We begin with bombs and end with tubas.
|
Listen To This Story
 |
The US decision to use a series of 30,000-lb bunker-busting bombs to take out Iran’s major nuclear installation buried a half-mile underground appears to have been the result of months, if not years, of planning and war games on the part of the Pentagon.
Once Israel had effectively eliminated Iran’s air defenses, it was an opportunity not to be missed. The main credit for planning the operation no doubt goes to the Pentagon and the CIA. Donald Trump’s role seems mainly limited to giving it the green light.
How long the bombing will slow Iran’s efforts to build a bomb is another question. Iran says it removed its nuclear material before the bombing started so that there has been no radioactive fallout.
It is impossible to tell if the bombing was successful without putting a force on the ground to inspect the sites. That’s not likely to happen.
The White House initially said that it is not trying to bring about regime change. If regime change were to happen, the force most likely to take over would be the Islamic Revolutionary Guards and remnants of the Basij militias — resulting in a harsher totalitarian state more difficult to deal with than the current theocracy.
The real question is what did the Iranians expect to get from developing a nuclear weapon. Given Israel’s own nuclear arsenal, they must have known that trying to use an atomic bomb would be suicidal. The most likely motive was probably leverage in international negotiations, or possibly intimidating their neighbors.
That has been put on the back burner for the time being — leaving the world to ponder which path the survivors in Tehran will pursue in the near future.
The other question, of course, is how the bombing, and US involvement in whatever military confrontation may or may not ensue, affects Trump’s standing both internationally and domestically.
Israel’s continued bombing campaign has extended beyond simply stopping Iran’s efforts to build a nuclear weapon. It looks increasingly as though Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is aiming at regime change. The US bombing of nuclear sites has connected Washington to Netanyahu’s campaign. The danger is that Trump may not be able to exert control over where Netanyahu is headed, but the US will nevertheless have to deal with whatever new problems Netanyahu’s campaign produces.
All of this comes at a time of deepening unrest here at home, epitomized by the massive, nationwide No Kings turnout of the weekend before last. Indeed, the impression was fast growing that the Trump regime, its various unpopular policies, and the country it seems bent on subjecting to authoritarian rule were all spiraling out of control, that the carousel was spinning faster and faster, and Trump and his crew were taking no steps to slow it down.
Now attention is diverted from just about everything that everyone, including yours truly, was writing about just a few days ago. It remains to be seen how long the new show will go on, how long our attention will stay diverted. But none of these concerns are going away, whether or not Trump gets the “bump” he’s looking for.
So, as riveting as the developments abroad may be, let’s not look away from all the stuff that’s still there waiting for us when the dust settles on Fordo. And Tehran. And maybe the rest of the globe.
In the hours and days ahead, we can expect more reports of Iranian strikes at US troops and whatever else.
Back home, a different sort of chaos of a low-grade kind persists.
It is beyond ironic how tech workers bringing in AI are ensuring that they will lose their own jobs. Of course, some say workers will simply use AI to get more done, but that’s not what the facts support — many companies like Amazon are beginning to warn their own people they’re goners.
But how’s this for a “silver lining”? I think it entirely possible that, within a year or two, there will be a booming industry helping people who cannot find work retool their lives — which may mean some combination of new forms of work, the promise of universal basic income, finding a way to live on whatever they have banked, and, in many cases, downsizing.
That might include moving abroad to where the cost of living is much lower. Which will then cause an exodus of Americans and Europeans moving to developing countries or cheaper parts of Europe, driving costs up locally, angering the locals, and generating laws designed to limit the inflow of foreigners. Where will this all go?
***
If you’re seasick, they say to look out at the horizon. If you’re overwhelmed by the horrors hitting us daily, to stay focused, look beyond the horizon for what is coming.
One such thing is accountability. Take Mike Lindell, Mr. MyPillow. He did everything he could for Trump, but Trump is riding high while Lindell is taking his lumps.
The other day, a Colorado jury found him guilty of defamation against a former executive of the voting company Dominion. To be sure, Lindell will only owe $2.3 million, a fraction of what the plaintiffs asked for — and not enough to seriously dent his fortune or, if you believe his defiant words, dissuade him from more of the same.
Still, and inevitably, these small cuts to the body politic of Trumpism do matter. Lindell lied about the 2020 election.
Another person who worked hard for Trump was Rudy Giuliani. His takedown has been considerably more costly.
Giuliani falsely accused two former Georgia election workers of election fraud in the aftermath of the 2020 election and thought he could get away with it. Among his dirty tricks, he presented as proof of their election tampering — a tampered clip of a security video he said showed the women passing USB drives “like vials of heroin or cocaine” during ballot-counting operations. The “USB drive” was actually a ginger mint. He was sued for defamation and forced to pay the women $146 million plus legal fees.
We have many indications that more such miscreants will be held accountable. Among those facing some (too mild) measure of punishment: Steve Bannon, Roger Stone, Michael Cohen, Peter Navarro, Paul Manafort, Michael Flynn, Rick Gates, Elliott Broidy, and Allen Weisselberg.
While Trump and his family seem to have found a way to be corrupt and protect themselves, it’s good to see the system kicking in to hold at least some of his mercenaries responsible for reckless actions and slanderous words. But accountability, and hence deterrence, remain limited by many factors, including the apparent corruption and erosion of both prosecutorial and judicial integrity, much of it shaped by the influence of the Federalist Society.
***
The biggest offenders show signs of digging in for a long fight. Elon Musk’s X Corp is suing New York state over a law mandating that social media firms disclose what they’re doing to monitor “hate speech, extremism, disinformation, harassment and foreign political interference.”
Presumably they don’t want to disclose what they’re doing because… they’re doing nothing at all. Disclosure is far weaker than action, but he doesn’t want to do even that.
According to Reuters,
X said the law, known as the Stop Hiding Hate Act, violated the First Amendment and state constitution by subjecting it to lawsuits and heavy fines unless it disclosed “highly sensitive and controversial speech” that New York may find objectionable.
It seems to me that X may be less worried about admitting people can pretty much say anything on the platform than it is about revealing how horrendous the actual content is.
I’d love to see more regular reporting from legacy media on that. However, with the rapid normalization of “everything bad” and with the current makeup of the US Supreme Court, it’s unlikely that anyone will be able to get the cat back into the bag any time soon.
This raises a deeper concern: What are these platforms furtively doing to manipulate speech — not just moderate it?
Algorithms can invisibly amplify certain viewpoints, suppress others, and shape public opinion without transparency or accountability. In that context, the real issue isn’t only about curbing harmful content, but also about the unchecked power of platforms to control the flow of information and to influence what billions of people see, think, and believe.
***
Speaking of anyone saying what they want, even if untrue or harmful, there’s one kind of person Trump clearly wants to shut up: anyone who tells the truth. And that applies to organizations composed of such persons.
You may not always agree with government-funded entities like Voice of America, but these outfits have historically done a pretty good job of dispensing factual material to foreign audiences starved for it. CNN’s Brian Stelter does a real service in continually shining a light on the struggle of such entities to keep doing their work in what is now a hostile political environment.
As you undoubtedly know, Trump is trying to shut down VOA and sister entities.
However, now that Iran is front and center, the administration is calling back laid-off personnel who report on Iran, including especially those who speak Farsi.
As Stelter writes:
Dozens of VOA staffers were suddenly called back to work on Friday, including all of those who had previously worked on Farsi language programming for Iran. Other journalists who are still on paid leave, having been sidelined by Trump’s mid-March termination order, said the U-turn is evidence that all the networks should be brought back online.
As I wrote in this new CNN.com piece, VOA and another US-funded network that’s been targeted for termination, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, are promoting their Persian programming in part to persuade Trump to keep the proverbial lights on.
My guess is the dodos making the decisions will, one after another, have to reverse course and bring more government and government-affiliated staffers back into all kinds of roles. Because of the many indications that there’s so much less corruption, waste, and fraud overall than the Trump/MAGA bloggers claimed there is.
As the former bomb throwers are now finding out, it’s a lot easier to tear things down than it is to actually do their jobs.
***
One object of fascination is watching conservative and right-wing outlets operate the way state-controlled media does abroad. After their years of bashing the “liberal media” for allegedly going easy on Democratic administrations — which was never really true — the extent to which Fox News, Newsmax, and their confreres slavishly praise all and anything Trumpian is just so very rich.
The Tank Parade coverage on those platforms was classic, full of gee-whizzery like it was the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, not a dud of a branding exercise for the president.
Speaking of “branding,” the White House hired Event Strategies, Inc., a company that “creates and delivers exceptional live events and experiences that bring our clients’ brands and messages to life.”
I guess the event wasn’t that exceptional. Fox News is accused of adding fake applause to exaggerate enthusiasm for the festivities.
On the other hand, that “vile” liberal media most certainly did not make enough out of the astonishing, record-breaking No Kings protests, a historical watershed signaling growing mobilization for active opposition to the country’s direction. To get a taste of what you may have missed, check out this photo gallery.
Meanwhile, although Trump’s election was supposed to signal that “The People” are back in control, every week reveals new aspects of the “populist” scam. I previously wrote about the super-exclusive private DC clubs where the likes of Donald Trump Jr. can hobnob with billionaires offering new ways for the First Family to profit.
A topic that doesn’t seem to get enough attention — understandable given the deluge of urgent topics — is continuing efforts by Republicans to do away with direct democracy in just about all its forms.
Perhaps the best example, aside from voter suppression, is the rollback of the ballot initiative in state after state. Ballot initiatives allow anyone (including, to be sure, special interests) to put a question directly to the public via the ballot, rather than going through the legislative process.
As covered by the magazine Bolts, Oklahoma is the latest of many red states piling on onerous restrictions to the initiative process. A previous limitation shortened the signature collection period to just 90 days, compared to 180 days in some states. Now, they’re limiting how many signatures can be collected in any single county.
Of course, they have smarmy justifications. But the real purpose is clear — and it perfectly fits the anti-democratic playbook now driving this country.
***
Creators and AI-ers are likely to come increasingly to blows over who owns what. Disney has finally stepped up and taken legal action against an entity that is appropriating its characters’ likenesses.
Speaking of creativity, for fun, watch this video of musicians surrounding Proud Boys and drowning them out with tubas at a No Kings protest in Atlanta (the music starts at 1:37). Now, if there were only a way to drown out all the craziness likely to come over the next couple of years. That would really be something.
