31 people died in ICE custody last year, a record. This is the 12th this year, a reportedly healthy father of six in his 40s, who died within 24 hours of his arrest. Via @brandonfriedman.bsky.social

31 people died in ICE custody last year, a record. This is the 12th this year, a reportedly healthy father of six in his 40s, who died within 24 hours of his arrest. Via @brandonfriedman.bsky.social

Two weeks ago, the United States launched a surprise attack on Iran while in the midst of negotiations with the Iranian government. The attack was closely coordinated with the Israeli government, evidently over a period of weeks. This makes it appear as if American negotiators acted in bad faith.🧵

Weekend listen: @foreignaffairs.com did a long interview last week about the future of Iran and the Persian Gulf region with Afshon Ostovar of the Naval Postgraduate School and @chathamhouse.org’s Sanam Vakil. Timely, deep dive. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...

Major Alex Klinner has been named by his family as the 2nd of 6 US service members killed in Thursday’s refueling operation to support the US war against Iran. He leaves behind a wife and three children. (Photos from GoFundMe set up to support the family www.gofundme.com/f/major-alex...)

Thread. Iran war status via @chrismurphyct.bsky.social. It’s bleak.

Good dialogue on the Iran war with @phillipspobrien.bsky.social & @pkrugman.bsky.social. Two weeks in, the war is already a fiasco undermining American interests in the region and around the world. At the center of the disaster is a President with no idea what he is doing.

Sorry @wsj.com reporters tiptoed around the question of individuals and organizations getting a cut of this $10 billion “fee.” I’m not saying to expect corruption — but after all this time there is surely no excuse for getting surprised when it emerges, is there? Link via @nothoodlum.bsky.social

Is there any reason in the world to believe what people in the Trump administration, from the President on down, have been saying today about US air attacks on Kharg Island in Iran? Other than that bombs were dropped near this location. That, I believe.

Presumably Rep. Kiggans did not mean to ask here why a convicted felon with a known history of drug abuse was able to acquire a firearm so easily. Terrorism is a risk, but only an incremental one. The United States already experiences mass shootings regularly, because guns are so widely available.

#Wisconsin story from yesterday: Ordered released by a judge after being locked up by ICE for six months, a Sheboygan Falls grandmother is arrested again. She has been in the United States for 35 years. This doesn’t look vindictive, or contemptuous of the judge, at all. Via @urbanmilwaukee.com

Sorry @wsj.com reporters tiptoed around the question of individuals and organizations getting a cut of this $10 billion “fee.” I’m not saying to expect corruption — but after all this time there is surely no excuse for getting surprised when it emerges, is there? Link via @nothoodlum.bsky.social

When a federal judge (finally) put ICE officers under oath, they admitted that they are given daily detention quotas and rely heavily on a Palantir-supplied AI tool to select targets, without warrants and without enough evidence to obtain one. They simply go into neighborhoods and round people up.

Intimidated by the Trump administration and distracted by its wars and scandals, news media has shrunk coverage of climate change nearly 40% since its peak five years ago, reports @grist.org grist.org/language/glo...

Thread. @kyledcheney.bsky.social’s feed of late has been a catalog of court decisions rebuking the Trump administration. Judge Boasberg, his patience clearly exhausted, shoots down Justice Department subpoenas for Fed Chairman Powell. Their purpose of harassing Powell, however, was achieved.

Presumably Rep. Kiggans did not mean to ask here why a convicted felon with a known history of drug abuse was able to acquire a firearm so easily. Terrorism is a risk, but only an incremental one. The United States already experiences mass shootings regularly, because guns are so widely available.

#Wisconsin story from yesterday: Ordered released by a judge after being locked up by ICE for six months, a Sheboygan Falls grandmother is arrested again. She has been in the United States for 35 years. This doesn’t look vindictive, or contemptuous of the judge, at all. Via @urbanmilwaukee.com

Good summary of Trump administration infamy yesterday and this morning by @aaronparnas.bsky.social on his Substack. The day is still young, of course. Trumpers have a history of disclosing new infamy on Fridays.

“All six U.S. crew members have been confirmed dead after their military refueling plane crashed in Iraq while taking part in Iran war operations, the U.S. military said Friday.” www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...

Update: I now have a six-point plan to lower food prices. 1. Stop the war.

Al Jazeera has a very good tracker of the deaths and injuries in the Iran war. It would be striking, however, if they ran a separate tally for guest workers, bc by far the most frequent victims in the Gulf states are guest workers, often from S Asia. www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/3/...

Thread. Billionaires in politics — giving money to Republicans over Democrats at a ratio of 5 to 1, not counting dark money. “For the rich, against the rest.” Gift link via @rickhasen.bsky.social

Guards have taken away crayons, colored pencils and paper during recent room searches at Dilley, according to detainees and others. After one inspection, the children just “cried and cried and cried,” a mother said. The facility denies the claims.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Pentagon tells Congress the first week of the Iran war cost the US $11.3 billion, an AP source says.

"Many of the embassies do not have confirmed ambassadors to serve as a point of reference for the host nations. The void in the ranks of senior State Department and military personnel created a gap, in contrast to 2006...." Gift article: www.nytimes.com/2026/03/09/o...

Thread. Billionaires in politics — giving money to Republicans over Democrats at a ratio of 5 to 1, not counting dark money. “For the rich, against the rest.” Gift link via @rickhasen.bsky.social

An important piece by hannahallam.bsky.social : “It’s a recipe for disaster,” a senior counterterrorism official who left the government a few months ago said of the Trump administration’s yearlong bombing spree.“It’s ‘Groundhog Day’ — every day we’re just killing people and making more enemies.”

The military appears to have understated American casualties from an Iranian drone attack in Kuwait a few days ago. The understatement had to have been deliberate; the reasoning behind it is unknown. By @jimlaporta.bsky.social & colleagues at CBS News, via @bgrueskin.bsky.social

BREAKING: Pentagon Report: U.S. Attcked Elementary School in Iran Despite attempts by Trump to claim otherwise, the U.S. military was responsible for killing at least 175 in a strike on a school in Iran. theintercept.com/2026/03/11/i...

I confess to being of two minds as to @froomkin.bsky.social’s argument here. On one hand, most Trump supporters don’t read The New York Times — many don’t read anything. How much difference would more direct descriptions of Trump’s ignorance and derangement really make? On the other hand….

“…an unprecedented breach of security protocols at an agency that serves more than 70 million Americans.” The gift of Elon Musk keeps giving. By @merylkornfield.bsky.social & colleagues [gift link]. wapo.st/4bAFCQZ

Thread. It’s curious, given what @noahshachtman.bsky.social reports here, that the Trump White House didn’t slip a Presidential pardon for this Rivera guy amongst others he’s granted lately. The case is murky, and apart from the FARA violation Rivera seems to have tried to rip off the Venezuelans.

Here’s an example, a “whither Congress?” Essay by @washingtonpost.com political reporter Liz Goodwin. Its theme is Congress giving up its power to the Executive; the story it actually reports is about Republicans in Congress giving up their power to Trump. [gift link] wapo.st/3Pa6QFm

I confess to being of two minds as to @froomkin.bsky.social’s argument here. On one hand, most Trump supporters don’t read The New York Times — many don’t read anything. How much difference would more direct descriptions of Trump’s ignorance and derangement really make? On the other hand….

The author of this @warontherocks.bsky.social piece, @mpolymer1.bsky.social, was apparently the target of an early “Havana Syndrome” attack. CIA under both Trump and Biden resisted the conclusion that a foreign intelligence agency was behind such attacks. Via @johnsipher.bsky.social

In August, Ukraine tried to sell battle-proven tech for downing Iranian drones. But the Trump adm dismissed it until now. www.axios.com/2026/03/10/u...

Obscured by the turmoil Trump & his Republicans create wherever they go, Ukraine has retaken territory in one sector of the front while blunting Russian attacks in two others. Still undermanned, still outgunned, its population still under daily bombardment, Ukraine has outfought Russia this winter.

Trump, Kushner, and Witkoff assumed Iran was trying to pull a fast one with an old research reactor because that’s what they would have done. But they didn’t know what “a fast one,” here, would look like. And so Trump, prompted by the Israelis, started his war. Via @proftalmadge.bsky.social

Thread. The Minab girls’ school attack, only a week ago. Who was responsible? @bellingcat.com cites video showing a strike by a Tomahawk cruise missile, which only American forces use. Trump’s claim yesterday that Iranian munitions struck the school appears to have been a casual lie.

You know, we could have done this with a carbon tax years ago and not killed anyone. Or, we could have left Biden’s subsidies for electric cars and clean energy alone, making fossil fuels prices less important — again, no one gets killed. Instead, Trump’s War and higher prices for everything.

Thread. Democrats in Maryland’s Congressional delegation descended on ICE’s Baltimore facility today, anticipating the goons who assaulted Minneapolis will soon surge into their state. @gbrockell.bsky.social has notes on their appalled reaction.

You know, we could have done this with a carbon tax years ago and not killed anyone. Or, we could have left Biden’s subsidies for electric cars and clean energy alone, making fossil fuels prices less important — again, no one gets killed. Instead, Trump’s War and higher prices for everything.

Now they’re told to leave. A week after Trump’s War began, the State Department decides it wants its people to leave the combat area.

“Of the 279 people accused by officials on X of attacking federal officers in the past year, 181 were U.S. citizens, the Journal found. Close to half of those Americans were never charged with assault. None have been convicted at trial.” @wsj.com reporting, Gift link via @stlouisishome.bsky.social

Thread. The Minab girls’ school attack, only a week ago. Who was responsible? @bellingcat.com cites video showing a strike by a Tomahawk cruise missile, which only American forces use. Trump’s claim yesterday that Iranian munitions struck the school appears to have been a casual lie.

“A woman who claims she was abused as a minor by both Jeffrey Epstein and Donald Trump has given the FBI vivid accounts that include aspects of her life corroborated by the The Post and Courier through public records.” Via @jkbjournalist.bsky.social, who did much of the Epstein & Trump reporting.

Weekend listen: A @chinapower.csis.org panel on Xi Jinping’s purge of the Chinese military. Nominally targeting corruption, it’s taken down an astonishing number of senior officers. What does it mean? With @sheenagreitens.bsky.social @brianthart.bsky.social podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/c...

A optimistic take on the Trump’s floundering from @gregsargent.bsky.social. A pessimistic response would be: the arguments Trump won on in 2024 were stupid (tariffs), vicious (deportations), or vacuous (national security). It took national disaster & shame to discourage a minority of his voters.

Cupich: “A real war with real death and real suffering being treated like it’s a video game -it’s sickening. Hundreds of people are dead, mothers and fathers, daughters and sons, including scores of children who made the fatal mistake of going to school that day.” www.archchicago.org/en/statement...

Thread. In Widakuswara v. Lake — the US public diplomacy case — the Trump administration loses in district court. The damage to Voice of America and other public diplomacy organizations was sadly already done, last year. By veteran reporter @newsguy.bsky.social