Wednesday, August 05, 2026
Classy
Let's see if the "Democratic Strategist" cable news/consultant crowd can behave.
Putting your hand up to participate in democracy is no easy thing. Thank you for running, Congresswoman. Looking forward to uniting this fall to beat Mike Rogers. Because what unites us is so much bigger than what divides us. https://t.co/JbWmLPPDGZ
— Dr. Abdul El-Sayed (@AbdulElSayed) August 5, 2026
Neoconned
It's a shame Lindsey Graham isn't alive to see what his life's work has come to.
Aug 5 (Reuters) - The United States has removed counterterrorism sanctions from two aircraft and three airlines with links to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, according to details posted to the U.S. Treasury Department's website on Wednesday.
The dream was always Iran, with Iraq being the starting place, and they got what they wanted!
Every Minute
Dunno why the market wasn't thrilled.
Ever the hype man, Musk suggested thinking of SpaceX’s satellites as robots, given that “they’re autonomous and don’t need servicing.” In the not-so-distant future, Musk mused, robots will be used to scale manufacturing on the moon. From there, moon-based robots will enable SpaceX to build a mass accelerator with solar production. Even Musk admitted it all sounded “totally nuts” but claimed that it could lead the company to scale to 1,000x the economy of Earth. From there, factories will be built and robots “will be helpful with that,” Musk added.
“It sounds super sci-fi right now, but it’s going to happen,” he said.
At least reporting on Musk is a bit more skeptical than it used to be, even though his promises actually aren't more ridiculous!
Maestro Musk
SpaceX went up about 10% yesterday in anticipation of the earnings call, and prompted crashed 10% again.
Elon's running out of bullshit.
Vote Blue No Matter Who
El-Sayed was much closer than recent polls had him - perhaps (perhaps not!) because it was an open primary - but he does win.
I look forward (not really) to completely objective and normal coverage of his general election campaign. Anti-Arab and anti-Muslim bigotry runs deep in our political-media culture, as does strong opposition to anyone who doesn't recite the current approved lines about supporting Israel.
I always hope to be positively surprised, but I expect some really nasty shit, including "friendly" fire.
Tuesday, August 04, 2026
Donald Trump Is The Least Interesting Man In The World
Or at least we all ran out of insightful things to say about him about 9 years ago. We can't always predict his next step, but we know exactly what motivates him.
The truth about all narcissists is that once you get beyond whatever surface charm they have - and like many ageing narcissists, Trump has little of that left - they are extremely boring people.
W. was hardly a deep and complex person, but he had more layers than Trump. No I am not handing it to W. He was a fucking horrible president and I am mad "no one" remembers that. But he wasn't entirely empty.
Michigan Primary Day
Assuming El-Sayed wins, it's a big moment for the Sensible Centrists. Do they (many) continue their racist campaign against him, or embrace the Vote Blue No Matter Who ethos?
I expect they'll tone it down but spend months doing the "more in sorrow than in anger, I'm here to report that he just won't be able to win the general election with this latest misstep, which I will amplify on every channel..." dance.
You Fucked Up! You Trusted Us!
Someone forgot to tell Americans that FIFA is clownishly corrupt.
According to four executives at U.S. host city committees, all of whom asked to remain anonymous to protect relationships, FIFA management repeatedly assured the cities they would receive the same $1 million contribution towards legacy, despite no public statement ever being made by the organization.
The World Cup host cities in the U.S. were Seattle, San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Atlanta, Philadelphia, New York/New Jersey, Miami and Boston.
The four executives said this promise was made verbally by members of FIFA’s senior management, and reiterated to cities in meetings, but it has not been paid, meaning several cities are now asking FIFA staff for updates on the payments.
Warfighting
People mock Pete Hegseth, but if were are out of missiles then turning the troops into High T Supersoldiers is the best option.
NEW YORK/WASHINGTON, Aug 4 (Reuters) - The U.S. Army has used up much of its stockpile of highly accurate long-range missiles during its five-month war with Iran, according to three people familiar with the data, raising concerns about the military's readiness for future conflicts.
The missiles are principally the Army's surface-to-surface weapons, known as Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) and Precision Strike Missiles (PrSM). The U.S. has used "virtually all" of these weapons, according to two of the sources.
At Least The War Is Over
And I mean it this time!
War talks: President Donald Trump said it’s Iran’s “last chance” to sign a deal with the United States, after again calling off strikes and promising to continue talks. He also claimed talks between the US and Iran would start Monday and that a Strait of Hormuz deal was in place, but Iran has denied any negotiations are ongoing.
Monday, August 03, 2026
Small Pleasures
The replacements are usually worse, but one small joy we get is Trump humiliating his lickspittles.
President Donald Trump is considering removing Jeanine Pirro, the US attorney for the District of Columbia, over a Justice Department conclusion that problems with the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool stemmed from a flawed renovation rather than vandalism, two people familiar with his thinking told CNN.
No she doesn't get any credit for doing the right thing here. She had no choice.
On The Trump Train
I can't claim that nobody has benefitted from their relationship with Trump, but many get burned, especially the ones who are confident they won't.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino wants the Trump administration to help keep him in office and has scheduled private talks with Secretary of State Marco Rubio Monday amid growing pressure to resign over his scheme to sell off the World Cup to Josh Kushner’s private equity firm, The Post has learned.
Two sources familiar with the matter confirmed Infantino will hold a call with America’s top diplomat just after 9 a.m. ET.
“He wanted to get online with the secretary and talk about how soccer can be a form of soft power for America,” said one insider briefed on the matter. “But we all know that it is about job protection. It is not about anything else at this point.”
Maybe this will work out for him, but even with the Kusher connection, I suspect Trump has already forgotten him.
I Do Love The Free Market
Not that the fossil fuel industry has ever been that.
WASHINGTON, Aug 3 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump again called on oil companies to lower gasoline prices for U.S. consumers on Monday, chiding Chevron (CVX.N), opens new tab Chief Executive Mike Wirth for not crediting his administration's efforts to help the oil industry.
Trump took issue with Wirth a day after the CEO was interviewed on the Fox News program "Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo."
"The only thing he conveniently forgot to mention is that, without the genius, foresight, strength, and stability, of the TRUMP Administration, the Oil Industry, and our Country itself, would be DEAD!" Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. "As an example, they threw Mike and Chevron out of Venezuela, but now they're back, far bigger and stronger than ever before, expecting to make a fortune!"
"That goes for other Oil Companies as well ... and get your consumer (retail!) Oil Prices DOWN, NOW!" Trump wrote.
I hate how expensive things are at the oil station, that place where I buy retail oil.
Mallory
.@RepChipRoy what are you doing about it? We hear about mosques in your state more than any other, besides Michigan. We don’t need to hear your impassioned interview appearances about it; we need you guys to DO something.
— Justine Bateman (@JustineBateman) August 3, 2026
You guys run the US government.
DO something. https://t.co/ZdZpKRAs2D
This Looks Like A Job For The 101st Fighting Keyboarders
The request from a senior officer at the US military command carrying out President Donald Trump’s war with Iran came in an email: We need ideas.“We are looking for new creative and unconventional ways to pressure and punish Iran,” an officer in US Central Command’s intelligence branch wrote in a message sent Wednesday to a broad group of military analysts, according to a source familiar with the message. A second source also said that a senior US military officer sent the message last week soliciting new ideas for how to deal with Iran.
Please, Sir, Show Us Mercy
In his latest comments, Trump said Iran and US partners Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar had urged him to hold off on the strikes.
“When the allies asked to call it off, you’ve got to sort of say, ‘Well, let’s see.’ And the reason they ask is they think there’s a deal,” he said.
“There’s a deal on [the Strait of] Hormuz, and then there will be a deal on the nuclear, or you might call it the denuclearisation of Iran.”
He said Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had also urged against the strikes, warning of possible unintended consequences.
Sunday, August 02, 2026
At Least Get Better At Stitching Up Elections
If I were upset about primary successes of The Left, I'd be mad at the Professional Democrats in charge of making that not happen.
For months, Schumer and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chair Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York had made their unofficial backing of Stevens clear, inviting her to donor events and directing other support her way. Gillibrand even went so far as suggesting to several donors, ominously, that McMorrow had been a member of the Democratic Socialists of America – even though McMorrow isn’t.
Another Deal
I bet this is the one!
President Donald Trump said Saturday night that the US is canceling a planned attack on Iran, citing progress in talks.
Trump said the US “is locked and loaded and ready to go against the Islamic Republic of Iran,” but that he agreed to requests by Iran and other Middle Eastern countries “to hold off any attack in that the perimeters of a deal has been agreed to.”
"Conventional Wisdom"
I think this "conventional wisdom" was always self-serving nonsense designed to please the donor class, and the broader class of people served by their donations.
NEW: Polling of 18 Cook-rated toss-up districts shatters conventional wisdom about how to win in a swing district.
— Ravi Mangla (@ravi_mangla) July 31, 2026
Independents *and* moderates want outsider candidates who will stand up to the political establishment.
The middle of the road is where you get run over. pic.twitter.com/oVQl3SypV8
Saturday, August 01, 2026
I Can't Believe They Were Lying About That
No worries, journalists, you can still trust them presumptively next time.
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has dropped its case against a former Olympic canoeist charged in connection with damage to the Reflecting Pool, acknowledging their allegations against David “Davey” Hearn don’t hold water.
In a filing Friday afternoon, a supervisor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, which is headed by Jeanine Pirro, wrote that officials obtained information that undermined “the evidentiary basis for the indictment” against Hearn.
I know we have the problem of 'which scandal to choose' but every American should know Davey Hearn's name and hear about this for the next 15 years. Using the DOJ to go after private citizens for Trump's bullshit is actually a big deal.
That And Putting Tits On Garfield
cool use case of chatgpt work i heard last night:
— Sam Altman (@sama) July 31, 2026
connect your family calendars and explain your kids' interests.
every morning for the drive to school, have it make a podcast that talks about one kid's soccer game that afternoon, one kid's upcoming birthday, some news, etc.
Friday, July 31, 2026
Resilient
Oil prices moved higher on Friday after Iran said it attacked two tankers transiting the Strait of Hormuz.I really mean that I don't know. I have no idea!
Shrinking Tent
There was resistance, but not enraged panic. James Carville didn't throw a hissy fit every time someone to the left won a primary. It's very strange.
Making Amends
For some reason the only path to redemption for our genocide enabling ruling class is to claim they were bumbling idiots stumbling around with frowny faces, and put then themselves forward as the only possible options for the next leadership team.
Adam: Well, I mean, literally. Because you know, whenever someone’s arrested for a major crime, what’s the first thing they do? They begin to negotiate and mitigate their guilt. They can’t say they didn’t do anything, right? Because clearly they were there signing off on the bombs and telling lies in front of the press, and they’re obviously very responsible. But their job is to mitigate and get down to manslaughter two. And that’s the role of this article. It is trying to launder the reputation of Sullivan and Blinken in particular, also Jon Finer, who’s their buddy, because Sullivan has a podcast with Jon Finer. They’re friends. And the goal is to make it look like they were doing the Serpico routine. They were trying to change things from the inside. They were wearing a wire. They were secretly on the humanitarian side. And so what you get is, you get, and this is very similar to, we actually —
Nima: [Laughs] And they were so sad. They were so sad the whole time.
Adam: Well, of course, they’re constantly sad. They’re constantly shocked. Quote,
[Antony Blinken] anxiously asked his staff how Israel could justify this scale of destruction. A senior State Department official told me…
That State Department’s probably his buddy, or him himself. Quote,
“We were all shocked at how aggressive and deadly it was, and asking, ‘What the fuck are they doing?’”
Ah, so they’re constantly shocked. They’re constantly credulous. They’re constantly sort of confused.
Nima: They’re so shocked that they use bad words, Adam.
This isn't even faking being a better person. It's not having any idea how one would do that!
Put yourself on an aid flotilla, get you photo taken with Greta Thunberg. Something! Anything other than trying to launder you reputations through your elite magazine pals!
Kaleem Hawa: Yeah. I mean, it’s one of these things where anyone who’s following the story closely understands that the self-narrations that are being provided are undermined by the facts themselves. And, you know, when you have these moments where, as you mentioned, Blinken is “anxiously,” quote-unquote, asking his staff about Israel’s justifications, we know at the same time he’s blocking reports inside of his own State Department that are highlighting the atrocities.
Vote Blue No Matter Who
I could be wrong, but I do expect continued opposition to El-Sayed from certain Professional Democrats after he wins the primary.
I will happily recant and repent if I am wrong!
Rough and tumble primaries are fine and I don't care about that, but "Everybody in America understands you want to blame all of your problems on Jewish Americans" is perhaps a bit much.
Since half the internet seems to think she is, Stevens herself is not Jewish.
Thursday, July 30, 2026
Biden's Failed First Two Years
Related to this, the big untold story of the Biden administration is how he enraged a bunch of B-listers who believed it was their turn to have status and clout in the White House and were enraged when they didn't get it in his first term. With a bunch of crypto/EA funding, they promoted a narrative of failure, convinced everyone the midterms would be a disaster, and then when they weren't, kept on pretending that they had been.
So we went from Klain (good) to Zients (fucking disaster).
There was a notable shift pre-/post- midterms all based on the idea that the (pretty good!) first two years had been a big mistake! The midterm results proved the opposite (politically), but the path had been set.
Centrism can only be failed.
Sure Why Not
Real Americans love fake gold and model airplanes, only out of touch coastal elitists would dislike this.
Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino posted this video of the Oval Office and it somehow looks even more embarrassing than I realized
— Dom Ervolina (@dominicervolina.com) July 30, 2026 at 6:13 AM
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It Gets Funnier
Situational Awareness, the $20bn hedge fund founded by former OpenAI employee Leopold Aschenbrenner, has sought to raise fresh capital from investors after suffering heavy losses during the recent rout in AI stocks.
...
In a letter sent to investors on July 24 presenting the fund’s half-year results, Aschenbrenner acknowledged that the fund had “not been immune” to the market ructions, particularly in Asia, but argued that the tech sell-off had created some of the most attractive investment opportunities since early 2025.
“PS. At times we call out opportunities that seem like a particularly good time to add funds, if you have been waiting for one,” he said in the investor letter, seen by the FT, which was sent in recent days and offered the ability to invest new cash on August 1.
...
Early investors include Stripe co-founders Patrick and John Collison, former GitHub chief executive Nat Friedman and technology investor Daniel Gross. The fund has also received backing from trading firm Jane Street.
The hedge fund has operated with a skeleton staff, with only four investment professionals and a total of eight employees, according to its most recent regulatory filing. Aschenbrenner, who had no prior trading experience before starting the fund, has amassed a huge following on social media, with more than 250,000 followers on X.
.
When You're A Star
The $24 billion hedge fund founded by former OpenAI researcher Leopold Aschenbrenner is unwinding many of its trades after big losses on artificial intelligence stocks and a bad bet against software stocks left it scrambling to raise cash, according to people familiar with the matter.
Situational Awareness has sustained significant losses in recent weeks as its portfolio of AI infrastructure investments such as SK Hynix declined while short positions in software companies such as Adobe moved sharply against it, the people said.
Several of the firm’s prime brokers — including Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase —have been working with the fund as it seeks to meet margin requirements or reduce positions in an orderly fashion, according to people familiar with the discussions. The brokers have been marketing a group of the firm’s holdings on both the long and short side for sale prior to today’s start of trading, according to people familiar with the situation.
...lol:
Leopold Aschenbrenner’s hedge fund has sold all of its public stock holdings, according to people familiar with the matter.
Competing Clans
I don't think all disagreement in politics lacks greater substance, but a lot of what is presented as "centrists nobly fighting the left" is really about one faction of people, and their outriders in the broader political-media-consulting industrial complex, being worried about being displaced by people aren't supposed to be there.
It's not their place. They might trash it!
It's about their pals losing their status and power and all that comes with that (including the friends and family jobs networks).
This is most obvious in the reaction to Mamdani. Sure a lot of it is racism and generally insane pro-Israel people, but nobody not insane or bigoted thinks he's going to install full communism and Sharia Law. He doesn't even have the power to do those things even if he wanted to, given the powers of the NYC mayor.
Did all those people who supported Cuomo think he would be a good mayor? Of course not. But they thought he would keep the party going for their professional networks. They thought he would, mostly, keep the right people in positions of power, keep the pecking order at parties the same.
I don't think everyone is purely cynical. I think many people in their upper echelons of the US cannot fathom that anyone outside their little networks is competent. That's bad, but not precisely the same as calculated corrupt cynicism. It has the same result, though.
Wednesday, July 29, 2026
100% Of People Who Love Trump Still Love Him Though
We'd better interview some of them.
Trump’s overall approval rating, 34%, matches the career low he last saw at the close of his first term, following the January 6, 2021, insurrection. Half of Americans now strongly disapprove of him, a high across his terms, with a record-low 15% strongly approving.
All My Stonks Gone
Another round of the cycle.
US President Donald Trump promised retribution for an Iranian missile attack that was intercepted by US forces.
“We are going to beat the f**king sh*t out of them,” Trump told Fox News Wednesday morning.
America's Worst Human
The ideas, images and language of “The Turner Diaries” have long since entered the gestalt of far-right ideology. The book hovers there even when it isn’t mentioned. In his manifesto, for example, Dylann Roof — who murdered nine people at the Mother Emanuel Church in Charleston, S.C. — frames himself as a martyr and calls on white Americans to fight a race war against Black people.
Today, you don’t have to look far or dig deep to see the ambient influence of “The Turner Diaries” on the far right. You need just to spend a little time in the online world of the richest man on the planet, Elon Musk (although to be clear there is no direct evidence that Musk has read the book).
Kudos to Bouie for going where few in journalism do. As he says:
If there is a question to ask, then, it is this: Why does Musk get a pass? Why do politicians, journalists and commentators treat his far-right racist radicalism as a sideshow rather than the core of his political, ideological and industrial project, seen in everything from his deep support for Donald Trump in the United States and Restore Britain in Britain to his decision to construct a massive pollution-generating data center in predominantly Black Memphis, Tenn.
Musk spends a large part of his free time fomenting violence and spreading the same hateful ideology that motivated some of the deadliest shootings and attacks ever to happen on American soil. It is that fact, and not the cars he builds or the rockets he launches, that ought to define his place in public life.
And They Came To That Conclusion All By Themselves
The July 25 - 27 Economist / YouGov Poll finds that 47% of Americans think that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is guilty of war crimes in Gaza; half as many (24%) think he is not guilty. Democrats are far more likely than Republicans to believe Netanyahu is guilty (71% vs. 20%).It seems like suburban soccer moms want to arrest Netanyahu! No choice but to obey!
About half (49%) of Americans think the U.S. should arrest Netanyahu if he comes to the U.S., based on an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court; 27% think the U.S. should not arrest him. Two-thirds (68%) of Democrats want the U.S. to arrest Netanyahu, compared to only 24% of Republicans.
An Attack On His Core Business Model
Elon Musk’s xAI, now owned by SpaceX, sued Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison to challenge a law that would ban so-called nudify apps in the state.Though, being honest and not just snarky, he might even be right (I have no idea) about it being overbroad. The new internet censorship (age verification) is getting ugly. Neither Musk nor nudify apps inspire much sympathy, but doesn't mean this precise legislation is good (again, I have no idea!).
In their complaint, filed in a federal court in Minnesota on Monday, attorneys for xAI wrote that the statute “imposes an overbroad, content-based ban on free speech and the tools of visual expression in a clumsy attempt to prohibit ‘nudification.’”
The Minnesota law, which goes into effect on Saturday, targets apps and websites that give people the ability to generate non-consensual sexualized imagery, levying $500,000 fines each time a user creates explicit deepfakes. The law, passed in April, was spearheaded by Minnesota state Sen. Erin Maye Quade after she learned about a man who created sexualized images and videos of of over 80 women he knew using their social media photos without their consent.
Lawyers for xAI argued that the law violates First Amendment protections and said the penalties are too steep, potentially costing a business whose users created 100,000 prohibited images “an eye-popping $50 billion dollars.”
Tuesday, July 28, 2026
LOL
Scoop: I’m told that Ross Douthat is exiting The NYT and is expected to take a role at “60 Minutes.” News expected to be announced soon.
— Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy.bsky.social) 28 July 2026 at 20:45
Fauci Hate
I was never a Fauci superfan for various reasons, but I have never really understood precisely why The Right turned him into an object of hate. Six years later!
2 Planes
I really don't have any idea why this project would cost so much.
Boeing’s money pit of an Air Force One project just sank a little deeper.
The company said it’s making a substantial effort to get the first of two presidential planes out the door – four years later and for billions of dollars more than initially promised.
CEO Kelly Ortberg on Tuesday told employees via an internal email that the company is adding “significant resources” to deliver the heavily modified 747-8 jets by 2028. That ramp-up in production and certification resources in the Air Force One program cost Boeing an additional $280 million last quarter, the company announced in its quarterly financial statement.
The program’s cost overruns have now surpassed $3.1 billion. Boeing has agreed to foot that bill.
Thought controlled missile interceptors?
Sure Why Not
Just checking in with the Harry Potter lady.
Transphobic billionaire author J.K. Rowling has encouraged random people in the United Kingdom to photograph people in women’s restrooms just in case they are transgender. Her advice is likely to result in the public harassment of cisgender women who don’t fit people’s preconceived notions of how a cis woman “should” look — such harassment has occurred many times in the past.
In a Saturday post on X, Rowling noted that someone asked her, “How are you planning to police public toilets” in light of the recent U.K. Supreme Court ruling that the legal definition of men and women in the country’s anti-discrimination law is based on biological sex. After the ruling, the U.K.’s Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) said trans women and men “should not be permitted to use” the public restroom facilities that align with their gender.
In response, Rowling said that policing trans people in public toilets can be handled, “Quite easily, really. Decent men will stay out, as they always have, so we can assume all who don’t are a threat, given their disregard for women’s and girls’ safety, privacy and dignity. Photographing, reporting and disseminating such men’s images online will be a piece of cake.”
Moaning Myrtle was a sign of... something.
Already Signed Up
As an extremely important influencer - and renowned Musk superfan - I have had this for months and I encourage all of you to join too.
X Money, a core part of Elon Musk’s mission to turn X into an “everything app,” is rolling out starting today, 9to5Mac reports. The payment platform offers a digital wallet and peer-to-peer payments similar to Venmo, along with a metal Visa card users can emblazon with their X username. Other perks include Apple Wallet support and free money transfers on X. It also advertises “up to” a 6 percent APY, but only Premium Plus subscribers are eligible for it — standard Premium subscribers have to deposit a certain amount of money to get a “boosted” 6 percent APY.
Everyone is very impressed by my metal Visa card with my emblazoned X username.
Dealing With Our Own
The Dems are of course not perfect in dealing with bad actors in their midst, but they are, without a doubt, much much better.
Though Dems tend not to get "credit" for dealing with these things. If anything, dealing with them is an admission that is used against them.
I guarantee we'll be hearing about Platner and Swalwell - problems the Dems "dealt with," if not perfectly, forever - while, whether or not he faces any consequences, most people will never even hear of the Miller issues.
I'll leave why that is as an exercise for the reader.
Monday, July 27, 2026
Are We Doing This Again
...repeat every week until the heat death of the universe.
Gonna Be Everything
A trove of chat logs and projects created with Anthropic’s Claude — some including sensitive personal and company information — have been left exposed to Google, making them them searchable to anyone on the web. |I don't claim to know how everything works, but I haven't seen anyone explain why/how the plagiarism machine isn't just feeding your trade secrets and medical information into its training data.
The artifacts appear to have been made public when Claude users opted to distribute a given chat or project to colleagues or associates using the chatbot’s “share” feature. After hitting a “share” button in the top right corner, Claude notes that sharing will create a “public” link, and “anyone with the link can view.” The warning, though, doesn’t alert users that shared content could wind up being indexed by a search engine — meaning that a user could effectively be sharing their Claude-generated document with the entire internet.
I've noticed a lack of people asking, too.
"We'll Go Back To"
Trump says he’s ready for ‘strong military action’ if Iran talks fail President Trump tells Axios that the US is in “very deep talks” with Iran.
“If they don’t work out, we will be go back to very strong military action,” he said.
Trump said he paused attacks on Friday because the countries acting as mediators to bring an end to the US-Iran conflict asked him to. “All of the people that deal with Iran asked me: ‘Don’t fire’.”
Asked how long he was willing to give diplomacy, he said, “Not much time. Either it goes fast or not at all”.
One For The Musuem
If only there were someone with courage and credibility. How does one establish courage and credibility on a "complex and painful problem." Someone else should do something about this. Manager! Manager! There are some kids in the store who are probably up to no good! Eject them! Eject them!
Sure, Jan
The man lies like as transparently as a toddler and our journalists still haven't figured out how to deal with that (or don't want to).
Trump denied that dwindling munitions are a problem, insisting in a statement to The Wall Street Journal that “we have far more munitions than anyone in the world, and far more than we need.”
At the same time, the White House said national security would be at risk if news organizations reported updated U.S. government figures on Patriot and Thaad missile expenditures showing the high number of interceptors that have been used since the war began.
We do too have all the ammunition we need and it is treason to suggest (correctly) otherwise.
Sunday, July 26, 2026
Sure Why Not
"Cool kids on the Internet. They're doing the cool kid chatter. Some of 'em might be the coastal elites, making fun of how I talk. But let's be real. They're making fun of Michigan. They're thinking they're better than us. Their jokes, their criticism, only make me fight harder." -- Haley Stevens
— Howard Mortman (@howardmortman.bsky.social) July 25, 2026 at 8:14 PM
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Yes code switching is a thing but that is not the same as performing your own parody character. For comparison:
Ah, Well, Nevertheless
No worries, we'll be sure to print up Elon's next nonsense.
Everything He Ever Wanted
The extraordinary exchange was captured by the documentary filmmaker Alex Holder, who was granted extensive access to Graham since 2023. It provides an unvarnished look at Graham’s yearslong quest to topple the Iranian regime and the ways in which he persuaded Trump to strike, at times pushing for even more aggressive action than Netanyahu was prepared to take.He was always funny and friendly to me, personally, in the Senate, so who is to say if he was good or bad?
WSJ’s Josh Dawsey reviewed the documentary footage, filmed before Graham’s death. Here is what he learned. Photo: Caroline Gutman for WSJ
“Look what we’ve done here. I almost cried,” he tells the crew, laughing loudly just after U.S. strikes on Iran began in February. “How long have we been pushing this?”
He then tells the crew that Trump was equally happy about the war. “I talked to Trump this morning, he’s jacked, he said, ‘best thing I have ever done.’ He loves blowing stuff up.”
Running On Empty
President Trump has set aside, at least for now, plans to sharply escalate the American military assault against Iran, with particular concern that intensifying the war could dangerously drain the Pentagon’s already diminished stockpile of Patriot antimissile interceptors and other air defense munitions in the Middle East.The threat to interceptor stockpiles is one of many considerations that have made a return to major combat operations a hugely risky endeavor, administration officials say. Mr. Trump and his top aides are also uneasy about the prospect of a widening war in the Middle East, the alienation of key Gulf allies who are vulnerable to Iranian attack, a global economic crunch, and growing energy and refugee crises.
Ah so inventories are *low* low.
WASHINGTON — U.S. military commanders have been picking and choosing which Iranian missiles and explosive-packed drones to intercept and are allowing some attacks through their defenses, amid an effort to preserve the Pentagon’s diminishing supply of weapons that block projectiles from reaching their targets, two senior U.S. officials told NBC News.
Saturday, July 25, 2026
Fo Fari
Friday, July 24, 2026
What Are We Going To Talk About This Week?
Same thing we talk about every week, whatever conservatives want us to talk about it.
I am as guilty as anyone - not that I matter much - but I do wish that if people on The Left wish to discuss the new film version of The Odyssey, they would do so in their own terms, instead of as a response to Elon Musk.
That's just an example, but it applies to everything almost every week. Try driving the conversation, instead of having it be an ongoing response to whatever nonsense conservatives have puked up this week.
Sure Republicans are in charge of government so to some extent you have to respond to that, but you don't have to respond to whatever is oozing out of conservative social media that day.
Especially if, for example, you have a New York Times column.
Presidenting
Two sets of American and Saudi flags were placed on stage and on the table where Energy Secretary Chris Wright was seated. A large screen beamed in his Saudi counterpart from Riyadh. After months of delay, the arrangement was finally signed.The Saudis had won much of their wish list for the deal.But as quickly as it was announced, it seemed to fall apart. Thursday morning, Trump said in a social media post that the deal was subject to a new condition: Saudi Arabia would have to join the Abraham Accords, an initiative dating back to Trump’s first administration that led to several Arab countries normalizing their diplomatic stance toward Israel. Trump also denied that the agreement would allow uranium enrichment.The president, according to a source familiar with the matter, was already angry over the unveiling of the deal, which Wright had not told Trump he would be announcing.Trump’s frustration was then exacerbated, sources told CNN, after a flurry of criticism from experts and conservative media outlets. This included skeptical coverage on his preferred channel, Fox News, and on the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal that questioned why the deal was made absent a normalization agreement — something both outlets pointedly noted President Joe Biden had been seeking.
Every left wing shitposter since the start of Trump II: You can't make any deals with President Deals because he never thinks he is bound by them (this hardly took a genius to observe).
Numerous world leaders and corporate/university presidents: but he will make a deal with us!
The Kids Today
"Personal Toll"
Taboos are never iron laws, of course, but the world's superpower loudly and repeatedly rejecting them both in theory and in practice does have consequences.
The war has taken a personal toll on the president and some of his senior advisers. Some top aides have been advised by intelligence agencies that the Iranians are seeking to kill them and have been told to stop taking car services, according to people familiar with the matter.
Arguably pulling a "Venezeula" is a more moral course of action (not that it is moral) than bombings and ground invasions which kill or remove everybody but the leaders, but you can understand why self-interested world leaders have tended to take that option off the table.
It's Tariff Week, Again
He'll never stop fucking that chicken.
The Trump administration will impose new tariffs just after midnight ET Friday on dozens of countries over alleged forced-labor violations, according to a notice in the Federal Register.
The duties, set between 10% and 12.5%, will effectively replace President Donald Trump’s temporary 10% global tariffs, which are set to expire at the same time as the new ones take effect.
The forthcoming tariffs will apply to 60 trade partners and cover 99.4% of U.S. trade, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said in a fact sheet Thursday afternoon. The office separately told CNBC that it could not provide an estimate of how much revenue the new tariffs will generate.
Thursday, July 23, 2026
At Least The War Is Over
President Trump told Axios on Thursday that he's seriously considering restarting major combat operations in Iran — including strikes that would be bigger than the ones carried out during Operation Epic Fury.
Operation Pete Hegseth Does Have A Big Penis So Stop Laughing might happen!
President Deals
All Blown Up, Sir
The NYT looks into the damage, something that mostly shouldn't require this type of reporting.
Iranian attacks on nine U.S. locations across the Middle East in the two weeks since the cease-fire broke down show that the country maintains an ability to inflict damage on precise targets, despite the Trump administration’s repeated claims that Iran’s military capabilities have been diminished or destroyed.
A New York Times visual analysis of U.S. military bases and other sites found the strikes have caused damage to living quarters and working areas, drone shelters, radar systems and other structures.
One of the attacks, on Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan, killed three U.S. soldiers and wounded others. A military official told The Times that nearly a dozen troops were also wounded severely enough by Iranian missile and drone attacks in Jordan and other countries this month that they were flown to a U.S. military hospital in Germany for treatment.
Not that I suspect Pentagon briefings to provide immense daily detail about this stuff, but a general overview, especially when troops are injured and killed.
An Endless Bounty
I know there are 300 "should be major scandals" things every day, which makes it difficult to pick and choose, but "the Trumpers accepted bribes to blame Taco Bell wrongly for the explosive diarrhea and now you can't eat lettuce without sitting on the toilet for 2 weeks" could be one of those things Democrats never shut up about.
People like Taco Bell!
I expect this will not work out well for Taylor Farms, as "take the hit and act responsibly" generally works better long run, but our business geniuses are not always so smart!
Wednesday, July 22, 2026
You Don't Have To Hand It To Her
Nothing a certain type of person loves more than imagining they've converted a conservative.
I disagree with @LauraLoomer on 1,000 things, but I admire her willingness to rethink Ukraine and go there. One of the things we pundits aren't good at is admitting when we're wrong--let alone seeking out information that contradicts our priors. She has courage to do just that. https://t.co/1mmPnIJrSW
— Nicholas Kristof (@NickKristof) July 22, 2026
Discovery
I suspect they'll find a judge to overturn this, but funny for the moment!
Donald Trump must divulge detailed financial information from his many businesses as part of his $10bn defamation lawsuit against the British Broadcasting Corporation, a federal judge ruled during a discovery hearing on Tuesday, according to news reports.
The ruling by US magistrate judge Enjoliqué Lett could open a unique window into the hundreds of businesses owned by Trump’s family trust. It also highlights a potential drawback for Trump’s strategy of bludgeoning critical media with multibillion-dollar lawsuits.
"The president can sue anyone he wants and also the people he sues can't fight back in the normal ways" would be a likely outcome, because freedom, or something.
SUPERTRAINS
We all know being able to get from A to B quickly is nice, but I think it is underappreciated how much fast trains are like little wormhole ships. What if you could step on a train in NYC and be in Boston in an hour, with relatively inexpensive service every 5 minutes? Suddenly, NYC and Boston are effectively "next to" each other.
This train will have a trip time from Tokyo to Osaka of 67 minutes. That's half the current (already fast) time.
At some still unfixed point in the future when the magnetically levitating Linear Chuo Shinkansen train makes its first 505km per hour journey across central Japan, it will streak through Shizuoka prefecture in a little under 64 seconds.
It has taken more than a decade of wrangling for Japan to be able to say that with confidence; it will be many more years before anyone is actually boarding the train itself and likely many more years after that before people genuinely think of central Japan as the “linear economic zone” imagined by the government that is seamlessly joined by the train.
A couple of years ago, I was somewhat "amused" to learn that this project was being held up by one obstinate governor, the governor of the 64 second Shizuoka prefecture. That's the kind of problem I generally imagine is unique to the US's fractured governance and legal system.
As for how we would pay for it, well, look up the cost of your local highway interchange upgrade project.
But How Will We Pay For That
The war with Iran has cost the US some $37.5bn (£28bn) so far - an increase of nearly $8bn since the last estimate in May, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has said.
Similarly, I don't need to be a military spending expert to know that Hegseth is lying and the real cost is already multiples of that.
Indeed
As Coates said, "If you can't draw the line at genocide, you probably can't draw it at democracy."
And Then Odysseus Boards The Hyperloop To Make His Journey Faster
“Before this year ends, Grok Imagine will make a full-length movie of ‘The Odyssey’ that is historically accurate and true to the art of Homer,” Musk wrote, without offering any further details on the venture. Watch footage of the AI-generated “Odyssey” below.As someone on social media regularly jokes, the defenders of Western Civilization have yet to encounter it.
I don't know what's funnier: the idea that we will get this movie in any form, or the idea that Musk has any idea what "historically accurate and true to the art of Homer" would actually be in any meaningful sense.
Tuesday, July 21, 2026
At Least The War Is Over
AI Psychosis
There's nothing wrong with a bit of cheerleading in your workout app. I don't think I'm going to get AI psychosis from it. But it is enough to see how it can cause it a problem if it accompanies you to everything you do.
On Your Own
Israel’s far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, has described the renewed US war on Iran as the ideal outcome for Israel, provided Israelis do not have to fight it themselves."Israel has no interest in joining the campaign - the current situation is the best for us," Smotrich said on Tuesday in comments carried by Kan news.
The finally got an American president to bite.
It's Tariff Week, Again
Back in his happy place.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Monday imposed 50% tariffs on most Canadian goods, declaring that Canada has unfairly discriminated against American autos, alcohol and dairy products.
In various ways, much of the rest of the world has allowed itself to be colonized by the US, and perhaps they should all read the Declaration. I still remember the beginning bit from memorizing it in 5th grade:
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
It doesn't all apply, of course, but there are some relevant bits.
Monday, July 20, 2026
Piss Christ
A New York sculptor has been left furious after spending $100,000 of his own money to build a lifesize statue of Charlie Kirk, only to find that no one wants to buy it.
Sergio Furnari, originally from Italy, had hoped the statue of the deceased far-right activist, which he intends to display in Times Square, would raise “millions” of dollars. Instead, he said he has been inundated by messages from people saying they intend to urinate on the sculpture.
Reading the rest of the article, it's just a pure grift attempt but he wasn't quick enough.
Hiding the Consequences
Again, the New York Times is reporting this, but are we going to have full coverage on the Islamophobia Hour with Troop Respecter Jake Tapper (for example)? He made Troop Respecting one of his brand$, so I would expect him to be very mad about this stuff!
Central Command has also stopped announcing how many sites in Iran it hits each day for the same reason, U.S. officials say.
In the days since the collapse of a fragile truce, the Pentagon has provided little information about the American military strategy after nearly five months of war. The last major Pentagon briefing on the war was in early May.
In the past several months, the Trump administration has failed to disclose how the Iran war has drained U.S. supplies of critical, costly weapons, and how Iran retained and rebuilt substantial missile capabilities.
The subject of American casualties in the war is similarly sensitive. The deaths of two Army soldiers in Jordan on Friday and another service member in northern Iraq bring to 17 the total number of American military personnel killed since the United States and Israel launched attacks on Iran on Feb. 28.
The Pentagon’s casualty reporting protocols call for publicly identifying deceased service members only after 24 hours have passed since next of kin were notified. The names of troops wounded in action are not typically released.
"Meddling"
Sen. Bernie Sanders had just announced his intent to unseat a sitting House Democrat — this time, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus from North Carolina — when Rep. Hakeem Jeffries decided it was time to confront Sanders himself.The House Democratic leader warned Sanders against meddling in House primaries, particularly one involving a Black Democrat, in such a critical midterm election year, according to three Democrats familiar with the conversation.“He seemed to not care,” Rep. Greg Meeks of New York, a Jeffries ally who was also on the call, said of Sanders, recalling the previously unreported phone call. The intervention from those powerful Washington Democrats came just before incumbent Rep. Valerie Foushee edged out her challenger, Nida Allam, in the March primary.
There is the norm of House members not trying to other House incumbents, and the same for Senators and the Senate, but we have recent examples of House members supporting challenges against sitting Senators. Such as:
Speaker Nancy Pelosi endorsed Rep. Joe Kennedy in his Senate challenge Thursday, a surprise move that could provide a significant boost over incumbent Democratic Sen. Ed Markey as the contentious Massachusetts race comes to a close in less than two weeks.
Pelosi wasn't just some backbencher. She was (as it says) Speaker!
Also this is internalizing some assumptions that aren't always true:
At the heart of the debate: whether to nominate candidates more friendly to the party establishment and seen as wooing swing voters, or to pick democratic socialists or further-left progressives who can energize a restive party base but who risk alienating independents.
Amusingly, the problem is actually right there in the text. I am open to the idea that candidates who are more "centrist" in some sense are better able to woo swing voters (though this is very debatable!), but there is basically no reason to think candidates who are "more friendly to the party establishment" are better able to do that.
The "party establishment" is notable for its ability to woo donors! These are not the same things.
17
17 U.S. service members have been killed since the war in Iran began.I am obviously not saying "the news isn't covering this." I just linked to the news covering this! But there is a way that things can dominate and set the tone of coverage, or not, and "US service members are dying" is not currently dominating coverage.
Going Well
DUBAI, July 20 (Reuters) - Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis on Monday declared a naval blockade against Saudi Arabia effective immediately, their military spokesperson said in a televised speech.The militant group announced "a maritime embargo against the criminal Saudi enemy, based on the equation of 'an eye for an eye' effective immediately upon the issuance of this statement."
Sunday, July 19, 2026
Conservatives Are The Same Everywhere
A senior German politician and ally of the chancellor, Friedrich Merz, has resigned as parliamentary group leader of the Christian Democrat (CDU) party after he and his husband used a surrogate mother to become parents, a practice he has criticised in the past and his party is vehemently opposed to.Surrogacy is banned in Germany, a policy Jens Spahn refused to relax when he was health minister in 2020, so he and his husband, Daniel Funke, used a surrogate mother in the US.
"Resolve"
That was a favorite word of W.
Godspeed, heroes,” Hegseth wrote on X while reposting a news release about the service member deaths. “Their sacrifice only stiffens our resolve,” he added.
At some point I started saying that the purpose of staying in Iraq was to kill everyone who wanted us to leave, at which point we would leave.
That was a sensible, well-defined mission compared to whatever this is.
"Stiffens our resolve" for what? To send more people to kill and die, but FOR what?
Saturday, July 18, 2026
Never Bet Against Elon
About 30 per cent of the roughly 640mn SpaceX shares available to trade have been borrowed to sell short, up 10 percentage points over the past 10 days, highlighting how traders are becoming increasingly sceptical of the company’s market prospects.“Investor enthusiasm for SpaceX seems to have cooled,” said Dec Mullarkey, managing director of SLC Management. The company’s equities and bonds are suddenly “pricing in more risk”, he added....About 900mn further SpaceX shares could become available to trade as soon as next month when certain lock-up provisions for pre-IPO investors expire. Traders who doubt there is sufficient demand for the deluge of extra equity are cashing out now as a result, market participants say.“With more shares coming to market in August, [SpaceX] could announce that they’ve conquered the moon and found gold inside it and there still wouldn’t be enough money out there to buy the stock,” said the chief investment officer of a small North American hedge fund. His firm made $20mn shorting SpaceX earlier in July, he said.
This Is Excellent News For Florida Governor Ron DeSantis
Still immensely popular among Florida Republicans but barred by term limits from seeking reelection, DeSantis has refused to hand the baton to Donalds and has spent months publicly and privately arguing the Naples congressman is unfit to replace him. He has even shared his reservations directly with Trump, according to a person close to DeSantis with knowledge of a recent conversation between the two.
Nothing Really Matters
Friday, July 17, 2026
Sure Why Not
At Least The War Is Over
Iranian strikes on Friday hit a power and water desalination plant in Kuwait, damaging one of the key sources of drinking water in the small desert nation.
OH NO ELON
What was advertised as a critical launch of Elon's rocket was not a go.
As I keep saying, betting against his shenanigans has long been a loser, but maybe this time!
Good Enough For Some Alito
None of the declassified information supports the claim that any previous election results — including the 2020 presidential contest that Trump lost — were manipulated by foreign interference or fraud in a way that would’ve changed the outcome.Instead, White House officials have framed the disclosures not as an attempt to re-litigate past elections, but rather as an attempt to correct vulnerabilities ahead of November’s midterm elections. That’s despite the fact that the second Trump administration has shuttered many federal organizations that were tracking and publicizing foreign influence campaigns.And White House officials suggested the information, some of which has been known for years, was withheld from senior top elected US officials, including Trump, for political purposes.
A decent article but "the president lies all the time about everything" should be baked deeply into all reporting and it just isn't.
Thursday, July 16, 2026
Sure Why Not
Trump's longtime teleprompter operator is believed to have made tens of thousands of dollars by placing bets on that speech and more than a dozen others on the prediction market Kalshi, federal investigators with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission found, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.
Four More Wars
It's Tariff Week, Again
The US plans to impose a 25% tariff on some Brazilian imports, after a yearlong investigation concluded that the country had engaged in “unfair” trade practices.
Wednesday, July 15, 2026
Sure Why Not
According to Hegseth, the U.S. had a "sacred duty to maintain that advantage Which is why we must constantly look for new ways to optimize your performance, your resilience, and your long-term health." The Trump official stated that in order to meet the goals, he was "authorizing a new screening program for testosterone deficiency for our service members, ensuring you have the right testosterone levels to operate at your absolute best.Hegseth added that it was "well-established science that as we age, testosterone levels often naturally drop." He added that anyone over 30 who served in the army would receive the screening as part of their annual "periodic health assessment."
Endgame
Tuesday, July 14, 2026
How Much Damage
Aside from this WSJ piece from 3 weeks ago, I haven't seen very much investigation into the true damage Iran has done to US military assets in the region.
The extensive damage done to America’s sole naval base in the Middle East—along with hits to at least 20 U.S. sites across the region, including military installations and diplomatic facilities—has the U.S. re-evaluating its entire footprint in the region, according to U.S. officials familiar with the deliberations.
Damaged sites include warehouses, a water tank, two satellite communications terminals and a communications management facility, and the headquarters building for the U.S. Navy in the Middle East. Airbus
The military is now considering revamping the base in Bahrain, reducing the U.S. presence in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia and moving some bases or base functions west, farther from the reach of Iranian missiles and drones, according to the officials familiar with the deliberations.
"I haven't seen" doesn't mean it doesn't exist, of course, as I don't see everything, but my broader point is I haven't noticed too much interest from journalists in finding out.
All We Need Is More Magic
While I tend to be pessimistic (sometimes correctly, occasionally not) about the latest supposedly world-changing gadget, I am not actually anti-technology or even pessimistic about the potential of technology. It's just that a lot of what is been sold to us in the past decade or so has been hype and scams.
Anyway, as long as we invent yet another technology this one will live up to its promise. Trust me, bro.
(Bloomberg) — SoftBank Group Corp. founder Masayoshi Son said that in the not-so-distant future, nuclear fusion technology will offer the most realistic solution for powering AI data centers’ ballooning needs.
Natural gas will provide the bulk of data centers’ power needs for the time being, Son said. But he predicted that nuclear fusion — the process by which the sun and other stars generate energy — has a role to play, predicting the world will need 3 terawatts of data center capacity in 2040.
The fantasy version of nuclear fusion would be great. I do not think powering data centers would be its greatest use.
As for energy generally, a lot of exciting things are happening! But they got coded as "left" so the supergeniuses don't care.