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US investigators believe strike on Iranian girls' school probably carried out by US forces

(The Guardian) Military investigators believe it is likely that US forces were responsible for an apparent strike on an Iranian girls’ school that killed scores of children on Saturday but have not yet reached a final conclusion, according to two US officials. The Pentagon chief, Pete Hegseth, on Wednesday acknowledged the US military was investigating the incident.

So much for affordability: Trump's war with Iran exposes the deceit of 'America First'

(The Hill) President Trump dedicated much of his State of the Union address last week to burnishing his credentials as the peacemaking president who made America affordable again. The era of rising inflation was “over,” he claimed, a feat he had allegedly achieved in-between ending eight wars and lowering the price of gas. Then Trump launched a war against Iran that undid those boastful claims in just a few short days.

While Cost of Living Soars and Healthcare Taken Away, Trump Spending $1 Billion Per Day in War of Choice With Iran

(Common Dreams) With fresh reporting that the ongoing US assault on Iran could be costing $1 billion per day in taxpayer money, opposition lawmakers, candidates for office, and outside critics are ripping the Trump administration and his allies in Congress. Hundreds of hospitals across the US, most of them in rural areas, are teetering on the brink of bankruptcy or closure in the wake of Trump’s signing of a spending and tax giveaway bill last year that gave billions in tax breaks to corporations and the wealthy while slashing healthcare, including Medicaid.

World Leader Reveals He Was Stunned by 'Truly Uninformed' Trump

(Daily Beast) The president of South Africa has revealed how shocked he was by Donald Trump’s “racist” views when he met the U.S. leader in person last year. “I just thought that he is so uninformed, truly uninformed,” Cyril Ramaphosa told the New York Times on Thursday. “I realized that he is looking at South Africa through a completely, sort of, foggy lens, without realizing the real, real harm that apartheid did,” he added. “In my view, he was just dismissive.”

The record-setting pace of retirements from Congress continues, led by Republicans

(NPR) One in eight members of Congress now say they plan to leave their current seats after this election cycle, the second-highest total in the last century. According to NPR's congressional retirement tracker, as of March 5, there are 67 current representatives and senators who are retiring or running for a different office — 13 senators and 54 House members.

GOP Rep. Gonzales ending reelection bid after admitting to affair with late staffer

(CNN) GOP Texas Rep. Tony Gonzales said he is ending his reelection bid after admitting to an affair with a former staffer who later died by suicide. “After deep reflection and with the support of my loving family, I have decided not to seek re-election while serving out the rest of this Congress with the same commitment I’ve always had to my district,” he wrote in a statement post on X.

Friday's Condensed News Cartoons

Capitol rioter who was pardoned by Trump gets a life sentence for molesting 2 children in Florida

(AP) A Florida handyman who was sentenced on Thursday to life in prison for molesting two children had been convicted of storming the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, but was pardoned by President Donald Trump. Andrew Paul Johnson, 45, is among several Jan. 6 defendants who have been charged with new crimes since Trump’s sweeping act of clemency for Capitol rioters. Johnson was convicted last month of two counts of lewd or lascivious molestation of a child and one count of electronically transmitting material harmful to a minor, according to prosecutors in Hernando County, Florida.

GOP lawmakers push for charges against former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson for Jan. 6 testimony

(CNN) Republicans on Capitol Hill are asking the Justice Department to consider bringing criminal charges against Cassidy Hutchinson, a former aide in President Donald Trump’s first administration who became a star congressional witness about the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot, according to two sources familiar with recent developments. GOP Rep. Barry Loudermilk made a criminal referral of Hutchinson to the Justice Department in recent days, the sources said.

Red state's extreme abortion ban crumbles in court as judge dismantles stunning logic

(Raw Story) A superior court judge in Indiana has blocked the state's near-total abortion ban from being enforced — because it isn't an absolute ban. The case, resting on a novel legal theory, was brought in Marion Superior Court by the American Civil Liberties Union, seeking a religious exception from the abortion ban under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which would effectively allow those who disagree with the law to not follow it.