From News Wax, Trump to AFP: Iran Deal 'Very Close' as Hormuz Chokepoint Reopens. From Althouse, Trump's 9 posts of the last hour... including, at #7, "A GREAT AND BRILLIANT DAY FOR THE WORLD!" "From his account at Truth Social: 1. "The U.S.A. will get all Nuclear 'Dust,' created by our great B2 Bombers - No money will exchange hands in any way, shape, or form. This deal is in no way subject to Lebanon, either, but the USA will, separately, work with Lebanon, and deal with the Hezboolah situation in an appropriate manner. Israel will not be bombing Lebanon any longer. They are PROHIBITED from doing so by the U.S.A. Enough is enough!!! Thank you! President DJT" 2. "Now that the Hormuz Strait situation is over, I received a call from NATO asking if we would need some help. I TOLD THEM TO STAY AWAY, UNLESS THEY JUST WANT TO LOAD UP THEIR SHIPS WITH OIL. They were useless when needed, a Paper Tiger! President DJT" 3. "Thank you to Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Qatar for your great bravery and help! President DONALD J. TRUMP" 4. "Iran, with the help of the U.S.A., has removed, or is removing, all sea mines! Thank you! President DJT" 5. "Again! This deal is not tied, in any way, to Lebanon, but we will, MAKE LEBANON GREAT AGAIN!" 6. "Thank you to Pakistan and its Great Prime Minister and Field Marshall, two fantastic people!!! President DONALD J. TRUMP" 7. "A GREAT AND BRILLIANT DAY FOR THE WORLD! DJT" 8. "Iran has agreed to never close the Strait of Hormuz again. It will no longer be used as a weapon against the World! President DONALD J. TRUMP" 9. "The Failing New York Times, FAKE NEWS CNN, and others, just don’t know what to do. They are desperately looking for a reason to criticize President Donald J. Trump on the Iran situation, but just can’t find it. Why don’t they just say, at the right time, JOB WELL DONE, MR. PRESIDENT, and start to gain back their credibility???" and "The Strait of Hormuz is 'completely open' for all commercial ships after the agreement of a cease-fire in Lebanon, Iran’s foreign minister said on Friday," "The NYT reports." At Ace, Iran Claims They Have Completely Opened the Strait of America, Claims They're Ready to Turn Over All Uranium and Give Up Their Nuclear Ambitions, "I believe neither of these things. I do believe they've said these things, but I think they're lying." Weijia Jiang @weijia, "NEWS President Trump tells me: -No ground troops will be required to remove enriched uranium from Iran -Iran has agreed to stop backing all proxy groups like Hezbollah and Hamas -I asked if Iran has agreed to stop enriching uranium *forever.” He said, “They’ve agreed to everything.”" The Iran Watcher @TheIranWatcher, The Islamic Republic is showing a MAJOR internal fracture at the highest levels in real time. After Araghchi and Trump both claimed the Strait of Hormuz is “open,” IRGC-linked Fars News is now openly questioning officials, warning of confusion inside the country, and demanding explanations for the silence. At the same time, IRGC messaging via state TV makes clear that passage is still controlled, restricted, and under military oversight. Across the regime’s support base, pro-Basij and IRGC-aligned channels are fuming, with visible anger over this so-called agreement to open the strait. This exposes a direct contradiction between the diplomatic narrative and the military reality. Even regime-aligned media is now signaling that something doesn’t add up." Nioh Berg @NiohBerg, "I'm almost 100% this is what's happening. One regime figure had a meltdown and then deleted his X account. Others are calling for Araghchi to be impeached. Ghalibaf is calling all of Trump's posts lies. Regimi twitter in absolute shambles." Quote Nioh Berg @NiohBerg "I think Trump's strategy right now is to loudly declare that the IR has agreed to everything, then lean back and watch them tear each other apart in confusion and fingerpointing." Eric Daugherty @EricLDaugh, "IT'S OFFICIAL: SecWar Pete Hegseth announces Operation ECONOMIC FURY from Scott Bessent against Iranian leadership Hell yes "Secretary Scott Besant and our friends over at Treasury are launching Operation Economic Fury as well, maximizing economic pressure across the entirety of the government." "To Iran, choose wisely."" LHGrey @grey4626, "Scott Bessent is a goddamn economic warlord… the kind of apex predator who doesn’t just play the markets…he weaponizes them into precision-guided ordnance that leaves entire regimes bleeding out in the dirt." I hope this is on the level, and Iran is really in the process of bending the knee. But if it's only the opening of another, more psychological front on them, that's OK too.
From RCP, The Hormuz Blockade Is Not About Iran — It’s About China. At News Wax, Trump Tells NATO to 'Stay Away' After Strait Reopens. Hat Hair's Beege Welborn asks 'You and What Navy?' French Presidential Poof de Crème Plans to Cut Trump Out of Hormuz Patrols and sees the Aussie Fuel Situation Just Got a Little Spicier. George MF Washington @GMFWashington, "This is a bit like my wife and me meeting to discuss the unsuitability of a particular lunar landing location." Quote Defiant L’s @DefiantLs, "Keir Starmer and French President Macron meet to talk about the Strait of Hormuz." Ezra Levant @ezralevant, "The UK can't deploy a single ship. Spain and France won't let America fly from their airbases. Germany buys its energy from Russia. I think Europe are the ones who have "pulled out of the alliance."" Quote The Wall Street Journal @WSJ, "Exclusive: Europe is accelerating a fallback plan for NATO in case President Trump pulls out of the alliance ." Javier Blas @JavierBlas, "Spot on from @JasonBordoff: "... Others should prepare for a world in which energy crises are less of a brake on American power than they once were..." AP, AP Exclusive: Europe has ‘maybe 6 weeks of jet fuel left,’ energy agency head warns. Victoria Coates@VictoriaCoates, "But remember, Iran is not Kier Starmer’s war." Quote The Telegraph @Telegraph, UPDATE: Counter-terror police are investigating whether Iranian-backed proxies are behind a spate of firebombings in London." Dave Strom at Hat Hair thinks Canada Provides an Object Lesson in What NATO Without US Looks Like. Don Surber notes Brits poorer than Mississippians, "But the British refuse to believe they are poor."
Lorenzo from Oz has Two simple tests for bad commentary on the Iran War "And a more subtle test." "Would this commentator ever admit that Trump had done something positive? If the answer is no, ignore them." "Does this commentator pay any attention to the record of the Islamic Regime? Its record of domestic repression, including various mass executions and mass killings of protesters?... If the answer is no, ignore them." "The third test is about how wars work. Does the commentator understand that good strategy in war is a decision-tree? If you do X and Y happens, then follow up with Z. If you do X and A happens, follow up with B. If they do not understand that, if they treat successful war strategy as being able to operate according to some plan so what the opponent does in response to it does not matter, then they do not understand war, and you can ignore them." At Am Con, Media Coverage of the War Has One Target: Trump. Flopping Aces @FloppingAces, "For weeks the New York Times screamed Trump’s Iran strike would crash the economy, send oil to $150, and hand victory to the mullahs via the Strait of Hormuz. Today? S&P 500 just smashed another all-time high. NASDAQ at record levels. Gas prices falling. Oil stabilized and dropping. Meanwhile Iran’s economy is in smoking ruins ... worse than the entire Iran-Iraq War ... with their core industries obliterated and Tehran now desperate to crawl to the negotiating table. The same “experts” and black-pillers who swore we had “no plan” and Trump was leading us into economic armageddon just got absolutely nuked by reality. Trump was right. The doomsayers were clowns. The media doom narrative is officially obliterated. Let the man work. (article below)." Flopping Aces @FloppingAces, "Media Panic vs Reality: Markets Rip, Oil Stabilizes, and the Doom Narrative Gets Obliterated https://floppingaces.net/most-wanted/me" Mehek Cooke @MehekCooke, "Every foreign policy genius who spent a decade collecting paychecks to tell us Iran was untouchable just watched a real estate developer from Queens reopen the waterway that moves a third of the world's oil. The credential class should be embarrassed into silence." Matt Vespa at TownHall wants you to Look at Scott Jennings' Face When Kamala Harris Former Comms Director Said This on CNN About Iran. At Insty, A FRIEND WRITES: "I am shocked at how the service academy pages and other military-directed sites are absolutely overrun by angry progressives. I mean, is this just what they do now? “Like” pages just to vent incessantly? I’m usually just scrolling cooking reels so apparently I’ve missed the real action online. Mind numbing." They’re super upset that we’re winning a war and not taking heavy casualties." Althouse finds "The shift to drilling holes in fuel tanks comes as an old method of stealing gas has faded: siphoning...." ""Most newer vehicles have narrow, curved filler necks leading to the gas tank, making it difficult to force a tube inside. Some vehicles also have internal flappers or baffles to thwart siphoning. And anti-pollution regulations mean fuel systems are often better sealed. Gas thefts of all kinds tend to follow pump prices...."" From "As fuel prices rise, a new technique of gas theft is spreading/With simple tools, thieves are 'drilling and draining' fuel from vehicles, leaving drivers with costly repair bills" (WaPo). I don't like that phrase "As fuel prices rise," which seems to assume the rising trend will continue. Right now, I'm seeing this:" Oil prices decline. Of course, they never noticed it when Joe's autopen was producing even higher gas prices. News Wax cites GOP Senators Want Iran Exit Strategy featuring Lisa Murckowski. I'm not sure she qualifies.
Sarah Anderson at PJM, cites the State Department on Venezuela: No Trust, Just Leverage.. and a Plan for Elections? and likes The New Monroe Doctrine: So… Here’s Everything That Happened. Yes, Everything. Dave Strom at Hat Hair observes This Piece From the NYT Drips With Contempt for Him, So You Gotta Love Him. Steven Edginton @StevenEdginton, "The NYT reports British officials were "left stunned" by the State Dept when they raised concerns about free-speech and migrant crime. British diplomats' "jaws dropped" when confronted on these issues."
NYPo's Rich Lowry thinks Pope Leo needs to brush up his Bible — and its lessons on war and peace. Capt Ed at Hat Hair cites the Miami Herald: Trump Must Be Clairvoyant In His Papal Pique, or Something! Theophilus Chilton (Scots-Irish Supremacist) @Theo_Chilton, "The timing on this story is interesting because Trump *actually* canceled this contract with CC two weeks ago, before the kerfluffle with the pope took place. Kinda makes it seem like the kerfluffle is a *response* to Trump taking steps to stop the flow of "refugees"", Quote David J Harris Jr @DavidJHarrisJr, "BREAKING: The Trump administration just canceled an $11 million contract with Catholic Charities to shelter and care for unaccompanied migrant children. Do you support this decision?" Jonathan Turley points out New York Versus the Nuns: The Dominican Sisters Face Penalties for Refusing to Yield on Religious Values. "New York has been a godsend for gun rights in passing a series of unconstitutional limits on Second Amendment rights only to result in major adverse rulings. It may soon do the same for the free exercise of religion."
From Fox, Missing general, scientist deaths tied to secret US work prompt White House probe. Leslie Eastman at LI, Concern Grows Over 10 Missing or Deceased NASA, Nuclear, and Defense Researchers "Trump: “Well, I hope it’s random, but we’re going to know in the next week and a half. I just left a meeting on that subject. So, pretty serious stuff.”" I'm not convinced there's a there there yet, but if there is, it's China.
PJM's Vicky Taft says Check Nancy Pelosi's Back for Tire Marks Because Kevin McCarthy Just Pulled a Swalwell Hit and Run and Stephen Kruiser on Journalisming: WaPo Mystified About Why No One Ever Noticed That Swalwell Was a Creeper. EducatëdHillbilly™ @RobProvince, "Still blows me away the press held this until he wasn’t needed anymore. Really tells you how completely cooked we are as a country that it’s all this corrupt and fixed." Quote New York Post @nypost "Eric Swalwell donors footed $500K in hotel bills, including rooms where alleged rapes happened https://trib.al/oIXKxqn" Brandi Kruse @BrandiKruse, "The first frontrunner for CA governor poured hot mashed potatoes on her husband. The second frontrunner turned out to be a sexual predator. The third frontrunner wants to arrest ICE agents. In case you're wondering how the Democratic Party is doing." Sister Toldja at RedState, Here We Go: Luna Goes to Thune About Gallego, and It May Be Time for Swalwell's Bestie to Lawyer Up. At the Free Bacon, On Ruben Gallego, We Told You So. Ace cites Anna Paulina Luna: A Woman Is Coming Forward With Lawyers to Make a Complaint Against Ruben Gallego of a Violation That is "Sexual In Nature" and Also Human Trafficking Plus: FBI to Investigate Deaths and Disappearances of 10 Top-Secret Clearance Scientists. "Now, we have seen fakers and grifters come forward to make false claims in the wake of a high-profile accusation. A bunch of psychopaths and schizophrenics made up claims against Brett Kavanaugh after Hysterical Hippocampus made her false claims WITHOUT EVIDENCE. On the other hand, Anna Paulina Luna is hot enough to roast a dolphin." Kostas Moros @MorosKostas, "Giffords supported Justin Fairfax, Jay Jones, and Eric Swalwell. Maybe they aren't the best judges of character?" Quote, Rob Romano @2Aupdates "Giffords writes a press release to "highlight[] the dangerous and extreme record of Texas congressional candidate and 'GunTuber' Brandon Herrera, known online as The AK Guy." Damani Felder @TheDamaniFelder, "Imagine watching the Deep State torpedo Eric Swalwell in less than 7 days, and still thinking there's a magical career-ending bombshell they've had on Trump but not released over the past 11 years."
At Unherd, California governor’s race declares war on Big Tech. Kevin Dalton@TheKevinDalton, "Gavin Newsom just used his own PAC to buy $1.5 million worth of his own book. Even more comically, that accounts for 2/3 of the entire print sales." Kevin Killough at JTN, sees California ‘running out of fuel’ as imports dry up, Trump needs to act to prevent crisis: experts "Trump to rescue California? Professors estimate that California’s inventories are as much as 30% below normal because of the state's climate policies. California faces severe supply disruptions to diesel, jet fuel and gasoline. This not only impacts California, the professors argue, it poses a grave national security risk to the country."
Jonathan Turley @JonathanTurley, "Democrats are discussing plans after retaking power to change the system so they never lose it again. Carville (curiously on a national podcast) told Democrats to keep the plans quiet: “Don’t run on it. Don’t talk about it. Just do it.” ..." Jim McGhee at Am Spec on Gerrymandering and the Tyranny of Big Cities "Virginia’s redistricting battle mirrors a national struggle over urban dominance and republican balance." Dr Manhattva @Manhattva, "If they can eliminate low testosterone, A Democrat would never win another presidential election. This is a scientific study, and I’m not being facetious." ABC whines that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas blasts progressivism as threat to America. "He said values in the Declaration of Independence have "fallen out of favor." Kosher @koshercockney, "Holy f*ck. Word for word. Ana Kasaparian (Extreme Left Wing) and Nick Fuentes (Extreme Right Wing) paint themselves as polar opposites on the political spectrum. However, listen to them here, side by side. This is horseshoe theory on fully display."
