Slow Down, Christian Soldiers

I can still remember the words to that oddly militant hymn sung in my church as a youth:

“Onward, Christian soldiers, 
marching as to war,
With the cross of Jesus
going on before!
Christ, the royal Master,
leads against the foe;
Forward into battle,
see his banner go!”

I didn’t like the song then and I don’t like it now. But the difference is that today, under the expansionist “Christian Nationalism” of Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth, for the first time I fear the meaning behind its lyrics.

By threatening the "whole civilization” of Iran with destruction Monday, Trump tried to frame his illegal war against Iran into a fight to the death between Islam and Christianity.

He also committed a war crime, according to modern standards.

In the process, he sank to the same hateful level as the mullahs who’ve run Iran for 47 years with their “Death to America” and “Death to the Jews” chants.

The great majority of the Iranian people do not share those sentiments at all. Like you and me, they love their families and friends, they work hard, and they hope for a safer, more secure world for their children and grandchildren.

Then, with the world holding its collective breath, just before his so-called deadline last night, Trump backed down. He did what he usually does — change his mind — and for that we can thank whatever God we believe in (or not). It’s obvious that for now he has seized the cover of a two-week ceasefire agreement offered via Pakistan to try and save face from the horror of his earlier statement.

But so much damage has been done. 

Meanwhile, Iran now claims it has achieved control over the Strait of Hormuz under the new ceasefire, which if true would constitute an epic failure on Trump’s part. Like most of the Crusades of yore, this one too appears to be ending in failure.

HEADLINES:

• Trump Announces Two-Week Cease-Fire, Backing Down From Threats of Imminent Devastation (NYT)

• GOP dissenters emerge on Trump’s threat against Iranian “civilization” (Axios)

• An eclectic, bipartisan group suddenly calls for removing Trump using the 25th Amendment (CNN)

• Republicans silent as Democrats call on US cabinet to oust Trump over Iran (Guardian)

• This Would Be Genocide (HP)

• Oil price fluctuates ahead of Trump’s Iran deal deadline (BBC)

• Markets cheer as Trump says he’s in ‘heated negotiations’ over a new Pakistani two-week ceasefire plan (Fortune)

• Death Wish: Trump Threatens to Destroy an Entire Nation (Atlantic)

• How Trump Took the U.S. to War With Iran (NYT)

• What People in Iran Are Thinking Right Now (New Yorker)

• Hegseth Likens Easter Rescue of U.S. Airman to Resurrection of Jesus Christ (NYT)

• Trump says God supports U.S. cause in Iran war as he threatens wider bombing (WP)

• Ex-General Warns of ‘Dangerous Situation’ After Hegseth Fires Officers (Newsweek)

• After clashes with Hegseth, Army secretary says he isn’t going anywhere (WP)

• US Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested more than 800 people following tips shared by federal airport security officials from the start of Trump’s presidency through February 2026, internal ICE data reviewed by ‌Reuters show, a figure far above what was previously publicly known. (Reuters)

• Taiwanese opposition leader to meet China’s Xi in a test of diplomatic skill (Al Jazeera)

• This public health week, the US is squandering health and wealth (The Hill)

• What spending probes at DHS reveal about Kristi Noem’s time in office (WP)

• How Trump’s Endorsement in California Could Backfire Against Republicans (NYT)

• The internet is deciding what to forget (FT)

• Sam Altman Says It’ll Take Another Year Before ChatGPT Can Start a Timer (Gizmodo)

• Why OpenAI’s Purchase of a Big Tech Podcast Is So Sleazy (Slate)

• Goodbye, middle managers (BI)

• Pete Hegseth Laid On Side For Cabinet Meeting (Onion)

 

Dire Straits

From the Times: “Trump warned that a “whole civilization will die tonight” if Iran does not make a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz by 8 p.m. Eastern, as the U.S. attacked Iran’s main oil export hub.

“Trump issued the grave warning in a post on social media on Tuesday as a new round of attacks was launched across the Middle East.

“The U.S. attacked Kharg Island, the export hub, Israel and Iran launched fresh attacks and Israel’s military warned Iranians to avoid traveling by train. The increasingly incendiary threats and the intense fighting reinforced the fragile state of diplomacy, with no public signs of a diplomatic breakthrough to end the war.”

HEADLINES:

• Trump Issues Grave Threats as Hormuz Deadline Draws Closer (NYT)

• Three Ways Trump’s Iran Deadline Could Play Out Tonight (WSJ)

• Trump threatens to jail reporters if they don’t turn over Iran source (WP)

• Trump reiterates threats to bomb Iran’s power plants and bridges (NPR)

• Trump Says He’s Calling Iran’s Bluff in Eight-Minute Interview (WSJ)

• Oil prices choppy after expletive-laden Trump threat to Iran (BBC)

• Saudi Arabia charges record premium for its oil (FT)

• Iran notifies civilians of retaliatory targets if US attacks infrastructure (NewsNation)

• Iran is Trump’s biggest political mistake (Silver Bulletin)

• Stephen Miller Is Still Pursuing His Immigration Agenda, but More Quietly (NYT)

• Trump Is Putting America’s Weaknesses on Display (Atlantic)

• Impeach Him Again (Bulwark)

• Trump’s Iran war leaves Republicans adrift ahead of midterms (AP)

• War-driven energy crisis boosts China’s sales pitch for renewable tech (WP)

• Trump Administration Pulls Out of Civil Rights Settlements Backing Trans Students (NYT)

• He survived working for Elon Musk. Here’s how. (WP)

• Former CIA director: ‘Russia no longer has the upper hand’ in Ukraine war (The Hill)

• Trump administration’s secrecy on health deals alarms experts, governments (WP)

• AP says it will offer buyouts as part of pivot away from newspaper-focused history (AP)

• This Billionaire Wants To Save America’s Newspapers. He Thinks He’s Found A Way (Forbes)

• Michigan outlasts UConn to win 2026 NCAA men’s basketball national championship (NYT)

• Hallucinated citations are polluting the scientific literature. What can be done? (Nature)

• Frankenstein’s Regrets (Nation)

• Behind the Curtain: Sam’s superintelligence New Deal (Axios)

• Trump Warns Iran To Accept His Ultimatum Or Face Wrath Of Next Ultimatum (Onion)

 

Going Rogue

(This is from last April, well before Trump’s wars in Venezuela and Iran. It’s worth rereading.)

In his essay in Foreign Affairs called The Age of American Unilateralism — How a Rogue Superpower Will Remake the Global Order, political scientist Michael Beckley suggests that the Trump administration’s controversial foreign policy moves may signal a permanent shift away from the liberal world order that has characterized the past 80 years or so.

Here are a few of his major points:

• The American-led liberal order has outlived its original purpose, growing into a maze of burdens and vulnerabilities. It didn’t fail, but it triumphed over threats that no longer exist: the devastation of World War II and the spread of communism.

• Globalization fueled growth but hollowed out American industries and concentrated the gains. Between 2000 and 2020, U.S. industrial output (excluding semiconductors) fell nearly ten percent, and one in three factory jobs disappeared. Nearly all net job growth went to the richest 20 percent of zip codes, leaving much of the country behind.

• The social fallout has been staggering: rising disability claims, drug overdoses, and prime-age workers dropping out of the labor force at Great Depression–level numbers. Many wounded communities retain political clout thanks to an electoral system that amplifies rural voices over urban majorities. The result: a hard pivot away from liberal internationalism and toward protectionism and border controls.

• 77 percent of young Americans are unfit to serve in the military, largely because of obesity, drug use, and lack of education. Trump plans to unveil a $1 trillion defense budget, but rebuilding the U.S. defense industrial base could take years.

• (B)y treating global affairs like a transactional hustle, the United States risks tearing down the very system that has kept the peace for generations. Trade wars don’t just raise prices. They unravel alliances and push rivals toward confrontation. That’s how the world fell apart in the 1930s: protectionism, fear, and rising powers with no way to grow but through force.

• The goal isn’t just to win a great-power contest. It’s to channel it; to fix what’s broken at home and shape a world that reflects American interests and values. A free world that works—for the United States and for those willing and able to stand with it.

HEADLINES:

• Iranian Intelligence Chief Killed in Overnight Attack (NYT)

• Israel hits Iranian petrochemical plant in massive gas field as Trump deadline approaches (AP)

• Trump Revels in Threats to Commit War Crimes in Iran (NYT)

• Inside the mission to recover a downed American airman (CNN)

• How the C.I.A. Helped Locate a U.S. Airman Hiding on an Iranian Ridgeline (NYT)

• Trump unleashes curse-filled social media rant at Iran after U.S. rescues colonel (NPR)

• ‘Unhinged madman’: US politicians react to Trump’s expletive-laden threat to Iran (Guardian)

• Ahead of his latest Strait of Hormuz deadline, Trump threatens Iran’s energy infrastructure (NBC)

• Iran deal possible by Tues., otherwise “I am blowing up everything” (Axios)

• Pope Leo delivers commanding message of peace as Trump, aides invoke God for war (WP)

• Top general ousted by Pete Hegseth says troops deserve ‘courageous leaders of character’ (Independent)

• Hegseth’s firing of a top general is the latest sign of Pentagon turmoil (WP)

• Social media has become a freak show (Silver Bulletin)

• The Sneaky-Saver Generation (Atlantic)

• Surprising links between autism, Alzheimer’s could change how we treat both (WP)

• As Trump orders UFO data released, a question hangs: If aliens exist, what would they think of us? (AP)

• The Forgotten Female Pilots of World War II (Atlantic)

• What the looming sale of CNN means for Trump’s feud with the network (WP)

• UConn is chasing championship history. But Michigan is the team that’s historically great (The Athletic)

• I’ve been dating an AI companion for 3 years (BI)

• A ‘post-human’ vision of AI is already causing problems (WP)

• Rich Parents Fill Easter Eggs With Gas (Onion)

Will Writers Survive?

A sprawling article in The New Republic back in 2024 was one of many that questioned whether artificial intelligence (AI) spelled the end for human writers. Two years later, that question is as vital as ever.

“If a computer can write like a person, what does that say about the nature of our own creativity?” asked the author, Samanth Subramanian.

The answer was, after a long winding trail of considerations, that nobody can yet say for sure, at least according to this author. But he leaned into the notion that human writers would prevail in the end.

The key word in this equation is “human.” In our society, human writers do much more than simply write. They invent and provoke and stimulate and define. They give voice to voiceless as well as to the unspeakable. They create the public narratives that help define both our social and private lives.

In fiction and nonfiction alike, they articulate the inner longings of the human spirit, which machines may emulate but cannot replicate. They connect people with each other through stories. They even can evoke the ineffable — that which cannot be captured by words.

Like artists of all kinds, writers’ work can be copied — we call it plagiarism — but as creators they themselves cannot be replaced. AI may take away many of the jobs writers have; if so that will be a tragedy. But the writers will remain.

Writing is so much more than turning a phrase, word-smithing or even telling a story. Fundamentally, it’s about forging authentic human connections one at a time, word by word.

That will always be superior, IMHO, to the artificial connections enacted by machines.

And only a human being can tell the difference.

(This is an update of an essay I wrote last April.)

HEADLINES:

• U.S. Rescues Downed Air Force Officer Deep Inside Iran (NYT)

• Two Planes Destroyed by U.S. During Rescue Operation (WSJ)

• How Israel Is Taking Control of Southern Lebanon (NYT)

• Chinese firms market Iran war intelligence ‘exposing’ U.S. forces (WP)

• Trump’s Pentagon-first presidency (Axios)

• Pete Hegseth Is Scapegoating Career Soldiers for His Own Failures (Nation)

• ‘Paradigm shift:’ How Trump’s budget request will keep everyone guessing (Politico)

• White House budget proposal silent on civilian federal pay raise (FNN)

• Reclaiming our own birthright: We might need to amend the Constitution (The Hill)

• Birthright Citizenship and the Constitution (WSJ)

• The FAA’s “Temporary” Flight Restriction for Drones is a Blatant Attempt to Criminalize Filming ICE (EFF)

• Judge rejects DOJ’s bid to reinstate Powell subpoenas (Axios)

• Palestinians fear death without due process (Reuters)

• China’s gravity-detecting SQUID gets closer to spotting US nuclear submarines (SCMP)

• Who’s the Leader of the Free World. Hint: Not Donald Trump (Journal of the Plague Years)

• Al Gore: The Trump Administration Is the Most Corrupt in History (Reveal)

• Europe warns of aviation risks during wartime (Reuters)

• Michigan routs Arizona to set up NCAA final against U-Conn (NYT)

• Three-legged dog and cat inseparable at hospital are adopted together (WP)

• No One at Waffle House Remembers FEMA Official Who Says He Teleported In (NYT)

• Two Philosophers on How AI Will Change Everyday Life (YouTube)

• Marvel Calls Emergency Meeting To Determine If They Already Made One Called ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ (Onion)

Rumors

Who’s next? 

The Times of India is reporting that Trump is considering firing FBI Director Kash Patel.

Nobody else seems to be reporting that rumor yet, but if true, it couldn’t happen to a more worthy fellow (of getting fired, that is).

Meanwhile, another reliable source, Military.com, is reporting that the jets shot down over Iran are the first ones to suffer that fate in 20 years.

But the photo above reminds us just how stupid all of these fights and controversies truly are. It was shot by the astronauts flying around the moon.

And it should be yet another reminder that while we’re all in this together, too many among us act as if they feel the opposite is true.

HEADLINES:

• Search For Missing American Pilot Continues—U.S. And Iranian Forces Race To Find Crew Member (Forbes)

• US Military Aircraft Hit in Iran War are First Shot Down by Enemy Fire in Over 20 Years (Military.com)

• Two U.S. warplanes shot down; search ongoing in Iran for 1 missing crew member (WP)

• NATO has survived its share of existential challenges, but the Iran war has nearly broken the 76-year-old bloc. (Reuters)

• Trump budget seeks $1.5 trillion in defense spending alongside domestic program cuts (NPR)

• Democrats fume at White House budget request: ‘Bleak and unacceptable’ (The Hill)

• Hegseth’s War on America’s Military (Atlantic)

• Hegseth Says U.S. Troops Are Fighting for Jesus. The Pope Disagrees. (NYT)

• An Army Shake-Up in the Middle of a War (Atlantic)

• Hegseth’s wartime firing of top generals stuns officials: “It’s insane” (Axios)

• Pam Bondi Wanted a Graceful Exit. But Trump Wanted Her Gone. (NYT)

• Trump weighs more Cabinet changes after Bondi ouster (Politico)

• Trump’s Purge May Be Just Beginning (Atlantic)

• Justices’ Questions Reveal the Stupidity of the Case Against Birthright Citizenship (Bulwark)

• State Dept. announces ‘reforms’ to foreign service test and inclusion of ‘America First’ curriculum for orientation (CNN)

• Europe must prepare for ‘long-lasting’ energy shock, EU warns (FT)

• Strong Showing for Job Market in Latest Report (NYT)

• What Trump wants from Cuba (Atlantic)

• Cuba to release more than 2,000 prisoners as US pressure mounts (BBC)

• Despite signaling change, ICE still arrests many immigrants with no record (WP)

• Evangelicals widely backed Trump. Now pastors denounce his ICE crackdown after it hit their churches. (NBC)

• Roman Catholic Churches See a Surge of New Converts (NYT)

• Trump’s Spiritual Advisor Paula White-Cain Compares Trump to Jesus (Daily Kos)

• Scientists may be overestimating the amount of microplastics in the environment – and the culprit is lab gloves (The Conversation)

• The Trump presidential library would be a giant tower of grift (WP)

• Hitler’s Edifice Complex (Atlantic)

• Artemis II crew take ‘spectacular’ image of Earth (BBC)

• Arcee’s new, open source Trinity-Large-Thinking is the rare, powerful U.S.-made AI model that enterprises can download and customize (VentureBeat)

• Economists Once Dismissed the A.I. Job Threat, but Not Anymore (NYT)

• OpenAI isn’t just buying a podcast — it’s buying influence (CNN)

• How worried should you be about an AI apocalypse? (NewScientist)

• Data Centers Create Heat Islands Stretching 6 Miles, Study Finds (Gizmodo)

• The Great AI Deskilling has begun (BI)

• A.I. Could Change the World. But First It Is Changing Silicon Valley. (NYT)

• Pete Hegseth Replaces Top General With Horse That Drinks Beer (Onion)

 

Chaos at the Top

The firings are underway. Trump dumped Pam Bondi soon after he fired Kristi Noem. Not a good time to be a woman in Trump’s Cabinet.

Hegseth fired the Army’s top general in the middle of a war. What kind of message does that send the troops massing in the Middle East?

Trump wants $1.5 trillion for his defense budget while saying (out loud) his administration cannot pay for daycare. 

Meanwhile, the fired Army chief understood and was arguing for greater development of relatively inexpensive drone and anti-drone technologies in favor of the massive weapons packages favored by Hegseth’s war contractors.

Trumps frenetic posting behavior on his social media platform sets policy while Congress sits on the sidelines doing nothing.

Chaos at the top leads to stagnation everywhere else.

HEADLINES:

• U.S. fighter jet shot down in Iran, search underway for crew (Axios)

• Bondi Fired as Attorney General (NYT)

• Hegseth forces out Army’s top general, two other senior officers (WP)

• White House Seeks $1.5 Trillion for Defense in New Budget Request (NYT)

• Trump’s grip on the Supreme Court seems to be slipping (Politico)

• If Trump Was Trying to Intimidate the Supreme Court on Birthright Citizenship, It Backfired Miserably (Slate)

• Europe didn’t want an Iran war, yet Trump is saddling it with the consequences (CNN)

• Trump is conceding he can’t control the Strait of Hormuz as he calls on allies to seize it (CNBC)

• Every Trump Threat to Abandon NATO Hollows It Out (NYT)

• Iran vows ‘crushing, more destructive’ attacks on US and Israel after Trump threats (EuroNews)

• Maybe Trump Should Not Have Given This Speech (Atlantic)

• If Trump ends the war with Iran without a deal, he risks leaving Tehran with a stranglehold over Middle East energy supplies and Gulf oil and gas producers grappling with the fallout of a conflict they did not start or shape. (Reuters)

• Behind the Curtain: Jamie Dimon’s warning (Axios)

• US Homeland Security shutdown to stretch on, despite Senate passing funding (Al Jazeera)

• Immigrants seeking asylum are ordered to countries they’ve never been to, but end up stuck in limbo (AP)

• ‘Impossible for Chinese’: Yale scientist Zhang Kai leaves US to break racial ceiling (SCMP)

• A deadly bacterial disease is returning, doctors warn, as vaccination rates fall (NBC)

• A spokesperson could not be reached for comment (possibly because she doesn’t exist) (FT)

• How a Sapling and a Viral Candy Made California the World’s Pistachio King (NYT)

• Humans Have Been Playing With Dice for Longer Than We Thought (WSJ)

• AI for American-Produced Cement and Concrete (Meta)

• Maine Is About to Become the First State to Ban New Data Centers (WSJ)

• How engineers feasted on Anthropic leak (BI)

• Young People Are Falling Behind, but Not Because of AI (Atlantic)

• A.I. Companies Shatter Fund-Raising Records, as Boom Accelerates (NYT)

• Analysts Say Paramount-Warner Bros. Merger Offers Best Shot At ‘Sex And The City’ Reboot Starring Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Onion)

 

To What End?

So now we know that Trump’s plan is to double down on the bombing campaign that so far has not caused the Iranian regime to concede nor the Iranian people to rise up against their leaders.

All this strategy has done is backfire.

So Trump has learned nothing from his month of war, and odds are it will continue to backfire.

Nobody likes this. The stock markets are tumbling, oil prices are soaring, tensions are building with our allies while our would-be king rants and raves.

Thousands of U.S. troops now stand in harm’s way, by order of their Commander-in-Chief. To what end?

HEADLINES:

• Trump: U.S. will bomb Iran “back to stone ages” over next 2-3 weeks (Axios)

• Trump Claims Military Success but Offers No Clear Timeline to End Fighting (NYT)

• Trump, Iran Trade Barbs Over Control of Strait of Hormuz (WSJ)

• Iran denies Trump’s claim it requested ceasefire, calling it ‘false and baseless’ (BBC)

• Two-thirds of Americans believe that the US should work to end its involvement in the Iran war quickly, even if that means not achieving the goals set out by the ‌Trump administration. (Reuters)

• U.S. and Iran discussing ceasefire for reopening strait, officials say (Axios)

• Iran Maintains Nuclear Capacities Despite Trump’s Claim of U.S. Success (NYT)

• U.S. plan to seize Iran’s uranium envisions risky excavation mission (WP)

• No Good Way Out (Atlantic)

• Israel strikes Lebanon as Trump is set to deliver a speech on the Iran war (NPR)

• Iran war costs grow as key U.S. systems are knocked out (Axios)

• Iran has damaged a surprising amount of American kit (Economist)

• Trans-Atlantic rift widens as Trump lashes out at NATO allies over Mideast war (AP)

• France and Italy have pushed back against some US-Israeli military operations, sources said, as Trump criticised NATO allies in Europe as unhelpful in the month-long war in Iran, highlighting ‌divisions. (Reuters)

• Why emergency measures can’t solve the global oil crisis (LAT)

• U.S. Plans Military Expansion in Greenland (NYT)

• Trump signs order directing creation of a national voter list, a move already facing lawsuit threats (AP)

• Supreme court justices appear skeptical of Trump administration’s argument to restrict birthright citizenship (Guardian)

• Trump calls U.S. ‘STUPID’ for birthright citizenship after attending Supreme Court arguments (CNBC)

• Supreme Court’s Birthright Decision Could Deal a Heavy Blow to Asians (NYT)

• Trump attends Supreme Court arguments over his executive order, a presidential first (NPR)

• The Supreme Court on Who Gets to Be an American (New Yorker)

• SpaceX Files to Go Public, Setting Stage for Huge I.P.O. (NYT)

• The Real Religious ‘Renewal’ Happening in Gen Z (Atlantic)

• Artemis II Successfully Kicks Off 10-Day Lunar Mission (NYT)

• Wikipedia bans AI-generated content in its online encyclopedia (Guardian)

• Wikipedia Just Drew the Line on A.I.-Written Content (Slate)

• ChatGPT fed his students easy answers, so he built an app to argue with them (WP)

• Study: 97% Of All Sounds Infuriating (Onion)