“The world has learned enough from past energy crises to know that a shortage of a finite resource like oil requires help from a more boundless resource: trust and cooperation. That’s especially true as the Iran war led to a near-closure of the Strait of Hormuz to the petroleum exports from Gulf countries. From neighborhoods to the United Nations, the closure triggered shared action worldwide to ensure ensure energy supplies. One big reason: The crisis was the largest-ever disruption in the global oil market, according to the Paris-based International Energy Agency, even more serious than the energy crises of 1973, 1979, and 2022 combined.” (04/07/26)
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“Trump has announced a two-week ceasefire with Iran after previously threatening to exterminate their ‘entire civilization,’ citing ‘a 10 point proposal from Iran’ as the reason for the climb-down. Trump and his cronies are spinning this as a colossal victory for the United States and framing Tehran’s 10-point plan as a major capitulation to the president’s threats. But some reporters are noting that Iran has had the same terms on the table for weeks — which would mean that it is in fact the White House who is backing down.” (04/08/26)
“‘TACO,’ anti-Trump crackpot Rick Wilson posted on social media, shortly after the president announced a two-week cease-fire that has Iran agreeing to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. This ‘Trump always chickens out’ sentiment was repeated by left-wing pundits, who only hours before were furious that President Trump was threatening to ‘blow up the whole country.’ So which is it? You’re mad when he threatens to bomb a country, then mock him when he doesn’t? No matter how many times Trump turns to the same playbook — maximum pressure and outrageous threats to force a deal — Democrats and the press are shocked, shocked by his actions.” [editor’s note: Trump agreed to a ceasefire with the Iranian regime’s offer as the basis of further negotiation. Sure, he’s not in a bunker contemplating suicide as Iranian troops approach, but it’s still a clear and unambiguous loss – TLK] (04/07/26)
“Trump announced a two-week ceasefire on Tuesday, April 7, the 39th day of the Israeli-US war on Iran. He depended on Pakistani mediators and a 10-point peace plan put forward by Iran itself. It did not win as in, scoring a knockout. It won in the sense that if I went 12 rounds with Deontay Wilder and was still standing up at the end of it, it would count as a win.” (04/08/26)
“When President Donald Trump [pretended he had] changed the name of the Department of Defense to the Department of War last year, many saw it as merely a branding exercise, but as the fierceness of Operation Epic Fury in Iran has shown us, it was much, much more than that. On Easter Sunday, our military pulled off a daring rescue of a downed airman behind enemy lines, and what it made clear, once again, is that Trump’s Department of [Defense] is run by soldiers, not by experts, and the results are phenomenal. As Secretary of [Defense] and former frontline veteran Pete Hegseth has put it many times, his Pentagon will focus on ‘maximum lethality, not tepid legality.'” [editor’s note: If Hegseth is Secretary of War and heads a Department of War, he and it need to return all the money Congress appropriated to the Department of Defense – TLK] (04/07/26)
“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)
“The United States must be growing and prosperous at home and strong and secure in the face of the many security threats facing us abroad. The former can only be achieved with free markets and limited government domestically and the latter through a robust defense [sic] budget. On both fronts, Democrats would take the country in the exact opposite direction needed. Voters seem to understand this. RealClearPolitics reports Democratic Party favorability at -20.0 unfavorable and Republicans at -15.4 unfavorable. Nevertheless, in polling on the overall congressional election for 2026, RealClearPolitics shows Democrats up +6.0. Two things may explain this disconnect: One, although voters show generically more favorability to Republicans, Republicans are still underwater in overall favorability. Second, when voters are overall not happy with how things are going, they vote against the party in power.” (04/08/26)
“A US soldier’s wife who was [abducted] by immigration agents at the military base where he is stationed (just days after their wedding) has been released. Annie Ramos, 22, an undocumented immigrant who came to the US as a toddler, was [abducted] on 2 April and spent five days at a detention centre alongside hundreds facing deportation under the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. Immigration officials described Ramos as ‘an illegal [sic] alien from Honduras’ who was arrested after attempting to enter a military base. ‘I feel awesome. Relieved. Relieved,’ Staff Sergeant Matthew Blank told the New York Times after his wife’s release. ‘These have been the worst days of my life. I can’t wait to carry my wife into our home and start our lives together. I’m complete and ready to serve our country. And it’s her country, too!'” (04/08/26)
“The head of the Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday defended his decision to repeal the legal determination that serves as the basis for federal rules to slow climate change, telling a gathering of climate change skeptics that they should ‘celebrate vindication.’ EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin made the remarks in the keynote address at a conference hosted by the Heartland Institute, a conservative think tank that rejects mainstream climate science and what it calls ‘climate alarmism.’ Zeldin told the gathering that repeal of the 2009 ‘endangerment finding’ reversed decades of unthinking adherence to liberal politicians and environmental groups about the dangers of climate change. ‘Today is a day to celebrate. It is a day to celebrate vindication,’ said Zeldin, a former Republican congressman from New York who is widely believed to be under consideration for a possible promotion to attorney general, following Pam Bondi’s forced departure last week.” (04/08/26)
“If I asked you to name the most unpopular Supreme Court justice, you might choose the venal Clarence Thomas or the perpetually enraged Samuel Alito. In either event, you’d be wrong. Americans’ least popular member of the high tribunal is Brett ‘I like beer’ Kavanaugh. Poll after poll has shown Kavanaugh taking the honor since his nomination in 2018. Kavanaugh also holds the honor of being President Donald Trump’s favorite justice, an accolade he earned with his dissenting opinion from the court’s February invalidation of Trump’s worldwide ‘reciprocal tariffs.’ Kavanaugh is now poised to deliberate on pending voting rights cases and a ruling on birthright citizenship under the 14th Amendment. It’s frightening but indisputable: The future of American law may rest in his ideological, incompetent hands.” (04/08/26)
