“Although the international community still knows very little about the highest-level peace talks between the US and Iran in 47 years, facilitated by Shehbaz Sharif, the Prime Minister of Pakistan, some obvious red flags appeared in the morning-after news reports—as JD Vance, Steve Witkoff, and Jared Kushner flew home less than 24 hours after their arrival in Islamabad. As The New York Times reported: ‘Vice President JD Vance summed up the failure of 21 hours of negotiations with Iran in one sentence: ‘They have chosen not to accept our terms.’ To Iranian officials, that line reflected their biggest problem with the talks: The United States they argue, had not come to negotiate.'” (04/14/26)
“Los Angeles schools avoided a strike that would have impacted nearly 400,000 students in Southern California as the school district and the union representing support staff reached a tentative deal early Tuesday. Local 99 of the Service Employees International Union announced on social media that it won a tentative agreement with ‘major gains’ including raises and more hours. The district announced that an agreement in principle had been reached with SEIU Local 99 allowing schools to be open Tuesday and they would work to finalize the details of a tentative agreement. SEIU Local 99 said the tentative deal also included protections against subcontracting, stopped IT layoffs and increased staffing. SEIU Local 99 told members to report to work as usual on Tuesday and thanked its fellow unions and the Los Angeles community, saying the ‘victory belongs to ALL of us.'” (04/14/26)
“While families struggle with high gas prices in the wake of the Iran war, many American workers are getting help this year from an unlikely place: the Internal Revenue Service. Tax refunds from the IRS are up almost 14% from last year — another reason to file your taxes by Wednesday’s deadline, especially if you’re affected by a handful of changes to the tax code. Last Summer, the One Big Beautiful Bill became law, preserving some tax cuts that would’ve expired but also introducing a few new tax cuts too. Because many of the law’s provisions were made retroactive for the entirety of 2025, these changes significantly reduced some Americans’ tax liabilities, resulting in today’s big refunds.” (04/14/26)
“Spain’s government has approved plans to give legal status to 500,000 undocumented migrants, allowing them to be integrated formally into the workforce. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez described his government’s decision as both ‘an act of justice’ and a necessity for Spain. In a letter to Spaniards posted on social media, Sánchez, a socialist, said the mass legalisation sought ‘to acknowledge the reality of nearly half a million people who already form part of our everyday lives’. Spain’s conservative opposition People’s Party (PP) has pledged to attempt to block the legalisation, which it said rewards illegal migrants and would encourage more to come. The government’s plan will offer a one-year, renewable residence permit to undocumented migrants. In order to be eligible, applicants must prove that they have already spent five months living in Spain and have a clean criminal record.” (04/14/26)
“More than 17,000 American and Filipino military personnel will participate in one of their largest annual combat exercises in the Philippines that underscore the United States’ staunch commitment to Asia despite its preoccupation with the Middle East, a U.S. military official said Tuesday. During the April 20-May 8 maneuvers, called the Balikatan, Japanese forces will fire a missile in a ship-sinking exercise in northwestern Philippine waters facing the disputed South China Sea. Japan’s defense chief has been invited to witness the live-fire drill, Philippine military officials said. The large-scale combat drills between the U.S. and Philippines, which are longtime treaty allies, will expand this year to include other friendly forces, including those from Japan, France and Canada, which have signed visiting forces agreements with Manila, the Philippine military said.” (04/14/26)
Source: The American Prospect
by David Dayen, Emma Janssen & Whitney Curry Wimbish
“It may seem strange to focus on consequences while the war is still occurring, but the truth is that the die has already been cast when the Strait of Hormuz became a choke point rather than a natural waterway. This will have deep implications on economic security, technology, energy, and geopolitics, which we can now begin to chronicle, regardless of the ultimate outcome of the fighting between the U.S., Israel, and Iran.” (04/14/26)
“Seventy-five years ago, my father and I gazed down from the stands at Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle in the outfield at Yankee Stadium. I was thrilled by the sight of two heroes of my time, but Dad was not impressed. He had seen Babe Ruth. I think about that now, in a time desperate for such symbolic representatives of our better selves, which we once derived from sports figures like Mickey, Joe, and the Babe. They distracted us from pain and poverty. They gave us hope. I wonder if the answer to ‘Where Have You Gone, Joe DiMaggio?’ (that line from Simon and Garfunkel’s famed song ‘Mrs. Robinson’) is the same as to so many other wrenching questions these days: Donald Trump. Consider the following: Until he wore himself (and his welcome) out with such excess, he was indeed superb at commanding attention and winning ugly.” (04/12/26)
“You know what a blanket party is. Popular at sleepover parties, military barracks and prisons, it’s when you throw a blanket over someone’s head so that everyone can take free shots to the guest of honor’s head and ribs. California Democrats, and some in Washington as well, threw a surprise blanket party for Rep. Eric Swalwell Friday night. I don’t mean to traffic in redundancy. A party like this is by definition a surprise for the guy under the blanket. The real surprise is that it was organized at all. Mr. Swalwell, 45, is a seven-term congressman from the Bay Area. He ran for president in 2020, staying in the race just long enough to participate in one debate. … you have to imagine someone backstage on the Biden team, aka the Democratic Party Machine, writing Mr. Swalwell’s name in a little book under the heading ‘Dead Men.'” (04/13/26)
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“Everyone hates Israel now, which is as it should be. But we all need to understand that Israel has never acted alone. If Israel were acting alone, it would be an asshole with a pointy stick instead of an asshole with an attack helicopter. The west gave it the attack helicopter. An asshole with a pointy stick is not much of a problem. The world is full of assholes with pointy sticks. Get yourself your own pointy stick and you can deter their aggressions without much difficulty. An asshole with an attack helicopter can ruin everyone’s day. He can fuck everything up and kill whoever he wants — even people who have pointy sticks. He doesn’t need to negotiate with anyone. He doesn’t need to be polite or diplomatic. You just have to give him whatever he wants or he’ll fly over there and chain gun you and your family.” (04/13/26)
“The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was founded in 1949 and has grown to 32 nations. Not surprisingly, the United States of America is the largest contributor to the organization, supplying 16 percent of the overall NATO budget and having the largest expenditure on national defense, totaling $980 billion, which is 62 percent of the overall defense spending of all member nations. Realizing that many nations were freeloading and not contributing their fair share, in 2014, the leadership of NATO mandated that members spend at least two percent of their Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on defense spending. Unfortunately, in 2024, then-NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg admitted that nine member nations had still not met their two percent goal. The new goal for NATO is for members to spend 3.5 percent of their annual budget on defense spending by 2035. Currently, only three nations have met that goal.” (04/13/26)
