H. Pike Oliver

Strategic Assessment of Operation Epic Fury: Asymmetric Warfare, Regional Fracture, and Doctrinal Shifts in the 2026 Middle East Conflict ​The geopolitical and military landscape of the Middle East underwent a profound destabilization following the initiation of Operation Epic Fury on February 28, 2026.

An insightful abd clearly presented abalysis exposes the consequences of the war against Iran that apoear to be unanticipated by the USA. open.substack.com/pub/wajeehli...

America and Public Disorder Our biggest social flaw should be addressed

Chris Arnade offers a clear articulation of the public disorder problem in the USA. walkingtheworld.substack.com/p/america-an...

Did America’s war on poverty fail? Deprivation has fallen dramatically—but not necessarily because of the welfare state

As reported in The Economist, the poverty rate for Black children in the USA has fallen from more than 90% in 1939 to less than 10% today. A depressing notion often believed on the left—that America is a rich country full of poor people—is simply incorrect.
www.economist.com/finance-and-...

The Building That Couldn’t Be Budged

An early 20th‑century tenement building at 1301 Third Avenue in Manhattan stands out because it is a modern holdout shaped by today’s regulatory environment rather than owner obstinacy. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/07/n...

Fascinating history of how land was mapped and subdivided in Los Angeles www.facebook.com/share/v/1Azo...

Remembering singer-songwriter Neil Sedaka Sedaka, who died Feb. 27, was a classical piano prodigy whose hits in the late '50s and early '60s included "Calendar Girl" and "Breaking up is Hard to Do." Originally broadcast in 2007.

A wonderful reprise of the life and talent of Neil Sedaka
www.npr.org/2026/03/06/n...

Trump’s Orwellian Board of Peace Consists Entirely of Human Rights Abusers An Intercept analysis finds that every single Board of Peace member state has been rebuked for human rights violations.

theintercept.com/2026/03/02/t...

Cabinet Apocalypse A News Review in an Imagined Conversation

Timothy Snyder's fictional account of a post-SOTU presidential cabinet meeting that feels just a little too real! snyder.substack.com/p/cabinet-ap...

There is one word that explains how so many men can be in the Epstein files. So why is no one saying it? We talk endlessly about the factors that make rape easier, but never about the factors that cause rape in the first place.

A long read that explains a lot!

The final paragraph of Justice Gorsuch's concurrence in the SCOTUS tariff ruling handed down on February 20, 2026, is an excellent statement on the separation of powers and the importance of the legislative process. www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25p...

Wealth in America is now more concentrated in a few hands than it was during the Gilded Age of the late 19th and early 20th century.

There has been an explosion of billionaire money seeking to influence American elections. Since the Roberts Supreme Court’s “Citizens United” ruling, the percentage of total contributions accounted for by billionaire money has skyrocketed.
paulkrugman.substack.com/p/billionair...

Maricopa officials clash over control of election duties Republican infighting over election control raises new concerns ahead of the midterms.

In the heart of divisive election management conflict--Republicans vs. Republicans.
www.axios.com/local/phoeni...

ICE acquiring mega warehouses — Urbanexus ICE is acquiring and turning mega warehouses into detention centers.

Warehouses becoming ICE deployment and detention centers www.urbanexus.com/pikeurbanexu...

Gabriel Zucman, U.S. Distributional National Accounts Wealth Data, World Inequality Database at wid.world/data/. Chart derived from wealth‑share series for top 0.01%, 0.001%, and 0.0001% from downloadable tables; the specific 0.00001% series is calculated from these underlying distributions.

Top-heavy consumer spending in the USA — Urbanexus Since 1970, consumer spending in the United States has grown steadily more concentrated among higher‑income households. In 1970, the top quintile accounted for only the mid‑40‑percent range of all con...

Top-heavy consumer spending in the USA www.urbanexus.com/pikeurbanexu...

The backlash against Trump is showing up in hard data, not just polls.
www.gelliottmorris.com/p/trump-back...

Video: What Happens After Immigration Agents Shoot Someone? Our reporter Allison McCann describes a pattern that appears in many of the 16 shooting cases by immigration agents in the interior of the United States over the past year.

What Happens After Immigration Agents Shoot Someone? www.nytimes.com/video/us/100...

However bad you think the corruption and misconduct at ICE and CBP is, the reality is far worse per historian and journalist Garrett M. Graff www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/accountabi...

A steeper and quicker backslide into authoritarianism in the USA than in Hungary, Russia, Turkvey and Venezuela.

2026-02-02 The real reason ICE agents wear masks (ATLANTIC Adam Serwer)
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

Opinion | This Is Not a Drill

David French has got it right. THIS IS NOT A DRILL. What goes on during the mid-term elections of 2026 could be worse than what happened on January 6, 2021. It is critical to work to keep the voting as free and fair as possible. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/01/o...

Median weekly pay for white-collar jobs in the USA has increased by about 40% since the early 1980s, while blue-collar pay has remained stagnant. And white-collar jobs have more than doubled, while blue-collar jobs have essentially flatlined.

The week that was.

Blue wave watch: Democrat flips Trump +17 Texas Senate seat in 32-point swing A nerdy look at precinct-level data from the TX SD-9 special election

A big “flip” in Texas open.substack.com/pub/gelliott...

Want To Reduce Economic Inequality? Simple: Increase Social Interaction Raj Chetty and his team of researchers found that the 1990s/2000s HOPE VI Program was on the right track.

open.substack.com/pub/petesaun...

Read a Witness Statement on the Pretti Shooting A doctor described in a sworn court filing how agents initially hesitated when the doctor tried to approach and render aid to Alex Jeffrey Pretti in Minneapolis on Saturday.

Statement of a physician who witnessed the Pretti killing www.nytimes.com/interactive/...