The Figures of Speech

Money Talks, World's Most Dangerous Job

When Tim Sheehy ran against incumbent Jon Tester for a Montana Senate seat in 2024, it looked like an uphill battle. But for Sheehy, it turned into a battle royal, as he gained the backing of a billionaire. And then another billionaire. And so on, and so on. “At least 64 billionaires and 37 of their immediate family members donated directly to his campaign ... When also accounting for money that flowed through political committees that support Mr. Sheehy, an analysis shows that billionaires contributed about $47 million in the race that Mr. Sheehy went on to win.” These days, there’s a word for the way Sheehy used the backing of billionaires to ultimately win his race. That word is normal. Since the 2010 Supreme Court Citizens United decision, which found that donations were a form of speech, billionaires have been investing the equivalent of rounding errors to dominate political races like never before. NYT (Gift Article): Billionaires Are Swaying Elections in All Corners of America. “The extraordinary spending in Montana is part of a new era of political power for the rapidly growing number of billionaires minted over the past eight years. The Times analysis found that 300 billionaires and their immediate family members donated more than $3 billion — 19 percent of all contributions — in federal elections in 2024, either directly or through political action committees. Five presidential elections ago, before the Supreme Court’s 2010 ruling that lifted many remaining campaign finance restrictions, the share of billionaire spending was almost zero — 0.3 percent, to be precise.” Of course, the dominance of billionaire money in campaigns will result in winning candidates who support policies that will make more billionaires. “The number of U.S. billionaires jumped 50 percentby some estimates between 2017 and 2025.” If this trend keeps up, who knows, we may soon have enough billionaires to turn ourselves back into a democracy. In the meantime, Americans are left hoping the billionaires on their side beat the billionaires on the other side, as our election system goes bankrupt.

2

Target Practice

“Protesters, observers and passersby taken into custody by federal agents were declared terrorists and attackers in hundreds of social-media posts by U.S. officials and departments since the start of the immigration sweeps in cities ... Of the 279 people accused by officials on X of attacking federal officers in the past year, 181 were U.S. citizens, the Journal found. Close to half of those Americans were never charged with assault. None have been convicted at trial.” WSJ (Gift Article): Americans Are Now a Target in Trump’s Immigration Crackdown. (Just in case Minneapolis didn’t already convince you of that...)

+ ICE Detention of Teen Musicians Roils Texas Mariachi Community. (Feel safer?)

+ “At one point he said he overheard a security guard talking about bets made among the staff over which detainee would be next to die by suicide.” AP: Attempted suicides, fights, pain: 911 calls reveal misery at ICE’s largest detention facility.

3

Don’t Fly Too Close to the Son

It would be amazing for Israel, the region, the world, and especially the Iranian people if Iran’s regime were ultimately replaced by a more decent and democratic system. The question of whether this war of choice will achieve that outcome rests largely on the decisions being made by the administration that chose it. That’s worrisome. For now, Khamenei has been replaced by Khamenei. Time: Mojtaba Khamenei Has Wielded Power Behind the Scenes For Years. (Between the bombing from above and the contempt on the ground, Mojtaba Khamenei just took on the most dangerous job in the world.)

+ “Trump, with his usual inconsistency, has called for Iranians to rise up against the ruthless theocracy—last week, he demanded its ‘unconditional surrender’—but also said that he’s prepared to deal with a new religious leader.” Robin Wright in The New Yorker: Where Is the Iran War Headed? And will the answer to that question have more to do with what helps the Iranian people or what helps oil prices, which are surging.

+ Oil isn’t the only fluid we need to worry about. Vital Desalination Plants in Iran and Bahrain Are Attacked.

+ Even someone who lies all day every day can still occasionally sicken us with a lie. And so it was over the weekend when President Trump indicated that Iran bombed the school for girls that was hit in Tehran. Video appears to show U.S. cruise missile striking Iranian school compound.

+ Trump invented to story about the school bombing hours after he attended a dignified transfer ceremony wearing a baseball cap. Fox News apologizes for showing old video of a hatless Donald Trump at a dignified transfer ceremony.

+ WSJ (Gift Article): Lindsey Graham’s Quest to Sell Trump on Striking Iran.

+ “Stocks fell on fears of the effects of the Iran war on energy prices. The toll of the escalated fighting rose sharply in Lebanon, where more than 600,000 people have been displaced.” Here’s the latest from the NYT.

4

Yeah, That’s the Ticket

“The Justice Department has reached a tentative settlement of its antitrust litigation against Live Nation, the concert giant that includes Ticketmaster, after a week of testimony in a high-profile trial that examined competition in the music industry.” Justice Department and Live Nation Reach Settlement Terms in Antitrust Case. (Why do I have the feeling that Live Nation is about to buy the naming rights for the new White House ballroom?)

+ Trump bought Netflix and Warner Bros bonds at height of bidding war with Paramount.

5

Extra, Extra

Right Here, Right Now: “The showdown between the Pentagon and Anthropic is a window into how unprepared we are for the questions we are already facing. In July, Anthropic signed a deal with the Pentagon to integrate Claude, its A.I. system, into the military’s operations. The contract included two red lines: Claude could not be used for mass surveillance or for lethal autonomous weapons. Over the ensuing months, the Pentagon decided these prohibitions were intolerable.” Ezra Klein in the NYT (Gift Article): The Future We Feared Is Already Here. Meanwhile, Anthropic sues Trump administration amid AI dispute with Pentagon.

+ Havana Syndrome: “Since at least 2016, U.S. diplomats, spies and military officers have suffered crippling brain injuries. They’ve told of being hit by an overwhelming force, damaging their vision, hearing, sense of balance and cognition. but the government has doubted their stories. They’ve been called delusional. Well now, 60 Minutes has learned that a weapon that can inflict these injuries was obtained overseas and secretly tested on animals on a U.S. military base.” U.S. military tested device that may be tied to Havana Syndrome on rats, sheep, confidential sources say.

+ The Pace of Corruption: “Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., the president’s sons, are backing a new drone company that is vying to meet fresh demand from the Pentagon and fill a hole left by the administration’s ban on new Chinese drones in the U.S.”

+ Plug Bug: The uncomfortable truth about hybrid vehicles. Apparently, no one plugs them in. (I’m among the outliers. I almost never have to fill mine up with gas.)

+ Plug and Play: “It is estimated that every year more than one million bald people fly to Istanbul.” Hair apparent: inside the transplant capital of the world.

+ Marathon and a Half: “Martin, 36, is a substitute teacher and a high school track and cross country coach at Jackson High School.” American Nathan Martin wins closest Los Angeles Marathon finish. You’ve got to see this finish. Meanwhile, Jacob Kiplimo just set a new record in the half marathon. “The man needed just 57 minutes and 20 seconds to run 13.1 miles, which is an average pace of 4:22 per mile.”

6

Bottom of the News

When Ryan Gosling hosts SNL, you know that he and others will break and laugh. That happened in a wedding kiss skit and a cyclops skit. And for the first time, there was a skit actually designed to make the participants break. Passing Notes.