Roundup
We have a news roundup yet again:
(1) Bondi announces the arrest of sixteen people for assaulting, resisting, or impeding federal law officers. I assume this is anti-ICE-related.
It’s about time these arrests have come; long past time, actually. Perhaps they will have a deterrent effect that might save someone such as Alex Pretti, although it’s too late for him. These are not state prosecutions, so there’s actually a chance of convictions.
(2) Trump warns Iran again. He says that “time is running out”:
… [Trump] urged the Islamic Republic to negotiate on nuclear weapons or face the force of a “massive armada” of American ships.
“Like with Venezuela, it is, ready, willing, and able to rapidly fulfill its mission, with speed and violence, if necessary,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social, adding that the fleet was “moving quickly, with great power, enthusiasm, and purpose.”
Trump said the fleet, which is headed by the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, was larger than the one he sent to Venezuela, in a reference to his naval blockade of the South American country to prevent sanctioned oil tankers from leaving.
I don’t get this bit about a nuclear deal. Not only can the mullahs not be trusted, but a future president could soften the deal. But perhaps Trump already knows they won’t be saying “yes” to any deal.
(3) This is supposedly related to the 2020 election in Georgia:
[FBI] [a]gents were seen entering the Fulton County Election Hub and Operation Center, a new facility that state officials opened in 2023 that was designed to streamline their election processes.
It was not immediately clear what the FBI agents were investigating, but Fox News Digital is told the probe is related to the 2020 election.
(4) This is the 40th anniversary of the Challenger explosion. Such an awful event, and almost certainly preventable. RIP.
(5) Ilhan Omar was sprayed with liquid at a speaking event. Suspect Anthony James Kazmierczak has been arrested.
I worked a 2nd shift job and happened to be home with the TV on when the Challenger launch and explosion occurred.
40 years? (Little did I know I was weeks away then from someone figuratively blowing up my life.)
Bondi announces the arrest of sixteen people for assaulting, resisting, or impeding federal law officers. I assume this is anti-ICE-related.
One of them is fan favorite Bananas & Rice Girl.
Trump warns Iran again. He says that “time is running out”:
I should say so. Here is where Abraham Lincoln CSG was two weeks ago when we were all insistent that Trump really ought to blow something up, and here is where it is now. No one has figured out how to teleport a CSG.
“Spraygate” is so obviously staged.
A short-vid on the NASA WB-57F: https://youtube.com/shorts/QRV-oKhLSrY
And one of those two (or three) WB-57F’s landing without gear down due to malfunction a day ago (oops). Terrific piloting though, gotta say!: https://youtu.be/eO5k0K76N2U
Best writer in the world, RAH.
“Almighty Ruler of the All
“Whose power extends to great and small
“Who guides the stars with steadfast law
“Whose least creations fill with awe;
“O, grant thy mercy and thy grace
“To those who venture into space”
”No one has figured out how to teleport a CSG.”
No one is criticizing president Trump for not teleporting a carrier battle group. They’re criticizing him for shooting off his mouth and getting thousands of Iranians killed. But you already knew that, even if you pretend not to.
mkent:
Pardon me, but the mullahs, the assahollas, are the ones killing their countrymen/women.
You do understand that fact?
Getting into TDS it seems.
@mkent:They’re criticizing him for shooting off his mouth and getting thousands of Iranians killed.
Trump has not killed one Iranian this year, not with his mouth or with anything else.
If and when he eventually attacks Iran, as you are frothing at the mouth for him to do, that attack may well kill hundreds or thousands of Iranians. And the mullahs whom you apparently absolve from any moral agency may well kill hundreds of Israelis in response.
Only the Iranians and Israelis can know if their deaths are worth it to them for regime change, you can’t decide that for them, fortunately.
#5. Marisa is right. Looking more and more like a staged event. She’s isn’t too shocked and then runs after the guy. No concern as to what the substance might be. Continues on with her meeting….even though anyone else might suspect they were poisoned, or bio attacked. Substance now identified as apple cider vinegar.
What a pile of BS.
@physicsguy:Substance now identified as apple cider vinegar.
I would guess that everyone there knew that pretty quickly, since it has a strong and distinct smell. Of course no one would know what might have been added to it.
I was almost 9 months pregnant when the Challenger disaster happened. The evening after it happened, I noticed that my unborn baby — who’d been very active throughout the pregnancy — didn’t seem to be moving at all, and something just felt terribly wrong. I called my doctor, who met me at the hospital. I’ll never forget how every TV in that place, even in the examining room, had endlessly repeating images of that plume of smoke, of the plummeting parts, of the faces of the friends and family of the people in the Challenger, there to watch the launch in the Florida bleachers, shifting from joy and pride to bewilderment, shock and finally anguish as they watched their loved ones die before their eyes.
The baby’s heartbeat was fine, as it turned out, but the doctor, a sensitive soul, confirmed that she was quieter than usual. We speculated together whether this was simply because the baby was running out of space in there or whether she could possibly be sensing the sudden emotional change in me and in the world around me. Whatever the cause, I’ll always associate those terrible TV images of that capsule full of life exploding into death with my fear for the life in the capsule within me.
That baby will turn forty next week and has two children of her own. I don’t think I’ve ever told her that story. Now might be a good time.
Interesting thought on the possibility of a staged event for Omar. To build sympathy and deflect attention from scandal? She’s despicable, but I don’t support assault.
Illhan Omar is fortunate that it wasn’t the liquid preferred by Muslim males who douse disfavored females; concentrated sulfuric acid (battery acid). Permanent disfigurement results.
But of course she didn’t know that at the time ( bullsh!t).
And from the “Tell Us Something We Don’t Already Know” File:
“Pre-Oct. 7 Hamas memo quotes top Islamic Jihad official calling Gazans killed by misfired rockets ‘price of war.’”—
https://instapundit.com/772564/
…
After her return we had our second flight (IUS-1). This was the first flight of the space shuttle Challenger. The payload was a NASA Tracking and Data Relay Satellite TDRS-A. This was the first of a satellite network to replace NASA’s ground station network.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-6#/media/File:STS-6_TDRS-A_deploy_preparations.jpg
All went well from deployment off Challenger, through the first stage burn and the transfer flight to geostationary orbit. Then unfortunately, our spacecraft suffered a massive failure:
…
We didn’t fly for almost two years after the TDRS-A failure. Then we had a couple of classified flights off Discovery (IUS-11/USA-8) and Atlantis (IUS-12/USA-12 & USA-13). Because of our experience with crypto we were given the responsibility of operating the voice crypto at our site during the classified missions even though this had nothing to do with the DEC-10s. They gave us a handset with no microphone in it so we could listen to the flight crew. That was kind of cool. The classified custodian looked like a sixteen-year-old kid and she and I used to burn the crypto daily keys in a one-pound Yuban coffee can in the parking lot. We would get the strangest looks from people walking by.
…
After that came the IUS-3/TDRS-B mission. This was going to be carried by Challenger again. Prior to the flight, the crew visited the plant and seven people were chosen to have lunch with them as an “atta boy.” I was chosen and my lunch date was Ellison Onizuka. He had launched IUS-11/USA-8 stack off Discovery. Unfortunately, TDRS-B ended FTO (failed to orbit) when our ride blew up. One of the first pieces of wreckage they pulled out of the ocean was the IUS equipment bay. I could see one of the flight computers in the picture on TV. I left the program after that. (The only other astronaut I ever met besides the crew of the Challenger was Jim Lovell. I met him at SAC HQ when he flew in in a T-38 for some reason).
The first shuttle mission after the Challenger disaster was another IUS mission, IUS-7/TDRS-C. That one was a success. Some of the later missions off the shuttle were IUS-9/TDRS-D, IUS-18/Magellan (Venus probe), IUS-19/Galileo (Jupiter probe), IUS-17/Ulysses (Solar probe), IUS-15/TDRS-E, IUS-13/TDRS-F, IUS-26/TDRS-G, and IUS-27/Chandra X-Ray Observatory.
Final score card is 27 ordered, 24 flown, 2 IUS mission failures (IUS-1 & IUS-21) and 1 failed to orbit (IUS-3). 15 lifted by space shuttle, 1 by Titan 34D and 8 by Titan IV. 13 missions carried 15 DoD satellites. 7 missions carried NASA communications satellites and 4 missions carried NASA science probes.
…
mkent on January 28, 2026 at 4:36 pm said:
No one is criticizing president Trump for not teleporting a carrier battle group. They’re criticizing him for shooting off his mouth and getting thousands of Iranians killed. But you already knew that, even if you pretend not to.
The protests/uprising was already in full swing. Trump lent his support likely hoping that would get restraint on the part of the Mullahs.
He had limited options at that moment. Certainly the path Obama took when faced with a similar situation was a bad one.
Can’t believe that it has been 40 years.
Yes, the attack was staged, by her and her people. Prosecute him anyway. Maybe facing a stint in Fed Prison will make him spill.
NASA is Close to launching the Artemis spacecraft to orbit the moon. Many questions, and doubts, about its re-entry heat shield. Godspeed to the astronauts.
Challenger: In the business at the time – had live feed. Damn. Held us back to point where the after-effects still remain. A politically-caused disaster. Tried to blame it on some low-level engineer at Thiokol when the blame properly belonged to some PR flunky in Reagan’s administration. Thank you, Richard Feynman. Had to give that damn speech that night regardless of the cost. Some mucky-muck said “I’ll accept the blame” knowing full well the crew was forced to accept the consequences. Likely didn’t get the blame anyway. Damn his/her soul to hell.
That Salami chick: Another Smollett event. Damn her as well.
Not being too harsh am I? Hmph
The evil nurse, Malinda Cook, who posted a video saying she wanted to inject poison into federal agents under her care has supposedly been fired. If that’s all that happens, she is getting off too easy. There are probably many leftist medical establishments that will be happy to hire her.
@DT:Thank you, Richard Feynman.
You might already know this, but Feynman was fed the information about the O-rings by General Kutyna, who in turn was given it by Sally Ride. But Feynman could talk about it publicly without destroying his career. Feynman credited Kutyna in his book but I don’t think he knew about Ride.
If Feynman had not made it very clear that he was not going to participate in a smoothing-over, they’d not have shared that O-ring information with him, so Feynman does deserve some of the credit, but it’s more in the nature of being the messenger.
It would seem to be crazy for Ilhan Omar to have staged that attack. The truth would eventually come out and then her career would be ruined. But it certainly looks very strange. If I was sprayed by a potentially toxic substance, the first thing I would do is change my clothes and have the substance identified so I could receive whatever treatment might be necessary.
Omar has gotten away with so much in her career that she may feel that she is indestructible. Or maybe she feels so threatened by the investigations that she is desperate. I don’t know but I’ll be very interested to see what happens to the assailant.
@Gregory Harper:It would seem to be crazy for Ilhan Omar to have staged that attack.
Much more so for Jussie Smollett–who used black men to stage his attack by “MAGA” in front of surveillance cameras–but nevertheless he did it. And he’s still trying to say it was all real.
Personally I don’t think it likely it was staged, but “it would be crazy to try that” is not a very good reason to think it wasn’t staged.
“Odd… Ilhan Omar gave a quick glance at the guy right before he stood up.”
https://x.com/EndWokeness/status/2016375584331354404?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2016375584331354404%7Ctwgr%5Ee2e0346d0d2d8bf6de76b7903fee2f87ef864016%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fpjmedia.com%2Fmatt-margolis%2F2026%2F01%2F28%2Fpeople-are-questioning-the-ilhan-omar-assault-story-possibly-with-good-reason-n4948841
RE: The supposed “attack “ on Omar.
She well knows that horrific acid attacks to the face are common in the Muslim world and are, in fact, now increasingly common in the UK.
Yet, she is reported to have wiped herself off and continued on with her speech.
No calling the Hazmat people to check her out or the people who were around her at the time of the attack, no rush to the hospital to see if she could have been sprayed with some harmful bacteria or chemical.
So, yeah, it was staged.
RE: The Challenger disaster
Happened to run across information I never knew about this a couple of weeks ago, which pointed to the huge O rings which connected the various stages as what failed.
But, more importantly, that the engineers from the contractor, Martin Thiokol, who had manufactured these very specialized rubber O-Rings connecting the various stages, had warned NASA officials that—below 53 degrees F. these rings became brittle and lost their elasticity, and would likely fail, and, according to the article I read, the contractors begged them to postpone the launch.
Yet, saying that–the program had to move forward—on a very cold day (temperatures around the launch site had reportedly been in the 20s) these NASA officials launched anyway, even though the temperature of the rocket was 31 degrees F, and some parts of the rocket were as cold as 8 degrees F, far lower than the temperature they were warned they had to be at for the O rings to operate as they should.
And, of course, they failed.*
See https://www.uml.edu/engineering/research/engineering-solutions/roger-boisjoly-challenger.aspx
Also saw related information that, while NASA let people believe that the Challenger astronauts were instantly vaporized by the explosion (that’s certainly what I remember was the impression back then), in fact the crew cabin with all of the astronauts in it survived the explosion and–with the captain apparently trying to make some desperate moves to help their plight, and some or all of the astronauts conscious, or slipping in and out of consciousness—they all made the long fall down to and into into the ocean, which is where the recovery team found them all, still in the crew cabin, and still in their seats.**
** See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrbSov4wwco
You’d think that NASA’s disastrous decision to launch against advice, much less what the astronauts actually went through would be front page news, and common knowledge known to everyone, yet, these articles I just discovered a few weeks ago,were the first I heard these two pieces of information.
Boy, these two pieces of information sure got shoved down the memory hole.
Trump is incoherent. We have an opportunity to facilitate the Iranian people’s overthrow of the theocratic dictatorship (which, if it happened, would solve the nuclear problem), and he lapses into blather about keeping the mullahs in power so he can do another “nuclear deal” that would almost certainly end up with the mullahs getting nukes. So what does he want: for the mullahs to stop killing people or a meaningless “nuclear deal” with the mullahs? Apparently, the latter. He can’t have both, since the mullahs have to massacre their citizens to stay in power.
Given the lunatics the Democrats have become, I voted for Trump three times, but I have no illusions about his character or competence (either in defining goals, in choosing means to attain them, or in selecting people to carry out the plan). I do not understand those at this website who continue to imagine he’s a figure of Lincolnesque/Churchillian proportions and ascribe every failure of his administrations to everyone but Trump himself.
@djf: I do not understand those at this website who continue to imagine he’s a figure of Lincolnesque/Churchillian proportions and ascribe every failure of his administrations to everyone but Trump himself.
Well, there’s not much to understand, because those people are straw men you made up. There is no regular commenter here who fits your description.
Trump does not typically say in advance what he plans to do, or what his best and final offer is going to be, or what he’s willing to settle for. Coming from a background as a negotiator this makes perfect sense. More typical politicians just lie to us and do something else behind the scenes, or offer vague platitudes that make everyone think they’re getting what they want. They are not so different from Trump except in style.
djf, asks why does President Trump keep focusing on the nuclear deal?
Because, not everyone in the middle east wants the same thing.
The autocratic Arab countries do not want the government of Iran overthrown, but they do want Iran’s nuclear program destroyed and the government crippled.
Turkey would like Iran to continue funding Hezbollah and Hamas. Trump is threading a very crooked needle.
During Israel’s 12 day war and the missile/drone barrage launched by Iran and Yemen toward Israel, 28 Israelis were killed and $1.5 billion in damage was done to their infrastructure.
That’s with Israel’s Iron Dome, the US, Jordan and even the Saudi’s shooting down projectiles. While Iran’s launch capabilities have been degraded many of these missile attacks may focus on the 20 US military bases in the region plus naval assets. That represents 40-50,000 US personnel.
President Trump does not want US casualties, and he doesn’t want the strikes primarily focused on regime change. I think that’s why he has encouraged Iranians to rise up against their government, even if it means casualties.
So no doubt the President wants to ensure any campaign against Iran can protect the many bases around the middle east, can protect our naval forces, can protect oil shipments and limit any oil disruptions to very short term. Probably other considerations.
Very likely Israel would join the American efforts and target IRGC and Basij forces.
At the same time, we cannot let Iran turn into a civil war if the government collapses. Is there someone that could project power inside Iran to maintain civil order.
No doubt there are many other considerations that have to be accounted for with assurances we can be successful. These are some that come to mind.
My Mother and Stepfather both worked in the Aerospace industry, so there was always a buzz in our house when a significant space flight related event happened.
Watching the horrible visual of the Challenger launch was a gut punch. A forever bad memory.
I went to Edwards Air Force base in October 1988 to watch the Discovery land, which was the first launch and landing of a Space Shuttle since the Challenger disaster, which was an awesome thing to see. A forever good memory.
To Ms Omar, somebody did something.
About Omar’s “attack” — my understanding is that as a Congress-criter, this attack is a Federal offense.
Hence, wags are sure the FIB will get to the bottom of this. Maybe….Yet the FBI is said ti be investigating it.
I think on Instapundit someone, who may (or may not know better) says that rhe attacker’s kids use Woke personal pronouns (eg, local news interview?), leading to the poster’s sarcastic reply “MAGA for sure.”
@djf: I do not understand those at this website who continue to imagine he’s a figure of Lincolnesque/Churchillian proportions and ascribe every failure of his administrations to everyone but Trump himself.
Not the latter, but I would say that Trump’s arc, in terms of ambition and execution, so far, is of Lincolnesque/Churchillian proportions. He reversed the culture wars and DEI, he razed the Iranian nuclear program, he is taking big chunks out of the Deep State, he is renegotiating terms with the EU, he has ended unrestricted border crossings, and more.
Like it or not, Trump has already established himself as an historic president. We’ll just have to see how that plays out.
I’m guessing that the “attack” on Ilhan Omar was staged. I certainly wouldn’t put it past her. She is a disgrace.
TJ — “someone, who may (or may not know better) says that rhe attacker’s kids use Woke personal pronouns (eg, local news interview?), leading to the poster’s sarcastic reply “MAGA for sure.” ”
Ahh LoL!
That noted: I certainly know of “MAGA” parents with very lefty “adult” children.
Rebels gotta rebel. I do wonder if they’ll have future shame or regrets.
…
Back to Omar’s squirter incident:
I, too, think it was staged.
Huxley :
FJB was a historic president, oops, catastrophic is the correct word, and in so many ways.
All you handwringing idiots – just Shut Up And Stay On The Ride…
YES Donald Trump is Churchillian – assuming Churchill could operate the french-fry machine in a MacDonald’s…. while drunk, as he usually was.
NO I do not give a flying f*ck what feckless Uniparty hacks and treasonous Marxist pundits think is “the statesmanlike thing to do”…. I voted for something diff’rent and betta.
————–
1. Iran – guess what happens the moment the US gets involved?
The entire dar-el-Islam unites against the Infidel, and much of ROW immediately remembers that this is deplorable colonialism, and starts denouncing and refusing to cooperate.
Any real reform in the Arab world must come from within.
The Abraham accords are… cute. They buy Israel some time, and draw the Saudis to our side… “keep your enemies even closer” . But nothing lasting will come of it until we see real internal reforms in Saudi Arabia. Trump loves to brag but I don’t think he has any illusions that this is more than realpolitik.
Meanwhile Trump is achieving much while keeping his “no boots on the ground” promise to his core constituency.
2. Minnesota – as I have posted several times on this blog – the last thing Trump should do is listen to the handwringers.
The Lefties are desperate for pictures of the army marching in – it validates all their propaganda that projects fascism onto their enemies. Those images will justify a ratcheting up of the violence, and confirm Dem’s self-image as glorious freedom fighters.
Instead La Revolution is starved of oxygen and fizzling out… the suburban AWFULs and other armchair revolutionaries have fled at the first sign of violence (check the latest videos) and all that is left is the crazies… not a great look. Did you see the 16 hop-heads who were arrested?
I don’t know if it was the talk with Trump, or their own police forces losing patience, but both Walz and Frey seem to be cooperating more…. they are basically producing Trump’s midterm campaign ads for free.
The Feds have gone full speed ahead with a series of well-timed stories about the corruption.
The chaos is local, and the only people suffering voted for it.
Meanwhile fence-sitters across the country are observing, and moving Right.
——————————————————
This is how grownups do it, kiddies… you don’t telegraph your punches and you don’t play into “conventional wisdom”…. you don’t worry about the opinion of a chattering class who’ve repeatedly demonstrated fecklessness and treachery.
I VOTED FOR THIS!
Well, OK (and very well put); BUT realpolitik—and the Mega-Mendacious Media (quite a two-some!)—CAN be, um, a bit tricky at times (plus, what is the over/under on Schumer acting out—AGAIN—on his “I’ll Shut Down The Government Unless I Get What I Want” tap dance routine?—Me, I’d posit that they’re unfortunately rather high…since that churlish charlatan truly believes the Democrats are on a roll(!))
“President Trump, Stop Saudi Arabia’s Poisonous Campaign Against Jews and the Abraham Accords”—
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/22237/saudi-arabia-poisonous-campaign
Re: the Media (in Classic Disinformation Mode):
“Slovak PM Fico Accuses Media Of Sabotaging Relations After Trump…”—
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/fico-accuses-media-sabotaging-relations-after-trump-psychologically-dangerous-claim
+ Bonus:
“Shutdown Approaches As Schumer, White House Attempt 11th Hour Deal”—
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/shutdown-approaches-schumer-white-house-attempt-11th-hour-deal
Then there’s this—if true—alas-not-all-that-surprising tidbit…
(Sigh…)
“The same CIA operatives who ran color revolutions overseas are now running one in Minneapolis….”—
https://blazingcatfur.ca/2026/01/29/wtf-483/
well Prince Salman is an Bedouin Arab, of one of the disfavored tribes of Hasa, the Ajman, who have been historically at odds with the Sudairi, who have ruled over the Kingdom for several generations, how much he could do about Sheikh Humaid and co, is dubious, (after the whole Khashoggi kerfluffle, hes less willing to risk much, could I blame him) hence the way he acted after October 7th For that reason, I don’t entirely trust him
a plain view of the map, shows how vulnerable, the Kingdom could be to siill active missile bases in the event of a wider war,
what could trump realistically have done against basij and revolutionary guard forces in the cities,
striking the fordow nuclear facilities are something else entirely,
the attacker, who was in the front row, is the exhusband of one of Omar’s donors,
this is why one is rightly skeptical
miguel:
Good to hear from you. You never fail to amaze me with the depth and breadth of your knowledge and insightful observations.
(I’m Roughcoat, btw)
I would suggest that at the best of times the Saudis—of any tribe—are not terribly reliable…
Put another way, they can be relied upon to be unreliable.
And yet, why shouldn’t they do what they perceive to be in their own interests?**
(Which is why the idea of them joining the Abraham Accords was always going to be more than a bit far-fetched.)
**E.g., look at the recent serious brouhaha between the Saudis and the UAE regarding Yemen, along with Israel’s recent controversial recognition of Somaliland (though there may well be a connection between the two episodes).
Barry Meislin:
“why shouldn’t they do what they perceive to be in their own interests?”
——————————–
This applies not just to the Saudis, but to Davos euro-weenies and tinpot dictators around the globe.
Winning – initiative – action – unapologetically projecting power – create momentum, a political force field…. suddenly a whole buncha people understand why signing on to Donald’s plan is “in their own interests”. The Euroweenies don’t get it yet, and will be twisting in the wind outside the clubhouse.
China’s economy is imploding. It’s own infrastructure and homegrown tech (exploding space capsules) are falling apart…. what does it have to offer? But it filled a void and projected power, and countries signed on to the Belt and Road initiative.
Bin Laden was right – people prefer the strong horse.
thanks Roughcoat, how are you feeling,
the ruling Arabian councils, defer somewhat to the prince, but they are as loyal to the King himself, who has a checkered past, to be charitable, going back to his stewardship of the critical Riyadh governorship,
I think I have used the Corleone metaphor with regards to this regime, Mohammed is at odds with the Brotherhood’s manifestations, unlike other members of the family who are more in line with them, think of him like Michael, trying to go legit
the Sonny and Fredos, the older siblings, lets just say their passions got the better of them, see Gerald Posner for details,
the Ikwan tribes to West and South, are not so understanding, that is the basis for much of the unpleasantness we saw in the last two decades,
large portions of the business establishment, what composed the Golden Chain, were humbled back in 2018,
Fulton County verified 315,000 votes in 2020 without poll worker signatures…