Who Are Heroes?

Sometimes when I am going through a rough patch, I remember something my father said to me numerous times when I was a boy.

“I just want you to be happy.”

While that sounded simple enough at the time, even as a boy I knew that happiness wasn’t going to be all that easy to attain.

Now, as I look back over a complicated life filled with many ups and downs, I know my Dad was expressing a wish, not necessarily an expectation. And over the years, I came to see that the cost of one person’s joy could often be another person’s misery.

So even happiness can be complicated.

Another, perhaps more relevant memory from my youth is one of those teenaged conversations with three of my male cousins, where we compared notes on the following question:

“If you had to die, how would it be?” 

We discussed accidents, sickness, old age — all the reasons people around us had died, but if memory serves, the consensus was that we would prefer to die a hero in war.

Young men’s fantasy: To be a hero in war.

Old men’s actions: To send them into war.

It’s a story as old as time.

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The dramatic fall from power by Kristi Noem brings a small measure of justice to the brave people of Minneapolis who peacefully protested Noem’s ICE agents rounding up immigrants and the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.

I will always honor the brave men and women in our armed forces for their sacrifices overseas, regardless of whether the cause is justified, but the people at home standing up to an autocrat also are real American heroes

HEADLINES:

• The End of Limits on a President’s Wars (New Yorker)

• Trump ousts Noem as frustrations build among White House officials, GOP lawmakers (CNN)

• House Turns Back Bid to Restrict Trump’s War Powers in Iran (NYT)

• The Real Reason Trump Went to War (Atlantic)

• Trump calls on Kurds to aid U.S. effort in Iran, offers support (WP)

• Chaos sown by Iran’s attacks across the Persian Gulf is key to its strategy (AP)

• The Coming Invasion of Iran (Atlantic)

• Iran war spreads as European nations drawn further in (CNN)

• War in Iran cuts world off from key energy source (WP)

• Israeli military tells hundreds of thousands to flee Beirut (Guardian)

• NATO is vigilant about events in the Middle East and the shooting-down of a missile ‌headed for Turkish airspace, but invoking Article Five is not on the table right now. (Reuters)

• Senate rejects war powers measure to withdraw forces from Iran (LAT)

• US holds talks with Iranian Kurdish militants over anti-regime operations (FT)

• Kurds backed by Mossad, CIA could lead next phase of war in Iran (Axios)

• US submarine torpedoes warship for first time since WWII (CNN)

• How a DHS shooting of a third U.S. citizen went unnoticed for months (WP)

• Judge Orders Government to Begin Refunding More Than $130 Billion in Tariffs (WSJ)

• James Talarico Says ‘New Politics Is Being Born’ After Texas Primary Win (NYT)

• Thousands of public comments slam Trump’s ballroom: ‘I did not vote for this’ (WP)

• High-throughput phenomics of global ant biodiversity (Nature)

• India’s economy is not as big as economists thought (Economist)

• The Internet’s Most-Read Tech Publications Have Lost 58% of Their Google Traffic Since 2024 (Nieman)

• Trump Announces A.I. Industry Pledge to Pay for Power (NYT)

• DOJ Fails To Redact Thousands Of Secret Epstein Family Recipes (Onion) 

 

Trump's War at Home

While most of our attention is currently focused on the war in the Middle East, it is worth remembering that our would-be-autocrat, Donald Trump, continues to attack his perceived enemies at home, including the press.

Aggression abroad, repression at home — that is the authoritarian playbook. Trump’s war in Iran is illegal as it hasn’t been authorized by Congress. But he pursues it shamelessly, expanding the war zone to the Indian Ocean.

Meanwhile, a simple, legitimate question by CNN’s Kaitlin Collins set Trump’s press secretary Carolyn Leavitt off on an unprovoked, extended rant Wednesday against CNN’s coverage of the war, which in fact has been fair and balanced. 

Leavitt’s verbal assault was pathetic but dangerous. Trump labels unfriendly press as the “enemy,” and he tries to destroy all his enemies.

CNN’s future is already in doubt due to a pending corporate takeover by a Trump ally, and this is one battle that we must hope one bastion of our free press wins. We need CNN to remain free.

Otherwise our democracy may share the same fate as the Iranians.

These are dangerous times. We have an autocratically minded leader who is attempting to impose his will on the whole world. And that includes you and me.

HEADLINES:

• US says it will strike ‘deeper’ into Iran as war spreads across region (CNN)

• The One Variable that Could Decide the War (Atlantic)

• Pete Hegseth says Iranian regime is ‘toast’ as US expands military offensive (Guardian)

• U.S. troops had little protection from drone strike that killed six, imagery shows (WP)

• A son of Iran’s late supreme leader is a possible candidate to replace his father as war rages (AP)

• Iran’s Strategy: Expand the War, Increase the Cost, Outlast Trump (NYT)

• Lebanon was pulled deeper into the war as the Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah launched missiles at Israel. (Reuters)

• The rationale for striking Iran was already a mess. Trump just made it worse. (CNN)

• ‘MAGA is Trump’: President fires back at right-wing mutiny over Iran (WP)

• Federal judge demands answers from top Minnesota prosecutor in ‘extraordinary’ contempt hearing (NBC)

• Can Talarico win in November? (Silver Bulletin)

• Nasty GOP primary in Texas heads to a runoff, and other takeaways from a big primary night (WP)

• Bondi is Subpoenaed to Testify About Handling of Epstein Case (NYT)

• Syngenta says it will stop making pesticide linked to Parkinson’s disease (Guardian)

• 'It’s too warm': Greenland’s fishermen are under threat from climate change (AP)

• Paramount-Warner Deal Promises to Shake Up Streaming (NYT)

• Savannah Guthrie Officially Says ‘Goodbye’ to Her Mom as Searchers Look for ‘Something Decomposed’—’Just Heartbreak’ (Yahoo)

• Japan’s Population Crisis Worse Than Expected, Births Data Shows (Newsweek)

• British TV Journalists Of Color Bemoan DEI “Backlash” & Describe “Apartheid Newsrooms” (Deadline)

• Candace Owens’ ‘Bride of Charlie’ Is Fueling MAGA Online ‘Transvestigation’ of Erika Kirk (Daily Kos)

• Can AI Save Local News? (WSJ)

• I Worked for Block. Its A.I. Job Cuts Aren’t What They Seem. (NYT)

• The one thing Claude does better than any other AI — and how to try it yourself (Tom’s)

• Anthropic’s AI tool Claude central to U.S. campaign in Iran, amid a bitter feud (WP)

• A Dire Warning From the Tech World (Atlantic)

• Where Are China’s A.I. Doomers? (NYT)

• ICE Agent Injured After Repeatedly Trying To Detain People In Neighborhood Mural (Onion)

 

Why?

‘Why this war’ and ‘why now’ are two of the basic questions Donald Trump cannot answer. Or to be more precise, he will continue to provide a shifting set of answers, none of which or all of which may be partly true.

He can’t tell the difference.

The bottom line is Trump doesn’t know in a deep strategic sense what he is doing or why but he didn’t need answers to those basic questions to go to war on Iran. 

Maybe he just did it on a whim.

By contrast, while Trump provides the firepower and the fighting words, his self-described “junior partner,” Israel, knows exactly what it is doing as it systematically takes out layer after layer of Iran’s political and military leadership.

Israel’s goal is destroy Iran’s ability to threaten Israel’s existence for at least a generation.

So this is really Israel’s war. Trump is merely the “useful idiot.”

HEADLINES:

• Israel steps up airstrikes in Tehran, as Iran widens its response across the region (AP)

• US submarine sinks Iranian warship off Sri Lanka killing at least 80 and leaving dozens more injured (Independent)

• Trump Says Strikes Killed Leaders U.S. Saw as Successors in Iran (NYT)

• The US-Iran war has the markets on edge (BI)

• Can Donald Trump Win a War with Iran If He Can’t Explain Why He Started It? (New Yorker)

• Trump insists Israel did not force US hand on Iran attack as he meets German chancellor (Guardian)

• Netanyahu takes a gamble on American support for Israel with the war against Iran (AP)

• How Trump assassination attempts played into his decision to attack Iran (WP)

• Inside the US-Israel plan to assassinate Iran’s Khamenei (Al Jazeera)

• Trump Opens the Pandora’s Box of Assassination (Atlantic)

• Big Change Seems Certain in Iran. What Kind Is the Question. (NYT)

• One Man’s War (Foreign Affairs)

• What Is the Point of This War? (Bulwark)

• The long, sad history of U.S. regime change promises (WP)

• 5 takeaways from the first primaries of the 2026 midterms (NPR)

• Trump Administration, in Apparent Reversal, Tries to Continue Fight Against Law Firms (NYT)

• Confidential database reveals which items NPS thinks may ‘disparage’ America (WP)

• U.S. Opens Military Action in Ecuador Against ‘Terrorist Organizations’ (NYT)

• Gregory Bovino Is Now Under Criminal Investigation (Mother Jones)

• Supreme Court Sides With Religious Parents, Blocking California’s Trans Student Policy (NYT)

• Pakistani and Afghan troops clashed at multiple points along their expansive border as the United Nations ‌mission for Afghanistan warned that 42 civilians in the country had been killed so far in the six-day conflict. (Reuters)

• Anthropic upgrades Claude’s memory to attract AI switchers (Verge)

• OpenAI changes deal with US military after backlash (BBC)

• The A.I. Disruption We’ve Been Waiting for Has Arrived (NYT)

• Trump On Fence About Attending Ayatollah’s Funeral (Onion)

 

The Oil Wars

If you are looking for one word to explain Trump’s decision for starting these wars, it would be “oil.”

“Energy dominance is a blueprint for rewiring the American economy for the age of AI before China can do the same,” explains Business Insider.

Other points made in this analysis include:

“(T)he plan boils down to three steps: maximize America's share of the world's energy supply, especially its fossil fuels; leverage the hell out of 'em; and then make rivals both foreign and domestic bend the knee.”

“American-controlled fossil fuels can now be used to try to push other countries into compliance with our petrostate.”

“But that dominance is not total, and the Trumpists see China as the biggest threat to it. Beijing's solar, wind, and battery tech has become so efficient and cheap that it's undercutting the appeal of US-controlled fossil fuels.”

“(The) Trumpists insist (that) energy dominance is more than simply an instrument of geopolitical leverage. It's a blueprint for rewiring the American economy for the age of AI before China can do the same. AI data centers require massive amounts of power, and the only way to reliably supply it at the scale required, the administration has claimed, is with fossil fuels. Wind and solar power are too susceptible to the elements.”

There are other factors at play here for sure, but the Business Insider analysis is one deserving of serious thought.

HEADLINES:

• Drilled: How Trump's "energy dominance" plan helped fuel the new war in Iran (Business Insider)

• Iran targets U.S. allies, hits American Embassy in Riyadh (Axios)

• U.S. shuts embassies in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait after drone attacks; Israeli troops stage incursion into Lebanon (NBC)

• US nationals urged to leave Middle East as conflict spreads (BBC)

• Cuba Is Next (Atlantic)

• Secret talks, a firefight off Cuba and 72 hours of near silence from Trump (Miami Herald)

• Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s assassination will likely backfire. Here is why (Al Jazeera)

• Hegseth: ‘We didn’t start this war but under President Trump we’re finishing it’ (NPR)

• Trump says Iran operations likely to last 4 to 5 weeks, but he’s prepared ‘to go far longer’ (AP)

• Trump pursues Iranian decapitation without a plan for what comes next (WP)

• Israel strikes Lebanon after Hezbollah rocket fire as Iran conflict widens (BBC)

• Iran and allied armed groups fired missiles at Israel, Arab states and U.S. military targets around the region on Monday, while Israel and the United States pounded Iran as the war expanded to several fronts. Kuwait mistakenly shot down three American warplanes over its skies, but the U.S. military said all six pilots ejected safely and are in stable condition. However, the U.S. casualties of the war have risen as U.S. Central Command confirmed a fourth U.S. member succumbed to their injuries. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth offered zero guidance on to how long the war would last at his press conference. [AP]

• War isn’t what it once was (Silver Bulletin)

• How a pacemaker for the brain could help Parkinson’s patients (CNN)

• When Does the AI Bubble Burst? (Counter Punch)

• AI Will Never Be Conscious (Wired)

• AI doing 75 per cent of office tasks, but employees have to work 5x more: Founder explains how automation increases workload (Economic Times)

• AI saves me hours every week — here are the 9 ways I use it (Tom’s Guide)

• China’s Parents Are Outsourcing the Homework Grind to A.I. (NYT)

• Nation Forced To Eat 35 Million Canadians To Survive Harsh Winter (Onion)

 

Domestic Consequences

If anyone is thinking that at least our would-be dictator is striking overseas instead of at home, think again.

Trump’s illegal wars, first in Venezuela, now Iran and apparently soon in Cuba are having and will have severe consequences here in the U.S.

These wars are illegal under the Constitution because only Congress can declare war.

Other presidents have challenged that fundamental clause but this one is shredding it before our eyes.

Over the last year his main assaults on our democratic way of life were domestic — mass deportations, taking revenge against his political enemies and demolishing federal agencies he doesn’t like.

But in most cases, the courts have tempered his actions, at least temporarily delaying some of his executive orders and stopping others altogether. Even the Supreme Court has stood up to him, a little bit.

Overseas, there is no such check, barring a global anti-U.S. movement led by our (former) allies, should they be able to muster that.

HEADLINES:

• The Death of Khamenei and the End of an Era (Atlantic)

• U.S. military says 1,000 targets hit in Iran, 3 American troops killed; Tehran retaliates (WP)

• War widens as Israeli and US planes pound Iran and Tehran and its proxies hit back (AP)

• The C.I.A. Helped Pinpoint a Gathering of Iranian Leaders. Then Israel Struck. (NYT)

• The US burned through more of its limited Tomahawk stockpile in strikes on Iran (BI)

• Trump’s Iran Gamble (FA)

• Could the Supreme Court’s Voting Rights Act Decision Affect the Midterms? (NYT)

• With Ellisons set to take control of CNN and HBO, Trump allies claim victory (WP)

• Worms in food, poor medical care, lights on 24/7: Families tell of life in Texas detention center (AP)

• America Isn’t Ready for What AI Will Do to Jobs (Atlantic)

• What’s Really at Stake in the Fight Between Anthropic and the Pentagon (WSJ)

• Wall Street’s AI panic is real. The predictions probably won’t be. (WP)

• Trump orders US agencies to stop using Anthropic technology in clash over AI safety (AP)

• The week the AI scare turned real and America realized maybe it isn’t ready for what’s coming (Fortune)

• Prosthetic Hand Recipient Slowly Relearning To Lick Barbecue Sauce Off Fingers (Onion)

 

War in the Morning

With so much unknown at this point, the Times has a useful guide to the war in the Middle East this morning: “What to Know About the U.S. Attacks on Iran.”

But this all only makes sense as the action of a power-mad President in league. with a militaristic Israel.

Together, they’ve decapitated Iran’s senior leadership, and nobody knows what comes next.

HEADLINES:

• Israel renews attacks on Tehran as Iran vows to avenge supreme leader’s death (CNN)

• Iran’s Supreme Leader Is Dead (NYT)

• Who could succeed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to lead Iran? (Al Jazeera)

• United States and Israel strike Iran (Reuters)

• Donald Trump Launches a War of “Epic Fury” on Iran (New Yorker)

• The President of War (NYT)

• How the attack on Iran could impact the global oil market and economy (CNBC)

• Insurers to cancel policies and raise prices for ships in Gulf and Strait of Hormuz (FT)

• Combat operations against Iran on land, sea, and air (BI)

• Shipping Grinds to a Halt in Strait of Hormuz (WSJ)

• How could the U.S. strikes in Iran affect the world’s oil supply? (NPR)

• How Iran attack could shake energy markets and prices (Axios)

• A ‘friendly takeover’ of Cuba (Reuters)

• Pentagon assault on Anthropic sends shock waves across Silicon Valley (WP)

• OpenAI Reaches A.I. Agreement With Defense Dept. After Anthropic Clash (NYT)

• 13 thoughts on Anthropic, OpenAI and the Department of War (Silver Bulletin)

• Trump orders government to stop using Anthropic AI (Reuters)

 

Trump's War

A tyrant at home, a tyrant abroad. That sums up the authoritarian playbook guiding Trump as he launches his latest war, this one against Iran.

The U.S. has been consistently meddling in Iran’s affairs since joining with the British to overthrow democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadeg in 1953.

I’m not defending Iran’s actions over the decades, which including kidnappings, assassinations, and acts of terrorism, but this is an illegal war of aggression by a man who claims to be about peace.

Back in the 50s, the Mossadeg coup was mainly about oil and the fear of communism; today it is about fear of a nuclear Iran, aligning the U.S. with Israel and an authoritarian’s reach for world power.

This bombing campaign risks world war. Those around the President counseling caution and restraint have lost. The “Masters of War” have prevailed.

HEADLINES:

• U.S. and Israel Strike Iran as Trump Calls for Overthrow of Government (NYT)

• The hypothetical nuclear attack that escalated the Pentagon’s showdown with Anthropic (WP)

• US military used laser to take down Border Protection drone, lawmakers say (AP)

• Surveillance footage obtained by the Buffalo, New York-based news nonprofit Investigative Post shows Border Patrol agents abandoning a nearly blind Burmese refugee days before he was found dead. The video undercut the government's explanation about the decision to drop him off 5 miles away from his home after he was mistakenly taken into custody. [HuffPost]

• Elon Musk Moves Against the Russians in Ukraine (Atlantic)

• Pakistan carries out air and ground strikes inside Afghanistan (Reuters)

• Netflix walks away from Warner Bros deal, clearing the path for Paramount (AP)

• What it’s like to watch a dictatorship strangle your home country (WP)

• Regime Change in Cuba Appeals to Trump but Carries Risks (NYT)

• Is China flexing its intelligence muscle by tracking US military moves near Iran? (SCMP)

• A new poll shows just how quickly Israel has lost America’s sympathy (Vox)

• Jack Dorsey says he’s cutting nearly half of his staff — 4,000 jobs (BI)

• Pentagon moves to build AI tools for China cyber operations (FT)

• The Right-Wing Nonprofit Serving A.I. Slop for America’s Birthday (New Yorker)

• Trump Orders Government to Stop Using Anthropic After Pentagon Standoff (NYT)

• Taylor Swift Pays Off Bride Who Booked Maid Of Honor She Wanted (Onion)