Ida Mojadad

The U.S. Built a Blueprint to Avoid Civilian War Casualties. Trump Officials Scrapped It. The Pentagon dismantled its civilian protection mission as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth made “lethality” a top priority and the Trump administration reorganized national security around two principl...

Just out @propublica.org: How did the Pentagon make the horrible mistake that left more than 150 school children dead? Perhaps because it cancelled an effort to limit such harm in favor of Hegseth’s lust for “lethality.”
www.propublica.org/article/trum...

NYT NEWS ANALYSIS How Trump's War in Iran Has Echoes of Putin and Ukraine The many similarities between the White Houses justification for war in Iran and Russias messaging on Ukraine underscore the risks of a vaguely defined, open-ended war.

But Dmytro Kuleba, the Ukrainian foreign minister at the time of Russia’s invasion, said that given the expansive U.S. goals, the Trump administration may be suffering from the same overconfidence that doomed Russia’s initial war plan. “American commentators are again talking about a ‘short war,’” Mr. Kuleba posted on social media on Friday. “They said the same about Russia’s war against Ukraine. It will be short only if Washington quietly scales down its goals, gives up on regime change in Iran, and sells a much smaller outcome as victory.”

the similar rhetoric all pointing to vast overconfidence is uncanny www.nytimes.com/2026/03/08/u...

Hegseth: "The only ones who need to be worried right now are Iranians who think they're going to live"

Bari Weiss reposing a CBS News stories that says the current war with Iran stretches back to 1979

Story at the The Free Press: Our 50 Year War with Iran

Bari Weiss is pushing the “50 year war” narrative at both the Free Press and CBS. The erases both American culpability for the current war (since Iran started in 1979!) and the reasons why a theocratic anti-American regime took power in the first place.
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/the-reason...

In just four days.

U.S. Troops Were Told Iran War Is for “Armageddon,” Return of Jesus Advocacy group reports commanders giving similar messages at more than 30 installations in every branch of the military

EXCLUSIVE: At more than 30 installations, U.S. commanders told troops the war on Iran is a Christian war.

The Military Religious Freedom Foundation has been “inundated” with more than 110 complaints.

One NCO said they were told the U.S. war is to bring about Armageddon and the return of Jesus…

A displaced family fleeing Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon arrives in the southern port city of Sidon, early Monday. [Mohammed Zaatari/AP Photo]

Debris covers a street beside an apartment building hit by an Israeli air strike in Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburb. [Hussein Malla/AP Photo]

A girl sits in a van as displaced families fleeing Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon arrive in the southern port city of Sidon. [Mohammed Zaatari/AP Photo]

Tens of thousands of Lebanese civilians are leaving areas in Beirut following Israeli strikes and forced displacement orders. [Mohammed Zaatari/AP Photo]

Lebanese civilians flee amid deadly Israeli strikes on Beirut suburbs https://aje.news/gzjdfs

also said in the call that bombing iran is expected go 4 or 5 weeks, could be shorter could be longer ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Thousands flee Beirut and southern Lebanon amid Israeli strikes: what we know so far on day three of the Iran war Middle East conflict spreads as Hezbollah attacks Israel, prompting strikes on Beirut; oil prices soar; drone hits UK base in Cyprus

Israel strikes Beirut. Many roads gridlocked with people trying to flee. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...

Exclusive: Prior to Iran attacks, CIA assessed Khamenei could be replaced by hardline IRGC elements if killed, sources say In the run-up to the U.S. and Israeli attacks on Saturday, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency assessed that even if Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in the operation, he would...

related: www.reuters.com/world/middle...

this is a good breakdown of how embedded the regime structure of Iran is, why many are so invested in keeping it going regardless of who is alive or in charge & making it super complicated to dismantle www.instagram.com/reel/DVRQ6TV...

2) US conservatives have been angling for this for DECADES. like with roe v wade, they eventually got their way. remember they take the long view and without a long view counter-strategy, they will keep getting their way

Iran: Tsunami of Arbitrary Arrests, Enforced Disappearances Iran’s authorities have waged a brutal campaign to terrorize the population through mass arbitrary detentions, torture, and enforced disappearances in the aftermath countrywide massacres of protesters...

..and their regular food, to do so in further inflated war time costs while seeking safety is unimaginable.

if you're talking about iran w/out talking about the massacre, you're missing a crucial element. NONE of these governments, us, israel iran are good actors here www.hrw.org/news/2026/02...

couple thoughts from an iranian american: 1) iranians in iran are being hit on all sides. their government has just killed them by the thousands, leaving them shellshocked and trying to save tens of thousands from being executed in the aftermath. many already couldn't afford everyday life..

As Trump frames himself as a savior for Iranians & asks them to fight for freedom, note he has banned nearly all of them from travel to the US, heavily pressured ordinary people thru sanctions (hitting material including vital medical goods) & tied his operation closely to Israel—deeply mistrusted.

the 12 day war gave the regime cover to be even more repressive under the guise of finding spies. and that was before the protests that killed several thousand under the darkness of internet cutoffs. so for Iranians, surviving bombs by the US and Iran will mean walking on eggshells like no other

Opinion | 40 Iranian Doctors and Nurses Describe a Massacre We surveyed medical workers across 14 cities and 11 provinces in Iran about their experiences treating wounded protesters.

This is so well done

www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

SFUSD fumbled the teachers strike The district’s write-the-term-paper-in-the-hallway strategy put it on the back foot from the get-go in this week's walkout

Read of the week re: SF teacher strike by @esksf.bsky.social. The union didn't hide how serious it was for months and it wasn't hard to see much of this coming. Will City Hall largely led by relative newcomers, like SFUSD, take note for other contracts this year? missionlocal.org/2026/02/sfus...

Washington Post layoffs disproportionately affected union members of color, preliminary Guild data shows "We cannot ignore what this means for equity, representation, and the future of this organization."

The @washingtonpost.com layoffs disproportionately affected union members of color, per data from the @postguild.bsky.social.

50% of Hispanic/Latino guild members,​ 45% of Black members, and​ 43% of Asian members were laid off, compared to 37% of white members.

www.niemanlab.org/2026/02/wash...

Teacher Strike Closes Schools Amid Negotiations Over Health Care Costs For the first time in 47 years, San Francisco public school teachers struck on Monday as schools closed to the district’s 48,000 students.

Some notable movement in the SF teacher’s strike: SFUSD tonight proposed fully funded dependent care by Jan 2027, according to the teacher’s union

Strike enters its 5th day tomorrow www.sfpublicpress.org/teacher-stri...

‘He’s not the same’: Father of Liam Conejo Ramos says 5-year-old continues to suffer Some people thought they say the 5-year-old during the Super Bowl halftime show. But Liam is still in hiding with his family, after he and his father were detained and then released from a Texas deten...

Super Bowl viewers Sunday speculated that 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos appeared in the halftime show. In fact, he has been in hiding with his family.

“He can’t sleep well at night. He wakes up three or four times a night screaming, ‘Daddy, Daddy,’” Liam's father Adrian Conejo Arias, said.

‘I Didn’t Make a Mistake’: Trump Declines to Apologize for Racist Video of Obamas

Trump says he was the one who decided to post the video with racist imagery of the Obamas, not an anonymous aide, but says he didn't watch to the end before sending it to "the people" to post for him. But he has no regrets. "No, I didn’t make a mistake." www.nytimes.com/2026/02/06/u...

not quite, though she indeed reported on it independently and paid for it with her life www.usatoday.com/story/news/f...

"A city turned to ash before our eyes, and we burned with it"

No easy feat to reconstruct this massacre, one of many still being tallied..

They watched Israel do this with every Palestinian they killed for two years and so they never imagined it wouldn't work

Opinion | ICE is clearly out of control. This week the Senate can actually do something about it. Alex Pretti's shooting in Minneapolis turned Senate Democrats against ICE and DHS funding at a pivotal moment, with another shutdown looming.

more re: the real test of Congress this week:

"The question is not whether to use government funding as leverage to accomplish a policy aim. The question is whether the funding Congress is considering for DHS will be used to violate the law, and our rights." www.ms.now/opinion/ice-...

NYT editorial board wrote on Jan 25: The Trump Administration Is Lying to Our Faces. Congress Must Act.

NYT has been toying with the headline but should absolutely keep and blast this one www.nytimes.com/2026/01/25/o...

Uncanny valley of reality.

Protest breaks out at Dilley immigration detention facility holding 5-year-old Liam Ramos A protest broke out Saturday at the ICE-run South Texas family detention complex in Dilley, where five-year-old Liam Ramos is being detained.

Protest breaks out at Dilley immigration detention facility holding 5-year-old Liam Ramos

www.tpr.org/border-immig...

Since July, I've tracked at least 2,300 cases in which federal judges have ruled ICE has illegally detained people without bond or due process.

This is one that stands out:
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...