00 First Filter

Blurb:

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and U.S. President Donald Trump spoke Sunday afternoon in response to escalating global tensions as the Iran war continues to escalate and spread across the region.

The two discussed “the economy, developments in the Middle East, and trade relations between the two countries,” according to a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office.

The two also agreed to “remain in close contact.”

Also on Sunday, the Prime Minister’s Office said Carney gathered the Incident Response Group with ministers and senior officials to discuss the ongoing war in Iran and the Middle East.

Blurb:

The author of that post on X was referring to an online intelligence dashboard following the US-Israel strikes against Iran in real time. Built by two people from the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, it combines open-source data like satellite imagery and ship tracking with a chat function, news feeds, and links to prediction markets, where people can bet on things like who Iran’s next “supreme leader” will be (the recent selection of Mojtaba Khamenei left some bettors with a payout).

I’ve reviewed over a dozen other dashboards like this in the last week. Many were apparently “vibe-coded” in a couple of days with the help of AI tools, including one that got the attention of a founder of the intelligence giant Palantir, the platform through which the US military is accessing AI models like Claude during the war. Some were built before the conflict in Iran, but nearly all of them are being advertised by their creators as a way to beat the slow and ineffective media by getting straight to the truth of what’s happening on the ground. “Just learned more in 30 seconds watching this map than reading or watching any major news network,” one commenter wrote on LinkedIn, responding to a visualization of Iran’s airspace being shut down before the strikes.

Blurb:

Zohran Mamdani maintained the right to peaceful protest on Monday, two days after two counterprotesters allegedly deployed two explosive devices during an anti-Muslim demonstration targeting the New York City mayor.

“Anti-Muslim bigotry is nothing new to me, nor is it anything new for the one million or so Muslim New Yorkers who know this city as our home,” Mamdani said in a Monday press conference. “While I found this protest appalling, I will not waver in my belief that it should be allowed to happen.”

Mamdani called the demonstration a “vile protest rooted in white supremacy,” but stressed that “violence at a protest is never acceptable.”

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani confirms that he and his wife, Rama Duwaji, were at a museum in Brooklyn when an improvised explosive device was thrown near their home during a weekend protest.

— NBC News (@nbcnews.com) 2026-03-09T16:51:09Z

Blurb:

Though Democrats claim Republicans are “protecting the powerful“ by allegedly suppressing the release of the Epstein files, political contribution records show that Democrats have received tens of millions in campaign contributions from a major Epstein-files figure.

That figure is none other than Microsoft founder Bill Gates. On Thursday, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform asked Gates to testify over his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.

At a recent staff town hall at the Gates Foundation, the Microsoft founder’s philanthropy, Gates admitted that he had an affair with two Russian women affiliated with Epstein, a Wall Street Journal report claimed based on a recording of the event.

Gates, however, told the staff that while he had those affairs, the women were connected to Epstein only later. Gates reiterated, “I did nothing illicit. I saw nothing illicit,” in his interactions with Epstein.

Blurb:

Officials in Austin, Texas, have reached a settlement with a former volunteer chaplain for the Austin Fire Department who sued after he was dismissed from his role following posts on his personal blog that discussed his religious views.

Andrew Fox, an ordained minister who helped launch the department’s chaplaincy program, served as the city’s lead volunteer chaplain for eight years. He filed a lawsuit in 2022 alleging that the city violated his First Amendment rights after officials demanded he apologize for blog posts stating that men and women are biologically different and expressing opposition to men competing in women’s sports.

At the time, he was one of many individuals who were fired, suspended, or otherwise cancelled for discussing their disfavored views on their personal social media platforms. At the time, his case was particularly alarming because, as the Standing for Freedom Center asked at the time, “If chaplains can’t write about or discuss their religious beliefs without fear of retribution, who can?”

Under the settlement, city officials agreed to pay Fox damages and issued a letter thanking him for his service.

“Everyone should be able to speak freely without fear of punishment just for expressing a view with which the government disagrees,” said Hal Frampton, senior counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) and director of the ADF Center for Conscience Initiatives, who represented Fox.

Blurb:

Today, the world is fighting against pollution. Many kinds of NGOs in the whole world are working tirelessly to minimise the problem of pollution. Data from the Global Environmental Organisation Index (2024), highlighted by the Varanasi Diocese Community Network, tells that over 120,000+ officially registered environmental NGOs are worldwide. Plastic pollution is one of the major issues currently that is rapidly growing, and to tackle this, researchers from Flinders University in South Australia have taken a step ahead to solve the problem. They have worked on creating a material (plastic) that can be decomposed under normal soil conditions.

Blurb:

President Donald Trump says a sharp increase in high oil prices is a “small price to pay” in the fight against Iran.

“Short-term oil prices, which will drop rapidly when the destruction of the Iran nuclear threat is over, are a very small price to pay for the U.S. and world safety and peace,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, adding, “ONLY FOOLS WOULD THINK DIFFERENTLY!”

Oil prices have risen to more than $100 a barrel since the United States launched its attack on Iran in conjunction with Israel, killing Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and striking hundreds of Iran’s military targets.

Crude oil futures in London and New York soared almost 30% to nearly $120 a barrel on Monday, one of the biggest one-day jumps on record in early trading, threatening to raise costs of products from gasoline to jet fuel.

Blurb:

NEH still lists grants on its website, however.

The National Endowment for the Humanities says it cancelled a University of Florida professor’s grant to research LGBT cartoonists as well as another scholar’s work on “multethnic graphic literature.”

The NEH website lists a $60,000 grant, beginning on January 1 of this year, to English Professor ​​Margaret Alice Galvan. The grant would aid Galvan’s research on “how LGBTQ+ cartoonists innovated comics through grassroots formats in the 1980s-90s.”

“Based on archival research, each chapter focuses on different grassroots publishing formats and shows how cartoonists wielded these neglected forms to develop their comics and build community,” the grant summary stated.

Blurb:

The Leader of the Scottish Conservative Party has dropped his support of the Scottish assisted suicide Bill, vowing that he will now vote against it as “the risks are too great”.

Russell Findlay MSP previously supported the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill, which, as written, would legalise assisted suicide for adults resident in Scotland with no prognosis requirement specified; however, he now opposes the Bill due to numerous concerns with it.

This now means that the leaders of the three largest parties in Holyrood are opposed to the assisted suicide Bill.

Findlay is the third MSP who supported the Bill last year to now oppose it, meaning that if only four more MSPs change their minds and commit to voting against the Bill, it will fail.

Blurb:

“On day 10 of Operation Epic Fury, we are winning with an overwhelming and unrelenting focus on our objectives.”

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has said that the most intense day of strikes in Iran will be coming on Tuesday. This comes as the war in Iran has entered its tenth day after the US and Israel conducted strikes in Iran on February 28. “Today will be, yet again, our most intense day of strikes inside Iran, the most fighters, the most bombers, the most strikes, intelligent, more refined and better than ever,” Hegseth said in a press briefing Tuesday morning.

“On day 10 of Operation Epic Fury, we are winning with an overwhelming and unrelenting focus on our objectives, which are the same as the day I gave my first briefing here on Operation Epic Fury. They’re straightforward, and we are executing with ruthless precision. One, destroy their missile stockpiles, their missile launchers and their defense industrial base, missiles and their ability to make them. Two, destroy their navy. And three, permanently deny Iran nuclear weapons, forever,” Hegseth added.

Blurb:

A new statewide poll suggests Maine’s 2026 U.S. Senate race could take a dramatically different shape depending on which Democrat emerges from the primary, with Democratic candidate Graham Platner posting the strongest early numbers against Republican Sen. Susan Collins.

The poll from Quantus Insights offers an early snapshot of the political landscape as Democrats begin sorting out their nominee. While Collins remains competitive against Democratic Gov. Janet Mills, the numbers shift noticeably when the matchup includes Platner, suggesting the race could take on a different dynamic depending on who ultimately secures the Democratic nomination.

In a hypothetical matchup between Collins and Mills, the race appears extremely close. The poll shows Collins receiving 44.6 percent of the vote compared with 43.0 percent for Mills.

Third-party candidates account for 5.6 percent, while another 5.6 percent remain undecided. An additional 1.1 percent said they would not vote. The numbers reflect the familiar political pattern that has defined Maine’s statewide contests for years, with Collins maintaining a durable base of Republican support while continuing to attract some independents and moderate Democrats.

Blurb:

The film was captivating, but the reviews were negative.

Israel launched a devastating attack Saturday night on oil storage facilities in Tehran, with results that residents told the U.K.’s Guardian were “apocalyptic.”

“Thick black smoke was still rising in the sky, soot covered the streets and cars, balconies filled with black gunk, and the toxic air had filled the lungs,” the Guardian said in describing the aftermath of the attack.

Multiple social media posts showed the extent of the damage.

Blurb:

In Tehran’s latest signal that it will not blink, Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said the country is not looking to negotiate with the United States and Israel.

As the war enters its 11th day, Iran has struggled to mount an effective response to the blistering U.S.-Israeli air and missile strikes that have devastated its military. Despite this, Ghalibaf said the government was not seeking negotiations and hinted that Tehran would somehow hit its enemies with heavy military force.

“Absolutely, we are not seeking a ceasefire; we believe we must strike the aggressor in the mouth so that it learns a lesson and never again even thinks of aggressing against our dear Iran,” Ghalibaf said on X. “The Zionist regime sees its ignoble existence in perpetuating the cycle of ‘war-negotiation-ceasefire and then war again’ in order to consolidate its domination. We will break this cycle.”

Ghalibaf, a former Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander, is a longtime leader of Iran’s conservative faction, known as the “principlists.” He has consistently advocated for hardline policies against the U.S. and Israel, and played a central role in ordering the massacre of tens of thousands of protesters in January.

Blurb:

The Iran war is still in its early days. Our operations against the Iranian regime have so far been swift and apparently devastating.

But those who remember Iraq know that Saddam Hussein’s conventional forces were destroyed in very quick order by U.S. troops in 2003. The trouble came afterward. Our attempts to stabilize the country, root out terrorists, and prop up an American-friendly regime bogged down into one of the “forever wars” Donald Trump campaigned against during the 2016 election cycle.

Our wars (sorry, “authorized armed conflicts”) in the Middle East didn’t bring us victory, but they did bring us a stream of “refugees” from the same Third World cesspits we were trying (and failing) to reform into proper nations.

We don’t know how the Iran War will end. It could be over in a few weeks, or it could be over by September. Or by September 2036. Regardless of how long it lasts or how devastating it is for Iran, we absolutely cannot take a single “refugee” from this conflict.

Blurb:

Anytime something happens in these United States of America that makes the left look bad, we on the right snark to each other about how the media will gloss over it, glorify the perpetrators, and make the progressive in question seem less bad. Like the two ISIS-inspired bombers in NYC. Sure, attempting to people up with and IED is bad, but the real villains were the tens of people Islamophobiaing in the street. Even by our usual low standards for the journalsiming industrial complex, this CNN framing is something.

Terrorists inspired by ISIS? Meh. Emir Balat and Ibraham Kayumi were just two teens who, on an unseasonably sunny day, made a mistake that could change their lives forever.

Two Pennsylvania teenagers crossed into New York City Saturday morning for what could’ve been a normal day enjoying the city during abnormally warm weather.

But in less than an hour, their lives would drastically change as the pair would be arrested for throwing homemade bombs during an anti-Muslim protest outside of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s home. Here’s what we know so far.

Blurb:

Pop legend Stevie Wonder told white people to “overcome” their “hate” and “white supremacy” during his time at the mic during Reverend Jessie Jackson’s public funeral on Friday.

The “Isn’t She Lovely” singer appeared during Jackson’s “homecoming” event and told the crowd that “Rev. Jackson and I had a long and strong history.”

“It was personal and political. We were able to love each other and support each other through the good and the bad. I knew his heart, I respected his mind, and trusted his soul. I wish we could say everyone did,” he said of Jackson, who died in February at 84, according to CBS News

Wonder also performed the song “As,” along with “They Won’t Go When I Go,” which he said “speaks the truth in my heart.”

But Wonder also delivered an attack against white people.

“It is you, and you know who you are,” he lectured. “You need to overcome hate. You need to overcome the mindset of white supremacy…You shall overcome the need to dominate every single country and its people.”

Blurb:

President Donald Trump slammed congressional Democrats for holding out on funding the Department of Homeland Security amid threats of terrorism from Iran.

When asked about reports that Iran has activated terrorist sleeper cells abroad, Trump said his administration is “very much on top of it,” though the ongoing DHS shutdown is a challenge.

“One of the things we have to do is get the Democrats to stop the Democrat shutdown,” he said. “Because, as you know, the apparatus that looks into that [Senate Minority Leader Chuck] Schumer and the Democrats have shut it down, which tells you they probably hate our country a lot, but the Democrats have to open that up.”

The agency has been shut down for 24 days over Democrat demands to reform Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Trump said he has “very, very good intelligence” on Iran’s sleeper cells. However, he said the shutdown prevents the administration from handling them as they want.

Blurb:

Democratic Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly raised concerns Monday about Iran’s nuclear ambitions while arguing that the country was not enriching uranium at weapons-grade levels.

During a discussion about U.S. policy toward Iran on “Anderson Cooper 360,” Kelly pointed to Trump’s 2018 decision to exit the deal negotiated under former President Barack Obama. The senator argued that the agreement limited Iran’s uranium enrichment at the time and suggested that abandoning it contributed to the current tensions.

“In 2018, when Donald Trump was in the White House, he tore up the Iran nuclear deal,” Kelly said. “They were not enriching uranium to the point where they could develop a nuclear weapon. But Donald Trump didn’t like it because it was something his predecessor put in place. And he tore it up.”

The Arizona senator said, however, that Iran’s nuclear capabilities remain a serious concern.

Blurb:

 

Hollywood is a factory of fakery. Social media accounts run by publicists. Apologies written by lawyers. Whole personalities assembled by committee.

In Hollywood, sincerity is often the most convincing special effect of all.

‘My behavior’s dirty, ugly, disgusting, so I gotta eat it.’

Which is why Shia LaBeouf has always felt like an anomaly.

Storm before the calm

LaBeouf is many things: talented, erratic, often self-destructive. His life reads less like a biography than a weather report — storms, brief calm, then another system moving in. He wears his heart on his sleeve, his wounds on his face, and his worst moments out in public.

In an industry built on careful concealment, he seems incapable of it. Most actors learn early to construct a polite distance between who they are and what the world sees. LaBeouf apparently never built that wall.

So when trouble comes — and with him it usually does — everyone gets a front-row seat.

And that’s what makes the story unmistakably Christian. The prodigal son does not return home polished and rehabilitated. He comes back hungry, broken, and not entirely sure how he got there.

Blurb:

President Donald Trump has issued a warning to the Islamic Republic of Iran, stating that “death, fire, and fury will reign upon” the Persian state should they interfere with the transportation of oil through the Strait of Hormuz, a vital sea trade route.

Trump claimed that American forces would strike the country “twenty times harder” and will “make it virtually impossible for Iran to ever be built back,” he said in his post to Truth social. The IRGC still seems to think that they are in the driver’s seat, however. They claim that they will be the ones to determine the end of conflict, but that would only be true in the sense that they would choose the date of their surrender.

Trump’s message comes after an Iranian announcement claiming that they would allow nations who would expel American and Israeli diplomats to have free passage through the Strait of Hormuz.

Blurb:

On January 8th, OpenAI introduced ChatGPT for Healthcare, a generative AI (GAI) platform designed to be embedded within medical systems platforms and daily workflows. This technology suite is advertised as a solution to clinicians overburdened by administrative work through offloading cognitively taxing tasks, including the choice of diagnostic tests, supporting differential diagnosis, treatment planning, documenting session notes, creating aftercare plans for patients, and generating referral notes and discharge summaries for external providers. In other words, GAI is being implemented at every level of patient care. According to the American Medical Association’s report from their summit on AI, “disruption” of the status quo in healthcare delivery due to GAI technologies “seems inevitable.”

But why does it seem inevitable? An evidenced-based approach to evaluating new technologies would call for careful consideration of benefits and risks for technology implementation on individual use cases — not a rapid systems overhaul. Here, we must recognize that GAI technologies are products — and these products are being actively promoted to healthcare industries and healthcare professionals across the medical space, including in mental health care. Rather than investing billions of dollars into curtailing a failing system of private medical care — which has led to widespread clinician burnout and poor client outcomes — Silicon Valley companies have begun attempting to mud over these fault lines with a quick-drying GAI compound. Even the most well-meaning and justice-oriented clinician is not immune to the tidal wave of billion-dollar marketing strategies bent on creating the illusion of inevitability.

Blurb:

On Monday’s broadcast of CNN’s “The Arena,” Rep. Greg Landsman (D-OH) said that Iran was building up the means to protect its enrichment work and the choice was to wait until it was built or hit now “while they’re weak” and “I would have said, yeah, go now. We don’t want to have to get to a point where we have a larger, more complicated, more expensive, more deadly war. So, the strikes make sense.”

Host Kasie Hunt asked, “Where are you on the success or failure of what we’ve seen here? Do you think the world is currently better off today than it was before this started?”

Landsman answered, “We don’t know yet, right? The decision was, look, the Iranian regime wants to enrich uranium. They want to do it underground. We can stop that. But they were building up this shield to protect the enrichment work. At what point do you go in? Do you wait until it’s already up and running, this shield, which makes it difficult to penetrate, if not impossible? Or do you go now and do it while they’re weak? I would have said, yeah, go now. We don’t want to have to get to a point where we have a larger, more complicated, more expensive, more deadly war. So, the strikes make sense. But they need to get in, get them done, and then get out.”

Blurb:

The president is optimistic. Our joint operation is ahead of its own projected timelines. Wall Street Journal: President Trump said the Iran war will be over “very soon,” but that the U.S. military campaign still has further to go. At a Monday press conference, he said: “We’re achieving major strides toward completing our military objective. We could call it a tremendous success right now,” he added, “or we could go further, and we’re going to go further.” Earlier, he signaled in an interview with CBS News that the Iran war is “very complete, pretty much,” a sign that he may soon call an end to the bombing campaign (Wall Street Journal).

Blurb:

 

A few weeks ago, I wrote: “Everyone in America has an opinion on what has gone right or wrong at the Department of Homeland Security and its component agencies, particularly Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection.” I added — a little too coyly — that I had “a pretty good sense of what happened.”

That restraint served a purpose at the time. It also left too much unsaid.

The mass deportation agenda remains central to Trump’s legacy. Markwayne Mullin has a chance to deliver what the last year only promised. We’re counting on him.

Now that President Trump has removed Kristi Noem as Homeland Security secretary and nominated Senator Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) to replace her, it’s worth putting real detail behind the diagnosis. Not to salt the wound, but to fix what needs fixing. Trump’s signature promise — “the largest deportation operation in American history” — matters too much for anyone to pretend the last year went smoothly.