Worth Knowing, Probably Not Quite Threadworthy 7/24

[SVPete]

Secret Service suspends agent accused of leaking JD Vance’s travel details

https://nypost.com/2026/07/23/us-news/secret-service-suspends-agent-accused-of-leaking-jd-vances-travel-details/

WASHINGTON — A Secret Service agent suspected of leaking details about Vice President JD Vance’s travel has been placed on administrative leave pending an internal investigation.

The unidentified agent is believed to have been a source for an MS Now story published last week that claimed Vance’s protective detail was frustrated with the second family’s habit of making last-minute travel arrangements and special requests.

“A member of the Vice Presidential Protective Division is the subject of an administrative investigation, and potential criminal inquiry, involving allegations of compromising operational and information security,” a Secret Service spokesperson told The Post Thiursday(sic).

The Secret Service has been self-beclowning.

[SVPete]

Ukraine Declares War on Wildberries (Really)

https://pjmedia.com/vodkapundit/2026/07/24/ukraine-declares-war-on-wildberries-really-n4955403

Residents of St. Petersburg woke up Friday to find their Wildberries on fire, following a series of Ukrainian drone strikes on Russia's largest online retailer. The Associated Press sold the attacks as "hurting small businesses and bringing the war home," but there's more to it than that.

Often called "the Russian Amazon," Wildberries has only grown in importance after four-plus years of war.

When I first read earlier this week that Kyiv had taken out two massive Wildberries facilities near Moscow, I assumed it was part of a wider campaign to bring the war home to typical Russians. But military analyst Chris O. called it "a huge disaster for the Russian economy" because Wildberries is "one of the most structurally important companies in the Russian economy."

In addition to the material losses to Wildberries customers and third-party sellers, the company also serves as a "key channel for dual-use material and non-lethal supplies for soldiers at the front – drones, spare parts, night vision equipment, boots, uniforms, generators, and so on."

Serhii Kuzan, chairman of the Ukrainian Center for Security and Cooperation, told the BBC this week that Wildberries is “a vital component” of Russia’s military logistics system, and United24 noted that "disrupting its distribution infrastructure could affect the supply of critical dual-use goods to Russia’s defense sector."

Willingly or coerced, Widlberries is part of Russia's military logistics, and thus made itself a valid target for Ukraine. Maybe some Russian consumers and business people affected by the Wildberries attacks will understand that Putin did this to them by invading Ukraine. FAFO, drone style.

[SVPete]

Elon Musk Blasts Both Barrels, Reloads, and Fires Again

https://hotair.com/david-strom/2026/07/24/elon-musk-blasts-both-barrels-reloads-and-fires-again-n3817293

Elon Musk certainly knows how to grab you by the eyeballs and make you listen as he drops truth bombs on you. He may be the most interesting man in the world, although he doesn't have quite the dashing good looks and smooth demeanor of the Dos Equis man.

As an autist, he doesn't have the kind of slick charm and devilish demeanor of a Svengali who can charm you into anything. He has, instead, a keen intellect, an almost-charming bluntness, and an ability to see into dimensions of reality that are invisible to most of us.

Combine that with a willingness to say things that need to be said, even when they hurt, and Musk becomes the most important man in the world. He just might be the savior of Western Civilization.

He recently sat down with Zanny Minton Beddoes, the Editor of the British magazine The Economist, the Voice of The Establishment. And as The Establishment has become the "Enemy of the People," as Trump so directly and rightly says, The Economist is one of those oh-so-civilized voices of evil, along with The New York Times and the rest of Pravda.

In 90 Minutes, our WASPy interviewer tried again and again to box Musk in and establish that he is an agent of the "Far Right" proto-fascist political movement they so desperately want to imagine, and Musk threw it all right back in her face.
...

ABSOLUTE MIC DROP FROM ELON ON DOGE!!!!

 Elon Musk: "ZERO died because of DOGE. Zero point zero!" 

"When funding is stopped for a fraudulent organization, or for something do you think they're going to say,"Will you please keep funding the fraud!'

Or do you think they're going to come up with a sad story that sounds sympathetic in order to get the funding restored?

Obviously it will be the latter and that's exactly what they did!!!"

LIBERAL WHITE WOMAN: "The cuts certainly caused unnecessary suffering!"

Elon Musk: "No." 

LIBERAL WHITE WOMAN: "You don't buy that at all?!" 

Elon Musk: "It caused a lot of complaining!" 

LIBERAL WHITE WOMAN: "You don't believe any kid in Africa died because of the suddenness with which...

Elon Musk: Zero! How many NGOs could step in? There are literally tens of thousands of NGOs. The Gates Foundation has FIFTY BILLION! What about them? What about any number of organizations?!"

[SVPete]

IRS boss Frank Bisignano has been accused of corporate spying — here’s what his old employer JPMorgan thinks

https://nypost.com/2026/07/23/business/irs-boss-frank-bisignano-has-been-accused-of-corporate-spying-heres-what-his-old-employer-jpmorgan-thinks/

Frank Bisignano allegedly spied on colleagues and misused company funds during his stint at JPMorgan Chase more than a decade ago.

Those, at least, were the most sensational accusations in a lengthy Wall Street Journal report this week on Donald Trump’s IRS chief, who spent years at the big bank in various senior positions including co-chief operating officer working directly under CEO Jamie Dimon.

Given the gravity of the story, I called JPMorgan, which had previously called Bisignano “a trusted adviser for years who we have known for decades and who is distinguished for his grit and determination. We applaud his service to our country both at the Social Security Administration and the IRS.” I then spoke to a senior JPMorgan executive who has firsthand knowledge of these more-than-a-decade-old claims.

He said the “bank looked into the allegations of spying and misuse of funds and found no evidence of wrongdoing.”
A spokeswoman for the Journal said: “Our reporting is accurate, thoroughly vetted, and backed by multiple knowledgeable sources. We stand behind the story.”

Hit piece against a Trump official based on annoymorous sources? How many times have we heard this story before?

[SVPete]

Rhode Island Democrat Issues ‘Reckoning’ Threat to ICE, Gets an Earful in Return

https://redstate.com/wardclark/2026/07/24/rhode-island-democrat-issues-reckoning-threat-to-ice-gets-an-earful-in-return-n2204723

Remember when Democrats even made a pretense of civility in their dealings with anyone on the other side of the aisle? There's such a thing as an appropriate way to engage one's political opposition, not to mention how to comport yourself in ordinary civil discourse.

Rhode Island State Representative Enrique Sanchez (RI-09), who has the endorsement of the Democratic Socialists of America (he's a commie), doesn't know anything about that. He recently took to his X account to launch a foul attack on Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE), bemoaning the fact that federal law enforcement agents are actually doing their jobs.
...
But it was the response of the Department of Homeland Security that really hit the mark. Again, I won't embed, as Rep. Sanchez's foul post also comes through; the DHS message states:

Because of smears and attacks like this, our ICE officers are now facing a 1,300% increase in assaults against them as they put their lives on the line to arrest murderers, rapists, pedophiles, gang members, and terrorists. 

Instead of vilifying law enforcement, State Rep. Enrique Sanchez should be thanking our law enforcement for removing dangerous criminals like these from his state:

X posts about several violent illegals DHS has had deported

These people - and this is only a sample, DHS posted descriptions of several more - are the people Rep. Sanchez wants to protect. He wants them to remain in the United States. He wants them to continue preying on Americans. He wants their atrocious crimes - human slavery, homicide, assault, molestation, dealing drugs, and more - ignored, because he hates ICE and, most of all, he hates the Trump administration. There appears to be no criminal so loathesome that some people (Democrats) won't agitate to keep them in the United States.

All of that was probably lost on Rep. Sanchez, of course. Commies aren't known for intellectual consistency, and it seems Rep. Sanchez is no exception. But he's gone a step further than most; he is actually calling out for violence against ICE agents, claiming in his post, "Your day of reckoning will come (deleted). I swear to god."

Sanchez so set himself up to be shown to be an ignorant clown.

[SVPete]

Ukraine Declares War on Wildberries (Really)

https://pjmedia.com/vodkapundit/2026/07/24/ukraine-declares-war-on-wildberries-really-n4955403

Willingly or coerced, Widlberries is part of Russia's military logistics, and thus made itself a valid target for Ukraine. Maybe some Russian consumers and business people affected by the Wildberries attacks will understand that Putin did this to them by invading Ukraine. FAFO, drone style.

Following up on this:

1. Ukraine has continued to hit Wildberries warehouse hubs all over western Russia, plus one in Crimea.

2. The current educated guess is that Ukraine's existing program of evaluating components (electronic and mechanical) found in Russian drone and missile wreckage managed to trace something back to its manufacturer, and then through customs and chains of sales and inventory records to a Wildberries seller. Like Ukraine, Russia's military has two logistics channels: government military procurement; volunteer fundraising campaigns that purchase commodities ranging from suitable clothing and OTS body armor to drone controllers and fiberoptic drone control cable spools.

Obviously, that latter is a distributed network of purchasers, sellers, and warehouse hubs. These strikes won't cut off that supply chain permanently, but it will create uncoordinated partial deliveries, time gaps in supply, and the confusion and vulnerabilities inherent in hastily finding new sellers and warehouse hubs. More generally, the damage to the Russian economy will be significant, and Russia will have to decide whether to reallocate its SAM and AAA assets to protect Wildberries hubs (and try to guess who's next) or tolerate disruption of part of their military's supply chain.