⭐Julian Barnes, et al., of the New York Times: “An ongoing military investigation has determined that the United States is responsible for a deadly Tomahawk missile strike on an Iranian elementary school, according to U.S. officials and others familiar with the preliminary findings. The Feb. 28 strike on the Shajarah Tayyebeh elementary school building was the result of a targeting mistake by the U.S. military, which was conducting strikes on an adjacent Iranian base of which the school building was formerly a part, the preliminary investigation found. Officers at U.S. Central Command created the target coordinates for the strike using outdated data provided by the Defense Intelligence Agency, people briefed on the investigation said. Officials emphasized that the findings are preliminary and that there are important unanswered questions about why the outdated information had not been double checked. Striking a school full of children is sure to be recorded as one of the most devastating single military errors in recent decades. Iranian officials have said the death toll was at least 175 people, most of them children....
“[Donald] Trump’s attempts to sidestep the blame for the strike have also already complicated the inquiry, leaving officials who have reviewed the findings showing U.S. culpability expressing unease. The people interviewed for this story spoke on the condition of anonymity, citing the sensitive nature of the ongoing investigation and Mr. Trump’s assertion at one point that Iran, not the United States, was responsible.... Asked about this article as he left the White House on Wednesday..., Mr. Trump replied, 'I don’t know about that.'” The link appears to be a gift link.
It turns out that stupid, narcissistic, chest-thumping warmongers often are philistines. ~~~
~~~ Farnaz Fassihi of the New York Times: The United States & Israel have struck a number of iconic cultural heritage sites in Iran. “The images of renowned historic sites shattered by missiles has left many Iranians enraged.... 'UNESCO is deeply concerned by reports of destruction affecting cultural heritage sites in the Middle East, notably in Iran and neighboring countries,' said [an agency] spokeswoman, Monia Adjiwanou. In a statement last week, UNESCO said 'cultural property is protected under international law.' It said it had contacted all parties in the Iran conflict and shared the geographical coordinates for sites on its world heritage list, as well as for national symbols. The hope was that they might be spared.” Thanks to akaWendy for highlighting this story earlier Wednesday.
Anatoly Kurmanaev, et al., of the New York Times: “The United States is negotiating the extradition of a billionaire businessman linked to Nicolás Maduro, the detained Venezuelan president, according to seven Venezuelans and Americans familiar with the matter. U.S. prosecutors in Miami filed a sealed indictment against the businessman and former government official, Alex Saab, on corruption charges in January, soon after the U.S. Special Forces captured Mr. Maduro.... Venezuela’s government, at Washington’s request, detained Mr. Saab in early February.... Mr. Saab, 54, is a friend of Mr. Maduro’s whom U.S. prosecutors for years have accused of enriching himself through lucrative government contracts....
“In 2021, Mr. Saab was detained at the request of the U.S. government in the West African nation of Cape Verde while traveling on business to Iran, a close ally of Mr. Maduro’s government. He was later extradited to the United States, where he spent nearly two years behind bars on money-laundering charges before being pardoned by the Biden administration.... He was returned to Venezuela in a 2023 prisoner swap.... [Some] people familiar with Mr. Saab’s case have ... said the Trump administration’s pursuit of Mr. Saab is partly driven by a desire to inflict political damage on Democrats since the businessman was pardoned by a Democratic president, Joseph R. Biden Jr.”
Steve Eder & Devlin Barrett of the New York Times: Emails exchanged among FBI agents beginning in late July 2025 are “part of the trove of investigative documents involving [Jeffrey] Epstein released by the government, show how the Justice Department scrambled last summer as the F.B.I. sought to understand what, exactly, its files said about Mr. Trump and others close to Mr. Epstein. It was an early sign of the department’s frantic effort to prepare the records for release. But the department’s handling of the files has only fueled questions about its commitment to transparency, painting a portrait of an agency under intense political scrutiny that failed to make public key documents, even after officials sought to identify tips involving Mr. Trump....
“The agents ordered up the hastily written notes on July 24, the same day that Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche was in Florida to interview Ghislaine Maxwell....In the days that followed, the F.B.I. converted the summaries on the prominent men into a slide that was part of a 21-page internal presentation on the Epstein case. In early August, an unclassified version of the presentation was shared with the F.B.I. director, Kash Patel, the newly released emails suggest. A draft of the presentation released by the Justice Department exposed the names of alleged victims.... At the same time, emails show, F.B.I. agents were collating in a table a wider list of complaints[/tips] that the agency had received about Mr. Trump.... In December, Mr. Blanche pledged that the administration would not remove or withhold mentions of the president, declaring, 'We are not redacting information around President Trump.' But in at least two cases, The Times could not initially find any related records underpinning the tips.”
~~~ Marie: I wish I could remember who it was, but someone suggested the other day that those FBI communications were the reason Blanche went to "interview" Maxwell. Blanche knew the FBI had turned over those communications to Maxwell in the discovery phase of her criminal case. So he knew she was privy to their contents, and he wanted to know what she would say about them. Now that we know he went to visit her at the very same time the agents were putting together the notes for somebody -- it seems irrefutable that the purpose of Blanche's meetings with Maxwell was to cover up Trump's crimes.
Vimal Patel & Stephanie Saul of the New York Times: “Several states sued the Trump administration on Wednesday over its mandate that colleges share with the federal government detailed student and admissions data, which the government has said is meant to ensure schools are not using racial preferences. The Trump administration announced in August that schools would be required to report disaggregated data on the race, gender, test scores and grade point averages of applicants.... The states say the effort has been rushed into place to target diversity efforts and creates an undue burden on schools. In the lawsuit on Wednesday, filed by the attorneys general of 17 mostly left-leaning states, including New York and California, the states argue that the Trump administration was attempting to turn the National Center for Education Statistics, a nonpartisan agency, into a 'mechanism for law enforcement and the furthering of partisan policy aims.'”
~~~~~~~~~~
Here are the New York Times' live updates of developments in the Iran war. From the pinned item at 8:00 am ET: “Three ships in the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz were struck in separate incidents on Wednesday, according to a British monitoring agency, as the Middle East war chokes off one of the key conduits for the global oil trade. Hours before the strikes, the U.S. military said that it had attacked 16 Iranian mine-laying vessels near the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil transits.... Tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz is largely paused because of concerns that drones or missiles could hit merchant vessels. Soaring oil prices have driven up prices for global consumers, with gas prices in the United States rising for the 11th straight day on Wednesday, to a national average of $3.58 a gallon, according to the AAA motor club.... Iran launched fresh retaliatory strikes across the region on Wednesday, with several Persian Gulf countries reporting missiles and drones heading toward their airspace.” ~~~
~~~ Rachel Chason of the Washington Post: “At least three commercial ships were struck near the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, according to a British government monitoring agency, as Iranian leaders declared that they were widening their assault on countries in the Persian Gulf, aiming to raise the economic price of the U.S.-Israeli military campaign to oust the government in Tehran.” ~~~
~~~ Martina Sapio of Politico: “Tensions in the Strait of Hormuz are escalating as ships come under attack and the U.S. moves to counter suspected Iranian mine-laying operations, raising fears of further disruption to global shipping and energy flows.... U.S. Central Command said in a social media post late Tuesday that it had struck 16 Iranian vessels believed to be involved in laying mines near the strait. It remains unclear whether any mines were successfully deployed.... Even if mines are never deployed, the threat alone is enough to keep vessels away from the waterway.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: Oh, what story would be complete without a stupid remark from Donald Trump?: “'If Iran has put out any mines in the Hormuz Strait … we want them removed immediately,' Trump said Tuesday in a post on Truth Social, adding that U.S. forces would 'permanently eliminate' any boat attempting to lay mines.” Trump evidently is so accustomed to his own people risking their careers to do what he wants that he thinks naval officers of an enemy will risk their lives to do what Trump wants.
~~~ John Leicester of the AP: “The rising prices [of] gasoline ... are due, in large part, to the impact of the Iran war on the Strait of Hormuz.... The narrow waterway off Iran’s coast, now effectively closed by the war, is so vital for the global economy that governments are working on blueprints to speedily reopen it to shipping when the shooting stops.... French President Emmanuel Macron is leading an international effort to unblock the energy chokepoint, so oil, gas and goods could flow freely again.... He envisages countries using warships to escort tankers and container vessels through the strait when fighting is no longer raging so intensely, whenever that maybe. Former naval officers who have served in the Hormuz passage ... say vessels would be sitting ducks, with little room for maneuver in the strait’s narrow shipping lanes, if foreign naval forces attempted to reopen the waterway before a cessation of hostilities.” What he said: see Patrick's commentary in yesterday's thread. ~~~
~~~ Ben Munster, et al., of Politico: “European countries are gearing up to approve the release of 400 million barrels of oil to offset soaring energy costs and supply fears as war rages in Iran. France, Italy, Germany, the U.K. and the rest of the G7 club have all signaled support for the measure, which would be coordinated through the International Energy Agency and represent the largest release of reserves in the body’s history.”
~~~ Rachel Dobkin of the Independent: “A social media post from ... Donald Trump’s energy secretary that was quickly deleted has sent oil markets into a frenzy, according to a new report [by the Wall Street Journal]. Earlier Tuesday, Energy Secretary Chris Wright wrote on X that the U.S. Navy had escorted an oil tanker through the Strait of Hormuz.... 'President Trump is maintaining stability of global energy during the military operations against Iran,' Wright wrote. 'The U.S. Navy successfully escorted an oil tanker through the Strait of Hormuz to ensure oil remains flowing to global markets.' Wright’s post was quickly deleted and White House Press Secretary Karolin Leavitt said the Navy has not escorted any vessel through the Strait of Hormuz.... The Trump administration has blamed a staffer for Wright’s now-deleted post.... 'A video clip was deleted from Secretary Wright’s official X account after it was determined to be incorrectly captioned by Department of Energy staff.'” ~~~
~~~ Marie: Ah, yes, the mistakes of Anonymous Staffer. S/he sure gets around. BTW, that the same Chris Wright whom Mark Mazzetti & friends (story linked below) credit with encouraging Trump to wage war against Iran because Wright in his wisdom predicted that such a war would not have much of an effect on oil prices.
Jim Tankersley of the New York Times: “Since ... [Donald] Trump launched a new war with Iran, he has portrayed it as a shock-and-awe assault with few lasting consequences, especially for Americans. On Monday in Florida, he called it a 'brief disruption.' Experts say it is rapidly becoming something else entirely: a jolt to the global security order and economy that far exceeds those delivered by other recent conflicts in the Middle East. Mr. Trump’s war ... is already reshaping travel patterns, energy dependencies, living costs, trade routes and strategic partnerships. Countries typically shielded from regional conflict, like Cyprus and the United Arab Emirates, have faced retaliatory Iranian fire. The fallout could disrupt midterm elections in the United States, tilt the war calculus in Ukraine and force China into a major economic pivot.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: One major difference between World War II & Trump's looming World War III, Hitler was successful in many of his initial endeavors.
Mark Mazzetti, et al., of the New York Times: “... Mr. Trump and his advisers misjudged how Iran would respond to a conflict that the government in Tehran sees as an existential threat. Iran has responded far more aggressively than it did during last June’s 12-day war.... U.S. officials have had to adjust plans on the fly, from hastily ordering the evacuation of embassies to developing policy proposals to reduce gas prices. After Trump administration officials gave a closed-door briefing to lawmakers on Tuesday, Senator Christopher S. Murphy, Democrat of Connecticut, said on social media that the administration had no plan for the Strait of Hormuz and did 'not know how to get it safely back open.'... Inside the administration, some officials are growing pessimistic about the lack of a clear strategy to finish the war. But they have been careful not to express that directly to the president, who has repeatedly declared that the military operation is a complete success.” Update: the link has been changed to one that appears to be a gift link.
What It Means to Be Lethal War Fighter Pete or the Mad King. Hannah Allam of ProPublica: “Formalized in a 2022 action plan and in a Defense Department instruction..., [Pentagon] initiatives [to reduce civilian casualties] are known collectively as Civilian Harm Mitigation and Response, a clunky name often shortened to CHMR and pronounced 'chimmer.' Around 200 personnel were assigned to the mission, including roughly 30 at the Civilian Protection Center of Excellence, a coordination hub near the Pentagon.... [But] the civilian protection mission was dissolved as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth made 'lethality' a top priority. And the world has witnessed a tragedy in Minab [where the U.S. more than likely killed 175 people, mostly schoolgirls,] that, if U.S. responsibility is confirmed, would be the most civilians killed by the military in a single attack in decades. Dismantling the fledgling harm-reduction effort, defense analysts say, is among several ways the Trump administration has reorganized national security around two principles: more aggression, less accountability. Trump and his aides lowered the authorization level for lethal force, broadened target categories, inflated threat assessments and fired inspectors general....” MB: It means you treat little girls as “the enemy” and you deflect blame for slaughtering them. (The president in 2022 of course was Joe Biden.) (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ A Politico story is here.
Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: “As the death toll in Iran mounts, the Trump administration is increasingly trying to sidestep blame for any civilian deaths stemming from the conflict.... [Donald] Trump has said it was his 'opinion' that the Tomahawk missile that reports and video evidence indicate hit an Iranian elementary school, killing 175 people, had been fired by Iran — even though the U.S. military is the only force carrying out strikes in the conflict known to have Tomahawk missiles. The next day, to add to the messaging campaign, the Pentagon said that if there are more civilian deaths in Iran, they would be the fault of Iran’s government. More than 1,800 people have died in Iran and elsewhere in the war, including many civilians.... But rather than ameliorating the situation, Mr. Trump’s attempts to cast all blame on Iran appear to have strengthened the likelihood the administration will be subjected to intense scrutiny.... Ryan Goodman, a law professor at New York University and former special counsel at the Department of Defense..., warned that Mr. Trump’s statements [about the attack on the girls' primary school] 'may create undue interference because it puts pressure on military officials not to contradict the commander in chief.'” AND/OR ~~~
Based on what Steve and Jared and Pete and others were telling me, Marco is so involved, I thought they were going to attack us. -- Donald Trump, presser conference, Monday ~~~
~~~ Jared & the Other Kids Made Me Do It! Judd Legum of Popular Information: "At a press conference on Monday evening..., [Donald] Trump said his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, was one of a handful of top advisers who convinced him to launch major combat operations in Iran. The disclosure raises additional questions about the role of Kushner, who is being paid tens of millions of dollars annually by Middle Eastern governments that were reportedly lobbying Trump to attack Iran.... Kushner’s participation [in negotiations with Iran] violated his pledge not to be involved in foreign policy in a second Trump administration. Instead, Kushner had said he was focused on running his private equity fund, Affinity Partners, which has raised billions of dollars from foreign governments. Kushner’s largest investor is the Saudi Arabian government.... Notably, 'Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman made multiple private phone calls to Trump' in February, advocating a U.S. attack, according to reporting in the Washington Post.... The claim that Iran was planning an imminent attack against the U.S. — the conclusion that Trump took away from his discussions with Kushner and others — is directly contradicted by U.S. intelligence agencies.” ~~~
~~~ Shakezula in LG&$: "Whoever told tRump that Iran was about to attack us, whatever he thought that meant and assuming that’s what they said and not a figment of misfiring neurons, or yet another lie, he completely ignored information from highly-trained specialists who aren’t receiving hundreds of millions of dollars from foreign governments."
For once, White House reporters asked some very good, pointed questions. See the clips by Aaron Rupar & Real Clear Politicos of Trump's Monday presser. And, as stories we linked Tuesday also described, Trump's "answers" were insane: Q: "Is it over or just starting?" Trump: "Both." Q: "Why are you the only person saying Iran bombed its own children?" Trump: "Because I don't know enough about it." We're talking about massive life-and-death here, and Trump's "reasoning" is utterly nonsensical. Thanks to RAS for the link to digby's post. (Also linked yesterday.)
Ellen Mitchell of the Hill (March 11): “The Defense Department on Monday identified the U.S. soldier killed by an Iranian attack on a Saudi Arabia air base as 26-year-old Sgt. Benjamin N. Pennington. Pennington, of Glendale, Ky., died Sunday from injuries sustained during the March 1 attack at Prince Sultan Air Base. He had been assigned to 1st Space Battalion, 1st Space Brigade out of Fort Carson, Colo., and was supporting the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, according to a Pentagon statement[.]... Pennington is the eighth U.S. service member to have died in the war on Iran, which began Feb. 28.... Six American soldiers were first killed in an Iranian drone strike on a makeshift U.S. military operations center in Kuwait on March 1.... Then, National Guard soldier and New York City police officer Maj. Sorffly Davius died Friday in a 'non-combat related' medical incident at Camp Buehring, Kuwait.” (Also linked yesterday.)
Bora Erden & of the New York Times: “Iran has responded to the U.S.-Israeli assault on the country by launching drones and missiles at American targets across the Middle East, hitting embassies, killing U.S. soldiers, and damaging military bases and air defense infrastructure. The New York Times has identified at least 17 damaged U.S. sites and other installations, several of which have been struck more than once since the war began. Our analysis is based on high-resolution, commercial satellite imagery, verified social media videos and statements by U.S. officials and Iranian state media. The intensity of the retaliatory strikes has signaled that Iran was more prepared for the war than many in the Trump administration had anticipated, U.S. military officials say.”
Another Unintended Consequence: Helping Hamas Rebuild. Steve Hendrix, et al., of the Washington Post: “Gaza’s 2 million citizens are accustomed to waiting for a world that has other things on its mind. But the attacks on Iran have led to a particularly cruel reprise of that script, closing the doors for now on perhaps the closest thing to progress Gaza had experienced in years.... Meanwhile, as Israel focuses on Iran, Hamas is not so quietly continuing to rebuild its police, courts and civil administration in the roughly half of Gaza where it is restoring its reach into everyday life. The group is collecting taxes, has officers directing traffic at some intersections and announced new vehicle license plate requirements over the weekend.”
Deliberately being dumb is not good policy. -- Paul Krugman ~~~
Markwayne is Perfect for Trump 2.0! Paul Waldman in Public Notice: "While he may not have quite the walking-car-crash charisma of the woman he’s set to replace, in many ways Markwayne Mullin is a perfectly emblematic pick to run a huge and consequential cabinet department in the second Trump presidency. Comically unqualified, intensely partisan, and unflaggingly devoted to whatever ridiculous thing bubbled out of Donald Trump’s mouth five minutes ago, as the next Secretary of Homeland Security, Mullin will fit right in with what will undoubtedly be regarded as the worst presidential cabinet in history." Read on. MB: I don't think there's anything in Waldman's essay that we haven't said here at one time or the other, but it's almost a pleasure to see it so neatly wrapped and tied with a bow. (Also linked yesterday.)
Marie: Meanwhile, we mustn't forget that "dumb and incompetent" extends to Trump choices at all levels of his administration. ~~~
~~~ Rebecca Beitsch of the Hill: “U.S. Pardon Attorney Ed Martin is facing disciplinary action after he sent a letter to Georgetown University threatening legal action if it did not end its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies. The Tuesday filing also indicates Martin repeatedly sought to evade action from the Office of Disciplinary Counsel, sidestepping its letters and seeking intervention from a judge even after she rebuffed him. He also tried to get the head of that office suspended. The move is the latest admonishment for Martin, a one-time U.S. attorney nominee who failed to advance in the Senate amid a string of controversies and who was more recently removed from his post as head of the Justice Department’s Weaponization Working Group. Martin last February sent a letter to the school saying he would not hire any interns or attorneys from Georgetown, later escalating that threat by saying failure to respond would 'bear directly' on its nonprofit status. 'Mr. Martin knew or should have known that, as a government official, his conduct violated the First and Fifth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States,' wrote Hamilton Fox, the disciplinary counsel for D.C., who has a quasi-prosecutorial role in overseeing attorney conduct.” (Also linked yesterday.)
The Most Corrupt U.S. President* in History, Ctd. Dan Diamond & Aaron Schaffer of the Washington Post: “Congressional Democrats are opening a probe into millions of dollars private companies pledged to ... Donald Trump’s planned presidential library, asking what happened to the money after the original fund was dissolved last year. Sens. Elizabeth Warren (Massachusetts) and Richard Blumenthal (Connecticut) and Rep. Melanie Stansbury (New Mexico) wrote Monday to the leaders of ABC, Meta, Paramount and X, requesting information about the terms of their agreements and the status of the funds they pledged to hand over to the president’s representatives.... The four companies each committed millions of dollars to the project through legal settlements with Trump.... The commitments totaled at least $63 million.... But the Donald J. Trump Presidential Library Fund, Inc., which was set to receive at least some of the settlement funding, was administratively dissolved last September by Florida officials after it did not submit a mandatory annual report. Three months later, Jacob Roth, the lawyer who originally incorporated the fund, filed articles of dissolution, OpenSecrets first reported last year. 'Now it is unclear where this money has gone, exacerbating concerns about corruption that were apparent at the time of the settlement,' the lawmakers wrote.”
Theodoric Meyer of the Washington Post: “A bipartisan group of senators is asking the Government Accountability Office to examine the Justice Department’s handling of files related to Jeffrey Epstein amid concerns the department has not released all the documents required by law.... Donald Trump in November signed a nearly unanimously passed law mandating the Justice Department make public records related to the late convicted sex offender with narrow restrictions. The department released millions of pages of documents, but Democrats and some Republicans in Congress have raised concerns about how faithfully it complied with the law.... Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Ben Ray Lujan (D-New Mexico) and Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) asked the GAO — an independent agency that’s part of the legislative branch — on Wednesday to examine how the department reviewed the files 'and the resulting failure of the Department to follow the law, respond to Congress and protect victims.'”
Glenn Thrush of the “Attorney General Pam Bondi has quietly relocated to one of several military bases in the Washington area where other Trump administration officials also live, after facing threats from drug cartels and critics of her actions in handling the Jeffrey Epstein case.... Ms. Bondi moved from an apartment in the city within the past month in response to an array of threats flagged to her staff by federal law enforcement, these people said, including an uptick in criticism of Ms. Bondi, and threats relayed by investigators.”
Pam's Excellent Project of Putting Guns in the Hands of Felons. Jaclyn Diaz of NPR: "Last month, the Department of Justice quietly published a list of 22 names in the Federal Register. With little explanation or fanfare, the department announced that these individuals had their federal gun rights restored. Most of them had something in common: decades-old felony convictions. Many had been charged long ago and had lived for years without access to firearms. There was one exception — with a much more recent charge: Republican Arizona State Senator Jake Hoffman, who was indicted in 2024 for being a fake elector in 2020 -– and was one of dozens of people ... [Donald] Trump pardoned in November.... The restorations are part of a broader DOJ push to revive a program that's been dormant for more than three decades. It allows people with certain felony convictions — or even indictments — to regain their gun rights, as part of an effort to undo a 'disability' and give back Second Amendment protections to people no longer seen as a threat to public safety."
Kashmir Hill of the “During ... [Donald] Trump’s first term, tech employees and top tech executives criticized aggressive immigration policies, including a ban on visitors from some uslim-majority countries. But his second administration has received a more muted response from the C-suite, and that is causing unrest among some workers, particularly after the surge in Minneapolis and the killing of two protesters, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, by federal agents. Since their deaths, more than 2,000 technology workers have signed a public letter condemning ICE’s actions and pressuring their companies to cancel contracts with the agency.... Thomson Reuters, best known for its media outlet and legal research tools, provides an investigative tool to immigration enforcers. Its Minnesota employees want that to stop.”
Nick Corasaniti of the New York Times: “The Democratic National Committee sued the Trump administration on Tuesday to try to compel the government to say whether it was planning to put armed federal agents or military personnel at polling places or election offices this year. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., says that 11 separate Freedom of Information Act requests filed in October to the Department of Justice, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Defense have prompted no meaningful response, a violation of the law.... It is possible that no such records exist within the Trump administration; the lawsuit is simply accusing the agencies of failing to respond to the information requests.” (Also linked yesterday.)
Andrew Ackerman of the Washington Post: “New inflation data out Wednesday showed the annual pace of price increases was essentially unchanged last month, but it doesn’t reflect the surge in oil prices tied to the U.S. and Israeli campaign against Iran. The conflict in the Middle East is threatening to rekindle inflation just as it had appeared to be cooling, with gasoline prices and airline tickets climbing and businesses across the economy bracing for higher transportation costs. The consumer price index showed inflation rising at a 2.4 annual pace, the same as in January, although economists say that snapshot may already be outdated, because of the war-driven oil prices surge. Food and energy prices both climbed, and gasoline prices particularly grew, after two prior months of declines.”
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I cannot proceed in good conscience with the execution of Mr. Burton under such disparate circumstances.... I believe it would be unjust for one participant in this crime to be executed while the participant who pulled the trigger was not. -- Gov. Kay Ivey ~~~
~~~ Alabama. Eduardo Medina of the New York Times: “In a rare move, Gov. Kay Ivey of Alabama on Tuesday commuted the death sentence of a 75-year-old man who had been convicted in a 1991 killing in which he did not pull the trigger. The man, Charles Burton, known as 'Sonny,' was scheduled to be executed via nitrogen gas on Thursday. The governor commuted Mr. Burton’s sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The 1991 murder began as a robbery at an AutoZone store in Talladega, Ala., involving Mr. Burton and five other people. One of the other robbers fatally shot the victim, Doug Battle. But in Alabama and other states, people who participate in a felony such as robbery that ends in a death can still be convicted of murder, even if they did not kill anyone. The actual gunman, Derrick DeBruce, was also sentenced to death. But his sentence was reduced to life in prison without parole in 2014 after he argued that his lawyers at trial had been ineffective.” At 1:00 pm ET, this was a developing story. (Also linked yesterday.)
Georgia Congressional Race. Richard Fausset of the New York Times: “Shawn Harris, a Democrat and retired U.S. Army officer, and Clayton Fuller, a Republican endorsed by ... [Donald] Trump, were the lead vote-getters in a special election in Georgia on Tuesday to replace Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Republican firebrand who left Congress in January, according to The Associated Press. Because neither captured a majority of the votes cast, Mr. Harris and Mr. Fuller will advance to an April 7 runoff. Mr. Fuller’s performance ahead of a more MAGA-adjacent rival, Colton Moore, boosted Mr. Trump’s endorsement record this midterm cycle. The first-round win may deliver a jolt of confidence for Mr. Harris and his fellow Democrats in Ms. Greene’s former district, which covers a chunk of northwest Georgia and is among the most conservative districts in the state.”
Mississippi Congressional Race. Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: “Representative Bennie Thompson, the longest-serving congressional Black Democrat in Mississippi, won his primary race for the Second Congressional District on Tuesday, The Associated Press said, offering a rebuttal to calls for older lawmakers to step aside for a younger generation.... His stature in the community appears to have helped him surmount those national headwinds. Evan Turnage, a 34-year-old antitrust lawyer who recently returned to his home state after working as legal counsel for Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, had been one of two challengers to Mr. Thompson hoping to make that case in Mississippi. But in the Second Congressional District, which stretches hundreds of miles from the state capital of Jackson to some of the poorest counties of the Mississippi Delta, Mr. Thompson’s record of steering millions of dollars back home and spending time in the district was enough to keep voters on his side.”
New Hampshire State Senate Election. Julia Mueller of the Hill: “Democrats on Tuesday flipped a state in the New Hampshire House, adding to the party’s string of special election wins as the midterm cycle kicks into high gear. Democrat Bobbi Boudman defeated Republican Dale Fincher for Carroll County House District 7, according to a projection from Decision Desk HQ, filling a vacancy after Republican Glenn Cordelli resigned late last year. Boudman challenged Cordelli unsuccessfully in 2024, losing to the Republican by roughly 14 points. The district sided with ... [Donald] Trump by 9 points in 2024....”
18 comments:
Everything was SO well planned!
So here's Fatty begging Bibi, pretty please, with sugar on top, to not bomb, bomb, bomb Iran oil facilities.
Fatty only cares about a few things. Himself, of course, and his money and how he looks.
Right now, he's not looking great (when does he?). The flow of oil out of the Gulf (has he renamed that Gulf yet? The Gulf of Trump, maybe?) has slowed down. Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz is worse than the Lincoln Tunnel after a semi crash. Prices at the gas pumps go up by the hour. Even the MAGA morons are starting to smell a rat. It ain't lookin' good for the Orange Monster. And having a mass murderer maniac as your war buddy ain't helping.
The problem is that Israel has one goal in this war: total destruction of Iran. The United States has....um....let's see, about 35 it looks like, most of which are stupid, weird, undoable, contradictory, and....did I say stupid? Fatty was pushed into this by Bibi and, it seems now, Aunt Pittypat, and probably Himmler Miller (any chance to kill brown people is too good to pass up). He was hoping for a quick war after which he could declare himself a Lethal War Fighter and give himself a Roman style Triumph, a big whoop de do where he, as the vir triumphalis, would wear the laurel wreath and careen down the street in a golden quadriga (four horse chariot), with Iran's leaders in chains dragged behind him.
But...Oops! Things started going south almost immediately. Those stupid little girls got in the way of one of his missiles and BANG, Nosy Parker reporters started asking stoopid questions like "Why are we doing this?". "What are your goals?" "Did we kill those little girls? Why?" "Is Pete on a bender again?" And all of a sudden, he and the hacks in the MAGA moronocracy surrounding him had to start inventing reasons and goals, and a whole lot of pain in the ass stuff. All he wanted was to look good and grab the oil.
Now Bibi is blowing up oil refineries. WTF! I read somewhere that one of Fatty's flaks released a statement to the effect that he didn't want oil facilities blown up cuz Iranian citizens would have a hard time breathing, what with all the noxious black smoke and all.
Hang on.....Hahahahahahahaha...sure. He cares about regular people.
My ass. He cares about the MONEY. And LOOKING GOOD.
But you know what would have been a GOOD IDEA? Figure this shit out AHEAD OF TIME, you know, like a real leader. Bibi wants scorched earth/everyone dead, just like he's continuing to do in Gaza. He's a fucking maniac. And that means destroying every molecule of infrastructure, including oil facilities. Fat Hitler should have known this, then maybe he wouldn't have jumped in.
The stoopid is strong with these people.
The South African Chainsaw Man and his Hitler Youth at DOGE set out to thwart fraud, waste, and corruption in the federal government. But the theft of SS information of millions of Americans was A-OK.
"The Social Security Administration’s inspector general is investigating a complaint that a former U.S. DOGE Service employee claimed he had access to two highly sensitive agency databases and planned to share the information with his private employer. This breach of security protocols could affect more than 70 million Americans."
This particular pimply faced pizza gobbling DOGE he-roe is trying to make a killing for himself by offering this info to the private sector for god knows what nefarious reasons.
In a sane and just world, every single one of these fuckers, including, and especially, Musk, would be in prison for decades.
Another reason for Fat Hitler to hate art.
This guy knows hot to do it.
James Talarico hits it out of the park:
"No one's ever asked me about the cost of housing. The only thing the media wants to ask me about are trans athletes.
The only minority destroying this country is the billionaires. Trans people are 1% of the population. We are focused on the wrong 1%."
Right on the nose, pal.
The live updates of developments in Iran that Marie posted above include this story by Farnaz Fassihi, for The New York Times, on the "cherished cultural jewels" being hit hard in the war
" The strikes on Isfahan on Monday came a week after another cultural icon, the Golestan Palace, was badly damaged during an attack on a police station in downtown Tehran, according to the ministry. Golestan Palace dates to the 14th century and eventually became the seat of the Qajar dynasty. Its famed hall of mirrors was shattered, and its symmetrical garden was covered in debris, photos and videos show." ^gift link
We've been listening to the head shaking stupidity of both Drunk Pete and Fat Hitler as they proclaim that the war will be over when Fatty sez it is. Nuff said.
Um...no. It won't. Fatty can't TACO his way out of this one. As the shit piles up around him, he thinks he'll just call it off and go back full time to stealing the midterms. But he has zero power to do that. My favorite line of the last few days was Drunk Pete's bizarre announcement that Fatty will determine whether the war is beginning, at the middle, or at the end. Well, Pete, pour yourself another and go back to sleep.
First, once the shooting starts, the end is never determined by one side or one person, even the god-like Orange Monster. Iran might have something to do with that. And right now, they're dropping mines all across the Strait of Hormuz. They are not going quietly.
Years ago, I read something about President Kennedy's strategy behind ending the Cuban Missile Crisis. In a fight, if you want to bring it to a successful conclusion without everyone getting slightly dead, it's necessary to give the other side a way out, to save face and not look like he's surrendering and bowing down. Just like in a street fight, if you back someone into a corner and he's thinking it's fight or die, he's gonna fight. And it won't be pretty. But if you can find a way to allow him to save face, then both sides can lay down their arms and walk away and live.
Screeching "Unconditional Surrender!" and "We're gonna bomb the SHIT out of you whatever you do", is the textbook example of backing someone into a corner. Now I'm not suggesting that all wars should end this way. In many cases, such as WWII, you have no choice but to make sure to bring the other side down. And if that's the goal here, then it's stupid to say "I'll decide when it's over". That's just ignorant. But then, this is what we're dealing with. And if the goal (and who knows what that is at this point) is to bring down the Iranian government, actual regime change, they ain't gonna go peacefully. You back them into a corner and you have to know what they'll be capable of. It could be an explosion of terrorist attacks, or a guerrilla affair, hit and run. In any case, it's not going to be quick and most certainly not without pain. A lot of pain.
In the film "The Untouchables", the Sean Connery character explains how this works. "If you open the ball on these people, you must be prepared to go all the way, because they won't stop until one of you is dead."
TACO will not save us here. He may want to chicken out, but he's not the only one with the say here.
It's one thing to be stupid about tariffs. That's bad enough. But to be stupid about war, where people are being slaughtered? This is immorality and stupidity on a galactic scale.
Franklin Foer, for The Atlantic, notes that the reasons other U.S. presidents avoided war with Iran are becoming all too evident
"In the least charitable—and probably accurate—view, President Trump went to war with Iran out of a delusional faith in himself. He believed that the worst-case scenarios that have deterred past presidents from attacking Iran wouldn’t come true for him, because he is Donald Trump.
In the most charitable—and probably accurate—view, the president had reasons to believe that all of the catastrophic warnings about the most hair-raising consequences of an attack wouldn’t come to pass this time. The 12-day war, which Israel and the United States fought last June, demonstrated that they could strike Iran without provoking catastrophic retaliation. Having endured that assault on the country’s military infrastructure, and then wave after wave of protest by its own citizens, the Islamic Republic was isolated and weak. So why shouldn’t Trump exploit that fragility to land a death blow against a murderous adversary?"
"Foreign Hacker Accessed Epstein Files In 2023A foreign hacker compromised files relating to the FBI’s investigation of the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein during a break-in at the bureau’s New York Field Office three years ago, according to a source familiar with the matter and recently published Justice Department documents reviewed by Reuters."
Taking anything not nailed down.
"The Social Security Administration’s internal watchdog is investigating a complaint that alleges a former U.S. DOGE Service employee claimed he had access to two highly sensitive agency databases and planned to share the information with his private employer — a claim that, if true, would constitute an unprecedented breach of security protocols at an agency that serves more than 70 million Americans."
The Privileged Poor
"Sen. Jon Husted (R-OH) claimed in an interview released on Tuesday that low-income people don't know how to "navigate the real world" because they're too dependent on the government just handing them money."
Desperate
"Sen. John Cornyn threw his support behind scrapping the filibuster to pass a voting restrictions bill President Donald Trump has called his “No. 1 priority” in Congress, as the Texas Republican continues to seek the president’s endorsement and stave off a bruising primary runoff election.
Trump has held off on endorsing Cornyn, the pick of top Senate Republicans, over Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in a bid to pressure leadership to lower the threshold of votes needed to pass the SAVE America Act, which would enact citizenship and photo ID restrictions in elections while also targeting transgender rights. Paxton has said he would suspend his bid if the bill passes."
"Iran Trolls Trump’s Epstein Files Woes in Lego Propaganda Video"
As seen on BlueSky, a new game - Is it War?
Kill the photographers:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2026/03/11/hegseth-press-briefings-photos-iran/?
Someone should ask Fat Hitler about the "White House Official" who said that the Iranian nuclear program was obliterated by the earlier bombing.
A good summary of this administration, "for no reason and making your life worse."
"
House Oversight Committee to depose Epstein's longtime accountantThe House Oversight Committee is set to depose Jeffrey Epstein's longtime accountant on Wednesday, potentially shedding light on how the disgraced financier was able to manage his multimillion-dollar fortune.
Richard Kahn served as Epstein's accountant for over a decade, and some of Epstein's victims allege he played an instrumental role in creating the "complex financial infrastructure" that enabled the financier's crimes."
Hackers
"An Iranian-linked hacker group that took credit for a cyberattack against a global medical technology company on Wednesday said it was spurred to action by the airstrike against an elementary school in Iran.
The group, known as Handala, is accused of carrying out a wiper attack against devices tied to the US-based company Stryker. Wiper attacks use specialized malware designed to permanently delete or corrupt data."
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