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Iran Update, October 17, 2025

Hawthorne Abendsen III ✝🇺🇸🇮🇱🇺🇦🇹🇼😺🎷 @jasmius.bsky.social · 2h

"The Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) reported that Iranian activity around Esfahan Nuclear Technology Center (ENTC)’s underground facilities indicates that Iran is not attempting to retrieve centrifuges or uranium stocks." understandingwar.org/research/mid...

Iranian Supreme National Security Council Secretary Ali Larijani met with Vladimir Putin, likely to discuss sanctions evasion.

Why Zohran Mamdani’s Anti-Israel Politics Matters | National Review

Hawthorne Abendsen III ✝🇺🇸🇮🇱🇺🇦🇹🇼😺🎷 @jasmius.bsky.social · 3h

"To call Israel an apartheid state, on the grounds of how it treats people outside of its own national borders, makes sense only if you think those borders must be erased." www.nationalreview.com/corner/why-z...

His message and governing attitudes, as the man in charge of the nation’s largest police force, have real consequences for the safety of Jewish New Yorkers.

Josh Shapiro’s Destructive Energy Policies Spill Across the Border | National Review

Hawthorne Abendsen III ✝🇺🇸🇮🇱🇺🇦🇹🇼😺🎷 @jasmius.bsky.social · 3h

"The Pennsylvania governor’s approach to electricity is fueling a crisis in New Jersey." www.nationalreview.com/2025/10/josh...

The Pennsylvania governor’s approach to electricity is fueling a crisis in New Jersey.

Why We Still Whisper | National Review

Hawthorne Abendsen III ✝🇺🇸🇮🇱🇺🇦🇹🇼😺🎷 @jasmius.bsky.social · 3h

"[A] new political correctness has emerged on the [MAGA left] that demands political conformity and punishes dissent with the same ferocity that defined 'progressive' cancel culture." www.nationalreview.com/2025/10/why-...

A new political correctness is emerging on the right.

The Case for a Second Front in the War on Fentanyl | National Review

Hawthorne Abendsen III ✝🇺🇸🇮🇱🇺🇦🇹🇼😺🎷 @jasmius.bsky.social · 3h

"It is time for a maximum pressure campaign targeting the Chi[Comm] entities fueling America’s fentanyl epidemic."

Which does not include incinerating innocent non-Venezuelan fishing boats in the Caribbean when Venezuela isn't even a source of fentanyl. www.nationalreview.com/2025/10/the-...

Follow the money — specifically, the role of Chinese gangs in cleaning cartel cash.

Why So Many Military Leaders Are Leaving Early (w/ Mark Hertling)

Hawthorne Abendsen III ✝🇺🇸🇮🇱🇺🇦🇹🇼😺🎷 @jasmius.bsky.social · 3h

"[T]he sudden early retirement of Admiral Alvin Holsey raising concerns about U.S. military strikes in the Caribbean." www.thebulwark.com/p/why-so-man...

Bill Kristol and General Mark Hertling discuss the sudden early retirement of Admiral Alvin Holsey raising concerns about U.S.

Sarah Longwell: Trump’s DOJ Goes After Bolton—For Doing What Trump Did

Hawthorne Abendsen III ✝🇺🇸🇮🇱🇺🇦🇹🇼😺🎷 @jasmius.bsky.social · 3h

"John Bolton’s indictment [and] Trump’s continued efforts to target political foes." www.thebulwark.com/p/sarah-long...

Sarah Longwell joins Nicolle Wallace on ‘Deadline: Whitehouse’ to take on John Bolton’s indictment, Trump’s continued efforts to target political foes, and what the Young Republicans’ obscene group ch...

Why shouldn’t Senate Republicans end the filibuster?

Hawthorne Abendsen III ✝🇺🇸🇮🇱🇺🇦🇹🇼😺🎷 @jasmius.bsky.social · 3h

"Why shouldn’t Senate [Trump]licans end the filibuster?"

Oh, they will, @allahpundit.bsky.social - when Trump wants and tells them to end it.

He's not doing that now because he wants this shutdown to last as long as possible. thedispatch.com/newsletter/b...

Full Duma

thedispatch.com

Hawthorne Abendsen III ✝🇺🇸🇮🇱🇺🇦🇹🇼😺🎷 @jasmius.bsky.social · 3h

"The [regime] is blurring the lines of the difference between defense and domination — at home and abroad." www.lincolnsquare.media/p/the-lincol...

The Lincoln Logue | White House Calls Dems Terrorists While Bombing the Caribbean

The administration is blurring the lines of the difference between defense and domination — at home and abroad.

www.lincolnsquare.media

Hawthorne Abendsen III ✝🇺🇸🇮🇱🇺🇦🇹🇼😺🎷 @jasmius.bsky.social · 3h

"After Putin’s phone call and Zelenskyy’s visit, Ukraine’s European allies need to break Donald Trump’s Russia fixation." www.thenextmove.org/p/budapest-g...

Budapest Gambit: Europe’s Trump Card on Russia and Ukraine

After Putin’s phone call and Zelenskyy’s visit, Ukraine’s European allies need to break Donald Trump’s Russia fixation.

www.thenextmove.org

Hawthorne Abendsen III ✝🇺🇸🇮🇱🇺🇦🇹🇼😺🎷 @jasmius.bsky.social · 3h

"I wrote an article documenting how Donald Trump and MAGA wanted to turn Charlie Kirk into a martyr in order to launch an authoritarian takeover of America, so these recent actions should come as no surprise." www.stridentconservative.com/as-predicted...

As predicted, Trump is using death of Charlie Kirk to destroy free speech - The Strident Conservative ™

Using Marco Rubio as his thought police, Donald Trump is using the death of Charlie Kirk to advance his longstanding war on free speech.

www.stridentconservative.com

Hawthorne Abendsen III ✝🇺🇸🇮🇱🇺🇦🇹🇼😺🎷 @jasmius.bsky.social · 19h

Just when I manage to pull out, they pull me back in.

They just had to make this a journey. It's like a particularly cruel screenwriter is composing this saga to make it even more dramatic and, eventually, even more crushingly disappointing.

One to go. www.youtube.com/watch?v=bT_z...

Eugenio Suárez's CLUTCH GRAND SLAM makes the difference for the Mariners in Game 5 of the ALCS! 😳

YouTube video by MLB

www.youtube.com

Hawthorne Abendsen III ✝🇺🇸🇮🇱🇺🇦🇹🇼😺🎷 @jasmius.bsky.social · 1d

"Playoff series don’t always come down to who was the better team."

But it does in this instance.

Getting blown out in one game is a fluke.

Getting blown out twice in a row is a trend. sports.mynorthwest.com/mlb/seattle-...

Pitching pounded as Seattle Mariners back to even in ALCS

No matter what occurs in Game 5 on Friday, the Seattle Mariners will have to travel north of the border once more to try to close out the ALCS.

sports.mynorthwest.com

Hawthorne Abendsen III ✝🇺🇸🇮🇱🇺🇦🇹🇼😺🎷 @jasmius.bsky.social · 1d

"Russian [dictatorial] Aide Yuriy Ushakov attempted to obfuscate Russia’s deliberate attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure in his statement on the October 16th Trump-Putin call." understandingwar.org/research/rus...

Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, October 16, 2025

US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke on the phone on October 16 and had a "very productive" phone call.

Iran Update, October 16, 2025

Hawthorne Abendsen III ✝🇺🇸🇮🇱🇺🇦🇹🇼😺🎷 @jasmius.bsky.social · 1d

"Iranian [dicator] Adviser to the Supreme Defense Council Ali Shamkhani’s recent remarks on Iran’s missile doctrine and nuclear posture highlight an ongoing internal debate about the regime’s military strategies." understandingwar.org/research/mid...

Iraqi fighters likely assassinated Iraqi Sunni Sovereignty Alliance candidate and Baghdad Provincial Council member Safaa al Mashhadani.

How Did California Spend Billions on Homelessness Only for It to Get Worse? Two New Criminal Cases Offer a Clue | National Review

Hawthorne Abendsen III ✝🇺🇸🇮🇱🇺🇦🇹🇼😺🎷 @jasmius.bsky.social · 1d

“The two criminal cases announced is only the tip of the iceberg and we intend to aggressively pursue all leads and hold anyone who broke any federal laws criminally liable.” www.nationalreview.com/news/how-did...

The investigations that led to the arrests are just the beginning, U.S. Attorney Essayli said. ‘Accountability begins today.’

New Jersey’s Wind Debacle | National Review

Hawthorne Abendsen III ✝🇺🇸🇮🇱🇺🇦🇹🇼😺🎷 @jasmius.bsky.social · 1d

"Governor Phil Murphy brought a European-style energy strategy to New Jersey and got European-style results." www.nationalreview.com/2025/10/new-...

Governor Phil Murphy brought a European-style energy strategy to New Jersey and got European-style results.

Hegseth Demanded They Sign a Pledge or Get Out. She Left. (w/ Mallory Shelbourne)

Hawthorne Abendsen III ✝🇺🇸🇮🇱🇺🇦🇹🇼😺🎷 @jasmius.bsky.social · 1d

"DoD’s new 'pledge' that forced dozens of journalists to turn in their badges....how Pete Hegseth’s team clamped down on press access, why even [MAGA] outlets refused to sign, and what this means for [former] freedom of the press in America." www.thebulwark.com/p/hegseth-de...

Joe Perticone talks with Pentagon reporter Mallory Shelbourne about the Defense Department’s new “pledge” that forced dozens of journalists to turn in their badges.

Breaking: Trump’s Former National Security Adviser John Bolton Indicted

Hawthorne Abendsen III ✝🇺🇸🇮🇱🇺🇦🇹🇼😺🎷 @jasmius.bsky.social · 1d

"[T]he indictment of John Bolton by a federal grand jury in Maryland. Bolton is accused of sharing classified information with his wife and daughter over email — a move that raises questions about selective justice and the politicization of law enforcement." www.thebulwark.com/p/breaking-t...

Sam Stein and Tim Miller take on the indictment of former National Security Adviser John Bolton by a federal grand jury in Maryland.

Meet The Man Who Trolled ICE

Hawthorne Abendsen III ✝🇺🇸🇮🇱🇺🇦🇹🇼😺🎷 @jasmius.bsky.social · 1d

"....after a face off with officers turned from singing a rendition of ‘Do You Think I’m Sexy’ by Rod Stewart to a bombardment of pepper-spray projectiles and being pulled into the ICE facility for detainment." www.thebulwark.com/p/meet-the-m...

Tim Miller is joined by Robby Roadsteamer to discuss his recent arrest at the ICE facility in Portland, Oregon, after a face off with officers turned from singing a rendition of ‘Do You Think I’m Sexy...

Trump: "I'm not sure I'm gonna be able to make heaven"

Hawthorne Abendsen III ✝🇺🇸🇮🇱🇺🇦🇹🇼😺🎷 @jasmius.bsky.social · 1d

"Donald Trump’s strange, childlike theology — a worldview where heaven is a reward for 'winning' and faith is just another [corrupt] transaction."

See Matthew 7:15-23. www.thebulwark.com/p/trump-im-n...

JVL and Will Saletan take on Donald Trump’s strange, childlike theology — a worldview where heaven is a reward for “winning” and faith is just another transaction.