On the economic/financial implications of the Middle East War: Further to yesterday's post, today’s news is consistent with the view that all three warring parties remain in the escalation phase. With each day in this phase, the risks of reaching economic/financial tipping points increase. #economy

The crew of the USS Ford have been deployed for 9 months. It's about to be the longest such deployment since Vietnam, b/c of Trump's adventures in Venezuela & Iran. 600 of them are sleeping on floors & tables after a fire broke out. It took 30 hours to put it out. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/16/u...

The V-Dem Institute annual report on the state of global democracy summarises the orange's presidency as "rapid and aggressive concentration of powers". Legislative constraints are the lowest in over a century. The speed of dismantling American democracy is "unprecedented in modern history."

Multiple Iranian sources including their Foreign Minster stating that the Trump admin is planting false stories to Axios reporters Barak Ravid and Marc Caputo about peace talks in order to manipulate oil and financial markets.

Majority of Canadians say it’s better to depend on China than on the US under Trump. In other key allies - Germany, UK, France - a plurality say the same. www.politico.com/news/2026/03...

Both unbelievable & of a piece w/the crisis at DOJ more broadly. "Justice Department has waived a policy requiring newly hired federal prosecutors to possess at least one year of experience practicing law, as US attorneys’ offices struggle to find qualified replacements following mass departures."

This is a lie on a scale of Elon Musk saying he would cut the deficit to zero. Just insane. Not just untrue, but the opposite of the truth, which is that immigrants are lowering the deficit. www.cato.org/white-paper/...

We’ve discussed over the last week the risk that energy price shocks from the Middle East War could shift into broader inflationary pressures. Here's Politico's take: “The war with Iran is driving up more than gasoline prices. It is beginning to hit semiconductors, medical imaging,backyard... 1 of 2

...gardens and even children’s party balloons.… That’s because Hormuz is also a major shipping route for helium and fertilizer, which both affect a wide sector of the economy and are now experiencing price spikes as ships bottleneck on both sides of the strait.” #economy #inflation #middleeastwar

B of A: “.. While a quick resolution to the conflict is certainly a possibility, we view the conflict extending into 2Q as an equally likely outcome, and a more protracted war cannot be ruled out. .. In our view, the more disruptive scenarios for global growth are underpriced.”

Find the full clip, it is a fantastic skit.

Soulless.

Forbear to judge, for we are sinners all.

Strikes on Tehran’s fuel depots risk long-term toxic contamination. Exploding missiles and fuel infrastructure release heavy metals and pollutants that can linger in air, soil, and water for decades, threatening millions. www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

Donald Trump is now just openly bragging about interfering in the media. He's the president. He's running a truck over the first amendment here.

The corruption of the Trump Administration remains so massive while also being so obvious that people just don’t know what to do. If Kushner was merely shaking someone down for $5,000 using his govt role, there’d be an outcry. But do it for $5,000,000,000 and mostly there’s 🤷‍♂️ #TrumpCorruptionWatch

Yemen’s Houthis have announced they’ll be joining the war in support of Iran shortly. Analysts expect them to shut down another strait, Bab El-Mandeb, which will close the Suez Canal. The global economy hangs by a thread.

The new Lego movie sure took a turn

Goldman forecasts that Brent will average $98 in March and April, 40% above its 2025 mean, before falling to $71 by the end of the year. They now expect 2026 headline inflation to run at 2.9%, and have lowered their GDP growth forecast to 2.2%. www.gspublishing.com/content/rese...

The day begins with a former Fox host turned Trump administration official ranting at the media over his own failings and ends with a former Fox host turned Trump administration official ranting at a judge over her own failings.

Inventor and YouTuber Simone Giertz built an elegant chair that holds your half-dirty clothes while still functioning as a seat. www.wired.com/story/simone...

Under Trump's CFPB, two of the three major credit bureaus have sharply reduced the share of complaints they resolved in customers’ favor. In 2024, Experian’s relief rate was 20%. Last year, that figure fell to less than 1%: https://propub.li/3OY2qBw

"Palantir CEO Alex Karp says his AI technology will lessen the power of “highly educated, often female voters, who vote mostly Democrat” while increasing the power of working-class men." Just saying it right out loud now. newrepublic.com/post/207693/...

Poor little daffodil.

If you want to take credit for stopping a war, you need to call it a war now, not an excursion.

That should give Savannah Guthrie and her family so much comfort.

Can’t believe i lost a 65 game streak on that. Wordle 1,727 X/6 ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ 🟨⬜⬜⬜🟨 🟩🟨🟩⬜⬜ 🟩⬜🟩🟩🟩 🟩⬜🟩🟩🟩 🟩⬜🟩🟩🟩

I don’t think unconditional surrender is imminent.

This is how we got to this mess, not prosecuting guys like Trump early and every subsequent time they break the law.

I knew that the Department of War shot a missile into a school & killed 175 civilians, mostly children. This is learned today: Secretary of War Hegseth had cut the teams assigned to prevent such tragedies by 90%. www.npr.org/2026/03/11/n...

In the last 24 hours, Iran has: - Struck three ships trying to cross the Strait of Hormuz, disabling a Thai cargo ship - Blown up a large oil storage facility in Oman - Struck two oil tankers at harbor in Iraq, setting both ablaze. - Blown up oil storage tanks next to Bahrain’s main airport

Commentary: If you are one of Ohio’s nearly 8 million registered voters, Sec. of State Frank LaRose just gave your full name, address, date of birth, driver’s license and partial Social Security number, to Trump's Justice Department ohiocapitaljournal.com/2026/03/11/s...

“Refuge, the UK’s largest specialist domestic violence organisation, has revealed that referrals to its Technology-Facilitated Abuse and Economic Empowerment team rose by more than 62% in 2025 compared with the previous year.”

Speaking my language. #Maryland

Intel shareholder claims board gave US an equity stake to avoid Trump’s social media attacks www.ft.com/content/5506...

(Reuters) - U.S. intelligence indicates that Iran's leadership is still largely intact and is not at risk of collapse any time soon after nearly two weeks of relentless U.S. and Israeli bombardment, according to three sources familiar with the matter. uk.news.yahoo.com/exclusive-us...

It gets better. Here's Vance and Rubio in the Oval Office...

BREAKING: Major escalation in Iran conflict. Iranian military command says it will target US banks and financial institutions in the Middle East. 🚨It tells civilians to keep a distance of 1km from all US banks in the region. [SOURCE: REUTERS]

JFC. Iran has also announced that western tech companies (and their data centres!) are also now targets. Iran has worked out exactly how to cripple the western world of oil, food, fertiliser, finance and data. Trump has unleashed carnage - and he CANNOT put it back in its box. BUCKLE. UP.

This is hilarious. Also, completely enraging.

I was in a 2 hour briefing today on the Iran War. All the briefings are closed, because Trump can't defend this war in public. I obviously can't disclose classified info, but you deserve to know how incoherent and incomplete these war plans are. 1/ Here's what I can share:

BLACKROCK’s “Chart of the Week”: Over the past nine months — without health-care — job creation is net negative 347,000. 👀

Nasdaq is changing its rules to "entice" the SpaceX IPO to its exchange, which will fast-track the stock's inclusion in index funds... this effectively dumps Elon Musk's unprofitable garbage on vulnerable passive investors, and ensures new retirement accounts have to buy in.

It's like these fuckers have a competition, Apprentice-like, to see who can be the most inconceivably incompetent. www.wsj.com

"The Social Security inspector general’s office is investigating allegations that the former DOGE engineer took sensitive data on a thumb drive in a major potential security breach, said people familiar with the process."

Scoop: DHS ousted multiple privacy officers at CBP after they questioned orders to purposely mislabel records about government surveillance to prevent their release under FOIA.

* GERMAN FOREIGN MINISTER: WHAT WE HEAR FROM TEHRAN IS THAT THEY ARE NOT READY FOR A DIPLOMATIC SOLUTION @reuters.com

"Trump family-linked financial group [Dominari Securities] probed by congressional committee over Chinese stock scams" GOP-led committee. And Dominari is central to so much of Don Jr. and Eric's latest business, um, endeavors. George Steer for @financialtimes.com

"You want some Cuba? Why you've barely finished your Iran and Venezuela."