With Israel’s popularity nosediving among Democrats, AIPAC is having to up its dark money game to impact primaries, often in concert with AI and crypto interests.
Monday, March 16, 2026
Economic Questions: The Thorstein Veblen Question
A timely recap of Thorstein Veblen’s theory of conspicuous consumption and its implication.
Iran War: Trump Administration Attempts to Deny Long Conflict Risk; Trump Threatens NATO Over Hormuz Scheme; Kinetic and Economic Situation More Desperate Than Acknowledged
The latest Iran war update: Trump harangues allies as his team offers hopium despite more evidence of kinetic and real economy damage.
With Shipping Industry in Meltdown, Struggle to Oust China from Global Ports Intensifies
Panama “retakes” canal, and Blackrock-led consortium doubles down on efforts to acquire dozens of global ports from Hong Kong-based company, including ones in Persian Gulf and Red Sea.
‘Serious Threat to the First Amendment’ as Trump Admin Wins First Antifa Terror Charge
“A case like this helps the government kind of see how far they can go in criminalizing constitutionally protected protest,” one legal advocate said.
Iran War: US Being Driven From Iraq, Tells Americans to Leave; Iran Keeps Pounding Israel, Gulf States; Trump Calls on Other Countries Including China to Send Warships, Effectively Threatens to Use Nukes; FCC Threatens to Pull Broadcast Licenses Over War Reporting
Today’s Iran war news: Denialism, US pursuit of Strait of Hormuz convoy scheme, Israel pounded, Netanyahu questions, FCC threat
The Sunday Morning Movie Presents: Salt For Svanetia (1930) Run Time: 49M
Salt for Sventia is a film about toil and hardship in a remote village in Soviet Russia.
Widening the ‘We’: Meeting the Crisis of Common Sense
Oligarch overreach on every front presents challenges—and opportunities.
Iran War: US Strikes Kharg Island, Deploys More Marines Even as Administration Shows Desperation; Iran Hits Saudi Base Amid Signs of Decaying US Position, Increases Attacks on Israel
The latest Iran war update: The US attempts to show escalation dominance even as officials look frayed and Iran’s pounding intensifies
Michael Hudson: Persia’s Monopoly Concessions to Britain, 1872-1901
Persia’s 19th century fight to drive out the British investors who had obtained monopoly concessions is background to the current crisis.
How Accent Discrimination Reinforces America’s Deepest Divides
The American Southern accent reveals how linguistic prejudice reinforces classism, regionalism, and subconscious bias across generations.
Coffee Break: Lifestyle Medicine, More Quackitude, Ancient Manuscripts, Gut Health, and the Epstein Class
Part the First: Nutrition and Medicine. The current Secretary of Health and Human Services is not wrong in his emphasis on nutrition (a stopped analog clock is right twice a day). I don’t know where Lauren Rice is attending medical school in New York City, but her editorial take seems about half right in I’m […]
