“The larger point. Republicans just can’t stop fighting with Republicans. On every issue in front of Congress, the GOP seems to be locked in a circular firing squad. And it’s not only within the House Republican Conference. It’s the House and Senate as well. House and Senate Republicans aren’t just on different wavelengths, they’re living in entirely different universes. This all comes while Trump’s poll numbers are sinking, GOP moderates are warring with MAGA, and Republican control of both chambers — especially the House — is in danger of being swept away in November. The list of problems is continuing to grow: the DHS shutdown, budget reconciliation for ICE and Border Patrol funding, a housing bill, FISA, the SAVE America Act, the filibuster, appropriations and more. Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Johnson met for their weekly in-person sitdown on Wednesday. When asked if they’re on the same page on the more pressing issues facing them, Thune responded: “Yeah, as much as we can be.” “We both have fairly narrow majorities — his even more narrow,” Thune added. “So we’re just trying to figure out pathways to get stuff done. Nothing about it is easy.” But the cascading set of disputes between the two chambers is threatening to worsen what’s already a tough midterm outlook for Republicans. The Iran war is unpopular, gas prices are rising and vulnerable GOP lawmakers need help. Republican leaders desperately want to be talking about what they see as the benefits of the One Big Beautiful Bill, especially around Tax Day. Instead, they’re forced to deal with head-spinning tensions with the other chamber. Plus, Trump — who controls everything within the GOP — is nowhere to be found or venting about other issues that don’t help vulnerable lawmakers at all.”

👀 “Republicans just can’t stop fighting with Republicans. On every issue in front of Congress, the GOP seems to be locked in a circular firing squad.” @punchbowlnews.bsky.social

You love to read this.

BREAKING: Senate Majority Leader John Thune has effectively shelved the SAVE Act.

Trump called it his "No. 1 priority." He said it would "guarantee the midterms."

Thune's response, per Punchbowl:

The SAVE Act – which would require documents like a passport or birth certificate to #RegisterToVote –has failed in the Senate.

“The ability to vote must be defended every day, and the SPLC will continue to be there.” — Laura Williamson, SPLC Senior Policy Advisor. 🔗: https://bit.ly/3QzWhfr

I have confirmation the SAVE Act died because Senate Republicans knew it would disenfranchise their own voters at much higher rates than Democrats. I wasn’t going crazy.

Basically don’t give Republicans points for anything, this was a selfish move, but by people who aren’t total idiots

I, an unmarried six figure income immigrant woman, would retain right to vote cuz my passport is in my original name, and Polly the white tradwife from West Virginia who has no passport and changed her name after getting married at 19 can't vote. Guess who we vote for respectively.
Oops.

A golden retriever has both paws up at a bank teller’s window.

“Are you the branch manager?”
“Yes I am, how can I help you?”
“I would like two branches, please.”
“How would you like that?”
“Two big sticks, four little sticks.”

Not off to a great start

When truth and reconciliation arrives, Tim Cook should be hauled before a tribunal and probably thrown in jail for bribery

Cook openly bribed the president with a large hunk of gold in a televised performance of obeisance and walked away with a valuable tariff exemption.

"My special gift to Tim Cook on the announcement of his retirement is to explain to you all that he is guilty of bribing elected officials. I hope this makes all his pathetic grovelling worthwhile.
Thank you for your attention in this matter."

How Tim Cook sold out Steve Jobs - Anil Dash A blog about making culture. Since 1999.

If you're thinking of Tim Cook's legacy, this piece from last September: How Tim Cook sold out Steve Jobs. www.anildash.com/2025/09/09/h...

Tim Cook donated $1M to Trump’s inauguration.

He fawned over Trump and gifted him a 24-karat gold plaque (as Apple lobbied for tariff exemptions).

Apple donated to Trump’s White House ballroom.

And it removed ICE tracking apps from its stores following a demand from the DOJ.

Remember this.

Most striking to me about these memos is the radically different assessment of the harm imposed by the president not being able to pursue his initiatives. Over the last 15 mos., that harm has in numerous cases been treated as almost per se serious and irreparable. Here, it gets no analysis at all.

Totally unsurprising to anyone whose been paying attention since Bush v Gore that CJ Roberts & his fellow GOP justices were chosen & confirmed precisely because they are pure unadulterated extremist right wing hacks bent on making their extreme right wing partisan agenda permanent

Cover of Mother Jones with an image of fingers pointing at John Roberts and the coverline "Blame John Roberts for Everything"

The NYT big expose on SCOTUS today pairs well with @ariberman.bsky.social and @pemalevy.bsky.social's cover story on how ~everything wrong with this country today can be laid at the feet of John Roberts: www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

The Inside Story of Five Days That Remade the Supreme Court

1/The NYT is releasing internal SCOTUS documents re: 2016 creation of the modern “Shadow Docket” noting Justice Roberts & “other conservative justices have repeatedly empowered [Trump] through their shadow docket rulings. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/18/u...

Plenty of criticism on the right of the #SCOTUS leaker and the Times’s reporting, but has anyone actually responded to the argument that Roberts’s assessment of “irreparable harm” and his refusal to balance the equities is completely inconsistent with his subsequent behavior in all the Trump cases?

The Shadow Docket Memos Are Damning. So Naturally, The Right Is Talking About The Leak. - Above the Law New York Times reporting reveals the birth of the modern emergency docket was sloppier, more ideologically driven, and less legally rigorous than anyone admitted. The right's response is to demand we ...

No, because as my colleague pointed out today, they are going to flood the zone with leak takes to crowd out any engagement with the substance

Screenshotted excerpt from linked article reading as follows: "In public, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. has cultivated a reputation for care and caution. The papers reveal a different side of him. At a critical moment for the country and the court, the papers show, he acted as a bulldozer in pushing to stop Mr. Obama’s plan to address the global climate crisis. When colleagues warned the chief justice that he was proposing an unprecedented move, he was dismissive. “I recognize that the posture of this stay request is not typical,” he wrote. But he argued that the Obama plan, which aimed to regulate coal-fired plants, was “the most expensive regulation ever imposed on the power sector,” and too big, costly and consequential for the court not to act immediately."

OOP

New York Times got receipts on John Roberts being like, 'I know this isn't how anything works, but a Democratic president is about to implement a policy!!'

www.nytimes.com/2026/04/18/u...

The Inside Story of Five Days That Remade the Supreme Court

Here's a gift link to the article
www.nytimes.com/2026/04/18/u...

Irans Army: An Iranian tanker entered Irans territorial waters from Arabian Sea on Monday with operational help from Iranian navy - State Media

White House spent all of Monday waiting for a signal from Tehran that it would send its negotiating team to Islamabad.

A source with knowledge said the Iranians were stalling amid apparent pressure from the IRGC on the negotiators to hold a firmer line: no talks without an end to the U.S. blockade

MEDIA REPORTS ABOUT THE ARRIVAL OF AN IRANIAN DELEGATION IN PAKISTAN OR THE SCHEDULING OF MEETINGS ARE BASELESS ACCORDING TO IRANIAN TV

Iranian state television on Tuesday (April 21) issued an on-screen alert saying that “no delegation from Iran has visited Islamabad ... so far” as speculation about possible talks with the United States grows.

JUST IN: 🇮🇷 Iranian state TV says no delegation has been sent to Islamabad so far. And mocks JD Vance

Live updates: US-Iran talks in question as ceasefire is set to expire The prospect of a second round of talks was uncertain Tuesday after Iran’s chief negotiator accused the United States of wanting his country to surrender.

Iranian state television issues an on-screen alert saying “no delegation from Iran has visited Islamabad ... so far” as speculation about possible talks with the United States grows.

Follow live updates.

🔥 “I’m so glad people are finally waking up to your cruelty — and to the idiocy of your star disciple Pete Hegseth.”

@wajahatali.bsky.social eviscerates Hegseth’s pastor Doug Wilson (with @timmiller.bsky.social & piers in the front row)

I had no problem hearing that fake-assed pastor dog walked to humiliation.

Hungary Must Arrest Visiting Leaders Sought by ICC, Magyar Says Hungary’s incoming Prime Minister Peter Magyar said he would halt the departure from the International Criminal Court that his predecessor Viktor Orban initiated, affirming that Hungary would respect ...

After Netanyahu's office claimed that Peter Magyar had invited him to visit Hungary, the PM-elected says that he will enforce all ICC arrest warrants once the country re-enters the Rome Statute.

[Hungary will] "have a legal obligation to enforce the ICC rulings and I'm sure [Netanyahu] knows this".