Memes We Waited 47 Years For

Posted on by Sarah A. Hoyt

First, a request to President Trump:

Sir, may I humbly request you stop doing awesome stuff on Saturday. This humble meme gatherer would like her afternoons off. Thank you for your attention to this matter — SAH.

To the people belly aching about war with Iran: BITCHES, I watched our country be humiliated by the taking of hostages. My 12 th grade class song was “And I Ran, I ran so far away” and no, it wasn’t talking about aerobics. We’ve watched Iran finance destruction against the US and Israel and taunt our presidents. We watched them arguably interfere with our elections for decades.
Yeah, we bombed the evil oppressive regime of Iran. Don’t like it? Go cry SOMEWHERE ELSE. Your crocodile tears give me a rash.

197 thoughts on “Memes We Waited 47 Years For”

  3. Speaking as a prior service infantryman…

    (very loud and long blood curdling primal scream)

    Its about dang time we settled that account. Hooah! Bravo Mister President. Bravo.

    Liked by 5 people

    1. And the fact that such thinking is necessary should tell us where we are as a united country.

      We’ve refused to deal with our 5th column. We continue to pay a price for that.

      Liked by 2 people

  6. FA,FO. Magnificent. I hope that the Persians can decide to have a reasonable government now.

    They might even be able to change their national philosophy to Zoroastrianism and escape the Islamic death cult.

    Not expecting that, just hoping.

    My expectations are for an existential war to the knife against the Islamics for the next hundred years.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Mr Sage, Islam has been at war with everyone since it was founded. 1400 years. I never expect that to end until Islam does, because you can’t make peace with a religion that classifies all non-believers as the House of War.

      Liked by 2 people

        1. Yes, they refer to that as a hudna. It isn’t peace; more like a cease-fire, revocable at their discretion.

          It’s baked into the structure of the Koran: yhe Meccan suras, revealed at a time when the Muslims were vulnerable, are generally benign; the later Medinan suras, revealed after Muhammad had made himself the head of an army, are bellicose.

          Liked by 1 person

  7. FA,FO. Magnificent. I hope that the Persians can decide to have a reasonable government now.

    They might even be able to change their national philosophy to Zoroastrianism and escape the Islamic death cult.

    Not expecting that, just hoping.

    My expectations are for an existential war to the knife against the Islamics for the next hundred years.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. “My expectations are for an existential war to the knife against the Islamics for the next hundred years.”

      You know, I think that’s probably not true. Iran was a modern nation in the 1970s. Mini skirts, long hair, rock and roll clubs. So was Afghanistan. So was Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, etc.

      And the end of all that came SO FAST that looking back it has to have been a put-up job. Bought and paid for, as they say. And the Soviet Union fell in the 1990s, but the #FakeIslam remains, so what’s up with that?

      I strongly believe that we in the West, meaning Australia, Britain, Canada, Europe, USA etc. are actually paying for all this through the NGO network. USAID.

      And when we all stop paying for it, it will cease. No war required.

      Why do I think this? Well, for one thing, the utter lack of grass-roots demonstrations against Trump this weekend in places like Toronto and London and Sidney. If there were a big base of support for #Islam among the #moose limb immigrant community, they’d have been out burning cars last night. But they’re not.

      They only do this sh1t when they get paid. Stop paying them, they stop doing it.

      The next war is against the NGOs. Yes that’s right bitchez, we can see you.

      Liked by 2 people

      1. It’s always been an 80/20 thing, I believe but cannot confirm. Fake consensus, facsimiles instead of facts, and force majeure. A vile concoction of the kind of tribalism that follows that cult like a bad smell with cribbed notes from other oppressive tyrants (are there any other kinds?) and, of course, filthy lucre filtered through dozens of sticky fingers,

        Cheating and chicanery, anything for the cause. They lie as easily as they breathe. They prevaricate and pivot with dizzying dexterity when something walks in that casts shade on the narrative of the day.

        Of course it comes from our money. There’s not enough of everybody else’s. Capitalism, even the bastardized form we practice, is almost absurdly affluent compared to literally anything else. We produce with efficiency that puzzles and confounds those poorly educated idiots that put their faith in Socialism, Marxism, Communism, and other such confused heresies of simple greed and feudalism painted over tribal culture.

        The more we squeeze off the parasitical tap, the less effective they become in the world at large. All it took were a few men with the balls to actually nut up and start actually doing instead of talking about it in front of tv cameras.

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      2. There’s a joke about we totally have an existential war to fight with the universities.

        I actually don’t think that such is true.

        Which is surprising given what foci my basic belligerence has had for about ten years or so.

        Look, if the current scholars and ‘scholars’ wanted to spend their timing saying that we should exterminate the colonialist Americans, well, that is less lucrative than the real money makers in research. Even so, a lot of specialists in other things like their specialties, and do not like the crazy Jew hating, and stuff.

        How mercenary are they, are they potentially sane people willing to turn on the crazies? Not yet fully known.

        Anyway, I don’t think the ‘enemy camp’ is fully enemy.

        I also see a bunch of remedies that don’t depend on their cooperation, and some of those do not alienate the normies and the chowderheads.

        Liked by 3 people

        1. “Anyway, I don’t think the ‘enemy camp’ is fully enemy.”

          Don’t think I’m quite as generous as you, Bob. If they’ll attack me for the right amount of money, I can’t really sit at the table with them. They’re still my enemy, even though they’re only in it for the cash. Mercenaries, right? We don’t like them.

          But I do think that if the money dries up that most of this goes away overnight. Follow those money chains, toss a few high-profile rich guys in jail for fomenting insurrection, and the whole thing shrivels up and dies off.

          Leaving only the truly committed freak jobs to deal with, but they are few in number and have no real influence when the money’s gone. It’s a free country for sure, but the Ivory Tower’s freedom to wildly swing their arms ends where my nose begins. Let them deal with some nice bankruptcies, see how they like that.

          Liked by 1 person

          1. With ya on the mercs. Thing is, there’s a bunch of useless tools, wither thou goest, and normies still stuck in unpleasant circumstances within the enemy camp. Drain their funds and expose the leadership. Make it unprofitable and watch the rats flee the sinking ship.

            Any that can defect, well, now’s the time. Water’s cleaner, the air smells better, and there’s jobs that pay actual money rather than promises over here. The acculturation process is a stone bitch, but worth it. For those stuck, though? Prayers, brothers and sisters.

            Only thing we can do is keep on keepin’ on, our own selves. Keep a weather eye out and help our neighbors as we can. That’s just good sense.

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      3. Can’t believe that news wouldn’t be reporting on it, I’m seeing zero protests/rallies FOR Iran. There are individual idiots (TX shooter). The rally being reported is at the UN in New York, FOR the US freedom strikes on Iran.

        Liked by 2 people

        1. I think it’s interesting that there were reports the protests were up 10 minutes before the announcement of the strike. And there was video of women bringing up reprinted signs. Hmm.

          Liked by 1 person

          1. Well, Trump did brief leading members on Congress (both D & R) sometime before his official announcement.

            Of course, the D’s Did Not Approve of what Trump had to say.

            One aspect of this is that US forces were known to be near Iran and somebody here could have suspected what Trump had in mind so made preparations for protests some time ago.

            Liked by 1 person

            1. Yeah. Lots of lefties are screaming about not telling Congress his intentions beforehand, etc… But it’s not as if the entire world hasn’t been quickly counting the increasing number of US military assets gathering over the last several weeks. And it’s not as if Trump didn’t announce last month to the Iranian protesters that help would be coming their way.

              (wow, just typing that out hit me with a burst of emotion)

              One of my favorite posts on X was from someone who said he’d given up on President Trump’s promise to the Iranian protesters, and now apologized. Additionally, I think it was Roger L. Simon who also admitted that his faith in the President on this matter had also started to waver, though his wife had remained firm in her belief in the President.

              Liked by 1 person

              1. Some of the lefties claim to be “concerned” that Trump didn’t get Congress’ approval (declaration of war and/or authorization to take action against Iran).

                Mind you, the lefties weren’t concerned about Obama’s actions in making war.

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                1. Nor does Trump need to get authorization from Congress unless the deployment lasts more than 60 days. I don’t think Trump anticipates things taking anywhere near that long.

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                  1. That “War Powers” act allows for some very creative behavior.

                    And -this- President thrived in NYC Real Estate and Construction rules….

                    Liked by 1 person

                    1. The ironic part of that “War Powers” thing is that it was passed by the mostly Democratic Congress after the Vietnam conflict had ended.

                      It was “intended” to limit the President from making war but the fun-and-games was that Johnson had gotten Congressional support for his “little” war.

                      Congress wanted to blame the President for getting the US into that conflict but Congress had supported Johnson. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

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                    2. Always has. Presidents have never bothered getting an authorization if they didn’t anticipate a long deployment.

                      The difference this time is the magnitude of the task that Trump is attempting to perform. He’s attempting (and will likely succeed in doing so) to weaken the government of Iran to the point where it can no longer exercise control over the country, via direct military action. But he evidently calculates that it can be performed in less than two months, and thus not trigger the War Powers Act. Part of that is likely that he doesn’t want to occupy Iran, and as a result, he won’t be putting ground troops in harms way for a lengthy period of time as happened in Iraq and Afghanistan.

                      Go in, blow up the government and its enforcers, congratulate the citizens of Iran, and wish them the best of luck in putting their new government together. And warn other countries (such as Afghanistan, which is just across the border; a part of me noted the very odd coincidence that the Taliban suddenly found themselves fighting a small war with Pakistan literally just before Trump launched his attack on Iran) to mind their own business until the replacement government has had a chance to establish itself.

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                    3. “A Short Victorious War”

                      Nice template, if you can pull it off. Choose opponent and objective wisely. Beware the Enemy’s vote.

                      Fifty day bombing campaign – Operation FAFO. Declare objective achieved. Reload for 30 days. Repeat 50 day fire mission. Throw the occasional domestic flaming squirrel to keep Congress busy.

                      He could keep that up for the rest of his term.

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        2. There’s been at least one pro-Iran… sorry, “Anti-War” protest here in Los Angeles.

          On the other hand, there have also been a lot of people rallying to *celebrate* the destruction of that evil regime. Los Angeles has a lot of immigrants from all over (not just from south of the border), and unsurprisingly there are a lot of Iranian immigrants living here. They’re ecstatic. Could not be happier.

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      4. Yesterday’s Wall Street Journal had an opinion piece on page 1 of the Review section, written by a liberal-leaning Iranian expat. She bemoans the lack of support for Iran from her fellow liberals. But in addition, she gives a very clear description of how Khomeini promised everything to get power, and then betrayed it all. In that he was no different from Stalin or Hitler.

        We get Boston TV news here, and one never-ending item is the protest of the week always involving nice printed signs labeled as being from the socialist worker’s party, or some such imaginary organization. I keep wondering who is behind that astroturf outfit — who are the professional protestors, and more importantly, who are the paymasters.

        On the memes: loved the Netanyahu/Macron one. Oh, the burn. And the Schwartzkopf quote. I wonder if it’s real. It feels a bit like “I believe that forgiving them is God’s function. Our job is simply to arrange the meeting.” — widely attributed to him, and for good reason, but apparently he didn’t say it.

        I think the last time France had a winning army (for a while anyway) was in 1800, when Napoleon was in charge. The last time they won a war is of course even longer ago, I can’t off hand think of when that might have been. Looking… ignoring piddly little fights like the conquest of Corsica, or group efforts with France playing some part, the last one I can find is the French-Dutch war of 1672.

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        1. Napoleon had a lot of Polish soldiers, because he’d basically promised to give them their country back. (Partitioned away from them in the mid-18th century because they’d decided to try a constitutional monarchy and the surrounding countries really didn’t like that.)

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          1. Interesting! I knew Poland was nonexistent for a while, but not why, and didn’t know of the Napoleon connection.

            I have a very nice compass (ideal for hiking and orienteering) called the Bézard compass, after its inventor Johann ritter von Bézard. He was a Polish officer in the Austrian army, since that part of Poland at the time (late 1800s) was occupied by Austria.

            Liked by 1 person

        2. Contrary to all of the jokes, French *troops* have historically been quite good. They still are, from what I understand. But for some reason, that country has consistently attracted some of the worst leadership on the planet.

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          2. “And we’ll take some volunteers if there are any,” Berg said, lightening up. “As soldiers, they’re fine. It’s their politicians and generals that suck. Oh, boy, do they suck.” He suddenly whitened as he realized what he’d just said to the President of the United States.

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            1. There’s a video game that got released not too long ago, Europa Universalis V, which basically allows you to play as a country during the period of time from roughly the end of the Middle Ages (when the game Crusader Kings ends) up until the early Victorian era (when the game Victoria starts). One of the complaints at the game’s release was that France was just too strong. Others noted (and unfortunately I don’t have enough familiarity with history in this period to confirm or deny) that the in-game resources available at the start of the game for France were fairly accurate, as far as such things went. The real “problem” is that the historical leaders of France at this time were just *that* bad compared to everyone else, and the game’s AI wasn’t capable of simulating that.

              ^^;

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              1. For truly “Do worst possible timing of worst possible thing”, see Mideast Muslim countries and organizations.

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    2. I read something from a professional accredited opinionator moaning that the Pahlavi heir was involved at all in trying to free his country, saying his dad did some stuff the current population might remember negatively.

      Approximately 93% of Iran’s population is under age 47. Nobody frelling remembers anything the Shah’s people did in their efforts that failed to stop the mullahs and the utter disaster of the past 47 years, and the things the mullahs have done since vastly overshadow anything before in any case. Those kids were chanting “Pahlavi will return!” and waving the imperial flag when 30,000 of them were murdered just a few weeks ago. Talking to Iranians here, they look back on the time of the Shah as their lost golden age.

      They can get help from Reza Pahlavi if they want, jackass.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Not to mention that Pahlavi jr. has learned from the fate of his dad, and if he ends up playing a role it probably will not be that of absolute monarch. Never mind the experience of his dad; Iran has experienced absolute monarchy ever since, only more so, and are unlikely to want a continuation.

        Liked by 1 person

        1. And as far as “the Shah caused his fall himself”, I would argue that Jimmeh and the KGB working toward the same regime change objective at the same time, with or without coordination, combined with the Shah’s ultimately terminal illness and the French providing safe haven and who knows what other support to Khomeni, was what in the end toppled that government.

          Jimmeh’s “all our allies have to be saints” thing caused a huge amount of pain and suffering around the world.

          Liked by 2 people

          1. Good points.

            The French sending Khomeini to Iran to topple that government reminds me of the Germans sending Lenin to Russia to topple the czar. Neither of these worked out well longer term.

            Liked by 2 people

    3. There are claims lately that Islam is not a majority religion in Iran. If true, that then begs the question of whether it is even the plurality religion. And if not, what is? Presumably that would be a surprisingly large number of Zoroastrians, who have quietly kept the faith. Otherwise, I suspect the religious “belief” with the most adherents would likely be atheism.

      The problem, of course, is the question of just how reliable any religion numbers are in Iran under the current government. While certain other religions were permitted (specifically Jews and Christians, though it appears that Zoroastrians were largely ignored), Islam is a religion that endorses the killing of anyone who attempts to leave the faith. And Iran was (technically still is, though presumably not for much longer) a country dominated by a radical Islamic sect that had no trouble carrying out what it saw as religious law in a bloody fashion. The official Iranian numbers were that 99% of the population followed Islam. But if large chunks of the population thought otherwise, they were hardly going to say anything about it to the government.

      So, there might be an awful lot of non-Islamic Iranians.

      Which could represent a whole new can of worms once the replacement government starts to establish itself, and people suddenly start announcing that they, in fact, do not follow Islam. I would hope that the replacement government endorses freedom of religion. But that might end up causing a renewed round of internal fighting as various Islamic groups (the Shia are not exactly known to be moderates) try and keep people from leaving Islam.

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      1. Hmm… that kind of mix, under those circumstances, might lead somebody there toward reconsidering their understanding about that “make everybody join, kill whomever won’t, or die trying” thing.

        Please, Lord? You know what You’re doing, I’m just wondering if You could work that in to Your Plan? Just a little Inspiration in the right ear at the right time over there? Sure looks like a good idea from here…

        Your will be done, Lord! In Jesus’ Name.

        Liked by 1 person

  8. Listened to NPR on my way to Vespers tonight (I know). Commentator was saying how Trump was betraying his doctrine of not getting American troops involved in long foreign wars. I was laughing so hard I almost couldn’t reach to change the station. These people are utter imbeciles. Their SATs must be under 960.

    Liked by 8 people

    1. Yeah, we’re also hearing that from MTG, Massie, etc.

      What these people don’t seem to realize is that MAGAs like me voted against endless exercises in nation building. My chief complaint about the way we handled Iraq was that we didn’t do something like this in 1991.

      Liked by 3 people

        1. 1979 was Iran, not Iraq, but yes, a similar principle should have applied.

          The problem is that we had neither the leadership, nor the military machine, nor the tech for this kind of op. By 1983, and the Beirut bombing? Then we might have done it.

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          1. I also blame GWB – if he had chosen “column right” on reaching Baghdad and used the forces already right there to drive on to Tehran instead of trying to turn Iraq into Puerto Rico, I maintain the total cost would have been a lot less.

            Liked by 1 person

          2. Point. Remember the Desert One disaster.

            If Jimmeh C. had been in charge of this operation , the USS Ford would probably gotten scuttled halfway to its deployment area.

            Liked by 1 person

    1. I thought the Obama/Hillary, Biden, Trump, meme nailed, I mean, bombed it.

      Agree. Iran has been a boil on America’s collective butt. It is time we lanced it.

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      1. Combination of factors.

        There was a photo or image that precipitated the meme.

        But there were a lot of times in 2025 where Trump’s admin had an appointment open, and Rubio or someone else was briefly mentioned as acting in that position, in addition to other duties.

        So there were jokes about poor Rubio being overworked floating around the political junkies by, I want to say, august or september.

        There were a bunch of executive agencies of various sorts that Trump wanted to shut down, or just fire a bunch of people from, like USAID. I think Rubio may have been appointed to USAID. Rubio was I think appointed to at least a couple of the international ones, in addition to US secretary of state.

        (This is inside baseball, but before the vice presidency became prominent, SecState was historically used to develop future presidents, where any of that actually was done on purpose. Rubio is also extremely ambitious, and also has had some major clashes with Trump in the past. So he is fairly deliberately being quiet and cooperative, and Trump is also apparently trying to be an accommodating boss to him. Trump, Vance, Rubio, and Hegseth are basically on the same page where not liking Cuba, Iran, etc. are concerned. Hawks, but also very cheap, and they prefer to work towards peace. Vance plays the loud role. Hegseth is needed to get reform in a troubled institution. Rubio? State is very disloyal, and Rubio needs to show Trump he is doing stuff, and not captured by State. So Rubio is trying to chase Musk’s workaholism and Trump’s workaholism, but he is not naturally that degree of workaholic as far as I understand.)

        Trump being in construction, and Rubio being hispanic, there were obviously going to be some jokes about Trump picking up Rubio outside Home Depot, because he wanted someone to work non-union hours and rates.

        Rubio is also a conventional thinker, and does not like the same risks that Trump does.

        Also, the Americans of Cuban ancestry often hate Castro and the communists, and also often have no great love for the drug cartels in other parts of south and central America.

        Whatever the Trump and Vance think they are doing with Ukraine and Russia, that is a little risky.

        Monroe Doctrine is very long established in the convention of US foreign policy thinking. James Monroe was literally the fifth American president. So like twenty years into the constitution? (Closer to thirty, I did not account for Jefferson and Madison serving two terms.) Anyway, we had literally had an indictment against Maduro for like fifteen years, so the legal theory against him was not novel, and not something that TRump had just cooked up.

        This stuff explains why Rubio might be very happy to be very involved with what Trump wanted done in the set up to remove Maduro.

        All this to finish with, ‘this is what I vaguely knew when I checked knowyourmeme’. Anyway, the picture apparently is from around when the Maduro op went off. And TRump credited Rubio a lot for that, and said that he would be managing some of the oil sale business. The meme took off on twitter before january sixth or so.

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      2. What Bob has said.

        Started with a joke that “Naturally since Rubio is Latino, he has three jobs in the administration: Sec of State, acting USAID, and acting National Security Advisor.” Because of course, the Latino’s are overachievers, and have multiple jobs.

        Acting USAID because everyone wants it gone. But cannot just be shutdown.

        Acting National Security Advisor because the usual suspects will not approve the actual nominee.

        Spiraled from there. Not the least of which because Trump, Vance, Rubio, and probably the rest of Trump’s team, laughed. Would not surprise me if Rubio and Vance aren’t co-conspirators and creating some of them. Not that people need any help these days.

        Liked by 1 person

  13. A season of changes it has been. And looks to be not finished yet, either.

    There’s a murthering lot of folks over there that were involved in the general horribleness, not just the top dude in the funny dress. And many, many more with friends and family that were disappeared by the former peoples.

    I do hope the sane ones prevail. For the sake of all the Persians that have suffered, I hope that they look to the future with clear eyes and steady hearts. May they be a friend to us, and we to them.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. I don’t know if there are any truly sane ones left. I just hope that whoever comes out on top is capable of becoming sane with a bit of time to heal.

      Liked by 2 people

      2. The comments by the Iranian deputy foreign minister were interesting. All-out war from Iran? If they have sleeper cells in the US, they seem to be sleeping in (prays for a long sleep for them), but otherwise, it’s the Monty Python Black Knight in real life.

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          1. Yeah, alas. The only mild surprise is the lack of response by armed patrons, though the fact it was in Austin might have something to do with it. (Professes ignorance of Texas law (if any) regarding <strike>free fire</strike> gun free zones.)

            I suspect a lot of gun-free zones will be not so honored if this is a trend.

            Liked by 1 person

            1. Texas really needs to adopt the NH rule that “no guns allowed” signs on places like malls and offices are just signs, with no legal significance. If you’re caught on the premises by staff while carrying, they can tell you to leave. If you don’t, you face a trespass charge (just as if they had kicked you out for some other reason). But the state doesn’t care at all that you were carrying and ignoring a sign.

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              1. Oregon tried to make it so that “no weapons allowed” had the force of law, but that failed. OTOH, if the hospital (biggest free-fire zone in private hands here) caught somebody, that could kick said person out of a lot of medical treatment.

                I can see restrictions in the ER (and they do have security handy–saw them running to a treatment room when I was stuck there last year), but not everywhere. Personal preference would be “OK, you can restrict gun/weapons at your place. You also assume liability for any shootings there.” (Might be harder in this case, since the perp wasn’t inside.)

                No comments on the wisdom of going out to party the first night of a war with an adversary known for terrorism. #SMH

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            2. Can’t carry in a bar. The 51% rule says that if a business makes less than 51% of its income from selling alcohol, then carry is legal unless there are other signs (30.06 or 30.07, or the school law). Bars are over 51%, so no one is allowed to carry inside a bar during business hours.

              Now, if the place had the other signs, even if it sold more food than alcohol, still no open carry or no carry at all, depending on the combination of signs. (There’s a place near me that has a home-designed “no weapons” sign. It is not official. They ask no questions if they see no shooty or stabby things in view.)

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              1. The big 5 tech company I work for is really pushing its AI image recognition to enforce “weapon-free zones”.

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        2. Most “sleeper cells” in the USA take their cover to heart and go native. Look at how many of the agents of the Third Reich wound up not accomplishing much.

          “Yeah boss, we are ready to strike! Just need to get the framizats lined up and some more unobtanium. Any day now….”

          Now, our homegrown crazies often fill in as pickup teams…

          Liked by 1 person

    2. “There’s a murthering lot of folks over there that were involved in the general horribleness…”

      I’m thinking it is not a good day to be a member of the Republican Guard. All the punks that were running and hiding on Friday are out on Sunday with a bat, looking for you.

      One need only look back to Germany in the 1990s. The Stazi were all quietly dealt with, somehow, and I don’t recall what was actually done with them. No doubt a lot of them met their former victims and families for a short chat.

      One of those “justice vs. vengeance” things. I’m not smart enough to know the right way, but I will note that hunting them down is a pretty normal Human reaction, and therefore probably not the worst idea.

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      1. Ach, much as I’d prefer proper legal and documented cases, with gallows gibbet prominently displayed outside the court windows, realistically I cannot disagree. There has been blood, and there will be.

        But, at some point, it must come to an end. The foundations of a nation must be strong enough to weather harsher winds. May the strength of the Persian people bear out in the coming days.

        Liked by 2 people

      2. The target list appears to prominently feature IRGC locations, and right towards the top too given the announced strikes so far, right up there with command and control nodes, any air defense the IDF didn’t happen to get last time they were in town, strategic drone and missile targets, and the top-down list of regime decapitation targets.

        Why, it is almost like they know what they are doing when given clear orders and the JAGs accidentally all got deployed to the Pacific.

        Liked by 1 person

        1. “Why, it is almost like they know what they are doing when given clear orders…”

          It says a lot when you compare this operation and the Venezuela op to the “Flight from Assghanistan.” Only five years ago, same military, same guys.

          I feel that Trump and Hegseth must have gone through the Pentagon with a chainsaw and flame thrower. Still took them a whole year.

          Liked by 2 people

          1. Trump and Hegseth?

            LOL

            Mostly just our typical political General officers, knowing how to produce what the Boss wants.

            Any boss.

            Some bosses want endless flusterclucks, some want 1-3 day success raids.

            Same Flag folks. (Flaggots?) -Same-

            -Now- do you understand? Yes, they do. Yes they did.

            -Now- do you understand?

            Then the GO/FO all get postservice jobs with various DoW/DoD incest farms.

            Part of me wants every O-7 and up -dismissed-. Part of me wants that bunch -decimated-. (Per Legion meaning)

            Liked by 1 person

            1. That would leave seven eighths or more of them alive.

              OTOH, I am not personally so irritated with that bunch of conventional thinkers.

              (other groups I am more annoyed with)

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        2. Which makes sense. The IRGC is the group that enforces the regime’s will. The army is for external aggressors, but the IRGC is there to do the bidding of the Islamic regime. It’s members are also likely the most committed to keeping the “Islamic” part of “Islamic regime” in place, and are probably the group most likely to turn terrorist if the regime collapses.

          So putting them high on the targeting list is probably a good idea.

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      3. The discovered reality of the former DDR/Strand

        One third of the adult population were active Stazi informants.

        -active-

        -one third- of adults.

        ….

        So, short version, most former DDR “osties” decided to just drop the matter. Otherwise bloodbath, and the Germans dislike disorder.

        …

        Name note: Stazi is ” Statz Polizei” or “State Police”

        Some folks may be remembering “Gestapo” which was “Geheim Statz Polezei” hmmm what a coincidence. And totally coincidentally rhyme on Stazi…..

        Krauts….(grin)

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        2. “One third of the adult population were active Stazi informants.”

          I do recall hearing that at the time, and wondering how the hell. But since Covid, I don’t wonder about that anymore. We watched it happen in real time.

          Instead I wonder about the other two thirds, and how they still live in Germany. I think it would get on my nerves. Just sayin’.

          Liked by 2 people

          1. One third were active, on the books, onthe payroll informers.

            There were plenty more armature hour players, grudge players, and “just enough to stay out of jail” players.

            There may have been a few folks who -never- informed. Maybe.

            Liked by 1 person

  14. Thr Islamic Revolutionary Guard commander is a now a Brogadier General. That implies that all the officers senior to him are gone. Given how too heavy with generals the IRGC was before yesterday, that says a lot. Recently, the attacks seem to have shifted to the HQ of the foreign mercenaries Iran brought in, which is telling I think. The regimes response seems to show a breakdown in command since their just flailing about all over the place.

    Iran has been trying to get their F4’s and 5’s into the air with little success, mostly blown up on the ground. The F22 guys must be waiting, I’m of mixed mind about Irans F14’s. I’d rather not see them blown up on the ground, they deserve better than that, but I suppose they’ll have to go. I suspect the Iran AF guys aren’t in any hurry to die for the IRGC.

    God! I hope this works out for them and for everyone else,

    Liked by 6 people

    1. Apparently EVERYONE got to play in the Iranian Shooting Gallery. I’ve seen reports that there was at least one submarine attack, marking the first time (if a US sub; Israel has some too) that a US sub has engaged with torpedoes officially since August 1945, and unofficially since the Korean War.

      They’ve launched missiles, but nothing else.

      Liked by 2 people

      1. Iran seems to have sunk a tanker. ONe of their shadow fleet. They’re sinking their own stuff. It doesn’t seem anyone’s in charge.

        They think they got Ahmadinejad. Taking care of all the family business.

        Liked by 1 person

        1. I figured that once they announced he was dead on state TV it was over. It’s hard to run a religion from a coffin.

          Liked by 2 people

          1. so say they all. It’s gotta be hellish for them. The IDF must be getting real time updates on where these people are, couple that with us blowing up all their hardware and bolt holes and, …. there you have it. Chaos.

            I saw a piece just now about how being a dictator isn’t what it used to be. YOu basically have to live in a cave and communicate face to face, but rarely as we can blow up the cave too. Killing the leaders rather than the regular people is new and way overdue. One of the reasons Trump is so unpopular, he eliminates the lords and spares the commoners. Can’t be having that.

            Liked by 4 people

            1. One of the reasons Trump is so unpopular, he eliminates the lords and spares the commoners.

              Something I very much like about him.

              Liked by 2 people

            2. The hard part is going to be getting the Mullahs who are in Qom, which is where the chief Iranian Shia religious schools and sites are. Qom is a holy city in the same way Mecca and the old-city of Jerusalem is, and bombing Qom would be like bombing Mecca, and would cause massive problems with Iraq’s Shia population, as well as create a precedent for bombing religious sites, a precedent the US has sought to avoid going back to at least WW2, when Kyoto was rejected as a possible target for the atomic bombs. I believe Khamenei’s son, considered as a likely successor, is in Qom.

              Like

              1. Khameni’s son is no more, he has ceased to be, he’s shuffled off his mortal coil and joined the bleeding choir invisible (not likely) HE is an ex terrorist.

                In any case, Qom, should it not rebel too, can rot on the vine.

                word is that Iran is firing off everything they have in all directions. CEntral control is gone.

                Oil markets open at 5PM Chicago time. THe smart money is $70 ish not the $150 that it would have been were the US not the largest producer of oil and gas in the world or were Iran’s response thought to be effective. THe oil market will reflect changes instantly, when it’s open anyway.

                Liked by 1 person

                1. WTI Crude oil up around 7%, opened up 13% then dropped down. S&P 500 stock market futures down 1%, which is just a continuation of the last few weeks churn. US 10 year treasuries down a bit. IF I didn’t know we’d been bombing Iran, I wouldn’t think much of it at all. OIl would get another look, but the rest is a whole bunch of nothing.

                  Ignore all the headlines, they’ll use words like surge or plummet, but the markets are saying this is nothing, so far. That could change, but only if something goes really wrong. MAybe the Mahdi will appear, but then the markets will be the least of our problems.

                  Like

                2. In moderation. TLDR! muted reaction in the markets. Unless oil goes over $100 this is a whole lot of nothing so far as the markets are concerned.

                  Liked by 1 person

                3. Qom’s old city looks nice, so I hope they don’t have any military targets too close to civilian targets.

                  I mean, yes, most of the mullahs there are evil, but the city looks nice.

                  They’ve got a sacred well, and libraries. So yeah, might want to save those for later.

                  Mashhad has a big medieval library too, so I hope that’s okay.

                  Seriously, though, it’s more likely for annoyed Iranian people to burn a few national monuments with bad connotations, than for the US and Israeli forces to make mistakes with their targeting. So far, the missiles and bombs really have been exact about hitting their marks. We have some really good stuff now.

                  Like

        2. They’ve actually said as much. When asked why they were firing missiles at surrounding countries that weren’t involved in the attacks, blame was placed on a lack of central command and control. The rationale provided was that the targeting was a result of local commanders acting on their own judgement.

          Like

          1. The rumor is that there was a “doomsday plan” to get revenge on all of the regime’s enemies. But if so, it was a really dumb plan.

            Not that it’s unheard of, with a dictatorship, to have stupid doomsday plans.

            Like

    2. Another good thing about getting rid of the mullahs is kinda obscure: If any air museum happens to have a Tomcat, they have extra oversight and expense as the Feds have an active effort to try and prevent Iran from getting any spare parts for their F-14As. One spot they might obtain some are those museum jets. Many air museums are open-air, so cutting through the chain link fence gate chain could get a pickup to the jet, and you can be certain they would not be making museum-quality preservation efforts to extract what they could reach.

      Many of the F-14-specific easier-to-extract parts (mostly electronics boxes) have as a result been pulled by Navy tech teams, but there’s still harder-to-reach bits, from the big honking cast titanium wing pivot box part that exists nowhere else on the planet down to fiddly landing gear parts no longer in production anywhere, that the Iranian maintainers would love to get, so those museums have to do more than lock the gate when they are closed.

      And there is absolutely no possibility of trying to get one of those back to flying condition, as some rich guys have done with F-4s and such, so one could see that rocking Tomcat demo flown once again.

      If they are no longer in enemy hands, that whole problem should go away.

      Liked by 1 person

    1. Laughed quite a bit at that. Wouldn’t those be better called Khameneitashen? Asking for a friend. :)

      Like

        1. Mr. Fetterman had a stroke, and if there’s one thing that’ll make you re-examine your life, it’s surviving something like that. All the stuff that you thought was important looks pretty weak-sauce when you’re trying to re-learn how to wipe your own butt. Easier to give up and die, but they fight through instead.

          Such people are an inspiration and we should all give them a lot more respect than we do. It is instructive to note which side of MAGA the newly-enlightened stroke survivor came down on.

          Liked by 2 people

          1. Indeed. Given his pre-election history (no real job ever, mayor of some little podunk town for a while) I absolutely did not expect what he has turned out to be.

            Liked by 5 people

      2. He’s already in trouble. He’s apparently more popular with Republics right now in his home state than with Democrats, despite the fact that he votes with the Dems 90% of the time.

        It seemingly hasn’t affected him.

        Like

  17. ”Go, return on thy way to the wilderness of Damascus: and when thou comest, anoint Hazael to be king over Syria….”

    Like

    1. He said that already. The USA is accepting “refugees” from England now. Anyone who’s been arrested for Speech Violations can get refugee status. ~:D

      I’m hoping the deal gets extended to Canada, then I can finally move to Arizona.

      Liked by 5 people

      1. Suspect rather than refugee status moving from Canada, you become US citizen and not even moving. Of course, then you can just move to Arizona, if you wish to.

        Liked by 1 person

      1. Mr. Putin has reportedly suddenly announced that he’s willing to accept US security guarantees in Ukraine.

        Though I expect he’ll talk the talk for a few weeks, while simultaneously refusing to actually commit to anything. And then he’ll revert to business as usual.

        Like

  20. I’m liking the isekai memes. Supreme Leader wakes up with elf girl in another world…

    …those things don’t always turn out well for the New Guy. I can recall a few that New Guy spent the whole series saying things like “Aw, come on! That’s not how it’s supposed to go!!!”

    Liked by 1 person

      1. I might’ve said something about saving the American taxpayer money, but, well… Might be that those generals weren’t so bad after all, if Xinnie the Pooh got all sadmad at them.

        Like

        1. Xi has apparently purged the last of his generals that had combat experience.

          When people kept talking about Chinese generals having fought in Vietnam, I thought they were talking about China secretly fighting us and South Vietnam. But no! Apparently I missed an entire “Sino-Vietnamese War” against Communist Vietnam, in 1979, allegedly in support of Khmer Rouge Cambodia.

          (Probably really in support of trying to take back bits of Asia that once belonged to China for five minutes.)

          China is a-hoe.

          Liked by 3 people

          1. To put it mildly, Vietnam kicked China’s ass up around China’s ears. And it took -way- less time for Vietnam to encourage China to leave than it took them to persuade the USA.

            Speaks -volumes- about relative combat staying power, morale, and mindset.

            China still hasn’t regained any face lost in that fiasco.

            Like

      2. Yup. He’s decided to go full Stalin, without understanding that Stalin would have lost to Hitler without our help.

        Like

        1. He’s also getting rid of the last few people in the PLA who have actually fought in a war. Some of the generals that he’s been sacking were the last active duty veterans of the invasion of Vietnam.

          The Vietnam invasion was an absolute disaster, but there’s evidence that after returning to China the officers who participated had some quiet “let’s discuss how things can go better next time without blaming anyone because otherwise we would all end up sacked” discussions. Now the last bit of that reservoir of personal knowledge is gone.

          Liked by 2 people

    1. While pleased with the attack, the account also reports: “They’re shutting down the internet city by city. If mine gets cut off until the end of the war fvck the IR & It’s all the irgc’s fault”

      Please pray for the people of Iran.

      Liked by 2 people

      1. While the various Iranian internal security arms have been on a snipe hunt for Starlink terminals, we shipped in thousands of them (press said 6,000 from the U.S., so you know it’s way more than that so as to not give the bad guys a known number to hunt toward), and as of the kickoff the other day they had not yet found them all based on vids and such still getting out.

        Add to that a few of those mesh-network apps and they can pull plugs cell towers all they want and still not stop the signal.

        Like

        2. Starlink rigs can be packaged and delivered by air. A B-2 could carry a crapload of them, assuming the right latches on the containers.

          An escorted C-17 could also deliver a mess of Starlinks. “Liberator II”

          Liked by 1 person

          2. The IAF has achieved Air Superiority over western Iran, so airdropping pallets of Starlink terminals and AKs from the piles reportedly procured back during the sandbox years would now be feasible.

            Like

  24. I’m delighted that the Gang of 48 are dead. I have an ex-BIL who’s Iranian. I’ve been to Tehran (1972-73) Christmas & New Years. Fantastic people! Open. Welcoming. In Dec ‘79 he sent his wife to London. He stayed behind to close down a business. He had to flee over the mountains to the Caspian Sea and catch a ride on a fishing boat to get out. His sister went back to care for their elderly parents and it took her 7 years to get back out.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Lots of Iranian diaspora folks in the Most Silly Valley, working in tech and other fields as well. None of those, not the ones who had to be careful since they still had family there that they visited, nor the ones who could never go back and had to be careful about anyone knowing where they lived, not one ever said one positive word in my hearing about the mullahs.

      Like

    2. Well, apparently a lot of the stuff they got in trade, from high end Sukhoi fighters to expensive but less-than-effective SAM systems, are now smoking scrap, so they may indeed be thinking they could have made a better deal with those desperate folks in Moscow.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. A joke that I think dates back to the Six Day War:

        Message from Cairo to Moscow: “Stop sending surface to air missiles. Please send surface to aircraft missiles instead.”

        Liked by 1 person

  26. Like you, Sarah, I was in high school when the embassy hostage situation started, but a year behind you. My school has just started offering a computer class with a clueless math teacher trying to instruct us in what was then uncharted territory.

    We had a Radio Shack TRS-80 Model I, which passed for hi-tech in those days. I studied the manual to figure out the graphics while everyone else was putzing around with programs in BASIC that often got stuck in infinite loops. My program drew maps of the US and Iran on the screen, with a missile launching from the Midwest (I’m an AF brat, I knew where the missiles were.) The missile made a big arc over to Tehran where it blossomed into a mushroom cloud. A banner decorated the bottom of the screen proclaiming, “Glow, Khomeini, glow! Nuke Iran!” The rest of the class and my instructor loved it. Was it inflammatory and immature? Yes. Cathartic? Also yes.

    Two years later in college I made friends with some students from Iran. They were hardworking and diligent students who came to the US to learn and to take back vital skills that would improve the quality of life in their native land. And suddenly, it seemed they would never be able to go home. Hopefully, almost half a century later, I pray they can indeed return.

    On their behalf, I join you in telling the whiners and nay-sayers that they can just SUCK IT!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. The Camp David Accords, and the Iran Hostage Crisis were the two foreign policy things I was first aware of and can remember in some detail. All the yellow ribbons on the trees in Houston …

      Mom and Dad trying to explain why having a Polish pope was so very, very important … didn’t stick very well, since I hung out with one Catholic, a herd of Jewish, and a few Protestant friends.

      Like

    2. I saw someone’s comment earlier today that back during the Iran Hostage Crisis, even the left agreed that it was okay to hate Iran. It wasn’t until later that Iran became one of the left’s darlings.

      Of course, the combination of Khomeini liquidating Iran’s communists, coupled with embarrassing the current Democratic President, Jimmy Carter, might have helped shift the needle toward the “it’s okay to not like these particular anti-American guys” side.

      I also saw someone suggest that they should ask Ted Koppel (Nightline apparently started with him giving nightly updates on the Hostage Crisis) if he would do a special episode of Nightline when the Iranian government finally goes away.

      Like

    2. I’m reminded of a meme from a couple of years ago.

      “Hello, suicide hotline? I’d like to place an order, please.”

      Like

  29. They seem to have launched on the British in Cyprus. Either this is a sign of complete lack of command & control, which it could be but I don’t think som or they think that the Mahdi is rising and this is the beginning of the end times. Khameni’s successor said as much before he went to join Khameni. One wonders just how many actually believe this, I bet it’s a lot and, again, none of their actions make any rational sense unless they really believe this. Interesting times.

    Liked by 3 people

    2. They also bombed a French base.

      An Iranian government official was reportedly asked about the strikes on various countries, and replied that it was due to local commanders being cut off from everyone else, and acting on their own.

      Like

  31. ”Legal assessments under international law will achieve relatively little in this regard, and this applies all the more if they largely remain without consequences. […] That is why now is not the moment to lecture our partners and allies; despite all doubts, we share many of their goals, without ourselves being able to actually achieve them.”

    German Chancellor Merz today.

    OIl below $70, Dollar surging. All is well. Good night and God bless us, everyone.

    Like

    1. Well, at least he does not want to be taking dictation from Putin on /this/ point.

      Like

        1. A few years ago, I read a short story about a High Society Woman who had the bright idea to invite Death to one of her parties.

          She left the invitation with one of her servants who had a dying child.

          Sure enough Death showed up as invited. Death turned out to be a “young” woman.

          None of the guests were willing to offer Death a dance until one young soldier did so.

          Oh, the reason that Death attended this party was that it was time for her to turn over the job of Death to another worthy soul.

          While at least one person offered to take over the job, Death felt that they wouldn’t be “right” for the job.

          Death decided that somebody so heartless to leave the initiation with a father whose child was dying was “Just Right For The Job”.

          So the High Society Woman was given the job of Death and the former Death remained.

          Like

            1. Thank you.

              I found the story “Come Lady Death”.

              Now, I’ll have to purchase the Beagle collections that it’d be in. 😉

              Liked by 1 person

  33. Pingback: Instapundit » Blog Archive » AND ON MEMES, I REALLY WISH I DIDN’T HAVE TO DO TWO MEME POSTS IN A DAY:  Memes We Waited 47 Years

  34. The memes WERE epic and I don’t even care that they burned up so much of my day. I got over 3000 words in, inspired by a PoS dictator finally getting deposed.

    Liked by 1 person

  36. Pingback: Bonus Funnies – Splendid Isolation

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