The Fallout Begins, Take Your Award
Monday, January 6, 2020
Vol. 9, No. 5
Get Out: As tensions ratchet up, Iran announced it will no longer limit production of nuclear fuel and the Iraqi Parliament voted to kick all American troops out of the country. That’s just the latest fallout from President Trump’s decision to kill Iran’s most senior general in Baghdad.
Iran said it now feels free to ditch its nuclear agreement and proceed with unlimited enriched uranium research and production. President Trump had already abandoned the 2015 nuclear deal.
The successor to Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani said, “God the almighty has promised to get his revenge.”
As for Iraq throwing out the Americans, Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi wrote the bill so there’s little doubt he’ll sign it into law. The vote was 170-0, with many of Parliament’s 328 members, mostly Kurds and Sunnis, not attending or not voting, revealing the split in Iraqi government.
As millions of mourners and protesters filled the streets of Tehran, President Trump was posting threats on Twitter, including what he evidently considers to be official notice to Congress of potential military action. He said, “These Media Posts will serve as notification to the United States Congress that should Iran strike any U.S. person or target, the United States will quickly & fully strike back, & perhaps in a disproportionate manner. Such legal notice is not required, but is given nevertheless!”
The War Powers Act of 1973 requires the President to report military actions to Congress within 48 hours. It’s pretty clear that the law doesn’t qualify a Twitter post as official notice.
The US has paused its fight with the Islamic State in anticipation of getting hit by Iraq. Trump tweeted, “If they attack again, which I would strongly advise them not to do, we will hit them harder than they have ever been hit before!” Of course, Trump has no idea what he’s talking about. Iran lost as many as a million people in the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s.
Trump claims that the US has targeted 52 Iranian sites symbolic of the 52 US hostages taken by Iran in 1979, “some at a very high level & important to Iran & the Iranian culture, and those targets, and Iran itself, WILL BE HIT VERY FAST AND VERY HARD.”
Again, Trump may not know … or care … that bombing cultural sites can be considered a war crime under international law.
Soon to be a Major Motion Picture: Disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein goes on trial today in Manhattan accused of forcing one woman to perform oral sex and raping another.
Over the past two years as many as 80 women have accused Weinstein of sexual harassment, manipulation, and assault. He lost his company, his reputation, and his marriage. Nearly all the accusers came forward too late for their cases to be prosecuted.
Weinstein has always claimed his encounters were consensual, a stretch of truth if you just take a look at the guy.
The Bulletin Board: Al Shabab militants tried to overrun a US military base in Kenya, killing one American service member and two civilian contractors. — Five people were killed and 60 injured in a pileup about 30 miles outside of Pittsburgh. A tour bus bound for Cincinnati rolled over and was hit by two tractor trailers.
From the 50: After New England lost to Tennessee in the last moments of the game Saturday night, ending the Patriots’ season, the talk is that Tom Brady may have played his last game for the team. If so, his last play may was an interception.
Brady becomes a free agent at age 42. At times during a postgame press conference he talked about his time with the Patriots in the past tense. But he also assured reporters that he’s not done with football.
Coach Bill Belichick, channeling Yogi Berra, said, “Everybody’s situation on the team is different. There are no two that are exactly the same. But the future’s the future for all of them.”
So it’s good to know that Tom Brady’s future is still ahead of him.
Statuary: Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood” was the big winner at the Golden Globe Awards last night, taking trophies for best musical or comedy, screenplay, and supporting actor.
Sam Mendes’s “1917,” a World War I tale, was named best drama.
The Netflix streaming service, which has been cranking out original productions, was jammed at the basket. Going into the night with the most nominations … 34 … Netflix took home only two awards.
The evening’s host was British comedian Ricky Gervais, who opened with, “I came here in a limo tonight and the license plate was made by Felicity Huffman.”
He didn’t come to honor Hollywood, he came scorch it. “No one cares about movies anymore,” he said. “No one goes to cinema, no one really watches network tv. Everyone is watching Netflix.”
Gervais said it was his last time hosting and he didn’t care who he offended. “Apple roared into the TV game with ‘The Morning Show,’” he said, “a superb drama about the importance of dignity and doing the right thing, made by a company that runs sweatshops in China.”
He went on, “So if you do win an award tonight, don’t use it as a platform to make a political speech. You’re in no position to lecture the public about anything. You know nothing about the real world. Most of you spent less time in school than Greta Thunberg.”
He finished, “So if you win, come up, accept your little award, thank your agent, and your God and fuck off, OK?”
-30-
Leave a Reply