Control

As I said, Trump can assert that he has control much in the same way that Iran can: they can prevent traffic, but not faciliate it.

United States President Donald Trump has doubled down on claims the United States maintains “total control” over the Strait of Hormuz, even as transit through the arterial waterway fell to a one-week low amid the US-Israel war with Iran.

Destroying is easier than creating.

"Cutting-Edge"

You can't criticize our patriotic defense contractors, because that's no different than criticizing the troops, really.

It was the summer of 2024, and the cutting-edge robots inside General Dynamics’ sweltering artillery factory near Dallas were catching fire with startling regularity, according to four former workers there. This wasn’t ideal, as the plant was supposed to be churning out urgently needed artillery shells for Ukraine. The robots, giant metal arms with clamps for hands, would end up drenched in oil, which would then — no surprise — combust as they moved steel blocks heated to 1,800 degrees into and out of a machine that periodically erupted columns of fire. One blaze that summer melted a robot’s cables, putting it out of commission for a week.

Only weeks earlier, defense officials and executives had touted the factory’s innovative new machinery, imported from Turkey, at a gala opening ceremony. But employees were already used to spectacular mishaps, fiery and otherwise. “After the second, third, fourth time, it just became almost normal,” one former worker said. “It got to the point where I was not surprised by anything that happened there.”

Instead of producing shells in an efficient and streamlined fashion, the pricey machines kept failing in bizarre ways. The robot arms would swing out of control, smashing into carefully calibrated equipment, and sometimes they would unexpectedly drop hunks of steel 5 feet down to the floor. The factory’s signature device, meant to precisely stretch the steel for the artillery shells, instead often cracked it beyond repair. Then there were the giant press machines, which required regular pounding with a sledgehammer to function properly but still botched the shaping of nearly every shell. “We really didn’t have any standardized practice,” said Quantel White, a former employee. “It was just a bunch of guys taking turns going at the machine with a sledgehammer every night.” To workers, even the factory buildings themselves came to feel doomed, with acrid smoke hanging in 100-degree heat over foundations seemingly sinking into the earth.

I recently saw a mention of a new plant that never produced any shells. Now I know why!

Staffers

I was focused on the journalists, but we shouldn't overlook the fact that Trump was gonna let his staffers die, also, too.

Now, attention has shifted to reporters and staffers unknowingly flying on a decoy plane — and the nature of the threat that prompted such dramatic security measures. A US official said at least two Cabinet secretaries – Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent – stayed behind on the older presidential aircraft that departed Turkey without Trump aboard.

I was thinking more about the junior staffers, but I guess Marco and Scott are disposable, too!

And the more junior staffers are not!

As President Donald Trump secretly left an Air Force One jet on a catering truck last month in response to a potential Iranian assassination threat in Turkey, he was accompanied by some of his most loyal and longest-serving aides, but no Cabinet officials.

Other passengers on the truck included Dan Scavino, the White House deputy chief of staff; Natalie Harp, the president’s executive assistant; and Walt Nauta, the director of Oval Office operations, according to a U.S. official familiar with the operation and corroborating material reviewed by The Washington Post.

Harp's job - should be Cabinet level, really - is to feed him social media slop for him to look at and post.

Sure, Jan

But the headlines hit the algos that boost the stock market, so...

President Donald Trump claimed the US had “total control over the Hormuz Strait,” as Washington and Tehran hardened their stances in deadlocked negotiations over the waterway.

“We own it,” Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews outside Washington late Tuesday. “And at some point, maybe they’ll do something, and then they get blown away.”

I'm sure the US can block most/all traffic through the strait by threatening to blow things up, AS CAN IRAN. What they can't do is ensure that anything goes through.

Morning

Respect Trump's authoritah!

Happy Hour

get happy

Never Gonna Stop

Related to the last post, the people around him are obviously good at redirecting his rage towards "nobodies."

WASHINGTON—White House officials have asked the Justice Department to consider a new prosecution of a man accused of vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, according to people familiar with the discussions, as President Trump fumes over U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s decision to drop the case.

At least fire Pirro!

Blame Pete

We don't have nearly enough humiliating forced resignations (firings) in Trump II. He even has good reasons to fault the people around him! You can divide them pretty easily between incompetent evil and competent evil (the Fox News Cabinet versus the rest, mostly), but Trump has a lot of affection for the ones from Fox!

Miserable Failure

I don't actually know the answer to this: do we think Trump is covered as an "unpopular president" the way Biden was once his poll numbers dropped?

NEW Economist/YouGov Aug 7-10 3-week average net Trump job approval [now | at the start of Trump's 2nd term] among: U.S. adult citizens: -27 | +2 Whites: -16 | +14 Non-college whites: -8 | +27 College whites: -30 | -6 Hispanics: -36 | -14 Blacks: -62 | -39

[image or embed]

— YouGov America (@today.yougov.com) August 11, 2026 at 2:43 PM

This is a very general question covering the collection of mainstream media sources: cable and network news, the New York Times, NPR. Obviously I don't have all of those things fully jacked into my head.

Alternate Timeline

I'd bet the security scare was just nonsense presented by Israeli intelligence, but imagine if Iran had blown up a plane filled with our most brilliant journalists as Trump escaped with the food?

Sitting Ducks

Letting the press corps be targets, after that nice party they had for you!!!

Mr. Trump boarded the older plane from the left-side door in view of cameras, and news organizations, including The New York Times, reported that he had traveled on it to Britain, where he switched back to the newer plane. The Times reported at the time that the decision was driven in part by concern about the security of the new plane donated by Qatar, which had not been equipped with all of the defensive capabilities of older versions.

But instead of flying out aboard that older, powder blue, modified 747, Mr. Trump was whisked off that plane via a catering container that had been lifted to the opposite side of the plane from where the journalists traveling with him boarded, one of the U.S. officials said. The president was then taken to a third plane, which he flew in secret to Britain, the official with knowledge of the matter said.

Reporters on the older plane were not told that Mr. Trump had not flown with them from Turkey to an air base in Britain, making them unwitting participants in the ruse and leaving them, along with some White House staff members, to serve as unknowing decoys.

Can't wait for the movie! Daring escape in a catering container!

Happy Hour

Get happy.

The Two Hitlers

On X, the everything app, its owner, famous for doing a Hitler salute (good), has been, again, calling Hitler a socialist (very bad).

As I have said before, to conservatives there are two Hitlers. There is the liberal Hitler, who was history's worst monster. Liberals love that guy and aspire to be like him. Then there is the conservative Hitler, who was very good and we love to salute him yes we do.

There's No Money For Journalism

Reminder that NBC paid Megyn Kelly $70 million or so, about half of which was for not working.

I'm sure various things went into their decision to hire her, but one was that Trump was becoming president so they needed to cater to Trump Conservatives.

Sorta like how when Biden became president, they made Sam Seder their morning show host.

Newspaper Fantasies

I know you can just argue this is a "clever" rhetorical ploy, but, no, NYT and Mike DeWine, the president is not going to do any of this.

It’s time for Mr. Trump’s Nixon-goes-to-China moment. Having established himself as a staunch opponent of illegal immigration, he should begin a thoughtful, forward-thinking discussion with members of Congress in both parties about enacting a legal immigration policy that strengthens national security, bolsters our economy and keeps decent, hard-working people here.

Among the reforms he should consider supporting: Establishing new pathways to extend the legal status of foreign students who graduate with advanced STEM degrees, essentially stapling a green card to their diplomas; reworking the H-1B visa program to better prioritize workers whose skills and experience are essential to American businesses; and equipping employers with modern, reliable tools to verify work eligibility.

Yeah, man, whatever. 

Give Us All The Money

How long will Trump draw this out before he caves?

State of talks: President Donald Trump signaled a US emphasis on increasing economic pressure on Iran, saying that Washington is “low-keying” negotiations with the country. Tehran said it was not engaging in talks with the US.

Bag Holders

I'm sure they will be the pension funds.

The growing backlog is a challenge for private equity’s core business model. Typically, such firms aim to buy a company, often add large amounts of debt to its balance sheet, improve its financial performance and then sell it for a profit, usually within five to seven years.

The state of limbo has been difficult for large investors like pension funds and endowments that have spent decades paying steep fees to private equity firms promising market-beating returns. Some investors and industry professionals are worried that the firms won’t be able to sell companies without taking big losses.

“Private equity is stuck because those companies have failed to fulfill their value promise,” said Andrew Milgram, a managing partner and chief investment officer at Marblegate Asset Management, an investment firm.

Pretty sure the model is more: load up debt to buy companies, loot those companies to pay executives lots of money, and then let those companies go bankrupt, but I guess some people gotta believe.

Morning

 Mackerel Monday.

Taboos

One reason you don't loudly, proudly, and regularly announce your plans to destroy civilian infrastructure (along with doing it) is that it give license to others to do likewise.

Yemen’s Houthis said they attacked an oil facility Sunday in southwestern Saudi Arabia, the latest attack by the Iranian-backed rebels on the kingdom. Meanwhile, Iran has made new demands about the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, and the Pentagon is pressing the U.S. defense industry to accelerate production of weapons.

And in the age of cheap drones, you can't really defend against it.  As we are seeing, it doesn't take long to deplete any missile defenses you have and no one has missile defenses covering everything anyway.

Maybe most of these attacks won't amount to much, but sometimes...

We are ruled by people who have spent their lives saying, "Mommy, he hit me back!" yet are still surprised when it happens.

At Least The War Is Over

I am dumb about some things, but the more I think about it, the more it's clear that Iran should just hold out for Florida, or whatever. I mean, from their perspective, what exactly do they have to gain from "peace"?

WASHINGTON—For weeks, President Trump had been laying the groundwork to declare victory in the Iran war should Tehran fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz, even floating the idea privately to senior aides that he’s willing to walk away without a nuclear deal, U.S. officials said.

But that scaled-back objective became more difficult when Iran insisted Saturday on its highest price yet for permitting the free flow of traffic in the waterway, seeking billions of dollars in U.S. payments, the removal of American troops from the region and an end of the U.S. naval blockade, among other things.

This rapid chain of events suggests Trump’s options for walking away from the conflict have again narrowed. Trump has repeatedly threatened—and then backed away from—a massive escalation of its bombing campaign. But the recent chaos in negotiations signaled Tehran is prepared for a long and grinding conflict.

It is very funny:

One major complication for the Trump administration is money. Iran is seeking billions of dollars in war reparations in addition to an agreement to unfreeze the country’s assets around the world. Trump has said the White House wouldn’t allow any taxpayer money to go to Iran, although a deal appears unlikely without the U.S. unfreezing some assets, possibly with conditions attached.