Odds and Ends — 13 September 2026

As recently as last week, the Iran war appeared to be turning slightly in America’s favor. The Houthis—the Yemen-based militia that is Iran’s most formidable remaining ally in the Middle East—were under pressure from their local rivals, and the Saudi air force was pounding them with air strikes. The president of Yemen’s internationally recognized government issued a triumphant statement declaring that the Houthis’ miscalculations ‘will open the door to their complete collapse.’ With their Houthi partners wounded, Iran’s leaders would have one more reason to back down and agree to Donald Trump’s terms.
Yesterday morning, those delusions drifted away like smoke as Houthi forces broke through their enemies’ defenses and seized the towns and islands around the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, one of the most important maritime choke points in the world.

https://x.com/NAAF0Racoon/status/2098580768284881362

Politics:

Trump Defends His Support for Unified Ireland

President Donald Trump defended his remarks calling for the unification of Ireland as ‘fairly routine,’ standing by comments that have sparked a controversy in Northern Ireland.

https://x.com/Trickstersworld/status/2098715881542951094

https://x.com/Roshan_Rinaldi/status/2098926913720913984

https://x.com/adamscochran/status/2098557596974096424

Inside Trump’s Aggressive Push to Build Data Centers on Public Lands

https://x.com/LizMair/status/2098507719879618620

Stick a Fork in ‘Em

Ever since Democrats’ major overperformance in last year’s off-year elections, I’ve been saying over and over: time is a finite resource for Donald Trump and his party. If they wanted to stave off disaster in the midterms, they would need to get moving fast to woo back disaffected members of their 2024 coalition. Every day spent failing to achieve that goal was a day wasted.
Now, in the afterglow of this week’s ludicrous, somnambulant GOP midterm convention, I’m about ready to call it. Republicans are out of ideas and out of time.

https://x.com/BeingJWood/status/2098840841108222110

Paedo US diplomat seized in dawn raid on London flat and smuggled out of UK on cargo plane before cops can investigate

https://x.com/Mollyploofkins/status/2098830676602540175

https://x.com/KellDAChicago/status/2098744255850184746
https://x.com/RKing618/status/2098551696922124771

President Trump on Sunday called on his Ukrainian counterpart to halt strikes on Russian refineries, saying the attacks are causing a shortage of diesel.
Said Trump: “Zelensky has to do one thing. He has to stop knocking out diesel fuel in Russia. Let him go after targets but not diesel fuel, because he’s causing a shortage of diesel fuel.”

Good luck with that. Zelenskyy has zero incentive to comply.