SOMEBODY SET UP US THE BOMB: “‘Sex and the City’ actress Cynthia Nixon said her trans son, a biological female, is an ‘observant Jew’ who is currently on a hunger strike in Chicago to support Gaza, according to Newsweek.”

Are we sure he isn’t on a hunger strike to protest mom’s appalling taste in food? Flashback to 2018: Cynthia Nixon Orders Cinnamon Raisin Bagel With… Lox And Capers. “On Sunday, Cynthia Nixon became the latest aspiring [New York mayoral] office-holder to briefly lose her mind while attempting to eat on the campaign trail, when she ordered—in public and on purpose—a cinnamon raisin bagel with lox from Zabar’s on the Upper West Side. She didn’t stop there, but went on to request red onions, capers, tomato, and plain cream cheese to the mess. Again, this was on a *shudders* cinnamon raisin bagel.”

FASTER, PLEASE: Personalized cancer vaccines slow tumor recurrence in mouse models.

OH SURE, THEY CHANT “DEATH TO AMERICA,” BUT…: MSNBC Analyst, a Former Obama Official, Calls Iran ‘Most Western Nation’ in the Middle East.

MSNBC political analyst and former Obama administration official Rick Stengel questioned why the United States is aligned with Israel rather than Iran, which he called “the most Western nation” in the Middle East. Though Iranians chant “death to America,” Stengel said, they also “love American movies.”

“Why is it a foundation issue for Trump that Iran doesn’t have a nuclear weapon?” Stengel, who served as an undersecretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs under former president Barack Obama, asked during a Thursday appearance on MSNBC. “Why are we allied with Israel?”

When pressed on Iranians’ “death to America” chants, Stengel recalled a 2014 trip to the country. “I was sitting … at a rally,” he said. “These young guys were chanting ‘death to America.’ … They finished the chants. And two young men came over and said, ‘Are you American?’ I said yes, [and they said,] ‘We want to welcome you to our country. We love American culture. We love American movies.'”

The 1963 comedy album, Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks at the Canne Film Festival kicked off thusly (audio available at the Wayback Machine):

CARL REINER: Ladies and gentlemen, we are at the Cannes [pronouncing it “Can”] Film Festival here in Lower Italy. And we are going to meet some of the producers, directors, and stars of the films that are being exhibited here for the annual competition.

First, I’d like you to meet the German representative from Nartsi? Narsi? Narzi? From the Narzi Film Company! Herr Adolf Hartler. Good afternoon, Herr Hartler.

MEL BROOKS: Heil Hartler! How are you?

REINER: Now, this is a strange name. It’s Narzi Films.

BROOKS: Yes, we… well, we… well…

REINER: That doesn’t have anything to do with Nazi, does it?

BROOKS: No, are you kidding? They are our worst enemies. We are against them. We always were! Are you kidding?

* * * * * * * *

REINER: Sir, sir, you’re wearing your bathing suit, I noticed.

BROOKS: Yes, yes.

REINER: And as you scratched your head, I noticed a little “SS” tattooed under your arm. What does that mean?

BROOKS: Oh, oh, oh, well, wait! That’s the Simon Says!  Umm, umm, Simon Says, We played that on the beach. I’m the captain of the Simon Says team! And that’s where we get SS from! I’m serious about the game, I love it, and so I had myself tattooed, “Simon Says!”

REINER: How did you feel about the motion picture, Stanley Kramer’s motion picture, Judgment at Nuremberg?

BROOKS Unfair!

REINER: Why did you consider it unfair?

BROOKS: Well, because he didn’t tell the whole truth. What was the picture about? Really about a misunderstanding, really, wasn’t it? I mean, look, you have, you send people to camp, don’t you, in the summer? We sent a few people to camp. I don’t know what the whole fuss is about! Sent some nice people to camp…mostly in the summer!

I’m pretty sure Brooks and Reiner thought they were recording a comedy album, not a how-to guide for “Progressive” diplomacy with the Middle East.

#METOO: I’m Sick and Tired of the ‘America Sucks’ Conservatives!

REPLICATION PROBLEMS? Inaccuracies found in key studies for blockbuster heart drug ticagrelor.

THE NEW SPACE RACE: Chinese sats appear to be attempting first-ever on-orbit refueling, sat tracking firms say.

A Chinese satellite designed for refueling missions has been dancing awfully close to another Chinese bird in orbit, raising the possibility Beijing is about to pull off — or already has pulled off — the first-ever on-orbit gas-up, according to satellite tracking firms.

Last week Slingshot Aerospace watched China’s experimental SJ-25, which Beijing launched in January and has said publicly said was meant for refueling missions, approach another satellite, SJ-21. But the view from terrestrial telescopes wasn’t able to confirm docking, much less refueling, so Slingshot concluded the data was “inconclusive” as to what exactly happened.

“If docking did occur, then the duration of that event would be no more than three hours,” a Slingshot spokesperson told Breaking Defense of the June 13 event.
…
A successful space refueling between satellites, known in US Space Force parlance as a space mobility operation, would be “definitely a big deal,” according to Victoria Samson, Secure World Foundation’s chief director of Space Security and Stability.

Indeed.

ANOTHER THOUGHT: Let US Bombs Destroy Iran’s Fordow Uranium Plant — Not Israeli Nukes.

I wrote this column Tuesday night. It’s drawn some heated but interesting reactions. Here’s the lede:

The Israel-Iran War Over Nuclear Weapons could end with a nuclear blast. Why have a reluctant Washington send two American B-2 stealth bombers each dropping a 30,000-pound (15-ton) Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) conventional bomb destroy Iran’s buried Fordow uranium enrichment facility?

Israel has nuclear weapons, everyone knows that. One well-placed Israeli nuke — say, 5 kilotons? — could penetrate and shatter Fordow, and, with a seismic shudder and internal structural collapse, end the ayatollah dictatorship’s 35-year pursuit of nuclear munitions.

Is this a plausible scenario?

A plausible military scenario requires the technical capability to execute the central mission. Israel has the nuclear capability and the delivery systems (likely aircraft). The U.S. has the conventional weapon capability and delivery system (B-2). Israel has also achieved air superiority over Iran — combat aircraft can fly almost anywhere.

War, however, is politics using violence. That’s what Carl von Clausewitz thought. The usual interpretation: Political goals should direct and restrain violent capabilities.

Oh, but those human beings who just know they are on a glorious mission of conquest, and maybe God or the gods or history or Karl Marx is on their side!

Ayatollah Iran exemplifies this Divine Conqueror delusion. Iran calls little Israel a “one bomb state.” The Tehran quip states a goal, one with violent direction. If Iran had a nuclear weapon, the Islamic revolutionary regime’s destructive record of war, terror and crimes against humanity tells sane humans an unrestrained megalomaniacal ayatollah would target Tel Aviv for nuclear immolation.

Iran doesn’t have nuclear weapons — not yet. If they had one, it would have been used in the last five days.

However, as long as Fordow exists, the ayatollahs can continue to enrich uranium to weapons-grade, and, when this fracas ends, begin a new nuclear weapons quest.

A little later:

The fact Israel hasn’t nuked Fordow is a definitive statement about Israeli national values, current intentions and positive future goals. Put simply, Israel stands with Earth’s constructive nations. Enrich your wallets, not your nuclear weapons. Let’s make a deal.

Hope you’ll read the wholte thing.

ACTIONS MEET CONSEQUENCES:

I’M EXPECTING A MOON-SHATTERING KABOOM: NASA raises chance for asteroid to hit moon.

FINALLY: Hitler weighs in on Iran-Israel conflict.

Hitler finds out Iran is bombing Israel pic.twitter.com/B17BO9kqiT

— David Keyes (@DavidMKeyes) June 20, 2025

FINALLY: Vance, Kennedy to Investigate East Palestine Health Aftereffects.

GOOD ADVICE: Coffee may help you live longer, but skip the extra sugar.

BATTLESWARM: Don’t Fear Regime Change. “Could there be a civil war power struggle to rule post-theocratic Iran? Possibly. Still a better outcome for us than a theocratic, terrorist-supporting Islamic state with nuclear weapons. Ditto a military dictatorship, as long as they allowed an end to the nuclear weapons program. Ditto any number of other possible political outcomes, from a modern, secular democratic state to a (deeply unlikely) restoration of the Pahlavi monarchy. All are almost certainly improvements over the fanatical, institutional hostility to the west shown by the mullahs. (Not to mention the fanatical, institutional hostility to Israel. Historically, Persians and Jews have gotten along well, both being outsiders to the Turks and Arabs running the Ottoman Empire.)”

MICHELLE OBAMA CANNOT CONTAIN HER CONTEMPT FOR BARACK:

“You should’ve threw a boy in the mix,” radio host Angie Martinez told Obama in an episode of the former first lady’s “IMO” podcast released Wednesday.

The remark came as Obama and her brother, Craig Robinson, along with Martinez, discussed society’s view of masculinity and the challenges of raising boys and young men.

“I’m so glad I didn’t have a boy,” Obama exclaimed.

“Why didn’t you throw in a third?” Martinez said with a chuckle to the mother of two.

“Because he would’ve been a Barack Obama,” the “Becoming” author and former president’s wife quipped to laughs.

You’ll note that The Hill, from which the quotation above comes, assures readers that it was a “quip” with “laughs.” However, as we all know, there are jokes and there are mean jokes. The former never hurt a person close to the joke-teller. The latter are a way to get away with a truly nasty, abusive line, while disclaiming responsibility. We’ve all hurt the mean guy, after throwing out one of those insults, claiming afterward, “What are you getting so upset about? Can’t you take a joke?” But of course, everyone knows it wasn’t a joke.

And when you have someone like Michelle Obama, who never stops complaining about her husband and making endless little digs at his expense, believe me, it’s no joke.

Matt Margolis adds: Confirmed: Michelle Obama Really Is a Horrible Person. “Here’s a woman who has built her entire public persona on moral superiority and inspirational messaging, yet she can’t resist using public platforms to crap on the man who made her fame and fortune possible. The hypocrisy is staggering, but it’s entirely consistent with her long history of bitter, divisive rhetoric.”

AND AS COLD-BLOODED AS IT GETS:

It was murder plain and simple https://t.co/bPeidlBDas

— DC_Draino (@DC_Draino) June 20, 2025

CHANGE:

Current head of compute at Anthropic, Corry Wang:

“I don’t think people have realized how much this new Waymo scaling laws paper is basically an admission that “Waymo was wrong, @Tesla was right: In contrast to Waymo, it's clear Tesla has now internalized the bitter lesson. They… https://t.co/q5iiUFfyh6

— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) June 19, 2025

CONFIRMED: Michelle Obama Really Is a Horrible Person

HE NEVER STOOD A CHANCE: Tucker Carlson Unconditionally Surrenders in the Civil War That Wasn’t.

IN A NUTSHELL:

Trump is trying to end Iran's actual authoritarian leadership while Democrats are trying to end Trump's imaginary authoritarian leadership. https://t.co/15EcLEcJZD

— Scott Adams (@ScottAdamsSays) June 20, 2025

BEEGE: ‘Sir, This Is a Wendy’s’: Activists In Egypt Dissolve in Tears When March to Gaza Denied.

There were the well-to-do parents of friends in North Carolina in the 90s who’d waited their whole lives for their dream trip to Brazil – two weeks or so exploring the Amazon and the delights of Rio, etc.

And were home after four days because of the frustration that ‘no one spoke English.’

Almost as if it were a foreign country.

The rocket scientist fiancée of a Marine 1stLt in our squadron bought a plane ticket, flew to Tokyo in the 80s to surprise him, and got stuck there. Never anticipating one needed visas or such things. She thought a ticket was enough to go where you wanted to go. She never thought to check.

There was the illuminating conversation I had with the black cab driver who took me from the train station in Virginia (after a long haul up from Savannah) to Naval Station Norfolk. He had a magical accent and, after we dropped a girl off I had split that part of the fare with, I asked him where he was originally from.

He asked me if I could guess. I took a stab at South Africa and turned out to be right.

One of these days I’ll tell you all his whole story – he was a wise, wonderful man to talk to. But the one line he left me with I’ve always remembered, because it’s true in so many cases.

You Americans never bother to look further than your front doorstep.

Read the whole thing.

UPDATE: Link was bad before — sorry! All fixed now.

THE ISRAELIS SEEM TO HAVE A HANDLE ON THIS, FOR STARTERS: Trump Says He Will Decide Whether to Bomb Iran ‘Within Two Weeks.’ Why the Hesitation?

SPRUCE UP YOUR SPACE: 4×6 Area Rug – Machine Washable, Non-Slip Soft Carpet for Living Room, Bedroom. #CommissionEarned

COLORADO: DOJ request puts Jena Griswold’s elections record under scrutiny.

While Secretary of State Jena Griswold claims that a recent request for election data by the Department of Justice (DOJ) is nothing more than an attempt to “push their ridiculous disinformation and lies to the American public,” legacy media covering the request seem to have forgotten Griswold’s many missteps and questionable conduct during her tenure overseeing Colorado elections.

A recent National Public Radio (NPR) report, republished by Colorado Public Radio (CPR) and heavily biased in Griswold’s favor, called the request “an unprecedented amount of election data” driven by Justice Department review of “cases targeting the president’s political allies” and identified the DOJ as catering to Trump’s “desire to exert more power over state voting processes.”

The framing of the coverage is unsurprising given that both NPR and CPR have themselves been the subject of headlines as of late as they push back against Trump’s ongoing effort to end federal taxpayer subsidies for public radio.

However, ongoing problems under Griswold during her tenure appear to be at least as likely a reason for the request.

Colorado Republican Party Chairwoman Brita Horn said the investigation is warranted considering the issues Griswold has had over her two terms.

If Griswold isn’t the worst partisan hack of a secretary of state in the country, she must be a close second.

Please, DOJ, move as quickly as possible.

MAKE THEM PAY (CONT’D): U. Oregon to pay $193,000 after blocking conservative professor on Twitter.

WINNING: Court Rules on Trump’s LA National Guard Deployment.