MARK JUDGE: DeMaurice Smith Fumbles in His Turf War.

DeMaurice Smith is not happy.

Smith was the head of the NFL Players Association from 2009 to2023. On Aug. 5, he will publish a new book: Turf Wars: The Fight for the Soul of America’s Game.

I’ve obtained an early copy of the book after it leaked that Smith had a lot of nasty things to say about various figures in the league. He called the Green Bay Packers Aaron Rodgers “the god of Cheesehead Nation” and said Rogers “was isolated and dismissive” during negotiations. Smith also calls League Commissioner Roger Goodell a “cold, dark void” and says Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is cheap: “If Jerry Jones saw a dollar bill on the ground, I truly believe he’d stop and pick it up.”

While news outlets have focused on the celebrity names in Turf Wars, the book reads less as a collection of celebrity gossip and more like the sort of political screeching you’d expect to hear at a Berkeley protest. Smith does not like the NFL’s owners, to be sure, but he also has harsh things to say about America.

Exit quote: “These are explosive and intriguing claims. The problem for Smith, however, is that his anecdotes don’t serve as proof.”

From Judge’s review, Smith wrote maybe one-half of an NFL exposé. I’d love to read the really juicy half, should he ever get around to writing it.

Related (From Ed): Prior to Smith’s time at the NFL Players Association, he served “as counsel to Attorney General Eric Holder and was a member of Barack Obama’s transition team,” as the American Thinker reported in 2009, after Smith helped to blow up Rush Limbaugh’s effort to be part of the team purchasing the then-St. Louis Rams.

THIS STORY HAS BEEN BREWING FOR A WEEK: Trump Finally Had it Up to HERE With Putin.

THE RUSSIAN NAVY HAS FINALLY REACHED ACCEPTANCE:

🇷🇺Russia set to abandon refurbishment project and decommission their sole aircraft carrier, the world’s largest mobile bonfire, RFS Admiral Kuznetsov which has not sailed since 2017.

Due to lack of funding, industrial problems and shortage of people – all largely consequence of… pic.twitter.com/NnX0c6Ac6x

— Navy Lookout (@NavyLookout) July 12, 2025

Previously: In a surprising development, Russia has seemingly formed a mechanised battalion from the crew of its only aircraft carrier, the Admiral Kuznetsov.

HMM: Why Is the Minnesota Shooter Saying Tim Walz Will Cover Up His Real Motive?

OUTSIDE THE BOX: Marines Test ‘Narco Sub’ With An Eye On War With China.

Taking creative inspiration from Latin American drug traffickers, the United States Marines Corps is testing low-profile “narco subs” intended for potential use in the Indo-Pacific theater. The Marines have another term and — of course — an acronym for the concept: the Autonomous Low-Profile Vessel (ALVP) program.

The unmanned vessel being tested by II Marine Expeditionary Force is called the “Sea Specter,” and it’s produced by Gibbs & Cox, is a subsidiary of Reston, VA-based Leidos. “I think that it’s OK to say that those narco subs inspired the concept, but that’s where the similarities end,” Gibbs & Cox chief engineering officer Jeff Bowles told Defense One. “Narco subs are dirty. They’re dangerous. They’re not engineered. But in principle, their mission is the same — move a large volume of cargo with the minimal chance of being observed by anyone else.”
…
While the program’s current emphasis is on logistics missions, the vessels could have a variety of uses. “This thing could loiter in a prescribed area for a very extended duration,” Bowles said, suggesting they could facilitate communications. “It could also form a picket line to look for intruders. You could line these up, you know, and look for human trafficking, or any type of people encroaching on U.S. territory. These things have the endurance to sit there.”

Historically, the Marines have done more with less, so a cheap, narco-inspired cargo vessel isn’t as crazy as it sounds.

PAULA BOLYARD: Here’s What Samaritan’s Purse Is Doing Right Now to Alleviate Suffering in Texas.

ONE YEAR LATER: One Year after Butler, Secret Service, FBI Face New Questions.

Despite the early classified briefings about a threat, those senior officials failed to relay the information to federal and local law enforcement personnel responsible for securing and staffing the event. Those excluded from the briefing shockingly include Perez, the agent in charge of planning and executing security for the July 13 Trump event, the Government Accountability Office found. Grassley commissioned the GAO to investigate the rally failures.

Sources in the Secret Service community, however, tell RCP that Perez may have not be forthcoming with GAO investigators — that she had to know of a heightened threat because counter snipers were added to the rally — the first time such the added layer of security usually reserved for presidents was taken during the 2024 Trump campaign. Additionally, throughout the campaign, all Secret Service agents had been briefed about the ongoing Iranian threat upon their arrival at Mar-a-Lago. (The report Grassley released only identifies agents by their titles, but multiple sources have confirmed to RCP the names and identities of all the agents involved in the Butler security planning and execution.)

Meredith Bank, the lead advance agent from the Pittsburgh Field Office, was briefed on the threat, which was not specific to the Butler rally, although other members of that office, including top supervisors who were placed on suspension with her, were not briefed, the GAO found. Bank’s job as the lead agent was broader than securing the site itself. She was charged with devising the plans to secure Trump from the time he touched down at the airport to the time he left the rally and his plane departed.

As a result of the siloed information sharing, many federal and all local law enforcement planning and staffing the event, including Perez and other members of the Trump protective detail and the Pittsburgh Field Office, were unaware of the active threat. Local law enforcement officers told the GAO that if they had received the threat information, they “would have requested additional assets” for the Butler rally.

Read the whole thing, but this line stands out: “The Secret Service argued that the entire agency had failed, not just the individuals, so firings wouldn’t solve the problem.”

Firings certainly would have sent a message about what level of basic competence is expected, but I guess that’s not something the Secret Service cares too much about.

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Hostile MSM Hacks Aren’t Even Good at Being Bad Anymore. “They are all so blinded by hatred for Trump that they’re incapable of doing the bare minimum. I’ve been writing about MSM for over 20 years and I remember a time when they put a lot more effort into being crafty about their bias. That’s all been out the window since 2016. They’re just mindless, frothing rage beasts now, lashing out rather than thinking.”

FAIL, BRITANNIA: London’s no-go neighbourhoods: Pockets of the capital with highest knife crime offences revealed – as reports hit a another consecutive record high.

Former Met cop and knife crime campaigner Norman Brennan, who was 25 when he was stabbed in the chest and nearly murdered by a burglar while on duty, told MailOnline: ‘Under Sadiq Khan, London has no-go areas and the streets have become unsafe.’

Home Office data shows more than 16,800 knife crimes were recorded by the Metropolitan and City of London police forces last year, a 16 per cent rise on the previous record of over 14,500 a year earlier.

The highest number of knife crimes occurred in several central London neighbourhoods, focused around the high-end areas of Mayfair, Fitzrovia, Soho, St James and the Strand.

The most up-to-date figures are from 2023 as the Met stopped publishing data which breaks down weapons offences to this granular level of geographic detail early last year. MailOnline has asked if the force intends to start publishing this breakdown again.

The solution? More knife control: “Mr Brennan, who is campaigning for mandatory five-year sentences for knife possession, said the figures show ‘the streets have become lawless.'”

ROBERT SPENCER: Former NY Governor Criticized Comrade Mamdani, and Then This Happened. “Yet when he criticized Mamdani, Paterson found to his dismay that not only was he inundated with angry phone calls from the young Communist’s supporters, but his family was targeted as well. And so once again we see the new feature the left is intent on introducing into American politics: intimidation.”

DATA REPUBLICAN: According to data from the Center for Immigration Studies (pro-immigrant), many immigrants work for extremely low wages, which are then subsidized by taxpayers through public assistance.

The argument that “someone has to pick your lettuce” is dead; there is no “cheap labor” only corporate subsidies at our taxpayer expense. It might even end up being cheaper for businesses holistically when they are forced to pay actual market wages rather than depending on roundabout benefits.

🔸 54% of immigrant-headed households use at least one major welfare program, compared to 39% of U.S.-born households.
🔸 Non-citizen households (e.g., green card holders and illegal immigrants) show the highest usage at 59%.
🔸 Compared to U.S.-born households, immigrant households show elevated usage in:
– Food assistance programs: 36% vs. 25%
– Medicaid: 37% vs. 25%
– Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC): 16% vs. 12%
🔸 Illegal immigrants can receive benefits on behalf of their U.S.-born children, while children who are illegal immigrants themselves are eligible for school meals and WIC.
🔸 Several states provide Medicaid or SNAP to some illegal immigrants, and millions of undocumented immigrants with work permits (DACA, TPS, asylum applicants) qualify for EITC.
🔸 Removing low-cost programs like school meals and WIC from the analysis still shows 46% of immigrant households vs. 33% of U.S.-born households use at least one remaining major program.
🔸 Workforce participation is high: 83% of immigrant households and 94% of illegal immigrant households have at least one worker.

Workforce participation would be higher among citizens if citizens didn’t have to compete with taxpayer-subsidized, below-market labor.

SARAH HOYT’S SHOCKED FACE IS IN THE SHOP FOR REPAIRS: Commie Mamdani’s Dad Defended Suicide Bombers.

FROM THE PEOPLE WHO BROUGHT YOU JOE BIDEN’S POTUS ACCOUNT:

Gavin campaigned in South Carolina all week, even though he’s the Gov of CALIFORNIA Which is on the opposite end of the country. Did @GovPressOffice know about his trip before they sent this out? Guys. Stop letting the interns run your comms. They don’t know anything. https://t.co/PlU3XqPm2D

— Kira (@RealKiraDavis) July 13, 2025

MORE NUKES IS GOOD NUKES: Japan’s Yoroi Reactor Ushers In a New Era of Micro-Nuclear Power. “Japan has quietly taken a radical step in nuclear energy innovation with the deployment of the Yoroi Reactor — a compact, self-contained nuclear power unit designed to operate autonomously in remote or disaster-prone regions. Unlike conventional reactors, Yoroi requires no towers, no operating crew, and no on-site refueling for up to a decade.”

IT’S ANOTHER RAYMOND IBRAHIM VIDEO PODCAST: 51 Muslims Killed: Global Outrage! 1,000 Christians Killed: Islamophobia?

OOF: Gun Thefts From Cars Up 31%: That’s What Happens When Gun-Free Zones Proliferate.

I MEAN, THIS ONE IS PRETTY MUCH TRUE:

Gavin Newsom Declares California A Sanctuary State For Child Slavery https://t.co/TbdwDPXdOo pic.twitter.com/tNZRwozu8s

— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) July 11, 2025

I MISSED THIS STORY ON MONDAY, BUT THERE HAVE BEEN SO MANY LIKE IT THAT I GUESS IT GOT LOST IN THE SHUFFLE: J.K. Rowling Critic Faces Hefty Sentence for Crimes Against Children.

SURPRISE! Y’All Got Took: There Was Never Going to Be Any ‘Rebuilt’ Pacific Palisades.

Even as you watched those first flames take the first houses and then leap up through the canyons and down through the hillsides, through the breaks, even jumping PCH to gobble up the houses tucked next to the highway itself – those uniquely SoCal structures sandwiched between the asphalt and that big, blue Pacific surf…you knew.

You knew would never see it again, for all the gargoyle grin assurances of the mayor who couldn’t be bothered to be there when the flames broke out. For all the slickster, huckstering, faux promises of a governor faking phone calls as he skittered like a cockroach from angry, heartbroken residents who only wanted answers.

You knew.

Never let a crisis go to waste, another Democrat advised.

FLORIDA MAN FRIDAY [VIP]: The Great Train Hijacking. “It’s time for your much-needed break from the serious news, and this week, we’ll learn how to hijack a train, how not to hitchhike with UPS, and the surprising way a freezer can be used as a weapon.”

HIS PATIENCE DOES SEEM TO BE WEARING THIN:

[Q]: Mr. President, Russian drones hit a maternity hospital in Ukraine overnight.

"You'll be seeing things happening," Trump's remark on Russian drone attacks in Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/CddyloRcnJ

— Polymarket Intel (@PolymarketIntel) July 11, 2025

PRIORITIES: You Can Get a Job in This Senator’s Office, Unless… “This is a perfect opportunity for a young person who is interested in politics to gain valuable experience and insight into the inner workings of our political process, so apply now! — unless, of course, you’re of the wrong race, gender, or sexual orientation.”

HE SEEMS NICE: Minnesota HR director now on leave after saying ‘white folk’ are ‘morally bankrupt’ and ‘liars.’ “Minnesota Pollution Control Agency HR Director Vonnie Phillips then called an Alpha News reporter a ‘f-cking rotten b-tch’ from his official state email.”

THEY’VE BEEN ANGRY ABOUT THIS SINCE 1865, AT LEAST:

Weird how @CAgovernor @GavinNewsom tolerated minor slave labor on pot farms then got angry because @realDonaldTrump freed the enslaved children.

— Kurt Schlichter (@KurtSchlichter) July 11, 2025

RELIGION OF PEACE UPDATE: Hamas Co-Founder’s Son Warns That Muslims Will Make Europe ‘Rubble.’