Josh Marshall on the weekend’s events in the middle east: The U.S. telegraphed more or less exactly what Iran was going to do via extremely good intelligence (reminiscent of the lead up to the invasion of Ukraine). It undoubtedly played a huge role bringing Jordan, Saudi Arabia and likely other Arab states into active and public armed action in defense of Israel. It positioned and deployed U.S. anti-ballistic destroyers and aerial assets to itself shoot down roughly a hundred of the estimated 300+ aerial devices Iran launched at Israel. Together, Israel, the U.S. and various allied Arab states took down 99% or more of all those devices. Iran launched a massive aerial bombardment and virtually none of it got through. And now the U.S. has managed to get Israel not to launch an immediate and inevitably escalatory retaliation. It goes without saying that no administration works on its own. It comes to the game with the world’s most powerful military and major power status. It’s operating with Arab allies who have been gravitating toward a de facto anti-Iran alliance with Israel for years.
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And the media buys it So Trump came out of the trial today whining like an 8 year old that the big mean judge won’t let him attend Barron’s high school graduation — and all of MAGA world is having a full blown collective mental breakdown over it, calling the judge evil and screaming “Witch Hunt!!!!” One little problem: Fact Check: Trump falsely claims judge won’t let him attend son’s high school graduation next month From CNN’s Marshall Cohen After leaving court on Monday, former President Donald Trump repeatedly suggested that Judge Juan Merchan would prevent him from attending his son’s high school graduation in May. Trump’s son Eric Trump ratcheted up the rhetoric by tweeting, “Judge Merchan is truly heartless in not letting a father attend his son’s graduation.” Facts First: The judge hasn’t ruled yet on Trump’s request to be excused from court so he can attend Barron Trump’s high school graduation. Criminal defendants like Donald Trump are typically required to attend their case proceedings in person.
History like you’ve never seen Clips of his Saturday rally in Pennsylvania feature some epic, word-jazz weirdness wherein Donald Trump praised the state’s place in American history. It’s fantastical, but there’s a point to quoting it. The punctuation is unclear here: It’s where the army weathered it’s brutal winter at Valley Forge where General George Washington led his men on a daring mission across the Delaware and where our union was saved by the immortal heroes at Gettysburg Gettysburg what an unbelievable battle that was the battle of Gettysburg what an unbelievable I mean it was so much and so interesting and so vicious and horrible and so beautiful and so many different ways it represented such a big portion of the success of this country Gettysburg wow. Did he mean “Valley Forge where General George Washington led his men” across the Delaware,” or was there a comma in there? Washington crossed the Delaware a year before Valley Forge, but like Bluto and the Germans bombing Pearl Harbor, forget it, he’s rolling. Mrs.
Iran throws a flurry of missiles and drones at Israel Iran retaliated for Israel’s April 1 “bombing of its consular building in Syria that killed two of Tehran’s top commanders.” Buckle up (CNN this morning): In decades of antagonism between Israel and Iran, there has never been an attack by Iran inside Israel. This crosses a threshold. What happens next rests on whether Israel will listen to the United States and not escalate the cycle of retaliation. Iran’s massive drone and missile wave was 99% intercepted, and Israel said damage was limited. Triggered by Israel’s April 1 strike on the Iranian consulate in Syria, the barrage brings the region to a boil. We still don’t know exactly why Israel carried out the strike in Syria, but analysts say Iran was forced to respond for its own internal consumption and to demonstrate strength in the region. For its part, it says the matter is now concluded. President Joe Biden said the US will not join any Israeli offensive against Iran. The very real question is whether Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will listen to the warnings of his biggest backer.
Apparently, he doesn’t know the difference between the American system and a parliamentary system and just wants to be able to call elections whenever he feels like it — which, in his case, will be never. He’s an imbecile. The Philly Inquirer’s Will Bunch went that rally yesterday. He says he goes to them from time to time for a specific reason: I go largely because I think the media still fails to understand America’s most important story of the last 10 years. U.S. democracy is staring out into the abyss not so much because of the narcissistic bluster of one alleged billionaire ex-president, but because of the people with fleece hoodies over their MAGA hats who spent hours in an April windstorm to see him. You’re not supposed to say that, of course. His followers are all Real Americans who are good people who are hypnotized by Donald Trump and we can’t hold them responsible. It’s tiresome particularly since they have no compunction about slamming their political opponents with the grossest insults imaginable.
Trump and the Republicans are flogging violent crime as their biggest issue after immigration. And they’ve actually conflated the two with a nonsensical new slogan called “Biden Migrant Crime.” Not that it matters to the cult because they live in an alternate universe, but reality should be biting for anyone who isn’t indoctrinated in Trump fantasy. The Wall St. Journal reports: Homicides in American cities are falling at the fastest pace in decades, bringing them close to levels they were at before a pandemic-era jump. Nationwide, homicides dropped around 20% in 133 cities from the beginning of the year through the end of March compared with the same period in 2023, according to crime-data analyst Jeff Asher, who tabulated statistics from police departments across the country. Philadelphia saw a 35% drop in killings as of April 12 compared with the same period last year, police data show. In New York City, homicides fell 15% through April 7. Homicides in Columbus, Ohio, plunged 58% through April 7.
This man is the perfect emblem of the modern GOP I have no words.
Yes, it’s finally here and it confirms what all the other polls have been showing for the last month. Acknowledging that the NY Times Sienna poll is considered the gold standard among the cognoscenti, Dan Pfeiffer does a nice analysis of what it says about this moment in time: The Democratic coalition is heading home. As the New York Times’ Shane Goldmacher wrote in his analysis of the poll: Biden had a 43-point lead with Black voters in February, now that advantage is 53 points. Among Hispanic voters, Biden trailed by six in February. He now leads by nine. The President also increased his lead with voters over the age of 65 by three points. Based on this data, we can assume that the movement is largely among older voters. These are also the voters expected to shift after an event like the State of the Union and an aggressive, well-funded television advertising campaign. Engaging older voters is simply easier in this fractured media environment. They consume more traditional news sources and still watch linear television and are therefore easier to reach with television ads.
If Washington believed that Iran was about to start a war with Israel, would the Pentagon be bringing home its morticians?
The post U.S. Military Isn’t That Concerned About War With Iran appeared first on The Intercept.
Suppressing the vote by any means necessary Another GOP non-solution to a non-problem from frightened men who can’t govern except by making it harder for U.S. citizens to choose their leaders. TFG Donald Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson announced an “election integrity” bill at their Mar-a-Lago meeting on Friday. Their bill would make voting by non-citizens illegaler than it is already. It doesn’t matter if it’s a bluff that has no chance to get past the U.S. Senate if Republicans even introduce it. Trump and Johnson got the publicity. They stoked the MAGA base’s xenophobia. They fed the voter fraud conspiracy theory. These guardians of the republic further undermined confidence in government of the people in which they themselves no longer believe. It’s a win-win-win-win. How will they make the illegal illegaler? We don’t know, not having seen the bill (if it exists). People already must swear on penalty of a fine of “not more than $10,000″ or imprisonment of “not more than five years, or both” that they are U.S. citizens when they register to vote (to be verified by boards of elections).