An optional historical reading recommendation for your consideration. "Relentless Strike," by Sean D. Naylor @seandnaylor.bsky.social, published in 2015. You can listen to the author talk with @jackmurphyrgr.bsky.social about his book at this link: www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzJV....
New military thriller out in June.
Journalists live for details. Nailing that the FBI Director allegedly ties one on at a club called "The Poodle Room" is the stuff of dream reporting.
"Trump presided over catastrophic mismanagement of a global pandemic. Then he led an insurrection. And then we put him back in power again...that's damning."
On the pod, @aselrod.bsky.social is great on what Trump's colossal unfitness says about our country:
newrepublic.com/article/2089...
Orwell: "The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command."
Another happy new paid subscriber to @seandnaylor.bsky.social's and @jackmurphyrgr.bsky.social's TheHighSide.substack.com and a nice hat-tip to Sean's book "Not a Good Day to Die: The Untold Story of Operation Anaconda." (Amazon Associates link: amzn.to/4clGoAK).
Premiering on @theteamhouse.bsky.social now
youtu.be/lAGPSmJASxs?...
Happy for the long-time readers. My "career" has been an irregular one to say the least. No regrets though, I've been pretty lucky all told.
In her book "Beijing Rules," @bethanyallen.bsky.social would do further reporting confirming a romantic relationship between the Chinese intelligence operative and Swalwell.
I really enjoyed talking about JSOC etc. w/ Nick Smith on The NDS Show. The episode just premiered on YouTube: youtube.com/watch?v=sEfb.... The show's website (with links to other platforms where you can catch my appearance and all the other episodes) is here:
Former CENTCOM Commander Advises Military Commanders to Refuse “Illegal” Orders
open.substack.com/pub/spytalk/...
Another happy new paid subscriber to The High Side with a message apparently intended for @jackmurphyrgr.bsky.social
(SOFREP reference is the giveaway). Thank you! We couldn't do any of this work without our paid subscribers.
In the lower right photo, the tiger looks a little out of scale.
State Department says that Iranian-backed Iraqi Shiite militiamen launched an “ambush on U.S. diplomats in Baghdad” yesterday
www.state.gov/releases/off...
All military objectives achieved. Zero political and strategic objectives achieved. = defeat
The Trump regime is trying to invent an Antifa bogeyman
Here’s my brief take on how and why the Trump regime is trying to manufacture an international “antifa” bogeyman - as quoted in the @nytimes.com:
www.nytimes.com/2026/04/09/u...
A composite image showing, at center, Corey Noel Scott, a white man with thinning dirty blonde hair and beard stubble wearing a black shot and smiling. The image of his face is up-close and in a circle with a light outline. Two other circles are floating in the image that read “PATRIOT FRONT MEMBER IDENTIFIED." That text is on a mock edit of a red, white and blue Patriot Front logo that crosses out their center fasces symbol with an X. Another floating image shows the red, white, and blue patch for Seal Team 7, which is a thin triangle facing downward with a large 7 in the center and the logo for the Navy on top of the 7, seven white stars are at the point of the triangle. All these images are sitting on top of a military group shot that’s faded in the background. The men in camo are holding up guns and a red, white and blue American flag and posing for the camera. Most soldiers are blocked by the various images except for one section where Corey Scott and Eddie Gallagher can be seen in sunglasses by the flag.
EXCLUSIVE at the newly relaunched @informant.news: We've obtained secret documents showing that a former Navy SEAL whose testimony helped overturn a war crimes case against his platoon leader has recently joined the white supremacist group Patriot Front.
www.informant.news/patriot-fron...
Hard-hitting national security and intelligence reporting of the sort @jackmurphyrgr.bsky.social and @seandnaylor.bsky.social do is exceedingly rare these days. Support their work and subscribe to @thehighside.bsky.social.
The High Side covers the dark side. Great reporting. Well-deserved recognition for @jackmurphyrgr.bsky.social and @seandnaylor.bsky.social
We (@jackmurphyrgr.bsky.social and @seandnaylor.bsky.social) are thrilled to be announced as finalists for a 2026 Deadline Club award: www.deadlineclub.org/2026-awards-.... Our entry, "Investigative Reporting on the CIA," included three articles, links to which follow:
I recently looked at an old Snowden-era document. There‘s a section about “key targets” for counterintelligence, which include ”China, Russia, Iran, Israel, Pakistan, and Cuba.”
Israel’s spying on the US is an open secret inside the IC, but it’s still striking to see what company they’re in.
New article on @thehighside.bsky.social about the rescue mission, including new information about how it went down, the extraction, and the CIA deception plan around it.
thehighside.substack.com/p/downed-f-1...
The worst people of miltwitter are big mad because @jackmurphyrgr.bsky.social was right. They also are desperately searching twitter for examples of “leftists” rooting against America and the recovery mission
Let me repeat, they are mad that Jack was right and hoping he wasn’t but mad at…
Bild Ist Donald Trump ein Sexmonster? Wahl 2016
Spiegel »Die Republikaner haben ein Naziproblem« US-Präsident Trump verwandelt Rassismus, Sexismus, Korruption und Demokratieverachtung in Tugenden, sagt der Journalist Tom Nichols. Die Republikaner hält er für politisch und moralisch ausgehöhlt. Ein Interview von Martin Pfaffenzeller 04.04.2026, 09.39 Uhr
New York Times: How Trump-Kennedy alliance is pushing thr boundaries of public health
New York Times: Legally creative, democratically dangerous: Trump's plan to twist the news Feb. 24, 2026
Untranslated headlines in German are much clearer than New York Times headlines in English
Latest Eyes On is up:
@theteamhouse.bsky.social @jackmurphyrgr.bsky.social @mickmulroy.bsky.social @mpolymer1.bsky.social
youtu.be/Jw9OacECjKc?...
Just had this from Planet Labs, the US government have asked satellite imagery providers for "voluntarily" restrictions on access to satellite imagery. Given a lot of them provide satellite imagery to the USG we can probably guess the outcome of not acquiescing to that request.
Fantastic, timely read from @atrupar.com & @thorbenson.bsky.social. Mark Jacob on the press:
“They don’t know how to react when Donald Trump says or does something that’s mentally deranged. Too often, they try to fit it into a rational frame of reference even though it’s irrational.”
🧾 is.gd/tf7IML
Agree 100% .
(Ron Fournier longtime AP bureau chief in DC.)
