curated news excerpts & citations
Erika Solomon @ NY Times: Iran Downing of Plane and Daring U.S. Rescue Leave Both Sides Emboldened
James Eagle: Why Hormuz matters far beyond oil
What unsettles me about this set of charts is not simply the scale of the shock. It is how quickly the world rediscovers its dependencies. We like to talk as if the global economy has become more diversified, more flexible, more resilient. Then one strait tightens, one conflict escalates and the whole system starts reminding us how much still hangs on a few vulnerable routes and a few emergency buffers.
Heather Cox Richardson: Letters from an American – April 6, 2026
“It’s really difficult to cover him in a way that conveys how unhinged he is,” journalist Aaron Rupar of Public Notice told George Grylls of The Times about President Donald J. Trump. Rupar explained that political journalists are trained to think, “‘OK, what did he say that was newsworthy?’ So you…convey that to your audience. But in reality, when you actually watch his rallies, you see that they’re full of hatred, he’s lying constantly, and a lot of it is incoherent.”
Rupar spends as much as eighty hours a week watching Trump and members of his administration, clipping videos of their noteworthy statements into a few minutes at a time. His work is indispensable for translating Trump’s long, meandering speeches to people who need shorter versions of them. In this quotation, he nails the real problem of this moment in which the president of the United States is threatening “obliteration” if another nation doesn’t do as he demands: the noteworthy story is not what the president says; the story is the president himself and his obvious mental deterioration.
(Heather Cox Richardson more…)
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Raj Gambhir @ EFF: The FAA’s “Temporary” Flight Restriction for Drones is a Blatant Attempt to Criminalize Filming ICE
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A 21-Month Long “Temporary” Flight Restriction?
The FAA regularly issues temporary flight restrictions (TFRs) to prevent people from flying into designated airspace. TFRs are usually issued during natural disasters, or to protect major sporting events and government officials like the president, and in most cases last mere hours.Not so with the restriction numbered FDC 6/4375, which started on January 16, 2026. This TFR lasts for 21 months—until October 29, 2027—and covers the entire nation. It prevents any person from flying any unmanned aircraft (i.e., a drone) within 3000 feet, measured horizontally, of any of the “facilities and mobile assets,” including “ground vehicle convoys and their associated escorts,” of the Departments of Defense, Energy, Justice, and Homeland Security. Violators can be subject to criminal and civil penalties, and risk having their drones seized or destroyed.
In practical terms, this TFR means that anyone flying their drone within a half mile of an ICE or CBP agent’s car (a DHS “mobile asset”) is liable to face criminal charges and have their drone shot down. The practical unfairness of this TFR is underscored by the fact that immigration agents often use unmarked rental cars, use cars without license plates, or switch the license plates of their cars to carry out their operations. Nor do they provide prior warning of those operations.
(Raj Gambhir @ EFF more…)
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Dean Blundell: The Pentagon’s explanation of the Iran rescue isn’t adding up. at all.
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Alternative theory: a botched uranium raid
Before the U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites last June, the IAEA estimated Iran held roughly 440 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60% — a short technical step from weapons-grade 90% levels. If further enriched, enough for approximately 10 nuclear bombs.The strikes damaged Iran’s facilities — but the uranium wasn’t destroyed. The IAEA’s Director General has since said the agency believes a stockpile of roughly 200 kilograms is stored in tunnels at the nuclear complex outside of Isfahan. Additional quantities are believed to be at Natanz.
U.S. intelligence subsequently determined that Iran can still access this stockpile — even under rubble — through a narrow access point. Trump himself threatened in late March: “They’re going to give us the nuclear dust. If they don’t do that, they’re not going to have a country.”
(Dean Blundell more…)
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
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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