Source: The Intercept
by Nick Turse
“The United States made war on three continents over three days earlier this month, conducting attacks in Africa, Asia, and South America. During that span, the U.S. also struck a civilian boat in the Pacific Ocean. The globe-spanning scope of the attacks represents one of the few instances since World War II that the United States has been simultaneously involved in armed conflicts with such a wide geographic sweep.” (03/19/26)
https://theintercept.com/2026/03/19/trump-world-wars-iran-somalia-boat-strikes/
Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff
“Ever since the launch of ChatGPT in 2022, news about the impact of artificial intelligence on jobs has vacillated between two four-letter words: fear and hype. As a result, about two-thirds of Americans believe AI will lead to fewer jobs, while the overpromising of AI’s potential has helped lead to a similar proportion of Americans not using AI much or at all in their jobs. By last year, however, surveys of AI’s actual impact in the workplace had started to roll in. And many indicate a move toward enhancing the application of reason, analytical judgment, and other skills of humans – and redefining intelligence to levels beyond the limits of a machine or the brain. One federal survey in the New York-northern New Jersey area found that a large share of businesses using AI are retraining workers to utilize the technology with no significant reductions in employment.” (03/18/26)
https://www.csmonitor.com/Editorials/the-monitors-view/2026/0318/The-big-lift-in-intelligence-from-AI
Source: CounterPunch
“The US/Israel War on Iran w/ Yassamine Mather.” (03/19/26)
https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/03/19/the-us-israel-war-on-iran-w-yassamine-mather/
Source: CBS News
“In a marked shift, commercial satellite companies that provide open-source data used widely by many, including journalists and researchers, have restricted access to images showing Iran and the wider Middle East, including areas where there are U.S. military sites that have been targeted by Iran’s retaliatory fire. Planet Labs, which regularly provides imagery used by news organizations including CBS News, said earlier this month that it was delaying the release of all new imagery of Iran, the Persian Gulf, U.S.-allied bases, and ‘existing conflict zones’ for 14 days. … The other large firm often relied on for satellite updates is Vantor, formerly called Maxar, which currently has controls in place on imagery from parts of the Middle East, a spokesperson said.” (03/19/26)
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/iran-war-satellite-companies-curb-access-mideast-imagery/
Source: New York Post
“Iran executed a 19-year-old champion wrestler in a public hanging Thursday along with two other people who were arrested during the brutal crackdown on anti-regime protesters in January. Saleh Mohammadi, a rising star from Qom, was allegedly tortured to confess to the capital crime of waging war against God, with the teen executed without a fair trial, according to human rights groups. ‘His execution was a blatant political murder, part of the Islamic Republic’s pattern of targeting athletes to crush dissent and terrorize society,’ Nima Far, a human rights activist and Iranian combat athlete, told Fox News. Mohammadi, along with fellow protesters Mehdi Ghasemi and Saeed Davoudi, were accused of killing two police officers ‘with knives and swords’ during the January protests, according to Iranian state media. Mohammadi was arrested during the brutal crackdown on anti-regime protesters in January.” (03/19/26)
https://nypost.com/2026/03/19/world-news/iran-executes-19-year-old-champion-wrestler-saleh-mohammadi-two-others/
Source: The Liberty Exchange
“Free Speech is for Losers: A Conversation with Bruce Pardy.” (03/19/26)
https://shows.acast.com/the-liberty-exchange/episodes/free-speech-is-for-losers-a-conversation-with-bruce-pardy
Source: The Bulwark
by Will Saletan
“In an autocracy, truth and falsehood aren’t resolved by fact-finding institutions. They’re dictated by the leader. This is what’s happening now in the United States. Donald Trump says he had to bomb Iran because it posed an imminent threat to the United States. And Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, says only Trump himself can judge whether that claim is true. In the years before America turned authoritarian, Gabbard didn’t talk this way. She insisted on testing the government’s claims against evidence.” (03/19/26)
https://www.thebulwark.com/p/tulsi-gabbard-dni-director-of-national-ignorance
Source: Reason
by Jeffrey A Singer & Patrick Eddington
“Consider this scenario. You’ve recently received a government-subsidized biowearable. Accordingly, the authorities now know when you’re sleeping, because the device reports your sleep cycle, location, and daily movements in real time to a cloud server accessible through a legal process. It knows when you’re home. It knows when you leave. Those data are then obtained by an FBI field office (either through direct purchase or, if necessary, a legal process), because a federal prosecutor has decided that your criticism of immigration enforcement operations and your social media posts supporting Immigration and Customs Enforcement protesters constitute ‘incitement to violence’ against federal agents. Under the Trump administration’s elastic (and legally dubious) domestic terrorism definitions and designations, that is enough to open a criminal investigation. And because the government has known for weeks when you’re at home sleeping, it knows exactly when to break down your door.” (03/19/26)
https://reason.com/2026/03/19/the-feds-are-investing-in-wearable-health-trackers-that-could-put-your-private-data-at-risk/
Source: Grist
by Juanpablo Ramirez-Franco
“There are no wind turbines on the Great Lakes — and it isn’t for lack of wind. This titanic network of interconnected freshwater lakes with a surface area larger than New England, New York, and New Jersey combined is theoretically ideal for wind farms. Winds sweeping across the lakes are stronger, more consistent, and less turbulent than those over land. The National Laboratory of the Rockies has estimated that the Great Lakes states have enough offshore wind potential to generate more than three times their combined annual electricity consumption. … the vast inland lakes remain untapped largely due to a lack of streamlined permitting processes at the state level and economic hurdles.” (03/19/26)
https://grist.org/energy/the-great-lakes-are-ideal-for-wind-energy-so-where-is-it/
Source: CBC News [Canadian state media]
“The Grammy-nominated rapper Afroman won a defamation lawsuit filed by seven Ohio sheriff’s deputies who sued him over music videos in which he used home security footage to mock their raid of his home. ‘We did it, America! Yeah, we did it! Freedom of speech! Right on! Right on!’ the 51-year-old rapper, born Joseph Foreman, shouted outside the courthouse after the Wednesday evening verdict. … The Adams County deputies [whined that] they were publicly harassed over the viral videos, which were viewed more than three million times on YouTube. The videos show rifle-wielding deputies busting down Afroman’s door, searching his shoes and suit pockets, and hungrily eyeing a cake on the kitchen table, inspiring one song’s title, Lemon Pound Cake. In other music videos, Afroman took aim at the deputies’ personal lives and called them ‘crooked cops’ because of $400 that went missing in the raid.” (03/19/26)
https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/afroman-wins-defamation-lawsuit-9.7134433
