Reed MidekeThe "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
JD Vance visits Hungary to back Orbán days before tough election
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
US soldier wife faces deportation after being detained on base
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/
Filed under Donald the Dove: "our great Military is Loading Up and Resting, looking forward, actually, to its next Conquest"
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
Trump administration admits error in New York health care fraud probe
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"
BBC round up of extremely well timed trading before major Trump announcements
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cge0grppe3po
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cge0grppe3po
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
Bringing all the stupidest characters back for the second season https://mastodon.social/@lawfare/116478492346336348
Another one for the "USAID cuts didn't kill anyone" file
Good Reuters roundup of the Trump admin's election investigations. Not clear if there's any sort of overarching plan or they're just throwing shit at the wall. In a perverse way, the involvement of so many of the 2020 deniers is slightly comforting, because they really were extremely incompetent
https://www.reuters.com/investigations/how-trump-is-moving-control-us-elections-one-state-time-2026-04-27/
https://www.reuters.com/investigations/how-trump-is-moving-control-us-elections-one-state-time-2026-04-27/
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 once again confirming that deals with Trump are utterly pointless because he'll invent some imaginary violation to tear them up the moment he feel like it https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4g8zpylzz9o
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
I mean, even leaving aside the whole extrajudicial killing thing, do they really think they're going to make a big difference by killing a few more dudes in country that cartel violence has already made one of the murder capitals of the world?
https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/12/politics/cia-drug-cartels-deadly-operations-mexico
https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/12/politics/cia-drug-cartels-deadly-operations-mexico
Politico finds the DOJ has lost over 10,000 immigration related habeas cases, amounting to ~90% of those brought, in front of over 400 different judges. Naturally, the administration blames this on "the left and their activist proxies on the judiciary"
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/05/13/10k-rulings-ice-mandatory-detention-trump-analysis-00914195
10,000 rulings: The courts’ overwhelming rebuke of Trump’s ICE policies
A POLITICO analysis reveals judges have ruled against ICE detention practices in roughly 90 percent of cases since the agency mandated that millions of immigrants must be locked up while they face deportation proceedings.
Election deniers being put in positions overseeing elections is obviously bad on its own, but also says a lot about how the bureaucracy has been completely co-opted Trumpists. Most of these people are deeply incompetent cranks whose *only* qualification is being election deniers
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/2026/05/elections-deniers-maga-trump/687134/?gift=AwR_TGzSRSLueG5W7xh0RZmIBJeFrMsNjZvaTdc38GA
Making great again status: Merz would "not recommend my children to move to the US at the moment", given the "social climate developing there"
https://www.ft.com/content/123f2c88-459a-4991-afb6-bbaa0dbe97fd
How Elbridge Colby's "throw Ukraine under the bus to pivot against China" strategy is going: Trump says of aid to Taiwan "No, I’m holding that in abeyance and it depends on China … It’s a very good negotiating chip for us, frankly … It’s a lot of weapons"
As NYT notes, he previously pushed Taiwan to spend more on US weapons
Who could have predicted, aside from pretty much anyone* with two working brain cells? "Cuba has acquired more than 300 military drones and recently began discussing plans to use them to attack the U.S. base at Guantanamo Bay, U.S. military vessels and possibly Key West, Fla., 90 miles north of Havana, according to classified intelligence shared with Axios"
(oddly, doesn't mention oil infrastructure)
Not clear what kind of drones, the mention of Gitmo might suggest FPVs or something mid-range like lancet, but anyway aside from Gulf oil infrastructure, one other hilariously obvious target within easy Shahed range comes to mind
One might also note that Cuba is well placed to use USVs against shipping and oil infrastructure. Also, while the Russians are hampered by Starlink restrictions around Ukraine, the tech they developed to use it on UAVs and USVs would no doubt be fairly easy to transfer, and there's currently no Starlink whitelist for the CONUS or surrounding waters
Not at all clear if the Cuban regime has the will and wherewithal if Trump decides to attack, but there's certainly potential to impose much higher direct cost on the US than Venezuela could have
Did the administration made a policy decision to let the Russia oil sanctions waiver expire, or did it just came up on a weekend and they forgot? 🤔
Shot: Supreme Court Justice Brett, establishing the #KavanaughStop doctrine "If the person is a U. S. citizen or otherwise lawfully in the United States, that individual will be free to go after the brief encounter"
Chaser: DHS goons repeatedly detain the same US citizen, because they can
DOD IG "concluded the US military no longer has the people, tools or infrastructure needed to comply with two federal statutes requiring it to maintain a functioning civilian casualty policy"
(yet another instance of the administration gutting legally-mandated institutions and pointing to the empty shell to claim they are complying with the law)
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/may/15/pentagon-civilian-death-program
LOL. who could have seen* this coming? "The United States has renewed a sanctions waiver allowing countries to purchase Russian seaborne oil stranded at sea, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on May 18"
https://kyivindependent.com/us-source-denies-reports-of-new-russian-oil-sanctions-waiver/
So, the president can just create a slush fund for supporters by filing a spurious lawsuit against his own government and then directing the government to settle it? Seems legit.
https://apnews.com/article/trump-lawsuit-irs-leak-3729de38770b558be01712a143437bf8
DOJ announces nearly $1.8B fund to compensate Trump allies
The Trump administration has announced the creation a nearly $1.8 billion fund to compensate allies of the Republican president who believe they have been unjustly investigated and prosecuted. The “Anti-Weaponization Fund” was announced by the Justice Department on Monday as part of a deal to resolve President Donald Trump’s lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over the leak of his tax returns. Democrats and government watchdogs immediately pledged to fight what they called a “corrupt” and unprecedented resolution. Trump’s lawyers disclosed the dismissal of the IRS lawsuit in a filing in federal court in Florida, where the president sued earlier this year.
"During his summit with Xi, Trump also suggested that the US, China and Russia should join forces to combat the ICC, saying their interests were aligned"
https://www.ft.com/content/567c57b0-6346-43e6-9d14-840a793b4d1d
