Extra, Extra
Tired of All The Winning: “Iran and the United States have failed to come to an agreement not because hard-liners are blocking pragmatists inside Iran, but because both sides seem to sincerely believe that they have won the war.” Thomas Wright in The Atlantic (Gift Article): The Real Reason Iran Hasn’t Struck a Deal. That said, “Iran has handed over its latest proposal for negotiations with the United States to mediators in Pakistan, Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency reported Friday. President Donald Trump subsequently said he’s ‘not satisfied” with it.'” Meanwhile, today “marked the 60th day since the White House notified Congress of its military operations in Iran, meaning Trump would have to withdraw forces or seek formal approval from Capitol Hill.” But luckily, it’s not actually a war, the US has ‘won’ the Iran war, but Trump wants to win by a bigger margin, the ceasefire means the 60-day counter stopped, the constitution is unconstitutional, and some other reasons this won’t mean anything. Here’s the latest from AP and CNN.
+ Peace Dividends: There actually may be multiple winners in this war. It’s just not who you’re thinking of. NYT (Gift Article): Jared Kushner, Steve Witkoff and the Profitable Business of Peace. “The creeping privatization of both war and peace has been underway for some time. But Trump has pushed this trend to its logical conclusion: His administration has turned the delicate practice of peacemaking, previously handled largely by experienced diplomats, mediators and specialists, into a business for a select few stakeholders who are bound together by a thicket of financial affiliations and conflicts of interest.”
+ Vote Moat: “The central tenet of American democracy is the right to vote. But in practice, for Black voters, especially in the South, it wasn’t until the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that their access to the voting booth was fundamentally improved. The law eradicated many Jim Crow-era intimidation tactics.” How Did the Voting Rights Act Change Black Representation in 10 States? (As I explained yesterday, fuggedabout 86-47. America’s most dangerous number is actually 6-3.)
+ Afford Focus: “Initial sign-ups had already fallen by about 1.2 million people. But insurance companies, state officials and industry analysts are reporting that many more have lost Obamacare coverage now that people are facing long-term higher costs. The federal government has yet to report current enrollment data.” (Making health care unaffordable makes it unaffordable…)
+ Spirit Away? Talks over a $500 million government rescue deal have collapsed, leaving Spirit Airlines on the verge of shutting down.
+ Calculated Gamble: “The clinicians who treat gambling disorders are more concerned about what they are seeing with their patients. In their spaces, when it comes to sports gambling and prediction markets, the end result is virtually the same.” Prediction markets say they’re different from sportsbooks. Gambling addicts say it’s all the same. (Prediction markets know exactly what they’re building.)
+ Knock Knock: “For believers in the paranormal, unsettling sensations brought on by old buildings can be a sinister hint of loitering spirits. But new research points to a more mundane explanation: inaudible sounds from aged pipes and boilers.” (I only wish the sounds from my pipes were inaudible.)
