History is Obama and Iran agreed to something that Trump 45 repudiated, and the Iranians showed resultant distrust. Not unjustified, but how it happened to where Trump and coalition formed the resolve that Iran could not develop nuclear weapons capability and that based upon distrust that meant the powers in charge wanted all uranium enrichment to stop. Those were the parameters facing Iran, whatever its actual aims were.
Negotiations from that starting point are aptly summarized - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_United_States%E2%80%93Iran_negotiations
It can be said the Iranians were jerking the other negotiating side around because they thought they could.
60 % U235 enrichment is not weapons grade yet, but is further centrifugation from weapons grade and when multi-kg of the 60% stuff has been enriched and is being held, wtf is to be concluded?
It is not needed for reactor use for electrification, unless some thorium reacter or other exotic configuration is planned, and the Iranians have not said that. Managed chain reaction in thorium technology does require trigger reactive material, and some more conventional designs might too. Crabgrass is not versed in technological detail, but 60% is above needed levels of enrichment.
Trump said UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER. After the Israelis had disabled Iran - their pilots were the ones at risk, not the B2 pilots after Israel had disabled Iranian defenses (and whacked a few people they wanted to whack). The risk was the initial incursion and disabling radar and antiaircraft capacity. No matter how much Trump plays "Our noble pilots" as a theme song Israel did the heavy lifting.
There was distrust. There was cause, the Iranians declining in "negotiating" to acknowledge military realities, and playing things out without the demanded compromise - ending any/all enrichment with inspections because trust was lacking.
The West, as a generic term that makes typing easier but is subject to debate, demanded no weapons capability, and hence no further enrichment, none, nada, don't even think it.
Given the parameters, war was limited in time, but necessary to make a point.
Also it is largely irrelevant to debate how effective the B2 uber-bunkerbust thing was. It was done without mishap, and can easily as things now are, be done again, and again, and more so.
Iran has to cave. A few missles at the Qatar U.S. base being a tepid but symbolic counter, for saving face, but not any real threat. Iran is beaten and must accept whatever terms are imposed. Hence, the truth seems that those throwing shade upon how effective or ineffective the B2 strike was, the point is it can be repeated without real risk or consequences, so Iran is pushed into a corner.
Closing the Strait or Hormuz would be Iran cutting off the nose to spite the face, and hence unlikely.
So the stick's been used, now it is time for the carrot. Normalization without capitulation, so that the Iranian people are no longer puched into a degree of suffering that could push them to regime change.
The current regime has been obstreperous, but not reckless. so regime change is a bad idea.
That is about where things seem to stand, if viewed objectively. It is not a guarantee of what happens, but there seems a likelihood of a mutually satisfactory ongoing set of relations without Iran doing any further enrichement of Uranium. End of analysis, correct or not, it is how it seems to be to Crabgrass.
They are so politively assured of themselves because each is telling the other the same thing and it is so exciting to them that they comtemplate having another parade!
[ HINT: fake news, the parade part - birtthday's over ]
THIS IS BIG. The headline is from two short paragraphs in MPR's carry of an AP report.
A breath of fresh air in Schumer - Jeffries land. The ho-hum candidate lost.
New Your City is ready for an unusual experience. A non-Machine mayor.
They've had Bloomberg, Christsakes, and Rudy the bankrupt loudmouth Trump gofor.
This guy, a winner. Hope for a good term in office (although so far he's won only the Dem primary).
___________UPDATE___________
Since some may not read the details of the story, an excerpt of important items:
Cuomo characterized the city as a threatening, out-of-control place desperate for an experienced leader who could restore order. He brought the power of a political dynasty to the race, securing an impressive array of endorsements from important local leaders and labor groups, all while political action committees created to support his campaign pulled in staggering sums of cash.
Mamdani, meanwhile, offered an optimistic message that life in the city could improve under his agenda, which was laser-focused on the idea that a mayor has the power to do things that lower the cost of living. The party’s progressive wing coalesced behind him and he secured endorsements from two of the country’s foremost progressives, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Unofficial results from the New York City’s Board of Elections showed that Mamdani was ranked on more ballots than Cuomo. Mamdani was listed as the second choice by tens of thousands of more voters than Cuomo. And the number of votes that will factor into ranked choice voting is sure to shrink. More than 200,000 voters only listed a first choice, the Board of Elections results show, meaning that Mamdani’s performance in the first round may ultimately be enough to clear the 50% threshold.
The race’s ultimate outcome could say something about what kind of leader Democrats are looking for during President Donald Trump’s second term.
[... above link in original]
Mamdani's grassroots run has been hard not to notice.
His army of young canvassers relentlessly knocked on doors throughout the city seeking support. Posters of his grinning mug were up on shop windows. You couldn't get on social media without seeing one of his well-produced videos pitching his vision — free buses, free child care, new apartments, a higher minimum wage and more, paid for by new taxes on rich people.
That youthful energy was apparent Tuesday evening, as both cautiously optimistic canvassers and ecstatic supporters lined the streets of Central Brooklyn on a sizzling hot summer day, creating a party-like atmosphere that spread from poll sites into the surrounding neighborhoods.
Outside his family’s Caribbean apothecary, Amani Kojo, a 23-year-old first-time voter, passed out iced tea to Mamdani canvassers, encouraging them to stay hydrated.
“It’s 100 degrees outside and it's a vibe. New York City feels alive again,” Kojo said, raising a pile of Mamdani pamphlets. “It feels very electric seeing all the people around, the flyers, all the posts on my Instagram all day.”
Cuomo and some other Democrats have cast Mamdani as unqualified. They say he doesn't have the management chops to wrangle the city's sprawling bureaucracy or handle crises. Critics have also taken aim at Mamdani's support for Palestinian human rights.
In effect, organized progressive grassroots defeated Big Money Machine business-as-usual. As such, it is a landmark win toward 2028 midterms and 2024 elections, with Trump's vile time ending Jan 20, 2025.
In that latter situation, there will be JD. And a nation in fully uncertain circumstances, in a trade war, in conflict with Iran, and in unprecedented graft-chasing. Inflation will be an issue, until it is not.
The Repubicans might cram through that terrible bill, and its consequences will happen, chips falling where they may. But for now, a progressive agenda resonated with a dispirited voting public in a major East Coast city. We go from there.
Today's news might grow legs, or become something less than moving the nation away from its troubling status quo. Crabgrass hopes one way, Trump governs another. A trade war rages. Prices rise.
Money talks, and the rich continue their class warfare against the population, paying scant taxes, if any.
_____________FURTHER UPDATE______________
Times of Israel covers the NYC primary:
Cuomo is a centrist Democrat with a long record of support for Israel. He campaigned heavily to win over Jewish voters with appearances at synagogues, Jewish events and in meetings with Jewish leaders.
Mamdani is a longtime anti-Israel activist who has said that the Palestinian cause got him into politics and is central to his identity. He alarmed many Jewish New Yorkers with his anti-Israel rhetoric and policies. He backs the boycott movement targeting Israel, has refused to acknowledge Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state, identified as an anti-Zionist, and repeatedly accused Israel of genocide.
He has vowed that, if elected, he will arrest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if Netanyahu visits New York. Mamdani has cited the International Criminal Court arrest warrant against Netanyahu, but the court has no jurisdiction in the US, and cooperating with the court is illegal under federal law.
In the closing weeks of the campaign, Mamdani defended the phrase “Globalize the intifada,” which, for Jews, is seen as a call to violence. The Second Intifada against Israel was marked by suicide bombings of Israeli civilians and killed over 1,000 Israelis. Mamdani’s comparison last week of the intifada to the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising drew a rebuke from the US Holocaust Memorial Museum.
Mamdani, 33, is a member of the far-left Democratic Socialists of America, a party that has made anti-Israel activism one of its planks. If elected in November, he will become the city’s first Muslim mayor.
A gifted communicator, Mamdani won over young, liberal voters with an energetic campaign, savvy social media and progressive policy proposals such as free buses, rent freezes and government-run grocery stores.
New York City mayoral candidates at a forum hosted by the B’nai Jeshurun synagogue on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, June 8, 2025. From left: New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, New York State Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani, and former comptroller Scott Stringer. (Luke Tress/Times of Israel) Aside from Israel issues, concerns abound about Mamdani’s policies. The public transportation system, already strapped for cash, is the purview of the state, government-run stores could hurt small businesses, and rent freezes could stymie real estate development, for example.
Mamdani has little legislative experience or background managing an operation as vast as the city government. The city has more than 300,000 employees and a budget of more than $110 billion. The New York Times editorial board said last week, “We do not believe that Mr. Mamdani deserves a spot on New Yorkers’ ballots.”
Voters, in effect, said, "Fuck the New York Times, we're tired of their bullshit," or, "so what, the Times are irrelevant," and if so, it is a healthy outcome because the NYT is not an altogether reliable outlet, and certainly is no friend of progressives.
Continuing:
Minority and older voters favored Cuomo, according to polling ahead of the election. Mainstream Jewish groups, including the city’s Orthodox and Hasidic communities, also lined up behind Cuomo.
Cuomo had broader name recognition than other candidates due to his tenure as governor, but his candidacy came with baggage. He resigned from office in 2021 amid sexual harassment allegations and was accused of mishandling nursing homes during the COVID pandemic.
With religious Jewish communities, during the pandemic, Cuomo sparked outrage for his policies limiting gatherings that those communities felt targeted them. He made amends during the campaign, though, and won the endorsements of nearly all of the city’s Orthodox leaders. His COVID record may have suppressed turnout, though, despite those endorsements.
Former New York State governor Andrew Cuomo at an event marking the completion of a new Torah scroll, in New York City, May 15, 2025. (Luke Tress/Times of Israel) Mamdani also courted Jewish voters and won the endorsements of the anti-Zionist Jewish Voice for Peace and the far-left Jews for Economic and Racial Justice through the group’s electoral arm, the Jewish Vote. His cross-endorsement from Lander, who identifies as a progressive Zionist, also may have helped him with Jewish voters. As comptroller, Lander is the [second] highest-ranking elected official in the city government.
Polling ahead of the election showed either Lander or Mamdani as the second-choice favorite for Jewish voters, behind Cuomo.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams is running as an independent in the general election. Adams, like Cuomo, is a centrist and a staunch supporter of Israel. He has a deep well of support among Jewish communities, particularly in Brooklyn, where he served as the borough president, although he is unpopular with the general public. Adams has rolled out a series of pro-Jewish measures in recent months, including setting up an antisemitism task force, establishing a business council to foster ties with Israel, and codifying the IHRA definition of antisemitism for city government.
[links are in original] With NYC having a large Jewish population Cuomo chased that vote, but still lost. Whether an anti-Trump vote was strong is undeniable, but the suggestion is the anti-Trump vote centered among the young and progressive element of the Democratic Party, and not necessarily among Jewish voters. Nor among party regulars, and that defeat of business-as-usual crap is heartening to activist progressive sentiment.
It looks as if the status quo Dem establishment was so unimpressive to voters, and the idea of change so attractive, that the vote turned out as it did.
A short video, with projected numbers.
Morgan Freeman here and here, with more stuff here:
https://www.youtube.com/@MORGANFREEMAN-b7f
Without knowing much beyond those links, such as how they are funded or maintained, and sponsored and scripted if not by the speaker himself, there is uncertainty where Denzel Washington is similarly featured. See, also, https://www.youtube.com/@DenzelLegacy-g8r.
What/who/why questions arise beyond the content, what is said and why said that way and not otherwise.
Discovering stuff online is only a part of understanding in multiple aspects, stuff online.
More perhaps on shutting the Strait of Hormuz. I have seen it described as 21 miles wide, with two mile wide shipping lanes both ways separated by two miles. Presumably shallows and terrain dictate no wider traffic. One source said 2km, and not 2mi.
Can Iran shut the traffic down, and will they and if so, for how long to make a point?
Mining, mine removal, and remining would be a low cost for Iran to explore, a question being how sophisticate is their capability to mine, the technology they have, and countermeasures. It is wide open to speculation given how much coverage has been in the past, and what Iranian decisions may be now.
There is online strong suggestion that the Iranian parliament has reached a decision to close the Strait.
It seems the case. Where things go from that decision to impact on the world economy is unclear.
North Dakota fracking's break even point may again be exceeded on a price per barrel basis, and how that and Permian Basin pumping can match the need if the Strait becomes inoperative seems to suggest a deficit in coverage pumping. That and a tariff war together can spell disaster of a scale the Grat Depression reached. Hope it is not so, but wait and see.
Allegedly there is a ceasefire between Israel and Iran. It is alleged both sides have already violated it, each side accusing the other.
Vance has said we are not at war with Iran, we are at war with its nuclear program.
The U.S. did only one strike effort, a coordinated bombing of three nuclear sites.
Israel has assassinated numerous people, mostly Iranian military. Now saying its objectives have been met and agreeing now to a ceasfire.
The question seems to be were there Iranian powers that were out of line with a policy other leaders in Iran could live with. I.e., were military forces keeping the nuclear question alive when others were willing to abandon it and move on with life as usual; and did the U.S. and Israel have advanced intelligence that this was the case?
Generals were whacked in a substantial number. Iranians now are alleged to be amenable to a stop to the "at war" status quo.
The suggestion that Iran soft liners were unable to control hardliners and that locales of targeted militaristic types may have been given Israel for precision strikes. If so, Iran has an unstable leadership at present, and the situation requires further attention.
Aside from that, Trump is now pushing for that super-bullshit bill of his to be passed by a complacent Republican majority in both houses of Congress, having the numbers - show the loyalty being the repeated Trump pushing theme in getting that simply stinking thing through both houses. The Senate Parliamentarian is posing as the force to remove some of the poison pills House Republicans installed but are willing to see removed, so that the liars can say, "See, everybody got something via a bipartisan process as Congress is supposed to act."
But that supposition is premised on bipartisan action FOR the benefit of the people, not togetherness against the proles' best interests.
Tax the fucking rich!
The fact is the bill is pure fucking of the people so Elon and the other billionaires and millionaires and oil industry types who bankrolled the Trump campaign can get their tax break payback. Fucking Joe Worker for Sam Millionaire is crap, but only wealthy people are allowed into Congress by BOTH parties and the rest is Kabuki Theater to lie to a nation. With neither House of Congress willing to curb insider trading of their membership what more proof is needed that "Feather your own nest" is the rule of the two-party stranglehold over the will of the people?
Pelosi traded. Trust her now? Bullshit! They are all in it together, or if not all, enough of a majority to run things AGAINST the people. Hegseth's "We the People" tattoo not withstanding. Nice tattoo, Heggie but there is that multimillion mansion in Tennessee the Murdochs bought you and there is Vance's visit with the Murdochs days before this entire Israel - Iran thing happened.
Go figure.
UPDATE: Go figure, and work in the role of the media in all of it.
Visits to the Murdochs.
There is a logic to it. Not a good logic, but a logic. It sucks, but other than saying it as it is, what can we do? Vote the other party? Get real. National Socialism at play, in the U.S. of A?
Go figure.
FURTHER: "Hands off" and "No Kings" are a steam valve. To release pressure so the boiler does not explode.
But what else are we allowed? Zippo, is the answer. Marines in the street, in L.A. Trains running on time. TSA in the airports.
FURTHER: For another day, when we know more, the trade war - what is the aim, and what is the result? Both interesting questions, each with its own answer, perhaps both with the same answer. Unlikely that. And - the war on the professors and their institutions. What we learn affects who we become. And what we know may differ in widespread degrees from what we were schooled on.
Jeffrey Epstein and Ehud Barack, as to whose intelligence operation Epstein may have represented.
Epstein files and the Iran war entry - here, here and here.
"Where there's smoke, there's fire," is an old saying, but come on. Dems had DOJ files during Biden's term and nothing came out. Innocent unless proven guilty.
But ego tripping over a possible boost in regard, or a smokescreen for other nefarious deeds? That's not fully proven, but after the parade fiasco, the ego trip possibility has circumstantial feasibility.
_________UPDATE________
Some are critics, reminding us of that joke about the basket of tiny MAGA kittens. Weeks later Trump asked about the tint little MAGA kittens, and the little girl said, "They're no longer MAGA kittens. Their eyes opened."
