Two notes to begin: I will hold my regular Saturday livestream at 9 am Pacific / Noon Eastern. Submit questions here.

Second, as I was multi-tasking while writing this newsletter, I did something I have not done in eight years: I deleted the nearly completed newsletter. (We had a major upgrade on our internet service today and my iOS updated to the latest version last night, which (surprisingly) reset all of my default settings, including the AutoSave in Word). And yes, I tried every arcane way to recover the newsletter, to no avail. I now know more about the locations of deleted files and auto-recovery options than I care to. The hour is late, so I will replicate the opening pages to the extent that I can and give a very high-level summary of the news without my usual citations. Thanks for your understanding.

Honoring the people of Minnesota

The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library awarded a Profile in Courage to the people of the Twin Cities—Minneapolis and Saint Paul.

In making the award, the representatives of the JFK Library wrote,

Starting in 2025, a sharp escalation in federal immigration enforcement swept cities across the country, disrupting workplaces and neighborhoods and stoking fear among immigrant families. In the Twin Cities of Minnesota, the surge was especially intense: more than 3,000 federal agents from ICE and Border Patrol were deployed to the metro area, an operation the Department of Homeland Security described as the largest federal immigration enforcement action in U.S. history. The unprecedented scale and use of force pushed the boundaries of federal authority, drawing national attention to concerns about federal overreach.

The people of the Twin Cities responded with extraordinary courage and resolve. Tens of thousands took to the streets to peacefully protest federal overreach and threats to immigrant families and constitutional protections, while others documented enforcement activity and alerted neighbors to federal agents’ presence. Faith leaders organized demonstrations, community groups built rapid-response networks, labor leaders and small business defended workers, and volunteers provided critical support and resources. Across religious, racial, and political lines, a broad coalition of residents of the Twin Cities and surrounding suburbs united in peaceful resistance despite violent confrontation and real personal risk, defending their neighbors’ rights and strengthening the national movement to protect American democracy.

The actions of the people of Minnesota follow in the best traditions of American patriots and citizen-soldiers defending the Constitution. Standing alone, those actions deserve to be credited as “profiles in courage.”

But the people of Minnesota did something much more important: They showed us the way forward. They demonstrated that “we, the people” are more powerful than a federal government captured by corrupt leaders whose only fealty is to themselves.

The people of Minnesota led by example. On March 28, everyone will have the opportunity to follow the example of the people of Minnesota–peaceably assembling to redress their grievances—as guaranteed by the First Amendment to the Constitution.

Let’s all lead by example on March 28. Demonstrate to family, friends, coworkers, and complete strangers how Americans show their fealty to the Constitution: By showing up and speaking out to defend our great charter during a perilous time. Check out this link for a protest near you: Volunteer Opportunities, Events, and Petitions Near Me · No Kings on Mobilize.

Trump’s War on Iran

The war is going so badly that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that the US was considering lifting sanctions on Iranian oil that is in transit. Relying on your opponent in a war to help save the global and domestic economies is a sure sign of lack of forward planning.

President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu spent the day trying not to blame each other for the debacle of Israel’s assault on Iran’s largest gas production facility, which resulted in Iran’s retaliatory attack on Qatar’s large LNG facility. Qatar announced that it has lost 17% of its production capability for an estimated five years. (Qatar produces about 20% of the world’s LNG exports.)

See NYTimes, Trump’s Complaint About Israeli Strike on Gas Field Exposes Divergent Strategies.

Per the Times,

Asked about the Israeli strike, which sent oil markets reeling, Mr. Trump said, “I told him don’t do that,” and he suggested that Mr. Netanyahu “won’t do that” again in the future.

Three Israeli officials briefed on the strike on the gas field said that the United States was informed before the attack. But Mr. Trump, in a Truth Social posting, suggested he knew nothing about it, and said the United States did not participate.

Trump and administration officials are now raising the possibility of using US troops to secure the Iranian coastline along the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz. See Reuters, Exclusive-US weighs military reinforcements as Iran war enters possible new phase.

Per Reuters,

Those options include securing safe passage for oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, a mission that would ‌be accomplished primarily through air and naval forces, the sources said. But securing the Strait could also mean deploying U.S. troops to Iran’s shoreline, said four sources, including two U.S. officials.

To understand the sheer lunacy of putting troops on the ground in Iran, I highly recommend Lucian K. Truscott’s IV’s essay, The many, many wars fought by the empire that became Iran.

The Reuters story, above, casually mentions an alarming fact: That Iran is attacking Saudi export facilities on the Red Sea—which is an entirely different body of water than the Persian Gulf. Indeed, the Red Sea is 1,200 km from the Persian Gulf. See map below.

Here’s the point: Iran seems intent on “spreading” the pain of the US/Israeli attacks throughout the region—including to alternate shipping and export routes through the Red Sea.

Trump seems to understand that he has lost control of the war and the economy. He is making contradictory, nonsense statements that are nothing more than desperate lies. On Thursday, he claimed that he “knew” the economy would be shocked by the attack on Iran, and said he was “surprised” it hasn’t been worse. Yeah, right.

Even Fox News anchors are beginning to ask pointed questions to Trump surrogates such as Stephen Miller. The questions all come down to the same point: How could you have not foreseen Iran’s retaliation.

The administration’s talking point is that “patriotic” Americans should not complain and start taking the bus to work and give up discretionary spending. Those talking points were clearly drafted by someone who spends much of their time as a government employee monitoring their crypto-currency accounts to see how much richer they have become by betting with insider information about the war.

Concluding Thoughts

There is a major scandal brewing over Kristi Noem’s special friend, Corey Lewandowski. See Daily Beast, ICE Barbie Kristi Noem’s Alleged Lover Corey Lewandowski Accused of Massive Grift With Secret Cash Demands.

For many reasons, it is unlikely that Noem or Lewandowski will receive Trump pardons. Their alleged corruption and possible criminal liability should have everyone in the administration who is betting on insider information or awarding contracts to their spouse’s consulting firm, looking over their shoulder. Good. The wheels of justice grind slowly, but they grind exceedingly fine.

Trump insulted the Prime Minister of Japan and the Japanese people during a meeting and press availability at the White House. In defending the lack of notice to allies about the attack on Iran, Trump responded to a Japanese reporter, saying

Why didn’t you tell me about Pearl Harbor? OK? Right? You believe in surprise, I think, much more than us.

Many horrific and tragic things happened during WWII on both sides—but Japan has been a reliable ally and friend to the US for 75 years. Trump’s insult was so cringe-inducing and offensive I felt as though it actually took a few minutes off my lifespan for having watched it.

Trump is on open wound on the once-proud reputation of the US among our allies. It will take decades to repair the damage. The best time to begin was eight years ago. The next best time is now. As Americans, we must communicate to people across the globe that we are not Trump and Trump is not us. That is a heavy lift. But taking back both chambers of Congress would be a good start by showing that most Americans reject Trump and everything he stands for.

Daily Dose of Perspective

The Horsehead Nebula is one of the most dramatic, sought-after objects in the night sky. Viewed through a good amateur telescope (8 to 12-inch aperture), it appears small and dimly lit, often seen only in peripheral vision. (I have viewed it directly through a friend’s 20-inch aperture Dobsonian telescope.)

The image below shows what can be accomplished through long-exposure astrophotography. I captured the image over 90 minutes by “stacking” 540 ten-second exposures, a process that amplifies the image’s “brightness”. Almost every astronomy photo you see is based on long-exposure stacking. The most famous Hubble Space Telescope image—the so-called Hubble Deep Field photo—took 100 hours to capture and “stacks” 342 exposures. See the fascinating story (and video) here: Science Alert, This 1995 Hubble Photo Changed Astronomy Forever

The Horsehead Nebula is a dark nebula located 1,375 light-years from Earth. It is a dense cloud of gas and dust that blocks the light from the glowing pink emission nebula IC 434 behind it, creating the dramatic contrast that makes it visible.

To capture this photo, I used a consumer-level Celestron Origin smart telescope. It uses a 6" Rowe-Ackermann Schmidt Astrograph (RASA) optical system with a focal ratio of f/2.2 and a 335mm focal length. All of my astrophotographs are taken from my backyard in light-polluted Los Angeles.

Pro-democracy protest photos

Sonoma County Indivisible. Our weekly visibility brigade. Lots of honks!!!

Pittsboro NC 3/19. No Kings pop-up.

This is from morning rush hour today (Thursday, March 19) in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Weekly Saturday protest in Brewster, NY

Nashoba Indivisible overpass event in Bolton, MA. Nashoba Indivisible is sponsoring a No Kings event in Lancaster, MA, on the 28th, along with thousands of others nationally & internationally. We had 700 people for our No Kings 2 event and expect significantly more for this one.

Sacramento, CA

Paramus, NJ

Weekly protest on Saturdays in Monson, MA. Our oldest participants are 91. Some younger folks have joined us too, and we are getting more people every week.

‘Activists from Democracy Out Loud et al packed the NC State Board of Elections hearing (3.18.26) on proposed rules on “presumptive noncitizens". Shared here is the famed Cheater trophy that is the creation of member Calile. Also, signs were brought too! Because 15,000 public comments were made on the rules, the motion was tabled until they read all the comments!’

3/19/2026 Hartford VB

My 92-year-old mother and I made our squares for the Quilt, for Democracy, below.

Rochester Visibility Brigade: March 19th, 2026

Photos from today’s standout by the I-90 Berkshire Visibility Brigade at the Mass Pike overpass in West Stockbridge, MA.

Torrance, CA, this afternoon March 19 at the “South Bay for Peace” protest.

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