Podbit · The Bulwark Podcast
Iran gained the Strait of Hormuz as a leverage point through the war — a point that didn't exist before. After the MOU expires, Iran plans to charge tolls for passage, a completely new arrangement that is a direct product of the conflict.
Where this was said
At 4:07 · chapter starts 1:47
With the energy of a wire reporter who hasn't slept, Tim Miller catalogues the extraordinary sequence of events since Friday's show: Iranian drone attacks on Strait of Hormuz shipping, US counterstrikes on Iran, Iranian retaliatory hits on eight US military targets in Kuwait and Bahrain — both countries Marco Rubio had just visited on an 'all is well' tour — US counter-retaliation, Trump threatening 'annihilation,' Iran threatening to go nuclear, and then Axios reporting a last-minute de-escalation deal agreed just before the Monday market open. Talks are set for Doha on Tuesday, but as of recording Iran hasn't confirmed it's sending representatives. The pattern, John Dickerson observes, is numbingly familiar: breakthroughs announced on Friday that wash away by Monday.
Through the Strait of Hormuz, over two days only 78 ships passed, compared to a pre-war pace of 130 per day.
Fei-Fei Li went back to Stanford from Google in 2018 specifically to build a multi-stakeholder governance framework for AI. Her argument: market forces are not societal norms. Just as biology uses IRBs and cars have safety laws, AI needs layered oversight from educators, governments, and the public — not just a few industry titans.
Andrew Santino's personal MCU of political villains is collapsing. He and Bobby speculated that a circulating photo of Mitch McConnell with a Chinese official was AI-generated compositing two separate images.
Mass surveillance is here to stay. The real battle isn't stopping cameras — it's ensuring judges and laws keep that data out of family court and civil disputes, admitting it only for violent crimes and national security. The surveillance economy currently yields more upside than downside, but only if we build the legal guardrails now.
When people cite Scandinavia as proof socialism works, Galloway says they've got it backwards. Northern Europe runs highly competitive free-market economies with more competition in many sectors than the US — they just make sure taxes are actually paid and redistributed. Billionaires and universal healthcare can coexist.
Two percent adjustments to income tax and stamp duty tweaks are deck-chair rearrangements. The UK's competitiveness hinges on four structural levers: currency valuation, energy costs, regulatory burden, and tax rates. Devalue the pound, build 56 nuclear plants, slash red tape, introduce a flat tax — and the country transforms.
Lisbon had one of Europe's worst heroin crises. Then Portugal legalised drugs and redirected all enforcement money into rehabilitation and housing. Crime collapsed. Addiction fell. Then politics moved the money elsewhere, and the problem started creeping back. Chesterton's Fence: you forget why you were spending that money.
Congress passed the Boland Amendment 411 to 0, explicitly banning CIA and Defense Department funds for the Contras. Reagan signed it — then immediately moved the operation deeper underground, essentially responding to a bipartisan prohibition by going more illegal.
The CIA planted mines in Nicaraguan commercial harbors, wrote the Contras' press releases taking credit, and promptly blew up ships from four allied nations. The Wall Street Journal broke the story, Congress erupted, and the Boland Amendments multiplied.
Oliver North was a decorated Marine and devout Catholic with zero covert operations experience. He ran the entire shadow war against Congress — planes, airstrips, arms shipments, shell companies — learning on the job. And by every operational measure, he crushed it.
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