06/11/26
Good morning! It’s Thursday, June 11th.
National Corn on the Cob Day.
Now, call me corny, but I’m particularly excited because it’s also the first day of the World Cuppa, with Mexico and South Africa kicking off the beautiful game today at 12 PM America’s Finest City time.
And now, the news.
Update: Iran
Starting in Iran, where US forces are striking multiple targets in Iran, which Trump and Pete Hegseth say are in retaliation for Iran taking too long to agree on a peace deal.
I wonder if these strikes will help anything…
This is day two of strikes and comes after Bahrain, Kuwait, and Jordan, three places that have US military bases, were hit by Iranian fire.
As I record this, really all the news there is right now is that the strikes are happening and that, overnight, Hegseth says the strikes will continue and will hit "key facilities" in Iran.
Regarding the negotiations that I guess they’re hoping these strikes will speed up, Hegseth said: "If we need to negotiate with bombs, we'll negotiate with bombs. And we're very good at it.”
My guy… is that… are you… how is that helping? How on earth do you think that’s helping anything??
Cuba Options
-via AP News
Speaking of being unhelpful, Hegseth also let us know that if you’ve got room to worry in your heart… he’s got the perfect thing for you.
Moving from Iran to Cuba, Hegseth told reporters that the military has “options, options, options” should Trump give the green light to invade the island.
Great. Good. Yeah that’s what we need.
Why don’t you ask Venezuela how that’s going?
Because Venezuelans were thrilled, not sarcastic, that’s true, that Trump removed Maduro from Venezuela.
And he had an opportunity to perhaps do some good over there. But when you remove Maduro and leave Delcy Rodríguez, the woman who called herself the vice president when Maduro was in power over there but that’s tricky because Maduro wasn’t the legitimate president so how does that work Delc?, in power… what change has been made?
When Maduro was first removed from Venezuela, 92% of Venezuelans were grateful to Trump.
Three months later, that number sits around 45%.
And that decline appears to come from Trump moving closer to Rodríguez instead of Maria Corina Machado – the rightful winner of the 2024 election.
So you know… it’s concerning in general to hear Trump thinking about taking over any country, but then, when you take into account what he’s done in Venezuela, the concern is warranted.
Gates Goes to Congress
-via BBC
Bill Gates spoke to the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday as they continue to, kind of, and slowly, look into Epstein’s crimes and connections.
Bill Gates’ excuse for staying close to the world’s most prolific child sex trafficker?
He was my friend but I wasn’t his friend.
"While he may have sought to foster a personal relationship, I was never interested in that and never reciprocated."
He called Epstein a "friend collector" who hung out with people like Bill Gates to "project power and influence.”
Gates, a billionaire, said he was using Epstein for his money and ties to other people with money. Which… really? You, Bill Gates, couldn’t find money or money people anywhere else? He also said he cut ties with Epstein once he found out about Epstein’s heinous crimes—no wait, just kidding… he cut ties when Epstein wouldn’t donate to Gates’ charity work.
He actually didn’t even start hanging out with Epstein until 2011… three years AFTER he was found guilty the first time.
Gates denies knowing about any of Epstein’s crimes. He also denies taking part in any crimes (which makes sense… he says he didn’t know about them, so of course he couldn’t have taken part in them) but I think it speaks to a larger thing because he befriended this guy who, three years prior, had been arrested for sex crimes with minors.
There’s at least one email where Gates notes that Epstein was visited by a former Miss Sweden and her 15-year-old daughter. "A very attractive Swedish woman and her daughter dropped by and I ended up staying there quite late."
And I’m not implying anything, but I do think that Bill Gates knew not to ask questions. He made a decision not to ask the questions that should have been asked. And how is that not just as bad as knowing and not telling anyone?
And that’s it. That’s the news.
Because it’s like… okay now we gotta talk about Epstein again. The bombing of Iran is a big deal but we don’t have a lot of facts right now. It’s a short episode but those are big stories and so let’s just take it easy.
I’m proud of corn on the cob. I guess. Why not? It tastes GREAT. You know what I like? I like it with lime and tajin.
But more than corn on the cob, but I’ve never once needed floss after hanging out with you… I’m proud of you.