curated news excerpts & citations
Alia Chughtai @ Al Jazeera: ‘Vengeance for all’: How Iran’s Lego videos won narrative war against Trump
The viral videos by Iranian creators, say analysts, are high-quality though cheap, and strike at fissures in US politics while rallying a world audience against America’s long history of global wars and abuses.
It’s a Lego set, with a difference.
A Native American chief rides on his horse onto a barren landscape, bathed in moonlight. The animated video rapidly shuttles between a range of people who’ve been victims of the United States government, from Black Americans in chains to survivors of Iraq’s notorious Abu Ghraib prison complex.
Heather Cox Richardson: Letters from an American – April 17, 2026
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With Iran’s announcement the strait was open, Trump hit the media circle, announcing through interviews and social media posts that the war with Iran was over and peace talks were all but done …
He claimed that Iranian leaders had “agreed to everything,” …
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But, as Ashley Ahn of the New York Times reported, Iranian officials’ interpretation of events was quite different from Trump’s characterization. Iran’s top negotiator, speaker of parliament Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, posted on social media that Trump had made seven claims in an hour, and all seven of them were false. Iran rejected Trump’s claim that it had agreed to hand over its uranium stockpile, and also said that the strait was open for commercial vessels—not military ships—but would close again if the U.S. blockade continued.
(Heather Cox Richardson more…)
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Matthew C. Klein: “Look Through” the Hormuz Shock if You Want. U.S. Inflation is Still Running Hot.
A wide range of underlying measures indicates that prices are rising too fast to be consistent with the Fed’s alleged 2% yearly target. Plus: explaining the CPI-PCE gap.
(Matthew C. Klein more…)
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Garrett M. Graff @ New Yorker: How Much Has the War in Iran Depleted the U.S. Missile Supply?
Defense officials inside the Trump Administration were already concerned that American stockpiles were insufficient for a potential standoff with China. A war of choice in the Middle East has only made matters worse.
(Garrett M. Graff @ New Yorker more…)Garrett Graff: How did the US run out of missiles in Iran?
We spend $800-billion-a-year on defense—but the US stockpiles barely lasted through a six-week-war.
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Todd Woody & Mark Chediak @ Bloomberg: States Rush to Build Clean Energy Projects to Tap Expiring Incentives
The federal tax credits can help save billions of dollars and lower electricity costs as sky-high power prices become an election issue.
US states are moving to establish a pipeline of large-scale renewable energy projects that can qualify for billions of dollars in expiring federal tax credits.
(Todd Woody & Mark Chediak @ Bloomberg more…)
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Jennifer Rubin: Undaunted in Hungary
‘We will no longer be a country without consequences’
(Jennifer Rubin more…)
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Joyce Vance: ICE And The Absence Of Accountability
(Joyce Vance more…)Adrian Carrasquillo @ Bulwark: We Forget About ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ at Our Peril
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Jess Piper: Harvard Yard and Home
(Jess Piper more…)
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James Eagle: America has reopened the lunar race
(James Eagle more…)
Al Jazeera Death toll and injuries live tracker
ICE Accountability Project
ICE deaths 2026 – They deserve remembrance and justice.
- March 25: Jose Guadalupe Ramos-Solano
- March 16: Royer Perez-Jimenez
- March 14: Naseer Paktiawil
- February 25: Nurul Amin Shah Alam
April 1 – Jennifer Peltz and Jake Offenhartz @ AP: Death of a refugee left at a Buffalo doughnut shop by Border Patrol is ruled a homicide - 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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