"WHAT AMERICAN READERS NEED TO KNOW: The United States is currently conducting active military operations in Iran while Israel runs a ground offensive in Lebanon with US backing, and US forces are managing proxy attacks on American assets across the Gulf."

~ Rudy Martinez

#Trump #Hegseth #Iran #Israel #Lebanon #war
/1

https://www.chicanoinparis.com/p/the-rest-of-the-world-report-april-b86

The Rest of the World Report | April 2, 2026 — Evening Edition

Iran War & Beyond The day after Trump said the war was nearly won, it got worse. And while it did, he fired the Army's top general.

A Chicano In Paris

"The Army’s top uniformed officer was fired today, effective immediately, with no explanation, no transition period, and no confirmed permanent replacement. His interim successor is the Defense Secretary’s former personal aide. This is the latest in a fourteen-month pattern of removing senior military officers and replacing them with individuals personally trusted by Hegseth."

#Trump #Hegseth #Iran #Israel #Lebanon #war
/2

"The cumulative effect of that pattern — on institutional knowledge, on operational continuity, on the confidence of allied militaries — is a question that American media has not yet treated with the weight that military analysts abroad have been giving it for months."

#Trump #Hegseth #Iran #Israel #Lebanon #war
/3

“The question is not why George was fired. Every general in the building knows why. The question is what order is coming in the next fourteen days that required removing the one man in the chain of command who might have said no.”

~ Randa Slim quoted by Greg Dworkin

#Trump #Hegseth #Iran #war
/4

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/4/3/2376008/-Abbreviated-Pundit-Roundup-Lame-duck-president-quacks-up

Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: Lame duck president quacks up

Washington Post: Americans have little appetite for sending U.S. troops to Iran, polls show Most want the war to end quickly, and opposition has hardened since it began, posing political dangers ...

Daily Kos

"The war hasn’t merely forced an oil crisis; we’re well on our way to an everything crisis, given the many supply chains disrupted by the strait’s closure."

~ Catherine Rampell

#Trump #Iran #war #oil #gas #StraitofHormuz #economy
/5

https://www.thebulwark.com/p/is-trump-trying-to-lose-the-midterms-inflation-iran-war-prices-hormuz-tariffs

Is Trump *Trying* to Lose the Midterms?

Between rising prices and gilded ballrooms, Trump has practically giftwrapped oppo ads for Democrats.

The Bulwark

"It is worth remembering that these economic consequences are secondary effects. They stem from something far more immediate and devastating: the human cost of war itself. Acknowledging that reality does not diminish the pain people feel when their livelihoods are affected.

In war, lives are lost. Families are displaced. Communities are shattered."

~ Kyle Taylor

#Trump #Iran #war #oil #gas #StraitofHormuz #economy #death #destruction #violence
/6

https://www.bylinesupplement.com/p/where-is-the-humanity

Where Is the Humanity?

Kyle Taylor reflects on why we are good at calculating the economic consequences of war but far less adept at counting the human cost, and finds hope in the words of the Commander of Artemis II

Byline Times

"In moments of crisis, we appear remarkably efficient at calculating the economic consequences of war. But we seem far less capable of keeping the human cost at the centre of the conversation.

Which raises a simple but uncomfortable question.

Where, exactly, is the humanity?"

#Trump #Iran #war #oil #gas #StraitofHormuz #economy #death #destruction #violence
/7

"To the Iranians, the Strait of Hormuz now matters more than the nuclear program. The nuclear program was symbolic, but didn’t provide them with any deterrence. Now, the only reason why they are surviving this war is because of the strait. The Iranian thinking is that, at the end, the strait must remain under their control because it is their only deterrence and only source of revenue."

~ Vali Nasr

#Trump #Iran #war #oil #gas #StraitofHormuz
/8

https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/control-over-strait-of-hormuz-will-determine-who-wins-the-war-c7ed7e62?mod=hp_lead_pos2

"By now you’ve heard that Pete Hegseth fired the Army’s top general this week and replaced him with his personal aide. What you may not have heard is that the firing was just the most visible piece of a much larger operation.

Hegseth has taken steps to block or delay promotions for more than a dozen Black and women senior officers across all four branches of the military."

~ Corinne Straight

#Hegseth #Pentagon #military #women #Black
/9

https://alternetnews.substack.com/p/revealed-pete-hegseth-is-purging

Revealed: Pete Hegseth Is Purging Black and Women Officers

Pastors who helped elect Trump are losing their congregations to ICE , and Trump is paying an energy company $1 billion to stop building wind farms

Alternet America

"He’s turned the Department of Defense into the Department of Holy War. Here we are at WAR, or at OPERATION, and he’s continuing his spree of firing, demoting, or blocking promotions for anyone who doesn’t fit his White Male Christian Nationalist TheoBro image…."

~ Marcie Jones

#Hegseth #Pentagon #military #women #Black #WhiteChristianNationalism #HolyWar #patriarchy #heterosexism #racism #misogyny
/10

https://www.wonkette.com/p/pete-hegseth-gonna-fire-fat-chicks

Pete Hegseth Gonna FIRE FAT CHICKS To VICTORY!

However bad you thought it was going lately in the WAR Dept., it is worse!

Wonkette

"Pete Hegseth, who likes to call himself 'secretary of war,' has sparked controversies by firing various military leaders and blocking the promotions of Black and female officers. Yesterday, news broke that he fired the Army’s chief of staff, the highest-ranking officer in the Department of the Army. On the same day, Hegseth also fired the Army’s chief of chaplains."

~ Brian Kaylor

#Hegseth #Pentagon #military #women #Black #WhiteChristianNationalism
/11

https://publicwitness.wordandway.org/p/weekly-roundup-april-3

Weekly Roundup: April 3

Here’s the weekly roundup from A Public Witness. In addition to an announcement of a class on media and religion and a review of a new book on deconstruction that are free for anyone to read, paid subscribers to A Public Witness received a consideration

A Public Witness

"Army Maj. Gen. William Green, who had served as the chief supervising officer in the Army Chaplain Corps since 2023, is a minister in the National Baptist Convention USA, the largest Black Baptist denomination in the country. After enlisting in the Army and then becoming a pastor, he’s served as an Army chaplain since 1994. …

The White Christian Nationalist Crusader running the Pentagon pushed out a Black Baptist chaplain during Holy Week."

#Hegseth #Pentagon #WhiteChristianNationalism
/12

"Trump had that really ugly line during a speech the other night about blowing Iran back into the Stone Ages. And then moments later, you had Hegseth echoing that on X. And they both seem to love war crimes and kind of this notion of like brutal fighting where there aren't rules of engagement and pillaging natural resources, taking the oil."

~ Aaron Rupar

#Trump #Hegseth #Iran #war #WhiteChristianNationalism #WarCrimes
/13

https://www.publicnotice.co/p/trumps-back-to-back-to-back-setbacks

Trump’s back-to-back-to-back setbacks

From SCOTUS to Bondi to Iran to the TSA, it's been nothing but grim news for Trump.

Public Notice

"So, you know, it seems like they have pretty strong alignment there and it might be difficult for Trump to find someone else who is kind of that ghoulish or kind of unscrupulous."

#Trump #Hegseth #Iran #war #WhiteChristianNationalism #WarCrimes
/14

@wdlindsy I'd like to think so, but I'm not sure it's difficult to find someone else that ghoulish or unscrupulous at all.
@wdlindsy It’s the macho facade of the impotent.

@wdlindsy

Hogsbreath stinks, of much that's bad!