More to the point, while the Iranians may be taking losses with the counter blockade, it pales in comparison to the political damage being suffered by Trump, or the economic damage being inflicted on the world.
But so far the only ground given has been by Trump, who imposed a ceasefire on the fighting in Lebanon, as specified in the original Iranian plan.
The only other action taken by the administration is the imposition of a counter-blockade to try to get some leverage.
It is yet to be effective.
Trump’s team keeps reporting division, but every time the Iranians have responded by saying Trump is just making shit up.
Trump has clear incentives to lie about what he agreed to, and try to get the Iranians to give ground on some of their points.
It’s not even clear that there is any divide on the Iranian side.
The logic of their position and statements since Trump accepted their terms has remained the same.
They have been consistent in saying that “opening” the strait means tolls and Iranian supervision.
The interesting thing about the current dynamic is that Trump said he would extend the ceasefire indefinitely, and Iran’s response was basically “fuck you, we’re winning”
They also threatened retaliation for any more vessels seized… which we just did.
A Democrat who was elected sheriff in Pennsylvania last fall hopes others are watching: “It sends a message to elected public safety officials across the country that partnering with ICE is a loser in a district that’s remotely a swing district.”
an average of just under 35 percent approval. oof.
Breaking News: The Justice Department charged the Southern Poverty Law Center, a civil rights group, with financial crimes, accusing the organization of fraud. nyti.ms/4mLqZOL
Some incredibly valuable context on the value of building a surveillance state to billionaire NBA owners—and the banks and authoritarian despots who back them—from Henry Abbott www.truehoop.com/p/the-dolans...
The Drudge homepage right now
“I was tired. It didn’t appear anything good was ever going to happen,” he said. “And then Renee Good got shot. And I don’t remember being so distinctly angry at a news story in my life. I was just so fucking angry for days. Then I turned on Alex Jones to see what he was talking about, and he had Kyle Rittenhouse on and he was saying things that weren’t true and I was like nope, that’s it. He’s just going to keep selling boner pills on the back of the worst tragedies in our country in perpetuity unless someone puts a check on this.”
May I have the strength to be as furious and as totally irrational as @bencollins.bsky.social forever
Here he is, in conversation with a colleague and friend @lindseyadler.bsky.social at @flaminghydra.com, on the topic of buying INFOWARS
flaminghydra.com/issue-548/
The Trump administration is kicking 150,000 Illinoisans off of SNAP on May 1.
He's ripping away help from Illinoisans as the cost of their groceries, gas, and utilities continues to rise.
Make sure to check your status at abe.illinois.gov.
The theory of the case -- that the SPLC defrauded donors by promising to "dismantle" hate groups while secretly paying informants inside said hate groups, a tactic that it has carried out for nearly half a century -- is completely absurd.
There are no absolutes in politics.
Conventional wisdom is only valid in the context in which it arises.
Change the context and you can do anything, including fixing a broken country.
Poll showing horrible numbers for Trump Few approve of how Donald Trump is handling the cost of living. Percent of adults Overall Republicans Independents Democrats Overall Republicans Independents Democrats Overall Republicans Independents Democrats Overall Republicans Independents Democrats Overall Republicans Independents Democrats • Approve • Disapprove His job as president 33 67 Immigration 40 59 Iran 32 67 The economy 30 70 The cost of living 23 76 Question: Overall, do you approve or disapprove of the way Donald Trump is handling his job as president? Overall, do you approve or disapprove of the way Donald Trump is handling...? Source: AP-NORC poll conducted April 16-20, 2026, with 2,596 adults nationwide. AP APNORC.orgy
Trump comes near the lowest point ever in the AP-NORC poll, with a 33% approval rating to a 67% disapprove. The lowest previous number was 32% in September 2017.
JD Vance also hits a new low, with 53% of the country saying they have an "unfavorable" view of him, compared to 31% favorable.
Changes to the constitution continue to be the best way to solve our problems.
Whether via amendment, or other means, it is the one way that lets us truly address the root causes of the current crisis.
Maybe we will have to settle for something less, we should be clear about our goals.
"And it turns out he has become the biggest tool, the biggest defender, and the biggest fighter for the very system that we thought he would tear down. And so I just want to acknowledge that."
I believe in the United States.
But I think it has become obvious that the system is failing the American people.
There is nothing wrong with tearing down a system if you can build a better one in its place.
Trump’s only plan was to make himself the system, but we can do better
We must do better
Right-wing podcaster Shannon Joy concluded that President Donald Trump was a "predator" after speaking to former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) about her fallout with the commander-in-chief.
Wrote about the wheels coming off the house majority, as Johnson lost two key votes in less than 24 hours, and both in ways that suggest he has permanent problems with his moderate wing...and with everyone else. www.publicnotice.co/p/mike-johns...
The Justice Dept’s theory of the case— that the group that single-handedly disassembled the Ku Klux Klan defrauded its donors by concealing that it was using paid informant to do that work and more— has about as much merit as the now-dismissed charges against Jim Comey.
Cursor has developed its own Composer model. It emerged last month that the newest version of Composer was built on top of an open-source model from Chinese start-up Moonshot Al.
Some really top shelf IP here 🙄
xAI is crap.
They know it, but they are hoping to bamboozle markets into giving them a sky high valuation by acquiring another weak player that Musk will hype to cover his own shortcomings.
The only top tier asset in this kluge is SpaceX. This is just a big bailout
one of the ways the mid to late 20th century political world has distorted the historical memories of even sophisticated observers is in the idea that you can achieve major transformations of american political life through something like bipartisan consensus
It’s probably just the Israelis.
These DDOS attacks started when Trump forced them to declare a ceasefire in Lebanon.
There are good and obvious reasons for the Israelis to hate Bluesky, and no reason for obscure Iranian proxies in Iraq to do so.
It’s probably just the Israelis.
May Day has been declared a day of civic action in Chicago schools, which means buses will be provided for students and educators to join the rally in Union Park.
New from me: RFK Jr., who has spent decades pushing disinformation about the safety of vaccines, insanely insisted to Congress today he's played no role in fueling the resurgence of measles in the U.S.
"I've never been anti-vaccine." www.huffpost.com/entry/rfk-me...
No one will ever trust us again. In time of crisis, we will have no one who to whom we can turn, no one who will stand by our side. Day-in and day-out this administration betrays our allies and enables our enemies. It is perverse and nauseating.
