On Bombing Iran
The "pre-emptive" attack on Iran is something that Israel's current government has been begging for the green light for 2 decades.
The reality is, Iran had miscalculated that being near (but not assembled into bombs) was a viable strategy to keep everyone at the negotiating table to achieve their political objectives. The GOP wanted a war because their economic policy is fucking awful so Trump could be a war time president and keep them viable in the mid terms. So they green lit the attack.
There is no legitimate motive for the bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities simply because they've long since reached the point (with Russian help) that they could assemble the weapons if they wanted to.
So now, we will have an Iran that goes from "having a stockpile of materials they can turn into nukes" to "actual nukes and launching on vessels transiting the strait of Hormuz". That is a really shitty position for everyone.
For those who forgot, in the 90s the US launched an assault on Iraq because they threatened the oil supply flowing through the Persian Gulf. And now we've guarenteed there will be disruptions so the GOP can blame Iran instead of their own economic policy.
It should be noted this proxy war with Israel has been going on for 50+ years between them and Iran. There is no real, reasonable solution to it other than not escalating to the point you need boots on the ground in Iran to prevent them from launching on tankers transiting the persian gulf.
Just another pointless act of stupidity telepgrahed for over a decade by the GOP for no reason other than "We want to bomb Iran". There is no legitimate, valuable result that is going to discourage Iran because the secularists are now going to side with the fundamentalists on attacking the West which was the only real daylight betwene the two groups of foreign policy.
Of course, bombing Iran is not the red line for me personally (such as my access to healthcare) but if they did this like they wanted during the 2015 run up to the first Trump Presidency, why not the other line items that will force me to leave the US as an economic refugee due to my healthcare needs?
So I'm going to shift my goals from "I want to do fun shit" to "I probably need a location and employer indpendent career."
This may seem like an odd trigger but the US is moving more and more towards Bush Jr levels of incompetence combined with a genuine malicious world view.
Not exactly the update I wanted to write but I'm realizing I'm being silly thinking I can continue to just ignore things as a distant concern instead of one that is looking more and more likely to occur in the reasonably near future.
For those that think I'm crazy:
https://www.axios.com/2025/05/30/gop-megabill-affordable-care-act
Why it matters: The bill that passed the House before Memorial Day includes an overhaul of ACA marketplaces that would result in coverage losses for millions of Americans and savings to help cover the cost of extending President Trump's tax cuts.
It comes after a growth spurt that saw ACA marketplace enrollment reach new highs, with more than 24 million people enrolling for 2025, according to KFF. The House's changes would likely reverse that trend, unless the Senate goes in a different direction when it picks up the bill next week.
In a letter to Congress, patient groups pointed to the various barriers as "unprecedented and onerous requirements to access health coverage" that would have "a devastating impact on people's ability to access and afford private insurance coverage."
The letter was signed by groups including the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, American Diabetes Association and American Lung Association.
Democrats are concerned that if Congress also allows enhanced ACA subsidies to expire at the end of this year, the combined effect would be even higher premium increases for enrollees next year.
The goal seems to be instead of full repeal, to kill it through bureaucratic nonsense and killing off the subsidies that made it affordable for the unemployed or unemployable.
"Disruption in the individual market could also result in much higher premiums," the trade group AHIP warned in a statement on the bill.
Btw. The insurers are the ones saying prices will go up. Its not politicians. Its the businesses that set the price.
As someone who would probably be bankrupt without the ACA, yeah, it doesn't make much sense to live in a country trying to cut off my access to healthcare, now does it?
But hey, they are just circling it and haven't slit its throat yet so there is still time to kick the can down the road and pray for sensible governance. I just am not hopeful hence the change of tune.
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