Saturday Morning News: Kirk, Middle East, Venezuela, ...

I’ll start with the Kirk assassination story. Larry Johnson—who knows far more about firearms related matters than I do—has a brief update, in which he expresses skepticism about certain aspects of the FBI narrative, while accepting other aspects. More specifically, he accepts that the fatal shot came from the front and was fired from a rifle (not a small pistol, as some claim). On the other hand, he is skeptical regarding the part of the narrative in which the shooter very quickly exited his position, dropped from the roof of the building, ran off and secreted the rifle in some nearby woods. The FBI claims that the shooter disassembled the rifle for transport. The problem is, says LJ, the videos show someone traversing the roof within 6 seconds of the fatal shot. A .30-06 hunting rifle doesn’t seem designed for really rapid disassembly on a rooftop while maintaining low to no visibility, and certainly not while running in a crouched position and shoving it into a backpack. Hunters will understand this immediately.

Further, LJ cites Candace Owens—who has obtained additional video footage—to the effect that there is no exit wound on the back of Kirk’s neck. I’m not a ballistics expert in any way, shape, or form. You can read up on the .30-06 round (that’s what we’re told was used) at the link. LJ cites military veterans who suggest that the round might have deflected straight down into the thoracic cavity. The .30-06 comes in a lot of different loadings, but the standard loads are pretty powerful when compared to “modern sporting rifles” (AR-15s). Standard loadings are highly accurate and suitable for deer, or even elk and moose hunting, which—in Utah—typically involve longer distances than the Kirk assassination. Heavier loads are even used on brown bears—notoriously heavy boned critters.

My non-expert doubt is, I do wonder whether standard loads would be readily deflected by the human neck structure. The round itself was designed to be deadly for military use at fairly long ranges, when 1,000 yard shots were considered common, and the Kirk assassination, as described, took place at something less than 200 yards. A standard loading would be extremely accurate at that distance, but also quite powerful and, obviously, deadly. But, according to accounts I’ve read, switching to lighter ‘varmint’ loads that might deflect more readily adversely affects accuracy and would not be favored for high precision shots. Especially not when the desired outcome rests on a single shot. In the circumstances—using a borrowed rifle—you’d expect a standard load to be used

Here’s the bottom line. The FBI could put all these questions to rest without jeopardizing any prosecution.

OK, moving on—but sticking with Larry Johnson.

LJ reports, and I’ve seen this at multiple sites, that the “snapback” provisions of the Iranian JCPOA agreement will be triggered by the EU signatories. That means the additional sanctions on Iran will go into effect later this month. However, …

This means that snapback has now been officially ACTIVATED, and that UN sanctions against Iran will take effect at 8pm EST on September 27th. However, China and Russia issued a joint statement following the vote and officially announced that they consider the snapback of UN sanctions against Iran to be illegal and invalid, and that they will not abide by them. In other words, they will continue to do business with Iran as usual, regardless of UN sanctions. I suspect the other BRICS nations will adopt the same position.

In more Middle East news, suggesting the likelihood of a new war, Egypt—which is re-establishing diplomatic ties with Iran—is preparing its defenses in the Sinai:

Thomas Keith @iwasnevrhere_

3h

Axios reports that Netanyahu personally asked Trump to pressure Cairo into slowing its military buildup in Sinai, a buildup now seen by Israel as a direct strategic threat. According to two Israeli officials, Egypt has expanded air base runways capable of hosting fighter jets, constructed underground facilities believed suitable for missile storage, and established infrastructure that goes far beyond the “light weapons only” restrictions of the Camp David framework.

What was once marketed as a treaty zone demilitarized to protect Israel’s rear is now shifting into a forward bastion for Egypt’s own sovereignty. For Tel Aviv, the timing is poisonous: while its army is bogged down in Gaza and stretched thin across multiple fronts, it faces an Egypt that is openly hardening Sinai into a platform that could be used for both defensive depth and offensive reach.

The tension has reached the point that the occupier’s officials admit Sinai is now a “major point of friction” with Cairo. Israel once dictated the security geometry of the peninsula; today it watches nervously as Egypt lays down runways and bunkers that blunt the old Camp David order.

Apparently the Egyptians are taking seriously all those maps of Greater Israel that Netanyahu likes to pose next to. Meanwhile, the US arms shipments continue. They’re funded by loans—that never get repaid:

Thomas Keith @iwasnevrhere_

22h

Channel 12 cites the Wall Street Journal: Washington is preparing to finalize a $6 billion arms package for Israel, anchored by 30 AH-64 Apache attack helicopters valued at up to $3.8 billion, alongside 3,250 infantry assault vehicles estimated at $1.9 billion.

The pattern is clear that Tel Aviv’s campaigns are inseparable from U.S. largesse.

Washington is not simply “supporting” but actively underwriting and sustaining Israel’s war machine, absorbing the financial burden, depleting its own reserves, and ensuring Israel’s offensive capacity remains intact.

Apache platforms, notorious for their role in urban assassinations in Gaza, and thousands of new armored carriers, will only deepen this cycle of repression.

For Israel, this deal exposes dependency; for America, it highlights complicity. The cost is borne twice, in billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars and in the exhaustion of American arsenals already stretched thin.

In the Caribbean Trump’s undeclared war on Venezuela continues. It’s directed by “intelligence”, so don’t ask for details:

Thomas Keith @iwasnevrhere_

15h

Every time it’s the same choreography: UNCLASSIFIED explosion, CLASSIFIED evidence. No timestamp, no coordinates, no hull ID, no radio hails, no names, no recovered contraband, no chain-of-custody, just a grainy clip and a caption.

https://x.com/i/status/1969184320288878719

If this were real law enforcement, you’d see seizures, detainees, evidence logs. Instead you get a vaporized skiff and a press release, spectacle in place of proof.

Call it what it is, state terror as precedent-building, normalizing extrajudicial killings at sea to soften the ground for the next rung of escalation.

Meanwhile … Woo hoo! Largest National Endowment for the Humanities in history! It’s big, it’s beautiful!

Chris Menahan @infolibnews

The Trump admin, through the National Endowment for the Humanities, is giving the largest grant in the agency's history—$10.4 million—to the Jewish-American neoconservative Tikvah Fund to counter "the pathology of anti-Semitism" and teach the Talmud.

Tikvah is an Israel First group dedicated to advancing "Jewish excellence," "Jewish flourishing" and "Israeli sovereignty."

It's run by CEO Eric Cohen and famed neocon Elliott Abrams.

If this grant was to study the "pathology of anti-Blackness," it'd be derided by the GOP as wasteful DEI lunacy, but because it's to fight "anti-Semitism," they're showering them with cash.

Rather than dismantle the whole DEI apparatus as Trump ran on, his administration is instead retooling it so it only works for Jews.

6:22 AM · Sep 19, 2025

Wouldn’t you like to see Trump in a Hoiche hat, like the guy in the middle?

'Largest NEH Grant in History' Awarded to Jewish Org to Counter 'Pathology of Antisemitism,' Teach Talmud

"In its 60-year history, NEH had rarely given more than a few hundred thousand dollars to any single project," the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reports. "On Monday, the NEH announced an even larger, $10.4 million grant for a nationwide 'Jewish Civilization Project' aimed at combating antisemitism."

"Among the prominent alumni of Tikvah's programs is Jacob Reses, chief of staff to Vice President J.D. Vance," JTA added.

It seems every day now Trump comes up with more weird sh*t. I held off on this one until I could find a video, because it just seemed, well, too out there. His rationale—and I’m not making this up, because I heard him say it—is that because he had an incredible landslide in terms of counties carried—really yuge, maybe the biggest ever, biggest in history—therefore the news media should only report positive stuff about Trump. The video clip below is a variation on that.

Lord Bebo @MyLordBebo

Sep 19

Pulling TV licenses for bad press?

Trump: “They’re giving me all this bad press, and they’re getting a license. I would think maybe their license should be taken away.”

Armchair Warlord @ArmchairW

13h

My over/under on the length of time that license would stay revoked before the Administration ate an injunction and was ordered to reinstate it is one hour.

He claims they’re propagating fake news—the most fake ever—but then he turns around and …

Eric Daugherty @EricLDaugh

 REPORTER: Is Israel committing genocide?

TRUMP: Did anyone commit genocide on October 7th? What do you think about THAT? THAT was genocide, at the highest level. Murder, genocide, call it whatever you want. Babies chopped in half, heads cut off, arms cut off.

Or he keeps repeating that Russian casualties are over a million and much higher than Ukraine’s:

Armchair Warlord @ArmchairW

A 40:1 exchange ratio in the latest swap.

It occurs to me that the Russians are pressing their military advantage lately not in land taken but rather in sheer casualties inflicted, with the battlefield becoming ever more of a one-sided massacre by the day.

Sign tap in reply.

Maybe it’s just a function of what I read, but my overall impression is that I’m amazed at how much slack the MSM has cut for Trump.

But speaking of weird sh*t, here’s a bit of a followup on that story about Poland shutting down the China to Western Europe railroad:

Poland's Attempt To Blackmail China Will Hurt Itself Most

Over the last decade China developed the longest railway in the world running more than 8,000 miles from the east coast of China to Spain.

The line crosses China, Russia, Belarus and Poland before splitting up into various European connections.

Over the last year the railway has carried goods between China and Europe at a value of about $25 billion.

The line is now blocked:

…

Blocking the railroad connection between China and Europe to prevent migrants from coming through Belarus is a very crude form of blackmail that will hit back.

Should the blockade continue Poland will have to bury all hope of any future investment from China.

Western European companies who depend on the railroad connection for their trade will also become more hostile to Poland.

The coming defeat of NATO in Ukraine will contribute to the end of the military alliance.

Poland's outrageous behavior makes it more likely that the defeat in Ukraine will also help to break up the European Union.

Poland is currently the recipient of the largest EU's agricultural subsidies. Why should Germany and others continue to pay for those when Poland is impeding their trade?

The other side of the story is probably that Poland is not doing this on its own at all. Still, they’ll pay the price when it comes due, as always happens.