HERSHEY, Pa. — Chief Justice John Roberts on Wednesday defended the Supreme Court from what he believes are misconceptions held by the American people that he and his colleagues are “political actors” who are making decisions based on policy, not law.
Thursday, May 07, 2026
Unreality
I don't know if it's really worse than it used to be, but I do think everyone used to put a bit more work into their bullshit. Now, powerful people lie like crumb-faced kids saying that they didn't eat a cookie, and think it's extraordinarily rude if you don't pretend to believe them.
Mr. Trump, Sir, Your Advisers Have Led You Astray
Nothing will shake Trump from his few core beliefs (racism, his own inerrancy), but it would be nice if he got mad at the people who convinced him he could conquer Iran in 24 hours.
Where All My Bed Unshitters At
Our "allies" are getting a bit tired of being turned into a war zone for no reason.
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s abrupt reversal on his plan to help ships go through the Strait of Hormuz came after a key Gulf ally suspended the U.S. military’s ability to use its bases and airspace to carry out the operation, according to two U.S. officials.Countries are realizing they can, actually, just say no.
Trump surprised Gulf allies by announcing “Project Freedom” on social media Sunday afternoon, the officials said, angering leadership in Saudi Arabia. In response, the Kingdom informed the U.S. it would not allow the U.S. military to fly aircraft from Prince Sultan Airbase southeast of Riyadh or fly through Saudi airspace to support the effort, the officials said.
Wednesday, May 06, 2026
Brain Geniuses
It's funny how much Rubio was pushed as The Next Great (And Good) Republican once upon a time.
Yes Iran should get Congressional authorization for its minelaying operations.SECRETARY RUBIO: You know what’s an act of war? Iran putting mines in the water. Why doesn’t Congress complain about that? pic.twitter.com/WJOIjkh30W
— Department of State (@StateDept) May 5, 2026
At Least We Cured Woke Cancel Culture
I'm not saying this particular reporter deserves it, but it is "funny" that the magazine which spent years documenting every time a college student violated the constitution by objecting to the presence of a highly paid campus speaker is experiencing this.
The FBI has launched a criminal leak investigation focusing on an Atlantic magazine journalist who wrote a deeply unflattering account last month of Director Kash Patel’s work habits, two people familiar with the matter told MS NOW.
Is That Good
He thinks that's good.
Hassett on American consumers: "Credit card spending is through the roof. They're spending more on gasoline, but they're spending more on everything else too."
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) May 6, 2026 at 2:19 PM
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Seems Bad
I think having kids makes a lot of people crazy (I don't mean this derogatorily, I just mean it is a big fucking deal that breaks their brains a bit, understandably), and part of coping with that is convincing themselves they've found the secret tricks to parenting which have eluded other people.
Sadly, sometimes that includes potentially fatal crackpot health care choices.
Their autopsies, which took place over the last several years, all came to the same conclusion: The deaths were caused, in whole or in part, by a rare but potentially fatal condition known as vitamin K deficiency bleeding.In almost every case, the babies’ deaths could have been prevented with a long-standard vitamin K shot. But across the country, families — first in smatterings, now in droves — are declining the single, inexpensive injection given at birth to newborns to help their blood clot.Many of them are doing so out of a well-meaning but ill-informed abundance of caution. In the hopes of safeguarding their newborns from what they see as unnecessary medical intervention, they have shunned fundamental and scientifically sound pharmaceutical intervention. The trend is also fueled by a contradictory pairing: families’ fierce desire to protect their babies and a cascade of false information infused into their social media algorithms.
Much Shorter Than A Scaramucci
But I was told that the US had control.
The US operation to guide stranded vessels through the Strait of Hormuz will be paused for a "short period of time", President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday evening.
Trump said that "Project Freedom", which began days earlier, would be halted by "mutual agreement" because "great progress" had been made toward a deal with Iran.
Project Freedom is over already. The writers are getting too cute.
Good chance something not great happened that we aren't being told about. Could be related to this!
Trump humiliated Rubio by having him defend Project Freedom to the hilt at a presser today, only to unilaterally suspend the “project” this evening
Per the Eurasia Group, Trump pulled the plug on it because 1) Iran sank a South Korean tanker and nearly took out two other ships despite US naval protection, and 2) Trump was informed by a liaison to the international shipping insurance consortium that none of their members would support it without Iran agreeing not to shoot.
I think they disabled the Korean tanker and didn't sink it but...
They're floating another deal that no one has agreed to. Stock market goes zoom!
Tuesday, May 05, 2026
My Clanker Buddy
How many hours per day do we think Egghead Andreessen spends talking to his computer God?
"Competing Claims"
Determining the truth, or close to it, is an exercise for you, dear reader, as so much journalism is today.
The United States and Iran made competing claims over which side controlled the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, adding pressure to their shaky cease-fire after the U.S. Navy launched an effort to protect vessels through the vital oil shipping route.
The strait itself remains effectively closed: Only two ships were known to have passed through the waterway on Monday, and none had made the trip on Tuesday. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the U.S. effort to free trapped vessels is ongoing, adding “We’re ensuring that we have control of that strait, which we do.” Iran’s state broadcaster dismissed the U.S. effort as a failure and said Iranian control over the strait had “intensified.”
We Will Always Be 2 Weeks Away From The End Of The War
I don't know when the supply chains snap.
US President Donald Trump indicates that if he decides to return to war against Iran, it would take 2-3 weeks to achieve his goals in the war.
“We’ve taken out much of what we’d have to do, probably another two weeks, two weeks, maybe three weeks,” he tells conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt.
“We either make the right deal, or we win very easily from the military standpoint,” says Trump.
Our Tech Overlords
Much can be said, but I think this shows that he both wants to believe spicy chatbot is God, and that he can control God.
That's The Way
A lot of the problems with political journalism are a bit subtle and hard to quantify, so you can sound like a bit of a crank if you complain about them.
One example is whether the adjectives "unpopular" or "scandal-plagued" are regularly adjacent to Trump's name, or not. More generally, whether he is talked about as if he is unpopular, or whether the focus is on whether the people who love Trump love Trump, which is often the case.
Trump is historically unpopular! More than that, he was never historically popular, though you would not have known that from the press coverage/beat sweeteners from the beginning of his second term.
President Donald Trump appears to be more unpopular than he’s ever been – including after the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot.In fact, his 35% average approval rating in the CNN Poll of Polls means he’s now flirting with George W. Bush territory. Bush is the only president since Jimmy Carter to spend a sustained period of time in the mid-30s or lower.
Again, it was hard to quantify, but it took a long time for the press to talk about George Bush as if he was unpopular.
Monday, May 04, 2026
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