THE ISLAMABAD MEMORANDUM: Switzerland postponed a set of talks between the US and Iran that was set for today following an Israeli attack on Hezbollah militants after four of its soldiers were killed. A ceasefire in Lebanon is part of the 60-day agreement reached with the US.

  Exactly what America got out of the agreement considering the cost of the war is under question.Iran learned the power of shutting down the Strait of Hormuz even while suffering military defeat. Late night host Jimmy Kimmel called the Iran deal signed in France by President Trump, “The Retreaty of Versailles.”

  “We have all the cards,” said Vice President JD Vance, who was supposed to attend the Switzerland talks. “If they change their behavior, big things are going to happen for Iran and for the world. If they don’t, no skin off our backs.”

THE OTHER WAR: Ukrainian drones appear to have done quite a bit of damage in the Moscow area overnight on the 17^th and 18^th, according to Russian military bloggers who say the government is not admitting the truth about the war.

  Ukraine is taking the suffering to the Russian people.

  According to the Institute for the study of war, one military blogger wrote that “those ‘detached from the people’ control Russian state media and have created a false reality where ‘everything is fine,’ calling for Russian media to present events accurately.”

  The ISW says that, “Repeated Ukrainian strikes against heavily defended Russian deep rear areas like Moscow City continue to expose Russia’s weaknesses and inability to defend its domestic populace.”  

REFLECTIONS OF TRUMP: The water in the National Mall reflecting pool just weeks after re-opening is opaque green with algae, which is good because you can’t see that the “American Flag Blue” coating on the bottom is peeling up in great sheets.

  We’re waiting to hear President Trump says he’s going to get to the bottom of this. So far there’s no explanation for why the bottom coat is failing.

  And you can’t make up this stuff. The $1.7 million no-bid contract to install a water purification system for the pool was given to a company called “Greenwater Services.” The company  is owned by a trust controlled by a big Trump donor. The National Park Service had re-filled the pool before the purification system was installed.

  The White House says President Trump had nothing to do with letting the $14.1 million in contracts to refurbish the pool. 

INFINITE SCROLL:

— President Trump’s new acting director of national intelligence, Bill Pulte, showed up yesterday asking for a list of every employee in the office so he could assess whether to fire them, CNN reports.

— The Department of Homeland Security is giving facial recognition software to some local police departments to help round up illegal immigrants.

THE SPIN RACK: Luigi Mangione, the man accused of killing the United Healthcare CEO in Manhattan has withdrawn his planned defense of emotional disturbance, “profound loss of self-control.” Had he succeeded he could have avoided the charged of second-degree murder. — New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani joined the call for banning horse drawn carriages in the city following a fatal accident this week. The carriages have had plenty of accidents over the years, and horses have died, but this is believed to be the first time in 150 years that a person was killed. — Scientists say that a “Godzilla” El Niño, a flow of weather-changing warm water in the Pacific, may wreak havoc with the weather from Southeast Asia to the Pacific Northwest and well into 2027.

BELOW THE FOLD: We’re keeping it short today. We had a long power outage and haven’t caught up.