In case you missed it, my thoughts on the Associated Press pulling a New York Times by failing to come clean on its bogus Iran self-inspections story.
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This is, quite honestly, a big deal. The opponents of the Iran nuclear deal are doing fairly well in the media-pundit-sphere. But they’ve had an extremely difficult time making substantive arguments against the deal because according to almost all technical experts it is about as tight and comprehensive and total a surveillance regime as we’ve ever seen. Ever. Iran will not have a nuclear weapon under any circumstances for 10 to 20 years. Unless they choose to cheat. And if they do, the U.S. and the international community will almost certainly catch them and catch them before they’re able to weaponize. But here’s the problem — that’s only the opinion of people who actually know what they’re talking about.
You have seen that two guys in South Boston beat up and urinated on what they believed to be a hispanic homeless man yesterday, citing Donald Trump as their inspiration. It’s an example of what over-the-top xenophobic borderline hate speech can lead to. But a candidate cannot be responsible for what every violent loser does in reaction to their campaign. What makes this story more than a sick oddity though is Trump’s reaction. When asked about it, he issued a mild condemnation before quickly pivoting to how “passionate” his supporters are to make America great again. Check it out.
Is the joke on us or are we all in on the joke? That’s the tension in reality TV and with the Trump campaign. And so it is when Time magazine flies in a bald eagle for Trump to pose with in his Manhattan office.
The former president will be discussing his cancer diagnosis. Watch.
Be sure to read today’s piece by Tierney Sneed on how ending birthright citizenship migrated from far right legal circles to the centerpiece policy push of the 2016 presidential campaign. The key is that they’re saying we don’t even need to amend the 14th Amendment. We can just pretend the 14th amendment doesn’t say what it plainly says and read it out of the Constitution altogether. And with the way the current Court snaps up cockamamy right wing legal theories these days, they could be right.
All three cable news network are taking a live feed of Donald Trump’s townhall meeting in New Hampshire where he’s currently taking questions from voters. And I must say, it’s masterful.