Itchin’ for a Fight: While the trade war with China dominates the headlines, the more immediate threat to the world may be the Trump administration’s increasing tensions with Iran.

 Tonight in Baghdad the State Department ordered half the staff of the US embassy to leave Iraq because of a perception that there’s an increasing threat from Iran. The US has moved an aircraft carrier group and a bomber wing to the area. National Security Adviser John Bolton is having the Pentagon draw up plans for war with Iran.

  Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said that the administration received intelligence related to “Iranian activity” that put American facilities and service personnel at “substantial risk.” What that is, he didn’t say.

  President Trump has had a bone to pick with Iran since before he was elected.

  Some US allies disagree that there’s any new threat. Yesterday at the Pentagon a senior British military official told reporters that he saw no increased risk from Iran or allied militias in Iraq or Syria.Hours later US Central Command issued a statement saying the British comments ran “counter to the identified credible threats available to intelligence from U.S. and allies regarding Iranian-backed forces in the region.”

In a Heartbeat:After taking a breather to consider the details, the Alabama legislature has passed a law that basically makes abortion illegal in that state contrary to the law of the country. The law bans abortions as soon as a fetal heartbeat is detectable, sooner than many women know they are pregnant.

 Exceptions are allowed only when the mother’s life is in danger, not for rape or incest. Doctors who perform abortions would face up to 99 years in prison. Women who have an abortion would not be prosecuted.

 Proponents of the law know it will be challenged in court and hope it will go all the way to the Supreme Court, overturning the 1973 Roe v. Wade precedent that made abortion legal.

Gunfight at the NRA Corral: Recent political infighting at the National Rifle Association’s annual convention has triggered inquiries into the finances of the powerful pro-gun organization.

  The NRA’s ceremonial president Oliver North was faced down in the street by CEO Wayne LaPierre, the national voice of the Second Amendment. North was questioning how the organization is run. What’s behind it is an internal struggle over money and the dwindling fortunes of the NRA.

  The NY Timesreports that the NRA has been increasingly dependent upon cash infusions from its foundation, at least $206 million since 2010.  And in a signal that power corrupts, the paper reports that LaPierre billed the organization $275,000 for clothing bought at a luxury men’s boutique in Beverly Hills. 

  The Times says the NY Attorney general is looking into whether money from the NRA foundation was used for charitable purposes or to illegally subsidize the NRA’s political activities. The NRA’s choke hold on politicians is largely responsible for the inability of Congress to do anything about gun violence.

Familiar Faces: San Francisco, a city at the heart of the technology revolution, has become the first major American city to prevent its police force and other agencies from using facial recognition technology to sort criminals from the crowd.

  The city’s board of supervisors voted 8-1 in favor of the ban to prevent their city from becoming part of a futuristic surveillance state. Opponents say that while the technology is valuable in catching criminals, it allows governments too much power to track the innocent along with the guilty. 

 Similar bills are beginning to make their way through state, local, and even the federal government. A law introduced in Congress would prevent businesses from using facial recognition to track customers. But facial recognition technology is already in wide use, particularly in airports and sports stadiums. Singer Taylor Swift uses it to identify stalkers.

The Obit Page:Tim Conway, a dry-humor standup comedian and bumbling space-brain on the long-running “Carol Burnett Show” of the 1970s and the World War II comedy “McHale’s Navy,” has died at age 85. He was described as a talented leading second-banana.  

Save the Bacon: On this story we’re only going to give you the headline from The NY Times;“As Swine Fever Roils Asia, Hogs Are Culled and Dinner Plans Change.”

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