curated news excerpts & citations
James Eagle: When an oil chokepoint stops the world
War has a way of cutting through economic narratives.
For months, markets have been telling a comfortable story. Energy shocks were behind us. Supply chains had adapted. Prices had settled. But that story only holds in peacetime, or something close to it.
The escalation in the Middle East changes the frame entirely. The sudden halt in traffic through the Strait of Hormuz is not a market adjustment, it is a wartime constraint. When a critical artery for global oil and gas effectively shuts, the system does not bend, it snaps.
(James Eagle more…)
Borowitz: Trump Says Intelligence Played No Role in His Decision to Start War
Paul Krugman: When Hyperglobalization Meets Chaos
Choke points are everywhere you look
Lucian K. Truscott IV: Who gets a vote about how this war ends?
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Akshat Rathi, Laura Millan, and Aaron Clark @ Bloomberg: Satellites Reveal Hidden Climate Toll of the Iran War
Gas infrastructure is spewing methane and carbon dioxide into the atmosphere as airstrikes intensify and the Strait of Hormuz remains closed.
The conflict in the Middle East appears to have forced some oil and gas companies to directly burn off more natural gas than usual as their facilities have come under attack or exports have been blocked, releasing planet-warming pollution.
An increase in emissions is a relatively minor issue against the loss of life and economic chaos wrought by the war, yet it shows one of many unanticipated consequences from the fighting. Before the war, efforts to cut down on excess flaring had become a focus for investors keen to rein in waste and greenhouse gases.
(Akshat Rathi, Laura Millan, and Aaron Clark @ Bloomberg more…)
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Jason Weisberger @ Boing Boing: Hoover Dam could lose most of its power as Lake Mead plummets
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Hans Christensen: Earth’s Climate Out of Balance More than Ever
According to the World Meteorological Organization’s annual study, the global climate is experiencing an unprecedented emergency, with the Earth now pushed beyond its natural limits.
(Hans Christensen more…)
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Heather Cox Richardson: Letters from an American – March 23, 2026
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Krugman had other observations as well, though. Trump threatened to “commit a massive war crime” by striking civilian energy facilities and “must be looking for a way out.” Krugman noted that there is no apparent reason for Iranian leaders to be making a deal right now: it seems pretty clear that protracting the war constitutes winning in the metric of humiliating the U.S.
Krugman goes on to make a major point: “Think about how much America’s position in the world has been weakened, not just by apparent failure to subdue a fourth-rate power, but by the fact that everybody now knows that you cannot trust anything, cannot trust any promises the United States makes, you cannot count on the United States carrying through with promises, with threats, not just promises, but threats are also incredible in the sense of not being all credible, and that the default assumption should be that anything that this administration says is a lie.”
…Today, at the Palm Beach airport, a reporter asked Trump: “If the war is ending, do you still need $200 billion?” Trump answered: “We, ah, it’s always nice to have. It’s always nice to have. It’s a very inflamed world.”
(Heather Cox Richardson more…)
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Jay Kuo: Escalating to De-escalate
There’s now a clear pattern we should add as a refinement to the TACO rule
“Sometimes you have to escalate to de-escalate.” That’s according to Israel, when it stepped up its attacks against Hezbollah in 2024.
Those are also the remarkable words of U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who made the same assertion over the weekend when discussing the crisis over the Strait of Hormuz.
…Escalating tariffs before TACOing out
…National Guard and ICE surges
…The Iran War
…Next up?
(Jay Kuo more…)Will Martin, Pete Syme, Kelsey Vlamis, Taylor Rains, Lina Batarags, Lauren Edmonds, Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert, and Taylor Berman @ Business Insider: TSA chaos gets worse: Atlanta says get to the airport 4 hours early
Mark Gruenberg @ People’s World: Trump refuses to pay screeners unless Congress approves his voter repression
Marisa Kabas: Airports on ICE
Federal immigration agents popped up around the country on Monday to do seemingly nothing.
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Joyce Vance: What Was Actually in the Mueller Report
There is an enormous amount of misinformation circulating about former Special Counsel Bob Mueller’s investigation into Russian attempts to influence the 2016 U.S. election and the effort to obstruct that investigation following his death. Tweets honoring Mueller’s life of service to his country are now knee-deep in trolls and MAGA comments that have no relationship to the well-documented facts.
So, let’s go back to contemporary sources and make sure we have a clear picture of what investigators found and what the Report said about Donald Trump. We’ll also look at why Mueller, nonetheless, didn’t indict Trump or even weigh in on whether he should be indicted. That decision drew a lot of criticism.
(Joyce Vance more…)
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Ken Klippenstein: Info about the war is being censored — with the help of private companies
The Pentagon has quietly dictated to spy satellite companies what to say about the Iran war, exercising censorship over what the American public is allowed to know.
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(Ken Klippenstein more…)
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John Pavlovitz: No Kings Day is Coming. But, Does it Matter?
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We need to remember that transformative activism is found in sustained movements, not in soothing moments, and we need to find our place in the messy and local battles throughout this nation until we actually strike fear into the oppressors and oligarchs, and upend the new order they are constructing where we are truly powerless.
(John Pavlovitz more…)
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Ewan Palmer @ Daily Beast: Air Traffic Control Audio Reveals Cause of Deadly New York Crash
UNDER PRESSURE
More than 40 people were rushed to the hospital after a horrifying runway collision.
(Ewan Palmer @ Daily Beast more…)Adam Kinzinger: The LaGuardia Crash Will Be Blamed on One Controller. That’s Not the Whole Story.
3,000 controllers short. WWII-era radar still in use. And a lone controller managing two emergencies at midnight. This was preventable.
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Alice Embree: Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Is AI a powerful tool that can improve our lives?
That’s the wrong question.Who owns and profits from the AI?
That’s the question we need to ask.Should AI monitor our parks, grocery shopping, and medical treatment?
That’s a hard NO.
…Stop WISeR / Vote SMARTER
The Alliance for Retired Americans is sounding the alarm on a pilot program to use AI in traditional Medicare. The Wasteful and Inappropriate Service Reduction (WISeR) Model is being implemented in six states: New Jersey, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas, Arizona, and Washington.
The WISeR program is being implemented by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Dr. Oz is the Medicare & Medicare Services administrator under HHS Secretary Robert Kennedy, Jr. The implementation will inject AI between you and your doctor AND the AI company will be paid for denying medical claims.
The Texas Alliance for Retired Americans (TARA) is sounding the alarm. So is the California Alliance for Retired Americans (CARA). CARA is launching a statewide campaign aimed at stopping WISeR with SMARTER.
(Alice Embree more…)Wes McKinney: The Mythical Agent-Month
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Advice by Jenée Desmond-Harris @ Slate: Help! I Always Thought I Was an Accepting Person. Then an Influx of Immigrants Moved In—and My Reaction Startled Me.
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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