curated news excerpts & citations
Heather Cox Richardson: Letters from an American – March 11, 2026
In a brief call with Barak Ravid of Axios today, President Donald J. Trump said “The war is going great. …
In fact, according to Patrick Wintour of The Guardian, Iranian officials have rejected two messages from Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff calling for a ceasefire. Wintour writes that Iran’s leaders “sense it is not losing the war and the US president is at the minimum feeling the political pressure.” Iranian officials intend to make the economic, political, and military costs of the war so high that Trump will not attack Iran again.
(Heather Cox Richardson more…)
Independent: Iran-US war latest: Multiple ships attacked in Strait of Hormuz as Tehran threatens to send price of oil soaring
Iran threatened to launch its most “intense strikes” of the conflict so far overnight, after the US promised the same on Tuesday
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Tehran’s feared Revolutionary Guards claimed responsibility for an attack on a Thai-flagged vessel, after unknown projectiles hit a Japan-flagged container ship and a Marshall Islands-flagged bulk carrier in the narrow channel early this morning.
(Independent more…)
Hans Christensen: Europe Moves to Protect Cyprus, Hormuz
EUNAVFOR Aspides is an EU military operation contributing to the protection of freedom of navigation, to safeguarding maritime security, in the Red Sea, the Indian Ocean and the Gulf under the EU CSDP
David Shuster: Trump’s Torpedo: Why the Sinking of Iran’s Warship Could Be a War Crime
Over 100 sailors died when a U.S. submarine torpedoed an Iranian warship thousands of miles from home.
Joyce Vance: The Fate of the First Amendment
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truthout: Palestinians in Gaza Slam Kushner’s Reconstruction Plan as Disguised Theft
The people “want to rebuild it with their own hands — without foreign pressure or intervention,” said one Gazan.
(truthout more…)
Judd Legum: Trump says Kushner helped convince him to go to war with Iran
The disclosure highlights Kushner’s massive financial conflicts.
At a press conference on Monday evening, President Trump said his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, was one of a handful of top advisers who convinced him to launch major combat operations in Iran. The disclosure raises additional questions about the role of Kushner, who is being paid tens of millions of dollars annually by Middle Eastern governments that were reportedly lobbying Trump to attack Iran.
(Judd Legum more…)David M. Drucker @ Dispatch: How Trump Is Using Iran to Fund His Own Political War Chest
The president is selling the war with controversial videos and soliciting donations via email.
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Roger Sollenberger: On Trump Accuser Files, DOJ Establishes Pattern of Obstruction
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The fundamental story has three basic points:- The FBI interviewed the Trump accuser — who DOJ identifies as a Jeffrey Epstein victim — at least four times in 2019, under penalty of law for lying;
- DOJ found her credible, with an internal FBI email last summer revealing the FBI wanted this woman to cooperate with them on an investigation into her Trump accusation, but she declined; and
- DOJ withheld records of these events from the public, breaking the federal law requiring their release.
Liz Landers: Sir, in Arizona, why did the FBI seize election records in that state?
Donald Trump: Well, they probably thought the election was rigged, right?
Liz Landers: It wasn’t rigged, though.
Donald Trump: Oh, really? Who. How do you know?
Liz Landers: Your own Attorney General in 2020 said that there was not measurable voter fraud to change the outcome of the election.
Donald Trump: You don’t think it was rigged? I think it was rigged!
Liz Landers: Sir, where’s the evidence of that?
Donald Trump: If you think it wasn’t rigged, you’re a rotten reporter!
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Jonathan Larsen: Mullin Secretly Abetted Hundreds of Deportations and Arrests
DHS nominee gave Trump info that led to specious arrests and claims of extraordinary presidential powers
(Jonathan Larsen more…)
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Paul Krugman: The Plot Against Intelligence, Human and Artificial
Reverse DEI comes for Claude
… As I pointed out the other day, Hegseth seems determined to exalt ignorance and wage war on expertise and hard thinking; it turns out that his war on human intelligence is also a war on artificial intelligence he doesn’t like.To justify the ban, the defense department declared that Anthropic is a supply chain risk, and it is trying not just to end its own use of Claude but to prevent any contractors doing business with the department from using Claude.
There’s no mystery about the motivation for banning Claude. Anthropic has said that it wants assurances that its products won’t be used for fully autonomous weapons or mass surveillance of Americans.
…But the fact that the Trumpist-Anthropic feud is understandable doesn’t make it normal or acceptable. In fact, the designation of Anthropic as a supply chain risk is a terrible omen for America’s future, in at least three ways.
First, it’s obviously illegal. Designating a potential contractor a supply-chain risk isn’t something the government is supposed to do casually. …
So supply chain risk is about sabotage or subversion. “This company is too woke” doesn’t meet that definition.
Second, denying government contracts to a company because the administration doesn’t like that company’s politics is a seriously corrupt practice. …
Finally, the Defense Department is now doing exactly what people like Hegseth have always accused supporters of DEI of doing — refusing to hire the best people for the job, refusing to give contracts to the best suppliers, in the name of political correctness. The Pentagon’s managers and tech experts clearly believe that Claude is the best tool for many purposes, but they have been ordered not to use it because their political masters don’t like the company’s politics.
(Paul Krugman more…)
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Your Local Epidemiologist: Top 5 questions about school vaccination requirements
The most effective vaccine program in American history doesn’t require a single new drug, clinical trial, or breakthrough. It requires a form for school enrollment.
But that’s changing. School vaccination requirements are being threatened from multiple angles: rhetoric from the highest offices of the nat…ion is trickling down to state legislatures, and more people are having questions at kitchen tables and in pediatricians’ offices.
We asked for your questions. We have answers.
…Talking to friends and neighbors
Don’t lead with science and data. When people feel like their values are being challenged, facts alone rarely change minds. Start with shared values, then let the evidence support the conversation.
Begin with common ground. Most parents, regardless of their politics, want their kids to be safe at school and for school to run normally. Saying “I just want to make sure schools aren’t shut down for weeks because of a preventable outbreak” is something almost everyone can agree with. Start there.
If someone brings up studies or claims that seem to contradict the evidence, resist the urge to debate every detail. Instead, acknowledge the concern and emphasize that what matters most is the totality of the evidence.
(Your Local Epidemiologist more…)
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Liz Dye: DOJ nopes out of Ticketmaster antitrust suit
DOJ nopes out of Ticketmaster antitrust suit
In 2024, it was just possible to pretend that Trump’s populist bombast might translate into a real antitrust policy. His VP pick, then-Sen. JD Vance, provoked dramatic pearl-clutching from the Wall Street Journal with his avowed support for muscular corporate regulation.
But corporations were never fooled. They plowed a record $239 million into Trump’s inauguration fund — more than double the $109 million he raised in 2017, and almost four times what Biden raised in 2021 (albeit during covid).
Among the well-wishers was Live Nation Entertainment, which contributed $500,000 to the party. That turned out to be a pretty good investment.
On Monday, the Trump Justice Department ended a federal antitrust lawsuit against the concert behemoth, allowing it to hang on to Ticketmaster and the hundreds of concert venues that make up its stranglehold on America’s live music market.
The mid-trial settlement blindsided the 39 states and the District of Columbia that had joined as co-plaintiffs and infuriated the federal judge overseeing the case. It’s likely to infuriate the fans, too, as they continue to see massive Ticketmaster surcharges — service fees, platinum fees, per-order fees, payment processing fees, facility fees, magical money-sh*tting unicorn fees — on top of already sky-high ticket prices.
And the pain may be just beginning. In September, Live Nation’s CEO Michael Rapino said “the concert is underpriced and has been for a long time.”
(Liz Dye more…)
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Decoding Fox News: Fox News Coverage of the Iran War is as Chaotic and Muddled as Trump’s Mind
A condensed overview of 15 hours of Fox News for the week ending 3/8/26
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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