machine.” The interviewers then asked the bassist with the world’s longest tongue what he thought about Hollywood stars criticizing Trump. In true rock star fashion, he didn’t hold back.

“Yeah, because everybody in the world should listen to what actors and comedians say — because they’re so qualified,” Simmons said, his tone dripping with sarcasm. He then offered some pretty solid advice for stars in the entertainment field that they would do well to heed. “Basically, shut the f**k up. Do your art and shut up.”

Amen, brother! Look, celebrities can have their opinions on issues of the day. But when you work for the public — and they do — you should keep those thoughts to yourself and the people in your inner circle. Otherwise, you alienate your fanbase and hurt the work you’re trying to produce. We don’t need to hear your opinion on everything. Shocking, right?

Simmons then doubled down on his take, saying, “Nobody’s interested in your opinions — that includes me. Who the f**k do you think you are?”

The rocker added, “People in America work hard for their living and they don’t want to be lectured to by people who live in mansions and drive Rolls Royces.” This. So much this. The vast majority of celebrities are filthy rich and want for nothing. The rest of us “normal” people—the ones who form the spine of the country—have to work ourselves to death just to get by. We don’t want, nor do we need, out-of-touch celebrities telling us who to vote for or which issues matter. We already understand that.

“It’s time for everybody in the entertainment industry to shut their piehole and just do your art,” Simmons said. “Nobody cares what you think — I don’t.” Before the interview wrapped up, Simmons again mentioned Kylie Jenner and actor Mark Ruffalo with dripping sarcasm, highlighting how irrelevant their worldviews are to the public.

Well said, Mr Simmons, sir. The very last word, in accordance with Gene’s stated wishes.

I well remember that frabjous Thanksgiving day: the East Gaston High School band froze its collective keister off marching in the Carolinas Carrousel Parade, a seriously big deal for us in its own right, then everybody made a mad dash to get back on the buses, change back into street duds before we even got rolling, and scrambled on back to the dear old alma mater so we could race to our personal cars and zip back over to the big KISS concert at the old CLT Coliseum, for which the doors opened at 8PM.

Yes, you could fairly say KISS blew me away that night, why do you ask? 😉

Betrayal, served cold and raw

Posted on March 12, 2026March 12, 2026 by Mike 1 Comment

Glenn growls, “SOMETHING NEEDS TO BE FIXED HERE,” and he couldn’t possibly be righter abut that.

This is not the way I want to see a familiar face show up on my feed.

Brandon and I were classmates at the Command and General Staff College.

He deployed to fight the enemy overseas in combat zones.

Meanwhile, America imported the enemy who k*lled him.

When I say this… https://t.co/Q78llmW7nE

— Chase Spears (@DrChaseSpears)

March 12, 2026

The very first response (as of just now) says a real mouthful.

America didn’t import the bastard who did this–Biden and the Democrats did. We need to start treating them like the absolute traitors that they are.

— Sage Grouch (@JayKaramal22669)

March 13, 2026

Exactly, precisely so—and yes, by “treating them like the absolute traitors that they are” I most certainly DO mean hanging them by the neck until they are dead, dead, DEAD, why do you ask?

Sorry, but that’s just how I feel. I think about a good and decent patriot like LTC Shah being murdered as a direct result of the sleazy, self-serving political machinations of a shit-slurping maggot like Traitor Jaux Bribem, and my blood boils.

FLA

Posted on March 7, 2026 by Mike 2 Comments

Lakeside Joe pithily welcomes you to Paradise Here Below.

Welcome to Florida — where the sun is loud, the water is everywhere, and the wildlife thinks it owns the place.

Yep, that’s been pretty much the entirety of my personal experience of the place. Well, that and the giant cockroaches.

Praise him with great praise

Posted on March 4, 2026 by Mike Leave a comment

In which I will cheerfully eat every nasty, insulting word I ever said about Big John Fetterman.

Fetterman Chooses Country Over Party After Iran Operation
Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) backed the U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran without hesitation, calling Operation Epic Fury entirely appropriate, and said eliminating Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the un-alived supreme leader of Iran, removed one of the most dangerous figures in modern history.

Well, whaddya know about that. Turns out, there IS one last sane, sensible, patriotic Democrat after all. Good on ya, John.

President Donald Trump confirmed the mission targeted senior regime leadership gathered in Tehran, with early reports stating roughly 40 to 50 of the top Iranian officials were killed in the attack’s early wave. Fetterman didn’t hedge, asking why anybody would grieve leaders of a regime tied to terror networks and decades of repression. He said that Americans should recognize the strategic impact of removing the head of a government that funds violence across the world.

Fetterman’s stance again puts him at odds with several Democratic colleagues who questioned the legality and timing of the strikes. He described their reactions as bizarre. He pointed to the regime’s record, including the 1988 mass executions of political prisoners that killed an estimated 30,000 dissidents under orders tied to regime leadership, making clear the target wasn’t the Iranian people, just the regime.

Vice President JD Vance stated that the administration’s objectives remain preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. Fetterman said he’d oppose efforts to restrict the president’s authority under the War Powers Resolution.

Because Fetterman’s policy beliefs keep him planted firmly on the left, Fetterman won’t switch parties. But when national security comes into focus, he regularly breaks from progressive orthodoxy and takes a position rooted in deterrence and strength. In a chamber full of Congresscritters using scripted responses, his statements read as uncommon steadiness.

Don’t they just.

Praise, newfound respect, sincere thanks, unstinting acknowledgement from Real American Normals of the man’s plainspoken common sense—with the above well-reasoned, intelligent remarks, Big John Fetterman has earned every last plaudit Our Side can lavish upon him, even if we don’t necessarily agree with him on much else.

No-Nonsense Lyudmila

Posted on March 4, 2026 by Mike Leave a comment

Thought about saving this one for Memezapoppin’! later on, but it’s so damned good it deserves its own spot out front right friggin’ NOW.

As well they might, and in fact should.

By George, I think he’s got it!

Posted on March 4, 2026March 4, 2026 by Mike Leave a comment

I just can NOT resist bringing this superb comment out to the front page.

SteveP says:
March 3, 2026 at 3:44 pm

People either don’t know, don’t remember, or don’t want to say, that the Iranian regime formally declared war on the US and Israel in 1979 shortly after the embassy takeover. They have committed countless acts of war in the decades since. The US has never acknowleged this war declaration but it still exists. Pursuant to the prosecution of this war, the president has the legal authority to do pretty much anything he wants.

Nailed it, clean and tight. Well done, Steve, old son.

American badass

Posted on March 4, 2026 by Mike 4 Comments

DuToit, as is his usual wont, knows what’s up.

Frankly, I’m uneasy with the entire concept of “regime change” as a foreign policy goal, because if history has taught us anything — especially in the Middle East — it’s that most of these noble efforts are pretty much doomed to failure, because the entire premise is faulty. Changing a regime is no guarantee that the next regime will be any better than the previous one.

Here’s the unalterable fact: democratic capitalism, as a concept and guiding socio-political principle, doesn’t work outside the confines of Western civilization, and by “Western civilization” I mean pretty much the United States. This is because Western civilization cannot coexist within a nation along with lunatic and highly-flawed political systems like Marxism and/or lunatic medieval social systems like Islam.

One only has to see how the UK, to use but one example, has been undermined by the baleful effects of both the above — Marxism as a home-grown poison (hello, Labour Party) and Islam as an imported poison (hello, untrammeled Muslim immigration).

And that’s within a nation which pretty much gave birth to democratic capitalism. (They did, too; we just perfected it.) Now try to see how well democratic capitalism has worked in other countries which have never had that system as a bedrock principle — Iraq, Syria, Egypt, China, the whole of Africa etc. — and all you’ll find is a constant and comprehensive list of failures. You can change regimes, by all means: but the plain fact of the matter is that democratic capitalism is probably going to fail as the “new” regime will pretty much be just a (watered-down at best) copy of earlier regimes, none of which have espoused democratic capitalism. They’ll be kleptocracies like all the African shitholes, or neo-Communist like Vietnam, or military juntas like [insert South American country of choice here]. (Augusto Pinochet’s Chilean junta, by the way, was very much the exception.)

So I’m simply regarding the destruction of the current Iranian Islamic regime as a side-benefit of the whole exercise.

What we should be stating, in no uncertain terms, is that any regime which exports terrorism or socio-political poisons like Islam or Marxism are on notice that the United States may, at our own discretion, pound these regimes back into rubble rather than allow them to subvert peace and prosperity — the two are very much linked — in the names of their respective ideologies. “Regime change” is very much a subset of that goal, and not its primary purpose. (SecWar Pete Hegseth, at least, has the right of it.)

Not surprising in the least, that last; as I’ve indirectly as well as directly stated here ever since he first signed on as SecWar, he pretty much always does. Sec Hegseth is a lot like DuToit himself in that regard.

Well, Sucks To Be a Mullah Right Now

Posted on March 2, 2026 by Barry

Hat tip: Sarah Hoyt at Insty – Instapundit

Nicely done list of Iranian atrocities committed against Americans. There are literally hundreds more. Iran has been at war with the USA for almost a half century. Iran has been a russian proxy. The USA has just joined the war, decided to put an end to the iranian regime.

1983: proxies for the Iranian mullahs car-bomb the US embassy in Beirut, Lebanon. 17 American killed.

1983: proxies for the Iranian mullahs car-bomb the US Marine barracks in Lebanon. 241 US servicemen killed.

1984: proxies for the Iranian mullahs kidnap the CIA station chief in Lebanon, and spend 15 months torturing him — let me rephrase that: they tortured this man with electric drills, hammers, electricity, pliers, and anything else they thought of; and in-between torture sessions he was locked in a cage too small to stand, and too narrow to lay down for a year and three months. He was reduced to an animal, mind gone, gibbering in terror, before his heart finally gave out under torture. We know this, because the Iranian proxies sent us video recordings of the torture sessions.

1984: proxies for the Iranian mullahs hi-jacked aeroplanes, singled out American passengers, and murdered them.

1988: proxies for the Iranian mullahs kidnapped the head of the United Nations Peacekeeping Mission in Lebanon — an American — and tortured him. They sent us a video of his murder via slow strangulation when they got bored with the torture.

1996 to 1998: proxies for the Iranian mullahs car-bombed US Airforce housing in Saudi Arabia, and United States embassies in Tanzania and Kenya, killing Americans.

2003 to 2011: the mullahs set up a factory making Explosively-Formed Penetrators of a Russian design, and trained militiamen in their use for the specific purpose of attacking US servicemembers in Iraq. They succeeded in killing or injuring several hundred US troops with these EFPs.

The mullahs have attempted attacks inside America’s border — the most famous of which being the 2022 stabbing of Salman Rushdie in New York, where he lost an eye.

The Iranian mullahs have used the natural resources of Iran to become the #1 sponsor of International terror since 1979. If there is a terror group killing innocents, wrecking economies, and generally disrupting the world, there’s a pretty good chance the mullahs gave that terror group a wad of cash.

That’s a very brief account of the butcher’s bill in American lives directly laid at the feet of the mullahs in Iran.

Read the Whole Thing

WHO said WHAT again, now?!?

Posted on March 1, 2026March 1, 2026 by Mike

Okay, I gotta admit, I did NOT see this coming. Not at all, I didn’t.

I don’t think they’re nearly masculine enough to achieve Boy George level.

— L A R R Y (@LarryOConnor)

March 1, 2026

Good on ya, George. Further kudos for a most righteous response go to COL Schlichter and Larry O’Connor as well.

SNEK!!!

Posted on February 28, 2026March 1, 2026 by Mike

According to Glenn, Trump just did it again.

Cutting Off the Head of the Snake
Or maybe the Gordian Knot

November 4, 1979 — almost 47 years ago — Iran seized the American embassy in Tehran and held its staff hostage. Ever since then, American presidents have struggled with what to do.

Jimmy Carter temporized for many months, even as ABC’s newly created Nightline — a nighttime news show created specially to cover the hostage crisis — opened every night with “America held hostage, day XXX.” His wife, First Lady Rosalynn Carter, finally prodded him to do something. The “something” turned out to be a shambolic rescue mission that ended in disaster.

President Reagan intimidated the mullahs a bit, but never seriously retaliated for the Beirut barracks bombing that killed over 200 Marines along with over a score of other service personnel. George H.W. Bush invaded Iraq but left the mullahs largely alone. Bill Clinton did nothing of substance. George W. Bush had a chance to bring the Iranians to heel after the conquest of Iraq, but inexplicably failed to press his advantage. Barack Obama was, basically, complicit in their nuclear program, to the point of famously sending them pallets of cash totaling over a billion dollars.

President Trump, on the other hand, killed General Soleimani and told other Iranian leaders that they could be next. And now they are next.

So what have we learned, and what’s likely to happen in the future?

Well, for one thing, we’ve learned that there is no atrocity so abominable, no adversary so bloodyminded and vicious, no act of war so blatant and brazen that the shitlib Left won’t leap in all a-frothing to scold the US about daring to react in any fashion more bellicose than rolling over, showing our (yellow) bellies, and pissing all over ourselves as we whimper piteously for mercy.

Additionally, we’ve learned that every attack launched by us Ugly Amerikkkan H8888rrzzs© in response to provocation, however dire, shall be decried as “unprovoked,” “disproportionate,” “dangerous,” and/or “destabilizing.”

In sum, then, we’ve learned that:

Amerikkka, come Hell or high water, is always and forever wrong
Amerikkka will always and forever be the bad guy, deserving of all blame no matter what; ie, we are the big, scary monster underneath every kid’s bed
The US should never be thought of as “the world’s policeman,” “the world’s breadbasket,” or “the defender of the Free World,” but rather as “the world’s whipping boy”
Likewise, the US is to be presumed guilty no matter what, in all situations and contexts
Words like “genocide,” “apartheid,” “greed,” and “oppressive” apply strictly and exclusively to the US alone, no one else

There. Not by any means comprehensive, mind, but enough to be going on with just the same. Taken for all in all, an addendum to Mike’s Iron Law #1,246 has been deemed necessary. “What’s likely to happen in the future?” More of the same, alas, for just as long as Real American Normals remain content to put up with this tired shit, and not a moment longer.

As time marches ever on, it begins to look as if it will take exterminating no fewer than half to two-thirds of them before the rest of the sewer rats get the message and back the fuck off, so emboldened have we allowed them to become.

Update! Too bad, so sad.

An Iranian news anchor broke down in tears on live television while reading the news of Ali Khamenei’s death. pic.twitter.com/5v7WpTBYr4

— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24)

March 1, 2026

Cry me a river, Muzzrat swine. Happily, by assuming room temperature Khamenei has now become a good Ayatollah.

Updated update! France could use more Trump and a lot less Macron.

Cheese-Eating Surrender Monkeys Come Out for the Islamic Republic of Iran
After the U.S./Israeli strikes on the Islamic Republic of Iran began early Saturday morning, the far-left government of Canada offered tepid support for the strikes, while the government of Saudi Arabia, indignant after an Iranian strike against a U.S. base inside the kingdom, said that it would join in on striking Iran. So far, so good.

Emmanuel Macron’s France, however, had a markedly different reaction. Several hours after the strikes began, Macron wrote:

The outbreak of war between the United States, Israel, and Iran carries grave consequences for international peace and security.

Notice that he says nothing whatsoever about the yearning of the Iranian people for freedom after suffering 47 years of the Islamic regime’s bloodthirsty repression.

In this decisive moment, all measures are being taken to ensure the security of the national territory and that of our compatriots, as well as our interests in the Middle East.

France also stands ready to deploy the necessary resources to protect its closest partners at their request.

The ongoing escalation is dangerous for all. It must stop. The Iranian regime must understand that it no longer has any option but to engage in good-faith negotiations to end its nuclear and ballistic programs, as well as its actions of regional destabilization. This is absolutely essential to the security of all in the Middle East.

Macron here assumes that the Iranian Islamic regime will remain in power.

That’s because if it were up to his weak ass, it would—forever and ever, amen.

Nevertheless, he plows on:

The Iranian people must also be able to build their future freely. The massacres perpetrated by the Islamic regime disqualify it and require that the voice be given back to the people. The sooner, the better.

This is inconsistent, as he just called upon the Iranian regime to “engage in good-faith negotiations.” Now he says that it has been disqualified, and that he wants the Iranian people to have a voice. Great, but how does he envision their getting that voice, if he thinks that “the ongoing escalation is dangerous for all” and “must stop”? Macron offers no way forward. He is clearly just hoping that whichever side wins will think he was supporting it all along.

Well, of course he is. He’s the pluperfect ProPol: all things to all people at all times, no matter what. He talks a lot, but says nothing of any real import. When the final bell sounds, he’ll step up to the podium, beam a gleaming, toothy smile into the camera lenses, make a rousing little speech extolling his myriad virtues—foresightedness, courage, unswerving dedication to principle, plainspoken integrity, and so forth, none of which he possesses to any noticeable degree—shake the important hands, and then move on to the next Media Availability.

Overcome with disgust, Spencer spits:

None of this can be made to make sense. It is just the dissembling of a politician who wants to appear strong when he is weak, decisive when he cannot make up his mind, and on the side of his Western allies while not alienating his friends and business partners in Tehran.

Oh, it makes sense all right. It stinks to high Heaven; it’s self-serving as all Hell, sure. It’s despicable, certainly, and says nothing whatever complimentary about the people of France, that they would countenance such an obvious bargain-basement s’faccim as the “leader” of their once-proud Republic. But what it also happens to be is perfectly typical of his foul ilk.

As my biker friends used to say, Macron is so low he’d crawl over his dead sister to fuck his own mother. Which, y’know, is pretty dadgum low if you ask me.

I bring you good tidings of great joy

Posted on February 28, 2026March 1, 2026 by Mike

I have it from the ex-wife, who has it on very good authority herself (via this Instagram vid), that Nathan Fillion has been dropping some very direct, broad hints to the other cast members about some forthcoming…uhmm…developments in the Firefly/Serenity multiverse. Me being a tremendous fan of Joss Whedon’s masterpiece, I couldn’t be more excited about this, and I hope the ex has the story straight (it would be VERY out of character for her not to, honestly).

From the text messages and other things she forwarded me, originally sent by Fillion to Alan Tudyk, Gina Torres, Jewel Staite, Adam Baldwin, et al, it does indeed sound pretty serious…more so, even, than most of the other rumint which has made the rounds ever since the morning after Fox foolishly dropped Firefly from the roster. We shall see, I reckon. Meanwhile, a little reminder of just how great the show and the movie really were is in order.

Captain Mal’s justly renowned “I aim to misbehave” soliloquy from Serenity says it all extremely well, don’tchathink? Sadly, disturbingly, it rings every bit as true today as it does in the movie.

Update! In the course of watching all sorts of Firefly/Serenity-YewToob vids earlier today, I ran across a fun little tidbit: Whedon spent over 100k to have two (2) full-size replicas of Serenity’s interior spaces constructed, which the cast members promptly adopted as their own semi-official green room/clubhouse/hangout to kick back and relax in between takes.

Whedon came up with the idea of building each deck of Serenity as a contiguous set, so that he could establish the size of the spaceship, and film scenes where the actors could be followed as they moved around the ship. The two sets were built on separate sound stages, making second unit filming possible. The opening to the film highlights this: a 41⁄2 minute shot (technically two shots connected together) near the start of the movie follows Mal from the bridge as he walks along the entire upper deck set, down a set of stairs near the engine room (where the cut is hidden by a whip pan from Mal to Simon) and back along the lower deck set to the cargo bay. This shot (and similar shots in the early episodes) were intended to establish the space which made up the ship, and where locations were in relation to each

Having the sets constructed as contiguous decks had several advantages for the cast and crew: Joss Whedon would physically move around on the sets to help him in writing or blocking difficult scenes, Summer Glau (playing River Tam) would often walk around the set to get into character and prepare for filming, while other cast members would use the set as a green room or a place to relax. The sets were built with all walls and ceilings, but designed so that walls, ceilings, and large objects could be moved to facilitate filming. Director of photography David Boyd chose to use small hand-held cameras for interior filming, which in turn enhanced the ‘documentary’ feel Whedon wanted for the series. Lighting was provided by lights built into the ship, which were designed to appear practical and realistic.
other.

Having spent interminable hours of soul-searing boredom on several motion-picture sets myself as a “talent,” I can assure you that having access to a quiet, personal space to gather one’s wits, run lines for your next scene, have a soda or a snack from the catering tent, or just flop around and do not much, is worth whatever the production company has to pay for it. Yes, the ordinary motor home, bus, or travel trailer is fine and well, natch, but an honest-to-God spaceship?!? Now THAT is just too cool for school, kids.

A hundred grand sounds like a lot of dough—okay, okay, it IS a lot of dough—but I can also assure you that to Fillion, Torres, Tudyk, and Co, their Serenity hideaway was easily worth two or three times its weight in gold bullion. In fact, once they’d had a cpl-three days to get their heads around the idea of having their very own spaceship (!) to do them for a green room/lounge/retreat/off-camera hideaway, I seriously doubt they would’ve taken anything at all in trade for it, if only just to retain A) the Cool points, which would have to be considerable, and B) permanent bragging rights amongst their film-industry colleagues; sleazeball agents & managers; phony friends; fans, stalkers, and mentally disordered housebreakers; and/or assorted creepy rumpswabs for this unconventional perquisite.

Now just imagine the possibilities if the Serenity-interior set had locking doors to partition off the main bridge, the galley, the crew lounge/recreation spaces, the cargo bay, personal quarters, etc etc from the rest of the ersatz “ship.”

Shame and disgrace

Posted on February 26, 2026 by Mike

New Yorkers ought to be deeply, deeply ashamed of themselves.

If I showed this picture to a person after 9/11 and told them it was New York 25 years later, they would have called me a psychopath pic.twitter.com/YuslPuGJZs

— Kevin Sorbo (@ksorbs) February 23, 2026

Q: How long does it take to completely forget an atrocity as heinous as 9/11/01 was?
A: Apparently, not more than 25 years.

In the shit

Posted on February 23, 2026February 23, 2026 by Mike

For the carrier Gerald Ford and its crew, all too literally.

One of the most formidable weapons in the Navy is its largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford. Reports are that it’s already within striking distance of Iran, if need be. At a cost of about $13 billion, you’d expect it to have everything needed to wage war in the 21st century, and it does. Except that it has one problem – its toilets are broken.

The most recent reports are that for a ship that houses a crew of over 4,000, there are only 650 toilets on board. Of those, more and more of them are just not working.

According to a recent article in Navy Times, “The complications primarily involve the Ford’s vacuum collection, holding and transfer system, or VCHT, which transports and disposes wastewater by sucking fecal matter through pipes using pressure.”

Reports are that the three big issues are: Ship designers simply didn’t plan on enough commodes for the size of the crew on the ship. This means 45-minute waits on a good day. The second issue is that the way the plumbing system is designed, if one valve for one toilet breaks down in that hinky vacuum collection system, all the toilets in that department stop working. The third problem is that most of the critical repair operations to the system can only be done when the ship is at port.

As more sailors rely on fewer toilets, this is expected to stress the system and cause even more shutdowns.

Not to even mention how severely stressed the sailors must be by it.

The Ford was launched in October 2013, and so if you want, you could blame the Obama administration. That’s always fun and appropriate, even here. But when it comes to the many years it takes, and all the people and companies involved in building a single aircraft carrier, there is probably enough blame to go around.

The Navy Times revealed that a 2020 Government Accountability Office report “pointed out that the sewage pipes woven throughout the [Ford] were too narrow to properly serve the flushes of the 4,000-plus crew members onboard… To unclog the toilets, the Navy has been forced to spend $400,000 per flush of a unique acidic chemical designed to flush out and unburden the strained pipes.”

So as reports spread of problems in the bowels of our largest aircraft carrier, the mullahs in Iran may be breathing easier for now… or maybe not.

Heh. I see what you did there, ya big turd.

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