Book Review: ARISEN Operators 1, Fall of the Third Temple
Yaël Sion does not survive the apocalypse by hoping harder; she survives it the way a cutting tool survives steel, by biting down and refusing to let go.
Military
Morning Brief: Rochester Police Ambush, UN Peacekeepers Killed, US Seizes Second Venezuelan Oil Tanker
From an ambush that wounded three Rochester police officers, to the killing of UN peacekeepers overseas, to US forces seizing sanctioned oil tankers off Venezuela, a series of escalating incidents highlights growing risks for security forces operating in unstable and increasingly contested environments.
Evening Brief: US Strikes ISIS in Syria, Russia Hits Odesa, Bellevue OIS
After a deadly ambush near Palmyra, US forces hit more than 70 ISIS targets across central Syria in a heavy retaliation strike meant to keep ISIS cells from regrouping. Russia is pounding Odesa while massing forces near Pokrovsk, and back home a Bellevue officer-involved shooting is under review by King County’s independent investigators as both the officer and suspect recover.
As I Walk Through the Valley of Death, I Shall Freak No Evil: Pin-Up 2.0
War has always had a myth side, and today’s “tactical glam” pin-up imagery sells that fantasy with real kit and lethal swagger, drawing civilians in while vets instinctively spot the gaps between the poster and the patrol.
Morning Brief: AI Power Grid Shift and Norway Military Aid: F-16 Weapons for Ukraine and Arctic Security on Jan Mayen
Federal regulators are moving to let massive AI data centers connect closer to power plants, a fast-track grid shift that could bring reliability. Norway is also stocking the shelves with consequences, funding F-16 munitions and air-defense weapons for Ukraine while tightening security rules on Jan Mayen as the Arctic heats up.
Operation Hawkeye Strike: U.S. Bombs Islamic State Strongholds in Syria
For ISIS, December 19 was the moment the desert learned, again, that America keeps receipts and collects its debts from the sky.
SIG Sauer M7 and M250: How the Army’s Next Generation Squad Weapon Program Works
Two weapons, one mission set, one ballistic brain: the M7 and M250 were built to fight as a paired system so squads can put accurate, sustained 6.8×51mm fire where it counts and keep constant pressure on the enemy.
Delta Force Vet Answers the Age Old Question: Special Forces vs Rangers, Who’s Better?
Read the entertaining account of a former Delta Force member describing the interaction between the two elite units.
What the Left Will Never Understand About Azov
You do not get to interview your defenders for ideological purity when the rockets are already inbound, you take the ones who hold the line and you judge them by what they do under fire, not by what comfortable people say about them afterward.
Evening Brief: US Navy Launches One-Way Attack LUCAS Drone, European Lawmakers Push ‘Military Schengen’ Area, Thai Jets Strike Cambodian Targets
Navy tests new attack drone as Trump eyes cannabis shift and EU wrangles Ukraine aid. Here’s what’s making headlines this Thursday evening.
The Shadow War Off Venezuela’s Coast: How U.S. Special Operators Are Quietly Shaping Operation Southern Spear
Out on the dark water where the rules get thin and the trigger gets heavy, Southern Spear is less a drug bust than a deliberate message: if you run narco-terror cargo under a cartel flag, the United States will hunt you down and end the problem at sea, not in court.
Democracy, Terror, and the Lines We Refuse to Draw
Liberal democracies did not fail because they defended themselves after 9/11, but because they spent the next two decades pretending that ideology, borders, and integration no longer mattered in a world where all three still kill people.
