The
war in Iran will lead to a surge in inflation this year, as the closure
of the Strait of Hormuz pushes up prices for oil, gas and other
commodities, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said on Thursday.
The
inflation rate in the United States will average 4.2 percent this year,
more than 1 percentage point higher than the group’s previous forecast,
made late last year, the Paris-based organization said. Across the
Group of 20 nations, inflation is forecast to average 4 percent this
year, 1.2 percentage points higher than previously expected.
The
war in the Middle East continued to weigh on the U.S. housing market,
as mortgage rates climbed for the fourth week in a row, squeezing
Americans already struggling with high housing costs.
The
average 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage rate climbed to 6.38 percent,
according to the mortgage-financing giant Freddie Mac, up from 6.22
percent the week before and the highest level since the first week of
September.
That rate is still significantly
below its peak of 7.79 percent in October 2023. Until the war started,
rates had been gradually declining, falling below 6 percent in the last
week of February. The drop in rates had offered hope that more
prospective buyers would enter the market, but rates have since marched
steadily higher.
Along
with the financial cost, there's also the cost in human lives. 13 US
service members have been killed and at least 200 injured. At least
1500 Iranians have been killed as well. Because there was no real
planning for this war so many developments have arisen -- ones that
should have been planned for if you're going to war. That does include
the concerns now on the part of the US government regarding the Strait
of Hormuz. (Malaysia states the Iranian government has given it permission to utilize the shipping lane.)
Mustafa Salim, Sammy Westfall, Alex Horton and Meg Kelly (WASHINGTON POST) report on another development:
The
Iraqi government on Wednesday accused the United States of attacking a
clinic on a military base in western Anbar province, killing seven
members of the Iraqi military and injuring 13. The incident could strain
relations between the two nations amid the war in neighboring Iran.
The
airstrike constituted “heinous aggression,” to which Iraq reserved “the
right to respond by all available means,” said Sabah al-Numan, a
spokesman for the commander of Iraq’s armed forces. It “undermines the
relationship between the peoples of Iraq and the United States of
America,” he added.
The U.S. denied targeting a
clinic but did not provide details. “We’re aware of the reports. U.S.
forces did not target a medical clinic in Iraq,” Navy Capt. Tim Hawkins,
a spokesman for Central Command, which oversees U.S. operations in the
region, said Wednesday.
The incident may
further complicate the dynamic between Washington and Baghdad. The U.S.
military operates from installations within Iraq, including a strategic
air base located northwest of where the strikes occurred. The Iraqi
government has for years publicly said that it wanted U.S. forces to
withdraw from the country, though it has relied on American troops in a
shared fight against Islamic State militants in the region.
Jessie Williams (INDEPENDENT) notes,
"Two people have been killed in Abu Dhabi after Iran launched a fresh
barrage of missiles during its ongoing conflict with the US and Israel.
Another three people were injured in the attacks on the Emirati capital
when debris from an intercepted missile fell, the emirate’s media
office said."
This morning, Ben (MEIDASTOUCH NEWS) notes Chump's lies about negotiations.
Donald Chump did not make a case
to the American people. He did not address the American people. He
taped a video that he posted to his social media in the dead of night.
He has not made the case for this war. Can he? Apparently, he cannot
and that's why he's refused to make the case.
Senior
Republicans have gone public with a stinging rebuke of the Trump
administration for keeping Congress in the dark over its Iran war
strategy.
The salvo from Rep. Mike Rogers, 67,
of Alabama—chair of the House Armed Services Committee and one of
Trump’s most stalwart congressional backers of the strikes on Iran—is the starkest indication yet of an emerging divide within the party over the now four-week conflict, as NOTUS reported.
“We
want to know more about what’s going on, what the options are, and why
they’re being considered,” Rogers told reporters on Wednesday. “And
we’re just not getting enough answers on those questions.”
His comments came after a weekly behind-closed-doors session for senior House and Senate defense lawmakers on Wednesday.
Rogers
said he was asking not for sensitive operational specifics—those he
understood were off-limits—but for some basic sense of direction. “We
just wanted them to tell us what’s the plan, and we didn’t get any
answers,” he said.
Senate
Lindsey Graham is said to have spoken to Benjamin Netanyahu, prime
minister of Israel, and coached him on how to approach Chump to get him
to go to war. March 7th, David McAfee (RAW STORY) noted:
Republican U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina has been
exposed by the Wall Street Journal for "coaching" a foreign leader on
how to influence Donald Trump.
The WSJ ahead of the weekend published a story called, "Lindsey Graham's Quest to Sell Trump on Striking Iran." In that piece, there is a nugget about the senator engaging in a campaign to help Netanyahu to persuade Trump to launch an Iran war.
"To help make the case on Iran, Graham traveled several times to Israel in recent weeks, meeting with members of the country's intelligence agency," the Journal reported Friday.
Graham is quoted in the article as saying, "They'll tell me things our own government won't tell me."
The report further states, "He spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, coaching him on how to lobby the president for action. Netanyahu showed the president intelligence that persuaded Trump to go ahead, Graham said."
McAfee quotes some people objecting to what
Lindsey did and they're right to object, but let's be clear on what
happened. Lindsey is not a private citizen. He is a US senator and has
been one for 23 years and counting. A member of the US government, who
took an oath to the Constitution, collaborated with the leader of
another nation on how to trick Donald Chump into going along with the
foreign leader's plans to start a war. Since the war started, Lindsey has become rabid and
calling for killings. There is some pushback against him from his own party. Sophie Brams (THE HILL) notes:
Rep.
Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) issued an indirect plea to President Trump on
Wednesday to stop Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) from advising on the conflict with Iran, as the senator presses for a more aggressive approach to the war.
“I want President Trump to take Lindsey Graham out of the Situation Room,” Mace told CNN’s “Laura Coates Live.”
[. . .]
Mace argued that Graham has not “thought through or war gamed the consequences” of an operation on Kharg Island, which some have asserted would likely require putting American troops on the ground.
“Has
he thought through what the Houthis are going to do? Has he thought
through where Hezbollah is?” she said, also warning about Iranian
retaliation that could further disrupt the economy.
Rep.
Kat Cammack (R-Fla.) suggested Wednesday that Sen. Lindsey Graham
(R-S.C.) should have less access to President Trump as the conflict with
Iran persists.
“I absolutely think he should
have his Oval Office credentials revoked,” Cammack told Migrant
Insider’s Pablo ManrĂquez as she departed the Capitol.
My
deepest sympathies lie with the Iranian people, whose hearts are torn
in many directions. Many long for freedom and dignity, yet they remain
wary of the long history of Western imperial intervention across the
world, including their own country.
The Iranian
people who took to the streets in recent years did not call for one
form of domination to replace another. They demanded an end to
oppression in all its forms, not the beginning of a new round under the
Western thumb. Nor did they want change at any cost.
At every step, history teaches us – these promises of freedom offered by the West are never fulfilled.
The
reason is simple. The freedom of others is simply not on the Western
agenda, no matter its public rhetoric. Imperialism of this nature does
not want freedom; it wants control, domination, power and profit.
On
March 4, as bombs were falling around him in Tehran, Mohamad Maljoo, an
Iranian dissident, was finally able to connect to the internet. He
wrote on his Telegram channel: “Those who claim that one can rain fire
on the body of Iran in the name of striking the Islamic Republic while
imagining that the people will remain unharmed either do not understand
the reality of war or deliberately choose to ignore it. Bombs do not
discriminate. Destruction does not operate selectively.”
The
truth of his warning echoes from Palestine to Iran: “Life does not
flourish in the shadow of oppression. Nor does it grow beneath the
rubble of bombs.”
And what do the American people think? Steven Shepard and Andrew Daniller of The Pew Research Center note a new poll:
Weeks into the U.S.
military campaign against Iran, majorities of Americans say striking
that country was the wrong decision and disapprove of President Donald
Trump’s handling of the conflict.
About six-in-ten Americans (61%) disapprove of Trump’s handling of the conflict, while 37% approve.
The
new Pew Research Center survey of 3,524 U.S. adults, conducted March
16-22, also finds a similar balance of opinion on whether the initial
decision to use military force was right (38%) or wrong (59%).
And
by nearly two-to-one, more say the military action is not going well
(45%) than say it is going extremely or very well (25%).
Tomorrow, No Kings Protests will take place across the country. Rachel Maddow noted this on Monday on MS NOW.
THE BULWARK noted the protests last night.
David Pakman noted the Saturday protests.
Robert Reich notes te protests.
Protests will be taking place across the country and you can visit the No Kings website to find a protest in your area.
Immigration? Donald Chump's war on immigrants is one of the things fueling the No Kings protests. And for good reason. Chump and ICE have been lawless liars. Chloe Atkins (NBC NEWS) reports:
The
Trump administration admitted in a court filing that it had erroneously
relied on an ICE memo to justify arrests at immigration courthouses as
part of an ongoing federal case brought by groups seeking to block the
tactic.
Federal prosecutors said Tuesday that
they had used the memo, titled “2025 ICE Guidance,” to defend the Trump
administration’s deployment of ICE agents at courthouses, which led to numerous arrests of immigrants attending hearings.
The
memo indicated that "ICE officers or agents may conduct civil
immigration enforcement actions in or near courthouses when they have
credible information" that a targeted individual would be "present at a
specific location.”
But, the Department of
Justice said in the court filing, the memo “does not and has never
applied to civil immigration enforcement actions in or near” immigration
courts.
Matt Naham (LAW & CRIME) offers this take:
The
DOJ threw ICE under the bus for "agency attorney error," a "material
mistaken statement of fact" repeatedly cited in briefs that undermines a
"core" defense of civil arrests at or near the executive branch's
immigration courthouses.
U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Jay Clayton, once the SEC chairman
during President Donald Trump's first term, submitted a letter to U.S.
District Judge P. Kevin Castel on Tuesday to "regrettably" inform the
jurist that he issued a ruling in September based on false information
from the government defendants.
"We
write respectfully and regrettably to correct a material mistaken
statement of fact that the Government made to the Court and Plaintiffs.
Specifically, this morning, counsel from U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement informed the undersigned of the following: the memorandum
entitled Civil Immigration Enforcement Actions in or Near Courthouses,
dated May 27, 2025 – which the Government relied on in presenting its
arguments in this case and referred to as the '2025 ICE Guidance' – does
not and has never applied to civil immigration enforcement actions in
or near Executive Office for Immigration Review immigration courts," the
letter said, acknowledging that a do-over will be needed to decide the
plaintiffs' claims "on the merits."
And a change in the Secretary of Homeland Security hasn't changed much so far. Isabel van Brugen (DAILY BEAST) reports:
Healthcare
workers in Michigan warned of a “chilling effect” as patients
increasingly stay away from hospitals and clinics amid a rise in ICE
agents showing up at medical facilities.
President
Donald Trump’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) goons are
increasingly showing up in and around the state’s hospitals and clinics,
healthcare providers and immigration advocates said during a press
conference Tuesday, Bridge Michigan reported.
It
follows the Trump administration’s rollback last year of prior
protections that limited enforcement in so-called “sensitive locations.”
Dr.
Lauren Snyder, a family physician in Michigan, said she’s having to
monitor for what she described as a “basic fear of safety” during
routine check-ups at her office, and adjust to the presence of ICE
agents at her workplace.
“They are here,” she said.
The
Michigan Immigrant Rights Center and the ACLU of Michigan held a
briefing as they released new guidance to more than 400 hospitals and
providers statewide in response to the rising ICE encounters. The
12-page document outlined how facilities should respond to law
enforcement activity.
ICE
was hard on a lot of people. It was hard on immigrants, it was hard on
those perceived as immigrants, it was hard families and friends. So
when Kristi Noem rightly lost her job as Secretary of Homeland Security,
there was some relief that someone was paying for the illegal actions
and the cruelty. Kristi had been traveling in her airplanes with her
man Corey Lewandowski -- her alleged boyfriend -- and now Corey has been
fired. Laura Esposito (DAILY BEAST) reports:
Corey
Lewandowski was fired from the Trump administration after he was
spotted jetting off on a tropical getaway with his alleged lover, ousted
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
A White House official and three sources close to the Trump administration confirmed Lewandowski’s ousting to the New York Post—Donald
Trump’s favorite newspaper—after the special government employee was
spotted with Noem, 54, in balmy Guyana, where temperatures ranged from
75°F to 83°F.
The final decision on
Lewandowski’s future as a special government employee, where he served
as Noem’s de facto chief of staff, reportedly came on Tuesday or
Wednesday.
[. . .]
In Guyana, photos show the alleged couple meeting government and corporate officials.
The
business meeting in the tropical country marked the first such public
outing for Noem in her new role as Special Envoy for the Shield of the
Americas—a position created by Donald Trump after booting her from DHS
and replacing her with former MAGA Senator Markwayne Mullin.
The
photos marked the first time Noem was seen in public as she assumed her
new role as Special Envoy for the Shield of the Americas, a new
position created by the Trump administration.
It
remains unclear whether the recent firing will impact Lewandowski's
ability to travel with Noem, who still enjoys exclusive government
perks.
After persisting
for more than four years, rumors over the affair peaked earlier this
month when Noem refused to deny the affair while testifying under oath
before a Senate committee.
Lewandowski is
married to Allison Hardy, whom he met when he was in ninth grade and
with whom he has four children. Noem married Byron Noem in 1992, and
they have three children.
Rachel Dobkin and Owen Scott (INDEPENDENT) note some reactions to the news:
Photos of Noem’s visit to Guyana with Lewandowski sparked backlash online on Wednesday.
Meghan McCain, the daughter of the late Senator John McCain, asked on X, “GIRL WHAT IS YOU DOING?”
Billy
Binion, a reporter for the libertarian Reason magazine, wrote on X,
“Why are my taxpayer dollars funding Corey Lewandowski's travel to
Guyana? How is that remotely acceptable?”
Chump's administration continues to waste money. And on that, Simon Lewis and Ted Hesson (REUTERS) noted:
Noem,
who continued to travel on a DHS jet with top aide Corey Lewandowski at
her side, met Ecuadorean President Daniel Noboa on Wednesday, who
awarded her an order of merit.
The former
congresswoman and governor of South Dakota, who arrived in Washington in
January 2025 as one of Trump's most prominent loyalists, now reports
not to the president but to Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau
as special envoy to the Shield of the Americas, according to a Trump
official who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity to discuss
internal operations.
Noem is expected to return
to the United States later on Wednesday and is not anticipated to
retain access to DHS aircraft afterward, the official said.
The
State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment
about Noem's new role. Asked about Noem's use of the government plane
and whether DHS officials had staffed the trip, an agency spokesperson
said: "We are not going to comment on the whereabouts of our plane or
DHS staff."
"We
are not going to comment on the whereabouts of our plane or DHS
staff." Because they don't believe that they have to answer to the
people. Kristi's been allowed to break every rule there is including
not supervising someone you're sleeping with. Chump is a chump, an
idiot and a buffoon. And this refusal of a federal agency to answer questions? It's a motivating factor for people to turn out tomorrow and note that we have No Kings in the United States and that are government is supposed to serve us and be responsive to us.
Turning to Donald Chump's friend of so many years, the late Jeffrey Epstein. The survivors of his abuse want justice. Joe Sommerlad (INDEPENDENT) reports that Victoria Derbyshire spoke with five Epstein survivors on BBC NEWSNIGHT Wednesday:
All
of the women interviewed said their experiences with Epstein began with
them giving him a paid massage and escalated into sexual assault.
The
group was also unanimous in their belief that Epstein did not take his
own life in August 2019. They maintained that the personal arrogance he
displayed in their presence indicated he always believed he would get
away with his crimes.
Another victim, Joanna
Harrison, who had never previously come forward but had felt “forced” to
do so after her name appeared in the recently-released Epstein files
unredacted by mistake, said: “It’s not normal to see your abuser’s face
every day for six years on TV, hear their name, you walk in a store and
you see him on a magazine.
“There was once, I
even went to my mailbox, and there was a flyer with his face on it in my
mailbox and that was devastating for me. And so it just kind of gets to
a point where you’re being suffocated, and you need to breathe, and I
feel this is my way of trying to breathe.”
Anna Betts (GUARDIAN) reports on another interview that aired Thursday on THE SHADOW SESSIONS podcast:
After
casting her vote for Donald Trump in 2024 in hopes that he would bring
transparency around the Jeffrey Epstein case, Epstein survivor Jena Lisa
Jones said in an interview this week that she now fears “we’re not
going to get justice in all of this”.
“I wanted
my day in court,” said Jones, who has said she was abused by Epstein
when she was 14, in an interview on the Shadow Sessions podcast that
aired on Thursday morning. “I didn’t get that, and we were so close to
it, it really got ripped from us, and then after [Epstein] passed,
everything just went into a circus show.”
“Trump
ran his whole freakin’ election on the release of these freakin’
files,” she said. “And it sparked it back all up again, gave us hope,
gave me hope at least.
“He runs his campaign on this, and he runs it really, really hard to the point that a lot of us voted for him,” she added.
However, after the election, Jones said that she felt a shift.
“As soon as he gets in, we started pushing for the release of the files, and now it’s a ‘Democratic hoax’,”
she said, referring to remarks Trump made in the fall in which he
dismissed some calls to the release additional Epstein files as a
Democratic “hoax”.
Meanwhile, questions remain regarding Epstein's final hours and the hours after his death, the immediate hours. Isabelle Khurshudyan (CNN) reports:
In
the years since disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein was found dead from
what was ruled a suicide in his prison cell on August 10, 2019,
conspiracy theories have abounded about whether the convicted sex
offender actually killed himself.
That
speculation is likely to get new life now that Tova Noel, one of the
prison guards on duty the night of Epstein’s death, has been asked to
testify before the House Oversight Committee. Her testimony had been
scheduled for Thursday but has been postponed due to scheduling issues.
[. . .]
The
materials released in the files have only raised more questions,
including new details about cash deposits Noel made in the months
surrounding Epstein’s death. The files also show Noel Googled “latest on
Epstein in jail” less than an hour before his body was found in his
jail cell at around 6:30 a.m.
The files also
include allegations from an inmate who reported that prison officials
were shredding documents relating to Epstein in the days after his
death.
In 2019, both Noel and Thomas were charged with conspiracy and falsifying records indicating they had checked on Epstein every 30 minutes as required that night.
Pam Bondi's refused to comply with the law passed requiring the release of the government's Epstein files. She slow walked them and then only released about half. She has been subpoenaed to testify before the House Oversight Committee. THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS offers:
Yet
the nation's top law enforcement official has already signaled that she
has no intention of complying with Congress' order, with Democrats
walking out of a meeting with her Wednesday after she indicated that she
would not abide by the subpoena.
There
seems to be some confusion here; just because she leads the Justice
Department does not mean that Bondi gets to decide what the law is or
what constitutes compliance with subpoenas. She may be shocked to learn
this, but her staff are not the only ones that have the capacity to
conduct investigations in our government of checks and balances.
Once
again, we must wonder what exactly is in the remaining and unredacted
files that Bondi and the rest of the administration are willing to go to
immense lengths, including unlawful ones, to prevent their release.
Of
course, we all know broadly what this is about: it has to do with the
man at the top. Trump was a longtime pal of Epstein's and features
prominently in the files. This is the one story that seems to have
really shaken the faith of the MAGA faithful, who once upon a time
believed that Trump was a kind of savior that would finally shed light
on the trafficking ring.
No matter how Trump
tries to spin things now, his followers feel betrayed that he is so
clearly attempting to protect his own self interest here. If Trump
thinks even that loss of confidence is worth keeping the contents
confidential in perpetuity, then all the more reason for lawmakers to
zealously pursue full compliance with the law requiring total
transparency.
Let's wind down with this from Senator Patty Murray's office:
Washington, D.C. — Today, Senator Patty Murray, Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, issued the following statement on funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
“Democrats have been clear for weeks: there is absolutely no reason that TSA agents’ paychecks should be held hostage to Republicans’ demands to provide another blank check for ICE and Border Patrol—and it is just plain wrong that their pay has been held up this long. But finally, Republicans have relented, and we are now on track to fund the areas we agree on and get TSA agents paid, get our airports moving again, and fund important disaster relief and cybersecurity work.
“This is very good news for the TSA agents who’ve been working without pay and all the families who are looking forward to spring break travel.
“But it is a shame that instead of working with Democrats to land the plane on several common-sense reforms to ICE and Border Patrol that the White House had already agreed to, Republicans walked away from constructive conversations and ultimately rejected some basic steps to reform these agencies. I will keep fighting to secure real, meaningful steps to help rein in these rogue agencies—we just need Republicans to join us.
“Because the American people spoke up and because Democrats stood their ground and stood united, we have already forced changes to the way this administration is conducting immigration enforcement, and we have rejected the ridiculous false choice that the only way to prevent chaos at our airports is by cutting another blank check for President Trump and Stephen Miller. Speaking up matters. We’ve got to keep fighting—and demanding the accountability the American people deserve. That’s exactly what I’ll keep doing.”
The funding bill released and passed by the Senate tonight mirrors the bill that Senator Murray introduced on March 5—and that Democrats have repeatedly tried to pass through unanimous consent, but that Republicans have blocked on each occasion.
The bill funds all of the Department of Homeland Security, except for ICE and Border Patrol, which receive no new appropriations in the bill. It includes necessary “start-up” language after a lapse of appropriations, guarantees backpay to workers who went without pay during the shutdown, and retains the new accountability measures included in the legislation introduced in January.
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The following sites updated:
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Militarie Gun: Tiny Desk Concert3 hours ago
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Mr. Chump does not have a clue6 hours ago
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Grifter Mark Robinson6 hours ago
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Off Today1 day ago
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