The United States and Israel launched strikes aimed at regime change in Iran, killing an undisclosed number of officials and civilians, prompting Tehran to retaliate against American allies and a naval base in Bahrain. Despite earlier claims by Donald Trump’s administration to have dismantled Iran’s nuclear capacity, those assertions proved dubious, yet they now serve as fresh justification—suggesting, yet again, that the Middle East never did receive the memo about lasting peace.
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Donald Trump claims Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader since 1989, perished in a joint US-Israeli strike, and called on Iranians to seize the moment—though coups rarely stick to script. Khamenei, a cleric-turned-iron-willed autocrat, steered the Islamic Republic through crackdowns, proxy conflicts, and nuclear brinkmanship. With the Revolutionary Guard entrenched and regional proxies bristling, handing over “greatness” to the people may prove easier tweeted than done.
Mere months after its last burial, Sunnyside Yard’s ambitious affordable housing proposal has Mayor Zohran Mamdani lobbying President Trump for over $21 billion in federal funds; the Republican’s apparent openness thrills New York builders desperate for 12,000 subsidised homes and 30,000 jobs atop Queens’s rails. Yet since both Amtrak and skeptical local politicians hold powerful levers, we expect far more talk before anyone picks up a shovel.
Donald Trump stunned both allies and adversaries by declaring an all-out war on Iran—Operation Epic Fury—in a midnight video, calling on Iranians to overthrow Ayatollah Khamenei and dangling American muscle as inducement. Coordinated with Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu and already spreading to seven regional countries, the strikes have killed top leaders and ignited debate about legality—while Americans, distracted by household budgets, eye Nobel aspirations with studied scepticism.
Starting March 7th, the Social Security Administration plans to implement three operational tweaks aimed at improving payments for America’s 67 million recipients—though, predictably, not everyone will call the results an upgrade. With increased automation, enhanced fraud detection, and slight adjustments to disbursement schedules, we wonder if recipients will notice anything beyond a slightly different arrival date—and perhaps a new affection for bureaucratic precision.