Source: The American Conservative
by Liam Childers
“We’ve heard it all before. Pro-war MAGA commentators insist that every move President Donald Trump makes is a strategic masterstroke. The war with Iran is no exception. What appears to be a Middle Eastern quagmire in the making is not a blunder at all. Instead, this war is ‘really’ about China. Another oil shock is nothing to worry about. It is ‘really’ leverage against America’s ‘main rival.’ Another open-ended entanglement is not overextension. It is ‘really’ the opening act of a coherent Indo-Pacific strategy that the ‘America Lasters’ are too daft to understand. This is the 4D chess defense of the Iran war. It is also nonsense, cooked up by propagandists and consumed by those eager to believe Trump hasn’t betrayed his base.” (04/08/26)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/no-4d-chess-war-with-iran-helps-china/
Source: Seattle Times
“A group of new accounts on the prediction market Polymarket made highly specific, well-timed bets on whether the U.S. and Iran would reach a ceasefire on April 7, resulting in hundreds of thousands of dollars in profits for these new customers. These bets were made even though, in the hours before a two-week ceasefire was announced on Tuesday, President Donald Trump’s rhetoric had escalated sharply and there were few signals that a ceasefire deal was imminent. … An analysis of publicly available blockchain data from Polymarket, using the crypto analytics platform Dune, shows that at least 50 accounts, or wallets, placed substantial ‘Yes’ bets Tuesday before Trump announced the ceasefire in a Truth Social post at around 6:30 pm ET. These were the first bets made by these particular wallets.” (04/08/26)
https://archive.is/gg4mz
Source: Common Dreams
by Trita Parsi
“Yesterday began with Donald Trump issuing genocidal threats against Iran on social media and ended (just ten hours later) with the announcement of a 14-day ceasefire, on Iran’s terms. Even by the volatile standards of Trump’s presidency, the whiplash is extraordinary. What, then, have the two sides actually agreed to, and what might it mean? In a subsequent post, Trump asserted that Iran had agreed to keep the Strait of Hormuz open during the two-week pause in hostilities. Negotiations, he added, will proceed over that period on the basis of Iran’s 10-point plan, which he described as a ‘workable’ foundation for talks. … The United States has not, of course, signed on to all ten points. But the mere fact that Iran’s framework will anchor the negotiations amounts to a significant diplomatic victory for Tehran.” (04/08/26)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/trump-ceasefire
Source: ABC News
“Turkish authorities have detained nine people as part of an investigation into an attack on police outside a building housing the Israeli Consulate in Istanbul that left one assailant dead, Turkey’s state-run news agency reported Wednesday. Two other assailants were wounded and captured during Tuesday’s shootout in the city’s financial and business district, while two police officers sustained slight injuries, officials said. Israel had withdrawn its diplomats from Turkey over security concerns and deteriorating relations with Ankara shortly after the start of the war in Gaza, and officials said the consulate was closed at the time of the attack.” (04/08/26)
https://abcnews.com/International/wireStory/turkey-detains-9-attack-israeli-consulate-istanbul-131834148
Source: Show-Me Institute
“Grading Missouri Schools with Susan Pendergrass and Avery Frank.” (04/08/26)
https://showmeinstitute.org/article/education/grading-missouri-schools-with-susan-pendergrass-and-avery-frank/
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Trita Parsi
“Trump’s failed use of force has blunted the credibility of American military threats, introducing an entirely new dynamic into the diplomatic track.” (04/08/26)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/ceasefire-iran-us-israel/
Source: The Daily Economy
by Michael N Peterson
“The economist who predicted abundance also worried about displacement. He was only half right.” (04/08/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/why-keynes-would-have-feared-ai-and-why-we-shouldnt/
Source: CounterPunch
by Peter Bach
“At some point—and I can’t quite say when—it has become harder, at least from this side of the Atlantic, to separate our image of Donald Trump from the United States itself. The two have begun to blur in ways that feel new, and, frankly, unsettling. Until recently, I tried to be careful about this. I love my American friends. And it’s worth saying very plainly that millions of Americans continue to oppose these policies, often loudly and at great personal cost. Any criticism here is directed at decisions made in power, not at the people who live with their consequences. … However, as the consequences of Trump’s leadership continue to play out—not only in the Middle East but across much of Europe—that distinction has come under real strain.” (04/08/26)
https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/04/08/when-america-becomes-its-president/
Source: Bloomberg
“Ethiopia’s military is harboring and assisting the Rapid Support Forces, a paramilitary group accused of mass killings in Sudan, a Yale University research unit has found. The RSF has been sheltering in an Ethiopia National Defense Force camp in Asosa in the western Benishangul-Gumuz region, the Yale Humanitarian Research Lab, which tracks atrocities in conflict zones using open-source intelligence and satellite imagery, said in a report. Its investigations showed a new hangar and other construction had been undertaken at an airport at the military camp near Ethiopia’s border with Sudan. It also detected the movement of hundreds of vehicles, including large commercial carriers, over a period of several weeks, in the area and surrounds.” (04/08/26)
https://archive.is/JEtyM
Source: LP Alliance
“Grand Rapids Revolution: Bylaws for and by the Members!” (04/07/26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-q9fPw-Ddg
