Bullet Points:
** Angel Reese made a controversial comment questioning Caitlin Clark’s presence in the WNBA. Clark, who is not a negro, totally outclassed Angel Reese, who self-identifies as inner city trash. Not that I would expect this ignorant tw*t to have ever opened a history book, but Basketball was invented by a white Canadian in 1891. For idiots like Reese, history begins in the year of their birth.
** Julius Caesar invented Germany.
** (Fox News) Fox News reports that federal agents executed a raid at Glass House Farms—a state‑licensed cannabis operation in Camarillo, California—following allegations of child labor violations after discovering nine unaccompanied undocumented minors working on‑site. The farm’s president, Graham Farrar—who has donated to California Democrats, including Gov. Gavin Newsom—insists that no minors were knowingly employed and says the company fully complied with law enforcement. (I have swamp land for sale) During the operation, protests erupted: authorities deployed tear gas and smoke grenades, while federal and National Guard personnel formed perimeters; amid the chaos, someone reportedly fired at agents, prompting the FBI to offer a $50,000 reward for information. The raid has intensified the debate over immigration enforcement, labor practices, and state‑federal tensions in California.
** Peanut-the-squirrel was investigated and raided before anyone on Epstein’s client list.
** Do black women want to be happy?
** From Pleasant Mart in Shelby, NC: If you’re planning on coming by the store today, swing by aisle nine. We will have our good friend Robert handing out free samples of Pleasant Mart Potted Meat from 5:00 pm to 11:00 pm. Any purchase of a case or more during this time, and we will include a 6-oz tub of Southwest Potato Salad from the freezer. As always, we appreciate your patronage
**There’s a narrative unfolding in Arizona wherein hospitals are threatening to close their doors due to the Big Beautiful Bill. They’ve been making their scratch by treating illegal aliens receiving Medicaid based on their assertions. It’s the bulk of their business. They somehow feel that the wetback population is entitled to leech off US Citizens. Of course, I have a different opinion. ICE needs to stake out the hospitals and speed those in need of treatment across the US Border to the South to Mexican hospitals. I’m not saying that they should be denied treatment, just that they should be denied treatment in the United States. Or plug an IV into them and move them if they’re that close to expiring.
** Nvidia is worth more than the combined value of the Canadian and Mexican stock markets, according to LSEG data.
** The Chinese Foreign Ministry acknowledged on Thursday the news of the arrest of two Chinese nationals in Ukraine on charges of espionage.
** Isn’t that a pity: A farmworker has died following injuries he suffered during the Ventura County immigration raid, the United Farm Workers said. However, the hospital issued a statement Friday evening on behalf of the family that said, in part: “Mr. Garcia is currently hospitalized at VCMC and remains in critical condition.” Jaime Garcia broke his neck and skull after he fell off a building while possibly running from federal agents chasing him on Thursday, family said. ICE can pick up his family at the hospital.
Calling Balls and Strikes
As enjoyable as it is to make fun of leftists when they beclown themselves, we also need to call balls and strikes on our side, too. And I have to do that now with Tucker Carlson, who has sadly joined Jonah Goldberg as one of my formerly favorite voices on the right who has gone off the rails.
Within the last year, I’ve written about Tucker doing some inexplicably bad interviews. He talked with a weirdo named Darryl Cooper – Carlson called him “the best and most honest popular historian” – who claimed that Churchill (not Hitler) was the chief villain of WWII, and that the Nazis killed millions of POWs out of pity, to save them from starving to death because the Nazis were known for nothing more than their humanitarian compassion for the sub-human untermenschen.
Tucker also did a shockingly sycophantic interview with Putin, in which he praised the magnificence of a Soviet Potemkin subway station, and the cleanliness and great prices in a similarly phony Moscow grocery store.
His recent debate/interview with Ted Cruz was another low point. He used cheap gotcha questions, bad faith arguments, and ad hominem attacks in the service of a utopian, anti-war stance that he contradicted a few minutes later. When he asked Cruz what Iran’s population is, and Cruz admitted he didn’t know, Carlson adopted an exaggerated astonishment, asking how Cruz could justify going to war with Iran when he doesn’t even know the population.
The debate was about the wisdom and risks of Trump potentially striking Iran’s nuke facilities, and Cruz asked the obvious question of what difference it would make, in that context, whether Iran’s population is 80, 90, or 100 million? Carlson snapped, “If you don’t know anything about the country—” and when Cruz objected, Carlson asked what the ethnic breakdown of Iran was. Cruz (correctly) answered that it is Persian and mostly Shia, but then refused to play Tucker’s game further. Carlson accused Cruz of not believing that Iran has tried to kill Trump – a pretty well-established fact, I think – or else he would have supported going to war with Iran beforehand. Eventually, Cruz got Tucker to reveal how dishonest he was being when Tucker said that if HE believed that Iran had tried to kill Trump, he’d support nuking Tehran!
This, following months of Tucker virtue signaling about how he was against even one person ever dying in a war, and calling people “warmongers” and “ghouls” if they supported Israel’s strikes to take out Iran’s nukes and top military personnel. Hey Tucker, around 9 million people live in Tehran. Even my weak math tells me that’s roughly 9 million times the number of people you would never want to see die in a war.
Tucker’s rhetorical games avoided the real issues that the debate should have focused on: Has Iran been sponsoring terrorist attacks on Israel, America, and its allies throughout the Middle East for years? (Yes!) Are the Iranian weird beards racing to get a nuclear weapon? (Yes again!) Are they likely to use such a bomb to dominate the region and threaten our allies and interests? (Hell yes!)
Tucker ignored the (glowing) elephant in the room, instead arguing that Cruz’s position is corrupt and evil because he doesn’t know that Iranians’ favorite food is chelo kebab, and that their top three turns-ons are moonlit walks in the desert, a well-defined unibrow (on a man or woman), and paying others to murder Jews. Oddly enough, Carlson’s breathless predictions of the resulting apocalypse if Trump struck Iran’s nuclear sites – A forever war! An American ground invasion with mountains of casualties! Russia and China are jumping in on Iran’s side! – were quickly proven to be ridiculous hysteria. Unexpectedly!
Carlson’s cage-match interview with Ted Cruz looks even worse when compared to the obsequious tongue bath he just gave to Iran’s president, a man whose name is not even worth my time to look up, since he’s a powerless puppet of the radical ayatollahs who rule Iran. Carlson went after Cruz hammer and tongs, like Thor after drinking a flagon of mead dosed with cocaine and meth. But when he talked with Mahmoud the Grouch (on-point puppet reference), Tucker sounded like Oprah interviewing Que Mala. No follow-ups, no challenges. Just a series of questions with no pushback whatsoever, no matter how outrageous the lies being spouted.
There are a dozen examples, but I’ll just cite two that made me shake my head so hard I was in danger of becoming self-concussed. (In the commentary business, we call this, “Pulling a Crockett.”) When the prez claimed that Iran has never and is not now trying to build a nuclear bomb – only clean, green, oh-so-civilian nuclear power – Tucker was silent. He didn’t ask, “Why would the world’s most oil-rich nation need nuclear power?” Or “Why have you already enriched uranium to the 60% range when civilian use only requires 3-5%?” or even, “Who buries a civilian power plant hundreds of yards under a freaking mountain?!” Later, Tucker did manage to ask him what’s up with the constant “death to America” chants. And Jihadi Lambchop (puppet reference for the over-60 crowd, and Shari Lewis enthusiasts) says that it doesn’t mean “Death to America.” Don’t be silly. It means death to “crimes, to killing and carnage, to insecurity and stability… [and to] “bullying.”
Got that? “Death to bullying.” Because who amongst us, when we see bullying going on, or insecurity, too! – doesn’t race up behind the bullying, pull its head back, and cut its head off with our scimitar, while screaming, “Death to bullying!?” If that doesn’t make you say, “WTF?” or “You’ve got to be Schiff-ing me!” that’s because you’re not Tucker Carlson. Who just nodded and moved on.
Watching this made me miss the old Tucker I thought I knew. But on the bright side, it also taught me something about the Iranian president: If Jeff Dunham ever fires him from his gig as Achmed the Dead Terrorist’s sidekick (and there’s the puppet reference hat-trick, my narwhals!), His skill at torturing the language qualifies him to land a tenured position at Harvard as the new occupant of the Bill Clinton Chair for Post-Modern Deconstructionist Prevaricating. That job comes with a six-figure salary, all the interns you can grope, and some sweet stationery with an embossed illustration from the Kama Sutra under the position’s Latin motto: “Pendeat ex quid significat ‘est’ ‘est’.” (In English: “It depends on what the meaning of ‘is’ ‘is’.”)
Identify the Armor
1
We all know what it is – but how precise can you be?
2
3
4
Yugoslavia received around 400 such TDs in the 1950s.
Parting Shot
“What’s wrong with this one?”
“He saw a pigeon. Called it ‘Father’. Things went downhill from there.”
End
Identify the Armor:
1. M1A2 SEPv3 with Trophy APS
2. Japanese Type 74
3. Flakpanzer Gepard turret on Leclerc chassis
4. M36 tank destroyer
Well done.
I use to look at tanks with awe. I always thought they were the king of the battlefield, at least during World War 2.
Today, I see them much differently with the advancements of FPV drones. There’s no where to hide! Scary!
Artillery is very much the king of the battlefield. Drones are excellent forward observers.
Angel Reese may be trying out to join “the squad” in her own demented way. Considering that uncommon rabidity is a common virtue with that bunch of harridans, he’d fit right in, wot?
The WNBA has done nothing but ruin any credibility they may have had over the lack of protection and lack of support to Caitlin Clark. I don’t particularly like basketball, but when the cheap shots start looking like a 70’s area NHL game, well, I do stand up and notice. Caitlin needs to friggin get a frigging great friggin attorney and protect herself legally. Find friendly prosecutors and law enforcement and go after the bitches who are hurting her, charge them with assault. Go after the leadership and the referees under a RICO violation or equal.
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Seriously, I think Clark’s days are numbered. One way or another she’s not going to be playing in a year or so. Either because she removed herself from the court or because an assault and injury from said assault stops her ability to play.
You can’t play with savages unless you’re a bigger savage. It’s the law of the jungle and she plays in the jungle.
Sadly, like you I have come realize Tucker is a shallow person. His knowledge of almost everything is limited. I used to think more of him.
There was a time when I held him in high regard. Likely he had producers telling him what to think and say at Fox.
I save articles and things found online in my Pages app; I currently have 50 folders in Pages. After reading “Calling Balls and Strikes” I now have 51 folders reserved for stuff I read on your blog.
It’s so convenient for quick reference when educating our grandchildren.
High praise, RSH.
Doesn’t he get some VM Digital “gold” for being such a stellar patron? (but yeah, good idea RSH, lots of wisdom on these blog pages).
She.
Oops.
Obsequious… gee LL…it’s too early on a Saturday for a new vocabulary word..
Al, I refuse to read anymore without looking up words I don’t know. Like Rupert I have folders of various topics saved. “Definitions” being added to daily while being educated here on V.M.
Balls and Strikes; The ol FOX umpire is certainly not the same. He is apparently emerging as a “Post-Modern Deconstructionist” that Prevaricates fairly consistently.
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Where Que Malo ( how bad ) leads to is more skepticism and hopelessness. H/T for pointing out the inconsistencies in recent interviews. Haven’t actually watched any of Tucker or Ryan for a couple years now. The voices of VDH and Peterson resonate with the wise counsel needed.
I think that both Tucker and Ryan mean well. In the case of Tucker, it’s impossible for him to spend all of his trust fund and accumulated Fox money. And since he’s idle and rich, he does this for want of something else to do. Ryan is on the rise in the podcasting world, and he needs to reach a little further. Rogan is just Rogan. I can’t help but like him.
Most people have a constant jumble of thoughts rolling around their head. These thoughts can wander into areas only considered as conspiracy, require more thought, and research to verify. Carlson is probably no different, except he sometimes forgets he needs to make sure his brain is engaged before putting his mouth in gear.
Tucker lost me with his space alien stuff and dead cows killed by space aliens. After that, I’ve been on high alert with him.
“Pleasant Mart, a grocery store in Shelby, NC, recently experienced a “potted meat riot” when they announced a shortage of the product. The incident, which involved an “unruly mob of the elderly,” was documented by local news and resulted in store repairs. Pleasant Mart’s Facebook page posted about the event and mentioned a promotion involving potted meat and potato salad. “
Their stuff is irreverent, but funny.
Potted meat huh. Oh joy, let me grab my coat. I’m impartial to Horn and Hardart’s corned beef hash. Crowd control with that segment is a must…they cut in line, fall asleep standing up…all manner of frustrations they simply are tone deaf…or just deaf.
Today’s world is really crazy and gets more so every day. We aren’t looking at the end of the world with a new heaven and earth being established, but in the normal throws of what happens when everyone ignores our laws and does what they want to do. Keep in mind, that just a few years ago, we would discard any reports that were in the crazy realm; however, now the Bee can’t publish articles fast enough for them to be really funny as they are discovered to be truthful the next day.
Get the popcorn and a drink out. Don’t get upset about what you see and read, but parse it out and look for solid confirmation from other sources. Remember, if you think crazy instead of right, natural and normal, things on the news make more sense and it’s a lot more fun.
The sources of news are multipolar, and I try to provide a rational filter for all of the feeds. The extent to which I’m successful is for you blog readers to judge. I’m too close to my own bias and prejudices to be an effective measure and meter. I have the benefit of having lived a varied life and being impossibly curious by nature.
…and you can hold your breath for a really long time. A man’s gotta have varied talents.
The blog is tops as far as I’m concerned…hits just right every day. (Do I get VM prizes now?)
After Tucker/Cruz, I gave up. Didn’t bother with Iranian Fool Interview. Why would someone even think that had value to offer?
What bothers me is that I (and my wife) had gotten excited over Carlson’s growing approach to Christianity.
.
Oh well. Perhaps he can pull out of the tailspin.
Thank you for the analysis.
I think that Tucker means well. I also think that he’s punching above his weight at the moment. He’s trying to remain significant in his post-Fox life.
Glenn Beck did it. That is, go into the spiral of insanity and self-godhood and managed to pull himself out of it.
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Though Carlson… yeah, he’s gone full Howard Stern (except without the weird crap Stern used to do.)
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Then there’s Alex Jones, who, crazy as he seems to be, is often far more correct than given credit for, like his take on PizzaGate. Though that Sandy Hook thing was just plain stupid and he did no good in pushing it (but the civil case over it should have been thrown out on 1st Amendment rights.)
You can’t believe your own press.
Watching all the ICE raids and the coordinated “protests” give me hope that even the GOP can’t f**k up the mid-terms. Polls most often show what those paying for the polls want, IMO. That said, all the polls seem to show the majority of citizens support the effort. The Democrats are opposed. Broad brush, but defacto, they support the rioters. Not a good look
Being pro-terrorist doesn’t play well outside the “enlightened” professors on their marble benches.
Tucker Carlson ..not that bright , and I’ll say it again , that look he has , that befuddled look , like a guy that opens up the janitor’s closet to discover his prom date blowing his best friend . He’s the great discoverer of facts already discovered , the continual Capt. Obvious . I take him with a grain of salt , another graduate of Fox News University , and an offspring of wealth I believe (fact check me).
I always took the befuddled look as self-deprication.
He’s heir to the Swanson frozen TV dinner fortune (not inconsiderable).
Medicaid: Not a citizen, no Medicaid, or anything else for that matter. Better yet, Medicare/Medicaid et al need to be DOGE’d as they have become yet another metastasized grifter program enriching a few on the backs of WTP’s hard work and paychecks.
***
WNBA- Reese and her ilk are nothing a but a bunch of Junior High Mean Girls playing out their juvenile pettiness on the court and media. Clark is the best thing that ever happened to the league but she isn’t the correct race…meaning her detractors are the actual perpetrators of hate (there’s a switch, except being black don;t they get a free pass on bad behavior. MLK is screaming from the grave, “THIS is not what I had in mind folks…get your s–t together and knock it off!”). If not a race thing that leaves “immature brats” as the only other answer.
***
Balls and Strikes (aka BS depending on who’s saying it): My immediate thought was Harold – “It’s good to be around the table” – Ford Jr. whenever he’s on The Five…always says that. Now ‘BS’ will be stuck in my brain (yeah, I gotta get a better listening life..but EdB’s new episode today will help). Tucker’s [more] recent slide to the Liberal proves my life axiom that “as people age they revert back to who they were as kids”. Can’t blame the guy for morphing backwards as he gets more seasoned, considering his background and upbringing. He did a lot of good work. If he wants to be weird…okay by me..he is a “brand”, and the brand needs refreshing every once in a while to remain “influentially relevant”, even if skewed from what we used to know. But now I get what Levin was blowing a gasket about a few weeks back when taking TC to ‘to the mattresses’. Also proves that some ‘brands’ have a shelf life regardless of reinvention…well…except for some in Congress who are beyond warranty repair despite multiple extended plans employed. At some point ya gotta junk the rusted hulk and move on.
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I will say ‘Balls and Strikes’ that was a fine piece of description writing. My only critique is if you included a few muppet’s from Sesame Street, especially Big Bird, then it would have even more illustratively descriptive to drive the visuals even further home.
Oy vey…editing Paul, editing.
Medicaid and Medicare have done considerable harm to genuine medical practice, in my opinion. Mike_C and others are far more qualified to speak to that than I am. The government can’t piss in a puddle without screwing it up. Because Medicare is a tax – they force your employer to contribute or you to contribute through self-employment tax when you’re working gainfully and then to pay monthly when you’re 65. There is no opt-out beyond death from taxes. What they then do with the money through “fairness and redistribution” somehow far exceeds what they take in – UNSURPRISINGLY.
[my surprised look emoji]
I find it fascinating (the nice word for it, included with my Spock face while saying it) the government can mandate medical insurance (and all the permutations heaped upon a person) with the added ‘poke in the eye with a sharp stick’ of you pay into it your working life, all the while controlling it. Any other business and you’d be in prison bunkmates to Madoff and Brinkman.
I remember seeing a “60 Minutes” episode on the increasing price of medical care in the mid to late 70’s. Which was all due to Medicaid and Medicare’s fixed pricing and businesses needing to hire bureaucrats to deal with paperwork issues and thus driving the prices even higher.
It’s a bureaucratic death spiral – and we all see it – and can’t do anything about it.
“The farm’s president, Graham Farrar ….. insists that no minors were knowingly employed…”
Of course they were not “knowingly” employed. I left a defense contractor job over the smuggling of components across the US border because the Mexican side kept delaying the paperwork. The vendor just said right out on the staff meeting they drive them across the border and don’t bother with customs. Lots of senior managers, including the retired AF LTG VP running the division did the ‘la la la I didn’t hear anything’ routine. Even after I pointed out the illegality of it on that call – twice. Needless to say nothing came of it at the top. Heard through the grapevine they did fire my former boss about 3 months later. She seemed shocked.
Billy-the-Kid said that the dumber people are, the more surprised they are when you kill them.
“like Thor after drinking a flagon of mead dosed with cocaine and meth.”
Mr Wolf, you do have a way with words.