curated news excerpts & citations
Rebecca Crosby and Noel Sims: Hundreds of thousands of Americans stranded in a war zone
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Due to the intensity of combat in the Middle East, other countries not directly involved in the conflict quickly began evacuating their citizens from the region. The Italian government has facilitated the evacuation of 2,500 Italians on commercial flights. The Czech Republic sent multiple flights to evacuate people stranded in the area. Several other countries, including the United Kingdom, France, and Greece, had organized flights scheduled for Wednesday, Reuters reported.
Americans in the area are in danger of being targeted, but the State Department did not advise citizens to leave the region before the strikes began. Before the 2003 Iraq War, in contrast, the State Department advised citizens to prepare to evacuate weeks in advance and ordered a final evacuation days before fighting began.
This year, Americans in 14 countries were not advised to evacuate until three days after the Trump administration began major combat operations in Iran. By that time, much of the region’s airspace and most airports had closed.
(Rebecca Crosby and Noel Sims more…)
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James Eagle: What the data says about the US-Iran war
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This is already bigger than a bilateral fight. The charts make that clear because they capture the parts of the story that officials prefer not to dwell on. Public consent. Accumulated trauma. Trade relationships that do not match political slogans. And a global energy system that depends on one spectacularly fragile choke point.
(James Eagle more…)Daily Express: US tanker ‘on fire and spilling oil into the sea’ as Iran issues chilling warning
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BBC: Iran school and nearby military base struck multiple times, satellite image reveals
Satellite imagery analysis reveals multiple strikes and burn marks around a school in southern Iran, suggesting it was hit more than once, in an attack Iranian authorities say killed 168 people on Saturday.
Verified videos and satellite imagery show extensive damage around the Shajareh Tayebeh primary school in Minab and the adjacent Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) compound. It also suggests area was “struck by multiple simultaneous or near-simultaneous strikes”, says munitions expert N R Jenzen Jones.
RNS: When the bombs fall on other people’s children
If we cannot feel the death of an Iranian child with the same moral clarity as the death of a child in the United States, then something in us has been deformed.
In a small town in southern Iran on the first day of the U.S.-Israeli attacks (Feb. 28), more children were killed in a single strike on a girls school than all the American kids who died in the past two years in school shootings.
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Middle East Eye: Iranian warship hit by US torpedo was ‘defenceless’, former Indian official claims
The ship had taken part in naval exercises hosted by New Delhi and was in international waters, former Indian Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal says
(Middle East Eye more…)
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Heather Cox Richardson: Letters from an American – March 5, 2026
President Donald J. Trump is behaving more and more erratically these days, seeming to think he can dictate to other countries.
This morning, Trump told Barak Ravid and Zachary Basu of Axios that he needs to be involved personally in choosing the next leader of Iran. Speaking of Iranian politicians who are preparing to announce a new leader, Trump told the reporters: “They are wasting their time. Khamenei’s son is a lightweight. I have to be involved in the appointment, like with Delcy [Rodríguez] in Venezuela.”
Foreign affairs journalist Olga Nesterova of ONEST reported that in a call with Israel’s Channel 12 this morning, Trump called Israel’s president Isaac Herzog “a disgrace” and demanded Herzog pardon Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “today” because Trump doesn’t want Netanyahu distracted from the war with Iran.
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In a conversation today with Dasha Burns of Politico, Trump insisted that “[p]eople are loving what’s happening” and said: “Cuba’s going to fall, too.”The most astonishing example of Trump’s international aggression came from White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt. Although Trump initially said he attacked Iran to keep it from acquiring nuclear weapons, Leavitt yesterday explained that Trump joined Israel in a military attack on Iran because Trump had “a feeling based on fact” that Iran was going to attack the United States.
Trump’s assertion of power globally contrasts with increasing setbacks at home.
(Heather Cox Richardson more…)
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Joyce Vance: Fired, But For the Wrong Reason
Today, Donald Trump fired DHS Secretary Kristi Noem. It was the right thing to do, long overdue. But he did it for the wrong reasons.
There were plenty of reasons to fire Noem. …
But none of that got Noem fired. Trump fired her today because she was making him look bad. Not because what she did was wrong, was awful. If that had been the case, he would he fired her when she did it. He would have reined her in. He never did. …
(Joyce Vance more…)
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Irish Star: Trump implies he could use Irish airport as a base – ‘Nobody’s going to tell us not to’
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Daily Beast: World Leader Reveals He Was Stunned by ‘Truly Uninformed’ Trump
IGNORANCE IS BLISS
South Africa’s president says Trump’s views are “racist” and “bereft of any reality.”
(Daily Beast more…)
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Robert Reich: The Moral Basis of Civilization
… the moral purpose of civilized society is to prevent the stronger from attacking and exploiting the weaker. Otherwise, we’d be permanently immersed in a brutish war in which only the fittest and most powerful could survive.
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Express: Shocking moment CNN star arrested mid-report as show abruptly yanked off air
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Robert Reich: How Trump is Paying for His War AND Giving a Huge Tax Cut to the Rich
By cutting Medicaid, food stamps, and other assistance people need
(Robert Reich more…)
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Rebecca Solnit on Facebook
I would rather have Jasmine Crockett in the Senate and I also thought that Talarico was more likely to win in Texas …
Because I can hold multiple thoughts in my head at the same time, I’m really enthused about progressive/Democratic Christians like Talarico who appear to be taking back Christianity in public life from the right. I mean we never stopped having progressive Black Christians in public life–rest in power Jesse Jackson; hello Rev. Warnock–but it’s a big shift to see a whole wave of young white Christians running for office.
(Rebecca Solnit more…)
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MetaFilter: A town in the Swiss Alps stood for 800 years. In an instant it was wiped
(Thanks to glacier monitoring, the town was evacuated nine days ahead of the disaster, and only one person, a 64-year-old shepherd who chose to stay behind, died in the disaster.) The Swiss Alps are a natural wonder and a key part of the national identity, but life in the mountains is under threat from climate change.
ABC Australia: Switzerland can save its alpine villages. But should it?
One of the world’s richest nations is asking what price it’s willing to pay to preserve a way of life in the face of climate change.
James Eagle: Half of global CO2 came from these 36 companies
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Ellie Leonard: 100 Hours With Epstein: Epstein’s Double Agent
Did journalist Michael Wolff hide explosive interviews with Jeffrey Epstein—and why haven’t they ever been released?
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Liz Dye: Bondi Says She’s The Bar Now
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In a proposed rule change flagged by Bloomberg Law, she floats a plan to take over state bar complaints against DOJ attorneys and “request that the bar disciplinary authority suspend any parallel investigations until the completion of the Department’s review.”Bondi adds that, “should the relevant bar disciplinary authorities refuse the Attorney General’s request, the Department shall take appropriate action to prevent the bar disciplinary authorities from interfering with the Attorney General’s review of the allegations.”
(Liz Dye more…)
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404 Media: ICE Phishing: Scammers Are Sending ‘Support ICE’ Emails to Steal Credentials
“As part of our commitment to supporting ICE, we will be adding a ‘Support ICE’ donation button to the footer of every email sent through our platform.”
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Borowitz: Americans Support Sending Stephen Miller to Iran
Al Jazeera Death toll and injuries live tracker
ICE deaths 2026 – They deserve remembrance and justice.
- February 25: Nurul Amin Shah Alam
- January 24: Alex Pretti
- January 14: Heber Sanchaz Dominguez
- January 14: Victor Manuel Diaz
- January 9: Parady La
- January 7: Renée Good
- January 6: Luis Beltran Yanez-Cruz
- January 5: Luis Gustavo Nunez Caceres
- January 3: Geraldo Lunas Campos
- December 31, 2025: Keith Porter
Suffering Under President Obama
NACDL Criminal Case Tracker
Texas Tribune: A Walk for Peace: photos of Fort Worth monks’ journey to Washington
Walk for Peace – Dhammacetiya – The Ancient Sacred Buddhist Scripture Stupas
Margaret Chase Smith: Declaration of Conscience
NPR: January 6, 2021: A visual archive
Accountability Initiative ICE List
GriftMatrix
Trump Action Tracker
Timeline: Tracking the Trump Justice Department’s Anti-Voting Shift
Tracking the Lawsuits Against Trump’s Agenda
Trump Pardons Database
Project 2025 Tracker
DOGE Tracker
ProPublica: Elon Musk’s Demolition Crew
Wired: 6 Tools for Tracking the Trump Administration’s Attacks on Civil Liberties
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