How Pakistan learned to speak Trump’s language, becoming an unlikely peacemaker Pakistan is the key broker in talks to end the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran. But it did not always get along with President Donald Trump and does not recognize Israel.

Pakistan wooed Trump by signing a deal with a firm connected to his family’s crypto company. So much corruption. www.washingtonpost.com/world/2026/0...

Journalists with ethics will boycott the White House Correspondents Dinner.

Trump is too deranged to continue in office Republicans can no longer deny the depth of the president’s cognitive decline and should act for the good of the party

The straightest reporting on Trump has consistently been from abroad.

“Republicans can no longer deny the depth of the president’s cognitive decline and should act for the good of the party”

www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...

TENNESSEAN: “Tennessee is poised to become the first state in 🇺🇸 to require all counties to participate in an optional federal partnership on immigration enforcement…”

GOP = Government Overreach Party, exhibit infinity. The Stephen Miller slate.

www.tennessean.com/story/news/p...

I paid the tariffs AND DHL/FedEx administrative fees. I’ll get none of that back - but will they be able to double dip?

Kash’s Complaint As he said he would on Sunday morning, FBI Director Kash Patel filed a defamation case against The Atlantic and reporter Sarah Fitzpatrick this morning over a story that characterizes him as an incomp...

FBI Director Kash Patel sued the Atlantic & a reporter for defamation, alleging they recklessly disregarded truth in suggesting FBI officials are concerned his drinking compromises his ability to do his job. Here’s the breakdown you need to understand the complaint. open.substack.com/pub/joycevan...

Power without accountability: The Palantir manifesto The problems with our tech philosopher kings

New, from me: Take the Palantir manifesto seriously, if not literally.
It reveals that our tech philosopher kings want public money, but without public accountability. This creates a dilemma for governments unaligned with its techno-fascist vision. 🧵
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/palantir-w...

Apparently Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeReme is also a member of the “Liquor Cabinet” (“reports that she was a ‘boss from hell’ and drinking during the workday”)

Via @vermontgmg.bsky.social

www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/five-trump...

"The average IQ in Somalia hovers around 70, and that's the threshold for mentally handicapped ... they're a net drain on the society" -- even by MAGA standards, the unvarnished racism of this interview of Rep. Brandon Gill by Benny Johnson is breathtaking

Gil Duran tweet: TLDR: Fascism in response to Palantir's long fascists screed on X.

"Your Account is Suspended" Message on X

The CEO of Palantir posted a fascist manifesto on X.

I pointed out that it was fascist—which resulted in a permanent suspension from X (my second time!).

So, when you hear the tweeters complaining that BlueSky is intolerant, remember why many of us came here in the first place.

Very serious point here — media vastly overreport what Trump says rather than clarifying for the reader the actual strategic situation.

With the help of the Sandy Hook families, The Onion has reached a long-awaited deal to take over InfoWars.

We've enlisted the help of @timheidecker.bsky.social, who will be InfoWars' Creative Director.

Please stand by for more.

America's State Department used to have an office that counteracted enemy propaganda, but the Trump administration closed it last year. So the world's greatest military power is struggling to subdue a regional bully, and the world's cultural superpower is being out-trolled by a regime that whips women for showing their hair. For the man who let this happen, "loser" seems like an understatement.

The Economist is spot on RE Iranian Lego propaganda

economist.com/culture/2026...

Opinion | Does the Trump Administration Really Want More Teen Pregnancies?

The Trump administration wants to take money that has long paid for modern contraception for low-income women and spend it on helping sperm swim better. This is not a joke.
www.nytimes.com/2026/04/20/o...

Critical Atlantic current significantly more likely to collapse than thought — Guardian US Scientists say finding is ‘very concerning’ as collapse would be catastrophic for Europe, Africa and the Americas

Very scary, this.

All federal wind power R&D at the Department of Energy is $0.137 billion. So the government is paying 7x the amount it spends on all wind power R&D just for a fee to kill one wind project. Seems bad.

Yeah cause it’s the kind of thing you propose building to appease the ego of a narcissistic leader whose army just got its asked kicked by a Black military general (Touissant L’Overture) and Black enslaved people who ran your troops off their island.

It’s a monument to ego and defeat. Perfect.

Navy acknowledges Triton crash as drone losses in Iran mission mount The Navy confirmed the loss of a multimillion-dollar drone, one of more than a dozen costly unmanned aerial vehicles the U.S. has reportedly lost so far during the Iran war.

The U.S. Navy has confirmed the loss of a $238 million MQ-4C Triton reconnaissance drone over the Persian Gulf, adding to more than a dozen unmanned aircraft reportedly lost during the ongoing war in Iran.

Largest renewable project in U.S. history - 3.5 GW of wind in New Mexico - begins delivering power to California and Arizona.

@CaliforniaISO has taken operational control - will count as in-state wind

Will speed up California's push for 100% WindWaterSolar

www.eenews.net/articles/lar...

The Justice Department demanded Wayne County, Michigan turn over every single ballot, receipt, and envelope from the 2024 election. Wayne County is Detroit the largest Democratic county in the state.

EXCLUSIVE: Documents Reveal US Contractor’s Modifications of Spy Plane Just Before Flights Over Gaza A US defense contractor flew spy planes over Gaza. FAA docs show Sierra Nevada Corporation installed a military air traffic control device and surveillance equipment before the plane’s deployment.

EXCLUSIVE:
"UK surveillance flights over Gaza were conducted with more US involvement than previously known, Federal Aviation Administration documents obtained by Zeteo reveal... [and] put the countries at risk of aiding and abetting war crimes, international legal experts told Zeteo."

Dust storms have overtaken Coachella. Researchers say it's a sign of what's to come Researchers say that dust storms cost the U.S. billions of dollars annually already, and could be getting worse and more economically devastating.

"A powerful dust storm disrupted the first weekend of the Coachella music festival as blustery winds swept over the sprawling grounds and enveloped concertgoers in a whirlwind of desert sand."

The writers are not subtle.

I noticed this split my last two years teaching in particular (22-24). That second year I was also dealing with the introduction of ChatGPT into the world. Despite clear guidance in the syllabus and feedback, some flunked assignments that weren’t that difficult!

DOJ demands Detroit-area 2024 ballots, escalating election scrutiny DOJ official Harmeet K. Dhillon wrote that she is seeking ballots to investigate election law compliance. Democratic state officials call the request baseless.

As good a place as any to share this. Harmeet Dhillon: one of the smartest, most effective anti-democracy, authoritarian enablers in the administration, cranking the weaponization dial at DOJ up to 11 every day!

wapo.st/4clF3es

Syrian Billionaires Needed a Favor in Washington. They Invoked the Trump Name.

NYT NVESTIGATION: As the Trump administration & Congress last year moved to repeal sanctions on Syria, the Qatar-based family that most stood to benefit was privately negotiating a real-estate partnership with Jared Kushner and proposing a Trump golf course in Syria www.nytimes.com/2026/04/19/u...

Where rising climate risks and insurance costs will hit hardest | Brookings Without policy support to reduce risks and bolster adaptive capacity, homeowners insurance market instability has the potential to widen wealth divides and entrench race-based gaps in homeownership.

www.brookings.edu/articles/whe...

Bibi and Trump are in a race to see who can be the most unpopular.

The Editorial Board The Corporate Transparency Act sounds harmless. It's not. Congress accidentally created a compliance mess in the 2021 defense bill. Today at 5:45 a.m. ET • 3 min The Treasury Department (Salwan Georges/The Washington Post) The Corporate Transparency Act, in addition to being unconstitutional, is so confusing that the federal government's "Frequently Asked Questions" webpage about it has 122 questions. Its goal was to combat money laundering through shell companies by requiring small businesses to report the names of their "beneficial owners" to the Treasury Department, so they can be compiled into osoto soan tAnins Dntnanomost

In 2026, the @washingtonpost.com editorial board came out against beneficial ownership transparency, AKA knowing who owns which business.

ICYMI, Congress banned anonymous shell companies in 2020 & override Trump’s veto, but folks complained about BOI compliance to Musk on X, so Bessent neutered it.

Traders placed over $1bn in perfectly timed bets on the Iran war. What is going on? Suspicious wagers on the US-Israel war in Iran are creating huge windfalls and raising concerns among lawmakers

More on the festering problem that is probability markets. Expect more trades just before Trump announces another fake breakthrough.

www.theguardian.com/world/2026/a...

It really is an important and surprising article from the GOP friendly WSJ.