For Taco Tuesday I wrote a long post which, buried w/in it, includes a description of 2 acute psychological dilemmas Trump is facing.
1) To win v Iran, Trump has to fight Putin
2) To make a deal, Trump has to admit Obama is smarter than him
Neither is tenable.
emptywheel.net/2026/04/21/t...
Apr 21, 2026 MINUTE ORDER. Upon consideration of 9 Defendants' Consent Motion to Seal, requesting that the Court seal Defendant Sarah Fitzpatrick's home address, it is HEREBY ORDERED that Defendants' Motion to Seal is GRANTED. It is further ORDERED that Defendant Sarah Fitzpatrick's home address be sealed. It is further ORDERED that Plaintiff Kashyap Patel shall file redacted versions of ECF No. 1-3 and ECF No. 2-1 for the public record FORTHWITH. It is further ORDERED that Defendants shall file the Consent Motion to Seal for the public record FORTHWITH. Signed by Judge Emmet G. Sullivan on 4/21/2026. (lcegs1)
Great news, everyone! Emmet Sullivan, who as Senior could if he wanted, shows no signs of handing off the Kash Patel lawsuit.
🍿
This post from Marcy Wheeler is an extremely worthwhile read.
New: Kash Patel's FBI launched an unnecessary raid on the home of a former Capitol Police officer, based on Jan. 6 conspiracy theories from right-wing media outlet The Blaze.
Senate is voting now to proceed to the budget resolution. It takes a simple majority to proceed. After that, there would be 50 hours of debate, followed by vote-o-rama, followed by final passage. If the House agrees, then would be the process of a reconciliation bill to pump $70 bn into ICE & CBP.
We stand with Senator Eileen Flynn ✊️
Women face massive barriers to entering & staying in politics, including online & offline abuse. The abuse is compounded for Traveller women & women from other minority groups
❤️ Sending you our love and solidarity, Eileen
#MoreMná
@eileenflynn.bsky.social
45. Reffitt advanced towards the Capitol carrying a megaphone, which he directed toward Ms. Kerkhoff. He shouted something furious that she could not comprehend. Ms. Kerkhoff commanded Reffitt to stop, and—per policy—warned him that she would have to use the PepperBall launcher. He did not comply. So, she began to escalate her response, as she had been trained to do. She aimed first at the ground to get the PAVA powder chemical airborne without striking him. He did not stop. She then shot slightly upwards, towards his chest. This had no effect—he appeared to be wearing either heavy clothing or body armor. She estimated she fired approximately 40 to 50 PepperBalls at him. Again, he just kept moving. Whenever he moved forward, the crowd advanced behind him. Other rioters seemed emboldened by his defiance and his ability to endure Ms. Kerkhoff’s rounds. 46. When PepperBalls proved ineffective, Ms. Kerkhoff’s partner arrived with the FN-303. But even FN-303 rounds had no effect on Reffitt’s advance. Finally, an officer retrieved a pepper spray cannister and deployed it directly at Reffitt’s face. Reffitt finally buckled, though he continued to wave the crowd past him. 47. By this time, Ms. Kerkhoff was positioned on the middle of a narrow staircase approximately four feet wide, with about two people abreast per stair. She was with a handful of fellow officers. Roughly 50 to 60 protesters were positioned on the staircase and rail, backed by thousands more. The sound was deafening—the officers couldn’t hear their radios or hear each other speak. Rioters held up scaffolding tarp to protect themselves from less-than-lethal irritants. Ms. Kerkhoff shouted “PepperBall!” “Get back!” and “Stop!” repeatedly, as loud as she could. She fired more PepperBalls, attempting futilely to stop the mob’s advance. The crowd pressed on, and Ms. Kerkhoff’s unit was overwhelmed. Rioters pushed Ms. Kerkhoff’s partner into a doorway. They pushed the gas mask off his face, sprayed him with mace,…
Among the things Shauni Kerkhoff does in her 127-page complaint against Blaze for defaming her was describe trying to defend the Capitol against Guy Reffitt's advance.
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Defendant’s conviction on Count One cannot stand under a “personnel” theory because the statute expressly excludes individuals acting entirely independently to advance a foreign terrorist organization’s goals. Being inspired
by ISIS propaganda and claiming to further ISIS’s cause through his acts do not, by themselves, establish that he acted as ISIS “personnel” as it is defined in the statute and further refined by the Supreme Court’s decision in Humanitarian Law Project.
2d Cir., 2-1, holds there was insufficient evidence to convict the Times Square pipe bomber of material support for ISIS, despite telling detectives he did it "on behalf of the Islamic State."
Evidence established that he was a lone wolf.
Affirms other convx.
ww3.ca2.uscourts.gov/decisions/is...
Trump's war in Iran has forced Americans to pay over $8 billion more at the pump.
So naturally, his priority is to bail out his family's business partners in a foreign country.
"Because Trump turned to culture war before joining an evil axis, because Ukraine and the rest of the world got time to adjust to the shift in American loyalties, the efficacy of Trump’s betrayal will be significantly diminished."
Marcy on how bad it all is & how dick-stepping gives us some grace.
This is a long think piece, but I argue that Trump's Iran catastrophe may disrupt his efforts to consolidate his authoritarianism, but even more, may provide cause to go after his Tech bro donors and data centers.
The Third Trajectory and Hopes for Rebuilding
emptywheel.net/2026/04/21/t...
I also describe the twin acute psychological dilemmas Trump is facing, which may be why he's crashing:
1) To actually win the Iran war he has to turn on Putin.
2) Any deal will require conceding Obama was superior to him.
This is the third high profile alleged case of this:
Karolyin Leavitt's brother's baby mama
Amanda Ungaro (baby mama to Paolo Zampolli
And this
Leavitt's brother's effort to deport his son's mother thus far has failed AFAIK.
DEMOBILIZATION OF FEDERAL PROTECTIVE MISSION (FPM) FORCES Originator: JOINT STAFF J3 DEP-DIR REGIONAL OPS WASHINGTON DC//JOD AMERICAS// TOR: 01/01/2026 23:09:20 DTG: 012308Z Jan 26 Prec: Routine DAC: General To: CDR USNORTHCOM PETERSON AFB CO CDR USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL, COR USSTRATCOM OFFUTT AFB NE, CDR USSTRATCOM OFFUTT AFB NE, CDR USTRANSCOM SCOTT AFB IL, COR USSOCOM MACDILL AFB FL, HQDA CSA WASHINGTON DC, CMC WASHINGTON DC, CMC WASHINGTON DC, CMC PPO WASHINGTON DC, CMC PPO WASHINGTON DC, CDR USAFRICOM STUTTGART GE, CDR USAFRICOM STUTTGART GE, CDR USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE, CDR USPACOM HONOLULU HI, CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL, SAF WASHINGTON DC, USCYBERCOM FT GEORGE G CC: MEADE MD, USCYBERCOM FT GEORGE G MEADE MD, HQ USSPACECOM COLORADO SPRINGS CO, HQ USSPACECOM COLORADO SPRINGS CO, CICS WASHINGTON DC, VCJCS WASHINGTON DC, CICS DIS WASHINGTON DC, JOINT STAFF DOM SIS WASHINGTON DC, JOINT STAFF DJ1 WASHINGTON DC, JOINT STAFF DJ2 WASHINGTON DC, JOINT STAFF DJ3 WASHINGTON DC, JOINT STAFF 14 WASHINGTON DC, JOINT STAFF DJ5 WASHINGTON DC, JOINT STAFF DJ6 WASHINGTON DC, JOINT STAFF DJ7 WASHINGTON DC, JOINT STAFF DJ8 WASHINGTON DC, DIA WASHINGTON DC, CNO WASHINGTON DC, ARMY HQ, DIRNSA FT GEORGE G MEADE MD, NGA WASHINGTON DC, JOINT STAFF J3 DEP-DIR REGIONAL OPS WASHINGTON DC, NGB WASHINGTON DC, CSO WASHINGTON DC
GENTEXT/Remarks: 1. Te) Directive: Demobilize National Guard personnel on Title 10 (T-10) status assigned to Federal Protective Missions (FPMs) in Portland, Los Angeles, and Chicago per SEWAR's verbal order of 31 December 2025. 1.A. hE» Los Angeles FPM: Demobilize the remaining 104 (+) Soldiers on T-10 status. 1.B. «CuT) Portland FPM: Demobilize the remaining 109 (+) Soldiers on T-10 status. 1.C. » Chicago FPM: Demobilize the remaining 314 (+) Soldiers on T-10 status. 2.7 → Demobilization planning: 2.A. 40H5) USNORTHCOM will coordinate with 1st Army to execute the demobilization of FPM forces in Los Angeles, Portland, and Chicago IAW SEWAR's VOCO and receipt of this GENADMIN. 2.B. ( Guard personnel sourced from Texas will remain on T-10 status until further notice.
NEW: In a court filing today, it was detailed that Pete Hegseth verbally ordered an end to National Guard mobilization in Los Angeles, Portland, and Chicago on December 31, 2025—the day that Trump announced on Truth social that the deployment would be ending. The written directive was dated 1/1/26.
sarah isgur and brett kavanaugh mugging for the camera together
Brett Kavanaugh officiated Sarah Isgur's wedding and is helping her promote her book, which is all about how good and noble the Supreme Court is. There is no reason to take seriously anything this person says about her very powerful, life-tenured friends. Seriously, have some respect for yourself.
The basic challenge with discussing Sarah Isgur is that she's just not interesting. She is a Supreme Court fangirl who makes money by praising conservative justices in public. There are lots of conservative lawyers like her, and the next time one of them says anything insightful will be the first.
Before she rebranded as a Savvy Legal Media Pundit, Sarah Isgur's job was working in the Justice Department, doing PR for Donald Trump and Jeff Sessions during family separation. Now, she is running PR for a different set within the conservative legal movement. It's not more complicated than that.
"Patel’s chugging a beer at the Olympics may not strike him as excessive drinking, but the context of it made it unseemly. and that’s an allegation—the key one—about which Kash is completely silent" @emptywheel.bsky.social emptywheel.net/2026/04/20/i...
Again, did this video to explain why it is to scandalous that Todd Blanche put Joe DiGenova in charge of criminalizing investigating Russians.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=fABt...
And .. here come the Freedom of Information Act requests for Kash Patel records
DC watchdog group Democracy Forward has formally requested Patel's calendars & any messages from security detail that include words "drinking", "hungover", "inebriated"
democracyforward.org/wp-content/u...
While DC journos all rush to WHCD, @philinvestigates.com just keeps reporting on the far right in TN.
Be like Phil!
Breaking MS NOW:
The Justice Department has begun withdrawing several subpoenas that had just been issued in the criminal probe of former CIA Director John Brennan — revealing the confusion and disorder within the controversial investigation.
Living in a nursing home shouldn’t mean giving up everyday freedoms.
I just signed a bill allowing seniors living in nursing homes to consume alcohol - so that everyone can enjoy happy hour!
Yeah that will solve all of our problems…..
Ossoff: "You were talking earlier about Jared Kushner. The guy leading our diplomacy in the Middle East is bringing in billions from Middle Eastern princes and sheiks and going around the region asking for billions more while he conducts nuclear diplomacy on behalf of the country. It's obscene."
Donald Trump has killed a whole lot of people and wasted a shit ton of money to distract from the fact that he raped kids with Jeffrey Epstein.
Gallego: "You said…Trump never demanded you cut interest rates in your job interview. Is that your sworn testimony?"
Warsh: "That is."
Gallego: "Someone here is lying then, it's either you or President Trump."
