Great graph. It reminds me of this classic by the Wall Street Journal's graphics team: graphics.wsj.com/infectious-d...

Iran has charged $2mn each to allow ships safe passage through the strait. In normal times about 140 ships a day make the journey…crude calculation suggests that if Iran succeeds in setting up a toll booth on the strait it’d add billions of dollars/month to state coffers www.ft.com/content/04f6...

New investigation from @trbrtc.bsky.social and @johnismay.bsky.social on an American PrSM (missile) being used against an Iranian sports hall and school. These missiles were filmed being fired from a HIMARS in Bahrain weeks ago. Gift Link: www.nytimes.com/2026/03/29/w...

This story is insane. Married an American, arrested at her greencard interview, flown out of state, nearly killed multiple times when her diabetes was ignored and then mistreated. When she finally got out? Found out her credit card had been used illegally. www.daylightsandiego.org/san-diego-wo...

Reuters: Pope Leo said on ‌Sunday that God rejects the prayers of leaders who start wars and have "hands full of blood", in unusually forceful remarks as the Iran war entered its second month. www.reuters.com/world/pope-l...

🚨 THIS JUST IN: With over 100 protests still to come, we can already estimate that at least 8 million people participated in No Kings protests today. That makes No Kings 3 the largest single day of protest in American history. #NoKings

No Kings #TwinCities

“No kings. No theocracy. No Christian nationalism. Each of these is an expression of following Jesus. And everyone who marches is blessed as we live out our Matthew 5 calling to be peacemakers and thirst for righteousness.” sojo.net/articles/opi... #NoKings

Excellent - and so rare!! - overview of the role of Europe for US mil operations. “Europe remains the bedrock of U.S. force projection in the world and any action to cut those ties with Europe “would be a huge loss to the U.S.,” said Bence Nemeth. “It would cost time, money and resources.””

www.ft.com/content/4f09... Genuinely hard to overstate how much of a strategic defeat it would be for the United States if the war ends with effective Iranian control of the Strait.

So proud to announce that detainees held at Alligator Alcatraz won their preliminary injunction and motion for class certification in challenging lack of access to counsel. www.courtlistener.com/docket/71155... /1

Viktor Orban wants Hungarians to re-elect him, even though he has turned Hungary into the most corrupt and one of the poorest countries in the EU. To do so, he is telling Hungarians to fear sabotage, thievery, or even a military attack from … Ukraine www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

Another compelling and deeply informed piece on Iran from my colleague Narges Bajoghli.

The Economist is on a roll.

Hungary’s government filed espionage charges against investigative journalist Szabolcs Panyi, who reported on Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó's communications with Moscow.

FT: Russia is close to completing a phased shipment of drones, medicine and food to Iran, according to western intelligence reports that detail Moscow’s efforts to keep its embattled partner fighting www.ft.com/content/d5d7...

A jury determined that Meta and Google were negligent and failed to warn users of the dangers associated with using YouTube, Instagram in a landmark social media addiction trial

“Mano advised one Zimbabwean who went on to attend Duke, Yale & Harvard and is now an oncologist specializing in lung cancer at Memorial Sloan Kettering. Another earned his PhD from Wash U, & helped develop the Covid-19 vaccine at Pfizer. “‘This is the kind of talent we’re shutting out,’ Mano said”

"At Duke, he had maintained good grades and hoped to qualify for medical school. He found a welcoming community in a Christian student organization." Well reported details of more pointless cruelty. www.wsj.com/world/africa...

Where oil and gas normally travel by tanker ship from the Persian Gulf. A story by @lazarogamio.bsky.social, Blacki Migliozzi and River Akira Davis 🎁 tinyurl.com/5dd83fk3 #sankey

Trump's 15 point plan to end the war looks suspiciously like the JCPOA that Obama and major US allies negotiated in 2015, and Trump tore up when he came to office in 2017. We're back where we started. www.washingtonpost.com/world/2026/0...

Sarah Mullally is being enthroned at Canterbury Cathedral this morning. She's the first female Archbishop of Canterbury in 1,400 years. She's walking into an institution that is increasingly irrelevant, scandal-hit, and divided over whether a gay-friendly woman should lead it at all. My long read:

Must read. A military strategy guy writes: “There is a frequent mistake, often from folks who deal in economics, to assume that countries will give up on wars when the economics turn bad.“

U.S. spouses and children are caught up in the effects of President Trump’s mass deportations, which are pushing some families into financial ruin www.wsj.com/articles/tru...

If there’s a better commentator out there on US politics than Ed Luce I’d like to see it, here’s his column today www.ft.com/content/2656...

This is heartbreaking — and so so so unnecessary:

The day the Affordable Care Act passed was one of my proudest moments as president, because it meant that millions of Americans would have access to health care, some for the first time.

Ugandan security officers are acting as “‘a criminal network taking advantage of the law as a weapon to extort,” said Frank Mugisha, an Ugandan gay-rights activist. “People deemed to belong to the LGBTQ community are routinely surveilled, targeted and harassed into making huge payments.’”

The Supreme Court refuses to review an odious 5th Circuit decision granting qualified immunity to Texas officials who arrested a citizens-journalist in retaliation against her posing questions to public officials. Sotomayor has an appropriately furious dissent: www.supremecourt.gov/orders/court...

Our latest on the Orban System: how a dozen or so businessmen closely tied to the Hungarian premier hit gold from state contracts when he took over www.ft.com/content/70c2...

The Iranian prisons where the U.S.-Israeli bombing campaign is threatening the lives of dissidents, protesters and American hostages.

I think some day, when the story of the Trump administration’s lurch towards autocracy is written from a historical perspective, Abrego García’s case will be a touchstone. Perhaps the clearest example of its sheer vindictiveness

“Russia is not the only outside power potentially looking to prop up Orban in one of the toughest campaigns of his career. Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited Budapest last month, telling Orban that ‘your success is our success.’” 🙃

Trump lies "about American support for Ukraine,which he repeatedly describes as worth $300 billion or more.The real number is closer to $50 billion,over 3 years.At current rates,Trump will spend that much in 3 months in the Middle East,in the course of starting a war rather than trying to stop one"

My first @liberalism.org essay is now up. It's called "Immigration Restrictions Restrict Americans' Liberties." Very pleased to be part of this important project established by @theihs.org: www.liberalism.org/p/immigratio...

US one-year breakeven inflation rate moves to 5.32% as global investors price in a move in inflation to that level. #Econ #EconSky

Texas keeps failing to release people from jail when their time is over, leaving people languishing there unable to be released www.texastribune.org/2026/03/19/t...

“largest supply disruption in the history of the oil market”

“The United States has spent years building sanctions architecture specifically designed to constrict Russia and Iran. Within three weeks of this conflict starting, we’re tearing it to shreds. www.washingtonpost.com/world/2026/0...

More than 1000 political prisoners remain behind bars. At the rate of a few releases every few months, #Lukashenka is extracting significant benefits from the US at little cost to himself, since the most provocative prisoners are forcibly deported. /3 www.theguardian.com/world/2025/d...

Trump's special envoy to #Belarus & #Ukraine traded the release of 250 Belarusian political prisoners for sanctions relief. While freedom for these prisoners is truly good, unfortunately, the real winner is the Belarusian regime (& its patron, Russia)./1 www.reuters.com/business/us-...

The reckless campaign against Iran will weaken America’s president. That will make him angry. Be warned: he makes a very bad loser econ.st/4bAtZby

The US is attacking Iran. Russia is helping Iran target US forces. For all we know Russia is co-responsible for the deaths of US soldiers. And yet Trump has made Russia the main winner of the war thus far by lifting oil sanctions. I can’t think of anything like this.

New piece in @nytopinion.nytimes.com arguing that the economy since Trump took office looks an awful lot like the economy in the year before he took office. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/18/o...

Tens of millions more people will face acute hunger if the Iran war continues through to June, according to analysis from the World Food Programme released on Tuesday. The US-Israeli attacks on Iran that began on Feb 26 have choked up key humanitarian aid routes, delaying life-saving shipments to

Very good overview of the Pakistan-Afghanistan conflict here by @amirajadoon.bsky.social Biggest concern from my perspective is that the Islamic State Khorasan finds room to expand amid the conflict warontherocks.com/2026/03/open...

I have had COUNTLESS convos where reporters ask me “okay but Trump hasn’t actually deported as many people as Biden (or Obama), right?” and what I try to stress in response is “the real story is how hard it is, and getting harder, for us even to know.” Must-read. apnews.com/article/trum...

Breaking news: ‘One Battle After Another’ wins Oscar for Best Picture, capping a night in which it took home five other awards. See the full list of winners: https://wapo.st/4bgLmOo

Warner Bros. ties the studio record for most Oscars on a single night, winning 11 for three films combined. Three other studios have won 11 Oscars on a single night in the past: MGM (BEN-HUR), Paramount (TITANIC) and New Line (LORD OF THE RINGS: RETURN OF THE KING).