The Two Hitlers

I've long "laughed" at how for conservatives Hitler is history's greatest monster (the liberal Hitler)

but also someone to admire and emulate (the conservative Hitler).

"Cabinet Meeting"

That's the bizarre American ritual involving the Cabinet members, in turn, seeing how they can outdo each other in their exaggerated praise of the president, correct? Sort of a reverse roast?

President Donald Trump is expected to gather his Cabinet Wednesday for a meeting at Camp David, according to a White House official, convening top officials at a high-stakes moment for the US war with Iran.

Action, Reaction

I don't think the geniuses in charge have figured that whole dynamic out yet.

Iran warns US after strikes: Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps says it has a “legitimate” right to respond to any “violation” of the ceasefire after the US military carried out what it called “self-defense strikes” targeting Iranian missile launch sites and boats around the Strait of Hormuz. It is unclear how the attacks will affect the ceasefire.

A Chamber Filled With Degenerate Gamblers

I know the most horrifying thing about members of congress trading stocks constantly is the insider trading aspect, but I suspect a bunch of them are serious gambling addicts too. And even gamblers with good tips on the horses sometimes lose it all.

After amassing an exemplary attendance record, the congressman has missed 88 House roll call votes since March 5.

During that time, NOTUS discovered that Kean had kept trading stocks; he submitted financial transaction reports to Congress, digitally signed on April 13, that indicated he bought and sold shares of eight stocks from mid- to late March with a combined value of between $50,008 and $190,000.

I don't know if that applies to Kean, but...

I Wonder What Happened Here

I'm sure most of the psychos around Trump are always pushing for more violence. 

United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said a potential deal to end the US-Israel war on Iran could “take a few days” to be agreed, after US forces claimed to have struck Iranian missile sites and boats laying mines in southern Iran amid talks in Qatar.

This is never going to end.

Morning

Taco Tuesday

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No Boom

Some good news. They are confident that they have averted the big explosion outcome in Garden Grove.

95%

Insider reporting from an unnamed White House official says the Iran deal is “95% done.”

The remaining 5% of negotiations are focused on Iran opening the Strait of Hormuz and turning over all nuclear material. https://t.co/GNlih9fUDj

— Frank Luntz (@FrankLuntz) May 24, 2026

The full Jennings tweet quoted:

After receiving a briefing from a Senior TRUMP Administration Official on the status of the Iran negotiations (someone in the know & not just speculating), I can tell you the following: 

-USA IS NOT GIVING IRANIANS MONEY FOR NOTHING. All speculation and propaganda to the contrary is false. Some hardline elements of Iran’s govt (IRGC) have pushed fake stories & propaganda to try to kill this negotiation.

-Iran deal is NOT done (95%, but still haggling over some language). No deal being signed today. May be a few more days before this is done. 

-Iran will NOT get any money or sanctions relief up front. 

-Iran must turn over nuclear stockpile to get anything. USA position is that failure to meet deal commitments means Iran gets nothing. 

-Long term USA objective is preventing Iran from having nuclear weapon.

-Initial deal point is to re-establish free flow of commerce by reopening Strait of Hormuz.

Deal should have 2 phases: 

Step 1 - Open Strait of Hormuz. Give world economy breathing room. Iran agrees to give up enriched uranium. 

Step 2 - Get the nuclear material turned over. Only then can Iran get sanctions relief. 

Bottom line: goal is to make a deal that lowers costs for Americans, calms world energy markets, and guarantees that Iranians cannot have a nuclear weapon over the long term. We aren’t there yet. Iran takes forever to get you a response on even small things. But we are close although it still could be a few days. 

“If we get what we are demanding, this is going to be a historic deal,” SAO says.

SAO sounds prepared to do no deal at all if all Iran will do is a “bad deal.” SAO admits deal could fall apart yet. But if a deal is reached, SAO expects very senior USA admin officials to take part in a signing ceremony of some sort. 

Iran has agreed in principle to the framework but there are still a couple points USA isn’t satisfied with. 95% done. But literally changing words sometimes requires days in Iran’s system. Haggling over language. But USA feels like we have a commitment on nuclear stockpile and on opening Strait of Hormuz. 

If IRAN doesn’t deliver on commitments, they get nothing.

“Iran’s ability to project power is a lot more limited than it was two months ago,” SAO says. “Their industrial base for building ballistic missiles has been substantially destroyed.”

I honestly can't tell if Luntz is making a joke here or not. 

At Least The War Is Over

As I said before, Trump doesn't just lie, he believes he can manifest reality through his proclamations. I don't think most journalists get this.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei says some progress has been made in talks with the United States with Pakistan’s mediation on “a large portion of the discussion topics”, but it does not mean that “the signing of an agreement is imminent”.

Iran's probably gonna hold out for getting Greenland.

(Just kidding, Greenlanders, you are not ours to give) 

 

I Was Proved Fucking Right

I don't know how much this is human nature generally and how much it is specific to the kind of person drawn to careers in public influence (punditry, top government positions, etc.), but it is certainly the case that many people in positions of influence would prefer to burn down Cincinnati (editor: where is that, again? our readers probably don't know) than admit to having ever been wrong about anything.

There was a brief "admitting we were wrong" period about Iraq. Lots of people who were wrong about Iraq were paid money to write pieces about being wrong about Iraq (funny how that works: those people must be listened to, even in error).  Most of the pieces were, at heart, pieces about the tragedy of someone with such a big brain being wrong and not the consequences of that.

If they'd burn down Cincinnati, they'd certainly nuke Iran, especially when so many of them want to anyway.

Morning

Holiday Monday Funday

At Least The War Is Over

 The greatest peace deal ever achieved (maybe).

Our Agent

Anyone who believed attacking Iran was a good idea for any reason was a sociopathic idiot, but as with many things, asking Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth to implement this cunning plan was insanity.

Oh No Our Precious War

Both Ted Cruz and Lindsey Graham (plus all the usual suspects) are freaking out at the prospect of Trump's glorious Persian adventure ending as it will inevitably end (humiliating surrender by Uncle Sam, I mean the greatest peace deal ever made).

Mr. TRUMP, sir, you should not tolerate this disrespect and poor advice!

Or Maybe Not

Just like infrastructure week.

But Iranian officials have tempered expectations for a quick breakthrough. Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson said differences in the mediated talks between Tehran and Washington remain “deep and significant”, signalling that major obstacles still stand in the way of a formal agreement.

Something to understand about Trump is that he isn’t just a liar, though of course he is that. He truly believes in the power of willing the things he wants into being. Announcing things isn’t just lying. It is manifesting.

Morning

Sunday funday

At Least The War Is Over

We'll see!

Afternoon

The situation in the below post is not improving.

Evacuation

Scary stuff.

Emergency crews in Orange County are facing a highly complex race against time as they try to secure a bulging, pressurized tank loaded with 7,000 gallons of methyl methacrylate. Resolving the crisis has proven incredibly difficult due to a phenomenon known as a “thermal runaway” reaction, where the chemical generates its own uncontrollable heat, threatening either a massive toxic leak or a catastrophic explosion.

Evacuations around the failing tank in Garden Grove expanded to include tens of thousands of residents in six Orange County cities: Garden Grove, Cypress, Stanton, Anaheim, Buena Park and Westminster.

Several years ago there was a near catastrophe in Philadelphia which could've killed everyone in the vicinity of Center City, including me.

The Harvard Daily

Harvad's grading policies should not be a regular topic for the New York Times.

Enough is enough, indeed! We know you all went to school near Boston! We don't care!

Also Jason Furman's career makes absolutely no sense except in the "it is who you know" sense.

Morning

Slacker Saturday.

Friday Evening

Onward to Cuba! (Probably)

Family Man

 

God Speed

I'm curious if he knows this is never happening and is just in on the grift or...

SpaceX may have failed to get Starship V3 off the ground on Thursday, but the company revealed some interesting information in the lead-up to its launch attempt. With less than 15 minutes left in the countdown, commentators introduced the man who plans to lead SpaceX’s first crewed mission to Mars.

During the live webcast, SpaceX played a video of cryptocurrency billionaire and civilian astronaut Chun Wang speaking from Bouvet Island in the South Atlantic Ocean. Wang, who has gone to space one time before, explained that he will embark on a Starship flyby of the Moon and Mars. SpaceX has not shared a target launch date for the mission, but it could be the world’s first interplanetary human spaceflight.

We Won't Have Tulsi Gabbard To Kick Around Anymore

Says she's resigning because her husband was diagnosed with cancer.

...or:

A source familiar with the matter said that ​Gabbard had been forced out by the White House.

Good Luck With That

Can't begin to comprehend what they are imagining they can accomplish.

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul tells reporters that Germany is preparing to participate in securing the Strait of Hormuz under a UK-led mission, though he added that he did not see it as a NATO mission.

I don't claim to be an Advanced Military Understander but I do not think either country has much to offer here. 

America's Worst Department Of Justice

The Department of Justice.

Sure Why Not

Trump was always like this, but he is... more like this... now.

President Trump announced on Thursday that the United States would deploy 5,000 troops to Poland, despite the Pentagon’s decision a week ago to cancel the deployment of thousands of U.S. troops there.

In a social media post that caught Pentagon officials by surprise, Mr. Trump suggested that he was making the move “based on the successful election” of Karol Nawrocki, Poland’s conservative nationalist president whom Mr. Trump endorsed in his election — nearly a year ago.

Don't know what happened exactly, but "did what the last person he talked to wanted" is a common thing with him (depending on what it is and how much they flatter/bribe him, of course). 

Yes, yes, those of us who would much rather be writing literary nonfiction for the New Yorker at 1978 per word rates do love a good kicker paragraph, but I do not think it serves most daily journalism well to put sly commentary like this at the very end!

In the statement on Tuesday, Sean Parnell, the Pentagon’s chief spokesman, said that the decisions over the past three weeks that have bewildered allies, angered lawmakers and sent U.S. military commanders scrambling to come up with palatable options were “the result of a comprehensive, multilayered process.”

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Daddy's Mad

The Senate doesn't fund the ballroom which was totally going to be paid for without taxpayer money ANYWAY and they're skipping town because of the crime reward fund. 

GOP calls off votes after contentious meeting on ‘anti-weaponization’ fund

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche spent more than an hour sparring with Republican senators behind closed doors.

Senate GOP leaders have canceled plans to vote this week on a party-line immigration enforcement bill, a major setback as lawmakers contend with President Donald Trump’s personal political agenda.

Several Republican senators said action on the legislation would wait until after a weeklong Memorial Day recess — guaranteeing that Congress would blow a Trump-set June 1 deadline for the immigration funding.

Not Gonna Fall For That One

Evil Iran does not have much confidence that our big, beautiful, sweaty president is acting in good faith.

The two senior Iranian sources said there ​was deep suspicion in Iran that the pause in hostilities was a tactical deception by Washington to create a sense of security before it renews airstrikes.

Iran's top peace negotiator, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, said on ​Wednesday that "obvious and hidden moves by the enemy" showed the Americans were preparing new attacks.

Kennedy Minus Kennedy

Also from that poll, it seems being a Kennedy without the Kennedy name isn't enough. 

Especially when you have all the glorious habits of a failson.

Aides teed up calls with frenzied media outlets, Democratic luminaries and a roster of wealthy donors. The goal was to show that Mr. Schlossberg, a 33-year-old heir known for his good looks and madcap social media musings, was a serious candidate ready for what promised to be a grueling race.

But just hours into his Day 1 launch, the candidate abruptly announced a change of plans, according to three people familiar with the events. Forget dialing for dollars — Mr. Schlossberg said he needed a nap. He then effectively disappeared for the day, leaving his team reeling.

I'm also glad that George Conway's "as a former Republican and MSNOW favorite guest, I get to be in charge of the Democrats now" campaign is sinking. 

 

Bradmentum

Good to see.

Former Comptroller Brad Lander has a strong early lead over incumbent Dan Goldman. Lander is polling with 57% of the vote, and Goldman at 23%

Goldman is one of the worst people in Congress. I didn't say "one of the worst Democrats."

Badges of Honor

I actually think the explanation for Polis here is simple: he spends all day cooking his brain on X, the everything app. Many such examples.

NEW: The Colorado Democratic Party has formally condemned and censured Governor Jared Polis for granting clemency to Tina Peters. Polis is hereby banned from speaking or being honored at party events. 90% of CDP central committee members voted to reprimand Polis.

— Kyle Clark (@kylec.bsky.social) May 21, 2026 at 3:29 AM

ANALYSIS: Goes without saying that Polis will wear this censure from his party as a badge of honor as he seeks to burnish his "not your normal Democrat" credentials. But it appeared there was some pent-up frustration with Polis among Colorado Dems that boiled over tonight.

— Kyle Clark (@kylec.bsky.social) May 21, 2026 at 3:38 AM

50,000 Nazis bots can't be wrong! Will of the people!

Morning

Thanos Thursday

Wednesday Night

Rock on.

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Nothing Magic Happens When His Poll Numbers Drop

Quite often people despair that Trump isn't more unpopular. But, really, he is very unpopular! 34%  approval is very low!

I think they imagine that if gets unpopular enough then something... happens.  But it doesn't! At most a few Republicans pretend to distance themselves from him in time for the election. That's all that will happen!

And as for journalism/commentariat... well... Trump is still loved by the people who love him, and they long ago established that was what mattered. 

Stop Embarassing Us

Ben-Gvir you aren't supposd to do that to people who might matter.

Israel’s far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, has sparked a diplomatic crisis by publishing footage of Israeli security forces abusing international activists who were detained as they tried to sail to Gaza with aid.

There was a rapid and furious response from countries whose citizens were onboard the boats, including the UK, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and Ireland, in many cases delivered in person from the top of government.

The responses were... mostly not that rapid.

America's Worst DA

Jeff Rosen.

The Great Satan, Ahmadinejad

Oldheads remember how the same crew currently egging Trump on in Iran built him up as the Great Satan 20+ years ago.

It turns out that the United States and Israel went into the conflict with a particular and very surprising someone in mind: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the former Iranian president known for his hard-line, anti-Israel and anti-American views.

But the audacious plan, developed by the Israelis and which Mr. Ahmadinejad had been consulted about, quickly went awry, according to the U.S. officials who were briefed on it.

Mr. Ahmadinejad was injured on the war’s first day by an Israeli strike at his home in Tehran that had been designed to free him from house arrest, the American officials and an associate of Mr. Ahmadinejad said. He survived the strike, they said, but after the near miss he became disillusioned with the regime change plan.

In 2007 or so there was a big push to make this guy the Great Satan  that we had to deal with.  There was  the usual chatter about nuclear Iran, human rights menace, tyranny.  It was something that had to be dealt with immediately.

The centrist dipshits all played their usual part.  

I can't even remember how we started to forget to worry about all that. It seemed very urgent at the time. It always does. Then for some reason it doesn't. A new sparkly thing appears.

It is, I have to admit, very very funny that the guys who said we had to invade Iran because of that guy were trying to put him in charge.

Outcomes: 3 Different Ones

I'm reasonably sure Trump is taking advice from the various psychopaths that surround him in the White House, alternated with some "suggestions" from certain rich "allies" in the Middle East.

There are 3 options: Trump tries to blow up the world, the status quo continues "forever," and Trump gets a humiliating defeat which he calls The Most Perfect Beautiful Deal Ever Made and much of our press, especially his Foxy Friends, play along.

Congratulations Chris Rabb

I don't really know him, but we did meet once (I think just once) over 20 years ago.  He ran in the progressive (lefty, whatever we call it these days) lane, so hopefully he stays there!

State Rep. Chris Rabb will more than likely replace U.S. Rep. Dwight Evans in January. The self-styled progressive benefitted from political endorsements from the left and a grassroots ground game by local progressive groups such as the Philadelphia Democratic Socialists of America and the Working Families Party.

Morning

Wanton Wednesday.

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Capital Intensive Industries

Even if we all believe that AI is our wonderful and glorious future, this is a bit like 4 companies simultaneously building transcontinental railroads and there's little-to-no advantage of being first to complete it.

For the past two years, Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Meta have repeatedly set records for how much they are spending on artificial intelligence.

On Wednesday, the four giants did it again.

In the first three months of the year, the four companies reported in their financial results, they plowed a total of $130.65 billion into capital expenditures, largely spending on data centers that power A.I. That figure — which was another record — was more than three times what the Manhattan Project cost to develop nuclear bombs and 71 percent higher than what the tech giants spent in the same quarter a year earlier.

And it isn't clear that ticket prices will cover the operating costs, let alone pay for the capital expenditures, for even one of them. 

Occasionally Bad People Die

They don't tell you how much "wanting to outlive your 'enemies'" is a big motivator as you age. 

An assortment of headlines. Click to embiggen.

Disqualifying

No dog in the Colorado governor primary fight, but this is correct.

NEW: Sen Michael Bennet (D) says he will not appoint Gov Jared Polis to the Senate if Bennet is elected Governor. Bennet calls Polis' clemency for Tina Peters "disqualifying"

— Kyle Clark (@kylec.bsky.social) May 19, 2026 at 4:44 AM

At Least The War Is Over

Mr. Trump, sir, I blame that girly-man beta cuck Pete Hegseth and Li'l Marco for all of you troubles.

Morning

 TACO TUESDAY

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Can They Both Lose

They sort of did. Musk obviously lost the suit, but on a "technicality" so Altman wasn't exactly exonerated.

After around two hours of deliberation, the jury has reached a unanimous verdict in Musk v. Altman, the tech trial of the year. The group found that two claims were barred by the statute of limitations, and a third failed thanks to the dismissal of one of these.

The jury here is an advisory jury, meaning the group is installed solely to offer another opinion to the judge, and its verdict is technically not legally binding. Ultimately, US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers is the ultimate legal authority — and she accepted the decision.

The jury found that Musk’s claim for breach of charitable trust was barred by the statute of limitations, and the claim that Microsoft aided and abetted such a breach failed with it. Restitution is also barred by the statute of limitations, the jury found.

I Can't Wait For You To Go To Hell

I don't have too much patience even for genuine "trying to save souls" evangelicals, but I recognize that can come from somewhat well-intentioned people, unlike the "I can't wait to be raptured so I can smugly watch the unbelievers burn" types.

WASHINGTON — Thousands gathered on the National Mall on Sunday for a day of prayer, worship music and patriotic speeches for an event celebrating the nation’s 250th anniversary that supporters hail as a public affirmation of faith in America but critics view as an exclusionary display that blurs the line between religion and politics.

A Rather Obvious Callback By The Writers

Lazy, IMHO.

An Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda is a “public health emergency of international concern”, the World Health Organization has said.

The WHO made its declaration on Sunday after 88 deaths and more than 300 suspected cases linked to the outbreak of the Bundibugyo virus, prompting Africa’s top health official to say he was “on panic mode”.

In case you have forgotten, B. Barry "Bamz" Obama (The Usurper) incompetently presided over a disastrous Ebola epidemic which killed thousands in America (editor: actually it was 2).

The press hyped it up as a massive near-catastrophic event, in part because of this guy:

Obama is making the Ebola problem much worse than it needs to be in the U.S. by not halting flights from West Africa. Airport testing a joke

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 10, 2014

Gavin Newsom, Going To Best Buy, Shopping For Software, As One Does

No opinion on the tax, but I think Gavin's entered his 'old man' phase.

Newsom has framed the effort as closing a fairness gap in the tax code. He pointed to a discrepancy in how software is taxed depending on how it is purchased.

“I’m at Best Buy often, and I’m paying sales tax on a lot of this pre-written software, and then I find out all my friends that aren’t near a Best Buy, they’re downloading it and they’re not paying sales tax. Well, how is that fair?” Newsom said during Friday’s press confrence.

The governor’s office says the majority of the impact will fall on business-to-business software transactions, which account for roughly 75% of the projected economic effect.

Can you point to where on your computer you are inserting this purchased software, Gavin?

Serial Killers

I suppose he gets less respectful deference than he used to, but for a long time Lindsey Graham was one of the Serious Foreign Policy Guys that would show up on 3 Sunday shows every week, simultaneously, to explain to the dazzled host that, once again, the only serious option is to Kill'em All.

The top Republican senator has urged Trump to “hurt” Iran until it agrees to US terms in nuclear negations, including launching attacks on its energy sites.

Graham’s call came despite international law prohibiting attacks on sites considered essential for civilians.

“The energy infrastructure is their soft under belly,” he told the NBC broadcaster. “If you go back to the fight, I’d put energy on top of the list.”

Just as not all people who work with children are pedophiles, not all people in top government are serial killers. But if you did want to kill as many people as possible, wouldn't you aim to position yourself high in government, somewhere?

Similarly, if you were really into genocide, wouldn't you consider cleverly make your brand "genocide is bad" while positioning yourself to faciliate global atrocities?

Warfighters

I don't know the truth of this or precisely what happened, of course, but this kind of operation doesn't exactly fall under Hegseth's view of what the military should be focusing on.

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps says it (IRGC) has intercepted US-made weapons which were being transported into Iran by northern Iraqi counter-revolutionary groups, according to the semi-official Iranian news agency Fars.

The groups were "hit in the Kurdistan province", where a large amount of weapons and ammunition were discovered and confiscated, the IRGC said.

The IRGC accused the group moving the weapons of working on behalf of the US and Israel.

The US is yet to comment officially on the specific Iranian claims but Donald Trump said in April that the US sought to arm Iranian protesters earlier this year, while saying the weapons largely fell into the hands of Iran's Kurds.

I'm not saying this happened (if it did, as described) because Hegseth fired everybody who wasn't focusing only on being A Real Tough Dude (and white), but it could have!

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A Perfect Plan

Everybody agrees.

Two months after Donald Trump announced that the US would provide insurance to ships seeking to transit the Strait of Hormuz, the programme has not provided a single dollar of cover.

The scheme never got off the ground, according to insurance brokers, as it did not fulfil all the requirements needed for ships transiting the strait and was tied to a US naval escort for vessels, which has not been established.

Hey it got major headlines and writeups and the stock market went ZOOM so who can say whether the journalism on this was good or bad.

Perfect

You could ask him about anything he has said - or even something completely made up that you claimed he said - and he would answer this way.

Trump on saying he doesn't think about Americans' financial situation: "It's a perfect statement. I'll make it again. Everybody agrees."

[image or embed]

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) May 15, 2026 at 11:24 PM

Ah, well, nevertheless

Bill Cassidy goes out in shame.

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We Interviewed Some People Who Agree With Trump And Discovered They Agree With Trump

An ongoing multimedia extravaganza.

Lunch

Genuine slacker Saturday, as I have to drive somewhere.

America's Worst Democratic Governor

Jared Polis

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America's Worst University

Cornell University.

Cornell just released this statement from its committee of Trustees investigating the incident where the President ran over a student's foot with his car. The statement extols the President and blames the students.

[image or embed]

— Dan Hirschman (@asociologist.bsky.social) May 15, 2026 at 3:20 PM

The Professionals

Bari's kids are continuing to do great.

After failing to secure a visa to broadcast from Beijing, Tony Dokoupil was also forced out of his backup location in Taiwan, Status has learned, adding to an embarrassing series of events for the Bari Weiss-led network.

"We"

Trump complains he can't brag about the Iran War because of the "little man with the $4 gasoline": "I don't want to say we're making a fortune ... because if I say it, they're going to say, 'He forgets about the little man with the $4 gasoline.'"

[image or embed]

— FactPost (@factpostnews.bsky.social) May 15, 2026 at 2:46 AM

Republicans Will Do Liberal Things, But Conservatively

Dem legislators have occasionally been able to (though not rreally in the age of Trump) get some Republicans to sign on to some liberalish things, though too often by making those things overly bureaucratic, privatized, punitive, and means-tested.  

Still the idea that the Republican party would ever embrace these things wholeheartedly is always nonsense.

This particular one was especially ridiculous.  ONCE WE OUTLAW ABORTION, WE WILL THEN BE IN FAVOR OF HELPING WITH CHILDCARE.  

Centrists are always imagining that there are nonexistent deals on the table, but this one was nonsensical.

Where In The World

Can I go to this place with no cameras?

Members of Mr. Kean’s team were seated conspicuously in the third row, watching as the Democrats took turns weighing in on their boss’s mysterious absence. Afterward, his chief of staff, Dan Scharfenberger, reiterated a now familiar explanation.

“He’s dealing with a personal health condition, and he’ll be back soon,” Mr. Scharfenberger said in an interview.

When pressed on the nature of the health condition and why Mr. Kean had not been seen in New Jersey or in Washington, Mr. Scharfenberger said, “There’s no cameras where Tom is.”

Gone for 2 months. 

I don't think we need regular medical updates of every member of Congress, but missing for 2 months is an issue in itself.

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Failson Friday.

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The Finest People

This will be a 4 minute story, because that's the world we live in now.

Mike Banks, the border patrol chief who oversaw the most aggressive militarization of the US southern border in recent history, has resigned with immediate effect.

“It’s just time,” Banks told Fox News in an interview. “I feel like I got the ship back on course from the least secure, most disastrous, most chaotic border to the most secure border this country has ever seen.”

It's just time...

The resignation comes weeks after the Washington Examiner reported that six current and former border patrol employees had accused Banks of regularly paying for sex with prostitutes during trips to Colombia and Thailand over more than a decade, and bragging about it to colleagues.

The behavior was said to have been investigated twice by CBP officials, with one inquiry reportedly ending abruptly while the former homeland security secretary Kristi Noem was in office.

Oh 

My Apes Are Doing Great

I have no deep thoughts here other than I have no idea how the AI-driven stock boom ends.  

I registered for a road race. The customary FAQ (what time does it start, where is there water during the race, is there a bag drop, etc...) was replaced by, or at least hidden under, an "AI" chatbot.  

It took about 45 seconds to answer any question and often couldn't.  

There was nothing that couldn't be more easily and more accessible in a FAQ. There aren't many possible questions about a race! The set of information is very small!  You don't need "AI" for it, especially slow AI that doesn't even work!

It Was Joe Biden Wot Did It

I know most people only see Fox News through clips (if at all), but while this sounds ridiculous, it is fits perfectly well into the Fox News Cinematic Universe.

It's always tempting to think their viewers can't possibly believe this stuff, but they've been hearing this stuff 24/7 for years. Of course they do!

And Fox is the tame right wing news source, relatively speaking, at this point.

Where It Hurts

I do think it's a bit tragic that everyone learned during the post-covid era, once again, that everybody hates inflation, even though I don't think that's precisely true. I actually don't think people are impacted too much by 4% versus 2% inflation, which is really what that debate is normally about, whether the Fed needs to put the brakes on every time the rate "spikes" to 2.2%.

I mean, I don't think they'd notice too much if that 4% was pure inflation, spread perfectly evenly across all goods and services (and wages!). Only people with real money would care. But that's not what happened. The prices of very visible things spiked due to post-covid supply chain and labor issues, and we just called that "inflation." General inflation was high for a bit, but food price inflation was even higher, running above 10%. That's the kind of thing that enraged people.

And, like now, it wasn't the "inflation" of Milton Friedman's mind, happening because the Fed was printing too much money. It was cost-push inflation.

Though Biden's cost-push inflation wasn't due to his actions.

Anyway...

Driving that increase were substantial price hikes for things like fresh veggies. On an annualized basis, fresh vegetable prices are more than 44% higher today than they were three months ago.

Keeping interest rates high to "fight" cost-push inflation is only obviously correct if you think fighting inflation trumps all other concerns. 

Morning

Thackeray Thursday.

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Nasty Australians

Very mean, low IQ people.

Plans to build Australia’s first Trump Tower have been scrapped just three months after it was announced, with the local developer saying the Trump brand has become “toxic.”

“Let’s just say that with the Iran war and everything else, the Trump brand was increasingly unpopular in Australia,” David Young, CEO of Altus Property Group, told CNN in a statement.

No Need To Be Goldfish

Daniel's job is keeping track of this stuff, and he does that well, but the point his colleagues should take from his work is, "Everything Trump says is likely to be a lie and you should begin with that premise." It isn't a stretch to say that every news story about something Trump says should begin, "The president, who regularly lies, just claimed...".

Trump April 23: I contacted people "that have worked for me in the past, doing swimming pools," and one gave me a great price on the Reflecting Pool project

Trump May 4: "I have some very good contractors," asked three of them to "do me a favor fellas" and go look at the…

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) May 12, 2026

I shouldn't have to make this point after all of these years.

The NYT also does a full rundown. Good for what it is, but, again, TRUMP IS PROBABLY TALKING BULLSHIT should preface every claim he makes, not be addressed 6 weeks later.

Edge Cases

Driving is probably the most complicated (no way to quantify that really) task any of us ever do. Humans do stupid things too, of course, but at some point we manage to figure out that we did, indeed, do a stupid thing.

Waymo is recalling its U.S. fleet of robotaxis after one of the autonomous vehicles was swept away when it drove into floodwaters in San Antonio.

The voluntary software recall stems from an incident during severe weather April 20, when a Waymo vehicle “encountered an untraversible flooded section of a roadway,” the company told the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Though the vehicle detected the flooded road, it continued into floodwaters at reduced speed.

I'm not asserting that this type of thing means robotaxis are UNPOSSIBLE. They clearly work better than I had thought they would, though there is much more Mechanical Turk activity happening than they like to reveal. The point is more that this is still an incredibly complex activity which still is not close to being solved without constant active updates and intervention.

Your personal self-driving car is not much nearer than it was 5 years ago.

The Great Bed Shitting

Will hit consumer prices next.

The producer price index rose a seasonally adjusted 1.4% for the month, much higher than the 0.5% Dow Jones consensus forecast and the upwardly revised 0.7% March increase, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Wednesday. This was the largest monthly gain since March 2022.

On an annual basis, the index was up 6%, the biggest increase since December 2022.

Operation Pete Hegseth Has A Mighty Johnson So Stop Saying He Doesn't

Amazing.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. military is considering officially renaming the war with Iran “Operation Sledgehammer” if the current ceasefire collapses and President Donald Trump decides to re-start major combat operations, according to two U.S. officials.

If you change the name, it's a new war!

Morning

Let's GOOOOOOO

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Goldfish

When someone - the president, other politicians, people in The Discourse generally - showes themselves to be a bad faith and dishonest actor, you are allowed to remember that. If you are a journalist, it should impact how you cover those people going forward. As an editor or producer, whether you go to them for quotes or appearances.

This should not be controversial.

I've written before that one problem with DC (government and government-adjacent DC, including journalism) is that almost everybody is paid to lie. Some of those lies are mostly harmless - puffing up your boss a bit, spinning something - and many of them are less harmless. If there were social and professional sanctions for people who bullshit in their bullshitting jobs, then the entire social system would collapse.

Go to a random dinner party and you're going to find people who work as lobbyists for Evil Corp, or people whose spouses and friends do.

That's the glorious "bipartisan" Washington.

If you are a journalist, you should be allowed to remember things. You certainly shouldn't be encouraged to pretend you don't.

Federal Gas Tax Cut

It's always on the table when gas prices rise, which I suspect leads to people thinking that it's a significant amount when it's only 18.5 cents/gallon.

It's an action which will make people more mad, because it's inevitably swamped by the actual price increase. You promised help! You said you'd cut the tax but gas is still 5 bucks a gallon!

Not At Any Price

The below is a joke, but so often that is the level of The Discourse. Anyway, fun things happen when the supply curve goes vertical, especially for a good which tends to have pretty close to just-in-time delivery AND which is an input in, well, everything through its role in transportation (including transporting itself!).

Even if there aren't lines at the gas station, $100 gas would reflect, by any colloquial understanding, a "shortage."

But of course in practice, those pumps would go dry, in places, in such a scenario.

I'm not predicting gas shortages, I'm just saying that people will have ridiculous things to say about them if ever they are looming.

Shortages

Me, dumb: We could have shortages soon.

You, smart, after two Econ 101 classes: Prices adjust to equate supply and demand so shortages are impossible.

Capacity

I'd still bet on Trump ramping up the violence soon and if he does there will be more long term impacts.

UAE won’t resume full gas production until 2027 after Iranian attacks

The United Arab Emirates’s main gas-processing complex, which was hit in Iranian attacks during the war, will not reach its full production capacity again until next year.

ADNOC Gas said the Habshan site, which is one of the world’s largest gas production facilities and supplies gas across the UAE, is now operating at 60 percent capacity and “the company is currently working towards achieving 80 percent restoration by the end of 2026 with full capacity restored in 2027”.

In a statement sharing its first-quarter results, the company reported $1.1bn in net income, a 15 percent decrease compared with the same quarter last year.

Why Did Sleepy Joe Do This

Impressed by Trump's ability to make messes.

US prices rose in April at their fastest rate since May 2023 as the impact of the war in Iran was increasingly felt by consumers.

A jump in the cost of gasoline and groceries pushed the consumer price index (CPI), the amount prices jumped by in the past 12 months, to 3.8%.

It is the highest level since inflation hit 4% three years ago.

Morning

TACO Tuesday.

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Coming to America

Just got off the phone with @realDonaldTrump ... he told me he is seriously considering a move to make Venezuela the 51st state... pic.twitter.com/cofs12dhUS

— John Roberts (@johnrobertsFox) May 11, 2026

I guess all the ones whose Temporary Protected Status he eliminated will just become citizens and can stay, and many more will arrive!

Fine with me.

Are you a natuaral born citizen if you were born in Caracas?

Looks Like Marco And Pete Can't Do Anything Right

Mr. Trump, sir, you need to hire better people!

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has grown increasingly frustrated with the Cuban government’s ability to maintain power despite months of sustained U.S. pressure and has been pressing his advisers about why his administration’s efforts to tip the regime into collapse have not yet succeeded, according to two U.S. officials, a former U.S. official and three people familiar with the discussions.

The Bad News Keeps Coming

And the stocks keep floating!

One possible explanation is the Big Money assumes they (not necessarily you, of course) will always be bailed out if there's a crash, so why worry their pretty little brains about it.

These people won't be bailed out, but their creditors likely will be!

The strain from this increasing debt load is starting to show, with the percentage of after-tax income that households spend paying down debt ticking up since early 2025, according to Federal Reserve data.

Banks say they are not seeing signs of serious distress. Jamie Dimon, chief executive of JPMorgan, said late last month that consumer borrowing habits looked “fundamentally healthy.”

But across all consumer debts, the share that is delinquent rose to 4.8 percent, the highest tally since 2017. For the first time in more than a decade, the national average credit score dipped last year, according to data from Experian, one of the three major U.S. credit bureaus.

Kneel

The US record on "winning" wars has not been especially awesome in the way we like to define that, which is unconditional surrender by the opposition, but we usually don't lose them quite this hilariously.

Iran’s demands for U.S. war reparations, recognition of its sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz and an end to American sanctions were among the conditions that President Trump has deemed “unacceptable,” Iran’s state-owned broadcaster reported on Monday.

Morning

 MACHO MONDAY

At Least The War Is Over

Oh well.

Two Takes

The New York Times has two types of pieces it loves to run about Democrats. The first is:

Dems should do this thing that they are already doing.

I think Tom Friedman wrote a dozen of those in the Obama years.

The second is:

Dems should stop doing this thing they aren't doing.

We have that one today:

Without even getting into the argument about whether they should or shouldn't, most of them don't! This issue is not front and center at all! 

Ride The 'D'

I spend some time in LA for family reasons and I usually don't rent a car because (depending) you can actually get around pretty well on public transportation. 

Sure, public transit can take longer and be more inconvenient than transit. I don't expect everyone in LA to ditch their cars and follow the lead of Ed Begley, Jr. But driving in LA does suck, in part because parking is a pain in the ass almost everywhere. It's a big streetcar city/region that lost its streetcars, not a big parking lot-paved suburb.

I do find tremendous personal resistance from people who love using transit in fancy European cities but who never consider using it in their own city. For example, I have friends who live a couple of miles from downtown, on regular bus routes, and it never occurs them to take the bus and in fact find it weird that I would take it (from downtown) to their place. Parking in DTLA really really sucks! 

My favorite DTLA thing is there are metered parking spots you can use until (I think) 3pm and then they become car lanes for rush hour. Tow trucks come out to make it happen! No I was never towed.

Anyway, one more piece.

This week, Metro is set to unveil the first part of a nine-mile subway under Wilshire, one of the most dynamic and traffic-clogged stretches of Los Angeles. Public transit experts say the $9.7-billion D Line extension, which will connect Koreatown to the Westside, is a landmark achievement in L.A. public transit history.

$10 billion sounds like a lot of money, and it probably shouldn't cost that much, but my take on such things is it's actually the useful spending that gets scrutiny and derision, not dumb spending. We're gonna blow a few hundred billion, easy, because of Iran.

A few hundred billion buys a lot of 'D's.

At Least The War Is Over

How long can THE MARKETS soar on these fumes?

Traffic in the Strait of Hormuz remained throttled on Saturday, after naval skirmishes between U.S. and Iranian forces in recent days heightened tensions in the vital shipping route.

For weeks, the narrow passage between the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea has been choked by two competing blockades enforced by each side in the conflict. About 1,600 ships are bottled up in the Persian Gulf.

Morning

Sunday funday.

We Hide In The Dunes By The Seaside

It's all very confusing.

Russia is shipping drone components to Iran via the Caspian Sea, U.S. officials say, helping Iran rebuild its offensive abilities after losing roughly 60 percent of its drone arsenal during recent fighting. The officials spoke anonymously to divulge private military assessments.

The Starmer Project

I don't know how true the stories were about UK Labour advising the Harris campaign (and how much they listened) were true. People like to boast about such things. But it was a bit worrying at the time, because it was quite obvious that Americans generally had no idea what was going on with UK Labour and their already plummeting popularity.

Yes they managed to win the election with a large number of seats, but with a tiny share of the popular vote. That such things are possible in the UK electoral system does not mean they signal anything good about the victorious party.

Right after winning they decided the smart and sensible thing to do was prove how tough they were by announcing some benefit cuts, coinciding with a scandal about all the free gifts they were getting. The Labour party was announcing benefit cuts after 14 years of Tory rule.

Anyway, the UK Labour party was hijacked by the worst people in Labour. Perhaps the worst people in Britain. I am not exaggerating. Continuity Rishi Sunak would have been better, at least.

They've been destroyed in local elections (councillors and mayors in some places) and in the governments of Wales (especially) and Scotland.

I don't know if Starmer will cling to power, but the Starmerites undoubtedly will.

Capital

Occasionally I think about the hugely expensive automated baggage handling system which was built for the then new Denver airport. They invited reporters for a big debut demonstration and it was a disaster. It subsequently never really worked and was eventually removed.

Basically it was a promise that magic expensive technology would let them skimp on hiring airport workers.

Automation is nothing new, of course, and often it works quite well, but you don't have to be a supergenius to understand why it would be extremely difficult to implement such a system with non-uniform bags.

Workers aren't that expensive, either.

And On And On

I think we can put "Iran deal" in the box with "Trump health care plan" and "infrastructure week."

President Donald Trump told CNN on Friday that his administration was expecting to hear back from Iran later that evening about a US proposal aimed at ending the conflict.

Asked by CNN’s Kristen Holmes whether he had received a response from Iran, Trump said, “We’ll hear from them supposedly tonight.”

Pressed on whether he believed the Iranians were slow-rolling negotiations, Trump replied that he did not know. “We’ll find out soon enough,” he said.

Trump has to "win" a war we obviously lost. And with each passing day he cares less and just doesn't want to hear about it.

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Working Hard Or Hardly Working

I just can't comprehend not taking being a CABINET SECRETARY seriously. I might be shit at it, but I'd figure it was going to occupy all my time and mental space!

oh my god -- Sean Duffy on Fox & Friends this morning announced that he spent parts of *7 MONTHS* (more than half a year!) on a roadtrip with his family to celebrate America's 250th anniversary

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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) May 8, 2026 at 5:02 PM

Nothing Really Matters

Even in the post-9/11 bloodlust era, most "respectable" commentators felt the need to express concerns and regret about civilian casualties, to discuss war as if it was a terrible, if necessary, tragedy. Most of the time, anyway.

You rarely see any expressed concern at all anymore.  Even if it was mostly fake in the past, or more about the pundits admiring their own morality than actual genuine concern, it still did convey the sense that people dying mattered.

Waiting For A Big Beautiful Deal

We are once again being told there might be an Iran "deal" today, though I suspect that is more nonsense.

Any "deal" that actually happens will essentially involve Iran being the victors in a war they didn't start, with terms set accordingly. I am curious how it will be covered.  If it happens.

I Gotta Admit This Is Funny

I left long before universities were overpowered by mandatory ed tech, but I don't know a single faculty member who actually likes being forced to use this stuff. It's one thing to make tools available, another thing to squeeze everybody into them and make it impossible for them to use anything else.

New York — An apparent cyberattack shut down an education platform used by universities and K-12 schools across the US Thursday, depriving students and teachers of essential classroom materials – at a time when many are taking or prepping for final exams.

Canvas, a popular, cloud-based digital hub for classrooms, has more than 30 million active users globally, with more than 8,000 institutions as customers, parent company Instructure says on its website.

And of course there are monitoring (spying on faculty, eroding any pedagogical freedom) and intellectual property (all your lectures belong to us) issues. 

Morning

Fuckin' Friday.

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So Much Winning

(WaPo reporter)

U.S. intel also indicates that Iran retains about 75% of its pre-war inventories of mobile launchers & about 70% of its pre-war stockpiles of missiles, per a U.S. official. The regime has also been able to recover underground storage facilities & repair damaged missiles

— John Hudson (@John_Hudson) May 7, 2026

Kavanaugh Stops

Kavanaugh is an idiot, so I can believe it actually didn't occur to him that an immigration stop would never be a one-time thing, like you get your name checked and never have to do it again.

This wasn’t the first time ICE agents stopped and held Garcia Venegas. In fact, Saturday’s encounter marked the third such incident, according to court filings. Garcia Venegas, whose parents are originally from Mexico, had twice before been detained after ICE raided construction sites where he was working, and twice before he was let go after proving his American citizenship. This third detention, Garcia Venegas wrote in his statement, had caused him emotional distress and anxiety. “I live in constant fear that I will be subjected to further baseless detentions just for going about my daily life,” he said, adding, “I only wish to live my life in peace.”

He gave full license to terrorize Latinos constantly forever, and while I doubt that bothers him at all, I can, as I said, believe he didn't get what he was enabling. 

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.

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.

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.

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.

Countries are realizing they can, actually, just say no.

Morning

Thrilling Thursday

Wednesday Night

Rock on.

Brain Geniuses

It's funny how much Rubio was pushed as The Next Great (And Good) Republican once upon a time.

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

Yes Iran should get Congressional authorization for its minelaying operations.

Too Much Fucking Context, Barry

 Too much.

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."

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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) May 6, 2026 at 2:19 PM

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!

or maybe 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!

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Wacky Wednesday

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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. 

Morning

Nacho Tuesday. 

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But I Thought He Was So Competent

A problem with insider stories about Hegseth is that, as with Kash Patel, nothing would be surprising.  Yah he's a stupid racist asshole who sucks.

Since Trump returned to office in January last year, Pete Hegseth, the rumbustious defense secretary who has made it his mission to remake a military ethos he denounced as “woke”, has fired or forcibly retired 24 generals and senior commanders, with no performance-related reason given.

About 60% have been Black or female, an approach seemingly driven by the administration’s proclaimed onslaught against “DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) hires”.

OK this, from the self-proclaimed Alpha Male, is funny though:

Pentagon staff have been surprised to see him accompanied to official meetings by his wife, Jennifer, a former Fox News producer who frequently sits at the back during such encounters.

Somewhere After Midnight In My Wildest Fantasy

Rudy Giuliani is in critical condition.

It will probably be illegal to say mean things about him when he dies, so now is a good moment to remember that not only was he one of the most loathsome individuals in public life at the time, but all of the details of that were fully known to every relevant American journalist then.

But after 9/11, they needed a hero, so they created the character of Rudy 9/11, something which required deliberately ignoring all of his 9/11-related unheroic deeds.  Great job, everybody.

Oh No The Capital Allocation System Allocated Capital Badly Again

You can hear the sound of chanting growing:

Banks are hunting for new ways to offload risks tied to a glut of data centre debt as the race to build AI infrastructure stretches financing limits among the largest global lenders. 

Groups including JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and SMBC are trying to find ways to distribute portions of data centre-related deals to a broader range of investors, according to people familiar with the matter. 

bailout Bailout BAILOUT BAILOUT

Just put wafer thin bits of shit in with the good stuff and no one will notice.

"Distributing":

“The sizes we’re talking about . . . they’re out of scale to anything we’ve thought about, ever,” said Matthew Moniot, co-head of credit risk sharing at Man Group. “Banks very quickly start choking.” Lenders, including JPMorgan and MUFG, have spent more than six months distributing $38bn of construction debt tied to a data centre project leased to Oracle in Texas and Wisconsin, people familiar with the matter said.

Lenders, including JPMorgan and MUFG, have spent more than six months distributing $38bn of construction debt tied to a data centre project leased to Oracle in Texas and Wisconsin, people familiar with the matter said. 

The First Casualty of War

No idea who is telling the truth, but we already know Hegseth's Pentagon is less trustworthy than usual.

The U.S. military on Monday rejected Iranian claims to have struck an American warship, as Tehran signaled an aggressive response to President Donald Trump's new mission to "guide" stranded vessels through the Strait of Hormuz.

🚫 CLAIM: Iranian state media claims that Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps hit a U.S. warship with two missiles.

✅ TRUTH: No U.S. Navy ships have been struck. U.S. forces are supporting Project Freedom and enforcing the naval blockade on Iranian ports. pic.twitter.com/VFxovxLU6G

— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) May 4, 2026

Though the Pentagon being not very concerned with telling the truth is not a Hegseth invention! 

 

Morning

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America's Worst Democratic Governor

Josh Shapiro

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro secretly helped a Republican state treasurer's 2024 reelection bid after the official's Democratic opponent had criticized Shapiro as a potential VP pick, a close Shapiro ally said last week.

At Least The War Is Over

Iran's 14-point proposal reads like what conquering nation demands, not a surrendering one.

The new proposal calls for guarantees against future attacks, a withdrawal of US forces from around Iran, the release of frozen Iranian assets worth billions of dollars and the lifting of sanctions, war reparations, ending all hostilities, including in Lebanon, and “a new mechanism for the Strait of Hormuz”.

Iran, which was also attacked by the US and Israel last June, wants a guarantee against future aggression. Israel has previously targeted Iranian nuclear scientists and run campaigns to sabotage its nuclear sites.

Tehran also wants its right to uranium enrichment guaranteed as a signatory to the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), but Trump has made the nuclear issue a “red line”. Iran wants decades of sanctions, which have devastated its economy, to be lifted as part of any deal. The navigation through the strait and demands for war reparations are other sticking points in the talks.

Mommy He Punched Me Back

Trump just says a bit more crassly what is standard DC "foreign policy" thinking: civilian populations need to be slaughtered in order to redeem a county for not bending to our will.

Peace proposal: US President Donald Trump said he can’t imagine a new peace plan from Iran he will review “would be acceptable” adding they have not yet paid “a big enough price for what they have done.” Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said the room for US decision-making “has narrowed.”

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Running On Empty

I know this just means we will increase the defense budget by another eleventy zillion dollars (some Dems will oppose, some will support with a frowny face), but that doesn't mean they can make new flying death machines especially quickly.

The Trump administration has authorized more than $8.6 billion in emergency arms sales to partners in the Middle East as negotiations to end the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran remained at an impasse.

It was unclear when the weapons would arrive in the region, since it takes years to build large quantities of defensive interceptors and other types of munitions. The slow pace of production has become an acute concern in Washington, and any such weapons that American arms companies make for other countries mean less for the United States. Some Pentagon officials have expressed anxiety about diminishing U.S. stockpiles.

Dead Malls

It might actually be a good indicator of Russia's economic problems, but it's still funny as "dead malls" have been a major US phenomenon since the Great Recession and before.

What a deserted mall in Moscow says about Russia’s economic woes

The piece even says other some other malls are fine! 

Lucky Them

Whatever sense the various post-war arrangements made once upon a time, I do  think that the advantages of having US troops stationed in your country are not exactly clear.

Pentagon officials said on Friday that they were pulling 5,000 troops from Germany and would redeploy them to the United States and other posts overseas.

Down to 2022 levels so this is hardly a major change, anyway.

It is funny that this is because of Merz, because he was the one who, on day one, told everyone not to criticize Trump over Iran. When his cunning plan didn't work so well he flipped entirely.

Earlier this week, Germany’s chancellor, Friedrich Merz, said Iran had “humiliated” the United States, and he questioned how Mr. Trump planned to end the conflict.

“The Americans obviously have no strategy,” Mr. Merz said.

Merz obviously has Smartest Boy In The Room syndrome, a sign of which is people who do a 180 degree turn on their views without acknowledging any of the people who were right to begin with, or, presumably, listening to them the next time.  Give this man an Atlantic column! 

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Maybe The Strait Doesn't Matter At All

Wall Street seems to think so. What if they are right?

It's Tariff Week, Again

Trump is back to happier times, when he would announce them daily and watch his Foxy friends on TV clap.

How Is He Doing

This car-hating hippie does find rising gas prices somewhat pleasing (yes, I know they impose real additional costs on people who can't afford them, but so do so many other things people don't obsess about as much), and also a hilarious  tribute to the energy and industrial and military policies of our greatest president.

At Least The War Is Over

And we won, and we obtained many spoils.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is arguing that the war in Iran has already ended because of the ceasefire that began in early April, an interpretation that would allow the White House to avoid the need to seek congressional approval.