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We've seen a lot of developments in the Iran War over the last few weeks.
Iran fired a ballistic missile at the USS George Washington, a Ford class aircraft carrier. Didn't hit it, but did the effort help Iran build the technology needed? Did Russian and/or China help?
Iran also claimed to have captured a US drone submarine...quite the technology find...and attacked ten vessels attempting to move through the strait. The US destroyed five Iranian tankers in response.
Houthis attacked the civilian airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and the US declined a request for help because of low munitions inventories.
Most recently, Iran offered to reopen the Strait of Hormuz if the US eases military pressure and ends it's blockade of Iran's ports.
Meanwhile at home, oil prices topped $100 a barrel, gas averages $4.50 a gallon, and diesel fuel is almost $7 a gallon, which hits farmers and shippers where it hurts.
And as the GAO reports the war's high costs and the Pentagon tries to hide casualties while avoiding intense warfare to save precious munitions.
What does all this mean about who is winning?
This week we revisit the Iran war and discuss victory conditions and what each side needs to do if they want to claim a win.
Spoiler: Iran doesn't have to win. They just have to keep bleeding us.
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Even while the entire US is pretty much on fire we still see the occasional good governance...and this is a good sign.
This week we try to find examples of government actually...governing. Passing legislation. Completing reports. Doing its job.
Starting with the SCOTUS ruling that blocked Trump's effort to use the Postal Service to disrupt the midterm elections, we discuss some of the boring things government still does but we don't see in the media - and why our media ignores them.
Check it out, and don't forget to subscribe to the channel and check out our Patreon page.
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If you get a random text offering remote work based on rating apps or following social media accounts, ignore it. It's a task scam run by foreign agents who will eventually ask you to send them Bitcoin if you want to continue. Platform might look something like this:
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This week we take a look at the Trump clown show presidency and how this farce could turn tragic pretty quickly.
All the silliness we see from the Trump Administration, from AI generated memes on Truth Social to mocking the rule of law to claiming Trump is the only person in the world who can resolve any problems.
Too bad he seems to have no interest in doing so.
We even have an academic article on the subject, Aidan Tynan's "Clown Politics: History, Populism, and Tragic Farce," published by ORCA/Cardiff University!
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Going live tomorrow at noon with Foggy Bottom Line Live, with Stan Scott.
This is the third installment in the Foggy Bottom Line series on oligarchy, Soviet-style central planning, and concentrated power under late-stage capitalism. Check the FBL Live archive for the first to episodes.
This week I examine a Silicon Valley political tendency associated, in different ways, with Peter Thiel, Curtis Yarvin, Marc Andreessen, Elon Musk, and Balaji Srinivasan. It asks how a philosophy that begins with individual liberty can end by defending private sovereignty for billionaires, founders, and platform owners.
I don’t make a claim – yet – that these people have created some kind of shadowy cabal to overthrow the US government and set the conditions for billionaires to run the country and the world. This is an argument that overlapping ideas, investments, political relationships, and governing practices are producing a coherent form of techno-oligarchic power.
The drive for techno-oligarchic power is an overlapping intellectual, financial, professional, and political network, not a formal conspiracy. The central question this raises: Who makes the rules, who can challenge them, and who possesses a realistic right of exit?
patreon.com/FoggyBottomLine/…
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Looks like @SMUFB and @FSUFootball will play like it’s 1999.
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Why is the America First crowd so happy to support Israeli genocide in Gaza? Thought you guys were all about protecting Americans?
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People who think the Epstein files no longer matter are wrong.
BREAKING: House Republicans are canceling the final two weeks of September and plan to stop voting after September 14, leaving Washington until after the midterms.
The timing? Thomas Massie’s bipartisan push to force action on millions of unreleased Epstein files is gaining signatures.
They were elected to govern, not run from accountability.
Stay in Washington. Release the files.
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You know times are changing when the right is going after Tucker Carlson.
What will it take for this bizarre Woke Right cabal to denounce and reject Tucker Carlson? His vile attacks against POTUS alone should motivate members of the president's inner circle to condemn this obtuse and wicked Neanderthal -- the president himself has condemned him repeatedly. Is their loyalty for Carlson greater than for the president? Do they have no self-respect?
Now, I see, Carlson's essentially throwing his support behind El-Sayed in Michigan. Unsurprising to most of us. That said, where is the so-called White House War Room? Others are digging a hole out from which they may not be able to climb if they seek office or higher office or some kind of public platform beyond the Trump presidency. What kind of spell does Carlson have over them?
Carlson and the Woke Right have no huge following outside the Internet, foreign bots, and the Democrat Party-aligned media that promote them. The vast majority of Republicans, conservatives/MAGA, and the American public reject their insanity, bigotry, and conspiracies despite their many hits, clicks, algorithms, and the rest. And let us not confuse curiosity, entertainment, and the appeal of the perverse to many rubberneckers with something serious or substantive, let alone electoral clout. Indeed, Carlson's recently endorsed candidates have flopped spectacularly.
Tucker Carlson has become a litmus test of sorts. If you're a rational, upright, decent, and principled person, you have nothing but contempt for him and what he represents. If you don't, well, that's another story.
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Two Crusty Old Combat Soldiers with a Microphone: Is the DSA the Tea Party of the Left?
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Foggy Bottom Line Media retweeted
Democrats need to start acting like we’re fighting a fascist regime instead of constantly trying to fucking compromise with one.
This post is about Hakeem Jeffries.
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Foggy Bottom Line Media retweeted
.@ShannonTaylorVA is right. Handing control of our power to an out-of-state company with a checkered history is not the answer; not to rising costs, not to data center strain on our grid and not to proper oversight.
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For his entire life, @realDonaldTrump has put his name on everything he could. Buildings. Steaks. Casinos. Wine. A fake university.
Now he wants to add it to government buildings, money, and passports. Kennedy Center. Airports. Hundred dollar bills and one dollar coins.
Then he starts posting ridiculous AI images of himself with Patton, McArthur, Washington, and others. He cosplays as Jesus, complete with the laying on of hands to what appears to be an ailing Jeffrey Epstein.
Is it narcissism? Part of his demagoguery? Or is it an effort to conflate himself with the State and set the conditions for a Trump Dynasty?
Scott and I take a look and try to figure out what's up with this...silliness. Should we be laughing? Or worried?
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Dominion Energy would have increased rates anyway. I’m so tired of the blame game, instead of focusing on solutions. I’ve watched their lobbyists kiss up to electeds on both sides of the aisle for decades. We didn’t get here overnight. Be real, y’all.
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Foggy Bottom Line Media retweeted
PAY 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 ATTENTION!!!!
⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️
And, it’d be nice if you shared this to your peeps.
We all need to understand what GOP is doing & how they’re doing it. 😒🤬😤😣
1. A new Popular Information investigation reveals that Senate Republicans have recently launched at least six fake news sites in key states.
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