<div class="kg-card kg-cta-card kg-cta-bg-none kg-cta-minimal kg-cta-no-dividers kg-cta-link-accent " data-layout="minimal"> <div class="kg-cta-content"> <div class="kg-cta-content-inner"> <div class="kg-cta-text"> <p dir="ltr"><b><strong style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Before the war,</strong></b><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> Iran exported an average of two million barrels a day; now, it&#x2019;s storing crude in improvised containers and trying to ship it by </span><a href="https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/iran-is-flooded-with-so-much-unsold-oil-that-its-stashing-it-in-derelict-tanks-ed8e62b1" class="cta-link-color"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">rail to China.</span></a><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> / The Wall Street Journal [$]</span></p> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="kg-card kg-cta-card kg-cta-bg-none kg-cta-minimal kg-cta-no-dividers kg-cta-link-accent " data-layout="minimal"> <div class="kg-cta-content"> <div class="kg-cta-content-inner"> <div class="kg-cta-text"> <p dir="ltr"><b><strong style="white-space: pre-wrap;">It&#x2019;s unlikely and potentially</strong></b><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> illegal, but wartime efforts are certainly a way the</span></p></div></div></div></div>

<p><strong>Some Gulf and European</strong> leaders (who won&#x2019;t go on-record) say a US-Iran peace deal will take <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-04-16/us-iran-deal-will-take-months-gulf-and-european-officials-say" rel="noreferrer">about six months.</a> / Bloomberg [$]</p><p><strong>A 10-day ceasefire</strong> takes effect between Israel <a href="https://www.npr.org/2026/04/17/g-s1-117788/middle-east-conflict-israel-lebanon-us-updates">and Hezbollah.</a> / NPR</p><p><strong>A good summary</strong> of Israel&#x2019;s &#x201C;one-state reality,&#x201D; showing how it&#x2019;s <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/14/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-lynch-telhami.html" rel="noreferrer">an apartheid</a></p>

<p><strong>Details on the rift</strong> between Iran&#x2019;s political leaders and its newly empowered <a href="https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/irans-hard-liners-flex-their-muscle-with-a-u-turn-over-hormuz-f6f70df1" rel="noreferrer">military hard-liners.</a> / The Wall Street Journal [$]</p><p><strong>Iran vows retaliation</strong> after the United States seizes a cargo ship. Meanwhile, JD Vance appears to be heading to peace talks that may <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2026/04/20/world/live-news/iran-war-us-trump-israel">or may not exist.</a> / CNN</p><p><strong>&#x201C;It</strong></p>

<p><strong>Only four candidates</strong> are running to be the next secretary-general of the United Nations, as compared to <a href="https://apnews.com/article/un-secretary-general-candidates-bachelet-grossi-grynspan-6115c891553e58626168b6622789b889">13 in 2016.</a> / The Associated Press</p><p><strong>Hezbollah fires drones</strong> and rockets in retaliation for the Israeli military&#x2019;s multiple violations <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israel-will-face-resistance-if-troops-stay-in-lebanon-speaker-berri-says-2026-04-21/">of the ceasefire.</a> / Reuters</p><p><strong>Did you know?</strong> Thanks to the closure of</p>

<p><strong>Some immigrant taxpayers</strong> subject to deportation are choosing not to file this year&#x2014;a trend that would mean a loss of $479 billion in tax revenue over <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/2026/04/15/tax-day-immigrant-filers-ice-arrests/" rel="noreferrer">the next decade.</a> / The Washington Post [$]</p><p><strong>See also:</strong> Of the more than $65 billion in tax write-offs for charitable donations every year,</p>

<p><strong>&#x201C;In my view, Russia played</strong> the Americans again&#x2014;played the president of the United States.&#x201D; Ukraine has finally <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/04/ukraine-trump-us-oil-russia/686854/"><u>given up on Trump.</u></a> / The Atlantic [$]</p><p><strong>Trump has long cultivated</strong> a belief that he&#x2019;s &#x201C;fucking crazy,&#x201D; only now his irrationality has gone beyond even what</p>

<p><strong>European officials are</strong> assembling a &#x201C;European NATO,&#x201D; looking to supplement US military assets <a href="https://www.wsj.com/world/europe/europe-nato-trump-plans-3a423233" rel="noreferrer">with their own.</a> / The Wall Street Journal [$]</p><p><strong>With oil prices so high</strong> recently, &#x201C;demand destruction&#x201D; <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/business/markets/oil-prices-may-starting-come-worrisome-reason-rcna331690">is starting to unfold.</a> / NBC News&#xA0;</p><p><strong>Vice President JD Vance</strong> finds himself roundly mocked after a weekend</p>

<p><strong>An interactive explainer</strong> of how, despite the US blockade, Iran has geography on its side in the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/interactive/2026/hormuz-strait-control-blockade/" rel="noreferrer">Strait of Hormuz.</a> / The Washington Post [$]</p><p><strong>Yesterday, two members</strong> of Congress&#x2014;Rep. Eric Swalwell and Rep. Tony Gonzales&#x2014;resigned amid sexual <a href="https://19thnews.org/2026/04/congress-eric-swalwell-tony-gonzales-sexual-misconduct-allegations/">misconduct allegations.</a> / The 19th</p><p><strong>See also:</strong> If every congressman facing</p>

<p><strong>President Trump says</strong> the United States will destroy any vessel laying mines <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/4/24/iran-war-whats-happening-on-day-56-after-trump-extended-ceasefire">in the Strait of Hormuz.</a> / Al Jazeera</p><p><strong>Scholars say the</strong> US-Israel war on Iran is fated to be a frozen conflict: &#x201C;an unresolved war that continues at a low level below <a href="https://theconversation.com/3-reasons-the-war-between-the-us-israel-and-iran-is-headed-for-a-frozen-conflict-280996">the threshold of full-scale combat.&#x201D;</a></p>

<p><strong>Chicagoans are still</strong> dealing with the trauma from Operation Midway Blitz, where only 3% of detainees were the kinds of criminals Trump <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/26/opinion/ice-raids-chicago-constitution.html" rel="noreferrer">said they targeted.</a> / The New York Times [$]</p><p><strong>&#x201C;The world&#x2019;s first</strong> border wall failed. It now lies buried beneath Iraq&#x2019;s desert sands.&#x201D; On</p>

<p><strong>A new report finds</strong> &#x201C;credible sexual harassment allegations against 162 sitting [US] state officials, in 424 incidents <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/04/there-are-eric-swalwells-across-state-governments/">between 2013 and 2026.&#x201D;</a> / Mother Jones</p><p><strong>See also:</strong> The US Constitution says it&#x2019;s Congress&#x2019;s job to police its members, yet time and again current leaders refuse to</p>