The problem with Pompeo's tweet is he doesn't present any way this can be done. When we "denied access to Iranian money" before Obama got his deal, it was because of a large scale diplomatic agenda that de-banked anyone doing business with Iranian oil money, and their money was held in escrow (I think in Chinese banks from what I can recall).
We've destroyed every bridge with our allies (I'm not even sure who our allies are now. Russia?), and everyone is desperate for the oil to flow again. Obama kept the oil flowing while the Iranians had limited access to their money.
This administration has no patience to do a deal like that, and tore up the existing deal that was working. They'd never get anything like that. I seriously doubt anyone would trust us to make a deal like that now, especially since the oil and nitrates need to start flowing out of the Gulf as soon as they possibly can. This is just so fucking stupid it boggles the mind how we wound up here.
So I think Pompeo, who also if memory serves opposed the JCPOA as well, is full of shit. We invested so much as a country in JCPOA that tearing it up was the first disastrous step. If it stopped working, fine then tear it up, but once as a country you invest that much in a diplomatic effort, when we reversed course we lost the trust of our allies. I think that happened well before this war started.
Lindsey almost sounds like he's starting to get it through his addled head.
The book "Chokepoints" by Edward Fishman is a great reference for some of the tools we developed that made the JCPOA possible.
We know Trump tore up the JCPOA because Obama achieved it, but, even arguendo, if there were some points that Trump thought needed to be changed, the thing to do was to leave the JCPOA in place but try to renegotiate those points. Of course, once you open renegotiations, things you like can get changed, too, but you don't just tear up an agreement like this. You keep it in place while negotiating. Trump, of course, didn't do that and then, throughout his first term, did nothing to negotiate a new agreement. Now we've got this mess on our hands. Mr. Art of the Deal.
Trump is running the country in the same manner he runs his businesses. He loots them, leaving the businesses bankrupt. Trump also throws in god awful gold decor and racism wherever he can - oh and his stench as well.
Boggles the mind is a good way to put it. Simon says Senate Rs are incredibly angry with T**** for what he has done. But he couldn’t do it without both houses of Congress enabling it. If the Senate had let Congress know they were ready to convict, MAGA Mike Johnson would not have been able to prevent an impeachment.
What an absolute disaster this war has been, not least for the Iranian people and especially those who opposed the regime. (Highly recommend the episode of This American Life called Blackout https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/this-american-life/id201671138?i=1000765777451). If there’s a consolation here it’s that the shithead in the oval office won’t be able to credibly pretend he got a better deal than Obama, if people like Graham and Pompeo are criticizing the deal already.
Tillis saying something like “calling Paxton ethically challenged is like saying Jeffrey Dahmer had an eating disorder” was pretty funny.
I’m off to canvass for a local state assembly candidate (Amy Slavensky). Excited that a college Dems group will be participating.
if the entire repub party, national, state & local, has to disintegrate for them to learn their lesson about welcoming and coddling fascism and dictators, hate, violence, grifting, lying, illegality, incompetence, abandoning the rule of law & allies, a near global economic collapse and climate change acceleration, just to protect satan, then so be it. we need two parties, but this repub party needs to collapse & disappear and be reborn. america needs to purge this virus once and for all. VOTE!!
What a turn of events for Mr. Abrego, an unprecedented predatory prosecution victory. And the losses just keep piling up for Team Orange. As Dr. Ben-Ghiat says, he continues to do Putin's work of destroying America. We must not let him get away with it.
Very proud of Sen. Kim & Rep. Menendez, who visited the Delaney Hall ICE detention center here in NJ yesterday in support of the burgeoning hunger strike. They visited and spoke w detainees & will follow up, and just as importantly, bring their stories back to DC to share with colleagues. And Sen. Booker has been making the rounds in the ongoing national conversation about how we can all fight the dismantling of critical civil rights victories of the mid 20th century. Register people and ensure they vote in huge numbers - volunteer w the League of Women voters and/or join the DNC efforts.
Am feeling better after a couple weeks of illness and am ready to get back into the streets. But first, headed to DC & Philly this coming week to see Bruce's tour-closing dates. For today's celebration of Bob Dylan's 80th birthday, a vintage video: https://youtu.be/su82i5hrZmI?si=exGcLjg2vkUtXJzK "I'll stand over your grave/till I'm sure that you're dead."
English gripe: I have a poorly educated friend that uses “dominate” in place of “dominant.” I thought he was the only one, and then there’s Lindsey Graham….
Thank you Simon. Enjoy your Memorial Day Weekend. I will soon visit the Veteran’s National Cemetery to honor my husband, a USMC veteran. Going to celebrate freedom and the sacrifices of our military veterans. Praying that there will be an end to the war with Iran and no further attacks.
Yesterday I canvassed in my neighborhood for Orange County CA Supervisor Katrina Foley and state senator Catherine Blakespear after a launch event with both women, along with 2 candidates for judge, Judge Ami Segal and asst DA Robert Mestman. It was great to interact with neighbors in a coordinated campaign and also discuss the governers race. I highly recommend hyper local canvassing, it is so easy to strike up authentic conversations with near neighbors. Also saw some great gardens, two pet parrots, and took home lemons and oranges.
More good news from American Oversight. A federal judge granted an emergency motion to compel the Trump administration to preserve records as required by the Presidential Records Act. These public records may contain important information about "Trump’s corruption, conflicts of interest, and abuses of power." The ruling pertains to the 'White House Office, the Department of Government Efficiency, and all advisers to the president." The lawsuit was prompted by records of the Navy’s boat strike that were destroyed.
Simon is the only analyst I've seen pointing out that the Senate GOP is angry at and now bucking Trump because he's undermined Cassidy and Cornyn and put Texas more in play for Democrats by endorsing Paxton. Senator Tillis says as much in the clip Simon posted. But others are consistently framing the situation as "Senate GOP bucks Trump because the $1B ballroom and/or the $1.8B slush fund is so egregious." The line they aren't willing to cross is Trump killing their election chances and Senate control, not any corrupt, anti-democratic, pro-autocrat, or anti-US Trump action.
Once again this was so much like "WAG THE DOG"!
The problem with Pompeo's tweet is he doesn't present any way this can be done. When we "denied access to Iranian money" before Obama got his deal, it was because of a large scale diplomatic agenda that de-banked anyone doing business with Iranian oil money, and their money was held in escrow (I think in Chinese banks from what I can recall).
We've destroyed every bridge with our allies (I'm not even sure who our allies are now. Russia?), and everyone is desperate for the oil to flow again. Obama kept the oil flowing while the Iranians had limited access to their money.
This administration has no patience to do a deal like that, and tore up the existing deal that was working. They'd never get anything like that. I seriously doubt anyone would trust us to make a deal like that now, especially since the oil and nitrates need to start flowing out of the Gulf as soon as they possibly can. This is just so fucking stupid it boggles the mind how we wound up here.
So I think Pompeo, who also if memory serves opposed the JCPOA as well, is full of shit. We invested so much as a country in JCPOA that tearing it up was the first disastrous step. If it stopped working, fine then tear it up, but once as a country you invest that much in a diplomatic effort, when we reversed course we lost the trust of our allies. I think that happened well before this war started.
Lindsey almost sounds like he's starting to get it through his addled head.
The book "Chokepoints" by Edward Fishman is a great reference for some of the tools we developed that made the JCPOA possible.
I agree with you.
We know Trump tore up the JCPOA because Obama achieved it, but, even arguendo, if there were some points that Trump thought needed to be changed, the thing to do was to leave the JCPOA in place but try to renegotiate those points. Of course, once you open renegotiations, things you like can get changed, too, but you don't just tear up an agreement like this. You keep it in place while negotiating. Trump, of course, didn't do that and then, throughout his first term, did nothing to negotiate a new agreement. Now we've got this mess on our hands. Mr. Art of the Deal.
Trump is running the country in the same manner he runs his businesses. He loots them, leaving the businesses bankrupt. Trump also throws in god awful gold decor and racism wherever he can - oh and his stench as well.
Boggles the mind is a good way to put it. Simon says Senate Rs are incredibly angry with T**** for what he has done. But he couldn’t do it without both houses of Congress enabling it. If the Senate had let Congress know they were ready to convict, MAGA Mike Johnson would not have been able to prevent an impeachment.
What an absolute disaster this war has been, not least for the Iranian people and especially those who opposed the regime. (Highly recommend the episode of This American Life called Blackout https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/this-american-life/id201671138?i=1000765777451). If there’s a consolation here it’s that the shithead in the oval office won’t be able to credibly pretend he got a better deal than Obama, if people like Graham and Pompeo are criticizing the deal already.
Tillis saying something like “calling Paxton ethically challenged is like saying Jeffrey Dahmer had an eating disorder” was pretty funny.
I’m off to canvass for a local state assembly candidate (Amy Slavensky). Excited that a college Dems group will be participating.
Source on the Tillis comments:
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5893283-cornyn-paxton-runoff-texas/amp/
Republican Cowardly Pure Self-Preservation. No respect for everything they are allowing the Corrupt Trump Regime to get away with since January 2025.
if the entire repub party, national, state & local, has to disintegrate for them to learn their lesson about welcoming and coddling fascism and dictators, hate, violence, grifting, lying, illegality, incompetence, abandoning the rule of law & allies, a near global economic collapse and climate change acceleration, just to protect satan, then so be it. we need two parties, but this repub party needs to collapse & disappear and be reborn. america needs to purge this virus once and for all. VOTE!!
What a turn of events for Mr. Abrego, an unprecedented predatory prosecution victory. And the losses just keep piling up for Team Orange. As Dr. Ben-Ghiat says, he continues to do Putin's work of destroying America. We must not let him get away with it.
Very proud of Sen. Kim & Rep. Menendez, who visited the Delaney Hall ICE detention center here in NJ yesterday in support of the burgeoning hunger strike. They visited and spoke w detainees & will follow up, and just as importantly, bring their stories back to DC to share with colleagues. And Sen. Booker has been making the rounds in the ongoing national conversation about how we can all fight the dismantling of critical civil rights victories of the mid 20th century. Register people and ensure they vote in huge numbers - volunteer w the League of Women voters and/or join the DNC efforts.
Am feeling better after a couple weeks of illness and am ready to get back into the streets. But first, headed to DC & Philly this coming week to see Bruce's tour-closing dates. For today's celebration of Bob Dylan's 80th birthday, a vintage video: https://youtu.be/su82i5hrZmI?si=exGcLjg2vkUtXJzK "I'll stand over your grave/till I'm sure that you're dead."
Keep going!
English gripe: I have a poorly educated friend that uses “dominate” in place of “dominant.” I thought he was the only one, and then there’s Lindsey Graham….
Thank you Simon. Enjoy your Memorial Day Weekend. I will soon visit the Veteran’s National Cemetery to honor my husband, a USMC veteran. Going to celebrate freedom and the sacrifices of our military veterans. Praying that there will be an end to the war with Iran and no further attacks.
Yesterday I canvassed in my neighborhood for Orange County CA Supervisor Katrina Foley and state senator Catherine Blakespear after a launch event with both women, along with 2 candidates for judge, Judge Ami Segal and asst DA Robert Mestman. It was great to interact with neighbors in a coordinated campaign and also discuss the governers race. I highly recommend hyper local canvassing, it is so easy to strike up authentic conversations with near neighbors. Also saw some great gardens, two pet parrots, and took home lemons and oranges.
Lindsey owns this.
More good news from American Oversight. A federal judge granted an emergency motion to compel the Trump administration to preserve records as required by the Presidential Records Act. These public records may contain important information about "Trump’s corruption, conflicts of interest, and abuses of power." The ruling pertains to the 'White House Office, the Department of Government Efficiency, and all advisers to the president." The lawsuit was prompted by records of the Navy’s boat strike that were destroyed.
https://americanoversight.org/newsletter/presidential-records-act-order-nara-demand-letter-05222026/
Simon is the only analyst I've seen pointing out that the Senate GOP is angry at and now bucking Trump because he's undermined Cassidy and Cornyn and put Texas more in play for Democrats by endorsing Paxton. Senator Tillis says as much in the clip Simon posted. But others are consistently framing the situation as "Senate GOP bucks Trump because the $1B ballroom and/or the $1.8B slush fund is so egregious." The line they aren't willing to cross is Trump killing their election chances and Senate control, not any corrupt, anti-democratic, pro-autocrat, or anti-US Trump action.