Three news stories summarized & contextualized by analytic journalist Colin Wright.

Iran leader vows harsh response to deadly bombings that killed 84

Summary: Following a double-bombing that killed at least 84 people and wounded hundreds more during and following a ceremony commemorating the assassination of the country’s former spymaster, Iran’s Supreme Leader has said there will be a harsh response against those responsible.

Context: The first bomb was detonated near the cemetery where Qasem Soleimani, who was killed in Iraq by a US drone strike in 2020, is buried, and the second went off about 15 minutes later along the path people fleeing the first blast were taking to safety; the Iranian president’s political deputy has said he believes the US and Israel are responsible, but the US has denied any involvement and has said it has no reason to believe Israel was involved, though this happened at a period of heightened tensions throughout the region, so even if it was committed by an extremist group, like a local branch of the Islamic State, it could still increase the risk of conflict between at-odds nations because of what’s happening in Gaza, the Red Sea, and Lebanon right now.

Update: A local wing of IS has claimed responsibility for the attack and suspects have been arrested.

—BBC News

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US national debt hits record $34 trillion as Congress gears up for funding fight

Summary: The US government’s gross national debt has passed the $34 trillion mark for the first time, defying 2020 estimates that it would reach this point in 2029, and potentially adding weight to some politicians’ arguments that spending needs to be cut heading into an election year.

Context: Worth noting is that this is the gross national debt, so that figure includes money the government owes itself, and the total debt held by the public is more like $26.9 trillion, which is still a lot of money, and about equal to the US’s GDP; the government has been increasing its debt for years under administrations from both political parties, though Republicans are more likely to use it as a wedge-issue heading into this year’s November presidential election season, and though this debt level doesn’t seem to be weighing on the economy at the moment, more debt means more debt payments, and with interest rates so high right now, these payments are starting to become a serious line-item on the government’s accounting sheets.

—The Associated Press

APA to buy Callon Petroleum in $4.5 billion deal

Summary: APA has announced that it will buy Callon Petroleum in an all-stock deal that values the smaller acquisition-target at around $4.5 billion, increasing the larger company’s presence in the Permian Basin at a moment of rapid industry consolidation.

Context: A slew of huge, multi-billion dollar deals have been announced over the past several months, as fossil fuel-focused energy companies have snapped-up smaller competitors in order to flesh-out their presence in the US Permian Basin and the Gulf of Mexico, in particular, leading into a period of increasing uncertainty—because of climate change-related issues and the enthusiastic deployment of solar and wind infrastructure—and at a moment in which it seems like there might be just a few, last-standing fossil fuel giants on the planet by mid-century, so all the players in this space seem to be doing what they can to round-out their assets and shore themselves up for the potentially impending oil, gas, and coal industry truncation.

—The Wall Street Journal

By essentially every measure 2023 was the hottest year on record, and 2024 is ramping-up to be even hotter—and that’s impacting the global water cycle alongside other impacts, including planetary stores of fresh water ice melting and failing to re-freeze, and industries (like ski resorts) that rely upon cold temperatures and reliable precipitation suffering from insufficient snow-pack.

—Axios

7 in 10

Portion of US adult population that self-describes as “spiritual,” which includes 22% of that population that says they are spiritual but not religious.

This data suggests that a trend away from organized religion and toward unaffiliated collections of spiritual beliefs is continuing apace in the US, especially amongst young adults, and especially amongst people who are (or previously were) religious, but now include spirituality as a component of their self-definition.

—Pew Research

Trust Click

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