Did Everyone Lose?

Plus: Anthropic drama, Biden delusion, and more...

Docusign diplomacy: A digital preliminary memorandum of understanding between the U.S. and Iran has been signed, leading to an opening of the Strait of Hormuz and a 60-day pause in fighting while final details get hashed out.

On Friday, a more formal signing will take place, and negotiations will begin on the more challenging details of the agreement.

MOU SIGNED, PER SENIOR U.S. OFFICIAL
OFFICIAL SAYS:
* TRUMP, VANCE SIGNED MOU, SO DID IRANIAN PARLIAMENTARY SPEAKER
* DEAL PROVIDES FOR IMMEDIATE OPENING OF STRAIT OF HORMUZ AND LIFTING OF U.S. BLOCKADE ON IRAN
* DETAILS OF AGREEMENT WILL BE PUT OUT WITHIN NEXT 24-48 HOURS
*…

— Phil Stewart (@phildstewart) June 15, 2026

"We are prepared to release frozen funds and we are prepared to relieve sanctions, and we'll do some small gestures of that in the beginning if they make some small gestures to us that show that they're willing to meet their commitments as well," a U.S. official told Reuters.

"In diplomatic terms, this agreement is an exit ramp from a costly and unpopular war, not a victory parade," writes David Ignatius at The Washington Post. "The deal falls far short of President Donald Trump's early talk of regime change and unconditional surrender." Yes, yes. But it's hard to know, from where we are right now, the degree to which this really will set back Iran and its attainment of a nuclear weapon.

We still don't know what types of restrictions Iran will agree to with regard to its nuclear program, nor do we know what Israel will do with regard to Hezbollah and the fighting in southern Lebanon. We don't know how U.S.-Israeli relations will be impacted in the long run. (Tensions between Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have been rather high during these last few weeks.) We don't know whether Iran will, in fact, keep the Strait of Hormuz open, or whether we'll see it mess around with the strait to gain leverage over the U.S. once again.

"Months of fighting revealed that multiple countries can impose costs," wrote Foreign Policy's Will Todman, "but none can impose order."

"The tactical and operational successes that the U.S. and Israeli militaries achieved masked a deeper strategic defeat, with neither securing the political objectives cited to justify the war in the first place," argued Todman. "The Iranian regime survived and emerged more hard-line, and it discovered a new, powerful negotiating chip in closing the Strait of Hormuz." But even bigger picture: "The war did not produce a clear victor or a more stable regional order. Instead, it accelerated fragmentation, deepened insecurity, and imposed costs on every key regional and global power involved, including Iran, the Arab Gulf states, Russia, and China. The war demonstrated that no state will be able to navigate the new era of global disorder unscathed."

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Scenes from New York: Appreciating my compatriots:

Red Hook is just built different pic.twitter.com/gr7vcaTT4h

— Liz Wolfe (@LizWolfeReason) June 15, 2026

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QUICK HITS

• "Chipmaking giant Nvidia Corp. sold $25 billion of high-grade bonds, joining a wave of jumbo debt offerings from tech heavyweights as investors clamor to get exposure to the artificial intelligence boom," reports Bloomberg. "The deal, priced on Monday, attracted as much as $85 billion of orders or more than three times the size of the bond, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. Nvidia's first offering since 2021 was boosted from an initial target of about $20 billion, underscoring strong investor demand."
• "It can often seem like the Bidens are divorced from reality, exemplified by their ability to claim with a straight face that the former president was not a Washington insider," writes Ben Terris in New York magazine. "But they believe they can make a case for his legacy—as long as they can somehow disentangle it from Biden's ruinous decision to run for a second term."
• "On July 4th, at The Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument, in beautiful and safe Washington D.C., we are going to host the most spectacular TRUMP RALLY of them all, a 'TRIBUTE TO AMERICA,'" wrote Trump on Truth Social yesterday. "Starting at 7 P.M. EST, this HUGE Celebration will honor our Country's People, Spirit, Strength, Resolve, and Triumphs. With the backdrop of the Lincoln Memorial and surrounding the beautifully new Reflecting Pool, more than 300 Members of our strong and talented Military Bands, Orchestras, and Ceremonial Units, will perform Patriotic Melodies and American Classics, and my Playlist (We will have none of those people that put you to sleep and constantly complain!), as we celebrate our Country, and Rally into the next 250 years." I don't tend to be up in arms about Trump ridiculousness when it's not really hurting anyone, but I do find this to be a little disrespectful to the Founders. I would rather celebrate America than Trump, and I fear this will become more about the self-styled emperor than about 250 years of this great country.
• A good take on the Anthropic saga:

Because this is happening to Anthropic, the temptation for many will be to say: Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. They have relentlessly raised the regulatory temperature in Washington by inviting far-reaching controls of frontier models. They made this bed and now they have… https://t.co/2kcQqdRhRz

— Adam Thierer (@AdamThierer) June 13, 2026

Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

...leading to an opening of the Strait of Hormuz and a 60-day pause in fighting while final details get hashed out.

The president is always having to pause things to figure out what to do with the Muslims.

[Social Justice is neither]

Well leftists would whine about coming up with any sort of final solution.

[Don't look at me! ( Is the war over yet?)]

So we should have made a regime change? Or actually bombed them back into the Stone Age?

[Rev Arthur L kuckland (5-30-24 banana republic day)]

Trump should give them what they want. 72 virgins in the next life.

[Liberty_Belle]

They will have to settle for getting 300 Billion in reconstruction and 25 billion in unfrozen assets and cry about it like the losers they are.

Winning ! Amirite, Trumpers ?

[Vernon Depner]

Yes. If the regime is left in place, then the war has been for nothing.

[Rev Arthur L kuckland (5-30-24 banana republic day)]

My bar is if they have any nuclear material it was for nothing. The Iranian people really messed up. The regime was on its back leg, that's when the people should have attacked

[mad.casual]

There's also a bit of "post-singularity" notion that if Iranian fuel prices pushed the invasion of Taiwan outside of Xi's term and China's dominance and pushed Russia to the negotiating table and convinced Europe that they needed to cease their own cultural genocide and defend themselves and got the rest of the ME on Iran's, rather than Israel's, bad side and got less nuclear material out of Iran's hands... it may've been worth it.

Re: "war" - From a lives perspective, the "war" in Iran is has been on par with the "withdrawal" from Kabul. Also from a lives perspective, Andrew Cuomo made decisions to kill 10-14,000 Americans. He did so by closing private parks, hospitals, churches, and businesses. He mandated vaccines and removed religious exemptions. He had the evidence to know that was the outcome of the decisions he was making. We know he had the evidence and know he was aware of the outcomes because we know he covered up the evidence. He was brought down over somewhat spurious SA allegations. The amnesty begged wasn't "We'll agree to any sanctions to prevent this from happening again." it was "We went a little crazy. We're sorry if you're sorry."

This was all "peaceful". Something on the order of ~50% more deadly than the "mostly peaceful" "Summer of Love".

[mad.casual]

Ugh.

Re: "war" - From a lives perspective, the "war" in Iran is has been on par with the "withdrawal" from Kabul. Something on the order of ~50% more deadly than the "mostly peaceful" "Summer of Love".
...
This was all "peaceful". Something on the order of ~50% more deadly than the "mostly peaceful" "Summer of Love".

[JesseAz (RIP CK)]

And it also caused the breakup of OPEC with UAE announcement which is huge.

Iran is now also isolated with all its neighbors against it.

There are many positives that have already occurred the left and reason ignore.

[Rev Arthur L kuckland (5-30-24 banana republic day)]

Apparently the fbi stopped an attack planned at the ufc fight.
The suspect said they wanted to target captolist elitest billionaires.
Does that mean Elon would have been safe?

https://notthebee.com/article/report-fbi-stops-plot-to-kill-capitalist-elites-by-crashing-explosive-drones-into-the-ufc-fight-at-the-white-house--

[JesseAz (RIP CK)]

Seems more credible than the whitmer kidnapping too. Yet almost no media reports on it.

[Fist of Etiquette]

We are prepared to release frozen funds...

The Mullahs should have left it all on the pallet instead of putting it in the bank.

[Don't look at me! ( Is the war over yet?)]

Yes, a fireworks display is disrespectful of the founders. (Some who were slave owners, by the way).

[Fist of Etiquette]

The deal falls far short of President Donald Trump's early talk of regime change...

IT ALWAYS DOES.

[Fist of Etiquette]

We still don't know what types of restrictions Iran will agree to with regard to its nuclear program...

I'm told it barely existed in the first place.

[Vernon Depner]

We do know. Iran will ignore the agreement and continue with their nuclear weapons program, and they will continue supporting terrorism.

[JesseAz (RIP CK)]

IRGC will for sure. They are flailing for power and relevancy still.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The war did not produce a clear victor or a more stable regional order.

EXCUSE ME. It was a victory for the LGBTIQCAPGNGFNBA community, as we now have the first LGBTIQCAPGNGFNBA Ayatollah.

[Ajsloss]

Was there a "niner" in there?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Chipmaking giant Nvidia Corp. sold $25 billion of high-grade bonds...

Those bonds are hot! Just like everything Nvidia produces.

[Fist of Etiquette]

But they believe they can make a case for his legacy—as long as they can somehow disentangle it from Biden's ruinous decision to run for a second term.

He will forever be blamed for Trump 2.0 (not the multitude of scandals that exist tidily under journalism's rug).

[JesseAz (RIP CK)]

Can we finally stop relying on the failed keyenesian models of government?

https://www.wsj.com/opinion/trump-is-right-the-feds-economic-models-punish-growth-1e790360?st=nt3Bnt

The Fed needs to be reformed. It hasn’t been achieving price stability. It has lost hundreds of billions of dollars after growing in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. Its ample-reserves policy crowds out small businesses and market innovation. Its purchases of government bonds feed inequality.

The most pressing issue concerns the Fed’s obsolete economic models, which punish growth. When the economy or jobs grow fast, the Fed’s Keynesian models prescribe rate increases. These models are built on the view that growth causes inflation and the Fed should enforce a low speed limit.

The Fed’s inflation targeting sends wrong signals. Inflation is subject to distortion from fluctuations such as the current oil price shock and China’s dumping in the 2000s, which kept U.S. inflation artificially low, contributing to the 2008 financial crisis. The inflation model looks backward, misjudges regulatory burdens, undervalues energy production and ignores changes in the value of the dollar. It can’t keep pace with our fast-changing digital economy.

Huh. Almost loke some of us have been saying. The models are broken. Keyenesian models are well known and simple though, so see a lot of arguments here utilizing the broken models without posters admitting they are pushing keyenesian. See boehm as an example.

[Eeyore]

Keyenesian economics are popular "because" they give justification for the spending behavior that politicians and government already want to partake in. It's popularity will never go away. That's like asking college children to not like socialism.

[Fist of Etiquette]

I would rather celebrate America than Trump, and I fear this will become more about the self-styled emperor than about 250 years of this great country.

I suggest counter programming to this kind of sickening nationalism where we join Hollywood to celebrate the triumph of globalism.

[mad.casual]

I'll ask my parents whether they celebrated the Bicentennial or Gerald Ford's historic tour of Valley Forge, Philadelphia, New York, and D.C. but I already suspect I know the answer, if they even remember.

[JesseAz (RIP CK)]

Phil Stewart
@phildstewart
·
Follow
MOU SIGNED, PER SENIOR U.S. OFFICIAL
OFFICIAL SAYS:
* TRUMP, VANCE SIGNED MOU, SO DID IRANIAN PARLIAMENTARY SPEAKER

Did Damon and the jewfrees posting here see who is left out of the agreement? You know those of you claiming Iran has dominated the US? Hint. IRGC.

But some of you want the IRGC to take over for some retarded reason, mostly to see trump fail.

For weeks now trump and his administration have been clear, the move is to push power from the IRGC/mullahs to the elected body. Pakistan has admitted this. Other global newspapers have.

Yet some here cheer for the disruptive acts of the IRGC and terror proxies, almost like they are cheering for those groups.

[JesseAz (RIP CK)]

We still don't know what types of restrictions Iran will agree to with regard to its nuclear program, nor do we know what Israel will do with regard to Hezbollah and the fighting in southern Lebanon. We don't know how U.S.-Israeli relations will be impacted in the long run.

Yet it hasn't stopped reasons favorite sources from declaring an Iranian victory.

[Quicktown Brix]

Did Everyone Lose?

Not Iran. They lost all the "battles", but will have won the war if this deal sticks. They came out of this stronger than they went in. The deal, as much as we can tell since the Trump administration won't show us (which is telling) will:

cut sanctions
give Iran pallets of money that make Obama's look cute,
allows them to keep enriching uranium
sets us back from the JCPOA
says nothing about not funding proxies
May or may not allow Iran to collect fees in the strait
and appears to be dependent on Lucy Netanyahu holding the Lebanon football

This deal is nothing but a capitulation by Trump to end the disaster this was. The only thing of significance we gain is the opening of the strait...like it was before this idiocy.

[Don't look at me! ( Is the war over yet?)]

When are you moving there?

[Quicktown Brix]

I guess right after Trump liberates the Iranian citizens.

[Don't look at me! ( Is the war over yet?)]

So regime change is cool again?

[JesseAz (RIP CK)]

The opposite of what is happening under trump is what is cool. Do you even QB bro?

[Quicktown Brix]

Based on outcomes? Pretty much.

[Quicktown Brix]

Nope.

No. It's just a better outcome once you've launch a regime change war, spent billions, killed thousands and spiked inflation.

But really it's just to rub your noses in your failure and say, "I told you so."

[Sometimes a Great Notion]

discovered a new, powerful negotiating chip in closing the Strait of Hormuz.

Discovered is wrong, it was their "nuclear option"; it's why they had mine laying boats on hand. Question remains whether it has now been normalized and that at any Israel counterattack to an attack will immediately met with a closure. I kinda of doubt it will since it will most certainly be met with a blockade which harms them as well but time will tell.

[Sometimes a Great Notion]

TRUMP RALLY of them all, a 'TRIBUTE TO AMERICA

As long as the taxpayer isn't paying for this (and we should be making a few bucks on renting the land for a political rally), I don't care. Sad thing is though we probably are paying for, fuck you cut spending.

[Marshal]

I would rather celebrate America than Trump, and I fear this will become more about the self-styled emperor than about 250 years of this great country.

Me too, but the left won't celebrate America and already intimidated neutral artists into a boycott. So that's not really an option is it?

It's too bad you didn't mention the Resistance! counter programming during the UFC fights / celebration the other night. How pathetic was that?

[JesseAz (RIP CK)]

Even major newspapers were embarassed by that counter programming crap.

[Sometimes a Great Notion]

as long as they can somehow disentangle it from Biden's ruinous decision to run for a second term."

And his ruinous spending upon spending, his over zealous response to force the jab, his clear mental decline during the whole of his term, his non materializing infrastructure projects, his disastrous energy policy, ect....