Monday, March 9, 2026

Coffee Break: Mask-Off Moment as Paramount at Nexus of AI, Gulf State Financing, and Private Equity

Geopolitical crisis creates a mask-off moment for the Ellison family empire including Oracle and Paramount at nexus of AI and global finance.

Why We Ignore the Warnings That Could Save Us

Warning signs are often visible long before catastrophe strikes.

Links 3/9/2026

Iran War: Oil Rises to Nearly $120, Stays Above $100 Despite G7 Plans for Reserves Release; Foreign Markets Swoon; Iran Increasing Intensity of Strikes, Targeting More Assets in the Gulf

Today’s Iran war update: even if Mr. Market makes Trump TACO, Iran is not likely to relent on its Strait closure soon and damage will compound.

What Exactly Was the Plan Here?

Examining some neocon literature on exploiting ethnic divisions in Iran. 

Trump’s Iran War Is an Affordability Disaster

You can’t say affordability is your top priority and then start a war in the Middle East.

Links 3/8/2026

Iran War: More Trump Bluster as US and Israel Weapon Stocks Thin and Claims of Success Questioned; Report of Plans to Send Special Forces to Seize Nuclear Material Among Signs of US Troop Mobilization

This Iran war update focuses on US claims for damage done to Iran and its level of stockpiles versus available evidence.

The Sunday Morning Movie Presents: In This House Of Brede (1975) Run Time: 1H 44M plus Jazz bonus!

In This House of Brede is a film about the cloistered life and the peace it can bring.

What Is the US Exit Strategy From Its War on Iran?

How about defeat?

Links 3/7/2026

Iran War: Brent Ends Week at Over $90 a Barrel, Doubts About Damage to Iran and Condition of Israel Rise, Trump Doubles Down on Failing Kinetic War and Desperate Messaging

Today’s Iran war update: rumors of US force deployments as oil and gas price rises threaten the global economy and Mr. Market’s mood.

Michael Hudson: Today’s Global Choice – A U.S. Ruler-Based Order or International Law

How Trump is replacing the pos-World War II only-somewhat coercive rules-based order with openly thuggish, predatory US domination

Coffee Break: Vaccines, Libraries, and Diet…Nothing About the War

Part the First: As Giants Still Walk the Earth.  Stanley Plotkin began practicing medicine in the 1950s.  When he was an intern, outcomes for patients such as this little boy were frightening and devastating: Stanley Plotkin recalls a night in 1957, during his pediatrics internship, when a father brought a gravely ill toddler into the […]

Why Chase Taylor Swift? Stop the Corporate Looting That Makes Billionaires

A case for tackling the corporate machinery driving extreme wealth, and the reforms that could truly curb it.