The opposition to the deal arrived at between the P5+1 nations and Iran has been led by the Republicans, the Israeli government and its lobby in the US, and the neoconservatives, all of whom would like the US to go to war with Iran, which is a truly insane idea. (Interestingly, American Jews support the deal by larger margins than the American public overall, showing once again that the Israel lobby in the US reflects the view of the most extreme elements of the Israeli government more than that of American Jews, something we saw before in the run-up to the Iraq war.) The absurdity and shallowness of their statements about the deal reveal that they were opposed to any agreement that Iran would agree to because that would pre-empt war, or at least delay it.
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In some media stories that generate a lot of attention over a long period despite not producing a corresponding amount of news, at some point the stories go meta and the discussion shifts to the coverage of the coverage and the question gets shifted to whether the topic deserves that level of attention and whether the nature of that coverage is appropriate.
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I gave an update last week on the case of Barrett Brown, about whom I have written before, and linked to his posts about life in prison where he was incarcerated after exposing government misdeeds. Unfortunately, a few days ago he was sent for 30 days to ‘the hole’, one of the many synonyms for the ‘solitary housing unit’ or SHU that prisons in the US use as a form of punishment.
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I think a lot of political commentators (including me) need to apologize to Donald Trump for seriously underestimating him. We thought he would be a sideshow in the election, Herman Cain redux, someone who provides great entertainment for a brief time before the ridiculousness of his candidacy sinks in and he fades away. But looking back we should have realized that he is no dummy. It is true that he is not a self-made man. He started out with rich parents and inherited the family real-estate company but he did manage to use it as a springboard to make a lot more money later and that requires a considerable level of shrewdness and ruthlessness and determination that is standing him in good stead in his unlikely election campaign. We were just too blinded by his massive ego and penchant for outrageous statements, boastfulness, and over-the-top buffoonery to see that when it comes to advancing his own interests, he is no fool but has proven himself to be a canny operator.
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