Politics

The Washington Post just quietly pulled the plug on its police shooting database, “Fatal Force.” Don’t expect an apology or a reckoning. Don’t even expect an explanation. Because to acknowledge the full impact of that project would be to admit this: that for nearly a decade, the nation’s premier legacy newsroom helped manufacture and perpetuate a toxic narrative – that police officers are hunting black men in the streets with impunity.Let’s be clear, the “Fatal Force” database didn’t just compile data; it crafted a storyline. It presented fatal police shootings in isolation, stripped of context and devoid of nuance. No breakdown of the circumstances. No mention of weapons. No differentiation between justified use of force and actual misconduct.

Where is Tulsi Gabbard? The country’s Director of National Intelligence has been glaringly absent as the biggest national security story in years continues to develop. In both the lead-up to and the aftermath of President Trump’s decision to strike Iran’s nuclear sites, Gabbard has barely been seen, or heard. It’s a strange time for the chief of the US intelligence community to go silent, leading to a growing number of questions that Americans – particularly MAGA Americans – would like answered.It’s Gabbard’s now-infamous testimony to Congress in March – and a video posted to social media earlier this month – that are thought to have sidelined her from the Trump administration in recent weeks.

In what will likely be remembered as the most monumental decision of his presidency, Donald Trump decided to pull the trigger. The very vocal portion of his supporters that advocated publicly against action to destroy Iran's nuclear capabilities found out, much to their chagrin, where they stand in the pecking order. Under Trump, the President himself, alone, decides what will be done – and he will not be threatened, cajoled or blackmailed out of doing what he believes to be right. Trump has been emphatic since 2011: Iran cannot be allowed to have a bomb. And he was willing to go as far as sending seven B-2 bombers thousands of miles across the seas to make sure of it.What does this do to Trump's coalition?

So much for the contention that President Donald Trump always chickens out. Trump has done what George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Joe Biden contemplated but never executed: bombing Iran's main nuclear sites with a combination of bunker busters and Tomahawk cruise missiles.  In his brief White House address on Saturday night, Trump exuded confidence, stating that the Iranian nuclear program had been "obliterated." But he made it clear that he is prepared to up the ante, pledging that if Iran doesn't agree to a peace deal, then the bombing campaign will be expanded. Trump said that the US “will go to those other targets with precision, speed and skill." America is now at war with Iran. Already Trump's MAGA followers are (largely) hailing his audacious decision.

Zero-hour was approaching. A joint US-Israeli attack on the mullahs’ mountain fastness at Fordow seemed imminent. The B-52s were on the tarmac, the USS Nimitz had taken to sea, Ambassador Mike Huckabee was reaching for the smelling salts.  And then? A last-minute pause. “I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks,” said the President. Delays like these have now become a standard part of Trump’s box of tricks. If a drama – like the ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs of earlier this year – can be kept going for a little longer, then all the more time to extract further concessions from the opposing party. As negotiating tactics go there are certainly worse ones. But was there another reason?

Tucker Carlson teased an upcoming podcast with Senator Ted Cruz Tuesday night by posting a short, fiery clip from the two-hour interview. The clip spotlights Cruz's alleged ignorance of basic information about Iran. But, after Cockburn watched the much anticipated episode, he is sad to say that the grown men's yelling competition featured in the teaser turned out to be a faithful representation of the podcast as a whole. Here are Cruz and Carlson's zestiest and best delivered zingers: When discussing the Iran-backed assassination attempt of the former secretary of state Brian Hook, Cruz said, "Killing terrorists is a good thing.

Political imbrioglios often take on the character of theological controversy. Back in the 6th century, the wise men of the Western Church, pondering the Trinity, decided to make an addition to the Nicene Creed. The Holy Spirit, they determined, proceeded not simply “ex Patre” (“from the Father”) but also “filioque,” “and from the son.” No big deal, right? Wrong. For reasons I shall refrain from dilating on now, the Eastern Church repudiated the addition. Controversy raged for centuries. Indeed, what became known as the “filioque controversy” culminated, in AD 1054, in the Great Schism between the Eastern Church and the West. For most of us mortals, the controversy now seems arcane, not to say bootless. But at the time it was a matter of life and death.

How could the Democrats be in any more disarray? Long-time, high-ranking Democratic National Committee members Randi Weingarten and Lee Saunders turned down offers to remain in their positions, citing dissatisfaction with the current DNC chair, Ken Martin. Their announcement to leave the DNC came a week after former vice chair David Hogg was booted from the committee. Hogg was pushed out over a complaint from Native American Kalyn Free, 61, that the election results "violated the DNC Charter and discriminated against three women-of-color candidates,” per Semafor. This procedural problem followed Martin's vocal disapproval of Hogg's $20 million plan to primary older incumbents in safe seats running for reelection.