The Pentagon on Tuesday ordered a couple thousand paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division to deploy to the Middle East, U.S. officials said, as President Donald Trump weighs a significant escalation in the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran and declines to rule out putting U.S. troops on Iranian soil.
Army paratroopers assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, prepare to board an aircraft in 2020. (Hubert Delany III AP)
U.S. officials approved written orders for soldiers from the division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team and the 82nd’s headquarters at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, said two U.S. officials and a third person familiar with the move, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. Verbal orders previously had been approved, two people said. It is not yet clear whether they will deploy to Iran itself, officials said.
Many of the soldiers are with the division’s Immediate Response Force, a unit that is trained to deploy on 18 hours’ notice for missions as varied as seizing airfields and other critical infrastructure, reinforcing U.S. embassies and enabling emergency evacuations. Immediate Response Force duties rotate among infantry units in the 82nd Airborne Division.
The orders follow weeks of speculation about whether the 82nd Airborne, commanded by Maj. Gen. Brandon Tegtmeier, would join the war, after its headquarters unit abruptly pulled out of a training exercise early this month at Fort Polk in Louisiana as Trump approved a sustained bombing campaign against Iran.
Last week, U.S. officials said the Pentagon was making plans to send soldiers from the 82nd Airborne to key areas in Iran, but it was not yet clear if the administration would approve the deployment to the region or, more specifically, onto Iranian soil.
The Army deployment comes as three warships carrying about 4,500 troops from the Tripoli Amphibious Ready Group neared the Middle East. The group includes the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit based in Okinawa, Japan — a specialized Marine Corps unit that includes about 2,200 personnel, including an infantry battalion of about 800.
A similar unit, the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, recently deployed early from San Diego but is weeks away from arriving in the Middle East. The unit, embarked on warships that include the USS Boxer, could eventually replace or supplement the 31st MEU in the region, officials said.
Thursday Political Cartoons: Us and Them
Posted: March 26, 2026 Filed under: just because 2 Comments
Yesterday was a whirlwind for me, I spent most of the day getting a couple of tattoos that celebrate my love of classic horror movies and Italian horror films in the genre called Giallo.
The tattoos are based on the movie The Tingler and Black Sunday.
I think they are just incredible. They were designed and inked by:
Anyway, I just wanted to share that with you all…
Now for the cartoons, via Cagle:
Be safe out there…
Wednesday Reads: Trump’s War in Iran and Other News
Posted: March 25, 2026 Filed under: just because | Tags: 82nd Airborne, Donald Trump, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Iran military spokesman Ebrahim Zolfaghari, Iran War, Iran war negotiations, Jack Smith, Jared Kushner, JD Vance, Pakistan, Paul Krugman, Steve Witkoff, Strait of Hormuz, TREASON 7 CommentsGood Day!!
I’ve been scanning the headlines for awhile now, trying to make sense of what’s happening in Trump’s war with Iran. I’m still confused.
Trump keeps saying that he’s already won the war, but he’s sending thousands of troops to the region. He apparently sent a peace plan to Iran that they have already rejected, offering an alternative proposal.
CNN has a summary of the latest moves in the war: What to know on Day 26 of the Iran war: Tehran taunts Trump, US troop deployment.
Iran’s military has mocked the Trump administration’s efforts to strike a deal to end the war, saying the United States is only “negotiating with yourselves.”
Despite President Donald Trump’s optimism that a deal with Tehran is in sight, sources have told CNN that around 1,000 US soldiers with the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division are expected to deploy to the Middle East in the coming days, suggesting the president is keeping his options open.
Ebrahim Zolfaghari
The latest on the talks:
- Iran taunts Trump: Ebrahim Zolfaghari, a spokesman for Iran’s military, taunted the US leadership in a message broadcast Wednesday on state television. “Has the level of your internal conflicts reached the point where you are negotiating with yourselves?” he asked. Zolfaghari said the US’ “strategic power” had turned into a “strategic defeat.”
- Trump touts talks: That mocking message came after Trump expressed optimism over a deal to end the war, saying that Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and others were leading negotiations.
- 15-point plan: The US has shared a 15-point list of expectations with Iran via Pakistan, with talks between the warring countries floated in Islamabad later this week, two regional sources told CNN. Those points include limits on Tehran’s defense capabilities, a cessation of support for proxies and an acknowledgement of Israel’s right to exist, the sources said.
- Iran shuns Witkoff: Iranian representatives have let the Trump administration know that Tehran does not want to reenter negotiations with the US president’s favored diplomatic duo of Steve Witkoff, his special envoy, and Jared Kushner, his son-in-law, according to two regional sources, who said Tehran would rather deal with Vance.
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Iran willing to listen: An Iranian source told CNN on Tuesday that Washington had initiated “outreach” in recent days, “but nothing that has reached the level of full-on negotiations.” The source stressed that Iran “is not asking for a meeting or direct talks with the United States but is willing to listen if a plan for a sustainable deal comes within reach” that would preserve the regime’s interests. Initially, Tehran had denied any contact with Washington, saying that Trump’s claim of talks was a ruse to lower energy prices and buy time.
There’s much more on what’s happening at the CNN link.
More details from BBC News: Pakistan officials say Iran receives 15-point US plan – AP.
The Associated Press news agency reports that Iran has received a 15-point plan from the US for reaching a ceasefire in the US-Israel war with Iran, citing two Pakistani officials.
The Pakistani officials reportedly said the proposal broadly covers the following:
- Sanctions relief
- Civilian nuclear co-operation
- A rollback of Iran’s nuclear programme
- Monitoring by the International Atomic Energy Agency
- Missile limits, and access for shipping through the Strait of Hormuz
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said earlier that the country was “ready” to host talks for a settlement of the conflict.
Israel’s Channel 12 has also reported on the plan. You can read a full breakdown of the reports in our earlier post.
There’s been no confirmation of the details from the White House. Iranian military has denied it’s negotiating with the US.
The Strait of Hormuz
Iran has rejected the U.S. plan and offered an alternative. AP: Iran rejects US ceasefire plan, issues its own demands as strikes land across the Mideast.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran on Wednesday dismissed an American plan to pause the war in the Middle East and launched more attacks on Israel and Gulf Arab countries, including an assault that sparked a huge fire at Kuwait International Airport.
Iran’s defiance came as Israel launched airstrikes on Tehran and as the United States deployed paratroopers and more Marines to the region.
Iranian state television’s English-language broadcaster quoted an anonymous official as saying Iran rejected America’s ceasefire proposal and has its own demands for an end to the fighting. “Iran will end the war when it decides to do so and when its own conditions are met,” the hardliner-controlled Press TV quoted the official as saying.
Earlier, two officials from Pakistan, which transmitted the U.S. plan to Iran, described the 15-point proposal broadly, saying it addressed sanctions relief, a rollback of Iran’s nuclear program, limits on missiles and reopening the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil is shipped.
An Egyptian official involved in the mediation efforts said the proposal also includes restrictions on Iran’s support for armed groups. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details not yet released.
Some of those points were nonstarters in negotiations before the war: Iran has insisted it won’t discuss its ballistic missile program or its support of regional militias, which it views as key to its security. And its ability to control passage through the Strait of Hormuz represents one of its biggest strategic advantages….
Press TV cited an Iranian five-point plan for a ceasefire coming from the official who rejected the US proposal. That plan included a halt to killings of its officials, means to make sure no other war is waged against it, reparations for the war, the end of hostilities and Iran’s “exercise of sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz.”
Those measures, particularly reparations and its continued chokehold over the Strait of Hormuz, likely will be unacceptable to the White House.
According to the above AP article, Trump is still claiming that Iran is negotiating with Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, but according the BBC article above, Iran has said it won’t talk to them but would talk to J.D. Vance.
Barak Ravid and Marc Caputo at Axios: Iran suspects Trump’s peace talk push is another trick.
Iranian officials have told the countries trying to mediate peace talks with the U.S. that they have now been tricked twice by President Trump and “we don’t want to be fooled again,” according to a source with direct knowledge of those discussions.
The big picture: The U.S. is pushing for in-person peace talks as soon as Thursday in Islamabad, Pakistan. But during the two previous rounds of U.S.-Iran talks, Trump green lit crippling surprise attacks while still claiming to be seeking a deal.
Flashback: Israel attacked Iran with Trump’s backing last June, days before a planned round of nuclear talks.
- Then three weeks ago, the U.S. and Iran reached a tentative agreement in Geneva to continue talks the following week — two days before the U.S. and Israel attacked.
Behind the scenes: Iranian officials have told the mediators — Pakistan, Egypt and Turkey — that U.S. military movements and Trump’s decision to deploy major troop reinforcements have increased their suspicion that his proposal for peace talks is just a ruse.
- To the Trump administration, the massing of forces is a sign he’s serious about negotiating from gunboats, not that he’s negotiating in bad faith. “Trump has a hand open for a deal and the other is a fist, waiting to punch you in the f***ing face,” said a Trump adviser.
- The White House has sent messages to the Iranians that Trump is serious about the negotiations, and floated Vice President JD Vance’s possible involvement in the talks as proof.
- Two sources said Witkoff recommended Vance because of the stature of his office and because the Iranians don’t see him as a hawk.
Read more at Axios.
Trump is ordering troop movements. The Washington Post (gift link): Army paratroopers ordered to Middle East as U.S. weighs next move in Iran conflict.
Use the gift link to read more.
U.S. allies are confused about what Trump is doing. Victor Jack, Chris Lunday and Esther Webber at Politico: Trump’s ‘absurdly incoherent’ Iran pleas leave allies befuddled.
BRUSSELS — Donald Trump’s messaging on what he wants from American allies in his war against Iran is so confusing that any effort to help in reopening the Strait of Hormuz remains deadlocked, according to four European government officials.
Washington has not made any formal requests for equipment, said the officials, who were granted anonymity to speak freely on the sensitive talks, while allies are also reluctant to send military assets to the region over fears they would be attacked by Iran.
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier
More than 30 nations, including a majority of NATO countries, have pledged “appropriate efforts” to restart shipping through the critical trade chokepoint after the U.S. president slammed allies as “COWARDS” for failing to volunteer their assistance.
But so far, discussions remain in their very early stages, according to government officials from seven European countries.
“One would wish for more predictability, more clarity and more strategic foresight — not only in this case,” German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius told POLITICO on Tuesday, adding: “Let’s wait and see.”
The slow-moving talks reflect Trump’s conflicting messaging more than three weeks into his war against Iran — where he has threatened allies for failing to back his campaign, then said they weren’t needed, all while providing scant detail on how they could support the U.S.
The lack of enthusiasm about getting involved also underscores Europe’s growing self-confidence in dealing with Washington, as the continent increasingly shifts its approach from placating Trump to confronting him over a war allies were not consulted on.
“This war violates international law,” German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Tuesday. “There is little doubt that, in any case, the justification of an imminent attack on the U.S. does not hold water.”
Let’s face it: despite journalists’ efforts to make sense of what Trump is up to, it’s highly unlikely that he himself has any clue about what he is doing.
, and Inside Trump’s daily video montage briefing on the Iran war.
Each day since the start of the war in Iran, U.S. military officials compile a video update for President Donald Trump that shows video of the biggest, most successful strikes on Iranian targets over the previous 48 hours, three current U.S. officials and a former U.S. official said.
The daily montage typically runs for about two minutes, sometimes longer, the officials said. One described each daily video as a series of clips of “stuff blowing up.”
The highlight reel of U.S. Central Command bombing Iranian equipment and military sites isn’t the only briefing Trump gets about the war. He’s also updated through conversations with top military and intelligence advisers, foreign leaders and news reports, the officials said.
But the video briefing is fueling concerns among some of Trump’s allies that he may not be receiving — or absorbing — the complete picture of the war, now in its fourth week, two of the current officials and the former official said.
They said the videos are also driving Trump’s increasing frustration with news coverage of the war. Trump has pointed to the success depicted in the daily videos to privately question why his administration can’t better influence the public narrative, asking aides why the news media doesn’t emphasize what he’s seeing, one of the current U.S. officials and the former U.S. official said.
That sounds about right for Trump’s childish comprehension level.
In non-war news, Trump’s theft of government documents after his first term is back in the headlines.
Carol LeonnigJacqueline Alemany at MSNOW: Trump appeared to have business motive for keeping classified documents, Jack Smith finds.
Special counsel Jack Smith gathered evidence that then-candidate Donald Trump took many top secret documents that related to his worldwide business interests, and investigators considered this a likely motive for Trump concealing them at his Florida club after he left the White House, according to newly released case records.
The special prosecutor also had evidence indicating that after leaving office Trump had shown a classified map to passengers on a private plane, including his future chief of staff, Susie Wiles, and took at least one document that was so secret that only six people had authority to review it, according to a memo reviewed by MS NOW and cited by the House Judiciary Committee’s ranking Democrat, Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland.
Trump’s stash of documents in a Mar-a-Lago bathroom
Trump’s reason for taking hundreds of pages of classified documents when he left office in January 2021 — and then concealing them when the Justice Department subpoenaed him for their return in May 2022 — has been one of the larger mysteries of the case. FBI agents conducting an unannounced search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in August 2022 discovered hundreds more pages of top secret records that Trump and his lawyers had failed to return to the government after claiming they had fully returned all classified materials.
In a January 2023 “progress memo” reviewed by MS NOW, Smith’s office discussed the possible motive after the FBI discovered that Trump held on to many documents related to his businesses.
“Trump possessed classified documents pertinent to his business interests — establishing a motive for retaining them,” according to the memo, which tracked progress in the documents and election-interference investigations. “We must have those documents.”
In a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi on Tuesday, Raskin insisted that Trump’s Justice Department has sought to cover up the details of Trump’s “hoarding” of classified government secrets and storing them in his Mar-a-Lago club’s showers and closets — which put national security at risk — as well as the clues to Trump’s motives for doing so.
“These new disclosures suggest that Donald Trump stole documents so sensitive that only six people in the entire U.S. government had access to them, that the documents President Trump stole pertained to his business interests,” Raskin wrote to Bondi.
“This glimpse into the trove of evidence behind the coverup reveals a President of the United States who may have sold out our national security to enrich himself.”
More from Jeremy Roebuck and Maegan Vazquez at The Washington Post: Trump showed classified map to passengers on his plane in 2022, memo says.
President Donald Trump showed a classified map he retained from his first term in office to passengers on a 2022 private plane flight and retained another record so sensitive that only six high-ranking government officials had access to it, according to a prosecution memo released to Congress this week.
The memo, which was obtained by The Washington Post, was penned as investigators moved toward indicting Trump on charges of illegally retaining sensitive government material after he left the White House. It offers a snapshot of an early moment in Smith’s investigation and adds new shading to the public understanding of Smith’s probes, even as a final report on his findings remains under court seal.
The memo, for instance, reveals that Smith’s team gathered at least some evidence to suggest that Trump had retained classified material pertinent to his personal business interests and that prosecutors were investigating whether his decision to hold on to those records was motivated by financial gain.
The eventual indictment — filed against Trump five months after the memo was written — did not mention Trump’s business interests as a possible motive. That could suggest prosecutors ultimately concluded they did not have sufficient evidence to prove that theory at trial. It is also not uncommon for prosecutors to leave some allegations out of their initial charging documents, even if they intend to prove them later at trial.
Jack Smith
The memo recounts an alleged incident in which Trump, on a June 2022 flight to his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, allegedly shared a classified map with passengers. Among them, according to the memo, was Susie Wiles, then the CEO of Trump’s super PAC, who has since become Trump’s White House chief of staff. The memo did not detail what the map showed.
Smith’s 2023 indictment of Trump included a similar claim that Trump in 2021 had shown others a classified map tied to a military operation and boasted that he had access to a “plan of attack” that the Pentagon had prepared for him.
The Justice Department shared those findings, detailed in a January 2023 briefing document written by then-special counsel Jack Smith’s team, with lawmakers as they conduct a review of Smith’s now-abandoned efforts to prosecute Trump.
Has Trump shared these documents with Putin and his other world leader pals? I’d be surprised if he hasn’t. Remember, those documents were returned to Trump after the charges were dropped.
One more story before I wrap this up. Paul Krugman says that whoever is cashing in on Trump’s war announcements is committing treason.
From Heather Cox Richardson today: Letters from an American.
This morning, economist Paul Krugman came right out and said it: “People close to Trump are trading based on national secrets.” Another word for that, he said, is “treason.” The evidence for such a claim is the sudden and isolated jump in trading volume in S&P 500 and oil futures about 15 minutes before Trump suddenly announced that the U.S. and Iran were in negotiations to end the war—an announcement that turned out to be false.
The oil futures trade alone was worth about $580 million, the Financial Times estimated. As Krugman notes, exploiting confidential information for financial gain, otherwise known as “insider trading,” is illegal. But exploiting confidential information about national security for private financial gain is something else again. It puts profit-making above Americans’ safety.
“I’d very much like to know exactly who was making those trades yesterday morning,” Krugman wrote. “Were they people directly in the know, or billionaires/traders who paid people in the know for tips?”
That’s all I have for you today. What’s on your mind?
Tuesday Political Cartoons: The wave…
Posted: March 24, 2026 Filed under: just because 3 Comments
Yesterday we lost another actress:
She was damn good in everything she did…
Now the cartoons via Cagle:
This is an open thread, stay safe out there.
Mostly Monday Reads: Nothing Fit to Read
Posted: March 23, 2026 Filed under: Foreign Affairs, morning reads, U.S. Economy | Tags: @johnbuss.bsky.social John Buss, Cadet Bonespur's Iran War, Energy Crisis, ICE in Air Ports, New Orleans, SCOTUS decisions, Strait of Hormuz 7 Comments
“Trump issues heartfelt condolences upon hearing of the death of former republican FBI Director Robert Mueller while golfing.” John Buss, @repeat1968
Good Day, Sky Dancers!
The headlines today demonstrate exactly how far down the drain our country has gone in a very short period. Here in New Orleans, we’re inundated once again by ICE and the National Guard. They’re taking on TSA duties at the Airport. “ICE agents begin patrol at New Orleans airport as security lines surge for second day.” These folks have proved themselves to be violent, untrained cretins, yet our Governor, himself a cretin, welcomes them wholeheartedly. Can you imagine a better way to wreck the tremendous amount of tourist business and the incredible trade that comes here from South America? This NOLA.COM article provides brief details of the unfolding situation.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement deployed to Louis Armstrong International in New Orleans Monday morning as airports across the country continue to battle delays and security agent sick-outs amid a partial government shutdown.
ICE’s presence comes days after President Donald Trump said he would send agents to airports to help with long lines caused by the shutdown. The New York Times confirmed that the New Orleans airport was one of 14 where ICE would be deployed to assist Transportation Security Administration workers.
“The airport has staff on hand to help keep the lines organized and will continue to coordinate with the TSA as they navigate this issue. The airport has also been advised by the TSA that additional security resources from the federal agency, ICE, are onsite on Monday to support TSA security functions,” MSY spokesperson Erin Burns said in a statement.
Be sure to take a look at the photos in this article. Our airport looks like it’s undergoing a military takeover. They’re supposedly going unmasked, but the vests and colors just are not a good look imho.
According to TSA experts, this move is useless. This is from the Government Executive, as reported by Eric Katz. “‘No practical use’: TSA experts say Trump’s ICE deployments won’t help with airport security. More than 400 TSA employees have left the agency since the shutdown began last month, White House says.”
President Trump will beginning Monday shift Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel to airports to provide security there in a move he said will alleviate long lines created by shutdown-induced callouts but which experienced TSA officials said would have minimal impact.
The unusual approach comes as Trump administration officials have repeatedly lamented that Transportation Security Administration employees are calling out and quitting the agency due to the shutdown’s impact on paychecks, lengthening wait times at many airports around the country. Details of the assignments were not clear as of Sunday, despite Trump declaring that the airport deployments would occur on Monday. Tom Homan, the White House’s border czar, told CNNon Sunday that he was “working on the plan” and would come up with one soon.
Several current and former TSA officials told Government Executive that ICE personnel will be limited in what they can accomplish at airports, as they will not have the requisite training to check identification, examine luggage x-rays or provide other key security services. TSA employees go through classroom and on-the-job training before they can staff those roles, the officials said.
“It serves no practical use,” said one former official with decades of federal experience who declined to be named out of fear of professional reprisal. “It’s a political, publicity action, not a practical solution.”
Homan suggested ICE employees could staff the areas where travelers exit their terminals, though former officials noted many airports already use non-TSA personnel for those areas.
A second former senior TSA official added there are almost no functions ICE staff would be capable of offering.
“They can basically provide little help,” the former senior employee said.
The Iran War is a misguided, mismanaged mess. This is from the AP. “Hormuz strategy raises questions about US war preparation.” The headlines on the war today are as scattered as Orange Caligula’s thought process. The analysis is by Collin Binkley.
At war with Iran, President Donald Trump is cycling through an increasingly desperate list of options as he searches for a solution to the crisis in the Strait of Hormuz. He has jumped from calls to secure the waterway through diplomatic means to lifting sanctions and now escalating to a direct threat against civilian infrastructure in the Islamic Republic.
Trump and his allies insist they were always prepared for Iran to block the strait, yet the Republican president’s erratic strategy has fueled criticism that he is grasping for answers after going to war without a clear exit plan. On Saturday came his latest attempt, via an ultimatum to Iran: Open the strait within 48 hours or the United States will “obliterate” the country’s power plants.
Trump’s aides defended the threat as a hard-edged tactic to press Iran into submission. Opponents framed it as the failure of a president who miscalculated what it would take to get out of a geopolitical mire.
“Trump has no plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, so he is threatening to attack Iran’s civil power plants,” said Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass, adding: “This would be a war crime.”
“He’s lost control of the war and he is panicking,” said Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., responding to Trump’s post.
Over the course of about a week, Trump has repeatedly shifted his approach on the crucial waterway for global oil and gas transport. There is growing urgency for Trump as soaring oil prices rattle global markets and pinch American consumers months before pivotal midterm elections.
As mentioned before, the cost of this war will be devastating to the Global and U.S. economies. This is from The Economist. “Even the best-case scenario for energy markets is disastrous. Whatever happens, high prices will outlive the Iran war.”
THE THIRD Gulf war is now in its fourth week. Every day that Iranian strikes on ships keep the Strait of Hormuz shut, around a fifth of the world’s output of oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) remains stranded. Every day, therefore, traders update how much supply is lost for the year. As their estimates rise, so do energy prices. Brent crude, at around $100 a barrel, is 40% dearer than before hostilities began. Gas prices in Europe are up by 70%.
The reason they are not much higher is that investors expect flows to resume soon. On March 23rd Donald Trump postponed a threat to strike Iran’s power plants unless Hormuz reopens, saying he had had “productive conversations [with Iran] regarding a complete and total resolution of our hostilities in the Middle East”. Financial bets that prices will fall (“put” options) outnumber those expecting a rise (“call” options) for July deliveries and onwards (see chart 1). Account for transport lags, in other words, and investors expect normality by May.
To assess those expectations, The Economist calculated how long normalisation would take if the war ended today. Even if Mr Trump’s talks succeed and the strait reopens in a few days, a big “if”, global oil and gas markets would remain undersupplied for months, hurting the world economy.
For energy markets to right themselves once Hormuz reopens, three things need to happen. First, Gulf producers must restore output to pre-war levels. Second, ships must ferry that output to refiners abroad. And third, those refiners must process it into usable fuel. Each stage of this industrial relay takes time.
The latest situation is that planned attacks on power plants are being postponed with the usual TACO maneuver. This is reported by The Bulwark‘s William Kristol. “The Least Worst Option. Better to TACO Than Not to TACO. Trump chickened out again . . . for now.” Why is Orange Caligula’s crap always put on Truth Social instead of given the normal press treatment? Also, our attention to anything appears to be what he wants, always.
Early this morning, with about twelve hours left in his 48-hour ultimatum threatening Iran’s civilian power plants, President Trump announced:
Some may cry, “TACO!” And they’d be right. But just over three weeks into his ill-advised and incompetently managed war, Trump had reached a fork in the road from which neither path led to a happy place. He’s chosen the less bad option—for now.
The other, disastrous path would have been escalation. Trump seemed to be heading down that road Saturday afternoon, when he threatened to bomb Iran’s civilian power plants:
If Iran doesn’t FULLY OPEN, WITHOUT THREAT, the Strait of Hormuz, within 48 HOURS from this exact point in time, the United States of America will hit and obliterate their various POWER PLANTS, STARTING WITH THE BIGGEST ONE FIRST!
And he echoed this threat just yesterday, during a phone interview with Israel’s Channel 13: “You’ll find out what’s gonna happen. You’re gonna find out soon. It’s gonna be very good. Total decimation of Iran.”
Though Trump has now delayed this decision for another five days, it’s worth pondering what would have happened (and what could still happen) if he’d chosen escalation.
One assumes that the United States military would have refused to obey orders to commit a war crime like attempting the “total decimation” of a country.
But even if the military had gone ahead with some version of striking Iran’s civilian power plants, Iran would surely have responded by attacking similar targets in the Gulf, which they’ve shown they retain the capacity to do. The war would have widened and its economic effects would have worsened. And then we would have been faced with the possible introduction of ground troops to secure the Strait—which would have invited an extended conflict and an even more severe economic crisis.
This headline is from Lawrence Hurely reporting for NBC News. “Supreme Court rejects citizen journalist’s case against Texas officials who arrested her for reporting. Officials in Laredo dropped the charges against Priscilla Villarreal but she then filed a civil rights lawsuit, alleging they violated her free speech rights under the First Amendment.”
The Supreme Court on Monday rejected an attempt by a citizen journalist to revive her civil rights claim after she was arrested for soliciting information from a police officer.
At issue in the case brought by reporter Priscilla Villarreal was whether the officials in Laredo, Texas, could claim the legal defense of “qualified immunity,” which would protect them from being sued. The court’s refusal to hear the case means her claim that the officials had violated the Constitution’s First Amendment, which protects freedom of speech, cannot go forward.
Liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor dissented, saying the court made a “grave error” in declining to take up the case.
“It should be obvious that this arrest violated the First Amendment,” she wrote.
In 2017, Villarreal, who has a large local following via her Facebook page, had texted a police officer to confirm the identities of a suicide victim and a car accident victim, which were not yet public. She then reported what she had learned.
Officials had Villarreal arrested for allegedly violating an obscure state law that prohibits the solicitation of information from a public employee in order to obtain a benefit. The law, if enforced widely, could apply to journalists who routinely seek information from the government and then disseminate it tosubscribers.
Fascism. Are we there yet? Also, may I please have a day without extreme agita and anxiety? This year has quickly turned into one of mass torture. Also, please, I’d like to be able to afford groceries and things again. Can anyone make this go away? I’m way too old for this shit, and my grandchildren are way too young! Insert heavy sigh here. Back to my soothing morning cup of tea.
What’s on your reading and blogging list today?
Sunday Political Cartoons: Dang Good Soldier
Posted: March 22, 2026 Filed under: just because 8 Comments
What the fuck?
Well, just going to stick with the cartoons and memes today.
Cartoons via Cagle:
This is an open thread. Stay safe.
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