curated news excerpts & citations
Paul Krugman: The Billionaires’ War
The ultrawealthy put Trump in power but other people will pay the price
It becomes clearer with each passing day that the people who took us to war with Iran had and have no idea what they’re doing — that they’re adolescents who think they’re playing video games while thousands die and the world careens toward economic crisis. The New York Times reports that Trump officials dismissed warnings that attacking Iran could disrupt world oil supplies. Among other things, the Times reports that Mr. Trump, both publicly and privately, has been arguing that Venezuelan oil could help solve any shocks coming from the Iran war. In 2024 Venezuela produced 900,000 barrels of oil per day; normally 20 million barrels a day transit the Strait of Hormuz.
(Paul Krugman more…)
Heather Cox Richardson: Letters from an American – March 12, 2026
In 2024 … 300 billionaires and their immediate family members donated 19% of all political contributions in federal elections, either directly or through political action committees (PACs). While that amount does not account for money that might have gone through dark money groups that don’t have to disclose their donors, it still amounts to more than $3 billion, or an average of $10 million per family.
(Heather Cox Richardson more…)
Foreign Affairs: Why Escalation Favors Iran
Terrence Goggin: Trump’s Fatal Attraction: An Easy Victory Turning into Humiliating Defeat
Iran is not Venezuela, It’s More Like Ukraine, A Very Tough Nut to Crack; Trump’s War Has A Dilemma And A Haunting Precedent
Jay Kuo: Blundering Forward, Trump Style
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We have seen this pattern play out in three other major political blunders of his second term: the DOGE debacle, his “Liberation Day” tariffs, and the ICE surge in Minneapolis. It’s instructive to rewind and review how each policy disaster played out. While there’s no guarantee that the Iran war will wind up the same as his previous blunders, Trump is unable to be anything but his flawed self. This makes it all the more likely that Trump will try to sell a stinging Iran war defeat as a victory.
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Steward Beckham: The Old Fire Behind Trump
Why treating the Iran war as automatic political damage misunderstands the deeper American appetite for force.
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… American political history is littered with moments where military anxiety did not produce restraint so much as a demand that force be used more decisively, more brutally, or with fewer inhibitions.
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… During the Vietnam War, major right-wing voices repeatedly blamed defeat not on the destruction visited upon Vietnam, the impossibility of the military objective, or the moral corrosion of the campaign, but on domestic hesitation. … The battlefield became secondary to a cultural narrative for many: that America did not lose because the war failed. America lost because America became too soft to finish what it started.
(Steward Beckham more…)ProPublica: The U.S. Built a Blueprint to Avoid Civilian War Casualties. Trump Officials Scrapped It.
Janessa Goldbeck: The Difference Between Us and Them
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Kenya Times: Iraq Joins Iran in Disrupting Global Oil Supply
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Times of London: Putin’s ‘hidden hand directing’ Iranian drone attacks
John Healey, the defence secretary, warns that Tehran’s tactics are becoming more sophisticated after a British and American base was hit
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Independent: US troops injured in fire on USS Gerald Ford aircraft carrier deployed to Iran war
The carrier is taking part in operations against Iran and currently located in the Red Sea
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WSJ: U.S. Air Force Refueling Plane Crashes in Iraq
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Wired: Why Smoke From Iran’s Burning Oil Depots Is More Toxic Than Urban Smog
Wired: Iran Warns US Tech Firms Could Become Targets as War Expands
Companies including Google, Microsoft, and Palantir were listed as targets by Iranian media as the conflict with Israel and the US spills into digital infrastructure.
(Wired more…)Al Jazeera: Iran-linked hackers hit medical giant Stryker in retaliatory cyberattack
Bloomberg: Work on Massive Meta Cable Project in Persian Gulf Stalled by Iran War
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Bloomberg: How War Is Making Iran’s Water Crisis Worse
Iran has numerous vulnerabilities in its war with the US and Israel. One of its biggest might be its water system. Already strained by a multiyear drought, any damage to Iran’s water infrastructure would be a devastating blow.
…The conflict is unfolding in the world’s most water-stressed region and in one of those most affected by climate change.
“Iran was already not able to adapt to any of the consequences that climate change brings for water,” said Susanne Schmeier, a professor of water cooperation, law and diplomacy at IHE Delft in the Netherlands who has studied the water crisis in Iran for years.
(Bloomberg more…)
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Sarah Jones & Jason Easley: Senate Republicans Refuse To Protect America During Trump’s War 5 Times In 24 Hours
In the last 24 hours, Democrats tried to fund Homeland Security, except for ICE and Border Patrol, 5 times to protect America during the war with Iran, but Republicans have refused.
Even though the country is at war, Republicans have refused to agree to reforms to immigration enforcement that would lead to the funding of the Department of Homeland Security.
(Sarah Jones & Jason Easley more…)
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Boing Boing: Trump’s DOJ dismantles hate-crime prevention office and pretends nothing happened
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Lawfare: In Case of Emergency: The Dubious Legality of Trump Allies’ Draft EO
… The real emergency, in short, isn’t that the president may actually manage to present an “irrefutable argument”—but that he may fail to, yet say he has succeeded anyway.
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Daily Beast: I Know Secrets of Trump’s Hold Over These Cowards
TRUMP’S ROTTEN COURT
Ana Navarro pulls back the curtain on how Marco Rubio, Lindsey Graham, and others transformed from fierce Trump critics to loyal allies.
(Daily Beast more…)
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MEDIAite: Trump Accuser Got Payoff from Jeffrey Epstein Estate, Says Dem Lawmaker
(MEDIAite more…)
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James Eagle: Who was emailing Jeffrey Epstein
… The single largest correspondent was Karyna Shuliak, listed under girlfriends and exes, with over 41,000 emails.
…The volume of correspondence does not by itself imply wrongdoing. People correspond extensively with many contacts for entirely legitimate reasons. What it does show is the extraordinary reach of a man who was, by the time of his 2019 arrest, a convicted sex offender. …
(James Eagle more…)
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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