“‘We’ve won. Let me tell you, we’ve won. You know, you never like to say too early you won. We won. We won the – in the first hour it was over. We won,’ President Donald Trump declared, claiming ‘we won’ five times in just thirteen seconds at a Kentucky rally on March 11. We’ve seen such misbegotten braggadocio before. Six weeks into the elective invasion of Iraq, President George W. Bush starred in a campaign stunt when he landed on the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier wearing a flight suit. He stood under a ‘Mission Accomplished’ banner ordered up and paid for by White House spinmeisters. It was the ‘end of major combat operations,’ Bush said. Only it wasn’t.” (03/25/26)
“We are now in a global fossil fuel crisis. With oil and liquefied natural gas from the Persian Gulf unable to reach international markets due to Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, hydrocarbon prices have been soaring around the world and widespread shortages are emerging. Anyone who thought that the U.S. would be insulated from this dire picture thanks to its large domestic oil production has had a rude awakening: the average retail price of gasoline has risen more than $1 per gallon over the past month, while the price of diesel is up $1.60. But the Trump administration hasn’t allowed these short-run distractions to divert it from its long-run goals: It remains deeply committed to killing renewable energy, especially wind power, and increasing America’s reliance on fossil fuels.” (03/25/26)
“‘I’ve never been more pleased by ‘losing’ in my life,’ tweeted Jay Bhattacharya. What makes the Director of the National Institutes of Health a ‘loser?’ Well, the doctor (who also serves as current Acting Director of the Centers for Disease Control) has not always served in the federal government. In his days between Trump administrations he’d run afoul of censors on social media. Now he’s jubilant that a major case against censorship has come to a freedom-of-speech conclusion.” (03/25/26)
“The idea that there are huge swaths of the United States populace who want and need the right wing’s unreality — their alternative reality — is a farce: a gaudy, festering artifice constructed and maintained by a million people who need it to be real for financial, political, and cultural purposes. And it was on full horrifying display during Super Bowl LX in Santa Clara, where Bad Bunny sang his catchy Spanish-language pop tunes at halftime, intermingled with some nonoffensive and rather hopeful political messaging. This was preemptively framed by the American right as an assault on the country itself: a Spanish-speaking Latino man doing Latin music during the nation’s biggest sporting event. During a time of revanchist white supremacy, this would simply not do. … So they fled, as they always do, to an alternative venue: an all-American halftime show hosted by Turning Point USA.” (03/25/26)
“The Pentagon said on Wednesday it had reached framework agreements with BAE, Lockheed and Honeywell to boost production of defense systems and munitions as part of its shift to ‘wartime footing.’ … The announcements come more than three weeks after U.S. President Donald Trump and Israel launched a war on Iran.” (03/25/26)
“America is more fragmented and polarized than since the Civil War. More and more Americans are seeking refuge in the arms of movements seeking to upend the status quo. The center of the political world is losing more and more as the extremes offer alternatives and possible solutions to economic and cultural issues. Lest we think this is unique, history has a way of reminding us that something has already happened. The more our polarization grows, the more it seems that we are living in the Weimarization of America. This is not to say that America is becoming Germany, but instead that there is a dissatisfaction with the system that is similar to Germany on the cusp of the rise of Hitler.” (03/25/26)
“Shares of U.S. space companies were trading sharply higher on Wednesday following a late Tuesday report by The Information that SpaceX is aiming to file its initial public offering prospectus with regulators later this week or next week. According to the report, SpaceX could seek to raise more than $75 billion in the IPO. Various media outlets previously reported that the company may be looking at a valuation of as high as $2 trillion.” (03/25/26)
