Venezuela Earthquake Death Toll Rises

While some predictions believe there will be up to 20,000 or more deaths from the two earthquakes that struck Venezuela last Wednesday, June 24th, around 6:04 p.m. local time, followed by another quake 39 seconds later, the most recent official toll rose to 920 deaths. 

The first quake registered 7.2 magnitude followed by a 7.5 earthquake, a significantly stronger one about 100 miles west of Caracas.

Caracas was devastated, flattened in parts and the government has estimated hundreds of people are still trapped and missing since the disaster.

The president of the national assembly, Jorge Rodriguez released the official death toll, but obviously, it's expected to rise as more information is revealed.

A website established to collect reports of missing individuals had registered more than 50,000 unaccounted-for people as of midday Friday. The United Nations’ chief aid official provided a similar estimate.

Foreign rescue teams and humanitarian aid began arriving in the country on Friday, while desperate Venezuelans and an increasing number of international volunteers worked urgently to locate survivors trapped beneath collapsed buildings and debris.

Rodriguez reported that 871 international rescue workers were operating in Venezuela by Friday afternoon. Among the nations dispatching teams were Mexico, El Salvador, and Spain. The U.S. Geological Survey has forecasted a high likelihood of more than 10,000 fatalities, which would rank these earthquakes among the deadliest in Latin America over the past century.

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Hezbollah Furious That Lebanon Might Stop Letting Hezbollah Run Lebanon

Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem is having a rough weekend. The terror group's secretary general blasted the newly signed Israel-Lebanon framework agreement as "null," a "humiliation," and an outrageous assault on the sacred tradition of heavily armed militias operating their own private state inside another state.

Apparently, nothing says "national sovereignty" quite like taking orders from Tehran while stockpiling rockets in civilian neighborhoods.

Speaking on Saturday, Qassem declared that any effort to tie Israel's withdrawal from southern Lebanon to Hezbollah giving up its arsenal crossed "all red lines." Translation: Israel is expected to leave, but Hezbollah is expected to keep enough missiles to redecorate northern Israel whenever the mood strikes.

“We say to the Lebanese authorities, it is time for you to retract your sins that are destroying Lebanon,” Qassem asserted.

That is certainly one way to describe the situation. Another would be to ask whether the organization that has dragged Lebanon into repeated wars, frightened away investors, and treated the country's sovereignty like an optional suggestion is perhaps looking in the wrong mirror.

The framework agreement, signed Friday by the United States, Israel, and Lebanon after days of negotiations in Washington, lays out a step by step plan to dismantle Hezbollah's terrorist infrastructure, disarm the group, and allow the IDF to withdraw from southern Lebanon as the threat disappears.

In other words, somebody finally proposed the radical idea that a country's army should be the country's army.

The agreement also calls for the United States to strengthen the Lebanese Armed Forces so the nation's military, instead of an Iranian proxy, can provide security within Lebanon.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the deal, calling it “a major achievement for the State of Israel” in a public address.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun welcomed the agreement as “the first step on the path to restoring Lebanon's sovereignty” in a post on X.

Qassem, meanwhile, appears to believe Lebanese sovereignty is best preserved by ensuring Hezbollah remains more heavily armed than the Lebanese government itself. It is a fascinating constitutional theory, albeit one that seems to exist nowhere outside the offices of Iran's Revolutionary Guard.

For years Hezbollah has insisted it is merely defending Lebanon. Now that someone has suggested Lebanon might defend itself, Hezbollah suddenly finds the proposal deeply offensive.

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John Bolton's Classified Documents Lecture Tour Ends With an Awkward Plot Twist

For years, John Bolton has been one of President Donald Trump's loudest critics, happily appearing on television to explain why mishandling classified documents was practically the crime of the century. On Friday, that moral lecture tour hit an unexpected speed bump when Bolton pleaded guilty to a felony count of illegally retaining sensitive national security information.

Turns out the self-appointed hall monitor wandered off with the answer key.

Under a plea agreement, Bolton will pay a $2.5 million fine while avoiding prison. The court could still impose probation, home confinement, or another penalty, but the former national security advisor walked away with far less than the mountain of charges he originally faced, just like most high-level politicians.

Federal prosecutors initially charged Bolton with 18 counts related to retaining and transmitting national defense information, a crime that should result in capital punishment or at least a life sentence. However, most of those charges disappeared as part of the deal, but Bolton admitted guilt to one serious felony involving sensitive national security information that could have endangered the country if it landed in the wrong hands.

The case stems from Bolton's time serving as Trump's national security advisor between 2018 and 2019 and the tell all memoir he later published after reinventing himself as one of Trump's favorite cable news critics.

According to prosecutors, Bolton kept detailed diary style notes on his personal computer and stored them at both his Maryland home and his Washington office. The notes reportedly included information from intelligence briefings, meetings with senior officials, and conversations with foreign leaders, including material classified at the Top Secret and Sensitive Compartmented Information levels. But alas, no firing squad, no life sentence, just a big fine and loss of pension. 

Whoop-dee-doo!

Investigators also alleged Bolton handed more than 1,000 pages of these notes to two relatives who had no security clearance, reportedly so they could help with his book.

The FBI raided Bolton's home and office last August, recovering documents and other evidence. Bolton initially pleaded not guilty, insisting the notes were merely personal records used during the writing process. He also maintained that the published version of his memoir successfully passed prepublication review and contained no classified information. He lied.

The irony here could not be thicker if it were poured over pancakes.

Bolton spent years insisting President Trump belonged behind bars over the classified documents case Democrats aggressively pursued during the 2024 campaign.

"I think this is a potentially catastrophic turn of events for him. It certainly should be, because if proven in trial it should put Trump in jail for a long time," Bolton declared during a June 2023 interview with NPR.

He also argued that the government should "hold everyone accountable equally, and that does not exclude the president. I think this is a real issue that's going to have profound impacts on our national security if we don't take it seriously."

And still he gets no prison time or a rope.

Fast forward a few years, and suddenly accountability comes with a plea bargain instead of dramatic cable news predictions.

After the Justice Department indicted him, Bolton sounded remarkably familiar, claiming he had "become the latest target in weaponizing the Justice Department to charge those he deems to be his enemies with charges that were declined before or distort the facts." He lied.

Funny how quickly someone discovers the dangers of a weaponized Justice Department once they're sitting in the defendant's chair instead of the commentator's chair.

The plea agreement closes the criminal case without any admission of wrongdoing related to the classified information that ultimately appeared in his book. Even so, Bolton's guilty plea leaves behind one unforgettable lesson: if you're going to spend years demanding that everyone else be treated equally under the law, it helps not to end up pleading guilty to the very kind of offense you insisted deserved harsh punishment.

Still, the walrus gets to stay out of the slammer.

What do you think? Feel free to comment.

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Carville finally decides his Party has become a circus

The Democratic Party has spent years insisting it's a "big tent." Now one of its own elder statesmen has looked around the circus and decided the tent has become a full blown asylum.

Veteran Democratic strategist James Carville has finally reached the point where reality has overpowered partisan loyalty, publicly disowning a candidate backed by New York City Mayor Comrade Zohran Mamdani and calling for nothing less than a formal split in the Democratic Party.

Speaking with co-host Al Hunt on the "Politics War Room" podcast, Carville reacted to the stunning primary victories of three Mamdani-backed candidates in New York, including Democratic socialist Darializa Avila Chevalier. While both men complained that Republicans are exaggerating these candidates' influence, Carville immediately demonstrated why conservatives don't have to exaggerate anything.

"I have the quote right here, I’ll get to it. She has attacked interracial relationships and the American flag. Lady, I ain't in the same party as you. I'm sorry," Carville said. "I’m just not, and I actually do think it's time for Democrats to talk ‘the S-word.’ ‘Schism.’ I really do."

Imagine that. After years of being told conservatives were the ones harboring extremists, one of the Democratic Party's chief strategists is now openly wondering whether his own party needs an exorcism.

"Everybody's always said, 'No, no, we're coalition. We're a big tent,'" Carville continued. "And there's some there's just some s--- that I can't be in the same tent with."

Welcome to the party you helped build.

Carville argued that many of these far left activists don't even believe in the Democratic Party itself but use its ballot line as a convenient vehicle to push radical ideas.

"Let's negotiate a terms of a schism here. Maybe we can part under some kind of advantageous terms for both of us, but I'm done. And I'm not in that f---ing political party."

His breaking point was not merely socialism. It was Israel.

"I am totally comfortable in a political party that spends time questioning the policies of the government of Israel. In fact, I'm enthusiastic about that. I don't want to be in a political party that denies the right of the state of Israel to exist. That's just not I just can't do that. I'm sorry. It's just not doable."

It's remarkable to hear one of the Democratic Party's longest serving strategists say aloud what many moderate Democrats whisper behind closed doors. The anti Israel faction is no longer knocking on the door. It's redecorating the living room.

Hunt didn't disagree.

"They are a great gift to Donald Trump," he replied, urging prominent Democrats including Barack Obama to publicly distance themselves from the movement. "Certainly people like Obama, but also some of the younger Democrats and said, ‘This is not us.’"

They're doing the Comrade Polka

He also warned that unless Democrats score a decisive victory in November, "that group of crazies" could spend years undermining House Democratic leadership.

Even Hunt, who credited Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez with eventually becoming a functional member of Congress after her early years, admitted he saw little hope for Mamdani's political allies.

"I don't think this group has that potential."

"I don't either," Carville answered. "And I think AOC is smart. I could be in the same party with her in many ways. I can't be in the same party with Miss Chevalier. Can't do it. Sorry."

It's a remarkable admission. When Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez suddenly qualifies as the reasonable wing of your political party, your ideological Overton window hasn't shifted. It has fallen off a cliff.

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Trump Gives Iran One Last Chance to Stop Poking the Bear Before Bear Remembers It's a Bear

The Iranian regime apparently mistook a ceasefire for a free trial of consequence free terrorism.

Moments after President Donald Trump hinted that Tehran might soon discover what "find out" really means, the United States Central Command announced a round of precision strikes against Iranian military targets. Somewhere in Tehran, government officials were reportedly shocked to learn that repeatedly launching attack drones at cargo ships is not considered a recognized form of diplomacy.

According to CENTCOM, "U.S. aircraft struck Iranian missile and drone storage locations and coastal radar sites after Iran hit M/V Ever Lovely on June 25 with a one way attack drone. The Singapore flagged cargo ship was exiting the Strait of Hormuz along the Omani coast at the time of Iran’s attack."

Apparently the ayatollahs interpreted "ceasefire" to mean "fire a little less often."

"The unwarranted aggression against commercial shipping by Iranian forces clearly violated the ceasefire. Furthermore, Iran’s dangerous behavior undermined freedom of navigation as commerce increasingly flows through the vital international trade corridor," the statement continued, adding that the American "military remains present and vigilant to ensure all aspects of the agreement with Iran are adhered to, obeyed, and in full force and effect."

In other words, we wrote the rules down. Iran immediately tried eating the rulebook.

CENTCOM also emphasized that American forces continue escorting commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz while making sure Iran remembers that agreements generally work better when both sides pretend to follow them.

Trump appeared thoroughly unimpressed by Tehran's latest performance.

"Well, you'll find out," he told reporters in the Oval Office after an event highlighting the Trump administration's Religious Liberty Commission report.

"I don't like the fact that they took a shot yesterday, actually four, we knocked down three at a ship, not an allied ship, but a ship, a very expensive ship, and it was fine, but it took a little beating. They shouldn't be doing that, so you'll find out," he added.

For students of Trump diplomacy, "you'll find out" ranks somewhere between "wrong move" and "FAFO" on the international relations scale.

Earlier Friday, Trump posted on Truth Social that the attack amounted to "a foolish violation of our Ceasefire Agreement."

"The Islamic Republic of Iran shot at least four One Way Attack Drones at Ships transversing the Strait of Hormuz," he wrote. "One of the Drones solidly hit the upper deck of a large and very expensive Cargo Carrying Ship. Damage was done, but the Ship was able to proceed on its way. We knocked down three other Drones."

The strikes came only days after Washington and Tehran signed a memorandum of understanding intended to cool tensions. Iran celebrated the agreement by immediately testing whether anyone had actually read it.

Following a meeting with Republican senators earlier this week, Trump sounded optimistic about negotiations.

"Iran is being very nice they're agreeing to everything I want, and they have to. Otherwise we just go back and do what we have to do."

As it turns out, "what we have to do" was not left open to much interpretation.

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Judge Declines Defense's Creative Attempt to Make the Death Penalty Magically Disappear On the Charlie Kirk Shooting

Defense attorneys apparently hoped that if they complained loudly enough about a prosecutor's media comments, the potential death penalty would simply vanish. A Utah judge wasn't buying it.

The alleged assassin of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, a scumcrumpet named Tyler Robinson, remains eligible for the death penalty if convicted of aggravated murder after Judge Tony Graf Jr. rejected what amounted to the legal equivalent of asking for a do-over because the other side said something impolite.

The judge found Deputy Utah County Attorney Christopher Ballard in civil contempt for crossing the line during media interviews. Ballard improperly expressed confidence in the overall strength of the case against Robinson, violating a court order limiting public comments, proving he's not the brightest nor the best of attorneys.

That did not mean the prosecution should lose its ability to seek capital punishment, it just means Ballard needs to keep his mouth shut when he's supposed to.

"The court finds that striking the death penalty is grossly disproportionate to the misconduct and legally unavailable in this civil contempt framework," Graf ruled.

Translation: Nice try.

Robinson is accused of fatally shooting Charlie Kirk during a Turning Point USA event at Utah Valley University in September 2025. According to prosecutors, the evidence goes well beyond a single bullet fragment, despite defense efforts to suggest otherwise.

The dispute centered on forensic evidence involving Robinson's grandfather's rifle. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives determined that the bullet fragment recovered from Kirk could neither definitively identify nor eliminate the rifle as the source because the tool mark analysis was inconclusive. Defense attorneys eagerly promoted that finding as though it were an exoneration.

Not so fast.

The bullet caliber matched the rifle, and investigators also matched a spent shell casing to the weapon. Prosecutors argued they were merely correcting a misleading narrative after headlines falsely implied the firearm had been ruled out altogether.

Judge Graf largely agreed that prosecutors were allowed to "set the record straight." Where Ballard got into trouble was adding his own opinion about Robinson's guilt instead of simply correcting the record.

Rather than imposing the judicial equivalent of a lightning strike on the prosecution, Graf ordered an expanded jury selection process to ensure prospective jurors can remain impartial.

The courtroom battle has increasingly resembled a public relations war. Prosecutors accuse the defense of planting misleading claims through carefully crafted court filings designed to generate favorable headlines. The defense, in turn, accuses prosecutors of "hubris" for responding publicly.

Everyone seems eager to litigate the case on cable news before it reaches a jury.

Robinson has not yet entered a plea and is expected to do so only after his preliminary hearing, which is scheduled for early July. He will continue appearing remotely from jail while both sides keep arguing over microphones almost as much as they argue in the courtroom.

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White House Condemns 'Targeted Sabotage' of Reflecting Pool as Repairs Pushed Past July 4 Celebration

Ah, America, land of the free, home of the brave, and apparently also the preferred target range for every half-witted malcontent with a pocketknife and a grudge against beauty itself. In a development that would shock no one who has been paying attention to the ongoing national nervous breakdown, the White House has revealed that our beloved Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool was subjected to what can only be described as an act of aquatic terrorism by the sort of people who look at a shimmering monument to greatness and think, "Yes, this needs more garbage and vandalism."

A court document released by the White House shows that the National Park Service plans to drain the reflecting pool yet again after Independence Day to fix the mess left by these champions of civil discourse. According to the filing, on June 9, U.S. Park Police rolled up to discover that someone had taken a "sharp knife or razor" to the caulk over the foam sealant and engaged in the "destruction of delaminating surface material." As if that weren't enough artistry for one evening, approximately 70 fence post tops were thoughtfully thrown into the water, turning a symbol of reflection into a junk drawer.

This comes, of course, after more than two months of renovations ordered by President Donald Trump, because nothing says "Make America Beautiful Again" like watching your hard work get sliced up by people who probably think spray-painting slogans on war memorials is performance art.

Lands said NPS plans to drain the reflecting pool to conduct repairs, including "assessing and repairing any damage to the lining," and will begin "following the Independence Day celebration."Washington, D.C., is gearing up for massive crowds celebrating America's 250th anniversary, but the festivities have been complicated by these additional masterpieces of progressive self-expression. The National Mall has been adorned with "8647" markings, which the administration correctly reads as the restaurant slang for "eighty-six" meaning "get rid of," paired with 47 for the 47th president. Subtle as a brick through a window.

"It wasn't until several days thereafter that there were recurring cases and videos of people ripping at the coating began to circulate." (Department of the Interior) (Department of Interior)In another act of high-minded protest, some visionary used his own blood to write "I've come" on the Washington Monument. Deep stuff. Really makes you feel the intellectual weight of the resistance.

The White House reports that seven individuals have been arrested in connection with the reflecting pool caper, seven more received federal citations, and 18 police reports were filed. This week, U.S. Park Police released video of a suspect kneeling by the pool and reaching in, because apparently the revolution will be livestreamed in low-resolution security footage.

The White House released a statement on Thursday, positing "this isn’t random mischief – it’s targeted sabotage by anti-American crackpots who despise a strong, proud, and beautiful country."

The White House called the alleged vandals "crazed and deranged lunatics [who] have once again exposed their hatred for America with a cowardly, deliberate attack on one of our nation’s most iconic landmarks."
And there you have it, ladies and gentlemen. While President Trump tries to restore some dignity and splendor to the nation's capital, the usual suspects respond by knifing sealants and chucking fence parts like particularly untalented performance artists. These are not misunderstood youths expressing dissent.

These are the spiritual descendants of people who would have complained that Mount Rushmore needed more graffiti. Happy almost 250th birthday, America. Try not to let the lunatics ruin the punch bowl.

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Marco Rubio Says the Quiet Part Out Loud About Iran's Ruling Fanatics

One of the more refreshing things about Secretary of State Marco Rubio is that he doesn't waste everyone's time pretending obvious things aren't obvious. In a political world where diplomats often communicate in layers of carefully polished mush, Rubio looked at the ruling regime in Tehran and described it with refreshing accuracy.

"Religious-theocratic lunatics."

That's a reasonably concise description of a government run by radical clerics who have spent decades funding terrorism, threatening America's allies, chanting "Death to America," and treating basic human rights like optional suggestions.

While speaking during his Middle East trip on Thursday, Rubio was asked whether he still stood by those remarks.

"You used to call them religious theocratic lunatics," a reporter said. "Do you still believe that language applies to the leadership today?"

Rubio didn't blink.

"Well, look, it's not that I believe it. It's the fact of the matter," the Secretary of State replied. "I mean, the Iranian system is led by clerics, radical clerics. That's what it's always been led by, and that's what it continues to be led by. That said, we also have to manage the geopolitics of the situation. And if they've changed their mindset or if they've changed their approach to their relations with the United States and their neighbors, then we're going to give this thing a chance to work."

How novel--the truth be told.

That's about as sensible as foreign policy gets. Recognize reality first. Explore diplomacy second. Don't confuse wishful thinking with evidence.

The Secretary of State continued: "Maybe this changed. I'm not saying it has. I'm saying the president wants to explore whether that's the case. And if it has, we're going to find out. But we're not going to find out because of what they say. We're going to find out because of what they do. We're going to judge them by their actions."

Imagine that. Judging the Iranian regime by its actions instead of its press releases. What a concept.

The Trump administration is trying to reassure America's Middle Eastern allies that Iran will be handled appropriately following last week's memorandum of understanding. That's understandable, because Tehran hasn't exactly been behaving like a government eager to join the civilized world as much as they appear to want to destroy it in order to welcome in the Twelfth Imam.

Instead, Iran has continued acting as though it somehow has leverage. During negotiations in Switzerland over the weekend, the regime reportedly treated American negotiators with its usual mix of arrogance and theatrical contempt. Then on Thursday, it attacked a cargo vessel attempting to transit the Strait of Hormuz using a route that wasn't blessed by the ayatollahs.

That's less the behavior of a government seeking peace than one testing how much mischief it can get away with before someone reminds it that actions have consequences.

President Trump has repeatedly insisted that Iran holds no cards. Fair enough, but there comes a point where the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism has to stop being told where the line is and start discovering that crossing it carries a price.

Everyone wants peace. Rational people always do, which obviously leaves out the Iranian Regime.

The problem is that peace only works when both sides value it. The Iranian regime has spent nearly half a century demonstrating that what it respects isn't goodwill or carefully worded diplomatic communiqués. It respects strength.

Rubio's blunt assessment may offend the professional pearl-clutchers in Washington, but pretending the ayatollahs are misunderstood statesmen has never produced results. Calling reality by its proper name is a much better place to start.

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