29. In fact, Defendants ignored their own politices and procedures, rushing the story to print without substantively fact-checking the allegations or giving Director Patel a meaningful opportunity to respond—all to publish before the truth could be exposed and derail the Article. [I have put a pink rectangle around the word spelled, "politices."]

Nothing like misspelling a word in the ¶ accusing The Atlantic of failing to take enough time to fact check an article.

[Kash has submitted a new version, and used the opportunity to dox Fitzpatrick's address.]

PSA: I imagine many of my followers know the story of the pallets of cash, but for those who don’t:

Before the Iranian revolution, Iran was run by the Shah, who had TONS of money and a virtually unlimited appetite for US military hardware, including big things like aircraft etc.

I was treated to a spectacular bit of gaslighting by Ghislaine Maxwell’s lawyer, David Markus, over this post. I have a zero-tolerance policy for both gaslighters and mansplainers—habits that frequently overlap—so I’m sharing some thoughts. Please spread the word. Thanks. youtube.com/shorts/uMb82...

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...

Joe DiGenova Back in the Criminal Frame YouTube video by emptywheel

The biggest reason it is insane that Todd Blanche put Joe DiGenova in charge of criminalizing investigations into Russia.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=fABt...

🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

It Was on Your Table Every Morning Growing Up. It’s Dying Before Our Eyes. No One Wants to Face It. The powerhouse of American citrus is suffering a brutal decline. Everyone has a theory about why.

When I covered Trump's tariffs, I discovered that orange crops have cratered in FL.

This explains all the reasons--disease, climate change, overspraying, finance--why.

slate.com/business/202...

Stephen Miller, Whiskey Pete, AND Brendan Carr will all be hooting up Trump as they parade their regime media.

A really important column.

I would explicitly name the Posbiecs too. Jack has been riling up hatred since he perfected doing so with a Nazi in 2016, and his lies ginned up PizzaGate which turned into QAnon which played a central role in launching the January 6 insurrection.

Trump Showers Health Care Crooks With Love His extensive pardons to health care executives convicted of various crimes show that his ‘war on fraud’ in blue states has nothing to do with fraud.

A new report shows that Trump appears to support medical fraud, as long as corporate executives and other elites are the ones committing it. buff.ly/cn3eT0r

How does Trump spend his time? Corruption. Trump spends a great deal of his time, perhaps his primary focus, finding ways to milk his position for personal or familial gain, and until we learn who is profiting off inside knowledge of his market-manipulating tweets about Iran, that may extend to his erratic comments laid out here. Bunker-ballroom. He spends a lot of time planning to build things and it increasingly seems like his aides view construction as a less dangerous pursuit for the old man than almost anything else he tries. They may be right. Cons. The conman spends a lot of time pitching journalists and the WSJ describes he does this outside any intervention from his staff: “Trump would joke with Leavitt that he had talked to a reporter and made big news, but she would have to wait and see what it was.” When WSJ says he didn’t consult with aides before doing this, it glosses the extent to which an entire press corps reconstructs Trump’s abject bullshit so as to convey it as some kind of plan.

How does Trump spend his time?

Construction, Con, Corruption, and Clubs.

emptywheel.net/2026/04/20/t...

Sorry: Last sentence should have said, "Trump reads him AND."

Which is to say, Trump will read someone whose opinion he (bizarrely) cares about mocking how incompetent his negotiators are.

🇪🇺🏳️‍🌈⚖️🇭🇺 A legal earthquake - CJEU finds Hungary to have violated EU law on multiple counts with its anti-LGBT+ legislation (as expected) but also for the first time in history, in an EU law-reshaping precedent, finds Hungary to violate Art 2 TEU in a self-standing manner.

JB Pritzker's Invoice: Payback's a Bitch - emptywheel Among the reasons why JB Pritzker's demand that Trump make Illinois families whole for the money Trump illegally took from them is that the amount Pritzker demanded -- $1,700 per family -- is not far ...

On Pritzker's invoice.

emptywheel.net/2026/02/23/j...

I noted the day of the SCOTUS decision that JB Pritzker IMMEDIATELY moved to make this point, by demanding a refund for IL. And State refunds may be the best way to politicize how Trump created the worst of all worlds. But Elizabeth Warren is, predictably, focused on it as well.

This is something I've been hoping Dems do for some time. Hold the Senate GOP accountable for every incompetent the confirmed, and the destruction of American lives that resulted, but also for the oversight not exercised, especially over Iran.

A post claiming that America's failure to fulfill the Budapest agreement created a mic drop for the Iranian negotiations.

I'm deleting this post, I think it made a good point but the concerns about AI are important.

Let's sum up Trump's tariffs.

1) They were illegal and also corrupt and arbitrary.
2) They did real damage to economy, esp farmers, small business.
3) Lutnick cheerled them while his spawn prepared to $$.
4) Corps (& some small businesses) finally getting refunds.
5) Consumers will get squat.

@hcrichardson.bsky.social Happy Tuesday Dorchester

"I'm doing a ballroom now" -- Trump is now ranting about his ballroom on CNBC

The Person Playacting as President May Be Getting Addicted to Snuff Films - emptywheel Everyone, from Trump himself to his aides to access journalists to experts, are packaging up Trump's moods as rational actions of a President. That makes his increasing fondness for spectacular videos...

Which I wrote up here.

emptywheel.net/2026/04/20/t...

I noted yesterday that we would do well to describe what role the actions Trump is performing, rather than assuming he is functioning as President.

Mostly, Trump is an old man retreating into his lifelong hobbies: construction, cons, and corruption. With lots of golf.

Trump Property & Golf Tracker — Philip Bump An ongoing accounting of days President Trump has spent at his own golf clubs and hotels during his second term, and how often he's likely played golf.

Because I've been talking about how Trump spends his time (and forgot golf), linking @pbump.com's tracker. In recent weeks Trump had his 365th day of golf across the two terms.

www.pbump.com/projects/gol...

Harmeet probably just misspelled James O'Keefe's name when filling out the complaint.

She's sloppy that way.

🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨

🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

Mazie Hirono: Are you telling me you have a handle on Strait of Hormuz?

Chris Wright: Can you repeat the question?

Hirono repeats.

Wright, not answering the question: I've been discussing since day I was sworn in.

Hirono, points out Wright invented a nuke background he does not have.

Debunked: Fringe commentator from US spreads false rumour of stabbing at Connolly Station An accident which left a thick trail of blood appears to have prompted the story.

@thejournal.ie calls out Jack Posobiec's brother's conspiracy tourism.

www.thejournal.ie/debunked-fac...

Trump Attacks the Pope for His Old Tweets I read the Pope's entire Twitter history, and here's what I found

All this just makes me like the Pope more, TBH. Long record of anti-racism and support for social justice.

open.substack.com/pub/qasimras...

YAAAAAS.