curated news excerpts & citations
Heather Delaney Reese: The president can’t keep his lies straight
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But the Pearl Harbor comment, as disgraceful as it was, wasn’t even the most dangerous thing Trump said in those 27 minutes. It was just the most offensive. The most dangerous part was when he exposed his own lie about the war.
Last night, on Truth Social, Trump posted that the United States “knew nothing” about Israel’s strike on Iran’s South Pars gas field, part of the largest natural gas field in the world. …
That was last night. Today, with Takaichi sitting beside him and the cameras rolling, a reporter asked Trump directly whether he had spoken with Prime Minister Netanyahu about the Israeli strikes. Trump didn’t hesitate.
“Yeah, I did. I did. I told him, ‘Don’t do that.’ …
He knew. He spoke to Netanyahu. He described a coordinated relationship. And then he tripped over his own words trying to hold together a story that had already collapsed, because he’d told us a completely different version twelve hours earlier. So either he lied last night to distance himself from the fallout after Iran retaliated by bombing Qatar’s largest gas facility. Or he lied today to look like he’s in control. Or both. …
And buried inside that same exchange was something just as revealing. When asked about the economic damage the war is causing, Trump said, “I thought it would be worse, much worse.” Someone warned him. …
(Heather Delaney Reese more…)
Heather Cox Richardson: Letters from an American – March 20, 2026
On Wednesday, Israeli forces hit Iranian facilities in the South Pars natural gas field in the Persian Gulf, shared by Iran and Qatar. Helen Regan and Ivana Kottasová of CNN explain that the South Pars gas field is part of the largest natural gas reserves in the world, supplying most of Iran’s domestic energy and crucial to Iran’s economy.
Targeting crucial oil infrastructure is a significant escalation in the war. Iran responded by hitting energy targets in Qatar and Saudi Arabia. As Summer Said, Rebecca Feng, and Alexander Ward of the Wall Street Journal wrote, these strikes put oil and gas facilities at the center of the war, worsening the crisis over the supply of energy around the world.
Trump’s social media account blamed Israel for the strike and said the U.S. hadn’t been informed about it ahead of time, but Barak Ravid of Axios reported that both Israeli officials and an official from the U.S. Defense Department said the strike was coordinated with and approved by the Trump administration. The Wall Street Journal reporters added that Trump approved the strike to put pressure on Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz.
Today Iraq declared “force majeure” on the country’s oilfields developed by foreign oil companies. …
(Heather Cox Richardson more…)
Lucian K. Truscott IV: Bloodbath
Nicole Duncan-Smith @ Atlanta Black Star: ‘Hates Him’: Trump Pushes World Leader to Speak Then Refuses to Give Up the Spotlight as the Slick Signal to Staff Has Everyone Zooming In
Jess Weatherbed @ Verge: ‘Work from home,’ encourages the world’s energy watchdog
The IEA is recommending measures to alleviate impending fuel shortages amid the war in Iran.
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Emma Glassman-Hughes @ NY Post: Could UK’s deadly meningitis outbreak spread to the US? Here’s what experts say
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Ghosh, the health administrator in Kent, told news outlets in the UK that his team was trying to determine if this strain of the disease is more transmissible than past strains. So far, they aren’t sure why there have been so many cases identified so quickly.While it’s very common to have “small, sporadic outbreaks of meningitis from time to time,” especially among university students and younger age groups, the speed of this outbreak has been “quite unprecedented.”
(Emma Glassman-Hughes @ NY Post more…)
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James Eagle: Unemployment in Germany during the collapse of the Weimar economy
Few statistics capture the social dislocation of the early 1930s as clearly as unemployment. In Germany the labour market deteriorated rapidly as the global economic crisis deepened. By 1932 nearly one third of the workforce was without a job, placing immense strain on the country’s political and social stability.
This chart traces the sharp rise in unemployment after the Wall Street crash and the collapse of international credit. Germany had relied heavily on foreign lending during the late 1920s, particularly from the US. When those financial flows reversed the economy contracted sharply, forcing firms to dismiss workers on a vast scale.
(James Eagle more…)
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Steven Beschloss: The Deadly Danger of Careless People
When war zealot Pete Hegseth was asked yesterday about a proposed Pentagon request for $200 billion to supplement its war in Iran, he said, “Obviously, it takes money to kill bad guys.”
Bad guys. Tell that to the Iranian families grieving over the murder of their daughters or siblings after the U.S. military bombed their elementary school. Tell that to the thousands of civilians that have died so far. That’s not the language you use if you recognize your moral—indeed human—responsibilities.
…There’s a famous, oft-repeated quote from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby that’s frequently (and accurately) used to describe Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump. But the same quote is appropriate to describe another couple, Donald and Pete. It goes like this:
They were careless people, Tom and Daisy—they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.
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Maria Cardona @ Contrarian: A Reckoning Long Overdue
This moment of truth — for Dolores Huerta and for the other survivors — must also be ours
Civil rights icon Dolores Huerta has shared a devastating truth she carried alone for sixty years: that her closest colleague, mentor, boss — and the internationally revered face of the farmworker movement, César Chávez — sexually abused her.
(Maria Cardona @ Contrarian more…)Melanie Mason @ Politico: What Cesar Chavez’s biographer says now
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María Teresita Armstrong-Matta @ RawStory: Unredacted Epstein email apparently contradicts core Trump claim
… Trump’s attorney Alan Garten stated Epstein was “never asked to leave” the club, directly contradicting Trump’s public assertions that he kicked Epstein out.
The email documents Trump’s deposition responses, where he stated he “may have been” on Epstein’s plane with “no young girls” and “may have been” to Epstein’s residence. Trump has publicly denied being “friendly” with Epstein and claimed he was “never” on his plane.
Jack Hopkins: How Epstein’s Lawyer Became the Gatekeeper to $600 Million—and the Truth
A.L. Lee @ Atlanta Black Star: ‘They’re Scrambling!’: Democrats Go Scorched Earth on Bondi After Reckless Hearing Stunt — Then She Slips and Hands Them Exactly What They Need and It’s Going to Blow Up in Her Face
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Charlie Savage @ NY Times: Striking Down Pentagon Press Limits, Judge Vindicates Independent Journalism
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The ruling is just a first step. Judge Friedman was appointed by President Bill Clinton, a Democrat. The Trump administration has lost many cases before judges at the lower court level, only to prevail on appeal, especially before the Supreme Court, which is dominated by a Republican-appointed supermajority.But the core part of the ruling — its finding that the policy was aimed at and produced unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination — cuts deeper than left-versus-right politics in American democracy.
(Charlie Savage @ NY Times more…)
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VoteVets: Your Daily Four Star
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Borowitz: Hegseth Bans Microphones at Pentagon After Press Briefings Make Him Sound Like Idiot
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Onion: Trump Threatens Airstrikes On U.S. Gas Stations
‘Lower Your Prices Now Or Face The Might Of The American Military,’ Says Commander-In-Chief
Al Jazeera Death toll and injuries live tracker
ICE Accountability Project
ICE deaths 2026 – They deserve remembrance and justice.
- March 16: Royer Perez-Jimenez
- March 14: Naseer Paktiawil
- 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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