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Photos: Birds in Early Springtime

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A stork perches on its nest atop a power pole after returning for spring, in the Mazgirt district of Tunceli, Turkey, on March 18, 2026.Patrick Pleul / DPA / Getty
A robin, seen in Brandenburg, Germany, on March 8, 2026Patrick Pleul / DPA / Reuters
A goldeneye takes flight near Kersdorf, Germany.Chi Shiyong / VCG / Getty
Ring-necked pheasants play in the snow at Longfeng wetland nature reserve on March 8, 2026, in Daqing, Heilongjiang province, China.

Why Britain Is Saying No to Trump’s Iran War

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On this week’s episode of The David Frum Show, The Atlantic’s David Frum opens with his thoughts on President Trump’s dangerous disregarding of Congress’s powers of war-making and peacemaking. David argues that though Republicans have enabled the president’s dark impulses, Democrats in congress also seem happy to turn a blind eye to the Trump administration’s actions in Iran.

“Warmongers Come for the Media”: Trump Threatens Media with “Treason” Charges over Iran War Coverage

The Trump administration is escalating threats against news organizations, with President Trump suggesting outlets should face “treason” charges for disseminating false information. Brendan Carr, the chair of the Federal Communications Commission, has also threatened to revoke broadcasters’ licenses over their coverage of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran. This all comes as allies of President Trump consolidate their control over several major media outlets.

Trump’s Counterterrorism Chief Resigns over Iran War, Criticizes “Pressure from Israel”

A top national security official resigned from the Trump administration Tuesday in response to the war on Iran. “Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby,” Joe Kent, who served as director of the National Counterterrorism Center, wrote in his resignation letter.

How Much Pain Is Trump Really Willing to Endure?

It was supposed to be easy. In the weeks after President Trump authorized the military raid to snatch Nicolás Maduro from Venezuela, he would tell pretty much any audience about how flawlessly the operation had gone. During a late-January phone call with Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, who was seething after federal immigration agents killed two of his residents, the president dominated the conversation by going into great detail about the Caracas incursion.

The First Big Administration Defection Over Iran

Joe Kent, the U.S. government’s top counterterrorism official and a self-identified “America First” Republican, is not the only Donald Trump ally to disagree with the president’s decision to attack Iran. But today he became the first senior government official to do so publicly, quitting his job and offering an explanation that undercut Trump’s rationale for starting the war.

Who Will Apologize for D.C.’s Tornado Bust?

Tornadoes did not hit the nation’s capital yesterday, and many meteorologists on the internet are extremely sorry. “What a HORRIBLE forecast by meteorologists—especially myself,” Matthew Cappucci, of the weather app MyRadar, posted on X yesterday after the tornado warnings that prompted schools, businesses, and museums to close across the Washington region had fizzled into your average rainy day.

The Dangerous Logic of the Joe Kent Letter

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When Joe Kent, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, resigned today in protest of the Iran war, he blamed everyone except the person who launched it.

Joe Kent’s Secret

Updated at 6:54 p.m. ET on March 17, 2026
In February 2025, Donald Trump nominated Joe Kent, a 2020-election conspiracy theorist with links to the Proud Boys and white supremacists, as head of the National Counterterrorism Center. What could possibly go wrong?
Kent’s beliefs did not complicate his tenure, during which Trump continued smearing minorities and insisting the 2020 presidential election had been stolen. The sticking point, rather, became the war in Iran.

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.

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 with Belly of the Beast, speaking from Havana.

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.