Disturbing talk from Tehran: "The Zionist regime [Israel] will soon receive a strong and definite response, and there is no doubt about it," said Abdolrahim Mousavi, the chief commander of Iran's army, on Wednesday. "It is clear that they themselves have realized the speed of their own destruction, and by doing so, they want to save themselves from the quagmire, but they definitely cannot save themselves from annihilation."
Iranian officials said similar things back in April, before Israel and Iran exchanged strikes which did little damage and seemed more symbolic than designed to spiral into war. But right now the entire region—specifically, Iran and its proxies—appears to be on the brink of retaliation directed toward Israel, which took out Fuad Shukr, one of Hezbollah's top military commanders, and Ismail Haniyeh, one of Hamas' top political leaders. Israel claims it assassinated Shukr in retaliation for a rocket attack from Hezbollah that killed 12 kids. (The killing of Haniyeh probably needs no explanation, given the events of October 7, in which Hamas came into Israel and murdered 1,200 in the single most brutal day of carnage Israel has ever seen.)
Airlines will divert some of their routes around both Iranian and Lebanese airspace, with Egypt instructing all of its airlines to avoid Iranian airspace early this morning local time.
Israel's security cabinet plans to convene tonight to prepare for the nation's defense in the event of an attack from Iran and/or its proxies. And, on Friday, the U.S. reported that it had "ordered more combat aircraft and warships capable of shooting down missiles and drones to the Middle East in response to the threats from Iran and its allies," reports The New York Times.
Internally, Hamas has replaced Haniyeh with Yahya Sinwar, one of the chief architects of the horrific October 7 pogrom. Sinwar is believed to be hiding in the tunnels below Gaza and has arguably been more influential in crafting Hamas' strategy than Haniyeh was.
Ukrainian troops get into Russia: Ukraine's military has advanced six miles into Russia, capturing a few small border settlements and leaving their aggressors scrambling.
Russia instigated the war in Ukraine, which has been raging since February 2022. It's the third time Ukraine has progressed into Russian borders, but it appears to be the largest so far (though the military itself has released no information about the assault, and reporters are mostly relying on intelligence analysts assessing photos and videos of the region).
"The fighting was intensive enough for the acting governor of the Kursk region in Russia, Aleksei Smirnov, to declare a state of emergency late Wednesday in order to 'liquidate the results of an incursion into the region's territory by enemy forces,'" reports The New York Times.
Tim Walz misunderstands free speech: "There's no guarantee to free speech on misinformation or hate speech and especially around our democracy," Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who Kamala Harris recently picked as her running mate, told MSNBC back in December 2022, in a clip that's been resurfaced given his newfound prominence.
That's not true. Spreading "misinformation"—however you might define that pesky word—is absolutely free speech. Ditto for "hate speech," which may be defined differently depending on who you ask. And the "especially around our democracy" part is extremely concerning as well, like he's alluding to the idea that there's some sort of more-punitive carve-out for political speech, that type of speech that's so extremely important to permit and protect.
Walz is not alone in misunderstanding free speech; these types of mischaracterizations are commonly aired among the MSNBC set. And it probably doesn't matter, because vice presidents don't matter (until they do!). But it bears noting wherever it crops up, since free speech must be valued and secured in order to have a healthy political culture, and since power seekers of all stripes ought to understand such things lest they trample on them.
Scenes from New York: A fun and beautiful story from Tablet about how bananas and cream originated as a nostalgic food, beloved by American Jews, in part because of Eastern European immigrants' fondness for sour cream, and delight at bananas, a fruit that had not been available in the Old World.
QUICK HITS
- In a first-of-its-kind lawsuit, Planned Parenthood is being sued for medical malpractice by detransitioners who claim the organization inadequately assessed plaintiffs' mental health prior to providing cross-sex hormones. The Free Press has more.
- "I'm at the end of 12 years as a critic who ate in and reviewed restaurants constantly," writes The New York Times' Pete Wells, in his last review. "Of those years, I probably spent two solid months just waiting for the check. I ought to be in favor of anything that speeds up the end of the meal, but Blackbird's new checkless exit gives me the creeps. It is just the latest in a series of changes that have gradually and steadily stripped the human touch and the human voice out of restaurants. Each of these changes was small, but together they've made going out to eat much less personal. Meals are different now, and our sense of who we are is different, too."
- "There is still a propensity for a further selldown if there is more signals that the US economy is screeching to a halt," notes Marcus Wong to Bloomberg. "While there is hardly a consensus in the market that the US economy is headed into a recession this year, investors are so jittery that even 'small speedbumps' in the economy now could be another reason to sell." Also some interesting insight into how central banks have handled this week's economic news, and which rate cuts might happen for the remainder of the year.
- Good insight from an X follower, summing up my own tweets more concisely than I ever could:
"Aw shucks" socialism is a Trojan Horse for government expansion, control and debt.
— Calmer than you are (@1100RS) August 7, 2024
- "China has long invested heavily to push its athletes to triumph against the West, as a way of highlighting the merits of the Communist Party," notes Bloomberg. "These Olympic Games are no different, but for one key aspect: Citizens are openly questioning why Beijing is spending so much money on a sporting event when many at home are facing bleak economic prospects."
- "I think that there's more than one way to populate the planet—if not with children, then with other things," writes Kat Rosenfield on J.D. Vance's (quite rude) "childless cat ladies" line. "With invention and discovery. With art and beauty. With lovely things that keep blooming, long after we've left the world behind."
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