WSJ: The likelihood of Iran closing the strait was discussed, Gen Caine predicted it, and Trump decided “Tehran would likely capitulate before closing the strait — and even if Iran tried, the U.S. military could handle it.” www.wsj.com/politics/nat...

This is exactly how Putin became one of the wealthiest men in the world. He got a cut of every major industry. That's exactly what is going on here.

The Chinle Formation - come for the climbing ripples, stay for the reptile footprints. #FossilFriday #triassicpark 🧪🦖

Breaking news: A jury convicted people who protested outside an ICE facility in Texas of providing material support to terrorists, and other charges in a closely watched case in which the gov't argued the protesters were "Antifa". www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

Someone at the NYT asked me a couple years ago for an opinion piece on "how to solve the Colorado River water crisis." So I made a nice little writeup on the most obvious answer: charging for water. Once the editorial board saw it, they freaked out & cancelled the piece.

The thing about this is (1) Hegseth manages to look bad regardless, and (2) even if he didn't, turning these things into clown shows means fewer people are going to bother with it, so it's less effective as propaganda. The "neutral" press *help* competent administrations get their message out.

From U.S. District Judge James Boasberg's ruling: "What is these subpoenas’ dominant purpose? A mountain of evidence suggests that the dominant purpose is to harass Powell to pressure him to lower rates"

JUDGE BOASBERG: “.. the Government has produced essentially zero evidence to suspect Chair Powell of a crime; indeed, its justifications are so thin and unsubstantiated that the Court can only conclude that they are pretextual." @nbcnews.com www.nbcnews.com/business/eco...

I’m sure it’s just a coincidence that the maximum capacity of their pipeline is 7 million bpd. Big vote of confidence in the USA.

BREAKING: Exactly one year since she was detained, an immigration judge has just ordered the release of Leqaa Kordia — the last Columbia protestor still in ICE detention. DHS has kept her, despite a magistrate judge recommending her release and an immigration judge already *twice* ordering so.

Let’s play everyone’s favorite game: ICE or IRGC?

So to review: Oil > $100 a barrel, ~30% increase at pump. Mortgages >6%. We replaced one Supreme Leader with his more hardline son, whose whole family we killed. We murdered ~160 girls. Everybody in world but Bibi is pissed at us. Spent more in 1 week on war than USAID costed for 6 months.

Nobody goes full Gallipoli

as Trump reportedly considers sending ground troops in to open the straight of hormuz, it's worth remembering how much extra, unnecessary danger it puts US troops in to preemptively declare "we will murder soldiers who surrender to us" (which is what "no quarter" means)

Remember great power competition? Spheres of influence? In a neo-royalist world collusion is just as likely. Iran crisis offers US a window to lift Russia sanctions. Next stop for Trump...Beijing. www.cambridge.org/core/journal... www.nytimes.com/2026/03/12/u...

The implication here is that a year of secret police crackdowns fueled by racial profiling have left thousands of sleeper agents unmolested, great stuff. *FOX NEWS RADIO AIRS TRUMP INTERVIEW RECORDED ON THURSDAY *TRUMP ON IRANIAN SLEEPER CELLS: THERE COULD BE MORE THAN 1,700

This is the best product review I’ve read: samhenri.gold/blog/2026031... It doesn’t matter if you’re interested in the MacBook Neo or not; this is the kind of essay that makes you think about the potential of technology and the joys of exploration.

Meanwhile, back on the homefront . . . .

"...considering licensing Gemini from Google as a temporary solution."

The Pentagon dismantled its civilian protection effort as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth made “lethality” a top priority and the Trump administration reorganized national security around two principles: more aggression, less accountability.

Ms Rachel talking to Deiver Henao, a 9yo in an immigration detention center www.instagram.com/reel/DVzUzoz... What a world

This administration has bollixed the Strait of Hormuz and sent gas prices soaring, yet _still_ wants to wage holy war against fuel-efficiency and emissions requirements? Sheer insanity.

Not pictured in this graph: Democratic administrations, who we were told were war mongers during the 2024 campaign.

This is why their “flex” is bombing little girls at school on the other side of the world

English is a tough language. Because we adopted the German printing presses, we dropped all the alphabetic characters which captured our language. We should bring one or two of the old letters to fix the complicated spelling. But ƿhy stop þere? If ƿe þouȝt about it, ƿe could go furðer.

An active shooter at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield. "Early information from people in the area is that a driver pulled onto the sidewalk and crashed into the building, at Entrance 5." www.audacy.com/wwjnewsradio...

Solar does not care about the Strait of Hormuz. Oil flows through chokepoints. Solar follows a learning curve. Great piece @azeem.bsky.social www.exponentialview.co/p/solar-supe...

You’re laughing? This is the AI value proposition and you’re laughing?

The future if we stopped letting Republicans destroy the world every four to eight years.

yeah same

The majority of Americans can't afford an unexpected $1,000 emergency expense, and in a country with notably expensive health care, this is a recipe for disaster. And of course, this has ripple effects because the Trump Admin blocked a Biden Admin effort to keep medical debt off credit reports.

Slotkin: "If Russia is helping to kill US forces, we have crossed a rubicon. We have to take decisive action on that. Instead, we're giving them breaks on oil. They're making a ton of money."

27/ Remember the frantic bidding war for vaccines and masks in Covid? In week 2 of Hormuz shock, a process of triage has begun. Gas is an industrial feedstock. Refineries and Indutries are starting to compete. Explained well here:

Look, we’ve only always been at war with Eurasia for only about two weeks.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright: "We're less than two weeks into this 47 year long conflict"

lmao let’s goooo

This will be important for the eventual war crimes trial

I will only believe that claude can research like a phd student when it doesn’t actually do the reading but manages to sail through the seminar anyway.

The radar installation in Qatar that was destroyed by Iran was a strategic level asset. You're probably picturing a big radar dish. The AN/FPS-132 is more of a massive, multistory concrete building that looks like a cut pyramid. A major civil engineering project. There was ONE in the Middle East.

This is a thing that is within their control and they absolutely should make their negotiating position

Trump may not have defined US strategy. But Iran has defined its objectives.

Nice Fascism you got there. Would be a shame if it got doomed to failure due to a fundamental inability to objectively assess the strength of the opposition.

I miss Trader Joe

MAGA's rhetoric of western civilizational emergency is so weird. They look at ICE arresting grandmothers and they see the ancient Greeks defeating the Persians or the Franks stopping the Islamic invaders in 732. Everyone else sees ICE arresting grandmothers. newrepublic.com/article/2076...

One thing I'd encourage is to think less about crude and more about products. The loss of product supply is greater than the loss of crude supply (because crude makes products and the Gulf also exports products). And demand *for crude* can drop as availability does.

turns out that the goals of "get foreign populace to rise up at great personal risk against a legitimately oppressive and evil regime" and "lethalitymaxxing without regard for human life, civilian infrastructure, or that populace's cultural treasures" are not entirely congruent with one another

In other words, for a while missing barrels (20% of global supply) cannot be replaced *at any price*, market failure. Products do NOT have that problem, because they're a final consumption product rather than an intermediate input (well, at least in part, obviously it's a bit more complicated).

Pete Hegseth gutted Pentagon oversight, calling the rules of war "stupid." He slashed the Middle East casualty team from 10 experts to one. Then came the Minab strike: 170 girls and 14 teachers dead. The Pentagon’s "inability to confirm" its role is the outcome Hegseth engineered.

A Noem aide spent $3 million on pickup trucks emblazoned with the ICE name & logo, which ICE agents -- notoriously averse to advertising their presence -- will not drive, so they're just sitting in a lot, useless. The contract went to a Trump donor who owns a regional Chevy dealership.