The Iran War's Most Recent Casualty: Condoms
The most famous Vietnam draft-dodger wants to talk to you about sacrifice, the DOJ is investigating the group that tracks hate groups, and the DHS forced Apple to pull apps that tracked ICE operations
Good afternoon. I’m Ryan Rose, and this is AlterNet America.
Trump went on CNBC this morning to tell America he would have won Vietnam. The DOJ is now criminally investigating the organization that tracks hate groups. Pam Bondi and Kristi Noem illegally pressured Apple and Facebook to pull apps that told people where ICE was operating. And the Iran war has now made condoms 30% more expensive, which is either the most or least surprising thing on this list.
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Let’s get into it.
Trump, Vietnam Draft-Dodger, Says He Would Have Won Vietnam
A man who received five draft deferments during the Vietnam War went on television this morning to explain that he would have won it.
Trump compared the Iran conflict, now nearly two months old, to the length of other American wars, then announced that he would have won Vietnam quickly had he been president at the time. He did not specify how.
The bone spurs presumably would not have been an issue once he was president.
Trump said he doesn’t plan to extend the ceasefire and expects U.S. forces to resume airstrikes. Both sides are sending delegations to Islamabad for another round of talks — or at least they were, until Iran’s Foreign Ministry said there are no plans to attend negotiations. However, Iran’s parliament speaker is expected to show up if JD Vance does.
Trump dismissed the rising cost of oil as “peanuts” and said he is surprised prices aren’t much higher. “If you would have told me that oil is at 90 as opposed to 200 I would be frankly surprised,” he said.
So: the war might resume tomorrow, the peace talks may or may not be happening, and the president’s position is that $90 oil is practically a gift. And for the record, Trump did not explain how he plans to win this one either.
The DOJ Is Criminally Investigating the Group That Tracks Hate Groups
The Justice Department has found its next target in the war on extremism: the organization that spent fifty years fighting extremism.
The Southern Poverty Law Center announced Tuesday that it is the subject of a criminal investigation by the Justice Department. It faces possible charges over its past use of paid informants to infiltrate extremist groups.
The SPLC previously paid informants to gather information on white supremacist and other violent groups, often sharing that intelligence with local and federal law enforcement. The same federal law enforcement that is now investigating them for it.
SPLC interim CEO Bryan Fair said the organization is “unsurprised to be the latest organization targeted by this administration,” adding that they “have made no secret of who they want to protect and who they want to destroy.”
FBI Director Kash Patel cut all ties between the bureau and the SPLC last October, calling the group a “partisan smear machine.” House Republicans held a hearing on the SPLC in December, accusing it of targeting “Christian and conservative Americans.” The Christians and conservatives in question were, per the SPLC’s own reports, largely members of groups advocating for racial violence. Semantics.
The SPLC spent 55 years helping law enforcement infiltrate violent extremist organizations. The Justice Department’s position is that this was the crime. The violent extremist organizations have not been charged with anything.
The DHS Illegally Forced Apple and Facebook to Kill ICE-Tracking Apps
The Trump administration spent months insisting it was illegal to know where ICE was. The Constitution had a different opinion.
A federal judge ruled that the DOJ and DHS likely violated the First Amendment when they coerced Apple and Facebook to take down platforms used to share information about ICE operations.
The apps in question, a Facebook group called “ICE Sightings — Chicagoland” and a smartphone app called Eyes Up, used publicly available information to keep tabs on ICE activity. After pressure from Trump officials, they were removed from Facebook and Apple’s App Store.
Similar apps including ICEBlock and Red Dot were also taken down from the App Store and Google Play as part of the same sweep. None of them were doing anything the government could point to as illegal. They were doing something harder to defend against: they were working.
The judge did not find this ambiguous. The court’s order noted that before government officials got involved, Facebook had reviewed the Chicagoland group and Apple had reviewed Eyes Up, and both determined the content met their guidelines. Both platforms changed their position and removed the content immediately after Defendants contacted them. Bondi then publicly took credit for the removal.
The administration called it doxxing. The judge called it the First Amendment. The apps are still banned while the case plays out. Pam Bondi is no longer in a position to do anything about it either way. Small mercies.
War Is Hell, and Also Condoms Are 30% More Expensive
The war that was supposed to last six weeks has now touched gas, food, groceries, and, as of this week, condoms.
Karex Bhd., which makes one out of every five condoms worldwide, is preparing to raise its prices by as much as 30% as the continuing conflict destabilizes supply chains and drives up expenses.
Fuel, energy, and fertilizer prices have risen as the war cuts off supplies coming through the Strait of Hormuz. This makes it more expensive to produce food — and, it turns out, everything else that requires manufacturing, packaging, or shipping anywhere near the Middle East.
Shipping companies have faced higher insurance costs, security risks, and the need to reroute vessels around the Cape of Good Hope, adding significant transit time and fuel consumption. That cost goes somewhere. It is going to condoms.
The consumer price index for all items rose 0.9% in March alone, putting the annual inflation rate at 3.3%. Gas prices have risen $1.16 a gallon in the United States since the start of the war. Groceries are up. Jet fuel has spiked. And that’s just until the ceasefire expires tomorrow.
The administration has not addressed the condom situation specifically, but we don’t suspect it will have an impact on Trump personally.
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Thanks for reading, and we’ll see you tomorrow.
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