Mr. Trump, Sir, Bibi Is Making You Look Bad

Trump only ever does the right thing (occasionally) for the wrong reasons. Maybe he won't appreciate being humiliated by his Israeli counterpart!

United States President Donald Trump said on Monday that Hezbollah and Israel have agreed to halt hostilities in a major de-escalation effort after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered attacks on the southern suburbs of Beirut on Monday.

Netanyahu’s office on Monday said attacks on Beirut would proceed if Hezbollah continued attacks on Israeli cities, while military operations in southern Lebanon would continue as “planned”.

It seems Trump set the line at Beirut, but that doesn’t really solve the little Iran issue. 

Trump's people have continued the Biden practice of telling Axios how mad they are at Netanyahu. That, without consequences, gets silly very quickly!

Happy Hour

 Get happy

Have Some Passwords

I suspect we are going to have so many "AI"-related security issues. Aside from allowing for password theft,  I am quite sure they are eating lots of sensitive private data and just making it accessible to public queries. 

I Didn’t Want To Go To My Party Anyway

I admit I am a bit curious about why they couldn't get anyone for Trump's party. Or, maybe, I think others should be a bit curious.

It wasn't that long ago that we were assured that there would be a full MAGA conquest of the culture. Some performers object for personal political reasons, but others have decided that it would be brand poison.

Why would Trump association be brand poison with all those MAGAs lining up to spend money?

About That Deal

I am starting to think we can always take Trump at his word about what is happening 

...er I meant can't.  I blame airplane wifi.

Is It Too Late To Get In On This

Could've helped the retirement fund.

At least $2 million in settlements has been agreed to after employees and other critics were fired or penalized over their posts about Charlie Kirk following his killing.

It was brief, but that was maybe the most absurd period of all. Kudos to The Kids who took over the internet with Charlie memes and highlighted what a joke the efforts to canonize him were. 

Lie Back And Think Of Donams

 Stock futures up!

The US carried out what it said was “self-defense” strikes in Iran over the weekend – as President Donald Trump sent back changes to a proposed deal to extend the existing ceasefire in the region and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

The weekend strikes in Iran targeted Iranian radar and command and control sites and were a response to “aggressive Iranian actions that included the shootdown of a US MQ-1 drone that was operating over international waters,” US Central Command said Sunday night.

“US fighter aircraft swiftly responded by eliminating Iranian air defenses, a ground control station, and two one-way attack drones that posed clear threats to ships transiting regional waters,” Central Command said.

Meanwhile, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed to have struck a US air base used to launch an attack on a telecommunications tower on Iran’s Sirik Island, according to a statement carried by several Iranian state-run news outlets.

Morning

Badass Monday.

Happy Hour

Get thee to happiness. 

Totally Badass

Memories

The reason they made their announcement and explained their reasoning as a group, in an op-ed in The Washington Post, is because they had already formed a bond over their national security background – especially the five women: Elissa Slotkin of Michigan and Abigail Spanberger of Virginia, both ex-CIA officers; Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania who was in the Air Force; Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey and Rep. Elaine Luria of Virginia were Naval officers.

They met on the 2018 campaign trail as first time candidates who kept bumping into each other at events with mutual donors and supporters.

When they got to talking, these five would-be congresswomen realized that they had a lot in common, despite being from different parts of the country: they all had careers in national security they were trying to parlay into elected office.

They became fast friends, and called themselves the “badasses.”

“I think badasses kind of came organically from the group since we all had either served in the military or in the CIA,” Houlahan said.

Prat

I love this city so much that I will leave it if I'm not its ruler and protagonist.

"If Karen Bass gets re-elected or Nithya [Raman] gets elected, I will be done with trying to live in LA."

[Mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt doubled down on his threat, and said when he wins the lawsuit, he's packing up to find a new American Dream.

One maddening thing about Andrew Cuomo was that even if you set aside all of the OTHER MADDENING THINGS, the dude fucking hates New York City. 

At Least The War Is Over

 Or not.

The US and Iran are far from any agreement at the moment, says Mohammad Eslami, a professor at the University of Tehran.

“Donald Trump is trying to reduce the pressure on the global market and also reduce the pressure on the American equity market. However, the realities on the ground and the realities at the negotiating table are far from any agreement right now,” Eslami told Al Jazeera, speaking from Tehran.

“The Americans are still addicted to their fantasies regarding their requests of irreversible actions from the Iranians while they cannot offer irreversible actions to the Iranians. So I think that the situation is very fragile.”

More Like This

I don't have much hope that there will ultimately be justice in this case as there are too many obvious hurdles, but it is important to put some fear of consequences into ICE agents.

Law enforcement officials on Friday arrested an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent accused of shooting a Venezuelan immigrant this year and lying about it.

The agent, Christian J. Castro, 52, was caught in Texas after investigators from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension tracked him down, according to the Hennepin County attorney’s office, which had charged him this month with four counts of second-degree assault. He faces an additional charge of filing a false police report.

That they are all operating under the belief that there could be no consequences has been a bit of a problem!

Morning

Sunday Funday.

When The World Briefly Ended

Future historians and people will find it puzzling how Covid is almost entirely missing from popular culture.

Groundhog Day

It is, amusingly, one of my comfort rewatch movies. I liked this quote from Sondheim about his aborted interest in making it into a musical (which Tim Minchin did eventually).

"I'm not the first person who's thought of it. Many have. But, I feel to make a musical of Groundhog Day would be to gild the lily. It cannot be improved; it's perfect the way it is. I don't want to touch it, because it's perfect. Pretentious as that sounds."

Sylvia

The Fittest President Ever

Some bullshit but more honest than they used to be.

Not more honest, I guess, just allowing some imperfection.

At Least The War Is Over

These titles are a joke but how many times has it been?

Hours after President Donald Trump concluded a Situation Room meeting with his national security team on Iran, the White House has not indicated what – if any – decision he came to.

“The Situation Room meeting has concluded and lasted approximately two hours. President Trump will only make a deal that is good for America and satisfies his redlines. Iran can never possess a nuclear weapon,” a White House official said in a statement issued at about 6 p.m.

Morning

Slacker Saturday.