Author: launchkits

No Photos from No Kings III

Commentary by K.E. Bell

While I have shared pictures from previous No Kings rallies, I decided not to this time. I am happy to say I went to Milwaukee's rally because I want my voice to be on record as against this despicable regime, but I didn't want to risk outing anyone else to feed the databases that might be compiled by the government, Palantir, or any other nefarious actors. 

I even considered leaving my phone at home so I couldn't be tracked, but I kept it with me and on all the time. It's a sad state of affairs that we have to consider violations like these, but that's where we are.  

•••

Whether you identify as left, right or straight down the middle, we welcome civilly stated comments from across the political spectrum on news/aggregate/analysis and commentary published in The Hustings at editors@thehustings.news and please indicate your political leanings in the subject line so we may post your comments in the proper (right or left) column. --Editors

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MONDAY 3/30/26

Iran War, Week 5

Oral Arguments in Trump v. Barbara – Donald J. Trump becomes the first-ever US president to attend Supreme Court chambers Wednesday as justices hear arguments about the constitutionality of his executive order banning automatic citizenship for any baby born in America of parents who entered illegally, or even have a legal, temporary or long-term visa.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL FOOLS DAY 2026

Out of Iran? – President Trump addresses the nation 9 p.m. Wednesday ET after announcing Tuesday the US would leave Iran in two or three weeks, with or without a deal. And on Wednesday morning, Trump said Iran said it wanted to reach a ceasefire ahead of his address, The Associated Press reports.

And so the US-Israeli war on Iran whiplash continues. The United Arab Emirates wants to force the Strait of Hormuz open “by any means necessary” and is willing to join the fight, according to The Wall Street Journal in an exclusive that reports the UAE has begun a campaign to persuade European and Asian allies of the US to join the effort. 

Meanwhile … A spokesman for Iran’s foreign ministry says his country believes the US “isn’t serious about diplomacy,” the WSJreports.

•••

Out of NATO – President Trump told The Telegraph in an interview that removing the US from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is “beyond reconsideration” after its European member countries failed to come to the US’ aid in the war on Iran and to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

“I was never swayed by NATO,” Trump told the UK newspaper. “I always knew they were a paper tiger, and Putin knows it too.”

Which is why Moscow will not consider any “peace plan” (remember those?) with Ukraine unless they are kept out of NATO?

•••

AAA National Average Unleaded Regular, Wednesday: $4.064 per gallon, up 4.6 cents from Tuesday’s price and up $1.0776 over February 27. Diesel: $5.49 per gallon, up 3.6 cents over Tuesday and $2.378 costlier than on February 27. –TL

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TUESDAY 3/31/26

Strait, No Chaser – President Trump is ready to end the US Military’s campaign on Iran even if the Strait of Hormuz remains largely closed, The Wall Street Journal reports, citing White House aides. To force the Strait open would push the US-Israeli war on Iran’s timeline beyond the four to six weeks the Trump administration had given itself to achieve its main goals of immobilizing Iran’s navy, destroying its missile stocks and winding down hostilities. 

Meanwhile … War/Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told a joint press conference with Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Dan Caine Tuesday morning that the coming days of the conflict would be “decisive,” (moreWSJ) as in the past 24 hours the number of projectiles Iran launched was its lowest since the war began. 

Hegseth told reporters the administration has not ruled out boots on the ground in Iran, however (per NPR).

For the White House, the best-case scenario is Iran’s new-ish leadership rolls over and opens the Strait in time for that six-week deadline. 

Go get it, EU … Trump again Truth Socialed that it’s past time for other countries, especially the United Kingdom, to join the US-Israeli mission against Iran’s Islamic Republic: “Build up some delayed courage, go to the Strait, and just TAKE IT. You’ll have to start learning how to fight four yourself, the U.S.A. won’t be there to help you anymore, just like you weren’t there for us.”

At the risk of repeating ourselves, gas and diesel prices in the US are dependent on global oil prices, whether we buy any of the oil going through the Strait or not.

The other big concern … We know that Trump watches Wall Street most closely and recently crowed about the Dow Jones Industrial Average topping 50,000 points for the first time, just before the war on Iran began. Since then, it’s down about 5,000 points, or roughly 10%. Again from The Wall Street Journal, a highly regarded authority on this sort of thing, Wall Street is finishing its worst quarter in four years, since when the Biden administration was trying to pull the economy out of the COVID pandemic.

After high expectations at the beginning of 2026, Wall Street investors now are only hoping to “sidestep” a recession, the WSJsays.

•••

AAA National Average Unleaded Regular, Monday: $4.018 per gallon, up 1.18 cents from Monday’s price and up $1.0316 over February 27. Diesel: $5.454 per gallon, up 13.8 cents over Monday and $2.342 costlier than on February 27. While most the attention is on the unleaded regular gasoline price breaching $4 per gallon, its diesel fuel, which powers most the trucks that deliver food and other goods to US consumers, that has risen more steadily over the past five weeks. –TL

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MONDAY 3/30/26

It Doesn’t Rhyme – Unlike last week’s headline, “Iran War, Week Five” doesn’t rhyme, though it’s the mirror image about the shibboleth about history not repeating itself. What we are trying to say is President Trump seems to have pulled off another TACO by Truth Socialing that Tehran has made “great progress” toward talks for a ceasefire, according to The New York Times. But … Trump warned that if Tehran does fail to produce an agreement, he would order bombardment of Iranian powerplants, oil infrastructure and potentially desalination plants (which could affect tens of millions of Iranians including those he claimed to be trying to empower to take over their repressive regime). 

Meanwhile … The Israeli military said it completed a wave of strikes “a short while ago,” the NYT reports. Israel offered no additional details.

A parliamentary committee has passed a plan to toll ships sailing through the Strai of Hormuz. The measure faces vote by the full parliament before it can take effect.

•••

No Kings Reaches 8 Million – Organizers estimate more than 8 million people protested the Trump administration at last Saturday’s No Kings III rally, topping No Kings II’s 7 million and the first No Kings’ 5 million, USA Today reports.

•••

AAA National Average Unleaded Regular, Monday: $3.99 per gallon, up 2.2 cents from Friday’s price and up $1.0198 over February 27. Diesel: $5.416 per gallon, up 9.5 cents over Friday and $2.204 costlier than on February 27. –Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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MONDAY 3/30/26

And He’s Doing What For You?

Commentary by Stephen Macaulay

During a local morning news broadcast on one of the affiliate stations in Detroit on Sunday, March 29, there was reporting on the previous day’s No Kings Rallies held literally around the world.

To provide some balance in its presentation, it brought on the chairman of Republican party of one of the suburban counties and asked him what he thought about the rallies.

Certainly not a “gotcha” question by any means.

He responded that Donald Trump is doing a great job because he secured the border and then, well, that was about the extent of his answer. 

Certainly he is right. The southern border is absolutely more protected than it has been in some time.

But given that Oakland County is the home to the headquarters of Stellantis North America, as well as to a multitude of automotive suppliers from around the world, the issue of tariffs and our northern neighbor, Canada, ought to be of more concern to Republicans and Democrats alike in Michigan because those tariffs are having a deleterious effect on not only Stellantis, but General Motors and Ford, as well.

And those auto companies can ill-afford the cost of the tariffs on top of the losses—in the billions—they are experiencing because the Trump Administration decided that it would no longer fund the purchase of electric vehicles via a tax credit to consumers—funny how it lost its tax credits while the Big Beautiful Bill Act provides an array of tax cuts. And will add an estimated $3.4-trillion to the deficit over the next decade.

Donald Trump likes to talk about how the US is the “hottest” country.

While some may say that by eliminating the tax credits it allows the market to determine what will be powering vehicles, there is a larger issue here: The rest of the world—and China, in particular—is aggressively developing electric propulsion, in large part with support of their governments.

Whether you are a proponent of HEMIs or plug-in hybrids, if being a “hot” country means globally competitive, then pulling the rug out from under the US auto industry by making much of their investments in electrification a sunk cost isn’t a way to assure that happens. What’s more, the 50% tariffs on steel and aluminum (what do you think cars are made of?), as well as the threats of tearing up the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA)—an agreement, by the way, that Trump described as a “colossal victory” when he signed it (sure doesn’t sound like we were being “ripped off” by Canada and Mexico back then)—are issues that are also making the US auto industry less competitive.

And now with his inability to secure the Strait of Hormuz, gas prices are going up day by day and so US consumers are going to be less able to afford to buy a new vehicle (or if they can afford to, the level of uncertainty caused by the war, which is also causing their 401(k)s to crater, likely will put them on the sidelines for some time to come).

Again, a kick in the groin for American manufacturers.

And then there are the pressures on the farmers because of the roiling caused by (1) tariffs and (2) the fact that not only oil but fertilizer (about a third of all of it) goes through the Strait of Hormuz, and (3) their tractors use diesel and diesel fuel is up $1.65 a gallon from a month ago, to $5.40, which will probably be higher by the time you read this.

Sticking with Michigan, agriculture is the second-largest industry in the state, supporting about 25% of all of the workers employed. It is second only to California in the variety of agricultural products grown.

The top export market for Michigan agricultural products is Canada. The second is Mexico.

So how is the Trump Administration’s treatment of those countries—Canada in particular—helping out the Michigan farmers?

Yes, the head of the Oakland County Republican party sure knows that the president is doing a heck of a job for his state.

And while speaking of Michigan, according to the most-recent University of Michigan survey of consumer sentiment—which is a national survey—"Overall, the short-run economic outlook plunged 14%, and year-ahead expected personal finances sank 10%.”

Great. The so-called “Golden Age” that the president holds forth about doesn’t seem particularly shiny and bright for the citizens. 

K-shaped economy or not, the U of M researchers found “Consumers with middle and higher incomes and stock wealth, buffeted by both escalating gas prices and volatile financial markets in the wake of the Iran conflict, exhibited particularly large drops in sentiment.”

That’s right: even the wealthy aren’t seeing the wonders that Trump promised.

What is the outlook? 

“Year-ahead inflation expectations climbed from 3.4% in February to 3.8% this month, the largest one-month increase since April 2025.”

April 2025, as you’ll recall, included “Liberation Day.”

How’s that working out?

Clearly Donald Trump is more interested in getting his signature on the dollar bill and less interested in the conditions of people’s wallets.

Meanwhile, right now is the time when many people across the country are going on Spring Break. Should they drive, they’re going to have to take a larger percentage of their disposable income to pay for gas. According to AAA, as of March 29 the national average for a gallon of regular is $3.98—a dollar more than it was a month ago.

If they fly, then they’re going to have to endure long lines because of the partial government shutdown that is causing TSA staffing shortages.

According to the Administration: “Currently, more than 60,000 Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employees, including approximately 50,000 transportation security officers who perform security functions at domestic airports, are not being paid due to congressional Democrats’ reckless decision to prioritize criminal illegal aliens over American citizens and shut down DHS until their demand to prohibit enforcement of Federal immigration law is met.”

Guess the fact that the Republican House refused to go along with their colleagues in the Senate who helped pass a package that would have funded TSA—as well as the Coast Guard, FEMA, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

The congressional Democrats aren’t prioritizing “criminal illegal aliens over American citizens.”

Rather they are protecting American citizens from Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents who have killed American citizens and trampled on the rights of many more. Shouldn’t ICE agents get a warrant before going into someone’s house—you know, like the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States requires?

Why don’t they have to follow the same sort of rules that law enforcement professionals across the land abide by?

Right now, the lines at US airports resemble those of a third-world country. (And on the subject of third-world countries: in all of 2021, the first full year of the Biden presidency, there were 49 cases of measles. Thanks to the clever choices to lead the federal health system and initiatives, as of week 13, 2026, there are 1,614 cases. Make America Healthy Again?)

While Donald Trump is signing an Executive Order to pay the TSA agents, he is not addressing the problem. It is the classic “put a band-aid on it.” (He’ll probably make sure the checks are signed with his name—but it is our money.)

What is the consummate deal-making businessman doing to solve the congressional issue?

Evidently nothing.

If all we needed was a border czar, then we’ve got Tom Homan.

But we’ve got bigger issues, which seem to be un- or under-addressed by Donald Trump.

The war continues. Prices are high. The Epstein files remain obfuscated. 

“Our country is winning again. In fact, we’re winning so much that we really don’t know what to do about it. People are asking me, please, please, please, Mr. President, we’re winning too much. We can’t take it anymore. We’re not used to winning in our country until you came along, we’re just always losing. But now we’re winning too much. And I say, no, no, no, you’re going to win again. You’re going to win big. You’re going to win bigger than ever.”—Donald Trump, “State of the Union Address,” February 24, 2026

How’s that working out?

Macaulay is pundit-at-large for The Hustings.

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MONDAY 3/30/26

No Section 230 Here

Attorneys for Meta Platforms and Google cited Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 that gives social media sites coverage from liability from third-party content generated by their users. 

The Editorial We call The Hustings a “civil media site,” not a social media site. That means we assiduously check and edit our content, from our news and aggregate center column to our liberal and conservative columns, left and right, for facts and responsible, civil commentary.

What does that mean for you, the potential citizen pundit?

Embrace facts, whether they support your opinions or not, avoid personal attacks on other citizen pundits and our contributing pundits, and please help us maintain a civil discussion atmosphere. Think of commenting in the right or left columns here as the modern update of an old-fashioned daily newspaper’s letters page.  

Where do your comments belong? Whether you identify as left, right or straight down the middle, we welcome civilly stated comments from across the political spectrum on news/aggregate/analysis and commentary published in The Hustings at editors@thehustings.news and please indicate your political leanings in the subject line so we may post your comments in the proper (right or left) column. --Editors

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THURSDAY 3/26/26

Iran War, Week 4

IT’S GOLD (not pictured)! – House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) handed President Trump the inaugural America First award at the annual National Republican Congressional Committee fundraiser at Washington’s Union Station Wednesday evening. Photos of the "beautiful golden statue" itself appear impossible to find (hat tip to Jimmy Kimmel Live). 

Dollars for TSA – By unanimous consent the Senate passed early Friday a proposal that funds the Transportation Security Administration and other critical Department of Homeland Security agencies, but not Immigration and Customs Enforcement, The Hill reports.

The vote effectively ends the partial shutdown of DHS and comes just as senators were to head out of Washington, many of them on commercial flights (though with their own special security access), on a two-week recess ending April 13. Several key airport hubs across the country have reported TSA security checkpoints taking up to five hours. 

Negotiations to fund ICE and Border Patrol failed after Democrats and Republicans failed to agree on reforms proposed in light of the fatal shootings of Reneé Nicole Good and Alex Pretti by agents in Minneapolis last January. 

“This was all about reforms, and they were on the table, basically, that was kind of closed and they started to take the [ICE] funding off the table,” said Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD). “I just think their base was demanding they not fund ICE.”

However, ICE is getting by on $75 billion of fiscal 2026 funding from President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Budget Act. Paid ICE agents this past week had been deployed at several of the nation’s airports to assist the unpaid TSA agents.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said he is proud of his caucus for holding firm on ICE reforms, including no administrative warrants and masks off agents, before funding.

“Democrats held firm in our opposition that Donald Trump’s rogue and deadly militia should not get more funding without serious reforms, and we will continue to fight for those reforms,” Schumer said.

•••

Deal Up – President Trump’s original extension of his Monday, March 23 deadline for Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz or face US Military bombing of Iranian power plants was to be up by Friday evening. You may have noticed that Iran has not opened the Strait but did “give” Trump the heretofore “mystery” present of allowing “eight big boats of oil” to pass through.

“And so I gave them a 10-day extension,” Trump told Fox News’ The Five Thursday evening. “They asked for seven. You’re gonna say, ‘Oh, Trump’s a terrible negotiator.” (Though probably not at least four of The Five.) “They asked for seven. I said, ‘I’m gonna give you 10.’”

Mark your calendars for Monday, April 6. 

Tehran’s resolve … Meanwhile, as the US and Israel continue to hit Iran’s missile-launching sites over and over, Iran has kept its missiles flying by shifting to longer-range missiles from deeper inside its territory, analysts and former US officers tell The Wall Street Journal.

•••

AAA National Average Unleaded Regular, Friday: $3.978 per gallon, 0.02 cents lower than Thursday’s price and up 98.898-cents over February 27. Diesel: $5.38 per gallon, up 9.5 cents over Thursday and $2.204 costlier than on February 27. –TL

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THURSDAY 3/26/26

Deal, No Deal Redux – As Iranian leadership continues to deny it is in talks with the US to negotiate an end to the war there, President Trump faces a self-imposed, far-from-official deadline to end that war within a few weeks. Thursday morning, Trump Truth Socialed his, er, disappointment that European North Atlantic Treaty Organization nations – the ones he said last year are on their own for handling conflicts on their own side of the world. 

Courtesy Mediaite:

“NATO NATIONS HAVE DONE ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO HELP WITH THE LUNATIC NATION, NOW MILITARILY DECIMATED, OF IRAN. THE U.S.A. NEEDS NOTHING FROM NATO, BUT ‘NEVER FORGET’ THIS VERY IMPORTANT POINT IN TIME! President DONALD J. TRUMP.”

His second of eight Truth Social posts Thursday read thusly:

“The Iranian negotiators are very different and ‘strange.’ They are ‘begging’ us to make a deal, which they should be doing since they have been militarily obliterated, with zero chance of a comeback, and yet they publicly state that they are only ‘looking at our proposal.’ WRONG!!! They better get serious soon, before it’s too late, because once that happens, there is NO TURNING BACK, and it won’t be pretty. President DJT.”

Meanwhile … The Pentagon has deployed the 82nd Airborne Division’s command element to the Middle East, Global Defense News reports, for possible rapid ground operations against Iran on such strategic targets as Kharg Island, home to much of Iran’s oil reserves and infrastructure.

Quickly! … Trump has told White House aides he wants a speedy end to the war, urging a four- to six-week timeline, in Iran, people familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal. 

•••

AAA National Average Unleaded Regular, Thursday: $3.98 per gallon, 0.2 cents lower than Wednesday’s price and up 98.9-cents over February 27. Diesel: $5.375 per gallon, up 9 cents over Wednesday and $2.199 costlier than on February 27.

Note that while the regular unleaded you fill into your car or SUV has stabilized in price this week and is less expensive over the last couple of days, the diesel used to deliver food to your grocery store (and fuel the lifted pickup dominating your neighbor’s driveway) keeps getting more expensive.

•••

Holding Social Media Responsible – After nine days deliberation, at one point coming out of sequester to tell the judge they were having a hard time reaching a decision, a jury in Los Angeles found Meta and Google liable for creating addictive products that caused mental health problems when a young woman identified in the suit as KGM was a minor, The Atlantic Daily reports. The jury awarded KGM, now identified as “Kaley,” age 20, $3 million in compensatory damages.

Kaley’s complaint said social media designed to promote constant scrolling caused her anxiety, depression, self-harm and body dysmorphia when she was a child. Her separate suit against TikTok and Snap was settled out of court.

Meta will pay 70%, or $2.1 million in damages while Google, which owns YouTube, will pay 30%, or $900,000.

Meta reported $60 billion in gross revenues in the third quarter of 2025, so the compensatory damages are not the problem for the social media companies. Rather, it is expected to affect the future designs of social media apps and opens the way for additional lawsuits that affect social media outlets’ images far more than their bottom lines.

In a statement to reporters, according to The Atlantic, one of Kaley’s attorneys, Matthew Bergman said the verdict “establishes a framework for how similar cases across the country will be evaluated and demonstrates that juries are willing to hold technology companies accountable when evidence shows foreseeable harm.”

Meta released a statement that “We respectfully disagree with the verdict and are evaluating our legal options.”

Google spokesman José Casteñeda said in an email to The Atlantic, “This case misunderstands YouTube, which is a responsibly built streaming platform, not a social media site.”

•••

Tech Oligarchs Unite – Meanwhile, President Trump Wednesday named Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg (Instagram, Facebook, etc.), Oracle Executive Chairman Larry Ellison (father of David Ellison, whose Paramount Skydance has secured a deal to purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery for $111 billion) and NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang to a technology council to “weigh in” on artificial intelligence policy and other such issues, The Wall Street Journal reports. 

The three join 13 other tech leaders, including Google co-founder Sergey Brin and Dell Technology’s Michael Dell, in a tech brotherhood that Trump indicated in his executive order organizing the panel said could total 24. – Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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THURSDAY 3/26/26

Pump It Up

Commentary by Stephen Macaulay

One of the things we hear Trump Administration figures — from the top down — saying about one aspect of the war against Iran that has plenty of Americans slightly more concerned has to do with gasoline prices.

The claim is that although the prices are high now, they’ll plummet once Trump decides the war is over.

And the question that everyone should ask is: Based on what?

The veracity of the administration on many subjects has been dubious at best, and this is another case where this is likely to be borne out.

That is, let’s look at the last time when there was a major spike in gasoline prices in the US, right after the beginning of Russia’s attack on Ukraine.

That war began on February 24, 2022.

According to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), the average price of a gallon of gas the week ending February 21, 2022, before the war started, was $3.62.

On February 28 the price was $3.70 a gallon, then it jumped to $4.19 the following week.

The price of a gallon of gas in the US didn’t return to near what it was before the war started until November 28, when it was $3.64.

That’s 40 weeks.

Realize that the reason for the rise in price of gas in 2022 was because of the disruption to the flow of oil from Russia. Russia produces some 10 million barrels of oil per day.

The issue wasn’t infrastructure damage. It was political.

So here we are four years later.

The war began on February 28. 

According to the EIA, on February 23 the average price for a gallon of gas in the U.S. was $3.07.

On March 2, up to $3.14; on March 9, up to $3.63; on March 16, $3.85.

In other words, a rise of 25.4% in a matter of weeks. And there is no end in sight.

With prices for WTI and Brent crude having gone from about $64 and $72 per barrel, respectively, before the war to $89 and $100 today, the bill will come due each and every time Americans fill up their tanks for some time to come.

There is a phrase in the oil industry about the price of gasoline: “It rises like a rocket and it falls like a feather.”

Look at the numbers. Don’t believe the rhetoric. 

After all, it has been 61 weeks since the presidential inauguration, and as you may

recall, President Trump was going to end the war in Ukraine on his first day.

How’s that working out?

Macaulay is pundit-at-large for The Hustings.

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THURSDAY 3/26/26

Citizen Pundits, Join Us

Pundit-at-Large Stephen Macaulay comments on Defense/War Secretary Pete Hegseth’s criticism of mainstream, truth-based media’s coverage of the US-Israeli war on Iran in Monday’s right column. Late last week, Contributing Pundit Rich Corbett defended the Trump administration’s strategy for getting oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz. 

Earlier last week, Contributing Pundit Jerry Lanson promoted No Kings Rally III set for March 28 in our left column, where he belongs, along with Contributing Pundit Kate McLeod, who wrote a short take on our prediction in The Gray Area that President Trump will bulldoze the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts after he shuts it down July 4.

Both Macaulay, a never-Trump moderate-right pundit and Corbett, a pro-MAGA conservative pundit belong in the right column. Lanson belongs in our left column, along with moderate-left and progressive liberal pundits as well as any pundits in between?

Where do your comments belong? Whether you identify as left, right or straight down the middle, we welcome civilly stated comments from across the political spectrum on news/aggregate/analysis and commentary published in The Hustings at editors@thehustings.news and please indicate your political leanings in the subject line so we may post your comments in the proper (right or left) column. --Editors

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MONDAY 3/23/26

Iran War, Week 4

Robert S. Mueller III, a Vietnam war hero who served as FBI director from 2001-2013 and best known for investigating Russian ties to the 2016 Trump campaign, died Friday. He was 81. Scroll down for more.

WEDNESDAY 3/25/26

Talks, No Talks Part II – Iran on Wednesday dismissed President Trump’s proposed deal for a ceasefire, The New York Times reports, with a military spokesman and state media stating the conflict will end only on Tehran’s terms. But there were private signals late Tuesday that Tehran is open to considering meeting next week with US negotiators, which likely means White House envoy Steve Witkoff and White House son-in-law Jared Kushner, in Pakistan to discuss a possible deal to end the war, but not Trump’s ceasefire proposals. 

Meanwhile … Israel is hitting as many targets in Iran as it can before such negotiations might be brought to a stop, two Israeli officials told the NYT, serving more proof that the differences in Tel Aviv’s objectives and that of Washington continue to widen.

Why not try showering Trump with gifts? … On Tuesday, Trump told reporters covering the swearing in of Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) as the Homeland Security secretary that Iran “gave us a present, and the present arrived today. It was a very big present worth a tremendous amount of money. I’m not gonna tell you what that present is, but it was a very significant prize.” (Per the Daily Beast.)

Is it another jet airliner? Is it a present from Iran to the US, or to President Trump? Nobody but Trump and Iran’s leaders knows, though according to The Economic Times it’s oil related.

So … one more guess: Rare dinosaur bones?

•••

AAA National Average Unleaded Regular, Wednesday: $3.983 per gallon, 0.9 cents lower than Tuesday’s price and up 99.1-cents over February 27. Diesel: $5.285 per gallon, up 8.1 cents over Tuesday and $2.109 higher than on February 27. –TL

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TUESDAY 3/24/26

Talks, No Talks – Iran denies it’s in talks with the Trump administration to end the war, though a back-door effort appears to be underway. President Trump had threatened to start bombing Iranian oil facilities and infrastructure by Monday evening, then put that on delay until the end of the week to “see what happens … otherwise we just keep bombing our little hearts out.”

An Israeli official has told NPR that talks were to be held between the US and Iran in Pakistan in the coming days, Morning Editionreports, with Pakistan, Egypt and Turkey behind the back-door negotiations. 

Reports indicate that the Trump administration wants Iran to fully abandon its nuclear arms program and cut back on drones and ballistic missiles, while Iran’s foreign ministry indicates it wants full security from further attacks by the US and Israel.

•••

Mullin is DHS Secretary – The Senate confirmed Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) as the next Homeland Security secretary Monday by 54-45 vote, Politico reports. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) was the only Republican to vote with the Democrats against Mullin, while Sens. John Fetterman (D-PA) and Martin Heinrich (D-NM) voted with Republican senators.

•••

AAA National Average Unleaded Regular: $3.992 per gallon. Diesel: $5.345 per gallon. Up $1 and $2.088 respectively, since February 27. Average prices were up slightly Monday despite a 10% drop in the price of a barrel of Brent crude. --TL

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MONDAY 3/23/26

Five-Day Delay – President Trump Full-Cap Truth Socialed that the US military will hold off from further strikes on Iran power plants and energy infrastructure for five days after VERY GOOD AND PRODUCTIVE talks between Washington and Tehran, The Wall Street Journal reports.

The social media post delays a deadline Trump had set for Monday evening for US strikes on Iran’s power plants and infrastructure, NPR notes. Iran has indicated it has not had such communication with the administration. But Wall Street is buying it, with a rally Monday in part reversing a 9% drop in stock values last week.

Iran had earlier threatened wider attacks on infrastructure, fuel, technology and desalination facilities used by the US in the Middle East if its own energy sites were hit. Tehran also warned it would lay mines across the entire Persian Gulf if its coasts and islands – see Karg Island – were attacked. 

However … Iranian expert Karim Sadjadpour, senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace told NPR’s Michel Martin on Morning Edition Monday a deal between Iran and the US “looks very unlikely” in the short term. Iranian leaders consider “success” in the context of the war “survival” Sadjadpour said, while President Trump considers success the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.

•••

Costs of War – The energy crisis caused by the US-Israeli war in Iran could be seriously compounded by interruptions to the “vital arteries of the global economy,” including petrochemicals, fertilizers, sulfur and helium, International Energy Agency Executive Director Fatih Birol told the National Press Club of Australia in Canberra, Monday. 

The Guardian reports that Birol said the depth of problems in energy markets by the Israeli bombings of Iran and Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz is not properly understood by global leaders.

•••

AAA National Average Unleaded Regular: $3.956 per gallon. Diesel: $5.285 per gallon. Up 97.4 cents and $2.028 respectively, since February 27.

•••

Robert S. Mueller III, 1944-2026 – The Mueller Report by the eponymous special prosecutor released in March 2019 concluded that Vladimir Putin’s Russian government systematically tried to help Donald J. Trump win the 2016 presidential election. The report detailed 10 cases in which President Trump and his aides had tried to impede the FBI’s investigation into the allegations and concluded (per The New York Times) while “this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.”

Trump reacted thusly on social media to Mueller’s passing last Friday at age 81; “Good. I’m glad he’s dead.”

The Atlantic Daily called this out as “The absurdity of a man who avoided Vietnam due to ‘bone spurs’ dancing on the grave of a decorated combat veteran.” Mueller was a Bronze Star Marine veteran who became, from 2001 to 2013 the second-longest serving FBI director after J. Edgar Hoover. ---Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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MONDAY 3/23/26

Hegseth, Unfiltered

Commentary by Stephen Macaulay

“I stand here today speaking to you, the American people, not through filters, not through reporters, not through cable news spin.

“A dishonest and anti-Trump press will stop at nothing, we know this at this point, to downplay progress, amplify every cost and call into question every step. Sadly, TDS is in their DNA. They want President Trump to fail, but you, the American people, know better.

“Yes, there are reporters in front of me, but they are not our audience today. It's you, the good, decent, patriotic American people; you, the hardworking, tax paying, God-fearing American patriots. The media here, not all of it, but much of it wants you to think just 19 days into this conflict that we're somehow spinning toward an endless abyss or a forever war or a quagmire.

“Nothing could be further from the truth. Hear it from me, one of hundreds of thousands who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan, who watched previous foolish politicians like Bush, Obama and Biden, squander American credibility. This is not those wars. President Trump knows better. Epic Fury is different. It's laser focused.”

That was Pete Hegseth in an opening to a press briefing on March 19.

First, credit to Mr. Hegseth for his service to the country in uniform. That honor cannot be overlooked.

But it also doesn’t necessarily mean that he is the man who ought to be the Secretary of Defense, or, as he would like to call it, “Secretary of War.”

Had it not been for JD Vance’s tie-breaking vote in the Senate, Hegseth would have probably still been hosting Fox & Friends Weekend doing whatever he could to ingratiate himself to Donald Trump with hopes that he could get a new job.  But that already happened and Vance, who had been an anti-interventionist (noting that wars tend to be a “distraction of resources” and a “huge expense”) put Pete in the seat from which he and Trump direct, well, war.

Hegseth, for all his macho bravado in these briefings about Iran, shows himself to not have any idea about what the “steps” are in this war. And the comments quoted above show that he has the thinnest of skin.

Let’s break this down.

He starts out by claiming he is speaking directly to the American people.

How many Americans are listening to Pentagon press briefings at 9 am on a Thursday morning? Not many. Odds are they’re at work. Doesn’t he recognize that? Probably not.

Somewhat ironic that he references “cable news spin,” which used to be his salary-earning mechanism. For Hegseth as well as other people in the Trump administration who also earned some pocket money from Fox, no spin, no win.

Then he cites “A dishonest and anti-Trump press.” What is his rationale for calling these people’s veracity into question? He doesn’t have any. And examples for downplaying things? Again, nothing. And if calling into question every step means asking why, for example, the Strait of Hormuz is blocked and that securing it should have been part of the initial steps, then who has the real problem — them or him?

Then it is back to the “good, decent, patriotic American people; you, the hardworking, tax paying, God-fearing American patriots.”

Does it occur to him that those reporters he is denigrating are (1) working and (2) likely paying their taxes?

Does he know that they are not good? Not decent? Not patriotic? Not “God-fearing American patriots”?

Well, he might think they are not the last-named because if they were they would not even raise an eyebrow at anything Hegseth says but simply cheer louder than they are clapping and stamping their feet in support.

After he besmirches the press corps he goes on to calling previous presidents fools. 

Yes, that is respectful.

This could be a pot-kettle-black situation: Has American credibility in the world ever been squandered more than during this present Trump administration, when Trump put on tariffs willy-nilly, then started a war without telling our allies outside of Israel then calling them “cowards” because they don’t want to get involved in a war that they weren’t consulted on?

Oh, but it must be the fault of the press in some way. If only they would report that everything being done is laser focused. Near as I can tell laser focus doesn’t include the commander in chief saying that the war will be over when he “feels it in my bones.”

What most 79-year-olds feel in their bones is arthritis. Could it happen that one day he doubles up on his daily aspirin regime and conclude that he feels so good the war must be over?

Hegseth has had an apparent fear of the press, which led to his requirement last fall that to cover the Pentagon sign quasi-NDAs. Needless to say, reputable news outlets said no thanks while a phalanx of sycophants found themselves moved to the head of Hegseth’s class.

The New York Times sued because they didn’t think things like having their reporting “approved for public release by an appropriate authorizing official before it is released, even if it is unclassified” was in keeping with the spirit and letter of the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America. That’s right: the Times took a patriotic stand, a real sign of patriotism, more so than Hegseth’s flag pocket square.

As US District Judge Paul Friedman wrote in his ruling released on March 20: “A primary purpose of the First Amendment is to enable the press to publish what it will and the public to read what it chooses, free of any official proscription.  Those who drafted the First Amendment believed that the nation’s security requires a free press and an informed people and that such security is endangered by governmental suppression of political speech.  That principle has preserved the nation’s security for almost 250 years.  It must not be abandoned now.”  

Perhaps the framers of the Constitution had Trump Derangement Syndrome and didn’t know it because how could they possibly have stood up for something like actual freedom, not the freedom as defined by Pete Hegseth.

Macaulay is pundit-at-large for The Hustings, where he writes primarily for the right column.

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MONDAY 3/23/26

In Memoriam?

One of our contributing pundits has the following quick take on our prediction (which you can read in The Gray Area HERE) that bulldozers will completely raze the (Trump-)Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts beginning July 5.

Trump Center Replaces Kennedy Center? – As a former member of the Kennedy Center Playwriting Intensive, I can tell you that the destruction of this center, which has held the greatest performers in the world, is a tragedy that will not be reversed. I do hope he is stopped. – Kate McLeod

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We welcome civilly stated comments from across the political spectrum on news/aggregate/analysis and commentary published in The Hustings at editors@thehustings.news and please indicate your political leanings in the subject line so we may post your comments in the proper (right or left) column. --Editors

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FRIDAY 3/20/26

Iran War … meanwhile

With Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi sitting to his right in the golden White House, a reporter asked why President Trump did not give advanced notice to Japan and other allies of the US-Israeli attack on Iran. “We didn’t tell anybody about it because we wanted surprise. Who knows better about surprise than Japan, OK? Why didn’t you tell me about Pearl Harbor, OK? Right?” Takaichi, seen here just before suppressed cringe, has declined Trump’s request for Japanese Self-Defense Force ships to escort commercial vessels in the Middle East. [From White House video]

•Six months ago the US Navy under the Trump administration decommissioned its six Avenger-class minesweepers off the coast of Bahrain in what The Bulwark’s Jonathan V. Last calls an “oopsie” by our “low-IQ president” (subscription required). Contributing Pundit Rich Corbett offers a counterpoint in today’s right column.

FRIDAY 3/20/26

More Marines to Middle East – The Pentagon is sending three warships and thousands of additional Marines to the Middle East, US officials told The Wall Street Journal, with 2,200 to 2,500 or so Marines from the USS Boxer Amphibious Ready Group headed to Central Command. An earlier deployment of Marines to the region has sparked speculation the Pentagon is preparing to invade Karg Island, where Iran stores up to 30 million barrels of oil for export. 

Defiance … “Safety must be taken away” from Iran’s enemies and their armed forces, the country’s new leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei said in a statement. He vowed to pursue Iran’s enemies even in tourist spots, the WSJ reports.

LNG facilities … Qatar says Iran’s strikes on its liquid natural gas facilities reduced export capacity by 17%, and it will take three to five years to repair.

Cover from Netanyahu … “Israel acted alone on the Asaluyeh gas compound,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Friday. President Trump asked Israel to hold off from future attacks on Iran’s oil infrastructure, he said. 

Meanwhile, Israel is trying to help the US reopen the Strait of Hormuz to oil tanker traffic, Netanyahu said.

Pushback … Netanyahu also has pushed back on criticism that Israel has led the US into the war on Iran. 

“Does anyone really think President Trump can be told what to do?” Netanyahu said. “C’mon.”

•••

Democracy Falling – The United States fell from “liberal democracy” to “electoral democracy+” for 2025 in V-Dem Institute’s Democracy Report 2026, “Unraveling the Democratic Era?” The report says “autocratization now affects well-established democracies, leading to a significant decline in their overall quality.” 

Sweden’s V-Dem also ranks the United Kingdom with the US in declining to electoral democracy+, joining Brazil, Canada, Gambia and Israel in the category. Countries remaining in the Liberal Democracy category include Australia, Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Japan, Sweden, South Korea and Switzerland.

But the total number of liberal democratic countries has fallen. 

“Liberal democracies – now the least common regime type in the world – decline in numbers from the peak of 45 in 2009 to 31 in 2025. In the same period, the number of electoral democracies increases from 46 to 56.”

Autocracies are on the upswing, unfortunately, “from a minimum of 82 in 2004 to 92 now.”

V-Dem counts among electoral autocracies, Bosnia Herzegovina, Mexico, Egypt, Hungary, Kazakhstan and Russia, Iraq and Iran. Closed autocracies include Afghanistan, Bahrain, China, Cuba, Haiti, Hong Kong, Myanmar, North Korea, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria and the United Arab Emirates. 

•••

March 20 AAA National Average Unleaded Regular: $3.912 per gallon, +2.8 cents over Thursday and up 93 cents over February 27. Diesel: $5.159 per gallon, +6 cents over Thursday and up $1.942 over February 27. –Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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FRIDAY 3/20/26

JVL’s Minesweeper Panic Misses Trump’s Smart Iran Strategy

Commentary by Rich Corbett

Jonathan Last’s Triad column in The Bulwark slams the Trump administration for decommissioning four Avenger-class minesweepers from Bahrain in 2025, calling it incompetent amid reports of Iran laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz. But this ignores battlefield realities, the planned transition to modern systems and my preferred America-First approach: Decisively disarm Iran, then let dependent nations secure their own oil lifeline.

Recent reports confirm limited mining — fewer than 10 to about a dozen mines deployed so far, not a mass closure. US forces have already sunk 16 Iranian minelayers and other vessels, crippling Iran's ability to sustain large-scale mining. With Iran's navy gutted and no air cover, full mining remains a desperate last resort as the regime weakens.

The decommissioning of the four Avenger-class ships (USS Devastator, Dextrous, Gladiator, Sentry) after 30+ years of service was planned. They were retired in 2025 and departed Bahrain in January 2026. They’ve been replaced by Independence-class Littoral Combat Ships (USS Canberra, Santa Barbara, Tulsa) equipped with advanced Mine Countermeasures Mission Packages — unmanned surface vehicles, towed sonars, helicopter-borne systems, and standoff neutralization tools far beyond the old Avengers' capabilities. The Navy designed this shift to remove sailors from minefields and enable legacy ship retirement.

Trump’s strategy focuses on offensive degradation: neutralizing Iran’s air force, sinking its navy, destroying ballistic missiles and hammering drone production. This heavy US-led work eliminates Iran’s capacity for sustained threats like mining. Once achieved, America can step back — no endless war or forward deployment.

The US imports just 2% to 3% of its oil via Hormuz. The real stakeholders are Asia: China, India, Japan, South Korea, plus Gulf producers like Saudi Arabia (largest exporter share), Iraq, the United Arab Emirates. These nations have relied on US naval protection for decades. Post-degradation, let China (with its large mine-warfare fleet), India, Japan, Europe, and Gulf states handle demining, patrols, and escorts — or face higher energy costs. The UK and France will bring proven MCM expertise; China has incentives to act.

This isn’t “dumb” — it’s realistic leadership: Strike hard to break the threat, declare success on regime offensive power, then exit. Iran’s limited mining “last gasp” shows the plan working. The LCS transition and burden-sharing ensure we’re not stuck forever.

The Strait will reopen. Iran emerges weaker. Dependent countries gain skin in the game. That’s sustainable strategy, not incompetence.

Contributing Pundit Corbett writes and edits My Desultory Blog.

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FRIDAY 3/20/26

Horton Hears a Call to March 28 Rally

Commentary by Jerry Lanson

My cousin — I’ll call him Charlie — is one smart guy. He graduated from Harvard, started and runs a business that uses big data to help health providers and centers with medical care, plays a mean piano. He’s certainly no Trumpie. But I think he — and his mother and aunt — have lost their way when it comes to confronting the reality of contemporary politics.

They consider protesting a waste of time and believe the next election likely will start to solve what ails this country. They seem, despite mounting, daily evidence, to be oblivious to what I see as a clear and present danger to that very election and to our democracy itself.

We all had a spirited conversation at a recent weekend birthday party for Charlie’s younger daughter. I was urging them all to participate March 28 in the third No Kings protests, which will likely be held in a few thousand locations spread over all 50 states. Unfortunately, I don’t think I made a lot of headway.

Let me try again with you (I’ll forward the column to them, too).

These are dangerous times. Full stop. Period. In my view, they are they are the worst in my 76 years, which spans the fight for Civil Rights, efforts to end the Vietnam War, and Watergate.

A friend in Arizona wrote to me yesterday in horror to tell me that “30 to 50 ICE agents,” armed with assault rifles, had surrounded a car blocks from her house in broad daylight to arrest someone. This on the same day that ICE and police in South Burlington, Vermont, engaged in a full-day standoff before arresting three adults and two children in a house there. And it came two days after a federal judge ordered the release of a 14-year-old girl he said was detained under “questionable circumstances” in Marlborough, Massachusetts, and quickly deported out of state.

Minneapolis is not over. It continues nationally.

These times also are the worst in my lifetime because the unending and mounting violations of law and due process are actively sanctioned and encouraged by the president of the United States, the yes men and women around him, and nearly all in his governing party.

The No Kings rallies will take place as massive, armed conflict spreads violently across the globe; as Donald Trump’s government moves aggressively to buy land to build gargantuan detention centers to incarcerate immigrants; as his oligarch buddies siphon billions from our Treasury; as decades worth of advances in Civil Rights are eviscerated; and as hard-working Americans struggle mightily to eat, buy gas, and pay their rent, utilities and medical bills.

It is time for us all to speak out. Standing up to autocracy and for our Constitution can be hard and exhausting work. It can be frustrating if we succumb to the sense there’s nothing we can do. It can be intimidating. And it can be easy to leave to others.

Yet serious scholarly research suggests each of us does matter. Scholars such as Harvard University’s Erica Chenoweth have found that only once 3.5% of a country’s population sustains non-violent resistance over time is a tipping point reached where the odds of toppling an undemocratic regime is more likely to succeed than not. In the United States, a start in that direction would mean drawing nearly 12 million people to city halls, town parks, village greens, intersections and other gathering points on March 28. Collectively, we can and must raise our voices to demand adherence to the rule of law; insist on accountability for those killing our fellow citizens, condemn those grifting taxpayer dollars, fight for affordable rents, medical care and utilities.

Granted. Turning out 12 million is daunting. It would be millions more than have participated in prior massive No Kings protests. But it is doable. To get there, more of you who object to what’s happening in this country but haven’t turned out need to do so wherever you choose on March 28. It’s simple math.

For inspiration, remember Dr. Seuss’ well-known children’s book, Horton Hears a Who. It tells the story of a lovable elephant named Horton, who is as kind as he is large. He becomes obsessed by a speck of dirt on a dandelion because he hears the collective voices of a microscopic village living on it – Whoville. The trouble is none of the other jungle creatures believes him. They set out both to destroy the speck of dirt and punish Horton.

At long last, after enormous trials and tribulations, the mayor of Whoville and Horton, working together, get every last resident of the microscopic village to yell, scream and bang drums. The mean jungle animals, who have tied up Horton and are prepared to destroy Whoville, hear them and relent. Whoville is spared. Horton, too.

Let’s consider every hamlet and village across the United States to be Whoville on March 28. To protect our neighbors, ourselves and our Constitution, we need to raise our collective voices, reaffirm the founding principles and practices of American democracy, ensure fair elections.

If the citizenry standing together could save Whoville, I’ll bet they can save our country, too.

Originally published in Lanson’s Substack From the Grassroots.

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MONDAY 3/16/26

…meanwhile…

Citing solid economic expansion but low job gains and 'somewhat' elevated inflation, the Federal Open Market Committee left the Federal Reserve's interest rates unchanged at 3.5% to 3.75%. Chairman Jerome Powell (above) voted with 10 FOMC members to leave the rates unchanged, while President Trump's latest appointee, Stephen Miran, preferred lowering the target rate by a quarter-point. [From Federal Reserve video]

THURSDAY 3/19/26

UPDATE: The Pentagon is seeking $200 billion in funding for the war in Iran, The New York Times reports, citing an administration official and a military official. The request was sent to the White House, the military official told the newspaper, which would review it before formally submitting it to Congress. If passed, the requested amount would equal about 24% of the military budget for the entire fiscal year.

This War Goes to 11 – The US-Israeli war on Iran is different from previous US operations in the Middle East, War/Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told a press conference Thursday morning. Iran, he said, cannot be trusted to abandon its nuclear arms program on its own, The Wall Street Journal reports.

“We will finish this,” Hegseth promised. 

“Our objectives given directly from our America-first president remain exactly what they were on Day One,” he said, without offering any more insight than what the rest of the country understood on Day One.

We can infer from Hegseth’s comments that the war, now in its third week, will not end after three or four weeks as President Trump indicated on Day One unless Iran stops fighting back. On Wednesday, Israel struck the “crown jewel” of Iran’s energy industry (which means it’s not just for Iran but to be sold to much of the rest of the world) which, inconveniently is shared with US ally Qatar. The South Pars gas field is “by far the largest in the world,” says the WSJ.

Iran retaliated, the WSJ continues, with two attacks on a major gas hub in Qatar, across the Gulf. Iran also fired at Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, with debris landing nearby. 

Meanwhile, Hegseth said the US has sunk more than 120 Iranian warships and struck more than 7,000 targets across Iran. A-10 attack planes and Apache attack helicopters are striking targets on Iran’s south flank, he said. 

Iran’s military has warned that targeting its infrastructure (still the WSJ) is a “major mistake.” Meanwhile, Hezbollah fired long-range missiles south into Israel.

•••

Dinosaurs’ Revenge – Brent crude oil surged overnight to $113 per barrel, from about $103 per barrel, APR’s Marketplace reports.

March 19 AAA National Average Unleaded Regular: $3.884 per gallon, +6 cents over Wednesday and +90.2 cents over February 27. Diesel: $5.099 per gallon, up 3.1 cents over Wednesday and up $1.342 over February 27. –TL

_______________________________________________

Venezuela for 51st? – Step aside, Greenland and Canada. After Venezuela’s 3-2 win over the United States team Tuesday in the World Baseball Classic at Loan Depot Park in Miami, this popped up on Truth Social, according to The Guardian: “STATEHOOD!!! President DJT.”

President Trump’s sentiment apparently was buoyed over Venezuela’s enthusiasm for baseball, the nation’s most popular sport according to the Miami Herald and the administration’s quick, clean attack in which the US Military extracted President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.

Lest you think Trump’s Tuesday post was too subtle or vague, let’s go back to his post Monday following Venezuela’s 4-2 win over Italy in a semifinal game: “Good things are happening in Venezuela lately! I wonder what the magic is all about? STATEHOOD, #51, ANYONE?”

•••

Counterterrorism Chief Quits Over Iran – National Counterterrorism Center Director Joseph Kent stepped down over the Trump administration’s war on Iran Tuesday with a tweet that shook Washington and MAGA World.

“I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran,” Kent posted on X-Twitter. “Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.”

Kent has been a Trump true-believer whose split from the president on the US-Israeli war on Iran is yet another example of the schism led by the likes of former Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Green (R-GA), former Fox News host Tucker Carlson and other America First absolutists.

“Early in this administration, high-ranking Israeli officials and influential members of the American media deployed a misinformation campaign that wholly undermined your America First platform and sowed pro-war sentiments to encourage a war with Iran,” Kent’s tweet continued. “This echo chamber was used to deceive you into believing that Iran posed an imminent threat to the United States, and that should you strike now, there was a clear path to a swift victory. This was a lie and is the same tactic the Israelis used to draw us into the disastrous Iraq war that cost our nation the lives of thousands of our best men and women. We cannot make this mistake again.”

In his formal resignation letter, Kent, a Gold Star husband, wrote about his “beloved wife,” Navy Chief Petty Officer Shannon Kent, who was killed in January 2019 by a suicide bomber in Syria, The New York Times reports. Shannon Kent, who was 35, had been assigned as a Navy linguist to a unit that supports the National Security Agency and military special operations forces. 

Trump’s nomination … The president nominated Kent, “a 2020 election conspiracy theorist with links to the Proud Boys and white supremacists” according to The Atlantic Daily, to be director of the National Counterterrorism Center in February 2025.

Kent served as an aide to National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard until the Senate confirmed him to the counterterrorism job last July by 52-44 vote along party lines. 

Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) called Kent “patently unqualified” in voting against him, according to the Washington State Standard.

“It is sober, serious work that requires a level head and a commitment to putting the mission before politics,” Murray said, adding she was “deeply concerned” Republicans would put the Counterterrorism Center “under the thumb of a conspiracy theorist who espouses white supremacist views.”

Trump’s reaction … “I always thought he was weak on security,” the president said in reaction to Kent’s very public resignation (per Newsweek). “It’s a good thing that he’s out.” Trump said he does not want people who do not think Iran is a threat.

“They’re not smart people, or they’re not savvy people. Iran was a tremendous threat.” 

•••

CORRECTION: We miscalculated the price increase for a gallon of automotive diesel fuel since before the US-Israeli war on Iran, as calculated by the AAA, in Wednesday’s front page. Diesel was up $1.311 per gallon from February 27 to March 18.

AAA National Average Unleaded Regular: $3.824 per gallon, +3.4 cents over Tuesday and +84.2 cents over February 27. Diesel:$5.068 per gallon, up 2.4 cents over Tuesday and up $1.811 over February 27. –TL

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TUESDAY 3/17/26

IDF Assassinates Iran’s Military Leaders – Israeli Defense Forces assassinated Iran’s head of the National Security Council in a Tehran safe house, Defense Minister Israel Katz confirmed Tuesday, according to Haaretz. 

“I have just been updated by the IDF chief that (Ali) Larijani and the head of the Basij were killed overnight and have joined Khamenei, the architect of the destruction program, and all the eliminated ‘Axis of Evil’ in the depths of hell,” Katz said. 

Also killed by the IDF were Gholamreza Soleimani, commander of the Basij, and his deputy, Rassem Qureshi, in Tehran. 

Apparently trying to dispute Katz’s statements, Iran’s official media said a statement from Larijani soon would be released.

Trump’s test … Meanwhile, President Trump has demanded seven countries provide warships to escort oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz. Germany, the UK and pretty much the rest of Western Europe have refused, NPR’s Frank Ordoñez reports Tuesday on Morning Edition. Euro leaders say the war on Iran is not their war.

That did not sit well with the president.

“Because my attitude is, we don’t need anybody,” he told reporters at the White House Monday. “We’re the strongest nation in the world. We have the strongest military by far in the world. We don’t need them. But it’s interesting. I’m almost doing it not because we need them but because I want to find out how they react.”

Prelude to pull the US out of NATO?

•••

AAA National Average Unleaded Regular: $3.79 per gallon. Diesel: $5.044 per gallon. Up 80.8 cents and $1.787 respectively, since February 27.

•••

I’ll Take Cuba – Why not? Cuba has been a thorn in the sides of American presidents since the late-Eisenhower administration, while Iran goes back only to President Carter (though Ike also is credited for the CIA-assisted overthrow of Iran’s last democratically elected leader, Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh and installation of the Shah of Iran in 1953). 

Now President Trump, seeing an opening for another takeover, indicated in his Oval Office press scrum Monday that after the invasion of Venezuela and while the Iranian war rages on, it may be time for the Western Hemisphere communist holdout of the Soviet era. 

“I think Cuba sees the end,” Trump said. “All my life I’ve been hearing about the United States and Cuba. When will the United States do it? I do believe I’ll be the honor of – having the honor of taking Cuba.”

A US “blockade” of oil tankers from Venezuela is hampering Cuba’s efforts to grapple with the island nation’s energy crisis, rare violent protests and pressure from the Trump administration, NBC News reports. Cuban Deputy Prime Minister Oscar Pérez-Oliva Fraga told NBC’s George Solis Monday his country is negotiating with the US to allow the Cuban diaspora, especially in Miami – just 229 miles north of Havana -- to invest in Cuba’s private sector and own businesses in their homeland.  –TL

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MONDAY 3/16/26

Trump Strongarms NATO on Straits – President Trump said in an eight-minute interview with the Financial Times Sunday that NATO – and China -- must help reopen the Strait of Hormuz to ensure their own energy security. 

“It’s only appropriate that people who are the beneficiaries of the Strait will help to make sure that nothing bad happens there,” Trump told the newspaper. Europe and China depend heavily on the Strait for oil, he said, not the US.

But Iran’s choking of the Strait of Hormuz, where one-fifth of the world’s oil passes through, has sent global oil prices skyrocketing. They hovered in the $103-106 per barrel range Monday. 

The president called on China, France, Japan, South Korea and the United Kingdom to join a “team effort” to reopen the Strait and suggested a planned late March summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping would be called off or delayed.

“If there’s no response or if it’s a negative response” to Trump’s comments to the FT, “I think it will be very bad for the future of NATO.”

FCC threat … This came after Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr, who last year managed to get Jimmy Kimmel Live! suspended briefly, threatened on Saturday to revoke broadcasters’ licenses because of what he called “liberal bias” in their coverage of the US-Israeli war on Iran. 

And this in turn followed War Secretary Pete Hegseth’s objections to reports that the Trump administration was not prepared for Iran playing the card it can easily play, the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. With the result that global oil prices skyrocket.

"CNN is Lying to Undermine Operation Epic Fury's Crushing Success," reads a headline from the White House official website.

Hegseth says he believes “liberal” media want the US – the Trump administration – to fail in the war.

“Broadcasters must operate in the public interest,” Carr said last weekend, according to The New York Times. Carr’s warning comes after Trump Truth Socialed his objections to a Wall Street Journal headline that Iran hit US Air Force refueling planes at the Prince Sultan airbase in Saudi Arabia. 

The Wall Street Journal’s headline: “Five Air Force Refueling Planes Hit in Iranian Strike on Saudi Arabia.”

The story says an official told the newspaper the airplanes were damaged but not fully destroyed and are being repaired. No one was killed in the attack.

Gas and diesel … AAA reports Monday the national average for unleaded regular is $3.718 per gallon, up 73.6-cents since the Friday before the US and Israel launched the war on Iran, while diesel fuel is $4.988 per gallon, up $1.231.

Notable quote … In his acceptance speech as writer and co-director of the Academy Award winner for documentary feature Sunday night, David Borenstein said, “Mr. Nobody Against Putin is about how you lose your country. What we saw when working with the footage is that you lose it through countless small little acts of complicity. When we act complicit when a government murders people on the streets of major cities. When we don’t say anything when oligarchs take over the media and control how we can produce it and consume it.” –Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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MONDAY 3/16/26

Another Nobel Slips Away

Commentary by Stephen Macaulay

Donald Trump, his acolytes and those who find great pride in carrying his water, no matter how fetid it may be, have claimed that Donald Trump should be the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. Many people say so. Many, many very smart people. Really.

The facts that he attacked Venezuela and has started a war with Iran will probably have but a minor pause on some of this enthusiasm, and likely lead to a rationalization that he did these things in the name of peace (although the Venezuelan adventure was, he admitted, for oil, and as for Iran, it mainly seems to be something that he thought needed to be done that Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Donald Trump, and Joe Biden didn’t do (“for 47 years. . . .”)).

It should be mentioned that one of the people who put Trump’s name up for the Peace Prize is none other than Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump’s “excursion” partner. Pals will be pals.

For the past 35 years there has been another set of Nobel Prizes presented, the Ig Nobel Prizes.

For those 35 years the presentations for work that make people laugh and think, undertakings that “celebrate the unusual, honor and imaginative, and spur interest in science” have been presented at Harvard, MIT or Boston University to recipients from around the world.

The “36th First Annual Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony” will not be held in one of those US venues — all of which, by the way, have had funding frozen by the Trump administration allegedly because they are too “woke” — but in Zurich.

The reason is as simple as it is sad.

March Abrahams, founder of the prizes and editor of the publication Annals of Improbable Research, that supports the prizes, puts it like this: “During the past year, it has become unsafe for our guests to visit the country. We cannot in good conscience ask the new winners, or the international journalists who cover the event, to travel to the USA this year.”

Think of this: “unsafe for our guests to visit the country.”

“Land of the free,” eh?

Not only are the winners of the Ig Nobels somewhat, umm, unusual — last year’s winners included a doctor who recorded and analyzed the growth of one of his fingernails for 35 years and a group of physicists who “discovered a truth about the physics of pasta sauce” — but they are handed their prizes by winners of the Other Nobel Prizes. So there is a concern that these scientists of all endeavors might be stuck in a detention center where they can watch their fingernails grow.

Abrahams: “We are merely ensuring that the winners can travel and meet. Despite the current strange winds, science and scientists and the public’s love of science are very much alive and kicking in the USA.”

Unfortunately, the love of science doesn’t seem to be an emotion shared by members of the Trump administration, who seem more smitten with magical thinking.

Macaulay is pundit-at-large for The Hustings, where he writes primarily for the right column.

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MONDAY 3/16/26