curated news excerpts & citations
Jason Ma @ Fortune: ‘This is the last warning.’ Iran threatens U.S. warships after they throw down the gauntlet for winner-take-all Strait of Hormuz
…
Iranian media said the destroyers turned around after being confronted by the IRGC, which reportedly launched a drone in the direction of the destroyers. The IRGC also said any attempt by military ships to cross the strait would be met with a “firm and forceful response.”
Natasha Bertrand, Haley Britzky, Zachary Cohen @ CNN: US intelligence indicates China is preparing weapons shipment to Iran amid fragile ceasefire
…
It would be a provocative move considering Beijing said it helped broker the fragile ceasefire agreement that paused the war between Iran and the US earlier this week. President Donald Trump is also set to visit China early next month for talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
NY Times: Trump Was Watching a U.F.C. Fight in Miami While Iran Talks Collapsed
Terrence Goggin: Trump defers to Vance to save his presidency as his base disintegrates and the “free world” fractures
-
Heather Cox Richardson: Letters from an American – April 11, 2026
At 4:30 a.m. on April 12, 1861, Confederate forces fired on Fort Sumter, a federal fort built on an artificial island in Charleston Harbor.
…Their move had come because the elite enslavers who controlled those southern states believed that Lincoln’s election to the presidency in 1860 itself marked the end of their way of life. …
…“Both parties deprecated war but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive, and the other would accept war rather than let it perish,” he said.
“And the war came.”
(Heather Cox Richardson more…)
-
Joyce Vance: Why the Cassidy Hutchinson Investigation Should Make Us Very Uncomfortable
…
First off, DOJ doesn’t typically announce that it has opened a criminal investigation. …That takes us to the second red flag. This is reportedly an investigation into perjury … an investigation like this should be conducted by the U.S. Attorney in D.C.
But that’s not where the Hutchinson investigation sits. Instead, it’s being conducted by the Civil Rights Division.
…
Although the Civil Rights Division’s org chart (and its website!) have undergone considerable change in the past year under Trump, the laws it has the authority to enforce haven’t changed. …Nowhere is there authority to investigate a former White House staffer for perjury …
That brings us to a third red flag, and one that makes it imperative to scrutinize the legitimacy of this announced investigation: this Justice Department’s long line of failed Trump revenge prosecutions, from Jim Comey to New York Attorney General Letitia James, to six members of Congress who reminded the military not to follow illegal orders, to Jerome Powell, head of the Fed. There’s also the ongoing grand jury investigation in Miami looking into people, including former CIA Director John Brennan, which reportedly involves testimony Brennan gave before Congress. …
(Joyce Vance more…)
-
ReligiousLiberty.TV: When Caesar Calls the Bishop: The Pentagon Told the Vatican’s Ambassador That God Is on America’s Side. The Pope Disagrees.
-
Task & Purpose: A 2023 special ops exercise in Wyoming was a preview of the Iran rescue mission
-
Marina Bolotnikova @ Vox: How Austin’s stunning drop in rents explains housing in America
(Marina Bolotnikova @ Vox 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
Leave a Reply