Trump-free Friday politics: August 25

The President is mad about things, everyone’s fired, and the U.S. is still in Afghanistan in this week’s politics roundup.

U.S. continues to slog along in Afghanistan

The War in Afghanistan has been going on now for nearly 16 years, making it the longest war in United States history. The U.S. has spent billions of dollars on the conflict, adding to an already massive defense budget. If you had any hope that the president’s Tuesday announcement would somehow indicate that this long, terrible war against terrorists in a beleaguered Central Asian country is over… well, aren’t you a precious politics newbie.

Instead, the president, who is also Commander in Chief of the U.S. military, delivered a speech that seemed to open the way for for involvement. He leaned towards troop increases in the region, though no particular number was specified. It’s also highly likely that even more money will be diverted towards military programs.

Whether or not this “solves” the War in Afghanistan remains to be seen. Similar strategies seem to have failed in one way or another for well over a decade. Instead, solutions to the political unrest and cultural conflict underway in the region may be far more thorny than most people think.

Bannon gets the boot

So, who has been fired from the White House so far? There’s one national security adviser, one press secretary, a deputy chief of staff, the chief of staff, and two communications directors. Now, chief strategist (a title that was made up for the current administration, and which is about as real as “Dean of Pizza” or “Chief Flavor Officer”) Steve Bannon is out.

We’re so totally, really, truly heartbroken at the loss of … sorry, can’t fake it even here. Bannon’s tenure is one of the more turbulent White House careers in a while. We can’t imagine there are too many White House staffers that are really sad to see him go.

There is still considerable debate as to why or how Steve Bannon finally left. Naturally, there is also much speculation as to what the administration will look like going forward. Will it take a more mainstream tack and start to make some vague sort of sense? Or will it be just as awful, considering that the White House is now enveloped in some sort of thick Lovecraftian aura that is more ominous and powerful than one human man?

The military is still going forward with a transgender ban

Ugh. Just, ugh. So, this is really happening? This horrible, hateful, half-hearted attempt to curry favor some of the worst of American fears is actually going to be a thing.

Anyway, here’s a cute puppy to take the edge off.

Navy fires fleet admiral

Vice Admiral Joseph Aucoin has been removed from service, the U.S. Navy announced. Aucoin was, until recently, the three-star Admiral in charge of the 7th Fleet. According to a statement from U.S. Pacific Fleet Public Affairs, he was let go “due to a loss of confidence in his ability to command”.

Aucoin was dismissed after a series of four accidents involving Navy ships in the Pacific. Two of those accidents resulted in deaths and missing sailors. This past weekend, the USS John S. McCain collided with an oil tanker off the coast of Singapore. 10 sailors were missing, though some remains have been recovered. Earlier, on June 17, the USS Fitzgerald also collided with a civilian ship, killing seven service members.

Navy leadership promises that it will enact a “deliberate re-set” of all Pacific-based ships, including what will presumably be intensive re-training.

President upset about a wall

Once upon a time, there was a man who promised to build a very big wall because he thought that promise would make other people like him and give him power. He won the power, but then discovered that a lot of those people rethought this whole “wall” situation.

Who was going to pay for the wall? Mexico certainly wasn’t going to pony up. And how exactly were we going to build it? Would it even keep people safe? Maybe, just maybe, it could be that Latinos, as a group, weren’t bad people. Could this whole thing be a bad idea?

That man got very angry and promised that he was going to shut down the government until he got his way. Seems reasonable.

President also mad at a man in the Senate

That same man—who, surprise, is the President of the United States!—is also mad at Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. You see, McConnell hasn’t been doing a very good job, if you agree that “good job” qualifications include taking basic health care away from millions.

The president is so upset at McConnell that a recent phone call between the two reportedly devolved into a profanity-laced yelling contest. Now, everyone else in wondering what, exactly, this rift could mean. Will it screw up our tax system? Make it even more difficult for Congress to get stuff done? Somehow undermine the presidency even more than it has been already?

And, finally, your palate cleanser

The Giant Pacific octopus is one of the smartest invertebrates out there. Maybe, if they develop longer lifespans and a better grasp of social structures, octopuses and other cephalopods will have a better run of things.

Next: Trump-free Friday politics: August 18

The kind of intelligence possessed by octopuses and their cousins is well-documented, if only partially understood. What must it be like for an octopus to look out at the world and interact with these strange ape creatures?

If you’re intrigued, there’s plenty more sources to turn to. Scientific American has a take on octopus smarts, while The Atlantic, The Guardian and The New York Times have some more information.