Trump Is Said to Be in Talks to Send Afghans Who Aided U.S. Forces to Congo

“Who is going to fight alongside the U.S. when the U.S. betrays the people who stood alongside us?”

www.nytimes.com/2026/04/21/w...

Whoa — One of the US's leading monitors of hate groups was just accused of "manufacturing" extremism by the Justice Department

Thirteen U.S. troops died trying to get these people to safety — Afghan interpreters, soldiers, and the families of our service members. Veterans spent sleepless nights during the chaotic withdrawal fighting to keep them alive. Now our own government is going to abandon them.

What a US destroyer shooting a cargo ship's engine out reveals about how the Navy is handling Iran blockade runners USS Spruance ran through procedure with the Iranian-flagged vessel before finally opening fire with its deck gun when the boat didn't comply.

"Disabling the engines also has the effect of denying the crew the possibility of getting away, and it reduces their likelihood of resisting the boarding."

via BI's @chrispanella.bsky.social

www.businessinsider.com/us-navy-dest...

DARPA says its powdered blood for future warfare works in animals. Now comes the hard part. DARPA's synthetic blood has worked in animal testing. Now, it must overcome regulatory and cost challenges to take it into the next phase.

DARPA says its powdered blood works in animals and wants to move forward with human testing.

via BI's Kelsey Baker:

www.businessinsider.com/darpas-powde...

A blockade is an act of warfare — as we saw all weekend with tit-for-tat attacks on unarmed merchant ships — and the threats to shipping by the US and Iran insert an unpredictable element to the ceasefire

Lawrence J. Korb, Ph.D.

Saddened to hear about the passing of Lawrence Korb. He shared many insights from his service in the Reagan administration and in US Navy on many occasions — often on tight deadlines.

Fair winds and following seas, Capt. Korb

www.americansecurityproject.org/about/consen...

Kash Patel sues The Atlantic over report alleging excessive drinking and absences The FBI director is seeking $250 million from the magazine after it published a report about his alleged behavior and leadership at the bureau.

UPDATE: The FBI declined to address the specific question of whether Kash Patel ever believed that he had been fired after he ran into computer issues on April 10, an incident that sparked a flood of inquiries to the FBI/DOJ/WH about his job status.

See the 2 startling ways designers are trying to create premium perks in economy class The newly unveiled designs offer the privacy or deep recline that have long been reserved for business class.

The double-decker Comfort Class is so cool:

www.businessinsider.com/see-2-radica...

Trump called *all* of his domestic political opponents "TRAITORS" — another US norm being shredded by this administration

Trump is back to saying he's sought "regime change" in Iran — something the US has so far not achieved

Trump admin really would benefit by adding @mgerrydoyle.bsky.social to their Signal chat 😉

Faculty Defect From Texas Publics, Citing Censorship Fed up with the state’s censoring of Plato, Joan of Arc and Romeo and Juliet, humanities professors are leaving Texas public institutions in pursuit of academic freedom.

'Texas A&M philosophy professor Martin Peterson is leaving the university after administrators told him in January that he couldn’t teach Plato’s Symposium in his philosophy class; they said the ancient Greek philosopher’s work violated the system’s restrictions on gender and sexuality content.' 1/3

Iran Update Special Report, April 19, 2026 Any US settlement or resolution of the conflict that enables Iran to control traffic through the strait would represent a major US defeat.

Strong topline from @thestudyofwar.bsky.social: "Any US settlement or resolution of the conflict that enables Iran to control traffic through the Strait of Hormuz would represent a major US defeat"

From understandingwar.org/research/mid...

What's the victory?

*2026 US war with Iran is, at best, a stalemate
*2021 Afghanistan withdrawal (under Trump framework) was a debacle
*Defeat of ISIS depended heavily on Iraqi and Kurdish forces, and began in Obama admin

And the answer is ... the Spruance fired its Mk 45 5-inch deck gun — the largest gun it has aboard

CENTCOM release here includes a short video from the six-hour encounter: www.dvidshub.net/news/563053/...

After the container ship Touska ignored the Spruance's warning calls, the DDG fired its 5-inch deck gun to enforce the US blockade.

CENTCOM says the crew advised the Touska to leave the engine room before it opened fire.

There's growing disquiet in the military. The Iran war made it worse Since Trump began his second term, his administration's use of the armed forces has left a growing number in the military unsettled, according to NPR interviews with service members and advocates.

Counselors say they've seen a surge in US troops asking how to become conscientious objectors.

An excellent report from NPR's Tom Bowman and Kat Lonsdorf:

www.npr.org/2026/04/10/n...

The game theory behind violating ceasefires Truces like the one in the Gulf get broken all the time. But they still work

"To adapt freely from Carl von Clausewitz, a 19th-century Prussian military strategist, it may be more useful to think of ceasefires as the continuation of war by other means."

From this excellent analysis: www.economist.com/internationa...

We don't know yet but the options on a DDG:
-.50 machine gun
-20mm autocannon or CIWS
-5-inch deck gun
-MK 46 lightweight torpedo
-Anti-ship missile like NSM or Harpoon

M/V Touska reported in its last AIS transmission, 6 hours ago, that it was not under command in the Gulf of Oman (meaning it could no longer safely maneuver)

President Trump said USS Spruance stopped the container ship by "blowing a hole in the engineroom"

Behind Trump’s Public Bravado on the War, He Grapples With His Own Fears The president’s impulsive style has never been tested in a sustained military conflict, and he’s been ruminating on Jimmy Carter’s failure in Iran.

“We are witnessing astonishing military successes that do not add up to victory and that is squarely on the president and how he’s chosen to do his job—lack of attention to detail and lack of planning,” said @kschake.bsky.social

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

Behind Trump’s Public Bravado on the War, He Grapples With His Own Fears The president’s impulsive style has never been tested in a sustained military conflict, and he’s been ruminating on Jimmy Carter’s failure in Iran.

“At one point [Trump] even mused he should award himself the nation’s highest military honor, the Medal of Honor.”

Do they normally give out medals for recklessly launching an unnecessary war and having no idea how to end it? 🤔
www.wsj.com/politics/nat...

The game theory behind violating ceasefires Truces like the one in the Gulf get broken all the time. But they still work

On ceasefires and the problems of durability
www.economist.com/internationa...

These are really strange times

House appropriators ask questions about $605M funding request for National Guard’s DC deployment The administration is also seeking $216 million for a reaction force to “respond to incidents requiring defense support of civil authorities.”

The Trump administration’s $605 million funding request for the National Guard’s ongoing deployment in Washington, D.C., is raising questions among appropriators on Capitol Hill.

The request is for fiscal year 2027, which begins on Oct. 1, implying an extended deployment.

Meanwhile….

A new filing in Trump’s $10 billion dollar civil case against his own IRS signals that the parties are in settlement discussions.

Trump sued over prior disclosure of his tax returns.

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

And there it is....

Update in Trump's $10 billion lawsuit against his own I.R.S., in which he seeks taxpayer-funded damages for the prior release of his tax records

Trump legal filing says he's in "discussions" with his own I.R.S. to "avoid protracted litigation"

The Iranian Strait of Hormuz scheme — the way Iran says the waterway is open — would force merchant ships to pass by IRGC strongholds and is only 13 miles from Iran's largest naval base.

ISW produced this map that shows what a departure this is: