Iran’s missile strikes Last night, Iran launched missiles into US air bases in Iraq in what appeared to be retaliation for the recent American drone strike that killed one of its top generals, as Luis Martinez and Elizabeth McLaughlin of ABC News report. Officials said there have been no reports of American casualties at this time. CNN’s team of Nicole Gaouette, Hamdi Alkhshali, Ryan Browne, Barbara Starr and Tamara Qiblawi have ongoing updates here. They note that multiple administration officials told CNN there is a growing belief among administration officials that Iran deliberately missed areas populated by Americans. They suggested that Tehran’s leaders may have intended to send a message rather than take significant enough action to trigger a US military response. Linking to the coverage by Courtney Kube and Doha Madani of NBC News, Patrick Smith tweets this helpful summary: “Catch up on Iran’s missile strikes: * Dozen missiles fired at 2 US bases overnight; no casualties reported * Trump tweets ‘all is well!’ * US bases likely had some warning of strikes.” But this might be your most valuable resource right now: Here’s A List Of False And Unverified Information About Iran’s Missile Attack On US Bases In Iraq, compiled by Jane Lytvynenko of BuzzFeed News. As the outlet’s news director Tom Namako points out, “We’re right in the period of time where this website [Twitter] is at its most useless and is potentially harmful. Here’s how not to get fooled.” And Craig McCarthy urges, “People please listen to reporters whose job it is to vet info.” All the news in one event That wasn’t the only news coming out of the Middle East last night. As CNN’s Artemis Moshtaghian and Joshua Berlinger reported, a Ukrainian Airlines plane crashed in Tehran shortly after takeoff, killing all 176 people on board. “Ukrainian Airlines plane with 180 passengers crashes in Iran shortly after takeoff from Tehran. It is a Boeing 737 and it had technical difficulties. It is like all the news collided in one event,” observes Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz. The Boeing 737-800 is a predecessor to the company's 737 Max, which has been grounded since March following two fatal crashes that killed 346 people. Mark MacKinnon of The Globe and Mail reports that 63 Canadians were among those killed in the crash, and “As @markmackinnon notes here, the Tehran-Kiev-Toronto route is a popular low-cost connection for family visits for the big population of Canadians of Iranian ancestry living in Toronto,” tweets Doug Saunders. “What a terrible tragedy. My thoughts are with all the Canadian, Iranian and Ukrainian families affected,” tweets J. Kelly Nestruck. Tehran authorities are saying the plane crashed due to a technical issue or an engine fire, Will Davies reports at Bloomberg, and yes, it is a “Surreal combination of U.S., Iran, Ukraine, Boeing conflicts…” as Heather Chin puts it. Meanwhile, Reuters is reporting that the head of Tehran’s civil aviation organization was quoted as saying that Iran will not give the black box of the crashed Ukrainian airliner to Boeing. More Iran updates Aaron C. Davis of The Washington Post reveals that the American defense contractor whose death in December was cited by President Trump amid escalating violence with Iran was identified Tuesday as Nawres Hamid, an interpreter who was born in Iraq and lived in Sacramento. The scoop from Sawsan Morrar and Sam Stanton of The Sacramento Bee is that the 33-year-old Iraqi-born naturalized citizen was buried in Sacramento on Saturday. In the aftermath of Soleimani’s killing, David Nakamura and Josh Dawsey of The Washington Post note, “President Trump has sought to demonstrate strong and decisive leadership in the targeted killing of Iran’s top general, but he has overseen a chaotic and mistake-prone public response since the operation — raising questions over the administration’s preparation to anticipate and deal with the consequences.” Which means it’s timesfor Daniel Drezner to chime in: “I’ll believe that Trump is growing into the presidency when his staff stops talking about him like a toddler. [This is the 1155th tweet in the #ToddlerinChief thread.]” Trump addressed the Iran conflict from the White House this morning, where he “announced new economic sanctions against Iran and railed against the Obama-era nuclear agreement which he withdrew the United States from,” The New York Times reports. He took no questions. ‘We mostly blew it’ With a “hat tip to @JuddLegum,” Margaret Sullivan writes in her Washington Post column that the media should spotlight a different kind of war expert: Those who voted ‘no’ on Iraq. As Jill Geisler says, “@sulliview warns against a repeat of past (and flawed) pre-war coverage” and highlights the work of Judd Legum, “who has been keeping track of the punditry parade in his newsletter, Popular Information.” Christopher Knight agrees that “TV news shows are a problem.” Dana Priest adds, “A fantastic column by @Sulliview @PostBaron The Post & others should get @tomricks1 and other likeminded on the case. Last time, in 2003 and speaking as a natsec reporter then, we mostly blew it.” 
Sullivan is also featured in a new report put together by the Guardian US and the Columbia Journalism Review, Sleepwalking into 2020: are the media who missed Trump’s 2016 rise ready now? In it, key figures from major US newspapers, news sites and TV describe their fears about covering this year’s election – and ideas on how to get it right. Sullivan highlights, “‘The media has this incredible quadrennial habit of learning all the lessons of 4 years ago and applying them when the medium has already moved on.’ -- @buzzfeedben in this sweeping piece on media & 2020 from @edpilkington & @mythilirao. (I’m in it, too).” Dan Froomkin’s reaction: “Gah! NYT editor @deanbaquet still thinks the only lesson of 2016 was that they missed the ‘anger at elites.’ And he is still blind to the racism of Trump voters. Read this & you’ll see why he should be replaced by @sulliview.” Refreshingly frank? The New York Times got hold of an internal memo from Facebook executive Andrew Bosworth, in which he tells employees that the company has a moral duty not to tilt the scales against Trump as he seeks re-election. Kevin Roose, Sheera Frenkel and Mike Isaac have the details on that memo, which they describe as “a meandering 2,500-word post” (“Brutal,” tweets Sarah Kessler). For Katherine Rosman, “The biggest take away is that a top Facebook exec doesn’t understand that you don’t post things on the Internet that you wish to keep private.” And “heres the memo in full, from @boztank, who is also welcome to weigh in,” tweets Isaac, linking to Lord of the Rings, 2020 and Stuffed Oreos: Read the Andrew Bosworth Memo. “So @boztank’s Tolkien analogy accepts a basic framing that Zuck is Sauron, Facebook is Mordor, and Facebook’s ad platform is the One Ring. This is -- interesting? Refreshingly frank?” says Scott Rosenberg. Also, nerd alert? Josh Quittner sees it this way: “Through the creation of what they called the ‘Fifth Estate,’ Zuckerberg & Co. deliberately set out to destroy legacy media, which they believed was beholden to special interests. They pretty much succeeded. Here's the Frankenstein monster they built.” Minimizing and deflecting blame And now, “A look at the relentless (and terrifying) efforts led by Rupert Murdoch’s paper The Australian to shift blame for the fires to the left, protect conservative leaders and divert attention from climate change.” Shannon Busta links to Damien Cave’s piece in The New York Times explaining How Rupert Murdoch and Disinformation Are Influencing Australia’s Bushfire Debate. Marc Tracy calls this an “Excellent @damiencave look at what sure appears to be a symbiosis between Australia's government and News Corp. outlets minimizing and deflecting blame for the fires.” Tom Gara puts it this way: “Re Australia's climate politics, as I've said before: imagine if Fox News also ran most of America's biggest newspapers, but they were mostly New York Post style tabloids with Tucker and Hannity etc as their columnists.” Meanwhile, “Shared in the hope that facts still matter,” Lenore Taylor links to Christopher Knaus’ reporting for The Guardian, Police contradict claims spread online exaggerating arson’s role in Australian bushfires. As Tiger Webb says, “facts don’t care about your feelings.” Other stories Because there are other stories! Here’s a good one! As Eric Roston says, “One of the most delightful and understated U.S. developments of the last few years is the higher public visibility of Robert Caro,” and on that note, Jennifer Schuessler of The New York Times reports that Robert Caro’s papers are headed to the New-York Historical Society. It has acquired “some 200 linear feet of material that will be open to researchers in its library. And just as important to the 84-year-old Mr. Caro, it will create a permanent installation in its museum galleries dedicated to showing how he got the job done.” 
Aw man. Annette McGivney of The Guardian reveals that bees are essential to the functioning of America’s titanic almond industry – and billions are dying in the process. Read her latest to learn the deadly truth behind your almond-milk obsession. “Oh dear. At the risk of sounding peak Guardian, time to buy organic almonds,” tweets Charlotte Higgins. As Tim Hayward says, “I don’t think I could ever stop reading, or even loving the Guardian, but it’s stuff like this that’s slowly sapped my will to ‘live’ by it…”  But back to some good news! Drew Griffin says this is “The most beautiful news you will read this week. Please don’t smoke, do exercise and enjoy a wonderful time to be alive.” From Jacqueline Howard at CNN, US cancer death rate sees largest-ever single-year drop, report says.
Et tu, Sox? Ken Rosenthal and Evan Drellich of The Athletic report that the MLB’s sign-stealing controversy has broadened: Sources say the Red Sox used video replay room illegally in 2018. This is just a wild one: Sarah Manavis of the New Statesman writes about the strange case of Paul Zimmer, the influencer who came back as a different person. Josh Salisbury, for one, is “Obsessed with this @sarahmanavis story about a bloke who got famous on the internet, pissed off his fans, and dealt with it by... just rebranding as a completely different person (?)” Adds Anoosh Chakelian, “read this by @sarahmanavis on a weird story - the TikTok star trying to un-cancel himself.” 
Finally, GQ’s February cover features Larry David, and Brett Martin lets us in on The Incredibly Happy Life of TV’s Favorite Grouch. As Geoffrey Gagnon puts it, “The brilliant @brettmartin, easing into Larry’s world. And squeezing into Larry’s pants.” “Because to really know a man, you need to get inside his pants. Or something like that. My time in Larry World,” tweets Martin. And Adrian Carrasquillo shares, “I love him: He's talked to my editor, too, warning that if the plan is to get under his surface, I might as well give up now: ‘Believe me, there's nothing there!’” | 
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