The News You Need on Wednesday, March 25th, 2026.
The news you need today from Scott Horton and Charles Kaiser.
Antimatter has been transported for the first time ever — in the back of CERN’s truck
Nature
Scott: Whatever you do on the road today, don’t have a collision with this truck. Physicists have succeeded for the first time in transporting the most expensive and most volatile substance on Earth — antimatter. Major media around the world have one consistent failing: science coverage. Editors don’t understand important developments in science, and reporters don’t understand how to cover them. And this makes humanity and the world a much dumber and less safe place. Those kids you remember in high school who didn’t see the need for learning math and chemistry are the same people who today embrace the antivaxxer movement and assorted other loco conspiracy theories, while deriding science and scientists.
Treason in the Futures Markets
Paul Krugman on Substack
Charles: For some people, leaving The New York Times is the best thing that ever happens to them. That has certainly been true for Paul Krugman. Since he left the paper fifteen months ago, he has become more prolific and more interesting to read than ever before. This week the breakout star on Substack did the best job of explaining the implications of extraordinary movements in the futures markets very early Monday morning: “The fanatical, brutal Iranian regime is more credible than the president of the United States. Is he lying or living in a fantasy world? Neither possibility is comforting.
But in any case, Trump’s sudden climb-down [from his threat to bomb Iranian power plants] was startling. Who could have seen this coming?
The answer is, the person or people who bought large quantities of stock market futures and sold large quantities of oil futures around 15 minutes before Trump’s announcement. As CNBC reports,
At around 6:50 a.m. in New York, S&P 500 e-Mini futures trading on the CME recorded a sharp and isolated jump in volume, breaking from an otherwise subdued premarket backdrop. With thin liquidity typical of early trading hours, the sudden burst stood out as one of the largest volume moments of the session up to that point. A similar pattern was observed in oil markets. West Texas Intermediate May futures also saw a noticeable pickup in trading activity at roughly the same time, with a distinct volume spike interrupting otherwise quiet conditions.
This “sharp and isolated jump in volume” — which you can see for the oil futures market in the chart at the top of this post — was especially bizarre because there were no major news items — no major publicly available news items — to drive sudden big market transactions. The story would be baffling, except that there’s an obvious explanation: Somebody close to Trump knew what he was about to do, and exploited that inside information to make huge, instant profits.
This wasn’t the first time something like this has happened under Trump. There were large, suspicious moves in the prediction market Polymarket before previous attacks on Iran and Venezuela. But this front-running of U.S. policy was really large: the Financial Times estimates the sales of oil futures in that magic minute Monday morning at about $580 million, and that doesn’t count the purchases of stock futures.
When officers of a company or people close to them exploit confidential information for personal financial gain, that’s insider trading — which is illegal. But we have another word for situations in which people with access to confidential information regarding national security — such as plans to bomb or not to bomb another country — exploit that information for profit. That word is “treason.”
Garrett Graff Remembers Robert Mueller
Five Leadership Lessons from Robert Mueller
Doomsday Scenario
Scott: Garrett Graff’s remembrance of Robert Mueller is easily the best of all those published in the week following his passing. Be sure to read it. What is so important about Mueller? Quiet competence and a commitment to working the administration of justice “without fear or favor.” He was exactly what every good prosecutor or investigator should be. What went wrong? Very simple: Bill Barr was his superior, and Barr is the corrupt antithesis of what a prosecutor should be.
Garrett M. Graff: We need especially right now to remember the model of integrity and vision for public service by the Greatest Generation and leaders like Robert Mueller — I tried to distill some of the core leadership lessons that Mueller always talked about.
Saudi Leader Is Said to Push Trump to Continue Iran War in Recent Calls
New York Times
Scott: Responsibility for the grave US misadventure in the Gulf lies squarely on the shoulders of Trump and the GOP congressional majority that enabled him while short-circuiting constitutional protections designed to insure that no single man can commit America to war. Still, in the last two weeks, three major vectors of influence on a feeble-minded Trump have become apparent. The first, and best known, is Benjamin Netanyahu, who has obsessively peddled the idea of War with Iran for 30 years. The second, explored here, is Crown Prince Bone Saw, who talked publicly about maintaining the peace while privately pressing Trump to undertake and maintain the war at the same time he stuffed more than $3 bn into Trump family pockets. The third are a murky group of speculators with instant access to and influence over Trump’s decision makers who have already pocketed more than $1 bn in oil futures investments. What counts for nothing in the process: the interests of ordinary Americans. That’s the essence of “America First.”
Trump’s Iran War Drive Exposes Limits of ‘Yes Sir’ Cabinet
Bloomberg
Charles: Bloomberg News assigns additional credit to Rupert Murdoch for pushing Trump into war. And Trump himself may have identified a new canary in Pete Hegseth’s coal mine: “Pete, I think you were the first one to speak up and you said let’s do it because you can’t let them have a nuclear weapon.” The president said that at a Memphis Safe Task Force roundtable in Tennessee.
U.S. wants military foothold in three new areas in Greenland
Berlingske
Scott: Ignored in US media—the Trump administration has presented demands for three new military installations in Greenland—beyond Pituffik Space Base (aka Thule Air Base) in the country’s north. This was confirmed by Gen Gregory Guillot (USAF), CINC USNORTHCOM, during a Senate hearing on Thurs, Mar 19.
Who’s Next?
JD Vance role touted as Pakistan attempts to broker US-Iran peace talks
The Guardian
Charles: The Guardian reports that J.D. Vance is most likely to be the next American official to negotiate with the Iranians, because they refuse to meet with Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner ever again. This of course makes it particularly unlikely that Trump was telling the truth on Monday when he said the Iranians were already in “strong talks” with Witkoff and Kushner.
Earlier this month, John Oliver did his usual superb job of explaining why JD should never be allowed to do anything for anyone ever again. Best exchange of the clip:
Vance (standing next to Trump: “He’s the best president in my lifetime, and he revealed the corruption of this country like nobody else.”
John Oliver: Well, I guess that is true.
Global sea surface temperatures continue breaking daily records
Scott: Eliot Jacobson: Global sea surface temperatures continue breaking daily records, with Mar. 23 having a preliminary SST of 21.141°C, ahead of the previous daily record of 21.118°C set in 2024. This graph shows how fast SSTs are rising compared to pre-2023 temperatures.
Heaven Is Twenty-five million light years away
Charles: This new image from the Hubble Space Telescope and the James Webb Space Telescope takes a closer look at the core of Messier 101, also known as the Pinwheel Galaxy. At 25 million light-years away, M101 is one of the closest “face-on” spiral galaxies to us.
German President Calls Iran War Illegal, “Disastrous Mistake”
The Indian Express
Scott: German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier states that Trump’s war on Iran was launched and is being maintained in clear-cut violation of international law and is a “disastrous mistake.” Germany and other European powers cannot ignore this fact.
Putin’s Post-Iran Paranoia
Puck
Scott: Putin reaches his last days in the bunker phase. Julia Ioffe: Putin is apparently so spooked by reports that Israelis hacked Tehran’s traffic cameras to kill Khamenei, that he has stopped coming to the Kremlin, started taking his meetings virtually, and shut down cell service in Moscow.
Your Moment of Online Zen
Farm Garden by Gustav Klimt
Charles: In 1888 Klimt received the Golden order of Merit from Emperor Franz Josef I of Austria for his contributions to art.
Edited by Imogen Sayers.
Great idea! glad you are publishing this--