Author: nick

A map of West Asia in 1872, with “Iran or Persia”, ruled by the Qajar dynasty, shaded in pink – Public Domain The current failing effort to make Iran out to be a major threat to world peace starts the clock at 1979 in its propaganda effort to justify U.S. aggression against Teheran, which deliberately overlooks the events of 1953, when a joint U.S.-British effort overthrew the then secular Iranian government in order to take over the country’s oil industry. Much like John Foster Dulles and his brother Allen, who successfully plotted the U.S. coup against him, Mohammad Mossadegh (Time’s…

Goldman Sachs has filed for a Bitcoin Premium Income ETF, reflecting a broader Wall Street shift toward structured Bitcoin income products. Goldman Sachs has filed to launch a Bitcoin Premium Income ETF, signaling a deeper push by the Wall Street bank into crypto-linked investment products that blend Bitcoin exposure with an options-based income strategy.  The move follows similar “premium income” designs from issuers such as BlackRock, Morgan Stanley and Grayscale that seek to turn BTC’s volatility into a steady yield stream for investors. What a Bitcoin Premium Income ETF does A Bitcoin Premium Income ETF typically holds spot BTC exposure, often through shares of an…

After their service, many veterans struggle with low-wage work, mental health issues, and challenges with their families. It’s something most people don’t want to talk about, but it’s all too real for veterans across the country — including me. For years, I’ve oscillated between stable work and transitional housing. At different times, I’ve slept in shelters, outside the public library, or back in the woods. I’ve been a volunteer advocate for veterans experiencing homelessness because I’ve experienced it myself. For me (like so many others), things came to a head during the pandemic. During those difficult years, I lost contracts…

Chemical plant, Imperial Valley, California. Photo: Jeffrey St. Clair. While Donald Trump’s request for a $1.5 trillion military budget has dominated the headlines, significantly less attention has been paid to the environmental initiatives he intends to cut to support his foreign policy objectives. Under the recently released request, Trump is targeting what he calls “Green New Scam” programs. For example, Trump’s budget would eliminate $45 million in funding for the Department of the Interior’s (DOI) renewable energy programs, shifting focus toward mineral development and opening federal lands and waters to oil, gas, and coal production. One particular DOI program targeted…

One of the greatest mistakes Western policymakers repeatedly make is assuming that other cultures think the same way they do. They approach international conflicts through a secular lens of power, economics, and negotiation. But when dealing with Iran, they are confronting a political system deeply intertwined with religious ideology. When an Ayatollah or senior clerical leader is killed, the event does not necessarily weaken the movement. In many cases, it strengthens it. In Shiite Islam, the concept of martyrdom sits at the center of religious identity. The defining event for the Shia world was the death of Imam Hussein at…

I have been posting on Chatrie v. United States, the Supreme Court’s geofencing case to be argued on Monday.  In this post, I wanted to talk a bit on why the search question is particularly hard. The Supreme Court has long struggled to explain what makes government action a “search” of an individuals’ “persons, houses, papers, and effects.”  The Fourth Amendment is generally understood to have been enacted in response to a series of disputes in the 18th Century, like Entick v. Carrington and Wilkes v. Wood,  which were about what kinds of warrants were permitted to conduct a physical search. …

Jasenovac prisoners. Unknown author – Public Domain There are moments in public discourse that do not surprise by their content—because they belong to well-established ideological patterns of the darker post-Yugoslav era—but still manage to shock by the coldness with which they are delivered, as if they were stating something entirely self-evident. One such example can be found in an interview given by Andrija Hebrang Jr. to the Belgrade weekly NIN in 2009—a format that, at the very least, presumes a degree of reflection. And we are not speaking about a marginal figure from the radical fringe: Hebrang is a medical doctor by…

Is the Trump administration trying to unmask anonymous online critics in violation of the First Amendment? Two lawsuits have been filed recently to force Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to turn over information regarding their alleged unconstitutional use of administrative subpoenas.  Since President Donald Trump retook office in January 2025, tech companies have reportedly seen an increased number of administrative subpoenas from the DHS and ICE demanding identifying information of certain users, including names, email addresses, phone numbers, and other identifying information. Known as unmasking subpoenas, these subpoenas are issued by the DHS…

A man or woman scorned may understandably want revenge. And in some states, aggrieved exes can take alleged spouse-stealers to court seeking millions of dollars in damages.  Some states, including Mississippi, South Dakota, and North Carolina, still allow spouses to bring “alienation of affection,” or “homewrecker,” lawsuits against third parties accused of ending their marriages. To win, the plaintiff must prove that the “accused individual took steps that a reasonable person would expect and did result in the ending of the affectionate marriage between the couple.” These lawsuits are especially prevalent in North Carolina, where former Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I–Ariz.)…

Photograph Source: The White House – Public Domain Among this writer’s rather expansive range of acquaintance is a young woman who periodically accesses a website where she meets wealthy men, and establishes semi-long-term ‘arrangements’ with them. In exchange for certain favors, she generally receives a generous allowance, full access to a sports car and a credit card with a limit that this writer envies. He does not know this young woman well, but has no opinion on her lifestyle, believing that any activity between two (or more) consenting adults is none of his business, if he is not one of…