How Iran Won the Meme Wars
Source: The Nation
by Jeet Heer
“While Donald Trump panders to MAGA, Iranian satire is reaching a global audience.” (04/13/26)
https://www.thenation.com/article/world/iran-lego-videos-trump-hegseth-memes/
US home sales fell in March
Source: ABC News
“Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes fell in March to their slowest pace nine months, as easing mortgage rates failed to motivate home shoppers during what’s traditionally been the busiest time of the year for the housing market. Existing home sales fell 3.6% last month from February to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.98 million units, the National Association of Realtors said Monday. Sales also fell 1% compared with March last year, weighed down by declines in the Northeast and Midwest. The latest sales figure fell short of the roughly 4.06 million pace economists were expecting, according to FactSet.” (04/13/26)
https://abcnews.com/Business/wireStory/us-home-sales-fall-march-marking-slow-start-131993414
Finding Freedom, 04/13/26
Source: Lions of Liberty
“Paradise Lost: The Dubai Expat Crisis with Mikkel Thorup.” (04/13/26)
https://www.lionsofliberty.com/episodes/ff-paradise-lost-the-dubai-expat-crisis-with-mikkel-thorup
How silencing medical debates puts patients at risk
Source: Expression
by Alison Riddoch
“Some topics in medicine can be uncomfortable to discuss. But debate and disagreement are signs of conversations worth having, not problems to be avoided. It is only through open discussion that we can meaningfully address questions about ethics, patient care, and medical judgment. When educational institutions censor these conversations, they prevent the very debate necessary for informed decision-making, leaving students less equipped to navigate the ethical and clinical challenges of their chosen fields. Regardless of one’s views on late-term abortion, the ethical questions it raises are a reality that future medical practitioners must confront.” (04/13/26)
https://expression.fire.org/p/how-silencing-medical-debates-puts
The Doomed Road to Tehran
Source: The American Conservative
by Scott McConnell
“Policymakers have not understood that the Iran War is more akin to Vietnam than Iraq.” (04/13/26)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/the-doomed-road-to-tehran/
France: Court rules cement gian Lafarge guilty of funding Syria terrorism
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“A French court has found cement group Lafarge guilty of financing ‘terrorism’ through its Syrian subsidiary, fining the company and jailing its former CEO. The Paris court ruled on Monday that Lafarge had paid protection money directly to ISIL (ISIS) and other armed groups and breached European sanctions to operate in northern Syria during the country’s civil war in 2013-2014. The case is just the latest of several concerning the company’s conduct during the conflict. The court ordered Lafarge to pay a fine of 1.12 million euros ($1.32m), and for 30 million euros ($35.1m) worth of its assets to be confiscated. An additional fine was levied for having disregarded international sanctions. The ruling can be appealed.” (04/13/26)
A Confrontation with Truth
Source: The Reframe
by AR Moxon
“If you live where I live, which is the United States, your country has been at war overseas for the last many weeks, and also for your entire life. The latest iteration of this war is between a fanatical religious autocracy whose militaristic posture, nuclear ambitions, and zeal for apocalyptic outcomes threatens the future of human life on the planet, and Iran. Yes, despite the best efforts of corporate media propaganda outlets to try to channel the U.S.’s latest needless adventures in overseas civilian-murder into more traditional narratives of American exceptionalism, it has not escaped the attention of most people that the current temporary U.S. president and longtime child rapist Don Trump is utterly deranged.” (04/13/26)
Peru: Fujimori leads presidential vote, heads toward runoff amid fraud claims
Source: Miami Herald
“Keiko Fujimori appeared headed for yet another presidential runoff in Peru after early results from Sunday’s election showed her leading a fragmented field, setting up a potential showdown with ultraconservative former Lima mayor Rafael López Aliaga in a vote shaped by rising crime, political instability and disputes over the electoral process. … The preliminary outcome, if confirmed, would mark the fourth consecutive time Fujimori advances to a second round. She previously lost runoffs in 2011, 2016 and 2021, but her latest showing suggests she remains one of the most durable political figures in the country despite years of polarization surrounding her candidacy and the legacy of her father, former President Alberto Fujimori, the authoritarian leader who governed Peru from 1990 to 2000, and who remains one of the country’s most polarizing figures.” (04/13/26)
The Last Top Jock? Trump as the GOAT (or So He Believes)
Source: TomDispatch
by Robert Lipsyte
“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)
Study: Majority of Australian kids are still on banned social media platforms
Source: Engadget
“Many countries are pursuing social media bans for anyone under 16, but a recent poll is putting the effectiveness of such laws into question. The Molly Rose Foundation, a charity organization that focuses on preventing online harm, recently published a study that polled 1,050 Australian children between ages 12 and 15 in March. The study’s results showed that 61 percent of those between 12 and 15 who previously had access to affected social media platforms still have one or more active accounts. Australia made a first-in-the-world decision to ban social media for those under 16 years old, beginning on December 10. While it’s only been a few months since the ban went into effect, the foundation’s poll concluded that the ban doesn’t have a ‘clear positive or negative impact on children’s wellbeing.’ The study also noted that 70 percent of children trying to get on restricted platforms said that it was easy to get around the ban.” (04/13/26)