Bullet Points:
** The US reportedly burned through a quarter of its critical missile interceptors in Israel’s defense.
** From the Babylon Bee: LOUISVILLE, KY — A local family was faced with a difficult decision this week regarding whether to place their beloved grandpa in hospice care or have him announce a campaign for a U.S. Senate seat. The grandfather and potential candidate, Philip Gabbert, is 98 years old and suffers from advanced dementia.
“We could go either way on this,” said Bryce Gabbert of the decision. “He’s in really rough shape and has very little quality of life these days. Common sense says he belongs in hospice, but with the way things are in Washington these days, he could become a major power player. He can’t speak or think clearly anymore, but who are we to not allow him to run the country?”
With elected officials like Joe Biden, Mitch McConnell, Diane Feinstein, and John Fetterman serving in high government positions, political parties have focused on recruiting the most aged, decrepit, and impaired candidates available to campaign. “The worse they are at being able to reason and communicate, the better,” said Robbie McKean, who helps run Democratic political campaigns in the state. “If McConnell ends up resigning, there will be a battle for his seat, and who better to take that spot than an even older, more debilitated codger?”
** Hamas 
Ragheads feel that air-dropped aid is undignified. My response: Sell it to the highest bidder, as you always do.
** A protest supporting late-night host Stephen Colbert after Paramount canceled his television show drew less than two dozen people. The “We’re With Colbert” protest gathered outside CBS Broadcast Center on Manhattan’s West Side and drew so few protesters that it fizzled out within minutes, according to the New York Post. Organizers said they intended it as a nationwide call for “integrity.”
** Law professor Glenn Harlan Reynolds argues that Donald Trump’s second-term blueprint to move tens of thousands of federal workers out of Washington, D.C., will “pop the Beltway bubble.” Relocating significant chunks of agencies such as the USDA and National Science Foundation to cities like Salt Lake City, Kansas City, and Raleigh, he writes, would dilute the capital’s left-leaning culture, slash payroll costs, and make regulators answer to the communities they oversee—though career bureaucrats dismiss the plan as partisan retribution.
About 2,600 out of 4,600 DC-based employees will be relocated to Salt Lake City, Utah; Fort Collins, Colorado; Indianapolis, Indiana; Kansas City, Missouri; and Raleigh, North Carolina, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced last week.
**”It’s the elites who want to own everything”: Charles Payne calls out the sharing economy as first-time homebuyers hit historic lows and more young people lean towards socialism.
** BBee comments on Congress. WASHINGTON, D.C. — Long-time congressional aide Mark Mathis has been tasked with slowly pushing a cart through the halls of Congress to collect the dead bodies. “I’m getting better!” shouted Dianne Feinstein as her aides tossed her into the wheelbarrow. “I think I’ll go for a walk!”
With members of Congress keeling over at an unprecedented rate, Mr. Mathis was pressed into collecting bodies full-time. “The dead body smell was getting overpowering,” explained Mr. Mathis. “So, now I push this official Congressional wheelbarrow around to collect the corpses. Government work – am I right?”
Congressional aides report the cart has been a boon for both the Senate and the House. “It really helps us to know how many votes we need on a bill,” said House aide Lacy Rogers. “When we hear ‘Bring out your dead!’, we run into the hall to count how many of the dead are Democrats and how many are Republicans. We’ve got some tight votes next week, so the wheelbarrow count could really tip things either way.”
At the time of publication, Mr. Mathis was seen arguing with Senator McConnell’s staff over whether it was against the regulations to load up McConnell just yet.
** Who should go where? (Breitbart) Trump told Breitbart News that he would be willing to meet with Xi, with whom he has a long-standing cordial personal relationship, despite rising tensions between the U.S. and China, if Xi desires such a meeting. Therein lies the vital point here, though—Trump is saying that it’s Xi and the Chinese who cannot stand the pressure he’s bringing on trade, and that Trump is in no rush to accommodate them. In other words, Trump has all the leverage right now, and the dealmaker-in-chief who just cut several other massive trade deals knows it.
** VDH Opinion
Writing
Thanks to those of you who purchased and reviewed Conduct Unbecoming.
Yes, it’s shameless self-promotion, but if I don’t, who will?
The Confederate Cipher (first book in the Civil War and Western Frontier Series) is well on its way to completion, and I hope that you’ll enjoy the series. As I mentioned on the blog previously, I will complete two volumes before Volume One is released. And I will try to have Volume Three finished before releasing Volume Two, and so forth. It’s historical fiction that follows the career of a US Army Officer in his interactions with the British Secret Service operating in America before the commencement of the War of Northern Aggression/Civil War, through the war, and beyond, as he engages with the nation’s political and civil expansion westward. Particular attention is paid to the situation Her Majesty’s Government faced before the Civil War. I expect that there will be at least five volumes to the work, depending on the interest of readers such as yourselves. There will be at least three, even if it bombs.
Jurassic World Rebirth
It starts by boating with EdB as you’d expect.
The Mexican NarcoGovernment
As Mexico attempts to appease the Trump administration and avoid a series of tariffs over “not doing enough” to eradicate drug cartels, a new scandal surfaced that ties the top political elite in Mexico with one of the country’s most violent drug cartels. That cartel was labeled this year by the U.S. government as a foreign terrorist organization.
Oh, drat, it goes like that if a myopic mental idiot takes a look at Mexico. We all know who runs the place, and we know they’re also on the Chinese payroll. The question of what to do about it is far more complicated.
Meme of the Day
What’s going on in Poland?
We are aware of the developments in England, Germany, and France as the relentless march of the Religion of Peace continues.
German Woes
(zerohedge) While Chancellor Friedrich Merz holds glossy coffee‑table sit‑downs with top corporate leaders in a staged “feel‑good” tour across Germany, the country’s economic fundamentals continue to deteriorate
The article frames Merz’s widely publicized meeting with CEOs and its €631 billion investment pledges as mostly PR theater—impressive optics, but vague on substance.
In contrast to overt commercial diplomacy like the U.S. president’s foreign investment roadshows, Germany’s economic woes are laid bare: persistent capital flight—€64.5 billion in net foreign investment outflows last year alone—stagnant productivity, and tens of thousands increase in unemployment since the lockdowns, and decades of over‑regulation eroding core industrial capacity.
ZeroHedge argues that Germany’s corporate-state coordination—well-choreographed by the chancellery and big business—reflects a broader corporatist model: powerful, entrenched firms align with political elites, reinforcing status quo dynamics while sidelining innovation and genuine reform.
The result? A scene that feels tailor‑made for German sensibilities: public optimism staged with corporate pageantry—“Made for Germany”—but masking economic stagnation and deep structural fragility.
Another Skinny in the Bag
(h/t Claudio and the Long War Journal) In a brief statement released on Saturday, the United States military’s Africa Command (AFRICOM) confirmed that its forces had “conducted an operation against the ISIS-Somalia terrorist network in Somalia.” Though AFRICOM did not provide any additional details, officials in Somalia have filled in the gaps. Through the official X account of Puntland’s counter-terrorism operations, the Puntland Defense Forces (PDF), who are leading the charge against the Islamic State’s franchise in northern Somalia, announced that Abdiweli Mohamed Yusuf, the finance emir for the group, was the target of the raid.
Since returning to office, President Donald Trump has drastically increased US military operations in Somalia. In addition to the strikes against ISS, at least an additional 22 strikes have also been conducted on Shabaab, Al Qaeda’s East African branch.
Though the raid to nab Abdiweli Yusuf was the first such ground operation in northern Somalia under Trump, it may not be the last, given the outsized importance that ISS plays to global Islamic State operations.
If it is true that Yusuf had a dual-hatted position as the finance chief for both ISS itself and the Al Karrar office, then his arrest, and the information gleaned from it, may have reverberations for the Islamic State across much of Africa and beyond.
Identify the Aircraft
1
2
Identify the Ship
3
4
I don’t know how much easier I can make it.
Parting Shot
How many of you graze on the take-out on the drive home?
(The Fine Print: Her choice of the word “fat” rather than “ample,” “full bodied,” “plus-sized,” “hungry,” or “natural” is unfortunate and doesn’t reflect the VM policy against body shaming.)
End
3 is USS Recruit a landlocked “dummy” training ship at San Diego
4 is USS Mitscher anArleigh Burke-class (Flight I) Aegis guided missile destroyer
#3 was also called MissNeverSail. They built it at the Naval Training Center (NTC) and commissioned it as a US Navy ship. It had a commissioning pennant. I used to pass by it on my way to the Admiral Kidd Club (Officer’s Club) on Sundays. They served up a very respectable Beef Wellington at the Kidd Club on Sunday.
3. That looks like RTC San Diego for sure …….look at the cars in front of the boat , 50’s? . I think it was called the USS Recruit . Some of the dudes look like they have their bluejackets in the folded and stowed position on their lower backs , my memory sucks . Hot hot hot, we ran PT and double timed in steel towed boondockers , blisters hurt so bad , then they turned to callouses , used to look at those houses on the hill , thinking about which ones had a swimming pool , and bikini girls to swim with .
They all had pools with attractive women lounging poolside—rule of thumb.
1. Lockheed C-141 Starlifter
2. Agusta Westland AW129 Mangusta – Image appears to be reversed
3 & 4 – I don’t know much about Naval vessels But #3 won’t float very long
All true.
#1 a.k.a “Star Lizard,” a term not universally accepted by Star Lizard crew. I believe the aircraft pictured is the shorter “A” model.
Yes it is.
The C-141 shown is a C-141A as it does not have the extended fuselage nor the mid-air refueling port behind the cockpit that the C-141B had.
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I loved watching the C-141s land at Kwajalein, seemingly every hour on the hour (but probably not) and watching them around Patrick AFB.
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Great plane.
IDA-
1. Lockheed C-141 Starlifter.
2. TAI/AgustaWestland T129 ATAK attack helicopters.
IDS-
3. USS Recruit (TDE-1, later TFFG-1) was a landlocked “dummy” training ship of the United States Navy.
4. USS Mitscher (DDG 57), an Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer of the United States Navy.
STA LETHAL
You edged Surly by that much.
Identify the Aircraft:
1. Lockheed C-141 Starlifter
2. Agusta A129 Mangusta
Identify the Ship:
3. USS Recruit (TDE-1)
4. USS Mitscher (DDG-57)
Exactly.
Mexican NarcoGovernment-
“Organized crime does not enter alone. It enters where there is omission, complicity, or cowardice in power.” since they are designated as terrorist groups why not systematically dismantle from the bottom up to Beijing? Maybe similar to the way we dismantle the American mafia in the ’70s. In the meantime the Southern border maybe lockdown but the northern border is open for business and shows no signs of slowing down. Nobody wants to talk about that with the big wins at the southern border. LL You’ve spent a ” little time ” in Mexico what do you think the solution is?
The answer is that for America to be a great country, it needs to be a moral country. We’re not. The drug problem can only be addressed at the consumption side. DEA estimated they got 5%. I think that number was optimistic. The Big Beautiful Wall is helping and the Mexicans are depressed, but the Canadian Border remains wide open.
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It’s gone too far to treat the problem like the American Italian Mafia. It won’t be effective. Look at all the narcos who are locked up, and the problem is the same as it ever was.
👍
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Poland Stats: Same reason why Missouri isn’t having problems with illegal criminals: Zero tolerance. Don’t import them, and wallah, no problems. (And it doesn’t require a committee, federal grants, or years long studies to figure it out)
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“Bring out your dead”…Immediately the pre caffe brain went here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58N1WWsrH0I
(We had the best actual comedy)
Ref wheelbarrow in the hallowed halls… was it a low bid contract? Is it unionized? Federal benefits or contractor? Are they hiring?
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I enjoyed “Conduct Unbecoming..” Looking forward to “The Confederate Cypher..” For those who have not read the “Conduct Unbecoming” the stories by our very own Mike Watson are excellent and the mini book inside the book “The Black Scorpions” is really good. For those who’ve never read anything by Larry this short story collection is where I’d start.
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However, I would strongly suggest you also pick up a copy of “White Powder..” by Larry as it’s a fantastic story with colorful characters. If ever a short book was written that would make a great action adventure Hollywood movie that story would be it.
Thanks, Al.
The “Black Scorpions” was a really good story! I enjoyed the the true stories with the names changed, so much happens that we never hear of.
I’m a fan of your work and I am looking forward to your next set of books!
Take-Out Grazing: It’s an imperative, especially if you pickup a pizza (at least one slice).
I’ve been guilty of that more than once. Tell me you never grazed the french fries on the way home. If you’re too quick on the pizza, you get burned and the cheese slides around on it as you try and guide the molten pizza into your pie hole. I don’t know from first hand experience, but I’ve seen it done. And if you pick up a dozen doughnuts, only 11 sinkers will arrive at your destination (call it Lambert’s Law).
There is a hamburger joint on my way home from work called Angie’s Burgers. They are fabulous. And the fries are perfect every time which makes it difficult not to graze on them on the way home while theu still hot. This necessitates buying two bags of fries so there’s some left for my wife.
A true romantic Ed, good form. Thing is, as the Hub it is our duty to eat half her fries to help her out, plus half her dessert. Win, win…and THAT is the real reason for us mid-aged boys ‘developing’ a 1-pack.
You can still graze and have a good figure. Round is a figure. Sixpack or keg – it all works out.
Dad: “Hold the damn pizza level, don’t want the cheese sliding off.” Learned that early on. But that is why driving the pickup with the mondo center console for pizza is a plus, set her right there and have at it (sort like a 3rd hand).
As for fries, absolutely, totally worthless as a take home, have to put them in the air fryer straight away…and what’s the point in that?
“though career bureaucrats dismiss the plan as partisan retribution.” Career bureaucrats… the ones who really ran things until Trump was sworn in the second time. That battle is still going with the bureaucrat’s Judicial allies still pushing forward with their coup.
Bitch, moan.
About 2,600 out of 4,600 DC-based employees will be relocated to Salt Lake City, Utah; Fort Collins, Colorado; Indianapolis, Indiana; Kansas City, Missouri; and Raleigh, North Carolina, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced last week.
Ft Collins already has too much traffic for the existing streets. Office space has been overbuilt so real estate investors and the local banks holding the paper must be relieved.
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Conduct Unbecoming
Buried somewhere in a filing cabinet is a Kindle. Might as well dig it out and see if it still works. I still prefer the feel and smell of printed paper.
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PDJT has done more in his first six months than any President, including the Lightbringer, in my memory. Along the way is a fair amount of collateral damage. How much of that damage is caused by his swamp opposition along the lines of, “OK sucker, how do you like this?” How many have thought, “We have three and a half more years of this; what will happen to my happy ass when his people have the time to examine my actions?”
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Who will lose more in the midterms, the Socialists or the RINOs?
Let alone enough water to keep all those new lawns green…yet – and this points to the planning geniuses – the new reservoir is for Greeley, out East, not a drop for Fort Collins. Of course, instead of dredging Halligan to maintain the same evaporative acre-feet but increase capacity depth the ‘experts” decide to build a new reservoir because a deal was made by those ‘not us’.
Then use low grade uranium ore for a portion of the fill. Any third year mining engineer student knows the upthrust along the Front Range has minor uranium deposits, from the Ames Monument to the Garden of the Gods.
Some sixty years ago some friends ran a Geiger counter over a water sample from the Cache la Poudre and saw a faint reading.
How soon will Owl Canyon become a four lane?
Owl Canyon? Maybe never…took a meeting with the county engineer (sharp woman), convinced her that it needed paving due to residential traffic to FC had increased exponentially over 20 years and to use properly sized roundabouts instead of hard intersections. They did okay…but “if you build it they will come”.
I remember when one joint could lead to five years in a Texas prison. While the consumption still happened, the number of willing participants was much smaller. Those in the production end of the “business” had fewer customers, and might find getting arrested probably saved their lives. Those were harsher times, but with some things, only the harshest of actions are successful.
I made an arrest for 30,000 pills of ecstasy in California and the criminal received a 3 month sentence. A month later, an arrest for ten tablets in Houston and the criminal drew ten years. Gotta love Texas.
At the drug unit, the joke about a large seizure was ‘It’s a bunch of dead Mexicans.’ Why? Well, because if a big load was seized, the Cartel involved would whack the suspects involved or whack family members of the suspects involved or both. The Cartels were not very tolerant of losing big loads.
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The worst sentencing I ever witnessed was a career drug dealer who was on probation for violating probation for violating parole on 4 different felonies, who was, yes, caught dealing. The judge dismissed all the previous probations and gave the thug Drug Offender Probation and Drug Offender Intervention, both which would erase the felony charges. Drug Offender Probation is supposed to be for the users and small-time dealers caught the first time. Drug Intervention is supposed to be for the users caught on the first or second time with drugs. Neither were meant to be used on a long-term career drug dealer. And guess what? Turd Felon violated DOP and DI within a week and was sentenced to… DOP and DI. Which he violated within a week and was given Probation. Which he proceeded to violate about, if I remember, 5 or 6 times, all ending with further probation, which as I said he violated. His story finally ended because someone violated him with about 10 bullets during a drug ripoff. Violator was on probation for home invasion robberies and felony drug use. Violator tried to claim self-defense, which didn’t fly because Violator broke into Probation Drug Dealer’s crib and started shooting before PDD had a chance to grab his gats (which, of course, he wasn’t supposed to have because multiple felony convictions.)
I’ve seen the same thing. It’s more common than not.
I hate to be a bore and have people think I’m becoming rather aged and repetitive, but I will miss “Conduct Unbecoming” until it’s available in hard copy.
I’ve put my foot down and refuse to read anything on a Kindle (Yes! I own one; fully charged yet, as it sits on the floor attached to its umbilical).
Please.
Going forward I will pay people to do the cover. I’ll reach out to the big guys like BRM and Old NFO and use their people or people they recommend. I may do that with Conduct Unbecoming after the fact. Truth is that it will cost me more to have the cover made than I’ll make on the book. Conduct Unbecoming, which took months to write and edit brought in $154.00. Maybe as much as $200.00 between now and the heat death of the universe.
I kicked in. Cover looks good as is.
Boron Sir!
I am 1000% with you!
Juan
Missile inventory – a long time ago, FedGov decided that it would be a lot better
to have a symbolic model of a military, instead of a functional one. That way,
all those dollars allocated for a real one could go in their pockets instead, and
they’d just buy a few examples of fancy things so it looks like we have a real
military from a distance.
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That’s why yesterday’s UnRep story is less meaningful than it seems; we don’t
have the production capacity nor stockpile of missiles required to execute it
in a real way in a real war. We need at least 10x the munitions production
capacity that we have, and at least 10x the munitions stockpile. There are plenty
of other deficiencies too (they just cancelled the M88A3 recovery vehicle, for example),
all so that the traitors, crooks, and morons that run the show can further line their pockets.
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Fun (if common and unsurprising) times.
– Kle.
USS Neversail, RTC San Diego! And yes, the Kidd Club did a nice Beef Wellington on Sundays, back in the day!!! Enjoyed the book, and looking forward to more from you!
I was reading the blog and came to the shameless plug for Conduct Unbecoming and picked it up to finish reading, neglecting my perusal of the blog.
But I’m back, having finished it.
Same thing happens with those Facebook Reels. I follow the link and get sucked in.
And they are designed to do that.
moving feds out of the beltway- value added, turn virginia bright red again. its red now but the feds living in nova allow the cheat from loudon and fairfax counties.
As to Mexico, I am shocked, shocked I say, to find corruption in the Mexican Government. (yes, sarcasm, loads of)
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And people are acting like this is something new. I have to sadly point out that Mexico really never has had a non-criminal governmental system.
Is it better to be ruled by Spain (with their inquisition) or the Aztecs? It’s a fair question. The Mexican system where you “pay to play” – almost a feudal system of kickbacks and bribes can be argued to be fair since the people who use government services are paying at the “point of sale” rather than being taxed for a service they never use. Everyone pays the tax.
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Drug dealers who operate in various turfs are often ‘taxed’ by some other scrote that is higher in the food chain. The person who levies the ‘tax’ (or call it vig if you’d like to) does so because they provide a service that requires they pay somebody. (there’s no such thing as gravity, the whole world sucks)
We have enough “government” in Fort Collins! Send them to Western Slope!
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Poland’s had enough of the savages. They’ve closed their border and are rounding them up.
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Poland and Hungary are enlightened.
Ocean dinosaur displaces several times more than the boat, but boat isn’t tossed around by the dino’s wake. Writers and animators should watch the whale breach videos more carefully.
X2