"In fact, China is nearly as transactional as the Trump administration is. What sets Beijing apart, however, is its predictability, which offers countries a clear picture of how they might work with China even if it is less appealing than what the United States could offer" - Heck of a job guys
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/united-states/china-winning-waiting
"The heavy and pinpoint bombing, however, will continue, uninterrupted throughout the week or, as long as necessary to achieve our objective of PEACE THROUGHOUT THE MIDDLE EAST AND, INDEED, THE WORLD!
Thank you for your attention to this matter"
Trump DOJ giving up on the absurd law firm EOs sure seems like it should have consequences for the leaders of the ones that folded, but probably won't
"When FBI Director Kash Patel fired a dozen FBI agents and staff last week for their role in the classified documents investigation of Donald Trump, he targeted an elite counter espionage unit that investigates threats from foreign adversaries and specializes in Iran, according to more than a half dozen sources"
https://www.ms.now/news/kash-patels-latest-firings-ousted-agents-with-expertise-in-iran
LOL "All importers of record whose entries were subject to IEEPA duties are entitled to the benefit" [a refund]
Sure, there's a lot one could criticize about Donald's economic policies, but you can't deny he's created an entire new industry of corrupt pardon lobbyists
Want to be incandescent with rage? This story should do the trick: "To flag grants for their DEI involvement, Fox entered the following command into ChatGPT: “Does the following relate at all to DEI? Respond factually in less than 120 characters. Begin with ‘Yes.’ or ‘No.’ followed by a brief explanation. Do not use ‘this initiative’ or ‘this description’ in your response.” He then inserted short descriptions of each grant"
#KavanaughStop "Sunny, a U.S. citizen born in Evanston, was detained by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport while returning from Turkey on Thursday … held at the lower level of Terminal 3 at O’Hare for nearly 30 hours along with five of her colleagues. Two of them are also U.S. citizens and three are green card holders" and then shuffled through ICE detention centers before eventual release
https://wgntv.com/news/chicago-news/family-says-us-citizen-detained-after-returning-to-ohare/
DOJ and DHS reportedly have separate investigations into the 2020 election in Arizona…
RE: https://social.freedom.press/@freedomofpress/116211871864286727
something something warrior ethos something something lethality… https://mastodon.social/@freedomofpres[email protected]/116211871899008902
Mr. Aguilar Garcia is a great American and a true patriot 🫡
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.mnd.230424/gov.uscourts.mnd.230424.191.0_1.pdf
Bovino "chose to quit rather than be pushed out as he faces multiple investigations into his conduct, according to a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) insider"
Great work from @Bellingcat identifying individual CBP goons, including Kristopher Hewson, who was apparently part of the group that assaulted Aguilar Garcia*
https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2026/03/17/border-patrol-agents-of-chaos/
Remember that time discount Goebbels assured* us "Nobody’s going to fight the United States militarily over the future of Greenland"?
Welp: "When Danish soldiers were flown to Greenland in January of this year, they brought explosives with them so that they could destroy, among other things, the runways in Nuuk and Kangerlussuaq … cargo also included blood from Danish blood banks"
* https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5674507-stephen-miller-trump-greenland/
Nøglekilder i Danmark og Europa fortæller nu for første gang, hvad der skete i de mest kritiske dage, hvor Donald Trump truede med at tage Grønland "på den hårde måde".
NYT roundup of Mr Law and Order's fraud pardons
Another one for the Best People™ files: That guy (Paolo Zampolli) who used his high level Trump admin connections to try to sic ICE on his ex… met said ex when she was 17 and recently arrived in the US courtesy of a plane ride from one Jeffery Epstein
Hey remember that time the GOP was all up in arms* over how it was "election interference" for Ukraine have a photo op with local Dems at a factory in Dem district? Can you imagine the shitstorm if, say, Macron went on TV to give AOC his "complete and total endorsement"
In its rush to boost nuclear energy, the Trump administration is rapidly rewriting rules to ease regulations and provide financial breaks for industry. “The safety culture is under threat,” a former head of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said.
I for one am *shocked* "Traders made bets worth half a billion dollars in the oil market about 15 minutes before Donald Trump’s post touting “productive” talks with Iran sent the price of crude tumbling and ignited volatility in other assets … Several hedge funds noted that this was one of a number of examples in recent months of large trades being made ahead of official US government announcements"
https://www.ft.com/content/1171d623-3709-4f6e-8ded-a5df4ec57696
Good riddance to bad trash: Notorious covid quack Robert Malone rage quits ACIP
'Trump, who has long railed against mail-in voting — including on Monday, when he called it “mail-in-cheating” — used the method himself in a Florida special election scheduled to take place on Tuesday'
(in fairness, his opposition to "cheating" has only ever applied to people he doesn't like)
The "pro-life" president is at it again: "In interviews, six Cuban doctors said that rapidly deteriorating conditions at hospitals and clinics across Cuba were causing deaths that would otherwise be preventable"
"Mr. Buria told Mr. Driscoll that President Trump would not want to stand next to a Black female officer at military events, the officials said"
"The military strike appears to have destroyed a cattle and dairy farm, not a drug trafficking compound, according to interviews with the farm’s owner, four of its workers, human rights lawyers and residents and leaders in San Martín"
Cool, cool "C.D.C. Pauses Testing for Rabies and Pox Viruses"
Excellent work from @lawfare - A database of DOJ non-compliance in habeas cases
This Alcatraz thing is a perfect snapshot of Trumpism. Zero rational justification: It would be hideously expensive and have no advantage over building another supermax anywhere land is cheap, but Donnie half remembers something he saw on TV in the 80s about how Alcatraz was the baddest of the bad, and it would piss off the SF libs so…
"…two former [U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum] employees who left amid the changes told POLITICO they believed the museum was altering its content preemptively, so as to not draw unwanted negative attention from the Trump administration … The museum pulled from its website a page called “Teaching Materials on Nazism and Jim Crow” at some point after Aug. 29, 2025"
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/04/05/trump-holocaust-museum-00859274
So, this is an open invitation for European leaders to come and campaign for their favored candidates in US elections, right? And of course, Orbán could hardly object if they came and campaigned for Magyar now, right?
https://apnews.com/article/jd-vance-hungary-orban-election-campaign-08e0929e9c8b3ae4302ae4e8c0393d5e
Vice President JD Vance is visiting Hungary's capital to support Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's campaign only days before a pivotal election. Vance will meet Orbán and appear at a campaign rally, signaling strong backing from the Trump administration. Orbán, in power since 2010, faces a tough race against the center-right Tisza party led by Péter Magyar. Critics accuse Orbán of undermining Hungary’s institutions and media, which he denies. Trump has endorsed Orbán, aligning with his stance on immigration and media control. Most polls show Orbán trailing ahead of the April 12 vote, prompting him to boost his profile by appearing with international backers.
The fact her husband is a US soldier shouldn't be a significant factor IMO, but "Ramos entered the U.S. in 2005, when she was younger than 2 years old" …
https://apnews.com/article/ice-immigration-military-spouse-deport-59ce5951fb284f95b836d0b07d6b0718
A U.S. Army staff sergeant is trying to halt his Honduras-born wife’s deportation after she was detained inside a military base just days after their wedding. It's the latest example of the Trump administration's willingness to pursue its mass deportation campaign against military families who had formerly faced more protection from immigration enforcement, even as critics warn that detaining military spouses demoralizes troops. Staff Sgt. Matthew Blank told the AP on Monday that he had brought his wife, 22-year-old Annie Ramos, to his base in Fort Polk, Louisiana, so that she could begin the process to receive military benefits and a green card only for federal immigration agents to arrive and detain her.
"A top Vatican diplomat was summoned to the Pentagon for a “bitter lecture” demanding that the Pope get behind Donald Trump … [Vatican ambassador Cardinal Christophe Pierre] was reportedly summoned to the meeting by Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby"
https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-official-gives-vatican-bitter-lecture-amid-growing-rift/
One might hope that Iran blowing up gas prices and generally turning into a clusterfuck would curb his enthusiasm, but Rubio is no doubt already talking up how much easier Cuba will be
(funtime activity: Draw Shahed range circles from Cuba and count how much oil and gas infrastructure falls inside)
Just 100% straight up racism. Even if you accept the dubious proposition that Afrikaners suffer significant discrimination in South Africa, there's just no world in which it's remotely comparable to threats people fleeing Haiti, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen or many others face
"Oz claimed that New York’s Medicaid program last year provided some 5 million people with personal care services, which assist people in need with basic activities like bathing, grooming and meal preparation … But the real number of New Yorkers who used those services last year was about 450,000"
https://apnews.com/article/new-york-medicaid-fraud-dr-oz-trump-342285a3c5d5b71f36ce3f3c77ec72c5
President Donald Trump's administration has admitted to a major error in data used to justify a federal fraud probe into New York’s Medicaid program. Health analysts are now questioning the accuracy of other anti-fraud efforts nationwide, mostly in Democratic-led states. The Republican administration initially claimed 5 million New Yorkers used personal care services, but the real number was 450,000. A spokesperson for New York's Democratic governor says the initial claim by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services was "patently false.” The misrepresentation was among a few advocates say CMS made about New York's program. Analysts warn the Trump administration's approach could politicize a conversation that should focus on collaboration and effective solutions.
Todd Blanche: "You don't have to just take a 'no true bill' from a grand jury and walk away"
"Speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive information and private conversations, they described Patel’s tenure as a management failure and his personal behavior as a national-security vulnerability. They said that the problems with his conduct go well beyond what has been previously known, and include both conspicuous inebriation and unexplained absences"
On the one hand, a high ranking federal law enforcement officials filing an obvious #SLAPP is bad, but on the other, if Kash wants to litigate his drinking habits in court… 🍿
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/04/20/kash-patel-defamation-lawsuit-the-atlantic-00880802
Another one for the "USAID cuts didn't kill anyone" file
Also remarkable how much effort they're putting into relitigating 2020, and how it's somehow not massive scandal that they're dumping resources into chasing such obvious BS
Lawfare explainer from last year on why your right to say 8647 is protected by 1st amendment
(though in hindsight, the suggestion that Comey wasn't risking jail may have been somewhat optimistic)
https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/the-situation--and-what-if-he-meant-it
We might also note that the guy deathly afraid of numbers spelled out in sea shells previously suggested that "2nd amendment people" could take care of his opponent
https://www.npr.org/2016/08/09/489363581/trump-implies-second-amendment-people-could-stop-clinton
FEMA "is planning to bring back most of the staffers from the Cadre of On-Call Response and Recovery (CORE), FEMA’s largest workforce, who were suddenly terminated this past winter"
Very government.
So efficiency.
Wow.
Trump admin to Europe: You have to carry your own weight on defense now, but don't you dare favor European defense companies https://www.politico.eu/article/washington-lobbies-eu-against-buy-european-push-for-weapons-donald-trump/
Also Trump admin: All those weapons you ordered from us may be indefinitely delayed because we burned our stockpile on a war of choice against Iran https://www.ft.com/content/f87a8b04-e683-4e0e-8c66-647d23bfc2ff
Seems like there should be some campaign ads in the fact that data centers and Trump's Iran war are driving up energy prices while Trump obstructs many GW of ready to go wind projects
"The FBI did not dispute that Patel gives out bottles of whiskey inscribed with his name, but in response to a detailed list of questions, a spokesperson portrayed the gifts as routine within the FBI and the broader government… When I reached a former longtime senior FBI official to ask whether he’d ever seen personally branded liquor bottles distributed by a previous FBI director, he burst out laughing"
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/2026/05/kash-patel-fbi-bourbon/687066/
Lysenkoism watch
(I suppose at this point #RFKJr deserves his very own -ism, but Kennedyism is ambiguous which Kennedy it might refer to and RFKJrism doesn't exactly roll off the tongue)
CNN reports the CIA is now car-bombing alleged cartel members in Mexico.
"The playbook is not much different than counterterrorism missions designed to destroy groups in the Middle East and elsewhere around the world, current and former US national security officials told CNN"
Ah yes, and as we know, this strategy has proven so successful there's hardly any terrorism in the middle east these days!
https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/12/politics/cia-drug-cartels-deadly-operations-mexico
Reed Mideke
Zhao Mo