Featured

Trump: Iran asked me to be Supreme Leader, but I said no thanks

Trump’s “Iran asked me to be Supreme Leader” joke at an NRCC fundraiser uses a real, deadly leadership crisis in Iran to normalize assassination-as-policy and blur what’s confirmed about the war and succession.

Mar 26, 2026

Featured

‘Men need to be perp-walked’ after Epstein files release, Massie tells BBC

A GOP lawmaker says the Epstein document releases are still falling short—because redactions and withheld material may be blocking accountability and survivor-centered justice.

Mar 25, 2026

Buried.News

The stories buried under the noise

Primary focus

Trump fires Kristi Noem as Homeland Security Secretary

A Cabinet secretary was forced out amid contracting and oversight scrutiny, signaling that executive control—not transparent accountability—can dictate leadership of the agency driving mass detention and deportation.

Mar 5, 2026

Featured

The Trump gold coin is not normal : Consider This from NPR

A federal design panel OK’d a Trump portrait for a commemorative gold coin, but the key question is whether Treasury can legally bypass long-standing limits meant to keep living politicians off U.S. money.

Mar 23, 2026

Featured

White House Confronted Over Huge Bets Made Minutes Before Trump’s Big War Move

A $580 million burst of oil-futures selling minutes before Trump’s Iran “talks” post raises a basic public-interest question: did anyone trade on advance knowledge of a market-moving national security decision?

Mar 24, 2026

Norms Impact

Trump cancels sanctions against countries buying Russian oil

The presidency is treating sanctions enforcement as an adjustable lever for price management, weakening a core guardrail meant to restrain hostile state financing through consistent pressure.

Executive

Mar 10, 2026

Sources

https://unn.ua/en/news/trump-cancels-sanctions-against-countries-buying-russian-oil

Summary

President Donald Trump said the United States will lift certain oil-related sanctions against countries that buy Russian oil. The executive branch is using sanctions enforcement as a variable tool tied to price objectives rather than a fixed pressure instrument. The practical consequence is a near-term easing of constraints on foreign purchases of Russian oil, with reimposition left to discretionary future judgment.

Reality Check

Executive discretion that can switch sanctions on and off for short-term price aims weakens the credibility of U.S. coercive tools and conditions allies to treat enforcement as negotiable. When sanctions become contingent and reversible without durable standards, our foreign-policy constraints start to resemble personal bargaining power rather than institutional policy. Over time, that precedent erodes separation-of-powers expectations around consistent national security commitments and normalizes governance by ad hoc executive reversal.

Media

Detail

At a White House press conference, President Donald Trump said the United States intends to lift “certain oil-related sanctions” that apply to some countries buying Russian oil. He stated the purpose is “to lower prices.”

Trump said the United States had imposed sanctions on some countries, but is lifting them “until the situation improves,” adding that sanctions might not be reimposed. He also said the war against Iran would end “very soon,” and when asked whether it would end this week, he responded, “No, but very soon.”

The context also notes that the United States slowed the sale of international assets of the Russian oil company Lukoil as part of pressure on Russia in peace talks on Ukraine.

Norms Impact

US issues a license that authorizes sales of Venezuelan gold

A U.S. license now governs who can profit from Venezuelan gold, tightening executive control over sanctions carve-outs with foreign-policy power exercised through transactional access.

Executive

Mar 6, 2026

Sources

https://apnews.com/article/treasury-sanctions-venezuela-gold-reserves-c9c797beff5663ee79ffc528ad37e5f1

Summary

The U.S. issued a license authorizing dealings with Minerven, Venezuela’s state-owned gold mining company. The move signals the Trump administration’s intent to exert more control over Venezuela’s natural resources through U.S.-granted permissions for commercial activity. The practical effect is to reopen pathways for U.S.-linked mining and minerals business while excluding actors tied to Russia, Iran, North Korea and Cuba from contracting with Minerven.

Reality Check

Executive licensing power can become a quiet substitute for transparent, rule-bound policy when access to markets is granted or withheld through discretionary permissions. Normalizing transactional control over sanctions exceptions shifts major foreign-economic decisions into a narrow administrative channel with limited public accountability. Over time, this concentrates leverage in the executive branch and conditions the public to accept resource access and geopolitical influence as matters of permission rather than predictable, legislated rules.

Detail

The U.S. issued a license on Friday authorizing dealings with Minerven, Venezuela’s state-owned gold mining company. The action followed a trip to Venezuela by U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, who met this week with acting President Delcy Rodríguez and with representatives of more than two dozen U.S. mining and minerals companies, many of which previously operated in Venezuela.

Burgum said Venezuela’s government provided security assurances to mining companies interested in investing in the country, where mineral-rich areas have long been controlled by guerrilla members, gangs, and other illegal groups. The license specifies that people and companies from Russia, Iran, North Korea, and Cuba are not authorized to enter into contracts with Minerven.