Donald Trump – Techin' Geek

‘Eerie Chasm’: Iran’s Menaces Against US Technology, Trump’s Midterm Strategies, and Polymarket’s Temporary Failure

April 2, 2026sparta

Kate Knibbs: So, you went there twice?

Makena Kelly: Yes, Kate. I went there twice.

Kate Knibbs: I missed that detail.

Zoë Schiffer: Hold on, is the Pentagon Pizza thing a joke about the pizza foretelling the war?

Makena Kelly: Yep.

Zoë Schiffer: Oh, my gosh.

Makena Kelly: Because they had these Pentagon pizza trackers set up. When I returned the second night, most things were running. Some displays were still off, and I didn’t spot any real Bloomberg terminals. There were a few self-made monitors that looked like Bloomberg terminals, but there was no authentic $50,000 Bloomberg terminal around. The second night was again crowded with people eager to witness the event, though I did run into a couple of individuals who wagered on sites like Polymarket and Kalshi. One of them, William, claimed he was in the military but didn’t provide his full name. He began betting last year with all his tax refund on Oklahoma City sports wagering.

Makena Kelly, archival audio: So, you’ve used Kalshi?

William, archival audio: Yes.

Makena Kelly, archival audio: When did you first start using that service?

William, archival audio: Probably when I got my tax refund back.

Makena Kelly, archival audio: Got it.

William, archival audio: So, I filed my taxes early and thought, “Awesome, I got my tax refund. What should I do with it?” So, I chose to put it on Kalshi.

Makena Kelly: He noted he’s fluctuating by $100 but hasn’t scored any big wins. Unlike some tales of people making enormous insider bets and winning millions, he’s just in it for the enjoyment.

Brian Barrett: Kate, what’s your take on a pop-up like this and Polymarket’s intentions—is it a move to legitimize or just a promotional strategy? And how does it align with these companies’ rapid growth and their effort to attract a wide audience?

Kate Knibbs: This event clearly appears to be a strategic effort to appeal to journalists based in DC. One observation Makena made encapsulates the current situation—the individuals in the Palantir hoodies. The week this bar launched, Polymarket announced a collaboration with Palantir, who will assist them in ensuring the integrity of their sports market by identifying insider traders and market manipulators. I inquired with Polymarket last week if they had additional agreements with Palantir while investigating the Iran bets that are stirring up a lot of attention. They stated Palantir is only involved with sports, which seemed peculiar. It indicates how rapidly they’re growing, but in a chaotic, rushed manner that doesn’t seem coherent. If you’re engaging Palantir, why not use them for geopolitical issues instead of March Madness? Truly wild times.

How Trump’s Strategy to Capture Iran’s Nuclear Fuel Might Truly Function

March 27, 2026sparta

President Donald Trump and senior defense officials are reportedly contemplating the deployment of ground forces to Iran to procure the nation’s highly enriched uranium. Nonetheless, the administration has not revealed specifics regarding the deployment, the extraction procedure, or where the nuclear material will be taken.

“Individuals will need to go and retrieve it,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio mentioned during a congressional briefing earlier this month, alluding to the prospective operation.

Indications suggest that a military operation might be on the horizon. On Tuesday, The Wall Street Journal highlighted that the Pentagon intends to position 3,000 brigade combat troops in the Middle East. (As of this writing, the official order has yet to be given.) These soldiers would be drawn from the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division, renowned for its joint forcible entry capabilities. Following this, on Wednesday, Iran’s government dismissed Trump’s 15-point strategy to conclude the conflict, while White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt stated that the president “is ready to unleash hell” in Iran if a peace agreement is not achieved—a strategy that has raised concerns among some lawmakers.

Utilizing publicly sourced intelligence and their own expertise, two analysts described the potential intricacies and dangers of a ground operation aimed at nuclear facilities. They informed WIRED that any ground operation would be exceedingly complex and could jeopardize American military personnel.

“I personally believe that a ground operation utilizing special forces backed by a larger contingent is markedly high-risk and ultimately impractical,” stated Spencer Faragasso, a senior research fellow at the Institute for Science and International Security.

According to the analysts, any iteration of the operation might require several weeks and necessitate concurrent actions at multiple far-off locations. Jonathan Hackett, a former operations specialist for the Marines and the Defense Intelligence Agency, noted that up to 10 sites could be targeted: the Isfahan, Arak, and Darkhovin research reactors; the Natanz, Fordow, and Parchin enrichment sites; the Saghand, Chine, and Yazd mines; and the Bushehr power plant.

As per the International Atomic Energy Agency, Isfahan likely contains the majority of the country’s 60 percent highly enriched uranium, which could facilitate a self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction, although weapon-grade material typically comprises 90 percent enriched uranium. Hackett suggested that the other two enrichment facilities might also hold 60 percent highly enriched uranium, and that the power plant along with all three research reactors could possess 20 percent enriched uranium. Faragasso emphasized that all such materials should be examined closely.

Hackett indicated that eight of the 10 locations—excluding Isfahan, which is expected to remain intact underground, and “Pickaxe Mountain,” a newer enrichment facility near Natanz—were largely or partially buried as a result of the air strikes in June. Right before the conflict, Faragasso noted, Iran backfilled the tunnel entrances to the Isfahan facility with soil.

The most dangerous scenario for a ground operation would involve American forces directly retrieving nuclear material. Hackett explained that this material would be stored as uranium hexafluoride gas in “large cement vats.” Faragasso added that it remains uncertain how many of these vats could be broken or compromised. At damaged locations, troops would require excavators and heavy machinery to move significant quantities of soil to access them.

A considerably less hazardous approach to the operation would still necessitate ground troops, according to Hackett. However, it would primarily rely on aerial strikes to entomb nuclear material within their facilities. Ensuring that the nuclear material is made inaccessible in the short to medium term, Faragasso said, would involve obliterating the entrances to underground facilities and ideally collapsing the roofs of those underground structures.

Hackett conveyed to WIRED that, based on his experience and all publicly available data, Trump’s negotiations with Iran are “probably a diversion” to gain time for troop positioning.

Hackett speculated that an operation would likely initiate with aerial bombardments in the vicinity of the target sites. These bombers, he indicated, would probably come from the 82nd Airborne Division or the 11th or 31st Marine Expeditionary Units (MEU). The 11th MEU, a rapid-response unit, and the 31st MEU, the sole Marine contingent continuously stationed abroad in strategic locations, have reportedly both been sent to the Middle East.

Former CIA Agent Becomes Sensation in Pursuit of Trump Pardon

March 25, 2026sparta

A couple of weeks back, John Kiriakou got a call from his 16-year-old niece who said, “Uncle John, you’re blowing up on TikTok.” Kiriakou, a 61-year-old ex-CIA officer who was incarcerated in 2013 for disclosing classified information about the agency’s torture program in the Middle East, was unaware of what she meant. He doesn’t use TikTok and mainly relies on Facebook. Nevertheless, excerpts from a podcast Kiriakou recorded in January with Steven Bartlett, the host of the Diary of a CEO show that boasts over 15 million YouTube subscribers, were going viral without any input from him.

For almost two decades, Kiriakou has been pursuing a presidential pardon. From 1990 to 2004, he served as a CIA analyst and counterterrorism officer, leading a 2002 operation to capture Abu Zubaydah, a figure linked to al Qaeda’s training camps. The CIA subjected Zubaydah to waterboarding during his detention. Kiriakou later revealed the agency’s torture practices in a 2007 ABC News interview, after which he worked as a terrorism consultant. Five years later, the Justice Department indicted Kiriakou, who confessed to leaking the identity of a covert operative to the media, who was involved in CIA interrogations.

Even though Kiriakou completed his prison term by 2015, he is still seeking a presidential pardon to restore his reputation and recover years’ worth of pension contributions. “I served 20 years with pride at the federal level. My pension was $700,000,” Kiriakou explains. “Without that pension, I’ll have to work until the end of my days. It was unjust for them to take it from me, and I want it back. A pardon is the only way I can reclaim it.”

Lately, he has explored official avenues and engaged with President Donald Trump’s informal and pricey clemency market. Thus far, his efforts have not yielded results. Now, he’s adopted a different strategy, appearing on some of the same podcasts Trump frequented during the 2024 election cycle. Clips of his conversations with Tucker Carlson and Joe Rogan, among others, continue to circulate, and the internet is reveling in it.

When Kiriakou joined Bartlett for the January podcast, it was a profound discussion regarding his CIA experiences, whistleblowing, and his nearly two-year incarceration. However, the anecdotes Kiriakou shares, such as gathering intelligence in nations like Pakistan or discussing the CIA’s MKUltra program, have garnered millions of views in “brainrot”-style edits across platforms like TikTok and Instagram Reels.

“Catch you in two scrolls,” one commenter quipped on a clip featuring Kiriakou, humorously noting the abundance of his videos on their For You page.

A user known as @_bamboclat has been credited by Know Your Meme for popularizing these edited clips of Kiriakou recounting remarkable stories from his time abroad. These excerpts have racked up around 50 million views on the account.

“I first learned about him through podcasts on TikTok. I believe the reason everyone is drawn to him is that he’s an excellent storyteller,” says @_bamboclat, who chose not to disclose his real name. “He’s been sharing these tales for 20 years. The sped-up, slowed-down meme format of him is quite popular with Gen Z and the TikTok demographic.”

This virality has transformed Kiriakou into a cultural icon. In light of his newfound popularity, the Creative Artists Agency (CAA) signed him on. Cameo—the platform where users order customized videos from famous individuals—enlisted Kiriakou last month. He has produced over 700 videos for fans, priced at approximately $150 each. In one Cameo video, Kiriakou was requested to promote a woman’s nail salon. The clip is now being utilized to advertise the salon on TikTok.

Don’t Pay Attention to Those Who Believe Secession Will Resolve Any Issues

March 23, 2026sparta

Following startling national incidents such as the assassination of Charlie Kirk or Donald Trump’s military actions in Los Angeles, discussions of “civil war” and secession calls rise sharply on the internet. This trend reemerged in January when immigration officials shot two citizens in Minneapolis, leading governor Tim Walz to activate the Minnesota National Guard. Walz wondered if this could be a Fort Sumter moment during a conversation with The Atlantic. In the meantime, ex-Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura proposed the idea of leaving the US to unite with Canada.

These remarks illustrate the discourse surrounding American fragmentation: an escalating civil war as a dreadful scenario, and a neat secession as an idealistic vision. But is one feasible without the other, and what would secession from the US encompass?

Since the 1990s, certain futurists from Silicon Valley have forecasted the disintegration of the American nation-state without outlining the horrific aspects. The mid-2000s concept splitting North America into a blue “United States of Canada” and a red “Jesusland” endures, and rising polarization has led many to consider secession as a viable resolution. “We require a national divorce. We need to split between red states and blue states,” wrote then-congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene in 2023.

Coordinated independence movements such as Calexit and the Texas Nationalist Movement have gained momentum, with a 2023 Axios survey revealing that 20 percent of Americans advocate for a “national divorce.” A YouGov survey indicated that 61 percent of Californians believed their state would thrive better if it seceded peacefully after Trump’s second inauguration.

The challenge of secession lies in its harrowing pathway. Half of all secessionist efforts escalate into violence. Successful non-violent secession, like Czechoslovakia’s Velvet Divorce, depends on nationally unique, regionally concentrated populations with governmental recognition, none of which currently characterize the US.

The red and blue segments of America are deeply interwoven, with political divisions permeating states, neighborhoods, and even family units. An ideologically motivated secession would necessitate a perilous reorganization of Americans. Establishing a new coherent map would pose significant challenges, resulting in security dilemmas and refugee crises, akin to the situations in India and Pakistan in 1947 and Cyprus in 1974, likely to unfold in America as well.

Conflict in Iran Drives Up Oil Prices; Trump to Affect Future Rates

March 2, 2026sparta

Oil prices soared on Monday following the United States and Israel’s assault on Iran over the weekend, with forecasts indicating that prices might surpass $100 a barrel. Increasing assaults on regional oil and gas facilities, coupled with blocked traffic in a crucial shipping lane, have experts asserting that the actions of the White House and responses from Iran and other oil producers will be pivotal in shaping future prices.

Brent crude prices surged to almost $80 a barrel—a 13 percent increase since Friday—when markets opened on Sunday evening. Tyson Slocum from Public Citizen highlights that the potential risks of the US’s confrontational approach toward Iran had already been integrated into market values, averting an even steeper rise. Nonetheless, the chaotic US reaction post-attack on Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, has added more unpredictability.

Iran governs the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping corridor. One-fifth of the globe’s oil transits through this route. OPEC nations depend greatly on it to sell their oil. Rory Johnston, a Canadian oil market analyst, mentions that OPEC would typically boost production during a crisis, but its supplies are situated on the opposite side of the conflict zone, limiting its capacity to respond.

Throughout the weekend, while Iran conveyed mixed signals regarding the formal closure of the strait, traffic significantly diminished. Insurance costs for vessels navigating through the strait have surged, and several ships have faced attacks. Johnston characterizes the scenario as a “voluntary closure.”

The likelihood of worsened outcomes persists if regional tensions escalate. In 2019, drone assaults on Saudi oil installations increased oil prices by 15 percent. Similarly, recent drone strikes compelled Saudi Arabia to shutter a refinery, and Qatar’s LNG production was interrupted, triggering a rise in European gas prices. Should these assaults persist, prices may skyrocket.

Clayton Seigle from the Center for Strategic and International Studies cautions that growing Iranian desperation might lead to leveraging energy as a bargaining chip. Should Gulf trade be abandoned or significant oil infrastructure be compromised, prices reaching triple digits could make a comeback.

New Duties Enforced by Trump to Circumvent Supreme Court Ruling

February 21, 2026sparta

President Trump is enacting a 10 percent tariff on almost all imports into the US, following a Supreme Court ruling that annulled most tariffs that were applied by the US government last year.

In an executive order issued Friday evening, Trump mentioned a few exceptions, such as imports of essential minerals, beef and fruits, automobiles, pharmaceuticals, and items from Canada or Mexico. The new tariffs are expected to take effect on February 24, 2026.

During a press briefing on Friday afternoon, Trump voiced his disappointment over the Supreme Court’s ruling and openly criticized the six justices who opposed his trade policies, calling them “a disgrace to our nation.” When asked about how two of the justices he appointed, Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett, voted to overturn, Trump referred to them as “an embarrassment to their families.”

The revised trade approach is based on Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, which enables the president to independently and swiftly implement tariffs of up to 15 percent in scenarios of “large and serious” trade deficits. These tariffs last for just 150 days unless Congress extends them. Similar to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), this legislation has not previously been used by a US president in this way.

After the 150-day period, it is possible for Trump to repeatedly reapplied Section 122 tariffs. Alternatively, the administration may utilize this duration to formulate other tariff strategies, effectively changing legal frameworks to sustain similar regulatory impacts, as noted by Gregory Husisian, a partner and litigation attorney at Foley & Lardner LLP, who has aided numerous companies with tariff refund requests. “[Section 122 tariff] is for a limited time period, so it’s going to be a bridge authority,” Husisian remarks.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration could accelerate the process of conducting trade inquiries based on national security or unfair trade practices abroad, which are necessary for implementing Section 301 and Section 232 tariffs. “We are also starting multiple Section 301 and other inquiries to safeguard our country from unfair trade practices by other nations and companies,” Trump mentioned at the press briefing, referring to these alternative tariff options that require more time to activate.

In a different executive order, the administration confirmed that despite the nullification of IEEPA tariffs, the de minimis exemption—which exempted ecommerce parcels valued under $800 from taxes—remains on hold. The termination of de minimis last year resulted in considerable delays in package processing at the US border and increased prices on budget shopping platforms.

During the press briefing, Trump did not clarify what would happen with companies requesting tariff payment refunds. The Supreme Court’s ruling did not specify how the tariffs should be refunded. In response to a reporter’s question on the subject, Trump suggested that the matter would likely be resolved in court.

Experts inform WIRED that they expect the refund process to be intricate and lengthy, potentially necessitating companies to file grievances and calculate the amounts they believe are owed. The government could dispute the assessed amounts. This process could take several months up to more than two years.

The Supreme Court ruling underscored that the IEEPA provides the president with significant powers during emergencies but does not encompass taxation. In the press briefing, Trump repeatedly misrepresented the ruling: “But now the