Georgia GrantThe Weapons Makers Who Fund the Iran War Cheerleaders on Your TV https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/iran-war-cheerleaders #leftistnews #progressivenews #MillMessenger
Trump Can’t Blockade Love: Why I’m Going to Cuba https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/cuban-blockade #leftistnews #progressivenews #MillMessenger
Verdant Square NetworkReport from Havana as Trump Threatens to "Take" Cuba & Pushes for Ouster of Cuban Leader http://www.democracynow.org/2026/3/17/cuba_electrical_grid
Report from Havana as Trump Threatens to “Take” Cuba & Pushes for Ouster of Cuban Leader
Cuba’s electrical grid has collapsed. The island-wide blackout comes amid a harsh U.S. oil blockade and recent comments from President Donald Trump that he wants to “take” Cuba. No oil shipments have reached the country, located just south of Florida, in three months, compounding a humanitarian crisis caused by decades of severe U.S. sanctions. “Sanctions are literally killing people right now,” says Cuban journalist Daniel Montero, speaking from Havana. “We understand what this oil embargo means, and [what] sanctions have always meant. This is regime change through starvation.” Historian Sara Kozameh, who recently returned from Cuba, adds, “Cubans have fought for sovereignty many, many times. And they’re not going to just sort of lie there while this is happening.”
Prairieland Trial: Anti-ICE Protesters Convicted on Terrorism Charges as DOJ Targets "Antifa Cell" http://www.democracynow.org/2026/3/17/antifa
Prairieland Trial: Anti-ICE Protesters Convicted on Terrorism Charges as DOJ Targets “Antifa Cell”
A jury in Texas has convicted eight people in the first federal anti-terror case since the Trump administration declared “antifa” a terror group. Nine defendants alleged to be members of an “antifa terror cell” stood trial on federal and state charges including rioting, using explosives and attempted murder. The charges stemmed from their attendance at an anti-ICE protest outside the Prairieland ICE jail on July 4, during which fireworks were set off and a police officer was shot and wounded. Eight protesters now face at least 15 years in jail. Their legal teams plan to appeal. “The antifa of it all, from my perspective, was purely political,” says one of the defendants’ attorneys, Xavier de Janon, who joins Democracy Now! to break down the case.
Headlines for March 17, 2026 http://www.democracynow.org/2026/3/17/headlines
Headlines for March 17, 2026
Israel Says It Killed Iran’s Security Chief Ali Larijani and Commander of Basij Paramilitaries; Iran Says Infant, Toddler, Mother and Grandmother Among Latest Victims of U.S.-Israeli Strikes; Rocket from Lebanon Injures 7 in Northern Israel as Iranian Drone Damages Jerusalem Holy Sites; Baghdad’s Green Zone, UAE Oil Field Among Mideast Sites Hit by Iranian Drones; Israel’s Attacks on Lebanon Have Driven More Than 1 Million from Their Homes; U.S. Allies Refuse Trump’s Call to Send Warships to Strait of Hormuz; Jared Kushner Seeks $5 Billion for Private Equity Firm While Serving as Mideast Negotiator; Leqaa Kordia Released from ICE Jail After More Than a Year in Custody; Federal Judge Blocks RFK Jr.’s Changes to Childhood Vaccinations; Cuba’s National Electricity Grid Collapses as Trump Says It Would Be a “Big Honor” to “Take” Cuba; Afghanistan Says Pakistan Airstrike on Kabul Killed Over 400; Trump Admin Approves BP’s $5 Billion Drilling Project Off Louisiana Coast; Voters in Illinois Head to the Polls for Primary Elections
Israel Says It Has Assassinated Iran's Security Chief, Ali Larijani, Known for Negotiating with the West http://www.democracynow.org/2026/3/17/trita_parsi
Israel Says It Has Assassinated Iran’s Security Chief, Ali Larijani, Known for Negotiating with the West
How long will the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran last? Regime change in Iran will not be as “easy and quick” as U.S. warmongers may have initially believed, says Iranian American political analyst Trita Parsi. Israel claims that it has successfully assassinated Iran’s powerful security chief Ali Larijani, who Parsi says could have played a role in future ceasefire negotiations. “The Israelis have fought so hard to get the United States to go into a full-scale war with Iran for more than 20 years,” says Parsi. “It is in their interest to prolong this war as long as they can, and kill off any potential off-ramps that Trump may be looking for.”
Ground Invasion of Iran Could Be "Suicide Mission" for U.S.: Ex-Army Intelligence Analyst http://www.democracynow.org/2026/3/17/harrison_mann
Ground Invasion of Iran Could Be “Suicide Mission” for U.S.: Ex-Army Intelligence Analyst
We get an analysis of the Trump administration’s Iran war strategy from former U.S. Army intelligence analyst Harrison Mann. “From day two of this war, the Trump administration has not known what to do and how to get out of this,” says Mann, who resigned from the U.S. Army’s Defense Intelligence Agency in 2024 over the Biden administration’s policy in Gaza. As Trump is rumored to be eyeing the oil export hub of Kharg Island for seizure, Mann gives his assessment of a potential ground invasion of Iran. “Any attempt to seize this island would be close to a suicide mission,” he says. While U.S. leaders struggle to respond to Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and attacks on military bases in U.S.-allied Gulf states, Mann notes that “the people who drove [Trump] into this war pretty much expected this. I don’t think this is a surprise to Lindsey Graham and Marco Rubio or Benjamin Netanyahu — who is very much getting what he wanted, which is dragging the U.S. into what he hopes will be a decisive war of annihilation against Iran.”
Thousands of Colorado meatpacking workers are on strike https://therealnews.com/thousands-of-colorado-meatpacking-workers-are-on-strike #leftistnews #progressivenews #MillMessenger
The Minneapolis “Dirtbag Lawyer” Challenging ICE Detentions—and Winning https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/03/the-minneapolis-dirtbag-lawyer-challenging-ice-detentions-and-winning/ #progressivenews #MillMessenger
How Blue States Got Around the GOP’s Efforts to Ban Abortion in Red States https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/03/how-blue-states-got-around-the-gops-efforts-to-ban-abortion-in-red-states/ #progressivenews #MillMessenger
