Open Microphone

Please be kind and don’t burn the place down while I’m away. The floor is yours.

Bullet Points:

** Defund the police – but I demand 24/7 police security at my home… (Rogan)

** Dealing with your climate anxiety (Banks)

** The trailer for the upcoming Batman film – Clash of Empires – is reviewed.

** “It absolutely is organized,” Homan said of the violence and riots against ICE. “You don’t think what’s happened in Portland is organized? What’s happened in Chicago is organized. Look at what happened in L.A., when you’ve got 300 people show up with the same masks, same shields, the same weapons, and that’s happened in Portland, New York, and Chicago. Are they all going to the same mini mart and buying the same stuff? No, that’s being supplied to them; they’re being paid to do this.”

** Do you eat frozen shrimp sent to the United States from foreign countries? The results of a probe by the United States Senate are shocking. >>WARNING<<

** In Israel, Pres. Trump is being compared to Oskar Schindler, whose efforts saved hundreds of Jews in the Holocaust during World War II. Democrats are not amused.

** I can’t help but think that you could sell as much of this to Pedo Joe Biden as you could produce. Corner the market on the patent flavor while there is still time if you’re looking at an investment.

** Interesting insight into protest organization in Chicago.

** Save the dog!

** Do independent women have more fun? This clip illustrates that, yes, they certainly do.

** Barack Obama openly discusses his courtship with his husband, many years ago.

** Have you ever considered the danger associated with trying to turn your computer off?

** Russian President Vladimir Putin turned 73 last week. According to RAND Europe experts, Western nations should start planning now for a future leadership transition in Moscow. NATO allies can take concrete steps, such as conducting scenario planning, strengthening the alliance’s front line, and preparing for an intensified information battle. Failing to act could leave the West vulnerable to a succession process in Russia that may prove “surprising, drawn out, and violent.” Vlad isn’t well; he’s in the “stroke zone,” and the war isn’t going well. The economy is painful, there are a million casualties from his war, and his only way forward is to fight to the last Russian or meet a bullet. But he may still meet that bullet.

** European officials report that UK sanctions and NATO joint military operations are inhibiting Russia’s illicit shadow fleet.

** When you’ve paid for ALL YOU CAN EAT.

** Bloomberg: “Mr. Bessent dangled the possibility of extending a pause of import duties on Chinese goods for longer than three months if China halts its plan for strict new export controls on rare-earth elements. The US and China have agreed to a series of 90-day truces since earlier this year, with the next deadline looming in November. “Is it possible that we could go to a longer roll in return? Perhaps. But all that’s going to be negotiated in the coming weeks,” Bessent said during a press conference in Washington. ”

** Panic is ERUPTING within Democrat circles after John Bolton, Letitia James, and James Comey were indicted – with significant concerns that more indictments are coming against Deep State or corrupt officials. “This is just a down payment on what’s coming,” they fear. They’re using phrases like, “Show me the man, I’ll show you the crime” – the same logic they employed against President Trump when they targeted him.

** The United Nations carbon tax hike failed to pass, a victory for President Trump. “The United States prevented a massive UN tax hike on American consumers that would have funded progressive climate pet projects.”

From Sen. Kennedy

To my Democratic friends: If Obamacare is so swell, why do you have to pay people to use it? The pandemic is over. These subsidies won’t fix your broken health care exchanges.

Mostly Peaceful Hamas

Flat Tops

The USS John C. Stennis (CVN-74) is a good case study in just how long it can take to complete necessary maintenance on today’s aircraft carriers. Its midlife overhaul – known as a Refueling and Complex Overhaul (RCOH) – was supposed to wrap up in August 2025, but that timeline has been stretched by 14 months.

Reports now suggest that redelivery should be expected in October 2026, meaning the carrier will be out of service for more than five years. 

The causes for the delay are a combination of the usual problems, as well as some novel issues that could not have been predicted.

For example, pandemic-related workforce shortages were difficult to anticipate, as were supply chain breakdowns. However, more worryingly, delays were also fuelled by the discovery of unexpected turbine and component damage.

Perhaps the most striking example of this problem is the USS George Washington (CVN-73). The carrier entered its RCOH in August 2017 and didn’t return to service until May 2023 – a total period of 2,117 days, or nearly six years.

To put that in perspective, it took almost the same amount of time to build the carrier in the 1980s as it did to refuel and modernize it.

The overhaul was extended by roughly two years beyond the original schedule due to COVID-19-related labor problems, parts shortages, and numerous extensive structural and systems repairs.

The George Washington refit even forced its crew to live aboard the ship for years while work dragged on – a situation that became so stressful that the Navy later investigated a series of suicides connected to morale collapse during the same period.

While the damage can be repaired and the overhauls eventually completed, the multi-year gaps created by these delays threaten force posture and pose serious problems for the U.S. Navy. With Stennis still undergoing refurbishment, the rest of the carrier force must absorb extra deployments and may face their own delays to necessary maintenance and repairs. The delay in maintenance for the Stennis will have a knock-on effect for the rest of the CVN fleet, risking America’s ability to defend itself or launch necessary attacks in the meantime.

Ford-Class Isn’t the Answer (Yet)

The Navy has pinned its hopes on the Ford-class, a new generation designed to overcome the constraints of the aging Nimitz fleet. But even that program is faltering.

USS John F. Kennedy (CVN-79), the second Ford-class to be built, was supposed to arrive in mid-2025. Its delivery has now been pushed back to March 2027.  The next in line, Enterprise (CVN-80), has also slipped – its completion is now projected in 2030 due to supply chain and materials troubles.

And the delay isn’t entirely surprising; the Ford class is equipped with numerous new technologies, including its electromagnetic aircraft launch system (EMALS) and advanced weapons elevators, as well as new arresting gear and enhanced power distribution systems.

Many of these new systems have yet to reach reliable performance thresholds, and integrating them all at once has created cascading delays. 

The Walk Out

It happened. The Pentagon press corps walked out. At 4 p.m. sharp on Wednesday, decades of history and the people who wrote it left the world’s most powerful building.

Dozens of Pentagon reporters turned in their access badges and carried their boxes, chairs, and notebooks out of the building rather than sign away their right to report. Nearly every major outlet, The Atlantic, Reuters, The Washington Post, CNN, CBS, ABC, and even Fox News, refused to accept Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s new “media rules.”

The rules required journalists to promise not to seek or publish any information the Pentagon hadn’t pre-approved. Hegseth called it “common sense.” Trump called the press “disruptive to world peace.”

The journalists called it what it was: censorship.

“To agree not to solicit information is to agree not to be a journalist,” said The Atlantic’s Nancy Youssef, who has covered the Pentagon since 2007. “Our whole goal is soliciting information.”

By 4 p.m., about 50 reporters walked out together, an image that will likely be remembered as one of the defining press freedom moments of the decade. They left behind their nameplates, maps, photos, and decades of institutional memory. All rather than sign a loyalty pledge to silence.

Some took to social media:

“Today I’ll hand in my badge,” wrote USNI News reporter Heather Mongilio. “The reporting will continue.”

The administration’s move has drawn comparisons to Nixon-era secrecy and McCarthy-style paranoia. Hegseth, a former Fox News host and Trump loyalist, has held just two press briefings in nearly a year, restricted access across the Pentagon, and opened investigations into leaks. Now he’s closed the door completely.

And yet, the journalists didn’t cave. For once, the press stood as one.

This wasn’t a partisan story. It was about power, and those willing to question it. In a time when truth itself feels under siege, the sight of reporters walking out of the Pentagon rather than bowing to censorship reminds us of something vital: maybe our institutions aren’t entirely gone.

(VM Commentary: The Press, for the most part, including the Pentagon crew at Fox News, are malignant harpies for the most part. The article above was written by The Press, about The Press, for and on behalf of The Press. There is another side to the story, and this is the problem – The Press won’t tell it.

I’ve been granted access to significantly high levels of classified information, including SCI material, during my career. Sometimes it was legitimately sensitive, and sometimes it was not, but that is not the point. If it’s classified, you protect it. There are a lot of Pentagon pogues in uniform who have not honored their oaths, and The Press gleefully undercuts the nation by publishing it. These days, the administration is serious, and The Press, reacting with the usual liberal tantrum, behaves predictably.)

Books by LTC Mike Snook RA 

Like Wolves on the Fold: The Defense of Rorque’s Drift 

On January 22nd, 1879, the British Army in South Africa was swept aside by the seemingly unstoppable Zulu warriors at the Battle of Isandlwana. Nearby, at a remote outpost on the Buffalo River, a single company of the 24th Regiment and a few dozen recuperating hospital patients were passing a hot, monotonous day. By the time they received news from across the river, retreat was no longer an option. It seemed inevitable that the Rorke’s Drift detachment would share the same fate. And yet, against incredible odds, the British managed to defend their station.

In this riveting history, Colonel Snook brings the insights of a military professional to bear on this fateful encounter at the start of the Anglo-Zulu War. It is an extraordinary tale—a victory achieved mainly by the sheer bloody-mindedness of the British infantryman. Recounting in detail how the Zulu attack unfolded, Snook demonstrates how 150 men completed their improbable victory. Snook then describes the remainder of the war, from the recovery of the lost Queen’s Colour of the 24th Regiment to the climactic charge of the 17th Lancers at Ulundi. We return to Isandlwana to consider culpability and learn of the often tragic fates of many of the war’s participants.

How Can Man Die Better: The Secrets of Isandlwana Revealed

On January 22, 1879, a massive Zulu host attacked the British Army’s 24th Regiment in its encampment at the foot of the mountain of Isandlwana. It was the first major encounter in the Anglo-Zulu War and a disastrous defeat for the colonial power. Later that afternoon, the victorious Zulus would strike the tiny British garrison at Rorke’s Drift.

How Can Man Die Better is a unique analysis of the Battle of Isandlwana, covering the weapons, tactics, terrain, and the intriguing characters who made key military decisions. While much is still unknown about the battle, this work eschews the commonly held perception that the British collapse was sudden and that the 24th Regiment was quickly overwhelmed. Instead, historian Mike Snook argues that there was a protracted and heroic defense against a determined and equally heroic foe. A British Army colonel who served in South Africa, Snook reconstructs the final phase of the battle in a way that has never been attempted before.

Unintended Consequences?

Wall Street Journal: “A growing glut of oil and fear of a global economic slowdown have pushed U.S. crude prices to their lowest point since fuel markets were rebounding from the Covid crash. Most actively traded U.S. oil futures ended Thursday at $56.99 a barrel, down 2.2% on the day and 19% from a year ago. That marked the lowest price since February 2021. Declines this week bring prices below the depths of the spring selloff when President Trump unleashed a barrage of tariffs and sparked worries of economic turmoil. The decline is good news for American consumers because cheaper crude oil portends lower prices for gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, and heating oil. But it is an alarming situation for a U.S. oil industry already beset by narrowing profit margins and shedding jobs by the thousands.”

Identify the AFV

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Identify the Ship

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Parting Shot

End