July 21, 2026

 

Jacey Fortin, et al., of the New York Times: “The Pentagon on Tuesday released the name of a U.S. soldier killed during the disposal of an Iranian drone in northern Iraq. Sgt. Michael Emmanuel Swinton, 30, of Fayetteville, N.C., died Saturday during a controlled detonation at Erbil Air Base. The incident is under investigation, the Pentagon said.... Sergeant Swinton was not involved in the actual detonation, but was killed by flying debris from the blast, said a U.S. official....”

It Was the Best of Deals; It Was the Worst of Deals. Matina Stevis-Gridneff of the New York Times: “On Monday ... Mr. Trump made use, for the first time in history, of a nearly century-old provision to impose fresh tariffs on [Canada,] the second-largest U.S. trading partner. But the move is more likely to elicit stoicism than panic from the Canadian side. The tariffs, which experts expect to face legal challenges, target more than 500 Canadian goods.... That’s about 2 percent of the entire trading relationship in goods between the two neighbors, which was worth some $720 billion last year. Those goods are virtually all covered by the upended United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, a free-trade pact known as the U.S.M.C.A. In 2020 it replaced and updated the North American Free Trade Agreement, which took effect in 1994. Mr. Trump, who negotiated the U.S.M.C.A. during his first term, at the time called it the 'largest, fairest, most balanced and modern trade agreement ever achieved,' but has criticized it in his second term as the worst agreement ever.... [Canada's prime minister, Mark Carney,] has turned to both Asia and Europe to strengthen Canada’s economic and strategic alliances, and has made it plain that diversification away from the United States is his core U.S. policy. ” ~~~

    ~~~ Marie: If you are a U.S. citizen, it is patriotic to root for Canada, because when you do so, you are rooting for the Americans (including yourself) who will pay these regressive tariffs. As PM Carney said in his statement, linked below, "This trade dispute has raised costs for families, particularly in the U.S."  

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The New York Times is liveblogging developments in the Iran War. From the pinned item at 6:20 am ET: “The United States and Iran pressed on with their daily strikes as the region watched anxiously on Tuesday to see how the Houthis, the Iranian-backed militants in Yemen, would attempt to enforce their announced blockade on Saudi ships. There was little apparent sign of what the Houthi action might entail.... For the 10th straight night, U.S. forces struck targets in Iran, including military command centers and missile and drone launch sites, U.S. Central Command said early Tuesday local time. Iran announced on Tuesday that it had launched new strikes on Kuwait, Bahrain and Jordan, countries in the region that host U.S. military bases. A rise in global oil prices had eased slightly on Monday after Iran’s foreign ministry said that mediators had presented proposals to revive the truce with the United States. But oil markets shuddered again when the Houthis said they would not allow Saudi vessels to pass through the Bab al-Mandab Strait, the southern portal to the Red Sea. As Iran and the United States fight over control of the Strait of Hormuz...,  Saudi Arabia, a U.S. ally, had been rerouting some of its exports through the Red Sea. The Houthis’ threat to block Saudi oil shipments there threatens to worsen the global fuel crisis and open another front in the expanding Middle East conflict.” ~~~

Dan Lamothe, et al., of the Washington Post: “The Pentagon said Monday that nearly 100 U.S. troops have been injured in the war with Iran over the last two weeks, underscoring the significance of Tehran’s strikes on U.S. military installations across the region since negotiations to end the conflict collapsed. The disclosure came as the U.S. military identified two U.S. soldiers who were killed in a fatal attack on Friday night, and after the Trump administration for days declined to detail how many U.S. service members have been injured recently. Sean Parnell, a Pentagon spokesman, said on social media that 'nearly 100 service members were deemed to have some degree of injury since July 7,' with 96 percent of those since returning to duty.... 

“Parnell said further updates would be posted to an online Pentagon database that was stagnant for days if not weeks, showing 14 troops dead and 427 troops injured since the beginning of the war on Feb. 28. On Monday evening, those figures were briefly updated to reflect that 18 service members have died and 447 have been injured since the beginning of the war on Feb. 28. The new tally of those killed in action included a Friday night attack that left three U.S. troops dead, one still unidentified, and others wounded at the Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan. But with no explanation from the Pentagon, the database later reverted Monday night to the earlier numbers.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: If it's true "nearly 100" troops were injured & 96 percent of them returned to duty, then only 3 or 4 troops have been seriously injured since July 7. That number seems low to me in light of the deaths of four service members during that period. That is to say, I don't think we can trust Parnell's assertions.

A Fool's Errand, Ctd. Warren Strobel & John Hudson of the Washington Post: “Iran’s government is unlikely to feel significant impact or soften its negotiating position as a result of new rounds of U.S. military strikes like those now underway, according to a new intelligence assessment described by current and former U.S. officials. Analysts at American spy agencies also have concluded that Tehran and Washington are, for now, stuck in an indefinite limbo between peace and war, the officials said — an uneasy dynamic given the increasingly deadly nature of the tit-for-tat hostilities between the two nations.” The link is a gift link. 

On the Whims of a Stone-Cold Loon. Ana Swanson & Ian Austen of the New York Times: Donald “Trump on Monday signed orders to impose a 50 percent tariff on a wide range of Canadian goods, claiming that Canada had discriminated against the United States in key industries. The tariffs, which go into effect in 30 days, would be imposed on a range of Canadian exports, including wine, hockey sticks, cement, dairy products, plywood, paper and furniture. Administration officials said the taxes were punishment for Canadian discrimination against three U.S. industries: motor vehicles, dairy and alcohol. The tariffs will undoubtedly reignite a trade clash with Canada, one of America’s closest allies and its second-largest trading partner after Mexico. Canada has been in Mr. Trump’s cross hairs since its government retaliated against tariffs that the president imposed on a wide range of products last year.... The new tariffs will be imposed under an obscure legal provision, Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930 [MB: Smoot-Hawley], which Congress wrote as the Great Depression deepened. The law allows the president to put tariffs of up to 50 percent on imports from countries that discriminate against U.S. commerce uniquely....” Politico's story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Here's Prime Minister Mark Carney's statement. "This is the latest in a series of unilateral U.S. trade actions that began with the U.S. imposing a series of tariffs in direct violation of the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA), the free trade agreement between Canada, the United States, and Mexico.... This trade dispute has raised costs for families, particularly in the U.S.... Canada will work relentlessly and take any measures necessary to build our strength at home and to support Canadian workers, farmers, businesses, and families." ~~~ 

~~~ Paul Krugman: “The Trade Act of 1930, generally known as the Smoot-Hawley tariff, lost its standing as the worst trade policy action in US history when Donald Trump imposed his 'Liberation Day' tariffs in April 2025. But Smoot-Hawley was widely recognized as a terrible mistake soon after its passage.... The White House fact sheet claims that the new tariffs are a response to Canadian policies that discriminate against U.S. products, notably the moves by most Canadian provinces (not the federal Canadian government) to stop importation of US alcoholic beverages. But these policies were themselves a response to the tariffs on Canadian goods Trump had previously imposed, without justification. Canadians were also reacting to Trump’s repeated demands that Canada surrender its independence and become the 51^st state....  

“On Friday Trump lashed out with the Truth Social post at the top of this article, threatening to impose tariffs on Canadian goods because of … wildfire smoke.... Whatever the real motivation for these new tariffs, they are almost surely illegal.  They are definitely a violation of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement, a revision of NAFTA negotiated and signed by Trump himself.... So these latest actions confirm what most people around the world ... have already figured out: a deal with Donald Trump lasts only until he feels like breaking it.”

See yesterday's Reality Chex for reports and opinions about Trump's turn at the World Cup final Sunday. Suffice it to say that -- despite his dissing Spain, its government and its people -- Trump wanted in on the Spanish team's victory, and FIFA prez Gianni Infantino couldn't get him off the stage. AND there was this from the Guardian's liveblog of the final. The caption's the thing; as shauna wrote on BlueSky: "Is there a pulitzer for photo captions because if so @theguardian.com just won it." Thanks to RAS for the lead:  

~~~ As an Australian sports presenter asked in the moment Trump refused to leave the stage, "Are they going to edit him out of that?" Well, yes, both Spain & FIFA's official sites cropped Trump from their photos of the team celebrating their win. (MB: The video is a pirated copy; I hope it doesn't get dumped before MS NOW posts its own. The first segment is the part that applies to the topic at hand.) ~~~

You may recall that back in 2018 New York State's former attorney general Barbara Underwood closed down the private Trump Foundation after she said her office had found "a shocking pattern of illegality involving the Trump Foundation — including unlawful coordination with the Trump presidential campaign, repeated and willful self-dealing, and much more. This amounted to the Trump Foundation functioning as little more than a checkbook to serve Mr. Trump's business and political interests." Not surprisingly, the old dog is up to his old tricks (allegedly!): ~~~

~~~ Lily Becker & David Rohde of MS NOW: "Three congressional Democrats said on Thursday that as much as $21.5 million paid by ABC, Meta, Paramount and X to settle lawsuits brought by ... Donald Trump is missing or has been spent without explanation and requested a full accounting from the foundation building his presidential library. In a letter to the treasurer of the Donald J. Trump Presidential Library Foundation, Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Rep. Melanie Stansbury, D-N.M., cited discrepancies between Trump’s newly released financial disclosures and the foundation’s own filings with Florida charity regulators. The letter asks the treasurer to explain the discrepancies, which the lawmakers discovered after Trump released his annual financial disclosure forms earlier this month." Thanks to RAS for the link. MB: Innocent accounting errors? Not likely. See also RAS's & Ken W.'s commentary in yesterday's thread. (Also linked yesterday.)

Marie: In 1960, my friend Allison McGovern and I took the bus from Hialeah to downtown Miami to see "Psycho." It is fair to say that we did not analyze the film as Tim Kreider does in his Substack essay linked next. For one thing, Allison and I did not even know what "film noir" meant nor did we have the capacity to foresee the development of the modern horror movie (although it's fair to say that even as a child I could sense its coming in some science fiction films like "The Fly" [1958] and even "War of the Worlds" [1953]), both of which played on Saturday morning at the Essex Theater, the only movie house in Hialeah. Ticket price: 14 cents and a Pepsi cap. ~~~ 

~~~ Essayist & cartoonist Tim Kreider has invented what he calls "the Arbogast Fallacy, after a character in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho," to help explain why journalists and opinionators go to such convoluted extremes to explain Donald Trump and his self-serving actions and remarks. This is a thoroughly enjoyable essay to read. Even if Kreider doesn't write anything that we haven't already figured out here (quite a long time ago), he writes it well. (AND it's fun to see Trump described in the context of slasher movies!) I would add, in fairness to Trump critics, a lot of them do get it, and some lambaste Trump in simple, straightforward terms. Moreover, Kreider doesn't take into account what I would scornfully call "journalistic ethics": the demands of editors that the reports on their pages take a "neutral" view, a neutral view they extend to the most obviously corrupt and scandalous and stupid acts and remarks by politicians. Recently, for instance, I have heard two New York Times reporters -- Michael Gold & Glenn Thrush -- briefly mention getting true things past their editors (Gold failed; Thrush prevailed). Update: For an excellent example of how the light has dawned, see Thomas Edsall's column, linked next. Edsall was the epitome of the both-sides opinionator, the "on the one hand/on the other hand" columnist. At least in regard to Trump, he got over that some months back, although he still relies largely on "experts" to do the heavy lifting. ~~~

Thomas Edsall of the New York Times: “Trump is one of the most — if not the most — ham-handed presidents in the nation’s history. I asked Matthew Dallek, a political historian..., for his take on Trump in 2026. He replied by email: 'Governing via conspiracy theories, personal whim and wish-casting, Trump has taken his place as the most consistently inept president of this century. At home and abroad, in many cabinet and sub-cabinet agencies, the administration’s culture is dominated by incompetence.' Trump’s infliction of harm is not a result of bad luck or malign interference by foreign and domestic adversaries — the common fate of American presidents. In the overwhelming majority of cases, Trump himself initiated the policies and actions that turned belly-up.... Donald Moynihan, a professor of public policy..., plac[ed] Trump’s misjudgments in separate categories: 'There are three categories of Trump failures: disasters of mismanagement, disasters by design and disasters of greed.'”

Michael Grynbaum of the New York Times: “The Trump administration sought the phone records of several New York Times journalists and their relatives — including one reporter’s mother — in its effort to unmask the confidential sources who had provided information for articles about the security capabilities of President Trump’s new Air Force One jet. The Justice Department told The Times late last week that it had issued subpoenas to third-party phone service providers seeking several journalists’ phone and text messaging records. That effort was in addition to the subpoenas issued on July 10 that sought to compel reporters to testify before a federal grand jury. The government’s actions amount to an extraordinarily aggressive and unorthodox attempt by the Trump administration to unearth the confidential sources of independent journalists whose reporting had angered the president.” The link appears to be a gift link.

Brad Plumer of the New York Times: “The Trump administration is dismantling a wide array of federal energy-efficiency programs at the same time that war in Iran is raising oil prices, climate change is fueling record heat that is driving up demand for air conditioning and new data centers are straining America’s electricity supply.... The result is that consumers could end up using more electricity and burning more gas when electricity costs are rising faster than inflation and gasoline is averaging $4 a gallon.” Plumer names a series of Stupid Trump Tricks. 

Mary Roeloffs of Forbes: “A sample of lettuce from Taylor Farms that had tested positive for cyclospora — and pinned the ongoing cyclosporiasis outbreak on the major produce supplier — was a false positive, the Food and Drug Administration confirmed, and federal investigators have taken several steps back in identifying what caused thousands to be sicked with an 'explosive diarrhea parasite.' The FDA on Sunday said it re-reviewed the sample of lettuce it initially took from Taylor Farms and that its lab produced had a false-positive result for cyclospora, meaning the lettuce cannot be definitively tied to the outbreak as the agency had previously claimed. Investigators stopped short of completely clearing Taylor Farms.... Investigators still believe shredded iceberg lettuce served primarily at Taco Bell (which Taylor Farms supplies) caused the outbreak....

“Taylor Farms and its executives have made significant donations to ... Donald Trump and his allies. Federal Election Commission filings show Taylor Fresh Foods Inc., the parent company of Taylor Farms, made a $1 million contribution to MAGA Inc., the super PAC supporting Trump's political operation, in March 2025, less than a week after the FDA announced it would delay implementation of the 'Food Traceability Rule.'” Emphasis added. Thanks to RAS for the leads. Now wouldn't we be the silly conspiracy theorists if we thought there was some connection between the donations and the FDA's suddenly reversing its findings? (Also linked yesterday.) 

Oh, Gosh. Here's a Surprise. Chris Marquette & Jordain Carney of Politico: “Sens. Thom Tillis and John Cornyn — both Republicans spurned by the Trump administration for not being adequately loyal — are now being actively courted by the White House to confirm a key Cabinet official. The Trump administration is engaging directly with Tillis and Cornyn’s aides as the North Carolina and Texas lawmakers continue to withhold firm commitments to voting to confirm attorney general nominee Todd Blanche in the Judiciary Committee — where a single 'no' vote on the GOP side of the aisle could tank his prospects.” MB: I wonder what little White House fake and entirely breakable "promise" each will use to explain away his vote in favor of Blanche's confirmation.

David McCabe of the New York Times: “A federal judge on Monday temporarily stopped Paramount from completing its $111 billion purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery while she considers a lawsuit that argues the deal violates antitrust laws, a disruption to one of the biggest media deals in history. Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California issued a temporary restraining order that was requested by 12 states that have sued to block the deal. The pause will last only 14 days. But in her order, Judge Martínez-Olguín raised the prospect of a much longer delay. She said she would weigh, at a hearing in early August, whether to grant an injunction, which could halt the deal from closing for months. The lawsuit is one of the final hurdles in Paramount’s persistent push to buy Warner Bros. Discovery and create a Hollywood giant. The merger would unite under one roof two major movie studios, the streaming services HBO Max and Paramount+, and networks including CBS and CNN.”

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Maine Senate Race. Dan Merica, et al., of the Washington Post: “During the six years [Troy] Jackson presided over Maine’s Senate, until he left office in 2024, his temper was a feature of his leadership, and one that Democratic lawmakers discussed among themselves as a problem and even raised with the governor.... His temperament is coming up as he is on the verge of replacing Democratic candidate Graham Platner.... Jackson is set to clinch the nomination this weekend.... Jackson declined to be interviewed about his temperament and clashes.... Jackson worked with numerous women and frequently clashed with them.... One person who participated in meetings with Jackson at the time said they felt 'nervous' and worried to be in the room with him, because his outbursts could escalate so quickly.... Some Democrats fear that Jackson’s history of conflicts with women lawmakers could hurt him in the general election against Republican Sen. Susan Collins....” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: This is a widely-sourced report. Apparently the choice in Maine is Susan Collins who will vote the wrong way when it matters on an abusive man who (probably) will vote the right way. ~~~ 

~~~ Reid Epstein & Beth Reinhard of the New York Times: “Today he is a progressive Democrat calling for 'Medicare for all,' the abolition of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and a federal right to abortion. But Troy Jackson got his start in politics as a Republican who was opposed to abortion rights and same-sex marriage. Mr. Jackson ... has completed a remarkable evolution on social issues since he started organizing fellow loggers in the state’s northern tip in the 1990s. As his political ambitions rose, Mr. Jackson, a former president of the Maine Senate, kept pushing his economic populist message. But he shed many of the socially conservative positions that aligned with his rural district in favor of more liberal positions on abortion and L.G.B.T.Q. rights.... Since the start of his political career, Mr. Jackson has appeared to be driven by economic populism.”

New Hampshire Senate Race. Marie: While the media have made a big deal about the Maine race for U.S. Senate, I've seen nary a word about a state right next door: New Hampshire, where Democrat Jean Shaheen is not seeking re-election. Although the primaries have not yet been held, it is almost a certainty that the popular former governor John Sununu will win the GOP primary, and Rep. Chris Pappas will win the Democratic primary. Polls have Pappas slightly ahead in match-ups against Sununu, but Pappas is a borrring candidate, and he looks like a silly kid compared to Sununu. I think there's an excellent change he will lose. And that, of course, would flip a Senate seat. The wrong way.  

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U.K. Yes, Prime Minister. Stephen Castle, et al., of the New York Times: “Andy Burnham’s day began with a visit to a homeless shelter in central London, where he chopped mushrooms and chatted with other helpers preparing breakfast. A few hours later, by now wearing a suit and tie, he shook hands with King Charles III in the gilded splendor of Buckingham Palace. Accepting the monarch’s request to form a government, Mr. Burnham, who was named leader of the governing Labour Party on Friday, became Britain’s seventh prime minister after a decade of extraordinary turbulence. Mr. Burnham’s early-morning trip to the homeless charity seemed designed to send a signal to the country about his priorities, and to underscore his pledge to tackle social issues and reshape British politics. On a day of ritual and ceremony, Mr. Burnham pledged in a short speech outside 10 Downing Street to 'put the care of people at the heart of everything I do.' He described his move into Britain’s top job as a 'circuit-breaker moment' to change the direction taken by a succession of neoliberal governments over the past four decades that favored privatization and deindustrialized the country.”

Ukraine. Andrew Kramer of the New York Times: “As several thousand people waving cardboard signs have descended on a central square in the capital, angry about the firing of the popular young defense minister [Mykhailo Fedorov], [Volodymyr] Zelensky’s administration has signaled an openness to compromise.... Mr. Zelensky has responded to the demonstrations by commencing days of back-to-back video calls with corps commanders in the army, showing a willingness to hear complaints.... The president has offered other posts to Mr. Fedorov, including a role on the national security council, though the former defense minister has not accepted the offers. Any leader of Ukraine must heed street protests. They are seen in the Ukrainian tradition as a pillar of democracy and as an important contrast with the path toward authoritarianism in Russia after the fall of the Soviet Union.... The president, who has a populist streak from his former career in show business, has ruled with selfie videos, a keen sense of timing and an Everyman touch. And when the crowd jeers, he listens.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The current brouhaha isn't just some protest; it's a protest against a decision Zelensky himself made. It's a protest against Zelensky. What does our president* do in the face of protests that are not even specifically against him or his policies? He proposes shooting protesters in the legs. “Can’t you just shoot them? Just shoot them in the legs or something?” he asked the Defense Secretary Mark Esper and others.