This is incredibly shortsighted. Throughout the history of warfare, more soldiers die of disease than of combat.

dems created an expanded 'covid' welfare state under trump, republicans strangled it under biden

swing voters credited trump & blamed biden for that respectively

there's a moral here, of a sort

Americans are more polarized in their trust in scientists than in virtually any other societal institution. — James N. Druckman.
(@umisrcps.bsky.social)
More, via Opinion Today:
opiniontoday.substack.com/p/260420-top...

"If [Trump] can't be impeached and removed—I mean he is literally the nightmare that the framers of the Constitution had in mind—If members of Congress can't carry out that obligation, then what's the point to Article I? What's the point to the whole Constitution? We might as well just give up."

Two very different newsletter takes this Monday morning on Saturday’s NYT shadow docket reporting (www.nytimes.com/2026/04/18/u...)

Steve Vladeck: www.stevevladeck.com/p/221-chief-...

Will Baude: blog.dividedargument.com/p/the-non-sc...

As it happens, I’m with Steve.

This from trade guru Richard Baldwin on Trump's trade war conduct is great. And helps explain why in fact he is not remaking the world economic order or anything else. He's just going to leave a huge mess behind. www.linkedin.com/pulse/trumps...

The insider trading suspicions looming over Trump's presidency The BBC has found a pattern of spikes in trades ahead of public announcements by the US president.

You’ve seen this before but the BBC has put it all together.

www.bbc.com/news/article...

The fact there was a mass shooting with EIGHT dead today and it barely made the front page of any news site tells you everything you need to know how fucked up we are as a country. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/19/us/shreveport...

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.

Props to the WSJ, they managed to pack almost every Trump decision-making pathology into a single story. It’s all here:

1) Short attention span
2) Impulsive behavior
3) Knowledge deficits
4) Gambling for resurrection
5) Belief in the madman theory

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

Claude, I need an excuse to maximize my wealth, status, and power. Please suggest an aspect of my life that I can use as a grievance to justify it and which I can use to manipulate others into supporting me.

Reminder: the Trump administration has ended funding for mRNA research in the US. So these sorts of cure may not be available to the public anymore.

Trump, IRS in talks to settle US president's $10 billion lawsuit Lawyers for Donald Trump ​and the Internal Revenue Service are in talks to settle the U.S. president's $10 billion lawsuit against the tax ‌collection agency for leaking his tax returns to the media i...

Every presidential administration gets accused of corruption—sometimes with good reason, sometimes not. But the corruption of the Trump administration is of a magnitude that is not only without precedent in American history but so large and brazen as to be difficult to wrap one's head around.

An oldie but…

JUST IN: Two days after saying the U.S. would NOT renew sanctions waivers on Russian or Iranian oil, Bessent’s Treasury quietly extended a license allowing Russian oil transactions for another month.

Why rural areas vote Republican despite worse health outcomes Podcast Episode · The Science of Politics · April 15 · 58m

Repubs defund/cripple public goods. Then blame Dems & their programs for the problems that result. Angry credible voters send Repubs into office to “fix” things. Where they cut/cripple more public goods. Lather-rinse-repeat. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...

A Year After DOGE, Trump Administration Is Quietly Hiring Again (Bloomberg) -- During the first year of his second presidency, President Donald Trump dispatched a chainsaw-wielding billionaire to loudly eliminate more than 300,000 federal jobs in an unsparing atte...

finance.yahoo.com/economy/poli...

Professor Pape: Trump Ceasefire Will FAIL As War Metastasizes YouTube video by Breaking Points

2 unignorable signs that we're hurtling toward disaster and misery (that the stock market remains determined to ignore)

1. Troop movements
2. The continuining shut down of the Strait of Hormuz (with the increasing likelihood that the Houthis could shut down the Red Sea

Scoop: Trump discussed "Jesus" meme with Bill Pulte before posting it, sources say The mystery of who may have helped introduce the meme to Trump wasn't clear, until now.

SCOOP: Before Trump posted an image of him as a Christ-like healer, he discussed the meme with his controversial housing finance chief Bill Pulte

Amid quarrel with pope, Trump strips Miami charity of funding to house migrant kids The move comes amid rising tensions between the administration and American Catholics.

INBOX: Amid rising tendons between Trump and Pope Leo, the administration has abruptly canceled an $11 million contract with Catholic Charities to shelter and care for migrant children who enter the U.S. alone, ending a relationship dating back to the first arrivals of Cuban exiles in South Florida.

The Iran War Expert: The Most Dangerous Stage Begins Now Podcast Episode · The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett · April 13 · 1h 37m

Good discussion: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...

The Democrats' Path Forward: Become the Anti-Corruption Party But to reform the system they first need to reform the Democratic Party.

Here is a brief history of the many authoritarians taken down by anti-corruption movements and an outline for how Democrats can become an anti-corruption party.

Yes where did people possibly get Jesus from?

Survey question "In the past 12 months, about how many books did you read either all or part of the way through? (Please include any print, electronic, or audiobooks you may have read or listened to.)" 25% said none, 14% said more than 20 books.

25% of American adults said they did not read or listen to any book in the last year—not even part of one.
www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/...

Donald Trump as Jesus healing a sick man in bed. Behind him is the American flag. Surrounded by him are soldiers and nurses.

Trump just posted this of him as Jesus. Straight up heresy.

Trump cannot win, but he refuses to lose. So he escalates and/or creates new conflicts hoping to change the game. Even a win prompts escalation b/c “see, it worked!” Eventually, this will overstretch the US and/or draw in foreign opposition. The worst is yet to come.

If Iran's military is destroyed, then why is Hormuz closed? Why are we sending in more US military?

If Iran's leadership is dead, then why hasn't democracy appeared? Who was Vance negotiating with in Pakistan?

If Iran's nuke capacity was obliterated, then why are we still calling it a threat?

Opinion | Beware conservatives promoting “intellectual freedom” Victor Ray: This conservative lie about schools like mine is furthering authoritarianism

Making tenure count, for MSNOW I wrote about my employer, The University of Iowa, creating a center for intellectual freedom. It's a reactionary project built on decades of conservative propaganda about higher ed.

Reagan’s OMB Director: