The Perfid Crime

The FAFO Doctrine, Iran Protests

Pete Hegseth loves to repeat the mantra F-ck Around and Find Out. The testosterone-fueled, speak loudly and carry a big schtick threat is meant to be directed toward America’s enemies. But the truth is that, under Hegseth, it’s America’s own military that has been effing around, and so far, we’re finding out there are few, if any, consequences. The capture of Maduro has taken the boat bombings off the front pages, and as is the case with so many stories in the Trump news cycle, new scandals replace previous scandals at a pace that makes it almost impossible to maintain a national focus on any of them. But let’s not move on just yet. The Trump administration has argued that the boat bombings are militarily kosher because “there is an armed conflict with suspected drug runners.” That’s clearly not true, but let’s pretend for a minute that this is a war-like armed conflict, and we’re not simply exercising law enforcement actions that amount to extrajudicial murder. Then the bombings would be allowed under international law, right? Well, maybe, if every layer you peeled back on every action taken by Trump and Hegseth didn’t expose more criminality. The NYT (Gift Article) on why, even if the boat bombings weren’t plain old crimes, some of them were probably war crimes. U.S. Attacked Boat With Aircraft That Looked Like a Civilian Plane. “The nonmilitary appearance is significant, according to legal specialists, because the administration has argued its lethal boat attacks are lawful — not murders — because President Trump ‘determined’ the United States is in an armed conflict with drug cartels. But the laws of armed conflict prohibit combatants from feigning civilian status to fool adversaries into dropping their guard, then attacking and killing them. That is a war crime called ‘perfidy.’” So we basically have illegal strikes carried out in an unlawful manner. It’s no wonder that Hegseth is so determined to punish Mark Kelly for participating in a video in which Senators “called on troops to uphold the Constitution and not to follow the Trump administration’s military directives if they were unlawful.” Stating the simple laws of the land is considered seditious, and breaking those laws from the coast of Venezuela to the streets of Minneapolis is the new norm. That’s what the eff we’re quickly finding out. And if things continue to slide, America will be fubar.

2

The Gang That Wouldn’t Shoot Straight

“MAGA is many things, but above all it’s a movement about redistributing respect away from those who command too much (overeducated coastal elites) to those who don’t have enough (white Americans without advanced degrees who feel left behind). You see that redistribution at work in the Trump administration’s project to devalue medical experts and empower wellness gurus and vaccine skeptics, and in its dismissal of ‘deep state’ national-security professionals in favor of TV pundits. Nowhere does the demand to redistribute respect come into starker view than when guns start firing.” David Frum in The Atlantic (Gift Article): Why Vance Committed So Hard to the Minneapolis Shooter.

+ “Six federal prosecutors in Minnesota resigned on Tuesdayover the Justice Department’s push to investigate the widow of a woman killed by an ICE agent and the department’s reluctance to investigate the shooter, according to people with knowledge of their decision.” I respect government officials who resign in protest of clearly unjust actions. But eventually, don’t we just end up with no upstanding officials? I don’t know what the workaround for this is, but it worries me.

+ It doesn’t get much sicker than following up on the unjust killing of an innocent American by blaming that victim for her own murder. In other words, it’s what we’ve come to expect from this administration. F.B.I. Inquiry Into ICE Shooting Is Examining Victim’s Possible Ties to Activist Groups.

+ Meanwhile, Trump Warns “DAY OF RECKONING” Is Coming for Minnesota. “Do the people of Minnesota really want to live in a community in which there are thousands of already convicted murderers, drug dealers and addicts, rapists, violent released and escaped prisoners, dangerous people from foreign mental institutions and insane asylums.” (He still doesn’t know the difference between political asylum and mental asylums. But he’s in charge of the world’s most powerful nation.)

3

Reversal Rehearsal

“America’s greenhouse gas emissions increased by 2.4 percent in 2025 after two years of decline amid a resurgence of coal power.” The reversal isn’t actually due to Trump’s attacks on climate rules. That impact is yet to come. The big differences in 2025 were increased demand from data centers and colder winter temps.

+ Sometimes a headline that would have seemed impossible in any other era doesn’t even make you bat an eye during this one. For example: E.P.A. to Stop Considering Lives Saved When Setting Rules on Air Pollution.

4

Madcap Kidnap

“Four men searched my mouth for implanted tracking devices. I had told them I didn’t have any—that, as far as I knew, such things existed only in movies. They asked if I had fillings, and I confessed that I did. They looked again. ‘No, you don’t,’ one of them corrected me, having failed to find any glint of silver. My fillings are white. The men, wearing dark civilian clothes and balaclavas, seemed convinced that these unfamiliar fillings posed a threat to their operational security. That’s when I knew that my kidnapping was going to be a little bit different.” Elizabeth Tsurkov in The Atlantic (Gift Article): I Was Kidnapped by Idiots. “To intimidate me, Maher would blow smoke in my face, but because he was using an e-cigarette, all I got was a gust of strawberry-smelling vape. It wasn’t quite the tough-guy routine he was after. Later, he tried the ‘good cop, bad cop’ routine on me but undermined the effect by playing both characters himself, on alternate days, which just made him seem deranged.” (While I’ve pulled some of the more droll outtakes, the experience and the lessons drawn from it are both interesting and serious.)

5

Extra, Extra

Iran Protests: “Trump has urged Iranian anti-government protesters to ‘keep protesting’, saying ‘help is on its way.’” The administration is said to be considering strikes. Thousands of protesters have been killed. The internet has been cut off for days. And Iran Is Hunting Down Starlink Users to Stop Protest Videos From Going Global. Here’s the latest from BBC and The Guardian.

+ Bill, Baby Bill: Well, it’s long past the deadline, and the Trump administration has only released about one percent of the Epstein files. So the House GOP is taking a stand. Against the Clintons. House GOP seeks to hold Bill Clinton in contempt. Here’s the letter to the committee from the Clintons.

+ See Ya, Wouldn’t Want to Fee Ya: “Gov. Gavin Newsom vowed on Monday to stop a proposed wealth tax in California, saying that its mere introduction had already hurt the state by driving some billionaires to relocate and take their tax dollars with them.” The economic divide is the problem that underpins almost every other American problem. But state by state one-time penalties don’t make much sense as a fix, in part because almost no billionaires would stick around to pay it. NYT: Newsom Vows to Stop Proposed Billionaire Tax in California.

+ Native Borne: In Minneapolis, Tribal leaders say ICE is detaining American Indians during immigration sweeps. (At its core, Trumpism represents a nostalgia for the worst parts of American history.)

+ You Cannot Be Siri-ous: Google and Apple are working together once again. This time it’s on AI, as Gemini will power the new Siri. As The Verge explains, the move creates a united front against AI newcomers.

+ Avatar: Fire and Cash: Zoe Saldaña has become the highest-grossing movie star.

6

Bottom of the News

“The top award, in the form of the rear bumper of a Corvette, went to 10-year-old Drew Fleschut of Dallas, Pennsylvania — who wore a red-and-black shirt in an homage to movie character Joe Dirt and carried Joe’s trademark mop.” ‘Joe Dirt’ tribute takes top prize in Pennsylvania Farm Show mullet contest. (Still waiting for someone to launch a bald spot contest...)