Links 3/16/2026

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1. The Rev Kev March 16, 2026 at 7:37 am

   ‘Will Schryver
   @imetatronink
   🔥 Greasy Pete Melt Down 🔥
   Things must be going even worse than they seem.
   They must be hiding the worst stuff that has happened, and will hide it as long as they can.
   This war is a mortal blow to the empire.
   Greasy Pete’s days are numbered.’

   Always a winning tactic to attack the entire press corp, including Fox News, who are Trump’s biggest boosters. Still, the Press is helping the Trump regime. I was reading an article about how when Trump met the returning coffins of American KIAs the other day, that he was wearing that stupid white basketball cap that he was wearing for this war (only $55, plus postage) but that the press spliced in footage of an earlier ceremony where we wasn’t wearing it.
   1. John Wright March 16, 2026 at 11:12 am

      One can see that Hegseth is speaking from a podium with “Department of Defense” rather than “Department of War”.

      Maybe this is indicating that his staff is so consumed by the Trump screw-up in the Middle East that they are neglecting branding.

      Or maybe there is a new parallel “Department of Defense” tasked with defending their actions.
2. Ben Panga March 16, 2026 at 8:01 am

   So we had an “election” in Vietnam yesterday. 93% of all candidates were from the “Communist” Party.

   Reading the approved media (by which I mean all the media), citizens are very happy with the government.

   We await the results with baited breath.

   Legal reasons means I won’t comment further on the Vietnamese situation, but I will say to my American friends that democracy is worth saving if you can.
   1. leaf March 16, 2026 at 9:17 am

      There appears to be no major protests against the Iran war or the Epstein files, plus you can get to vote for the AIPAC approved Democrat or AIPAC approved Republican candidate who don’t do much different from each other when in office. Seems as democratic as the Founding Fathers intended no?
   2. erstwhile March 16, 2026 at 9:36 am

      A healthy democratic government is impossible if it’s wrapped in a capitalist economic system, because capital will eventually own the entire system for its own benefit and not for the members of that society. For this reason, I would say that the usa is not a functioning democracy.
      1. Dalepues March 16, 2026 at 11:38 am

         Thank you, I’m glad you wrote that down. Long ago a teacher told me that the US would eventually be taken over by Capitalism, but C was not a form of government, therefore we would lose any rights government, or democracy, had extended to us. I would like to ask you a question: Can you think of an instance in which this has happened, or will the US be the first?
         1. Ginger Goodwin March 16, 2026 at 4:15 pm

            Not possible because competing captials within a country or a “social formation” need some form of “management” — Marx to paraphrase: the political elite of a state act as or are managers maintaining and organizing society so as to permit the contuned existence of the various capitalist classes and monopoly corporations and organize hegemony of the ruling classes over the whole (Gramsci). In 1984 and Animal Farm the organizing principle was the “state”.
   3. pjay March 16, 2026 at 10:18 am

      I sincerely acknowledge your point Ben. And I understand why you cannot respond to the many questions I would ask. But of course my perceptions are shaped by my own observations and experience here in the US. That includes the weaponizing of “democracy” whenever that term is directed toward other nations (cf. Iran – or Venezuela… or Iraq, Syria, Libya, Ukraine, Afghanistan, China, Russia, etc., etc., etc. I believe that would include Vietnam as well.) My perceptions are also shaped by the meaning of “democracy” here at home, which leaf’s comments capture well.

      One of the many tragic consequences of the US or the West making the world safe for “democracy” over the last hundred years or so is that it has provided many legitimating reasons for nations to be suspicious of this term, and it has provided justification for levels of repression that most of us here find undesirable. In my ideal world authentic “democracy” would thrive. But when I try to project my ideal onto real world situations there are always dilemmas created by specific historical and geopolitical contexts. This sounds like I’m legitimizing repression and autocracy. That is not my intention at all. I guess it is my expression of frustration at the world as it currently exists.
      1. JP March 16, 2026 at 2:48 pm

         Maybe the problem is a real democracy would require a critically thinking informed electorate.
      2. NotCynicalEnough March 16, 2026 at 11:01 pm

         Truthfully, all America has ever done is made the world “safe” for “Capitalism” and “Neoliberalism”. Of course, honestly stating, “We are bombing that country into submission so that our billionaire investors have less investment risk” just doesn’t sell as well as “promoting democracy”.
3. LaRuse March 16, 2026 at 8:27 am

   With regard to that strawberry vertical farm tweet, it’s very local to me in my County. Plenty Unlimited emphasized they were an “Ag-Tech” company and then Governor Youngkin was a huge supporter. The farm was heralded with a great deal of fanfare and tax breaks, supposedly bringing 300 jobs. And less than 8 months after cutting the ribbons at the grand opening with Youngkin in attendance, the company filed for Chapter 11 last spring (2025). They stiffed a bunch of local contractors (and probably us taxpayers, too) and laid off a bunch of the promised 300 employees. I haven’t seen any updates since last May, but here’s more details: Future of Chesterfield’s ‘Plenty Farm’ in jeopardy, company says they don’t have the money to pay back local contractors
   Here’s the last update I can find on the bankruptcy: Despite bankruptcy, Plenty to finish Chesterfield vertical indoor farms
   1. Henry Moon Pie March 16, 2026 at 9:30 am

      Seems somewhat contrary to common sense to substitute electric lights for natural sunlight in a time of rising electricity prices.
   2. Trees&Trunks March 16, 2026 at 9:34 am

      Let me guess: since the strawberries are not cultivated in real soil, they are also completely tasteless. Quite a solution, that! We must have more tasteless food.
      1. LaRuse March 16, 2026 at 10:25 am

         Probably so. I don’t know because when they are in season, I like to venture to the other side of the county and pick my own strawberries at the aptly named Chesterfield Berry Farm. I know all the local grocery store is carrying right now are strawberries grown in Canada…how does that even work? Strawberries in Canada?? I have some rapidly greening strawberry plants just running wild in my front flower bed, planted last year from a cutting from a friend. Strawberries grown among my yarrow and coneflowers should taste absolutely delightful.
      2. Otto Reply March 16, 2026 at 11:17 am

         I was thinking the same thing. Wine isn’t the only food product enhanced by terroir – the unique combo of minerals, soil composition, climate & location that contributes to flavor (or to the marketing of flavor!) Replacing the complexities of terroir with a chemical bath of NPK isn’t going to generate tasty produce. I’m also troubled by the replacement of farmers with lab coated agronomists. Thanks LaRuse for example of the importance of companion plants.
   3. converger March 16, 2026 at 2:06 pm

      (Miserocchi and Franco, 2025) Benchmarking energy efficiency in vertical farming: Status and prospects

      Vertical indoor farming fails by orders of magnitude on energy efficiency. It is basically a substitution of electrons, built environment, and capital for land, water, and labor.

      It’s a pipe dream. It can pencil out for high margin, high density crops like pot. High margin, lower crop density, size large crops like coca, opium, or tomatoes, not so much. For some (not all) lower margin, high crop density, size small plants like strawberries and lettuce, it works just well enough to fool technology-addled investors into believing it might actually make sense.

      It will never, ever replicate and scale to feed more than a wealthy sliver of the global population because it’s too infrastructure intensive for more than a wealthy sliver of the global population to conceivably afford to build and maintain, even if you believe that the fragile supply and technology chains that it would take to maintain that infrastructure over generations are sustainable.
      1. Revenant March 16, 2026 at 6:52 pm

         We looked at loads of these indoor farming plans pre-2020 and passed every time.

         It’s a lousy kind of real-estate business: its returns can only ever scale with square footage and it has horrific high fixed expenses. All the energy in the world won’t let you build an infinitely tall building. Eventually you have to buy a new plot and erect a new building and you will end up paying top dollar to the rentier landowning class to do so.

         The biggest innovation in soft fruit production has been the polytunnel. Since they spread from Almeria and landed in Britain, we now have a plastc-blighted countryside but reliable delicious strawberries nearly all-year round, grown outside forced under their temporary plastic greenhouses. Some of the polytunnel is simply applied to the field like clingfilm (from a distance, the field looks like is have been attacked by giant autistic slugs, with parallel shining trials – hmm, we should call the sendero luminoso to fix this!): hey presto, no need for a tunnel armature.

         But where does all the waste plastic go…?
4. Wukchumni March 16, 2026 at 8:28 am

   You’ve gotten under my skin
   You’ve gotten deep in the heart of me
   So deep in my heart that you’re really upsetting me
   You’ve gotten under my skin
   I’d tried so not to give in
   I said to myself: this Iran affair never will go so well
   But why should I try to resist when, press babies, you know so well
   I’ve got Christian Nationalist tattoos all over my skin?

   I’d sacrifice anything come what might
   For the sake of havin’ end-times near
   In spite of a warnin’ voice that comes in the night
   And repeats, repeats in my ear
   Don’t you know, little fool, you never can win?
   Use your mentality, wake up to reality.
   But each time that I do just the thought of losing
   Makes me stop before I begin
   ‘Cause I’ve got Christian Nationalist tattoos all over my skin

   I would sacrifice anything come what might
   For the sake of havin’ end-times near
   In spite of the warning voice that comes in the night
   And repeats – how it yells in my ear
   Don’t you know, little fool, you never can win?
   Why not use your mentality – step up, wake up to reality?
   But each time I do just the thought of losing
   Makes me stop just before I begin
   ‘Cause I’ve got Christian Nationalist tattoos all over my skin
   Yes, I’ve got Christian Nationalist tattoos all over my skin

   I’ve Got You Under my Skin, performed by Frank Sinatra

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1AHec7sfZ8
5. The Rev Kev March 16, 2026 at 8:58 am

   “CIA Prepares Criminal Referral of Tucker Carlson, as Israel and its Loyalists Demand His Arrest”

   Are they stupid enough to try a stunt like this? Don’t answer that. They may go after other figures as well such as MTG and Scott Ritter (again). Anybody that does not toe the Trump White House line. Of course the point may be that it is not really convictions that they are after but draining the financial resources of these people through legal fees and they like as they defend themselves. Getting to be dark times in America these days.
   1. Es s Ce Tera March 16, 2026 at 9:50 am

      The Trump approach appears to be adhering very closely to the Lenin playbook:

      – Dogmatic certainty and belief over inquiry. Truth is irrelevant if it weakens the cause. All that matters is agreement with Trump.
      – Politics becomes exclusively who dominates who, moral rules and facts are irrelevant, all else subordinated. Trump is the power absolute.
      – Nothing is Immoral (except what Trump says): Morality is subordinated to the cause – every action is acceptable if to advance the cause regardless of morallity. Trump is the moral absolute.
      – A small vanguard understands; the masses do not need to. (Recently bolstered by some commentary here that Trump team bypasses all normal war operational channels. Now also bolstered by going after those considered ideologically impure, such as Carlson, or “antifa”.) Trump is the truth absolute.
      – What is condemned when done by opponents is justified when done by the Trump. Trump is himself the moral absolute.

      We can likely blame a bowl of porridge for this.
      1. Tom Stone March 16, 2026 at 10:36 am

         The Press needs to get on board, There’s nothing but blue skies and good times ahead as each day gets better and better in this, the best of all possible Worlds!
         Trump has been chosen by Divine providence to usher in a New Golden Age and anyone who disagrees is clearly doing Satan’s work and needs to be firmly corrected by those who have been entrusted with Preserving our Freedoms!
         God Bless America!

         Oh, and Jesus is Coming!,
         I almost forgot that.
         1. ThirtyOne March 16, 2026 at 2:47 pm

            Well He walked on the water and He raised up the dead
            And we teach all the children that He died for our sin
            But something’s gone wrong this world’s in a mess
            Jesus is coming and boy is He pissed

            He’s looked down at the homeless and the rape of the land
            He’s seen the preachers and lawyers with blood on their hands
            Politicians beware cause in a loophole you’ve missed
            Jesus is coming and boy is He pissed

            In a world gone mad He’s watching it all
            And the meek shall inherit but the mighty will fall

            It’s a shame what we’ve come to and we cannot go back
            And the train bound for glory went down the wrong track
            Soon the love in His heart will be the rage in His fist
            Jesus is coming and boy is He pissed

            So the whole place can rumble and it floods like a curse
            And the hatred and crime you know it only gets worse
            These warnings do heed no more and no less
            Jesus is coming and boy is He pissed

            The Bellamy Brothers – Jesus Is Coming And Boy Is He Pissed
            1. John Wright March 16, 2026 at 3:10 pm

               I recently saw a bumper sticker.

               “Sin, otherwise Jesus would have died for nothing”

               Not everyone is aligned with the evangelicals.
      2. Kouros March 16, 2026 at 9:34 pm

         I think the comparison would be apt if Roman emperors were involved, not Lenin and the Bolsheviks.
   2. anahuna March 16, 2026 at 5:07 pm

      Glenn Greenwald on with Tucker just now:
      Watch “Glenn Greenwald: Iran War Updates, False Flags, and Netanyahu’s Plot to Imprison Americans” on YouTube

      I couldn’t help noticing that Tucker looked remarkably subdued. He kept twisting his hands nervously. And then, as if becoming aware of it, moving his arms out of sight.
6. paul March 16, 2026 at 9:18 am

   I wonder what form the false flag will take, maybe wiping out the leading figures in the current regime?

   Their brand values are plummeting anyway.

   After all, there are plenty of identical figures ready to step up to continue as normal, but with even more added resolve.
7. ProNewerDeal March 16, 2026 at 9:19 am

   has there been any 2025/2026 reporting on what US/Western Power Elite class (0.1% richest + top execs in Corps/Gov/Military) is currently doing (if anything) on personal anti-COVID NPI mitigation?

   I recall a report (from 2023?) that the Davos conference had mandatory Covid testing of all participants even Billionaires, that the hotel key Failed in an infotech link to a Covid positive test result. IIRC this report said that the conference rooms/areas had ventilation & UV light equipment.

   Did any of this NPI mitigation remain at the latest Davos/similar Power Elite conference? Or did the Power Elite “drink their own Koolaid” after Biden’s “Covid is over now” 2023 speech?

   My personal gusstimate/CT that some in the Power Elite that privately acknowledge Long Covid risk are taking the I vitamin, feeling they can personally “let it rip” while getting 90%+ reduction on Long Covid/organ damage risk. I repeat this is just my guesstimate speculation.

   What is the Chinese Power Elite class doing on personal anti-Covid NPI mitigation?

   I wish we had a global or at least multi-nation New Deal-ish project on installing ventilation equipment in indoor public buildings. Worst case if the public health benefits its advocates claim are overstated, it would be a stimulus to aggregate demand & jobs at a time when recession might occur.
8. AG March 16, 2026 at 9:21 am

   re: Ukraine War

   fb´s feed on Glenn Diesen claims that Diesen wrote this post:

   “(…)France asked to be involved at the US-Russia-Ukraine negotiations. “The Russian response from Ushakov was basically, ‘Sorry, actually, no we don’t, fuck you’.”
   – In all fairness, both Washington and Moscow are convinced that the main objective of the Europeans has been to keep the war going. The Europeans can still negotiate independently with Moscow, yet the Europeans have decided to boycott diplomacy and negotiations for the past 4 years.(…)”

   Below this text there is a screenshot of the FT printing the fuck you quote – is that real? I would have thought FT would never print such a phrase.
   1. Ben Panga March 16, 2026 at 2:16 pm

      You can Google the phrase you bolded and the first response is the FT article
   2. ChrisPacific March 16, 2026 at 8:07 pm

      It’s become more commonly used in mainstream discourse in recent years (and lost some of its offensiveness and shock value) to the point where some media will print it.
   3. Kouros March 16, 2026 at 9:38 pm

      “In all fairness, both Washington and Moscow are convinced that the main objective of the Europeans has been to keep the war going.” I don’t buy the fact that Washington wants to end that war. Not at all.

      https://www.rt.com/news/635237-trump-power-politics-and-russia/
9. Carolinian March 16, 2026 at 9:30 am

   Re MAGA split–given that the truth of the war is being hidden from the public it’s hardly surprising that–so far–there isn’t much defection. However the election is still months away and the truth of Trump’s disaster can’t be hidden forever.
   1. Lefty Godot March 16, 2026 at 12:29 pm

      Yes, most of the right-leaning websites I visit indicate the war is going swimmingly and that Iran is crushed and Lebanon will be next, easy-peasy. The supposedly neutral news sites like AP and Reuters have very little coverage in depth about the war, maybe one story that’s basically a Pentagon or State Department press release featured among all the other important issues of the day (like whatever today’s true crime story is or celebrity news like the Oscars). The right-wing media ecosystem is keeping its consumers pretty much in the dark.
      1. Revenant March 16, 2026 at 6:56 pm

         Reuters is not neutral! The founder was literally the first British economic imperialist in Iran (per Michael Hudson’s article here the other day)! And wherever it goes, MI6 goes too….
10. The Rev Kev March 16, 2026 at 9:33 am

    “‘Waiting until…’: Trump breaks silence on his China visit amid Iran war, wants Xi Jinping’s support for securing Hormuz”

    Trump is really stuck here. His four day war is already a fortnight late in ending and the Iranians refuse to quit. He tried to drag in the Gulf States to go to war against Iran and they told him to bugger off. He tried the Kurds but after all the betrayals they are sitting this one out. He tried the Turks as they are NATO so might drag in all the other members but Erdogan is just fence-sitting. He tried the western powers, the same ones that he has been mocking, tariffing and extorting huge sums of money out of, but they want nothing to do with it. He rang Putin but Putin told him we told you so. And now he is trying China, the same country whose trade he wants to strangle to death. Is there anybody else that he can try to drag into this war? Maybe he can convince Israel to use the 450,000 soldiers that they want to mobilize and send them not to Lebanon but to Iran instead.
    1. rob March 16, 2026 at 10:21 am

       I would imagine that there are a lot of Iranians who would LOVE that. Actually being able to get their hands on those israeli’s, who deserve SO MUCH “payback”.
    2. MRLost March 16, 2026 at 10:33 am

       … so, the next step has gotta be … nukes! Who’s gonna go first? Israel or the US? I say the US cuz Iran would not dare actually nuking the US in return.
       1. TimH March 16, 2026 at 11:11 am

          Iran would not dare actually nuking the US in return.

          Why not? They have been operating tit for tat over targets like refinery.
          1. Revenant March 16, 2026 at 7:07 pm

             There are several twitter commentators dissecting certain recent missile strikes and insisting that they best fit the profile of a minimal residual radiation (MRR) tactical nuclear weapon of 0.3kt yield or less. These include strikes last decade by Israel in Syria and this decade by the Ukraine/US in Russia and in the current Gulf war by the US/Israel in Iran (and possibly even a recent strike by Iran on Nevatim airbase).

             I do not think any party is going to fire a strategic nuclear weapon, not even Israel in a Samson Option delirium. However, Trump’s choice in the Strait is either capitulation or escalation. His and Israel’s only escalatory step (unless they can achieve air dominance and attempt to bomb Iran back to the Stone Age without risking the same fate for Israel and the Gulf) is overt tactical nuclear weapon use.

             Although I worry it is the next step, I am puzzled what they could do with them tactically or operationally that they are not already doing with conventional weapons. Perhaps use them to bluff that they might use a big one? Or to bomb Fordow and Natanz and declare victory and go home? There would be a significant risk of radiation pollution if they bombed the enriched uraniam store, though – and possibly even of a much bigger bang than they intended if the, cough, iranium joined in.
    3. Glen March 16, 2026 at 6:36 pm

       The story out of the WH keeps changing, here’s the latest:

       Trump seeks to delay meeting with China’s Xi by ‘a month or so’
       https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/trump-xi-meeting-not-jeopardy-could-be-delayed-white-house-says-2026-03-16/

       I’ll look around to see if there’s anything forthcoming from China, but honestly why say anything formally at this point. Whatever the WH says is gonna change by the end of the day so why bother.
11. Wukchumni March 16, 2026 at 9:51 am

    Insane weather from Hawai’i to the East Coast Balanced Weather
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    Bitterly cold on the slopes in Vail yesterday, with the wind chill factor making it around 10 degrees, and not all that fun.

    Later in the week it’ll be in the mid 60’s here, crazy.
    1. Carolinian March 16, 2026 at 10:21 am

       AZ is having unprecedented triple digits at this early date.

       Here in the Carolinas the NC mtns may get a spring snow storm.
       1. Tom Stone March 16, 2026 at 10:40 am

          81 degrees here in Sonoma County yesterday, 85-86 predicted daily for the next week.
          Endless Summer!
          1. ambrit March 16, 2026 at 12:15 pm

             80s yesterday here in the Rancid Underbelly of the North American Deep South. Overnight and this morning, snow flurries just north of us in Laurel, Mississippi.
             Welcome to the New World Climate Order?
             Stay safe, and comfortable.
    2. LaRuse March 16, 2026 at 11:10 am

       We had a 89* high temp last Wednesday – new record high smashed. The very next day, we got an inch of slushy snow in 2 hours as schools were letting out, causing traffic chaos. Today, all the central VA schools and even my state office building are closed because we are anticipating 75mph winds, 1″ hail, and likely tornados … from 1100 to 2000. Wicked spring/early summer storms that bring these conditions are not uncommon here in the midatlantic, but they typically blow through in an hour, not train through for 8+ hours.
       Mother Nature is not okay.
12. KD March 16, 2026 at 9:58 am

    On the ground war:

    I understand the “Trump-Is-A-Mad-Man-Can’t-Lose-Must-Escalate” narrative, which creates pressure for a ground campaign, which is sure to be as stupid, reckless and badly thought-through as the air war. Further, I can see using special forces to stir up the neighbors into some kind of insurrection. But I don’t know how you do a ground invasion. You don’t have enough troops, and you don’t have any safe place to deploy them.

    I guess I hear the notion floated of taking Kharg Island or something. Say the marines take it, its not booby trapped, how do they run logistics? What is the plan for the drone swarms that will be omnipresent? So we end up with a newspaper victory that turns into a Davy Crocket redux. Is that going to create the upswell of public opinion, maybe in conjunction with a false flag, for the total war? I am skeptical, I think no one will buy any of it, no one wants any of it. A real ground war would require the total commitment of the US and a radical transformation of American society, and further, leaves America’s ability to project force in Europe and SE Asia completely ham-strung. Trump may try, Bibi may want, but I just don’t see how the stars align to make anything other than small-scale U.S. soldier horror porn to match Gallipoli and the Charge of the Light Brigade.

    I think after a month or two of this b.s. we are going to witness an angry political shift the scope of which I do not think the Beltway can conceive. Further, don’t be surprised if Iran announces their possession of a nuclear weapon on that time scale, at least according to Larry Johnson.
    1. rob March 16, 2026 at 10:35 am

       Well, the unrealistic pipe dream of the americans actually showing up to the region with boots on the ground is one option. I Like the preferable, and hopefully more realistic possibility that instead of the troops just waltzing to their deaths and dismemberment in Iran; people might be forced to see the better option is to arrest everyone in the executive branch who is engaging in these lies and war crimes, and crimes against humanity, and crimes against the constitution, and to international law. They SHOULD also demand the prosecution of those in the media who have lied and performed their propaganda role which has also been a crime against the american people, as well as all the other people of the planet. Then maybe they can smell the rats in the democratic party , the congress, the supreme court…..
       I mean as long as we are talking about things that have no chance of happening… we might as well include things that SHOULD happen.
       Nevermind charging tucker carlson…. bring trump,hegseth,rubio, bondi, noem(from retirement) and the rest of the enemies of the american people, to justice. That is how I read the “law”.
       1. WendyS March 16, 2026 at 9:06 pm

          The Terry Pratchett commander Sam Vimes option. I really like that idea.
       2. Buzz Meeks March 16, 2026 at 10:59 pm

          Would love to see Jake Trapper and his fellow tribe member Wolfe blubbering on screen as they are lead away in cuffs.
13. Huey March 16, 2026 at 10:10 am

    Tons of really great links today Conor (wrt topics I obsessively follow). I will likely be reading for the rest of the morning, many thanks!
14. The Rev Kev March 16, 2026 at 10:29 am

    “Trump administration offers $10M reward for information on Iranian leaders”

    Wouldn’t it be hilarious if the Iranian did the same. They could offer five bucks for Donald Trump but for Pete Hegseth would only go two bits.
    1. KD March 16, 2026 at 11:56 am

       The Trump people better post a bond, or the reward money won’t get paid. I think there are some pissed off Venezuelans waiting on their $50 million for shivving Maduro in the back.
       1. Huey March 16, 2026 at 7:38 pm

          I believe the rat outing Luigi also didn’t get paid (last articles I’m seeing simply said he ‘may not’). People should really, really pay more attention to who really has it out for them.
    2. KD March 16, 2026 at 12:02 pm

       Per Wikipedia:

       https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosecution_of_Nicol%C3%A1s_Maduro_and_Cilia_Flores

       Following Maduro’s capture by U.S. forces on January 3, 2026, during Operation Absolute Resolve, the reward was rendered moot as it was contingent on public information leading to his arrest rather than direct military action.
    3. Cat Burglar March 16, 2026 at 4:38 pm

       No wonder that self-regarding leaders of a sclerotic credentialist hierarchy would think that taking out leaders of an opposing power or movement was a great idea — after all, they themselves are the greatest and most indispensible of leaders, so why not take out their mighty equivalents among the opponents? It would cripple the enemy.

       What could go wrong? The prodigy General McClellan led the Union armies by right and by rank — imagine what would have happened if some depressive alcoholic second-rate failure had been put in his position instead? Pretty obvious.
15. Mr. Woo March 16, 2026 at 10:32 am

    100 Best Economics Blogs to Follow in 2026
    Not sure how they made this but Mark Thomas Economists View is on there and i think its been a few years since he shut it down.
    1. Mr. Woo March 16, 2026 at 10:40 am

       Coppola Comments jumps out as well. Hasnt posted sinces 2024 it seems.
16. Jason Boxman March 16, 2026 at 11:50 am

    Don’t worry, electrification will save us all

    ‘Dangerous’ and ‘Unprecedented’: How Bad Will This March Heat Wave Get? (NY Times)

    Tens of millions of people across the desert Southwest and along the California coast are being urged to curtail outdoor activities this week, as high temperatures rarely seen this early in the year are expected to topple records across those regions.

    The heat will last through the week. “It is going to be a marathon,” the National Weather Service’s office in San Francisco warned. Heat advisories and even extreme heat watches, unusual for March, have been issued in many areas.

    Meteorologists said they were expecting several types of records to fall: daily records; overall highs for the month of March; and earliest 100-degree days of the year. Official record-keeping in many of these locations, including Phoenix, Los Angeles and San Francisco, goes back more than 100 years.

    Because the heat is hitting so early in the year, forecasters said they expected it to affect people in ways they might not be used to. “We are not acclimated to this level of heat this early,” said Gabriel Lojero, a meteorologist with the Weather Service’s office in Phoenix.
17. Mikel March 16, 2026 at 12:37 pm

    So much to keep up with that there hasn’t been any Bezzle or Musk Matters sections today.
    Patrick Boyle produced an entertaining take on the Space X IPO:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rS3fTbC7TE/
    1. CarlH March 16, 2026 at 6:35 pm

       His dust dry humor is fantastic.
18. GW March 16, 2026 at 1:51 pm

    Hegseth always reminded me of the Adam Guenzel character on Oz, the 1990 HBO series. Same facial features, same slicked back hair. Same denial mechanisms and hysterical, transparent efforts to project masculine strength. The resemblance is all the more uncanny given that Greasy Pete’s clearly decomposing under stress.
19. Sub-Boreal March 16, 2026 at 2:07 pm

    Meanwhile in other news, the most Canadian disaster ever: a Zamboni explosion.
20. Mikel March 16, 2026 at 2:57 pm

    https://dnyuz.com/2026/03/16/could-this-be-the-end-of-dubai/
    Could This Be the End of Dubai?

    Much to chew on or re-chew on if such thoughts have already been on one’s mind.

    Bits of this article reminded me of a post (by Conor, if I remember correctly) on NC dealing with proposed or new Trump Administration legislation for immigration in the USA.
    1. Revenant March 16, 2026 at 7:20 pm

       Iran has stated that it wishes to “destroy the idea of Dubai.”.

       I think that statement sums up the purpose of their war aims with unimprovable clarity. They wish to push Western parasites and their local comprador collaborators out of the Gulf and decolonise the mind of the Middle East. Dubai has no oil, it is a middle-man and Western bubble.
21. Jason Boxman March 16, 2026 at 3:10 pm

    From The Trump Administration’s “Disturbing” New Legal Strategy to Prosecute Border Crossers Is Taxing Courts and Testing the Law (Pro Publica)

    Heh. Republicans once again demonstrating that it is possible to do things, even if stupid, in furtherance of your worldview. Democrats only worldview is grifting and virtue signaling.

    But in New Mexico, within weeks of the first cases, judges began throwing out the trespass charges as soon as they were filed for lack of probable cause.

    Prosecutors responded with an unusual maneuver. Rather than abandon the cases, they refiled them using a charging document called an information — a tool commonly used for misdemeanors but, according to the legal experts consulted by ProPublica and the Tribune, rarely deployed to revive cases judges had already deemed unsupported.

    Prosecutors used informations to resurrect more than 1,600 military trespass cases, the news organizations found.

    “If there is no probable cause, the case is supposed to end,” said Meghan Skelton, a former assistant federal public defender and prosecutor. “They are trying to circumvent that in a way that has not been done in the 30 years I’ve been practicing law.”
22. Ann March 16, 2026 at 4:00 pm

    Cuba’s power system suffers total collapse

    https://www.cnn.com/2026/03/16/world/cuba-power-grid-collapse-intl-latam
    1. Jason Boxman March 16, 2026 at 6:42 pm

       Trump and Little Marco are really delivering for the anti-Cuba group, collective punishment of a country too small to weather the storm. I guess the Americas are finally going to be safe for capitalism, everywhere!
    2. Huey March 16, 2026 at 7:41 pm

       Gotta love the surge of crimes against humanity.
23. Ann March 16, 2026 at 4:11 pm

    Mojtaba Khamenei escaped death by seconds, leaked audio reveals

    Exclusive: Iran’s new supreme leader went out into garden moments before missiles hit his home and killed father

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/03/16/exclusive-mojtaba-khamenei-escaped-death-leaked-audio/

    Trump’s AI czar calls for U.S. to ‘get out’ of war and warns Iran has a ‘dead man’s switch’ that could render Gulf states almost uninhabitable

    https://fortune.com/2026/03/14/trump-ai-czar-david-sacks-us-iran-war-gulf-israel-desalination-water-uninhabitable/

    Trump is presented with options to end the war in Iran, sources say. He hasn’t taken any so far.
    The off-ramps are a standard part of war planning, which also includes possibilities for escalation if the White House decides to increase the pressure on Iran, sources tell NBC News.

    https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/trump-presented-daily-options-end-war-iran-hasnt-taken-far-rcna263399
24. LawnDart March 16, 2026 at 4:59 pm

    Re; Syraqistan, Ukraine, Israel, etc.

    Something much-discussed; the economics of warfare today. The author of this paper illustrates some valid points of consideration with regards to discussion of this topic, nevermind his noted caveat: “All percentage attributions represent conservative estimates derived from open source visual confirmation and institutional field reporting rather than comprehensive battlefield accounting.”

    This caveat does not diminish the broader findings of his research though he was primarily using study of the Ukraine war as a basis for his research– these certainly apply to what we’re seeing in the Middle East today.

    The End of the Exposed Warfighter—Cost Asymmetry and Attrition Economics in Modern Combat

    Recent conflicts indicate a structural inversion in the economics of warfare. The exposed human warfighter, requiring prolonged training, continuous sustainment, and high replacement cost, now operates at a growing disadvantage relative to low cost, rapidly replaceable machine systems. This paper argues that modern warfare is increasingly governed not by individual skill or platform sophistication, but by logistics, replacement speed, and cost asymmetry under sustained attrition. Using attrition economics and battlefield evidence from the ongoing war in Ukraine, the analysis demonstrates that humans are being displaced from exposed combat roles not primarily by ethical preference, policy choice, or doctrinal failure, but by binding logistical and regeneration constraints. As low cost systems absorb risk at scale, the human role shifts away from the highest-attrition layer toward remote command, supervision, and coordination, while machines assume primacy at the point of contact. This transition is observable in current conflicts and reflects a reversal in the cost structure that has historically defined military effectiveness, rendering the exposed human warfighter economically non-viable under sustained attrition.
25. mrsyk March 16, 2026 at 5:51 pm

    The Morrill County wildfire has now consumed 572,000 acres and is zero percent contained. It has moved into the number nine spot, top ten largest US wildfires.
26. MatF March 16, 2026 at 7:42 pm

    America’s first large-scale indoor vertical farm: Looks like a diverse ecosystem to me, perfectly balancing the needs of a plethora of species with our agricultural needs. Good we are learning from the past decades of industrial farming. Now with AI we could scale this up and improve it to this: https://matrix.fandom.com/wiki/Power_plant yeah!
27. tegnost March 16, 2026 at 9:14 pm

    Perfect balance. Doesn’t seem particularly natural to me.
    Balance species with”our” needs? What do you me we, kemo sabe? Because vertical farming?
    My hippier friends were obsessed with this great idea back in the day, but now AI!
    It always worked.
    You can do it. You don’t need AI’s help.
    I got my bestie a sticker for her computer, it’s an alien working on a laptop with the caption
    “Believe in yourself.”
    Panta Rhei

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