April 30, 2026 (Thursday)

Today G. Elliott Morris of Strength in Numbers noted that Trump has hit a new low in overall job performance and in his handling of the economy, at -22.2 and -40.3, respectively. Those numbers reflect the percentage of people who approve of his handling of an issue minus those who disapprove. Indeed, Morris noted that Trump’s approval rating on the economy is so low it “literally broke the scale of this graph on my data portal.”

On Tuesday, Morris explained in Strength in Numbers that while Republicans have lately been arguing that they simply need to get people to show up to win the midterms, turnout is not their problem. Their real problem is that voters don’t like what Trump is doing.

An obvious symbol of Trump’s presidency is his unilateral decision to tear down the East Wing of the White House and replace it with a giant ballroom. A new Washington Post–ABC News–Ipsos poll released today shows that Americans oppose the ballroom by a margin of about two to one. Fifty-six percent of Americans oppose it, while only 28% support it. Of those who oppose it, 47% oppose it strongly.

Dan Diamond and Scott Clement of the Washington Post note that people don’t like Trump’s proposed triumphal arch, either—52% opposed versus 21% in favor—or the idea of Trump’s signature on paper money. Sixty-eight percent of Americans oppose that plan, while only 12% support it. Even Republicans oppose it 40% to 28%.

And then there is Trump’s war on Iran. A recent Reuters/Ipsos poll shows that only 34% of Americans approve of the strikes on Iran, while 61% oppose them. Gas prices continue to rise, with Brent crude futures today briefly topping $114 a barrel—the highest price since June 2022, shortly after Russia launched its attack on Ukraine. Senator Angus King (I-ME) noted on CNN today that these higher prices are currently costing American consumers about $700 million a day.

On his Substack today, economist Paul Krugman noted that the acronym “TACO,” for “Trump Always Chickens Out,” has been replaced by “NACHO”: “Not A Chance Hormuz Opens.” Krugman explains that Iran is unlikely to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20% of the world’s oil passed before Israel and the U.S. began airstrikes against Iran on February 28, 2026, until “the economic damage from its closure becomes much more severe.”

Trump is maintaining a U.S. blockade of Iranian ports, and Iran says it will not reopen the strait until that blockade on Iranian shipping is lifted. Krugman notes that Trump’s ego will not permit him “to face up to the reality that he, more or less single-handedly, led America to the greatest strategic defeat in its history.”

So he is deluding himself into thinking he can extract concessions from Iran, although he has been unclear about what those might be. For their part, Krugman notes, Iranian officials have no incentive to make a deal, both because the pinch on oil is hurting the U.S. and thus Trump, and because they have no reason to believe Trump would honor any deal they made. He has made a habit of breaking deals.

“The question now,” Krugman wrote, is “how much destruction will the world, and America, have to bear before Trump is willing to accept reality?”

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth testified yesterday in front of the House Armed Services Committee and today in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee about Trump’s request for a $1.5 trillion defense budget and the Iran war. This was the first time a member of the administration had appeared in a public hearing since the war began, and lawmakers had much to say. Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the top-ranking Democrat on the committee, summed up the situation:
“Sixty-one days ago,” he said, “President Trump unilaterally began the war in Iran. He had no coherent strategy. He refused to make a case to the American people or consult Congress. He failed to present any evidence of an immediate threat, and he ignored the advice of military and intelligence experts who warned him of the consequences. Today our nation is in a worse strategic position. The Strait of Hormuz was open. Now it is closed. Thirteen service members have tragically lost their lives, and more than 400 have been wounded. We have lost dozens of aircraft, sustained significant damage to our bases in the area, and expended an alarming amount of our missile inventory. Morale and readiness across the force, especially among overdeployed units and vessels like the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier, have suffered. Gasoline and fertilizer prices throughout the world have surged. American families are bearing the cost of a war they wanted nothing to do with and have gained nothing from.”

Tomorrow marks 60 days since Trump informed Congress he had begun military actions against Iran. Under the 1973 War Powers Act, after 60 days the president has to either end those hostilities or get congressional approval. In his testimony today, Hegseth tried to argue that the 60-day clock stops during a ceasefire, only to have Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) note that the law doesn’t say that.

And yet, today Senate Republicans blocked another Democratic measure—the sixth, introduced by Senator Adam Schiff (D-CA)—to require Trump to end his war on Iran. House speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) told Ryan Nobles, Monica Alba, and Alexandra Marquez of NBC News that Congress doesn’t have to meddle with Trump’s actions in Iran because the U.S. is currently “not at war.”

And then there is the corruption. Last week, news broke that a start-up company backed by President Trump’s son Eric had won a $24 million contract from the Pentagon. Today news broke that the U.S. Air Force has agreed to buy an undisclosed number of drones from a company backed by Trump’s sons.

And then there is the incompetence. Today, after a 76-day shutdown, House Republicans finally passed a Senate measure to fund the Department of Homeland Security while withholding funds from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection, the parent agency for Border Patrol. The Senate passed the bill unanimously on March 27, but because it was what the Democrats wanted, Speaker Johnson refused to take it up until today.

In the face of Trump’s growing unpopularity, the Republicans are changing not their unpopular policies but the rules of elections, clearly hoping to game the system to win elections no matter how unpopular they have become.

Yesterday, with virtually no public input, the Florida Senate approved a gerrymandered map designed to give four more seats in Congress to the Republicans despite the fact that more than ten years ago, voters passed a constitutional amendment that bans partisan gerrymandering.

Also yesterday, the Supreme Court’s decision in Louisiana v. Callais threw open the door for Republicans in southern states to redraw their maps to shift between 10 and 15 seats from Democrats to Republicans. In the decision, the six Republican-appointed justices on the court declared that plaintiffs charging that district lines discriminate on the basis of race must prove that the lawmakers who drew those lines were intentionally making decisions based on race rather than partisanship, which the court has declared is beyond reach of the federal courts.

The decision means that states are now free to redraw district lines to undercut the power of minority voters, a demographic that tends to vote for Democrats.

Louisiana’s Republican governor, Jeff Landry, immediately declared a state of emergency, suspending the primary elections in the state in order to gerrymander the state to grab one or two more Republican seats. More than 100,000 absentee ballots had already been sent out—some have already been returned—and voting was due to start within days.
Democrats have already filed a lawsuit against the governor’s attempt to stop an election that’s already underway and to let the election proceed. The lawsuit notes, among other things, that the Constitution gives to state legislatures, not the governor, the responsibility for deciding “he Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives.”

Lawmakers in Tennessee, Mississippi, and Alabama are also considering redistricting in the wake of the Callais decision.
Democrats have responded to the Supreme Court’s gutting of the Voting Rights Act and the Republican-dominated state gerrymanders that are sure to follow. States dominated by Democrats are considering their own gerrymanders to counter the Republicans, as well as new legislation to protect minority voting rights in their states.

“Today’s decision by this illegitimate Supreme Court majority strikes a blow against the Voting Rights Act and is designed to undermine the ability of communities of color all over this country to elect their candidate of choice,” House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) told reporters Wednesday. “But we are not here to step back. We are here to fight back.”

Trump, meanwhile, wants even more. His social media account posted today: “How much abuse can the Republican Senate take from the Radical Left Lunatics in the form of Democrat Senators, before they BLOW UP (TERMINATE!) THE FILIBUSTER, and approve things at a record clip, including The Save America Act, that would be unthinkable without the Filibuster Termination??”

Without the filibuster, he told reporters, “e could pass one bill after the other. We could pass laws and acts and things that we never even dreamt of passing. And you know what else? We wouldn’t lose for 50 years.”

The upcoming elections are definitely on Trump’s mind. He called in to NewsMax today, saying: “It is a problem I’m not on the ballot. And I have to convince—Everyone says if I was on the ballot we’d win in a landslide. I have the best, I have some of the best poll numbers I’ve ever had.”

What an utterly, utterly, utterly corrupt and corruptible system.

“ The upcoming elections are definitely on Trump’s mind. He called in to NewsMax today, saying: “It is a problem I’m not on the ballot. And I have to convince—Everyone says if I was on the ballot we’d win in a landslide. I have the best, I have some of the best poll numbers I’ve ever had.””

He also said he’d be able to get into the space program. You don’t want a broken toilet with Trump around.

The damage to trust with allies is significant as well.
I imagine out of stubbornness now they will not side with the USA even possibly at a detriment to themselves.

Divine Angel said:

“ The upcoming elections are definitely on Trump’s mind. He called in to NewsMax today, saying: “It is a problem I’m not on the ballot. And I have to convince—Everyone says if I was on the ballot we’d win in a landslide. I have the best, I have some of the best poll numbers I’ve ever had.””

He also said he’d be able to get into the space program. You don’t want a broken toilet with Trump around.

Ha!

Heather discusses some of the fake posts about her and the the rest of the news and ways to resist

May 1, 2026 (Friday)

Today is the deadline for President Donald J. Trump to ask Congress for approval for his war on Iran. Under the 1973 War Powers Act, a president has the authority to respond to an “imminent threat” without congressional approval, so long as he notifies Congress in writing within 48 hours. Then the president has 60 days either to withdraw U.S. forces from their engagement or to get Congress to authorize the military action.

Trump launched U.S. attacks on Iran alongside Israeli attacks on February 28. He notified Congress on March 2. Sixty days from March 2 is today.

And today, Trump sent letters to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Senate president pro tempore (officially the leader of the Senate if the vice president is not present) Chuck Grassley (R-IA) to inform them that so far as the White House is concerned, “the hostilities that began on February 28…terminated” on April 7, when Trump ordered a two-week ceasefire. Ignoring the fact the U.S. fired on an Iranian tanker on April 19, the letter says “there has been no exchange of fire between United States Forces and Iran since April 7, 2026.”

The next paragraph notes that the administration is nonetheless continuing to build up its military presence in the region “to address Iranian and Iranian proxy forces’ threats and to protect the United States and its allies and partners.”

In other words, the administration is trying to get around the War Powers Act with the dodge Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth tried in front of the Senate yesterday: a ceasefire stops the War Powers clock. This is not what the law says.

Trump’s letter also ignores the fact the U.S. continues to blockade Iranian ports. A blockade is an act of war.

It’s worth reiterating that Trump’s war of aggression violated the Constitution from the start. He sidestepped Congress—which has the sole authority to declare war—by insisting the threat from Iran was “imminent” even though his own advisors testified that Iran did not, in fact, have the capacity to build a nuclear weapon in less than ten years. As Tess Bridgeman and Oona A. Hathaway of Just Security note, that attack also violated the United Nations charter, which prohibits the use of force except as defense against an attack or a legitimate threat of an imminent one.

Now the administration has just told Congress it intends to retain the power to do whatever Trump wants with the United States military.

This is another example of the administration trying to find a fuzzy way to get around acting within the boundaries of the law. It is clearly just a posture to permit Trump to act as he pleases. This afternoon, Trump told an audience: “You know we’re in a war, because I think you would agree we cannot let lunatics have a nuclear weapon.”

This afternoon, Trump told reporters that there was no need for him to ask Congress for authorization to extend the war because “it’s never been sought before.” “obody’s ever sought it before,” he said. “Nobody’s ever asked for it before. It’s never been used before. Why should we be different?”

In fact, presidents before Trump have indeed honored the 60-day requirement for congressional approval of military operations.

Trump told reporters, “Every other president considered it totally unconstitutional, and we agree with that.”

In fact, the Framers of the Constitution placed the power to declare war in the hands of Congress and not in the president because they did not trust that much power in the hands of one man. They also wanted to make sure the American people would have robust debates about the value of the money and lives lost in combat. So determined were they for the American people to have those debates that they put into the Constitution that Congress had the power “o declare War” and “o raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years.”

In Federalist No. 26, one of the newspaper essays Alexander Hamilton wrote to encourage the ratification of the Constitution, Hamilton explained that people shouldn’t fear the strength of the new government outlined in the Constitution, because the necessity of debating war, alongside the two-year limit on government funding for the military, would force Congress to debate military actions. He expected members of the opposition to attack those in power over military appropriations, so that if those in power were “disposed to exceed the proper limits, the community will be warned of the danger, and will have an opportunity of taking measures to guard against it.”

Senate majority leader John Thune (R-SD) said yesterday he would not challenge Trump’s novel interpretation of the War Powers Act, in part, he said, because Senate Republicans have given him no reason to. Republicans have no interest in voting to support Trump’s unpopular war, and yet don’t want to buck Trump. So they are choosing to abdicate their constitutional responsibilities.

In contrast, Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) posted: “There’s no pause button in the Constitution, or the War Powers Act. We’re at war. We’ve been at war for 60 days. The blockade alone is a continuing act of war.”

Representative Adam Smith (D-WA), the top-ranked Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, told Mary Clare Jalonick, Stephen Groves, and Seung Min Kim of the Associated Press: “Is the expectation that the Trump administration is going to follow the law? I do not have that expectation.”

Ironically, today is Law Day, a holiday established by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1958 to remind us to “vigilantly guard the great heritage of liberty, justice, and equality under law.”

As former chief justice of the Kansas Supreme Court Lawton Nuss wrote in the Kansas Reflector today, Eisenhower had seen lawlessness and the horrors it produced in World War II. In his first observance of Law Day, he reminded Americans that the U.S. rested not on, as Nuss writes, “the unchecked exercise of raw power,” but on law, individual rights, and the constitutional order.

With the enormously destructive capabilities of modern warfare and the power of leaders to hold loyalists in their sway in the modern era, Eisenhower said, “In a very real sense, the world no longer has a choice between force and law. If civilization is to survive, it must choose the rule of law.”

Neophyte said:

May 1, 2026 (Friday)

Today is the deadline for President Donald J. Trump to ask Congress for approval for his war on Iran. Under the 1973 War Powers Act, a president has the authority to respond to an “imminent threat” without congressional approval, so long as he notifies Congress in writing within 48 hours. Then the president has 60 days either to withdraw U.S. forces from their engagement or to get Congress to authorize the military action.

Trump launched U.S. attacks on Iran alongside Israeli attacks on February 28. He notified Congress on March 2. Sixty days from March 2 is today.

And today, Trump sent letters to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Senate president pro tempore (officially the leader of the Senate if the vice president is not present) Chuck Grassley (R-IA) to inform them that so far as the White House is concerned, “the hostilities that began on February 28…terminated” on April 7, when Trump ordered a two-week ceasefire. Ignoring the fact the U.S. fired on an Iranian tanker on April 19, the letter says “there has been no exchange of fire between United States Forces and Iran since April 7, 2026.”

The next paragraph notes that the administration is nonetheless continuing to build up its military presence in the region “to address Iranian and Iranian proxy forces’ threats and to protect the United States and its allies and partners.”

In other words, the administration is trying to get around the War Powers Act with the dodge Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth tried in front of the Senate yesterday: a ceasefire stops the War Powers clock. This is not what the law says.

Trump’s letter also ignores the fact the U.S. continues to blockade Iranian ports. A blockade is an act of war.

It’s worth reiterating that Trump’s war of aggression violated the Constitution from the start. He sidestepped Congress—which has the sole authority to declare war—by insisting the threat from Iran was “imminent” even though his own advisors testified that Iran did not, in fact, have the capacity to build a nuclear weapon in less than ten years. As Tess Bridgeman and Oona A. Hathaway of Just Security note, that attack also violated the United Nations charter, which prohibits the use of force except as defense against an attack or a legitimate threat of an imminent one.

Now the administration has just told Congress it intends to retain the power to do whatever Trump wants with the United States military.

This is another example of the administration trying to find a fuzzy way to get around acting within the boundaries of the law. It is clearly just a posture to permit Trump to act as he pleases. This afternoon, Trump told an audience: “You know we’re in a war, because I think you would agree we cannot let lunatics have a nuclear weapon.”

This afternoon, Trump told reporters that there was no need for him to ask Congress for authorization to extend the war because “it’s never been sought before.” “obody’s ever sought it before,” he said. “Nobody’s ever asked for it before. It’s never been used before. Why should we be different?”

In fact, presidents before Trump have indeed honored the 60-day requirement for congressional approval of military operations.

Trump told reporters, “Every other president considered it totally unconstitutional, and we agree with that.”

In fact, the Framers of the Constitution placed the power to declare war in the hands of Congress and not in the president because they did not trust that much power in the hands of one man. They also wanted to make sure the American people would have robust debates about the value of the money and lives lost in combat. So determined were they for the American people to have those debates that they put into the Constitution that Congress had the power “o declare War” and “o raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years.”

In Federalist No. 26, one of the newspaper essays Alexander Hamilton wrote to encourage the ratification of the Constitution, Hamilton explained that people shouldn’t fear the strength of the new government outlined in the Constitution, because the necessity of debating war, alongside the two-year limit on government funding for the military, would force Congress to debate military actions. He expected members of the opposition to attack those in power over military appropriations, so that if those in power were “disposed to exceed the proper limits, the community will be warned of the danger, and will have an opportunity of taking measures to guard against it.”

Senate majority leader John Thune (R-SD) said yesterday he would not challenge Trump’s novel interpretation of the War Powers Act, in part, he said, because Senate Republicans have given him no reason to. Republicans have no interest in voting to support Trump’s unpopular war, and yet don’t want to buck Trump. So they are choosing to abdicate their constitutional responsibilities.

In contrast, Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) posted: “There’s no pause button in the Constitution, or the War Powers Act. We’re at war. We’ve been at war for 60 days. The blockade alone is a continuing act of war.”

Representative Adam Smith (D-WA), the top-ranked Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, told Mary Clare Jalonick, Stephen Groves, and Seung Min Kim of the Associated Press: “Is the expectation that the Trump administration is going to follow the law? I do not have that expectation.”

Ironically, today is Law Day, a holiday established by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1958 to remind us to “vigilantly guard the great heritage of liberty, justice, and equality under law.”

As former chief justice of the Kansas Supreme Court Lawton Nuss wrote in the Kansas Reflector today, Eisenhower had seen lawlessness and the horrors it produced in World War II. In his first observance of Law Day, he reminded Americans that the U.S. rested not on, as Nuss writes, “the unchecked exercise of raw power,” but on law, individual rights, and the constitutional order.

With the enormously destructive capabilities of modern warfare and the power of leaders to hold loyalists in their sway in the modern era, Eisenhower said, “In a very real sense, the world no longer has a choice between force and law. If civilization is to survive, it must choose the rule of law.”

If they had spines, Republicans could end this today/tomorrow.

May 2, 2026 (Saturday)

Today was the 152nd running of the Kentucky Derby, which was launched in 1875 as horse racing—with its famous Black jockeys, who won more than half of the first 28 derbies—was gaining an audience in the U.S.

A horse-based event gives me the opportunity to repost a piece my friend Michael S. Green and I wrote together a number of years ago on Ten Famous American Horses. While it has no deep meaning, it does illustrate that there is history all around us, a theme you’ll hear more about from me and my team soon. And it was totally fun to research, too. First we spent hours deciding on which horses we would feature— we wanted even representation of different time periods— and then I spent hours watching Mr. Ed shows and reading entertainment theory, but the insightful detail—and the inclusion of Khartoum—is all Michael. This piece remains one of my favorite things I ever had a hand in writing.

So tonight, let’s take the night off from the craziness of today’s America and recall past eras when horses could make history.

1) Traveller
General Robert E. Lee rode Traveller (spelled with two Ls, in the British style) from February 1862 until the general’s death in 1870. Traveller was a grey American Saddlebred of 16 hands. He had great endurance for long marches, and was generally unflappable in battle, although he once broke both of General Lee’s hands when he shied at enemy movements. Lee brought Traveller with him when he assumed the presidency of Washington and Lee University. Traveller died of tetanus in 1871. He is buried on campus, where the safe ride program still uses his name.

2) Comanche
Comanche was attached to General Custer’s detachment of the 7th Cavalry when it engaged the Lakota in 1876 at the Battle of Little Bighorn. The troops in the detachment were all killed in the engagement, but soldiers found Comanche, badly wounded, two days later. They nursed him back to health, and he became the 7th Cavalry’s mascot. The commanding officer decreed that the horse would never again be ridden and that he would always be paraded, draped in black, in all military ceremonies involving the 7th Cavalry. When Comanche died of colic in 1891, he was given a full military funeral (the only other horse so honored was Black Jack, who served in more than a thousand military funerals in the 1950s and 1960s). Comanche’s taxidermied body is preserved in the Natural History Museum at the University Of Kansas.

3) Beautiful Jim Key
Beautiful Jim Key was a performing horse trained by formerly enslaved veterinarian Dr. William Key. Key demonstrated how Beautiful Jim could read, write, do math, tell time, spell, sort mail, and recite the Bible. Beautiful Jim performed from 1897 to 1906 and became a legend. An estimated ten million Americans saw him perform, and others collected his memorabilia—buttons, photos, and postcards—or danced the Beautiful Jim Key two-step. Dr. Key insisted that he had taught Beautiful Jim using only kindness, and Beautiful Jim Key’s popularity was important in preventing cruelty to animals in America, with more than 2 million children signing the Jim Key Band of Mercy, in which they pledged: “I promise always to be kind to animals.”

4) Man o’ War
Named for his breeder, August Belmont, Jr., who was overseas in World War I, Man o’ War is widely regarded as the top Thoroughbred racehorse of all time. He won 20 of his 21 races and almost a quarter of a million dollars in the early twentieth century. His one loss—to Upset—came after a bad start. Man o’ War sired many of America’s famous racehorses, including Hard Tack, which in turn sired Seabiscuit, the small horse that came to symbolize hope during the Great Depression.

5) Trigger
Entertainer Roy Rogers chose the palomino Trigger from five rented horses to be his mount in a Western film in the 1930s, changing his name from Golden Cloud to Trigger because of his quick mind and feet. Rogers rode Trigger in his 1950s television series, making the horse a household name. When Trigger died, Rogers had his skin draped over a Styrofoam mold and displayed it in the Roy Rogers and Dale Evans Museum in California. He also had a 24-foot statue of Trigger made from steel and fiberglass. One other copy of that mold was also made: it is “Bucky the Bronco,” which rears above the Denver Broncos stadium south scoreboard.

6) Sergeant Reckless
American Marines in Korea bought a mare in October 1952 from a Korean stable boy who needed the money to buy an artificial leg for his sister, who had stepped on a land mine. The marines named her Reckless after their unit’s nickname, the Reckless Rifles. They made a pet of her and trained her to carry supplies and to evacuate wounded. She learned to travel supply routes without a guide: on one notable day she made 51 solo trips. Wounded twice, she was given a battlefield rank of corporal in 1953 and promoted to sergeant after the war, when she was also awarded two Purple Hearts and a Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal.

7) Mr. Ed
Mr. Ed was a talking palomino in a 1960s television show by the same name. At a time when Westerns dominated American television, Mr. Ed was the anti-Western, with the main human character a klutzy architect and the hero a horse that was fond of his meals and his comfortable life, and spoke with the voice of Allan “Rocky” Lane, who made dozens of “B” westerns. But the show was a five-year hit as it married the past to the future. Mr. Ed offered a gentle, homely wisdom that enabled him to straighten out the troubles of the humans around him. The startling special effects that made it appear that the horse was talking melded modern technology with the comforting traditional community depicted in the show.

8) Black Jack
Black Jack, named for John J. “Black Jack” Pershing, was the riderless black horse in the funerals of John F. Kennedy, Herbert Hoover, Lyndon Johnson, and Douglas MacArthur, as well as more than a thousand other funerals with full military honors. A riderless horse, with boots reversed in the stirrups, symbolized a fallen leader, while Black Jack’s brands—a U.S. brand and an army serial number—recalled the army’s history. Black Jack himself was buried with full military honors; the only other horse honored with a military funeral was Comanche.

9) Khartoum
Khartoum was the prize stud horse of Jack Woltz, the fictional Hollywood mogul in Mario Puzo’s The Godfather. In one of the film version’s most famous scenes, after Woltz refuses requests from Don Vito Corleone to cast singer Johnny Fontane in a movie, Woltz wakes up to find Khartoum’s head in bed with him…and agrees to use Fontane in the film. In the novel, Fontane wins the Academy Award for his performance. According to old Hollywood rumor, the story referred to real events. The rumor was that mobsters persuaded Columbia Pictures executive Harry Cohn to cast Frank Sinatra in From Here to Eternity. As Maggio, Sinatra revived his sagging film career and won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.

10) Secretariat
Secretariat was an American Thoroughbred that in 1973 became the first U.S. Triple Crown winner in 25 years. His records in the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes, and the Belmont Stakes still stand. After Secretariat was stricken with a painful infection and euthanized in 1989, an autopsy revealed that he had an unusually big heart. Sportswriter Red Smith once asked his trainer how Secretariat had run one morning; Charlie Hatton replied, “The trees swayed.”

May 3, 2026 (Sunday)

Late on Friday night, President Donald J. Trump took to social media. At 11:03 he posted an AI-generated image of himself, alongside Vice President J.D. Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, all shirtless, along with an unidentifiable woman in a bikini, appearing to be relaxing in a swimming pool. But the “swimming pool” was the reflecting pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.

Then, at 11:04, Trump posted an image of First Lady Melania Trump grinning at the press conference Trump held after the incident at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, when he said that incident proved he needed his proposed ballroom for his security.

Then, at 11:13, Trump posted an image of House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), who is Black, holding a baseball bat. The caption calls Jeffries “low IQ,” “a THUG,” and “a danger to our Country.”

Then, at 11:15, he posted an image of himself smiling and holding six wild cards from the game Uno. The caption read, “I HAVE ALL THE CARDS.”

Then, at 11:22, he posted a profile image of himself in gold.

Then, at 11:26, he posted an image showing him standing near Mt. Rushmore, with the angle arranged to make his head the fifth sculpture on the mountain, so from left to right they were George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln, and Donald Trump.

Then, at 11:32, he posted an image of himself and the first lady.

Then, at 11:37, he posted an image of himself and King Charles III.

Then, at 11:40, he posted an image of what appeared to be the reflecting pool full of algae next to one that appeared to be the reflecting pool clean and with a bright blue color. Above the dirty image was the label “Hussein Obama,” and below it, the caption “Photo taken Sept 29, 2012”; the clean one was labeled with “Trump” and “Coming Soon.” Over the two together, the caption read: “This is what our Country was before, and after, “TRUMP!”

Then, at 11:41, he posted an AI image of the reflecting pool appearing bright blue, under the caption “American Flag Blue.”

Then, at 11:45, he posted another AI image of the reflecting pool appearing bright blue under the caption “American Flag Blue.”

It was some 43 minutes.

The president appeared to have been triggered by graffiti that appeared in the reflecting pool Friday morning: “86 47” spray-painted across it in a message that was about 15 feet by 30 feet.

The message was double edged. To “86” something in slang means to get rid of it, and Trump is the 47th president. But the phrase has taken on a second meaning since April 28, when the Department of Justice under Trump launched a criminal case against former director of the FBI James Comey for posting a picture of seashells spelling out “86 47” on Instagram a year ago. But “86 47”—and, for that matter, “86 46”—is such a common meme that there are a wide variety of shirts and hats for sale with those letters on Amazon today, prompting the host of NBC’s Meet the Press, Kristen Welker, to ask Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche if other people who shared that meme would also face charges. He said no and suggested that there was other evidence in Comey’s case, although he did not explain what that was and the indictment only talks about the seashell post.

As Trump’s popularity has sunk to new lows, he has renewed his efforts to remake Washington, D.C., into a monument to himself, almost as if he is trying to anticipate history by making future Americans think that he must have been great because of all the tributes to him in the capital. Part of that effort has been his decision to paint the reflecting pool bright blue, like a swimming pool, at a cost of about $2 million in taxpayer money.

Yesterday, Rick Maese and Dan Diamond of the Washington Post reported that one of Trump’s top fundraisers is collecting money to turn the heavily used, low-cost East Potomac Golf Links on the Washington, D.C., waterfront, one of three D.C. public golf courses the administration is taking over, into a championship golf course and to establish Trump’s National Garden of American Heroes nearby. That imagined sculpture park will feature about 250 Americans Trump believes are significant to our history.

The plans have not yet been made public, nor have they been approved by Congress or gone through the federal review process. The new golf course would erase the area’s public bike paths and open recreational space. Spokesperson Davis Ingle said: “President Trump continues to beautify and honor our Nation’s Capital during America’s historic semiquincentennial celebration.”

The Trump administration planned to take control of the East Potomac Golf Links today, shutting it down for the renovation.

Today, Democracy Forward, a watchdog group, asked a judge to stop the administration from going ahead with plans that would shut down the course.

Trump’s alterations to the capital seem to be a welcome distraction for the real estate developer from the crises around him. His claim that he has “all the cards” appears to be a boast about his dealings with Iran, but that is a wildly optimistic version of events.

On Thursday, Iranian officials sent a 14-point offer for a resolution to the war to mediators from Pakistan. An Iranian official said that Iran hopes to end the war and resolve questions around the Strait of Hormuz and the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports now and deal with Iran’s nuclear program later.

On Friday, Trump said he was “not satisfied” with Iran’s offer but did not say why he disapproved. Then, at 6:47 yesterday evening, he posted: “I will soon be reviewing the plan that Iran has just sent to us, but can’t imagine that it would be acceptable in that they have not yet paid a big enough price for what they have done to Humanity, and the World, over the last 47 years.”

And yet, Iran said today it had received a response to its offer from the U.S. and is reviewing it.

The Trump administration continues to look for a way to open the Strait of Hormuz. Today Trump announced that on Monday the U.S. will launch “Project Freedom,” an effort to escort stranded merchant ships through the strait. U.S. Central Command said tonight that Project Freedom will include “guided-missile destroyers, over 100 land and sea-based aircraft, multi-domain unmanned platforms, and 15,000 service members.” Iran has said the use of U.S. Navy ships for the escort would be a violation of the ceasefire; it is not clear if Navy ships will participate.

As Barak Ravid of Axios notes, Trump says the attempt is “humanitarian”—ships stuck from the strait’s closure are running low on supplies and are facing sanitation problems—but it’s clear the administration is trying to challenge Iran’s control of the strait. It is also worth noting that Trump often makes announcements that appear designed to move the market, and the price of oil dropped after the announcement of Project Freedom.

As Chandelis Duster of NPR reported today, gas prices jumped more than thirty cents a gallon last week. According to the American Automobile Association (AAA), regular gas averages $4.446 a gallon. Two days before the Iran war began, the average price per gallon was $2.98.

Last week, German chancellor Friedrich Merz said that “he Americans obviously have no strategy” and suggested that Iranian officials were outwitting the Trump administration, saying the U.S. was “being humiliated by the Iranian leadership.” Trump didn’t take that comment well, posting screeds attacking Merz repeatedly and claiming, “He doesn’t know what he’s talking about!”

On Wednesday, Trump talked to Russia’s president Vladimir Putin for an hour and a half—the twelfth phone call between the two leaders since Trump took office a second time—and just hours later posted about removing U.S. troops from Germany. Putin has wanted to weaken the U.S. commitment to Europe and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) for a long time. As Jack Detsch, Paul McLeary, and Stefanie Bolzen of Politico note, European officials worry that Putin is making plans to attack a NATO country.

On Thursday, Trump suggested to reporters that he might also pull troops out of Spain and Italy, “Why shouldn’t I?” he said. “Italy has not been of any help to us. And Spain has been horrible. Absolutely horrible.”

On Friday the Defense Department said it was pulling 5,000 troops from Germany and was cancelling a plan formulated under the Biden administration to put an artillery unit equipped with missiles in Europe. The U.S. had increased its European presence after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. These moves will take U.S. forces back to where they were before the invasion. As scholar of authoritarianism Timothy Snyder wrote: “You can apply lots of normalizing frameworks or you can just make a timeline of his calls with Putin. We don’t have a sovereign foreign policy. We have superpower suicide.”

Julian E. Barnes, Helene Cooper, and Megan Mineiro of the New York Times reported that senior defense officials wanted the force reduction to be understood as a punishment for Germany after Merz’s comment. In fact, U.S. bases in Germany are staging areas for U.S. operations in the Middle East, Europe, and Africa.

The Politico journalists report that defense officials were “stunned” by the announcement, and on Saturday the chairs of the Senate Armed Services Committee and the House Armed Services Committee, Senator Roger Wicker (R-MS) and Representative Mike Rogers (R-AL), declared they were “very concerned by the decision to withdraw a U.S. brigade from Germany.” They noted that “any significant change to the U.S. force posture in Europe warrants a deliberate review process and close coordination with Congress and our allies. We expect the Department to engage with its oversight committees in the days and weeks ahead on this decision and its implications for U.S. deterrence and transatlantic security.”

And yet Trump is clearly worried about the upcoming midterm election, especially after Democratic-backed Quentin Wiltz yesterday flipped a seat in the Houston suburb of Pearland, Texas, that had been a reliable Republican stronghold.

After his Friday post calling Jeffries a “thug,” Trump posted yesterday that Democrats had “RIGGED the 2020 Presidential Election. GET TOUGH REPUBLICANS—THEY’RE COMING, AND THEY’RE COMING FAST! They’re no good for our Country, they almost destroyed it, and we don’t want to let that happen again!” He demanded Republicans “approve all of the necessary Safeguards we need for Elections to protect the American Public during the upcoming Midterms.”
Tonight, again, he posted that Jeffries was “a Low IQ individual” and called for his impeachment, although neither senators nor representatives can be impeached. His post went on to say more about his own fears than about Jeffries.

“I got impeached for A PERFECT PHONE CALL,” Trump wrote. “Where are you Republicans? Why not get it started? They’ll be doing this to me!”

FMD

Divine Angel said:

FMD

Trump could be occupied with crayons and butchers paper

Cymek said:

Divine Angel said:

FMD

Trump could be occupied with crayons and butchers paper

is that what they mean by occupy democrats then

SCIENCE said:

Cymek said:

Divine Angel said:

FMD

Trump could be occupied with crayons and butchers paper

is that what they mean by occupy democrats then

All the photos and such he posted.
I mean is he bored to do such nonsense
That’s far from normal for any adult let alone a world leader.

Cymek said:

SCIENCE said:

Cymek said:

Trump could be occupied with crayons and butchers paper

is that what they mean by occupy democrats then

All the photos and such he posted.
I mean is he bored to do such nonsense
That’s far from normal for any adult let alone a world leader.

well we mean … we post here

SCIENCE said:

Cymek said:

SCIENCE said:

is that what they mean by occupy democrats then

All the photos and such he posted.
I mean is he bored to do such nonsense
That’s far from normal for any adult let alone a world leader.

well we mean … we post here

We do that is true.

Cymek said:

SCIENCE said:

Cymek said:

Trump could be occupied with crayons and butchers paper

is that what they mean by occupy democrats then

All the photos and such he posted.
I mean is he bored to do such nonsense
That’s far from normal for any adult let alone a world leader.

maybe he is an insomniac.. it explains why he always seems to fall asleep when the attention is not on him

buffy said:

May 3, 2026 (Sunday)

Late on Friday night, President Donald J. Trump took to social media…

…As scholar of authoritarianism Timothy Snyder wrote: “You can apply lots of normalizing frameworks or you can just make a timeline of his calls with Putin. We don’t have a sovereign foreign policy. We have superpower suicide.”

:((

The Incredibly Distasteful “Two Kings” Social Media Post

Heather for two minutes.

buffy said:

At 11:03 he posted an AI-generated image of himself, alongside Vice President J.D. Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, all shirtless, along with an unidentifiable woman in a bikini, appearing to be relaxing in a swimming pool. But the “swimming pool” was the reflecting pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.

Here’s the image:

!https://static.independent.co.uk/2026/05/02/15/17/Untitled-design-(1).png!

buffy said:

At 11:03 he posted an AI-generated image of himself, alongside Vice President J.D. Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, all shirtless, along with an unidentifiable woman in a bikini, appearing to be relaxing in a swimming pool. But the “swimming pool” was the reflecting pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.

Here’s the image:

May 4, 2026 (Monday)

According to a new Washington Post–ABC News–Ipsos poll, fifty-nine percent of Americans believe President Donald J. Trump does not have the mental sharpness necessary to lead the country. Fifty-five percent think he does not have the physical health to serve as president. Fifty-four percent say they don’t think Trump is a strong leader. Sixty-seven percent think Trump doesn’t carefully consider important decisions.

Today, Susannah George and Tara Copp of the Washington Post reported that as the U.S. ramps up its attempts to open the Strait of Hormuz, Iran is responding with military attacks. This morning, Iran fired drones and missiles at two U.S. destroyers and two merchant vessels moving through the strait. According to Admiral Brad Cooper, the head of U.S. Central Command, none of the ships were hit.

But Iran also launched six fast boats at the commercial ships. Cooper said the U.S. destroyed those vessels.
Ahmad Vahidi, the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, posted on social media: “The Strait of Hormuz will not be opened by the tweet of the President of the United States; the management and control of this waterway is in the hands of Iran. Nothing will have the right to enter without permission, and in the event of a violation of this matter, it will be considered a legitimate target.”

Iran also hit the United Arab Emirates today with fifteen missiles and four drones. One of the armaments started a fire in the oil hub of Fujairah.

Trump told Trey Yingst of the Fox News Channel today that his military blockade of Iranian ports is the “greatest military maneuver in history.” He also said that if the Iranians target U.S. ships, they will be ”blown off the face of the earth.” And yet, as Iran demonstrated by hitting the United Arab Emirates today, resuming the war could devastate the Middle East, plunging the globe into even more economic chaos. So, for now, Trump appears to be hanging onto the ceasefire.
Alexander Ward of the Wall Street Journal noted that today, at the White House, Trump told a group of small-business owners that he “call it a mini war.”

Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) called out the fact that the Trump administration argued on Friday that it did not have to get congressional approval for the war on Iran at the 60-day mark required by the 1973 War Powers Resolution because, it said, the war had “terminated” on April 7. It made the claim despite the fact that a blockade is an act of war and the U.S. continues to blockade Iranian ports. Asked on Saturday how he could say the war had terminated when the U.S. military was enforcing the blockade, Trump told reporters: “Well, it’s a very friendly blockade. Nobody’s even challenging it.”

Duckworth, who lost both legs when serving as a U.S. Army helicopter pilot in the Iraq War, posted: “U.S. and Iranian ships are exchanging missile fire today in the Strait of Hormuz. Trump’s claims that hostilities have ceased were bullsh*t. He is lying to the American people and prolonging his disastrous war of choice—And he’s doing it illegally.”

This afternoon, Trump posted an AI image of President Joe Biden on one knee with the caption: COWARDS KNEEL,” an AI image of President Barack Obama with the caption “TRAITORS BOW,” and an AI image of himself with his fist raised and the caption “LEADERS LEAD.”

Journalist Aaron Rupar noted: “Trump is crazyposting at 3pm.”

buffy said:

May 4, 2026 (Monday)

According to a new Washington Post–ABC News–Ipsos poll, fifty-nine percent of Americans believe President Donald J. Trump does not have the mental sharpness necessary to lead the country. Fifty-five percent think he does not have the physical health to serve as president. Fifty-four percent say they don’t think Trump is a strong leader. Sixty-seven percent think Trump doesn’t carefully consider important decisions.

Today, Susannah George and Tara Copp of the Washington Post reported that as the U.S. ramps up its attempts to open the Strait of Hormuz, Iran is responding with military attacks. This morning, Iran fired drones and missiles at two U.S. destroyers and two merchant vessels moving through the strait. According to Admiral Brad Cooper, the head of U.S. Central Command, none of the ships were hit.

But Iran also launched six fast boats at the commercial ships. Cooper said the U.S. destroyed those vessels.
Ahmad Vahidi, the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, posted on social media: “The Strait of Hormuz will not be opened by the tweet of the President of the United States; the management and control of this waterway is in the hands of Iran. Nothing will have the right to enter without permission, and in the event of a violation of this matter, it will be considered a legitimate target.”

Iran also hit the United Arab Emirates today with fifteen missiles and four drones. One of the armaments started a fire in the oil hub of Fujairah.

Trump told Trey Yingst of the Fox News Channel today that his military blockade of Iranian ports is the “greatest military maneuver in history.” He also said that if the Iranians target U.S. ships, they will be ”blown off the face of the earth.” And yet, as Iran demonstrated by hitting the United Arab Emirates today, resuming the war could devastate the Middle East, plunging the globe into even more economic chaos. So, for now, Trump appears to be hanging onto the ceasefire.
Alexander Ward of the Wall Street Journal noted that today, at the White House, Trump told a group of small-business owners that he “call it a mini war.”

Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) called out the fact that the Trump administration argued on Friday that it did not have to get congressional approval for the war on Iran at the 60-day mark required by the 1973 War Powers Resolution because, it said, the war had “terminated” on April 7. It made the claim despite the fact that a blockade is an act of war and the U.S. continues to blockade Iranian ports. Asked on Saturday how he could say the war had terminated when the U.S. military was enforcing the blockade, Trump told reporters: “Well, it’s a very friendly blockade. Nobody’s even challenging it.”

Duckworth, who lost both legs when serving as a U.S. Army helicopter pilot in the Iraq War, posted: “U.S. and Iranian ships are exchanging missile fire today in the Strait of Hormuz. Trump’s claims that hostilities have ceased were bullsh*t. He is lying to the American people and prolonging his disastrous war of choice—And he’s doing it illegally.”

This afternoon, Trump posted an AI image of President Joe Biden on one knee with the caption: COWARDS KNEEL,” an AI image of President Barack Obama with the caption “TRAITORS BOW,” and an AI image of himself with his fist raised and the caption “LEADERS LEAD.”

Journalist Aaron Rupar noted: “Trump is crazyposting at 3pm.”

The White House has been buying up images from private satellites so no one can see the damage to the American bases. I will have to find that article.

buffy said:

May 4, 2026 (Monday)

According to a new Washington Post–ABC News–Ipsos poll, fifty-nine percent of Americans believe President Donald J. Trump does not have the mental sharpness necessary to lead the country. Fifty-five percent think he does not have the physical health to serve as president. Fifty-four percent say they don’t think Trump is a strong leader. Sixty-seven percent think Trump doesn’t carefully consider important decisions.

Today, Susannah George and Tara Copp of the Washington Post reported that as the U.S. ramps up its attempts to open the Strait of Hormuz, Iran is responding with military attacks. This morning, Iran fired drones and missiles at two U.S. destroyers and two merchant vessels moving through the strait. According to Admiral Brad Cooper, the head of U.S. Central Command, none of the ships were hit.

But Iran also launched six fast boats at the commercial ships. Cooper said the U.S. destroyed those vessels.
Ahmad Vahidi, the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, posted on social media: “The Strait of Hormuz will not be opened by the tweet of the President of the United States; the management and control of this waterway is in the hands of Iran. Nothing will have the right to enter without permission, and in the event of a violation of this matter, it will be considered a legitimate target.”

Iran also hit the United Arab Emirates today with fifteen missiles and four drones. One of the armaments started a fire in the oil hub of Fujairah.

Trump told Trey Yingst of the Fox News Channel today that his military blockade of Iranian ports is the “greatest military maneuver in history.” He also said that if the Iranians target U.S. ships, they will be ”blown off the face of the earth.” And yet, as Iran demonstrated by hitting the United Arab Emirates today, resuming the war could devastate the Middle East, plunging the globe into even more economic chaos. So, for now, Trump appears to be hanging onto the ceasefire.
Alexander Ward of the Wall Street Journal noted that today, at the White House, Trump told a group of small-business owners that he “call it a mini war.”

Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) called out the fact that the Trump administration argued on Friday that it did not have to get congressional approval for the war on Iran at the 60-day mark required by the 1973 War Powers Resolution because, it said, the war had “terminated” on April 7. It made the claim despite the fact that a blockade is an act of war and the U.S. continues to blockade Iranian ports. Asked on Saturday how he could say the war had terminated when the U.S. military was enforcing the blockade, Trump told reporters: “Well, it’s a very friendly blockade. Nobody’s even challenging it.”

Duckworth, who lost both legs when serving as a U.S. Army helicopter pilot in the Iraq War, posted: “U.S. and Iranian ships are exchanging missile fire today in the Strait of Hormuz. Trump’s claims that hostilities have ceased were bullsh*t. He is lying to the American people and prolonging his disastrous war of choice—And he’s doing it illegally.”

This afternoon, Trump posted an AI image of President Joe Biden on one knee with the caption: COWARDS KNEEL,” an AI image of President Barack Obama with the caption “TRAITORS BOW,” and an AI image of himself with his fist raised and the caption “LEADERS LEAD.”

Journalist Aaron Rupar noted: “Trump is crazyposting at 3pm.”

I’d understand the Biden hatred, but Obama was before him completely

AFAIK he didn’t post this

Divine Angel said:

AFAIK he didn’t post this

As a Star Trek fan I feel that not even the Star Wars fans deserve this.

Divine Angel said:

AFAIK he didn’t post this

FWIW that’s a parody site, though all too often it can be difficult to tell.

Spiny Norman said:

Divine Angel said:

AFAIK he didn’t post this

FWIW that’s a parody site, though all too often it can be difficult to tell.

I saw the post a bit later saying it was parody but yeah, hard to tell these days.

May 5, 2026 (Tuesday)

Late yesterday, Republicans in the Senate released their funding request for the budget reconciliation bill. It includes $1 billion for White House security, including Trump’s proposed ballroom. President Donald J. Trump unexpectedly began the process of knocking down the East Wing of the White House on October 20, 2025, just two days after millions of Americans turned out for the October 18 No Kings rallies.

Days later, Trump told reporters that the cost of the ballroom he intended to build on the site would be paid “100 percent by me and some friends of mine.” At the time, he claimed the ballroom was necessary because presidents needed more space to host events. Since the incident at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, the White House has emphasized the need for the space for security reasons. In response, Republicans proposed a measure that appropriated $400 million to build a secure ballroom.

And now, Republicans are advancing a measure that will appropriate $1 billion in taxpayer money for Trump’s ballroom. They are doing so through budget reconciliation, which cannot be filibustered and so can pass the Senate with no Democratic votes.

The bait and switch of the ballroom plans seems to represent the bait and switch of the Republican ideology since the 1980s. When he ran for the presidency in 1980, Ronald Reagan promised voters that he would restore their freedom by cutting taxes and slashing regulations. With the resulting boom in the American economy, he argued, there would continue to be money for the social programs Americans liked. Americans could have tax cuts and social programs both.

In fact, Reagan’s tax cuts required deficit spending that tripled the national debt from $995 billion to $2.9 trillion—more federal debt than in the entire previous history of the country—prompting calls for cuts to social programs in order to address the ballooning debt. Rather than creating a rising tide that lifted all boats, as the saying went, the new system moved more than $50 trillion from the bottom 90% of Americans to the top 1%.

And yet that theory still animates the Republican Party. Last July, with their budget reconciliation bill known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” Republicans extended the 2017 Trump tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations. Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee promised the measure would fuel an economic boom. “Renewing the Trump tax cuts will be a huge boost to America’s economy—leading to higher wages and more job creation,” they said.

Not a single Democrat voted for the measure. Among other things, Democrats noted, its failure to extend the premium tax credits that enabled individuals and families to buy healthcare insurance on the Affordable Care Act markets would mean Americans would lose health insurance, and the slashing of about $186 billion in federal spending, about 20% of it, from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program over 10 years would hurt Americans who live with food insecurity.

The numbers are starting to come in.

Last Friday, Reed Abelson and Margot Sanger-Katz of the New York Times reported the conclusion of insurers and analysts that at least 20% of those covered by the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, are dropping their coverage, with analysts expecting that number will continue to rise another 6%. Already at least 5 million of the 24 million people who were covered last year have dropped their coverage. In Georgia, enrollment has fallen by more than a third.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told the House Committee on Education and the Workforce last month that the drop in coverage has come from the administration’s crackdown on fraud.

As Melissa Goldin of the Associated Press reported yesterday, there is a similar story about SNAP recipients. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins recently told the Fox News Channel that “we now have moved 4.3 million Americans off of the food stamp program. A lot of that is fraud. A lot of it is people taking the program that shouldn’t have been. And a lot of it is just a better economy…. So people don’t need food stamps.”

In fact, as Goldin notes, experts say that fraud in SNAP is rare, with less than 1% of those who enroll disqualified from the program for fraud. People appear to have dropped off the SNAP rolls because the new rules in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act made it harder to enroll.

While Republicans don’t intend to fund healthcare or nutrition programs, the Senate’s proposed budget reconciliation bill appropriates $72 billion to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection, the parent agency for Border Patrol, through 2029. Extending the funding until then means that Democrats will not be able to use funding as leverage to try to reform ICE and Border Patrol after their aggressive sweeps targeting immigrants led to dramatic abuses, including the shooting deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.

In February, G. Elliott Morris of Strength In Numbers crunched the polls and found that reforms to ICE are extraordinarily popular. Ninety-two percent of Americans want ICE agents to wear body cameras, for example, and 80% wanted an independent investigation in the killings of Good and Pretti. Morris noted that between 60% and 90% of voters—a supermajority that includes Republicans and a majority of Independents—say they want “transparency, accountability, rules, and oversight” for federal agents.

Today, at the Border Security Expo in Phoenix, Arizona, Trump’s White House advisor on border security, Tom Homan, assured Republicans that mass deportation is coming and that the administration will flood immigration officers into jurisdictions that aren’t cooperative. Michael Williams of CNN reported that Homan told Republicans angry that the administration is not deporting enough people: “You ain’t seen sh*t yet. This year will be a good year. Mass deportations are coming.” He added: “You’re going to see more ICE agents you ever seen before.”

The administration’s disregard for the will of the American people also shows in its approach to its war on Iran. Today, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters: “The operation is over. Epic Fury, as the president notified Congress, we’re done with that stage of it. We’re now on to this Project Freedom,” the attempt to open the Strait of Hormuz. The 1973 War Powers Act required the president either to get congressional approval for the war or to withdraw the troops within 60 days of notifying Congress of a military action. That deadline was May 1.

Now, according to Rubio, the war is now in a different phase: opening the Strait of Hormuz, which was open before Trump’s military adventure.

But Iranian officials have responded to Trump’s Project Freedom with military strikes against both the vessels attempting the transit and other Gulf countries. This afternoon, Trump backed down.

He posted on social media: “Based on the request of Pakistan and other Countries, the tremendous Military Success that we have had during the Campaign against the Country of Iran and, additionally, the fact that Great Progress has been made toward a Complete and Final Agreement with Representatives of Iran, we have mutually agreed that, while the Blockade will remain in full force and effect, Project Freedom (The Movement of Ships through the Strait of Hormuz) will be paused for a short period of time to see whether or not the Agreement can be finalized and signed.”

What a mess.

It really doesn’t look like a retrievable system unless an enormous amount of goodwill is found. And that’s a scares commodity in the US political system.

Michael V said:

What a mess.

It really doesn’t look like a retrievable system unless an enormous amount of goodwill is found. And that’s a scares commodity in the US political system.

Its evil how the Republicans think, they may as well be Nazi’s
I assume their aim is a high tech dystopian police state with the elite controlling the masses through various means.
Its so uncaring, how dead must your soul be to think about some of those things let alone implement them.

Cymek said:

Michael V said:

What a mess.

It really doesn’t look like a retrievable system unless an enormous amount of goodwill is found. And that’s a scares commodity in the US political system.

Its evil how the Republicans think, they may as well be Nazi’s
I assume their aim is a high tech dystopian police state with the elite controlling the masses through various means.
Its so uncaring, how dead must your soul be to think about some of those things let alone implement them.

Actually, I think SCIENCE nails it. It’s a team sport. Your mob vs the other mob.

Win at all costs. Do whatever it takes. Supporters continue wearing their scarves and beanies and go to stadiums. Own the other team, even if it hurts you. Even if it hurts you a lot.

It’s not about discourse and ideas. It’s a battle that must be won.

Cymek said:

Michael V said:

What a mess.

It really doesn’t look like a retrievable system unless an enormous amount of goodwill is found. And that’s a scares commodity in the US political system.

Its evil how the Republicans think, they may as well be Nazi’s
I assume their aim is a high tech dystopian police state with the elite controlling the masses through various means.
Its so uncaring, how dead must your soul be to think about some of those things let alone implement them.

It is not just the Republicans, the genocide in Gaza was not a red line for Democrats. I know folks disagree with me but so many Americans stayed home because of the genocide. It was the breaking point. If you can’t fight to stop a genocide, then you won’t have the guts to save democracy.

Both Centrist Dems & Reps collaborated together to use the neoliberalist “Poverty as a Policy Choice” for the last 50 years.

70% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck. They work 2-3 jobs over 6-7 days, pay rent & skip meals so their kids can eat.

They can’t afford a $500 medical emergency. They are one missed shift from homelessness.

The historians will be shocked that folks didn’t think that with not enough food to eat and no stable housing. That folks gave up on the political processes.

The Dems aren’t even pretending to fight back. Pelosi chose Connolly over AOC and Dingell over Jasmine Crockett. I had to look up who Connolly was, he had throat cancer and 4,000 followers. AOC has 20 million folIowers and I also had to look up Dingell and I haven’t heard anything about her since. Jasmine Crockett constantly goes viral.

Chuck Schumer was one of the seven Democrats who voted to keep the war in the Strait going. The They rotate Dems to vote through the unpopular with their base bills.

ms spock said:

Cymek said:

Michael V said:

What a mess.

It really doesn’t look like a retrievable system unless an enormous amount of goodwill is found. And that’s a scares commodity in the US political system.

Its evil how the Republicans think, they may as well be Nazi’s
I assume their aim is a high tech dystopian police state with the elite controlling the masses through various means.
Its so uncaring, how dead must your soul be to think about some of those things let alone implement them.

It is not just the Republicans, the genocide in Gaza was not a red line for Democrats. I know folks disagree with me but so many Americans stayed home because of the genocide. It was the breaking point. If you can’t fight to stop a genocide, then you won’t have the guts to save democracy.

Both Centrist Dems & Reps collaborated together to use the neoliberalist “Poverty as a Policy Choice” for the last 50 years.

70% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck. They work 2-3 jobs over 6-7 days, pay rent & skip meals so their kids can eat.

They can’t afford a $500 medical emergency. They are one missed shift from homelessness.

The historians will be shocked that folks didn’t think that with not enough food to eat and no stable housing. That folks gave up on the political processes.

The Dems aren’t even pretending to fight back. Pelosi chose Connolly over AOC and Dingell over Jasmine Crockett. I had to look up who Connolly was, he had throat cancer and 4,000 followers. AOC has 20 million folIowers and I also had to look up Dingell and I haven’t heard anything about her since. Jasmine Crockett constantly goes viral.

Chuck Schumer was one of the seven Democrats who voted to keep the war in the Strait going. The They rotate Dems to vote through the unpopular with their base bills.

I know some people think I rant on too much about the USA being awful as nation
The people themselves are like everyone else good and bad to varying degrees.
However their government is insidious in how they do it, they don’t appear outright evil like various regime around the world.
They conquered through things like Hollywood convincing everyone how important it is whilst abusing the very woman and children who are part of it.
They created blind patriotism and an underclass to fight their wars for them.
Monetised health care and a service class dependent on customers to survive, creating a huge power imbalance.
The cold war corrupted them to use proxies and not care what damage they did.
They have always had fascist leanings going back to the days of slavery with an underclass they consider inferior.

Cymek said:

ms spock said:

Cymek said:

Its evil how the Republicans think, they may as well be Nazi’s
I assume their aim is a high tech dystopian police state with the elite controlling the masses through various means.
Its so uncaring, how dead must your soul be to think about some of those things let alone implement them.

It is not just the Republicans, the genocide in Gaza was not a red line for Democrats. I know folks disagree with me but so many Americans stayed home because of the genocide. It was the breaking point. If you can’t fight to stop a genocide, then you won’t have the guts to save democracy.

Both Centrist Dems & Reps collaborated together to use the neoliberalist “Poverty as a Policy Choice” for the last 50 years.

70% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck. They work 2-3 jobs over 6-7 days, pay rent & skip meals so their kids can eat.

They can’t afford a $500 medical emergency. They are one missed shift from homelessness.

The historians will be shocked that folks didn’t think that with not enough food to eat and no stable housing. That folks gave up on the political processes.

The Dems aren’t even pretending to fight back. Pelosi chose Connolly over AOC and Dingell over Jasmine Crockett. I had to look up who Connolly was, he had throat cancer and 4,000 followers. AOC has 20 million folIowers and I also had to look up Dingell and I haven’t heard anything about her since. Jasmine Crockett constantly goes viral.

Chuck Schumer was one of the seven Democrats who voted to keep the war in the Strait going. The They rotate Dems to vote through the unpopular with their base bills.

I know some people think I rant on too much about the USA being awful as nation
The people themselves are like everyone else good and bad to varying degrees.
However their government is insidious in how they do it, they don’t appear outright evil like various regime around the world.
They conquered through things like Hollywood convincing everyone how important it is whilst abusing the very woman and children who are part of it.
They created blind patriotism and an underclass to fight their wars for them.
Monetised health care and a service class dependent on customers to survive, creating a huge power imbalance.
The cold war corrupted them to use proxies and not care what damage they did.
They have always had fascist leanings going back to the days of slavery with an underclass they consider inferior.

It is a country built on genocide and stealing lands. Then stealing people and brutal slavery. And it never reckoned with this. IMHO this is always how America has been. It’s just some of it is now happening to some white people.

ms spock said:

Cymek said:

ms spock said:

It is not just the Republicans, the genocide in Gaza was not a red line for Democrats. I know folks disagree with me but so many Americans stayed home because of the genocide. It was the breaking point. If you can’t fight to stop a genocide, then you won’t have the guts to save democracy.

Both Centrist Dems & Reps collaborated together to use the neoliberalist “Poverty as a Policy Choice” for the last 50 years.

70% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck. They work 2-3 jobs over 6-7 days, pay rent & skip meals so their kids can eat.

They can’t afford a $500 medical emergency. They are one missed shift from homelessness.

The historians will be shocked that folks didn’t think that with not enough food to eat and no stable housing. That folks gave up on the political processes.

The Dems aren’t even pretending to fight back. Pelosi chose Connolly over AOC and Dingell over Jasmine Crockett. I had to look up who Connolly was, he had throat cancer and 4,000 followers. AOC has 20 million folIowers and I also had to look up Dingell and I haven’t heard anything about her since. Jasmine Crockett constantly goes viral.

Chuck Schumer was one of the seven Democrats who voted to keep the war in the Strait going. The They rotate Dems to vote through the unpopular with their base bills.

I know some people think I rant on too much about the USA being awful as nation
The people themselves are like everyone else good and bad to varying degrees.
However their government is insidious in how they do it, they don’t appear outright evil like various regime around the world.
They conquered through things like Hollywood convincing everyone how important it is whilst abusing the very woman and children who are part of it.
They created blind patriotism and an underclass to fight their wars for them.
Monetised health care and a service class dependent on customers to survive, creating a huge power imbalance.
The cold war corrupted them to use proxies and not care what damage they did.
They have always had fascist leanings going back to the days of slavery with an underclass they consider inferior.

It is a country built on genocide and stealing lands. Then stealing people and brutal slavery. And it never reckoned with this. IMHO this is always how America has been. It’s just some of it is now happening to some white people.

People would have Australia going down that path.
We aren’t perfect but damn we have so many better services that care for people, like Medicare
I wouldn’t want to be a leader whose got morals in this world and try to stick to them.

Michael V said:

Cymek said:

Michael V said:

What a mess.

It really doesn’t look like a retrievable system unless an enormous amount of goodwill is found. And that’s a scares commodity in the US political system.

Its evil how the Republicans think, they may as well be Nazi’s
I assume their aim is a high tech dystopian police state with the elite controlling the masses through various means.
Its so uncaring, how dead must your soul be to think about some of those things let alone implement them.

Actually, I think SCIENCE nails it. It’s a team sport. Your mob vs the other mob.

Win at all costs. Do whatever it takes. Supporters continue wearing their scarves and beanies and go to stadiums. Own the other team, even if it hurts you. Even if it hurts you a lot.

It’s not about discourse and ideas. It’s a battle that must be won.

It should be noted that MZL uses ‘team sports’ as a pejorative for democracy in general and not just the dysfunctional situation in the US.