[HighlyRespectedSubstack] Conservatism has completely transformed since I got involved in politics 13 years ago. In 2013 conservatives thought the future of the party lay with amnesty
It was controversial to even oppose illegal immigration, much less legal immigration. There was no debate over Israel; you had to support "our greatest ally" or face being purged. There was no tolerance for talk of anti-white racism or demographic replacement. Ronald Reagan was treated as a god that all Republicans must model themselves after. The big thinkers of the time imagined the Right becoming more diverse, more tolerant, more wonky, and less interested in cultural matters. It would be like Paul Ryan, not like the average Tea Partier.
A lot has changed since then. Pretty much every conservative influencer—from Tucker Carlson to Matt Walsh—delves into topics once limited to the Alt Right. Conservative Twitter has been supplanted by the Online Right, and its concerns on immigration, national identity, and foreign policy now animate internet discourse. These ideas aren’t just restricted to talking heads. They pervade social media platforms through memes and short-form clips. If you’re on the internet today, you will regularly encounter right-wing ideas. That wasn’t the case 15 years ago. It took a lot of effort to find out horrific crimes against whites and the follies of immigration policy. One had to go into forbidden corners of the internet to learn about this. Now you can just follow Elon Musk on X.
Not everything is "Alt Right" though. The Republican Party establishment still has its old priorities and many of its lawmakers deserve our skepticism. People like John Thune would love to return the party to the days of Paul Ryan. So would many Fox News personalities and talk radio hosts.
So yes, it’s not a complete victory for the Online Right. Posters are not in absolute control.
But Rome wasn’t built in a day. And things are dramatically different than they were in the past. One can see this looking at the conservative movement and how Republicans wish to demonstrate their right-wing bona fides.
While the GOP still has Thune types in powerful positions, the conservative movement has transformed. Thirteen years ago, the Heritage Foundation fired Jason Richwine for writing about racial differences in his Harvard dissertation and for contributing to AlternativeRight dot com. Today, it defends Tucker Carlson
How much of that is a sentimental attachment to the Tucker Carlson of Fox News? Many are revolted by his heart-felt, blatant Jew hate and turning on President Trump, more will be revolted by his announcement that he is leaving the Republican party altogether…
and celebrates Chronicles magazine.
Chronicles is the magazine of the paleocon branch of conservatism. I checked.
In 2013, the average young conservative activist was a libertarian (except on foreign policy) and was repulsed by identitarian thoughts. The average young conservative activist is a nationalist who’s fully aware of the memes. The Federalist Society, College Republicans, Turning Point USA, the Trump administration, and Capitol Hill offices are filled with right-wingers. This is the next generation of conservatism—and they’re not libertarians or neocons.
Posted by: Jack Guelph2611 ||
06/24/2026 00:00 ||
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BTW I went back through every year. I estimate 75-90% of the individual days since May 10th are record lows https://t.co/bEUW1cUVjO
— The American Storm (@BigJoeBastardi) June 21, 2026
Look at the impressive heat in western Europe and the cold in the west that's coming. Guess what? They are not equal in size. The area of intense cold in the western US is larger than the area of intense heat in western Europe. Same global pattern, but you are only told about… pic.twitter.com/8cFhDhUHv4
— The American Storm (@BigJoeBastardi) June 23, 2026
#4
Also it appears that the Chicago and the surrounding counties have been a Ozone Hole like forever and the State will not allow anybody to talk about it or research why that its. So an honest eye doc will say: "don't go outside without polarizing sun glasses".
[PJMedia] The U.K.'s most destructively feckless prime minister (since the last one) is history, but Keir Starmer's likely successor could prove Britannia's final undoing — if the radical Liberian-born advisor who serves as Andy Burnham's "brains" gets her way.
Burnham, former Mayor of Greater Manchester, won the Makerfield by-election on June 18 with an impressive 55% of the vote — a full rebuke of Reform U.K., too — sending him to Parliament where he'll make a run at Number 10 Downing St. At least one potential rival, Wes Streeting, stood aside and endorsed Burnham on Monday, pretty much clearing his path.
In his endorsement, Streeting said he wants Labour to pursue "a progressive capitalism focused on wealth creation as much as wealth distribution," but nobody seems to have told the "brains" behind Burnham: the Liberian-born daughter of lefty radicals, Miatta Fahnbulleh.
CutMyTaxUK reported last year that Fahnbulleh "was born in Liberia as part of a prominent leftist revolutionary family, has served as a junior energy & housing minister in the Starmer government before resigning to support Burnham." Previously, as the "former head of the far-left New Economics Foundation," she proved "adept at churning out socialist policy proposals."
Or as CMT-UK put it, "Keir Starmer has appointed a Housing Minister who hates private housing."
Another U.K. publication, Guido Fawkes, put all of Fahnbulleh's most radical proposals in one handy list on Sunday:
A wealth tax and yet another windfall tax on oil and gas.
Mass nationalization e.g. of land, transport, and energy.
Extending national [welfare] insurance [tax to include] to investment income.
A cap on interest rates and charges on every form of consumer credit.
Hiking capital gains tax to income tax levels.
Hiking the dividend tax to income tax levels.
Abolition of the upper earnings limit for national insurance.
Huge expansion of the benefits system, including a “minimum income guarantee” paid to everyone apart from the rich.
Nationalization of banks and creation of new “green” banks with taxpayer funds.
Block on private banks lending to anyone with a “large amount of greenhouse gas emissions” and “penalization of banks that provide too many carbon-intensive loans.“
Forced sale of existing businesses to employees.
A tripling of the stamp duty [property tax, basically] surcharge to 9% for multiple homeowners and an increase to 6% for non-residents.
So, apart from urging the destruction of the energy industry, banking, and investment, ending private ownership of industry and housing, and a massive expansion of Britain's welfare state, she's practically a right-winger.
Cough, cough.
Here's a quick look at Fahnbulleh's background:
This article introduces the new ‘Slightly Dark Svengali’ figure ‘intellectually influencing’ Andy Burnham from the shadows - Miatta Fahnbulleh. Unlike previous ‘Slightly Dark Svengali’ figures like say Dominic Cummings or Sue Gray this one has a fun Yookay twist. Her actual… https://t.co/NlAB3zB4SLpic.twitter.com/9cwVRgyYqK
Britain isn't just importing mass numbers of Third Worlders; it's importing Third World lefty radicalism that the West once pounded into smithereens under Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan during the last years of the Cold War.
The New Statesman's Nick Plumb describes Fahnbulleh's governing philosophy as "radical co-operativism," but all these generations later, Karl Marx couldn't help but notice the family resemblance. But what's the big deal about a former Housing Minister with a radical laundry list of ways to destroy what's left of the British economy?
As CMT-UK also put it, there are "two worrying aspects to this New Statesman article." The first is that "Burnham apparently doesn't have many brains," and the second is that "Fahnbulleh is filling the gap."
Fahnbulleh is one of Burnham's key allies, campaigned for him in last week's big by-election win, and previously helped shape policy for a potential Burnham government, according to the BBC.
By trading Starmer for Burnham, Britain very well may be going out of the frying pan and into the fire.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited by Alexey Statsenko
[REGNUM.RU] June 1941—in our minds, it's shattered columns of Soviet equipment, ruined cities, fires, and panic. Against this backdrop, the battle for the border town of Przemysl (the southern half of which belonged to the USSR) looked entirely different. On June 23, the Germans were not only recaptured, but also pushed back across the San River, the border river, and the German-held part of the city was breached.
In the history of the first tragic month of the war, these events appear as a truly bright spot.
Perhaps because Przemyśl itself had been the site of fierce battles since World War I. In October 1914, it housed one of the most powerful fortresses of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, blocking the route to southern Poland and Hungary.
Then, in two days of fighting, the six Russian divisions that assaulted it lost a third of their personnel. The future "father of military engineering," General (then Staff Captain) Dmitry Karbyshev, also took part in those battles.
After the Civil War, the city became part of Poland, and in September 1939, it became a border city. Przemyśl was then an important railway junction, the capture of which would have allowed the Germans to advance on Lviv, Vinnytsia, and Kyiv.
The Soviet leadership also understood the importance of this location, so one hundred pillboxes and other fortifications of the 8th Przemysl Fortified Region were quickly constructed on the southern (Soviet) bank of the river. Two separate machine-gun battalions and three separate machine-gun companies were prepared to defend them.
The construction was personally inspected by Lieutenant General of the Engineering Troops Karbyshev, who undoubtedly did so with special feeling.
Nearly three dozen soldiers from the 92nd NKVD Border Detachment, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Yakov Tarutin, were also stationed in the Przemysl area. Three outposts were located within the city limits, with Colonel Nikolai Dementyev's 99th Rifle Division positioned slightly further inland. The bridge and other railway facilities in and around the city were guarded by soldiers from the 10th Division of the NKVD Railway Troops.
Our command believed that even in the event of an enemy attack, the 99th Rifle Division, one of the best in the Red Army, would, along with other units, fight back and hold out until the main forces arrived. However, by June 22, only one regiment of the division remained.
MARX AND THE UKRAINIANS AGAINST THE BORDER GUARDS
The Germans, desperately needing the railway bridge, initially planned for it to be captured by the Nachtigall Battalion, formed by Ukrainian nationalists. But then German generals doubted the Ukrainians' capabilities and decided that the bridge and the city itself would be captured by troops of Lieutenant General Erich Marcks's 101st Light Infantry Division.
In addition to artillery, the infantry was supported by several armored vehicles and captured French S-35 SOMUA tanks.
On the eve of the invasion, the Germans began preparing machine gun positions in the upper floors of apartment buildings located near the river. Assault teams were formed at the Benedictine Sisters' Convent.
The border guards reported to command about the Germans' preparations, but in response they invariably received orders not to succumb to provocations and to maintain surveillance.
On June 22, 1941, at around 4:00 a.m., a hail of shells fell on the city and the positions of Soviet troops.
Warehouses, a hospital, headquarters, a train station, and houses were burning. Communication with border guard headquarters and commandant's offices was lost. After an artillery barrage, German assault groups rushed the bridge, but the border guards were already on alert.
A group of soldiers from the 14th outpost, commanded by Lieutenant Pyotr Nechayev, took up defensive positions near the bridge, armed with a heavy machine gun.
"THE LOSSES WERE TERRIBLE"
As soon as the Germans crossed the white line marking the border on the bridge, border guards opened fire. The enemy suffered losses and retreated. Half an hour later, the enemy, under cover of their machine guns and artillery fire, attacked and suffered more losses. They were also fired upon by a 76mm gun from a pillbox located on the bank of the San River on Zamkova Hill.
Unable to cross the bridge, the enemy attempted to cross the San in rubber boats, but each time they came under fire from cannons and machine guns in pillboxes and border guards firing from trenches. They attempted to cross the river near the meat-packing plant five times, all without success.
As a result, the enemy found a weak spot in the Soviet defense, created a bridgehead on the southern bank of the San and broke into Przemysl from the north.
A sergeant major of the 101st Light Infantry Division, captured at the 9th Outpost, recalled the battle this way: " The losses were terrible... The Soviet border guards had firing positions along the coast. They dug in and fired literally until their last bullet. Never before have we seen such resilience, such military tenacity... They preferred death to the possibility of capture or retreat..."
At the bridge, Nechayev's detachment repelled eight attacks, but after the Germans crossed the river, they were able to attack the border guards from behind. Only the lieutenant, who had run out of ammunition, survived. The Germans attempted to take the courageous commander prisoner, but Nechayev blew himself up with a grenade.
By the end of the day, the Germans controlled most of Przemyśl but were unable to break through to its eastern quarters. Border guards, soldiers of the 66th NKVD Regiment, and 190 militiamen held a defensive position there. They had obtained several boxes of rifles from the city military commissariat warehouse and later brought in ammunition, 70–80 rounds per soldier.
The Red Army continued to resist in the southwestern part of the city: in the cemetery area, on today's Juliusz Słowacki Street, near the Church of the Ascension, and on the hills.
"THROWED THE MACHINE GUNNER OUT OF THE WINDOW"
The heroic defense of the border guards, especially Nechayev's detachment, allowed them to gain time and bring up units of the 99th Rifle Division and artillery to the city. Throughout the night, Soviet soldiers conducted reconnaissance, prepared firing positions, and hauled ammunition to them.
Four groups of scouts penetrated the occupied part of Przemysl, “copied” the location of firing points and captured “tongues”.
They reported that the Germans would launch a decisive attack on June 23rd to clear the entire city. Bogdanov, an interpreter with the 92nd Border Detachment, particularly distinguished himself. He killed two enemy staff officers and captured their uniforms, documents, and maps. The brave border guard made four raids behind enemy lines and never returned from his final one.
The Soviet command then decided to preempt the enemy, launch a counterattack, and drive them out of Przemyśl. At that point, the Germans had concentrated two infantry battalions, two artillery batteries, and two mortar batteries in the eastern part of the city.
The Soviet counterattack followed on the morning of June 23. The Germans were not expecting such a turn of events, but they resisted fiercely, attempting to gain a foothold in apartment buildings.
Street fighting broke out, vividly described by Pravda special correspondent David Novoplyansky : " Machine guns fired from the windows of a four-story building, like embrasures. Border guards finally made it into the building. Komsomol member Shcherbitsky threw an enemy machine gunner out of a second-story window. Sergeant Major Malkov hurled grenades at the Nazis holed up in the basement… "
Soviet soldiers operated in small assault groups, pelting enemy firing positions with grenades, and overthrowing them with bayonets at the railway station. The Germans attempted to stop them with two tanks, but 45mm gun crews and a howitzer quickly knocked them out.
By 5:00 PM, Senior Lieutenant Polivoda's shock battalion had not only liberated the entire eastern part of the city and taken control of the bridge, but also broken into the German-held section of Przemyśl, which the Germans called Premsel. There, Soviet soldiers freed captured Red Army soldiers and arrested civilians from the Gestapo building.
Thus, Przemysl became the first city liberated from German troops. Moreover, it was Polivoda's fighters who were the first of all the Allied forces to break into the territory of the Third Reich.
The Germans lost up to 200 men killed, 12 machine guns, two tanks, several armored vehicles and guns.
DESPERATE RESISTANCE
Having driven the enemy from the southern part of the city, Soviet soldiers and civilians not only restored defensive positions and erected barricades, but also restored the bakery and water supply. A farewell ceremony was held for the fallen Red Army soldiers. Western newspapers reported on the Soviet troops' success: the Evening Standard read "Russian Counterattack. Przemysl Recaptured," the Star read "Przemysl Back in Soviet Hands," and the Evening News read "Russians Struggle to Counterattack."
On June 24, the defenders received reinforcements—120 border guards. The Germans, after the initial setbacks, took up defensive positions along the Sana line and waited. From June 24 to 26, the two sides exchanged artillery strikes, resulting in the destruction of up to 40% of the city's buildings. The neighborhoods adjacent to the bridge were reduced to rubble.
Meanwhile, the Germans achieved significant results on the flanks: on June 22–23, five border outposts north of the city were encircled and destroyed, and the Soviet defenses were breached. The villages of Medyka and Stubno were captured, cutting off the escape routes to the east and northeast for Przemyśl's defenders.
Their rear communications were attacked by German reconnaissance groups and saboteurs from Nachtigall.
Fearing the city would be completely encircled, the Soviet command ordered its abandonment late in the evening of June 26 and a retreat to the southeast. Polivoda's combined battalion left the city on June 27, while the covering forces continued fighting until the morning of the following day.
While retreating, Soviet troops blew up a railway bridge (other sources say they severely damaged it). Major Mechislav Kulchitsky, the chief of the 99th Division's engineering service, attached explosives to a handcar and launched it onto the bridge, where it exploded, severely damaging the metal structure.
After the Soviet troops withdrew, the pillbox garrisons continued to fight. The Germans destroyed them with 88mm anti-aircraft guns, flamethrowers, and explosives. The commander of the 2nd Battalion, 520th Regiment, 296th Infantry Division of the Wehrmacht wrote in his report: "The pillbox defenders put up desperate resistance. Two flamethrower tanks were knocked out. The flamethrower tanks failed to hit the pillboxes. The defenders of the fortifications continued to fire."
Despite the heroic defense, the 99th Rifle Division was forced to retreat and suffered huge losses.
By 1945, only about 100 men remained of those who had fought in the summer of 1941. But it became the first Red Army unit to be awarded the Order of the Red Banner during the Great Patriotic War, a decree signed exactly one month after its outbreak.
But the Red Army still liberated Przemysl during the Lvov-Sandomierz operation – this happened on July 27, 1944, and happened for the second time.
No Links for this as my Emails are all screwed up and I haven't had the time to go to the GMail people at the old Hamburger University in Oakbrook IL to get them fixed up. So I couldn't Email Ingrhamanangle at fox news with this story that covers how totally crooked the DEA was already under Carter and likely from when it was created. Also, my dad's cousin was a Cold Warrior so I included much more of his history as it applies to Iran and Nukes also.
It involves my dad's first cousin and his wife. (both are now safely dead of old age)
In WW-ii he was OSS. Before WW-II her dad was one of the leading industrialist in Germany and was anti-Hitler.
When Hitler rolled into Austria her dad was imprisoned and his car became Hitler's car.
As the war progressed she and her mother need to keep switching estates to avoid the SS.
They caught up to them in Dresden and she was ordered to report the next morning to the prostitution services for the SS (about 2 week life span). That night Dresden was bombed.
Yea for her.
When the Russians rolled in she decided the top General need an interpreter and she spoke 13 languages
So... come the Potsdam conference she was the interpreter for that general. Enter my dad's cousin the OSS guy.
He makes her his key agent at the Potsdam conference.
So the US knows everything the USSR is up to. She will say: "They want me to tell you this but they are really up to that".
She was very key.
Then after a year or two the Russians got wise and the only way he could save her was to marry her to get her out of the occupation zone.
She came back with him and he went back and forth in his career between CIA and State.
Whenever Democrats were in power his life got rough
Under Johnson he was an under ambassador in Mexico and the Russians kidnapped his wife.
The Johnson government would not help so he hired soldiers of fortune he knew to rescue her.
Under Nixon and Ford he spent a lot of time in South Africa and Switzerland - the only nations he felt safe in.
(I assume his whole life is redacted) He told me his wildest stories when he was dying of cancer.
Under Carter his GS rating was too high to fire so they made him the acting drug czar. Drug Czar was something he wanted nothing to do with.
First day on the job it took two hours of security to get to his office. 15 mins later the mob walked in and demanded he leave their shipments alone or his family would be killed.
He was like fine... I am a cold warrior not a drug warrior I will leave you alone.
Six months later he was back in State.
I visited about this time and sanctions were already on South Africa but he had lots of Johannesburg Riesling wine. I asked how? "My orders come in SA's diplomatic pouch and I pick them up at their embassy"
Mid 80s he was running a big operation against the Soviets out of our embassy in Switzerland.
He was sitting in embassy cafe with some of his people and Reagan's pal Phillyis Schaffley came in and started raising a public ruckus about all these worthless staff sitting about doing nothing.
Some Russian spies heard her and started counting noses.
They knew something was up and it ended up in a huge undercover war in Europe Russia and the MidEast.
(remember the leaked US agent lists in Greece and stuff? all part of it)
By the time it was done the US claimed victory but all its agents in the USSR were dead and over 1500 on each side were dead in Europe and Turkey. (most listed as accidents or missing or robbery)
He retired after that but did consult some when the USSR dissolved to try and keep a lid on the nukes.
Unfortunately some of the tactical nukes similar to the US nuclear hand-grenades got in bad hands but the Soviet tacticals needed massive service every 6 months to continue working. He suspected Iran got 3.
So the tacticals would let Iran know what one looks like but not be useful for decades. And yield was very small and local.
[PJMedia] My wife of over 20 years is a blonde-haired, blue-eyed citizen of Holland. (And, according to 23andMe, she also has a high percentage of Neanderthal DNA. That’s probably why she really likes bananas.) But even though she’s as white as skim milk, mayonnaise, and polka music, her father aspired to be the next Gauguin and relocated her family to Tahiti when she was still a baby. She was raised as an ethnic minority.
I’m just a boring American white guy. (Bear with me: Our ethnic backgrounds are relevant for this intro.)
My very first job after graduating from law school was in the Hawaiian attorney general’s office. (My then-fiancé was wrapping up her master’s from the University of Hawaii.) I was so excited — and determined to make a great impression! On my first day at work, I looked everyone in the eye, learned everyone’s name, and was on my best behavior.
By the end of the day, all the other lawyers and paralegals greeted me by name!
"Can you believe that, honey?" I beamed. "I’ve only been here a day, and everyone already knows who I am!"
She looked at me like I was an idiot: "Scott... of course they know who you are: There’s only one other white guy in your entire office!"
"...Oh."
That’s how perspectives work: Because she had the perspective of being a lifelong minority, she recognized the obvious — that there’s almost certainly a correlation between my "memorability" and my ethnicity. (Meanwhile,
...back at the precinct house, Sergeant Maloney wasn't buying it. It was just too pat. The whole thing smelled phony, kind of like a dead mackeral but without the scales... I assumed it was because I’m so dang awesome.)
Audiences aren’t blank slates. We enter the political arena with biases, assumptions, blind spots, and cultural sensitivities. A wise communicator meets his audiences where they are and incorporates their perspective(s) into his message.
You have to — because if you don’t, your audience’s biases will hijack your message.
And that’s the issue raging through the MAGAverse right now: On one side, pro-Israel Republicans — a vast majority of the MAGA base — are up in arms over Vice President JD Vance’s rhetorical smackdown of Israel’s opposition to the MOU. The VP’s words were biting, harsh, and uncomfortable to hear. If you’re a pro-Israel Republican, it reminded you of something Tucker Carlson might say.
On the other side, plenty of Republicans nodded in enthusiastic agreement. Without question, Groypers, bigots, and Jew-haters exist — and plenty of podcasters make a living by catering to that demo. But there are also millions of fair-minded Republicans who view America’s relationship with Israel as an investment that’s in the red: It’s nothing personal, but the juice is no longer worth the squeeze.
It’s less theological and more transactional. They don’t see Israel as spiritually special; in their eyes, Israel is more like the neighborhood hoodlum who’s always getting us in trouble via association.
The problem is that the two sides interpret the same PR message dramatically differently.
Our minds are pattern-recognition machines: Whenever we get new info, we incorporate it into an established pattern. Eventually, as more data comes in, we might move it into a new pattern — or develop a different paradigm altogether — but that’s not our initial impulse.
Instead, we assume our patterns are correct.
We don’t have a ton of data on Vance. He’s a 41-year-old who’s something of a mystery. Vance was a freshman senator who quickly rose to vice president; he hasn’t been around long enough to craft a lengthy legislative track record — or foster deep emotional connections.
We see he’s smart as a whip. We admire his life journey. He’s a veteran and a patriot. Perhaps most meaningfully: Donald Trump ...They hit him with slander, they impeached him twice. Nancy Pelosi tore up his State of the Union address on national TV. They stole an election and put his adherents in jail. They vilified him. They couldn't crucify him, so they shot him. Still, they can't keep him down... — a man the MAGAverse trusts, respects, and admires — thought highly enough of him to elevate him to the vice presidency. If that’s not a glowing testimonial, I don’t know what is.
But we don’t really know what’s in his heart.
If you’re a pro-Israel Republican, you’ve recognized a pattern of MAGA-adjacent podcasters adopting similar rhetoric — and then channeling it into an escalating orgy of antisemitism. If you were a loyal Fox News viewer, the devolution of some of your favorite ex-talents was shocking and disappointing. You used to be proud that the Republican Party — unlike the Democratic Party — refused to traffic in antisemitism. It used to be one of the great moral distinctions between the two parties.
Not anymore. (Alas.)
Now, there are loudmouthed antisemites on both sides.
Unlike his boss, Vance has avoided taking sides in the GOP pie fights. It’s something we analyzed in yesterday’s column:
The upside of his strategy? If it works, Vance inherits an intact MAGA movement in 2028, instead of a faded facsimile. By staying neutral, he’s still capable of reuniting all wings of the right — the hawks, traditionalists, religious right, isolationists, and Groypers. When he runs for president, he needs to appeal to both [Ben] Shapiro and Carlson, Mark Levin and [Megyn] Kelly, Joe Rogan and Elon Musk — just like Donald Trump did in 2024. Choosing sides could shrink his base.
But the downside to his strategy is that it exposes Vance to allegations that he’s secretly sympathetic to the Jew-haters, isolationists, and Israel’s worst enemies.
There are pro-Israel Republicans who’ve placed Vance’s pattern of behavior within the Groyer/antisemite paradigm: He must be one of them. (Other supporting datapoints include Carlson’s son working in Vance’s office.) Many attacked Vance personally and viciously because they’re convinced their cause is noble.
On the other side, there are fair-minded Republican isolationists who view the anti-Vance pushback as a grotesque overreach — and eerily similar to leftists who cry "Racism!" at every turn. So what if he blasted Israel? Telling another country to be grateful for American support and to stop interfering in the president’s foreign policy decisions is precisely his job.
I mean, are we gonna be serious about "America First" or not?
(I’m ignoring the perspective of the Groypers/bigots because A. Screw ’em. And B. It’s painfully obvious what they think.)
Either way, it’s created an enormous PR mess for Vance — and thus, for the GOP: The pro-Israel side is riled because Vance’s actions and rhetoric fit the antisemitic pattern. Therefore, they’re pushing back hard and aggressively.
This isn’t something they’re going to forget.
The pro-isolationist side is furious because this pushback fits the pattern of exaggerated left-wing cries of racism — and besides, it sure sounds like the pro-Israel faction is placing Israel’s interests ahead of America’s, which is NOT "America First" at all.
The danger is that the two feedback loops will intersect and snowball: The more the pro-Israel side protests, the more the pro-isolationist side will escalate its rhetoric in response. The more they escalate their rhetoric in response, the more the pro-Israel side will protest. (With more ear-bleach to come next week in Podcastistan.)
Fortunately for the GOP, there’s a solution:
If Vance wants to inherit a unified Republican Party and an intact MAGA movement, he should calibrate his rhetoric accordingly. MAGA members are more likely to support Israel than oppose it — and do so at higher numbers than non-MAGA Republicans. Politics is a numbers game; follow the numbers.
Don’t fuel the feedback loop with distorted criticisms of either side. (I’ve noticed that Vance is awfully fond of strawman arguments. That would be a big mistake here.) Keep it simple and stick to the facts. You’re not trying to "destroy" the other side; your goal is to placate, soothe, and reassure.
Vance should explain how our relationship with Israel is consistent with America First values: Articulate the pragmatic, transactional benefits. (The more, the better.)
The pro-Israel side isn’t bellyaching because it’s fun — they’re doing so because they’re scared for Israel’s future. Explain how the Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... War and/or MOU have left Israel safer, more secure, and more prosperous than ever before.
The vice president cared so much about his Catholic faith and spiritual journey that he just wrote a book about it. If this shaped his view of Israel in a positive way, he’d be wise to share it: A personal, emotional story would go a long way in repairing injured relations.
Pro-Israel Republicans SHOULD trust Vance, because his boss has been the most pro-Israel president in U.S. history. That alone earns him the benefit of the doubt: If political decisions reflect personal values, Trump’s decision to select Vance as his running mate speaks volumes.
Surely Trump vetted his character; surely Vance passed the test.
But then again, so did Mike Pence.
Vance stands before the PR crossroads. The choice is entirely his.
One road is to continue his current path. The other is to recalibrate his message — and give both sides in both camps a reason to stay.
For his sake and ours, I hope he chooses the right path.
"It is the nature of Islam to dominate, not to be dominated, to impose its law on all nations and to extend its power to the entire planet."
Hassan al-Banna
"The Ambassador answered us, that it was founded on the law of their great Profet: that it was written in the Koran, that all Nations who should not have acknowledged their Authority were sinners: that it was their right & duty to make war upon them wherever they could be found, & to make slaves of all they could take as prisoners; & that every Musselman who should be slain in battle was sure to go to Paradise"
Remarks of the Ambassador of Tripoli to American diplomats in 1986
Should Pro-Israel Pro-Western Civilizstion Conservatives Trust JD Vance?
If the preference is avoiding war at all costs then Western nations will have to bear the cost of at least gradually accepting dhimmitude and alien domination.
The big question for the West is if we have any serious commitment to self-preservation.
JD Vance's (and Starmer's, Macron's, Merz', Obama's, Biden's,etc) policy of strengthening and empowering an explicitly declared mortal enemy of the US ("Death to America"), an enemy who does not even recognize Western nations as sovereign entities, suggests that there is no such commitment.
[TomCooperSubstack] AI is changing target development by compressing the time between collection, identification, prioritization, and operational action. LLMs such as Claude, Grok, and other frontier models should be understood as the reasoning and workflow layer inside a larger intelligence architecture. The critical capability is not the chatbot by itself. The value comes from linking language models to live intelligence holdings, computer vision detections, geospatial layers, entity graphs, and command platforms. This allows a force to convert scattered reports and sensor feeds into a continuously updated target-system model. [1]
The practical effect is scale. A single target set can now include thousands of observations from HUMINT, SIGINT, GEOINT, FININT, OSINT, cyber-derived data, drone video, satellite imagery, logistics reporting, and previous battle damage assessment. AI helps pool this material, resolve entities, update confidence, identify gaps, and push high-value targets upward when new information changes timing or expected effect.
Modern target development increasingly treats the target as a system. A Shahed production facility is not only a building. It is a workforce, supplier network, management structure, logistics chain, transport pattern, security layer, power dependency, repair cycle, and air-defense environment. The same applies to ammunition depots, command posts, radar sites, drone launch teams, and uranium enrichment facilities buried deep underground.
AI’s first major contribution is the construction of a live operating picture. A traditional target package can become stale as soon as a convoy moves or a manager changes phones. An AI-enabled target model can ingest new observations and alter the estimated value, confidence, and timing of the target. This is the core change: targeting becomes a dynamic data problem. Of course this all could be done by humans. And for decades it has been. But the speed that AI can do it is orders of magnitude faster.
[PJMedia] Who wins, and who loses, if the Strait of Hormuz (SOH) and the BEM (Bab el-Mandeb) become free(er) to transit? What if they can't be reopened? Can any deal to restore free passage succeed?
A successful deal means the Europeans are reprieved from the economic effects of oil scarcity arising from the immobilization of tankers. G7 leaders (notably at the recent summit in La Belle France) have welcomed the preliminary U.S.-Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... deal. G7 economies are major importers of Gulf energy (especially Europa ...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum... and Japan). Disruptions raised inflation, slowed growth, and strained supply chains with dire political effects. Reopening restores normal flows, reduces rerouting costs (transits round Africa’s Cape of Good Hope add time/fuel), and supports industries. The U.S. was probably under immense diplomatic pressure from Europe to do a deal — for the sake of money.
Russia loses money if supplies are freed up. The reopening of the Strait of Hormuz (and stabilization of Bab el-Mandeb) will exert downward pressure on Russian oil export earnings, primarily through lower global oil prices. Markets are already pricing in restored flows. Brent has fallen toward $75—$80/barrel (or lower in forecasts), with Urals dropping below $65 in some readings. This reverses the crisis premium Russia was formerly able to charge.
The proposed deal does not reverse the reported fuel shortages in Russia. Russia is experiencing fuel shortages (especially gasoline) in mid-2026 mainly due to sustained Ukrainian dronezaps on its oil refineries and related infrastructure, which have significantly reduced domestic refining capacity. Because the shortages are caused by damage to production, storage, and logistics, they are largely unrelated to a campaign in the Gulf.
But the G7 countries are only reprieved not pardoned. Russia's income will likely fall, but it may rise again. It is unlikely that the last act in the oil drama has been played. For one thing, otherwise unimportant economic actors have gotten a taste of navigational blackmail. Iran's desire to control SOH and BEM has already sparked discussions in Indonesia about charging fees for the Straits of Malacca.
Because the Strait conflict is a war-within-wars, any number of actors can sabotage the ceasefire if their demands are unmet. Thus, not only Iran but Israel can close the Strait. "Iran said Saturday that the Strait of Hormuz is closed, citing ceasefire violations after Israel continued deadly strikes in southern Leb ...home of the original Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade.... overnight." It turns out that the money spigot (counting the value of the ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz) can be turned off at many points. The narrows can be shut not only by Iran and not only by the USN, but also by Israel simply by retaliating against Iran's proxy attacks.
This lack of monopoly was the flaw in Tehran’s calculation. Iran saw the Strait as insurance against retaliation, but it did not stop Israel or the U.S. from bombing it. The geography of the Strait only guarantees Iran can hurt others, but it provides no protection from actors that don’t rely on Hormuz.
The situation means it takes three keys turned together to open the Strait and stop the war, but it only takes one key to close it when none of the interests of the keyholders are fully aligned. That is why it is meaningless at this point to say who ultimately "won" the Strait War. Too many people have the veto card over the truce for anyone to"'control" it. Not just state actors but even faction leaders and militia leaders inside Iran itself can jump in and spoil the broth. For any given deal, there is the likelihood that some bearded leader will object and say, "Hey I wasn't paid!" The situation will continue until the situation resolves on the ground. For now, nothing can be won or even surrendered on the basis of a sheet of paper.
Iran's whole business model was built around blackmail. What they didn't count on was others dealing themselves in. To answer the question of who started the game of navigational blackmail in the first place, we must go back to Khomeini and Jimmy Malaise Carter
...only the second worst president ever. Now the third worst, after Obama and Biden... , or perhaps (if you're bipartisan) the former Shah of Iran. Long did the blackmail card lie there like a snake, coiled but unused until the first tanker war during the Iran-Iraq conflict saw its open employment. It took on the money aspect during the B.O. regime when the Nobel Prize winner paid the ayatollahs pallets of cash to keep out of mischief. But the Islamic Theocratic Republic used the funds instead to blow up coalition soldiers in Iraq and store up munitions against what would later become Oct. 7, the consequences of which they assumed would be avoided by holding the Strait hostage.
But their ace betrayed them because the very existence of a chokepoint is impossible for the world economy to endure. Hormuz turned out to be a ticking time bomb they can’t get rid of. Iran no longer "controls" Hormuz; rather, it controls them. The Persian Gulf is a classic case of broken symmetry. Hormuz seemed to be in equilibrium as an international waterway, but it was unstable, like a pencil balanced on a desk. As the first tanker war in the 1980s showed, it had a lower, "natural" ground state (also visible in the Bab el-Mandeb and Somali coast) of Moslems exacting tribute from the world. Once Western power had fallen below a certain point, the symmetry broke; the pencil fell over and what we observe in the Gulf and the Red Sea is a lower state of order where it must lie flat until another arrangement. There’s probably no going back to the past, but there is a possible future. With pipelines, nuclear energy, and adaptation, the irreplaceable waterway can someday be replaced. History goes on. It never goes back.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
06/24/2026 00:00 ||
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[PJMedia] Even America’s top leaders (including our vice president) are repeating disgusting jihadi propaganda against Israel, the ONLY country in the Middle East whose government tries to avoid civilian casualties instead of maximizing them.
Hezbollah, like Hamas ..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,... , deliberately makes its headquarters in civilian buildings and uses churches, mosques, and schools for missile launching sites and weapon stashes. That way, the jihadis can make Israel look bad when Israel has to take out terrorist targets. Hezbollah also bombs the Lebanese people and blames Israel. You would think after decades of this occurring that Westerners would know how this process of human shields works by now, but for some reason, antisemitism trumps reality every time.
Hezbollah struck a church in southern Leb ...an Iranian satrapy until recently ruled by Hassan Nasrallah situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel... Then it attempted to blame Israel.
Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) spoke with an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) representative on the IDF's extraordinary efforts to help Christians in Lebanon, even while the rest of the world sides with the turbans who transformed once-Christian Lebanon into a sharia hellhole. "Israeli officials are in constant communication with the leaders of Christian communities in south Lebanon and are delivering aid to Christian villages to help prevent their dependence on Hezbollah terrorists," Scott posted. "So anyone who tells you anything other than the truth doesn’t want Christians to be safe." In contrast, the Islamists in both Lebanon and Syria have committed and are committing genocidal violence against Christians.
War scholar John Spencer also described the real situation in Lebanon, detailing the unprecedented efforts that the IDF puts in, far more than any other military in the world, to prevent excess deaths in spite of Hezbollah using human shields.
"The IDF issues evacuation warnings through multiple channels, including text messages, phone calls, voicemails, flyers, radio, television, and social media. It operates dedicated civilian harm mitigation cells, tracks civilian presence through drones, cell phone data, and other ISR capabilities, and uses rigorous targeting processes that include legal reviews and proportionality assessments for any planned strikes," Spencer explained. "Legal reviews at lowest tactical level, and with the ability (which happens often as well as command decisions not to strike based on all context) to override commander decisions, unlike any other military."
Even when it comes to Beirut, where both the neighborhoods and the government are infested with Hezbollah terrorists, "the IDF has repeatedly provided warnings identifying specific buildings that will be struck and when. The warnings have proven so reliable that Lebanese citizens and journalists have set up cameras in advance to record the strikes," Spencer emphasized. He continued:
When targeting Hezbollah big shots, command meetings, or other military objectives in densely populated areas such as Dahiyeh (the Hezbollah controlled neighborhood of Beirut), the IDF relies on precision-guided munitions, small diameter munition (warheads with less explosives), and other low collateral damage munitions, detailed intelligence, and other methods designed to limit collateral damage while achieving the legitimate military objective.
There is also no equivalency. Israel does not intentionally target civilians. Hezbollah is a U.S.-designated terrorist organization whose strategy includes deliberately attacking civilians. Hezbollah launches rockets, missiles, and drones at civilian communities in northern Israel (daily, despite any cease fires), targeting homes, schools, businesses, and civilian infrastructure.
It is mind-blowing that in 2026 we still have to have these conversations. Western leaders and media who don't report the true situation in the Middle East are being willfully and inexcusably dishonest.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for 
...home of the original Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade....
..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,...
