Exclusive | U.S. Seeks to Reset Ties With Reclusive but Strategically Vital African State Eritrea has been called Africa’s North Korea, and its Red Sea coastline makes it a potential bulwark against Iranian influence.

Eritrea, a small African country with more than 700 miles of Red Sea coastline...
Freedom House, which rates political rights and civil liberties worldwide, ranks Eritrea and North Korea side-by-side as two of the most authoritarian countries in the world.

www.wsj.com/world/africa...

In Georgia’s 11th District, a test of whether past Trump criticism still matters Two leading Republicans with histories of criticizing Trump are now racing to prove MAGA loyalty in the state’s only open House contest without a presidential endorsement.

Georgia’s only open U.S. House race without a presidential endorsement is emerging as a test of how much past criticism of President Donald Trump still matters in a Republican primary defined by MAGA loyalty tests. #gapol

www.ajc.com/politics/202...

David Scott’s death triggers new race for his deep-blue House seat The Atlanta Democrat was already facing a tough primary. Now, the race shifts to a wide-open special election.

The death of U.S. Rep. David Scott will trigger a special election for the remainder of his term, transforming what had been a generational challenge to a longtime incumbent into a wide-open race for one of Georgia’s safest Democratic seats. #gapol

www.ajc.com/politics/202...

Georgia Supreme Court races turn into partisan battleground Political parties and their allies are spending big on what were once considered fairly obscure, nonpartisan races.

Georgia Democrats are aggressively campaigning to unseat two sitting Supreme Court justices, a marked escalation in officially nonpartisan races long treated as sleepy, low-profile contests.

www.ajc.com/politics/202...

LIV Golf Is Dying of Boredom Once you got past the Saudi-backed league’s business drama, what you were left with was watching sensationally wealthy, morally compromised middle-aged men go to work.

"LIV’s problem was that it was a sport run by people who seemingly misunderstood something fundamental about sports: you can’t manufacture attachment. LIV’s idea was to have golfers play on teams--
Rooting for them felt like rooting for a brand of toothpaste.

www.newyorker.com/news/the-led...

The White House Intervened on Behalf of Accused Sex Trafficker Andrew Tate During a Federal Investigation Federal authorities were chided for seizing electronic devices from Tate and his brother, and told to return them, records and interviews show. Experts said the intervention was highly inappropriate.

The Trump White House intervened directly in a criminal probe directing the destruction of evidence so as to prevent the Tates from being charged with serious felonies. The action was unprecedented.

USCIS Cut Green Card Approvals in Half to Help ICE Arrest Legal Immigrants The mass cancellation of parole status for 1.5 million immigrants, the elimination of Temporary Protected Status for nearly a million more immigrants, the virtual elimination of asylum, and the suspen...

The suspension of processing both prevents them from receiving legal permanent residence and prevents them from receiving a more secure status...This is a deliberate effort to boost ICE arrests by thwarting people’s efforts to stay on the right side of the law.

www.cato.org/blog/uscis-c...

trying to hide the black women? didn't work...

Bodycam Footage Shows Arrest of Zach Witkoff Outside Nightclub Zach Witkoff, the son of U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff was arrested in the early morning hours on New Year's Day 2022.

Scott Stedman: Steve Witkoff's son Zach, who is a co-founder of the Trump family’s World Liberty Financial, was arrested after a New Year's Eve 2022 fight outside a Miami nightclub. When police searched his pockets, they found cocaine. Witkoff was charged and booked but never prosecuted.

Trump sinking Republican hopes in Iowa - Storm Lake Times Pilot Ashley Hinson and Randy Feenstra might regret hitching their wagons to Donald Trump’s star. It could turn out to be the Hindenburg. Rep. Hinson says she is honored to fight beside Trump …

"Trump will prove to be a fatal weight unless he throws such an overwhelming amount of money at Iowa that there can be no contest. He thought he could do that in Iran. It didn’t work."

Trump sinking Republican hopes in Iowa stormlake.com/stories/trum...

It Is Time for Ruthless Aggression The national battle over gerrymandering should be just the first step. Next up: expanding SCOTUS.

“Expanding the Supreme Court is no different that redistricting in California and Virginia. It is a proportionate response to Republican attempts to degrade liberal democracy and move America toward a post-liberal order.”

open.substack.com/pub/thebulwa...

Trump always appoints questionable people.

Former Secretary of the Navy John Phelan never served in the military but did fly at least twice in Epstein's plane.

His successor, Hung Cao, claims to have been “blown up” in combat. But there is no Purple Heart or other evidence to support such claim.

Roughly 98% of the state is experiencing moderate to exceptional drought conditions, according to the Georgia Forestry Commission...In Florida, 38 counties are under burn bans and most inland regions in the state are under Red Flag warnings from the weather service.

Dozens of Homes Destroyed in Georgia, Florida Wildfires Fire season conditions are expected to continue through the weekend as thousands of acres burn.

Multiple fires have broken out in Southeast Georgia as a combination of extreme drought, low humidity and changeable winds created the perfect conditions for the outbreaks.
www.wsj.com/us-news/clim...

Phelan regularly chats with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago club, just down the street from his own Florida home, and told lawmakers last year that he texts with the president about shipbuilding in the middle of the night.

The top Pentagon leaders were particularly annoyed last fall when Phelan pitched the idea for a modern battleship directly to Trump, bypassing Hegseth, the people said.

...Since then, Hegseth and Feinberg have worked to undermine Phelan by creating a new czar for submarine acquisition—a portfolio that typically sits within the Navy—who reports directly to Feinberg, the people said.

Pete Hegseth Fires Navy Secretary John Phelan The shake-up comes as the U.S. military is enforcing a massive naval blockade of Iranian ports in the Middle East.

Phelan’s firing comes after a rocky tenure under Hegseth and Feinberg, including tension over Phelan’s close relationship with President Trump, according to three people familiar with the internal discussions.
gift link:

www.wsj.com/politics/nat...

Trump replacing Navy secretary in major shakeup as Strait of Hormuz blockade rages President Trump is replacing his Secretary of the Navy as the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz continues in the Persian Gulf.

"Phelan is one of the country’s top art collectors and ran a massive private investment firm.

A top GOP donor, he’s given more than $1.8 million to help elect Republicans. His name also appeared on the flight manifest for Jeffrey Epstein’s private plane.

nypost.com/2026/04/22/u...

State'sbudget request suggests that it is not planning on rapidly expanding the service, and seems focused on replacing those who leave through attrition. State is pushing to finalize the layoffs of around 250 foreign service officers announced last summer.

www.washingtonpost.com/ripple/2026/...

What Adm Stavridis says.

Christopher Weyant, Boston Globe

'There are idiosyncratic reasons for the modest wage growth in certain immigrant-heavy sectors, such high interest rates weighing on home construction. Uncertainty around tariffs and artificial intelligence has made some companies wary of hiring.'

“The idea that there’s a fixed number of jobs, and if you remove some workers, there’s more jobs for everyone else, that doesn’t work,” Veuger said. “You’re removing demand as well as supply” because newcomers are also buying goods and services, he said.

Stan Veuger, an economist at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, said the administration’s position relies on what’s known as the lump-of-labor fallacy.

More jobs and better wages for American workers have long been among the stated goals of Trump’s immigration policies, along with reducing crime and easing pressure on social services that he says migrants create.

What Everyone Got Wrong About Jobs and the Immigration Crackdown More than a year into President Trump’s immigration crackdown, there is little evidence of widespread disruptions in the labor market, or of meaningful benefits to American workers.

mass deportations haven't raised wages or caused labor shortages...buthe U.S. has lost consumers as well as workers. The immigration downturn and an aging population have dramatically reduced the number of jobs the U.S. economy needs to create to keep unemployment low

www.wsj.com/economy/jobs...

@mercoglianos.bsky.social

Bordered and Diverted by the Iranian and US Navies | April 22, 2026 YouTube video by What's Going on With Shipping?

update on the blockade action by both the U.S. and Iran?

youtu.be/W__UF5R0Dok?...