curated news excerpts & citations
Jennifer Rubin: There is no smooth ‘off-ramp’
The notion that Donald Trump could depart from the highway to forever-war simply by spotting the next exit is misleading at best, dangerously naïve at worst. It is not as if Trump is speeding along the 405 freeway on the Westside of Los Angeles, deciding if he should take the Wilshire Blvd. off-ramp or wait for Santa Monica Blvd. The current situation is more akin to going over Niagara Falls in a barrel he chose to get into. The “exit” was there before Trump got in. Put differently, we need to stop using a metaphor that implies Trump is still in control of the war’s timeline. He’s not.
In the space of 24 hours, Trump went from threatening to knock out Iran’s power plants to insisting that the U.S. was engaged in “constructive” talks with Iran. He therefore put the “destroy the power plants” on hold for 5 days. While Trump may have simply lied (as is his way) about talks to excuse delaying an ill-conceived major escalation, his latest announcement underscores just how frantic he is to get out of this debacle.
However, Trump cannot simply “leave” now that he is sick of the collapsing polls, public ridicule, rotten press coverage, absurdly high oil prices, aggrieved allies, and whiny MAGA isolationists. …
(Jennifer Rubin more…)
Reuters: Explainer-With top figures dead, who is now running Iran?
Bloomberg: Israel Says War Isn’t Ending Even as Trump Touts Peace Talks
Reuters: Iran rains missiles onto Israel and mocks Trump’s talk of joint control of strait
Judd Legum and Rebecca Crosby: The unraveling of the war in Iran
Forbes: Here’s why the US could seize Kharg Island in war with Iran—and why it might backfire
NY Times: ‘Everything After This Will Be Harder’: Gen. Stanley McChrystal on Iran
[latest in a series of Iran produced videos taunting Trump…]
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Heather Cox Richardson: Letters from an American – March 24, 2026
This morning, economist Paul Krugman came right out and said it: “People close to Trump are trading based on national secrets.” Another word for that, he said, is “treason.” The evidence for such a claim is the sudden and isolated jump in trading volume in S&P 500 and oil futures about 15 minutes before Trump suddenly announced that the U.S. and Iran were in negotiations to end the war—an announcement that turned out to be false.
The oil futures trade alone was worth about $580 million, the Financial Times estimated. …
(Heather Cox Richardson more…)
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Noah Berlatsky: Trump Must Resign
And everyone should say so.
Trump has disgraced his office and spews a firehose of daily high crimes and misdemeanors from his orange mouth orifice on the White House lawn like so much red, white, and blue bile. The examples are so manifest and prolific that it seems futile to even try to list examples, but just for starters
- he has been held liable for sexual assault and has been credibly accused of raping a 13-year-old
- he presided over and cosigned a mass genocide in shutting down USAID that is expected to kill 14-25 million people
- he launched an illegal war of aggression in Iran and is illegally murdering people on fishing boats in the waters around Venezuela
- he has created an armed, reckless, unaccountable right-wing militia which is terrorizing American cities and murdering their residents
- he regularly launches disgusting personal attacks on those he considers his enemies, mocking their deaths, targeting them for racist smears; and using the full weight of the federal government to terrorize and immiserate them
- his regime is an orgy of corruption and self-dealing
Again, I could go on almost indefinitely. …
(Noah Berlatsky more…)Aaron Rupar and Thor Benson: Mark Jacob on how the press ignores the biggest Trump story
“The president of the United States is clearly mentally unfit for office.”
Paul Krugman: Treason in the Futures Markets
People close to Trump are trading based on national secrets
Mary Geddry: Reality Is Optional
Trump’s Iran fantasies, his Memphis self-coronation, and the growing sense that something is badly wrong
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Robert Reich: A Report You Need to Read
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Critchfield and her team found that 279 people have been accused online by the Trump administration of assaulting federal ICE and Border Patrol agents, and more than half of these people — 64 percent — are American citizens.Of the 181 American citizens that the Trump administration has accused of attacking federal ICE and Border Patrol officers, close to half have never been charged, and none have been convicted at trial. But the public charges alone have caused them significant harm.
(Robert Reich more…)
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Jess Piper: Education is the enemy
Michele Hornish: Done Playing By Their Rules
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James Eagle: Executives say “AI” more that “Earnings”
(James Eagle more…)Edward Zitron: The AI Industry Is Lying To You
404 Media: This Company Is Secretly Turning Your Zoom Meetings into AI Podcasts
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Your Local Epidemiologist: Goodbye flu season, hello Spring bugs, like norovirus, polio travel headlines, and breakthrough measles cases.
Paul Offit: A Great Day for Children
A recent ruling in a federal court in Boston has slowed RFK Jr.’s anti-vaccine agenda.
Gideon M-K: Health Nerd: Can Kimchi Rid You Of Microplastics?
The facts behind one of my favourite scientific stories of the year
Jim Sakso: Another DOJ Blunder
In biggest mistake yet, DOJ blows filing deadline in voter roll case, begs court’s forgiveness
Salvador Rizzo and Andrew Ackerman @ Washington Post: Prosecutor admits government lacks evidence of misconduct by Fed chair
The admission during a closed-door hearing undercuts President Donald Trump’s claims of “criminality” in the central bank’s $2.5 billion office renovations.
Mark Joseph Stern @ Slate: Trump Just Caved On One of His Biggest Power Grabs
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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