I’ve been through a lot: combat tours, job changes, divorces and family challenges. (Yes, I love my mom very much, and she loves me.) I have always led with honesty, integrity and passion. Tragically, many veterans never find the purpose for their next chapter and succumb to the bottle, depression or, worst of all, suicide. I understand what they are facing—because I’ve lived it. But by the grace of God, I took another path. My Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has renewed and restored my life. I am saved by his grace.

Technically, Donald Trump has 47 days left before he's sworn into office for his second, albeit non-consecutive, presidential term. In reality, however, he's already the president, and Mar-a-Lago is his White House. //

You can find enough proof of Trump's de facto presidency in the daily, post-election meltdowns of corporate media hacks like Joy Reid. //

In short, the media is treating Donald Trump like he's already the president because he's acting like he is. //

If getting results is the measure of a successful presidency, Trump's pre-presidency presidency is yielding some pretty impressive wins. //

And you know how heads of state are invited to big international events? Well, Donald Trump is heading to Paris this weekend to join other dignitaries for the reopening of the Notre-Dame Cathedral, where he's bound to meet with other international players. You know, the stuff competent presidents do.

Whoever these detractors and actors might be who are attempting to tank the Hegseth nomination, know that there is a wizard behind the curtain pulling their strings. Voices like The Federalist Sean Davis and others are naming and shaming South Carolina Sen. Lindsay Graham (R) as one of the puppet masters, along with the aforementioned Sen. Joni Ernst. According to Davis, they are tag-teaming to bring about the demise of Hegseth's nomination. When Sen. Graham last spoke to the press, he appeared to express concern over the recent allegations of Hegseth's past behaviors. //

In the meantime, it's Kavanaugh 2.0, except this time, it is Trump's Secretary of Defense nominee instead of the Supreme Court. //

Will Cain
@willcain
·
Follow
GOP senators CANNOT fold to these cheap anonymous attacks on @PeteHegseth.

If they do, they’ll just invite more and more Kavanaugh style attacks, for every potential disruptor. Everyone who represents REAL CHANGE.

And they’ll lose one hell of a SecDef in @PeteHegseth.
10:54 PM · Dec 3, 2024

Is that what's happening here? I can't say for sure, but I wouldn't put it past the corrupt hangers-on at the FBI to "protect the shield" in such a way. They certainly don't want Patel coming in and providing real reform and accountability. They've still got more pro-lifers to raid at gunpoint and Catholics to treat as domestic terrorists. For now, though, we'll call the above theory a hypothesis.

We'll see if the communications reportedly taken are leaked. I would assume they will be, and if they are, Republican senators should pretend they don't exist and confirm anyway, no matter what they contain. There is zero reason to trust anything at this point that would benefit the FBI.

Out of all the nominees that one might call "controversial," Patel getting through is the most important. The only way to stop the weaponization of federal law enforcement is to bring sweeping changes to the FBI, and that's only because there's no realistic way to shut it down. Patel is the right man for that job, and these last-minute games, whatever they amount to, should not stop his nomination. //

Deplorable Extraordinarius
32 minutes ago
Sounds like the FBI has wised up to how anything labeled Russia Russia Russia is no longer seen as credible. So some genius has just swapped in Iran, Iran, Iran. The Deep State is busy doing its black ops in pursuit of its survival. //

anon-rda0
27 minutes ago
I hope Patel kept absolutely quiet during the “briefing”. There’s a dang good chance the purpose of the briefing was to trap him in a lie.

anon-isiz anon-rda0
23 minutes ago
No one should receive an FBI briefing without an attorney present. //

EMCM(SS)
4 minutes ago
Everyone knows this is all hogwash, so why are they doing it?
Cover!
This is all cover for Collins, Murkowski, Thune and the rest of Mitch’s tufthunters to scuttle the nomination. Same as the lies about Hegseth. Not even the Democrats believe this stuff. It’s just a fig leaf for the coming failure theater.

Retiring West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, a former Democrat who turned independent in May in hopes of saving his career in what has become a solidly red state, has a suggestion for Joe Biden: pardon Donald Trump.

After all, the president just pardoned his son Hunter for tax and gun crimes after telling the world for months that he would do no such thing. Pardoning Trump would be the only to make this look less like the corrupt maneuver that it so clearly is, Manchin told CNN’s Manu Raju on Monday:

The theatrics around Kavanaugh's confirmation were Democrats trying to play the long game, but they overplayed their hand so severely that the sympathy built up for the embattled nominee. Sure, the narrative survived in too many people, but anyone remotely paying attention found themselves disgusted by the Democrats, effectively giving Republicans and Kavanaugh the PR victory.

But while Kavanaugh was and still is technically a threat to the left, Trump's incoming cabinet is one built for one purpose, and that's deconstructing the deep state and exposing the corruption within the government so it can be reduced and its power decreased. The Democrat Party, whose entire concern is maintaining that power and influence, considers this a nightmare scenario. This is a code red situation for them.

As such, I see the Democrats going absolutely overboard in ways that make the Kavanaugh hearing look like an elementary school stage production. The fearmongering they will resort to will be such that future generations will want to study it.

There is no way that the Democrats will want their deepest secrets uncovered, and they will do what they always have done in order to avert losing even an ounce of their power: they will resort to lies, drama, and fear. Schumer's letter confirms this for me, as it sets the tone for the Democrats being "the adults in the room," and as such, any overblown accusations they resort to will be taken with some form of belief by onlookers.

But this won't work this time around. The Kavanaugh hearings came at a time when voter's fatigue with Democrats hadn't reached its height and the orange man effectively passed off as "bad." Now, Democrats are going into these hearings with the public actually behind Trump, and excited about this nominees. Democrats are going to be fighting an uphill battle in both Washington and the public square.

It was thought that Trump, who was handed gobs of political capital on November 5th, would have to spend some of his capital to get his more controversial nominees, like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Pete Hegseth, approved by the GOP-led Senate. This may still be true, but Joe Biden just gave him something even better:

The mother of all mandates. //

Joe Biden's pardoning of his son, Hunter Biden, further diminishes an already-neutered Democrat Party and empowers Donald Trump to an extent we probably haven't seen in modern times. No more can Democrats cry, "No one is above the law!" because their "big guy" just blew that idea to smithereens.

Even better, Joe Biden and his fiercely lying press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, have just confirmed that the Department of Justice is corrupt. //

Paul A. Szypula 🇺🇸
@Bubblebathgirl
·
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Newsweek reports woman are getting sterilized and men are getting vasectomies in response to Trump winning.

The people who oppose putting America first are having less babies and less abortions.

The winning just keeps on winning.

11:46 PM · Nov 30, 2024. //

These five women are a testament to the power of propaganda. They firmly believe that Trump will take away their access to abortion. How will they feel in four years when they realize they’ve been lied to all along?

JD Vance
@JDVance
·
Follow
John Bolton has been wrong about everything so I guess Kash must be pretty awesome.
Margaret Brennan
@margbrennan
Former National Security Advisor John Bolton compares Kash Patel, President-elect Trump's pick to head the FBI, to one of Stalin's feared secret police chiefs:

"Trump has nominated Kash Patel to be his Lavrenty Beria. Fortunately, the FBI is not the NKVD. The Senate should…
2:01 PM · Dec 1, 2024

Bernie Sanders
@SenSanders
·
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Elon Musk is right.

The Pentagon, with a budget of $886 billion, just failed its 7th audit in a row. It’s lost track of billions.

Last year, only 13 senators voted against the Military Industrial Complex and a defense budget full of waste and fraud.

That must change.
12:07 PM · Dec 1, 2024. //

Elon Musk

@elonmusk
·
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Gonna happen 😂
ALEX

@ajtourville
The IRS getting audited by the @DOGE
Embedded video
10:51 AM · Nov 27, 2024

He said the Biden DOJ had gone after Democrats from New Jersey (Sen. Bob Menendez) and Texas (Rep. Henry Cuellar), as though that was an excuse. "I mean, the deep state. Nobody's ever defined it, apparently. Just means anybody who doesn't do the will of Donald Trump," Raskin said.

So, any weaponization you thought you were seeing is just all in your mind, kids. The last several years didn't happen. The Russia collusion and the lawfare against Trump never happened, nor did the suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop.

But if what he's saying is right, then he has no real reason to object to Patel.

If Patel wants to exorcise the "Deep State" and it isn't there, no harm, no foul. What is he worried about?

The fact that Raskin supports Wray tells you why Wray should be gone. But further, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) explained the problem with Wray wasn't his "independence" but that he was a failure, including in complying with oversight. He called for charting a new course for transparency and accountability.

Chuck Grassley
@ChuckGrassley
·
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Chris Wray has failed at fundamental duties of FBI Dir He’s showed disdain for cong oversight & hasn’t lived up to his promises It’s time 2 chart a new course 4 TRANSPARENCY +ACCOUNTABILITY at FBI

Kash Patel must prove to Congress he will reform &restore public trust in FBI
8:24 AM · Dec 1, 2024 //

NavyVet Retired Professor
6 hours ago
If you keep track, I believe you'll find a high correlation between those objecting to Kash and those on Epstein's flight list.

So, by inference, Raskin was an Epstein regular. //

GBenton
6 hours ago
Grassley's tweet is too mild. Wray presided over the persecution of Christians, parents, and political opponents. He should have to answer for that abuse of power. Kash Patel is the right guy for the job.

Tiffany, Trump's younger daughter, wed Boulos' son, Michael, in 2022, and is expecting their first child.

Here's a bit more on Massad Boulos:

Boulos, who was born in Lebanon, runs Nigeria-based Boulos Enterprises, //

ProudConservativeGrandmum
7 hours ago
Isn’t it interesting how a supposedly bigoted family is so overwhelmingly diverse?

Listen, I think you should have the Biden administration look at itself. What is the qualification of Tony Blinken to become secretary of state? Well, he organized 51 so-called intelligence experts to put together a fake letter saying that the Hunter Biden laptop was Russian disinformation. That must have qualified him to be secretary of state. President Trump is entitled to name his appointees. That is exactly what he's doing, and I'm going to support this appointment. Kash has worked at national security. He's worked at the Department of Justice, and he's somebody that has been willing to uncover the wrongs at the FBI. He's the one that uncovered for the American public what happened with Russia-gate. He's the one that can see through the fix here. //

Chelan Jim Random US Citizen
5 hours ago
I think the Republicans have always been acutely aware of the leftist bias of the media but they did not feel they dare tackle it if they wanted to avoid crossfire and stay in office. Now that a majority of the population recognize this bias exist, the politicians are more immune to the the influence media has.

I have always said, the reason Republicans lose races are often because they are honest. The left has always been dishonest and the media gives them cover. So I don't fault the Republicans that know they could have been ruined by the media if the media decides they are a target.

Some may say the Republicans are cowards. Well, I live in a state that we can't seem to elect a Republican to save our soul in a statewide election. I almost wish a few of them would just not be so obvious about all of their views until they get elected. It is all in the perspectives you have. //

anon-skk0
4 hours ago
Biden appointed his team to play defense. Trumps picks are going to play offense. //

Largo Patriot
4 hours ago
One of the criticisms of Patel is he is not an FBI agent who came up through the ranks, but neither did James Comey and Christopher Wray. The problem with the FBI is an internal one, which is why an outsider is needed to clean it up. The FBI Director's first duty is to the American people, not his fellow FBI agents, and the "we investigated ourselves and determined we did nothing wrong" is not working for the American people, especially those who find themselves staring down the barrel of a gun pointed at them by FBI swat team members in the middle of the night.

Furthermore, Patel had virtually no experience that would qualify him to serve at the highest level of the world’s preeminent law enforcement agency.

If I could only write one more sentence for this article, it would be this: I can't think of a better endorsement for Patel to serve as FBI director than that. //

, the idea that the FBI should perpetually staff itself is exactly how it became a corrupt agency more intent on protecting "the shield" and damaging its political enemies than serving the American people. The bureau is not a fourth branch of government, free from the confines of the accountability of voters.

Trump was not elected to keep the status quo rolling, and those using Barr's 2022 quote to try to attack Patel's nomination should realize they are irrelevant. //

To put it frankly, the FBI has forfeited any right to claim sovereignty and "independence." Too much has transpired, and if any of the rank-and-file have a problem with the coming reforms, they are welcome to quit.

Further, the fact that so many left-wingers are freaking out only serves as more evidence that Patel is the right man for the job. //

No, we aren't heading for a "constitutional crisis" because the FBI is not a constitutional agency. It is a bloated, corrupt bureaucracy under the direct leadership of the president and one in desperate need of a house cleaning. It is not in question whether the bureau has abused its power to go after the political enemies of the left. That demands a reckoning, and a reckoning is coming whether the Beltway elites like it or not. //

msctex
2 hours ago
The overall Leftist Constitutional Crisis is very real, but entirely rooted in their growing realization they simply can no longer find a way to exist with it still in play.

So it is that much a Leftist Constitutional Existential Crisis. //

American Deplorable ™ Smiling Alley Cat
2 hours ago
The confirmation process will expose the RINO droppings who will become primary targets at their next election.

Recess appointments will become the rage as PDJT predicted.

Now that Donald Trump is headed to the White House, he has to make a decision vital to the Republic's health. Over the last eight years, President Trump and his allies have been the subject of a non-stop stream of lawfare attacks designed to cripple him while he was president and later, after he peacefully turned over the reigns of power to the addled Joe Biden, to imprison him for what could have been the rest of his life. The campaign to jail him was clearly a conspiracy involving Biden Attorney General Merrick Garland, New York Attorney General Letitia James, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, and Fulton County, Georgia, District Attorney Fani Willis.

The extent to which the civil cases against him were coordinated with the criminal cases has never, as far as I know, been explored, but it is hard to imagine that it did not exist. This use of the judicial system to attempt to impoverish and imprison political opponents is foreign to the United States and to its founding principles. The decision that Trump has to make is to either ignore the attacks calculated to ruin his life or should he be faithful to the promise he made at CPAC in March 2023, seek retribution.

In 2016, I declared I am your voice. Today I add I am your Warrior, I am your Justice, and for those who have been wronged and betrayed, I am your Retribution. //

Here is where we'd part company. These people tried to imprison Trump for what would have statistically been the rest of his life. They went after the January 6 protesters using a patent over-expansion of the law that the Supreme Court had to smack it down: Supreme Court Hands Down Blockbuster Ruling in Case That Will Impact Multiple J6 Defendants. Even now, Garland's prosecutors are fighting to extend misdemeanor sentences into terms lasting years behind bars because the Supreme Court repudiated them.

As recounted in our posts on Garland's thugs bringing a false and malicious prosecution against a pro-life demonstrator, these people were willing to lie to put their political enemies behind bars and to try and intimidate them. //

Just remember, the convictions are icing on the cake. The process is the punishment. A battalion of bankrupted and unemployable DOJ lawyers and FBI agents living in refrigerator cartons under bridges across the country would provide a daily lesson to what happens when you abuse your power and try to deprive other people of their freedom and livelihoods. //

Only when we've plowed the soil of the Deep State with salt can we talk about a truce. But the personal damage we inflict over the next four years, in terms of jail time, bankruptcies, and legal judgments, must so terrify that second tier of Deep Staters that no matter what another batch of Democrat operatives cook up, they will refuse to get involved. //

eattheelite Mongoose
4 hours ago edited
With humans being human, and all, a caution against abuses from our side is warranted. Trump will not humiliate a fellow president to advance a political ball or satiate his righteously outraged supporters and he's been clear about that much. The best, and, in general, the only, truly sustainable preventive measure is the vigilence of an informed electorate, and it worked precisely as forseen by the Founders even in the face of globalist headwinds. This time. There's a bigger picture here than an eye for an eye. If we get lost in it, which I could so easily find myself doing after eight years of political jujitsu, we'll lose the better of what MAGA can do for Americans and the world. My two cents. Now I'll go back to streaming the View and watching Ellen's English mansion flood because I do get a kick out of witnessing the cosmic justice of their all-consuming and well-earned misery. A guilty pleasure, I know. (I just don't care. Well, I just don't care yet, anyway.) I believe the left calls it self-care! //

anon-o62w
7 hours ago
It's not revenge. It's not payback. It's a crime against the American People. There must be some severe ramifications to deter this tactic by either party in the future. Trumps cases were manufactured. People in power colluded. If proven..jail. Like anyone else. It's not just Trump..it's Jan 6ers, Rudy G....the list is endless. The mistake is Trump is targeted because he's Trump. Believe me, DeSantis, Vance..they will be victims next cycle if the full weight of the law is not brought down on officials who have engaged in this tactic. //

GBenton
6 hours ago
Andy McCarthy is a muppet. He got the Russia Russia thing wrong and a lot more. They all need to pay with reciprocal lawfare for one key reason he failed to address: Trump was innocent but they are actually guilty.

So it's not even lawfare, though I would be fine with reciprocal lawfare either way for reasons this post states already. But the fact is we have to restore the rule of law and prove no one is above it, least of all those who abused power. They must be made to care, as the saying goes, or we will never see the end of this.

On top of everyone mentioned in this post, the folks who engage in voter and election fraud need prison time. If we do not secure our elections we will someday no longer have a country. I do not believe the left can win national elections without illegal aliens and dead people and bogus ballots. We need voter ID, but we also need to absolutely crucify those who stole any elections within the statute of limitations, mostly figuratively speaking but I'm open to literally, too, if they are convicted because stealing elections should be regarded as akin to treason.

Abolute power corrupts absolutely - and the ability to steal elections is simply too dangerous to let be a feature of our process. Paper ballots, voter ID, and life sentences for cheaters and those who organize and fund cheating.

Then we can deal with the media who do nothing but gaslight us with Democrat propaganda. //

Marek76
8 hours ago
Forget the higher ground, justified prosecution for actual crimes is essential if we are to be a nation of laws. The DOJ needs to fear accountability if they abuse their power.

VDH, an American classicist, military historian, and conservative political commentator, explained to British journalist Piers Morgan on his "Piers Morgan Uncensored" podcast how Trump was able to take away voters from the Democrat Party and "middle America," and soundly defeat Harris and her stubborn adherence to identity politics (emphasis, mine).

He was able, for the first time in my lifetime, to replace racial tribalism with class solidarity ... and that’s what they do not want to confront. In other words, he said to people, 'If you're a Mexican-American truck driver, if you're a black electrician, if you're a poor white carpenter, you have more in common with each other than you do with your elites on the bicoastal, domain.' //

And that's what they do not want to confront, because that's the keystone of the Democratic Party. Victim, victimization, victimizers oppressor, oppressed. And they have this kind of Marxist binary. And people don't buy into it, and especially minorities don't buy it. //

GBenton Chelan Jim
11 hours ago
Yes, the degree to which they tried to destroy him is the degree to which he is an existential threat. Their entire success was based on a lie. And he did the ONE thing that threatened to tear it all down: tell the truth. The amazing thing is it took their demonization of him and his refusal to go away that eventually proved his point: they are the threat to democracy.

He said that all along but it took the past 10 years to show it in real time and finally enough people got red pilled.

The right/left paradigm has been turned upside down. It's really not that meaningful. The Uniparty divided us along party lines and kept themselves in power. Trump took a populist approach and is forming a coalition based on what we agree about rather than where we disagree.

The obstacle is that the nation is still highly divided and the Machine won't die easily. The Uniparty knows how to gum up the works.

BUT sunlight disinfects. The thing they can't survive is exposure. Since Trump cannot afford to let them rise back to power or we're all screwed, he has to expose their secrets. In doing so, he'll further vindicate his case and more people will reject the Democrat party as they wake up to decades of lies.

Politics as usual is over. It's not about retribution, it's about exposing why nothing has made sense for decades and how the two parties kept us losing rights and the Overton Window shifted to the brink of our destruction.

He can't be a dictator and wipe away everything in his way, they know that. BUT he can utterly destroy their ability to lie to the people and build a coaltion they cannot defeat in fair elections. //

GBenton sb2
9 hours ago edited
That is the challenge, for sure. But if you look at the collapse in rating of Hollywood and TV and corporations that go woke, the left is weaker than they appear. X.com has 10x the reach as the MSM.

I think Trump won bigger than it appeared. States with no voter ID cheated, as always, and most fo the counties in this country moved right. If they couldn't cheat in the high population center cities, what would they really have?

We're about to find out. This is an information war right now and not a shooting war, thankfully.

And their exposed flank is all their dirty secrets and lies.

My assumption is that Trump will hit that flank with disclosure of who and what they really are and simultaneously secure our elections and deport illegals so they can no longer stay in power illegitimately.

And they have almost no defense against that attack because it's all true and they are criminals.

You know what I think will be the exposures that sink a whole lot of them all at once?

Espstein and Diddy. Americans might argue over policy or unions or whatever, but no one will tolerate pedophiles. Plus the cartels and human trafficking and drugs. How many in the Elite are tied up in one or more of those things?

The depravity of the left will be its undoing.

While Gottlieb has the right to talk to as many senators as he wishes, I would suggest that his talk of a polio epidemic is more to scare than enlighten them. His real fear is that RFK, Jr., will upset the comfy, one-hand-washes-the-other that exists between regulators and regulated industries and the high-paying revolving door that shuttles regulators to regulated industries and then back to regulatory agencies. //

anon-89ic
13 hours ago
More likely than not, childhood vaccination rates are vastly lower than reported. As I've said many times, I never had those shots because the adverse reactions scared my doctors in the early 1970s, and my kids' pediatrician in the 90s never questioned the decision about whether or not to vaccinate our kids. Vaccination rates have dropped precipitously because so many parents don't trust the FDA. that's why Bobby's efforts, if they restore confidence in the FDA, may bolster vaccination rates, not lower them. Gottlieb is on the dark side and can't be trusted. //

jdquick
11 hours ago
The only thing I got to say is follow the money. Big Pharma is running scared and my bet is that they are spending millions on senators to kill RFK Jr's nomination. He will make them pay for what they have done to this country and they want to keep the gravy train rolling......for their fake vaccines and medicine for every little ache you have. Also, the medical community has probably chipped in a bunch because they follow their masters in big pharma.. //

Yoganana QueenieAnne
3 hours ago
Chicken pox vax is definitely one which cost benefit analysis needs to be done. we used to have chicken pox parties to get the disease immunity. You are correct that the epidemic of shingles is due to lack of community re exposure to chicken pox since the vaccine.
The pertussis ( whooping cough) vax does not prevent transmission, My sister and I had it after being vaxxed.
Measles may have some serious consequences: measles encephalitis, and other disabilities. But….what is the track record on the vaccination preventing it?
India saw an epidemic of polio cases resulting in some deaths and paralysis after Gates ran his polio vaccine program. India stopped the program and kicked him out.
Babies are routinely given the hepatitis vax in the nursery. What is their risk factor? Definitely stay away from HPV VAX, ( gardisil.) pediatricians are recommending it as part of the schedule for 11 year olds! It has had some severe disabling results.
RFK Jf is not eliminating vaccines. He is calling for an honest and thorough review of the literature and evaluation based on adverse events versus benefits.

Musicman
13 hours ago
So much for the Constitutional Right to face your accuser. If true, this is the cherry on top that proves beyond all doubt that Merrick Garland is a partisan hack. Thank God he didn’t make it to the Supreme Court.

NavyVet Musicman
13 hours ago
"no one cares about this anymore"?
I do. This is a deliberate and malicious swipe at the president-elect, hence an effort to divide and harm our country. It is an indicted ham sandwich, selectively packaged "evidence" that buries all exculpatory evidence.

It angers me, and it calls for a thorough investigation by a trustworthy special counsel. I nominate Sidney Powell. Let that bulldog go after those scumbags and ruin their lives, just like they have been doing to Trump and everyone close to him. //

GreenLanternMD Largo Patriot
12 hours ago
If they had anything persuasive, they would have released it before the election. //

emptypockets
11 hours ago
"full of sound and fury signifying nothing".

Incoming AG Bondi should respond, not Trump. She should begin by noting--clearly and loudly that Smith was an illegally appointed SC. Remind that many others also "mishandled classified docs" including Biden who treated them like a pack rat stashing shinies. Ones he never HAD any right to have while ALL Trump's were his to legally remove as POTUS.

Then she could add that she would be doing some deep cleaning, reviewing of records which should be carefully NOT "lost" or heads might indeed roll sooner than even she expected.

This is sore loser-itis highly inflamed. Maybe someone still loves them enough to give them an ointment for that. Not me, though.

Iran thundered in apocalyptic prose: Israel will be destroyed! Death to America! Destroy the infidels! Kill the Jews! The future is ours!

General Ali Fadavi, the deputy commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps, smugly told the media, “Iran’s response to the Zionist aggression is definite. We are capable of destroying all that the Zionists possess with one operation.”

At least, Fadavi felt that way on October 31, when he issued that statement. Since then, America had a pretty big presidential election. (You might’ve heard about it.) But if you haven’t, here’s the highlight: The crazy, scary Orange Man is back in the saddle.

And suddenly, Iran’s singing a dramatically different tune.

It was released on Thanksgiving Day, so most people probably didn’t see it, but The New York Times released a fascinating story yesterday: “With Trump Returning and Hezbollah Weakened, Iran Strikes a Conciliatory Tone.”

The sub-header: “As Iran faces domestic and foreign challenges, its bellicose rhetoric on the United States and Israel has given way to signs that it wants less confrontation.”

The contrast is striking: Just weeks earlier, Iran was vowing to utterly eviscerate its enemies. No compromises, no exceptions! And remarkably, the world was largely falling into line: Biden even pressured America’s allies to “respond in proportion” to Iranian missile attacks on civilian targets.

But after Election Day? Even The New York Times noted the Iranian sea change:

In mid-November, Iran dispatched a top official to Beirut to urge Hezbollah to accept a cease-fire with Israel. Around the same time, Iran’s U.N. ambassador met with Elon Musk, as overture to President-elect Donald J. Trump’s inner circle. And on Friday, it will hold talks in Geneva with European countries on a range of issues, including its nuclear program.

Get ready for the money quote:

Five Iranian officials, one of them a Revolutionary Guards member, and two former officials said the decision to recalibrate was prompted by Mr. Trump winning the Nov. 5 election, with concerns about an unpredictable leader who, in his first term, pursued a policy of “maximum pressure” on Iran. [emphasis added]

During the Nixon years, we called it the madman theory: When foreign adversaries cannot predict the actions of a “mad” U.S. president, they’re suddenly risk-adverse. It’s a very old idea: Niccolo Machiavelli wrote in 1517 that sometimes, it’s “a very wise thing to simulate madness.”

But there’s nothing “mad” about it.

All nations make risk-reward calculations. //

Flawed worldviews lead to flawed results.

Iran isn’t motivated by insecurity; Iran is motivated by self-interest. When you’re not a superpower, your actions aren’t driven by utopian ideals, but risk-reward calculations: How much can we get away with before the cost is too great?

During the Obama-Biden-Harris years, they read the numbers one way. With Trump, it’s an entirely different calculation.

It’s not just morning again in America: It’s morning again in the Middle East, too.

Currently, the Navy has more admirals than ships.

John Ʌ Konrad V
@johnkonrad
·
Follow
The U.S. Navy has more Admirals than ships, yet it can’t keep the Red Sea open or deliver new ships on time.

So, how do Navy Admirals spend their time? World travel to 4-star hotels!

Here's their Nov conference list

P.S. The list for Army & Air Force Generals is even longer.
8:08 AM · Nov 8, 2024. //

It's a good thing that he is not a creature of the Navy hierarchy and is not beholden to the military-industrial complex for his next gig. I can't be convinced that either of those groups cares much about winning wars and protecting America. //

NavyVet
7 hours ago
There is a clear pattern in President-elect Trump's cabinet picks: they have proven successful in competitive real-world endeavors, based on merit.

This is a sharp contrast to the last four years, where power was given for pure political reasons, with nary a real success among them.

Because these are not isolated producers swimming in a sea of political incompetence, they will be a force to be reckoned with. //

NavyVet DukeUSA
7 hours ago
My point has nothing to do with the Navy per se, what I am observing is the overall theme of his cabinet picks: proven winners, willing to approach government like a business, rather than corrupt political wrangling. //

Douglas Proudfoot
8 hours ago
There is no accountability for failure in the flag officer ranks of the US Military. The British famously executed failed Admiral John Byng in 1757, to, as Voltaire put it in "Candide," encourage the other admirals. Britania ruled the waves for about 180 years after the execution. In the US, a flag officer's failure on the battlefield or in weapons procurement should, at the very least, lead to retirement after a reduction in grade, at the lower grade. The president should see this done as Commander in Chief. If not, the Senate can refuse to confirm retirement as a 3 or 4 star flag officer. Right now, morale is low. Nobody respects senior leadership, because they take no responsibility even for obvious failure. This has to change. Rewarding failure means we'll get a lot more of it.

Me=USAF Systems Analyst Officer 1972-1976, Meritorious Service Medal 1976. //

anon-x1lc
7 hours ago
Congress's lack of a proper budget since Pres Bush have done great harm to the Navy. Continuing resolutions screw everything up. Can't budget for 5 and 10 years out for repair and refit. Plus the DEI cluster fark didn't help. FOcus on social engineering instead of competent leadership also screws things up. Cpt allowing a Starlink Sat antenna on her ship tels me the leadership is FUBAR and incompetent. If the command doesn't notice an extra antenna bolted on the side of the superstructure, they are complete idiots.