It’s Thursday, March 12. This is The Front Page, your daily window into the world of The Free Press—and our take on the world at large. Today: Are we on the brink of an Abraham Accords 2.0? The Joan Didion novel that explains the Oscars. Reports of MAGA’s divide on Iran are overstated. A fight over prayer time in Texas schools. The GOP has an anti-Muslim problem. And much more.
But first: What happened when a Ukrainian woman found her name in the Epstein files.
Nearly seven years after Jeffrey Epstein died in a prison cell, we are still learning the full extent of his dark empire. It spanned multiple continents and relied on a web of enablers, co-conspirators, and alleged victims turned recruiters—young women who were pressured, or persuaded, to bring in others.
For anyone still wondering how a scheme of such scale could operate in plain sight for so long, and how so many women kept getting pulled into Epstein’s orbit, my story today offers part of the answer. But this is not another harrowing account of abuse. Instead, the tale of Elizaveta “Liza” Grinenko, a Ukrainian actress, is about a young woman who narrowly escaped Epstein’s grasp—and realized how close she came to a very different fate only when she searched her name in the Epstein files.
—Tanya Lukyanova
If you’ve spent any time in Texas, you likely know that it is a deeply religious state. Sixty-seven percent of adults identify as Christian, with 50 percent praying daily; many high school football games even begin with a ritual prayer. So you may think that when every school district in Texas had to vote on whether to establish time for worship in the school day, the majority would have backed the measure. But that’s not what happened. Carrie McKean reports on why.
Nearly 47 years ago, when Iran became the Islamic Republic, then–28-year-old Iranian pop star Googoosh found herself in New York City. At the time, her loved ones begged her not to go back—as a superstar musician, she was a symbol of everything the regime hated. But still, she returned to Iran—and faced 21 years of oppression from her own leaders. Writing for The Free Press today, she says a free Iran is within reach, and explains what it would mean to see her fellow Iranians liberated at long last.
If you read the legacy media’s coverage, you might come away thinking that the United States’ strike on Iran has divided the Trump coalition in two. “MAGA Is Split,” Bloomberg tells us. “Will MAGA Forgive Trump’s ‘Betrayal’?” The Week asks. But as Gabe Fleisher writes today, reports of the divide among MAGA voters might be overstated.
“Iran’s neighbors, and in some cases former allies in the Gulf,” Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said Tuesday, “have abandoned them.” But, as Zineb Riboua argues, perhaps what Secretary Hegseth described as a military outcome is really the result of a diplomatic effort long in the making. Read Zineb’s piece to understand the yearslong strategy that led to this moment, and find out why Operation Epic Fury could bring about a second Abraham Accords.
The Oscars are this weekend, which means Americans across the country will tune in for a weekend full of paparazzi, celebrity interviews, and celebration. But no matter who wins on Sunday, one thing is certain: The ceremony will showcase Hollywood culture at its most ostentatious, under its brightest lights. In today’s episode of “Old School,” Shilo Brooks sits down with Peter Savodnik to discuss the 1970s novel that predicted everything you see on the red carpet today. Tune in to hear Shilo and Peter discuss how Joan Didion’s “Play It as It Lays” explains everything ugly about Hollywood, celebrity culture, and the spiritual emptiness that we take for granted today.
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THE NEWS
Amid market disruptions tied to the war in Iran, the International Energy Agency said its member governments agreed to an unprecedented release of 400 million barrels of oil from emergency reserves—the largest joint release in its history. Shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has plunged to less than 10 percent of normal levels. Member nations will immediately release supplies to stabilize markets and protect energy security.
The Pentagon has told Congress that the first week of the Iran War cost more than $11.3 billion. The figure was presented to lawmakers in a classified briefing on Tuesday.
A preliminary military inquiry has reportedly found that U.S. Central Command’s February 28 strike, which killed at least 175 people at an Iranian elementary school, relied on outdated data. The school was misidentified as a military target because it was once part of a naval base used by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. After initially blaming Iran, Donald Trump said yesterday, when asked about the report, “I don’t know about that.”
Health and Human Services secretary RFK Jr.’s vaccine advisory panel scrapped a proposal to halt recommendations for Covid-19 mRNA vaccines after GOP pollsters warned further changes to vaccine policy could be “politically risky” ahead of midterm elections. For now, there are no new changes to federal guidance. The CDC’s September update already moved away from recommending Covid shots for everyone 6 months and older, instead advising Americans to consult with their healthcare providers about whether vaccination is right for them.
A new report released yesterday revealed that about 40 percent of nonorganic fruits and vegetables grown in California contain “forever chemicals.” The analysis, based on a review of the state’s own testing data, detected PFAS residues—chemicals linked to cancer, immune suppression, and reproductive damage. “PFAS pesticides went from being the exception to now they’re the rule,” Nathan Donley, environmental health science director for the Center for Biological Diversity, told the Los Angeles Times.
The Department of Homeland Security has relaunched its Global Entry program after a two-week pause due to the ongoing partial government shutdown over immigration funding. The halt exposed airport vulnerabilities as Customs and Border Protection staff were redirected from kiosks to manage long security lines, causing major travel delays. A House-passed DHS funding bill has stalled in the Senate, meaning the partial shutdown will continue until a compromise is reached.
Columbia’s graduate student workers’ union voted to authorize a strike as negotiations with the university over compensation and anti-Israel demands stall. Over 90 percent of the union’s members voted to approve the measure, and if union leaders decide to strike, hundreds of classes could be canceled. (For more on the strike, and why it matters, read Jonas Du’s report for The Free Press.)
A new report released yesterday revealed that about 40 percent of nonorganic fruits and vegetables grown in California contain “forever chemicals.”
What's left out is that the latest analytical methods can detect vanishingly small amounts of these chemicals. What would be relevant - the frequency that the measured levels exceeded an established safety threshold. This type of reporting is essentially alarmist and relatively uninformative - i.e., effective.
Relationships are on a continuum from true love on one end and purely transactional (ie prostitution). Many rich old guy/ golddigger are and have always been far on the transactional end nearing prostitution. However if you look at many relationships they are on the spectrum with many heavy on transactional considerations. If you don’t believe me go on any dating web site and it’s a lot like shopping for a used car. Def transactional but hey you might also love them at some point -I mean it’s possible.