“Are the military services babying the F-35 to obscure its true costs while continuing to get enormous sums of taxpayer funding for a plane that has consistently failed to live up to performance expectations? From the very beginning, the F-35 program has been plagued by hundreds of billions of dollars in cost overruns and repeated schedule delays. Moreover, even as promised capabilities have been delayed by well over a decade, billions poured into fixes haven’t resolved ongoing reliability issues, crippling its operational effectiveness, and rocketing the program cost to over $2 trillion dollars — 400% more in inflation-adjusted dollars than its 2007 Government Accountability Office estimate.” (01/23/26)
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Karthik Sankaran
“It has been an extraordinary few days for Washington’s economic and security relations with the world. On January 17, President Trump threatened 10-25% tariffs on 8 European countries if they did not agree to the U.S. executing a ‘complete and total purchase’ of Greenland. This then led to a furious response that united most of Europe, and a subsequent ‘framework for an agreement’ negotiated at Davos that seemed to reflect deescalation on all sides. But even if this particular storm may have passed with some kind of fudge that offers less than what Trump demanded, the episode raises a fresh round of questions about the increasingly tangled (and contradictory) economic, financial, and security connections between the U.S. and its allies, particularly those in the North Atlantic.” (01/24/26)
“Credit to the Department of Homeland Security and Vice President J.D. Vance for immediately nipping in the bud what was sure to be a hysterical weekend-long news cycle. And yet, the headlines remain: New York Times: ‘Detention of 5-Year-Old by Federal Agents Incenses Minneapolis’ … Washington Post: ‘ICE detains four children from Minnesota school district, including 5-year-old’ … CBS: ‘ICE takes 5-year-old boy and his father after using boy as ‘bait,’ school district says’ … Axios: ‘ICE’s detention of child puts new focus on Trump team’s tactics’ … They would have you believe that ICE snatched an adorable little boy out of preschool and marched him into the frigid air of a Minneapolis suburb.” (01/23/25)
“As I wrote yesterday, Donald Trump and his team clearly went to Davos determined to demean and insult their hosts. It was, one might say, a novel approach to diplomacy: ‘You’re pathetic, your societies and economies are falling apart, now give us Greenland.’ And it worked about as well as you’d expect. Trump may have imagined that the Europeans would cower in the face of his wrath. Instead, they humiliated him.” (01/23/26)
“Hank Jr. began his career performing his father’s songs and songs in his father’s style — he was something very close to what we would today call a ‘tribute’ act, his life dominated by the memory of a man he barely knew and could never live up to. (The family traditions must have aged him: He released ‘All My Rowdy Friends Have Settled Down,’ lamenting middle-aged decline, at 32.) And even after Hank Jr. went off to explore new musical directions, he continued to be ‘Bocephus,’ the little wooden man mouthing someone else’s words and dominated by forces beyond his control. The outline of the story is familiar enough, and one might wonder whether J.D. Vance, another obviously troubled son of an absent father, is entirely comfortable with Donald Trump’s hand up his backside working his mouth. It is fortunate for Vance that Trump has such famously diminutive fists.” (01/23/26)
“We know that the Islamic Republic has massacred the Iranian people during four nights of protests, but we do not know much more than that. In ordinary times, it would be difficult to know how many fell to the Islamic Republic’s cruelty. With a complete internet blackout and a habitually lying government, all assessments remain provisional and require further investigation. The first report came from CBS News. Two sources within the Islamic Republic government confided to the outlet that between 12,000 and 20,000 people had been killed. A foreign diplomat reported that the number was accurate. The Sunday Times later obtained a report from doctors on the ground estimating 16,500 deaths, with an additional 330,000 injured. Official statements conflict.” (01/23/26)
“As President Donald Trump has shown reluctance to engage in a risky large-scale bombing campaign against Iran, hawkish voices are advocating for alternative courses of action in an apparent bid to keep Washington on a confrontational footing with Tehran. The proposals being put forward appear clearly designed to present Trump with what may look like risk-averse strategies but in fact are not. Two alternative courses of action in particular have emerged: the assassination of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, and the partitioning of Iran along ethnic lines. Both these options could have dramatic negative repercussions that would far outweigh any supposed benefits.” (01/23/26)
“he Minnesota shutdown is well underway, kicked off with a large picket line by workers and an act of civil disobedience Friday morning by faith leaders outside of the Minneapolis/Saint Paul International Airport, where many protesters are decrying the abduction of five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos. The preschooler, according to school officials, was used as ’bait’ when he arrived home from school in Columbia Heights on Tuesday, January 20. They say that agents led him to his door and instructed him to knock so that they could assess if anyone else was home.” [editor’s note: OR, as ICE alleges, the father ran and the agents took the child to warmer places so he did not freeze – SAT] [additional editor’s note: If you’ll believe the ICE gang, you’ll believe anyone and anything – TLK] (01/25/25)
