mitch said

yup

grok validate my point about the regime’s fragility by showing the ayatollah in a bikini

And what do people think the next Prime Minister of Israel, Naftali Bennett, meant when he called Turkey the "new Iran" last week?

Recall that the logic Israel presented in Gaza was that since civilians could have supposedly risen up and overthrown Hamas and didn’t, they were legitimate military targets

I mean

What’s the matter, babe? You haven’t eaten your crocie

Eating a croc cookie while the world burns

The 2 leading explanations for why we may be facing a broad regional war in the mideast with no clear/achievable aims:

1) Trump’s ego wounded bc Iran didn’t agree to a deal better than the Obama one he tore up in his first term

2) Trump seeking revenge because he believes a 2020 conspiracy theory

My god, just when you think Starmer can’t be any less popular

Democrats: “We ADORE the obliteration of the evil Iranian regime, which is a cancer in the region, but we STRONGLY RECOMMEND that President Donald J. Trump inform the American people of his war aims on an official letterhead”

“Trump, who has not consulted Congress, has done little to explain the war to the American public, and has made no effort to build a coalition of allies, does not have that luxury. The president, a former casino boss, is taking a huge gamble. He has drawn his cards; the chips are now on the table. He has exactly one shot at getting this right. As Tom Warrick, a former Department of Homeland Security official, posted on X, Trump is trying to draw an inside straight.”

I fucking hate the Atlantic

Imagine for a moment an Iranian missile hitting a US girls school, killing 40.

You’d be seeing talk of launching nukes.

In Israel’s defense, those girls could have grown up to become nuclear scientists

An Unpopular, Doomed, Bloody War People will die and nothing will be accomplished

Very good rapid reaction by @professormusgrave.bsky.social

One caveat: we don't really know whether a country like Iran is a paper tiger until it's tested in war. Maybe it will collapse. Still would be bad.

musgrave.substack.com/p/an-unpopul...

The Trumpiest possible outcome is that a bunch of countries mobilize for regional war and then he abruptly decides to make a deal with some Iranian hardliner

There are numerous other actors in the US political system who support this for their own bad reasons, but I sincerely think these are Trump’s, and coverage of the war should reflect them rather than pretending he’s got the politics of Lindsey Graham or whoever

The 2 leading explanations for why we may be facing a broad regional war in the mideast with no clear/achievable aims:

1) Trump’s ego wounded bc Iran didn’t agree to a deal better than the Obama one he tore up in his first term

2) Trump seeking revenge because he believes a 2020 conspiracy theory

Kind of astonishing that every major problem the administration is currently facing has been entirely of their own creation

⚡️Explosions are being heard in Dubai, and tourists and locals are being evacuated from the Burj Khalifa.

many of whom aren’t even necessarily anti-war, but are increasingly against wars fought on Israel’s behalf

this leads me to think Trump has really lost touch with the party base

At least we can rest assured that after a whole bunch of needless death and destruction, this is going to end up with regime hardliners empowered

what happens when you let Hegseth name a war

Democrats: “We ADORE the obliteration of the evil Iranian regime, which is a cancer in the region, but we STRONGLY RECOMMEND that President Donald J. Trump inform the American people of his war aims on an official letterhead”

it’s really actually truly happening

I have to admit, Klein asked some tough (and surprisingly technically-informed) questions that Clark didn’t have great answers to, like how you ensure you’re not unwittingly creating an unsustainable amount of tech debt if you have agents writing, reviewing and approving all your code

Excitable Boy on vinyl

it’s a Zevon kinda night

I’ve definitely thought about this less deeply than you have, would be curious to get your thoughts

three child actors, the middle of which is unmistakably a child Natasha Lyonne

Just opened my ipad and was confronted by the fact that last night I started the first episode of Pee-Wee’s Playhouse on Kanopy, but then 5 minutes in I was confronted with a tiny Natasha Lyonne acting exactly like a tiny Natasha Lyonne and my brain immediately shorted out and I fell asleep.