Brandee

Connected, and *too* connected.

Both very useful, and the worst thing ever, Postcard.

Just days ago, Trump and the U.S. administration asked Ukraine to help intercept Iranian drones and defend U.S. bases with weapons developed through Ukrainian blood and battlefield experience.

And now Trump has allowed those who are killing Ukrainians to rebuild their cash reserves.

Yesterday, shortly after his conversation with Putin, Trump stated that the United States would lift part of the sanctions on Russia’s oil sector and on several other countries until the crisis is resolved.

He added that the sanctions might not need to be reintroduced afterward.

Yep

Regime collapse looking pretty unlikely at this point.

The U.S. hasn’t deployed the resources to do regime change.

Limited military action can’t end nuclear ambitions—if anything, incentivizes them—nor destroy the knowledge.

So yeah, it’s looking like a lot of death and destruction for nothing.

I got a .15¢/hr raise as a "market adjustment." So, I guess that's rising income? But gas is up .40¢/gal, and the energy bill is more than it's ever been.

it’s cute that Trump seems to assume he can just end the war with Iran unilaterally

I believe we (here in NPT) have entered "is it mud or is it shit?" season. And dodging it on the remaining snow on my walk to work

🚨This is HUGE. In a lawsuit against Operation Metro Surge, a Trump appointee rules that DHS "likely maintained unconstitional policies" during the massive ICE operation.

However, "largely owing to" ICE's somewhat decreased presence in Minneapolis, the judge denied a court order on standing grounds.

My partner votes in New Zealand from America.

Wait in return for WHAT?

I doubt he even knows what 'strategy' is, let alone actually having one.
I was too focused on the neo-colonialism

I think this is true but also in a strategic sense, pretty clearly an Iranian victory: we threw everything at them and proved we could not dislodge them.

The question will be if the administration can succeed at spinning it as a success, rather than the defeat it is (I kinda suspect yes?)

It would be up to politicians and journalists to say, "hey, for the lives lost and tremendous cost - both direct and more broadly economic - what did we get out of this?" and I frankly do not have a lot of faith that they will drive that message.

Don't make me tap the sign.

And "I need to make money, so the markets need to go up."

Will no one rid me of this meddlesome ayatollah?

After a journey through the eye

But it sounds like he got bored with the thing he broke.

WTF is a "Greater North America"?!

Trump speaking after markets close is usually a sign he’ll say something bad for the economy, and the White House communications team doesn’t want a graph with the line going down and blaring red numbers with a minus sign on the screen with him when he does.

Having Pete Hegseth in charge of the DOD has always felt like an insanely risky proposition. He's deeply unqualified, and is concerned with projecting dominance to the detriment of actual leadership.

Now though...feels like this could be a catastrophic failure of leadership.

I grew up in rural eastern Washington. Lots of little towns 20 min apart, but chances of them having service were 🤷🏼‍♀️

Yep. Once you get over the Cascades....🦗

State Dept. Said to Order Diplomats in Saudi Arabia to Leave

Nothing says Gulf War Three is going well more than *checks notes* ordering a mandatory evacuation of Americans from the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/08/w...

European countries on alert after blasts near a Belgian synagogue and outside US Embassy in Oslo Belgian officials say an overnight explosion outside a synagogue in Liege appears to be an antisemitic attack, and prosecutors are treating it seriously.

Belgian officials say an overnight explosion outside a synagogue in Liege appears to be an antisemitic attack, and prosecutors are treating it seriously.

Just as an aside … can we can the term “sleeper” as in “sleeper cell” or “sleeper assets”? It’s so archaic and lame. A decade plus in actual counterterrorism work, never used the phrase once.

Also, now we get to see how prepared a completely gutted FBI and DHS are for actual terrorism.

what if we never had to spring forward ever again