THE SWAMP LOG — A Boiling Point, Masters of Surprise, Bound for Atlantis
Your weekly dispatch from the nation’s capital — TSL #7
THE EXECUTIVE
SLIPPING SANCTIONS: It’s the 24th day of the Iran War. The third week of conflict saw continued tension over shipping lanes in the Strait of Hormuz, maneuvers on sanctions around the globe, new budget requests, and potential kinetic escalation on an Iranian island oil hub.
The president issued a 48-hour warning to Iran Saturday evening, writing that it must “FULLY OPEN, WITHOUT THREAT, the Strait of Hormuz,” or the U.S. would “hit and obliterate their various POWER PLANTS, STARTING WITH THE BIGGEST ONE FIRST!” On Monday morning, Trump wrote that the countries had engaged in “good and productive conversations regarding a complete and total resolution” of the hostilities, and wrote that he had ordered the Department of War to postpone all military strikes against Iranian power plants and energy infrastructure for a five day period.
New operations last week — including deployments of low-flying attack jets and Apache helicopters — were intended to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint which the Iranians have utilized since the onset of the war to clamp down on global oil exports. British military advisors were in the U.S. last week to aid in planning on options to reopen the Strait, and a joint statement from 22 states called on Iran to cease its attempts to block the Strait from commercial shipping and expressed “readiness to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through the Strait.”
The Iranian oil hub on Kharg Island, a critical asset of Iranian oil infrastructure which exports some 90 percent of the country’s oil and earned $53 billion in net oil revenues in 2025, has become a flashpoint. The island was struck by U.S. missiles over a week ago, and last week multiple reports described a potential deployment of thousands of U.S. troops to secure assets or blockade the island.
The lever of sanctions has also become paramount. The U.S. on Saturday lifted sanctions on 140 million barrels of Iranian oil already aboard loaded vessels, an authorization to last until April 19. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent wrote of the deal that it will, in effect, “be using the Iranian barrels against Tehran to keep the price down as we continue Operation Epic Fury.” Critics of the deal argue it will fund Iran’s war coffers as the conflict continues.
The new oil release builds on a similar authorization struck earlier in March on Russian oil aboard loaded vessels — a reprieve which has led to a “windfall” of Russian oil sales, including 30 million barrels of petroleum purchased by India, which may undermine efforts to pressure the Kremlin on ending the war in Ukraine.
Meanwhile, the Pentagon is asking for a $200 billion fund to fuel the war as receipts come in at more than one billion dollars per day, according to a Fortune report.
MASTERS OF SURPRISE: Trump courted a hopeful ally in the conflict last week — Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, who joined the president at the White House on Thursday in a meeting which yielded a mineral trade deal, potential Japanese material support for the Iran War, and a tense (hilarious?) reflection on Pearl Harbor and the element of surprise in military operations.
Takaichi’s visit comes as Trump seeks Japan’s support for operations in Iran, namely on the issue of the Strait of Hormuz, of which Trump last week wrote, “Hopefully China, France, Japan, South Korea, the UK, and others, that are affected by this artificial constraint, will send Ships to the area so that the Hormuz Strait will no longer be a threat by a Nation that has been totally decapitated.”
Takaichi said on Thursday that she had briefed Trump on details of support for Hormuz; a tension point rests in Article Nine of the Japanese constitution, which vows to “forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes.” The Iran War is supported by just nine percent of Japanese citizens according to a recent poll.
The trade deals struck by the two nations involve Japanese investments in the U.S., including small reactors in Tennessee and Alabama estimated to cost some $40 billion, and a natural gas facility in Pennsylvania costing up to $17 billion. The deal also included agreements on joint mining and processing of critical minerals used in defense and technology manufacturing, largely to counter Chinese reliance.
And, of course, an all-time viral Trump moment came when the president explained the necessity of the element of surprise in the attack on Iran. “Who knows better about surprise than Japan! Why didn’t you tell me about Pearl Harbor, okay? Right?”
BOUND FOR ATLANTIS: In the Western Hemisphere, a new Cuban energy crisis, born of an American blockade of the island, escalates.
Cuba’s energy grid collapsed on Saturday evening for the third time this month; Cuba’s 11 million residents are experiencing widespread blackouts and a breakdown in medical and food services due to a lack of fuel caused by a blockade imposed in late January following the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. The Maduro raid saw 32 Cubans killed protecting the dictator — the most lethal confrontation between U.S. and Cuban forces in decades — and resulted in the flow of Venezuelan oil, previously providing about a third of Cuba’s supply, cut off.
As the island nation reels with protests, multiple Russian oil tankers are being tracked as they attempt to bring oil into the country using shadow-fleet tactics including deceptive location signaling and turning off GPS-type systems. One Russian tanker, the Anatoly Kolodkin, is loaded with 730,000 barrels of crude oil, and is due to arrive in Cuba by March 30. The Kolodkin, humorously, signaled its location as “Atlantis” for some time. Another Russian tanker, the Sea Horse, likely discharged some 190,000 barrels of oil in Cuba earlier in March; the previous confirmed delivery was in early January.
Trump in the past months has employed rhetoric toward the island nation bent on transformation: “Cuba’s at the end of the line… Cuba’s in its last moments of life, as it was. It’ll have a great new life, but it’s in its last moments of life the way it is,” Trump said earlier in March. “Maybe we’ll have a friendly takeover of Cuba.”
THE LEGISLATURE
WHO KNEW THAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN?: In two hearings last week before the Senate and House Intelligence Committees, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, FBI Director Kash Patel, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, and the heads of the National Security Agency and Defense Intelligence Agency testified before Congress in the annual Worldwide Threats hearings.
A few notable exchanges:
Democratic Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff pressed Director Gabbard on the IC’s assessment that “Iran’s nuclear enrichment program was obliterated” in Operation Midnight Hammer last June, and that “there has been no effort since then to try to rebuild their enrichment capability,” statements which Gabbard again confirmed.
Ossoff continued to question Gabbard on the alleged “imminent nuclear threat” which in part forced the present U.S. military actions in Iran; Gabbard said the IC assessed that “Iran maintained the intention to rebuild and to continue to grow their nuclear enrichment capability,” though would not stake out a position on the IC’s assessment of whether that was an “imminent” threat, which she said “was not the intelligence community’s responsibility.”
On intent in Iran, Democratic Texas Rep. Joaquin Castro asked about Israel’s perceived goals in the war, and whether those goals were aligned with the goals of the United States.
Gabbard responded that Israeli and U.S. goals are not, in fact, aligned. “The objectives that have been laid out by the president are different from the objectives that have been laid out by the Israeli government… we can see through the operations that the Israeli government has been focused on disabling the Iranian leadership,” she said. “The president has stated that his objectives are to destroy Iran’s ballistic missile launching capability, their ballistic missile production capability, and the IRGC navy and mine laying capability.”
Independent Maine Sen. Angus King and Democratic Virginia Sen. Mark Warner pressed on the discrepancy between perceived intelligence shortcomings in the Iran War, namely on Iranian response against neighboring states and the closing of the Strait of Hormuz, which Gabbard and Ratcliffe described has “long been an assessment of the IC, that Iran would likely hold the Strait of Hormuz as leverage.”
King, though, argued that “they did not plan for the Strait of Hormuz — the president said ‘Who knew that was going to happen?’”
On the issue of oil sanctions, Democratic Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly described one of the “largest ever supply shocks to the global oil supply… but not everybody is losing.” Kelly asked Gabbard and Ratcliffe for their assessment of Russian oil revenue as a result of eased sanctions during the Iran War, of which Ratcliffe said, “Sometimes there are decisions made that will benefit adversaries at the same time policymakers think that it will benefit the American people.”
FISA FIREWORKS: A last-minute surprise is threatening to upend the fight over the future of America’s spy powers as a critical vote looms in the House.
Federal Judge James Boasberg, a notorious Trump nemesis, ordered the Justice Department to turn over records showing whether or not the government is following the letter of the law in Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act before it expires next month.
Section 702 enables the executive branch to target and hoover-up foreign communications, and the provision will expire on April 20th unless the legislative branch intervenes. The judge told the Justice Department last week to cough up records on the FBI’s compliance or noncompliance by April 10 in response to a lawsuit brought by the Cato Institute.
House Speaker Mike Johnson had pushed for a vote this week to extend FISA for 18 months but he is reportedly punting the fight until after Easter next month.
Johnson was looking to take advantage of momentum from the law’s former critics inside the MAGA movement flip flopping, now that Trump is in charge and Republicans run Capitol Hill.
Among the prominent proponents who’ve done an about-face are FBI Director Kash Patel and conservative stalwart Rep. Jim Jordan, chairman of the influential House Judiciary Committee. But they’ve thus far failed to persuade Republican hardliners, per Politico.
In addition to opposition from Republicans such as Reps. Lauren Boebert of Colorado and Thomas Massie of Kentucky, resistance remains in the House from the likes of Democrats’ Congressional Progressive Caucus.
Efforts to modify the spy powers in the Senate have produced an unusual pairing of Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee and Massachusetts Democrat Sen. Elizabeth Warren working together alongside others on a legislative overhaul.
If the fight over FISA drags on much longer, the new records could spill loose across the nation’s capital. The Cato Institute is awaiting the FISA records from the Justice Department and believes the government’s wall of secrecy is cracking.
“At the moment, only the DoJ, the FBI, and perhaps the FISA Court know what’s in these records and the extent to which the FISA Section 702 authority—which was radically expanded via its reauthorization in 2024—has been abused over the past two years,” wrote Cato’s Patrick Eddington in an article explaining what is caught in the FBI’s dragnet.
— Racket’s Ryan Lovelace
A BOILING POINT: In the Senate, the malaise of inaction forced our beloved representatives to work over the weekend — a true scandal, in that circle. The Senate, presiding over a 38 day shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security, and mired in the presidentially mandated “must-pass” SAVE America Act, again failed to make a breakthrough on either issue over the weekend.
On DHS, the pressure of increasingly long airport lines and TSA agent departures following missed paychecks — not to mention the looming record for longest-shutdown-ever, only five days away as of Monday, March 23 — has “reached a boiling point,” in the words of Democratic leader New York Sen. Chuck Schumer. The American Federation of Government Employees wrote last week that the treatment of TSA agents was “unconscionable,” and Border czar Tom Homan was on the Hill last week to step up White House pressure on ending the shutdown.
The president announced that ICE agents will fill in at airports beginning on Monday amid the funding impasse. Elon Musk also hopped into the fray on Saturday, offering to pay the salaries of TSA personnel during the funding lapse.
The debate on DHS funding has since its inception centered on Immigration and Customs Enforcement reform; Democrats have been pushing to fund the TSA and other DHS subsidiaries while leaving ICE reform on the docket, but Republicans argued this weekend that “If we do one part and don’t do the rest … ICE will never get funded,” in the words of Florida Republican Sen. Rick Scott.
Amid the DHS chaos, a vote to suspend debate on the nomination of Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin as the new DHS secretary passed 54-37 on Sunday, teeing up the bouncy-ball wielding Senator to become the next Secretary of the stalled department.
On the SAVE Act, debate continues to center on issues of voter ID; Republican Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall articulated the GOP stance during Saturday’s debate, saying, “The SAVE Act has three pillars: It wants to make sure that only citizens register to vote, it wants to make sure that every voter has an ID, and we want some guardrails around mail-in ballots.”
Democrats, like Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, argue the legislation intends to “guarantee the midterms” for the Republicans. “What it really is is a scheme to influence elections so that the creepy billionaires behind the Republican Party can continue to control the decisions that get made in this town,” Whitehouse said Saturday.
A failed 49-41 vote on Saturday attempted to include an amendment to the SAVE America Act, offered by Republican Sens. Marsha Blackburn and Tommy Tuberville, which would have barred transgender athletes in women’s sports.
Notably, the SAVE America Act is brought to the Senate under a legislative vehicle titled “Veterans Accessibility Advisory Committee Act of 2025” in order to circumvent the bill stalling in committee, as happened to its predecessor, the SAVE Act.
Independent Maine Sen. Angus King lightheartedly said on the Senate floor on Saturday during the standoff, “Let the record show that a real debate broke out for a few minutes on the floor of the United States Senate.”
LAST WEEK’S LEGISLATION: Full House and Senate lists.
Small Business Innovation and Economic Security Act — Passed House 345-41
Protecting Access for Hunters and Anglers Act — Passed House 215-202
Deporting Fraudsters Act — Passed House 231-186
Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States requiring a balanced budget for the Federal Government — Failed House 211-207 (On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass, requiring 2/3 majority)
BOWOW Act — Passed House 228-190
Anna St. John, of Louisiana, to be U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of Louisiana — Passed Senate 51-45
Motion to Discharge S.J.Res. 118 (Iran War Powers) — Failed Senate 47-53
Cloture on the Motion to Proceed to H.R. 7147 (DHS Funding) — Failed Senate 47-37
Save American Sports, in amendment to the SAVE America Act — Failed Senate 49-41
TSA Funding, through legislative vehicle SAVE America Act — Failed Senate 41-49
Cloture on the nomination of Markwayne Mullin to be Secretary of DHS — Passed Senate 54-37
THIS WEEK’S LEGISLATION: Full House list here.
Aviation Supply Chain Safety and Security Digitization Act of 2025 — Republican North Carolina Rep. Brad Knott — To direct the Comptroller General of the United States to conduct a study on the impediments to digital documentation and verification in the aviation supply chain
Made in America Jobs Act of 2026 — Republican Rep. Jeff Hurd — To amend the Public Works and Economic Development Act of 1965 to provide for certain grant eligibility relating to projects that facilitate the relocation, to the United States, of a source of employment located outside the United States
ACPAC Modernization Act — Democratic Nevada Rep. Dina Titus — To modify the termination of the aviation consumer protection advisory committee
May be considered:
Pay Our Homeland Defenders Act — Republican Arizona Rep. Juan Ciscomani — Making appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2026
Defending American Property Abroad Act of 2026 — Republican Texas Rep. August Pfluger — To amend title 46, United States Code, with respect to the types of vessels that may enter or operate in navigable waters of the United States or transfer cargo in any port or place under the jurisdiction of the United States
Make the District of Columbia Safe and Beautiful Act of 2026 — Republican Virginia Rep. John McGuire — To establish a program to Beautify the District of Columbia and establish the District of Columbia Safe and Beautiful Commission.
COMMITTEES TO WATCH: Full House and Senate lists.
House Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government — Oversight Hearing - U.S. Office of Personnel Management
House Committee on Education and Workforce — U.S. Universities Under Siege: Foreign Espionage, Stolen Innovation, and the National Security Threat
House Western Hemisphere Subcommittee — Latin America After the Fall of Maduro
Senate Armed Services — To receive testimony on Low-Cost Munitions
Senate Subcommittee on Federal Courts, Oversight, Agency Action, and Federal Rights — Arctic Frost: A Modern Watergate
Senate Subcommittee on The Constitution — Protecting American Citizenship II: Federalism, Sanctuary Cities, and the Rule of Law
Senate Budget — Social Security: A Discussion on the Facts and the Path Forward
Senate Joint Economic Committee — The Rising Global Scam Economy: Modernizing Federal Approaches to Protect Americans from Foreign Fraudsters
Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions — Don’t Fumble Their Future: Positioning Student-Athletes for Success in School and Beyond
Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs — Export-Import Bank Reauthorization
THE JUDICIARY
TARDY BALLOTS: The Supreme Court on Monday will hear arguments in Watson v. Republican National Committee, a 2024 case centering on the question of whether federal law requires ballots be received by election officials by election day.
The case stems from a case in Mississippi, when plaintiffs challenged a 2020 state law allowing mail-in ballots to be counted as long as they were postmarked by election day and received within five business days. The law was upheld by U.S. District Judge Louis Guirola Jr., then reversed by the U.S. Court of Appeals when that court ruled that federal law requires all ballots to be received by election day.
“Congress statutorily designated a singular “day for the election” of members of Congress and the appointment of presidential electors,” wrote Circuit Judge Andrew S. Oldham in the Court of Appeals reversal. “Text, precedent, and historical practice confirm this “day for the election” is the day by which ballots must be both cast by voters and received by state officials.”
Judge Andrew Oldham is a former clerk to Justice Samuel Alito, and was appointed by Trump in 2018.
NEITHER SAFE NOR EFFECTIVE: A Federal judge in Oregon ruled last week that Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy overstepped his legal authority on issues relating to sex change procedures for minors after the HHS secretary published a 12-page declaration in December 2025 regarding “Safety, Effectiveness, and Professional Standards of Care for Sex-Rejecting Procedures on Children and Adolescents.”
The declaration stated: “Sex-rejecting procedures for children and adolescents are neither safe nor effective as a treatment modality for gender dysphoria, gender incongruence, or other related disorders in minors, and therefore, fail to meet professional recognized standards of health care.”
The declaration was preceded by a preliminary report in May 2025 which called for greater reliance on behavioral therapy over gender-affirming medical interventions, as well as a final peer-reviewed version in November 2025.
The ruling comes as part of a 21-state lawsuit filed relating to Kennedy’s December declaration, claiming that the new posture interfered with the power of states to regulate policy within their jurisdiction and that Kennedy’s declaration “exceeds the Secretary’s authority and violates the Administrative Procedure Act and the Medicare and Medicaid statutes.”
ET CETERA
ALIENS.GOV: The White House registered the domains “aliens.gov” and “alien.gov” last week, likely in preparation for disclosures related to UFO/UAP’s and extraterrestrial life. A White House press secretary responded to an inquiry about the domains by writing “Stay tuned!” with an alien emoji; otherwise one might speculate Aliens.gov would link to an immigration page. The domains aren’t connected to websites as of Monday, March 23.
Trump hinted at alien declassifications earlier in the year after former President Barack Obama said on a podcast that aliens are real, which Obama later clarified to mean that statistically it is likely, but he had seen no evidence. Trump afterwards said that Obama “took it out of classified information … I may get him out of trouble by declassifying.”
I DRINK IT UP! : New details emerged last week on a 2023 Texas lottery win by an Australian high roller called “The Joker,” whose organization orchestrated a coup in the lottery which yielded the Australian and his group $57 million after taxes.
The Joker, Zeljko Ranogajec, leads a syndicate that places some $10 billion in bets each year, according to a Dallas Morning News report. Ranogajec last week confirmed his participation in the 2023 lottery scheme, which saw his organization buy $25 million worth of tickets in the three days leading up to the conclusion of the lottery.
“They bought nine out of every 10 tickets, and the other 10% were bought by individual players who really had no chance of winning because the group had a 90% purchase rate,” said a Dallas Morning News journalist covering the lottery win. “And they’re not supposed to purchase lottery tickets by phone or by tablet, by internet, and that’s what they did here.”
This reporter watched the epic movie “There Will Be Blood” last week and is feeling very in tune with his gunslinger / Texas roots. One could very well say the Joker and his gang “drank the milkshake” of the Texans on this one.
WILL YOU HELP ME REPAIR MY DOOR: Legendary rapper Afroman, legal name Joseph Edgar Foreman, prevailed last week in a nearly $4 million dollar lawsuit filed against him in 2023 after Foreman produced music videos using footage of a police raid of his home. Seven police officers claimed the videos he released were defamatory and an invasion of their privacy.
The trial was stuffed with fun moments. Can you imagine being a juror on this one?
No criminal evidence was turned up in the raid, allegedly made in response to probable cause of drugs, paraphernalia, and trafficking taking place at the residence.
“I asked myself, as a powerless Black man in America, what can I do to the cops that kicked my door in?” he said after the raid. “And the only thing I could come up with was make a funny rap song about them and make some money, use the money to pay for the damages they did and move on.”
Foreman released a song this week on the trial titled “BATTERAM HYMN OF THE POLICE WHISTLE BLOWER” in which he sings “Afroman is gonna screw ya! My proof’s on the internet!” Songs on the 2023 album born of the incident include “Will You Help Me Repair My Door,” “The Police Raid,” and “Why You Disconnecting My Video Camera.”
You don’t mess with Afroman.
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Thanks for reading the Swamp Log, your weekly dispatch from the nation’s capital. Fascinating to watch the maneuvering of the SAVE Act — let’s discuss in the comments, or send me your thoughts at caden.olson@racket.news.
The same Judge Boasberg who was the presiding judge when FISC accepted a falsified submission from the FBI on Carter Page? Shouldn't that have been part of your comment on the matter?
Trash. I used to like seeing Racket in my inbox. Now it just seems pointless even opening them