Three great videos today:
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Then tonight I saw this interesting article:
Pentagon Prepares for Trump to Go BerserkUnprecedented number of B-2 bombers amassed for Iran strikeIn the largest single deployment of stealth bombers in U.S. history, the Pentagon has sent six B-2 “Spirit” aircraft to Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean.
...President Donald Trump hasn’t been shy in threatening Iran, saying that if Tehran doesn’t close the door on a nuclear capability they will experience “bombing the likes of which they haven’t seen.”
“Hell” will “rain down” on the country, Trump has also said. Just today, amidst the stock market meltdown Trump again reiterated his threat, saying that “doing a deal would be preferable to doing the obvious” — which to the president is undertaking a massive strike.
Blatant as the threat is, the U.S. government has not otherwise publicly acknowledged the bomber buildup.
...Over the past 24 years, the Pentagon has perfected this game of executing the play it wants to run, not what the coach wants. That’s why the U.S. has become very good at bombing targets and conducting aerial assassinations, and in keeping the ball in play.
The military has grown highly proficient at executing a strike (or defending against one). To those sitting at their desks in Washington, the risk factors of sending off the B-2s to rain down hell seem minor: no American (and even relatively few Iranian civilians) are going to die, world markets aren’t going to be roiled by an oil crisis, and the public isn’t going to much notice. Trump can thus push the button and activate those who are pulling the triggers with relative ease. That’s why these days we see so many instances of one-off bomb strikes. Donald Trump doesn’t seem capable of changing any of this.
But he can yell louder and be more offensive and threaten more. When it comes to Iran, he is revving himself up. It’s not war that the B-2s are threatening. It’s worse than that. This is preparation for reckless action that, from the Pentagon’s perspective, carries little risk. That’s dangerous and is also why the public must to involve itself. But it can’t do that when the Pentagon refuses to publicly acknowledge what it’s doing....
Maybe there's hope that the tariff debacle will annoy the wealthy oligarchs so much they will stop supporting Trump.
Well, a girl can dream...
Paul Krugman
The LA Dodgers, who won the 2024 World Series, did their White House visit today and people were NOT impressed. Here's a comment I thought was pretty funny:
Moving to the election, how lucky are we that Carney is right here, right now?
Next, some comments about Alberta:
Political Styles of the Rich and Clueless
There are none so blind as those that will not see
... great wealth often enables great pettiness. Some readers may remember Wall Street’s “Obama rage”: Financial titans were furious at the president who bailed them out after the global financial crisis because he dared to hint that they had played some role in causing that crisis. Why, he even called them “fat cats!”
The pettiness has been even worse this time around. A few days before the inauguration the Financial Times ran an article titled “Is corporate America going MAGA?” that quoted one “top banker”:I feel liberated. We can say ‘retard’ and ‘pussy’ without the fear of getting cancelled . . . it’s a new dawn.I wonder how liberated he’s feeling now.
To be honest, I’m actually glad that Trump II is proving to be such a disaster for the economy. If he had exercised some restraint, if he had simply claimed credit for the very good economy Joe Biden left him, many wealthy people would have cheered him on while he destroyed democracy. Now they may turn on him.
But I hope the rest of us have learned a lesson from the oligarchy’s support for Trump, even if it’s now cracking: Extreme wealth inequality has given great power to people who exert a malign influence on our politics.
The LA Dodgers, who won the 2024 World Series, did their White House visit today and people were NOT impressed. Here's a comment I thought was pretty funny:
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"Lead us Big Daddy" is spreading around the world:View on Threads
Here's an ominous comment:View on Threads
Evan Scrimshaw / Scrimshaw Unscripted
Alberta’s Conservative CatastropheAnd here's a funny comment on this article:
How Alberta Is Misreading The Room
...Alberta’s own decisions over the last decades have left it in a state where it has almost no goodwill with the rest of the country, and they’re acting like they are loved. Alberta’s conservative intelligencia have tragically misread the situation, because it hasn’t even crossed their minds to give a shit what the rest of us think. They are a landlocked province that needs tidewater access to boost their export capacity and they’ve spent basically no effort or energy building relationships.
The funny thing is, Alberta might be right. Maybe they are entitled to act this way. But I don’t give a fuck, and neither does the rest of the country. You need us, and you’re acting like it’s a fucking courtesy that you grace us with your presence. If Alberta wants to find a more cooperative relationship with the rest of Canada it won’t be by threatening and cajoling the rest of Canada, but by building goodwill organically and smartly. Do that well, you’ll be fine. Keep doing this? Enjoy hoping that Carney’s goodwill towards his home province is enough to get you some policy concessions, because Liberal voters certainly won’t be pushing the government to be nice to you.
A significant portion of Canadians outside Alberta think that if Quebec leaves confederation, they should have to take Alberta with them.
Finally, this:
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