Patterico's Pontifications

Hello.

Dana (6308fe) — 4/24/2026 @ 8:57 am

From the previous Open Thread:

DOJ drops criminal investigation into Fed Chair Jerome Powell.

The reversal comes days after Pirro said publicly she intended to press on with the case. President Trump, in an interview just before Warsh’s confirmation hearing on Tuesday, brushed aside repeated suggestions that he let Congress handle oversight of cost overruns and close the investigation. “We have to find out” where the money went, Trump said.

1) Trump folds.
2) Thom Tillis shows the power of one.

Rip Murdock (e01e6e) — 4/24/2026 @ 9:30 am

First, Lutnick lied about his cutting ties from Epstein. Then in testimony, he lied about Trump Gold Card sales…

Last year Howard Lutnick claimed to have sold 1,000 and then 70,000 “Trump Gold Cards,” selling residency status for $5 million each.

Per @josh_wingrove, Lutnick today admitted the program has approved just one person to date for a $1M fee, who appears to have been Nicki Minaj.

And then he lied about his kids cashing in on tariff refund rights (see the Community Note).

Dean: Your sons figured out how to profit off of the tariffs by buying refund rights for pennies on the dollar just as you were out there cheerleading the tariffs. As a result, federal taxpayers like my constituents may now owe your family hundreds of millions. I wonder if Trump is concerned about you and your family profiteering off of the illegal tariffs.

Lutnick: That is false. It is not true.

Community Note: Internal documents reported by multiple outlets indicate Cantor Fitzgerald, run by Lutnick’s sons, executed at least one $10 million trade in tariff refund rights and had capacity for hundreds of millions more, though the firm denies any transactions.

He’s the perfect Commerce Secretary for Trump.

Paul Montagu (b480c1) — 4/24/2026 @ 9:52 am

Taxpayer bailout in the works:

I disagree with this.

At best it’s corporate welfare, at worst it’s one step closer to nationalizing the industry to begins the conversion from The United States of America to the People’s Republic of America.

whembly (34b6ae) — 4/24/2026 @ 9:52 am

Agree with Wembly

Time123 (cd4b7a) — 4/24/2026 @ 10:26 am

He’s the perfect Commerce Secretary for Trump.

It’s weird how so many of the people surrounding Donald Trump turn out to be crooked and amoral.

Radegunda (cb1918) — 4/24/2026 @ 10:30 am

6,

It’s a feature, not a bug. The last rhing someone like Trump wants around him is an honest broker.

Dana (55f4e2) — 4/24/2026 @ 11:05 am

Or ppl who take notes.

Time123 (1c7926) — 4/24/2026 @ 11:06 am

I don’t see much difference between “corporate welfare” and a taxpayer bailout. But there is a difference between the government lending money to the airlines (with the approval of Congress) as was done after 9-11 and during COVID, and an arbitrary presidential decision to take an equity stake in return for support. But under the current administration that horse left the barn a long time ago.

This will encourage the government to take more equity stakes in US companies:

………….
In August, the Trump administration announced it was taking a nearly 10% stake in the then-beleaguered (Intel), adding to a series of unusual private-sector interventions by the president. Under the terms of the agreement, $8.9 billion in grants that had been awarded to Intel from the 2022 Chips Act, but not yet paid, were converted into equity at $20.47 a share.

Shares have, for the most part, steadily climbed since then. Yet Intel’s stock leaped higher today after the company reported strong results amid growing demand for its CPUs. Shares are up more than 24% on the day and are on pace to eclipse their previous closing record, which was last reached in 2000.

With Friday’s moves, that means the stock has roughly quadrupled from the price the government paid—bringing the total value of the stake to around $36 billion. That leaves the government with a paper profit of around $27 billion.
………….

Rip Murdock (e01e6e) — 4/24/2026 @ 11:25 am

@7

It’s a feature, not a bug. The last rhing someone like Trump wants around him is an honest broker.

Dana (55f4e2) — 4/24/2026 @ 11:05 am

Hold on…

When are politicians ever “an honest broker”?

whembly (34b6ae) — 4/24/2026 @ 11:43 am

Some are worse then others in different things. Trump is by far the most corrupt of the modern era.

Time123 (64dcb8) — 4/24/2026 @ 11:47 am

I’m reading that Jared Kushner has been dispatched to negotiate with Iran. I wonder how big an investment their sovereign wealth fund will end up making in his “investment business”. KSA put in billions.

Time123 (1c7926) — 4/24/2026 @ 12:26 pm

Kushner and Witkoff, this time without J D Vance.

Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 4/24/2026 @ 12:56 pm

whembly, folks here aren’t upset about corruption. They’re just upset the corruption is by Trump instead of against him.

lloyd (19b352) — 4/24/2026 @ 1:05 pm

Internal documents reported by multiple outlets indicate Cantor Fitzgerald, run by Lutnick’s sons, executed at least one $10 million trade in tariff refund rights and had capacity for hundreds of millions more, though the firm denies any transactions.

Is the firm saying zero, but there is evidence of one that went through?

I don’t think the father’s statements were given any weight by the people who sold their rights.

It is possible that the sons knew the administration would probably give in at that point and issue refunds if they lost the case in the Supreme Court, rather than arguing against refunds.

Family members are not covered by ethics rules because they have aright to an independent existence

What I remember about Howard Lutnick is that his brother was killed on September 11, 2001 (and most of his employees) He survived because he came late because he was driving his son to the first day of kindergarten.

Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 4/24/2026 @ 1:06 pm

Lutnick: That is false. It is not true.

What is not true? Did they make the trades, or just one of them or none?

We have a problem here. It would be easy for a hedge fund manager to see the potential here. Should it be illegal to buy the rights, or maybe to offer less than 1/3 the recovery?

I don’t think this could even be called “honest graft.”

But they could be giving bad advice to the people they bought the rights from. (or didn’t buy them in the end.)

Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 4/24/2026 @ 1:13 pm

DOJ drops criminal investigation into Fed Chair Jerome Powell.

This looks bad, because it looks like political interference with an investigation.

But the investigation looks like it was created by political interference in the first place.

In 2017 this was “solved” by appointing a special counsel.

This would not work here. You can’t take two years to resolve this.

One thing to note: The Democrats are claiming hat Trump wanted to pressure Jerome Powell to lower interest rates – which they also wanted (except maybe very close to an election) They disguise this by using generalities to describe it.

Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 4/24/2026 @ 1:20 pm

What’s holding up the issuance of the gold cards is Trump’s policy of “extreme vetting.”

Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 4/24/2026 @ 1:24 pm

Re: Lowering the cost of its pharmaceutical products/

What’s the issue here is that they still can cost much more than generics, and people may not know about that possibility where it exists.

Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 4/24/2026 @ 1:27 pm

Hunter Biden may not be living in South Africa (full time) after all.

Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 4/24/2026 @ 1:29 pm

DOJ drops criminal investigation into Fed Chair Jerome Powell.

This looks bad, because it looks like political interference with an investigation.

According to the Acting Attorney General, Americans should be “happy” that Trump is deeply involved in the Department of Justice:

Asked in an interview with NBC News about a communication Trump sent to former Attorney General Pam Bondi in which the president publicly implored her to indict several of his political enemies, Blanche said it was an example of Trump being upfront with the American people and making his “high expectations” clear.

“That type of communication from President Trump should make every American happy,” Blanche said. “It means that there’s an executive, a chief executive, that is making sure every one of his Cabinet members are working as hard as they should.”
………..
Directing the Justice Department, Blanche said, is “what being the commander-in-chief is about.”
……….

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/24/2026 @ 1:37 pm

Buying up possible government debt was an issue in the First Congress, but Alexander Hamilton was not accused of having a close connection to people who bought up debt of the United States (maybe nobody investigated or thought to look for a connection)

AI Overview

As the first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton implemented a controversial yet highly successful financial plan to pay off national and state debts by issuing new federal bonds and assuming state debts, often paying full face value to speculators who had bought them cheaply.

Assumption and Funding of Debt:

Hamilton’s 1790 report on public credit proposed that the federal government take on (“assume”) the $25 million in remaining Revolutionary War debt from individual states and combine it with the $54 million national debt, creating a single, massive national debt.

Payment at Face Value: Despite outcry from figures like James Madison, who wanted to compensate original owners (like soldiers) who had sold their bonds at a discount, Hamilton insisted on paying the full “face value” of the bonds, including interest, to the current holders. This decision heavily rewarded speculators who had purchased the debt securities for a fraction of their worth.

Method of Payment: To fund this, Hamilton established a national credit system, selling new bonds and using revenue from excise taxes (such as the whiskey tax) and import tariffs to pay the interest, establishing high international credit for the U.S..

Motivations: Hamilton intended to consolidate power in the federal government rather than the states, and to align the interests of wealthy, educated citizens with the success of the new federal government.

The Compromise: The plan passed in 1790 following a compromise with Jefferson and Madison, where they agreed to support the assumption of debt in exchange for placing the national capital in the South (the Potomac).

Note on Hamilton’s Personal Finance: Despite managing the nation’s debt effectively, Hamilton died in 1804 with significant personal debt, requiring his friends to raise funds for his family’s support.

Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 4/24/2026 @ 1:37 pm

whembly, folks here aren’t upset about corruption. They’re just upset the corruption is by Trump instead of against him.

lloyd (19b352) — 4/24/2026 @ 1:05 pm

Do you really believe that, lloyd?

norcal (671a59) — 4/24/2026 @ 1:57 pm

There’s no saving the SAVE Act:
…………

Republican leaders this week were forced to remove the proposal as pending business in the chamber as they shifted gears to pass the budget resolution. That effectively benched the bill — which has been championed by President Donald Trump and considered a top agenda item — after an extensive pressure campaign by conservative members and influencers.
………..
“(Senate supporters have) convinced themselves that the longer it hangs around, the more popular it gets. The reality is — I’m quite certain they haven’t gained a single vote, and may have lost a few with time,” one Senate Republican told NOTUS. “There’s some things that aren’t possible, and this is one of them.”

The member noted that while key parts of the bill — which requires voter ID and proof of citizenship to register to vote — poll well with wide swaths of Americans, including Democrats, it is hardly considered a leading issue for voters.

“When put in a lineup of the top 100 things people are thinking about every day, it doesn’t get very high on the list,” the senator continued. “We’re spending a lot of the precious resource of time and energy on something that’s not top-of-mind awareness to voters.”

Polling suggests as much. A CNN survey taken in late March found that only 2% cited voting and elections as the most important issue facing the country, with scores of other topics dwarfing it related to the economy, foreign policy and immigration.

Adding to the calculus is what Senate Majority Leader John Thune and others have indicated in the past: that there is no path for the bill to pass. ………
………..
It’s a major blow to (Sen. Mike Lee, R-UT), who’s led the proverbial charge on the right in support of the measure. The Utah senator has largely campaigned for it via his X feed, which has featured frequent posts and selfie videos of him calling for the elimination of the filibuster with missives about those not willing to go to those lengths.

But after more than a month on the bill, Lee has signaled frustration. He posted on X last week that the chamber’s consideration of the bill was “not working,” all the while reiterating his desire to scrap the 60-vote threshold.

But those antics are growing tiresome with his colleagues.

“It’s gotten to the point of being beyond annoying. They’re just sad,” one Senate Republican said. “First of all, how do you have the time to do all of this? And how is this a priority in a serious institution of intellects discussing big stuff?”
…………
…………Lee is normally mum on the topic during weekly Senate Republican Conference luncheons. Multiple members told NOTUS that the voting bill did not even come up during Tuesday’s policy luncheon or the Wednesday lunch that’s hosted by the GOP Steering Committee.

What did, however, was a lengthy discussion about the filibuster. That led Thune to urge members to tamp down the chatter about scrapping it and to redirect the fire toward the other side of the aisle, two sources said. ………..
…………
Thune was noncommittal about the possibility of bringing up the SAVE America Act when asked earlier in the week. He cited the need to pass the budget resolution and a reauthorization of a key intelligence bill that is due to expire at the end of the month.
…………
However, some in the conference are not anxious for it to return to the floor in the near term.

“That horse has left the barn,” a third Republican member said.
###########

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/24/2026 @ 2:04 pm

I want to commend President Trump for this new policy, and for the example he is setting for some in his Cabinet: https://x.com/joncoopertweets/status/2047669617292665297

Jim Miller (5712e1) — 4/24/2026 @ 2:05 pm

Unlikely:

President Trump on Friday called for the 2020 election to be “permanently wiped from the books” if the Southern Poverty Law Center is convicted of making fraudulent payments totaling $3 million to members of white supremacist groups that the organization claims to fight.

“The Southern Poverty Law Center, one of the greatest political scams in American History, has been charged with FRAUD,” Trump wrote in a fiery Truth Social post.

“This is another Democrat Hoax, along with Act Blue, and many others.”

Trump then called for the results of the 2020 election — which he lost to Joe Biden — to be wiped if the group is found guilty of wire fraud, bank fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering offenses.

“If it is true, the 2020 Presidential Election should be permanently wiped from the books and be of no further force or effect!” he said.
……….

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/24/2026 @ 2:10 pm

“If it is true, the 2020 Presidential Election should be permanently wiped from the books and be of no further force or effect!” he said.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/24/2026 @ 2:10 pm

With each passing day, he becomes more of a laughingstock.

norcal (32a7ed) — 4/24/2026 @ 2:26 pm

Is Trump accusing the SPLC of causing him to lose the election? (I think that’s based on the idea that they created the Charlottsville “Unite the Right” rally in 2017 which was the basis of some of Biden’s campaign)

https://nypost.com/2026/04/22/us-news/southern-poverty-law-center-accused-of-secretly-paying-ex-kkk-imperial-wizard-as-informant

8 hate group leaders — including KKK Imperial Wizard and neo-Nazi — got millions from SPLC as part of ‘informant’ scheme, DOJ says

Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 4/24/2026 @ 2:26 pm

https://www.wsj.com/opinion/southern-poverty-law-center-indictment-justice-department-charlottesville-32c24e68

…According to the indictment, between 2014 and 2023 the Alabama-based nonprofit used donor contributions to infiltrate right-wing extremist groups and pay informants. The SPLC’s mission is to fight hate and extremism, but the SPLC allegedly helped the groups by paying more than $3 million to leaders at the likes of the Ku Klux Klan and the National Socialist Movement.

To pay the informants, SPLC allegedly set up bank accounts under fictitious names to disguise the source of the payments. The indictment, announced by Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, charges the SPLC with 11 counts, including bank fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy and money laundering.

SPLC says the allegations are false and that the indictment is another case of Mr. Trump weaponizing the Justice Department against his opponents. But the investigation started years ago in the U.S. Attorney’s office in the Middle District of Alabama. SPLC interim CEO Bryan Fair said in a statement the program was necessary because dealing with hate groups is “among the most dangerous work there is” and this program “saved lives.”

Using informants to warn about threats of violence may be defensible. But the charges, if true, reveal a problematic symbiosis between the SPLC and its informant sources. One informant was allegedly the member of a chat group that helped plan the 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Va. The source, who was paid $270,000 between 2015 and 2023, “made racist postings under the supervision of the SPLC,” the indictment says. The Charlottesville protests proved to be a great fund-raising event for the SPLC, with sizable donations from George Clooney, Apple Inc., and others.

The indictment also says at least two SPLC field sources, including a former chairman of the National Alliance and a leader of the National Socialist Party of America, were featured as “Extremist Files” on the SPLC website at the same time they received money from the SPLC. One received more than $140,000 between 2016 and 2023 while the second received more than $70,000 between 2014 and 2016.

SPLC’s business model is to monitor hate groups, and the profiles it creates for media and public consumption are part of its marketing to donors. The complaint notes that one field source from the KKK applied to “take part” in Adopt-a-Highway but was denied. During the informant’s litigation seeking to join the program, the SPLC paid more than $3,500 to the source. Was the SPLC helping encourage the litigation?

The donations to hate groups are all the more suspect because in recent years the SPLC has itself spread hate. The outfit has diversified its definition of extremist groups to include mainstream and nonthreatening conservative groups like the Alliance Defending Freedom, the Family Research Council and Do No Harm, which works against race preferences in medicine.

To the extent the money encouraged or sustained the racist groups, tacitly or otherwise, SPLC benefited from perpetuating racial division. A court will decide if that’s illegal, but it’s certainly disreputable.

Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 4/24/2026 @ 2:41 pm

The SPLC cannot be blamed for the Unite the Right rally.

But some of this could day into what the Czarist secret police did
., although no where near as close.

Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 4/24/2026 @ 2:44 pm

could play into

Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 4/24/2026 @ 2:44 pm

…….the Charlottsville “Unite the Right” rally in 2017 which was the basis of some of Biden’s campaign

Really?

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/24/2026 @ 3:02 pm

Really?

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/24/2026 @ 3:02 pm

He cited it as a specific reason he decided to run for president.

Dave (72009e) — 4/24/2026 @ 3:30 pm

…….the Charlottsville “Unite the Right” rally in 2017 which was the basis of some of Biden’s campaign

Really?

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/24/2026 @ 3:02 pm

Really?

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/24/2026 @ 3:02 pm

He cited it as a specific reason he decided to run for president.

Dave (72009e) — 4/24/2026 @ 3:30 pm

Ummm-Sammy said the Unite the Right rally was the “basis” of Biden’s campaign.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/24/2026 @ 3:34 pm

Sammy said it was “the basis of some of Biden’s campaign”. Some.

That “some” could be a specific reason he ran for President.

norcal (32a7ed) — 4/24/2026 @ 3:40 pm

I think it was more Trump and the rest of MAGA defending and justifying the naked racism on display there. Nice thing is that now ppl like Rob can admit that it was racist.

Time123 (292f57) — 4/24/2026 @ 3:40 pm

In a 128-page July 2025 opinion, a District Court ruled that Trump’s executive order banning asylum applications violated the law:

“The court recognizes that the executive branch faces enormous challenges in preventing and deterring unlawful entry into the United States and in adjudicating the overwhelming backlog of asylum claims of those who have entered the country,” he wrote.

But neither the Constitution nor the current law governing asylum seekers, Judge Moss wrote, could “be read to grant the president or his delegees authority to adopt an alternative immigration system which supplants the statutes that Congress has enacted.”

(The attempt by President Biden near the end of his term to re-write the asylum state by executive order had been ruled unlawful several months before that.)

Now the Appeals Court has upheld the District Court ruling:

We affirm the district court’s order granting summary judgment to Plaintiffs and its order granting class certification as clarified by the stay panel. The INA does not allow the President to remove Plaintiffs under summary removal procedures of his own making. Nor does it allow the Executive to suspend Plaintiffs’ right to apply for asylum, deny Plaintiffs’ access to withholding of removal under the INA, or curtail mandatory procedures for adjudicating Plaintiffs’ Convention Against Torture claims.

Even the partial dissenting opinion (by a Trump appointee) begins:

I agree with much of the majority’s thoughtful opinion. The Executive cannot remove aliens to countries where they will be persecuted, and the Proclamation and Guidance cannot strip them of mandatory procedures that protect against that removal.

Dave (72009e) — 4/24/2026 @ 4:01 pm

In a unanimous ruling, an 11th Circuit Court of Appeals panel has overturned an $8.2 million judgement in favor of former Governor Roy Moore against the Senate Majority PAC.

In 2017, Roy Moore ran as the Republican nominee in a special election to fill an open seat for one of Alabama’s United States senators. In the final weeks before the election, multiple news outlets reported that several women had accused Moore of inappropriate sexual conduct with them when they were young. Senate Majority PAC (“SMP”) grabbed onto the news reports and ran a campaign ad that stated, among other things, in separate individual frames that (1) “‘Moore was actually banned from the Gadsden Mall . . . for soliciting sex from young girls,’” and (2) “[o]ne he approached ‘was 14 and working as Santa’s helper.’” SMP ran the ad hundreds of times, and Moore eventually lost the election.

Moore sued SMP for defamation and false-light invasion of privacy under Alabama law, arguing in relevant part that the two statements above when read together created the false defamatory implication that he had solicited the 14-year-old girl working as Santa’s helper for sex.1 Those two claims proceeded to a jury trial. The jury found SMP liable for defamation and false-light invasion of privacy, and it awarded Moore $8.2 million in compensatory damages. The district court denied SMP’s renewed motion for judgment as a matter of law or for a new trial, and SMP appealed.

SMP raises several issues on appeal, including that the district court erred in denying its renewed motion for judgment as a matter of law because Moore is a public figure and he failed to present clear and convincing evidence that SMP published the implication in the ad with actual malice as required under the New York Times v. Sullivan standard. After careful review and with the benefit of oral argument, we agree with SMP. Accordingly, we reverse the district court’s order denying SMP’s renewed motion for judgment as a matter of law, and remand with instructions for the district court to enter judgment for SMP.
………..

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/24/2026 @ 4:06 pm

Sammy said it was “the basis of some of Biden’s campaign”. Some.

That “some” could be a specific reason he ran for President.

norcal (32a7ed) — 4/24/2026 @ 3:40 pm

I thought Sammy’s comment was quite clear.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/24/2026 @ 4:07 pm

Dave (72009e) — 4/24/2026 @ 4:01 pm

Trump would rather have the short-term headline, even if the courts eventually rule that what Trump did was wrong.

Getting Congress to change the immigration laws is the better, and lasting, answer, but Trump prefers to hurl insults than negotiate/persuade.

The WWE crowd and its ilk just eat that up.

norcal (32a7ed) — 4/24/2026 @ 4:14 pm

This SPLC comment was in the wrong thread…

One caveat to my earlier comments about SPLC.
If SPLC was using these informants to take down the racist organizations in question, then no big deal. Actually, good. Slumdog Hoover should approve those actions, not indict ’em for it.

However, if they were paying these racists to maintain and/or grow their racist operations, for purposes of getting more fundraising dollars, then SPLC should be shut down, for moral reasons at minimum.

SPLC is claiming the former, but we’ll see. As I said, this DOJ has lost their Presumption of Regularity under Trump, so they better produce evidence to back up their charges, which they’d have to do in court anyways.

Paul Montagu (b480c1) — 4/24/2026 @ 4:19 pm

Laura Loomer’s defamation lawsuit against Bill Mahar has been summarily dismissed:

A federal judge on Wednesday dismissed a defamation lawsuit from Laura Loomer, ruling in favor of comedian Bill Maher over a comment he made on his show that insinuated the far-right activist had an affair with President Donald Trump.

U.S. District Judge James Moody wrote in an 18-page ruling that Maher was clearly joking when he made the comment during a September 2024 episode of HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher.”

Moody said the episode aired “during a time when the environment was rife with jokes and speculation about Loomer’s relationship with President Trump,” and that a reasonable viewer of the show “would have understood Maher was making a joke, and not a statement of fact about plaintiff and President Trump.”

During the show in question, Maher said, “We did an editorial here a few years ago…it was basically, who’s Trump f——?”

He then added, “I think it might be Laura Loomer.”

The episode aired shortly after Loomer had attended a presidential debate and a 9/11 memorial with Trump. She had also traveled on Trump’s private plane.

The judge also wrote that Loomer failed to prove reputational harm or loss of income over Maher’s comments, particularly after Loomer testified that her income increased in 2024 compared to previous years. Moody added that Trump still “continues to solicit her opinions” and invite her to the White House.

Loomer said in a post on X Wednesday that the ruling by Moody, a Clinton appointee, was “outrageous” and that it “should be reversed on appeal either at the Eleventh Circuit and at the Supreme Court if necessary.”

“It is beyond the pale for any judge to say that a woman can be accused of having sex with a man and have it be brushed off as ‘a joke’ just because she proclaimed a platonic love for their politics and leadership style,” Loomer wrote. “The ruling is totally dishonest and misogynistic.”
………..
Maher testified earlier in the case that he made the joke based on Loomer and Trump’s “sudden closeness in the news that week,” according to court documents.

“I could have shown a video of them together and all the places they were together and all the things that were going on, the ‘I love you’ the ‘I love you,’ the blowing of the kisses, you’re very special, all this stuff, and then just said, ‘Hey, get a room,’” Maher said in his testimony. “It’s just — this is just comedy. This is — these are jokes.”
………….

From the opinion:

In sum, the Court concludes that the Episode was not a statement of fact. The delivery of the Episode, by a well-known comedian, in the context of a late-night comedy television series centered around jokes, signaled to viewers that this was not a factual statement about Loomer or concerning Loomer. So, Defendants are entitled to summary judgment as a matter of law on Plaintiff’s defamation claims.

Assuming, arguendo, that the Episode concerned false facts about Loomer, the claims still fail as a matter of law because the record is bereft of any evidence of “malice.” To prove a defamation claim, public figure plaintiffs like Loomer must show that “the defendant made the alleged defamatory statements with ‘actual malice.’”
………..
To show malice, Plaintiff points to the facts that Defendants did not seek comment from her, did not issue a retraction, and did not invite her to appear on a future episode of Real Time, as she requested. The Court agrees with Defendants that these facts are immaterial because the “failure to print [plaintiff’s] denials . . . does not constitute actual malice.”

Plaintiff also points to the fact that Defendants aired the “24 Things You Don’t Know About Laura Loomer” segment on the following week’s episode. But this is also immaterial because, as a matter of law, actual malice requires proof that statements were known “to be false at the time they were made” or that the defendant “disregarded the truth or falsity of these statements at the time they were made.” Thus, what Maher did or did not say days later does not inform the analysis. Accordingly, the Court concludes that no reasonable jury could conclude based on the record evidence that Defendants acted with actual malice.

Finally, the defamation claims fail as a matter of law for the separate reason that Plaintiff does not establish a genuine issue of fact as to her alleged damages. Contrary to
Plaintiff’s position, Florida law requires a defamation plaintiff in a case against a media entity to prove damages. ……..
………..
As Defendants contend, Plaintiff has not identified a single individual who believed that she was sleeping with President Trump because of the Episode or a single relationship that was damaged as a result of the Episode. She has not offered any expert testimony quantifying her reputational harm. She has not introduced income statements or tax records from the year of the Episode or after to prove a decline in her income. The record reflects that, to the contrary, Loomer testified that her income increased in 2024 compared to prior years and that she continues to speak to and meet with President Trump, he continues to solicit her opinions, and she continues to receive invitations to the White House. Plaintiff’s remaining evidence of alleged damages associated with lost job opportunities is entirely speculative. Indeed, the record reflects that, prior to the Episode, Plaintiff failed to obtain certain jobs because of her public remarks about controversial topics.
…………

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/24/2026 @ 4:26 pm

In a unanimous ruling, an 11th Circuit Court of Appeals panel has overturned an $8.2 million judgement in favor of former Governor Roy Moore against the Senate Majority PAC.

happyfeet hardest-hit!

Dave (72009e) — 4/24/2026 @ 4:38 pm

Dave (72009e) — 4/24/2026 @ 4:38 pm

Three (the above two cases and Kash Patel’s lawsuit dismissal against Frank Figliuzzi) victories in one week for free speech. I expect the same result for Patel’s lawsuit against The Atlantic.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/24/2026 @ 4:49 pm

Hilarious seeing Dave and norcal pretend there’s still a border problem. A victory in court (pending SCOTUS reversal) thanks to Obama/Autopen judges is like a garbage time dunk when you’re down by thirty.

lloyd (c03e6e) — 4/24/2026 @ 4:51 pm

So lloyd, do you approve of “solving” the border problem by violating the law?

Yes or no, please.

Dave (72009e) — 4/24/2026 @ 4:54 pm

No, Dave. That policy did not “solve” the border problem, nor is it illegal, but thanks for playing.

Are the many district court rulings that have been overturned illegal? Are they examples of judicial lawlessness? Yes or no, please.

lloyd (c03e6e) — 4/24/2026 @ 5:00 pm

Three (the above two cases and Kash Patel’s lawsuit dismissal against Frank Figliuzzi) victories in one week for free speech. I expect the same result for Patel’s lawsuit against The Atlantic.

Perhaps, but happyfeet was the site’s last likeable (even endearing) Trump supporter, and unfortunately the Roy Moore situation ultimately led to his downfall.

Dave (72009e) — 4/24/2026 @ 5:05 pm

Are the many district court rulings that have been overturned illegal? Are they examples of judicial lawlessness? Yes or no, please.

I’ll need specific cases to comment on them.

If you’re referring to Aileen Cannon’s attempt to shield Trump, then absolutely yes. But she is a rare, openly-corrupt judge.

Dave (72009e) — 4/24/2026 @ 5:11 pm

Dave doesn’t want to answer. LOL

lloyd (c03e6e) — 4/24/2026 @ 5:15 pm

Dave doesn’t want to answer. LOL

You asked my opinion on unspecified cases. How can I give a responsive answer?

I’m not sure there have been so many “district court rulings that have been overturned” as you want to suggest, either.

Some – including the asylum case I cited – have been stayed without a final decision on the merits.

The tariff cases, citizenship cases, and now the asylum case have all been upheld by Appeals Courts. The Supremes body-slammed tariffs and look set to do the same on citizenship.

Dave (72009e) — 4/24/2026 @ 5:27 pm

LOL Dave. Now you’re quibbling about whether “many” applies. I’ll gladly ignore your questions in the future.

lloyd (c03e6e) — 4/24/2026 @ 5:40 pm

As soon as you tell me which cases we’re talking about, we’ll be able to see just how many there are.

Right now, since – despite my repeated requests – you haven’t mentioned a single one, there are zero.

Dave (c3bb05) — 4/24/2026 @ 5:42 pm

Don’t worry, Dave. There are plenty of folks here who will defend your BS.

lloyd (c03e6e) — 4/24/2026 @ 5:50 pm

Lloyd, Dave’s proven repeatedly that he’s willing to get deep into the details of an issue. If there’s a case you disagree with he’s the guy to hammer it out with. You should take him up on his offer if you have anything specific to talk about.

Time123 (64dcb8) — 4/24/2026 @ 6:07 pm

Case in point.

lloyd (c03e6e) — 4/24/2026 @ 6:09 pm

Are the many district court rulings that have been overturned illegal? Are they examples of judicial lawlessness? Yes or no, please.

How could anyone possibly answer this without reference to specific cases?

I’ve asked three times and he refuses to say which ones he’s referring to.

Dave (c3bb05) — 4/24/2026 @ 6:14 pm

It would be funny, Dave, if it wasn’t so pathetic. Well no, it’s funny.

lloyd (c03e6e) — 4/24/2026 @ 6:20 pm

Trump could’ve avoided his half-baked invasion that cost us control of Hormuz if he’d only hashed out the deal.

1. What Iran says it offered in Geneva
Iran handed written proposals in Geneva that, according to Iran and the Omani mediator, included diluting or down‑blending a portion of its 60% enriched uranium and a pledge of broad International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) access and verification; Iranian officials framed this as a trade for sanctions relief and recognition of a right to limited enrichment for civilian reactors, not the permanent surrender of enrichment capability.

2. The “zero stockpile” and the British view
Oman’s foreign minister publicly celebrated “significant progress” and reported that Tehran had offered zero stockpiles of highly enriched uranium going forward under IAEA oversight; according to The Guardian, a senior UK security adviser who attended the talks judged the Iranian proposal “surprising” and thought a deal was within reach, citing Iran’s agreement to down‑blend existing stocks under safeguards.

7. Bottom line: what can be said with confidence
It is supported by multiple, independent reports that Iran proposed down‑blending high‑enriched uranium and granting increased IAEA access and that Oman and at least one UK adviser viewed those concessions as meaningful; it is also supported that the Trump administration publicly demanded zero enrichment, was skeptical, and had massed forces — but the claim that the president ordered strikes “hours later” after the Geneva offer is not corroborated in the supplied reporting and therefore cannot be affirmed on the evidence provided.

This was still a negotiation, where we could’ve insisted on pervasive inspection protocols. Uranium at 5% enrichment isn’t a threat. Instead, Trump went glandular and went in half-cocked.

Paul Montagu (8e63e1) — 4/24/2026 @ 6:25 pm

It would be funny, Dave, if it wasn’t so pathetic. Well no, it’s funny.

All you’re displaying is how bad faith you are, lloyd. It’s practically diseased.

Paul Montagu (8e63e1) — 4/24/2026 @ 6:27 pm

Like I said.

lloyd (c03e6e) — 4/24/2026 @ 6:33 pm

Dave, sometimes when ppl can’t answer questions about specifics it’s because they don’t have any. Their statement aren’t based on any reasoned conclusion after a review of recent data. It’s based on a bitterness and headlines they doesn’t understand but believe because of confirmation bias.

Other times they’re just not that bright.

Time123 (64dcb8) — 4/24/2026 @ 6:49 pm

RIP, Loomer joins a long line of Maga types whose defamation cases have gone nowhere.

Time123 (64dcb8) — 4/24/2026 @ 6:50 pm

62, Or, those people sneeringly dismissed as “not that bright” are far brighter in a macro sense.

But they base opinions on values, not some sterile MBA school “specifics” or cherry-picked “data,” not relevant to certain questions.

It does not matter how may “specifics” one has about the detention of American citizens in camps in WWII, because its fundamentally wrong. Like suppression of speech and theft.

Or endless cheap-seat, faculty lounge (that would be Dave), quibbling about a man’s tie, his diet, or his tendency to hyperbole, versus the major overarching issues relating to the fiscal and legal stability and future of the US.

Or some utopian view that the US is obligated to spend itself into bankruptcy to develop “soft power,” in some foreign hell hole, while absorbing more and more debt.

The judicial system has veered sharply off course in many instances: if you and Dave can’t identify them w/o a list to slog through, perhaps you need to read more. The Colo Supreme court, laden with Harvard grads, actually thought it was entitled to excise a federal candidate from the ballot. Since nothing says democracy like a small court in a marginal state deciding who you can vote for. Or a federal court deciding to oversee ICE in Chicago (reversed). Or a NY trial judge deciding to fine a man $475 million for repaying a loan on time (award vacated by appellate division as unconstitutional). etc. No one with a grasp pf trends, issues and values need “specific cases” to decide that the judiciary has become untethered from core principles.

A side that always needs more “data” and “specifics” instead of triangulating with values and core principles, is perhaps the side that is not that bright. You are bright: please do better.

Harcourt Fenton Mudd (bc8284) — 4/24/2026 @ 9:51 pm

Not worth it, HFM.

If these folks haven’t upgraded beyond zune or palm pilot, that would explain why they can’t do the simplest AI or google query which yields this:

According to the Trump Administration Litigation Tracker by Lawfare, the Supreme Court has issued at least 17 stays or orders to vacate lower court rulings against the administration, while only affirming a few lower court decisions against it.

(which includes a helpful link, which I’m not including)

Of course, they’re perfectly capable of doing this themselves, but they’re not bright enough to come up with a better excuse for why they won’t. They’d rather look dishonest and be dishonest.

lloyd (491c4b) — 4/24/2026 @ 10:22 pm

@HFM We’ve spent hundreds of times more and gotten less on our various wars in the middle east than we have in the entire history of USAID. We somehow always have money for war though.

nic (120c94) — 4/25/2026 @ 12:14 am

Current spending on the Iran war is estimated to be between 30 and 50 billion, with no end in sight.
Annual Foreign aid is 70 billion globally.

Seems like soft power may be a way to spend less money in the long run.

Time123 (0273bb) — 4/25/2026 @ 3:46 am

A side that always needs more “data” and “specifics” instead of triangulating with values and core principles, is perhaps the side that is not that bright. You are bright: please do better.

1. Can’t reason a man out of a position they didn’t reason themselves into. If your position is based on vibes it’s pretty much unassailable.
2. MAGA openly contemptuous of even the idea of principles. It would be interesting to hear what principles you think they value more than winning in the moment.

Time123 (0273bb) — 4/25/2026 @ 3:50 am

@68 They value existence more. Once trump is dispatched to the garbage can of history, what is to be done with trumpsters. We need a new version of lenin’s what is to be done with trumpsters. Should they be allowed to vote? Should their citizenship be taken away for sedition like the republicans want to do to Mamdani and other trump critics?Should they be sent for re-education on what it means to be an American?

asset (c708b6) — 4/25/2026 @ 4:51 am

Once trump is dispatched to the garbage can of history, what is to be done with trumpsters.

Funny you should ask.

Trump Administration Approves Firing Squad Executions for Death Penalty (gift link)

Dave (0168b2) — 4/25/2026 @ 5:42 am

Poor Dave. Crooks let him down.

lloyd (491c4b) — 4/25/2026 @ 6:37 am

The NYT has a lengthy piece on 27-year-old Sam Samson, a State Department senior advisor at their Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor.

The common thread is that this right-wing ideologue has had multiple meetings with pro-Russian right-wingers such as AfD, Nigel Farage, Marie Le Pen and of course the Orban administration. There’s a legitimate argument that European countries have infringed on free speech rights, but the dissonance and hypocrisy is fairly stunning because these right-wing MAGAs support a Putin regime that has shut down all First Amendment rights, the latest action being Putin’s shutdown of Telegram and other social media.

Paul Montagu (089691) — 4/25/2026 @ 9:15 am

Crooks let him down.

Says the guy who voted for the p*ssy-grabber with 34 felony convictions…

Dave (0168b2) — 4/25/2026 @ 9:39 am

How does our DOJ National Security Division improve when they cut staff by 38%?

DoJ’s national security division has lost nearly 38% of its staff, internal records show, leading to “unprecedented personnel constraints” in the unit that handles cases involving espionage and the export of sensitive military technology.

How does our law enforcement improve when the Trump DOJ has cut 4,000 federal law enforcement jobs and has left 7,000 jobs unfilled?

Reuters got DOJ’s own records. 4,000 law enforcement jobs cut. National Security Division down 38 percent. Civil rights division down more than half. Drug prosecutions at a 20-year low. 7,000 positions unfilled.

A former DOJ employee said they have no idea who handles a major espionage case right now.

This is the tough-on-crime record. It’s in their own budget documents.

Paul Montagu (089691) — 4/25/2026 @ 10:13 am

66, No one likes war. Young people die, people get legs blown off, money is diverted to useless war devices, and things that were built with sweat and sacrifice of millions are destroyed.

But when clerical fascists that despise the world, endorse suicide vests, and stone people are on the verge of getting a nuclear weapon.. .and long-range delivery capacity, what is the choice? Wait? Until its another NoKo? And tell our kids in 2030 “sorry, but we thought it was better to wait.”?

I just don’t see another choice. This is safety, versus an AIDS clinic in Uganda that one of the other 200 countries in the world can pay for while we do the heavy lifting.

Harcourt Fenton Mudd (bc8284) — 4/25/2026 @ 10:19 am

69, asset, — obviously all of those and more!

The very idea of electing people to cut the size of the government! Who do they think they are? Voters?

And the idiocy of ending USAID’s billions to foreign AIDS clinics, DC based employees, NGO’s and consultants!

Of trying to end federal support for CA’s money pit called the “Bullet Train!”

And the idea of demolishing narco boats on the high seas instead of endlessly petitioning narco governments to stop sending drugs here! Why can’t they engage in interminable useless petitioning while Americans die from dugs like we were doing before?

And tilting the Pentagon from DEI to lethality, sealing the border, and imposing tariffs that provide a “safe space” for US manufacturers–like we had for the first 150 years. Positively un American!

Harcourt Fenton Mudd (bc8284) — 4/25/2026 @ 10:31 am

Democrats deporting the criminals first LOL

Soros DA Hides Docs On Migrants Getting Legal Help In ‘Sketchy’ Move

“Larry Krasner’s office has repeatedly and carelessly violated fundamental ethics rules governing the practice of law by purporting to prosecute aliens while actually defending them, at taxpayer expense, from the immigration consequences of their crimes,” FAIR Deputy Executive Director Matthew O’Brien told the DCNF. “This kind of blatantly unethical behavior would result in the average lawyer being suspended from practice or disbarred. Therefore, it is no surprise that Krasner’s staff is now trying to hide what it is doing [by] engaging in sketchy record-keeping practices.”

The district attorney’s office provided the same list the DCNF is asking for in prior years, releasing it to a legal group that now belongs to the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR). Those previous records showed former Immigration Counsel Caleb Arnold consulted migrants who were charged with murder, rape and other violent crimes, the DCNF reported. This contradicted Krasner and Arnold’s statements to the media that the immigration counsel would only assist low-level cases.

Krasner’s staff now refuses to disclose its foreign defendants’ charges to the taxpayers footing their legal expenses to keep them in the country. Meanwhile, the district attorney has repeatedly promised to put immigration agents in handcuffs if he deems their actions criminal.

lloyd (9364dd) — 4/25/2026 @ 11:30 am

If you’re a newly minted US citizen but have the wrong skin color and come from the wrong country, you too could have the feds come after you, facing citizenship revocation. This smells like a Stephen Miller operation, given the perverse incentives.

Traditionally, experts in the department’s office of immigration litigation have handled denaturalization cases. But the effort to enlist regular prosecutors to pursue these cases could lead to a surge in denaturalizations, which have been rare in recent decades. It also comes just months after Trump administration officials ordered Department of Homeland Security staffers to refer upward of 200 denaturalization cases a month to the DOJ.

The DOJ picked 384 citizens for citizenship-stripping, this after the INS had already vetted them.

Between 2017 and late last year, the government sought to strip just over 120 naturalized Americans of their citizenship. Such cases were far less common before President Trump was first elected, said Ms. Frost, who has written about the history of denaturalization. Between 1990 and 2017, the government filed 305 denaturalization cases, an average of 11 per year.

Trump already said he’s going after the Somalis.

President Trump said in an interview in January that Americans of Somali descent could be among those targeted in the denaturalization push.

Paul Montagu (089691) — 4/25/2026 @ 11:32 am

That was then:

Israel and Lebanon agreed to extend their ceasefire by three weeks following a meeting in the White House with top U.S. officials, President Donald Trump said Thursday.

“The Meeting went very well!” Trump said in a Truth Social post announcing the extension of the temporary truce.

This is now:

The Israeli prime minister’s office said on Saturday that Benjamin Netanyahu had instructed the country’s military to carry out “powerful strikes” against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon.

The move calls into question the Israel-Lebanon cease-fire, despite a cease-fire extension announced Thursday evening by President Trump. ………..

Rip Murdock (e01e6e) — 4/25/2026 @ 11:37 am

Dave (0168b2) — 4/25/2026 @ 9:39 am

You’re right, Dave. Murdering folks you disagree with isn’t as bad as voting for folks you don’t like.

Get
Professional
Help

lloyd (9364dd) — 4/25/2026 @ 11:44 am

Trump’s blockade doesn’t apply to Putin’s pet oligarchs.

Russian oligarch Alexey Mordashov is having his yacht pass out of Hormuz Strait into Indian Ocean.

Did Trump include assets like these in his blockade or are buddy boats ok?

There was a time after Putin’s 2022 Big Escalation when we simply took those superyachts.

Paul Montagu (089691) — 4/25/2026 @ 12:08 pm

The Book of JD, King James Version

“I think it’s very, very important for the pope to be careful when he talks about matters of theology”—Vice President JD Vance, April 14.

“President Trump will participate in a marathon reading of the bible on Tuesday”—New York Times, April 18.

And it came to pass at that time that a man named Donald came forth from the land of Queens, across the great East River from the city they called the New Jerusalem.

Now this Trumpite was a master builder and a skilled storyteller, but he was not at first a man of God. He built vast temples to Mammon, some of which, heavy with debt, collapsed in a heap. He had lain with many women, numbering more than his wives. It was even said that he had kept company with a man from Sodom known as Epstein the Onanite.

But Donald was anointed by God to lead the Chosen People out of the slavery into which they had fallen under the wicked rule of the house of the Democrats.

They were led by a man named Obama. Obama was a false prophet.…………..(and) he visited many torments on the people:……..
………….
For four years (Donald) ruled the people with justice and goodness. …….

But in the fourth year of his reign, God sent forth a great plague to test the people and the people were sore afraid. ………

In the affray, the Democrats seized their chance to destroy the prophet. Led by the ancient Joseph, a priest from the family of Biden, who at 935 years old was a cousin of Methuselah. The Bidenites stole the battle from the Trumpites with much chicanery and cheating and then, having wickedly deposed him, they set about to crush Donald. They tore into him with false claims and calumnies and writs against him. But the Trumpite was courageous and yielded not to their persecutions.
…………..
Now Donald ruled with ever greater strength and virtue. He closed the border to the illegal aliens, banished wrongdoers from the land, ended crime, punished foreign enemies with taxes on their oxen and wines, drove out the usurers from the central bank, and made the country great again, though there was still ungrateful complaining from the Scribes and the Pharisees about “affordability” and “the Constitution.”

………… He slew evil rulers from West to East. Yet even as he pulled down the wicked from their thrones, he was also a peacemaker who ended eight wars (though the sanctimonious, arrogant Judges of Nobel of the frozen North refused to recognize his greatness and gave their stupid prize to someone else).

At last, with the sons of Israel, he turned his might on the Persians, the enemy who had caused great suffering. And he smote them in their own homes. …………

Not all believed in the greatness of the man and some sought to sow doubts among the people. The leader of the Romans, a man named Leo, who was weak on crime and probably an Obamaite, understood not the truth nor any of the meanings of God’s words and he spoke many calumnies against him.

That is why I, JD, am here to bear witness and explain it so that all—yes, even the Romans, will come to acknowledge the truth.
#########

Rip Murdock (e01e6e) — 4/25/2026 @ 12:15 pm

Paul’s upset we are finally prosecuting immigration fraud. He’d be much happier with immigration fraud and inviting people who hate us to break our laws and steal from citizens.

NJRob (2142ad) — 4/25/2026 @ 12:28 pm

Murdering folks you disagree with isn’t as bad as voting for folks you don’t like.

Except I haven’t murdered anyone.

But you have made a p*ssy-grabber with 34 felony convictions King.

Dave (0168b2) — 4/25/2026 @ 1:04 pm

https://nypost.com/2026/04/24/opinion/hasan-pikers-cool-crimes-claim-exposes-the-lefts-toxic-rage/

The toxic left showing their cards. Just like Bill Ayers the left tells you what they are.

NJRob (2142ad) — 4/25/2026 @ 1:13 pm

Paul’s upset we are finally prosecuting immigration fraud.

As they say, mindreading is an intellectually lazy and dishonest practice, which ain’t a surprise since you’re a dishonest hack. What part of Stephen Miller’s 200-a-month quota system do you not comprehend?

Paul Montagu (089691) — 4/25/2026 @ 1:22 pm

Dave, I take it back. You’ve only suggested murdering folks you disagree with.

lloyd (9364dd) — 4/25/2026 @ 1:40 pm

What part of Stephen Miller’s 200-a-month quota system do you not comprehend?
Paul Montagu (089691) — 4/25/2026 @ 1:22 pm

“according to an official familiar with the announcement who was not authorized to describe it on the record”

lloyd (9364dd) — 4/25/2026 @ 1:45 pm

“according to an official familiar with the announcement who was not authorized to describe it on the record”

You’re misattributing, son. That number came from a Trump document, reported last December.

Paul Montagu (089691) — 4/25/2026 @ 2:35 pm

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/24/2026 @ 2:04 pm

The Senate rejected on Thursday an attempt to attach a version of SAVE Act to the reconciliation bill that is intended to fund DHS:

…………..
Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) voted against (Sen. John) Kennedy’s proposed instruction to the Senate Rules Committee to craft a bill that would ensure only American citizens vote in federal elections, require all voters to show proof of identity, and to require all ballots be counted within 36 hours of Election Day.
…………..
Some proponents of the SAVE America Act, including Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), have argued that the legislation wasn’t drafted to pass the Senate under the budget reconciliation process, which generally prohibits policy changes with only a tangential budgetary impact from passing with a simple-majority vote.
…………..
Kennedy’s motion to waive the applicable rules in the Budget Act preventing his amendment from being attached to the budget resolution failed by a vote of 48-50.
………….

Sen. McConnell as chair of the Senate Rules Committee would have been in charge of implementing Kennedy’s amendment had it passed.

Meanwhile, President Trump hasn’t kept his promise to not sign any legislation until the SAVE Act is passed. Since March 8th, he has signed:

• H.R. 8322 (FISA Extension): Signed April 18, 2026. Extends Title VII of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978.

• S. 3971: Signed April 13, 2026. Extends the Small Business Innovation and Economic Security Act and Small Business Technology Transfer programs (Public Law 119-83).

• S. 1884 (Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery Act Clarification): Signed April 13, 2026. Limits non-merits defenses for claims under the original 2016 Act (Public Law 119-82).

• H.R. 7211 (Medal of Honor for John W. Ripley): Signed March 26, 2026. Authorizes the award for acts of valor during the Vietnam War.

Rip Murdock (bce624) — 4/25/2026 @ 4:18 pm

President Trump and staff evacuated from White House Correspondents Dinner due to unknown security incident.

Rip Murdock (bce624) — 4/25/2026 @ 5:54 pm

More</

a>
…………..
Trump was sitting on the stage in the front of a ballroom in the Hilton Hotel. The dinner was attended by Trump, as well as by Vice President JD Vance, first lady Melania Trump and cabinet members.

A guest at the dinner, Erin Thielman, a military veteran, left the ballroom to call her son, and heard three loud bangs that she believes to be gunfire. She saw a man fall flat right in front of her. He was carrying what appeared to be a rifle and magazines.

Thielman then went downstairs and saw security people pulling out their pistols.

Rip Murdock (bce624) — 4/25/2026 @ 6:06 pm

The toxic left showing their cards. Just like Bill Ayers the left tells you what they are.

Fringe chatterbox Hasan Piker’s remarks romanticizing theft deserve condemnation.

But which party put a man with 34 felony convictions who brags about committing sexual assault and peeping at naked young girls in the White House, Rob?

Dave (0168b2) — 4/25/2026 @ 6:06 pm

Dave, your whatabouting is noted.

As is your attempt to deflect or deny anytime a leftist says what they truly are.

NJRob (eb56c3) — 4/25/2026 @ 6:18 pm

Who has greater potential to cause harm Rob?

a) a fringe nutcase with a podcast
b) the chief law enforcement officer and commander in chief of the US military

Why do you hold a) to a higher standard than b), Rob?

Dave (0168b2) — 4/25/2026 @ 6:25 pm

NYT:

A Secret Service spokesman said one person was in custody and that the “condition of those involved is not yet known.”

Rip Murdock (bce624) — 4/25/2026 @ 6:30 pm

NYT

The gunman was stopped near a security perimeter by law enforcement personnel and taken into custody, according to people familiar with the investigation.

Rip Murdock (bce624) — 4/25/2026 @ 6:34 pm

NYT:

I’m one of the small number of journalists traveling with the White House press pool tonight. We were in a hall just outside the ballroom when the commotion first rang out.

Several things happened in quick succession. Tuxedoed agents pulled out guns and began running toward the ballroom. White-jacketed caterers screamed and bolted for stairwells. Pandemonium reigned as top cabinet officials were evacuated.

Robert Kennedy Jr. and his wife, Cheryl Hines, came out and were ushered into an elevator. Then Jeanine Pirro emerged. The F.B.I. director, Kash Patel, came tearing across the hallway with two men in tow; his girlfriend was hiding in a room with another man who was holding her hand. Reporters are about to be taken back into the ballroom. The show will go on, apparently.

Rip Murdock (bce624) — 4/25/2026 @ 6:36 pm

NYT:

Anthony Guglielmi, a Secret Service spokesman, said in a statement on social media that the agency was working with the D.C. police department to investigate “a shooting incident near the main magnetometer screening area.”

Seems very odd.

Dave (0168b2) — 4/25/2026 @ 6:38 pm

Secret Service fail:

There was a heavy police presence outside the Washington Hilton, but no security screening required to enter the hotel. There were numerous pre-parties hosted on various floors of the hotel, as well as a red carpet.

However, to enter the ballroom where the dinner was being held, all attendees were required to go through magnetometers and have any bags checked. T.S.A. agents were among those involved in the security checks.

Rip Murdock (bce624) — 4/25/2026 @ 6:39 pm

Karoline Leavitt tells FoxNews that “there will be some shots fired tonight”…

Dave (0168b2) — 4/25/2026 @ 6:41 pm

NYT

A Secret Service agent in a tuxedo had escorted me to the men’s room moments before the shooting began in the hall just outside. We heard screaming and what sounded like plates shattering. We darted out of the bathroom. As we turned the corner, other agents had their guns drawn and pointed directly at us. They started screaming at us to run across the hall and get low. Behind them, crouched and huddled against a wall, was a small group of people — mostly photographers and caterers. And then the cabinet officials were evacuated one by one. Agents in black tie were darting around the cavernous Hilton with machine guns, looking every which way.

Rip Murdock (bce624) — 4/25/2026 @ 6:48 pm

The Washington Hilton is the same hotel where President Reagan was shot.

Rip Murdock (bce624) — 4/25/2026 @ 6:51 pm

NYT:

Here’s the latest.

President Trump was rushed from the stage after gunfire broke out in the hotel where the White House correspondents’ dinner was being held on Saturday night. The president appeared to be unharmed and was posting on social media, saying that he would soon hold a news conference at the White House.

The F.B.I. said a suspect was in custody after the Secret Service called “a shooting incident” near a security screening area. According to the White House press pool, a group of reporters who travel with the president, a member of the Secret Service shouted, “Shots fired,” and agents with guns drawn sprinted through the aisles to reach the president.

Guests were about five minutes into the dinner hour when a commotion could be heard toward the back of the ballroom. Gasps were heard and then hundreds of attendees dropped under their seats at their tables.

Security officials with weapons drawn emerged on the dais as the president and the first lady, Melania Trump, were quickly escorted out. Mr. Trump later wrote on social media, “The First Lady, plus the Vice President, and all Cabinet members, are in perfect condition.”

Rip Murdock (bce624) — 4/25/2026 @ 6:55 pm

The VP and a high percentage of the cabinet was in attendance, including Defense, Treasury, the Acting AG, FBI Director, HHS.

Trump’s speech was apparently planned to be a massive attack on the press.

Dave (0168b2) — 4/25/2026 @ 6:57 pm

Who has greater potential to cause harm Rob?

a) a fringe nutcase with a podcast
b) the chief law enforcement officer and commander in chief of the US military

Why do you hold a) to a higher standard than b), Rob?

Dave (0168b2) — 4/25/2026 @ 6:25 pm

Considering just a short while ago another of your leftist nutcases tried to murder Trump, your remarks disprove themselves

NJRob (eb56c3) — 4/25/2026 @ 7:00 pm

President Trump is scheduled to hold a news conference at 7:15 PDT.

Rip Murdock (bce624) — 4/25/2026 @ 7:03 pm

And the Democrats in Congress have refused to fund the Secret Service for 70.days. They are co-conspirators.

NJRob (eb56c3) — 4/25/2026 @ 7:05 pm

Considering just a short while ago another of your leftist nutcases tried to murder Trump, your remarks disprove themselves

There are no reports anyone, except possibly the subject in custody, was harmed tonight, or that anyone tried to murder anyone, so your remarks have no basis in fact.

As usual.

Dave (0168b2) — 4/25/2026 @ 7:07 pm

You are delusional as usual. Your constant excuses and support for these leftist lunatics shows you as a sympathizer or supporter.

You own this

NJRob (eb56c3) — 4/25/2026 @ 7:11 pm

CBS:

The suspect in Saturday night’s shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner had a shotgun and handgun on him, according to two sources familiar with the investigation into the shooting.

Rip Murdock (bce624) — 4/25/2026 @ 7:23 pm

CBS:

A Secret Service agent was injured when a gunman opened fire outside the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, two law enforcement sources told CBS News.

The agent was struck by a round but was wearing a bulletproof vest and is expected to be OK, the sources said.

The sources said that a total of five to eight shots were fired. The gunman is alive but injured and was hospitalized, the sources added.

Rip Murdock (bce624) — 4/25/2026 @ 7:26 pm

Subject is said to be a 30-year old from California.

A Secret Service agent was shot in their protective gear and hospitalized. He is expected to survive.

Dave (d05344) — 4/25/2026 @ 7:27 pm

108, NJRob: Dave is going to need endless therapy to handle the unwashed voters rejection of his “Faculty Lounge endorsed” candidate and her policies. It just can’t penetrate his kevlar brain shield that the voters are more sensible and discerning that he is.

And as for defying reality: look at his 109: “there are no reports…that anyone tried to murder anyone…” Q: to Dave: so you think the shooter was trying to find his way to an NRA meeting?

Harcourt Fenton Mudd (bc8284) — 4/25/2026 @ 7:33 pm

Its really hard to kill the anti-christ if you watch the movies.

asset (74131e) — 4/25/2026 @ 7:34 pm

NYT:

Trump has posted photos on Truth Social of a man lying down on the ground at the Washington Hilton. The man appears to be the suspect.

Rip Murdock (bce624) — 4/25/2026 @ 7:36 pm

NYT:

Trump has posted photos on Truth Social of a man lying down on the ground at the Washington Hilton. The man appears to be the suspect. He also posted surveillance footage of a man running past the security checkpoint at the Washington Hilton. In the video, agents drew their guns and appeared to start firing.

.

Rip Murdock (bce624) — 4/25/2026 @ 7:38 pm

Q: to Dave: so you think the shooter was trying to find his way to an NRA meeting?

At the time I posted, there was no confirmation that the person in custody was armed.

Dave (d05344) — 4/25/2026 @ 7:40 pm

NYT:

(At his presser) Trump said this was “not a particularly secure building.” He then said that the episode underscored why the White House needed beefed up security, and its own ballroom.

Rip Murdock (bce624) — 4/25/2026 @ 7:41 pm

The suspect.

Rip Murdock (bce624) — 4/25/2026 @ 7:45 pm

NY Post:

A White House Correspondents’ Dinner volunteer said the suspected gunman appeared to assemble a “long” weapon in a lightly monitored area near the terrace-level entrance before opening fire and rushing toward the ballroom.

The witness, Helen Mabus, a volunteer working the event who said she is from Harrisburg, Pa., described a “makeshift room” near the entrance where bar carts were being stored and where “there was no security” at the time.

“He was in that room […] he grabbed it out of a bag or something,” Mabus said, adding that the weapon “was long” and “didn’t look like a typical gun.”

“He put it together and […] ran towards the stairs to go down to the ballroom,” she said.
………….
“It just seem like he was shooting all over the place,” Mabus said, estimating she heard “at least 10 shots.”

She said the gunfire triggered immediate panic, with people “screaming and running” while Secret Service and other armed personnel rushed toward the danger.
……………

Rip Murdock (bce624) — 4/25/2026 @ 7:52 pm

NYT:

Just minutes after the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner began on Saturday, a gunman was confronted and tackled by law enforcement officers near a security checkpoint of the Washington Hilton.

A security video posted online by President Trump showed the man running past a security checkpoint, with a swarm of law enforcement officials in pursuit.

The gunman did not make it inside the large hotel ballroom where Mr. Trump, top administration officials and hundreds of journalists had gathered for dinner around 8 p.m., officials said. ………..

Rip Murdock (bce624) — 4/25/2026 @ 7:57 pm

CNN reporting the suspect studied engineering at CalTech.

Wolf Blitzer – who was apparently an eye-witness to the gun-play – mentioned the suspect’s weapon as looking very large.

Dave (d05344) — 4/25/2026 @ 7:58 pm

Memo for future presidents: don’t go to an event at the Washington Hilton.

Rip Murdock (bce624) — 4/25/2026 @ 7:59 pm

NYT:

The man in custody is Cole Tomas Allen, 31, of Torrance, Calif., according to two law enforcement officials who asked to remain anonymous because they were not authorized to disclose the information.

Rip Murdock (bce624) — 4/25/2026 @ 8:01 pm

Cole Tomas Allen, 31, of Torrance, Calif.

Dave (d05344) — 4/25/2026 @ 8:02 pm

NYT:

In a news briefing, D.C. Police Chief Jeffery W. Carroll said “an individual charged a Secret Service checkpoint” armed with a shotgun and hand gun and multiple knives. Chief Carroll said the suspect was not struck by gunfire but was transported to a local hospital to be evaluated. An agent was shot during an exchange of gunfire, he said. He was taken to a hospital, where he is “in good spirits.”

Rip Murdock (bce624) — 4/25/2026 @ 8:19 pm

NYT:

Jeanine Pirro, the D.C. U.S. attorney, said the suspect was being charged with two counts: using a firearm during a crime of violence, and assault on a federal officer using a dangerous weapon. Pirro said that the defendant would be arraigned on Monday in federal court and that she expected more charges to follow.

Rip Murdock (bce624) — 4/25/2026 @ 8:21 pm

NYT:

Chief Carroll said the authorities believe that the suspect was a guest at the hotel. He said that the security plan for the dinner was established by the Secret Service and that it worked.

I would debate that point.

Rip Murdock (bce624) — 4/25/2026 @ 8:24 pm

Another let down for Dave.

lloyd (3edfac) — 4/25/2026 @ 8:27 pm

I would debate that point.

The guy was neutralized within a few feet of the outer perimeter.

Dave (d05344) — 4/25/2026 @ 8:34 pm

I would debate that point.

The guy was neutralized within a few feet of the outer perimeter.

Dave (d05344) — 4/25/2026 @ 8:34 pm

So what? He shouldn’t have even been there. Based on the information from the WHCA volunteer, someone f**ked up. The SS should have done background checks on the guests staying there. The entire hotel should have been locked down before the event. And if that was inconvenient for the hotel, they shouldn’t have accepted the contract.

Rip Murdock (3f045c) — 4/25/2026 @ 8:43 pm

So what? He shouldn’t have even been there.

The idea of a perimeter is that you choose an area and secure the interior. Anything outside is not secure. He was under pursuit and likely already under fire as he entered the perimeter.

The SS should have done background checks on the guests staying there.

And a background check on the shooter would have revealed…?

The entire hotel should have been locked down before the event. And if that was inconvenient for the hotel, they shouldn’t have accepted the contract.

There was no need to secure the entire hotel; it likely would have been counter-productive by spreading security resources thinner.

Dave (d05344) — 4/25/2026 @ 9:40 pm

Here’s a floorplan for the Washington Hilton, showing the International Ballroom where the dinner was held. From looking at photos and reading news accounts:

The magnetometers were one floor up, on the Terrace Level, likely in the area labeled “Terrace Foyer”. The red carpet appears to have been in the area labeled “International Terrace”, which was after the magnetometers.

Wolf Blitzer said people who needed to use the restrooms were escorted upstairs, and he would have been outside the restrooms near “International Terrace” on the map when he witnessed the gunplay.

Pictures of these officers, and this guy, have appeared frequently. They are in Concourse Level Foyer with the elevators; the woman at right is aiming up the escalator to the Terrace Level where the shooting took place.

This area would have likely been off-limits to guests and used as the route to evacuate the President and VIPs at the front of the ballroom using the “President’s Walk” from the stage.

Dave (d05344) — 4/25/2026 @ 11:00 pm

More detective work…

This video shows the suspect running through the magnetometers on the International Terrace.

The set of three double doors at the right of the video is a unique arrangement, and exactly matches the set between “International Foyer” (on the other side of the doors) and “International Terrace” (which the video shows) on the map.

The suspect runs from left-to-right in the video, which corresponds to moving east-to-west on the map. The camera is located near the restrooms, and looking toward the elevator.

The magnetometers are across the hallway to the left (coming from the elevators), roughly even with the “L” in “International Terrace” on the map.

Dave (d05344) — 4/26/2026 @ 12:11 am

This video shows the same area, with the hallway from the elevator passing through the magnetometers. Due to the pillar, only two of the three double doors are visible. The restrooms are behind the camera and the suspect is lying on the ground below the second “T” in “International Terrace” on the map.

Dave (d05344) — 4/26/2026 @ 12:22 am

This link lets you explore the Terrace Level of the Washington Hilton.

From the starting point, go straight ahead through the elevator lobby, turn left, and you will be about where the magnetometers were. Keep walking to where the restrooms are, and you’ll be near the location where the two videos linked above were shot.

Take the stairs down, and you’ll be in the International Ballroom…

Dave (d05344) — 4/26/2026 @ 1:02 am

My take.
One, the Secret Service did its job. The guy was caught at the outer perimeter.

Two, worship or detest the guy, he’s the president. He represents the Office of the President and our country, so an attempted attack or assassination of this guy is an attack on the Office and our American constitutional republic. Such an act is always fully condemnable, and the shooter deserves to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

Three, Trump didn’t comment afterward to complain about funding for the Secret Service (which looked fully staffed) but instead took the opportunity to sell his ballroom.

Paul Montagu (f4d691) — 4/26/2026 @ 6:53 am

Fifty years ago today ……….

More

Rip Murdock (621b5f) — 4/26/2026 @ 7:13 am

Ashley St. Clair on makeup and how Trump’s MAGA messaging (such as his ballroom campaign) spreads to the MAGA masses. Example here.

Paul Montagu (f4d691) — 4/26/2026 @ 7:14 am

Actually fifty years ago yesterday…….

Rip Murdock (621b5f) — 4/26/2026 @ 7:15 am

An update on Donald’s TrumpPhone scam…

More than $60 million in deposits for Trump’s phone, yet nobody has received their phone.

What’s happened to the $60 million?

Paul Montagu (f4d691) — 4/26/2026 @ 7:44 am

Seems like MAGAs didn’t check the numbers before launching their Big Ballroom messaging blitz.

The WHCD is between 2,500-3,000 people every year.

The ballroom will hold 1,000 max.

It solves zero issues. You’re in a cult. Seek help.

Copilot said that Trump’s Big Ballroom capacity is “up to 900” and that the 2026 WHCD “drew more than 2,000 attendees”. Sure enough.

Paul Montagu (f4d691) — 4/26/2026 @ 8:35 am

CNN:

The suspected gunman bought his two firearms legally in 2023 and 2025, a law enforcement official said Sunday.

The official also said the suspect was not on their radar before the shooting. As part of regular security protocol, all names in the hotel were run through government databases, the source said.

Dave (0a43e3) — 4/26/2026 @ 8:41 am

Seems like MAGAs didn’t check the numbers before launching their Big Ballroom messaging blitz.

The WHCD is between 2,500-3,000 people every year.

It’s also not a state function.

This is the first such event Trump has attended in either of his two terms.

Can you imagine him volunteering to let “the enemies of the people” use the White House for their event?

Dave (0a43e3) — 4/26/2026 @ 8:46 am

Seems like MAGAs didn’t check the numbers before launching their Big Ballroom messaging blitz.

Don’t worry – wave #2 will be “The Ballroom must be biggerer!”

#trumpwasrightabouteverything

Dave (0a43e3) — 4/26/2026 @ 8:58 am

93, Dave- seeking to distance himself from Piker by calling him “fringe.”

Reality: Piker has millions of followers, stumps for Dem candidates, Mamdani sat for an interview with him, and he is perceived by many as a worrisome representative of the far left dominating the Dem party. https://www.politico.com/news/2026/03/28/hasan-piker-democrats-midterms-2028-00849453

Harcourt Fenton Mudd (bc8284) — 4/26/2026 @ 9:04 am

129, Rip-

For sure.

(1) the guy should never have been able to enter a hallway from which he was able to sprint as he did: should have been agent checkpoints or monitoring points way before the “outer perimeter;

(2), Video shows a lone SS agent, relaxed, and standing near a table as the guy runs up and through the gap between tables: the SS agent seemingly moves aside to let the running man guy pass! But then he recovers quickly and pulls his weapon. But should not have been standing about as if he was a lone security guard at a garden party for elderly women. And should have blocked the guy or tackled him, not moved aside;

(3) agents evidently shot at the guy at what looks like a distance of no more than 20-25 feet; -and all missed.

A bit reminiscent of efforts to penetrating the WH in the Obama era. One guy actually made it inside after SS failed to stop him outside.

Harcourt Fenton Mudd (bc8284) — 4/26/2026 @ 9:21 am

– unmarried
– incel
– donated to Kamala’s campaign
– school nerf club

yeah, checks out.

The screening of hotel guests failed miserably.

lloyd (3c7c98) — 4/26/2026 @ 9:26 am

Can you imagine him volunteering to let “the enemies of the people” use the White House for their event?

For a big enough fee, yes.

Paul Montagu (f4d691) — 4/26/2026 @ 9:27 am

Dave, who upthread suggested murder for Trump supporters….

Impeccable timing.

lloyd (3c7c98) — 4/26/2026 @ 9:29 am

nk isn’t here to inform us it was just firecrackers.

lloyd (3c7c98) — 4/26/2026 @ 9:31 am

he is perceived by many as a worrisome representative of the far left dominating the Dem party.

I had never heard of the guy until Friday, when Allahpundit did a fascinating hit piece on him:

Dark Woke: On Hasan Piker and Trumpism (gift link)

Ethics in politics can seem confusing.

For instance, if you’re a special-ops soldier cashing in on your inside knowledge of the president’s war plans, you can expect to be prosecuted.

But if you’re a high-level crony cashing in on your inside knowledge of the president’s war plans, you can trust that neither Todd Blanche’s Justice Department nor the majority party in Congress will care.

Similarly, if you’re the influence-peddling son of a Democratic president leveraging your connections for cushy corporate positions, you’ll be appropriately vilified by right-wing media for corruption. But if you’re the influence-peddling son of a Republican president leveraging your connections for cushy corporate opportunities, the same right-wing media will help you promote your ventures.

It’s baffling—under traditional ethics, in which rules of proper conduct are supposed to apply universally. But under postliberal ethics, the apparent double standards melt away: The president’s friends, family, and allies are properly treated one way while everyone else is properly treated another.

People aren’t supposed to be treated equally under postliberalism. They’re supposed to be treated the way they “deserve.”

Or so it seems to me. To the average populist, all of this will sound like nonsense.

The whole reason postliberalism caught on in the first place, he or she would note, is because traditional ethics don’t actually apply universally in practice. Trump spoke candidly about that in 2016 when he declared America’s supposedly equitable liberal system of government “rigged.” Getting ahead in the proverbial swamp is all about who you know, he maintained, and he had the receipts to prove it. The elites monopolize power for themselves, exploit the average joe, and smugly pronounce the arrangement “fair” and “ethical.”

So there’s no such thing as “postliberal ethics,” our hypothetical populist would conclude. The president is practicing the same ethics as his predecessors. He and his toadies have merely dispensed with the lofty hypocrisy around such things, dropping the hollow pretenses of propriety.

The fact that Trump’s second term is already the most freakishly corrupt presidency in American history, in which tapped-in criminals are regularly set free while the commander in chief shakes down his own government for billions, is wholly coincidental, you see.

Which brings us, strangely, to Hasan Piker.

Read the whole thing…

Dave (0a43e3) — 4/26/2026 @ 9:43 am

NY Post:

Gunman Cole Allen sent an anti-President Trump manifesto to his family members about 10 minutes before opening fire at Saturday night’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner — calling himself the “Friendly Federal Assassin” and revealing he was trying to kill Trump administration officials, The Post has learned.

“Turning the other cheek is for when you yourself are oppressed. I’m not the person raped in a detention camp. I’m not the fisherman executed without trial,” Allen wrote in the document, which a relative provided to police, a US official said.

“I’m not a schoolkid blown up, or a child starved, or a teenage girl abused by the many criminals in this administration. Turning the other cheek when *someone else* is oppressed is not Christian behavior; it is complicity in the oppressor’s crimes.”

Allen described his targets as including “Administration officials (not including [FBI Director Kash] Patel): they are targets, prioritized from highest-ranking to lowest.”

“I am no longer willing to permit a pedophile, rapist, and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes,” Allen wrote, apparently referring to the president.

“In order to minimize casualties, I will also be using buckshot rather than slugs (less penetration through walls). I would still go through most everyone here to get to the targets if it were absolutely necessary (on the basis that most people *chose* to attend a speech by a pedophile, rapist, and traitor, and are thus complicit) but I really hope it doesn’t come to that.”
…………..
Like, the one thing that I immediately noticed walking into the hotel is the sense of arrogance.

I walk in with multiple weapons and not a single person there considers the possibility that I could be a threat,” he wrote.

“The security at the event is all outside, focused on protestors and current arrivals, because apparently no one thought about what happens if someone checks in the day before.
……………

Rip Murdock (621b5f) — 4/26/2026 @ 9:46 am

Here’s how Hamas abuses Gazans and gets away with it. Too bad there’s a ceasefire, because I got no problem with Bibi finishing the job and wiping the terrorists off the face of the earth.

Paul Montagu (f4d691) — 4/26/2026 @ 9:46 am

@154

Sounds amazing like someone who comments here.

lloyd (3c7c98) — 4/26/2026 @ 9:50 am

Dave, who upthread suggested murder for Trump supporters….

I wasn’t aware that you consider capital punishment by the federal government murder, lloyd.

Any other areas of secret agreement with Joe Biden that you haven’t told us about?

Dave (0a43e3) — 4/26/2026 @ 9:53 am

Here’s yet another example of Trump and his complete abdication of making moral distinctions, to the point of betraying Ukraine and their rightful defense and helping the invading Russian authoritarian terrorist regime, because he has a crush on an evil guy like Putin.

HEINRICH: Do you think China is helping Iran right now?
TRUMP: I think they may be helping, but I don’t think much. They could help a lot more. I’m not overly disappointed. We help people too. We helped Ukraine. We shouldn’t have done it to that extent.

Ukraine is defending itself from an immoral wrongful terrorist invasion.
Chairman Xi is actively assisting a belligerent terrorist regime that exports terrorism to other terrorist outfits.

Paul Montagu (f4d691) — 4/26/2026 @ 9:59 am

Rip Murdock (621b5f) — 4/26/2026 @ 9:46 am

The fact that he specifically exempts Patel, of all people, is remarkable.

Dave (0a43e3) — 4/26/2026 @ 10:00 am

Mr. Allen wasn’t administering capital punishment. Nor was Crooks. Dave, you’re just confused.

lloyd (3c7c98) — 4/26/2026 @ 10:00 am

The fact that he specifically exempts Patel, of all people, is remarkable.
Dave (0a43e3) — 4/26/2026 @ 10:00 am

Keep those sick takes coming, Dave. You’re on a roll.

lloyd (3c7c98) — 4/26/2026 @ 10:05 am

Dave, you’re just confused.

No, you are (I don’t think you’re actually confused, of course; you’re just lying again).

My comment upthread noted that a new method of capital punishment was being sanctioned by His Majesty.

It could only be murder if capital punishment is murder.

Dave (0a43e3) — 4/26/2026 @ 10:11 am

Keep those sick takes coming, Dave. You’re on a roll.

It’s pretty clear tell that Allen was a fan/listener of his, don’t you think?

Dave (0a43e3) — 4/26/2026 @ 10:14 am

asset: “Once trump is dispatched to the garbage can of history, what is to be done with trumpsters.”

Funny you should ask.

Trump Administration Approves Firing Squad Executions for Death Penalty (gift link)

Dave (0168b2) — 4/25/2026 @ 5:42 am

I’ll leave it to the precious few unbiased observers here to decide who’s lying, Ly’in Dave.

lloyd (3c7c98) — 4/26/2026 @ 10:23 am

Trump Administration Approves Firing Squad Executions for Death Penalty

Looks like I was talking about the death penalty, doesn’t it?

Dave (0a43e3) — 4/26/2026 @ 10:30 am

Looks like I was talking about the death penalty, doesn’t it?
Dave (0a43e3) — 4/26/2026 @ 10:30 am

For the capital crime of being a “trumpster”.

Feel free to clarify further, Dave. This is your opportunity. How much more dancing around do you intend to do?

lloyd (3c7c98) — 4/26/2026 @ 10:37 am

………..
There was no need to secure the entire hotel; it likely would have been counter-productive by spreading security resources thinner.

Dave (d05344) — 4/25/2026 @ 9:40 pm

Looks like the shooter identified the same security vulnerability.

If there isn’t enough security personnel between the DC Police, Park Service Police, Capitol Police, FBI, Secret Service, the Diplomatic Security, etc., bring in outside law enforcement agencies. There’s also the DC National Guard.

Rip Murdock (b4b422) — 4/26/2026 @ 11:06 am

There is little doubt that Trump and his conspirators will try to steal the 2026 and 2028 elections, using fraud and violence as they did in 2020.

It will be up to Attorney General Jack Smith to decide which crimes people are charged with, and the appropriate penalties.

Dave (0a43e3) — 4/26/2026 @ 11:12 am

Dave (0a43e3) — 4/26/2026 @ 10:30 am

Have to say lloyd’s got you on this one. Your reference to the death penalty is a direct response to asset’s comment. Tough to weasel out this-it was pretty obvious.

asset: “Once trump is dispatched to the garbage can of history, what is to be done with trumpsters.”

Funny you should ask.

Trump Administration Approves Firing Squad Executions for Death Penalty (gift link)

Dave (0168b2) — 4/25/2026 @ 5:42 am

Rip Murdock (b4b422) — 4/26/2026 @ 11:12 am

It will be up to Attorney General Jack Smith to decide which crimes people are charged with, and the appropriate penalties.

Dave (0a43e3) — 4/26/2026 @ 11:12 am

LOL!

Rip Murdock (b4b422) — 4/26/2026 @ 11:13 am

Looks like the shooter identified the same security vulnerability.

The shooter misunderstood, just as you seem to. The so-called “vulnerability” he imagined wasn’t real.

He who defends everything defends nothing.

If there isn’t enough security personnel between the DC Police, Park Service Police, Capitol Police, FBI, Secret Service, the Diplomatic Security, etc., bring in outside law enforcement agencies. There’s also the DC National Guard.

Trump and his lackeys travel constantly, day in, day out, going to parties, UFC fights, and it already costs a fortune.

Dave (0a43e3) — 4/26/2026 @ 11:27 am

there isn’t enough security personnel between the DC Police, Park Service Police, Capitol Police, FBI, Secret Service, the Diplomatic Security, etc., bring in outside law enforcement agencies. There’s also the DC National Guard.

Trump and his lackeys travel constantly, day in, day out, going to parties, UFC fights, and it already costs a fortune.

Dave (0a43e3) — 4/26/2026 @ 11:27 am

So what?

Rip Murdock (b4b422) — 4/26/2026 @ 11:36 am

Have to say lloyd’s got you on this one. Your reference to the death penalty is a direct response to asset’s comment. Tough to weasel out this-it was pretty obvious.

Maybe obvious to a lazy mind. I’m not weaseling out of anything.

Who imposes the death penalty?

The government, under law. If so, it’s not murder.

Trump and his people are crooks, and some have already been convicted of seditious conspiracy and other violent felonies. Capital felony murder charges could – and probably should – have been brought against the J6 assailants for the loss of seven lives.

Dave (0a43e3) — 4/26/2026 @ 11:51 am

Trump and his lackeys travel constantly, day in, day out, going to parties, UFC fights, and it already costs a fortune.

Dave (0a43e3) — 4/26/2026 @ 11:27 am

According to records obtained by Judicial Watch’s FOIA requests, President Obama’s annual trips to Chicago between January 2009 and January 2017 alone cost $7.4M, not including his travels to Martha’s Vineyard ($1M each) or Hawaii ($3.5-8M.) I don’t recall you grousing about that.

Rip Murdock (b4b422) — 4/26/2026 @ 12:10 pm

Trump and his people are crooks, and some have already been convicted of seditious conspiracy and other violent felonies.

Not for long.

Capital felony murder charges could – and probably should – have been brought against the J6 assailants for the loss of seven lives.

Dave (0a43e3) — 4/26/2026 @ 11:51 am

There is no evidence to support such a claim.

Rip Murdock (b4b422) — 4/26/2026 @ 12:13 pm

So what?

Look up “diminishing returns”.

Dave (0a43e3) — 4/26/2026 @ 12:14 pm

1,000 days to go.

Rip Murdock (b4b422) — 4/26/2026 @ 12:16 pm

Trump and his lackeys travel constantly, day in, day out, going to parties, UFC fights, and it already costs a fortune.

Dave (0a43e3) — 4/26/2026 @ 11:27 am

So what?

Rip Murdock (b4b422) — 4/26/2026 @ 11:36 am

So what?

Look up “diminishing returns”.

Dave (0a43e3) — 4/26/2026 @ 12:14 pm

Look up the law that entitles the President and other government officials to Secret Service protection.

Rip Murdock (b4b422) — 4/26/2026 @ 12:26 pm

According to records obtained by Judicial Watch’s FOIA requests, President Obama’s annual trips to Chicago between January 2009 and January 2017 alone cost $7.4M, not including his travels to Martha’s Vineyard ($1M each) or Hawaii ($3.5-8M.) I don’t recall you grousing about that.

Facts not in evidence.

I don’t believe I commented here during the Obama years; if memory serves I generally frequented PowerLine, HotAir, NRO and Instapundit during that time.

Rest assured, in those years I was as anti-Obama as any human being on the planet.

Shortly after Trump was sworn in, I remembered Patrick as a level-headed guy who I had enjoyed during the Bush years, and came back to see if he had sold his soul like nearly everyone else on the right who I had respected. The rest, as they say, is history.

Dave (0a43e3) — 4/26/2026 @ 12:27 pm

Look up the law that entitles the President and other government officials to Secret Service protection.

Unresponsive and unserious.

No one is arguing that Secret Service protection should be discontinued.

Dave (0a43e3) — 4/26/2026 @ 12:33 pm

First person:

……………
When I walked down the darkened, sinuous corridor to room 10235 (at the Washington Hilton), one door short of the very end, I was stopped by a polite man in a suit and an earpiece. “Sorry, sir, you can’t come through,” he said. And I saw that further down the turn of the corridor behind him were at least five men, one in an FBI bulletproof vest, another with a Secret Service Police windbreaker.

The man who stopped me, wearing a Hilton security badge, told me, “Come back in 20 minutes, it’s for all our protection.” I assumed they had thrown a protectee into a room. Odd, I thought. But the evening was already more than odd. ………
………….
The Hilton worker was much nearer the elevator this time. There were many more uniformed men behind him. “I’m sorry, Sir, I can’t let you go further,” he said. “I know you were here earlier.”

“When do you think I can get back in?” I asked. “I don’t know, Sir,” a man in a Metropolitan Police uniform next to the Hilton worker said. “We’re waiting on a judge.”

In that moment, I had a flash of realization: The police needed a judge because they needed to search the room. Already, security sources had said that they were working on the theory that the gunman had been a hotel guest.

I knew then that I had been next door to the man who wanted to turn the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner into a mass shooting. Maybe I had slept the night with an assassin in the next room.

He was next door to me?” I asked the Hilton worker. “I can’t tell you anything, Sir,” he said. An officer in a Metropolitan Police Department “detective” windbreaker turned to me and said, “I’m sorry, Sir,”

Another officer said, “Sir, just to let you know, this will be an FBI crime scene when they get here. We’re waiting for a judge. When exactly did you check in?”
………….
And it was then that I began to piece together the security fiasco that had taken place in the room next door.

Quite simply, a man who wanted to kill people—many people, maybe me, maybe my colleagues—had checked into the Washington Hilton, just like I had. He had used his access to move from floor 10 to the ballroom lobby, just like I had. And he had left a room which police had closed off, but which for all they feared could now be filled with explosives.
…………..
It does not take a security expert to unravel the layers of failure that happened at a Washington, D.C. hotel on Saturday night.

How on earth could someone with a disassembled long gun check into a room at a hotel where the president was going to speak? I can answer that: Nobody even looked at my luggage on Friday afternoon. Worse, my colleague arrived on Saturday at 5 p.m. Nobody looked at his luggage either: No magnometers, no hand checks, no I.D. checks. Nothing.

How on earth could that person get downstairs and assemble a long gun? I can answer that too. I moved up and down from Floor 10 all day. Nobody ever stopped me and asked me anything. I have never shown my I.D., except to the clerk who checked me in; I have never been searched or frisked when I checked in, or moved in and out of the hotel. To get down from my room to the dinner, I simply flashed my ticket. It could have been a photocopy.

The only time I went past a checkpoint was at the same magnetometers that Cole Allen, 31, sprinted past with his gun.

Another colleague was outside; I texted them a copy of their ticket. That allowed them to get into the hotel as far as those same magnetometers, entirely unchecked.

How on earth could that be considered safe?

And how could agents not have realized, after they knew who Cole Allen was, that the gunman had been a hotel guest, and that even after he had been neutralized, that other people might be in danger? How could it take three hours—yes, three hours—to wonder if the bomb squad should come round?
……………

Rip Murdock (b4b422) — 4/26/2026 @ 12:48 pm

No one is arguing that Secret Service protection should be discontinued.

Dave (0a43e3) — 4/26/2026 @ 12:33 pm

Facts not in evidence.

Trump and his lackeys travel constantly, day in, day out, going to parties, UFC fights, and it already costs a fortune.

Dave (0a43e3) — 4/26/2026 @ 11:27 am

Rip Murdock (b4b422) — 4/26/2026 @ 12:50 pm

Bill Melugin has a point about security. It was definitely good enough to stop amateurs who think they’re too smart for their own britches, but a more professional op involving bombs coulda been a different story.

Paul Montagu (f4d691) — 4/26/2026 @ 1:16 pm

Facts not in evidence.

Which part of “No one is arguing that Secret Service protection should be discontinued” do you not understand?

Rip Murdock (b4b422) — 4/26/2026 @ 12:48 pm

The whole argument is illogical and emotional.

President Trump and the other protected VIPs were not visiting the 10th floor. So the 10th floor did not need to be secure like the ballroom.

Someone who just wants to blow up random people in the room next door can do it at any hotel, anywhere, anytime. It is not the Secret Service’s job to prevent it from happening (Nevertheless, I suspect there were precautions against explosives which extended beyond the magnetometer perimeter, but perhaps not to the 10th floor guest rooms).

It’s also worth remembering that with all the security – both uniformed and undercover – there were vast numbers of people walking around the hotel with weapons who were supposed to have them. But only someone who could run the gauntlet of the checkpoint, the guarded stairwells, guarded doors and finally the unknown but large number of plainclothes and tuxedoed agents in the ballroom itself could threaten the Secret Service’s protectees.

The guy was nuts to think he could get close enough to threaten anyone except security, and the fact he was taken into custody unwounded suggests he quickly realized how utterly hopeless his “plan” was.

Dave (0a43e3) — 4/26/2026 @ 1:19 pm

Which part of “No one is arguing that Secret Service protection should be discontinued” do you not understand?

The fact that you complain it costs a “fortune” to protect Trump and his “lackeys.”

Rip Murdock (b4b422) — 4/26/2026 @ 1:31 pm

Dave (0a43e3) — 4/26/2026 @ 1:19 pm

Apparently your view of security at the dinner is in the minority. Access to the ballroom area should have been sealed off except to ticket holders.

Rip Murdock (b4b422) — 4/26/2026 @ 1:37 pm

It was definitely good enough to stop amateurs who think they’re too smart for their own britches, but a more professional op involving bombs coulda been a different story.

The Secret Service isn’t there to protect the journalists though. Journalist pre-parties probably have to make do with the hotel’s own security, and any private backup they provide for themselves.

There is technology (including K-9 and mechanical sniffers) for detecting bombs that could protect, say, the lobby areas.

Also the roadway approaches and curbside would have been watched for suicide vehicles and remotely triggered bombs, one assumes.

Dave (0a43e3) — 4/26/2026 @ 1:37 pm

Apparently your view of security at the dinner is in the minority.

Apparently my view is in harmony with the professionals in charge.

Access to the ballroom area should have been sealed off except to ticket holders.

It was.

Dave (0a43e3) — 4/26/2026 @ 1:41 pm

Capital felony murder charges could – and probably should – have been brought against the J6 assailants for the loss of seven lives.
Dave (0a43e3) — 4/26/2026 @ 11:51 am

One person died on J6, and that was at the hands of Capitol police.

As usual, Dave would rather lie and look ridiculous than simply walk back his “eliminationist rhetoric”. (h/t Paul Krugman)

lloyd (777240) — 4/26/2026 @ 1:53 pm

One person died on J6, and that was at the hands of Capitol police.

“A bipartisan Senate report found that at least seven people had lost their lives in connection with the Jan. 6 attack.”

As usual, Dave would rather lie and look ridiculous than simply walk back his “eliminationist rhetoric”. (h/t Paul Krugman)

What I wrote is backed up by facts, as always.

Dave (0a43e3) — 4/26/2026 @ 2:02 pm

@190
Dave, I’ll bet you believe NATO stands for North America Treaty Org because the NYT said so. “In connection with” is of course the necessary heavy lifting.

Mr. Greeson and Mr. Philips died of natural causes, the Washington medical examiner said in April. He added that Ms. Boyland’s death was caused by an accidental overdose.

Going from there to “capital felony murder charges” is a complete other layer of heavy lifting. You’re clearly not bothered by making ridiculous claims if it means clinging to your pro-violence rhetoric. Sad.

lloyd (777240) — 4/26/2026 @ 2:26 pm

Dave (0a43e3) — 4/26/2026 @ 1:19 pm

We’ll see what the congressional ~~coverup~~ investigation reveals. 😉

Rip Murdock (621b5f) — 4/26/2026 @ 2:31 pm

I dunno, this Cole guy looks a tad like Alex Padilla. You mean, “Don’t you know who I am?” shouldn’t have worked last night? So much fake outrage, which folks here bought into at the time.

lloyd (777240) — 4/26/2026 @ 2:37 pm

Going from there to “capital felony murder charges” is a complete other layer of heavy lifting.

Hardly.

Even a single death resulting from a felony like burglary would qualify for a first-degree murder charge.

Ashli Babbitt, for example.

Dave (0a43e3) — 4/26/2026 @ 2:43 pm

A bipartisan Senate report found that at least seven people had lost their lives in connection with the Jan. 6 attack.”
…….
What I wrote is backed up by facts, as always.

Dave (0a43e3) — 4/26/2026 @ 2:02 pm

<b

From your linked article:

• Ashli Babbitt, an Air Force veteran, was fatally shot by a Capitol Police officer as rioters tried to breach the House chamber.

• Kevin D. Greeson died of a heart attack, collapsing on the sidewalk west of the Capitol on Jan. 6.

• Rosanne Boyland appeared to have been crushed in a stampede of fellow rioters as they surged against the police.

• Benjamin Philips, the founder of a pro-Trump website called Trumparoo, died of a stroke.

Mr. Greeson and Mr. Philips died of natural causes, the Washington medical examiner said in April. He added that Ms. Boyland’s death was caused by an accidental overdose.

In the days and weeks after the riot, five police officers who had served at the Capitol on Jan. 6 died.

• Officer Brian D. Sicknick of the Capitol Police, who was attacked by the mob, died on Jan. 7.

• Officer Jeffrey Smith of the Metropolitan Police Department killed himself after the attack.

• Officer Howard S. Liebengood of the Capitol Police also died by suicide four days afterward.
………..

The DC medical examiner determined Sicknick died of multiple strokes.

None of the deaths come close to the definition of “capital murder”, as is there no such crime in either the DC or US criminal code. In any event, would need to charge a specific person with the crime, not an entire group.

Rip Murdock (621b5f) — 4/26/2026 @ 2:45 pm

We’ll see what the congressional coverup ~~investigation~~ reveals.

EMBIGGEN THE BALLROOM!!!

Dave (0a43e3) — 4/26/2026 @ 2:46 pm

Even a single death resulting from a felony like burglary would qualify for a first-degree murder charge.

Ashli Babbitt, for example.

Dave (0a43e3) — 4/26/2026 @ 2:43 pm

Even if true. you could only charge the police officer, not the other rioters. There is nothing in the statute that would allow that.

Rip Murdock (621b5f) — 4/26/2026 @ 2:49 pm

And if you think Ashli Babbitt was murdered (she wasn’t) you have to wonder why the police officer who shot her hasn’t been prosecuted. Biden didn’t pardon Michael Byrd.

Rip Murdock (621b5f) — 4/26/2026 @ 2:59 pm

@197 Going down irrelevant rabbit holes is of course what Dave does. His original call to violence against “trumpsters” @70 had none of the qualifiers he’s now bringing up. If he was only referring to J6 rioters, he’s had plenty of opportunity to clarify. Of course, he meant exactly what he said and has walked back none of it, not even his lie about “seven deaths”. Again, sad.

lloyd (777240) — 4/26/2026 @ 3:04 pm

Even if true. you could only charge the police officer, not the other rioters. There is nothing in the statute that would allow that.

After some research, that may be right; let’s suppose it is.

There are documented cases of felony murder convictions involving heart attacks, where the victim is untouched, but nevertheless dies due the felony (People vs. Stamp). And accomplices have been convicted in felony murder cases too.

Dave (0a43e3) — 4/26/2026 @ 3:07 pm

I mean… like I said. LOL

lloyd (777240) — 4/26/2026 @ 3:14 pm

Zelenskyy may have found the right man for a very tough job:
https://x.com/Mylovanov/status/2048109152073912376

Jim Miller (d0927c) — 4/26/2026 @ 3:20 pm

@200 I meant to add that the stroke victims could thereby qualify.

@198

And if you think Ashli Babbitt was murdered (she wasn’t) you have to wonder why the police officer who shot her hasn’t been prosecuted.

She was killed in the commission of felonies (her own and others’) and was shot in self-defense. If felony murder is not applicable, then she wasn’t murdered.

@199

His original call to violence against “trumpsters” @70 had none of the qualifiers he’s now bringing up. If he was only referring to J6 rioters, he’s had plenty of opportunity to clarify

There was no “call to violence”, and I never claimed I was talking about J6 rioters specifically. I used them as an example of Trumpish criminality that could lawfully lead to capital punishment.

Dave (0a43e3) — 4/26/2026 @ 3:21 pm

Jim Miller (d0927c) — 4/26/2026 @ 3:20 pm

He looks like he could play TE in the NFL, too…

Dave (0a43e3) — 4/26/2026 @ 3:38 pm

………. Trumpish criminality that could lawfully lead to capital punishment.

Dave (0a43e3) — 4/26/2026 @ 3:21 pm

Again, facts not in evidence.

Rip Murdock (26f4b9) — 4/26/2026 @ 3:44 pm

Another pointless discussion about January 6th, and I’m sorry I participated in it.

Rip Murdock (26f4b9) — 4/26/2026 @ 3:48 pm

If I am elected president (“President Mudd”) I want Rip or Lloyd to head up the SS, and not Dave. Nothing personal Dave, but I don’t want a security minimalist.

Harcourt Fenton Mudd (0c349e) — 4/26/2026 @ 3:52 pm

Brutal:

A 56% majority of voters say the Trump administration has not been competent at managing the federal government, according to a Fox News poll released (on April 22nd). Two in 10 Republicans join most independents (7 in 10) and Democrats (9 in 10) in holding that view, while 4 in 10 non-MAGA Republicans also agree.

Overall, 43% think the White House has been competent at running the government.
…………….
President Trump receives negative job ratings for his handling of immigration (46% approve, 54% disapprove), China (42-57), foreign policy (40-60), Iran (37-63), the economy (34-66), government spending (33-67), and inflation (28-72). His only positive rating is on border security (53-47).
……………
Also, some top cabinet officials receive negative ratings. Vice President Vance’s job rating is underwater by 11 percentage points (44% approve, 55% disapprove), while Secretary of State Rubio’s is negative by 12 points (44-56) and Secretary of Defense Hegseth’s is negative by 17 (41-58).

Among Republicans, more approve of Vance’s job performance (84%) than Rubio’s (77%) or Hegseth’s (76%). Each of their ratings is at least 20 points higher among MAGA Republicans than non-MAGA Republicans. Vance’s approval is higher than Rubio’s and Hegseth’s mostly because of support among MAGA Republicans, who rate Vance about 10 points higher.

The new survey also asks voters to rate the president on several traits, and again the findings are more negative than positive. More than half say Trump doesn’t care about people like them and lacks the appropriate judgment, mental soundness, and temperament to serve effectively as the country’s leader.

The 60% who think Trump lacks the right temperament is an increase in negative views since just before the 2024 election when 52% felt that way. However, it’s roughly the same as during most of his 2016 presidential campaign.

While a majority of 57% believe the president lacks the right judgment, some 42% think he has it — that’s unchanged compared to 2023 and an improvement from a low of 36% in 2016.
……………
Another 55% say Trump does not have the mental soundness to serve. That’s up 7 points since late 2024 and near the high of 56% in 2023. In comparison, 65% said former President Biden lacked the mental soundness to be president around the time he dropped his re-election campaign in July 2024.

…………(A)t least 9 in 10 MAGA Republicans think he possesses the right qualities, but that drops to about 6 in 10 or fewer among non-MAGA Republicans. Independents are more likely to describe Trump as lacking judgment, temperament, mental soundness, and empathy.
##########

Crosstabs

Rip Murdock (26f4b9) — 4/26/2026 @ 4:02 pm

For the first time ever, a marathon race was run in under two hours, not once but twice:

………….
Kenya’s Sabastian Sawe finished (the London Marathon) in 1:59:30, obliterating the previous record of 2:00:35 set at the 2023 Chicago Marathon by Kenyan Kelvin Kiptum. Ethiopia’s Yomif Kejelcha finished in 1:59:41.

It was the first time any human had run a marathon in less than two hours in a record-eligible race. The astonishing results capped a decade of technological and training innovation that has pushed the sport into uncharted territory over road racing’s most iconic distance.

The world record has now been broken four times in less than a decade—lowering the 2014 record by a total of 3 minutes, 37 seconds.

On Sunday, the two men pushed each other along the flat, fast course, especially late in the race. Sawe actually gained speed, running the second half nearly 1 ½ minutes faster than the first half.

Sawe, who is 31 years old, had been chasing the world record for more than a year. In December 2024, he won his marathon debut in Valencia in 2:02:05, then won the 2025 Berlin Marathon and the 2025 London Marathon.

Ethiopia’s Yomif Kejelcha, who ran 1:59:41, was just as surprising, considering that Sunday was his first ever competitive marathon. He had previously been the world-record holder in the half-marathon and a silver medalist in the 10,000 meters at last year’s world championships.

Even London’s third-place runner broke the previous world record: Uganda’s Jacob Kiplimo finished in 2:00:28 to complete the podium.

…………(N)othing has propelled runners more than the revolution in footwear.

A decade ago, Nike created mysterious prototypes featuring giant soles and rigid interior plates that functioned like springs, unleashing the “super shoe” era across the sport. Since then, high-tech foams have been perfected to return more energy to the runner than ever and come in lighter than previous materials. Studies show super shoes can increase running economy by roughly 4%—a massive help during a 26-mile race.
…………..
On Sunday in London, Sawe and Kejelcha wore Adidas’ lightest model yet. The Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3 weighs just 3.4 ounces, barely more than a deck of cards, for a men’s size 9.

Kiplimo, the third-place finisher, wears Nike.
……………

Rip Murdock (26f4b9) — 4/26/2026 @ 4:19 pm

Nothing personal Dave, but I don’t want a security minimalist.

I never suggested minimalism.

Dave (0a43e3) — 4/26/2026 @ 4:32 pm

This story puzzles me:

The White House correspondents’ dinner, attended by the president and several Cabinet members, was not given top security status that would have unlocked the full weight of federal security resources.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/04/26/white-house-correspondents-dinner-security-status/

Probably Hanlon’s Razor applies. Probably.

Jim Miller (d0927c) — 4/26/2026 @ 4:48 pm

Copilot said that Trump’s Big Ballroom capacity is “up to 900” and that the 2026 WHCD “drew more than 2,000 attendees”. Sure enough.

Paul Montagu (f4d691) — 4/26/2026 @ 8:35 am

Regardless, it looks like Trump will get Congressional approval.

Rip Murdock (0fc1b6) — 4/26/2026 @ 4:49 pm

Louisiana, Arkansas, Alabama and Texas now all have laws on the books mandating diplay of the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms, cafeterias and libraries.

This has been illegal since the Supreme Court’s 7-2 decision in Stone vs. Graham (1980)

Would the people who support the government’s doing this also support the posting of verses from the Koran, Buddhism, Dave-ism, etc?

If not, then isn’t the government kind of taking sides and establishing a favored religion here?

Dave (0a43e3) — 4/26/2026 @ 4:54 pm

Would the people who support the government’s doing this also support the posting of verses from the Koran, Buddhism, Dave-ism, etc?

I don’t see any state government doing so.

Rip Murdock (0fc1b6) — 4/26/2026 @ 5:00 pm

Jim Miller (d0927c) — 4/26/2026 @ 4:48 pm

A D.C. government official briefed on the preparation for the event, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly, said National Special Security Events tend to be for multiday events with regular attendance by the president and top cabinet officials.

“This is a dinner that he might not go to at the last minute and is not annually attended by him,” the official said in a text message in response to questions about why the event was not given the highest security level. “The State of the Union can only occur with the president, the WHCD has occurred many times without POTUS.”

Dave (0a43e3) — 4/26/2026 @ 5:03 pm

I don’t see any state government doing so.

Unresponsive.

Dave (0a43e3) — 4/26/2026 @ 5:05 pm

Regardless, it looks like Trump will get Congressional approval.

Never let a crisis go to waste?

Dave (0a43e3) — 4/26/2026 @ 5:17 pm

……… (Mandating the display of the Ten Commandments) has been illegal since the Supreme Court’s 7-2 decision in Stone vs. Graham (1980)
…………..
If not, then isn’t the government kind of taking sides and establishing a favored religion here?

Not according to the Fifth Circuit. Stone vs. Graham Is apparently now moot.

First, the Establishment Clause. Plaintiffs primarily claim we are bound by Stone v. Graham, 449 U.S. 39 (1980) (per curiam), which invalidated a similar Kentucky law decades ago. We disagree. Stone applied an analysis—the “Lemon test”—which confounded courts for decades. See Lemon v. Kurtzman, 403 U.S. 602 (1971). Mercifully, the Supreme Court jettisoned Lemon and its offspring some years ago. See Kennedy v. Bremerton Sch. Dist., 597 U.S. 507, 534 (2022) (recognizing the Court has “abandoned Lemon”). With Lemon extracted, there is nothing left of Stone.

In place of Lemon, courts now ask a question rooted in the past: does the law at issue resemble a founding-era religious establishment? Answering that question requires delving into historical sources and scholarship. These show that, in the late 18th century, an “establishment of religion” was a familiar institution: a polity’s official church or religion. The paradigm was
the Church of England. Over half the states had establishments when the First Amendment was adopted, and the remnants of those establishments persisted for decades.

Establishments were formed by a web of laws. Typical elements were laws compelling attendance at the official church; laws controlling doctrine, worship, and governance; laws punishing dissenters; laws exacting religious taxes; and laws deploying churches for public functions. Establishments in the colonies and states took various forms, but all shared at least some of
these hallmarks. And when the states dismantled their establishments—the last falling in 1833—they repealed the laws that had created them.

S.B. 10 (the Texas Ten Commandments law) looks nothing like a historical religious establishment. It does not tell churches or synagogues or mosques what to believe or how to worship or whom to employ as priests, rabbis, or imams. It punishes no one who rejects the Ten Commandments, no matter the reason. It levies no taxes to support any clergy. It does not co-opt churches to perform civic functions.These are the kinds of things “establishments of religion” did at the founding. S.B. 10 does none of them…………..
…………

Most importantly, the “coercion” characteristic of religious
establishments was government pressure to engage in religious worship. That’s why establishments prescribed liturgies and punished those who skipped them. S.B. 10 is far from that. It puts a poster on a classroom wall. Yes, Plaintiffs have sincere religious disagreements with its content. But that does not transform the poster into a summons to prayer.

I expect the Supreme Court will uphold this decision.

Rip Murdock (0fc1b6) — 4/26/2026 @ 5:19 pm

Would the people who support the government’s doing this also support the posting of verses from the Koran, Buddhism, Dave-ism, etc?

Probably not, but states can pick and choose what messages they endorse.

Rip Murdock (0fc1b6) — 4/26/2026 @ 5:28 pm

@213 You mean like this?

After the social media post went viral, the school district told parents who questioned the plans that the blueprints were “mislabeled in construction documents and should have been called a multipurpose space.”

Despite this, the tipster who alerted Alpha News to the blueprints said “This is undoubtedly for Muslim students only. I cannot understand how this can be happening in this era of no religion in schools.”

lloyd (5c4d31) — 4/26/2026 @ 5:40 pm

When the Left demands no religion in schools, what they mean is no Christianity in schools.

lloyd (5c4d31) — 4/26/2026 @ 5:43 pm

Kennedy v. Bremerton Sch. Dist. involved an individual’s private practice of religious expression; it specifically distinguished acts mandated by the state: (Wikipedia)

Gorsuch reasoned that unlike those earlier cases, Kennedy’s prayers “were not publicly broadcast or recited to a captive audience” and students “were not required or expected to participate”.

A public school classroom is, by contrast, a manifestly captive audience, and there is nothing private or personal about the legislature mandating prominent display of a particular sect’s religious texts.

I would have described the Lemon test (which asked what government was permitted to do) as being inapplicable to Kennedy v. Bremerton Sch. Dist. (where an individual’s actions rather than the state’s were involved) rather than being overruled by it.

Dave (0a43e3) — 4/26/2026 @ 5:48 pm

I cannot understand how this can be happening in this era of no religion in schools

Public schools are allowed to set aside time or space for students to use for prayers, are they not?

What I thought was illegal is mandatory, school-led prayer.

You guys are kind of proving my point that you have a double standard.

Dave (0a43e3) — 4/26/2026 @ 5:56 pm

206, Rip, I appreciated the J6 discussion, and thank you for the comments.

Harcourt Fenton Mudd (e3ccc4) — 4/26/2026 @ 5:57 pm

@223

Public schools are allowed to set aside time or space for students to use for prayers, are they not?

Using public funds to build a prayer room targeting one religion isn’t that, and you know it.

I never said I thought posting the ten commandments was acceptable, and I don’t. You’re the one advancing the Left’s double standard.

lloyd (5c4d31) — 4/26/2026 @ 6:01 pm

Whose 10 commandments are they posting? The Catholic version? The Protestant version? In two groups of 5 like the Jewish version?

(There is no reason to post the 10 Commandments other than the establishment of religion.)

nic (120c94) — 4/26/2026 @ 6:09 pm

Using public funds to build a prayer room targeting one religion isn’t that, and you know it.

There’s no actual evidence that Muslim students will be the only ones allowed to use the rooms. It would never be tolerated by a court, any more than excluding Muslims would.

It’s ragebait.

I never said I thought posting the ten commandments was acceptable, and I don’t.

You strongly suggested that any objection would be motivated by discriminatory religious animosity. But OK.

Dave (0a43e3) — 4/26/2026 @ 6:24 pm

Establishments were formed by a web of laws. Typical elements were laws compelling attendance at the official church; laws controlling doctrine,

Rip Murdock (0fc1b6) — 4/26/2026 @ 5:19 pm

A law compelling the posting of the ten commandments in a classroom is a “law controlling doctrine”.

I agree with lloyd. Posting the ten commandments in a school is unacceptable.

norcal (4f3f20) — 4/26/2026 @ 6:33 pm

@227

When asked about those blueprints, a spokesperson for the school district said “there are two phy-ed locker rooms with lower sinks that could be used for footwashing at [Osseo]. These were included in update plans after hearing from user groups on student needs.”

Lower sinks are an accommodation targeting one religion. It’s a prayer room targeting one religion. That other religions or a nerf club can use it is irrelevant.

Yes, discriminatory religious animosity is exactly what your double standard is.

lloyd (5c4d31) — 4/26/2026 @ 6:37 pm

The wording is specified in the Texas law, and must be followed exactly:

The Ten Commandments

I AM the LORD thy God.

Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven images.

Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain.

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.

Thou shalt not kill.

Thou shalt not commit adultery.

Thou shalt not steal.

Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his cattle, nor anything that is thy neighbor’s.

Dave (0a43e3) — 4/26/2026 @ 6:39 pm

Yes, discriminatory religious animosity is exactly what your double standard is.

Dude. Stop. F*cking. Lying.

All religions are the same to me (I find Christ’s message the most relatable but have no plans to start worshipping him…), and I have expressed nothing discriminatory to any of them here.

Dave (0a43e3) — 4/26/2026 @ 6:47 pm

Dave, cool. That has nothing to do with your double standard expressed here.

lloyd (5c4d31) — 4/26/2026 @ 6:52 pm

“There’s no actual evidence that Muslim students will be the only ones allowed to use the rooms. ”

Sure, Dave.

That said, norcal and Lloyd are right: no one ought to be posting religious tracts or tenants in public schools.

Harcourt Fenton Mudd (e3ccc4) — 4/26/2026 @ 7:07 pm

Establishments were formed by a web of laws. Typical elements were laws compelling attendance at the official church; laws controlling doctrine,

Rip Murdock (0fc1b6) — 4/26/2026 @ 5:19 pm

A law compelling the posting of the ten commandments in a classroom is a “law controlling doctrine”.

I agree with lloyd. Posting the ten commandments in a school is unacceptable.

norcal (4f3f20) — 4/26/2026 @ 6:33 pm

Your complaint is with the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, not me, though I’ll bet the Supreme Court will uphold the Texas law.

Rip Murdock (0fc1b6) — 4/26/2026 @ 7:15 pm

Lower sinks are an accommodation targeting one religion.

Even if so, is it clear that it’s forbidden? Religious accommodations are required by law.

This is from the Trump Dept. of Ed. site:

Federal or State law may require schools to make reasonable accommodations for students’ religious observance, such as excusing Jehovah’s Witness students from birthday celebrations or providing a quiet place for Muslim, Jewish, or Christian students to pray during lunch. Schools may wish to consult their attorneys regarding such obligations.

Student religious diversity is vast, and school employees should not expect all students of a particular religion to need a religious accommodation or that the accommodation will be the same for all those who request one.

If a student must wash their feet to pray, the law seems to require the school allow them if it is not unduly disruptive. Having a low sink might be the best choice, especially if a lot of students will need it around the same times.

Dave (0a43e3) — 4/26/2026 @ 7:18 pm

@235
None of what’s listed there requires public funds or any effort by the school. The lower sinks require public funds and probably a paid architect to design the prayer room, etc.

Apples and oranges.

IANAL but public funds and effort is an unreasonable accommodation. It doesn’t look like the school initially consulted an attorney either, thus the scramble to change the name of the room. They knew what they were doing was wrong.

lloyd (5c4d31) — 4/26/2026 @ 7:41 pm

Here’s the Trump admin’s

GUIDANCE ON CONSTITUTIONALLY PROTECTED PRAYER AND RELIGIOUS EXPRESSION IN PUBLIC ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOLS (February 2026)

I find nothing objectionable.

(It doesn’t directly address the Ten Commandments laws, but the line it draws seems to me to exclude them)

Dave (0a43e3) — 4/26/2026 @ 7:45 pm

Here’s the Trump admin’s

GUIDANCE ON CONSTITUTIONALLY PROTECTED PRAYER AND RELIGIOUS EXPRESSION IN PUBLIC ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOLS (February 2026)

I find nothing objectionable.

(It doesn’t directly address the Ten Commandments laws, but the line it draws seems to me to exclude them)

Dave (0a43e3) — 4/26/2026 @ 7:45 pm

The Trump guidance is irrelevant as to how the Supreme Court will interpret the Constitution as to whether posting the Ten Commandments violate the Establishment Clause. Like firearms regulation, the Court has moved to an analysis based on historical practices and understandings.

Rip Murdock (0fc1b6) — 4/26/2026 @ 7:58 pm

Kimmel, two days before the shooting:

“Our First Lady, Melania, is here. Look at Melania, so beautiful. Mrs. Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow.”

The Left is mentally sick.

lloyd (5c4d31) — 4/26/2026 @ 8:21 pm

The Left is mentally sick.

lloyd (5c4d31) — 4/26/2026 @ 8:21 pm

That’s a very broad statement, in addition to being one-sided.

norcal (117560) — 4/26/2026 @ 9:53 pm

David French: Meet the New Leader of the Free World (gift link)

Dave (1d160a) — 4/26/2026 @ 10:47 pm

Dave (1d160a) — 4/26/2026 @ 10:47 pm

Good article. Trump has done significant damage to relationships with our allies. He should have been impeached for threatening to invade Greenland.

He has harsher words for our allies than he does for Russia. Reagan would be apoplectic.

norcal (117560) — 4/26/2026 @ 11:27 pm

@213 They don’t care. As Churchill said of the germans they are either at your feet or your throat. BTW trump thanked satan for sending his hells angels to protect him and not call him home early.

asset (83ee4c) — 4/27/2026 @ 1:14 am

@238 dreamer!

asset (83ee4c) — 4/27/2026 @ 1:17 am

Fundo’s say don’t worry its the majorities religion that will be used no postings in school of the koran or other tolerated minorities.

asset (83ee4c) — 4/27/2026 @ 1:22 am

That’s a very broad statement, in addition to being one-sided.
norcal (117560) — 4/26/2026 @ 9:53 pm

Your one-sided “both sides” schtick is a funnier joke than Kimmel’s.

lloyd (5c4d31) — 4/27/2026 @ 6:10 am

Just a reminder that this leftist assassin is yet more violence coming from the left. All the bogus studies claiming political violence is forever on the right has been debunked by reality.

NJRob (fe0851) — 4/27/2026 @ 7:28 am

That’s a very broad statement, in addition to being one-sided.

norcal (117560) — 4/26/2026 @ 9:53 pm

Pushing communism and other evil ideologies like transing children is the definition of mental illness.

NJRob (fe0851) — 4/27/2026 @ 7:29 am

https://freebeacon.com/issues/suspected-whcd-shooter-boosted-bluesky-posts-saying-trump-should-be-tried-for-high-crimes/

His mental illness that caused him to try and mass murder our leadership seems to be indistinguishable from NeverTrump’s mentality and constant ravings.

NJRob (fe0851) — 4/27/2026 @ 7:32 am

#215 Mandy Rice-Davies applies. Probably.

Jim Miller (f311ed) — 4/27/2026 @ 7:33 am

@249

Pushing communism and other evil ideologies like transing children is the definition of mental illness.

NJRob (fe0851) — 4/27/2026 @ 7:29 am

Are there any American loving, pragmatic progressive left anymore? If you are, get your house in order.

whembly (5a0576) — 4/27/2026 @ 7:40 am

This was a surprisingly thoughtful response from POTUS:

@POTUS: “I’ve studied assassinations, and I must tell you, the most impactful people… the people that do the most, the people that make the biggest impact, they’re the ones that they go after.” pic.twitter.com/orvqAXSXXF

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) April 26, 2026

whembly (5a0576) — 4/27/2026 @ 7:43 am

This was a surprisingly thoughtful response from POTUS:

@POTUS: “I’ve studied assassinations, and I must tell you, the most impactful people… the people that do the most, the people that make the biggest impact, they’re the ones that they go after.” pic.twitter.com/orvqAXSXXF

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) April 26, 2026

whembly (5a0576) — 4/27/2026 @ 7:44 am

@252
That was in response to a typically loaded question from the media:
“Why do you think this keeps happening to you?”

The right question, which they will never ask:
“Why does the Left keep resorting to violence?”

lloyd (5c4d31) — 4/27/2026 @ 7:55 am

Just a reminder that this leftist assassin is yet more violence coming from the left. All the bogus studies claiming political violence is forever on the right has been debunked by reality.

Bullsht.
Bullsht.
Bullsht.
Bullsht.

CSIS reported that left-wing violence exceeded right-wing violence in 2025, but the previous 29 years were by your fellow right-wing zealots. Police your own, Robbie.

Paul Montagu (ab76f1) — 4/27/2026 @ 7:57 am

Paul Montagu (ab76f1) — 4/27/2026 @ 7:57 am

Don’t believe your lying eyes. Believe results-driven statistics that define right-wing as broadly as possible.

lloyd (5c4d31) — 4/27/2026 @ 8:08 am

Believe results-driven statistics that define right-wing as broadly as possible.

Typical MAGA water-carrying, resorting to ad hom. It’s the factless substanceless commentary I’ve come to expect from you.

Paul Montagu (ab76f1) — 4/27/2026 @ 8:12 am

@255

CSIS reported that left-wing violence exceeded right-wing violence in 2025, but the previous 29 years were by your fellow right-wing zealots. Police your own, Robbie.

Paul Montagu (ab76f1) — 4/27/2026 @ 7:57 am

Bullsht studies that has very massaged and contorted definitions in order to fit certain narratives.

The modern Democratic Party has created lunatics and monsters among them. Democrats need to come to terms with what they have produced.

Yes, the right has its own version of this derangement effect, but it’s still relegated to the fringe, whereas the Democrat’s version is very much in the mainstream.

I don’t see the same sort of glee we saw from the left when Kirk was murdered from the right.

I don’t see the same sort of protest-to-riots from the left, like we’ve seen over the years from the right. (excepting j6… which really is a one-off from the right)

I don’t see the same sort of “resistance” efforts from the left media/social media fomenting violence against the right when the left were in power.

The rhetoric from the progress left has been getting worse in my lifetime, particularly during Dubya’s terms, which has accelerated ever since HRC lost.

I would appreciate you’d stop being the useful idiot on behalf of the left Paul. Take a breather and self-reflect that maybe your hate-raging-boner against all-things-Trump is clouding your judgement a wee bit.

whembly (5a0576) — 4/27/2026 @ 8:17 am

The fact remains that 1,500 of your fellow MAGA zealots were criminally indicted for what they did on J6, hundreds of whom were provable cop-beaters, and your Orange Leader pardoned them all, including every single cop-beater. My eyes saw a whole bunch of those indictments, all of which contained visual evidence of their criminality.
It’s weird how so many hyperpartisan MAGAs like you remain in such denial.

Paul Montagu (ab76f1) — 4/27/2026 @ 8:17 am

Bullsht studies that has very massaged and contorted definitions in order to fit certain narratives.

All you got is ad hominem, which tells anyone that your argument sucks ass.
One of the links went to the National Institute of Justice, which Trump wiped from all US government websites, just like he did with the 2018 National Climate Assessment, because it conflicted with his mentally deranged preconceptions.

CSIS analyzed and assessed the motivations behind every attack. They’re not some left-wing hack site, and nor is Cato.

Paul Montagu (ab76f1) — 4/27/2026 @ 8:21 am

Paul loves him some garbage propaganda. Anything to absolve the left and justify their evil actions. But he’s such a true conservative. That’s why he pushes the left’s agenda over and over again.

NJRob (000680) — 4/27/2026 @ 8:25 am

Paul’s upset that garbage studies and leftist propaganda are no longer being pushed by the government. Just like his constant defenses of the SPLC.

GIGO.

NJRob (000680) — 4/27/2026 @ 8:26 am

@260

All you got is ad hominem, which tells anyone that your argument sucks ass.
One of the links went to the National Institute of Justice, which Trump wiped from all US government websites, just like he did with the 2018 National Climate Assessment, because it conflicted with his mentally deranged preconceptions.

CSIS analyzed and assessed the motivations behind every attack. They’re not some left-wing hack site, and nor is Cato.

Paul Montagu (ab76f1) — 4/27/2026 @ 8:21 am

lol. More appeal to authority desk slammings and a dig against Trump.

sad.

whembly (5a0576) — 4/27/2026 @ 8:30 am

Congratulations to these two local teams: https://www.king5.com/article/news/local/sammamish-bellevue-robotics-teams-win-world-championships/281-545015425

Jim Miller (f311ed) — 4/27/2026 @ 8:52 am

The Simple Security Flaws That Exposed Trump to Another Gunman
At the same hotel where then-President Ronald Reagan was shot 45 years ago, it was remarkably easy for a shooter to charge toward a ballroom where President Trump—along with his cabinet members and the reporters who cover his administration—were dining Saturday night.

………….More than 2,500 people attended the event, including five of the top six officials in the presidential line of succession. Hundreds more gathered for parties that media outlets hosted on site before the main festivities began.
………..
“Upon entering nobody asked to visibly INSPECT my ticket nor asked for my photo identification. All one had to do was flash what appeared to be a ticket and they were fine with that,” said Kari Lake, a former Republican gubernatorial and Senate nominee in Arizona now serving as senior adviser for the U.S. Agency for Global Media, in a social-media post.

Guests were able to access the Hilton’s lobby and lower levels without going through security scans and only passed through magnetometers before they entered the ballroom where the dinner was held. It was easier to get into the dinner than many big sports events and concert venues.
…………
“(The would-be assassin) didn’t beat the security plan the night of the dinner. He beat it the day he made the reservation,” said Jason Pack, a former FBI official. “They built that perimeter to stop an army. Turns out all he needed was a room key.”
………..
Saturday’s incident is sure to prompt a reassessment within the Secret Service of preparations for a site it has secured dozens of times in recent decades. But after attempts on Trump’s life in Butler, Pa., and in Florida at one of his golf courses, it also highlights how, in the heightened threat environment of today’s America, it is increasingly difficult to hold large political events that minimize the safety risks for those involved.

“The bigger question is are the traditional protocols put in place at venues such as the Hilton still adequate for this president and administration in today’s threat environment,” said Charles Marino, a former top Secret Service official. “Only the Secret Service can answer this.”
…………
Secret Service officials could be seen at the hotel in the days leading up to the event conducting security sweeps that included asking staff questions and checking in areas including the kitchen, according to a person familiar with the matter. Security agents were posted around the hotel Saturday morning, this person said. Officials gave the dinner a lower security classification than they do for events of national or international significance, another person said, such as the presidential inauguration or the State of the Union address.
…………
An array of law-enforcement agencies were involved in protecting the hotel itself, high-profile attendees and the surrounding area, including the district’s Metropolitan Police Department, the Secret Service and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, whose director, Kash Patel, attended the dinner. The hotel has its own private security, too.

The security details many CEOs and celebrities travel with weren’t permitted in the ballroom, but many of them had tickets to the dinner and were seated with attendees, according to people familiar with the matter. ……….

Entry to the hotel was only partially curtailed Saturday. Barriers set up in front of the hotel blocked the driveway. Guests approaching the hotel that afternoon were generally asked to show a room key and ID and had their names checked against a printed list. The fitness center, which offers memberships to the general public and has a separate external entrance, was open during the dinner, though security agents were stationed at the internal entry where the gym connects to the rest of the hotel.
………..

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/27/2026 @ 8:59 am

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/27/2026 @ 8:59 am

More:

…………
The concentration of high-ranking leaders in one ballroom left the nation unusually vulnerable as the would-be assassin raced past Secret Service before he was apprehended. A worst-case scenario might have resulted in passing the power of the presidency to the senior-most senator of the majority party, Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), who was not at the event and is third in line to the presidency behind Vance and Johnson.

When so many officials gather in one place for official functions such as an inauguration or State of the Union address, the secretary of homeland security typically puts the Secret Service in charge of coordinating all security through a formal designation known as a “National Special Security Event.”
………..
The Secret Service considered the site it was charged with protecting to be the ballroom and the immediate perimeter around it, according to two law enforcement officials briefed on the investigation who spoke on the condition of anonymity because there is a pending prosecution. The agency did not take responsibility for the entire Hilton hotel.

Outside, D.C. police handled road closures and traffic. In between, there was no clear responsibility for the security of the thousands of guests and rest of the Hilton property, where authorities said the suspect had booked a room.
………..
The full range of security precautions taken before and during the event was not immediately detailed by authorities. Attendees were free to enter the hotel with only a paper or digital ticket, then mill about for hours before walking through metal detectors.
………..

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/27/2026 @ 9:06 am

I do think SS should reconsider allowing POTUS, VPOTUS and Speaker in the same room in an event like this.

That’s why the ballroom addition would be important for events like this in the future.

whembly (5a0576) — 4/27/2026 @ 9:18 am

Many of you are wedded to the idea that any attack on Trump is the result of intemperate rhetoric from the left, but reject the idea that intemperate rhetoric on the right has any effect whatsoever. Since the argument is stupid, one can only assume that y’all are merely anxious to censor people who disagree with Trump, and looking for an excuse. In some cases, that might be subconscious. It’s hard for me to understand why anyone would intentionally gaslight about this on a relatively obscure website.

Appalled (4e65f2) — 4/27/2026 @ 9:19 am

#266

Why on earth should the White House Correspondents Association, an independent organization, hold an awards ceremony on White House grounds? That’s frigging crazy (unless the idea is that news correspondents are supposed to be co-opted and approved by the White House)

Appalled (4e65f2) — 4/27/2026 @ 9:22 am

Interesting read from my hometown:
Power Play

From 1973 to 1977 the National Hockey League was the wild west, and Bob “Gasser” Gassoff—a 5’10”, 190-pound wrecking ball who skated for the St. Louis Blues—was one of the best enforcers in the game. His job was not to score. It was to protect the players who did. High-stick, slash, board or manhandle a Blues skill player and Gasser would drop the gloves and answer the bell, over and over, until somebody turtled or a referee had the stones to break it up. He skated to the penalty box bloodied and sometimes missing his jersey, then flashed a trademark toothless grin that thrilled Blues fans and infuriated every opponent in the building.

Gassoff loved to fight. But he loved winning more. He never worried about being liked. He worried about winning. Sound familiar?
…
Conclusion
The thesis of this piece is not that Trump’s power play will succeed. It is that the play is real, coherent, and historically grounded in ways the daily news cycle obscures. Beneath the provocations and the bluster, there is a strategy—aimed at preventing China from achieving the kind of dominance that would make American power irrelevant for a generation. Whether it succeeds depends on factors no analyst can predict: the resilience of American institutions, the competence of execution, the choices of adversaries, and the tolerance of Americans for the short-term pain that any serious power play requires.

whembly (5a0576) — 4/27/2026 @ 9:27 am

@268

Many of you are wedded to the idea that any attack on Trump is the result of intemperate rhetoric from the left, but reject the idea that intemperate rhetoric on the right has any effect whatsoever. Since the argument is stupid, one can only assume that y’all are merely anxious to censor people who disagree with Trump, and looking for an excuse. In some cases, that might be subconscious. It’s hard for me to understand why anyone would intentionally gaslight about this on a relatively obscure website.

Appalled (4e65f2) — 4/27/2026 @ 9:19 am

You’re just engaging on both-sidism.

Most of us aren’t ignoring the fringe right issues. But those sick people are on the fringe.

The problem, Appalled, is that it is the violent left is becoming more mainstream.

This is nothing to do with wanting to censor criticism of Trump. It has EVERYTHING to do to denounce violence.

whembly (5a0576) — 4/27/2026 @ 9:30 am

That’s why the ballroom addition would be important for events like this in the future.

whembly (5a0576) — 4/27/2026 @ 9:18 am

The planned ballroom is far too small for this event. As Paul noted, the ballroom will hold approximately 1,000 guests while the WHCA event has more than @,500.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/27/2026 @ 9:32 am

@269

#266

Why on earth should the White House Correspondents Association, an independent organization, hold an awards ceremony on White House grounds? That’s frigging crazy (unless the idea is that news correspondents are supposed to be co-opted and approved by the White House)

Appalled (4e65f2) — 4/27/2026 @ 9:22 am

Why?

Because the POTUS (and other government officials) are the guest of honor.

You can’t be seriously arguing that it WOULDN’T be eminently a safer venue to host the dinner at the new ballroom…right?

whembly (5a0576) — 4/27/2026 @ 9:32 am

@272

The planned ballroom is far too small for this event. As Paul noted, the ballroom will hold approximately 1,000 guests while the WHCA event has more than @,500.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/27/2026 @ 9:32 am

If they want to invite the POTUS (and other government official)… cut down that number. Or, POTUS doesn’t show up.

Simple as that.

WHCA don’t get to demand the POTUS to go to a specific venue.

whembly (5a0576) — 4/27/2026 @ 9:33 am

Paul loves him some garbage propaganda. Anything to absolve the left and justify their evil actions. But he’s such a true conservative. That’s why he pushes the left’s agenda over and over again.

In Robbie’s narrow binary world, who knew that the facts from multiple factual studies are “the left’s agenda” or have a left-wing bias.
I’d say a true conservative considers the evidence, not the pap that’s spoon-fed you from your right-wing silos. But you well established that you’re no conservative. You’re in the tank for a right-wing con man.

Paul Montagu (ab76f1) — 4/27/2026 @ 9:34 am

lol. More appeal to authority desk slammings and a dig against Trump.

False again, but I’m done addressing your states of denial about all kindsa things.

Paul Montagu (ab76f1) — 4/27/2026 @ 9:36 am

@276

False again, but I’m done addressing your states of denial about all kindsa things.

Paul Montagu (ab76f1) — 4/27/2026 @ 9:36 am

You saying “false again” doesn’t win you any debate points Paul.

I cannot reconcile the fact that you were once a GOP voter, an actual conservative, morphed into reflectively taking nearly every anti-Trump position.

You may think you’re principled… but, your only principle isn’t some lofty center-right/conservative position… your principle is strictly defined by Tea Dee S’ism.

I sincerely hope you get help as it seems you’re helpless.

Sad.

whembly (5a0576) — 4/27/2026 @ 9:45 am

MAGA has made war on reality, reality has insisted they’re wrong, so reality is left wing.

Colonel Klink (ret) (3215ef) — 4/27/2026 @ 9:52 am

You saying “false again” doesn’t win you any debate points Paul.

You haven’t even debated, whembly. The facts have been presented, and you’re again doing the equivalent of closing your eyes and plugging your ears.

Paul Montagu (ab76f1) — 4/27/2026 @ 9:56 am

Whembly,

he’s a lefty from Seattle. Those were his talking points on Hot Air back in the day. Former lefty that converted to be a Republican. He’s just returning to his roots.

NJRob (eb56c3) — 4/27/2026 @ 10:24 am

We see Trump as doing incalculable harm to the country we love, whembly.

The country has survived bad policy decisions in the past, and can do so today.

But he is dragging our country through the mud. Turning us from the greatest force for good in the history of the world into the opposite. Reveling in cruelty and ignorance. Demolishing the very foundation of democracy by election fraud and attempted theft. Perhaps the greatest tragedy is that he has corrupted most of the party of Lincoln and Reagan, and the people in it, turning it from a vigilant defender of liberty and justice into a personality cult.

Dave (3d6f81) — 4/27/2026 @ 10:24 am

@279

You haven’t even debated, whembly. The facts have been presented, and you’re again doing the equivalent of closing your eyes and plugging your ears.

Paul Montagu (ab76f1) — 4/27/2026 @ 9:56 am

“facts”… lol.

Numerical data can be manipulated, misrepresented, or cherry-picked to support weak arguments or intentionally deceive, even when the numbers themselves are technically true. Aka… “Statistics, lies and damned lies.”

whembly (5a0576) — 4/27/2026 @ 10:32 am

@280

Whembly,

he’s a lefty from Seattle. Those were his talking points on Hot Air back in the day. Former lefty that converted to be a Republican. He’s just returning to his roots.

NJRob (eb56c3) — 4/27/2026 @ 10:24 am

Ah.

Makes sense.

whembly (5a0576) — 4/27/2026 @ 10:33 am

The war on science continues:

National Science Board eviscerated; Trump admin fires all 22 members

All 22 members of the National Science Board were terminated by the Trump administration via a terse email on Friday.

The administration has provided no explanation for purging the board, which helps steer the National Science Foundation and acts as an independent advisory body for the president and Congress on scientific and engineering issues, providing reports throughout the year. The ousters represent another severe blow to the NSF and the overall scientific enterprise in America.

Members received a two-sentence email saying that, “On behalf of President Donald J. Trump,” their positions were “terminated, effective immediately.”

Keivan Stassun, a professor of physics and astronomy at Vanderbilt University and director of the Vanderbilt Initiative in Data-intensive Astrophysics, was among those terminated. After reaching out to fellow board members and finding that they, too, had been terminated, he described the move to The Los Angeles Times as “a wholesale evisceration of American leadership in science and technology globally.”

NSB members are appointed by the president and serve six-year terms, which overlap to provide continuity. Other members who spoke to reporters at Nature News told the outlet that the board was set to meet on May 5 and planned to release a report on how the US is ceding ground to China on scientific endeavors.

The NSF and the board were established by President Harry Truman in 1950. “We have come to know that our ability to survive and grow as a Nation depends to a very large degree upon our scientific progress,” Truman said after creating them. “Moreover, it is not enough simply to keep abreast of the rest of the world in scientific matters. We must maintain our leadership.”

The loss of all board members is just the latest attack on the NSF. Last year, the Trump administration proposed cutting its $9 billion budget by 55 percent, terminated hundreds of its active research grants, significantly slowed the pace of new grant awards, and laid off or forced out a massive chunk of its staff. Its director, a Trump appointee, resigned under the assault. Trump has nominated biotech investor Jim O’Neill, who lacks scientific expertise, to be the next NSF director.

Roger Beachy, a terminated board member, told Nature he was concerned about political interference and suspected the board may have been cleared out to make way for O’Neill’s hand-picked members. The Trump administration has a track record of such moves. At the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, anti-vaccine Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. expelled all 17 members of an influential vaccine advisory board and replaced them with allies, who are largely unqualified but share Kennedy’s anti-vaccine views. Trump also packed the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology not with leading scientists and researchers but with tech billionaires, including leaders of Meta, Google, Oracle, and Nvidia.

Dave (3d6f81) — 4/27/2026 @ 10:45 am

If they want to invite the POTUS (and other government official)… cut down that number. Or, POTUS doesn’t show up.

I prefer the latter.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/27/2026 @ 10:54 am

It’s more than just oil that transits the Strait of Hormuz:

Fluoride is becoming harder to source as the war in Iran places more strain on global supply chains, leading some local governments to reduce their own use of the widely used cavity-fighting agent.

Two major water supply systems in Maryland, which serve the Baltimore and suburban D.C. areas, announced this month they would be temporarily reducing the concentration of fluoride, citing the conflict in the Middle East as the cause of a wider national shortage. A Pennsylvania town halted fluoridation for at least a few weeks, also citing the war.

According to chemical suppliers and trade groups, the shortage was brought on by a confluence of supply chain disruptions as well as higher transportation costs resulting from the conflict in the Middle East.

“Some of the suppliers around the nation have either taken their supply offline or severely shortened it, or it’s gone into other streams, like not to municipal streams. And there’s only a few fluoride manufacturers in the nation,” said Emily Horne, a spokesperson for Pencco, which has supplied the Baltimore-area waterworks.

The war in Iran and the associated standoff in the Strait of Hormuz have impacted U.S. fluoride levels, as Israel is one of the major global suppliers of the chemical used in water systems, fluorosilicic acid.

A 2022 risk assessment by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) found that Israel is the second top exporter of inorganic acids, including fluorosilicic acid, estimated at the time to be sending out 40 million kilograms. China is the top exporter, trailed by Poland, Germany and Malaysia.

The U.S. was among the top five importers of fluorosilicic acid, ranking fourth.
………..
“Unpredictable and rising transportation costs threaten the delivery of essential chemical products that countless U.S. industries and municipal systems use every day,” (Eric R. Byer, president and CEO of Alliance for Chemical Distribution (ACD)) said in a statement. “With ocean carriers imposing unjustified and unclear surcharges, ACD encourages regulators to continue to use their authority to protect American shippers, ensuring our members can continue to effectively deliver the chemical products Americans rely on for the health and safety.”

“Recent concerns about fluoride availability are a reminder of what we learned during COVID,” the Society of Chemical Manufacturers and Affiliates said in a statement. “Global supply chains can be disrupted quickly, and domestic manufacturing is essential to ensuring reliable access to critical materials that support public health and key industries.”
…………..
The U.S. is the ninth top exporter of fluoride, according to the EPA’s 2022 estimates, and it has a “significant amount of capacity” to produce the chemical, said Via. But since 2022, manufacturers of fluoride, a byproduct of the phosphate fertilizer industry, have looked to sell their product in more “reliable markets” with “reliable margins.”

Roughly 70 percent of the U.S. population lives in communities serviced by fluoridated water. There is no federal requirement that water systems use fluoride, which occurs naturally in waterways, though the U.S. Public Health Service issues recommendations on how much to add.
………….

MAHA not upset.

…………
…………Ivanhoe Mines, recently opened Africa’s biggest copper smelter in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It churns out sulfuric acid, the world’s most widely used industrial chemical, as a byproduct.

Running the numbers for the project a half-decade ago, (Robert Friedland, Ivanhoe’s CEO) reckoned on getting $150 a ton for the acid. But prices are now rocketing. Ivanhoe recently sold at $500 a ton, and prices have reached around $800 a ton in the local spot market.
…………
This little-noticed supply chain is being tested to the limit by the throttling of exports through the Strait of Hormuz, with serious implications for everybody who depends on sulfuric acid, from fertilizer makers to semiconductor manufacturers, who use it to clean chips.
………..
The big concern for governments is the impact of shortages on the food supply. Making phosphate fertilizer is the leading use of sulfuric acid.
………….
“Unless the Strait is open, you’re going to see extremely bizarre disruptions in the supply chain,” (Friedland) said.
###########

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/27/2026 @ 11:12 am

Disaster in waiting:

Prolonged disruption to the Strait of Hormuz could escalate into a global agri-food crisis unless vessels carrying farm inputs resume transit quickly, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization has warned.

The disruption could lead to a surge in food inflation later this year and a broader economic fallout reminiscent of the period after the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, the agency said.

The FAO said 20% to 45% of exports of key agri-food inputs depend on shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

It warned if farmers are forced to cut back on input use, crop yields will decline later this year and into 2027, raising food commodity prices and retail food inflation for the next several years.
………..
Higher oil and gas costs are already raising pressure across the food chain, while the Middle East accounts for roughly 40% of global fertiliser exports.

According to the FAO, March food prices had been supported by “ample” global supplies, especially in cereals, limiting volatility for now.

Pressure will mount in April and strengthen further in May, when growers make key planting and input decisions, the agency said.

Farmers may switch crops in response to the limited availability of fertiliser, while higher oil prices could also encourage more land to be directed toward biofuel production at the expense of food output, it added.

The latest FAO Food Price Index offers an early sign of that pressure.

World food commodity prices rose month on month in March, led by vegetable oil and sugar, largely due to the cost of energy tied to the Iran war, a UN report shows.

The index averaged 128.5 points in March, up 2.4% from the revised February level, marking a second consecutive monthly increase.

All five commodity groups tracked by the index – cereals, vegetable oils, meat, dairy and sugar – increased.
………..

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/27/2026 @ 11:17 am

Those were his talking points on Hot Air back in the day. Former lefty that converted to be a Republican. He’s just returning to his roots.

Liar, except the Seattle part.
At Hotair, you lied that I supported Hillary, just like you lied that I “pushed the 51 intelligence officials garbage hook, line and sinker” and “took the bait because you wanted the lie to be true.” I don’t know why you keep doing that, but it’s an asshole, asserted by an asshole.

Tell me this, child, how is Cato “garbage propaganda”? Are you that far at the end of the horseshoe?

Paul Montagu (ab76f1) — 4/27/2026 @ 11:30 am

…an asshole move…

Paul Montagu (ab76f1) — 4/27/2026 @ 11:31 am

Numerical data can be manipulated, misrepresented, or cherry-picked to support weak arguments or intentionally deceive, even when the numbers themselves are technically true. Aka… “Statistics, lies and damned lies.”

Yet you proved none of that. You’re just making baseless claims.

Paul Montagu (ab76f1) — 4/27/2026 @ 11:32 am

#273 (Whembly)

@269

#266

Why on earth should the White House Correspondents Association, an independent organization, hold an awards ceremony on White House grounds? That’s frigging crazy (unless the idea is that news correspondents are supposed to be co-opted and approved by the White House)

Appalled (4e65f2) — 4/27/2026 @ 9:22 am

Why?

Because the POTUS (and other government officials) are the guest of honor.

You can’t be seriously arguing that it WOULDN’T be eminently a safer venue to host the dinner at the new ballroom…right?

If the White House Correspondents Dinner were held at the White House, that would make it a very different thing. For example, do you think Trump would permit the Wall Street Journal to win an award for its Epstein files reporting? At a minimum, he could control the invitation list to the ballroom, and make sure reporters he hates don’t show up.

Appalled (b42229) — 4/27/2026 @ 11:42 am

Apparently, there was no “designated survivor” for the White House Correspondents’ event:

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavvit said that the Trump administration had conversations about a designated survivor ahead of the White House Correspondent’s dinner but decided an actual designation was unnecessary as several cabinet members decided not to attend.

“Designating one survivor was not necessary as we had several members who were not there already,” Leavitt told reporters at a Monday press conference.
………….

Despite of all the commentary from Administration officials saying the security plan “worked”, it worked only the extent that it thwarted a lone gunman and not an Iranian suicide squad that decided to stay at the Washington Hilton.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/27/2026 @ 11:47 am

@281

We see Trump as doing incalculable harm to the country we love, whembly.

That’s how I see about Democrats.

The country has survived bad policy decisions in the past, and can do so today.

True.

But he is dragging our country through the mud.

lol. Sure Jan…

Turning us from the greatest force for good in the history of the world into the opposite.

Hyperbolic nonsense.

Reveling in cruelty and ignorance.

Hyperbolic nonsense.

Demolishing the very foundation of democracy by election fraud and attempted theft.

Hyperbolic nonsense.
Perhaps the greatest tragedy is that he has corrupted most of the party of Lincoln and Reagan, and the people in it, turning it from a vigilant defender of liberty and justice into a personality cult.

Dave (3d6f81) — 4/27/2026 @ 10:24 am
And finally, some more hyperbolic nonsense without any basis in reality.

This is the worldview the feeds into 3 failed assassination attempts of the POTUS (with at least 2 attempted assassination attempt that the perp thought POTUS was on location).

But let’s also be reminded of all the political-related violent events:

– Leftist attempts mass assassination of GOP Congressional baseball team, nearly killing Scalise

– Leftist arrested in assassination plot outside the home of conservative SCOTUS Justice Kavanaugh

– Leftist assassinates conservative media personality and TPUSA founder Charlie Kirk

– Leftist arrested in assassination plot against WH budget director Vought

– Three separate assassination attempts against POTUS Donald Trump (all 3 by reported donors to Democrat/Left causes / one was a registered R prior to Dem-aligned donation & shooting Trump in the head)… with at least 2 separate attempts that POTUS wasn’t on location

– Man murders Dem lawmakers in MN (suspect has some right-wing beliefs, also is a former Dem appointee, also says the Dem governor told him to do it)

– Man sets PA Governor mansion ablaze with Dem Gov & family asleep inside (suspect is a ‘globalize the intifada’ terrorist/antisemite)

– Man attacks Paul Pelosi with a hammer (unclear if this counts as an assassination attempt or politically motivated / suspect has a bizarre worldview, with a mix of far left and far right views/conspiracies)

– Also worth noting various celebrations / justifications of violent acts (Kirk murder, healthcare CEO murder) among a non-insubstantial segment of the Left, as well pro-violence stances articulated by an increasingly prominent leftist influencer being mainstreamed by a large swath of the political Left

– After the Kirk assassination, YouGov asked Americans if political violence is ever justified. Huge bipartisan majorities said no. But: “A quarter of respondents who identified as very liberal said violence can sometimes be justified to achieve political goals, along with 17 percent of those who identified as liberal…6 percent of those who said they’re conservative and 3 percent of those who identified as very conservative.”

The hardcore left-wing establishment believes this sort of Hitler/Trump rhetoric, combined with the normalization of street violence, generates ever more protests, fuels anti-ICE fury, unites Congressional Democrats, and—most importantly—drives down Trump poll numbers. In their view, it is a lot more effective than merely outlining an alternative agenda.

So I don’t want to hear about “but rightwing violence is a problem too!” until ya’ll acknowledge, that at least in recent memory, that leftwing violence is on the rise and a danger to us all.

whembly (5a0576) — 4/27/2026 @ 11:48 am

@284

The war on science continues:

National Science Board eviscerated; Trump admin fires all 22 members

(snip)

Dave (3d6f81) — 4/27/2026 @ 10:45 am

Good.

whembly (5a0576) — 4/27/2026 @ 11:49 am

@291

If the White House Correspondents Dinner were held at the White House, that would make it a very different thing. For example, do you think Trump would permit the Wall Street Journal to win an award for its Epstein files reporting? At a minimum, he could control the invitation list to the ballroom, and make sure reporters he hates don’t show up.

Appalled (b42229) — 4/27/2026 @ 11:42 am

No, I don’t think it’d be that difficult.

Nor do I think they’d do some shenanigans like you posited.

whembly (5a0576) — 4/27/2026 @ 11:52 am

So I don’t want to hear about “but rightwing violence is a problem too!” until ya’ll acknowledge, that at least in recent memory, that leftwing violence is on the rise and a danger to us all.

I already acknowledged that, whembly, in linking to the CSIS study more than once and The Atlantic a few months ago. It is true that there was more left-wing violence last year. I do agree with you that you “don’t want to hear about ‘but rightwing violence is a problem too!'” as you keep saying.

BTW, CSIS is rated as “high credibility” and “least biased”. They’re credible.
Cato is rated “high credibility” and “Right-Center”. They’re also credible.

BTW, DePape became a fully indoctrinated MAGA in the years prior to his attack on Paul Pelosi, so stated by the guy who knew him best, who found him housing and hired him for construction jobs.

Mr. Ciccarelli, 76, described Mr. DePape as a quiet person and diligent worker — an easygoing guy, at least until the topic of politics came up. He said he spent several hours a day with Mr. DePape, four or five days a week. “I think I know him better than anyone does.”

Over the six years he has known Mr. DePape, Mr. Ciccarelli said, he witnessed a transformation from a shy and hardworking, but troubled, man into someone who was increasingly isolated and captive to his darkest thoughts.

“If you got him talking about politics, it was all over,” Mr. Ciccarelli recalled in an interview this week. “Because he really believed in the whole MAGA, ‘Pizzagate,’ stolen election — you know, all of it, all the way down the line.”

Paul Montagu (ab76f1) — 4/27/2026 @ 12:12 pm

Moderation. Not sure why.

Paul Montagu (ab76f1) — 4/27/2026 @ 12:13 pm

Egads, looking at this crew talking about prosecuting this guy…he’s going to get off.

If there were 3 less qualified people in charge of this investigation, you’d have to have Charlie Brown’s teacher, you’re drunk uncle, and a deer caught in the headlights, and I don’t know which is which.

Colonel Klink (ret) (3215ef) — 4/27/2026 @ 12:33 pm

The YouGov question is poorly worded.

If violence is never justified to achieve political goals, could you remind me what the Second Amendment is for?

Dave (3d6f81) — 4/27/2026 @ 12:35 pm

NSB/NSF and USAID, two of Dave’s favorites, were funding EcoHealth Alliance until it was cut off by… drumroll… Autopen.

Science!

Entrenched power is usually never good. That’s why democratically elected leaders get to change things. I guess some folks don’t like that.

lloyd (0d2b33) — 4/27/2026 @ 12:35 pm

“Statistics, lies and damned lies.”

It’s “ Lies, damned lies, and statistics.”

To which I can add a fourth category of lie: “Scientific proof.”

At least when it calls itself “Scientific proof.”

Sammy Finkelman (c5132f) — 4/27/2026 @ 12:35 pm

Sammy said it was “the basis of some of Biden’s campaign”. Some.

That “some” could be a specific reason he ran for President.

norcal (32a7ed) — 4/24/2026 @ 3:40 pm

Actuakky, I think on this Trump doesn’t believe the SPLC cost him he election, and Charlottsville, while it was made a great deal of (and maybe helped round up a few votes in the South Carolina primary in 2020) was the reason Biden said he was running for president (why he felt he needed a special excuse to run for president is not clear to me) but it had nothing to do with his decision to run.

Sammy Finkelman (c5132f) — 4/27/2026 @ 12:42 pm

Why on earth should the White House Correspondents Association, an independent organization, hold an awards ceremony on White House grounds? That’s frigging crazy (unless the idea is that news correspondents are supposed to be co-opted and approved by the White House)

Appalled (4e65f2) — 4/27/2026 @ 9:22 am

Why?

Because the POTUS (and other government officials) are the guest of honor.

You can’t be seriously arguing that it WOULDN’T be eminently a safer venue to host the dinner at the new ballroom…right?

whembly (5a0576) — 4/27/2026 @ 9:32 am

I think the WHCA would rather end the dinner than move it to any government building.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/27/2026 @ 12:52 pm

30% of Republicans surveyed in February 2025 approved of pardoning people convicted *violent* J6 crimes.

Dave (3d6f81) — 4/27/2026 @ 12:53 pm

*convicted of

Dave (3d6f81) — 4/27/2026 @ 12:53 pm

it worked only the extent that it thwarted a lone gunman and not an Iranian suicide squad that decided to stay at the Washington Hilton.

And how were they to get them there, and have weapons, and no leaks? That part worked too.

What didn’t work was if the gunman had had less selective targeting. but he was mostly interested in Trump and other officials.

When a president travels abroad they generally take over a whole hotel. And that’s what they also did when JD Vance traveled to Pakistan a week before.

Islamabad Reopens After U.S.-Iran Talks Fail to Materialize

Officials had locked the city down, anticipating talks between U.S. and Iranian delegations. But they didn’t happen. “What did I close my business for?” one business owner asked.

…Last week, there was a possibility that Mr. Vance would make a return trip. This weekend, Steve Witkoff, a special envoy, and Jared Kushner, Mr. Trump’s son-in-law, were scheduled to represent the United States in Islamabad. And on Friday, Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, traveled to Pakistan to hold talks with the country’s leaders.

In preparation for it all, Pakistani officials emptied the luxury Serena Hotel, which had hosted the first round of talks. They again sealed off a two-mile perimeter around it, forcing thousands of private clinics, restaurants, offices and banks to close, with no compensation….

Sammy Finkelman (c5132f) — 4/27/2026 @ 12:55 pm

30% of Republicans surveyed in February 2025 approved of pardoning people convicted *violent* J6 crimes.

Dave (3d6f81) — 4/27/2026 @ 12:53 pm

There was no violence at the Capitol on January 6th, it was just a bunch of tourists.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/27/2026 @ 12:59 pm

@298

The YouGov question is poorly worded.

If violence is never justified to achieve political goals, could you remind me what the Second Amendment is for?

Dave (3d6f81) — 4/27/2026 @ 12:35 pm

Hol’ up.

Are you seriously “just asking question here” as if it absolve the 3 would be assassins?

Please tell me you’re just d!cking around here…

whembly (5a0576) — 4/27/2026 @ 1:05 pm

A new resource for Supreme Court records:

…………
Most people are familiar with the U.S. Supreme Court opinions as public documents. But the opinions are only part of the story. Behind every landmark ruling lies a vast archive of briefs, petitions, appendices, and supporting records; these are the the arguments, evidence, and voices that shaped each decision. The Supreme Court may receive 7,000-8,000 petitions each year, but only grants a writ of certiorari to hear the case for about 80 cases. This collection includes records and briefs received by the court, both those granted certiorari and those denied certiorari; the latter category is much more voluminous than the former. Until now, these important public documents have only been available in limited ways — in print form in a limited number of law libraries, and in other formats in other libraries but not generally available for all people to freely access.

That has now changed. As part of Democracy’s Library, the Internet Archive’s large-scale effort to preserve and open government information, this collection includes records and briefs spanning cases from 1830 through 2019, making it one of the most comprehensive archives of freely available Supreme Court materials ever assembled in one place.

The collection covers three kinds of materials:

• The first is the official records from the lower court(s): the trial transcripts, evidence, and procedural documents that travel with each case up through the federal judiciary.

• The second is the briefs: the petitions, responses, amicus filings, and supporting appendices submitted by the litigants themselves and by interested third parties. These briefs are the raw material of American constitutional argument. They capture the perspectives of individuals, corporations, civil society organizations, and government agencies pressing their cases before the nation’s highest court.

• The third category is the opinions (for cases that are heard by the Supreme Court): the ultimate decisions reached by the highest court in the United States, demonstrating the logic and reasoning of the court.
…………

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/27/2026 @ 1:05 pm

The problem with hosting the White House correspondents dinner at the White House is that sometimes the president would want it there (under the control of an outside organization) and sometimes not so it couldn’t be routine.

Also, Paul Montague wrote at #143 that the proposed White House ballroom couldn’t host as many attendees as the White House correspondents dinner had this year .

But I haven’t seen that mentioned anywhere else.

Sammy Finkelman (c5132f) — 4/27/2026 @ 1:07 pm

………..
The Second Amendment does, however, reinforce the rule of law and anti-tyranny structure of the US Constitution, by ensuring the government cannot disarm the people. In the 2008 case District of Columbia v. Heller, all nine Justices agreed that the amendment protects an individual right to keep and bear arms for service in the militia. (The justices disagreed about whether the right includes other purposes, such as personal self-defense or hunting.) Why did the founding generation believe that a well-regulated militia was necessary? One reason, observed Justice Antonin Scalia: “when the able-bodied men of a nation are trained in arms and organized, they are better able to resist tyranny.”

Explaining the proposed Second Amendment, Madison’s ally Tench Coxe, a delegate to the Continental Congress for Pennsylvania, wrote: “As civil rulers, not having their duty to the people duly before them, may attempt to tyrannize, and as the military forces which must be occasionally raised to defend our country, might pervert their power to the injury of their fellow-citizens, the people are confirmed by the next article in their right to keep and bear their private arms.” Madison thanked Coxe for the newspaper essay.

Democratic Vice President and Minnesota Sen. Hubert Humphrey, the congressional leader of the civil rights movement, expressed a similar sentiment nearly two centuries later. For three decades after World War II, he was the embodiment of a liberal Democrat. In 1960, Humphrey wrote: “Certainly one of the chief guarantees of freedom under any government, no matter how popular and respected, is the right of citizens to keep and bear arms. This is not to say that firearms should not be very carefully used and that definite safety rules of precaution should not be taught and enforced. But the right of citizens to bear arms is just one more guarantee against arbitrary government, one more safeguard against a tyranny which now appears remote in America, but which historically has proved to be always possible.”
………..
Today’s world is different from 1791. The genocides of the last century show that a criminal government is even more dangerous than the founders thought. The US military — along with the federal government — has grown more powerful than the founders could have imagined. Yet global military history since 1791 repeatedly demonstrates that mighty armies can be defeated by citizens fighting for the consent of the governed. One thing hasn’t changed since the days of the Roman lawyer Cicero: Free republics are sometimes taken over by tyrannical demagogues.
………..

Source

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/27/2026 @ 1:13 pm

he would-be assassin raced past Secret Service before he was apprehended.

He ignored the magnetometers. He didn’t get very far, so the checkpoint was positioned properly (which doesn’t happen at airports and didn’t happen in Afghanistan.)

Sammy Finkelman (c5132f) — 4/27/2026 @ 1:18 pm

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/27/2026 @ 1:13 pm

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/27/2026 @ 1:19 pm

306. An eyewitness account of Jan 6 (by a reporter who was also at the WHCA dinner Saturday night and linked to his earlier account)

https://jewishinsider.com/2021/01/capitol-riot-first-person-trump

Sammy Finkelman (c5132f) — 4/27/2026 @ 1:25 pm

or a teenage girl abused by the many criminals in this administration.

He did believe (or pretended to believe) there were many.

So the question Trump was asked in that 60 Minutes interview about whom he thought the would-be murderer meant was partially valid.

Sammy Finkelman (c5132f) — 4/27/2026 @ 1:33 pm

Are you seriously “just asking question here” as if it absolve the 3 would be assassins?

Please tell me you’re just d!cking around here…

The poll you touted asked: Do you think it is ever justified for citizens to resort to violence in order to achieve political goals?

Suppose Trump’s sanity continues to crumble, and Democrats win the next two elections. Bigly.

President Warren uses her congressional supermajority to pack the Supreme Court (renamed “The Peoples’ Equity Tribunal”). She issues an executive order requiring every round of firearm ammunition to be registered with the federal government, with an annual $5/round “users fee” and stiff prison sentences for non-compliance.

Finally, the administration contrives some way to prevent or rig all future elections, cementing Putin-style authoritarian system.

Now, tell me again: Do you think it is ever justified for citizens to resort to violence in order to achieve political goals?

Republicans who answered that YouGov poll obviously had Charlie Kirk’s recent murder fresh in their minds. Some Democrats and Independents may have considered a scenario more like the one I created (but with the mad-man Trump stealing elections).

The poll didn’t ask “Is it justified, today, for citizens to resort to violence to achieve political goals?”

It asked a much more open-ended question, and I seriously doubt you could honestly say you believe there are no circumstances whatsoever in which violence against a tyrannous governmant would be justified.

Dave (3d6f81) — 4/27/2026 @ 1:42 pm

https://katv.com/news/nation-world/friendly-federal-assassin-read-the-accused-gunmans-cole-tomas-allen-full-manifesto-sent-before-dinner-attack-white-house-correspondents-dinner-shooting-trump-administration-political-violence-secret-service-safety-security

…Sincerely,

Cole “coldForce” “Friendly Federal Assassin” Allen

PS: Ok now that all the sappy stuff is done, what the hell is the Secret Service doing? Sorry, gonna rant a bit here and drop the formal tone.

Like, I expected security cameras at every bend, bugged hotel rooms, armed agents every 10 feet, metal detectors out the wazoo.

What I got (who knows, maybe they’re pranking me!) is nothing.

No damn security. Not in transport.

Not in the hotel. Not in the event.

Like, the one thing that I immediately noticed walking into the hotel is the sense of arrogance.

I walk in with multiple weapons and not a single person there considers the possibility that I could be a threat….

What does he mean by “pranking me?” Who maybe pranked him?

Sammy Finkelman (c5132f) — 4/27/2026 @ 1:43 pm

Sincerely,

Cole “coldForce” “Friendly Federal Assassin” Allen

PS: Ok now that all the sappy stuff is done, what the hell is the Secret Service doing? Sorry, gonna rant a bit here and drop the formal tone.

Like, I expected security cameras at every bend, bugged hotel rooms, armed agents every 10 feet, metal detectors out the wazoo.

What I got (who knows, maybe they’re pranking me!) is nothing.

No damn security. Not in transport. Not in the hotel. Not in the event.

Like, the one thing that I immediately noticed walking into the hotel is the sense of arrogance.

I walk in with multiple weapons and not a single person there considers the possibility that I could be a threat.

Sammy Finkelman (c5132f) — 4/27/2026 @ 1:47 pm

So I don’t want to hear about “but rightwing violence is a problem too!” until ya’ll acknowledge, that at least in recent memory, that leftwing violence is on the rise and a danger to us all.

I already acknowledged that, whembly, in linking to the CSIS study more than once and The Atlantic a few months ago. It is true that there was more left-wing violence last year, and it could be the same for 2026.

BTW, CSIS is rated “high credibility” and “least biased”. They’re credible.
Cato is rated “high credibility” and “Right-Center”. They’re also credible.

Paul Montagu (ab76f1) — 4/27/2026 @ 1:48 pm

Regarding DePape, whembly, he became a full-blown MAGA in the years prior to his attack on Mr. Pelosi, so stated by the guy who knew him best, who found housing for him and hired him for construction jobs.

Paul Montagu (ab76f1) — 4/27/2026 @ 1:53 pm

Follow the latest on the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner:

I think that’s not part of the manifesto.

Sammy Finkelman (c5132f) — 4/27/2026 @ 1:55 pm

We can’t have both?

Paul Montagu (ab76f1) — 4/27/2026 @ 2:00 pm

I walk in with multiple weapons and not a single person there considers the possibility that I could be a threat.

You were never a threat, homes.

Dave (3d6f81) — 4/27/2026 @ 2:01 pm

We can’t have both?

When you’re a star they let you do it. You can do anything.

Dave (3d6f81) — 4/27/2026 @ 2:07 pm

@312

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/27/2026 @ 1:13 pm

See also Tyranny Prevention: A “Core” Purpose of the Second Amendment.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/27/2026 @ 1:19 pm

Agreed.

But reading between the lines, Dave is arguing that he’s seeing tyranny at the moment.

whembly (5a0576) — 4/27/2026 @ 2:07 pm

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/26/insider/gold-us-mint-drug-cartel.html

…Eventually a contact took us to a place called La Mandinga. It’s a government-owned cattle ranch where illegal miners tear up the earth with high-pressure hoses. They told us that the Clan ran the place, charging them a monthly fee to mine the land. The miners sell their gold to traders who also pay the Clan. Traders told us they sell the gold to the exporter, who sends it to Texas.

The U.S. Mint blamed its suppliers. The suppliers told me they rely on the Texan middleman to keep out illegal gold. The Texan said he relies on a guy in Mexico to do the same. After I told them what I found, they all said they stopped receiving the Colombian gold.

But the U.S. Treasury, which overseas the Mint, denied there was any systemic problem. The Treasury’s stance is that its practice of buying foreign gold for investor coins does not violate the law, a spokeswoman said.

For years, the Mint had been using a loose definition for U.S. gold, saying that foreign gold could count if it was supplied to the Mint by a company that had bought an offsetting quantity of U.S. gold. A federal watchdog report in 2024 said the Mint stopped enforcing that requirement more than 20 years ago.

After we presented our findings, a Treasury spokeswoman said the department is investigating the Mint’s gold procurement and has tightened its sourcing standards to make sure the United States is the “primary” source of the gold the mint buys.

Sammy Finkelman (c5132f) — 4/27/2026 @ 2:09 pm

309, Sammy, The idea that the event needs room for over 2,000 is nuts: evidently Wolf Blitzer’s agent was there and god knows how many other superflous guests. Maybe they’ll trim the guest list to the WH correspondents, spouses and the main politicos.

Harcourt Fenton Mudd (0c349e) — 4/27/2026 @ 2:11 pm

The U.S. v. Cole Tomas Allen indictment.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/27/2026 @ 2:13 pm

DePape couldn’t be full blown MAGA because he was an illegal immigrant (from Canada)

But I guess he was too stupid to take that into consideration.

From Google AI:

According to San Francisco County records, David DePape, the man accused of attacking Paul Pelosi, was registered to vote in California between 2002 and 2009.

The New York Times…Key details regarding his registration and voting history:

Affiliation: He was registered with the Green Party.

Voting Activity: Records indicate he voted only once, in 2002.

Eligibility: While registered, he attested to being eligible to vote.

Citizenship Status: Reports indicate DePape is a Canadian citizen who was in the U.S. illegally after a long-term visa overstay.

Sammy Finkelman (c5132f) — 4/27/2026 @ 2:16 pm

As Biden pointed out, arms didn’t help the Kurds against Saddam Hussein.

Only a U.S. enforced no fly zone did (this was in an era long before drones)

Sammy Finkelman (c5132f) — 4/27/2026 @ 2:22 pm

The idea that the event needs room for over 2,000 is nuts:

Well, they want to have it.

How many people are at the Oscars?

From AI Overview:

Venue Capacity: The Dolby Theatre seats roughly 3,400 people.

Sammy Finkelman (c5132f) — 4/27/2026 @ 2:26 pm

The right has more people prepared for non-violent, or at least lawful, extremism.

Sammy Finkelman (c5132f) — 4/27/2026 @ 2:29 pm

RIP former State Department official Lionel Rosenblatt (82):

Without telling his State Department bosses where he was going, Lionel Rosenblatt bought a Pan Am ticket and traveled halfway around the world, taking one of the last commercial flights to Saigon before the city fell to the North Vietnamese on April 30, 1975.

Mr. Rosenblatt was 31, a mid-level Foreign Service officer working for the deputy secretary of state. He and a colleague, L. Craig Johnstone, had both spent years in South Vietnam, helping to support a U.S.-backed government that now seemed on the verge of collapse.

Huddling in a Washington conference room, discussing the latest news out of Saigon, they had agonized over the fate of their friends and colleagues, South Vietnamese citizens who worked with Americans and now faced the prospect of death, torture or imprisonment under the incoming communist regime.
………..
Using a Saigon apartment as a safe house, and holding clandestine meetings at a pho restaurant and on the terrace of the Hotel Continental, the two helped about 200 Vietnamese reach Tan Son Nhut Air Base and board U.S. flights to freedom, manufacturing travel documents and paying bribes when necessary.
………..
Back in Washington, where they were summoned before the secretary of state, they worried they might lose their jobs.

“A stern Henry Kissinger warned them never to do such a thing again, using words like ‘irresponsible’ or ‘over-dramatic,’” The Post reported in 1979. “And then the Kissinger smile appeared. He embraced the two saying that he hoped he might have had the courage to do the same if he had been in their positions.”
………..
………..Mr. Rosenblatt, meanwhile, worked as the State Department’s refugee coordinator in Bangkok, helping hundreds of thousands of people — from Laos, Cambodia and beyond — make their way to the United States.

Mr. Rosenblatt was especially close to groups that had aided U.S. troops and diplomats, and became known as a devoted champion of the Hmong, a minority in Laos that helped the U.S. during the so-called “Secret War” against the communist Pathet Lao.

When he learned that Hmong were not being prioritized for resettlement, Mr. Rosenblatt and his staff began obscuring the group’s ethnic identity on refugee documents, helping thousands of Hmong families reach the U.S.

“It was always a mystery to me why they were good enough to fight for us but not good enough to consider for resettlement,” he told a television interviewer.

Mr. Rosenblatt retired from the State Department in 1988 and, two years later, became the president of Washington-based Refugees International. ……….

While in Bosnia in 1992, Mr. Rosenblatt bumped into veteran U.S. diplomat Richard Holbrooke, who was out of the State Department at the time and trying to understand what was happening in the besieged capital of Sarajevo.

Mr. Rosenblatt had a seat on a U.N. convoy that was headed to the city, past an array of Serbian military checkpoints. To get Holbrooke in, he pieced together a fake U.N. identification badge using a cigarette lighter, some plastic and a mug shot of a man who only vaguely resembled the longtime diplomat.

“It was very Lionel — high-risk, unorthodox, bending the rule book,” (Jeremy Konyndyk, the current president of Refugees International) said. “It’s not the most professional looking thing, so when he gives it to Holbrooke he says, ‘When you show it to the guards, hold this corner, because this corner’s not fully together.’ But it works. Holbrooke gets in. He’s able to see Sarajevo besieged, firsthand. And he comes back absolutely impassioned about the need for U.S. leadership to end the war, and with the dust on his boots to give him credibility to carry that message.”

Holbrooke went on to serve in the Clinton administration, helping orchestrate the 1995 Dayton peace accords that ended the Bosnian War……….
…………
Asked what he would say to Afghans who had helped the United States and were trying to flee the Taliban, he told the New Yorker: “It’s disgraceful, but I think I’d say you can’t count on the United States. Come up with a plan on your own.”
##########

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/27/2026 @ 2:31 pm

Dave @323. Trump said that was locker room talk; i.e. a lie.

And everyone agrees it was a lie – Trump’s detractors said the lie was that they let him do it.

Sammy Finkelman (c5132f) — 4/27/2026 @ 2:32 pm

And everyone agrees it was a lie

Who is “everyone”?

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/27/2026 @ 2:44 pm

@251Are you saying Klaus von staffenberg didn’t love his country? Trump and trumpsters can’t provoke democrats and own the libs and then complain that they stopped acting like punching bags.

asset (2250ef) — 4/27/2026 @ 2:56 pm

@258 Why? Sow the wind reap the whirlwind. For every action their is a reaction as elon musk found out the hard way.

asset (2250ef) — 4/27/2026 @ 2:59 pm

@333

Donald J. Trump, testifying under oath:

During the deposition last October, Carroll’s attorneys quoted the [Access Hollywood] video to Trump then asked, “That’s what you said, correct?”

“Well, historically, that’s true with stars,” Trump replied.

“It’s true with stars that they can grab women by the p*ssy?” Trump was asked.

“Well, if you look over the last million years, I guess that’s been largely true,” Trump said. “Not always, but largely true. Unfortunately, or fortunately.”

“And you consider yourself to be a star?” Trump was asked.

“I think you can say that, yeah,” he said.

Dave (3d6f81) — 4/27/2026 @ 2:59 pm

The right keeps saying we need the second amendment to fight tyranny. The left is now agreeing.

asset (2250ef) — 4/27/2026 @ 3:04 pm

You were never a threat, homes.

Dave (3d6f81) — 4/27/2026 @ 2:01 pm

The SS agents manning the magnetometers were lucky. The security plan was designed for a lone gunman. It would have been a lot bloodier if an Iranian suicide squad were the assassins.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/27/2026 @ 3:15 pm

Allahpundit: Ballroom Blitz (gift link)

Security at Saturday night’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner performed as well as one would expect any American institution to perform in 2026. That is, it was competent enough to accomplish its basic task yet incompetent enough to leave everyone wondering whether the country survives mostly on luck.

An assassination attempt on the president and his deputies was thwarted with no loss of life and without the assailant ever laying eyes on his targets. That sounds like success. Unless we expect the Secret Service to shut down the entirety of every facility in which Donald Trump is momentarily present—airports included, presumably—the fact that a would-be assassin was inside the Washington Hilton during the dinner arguably isn’t a failure.

Had he penetrated the security cordon around the president, that would have been a failure. He did not.

[…]

Beyond that, there are only so many things one can say about what happened without repeating oneself or sounding trite. The fact that Trump is a postliberal cretin who would rule as a caudillo if he could is no justification for harming him or anyone else. As long as the diminished American institutions I mentioned earlier continue to function, albeit badly, they remain the only proper venue for settling political disputes. The alternative is the law of the jungle, and only animals prefer to live in a jungle.

There is one genuinely interesting element to Saturday night’s near-miss, however.

The reaction among the MAGA base was surprisingly subdued.

Not universally. You could still find the predictable “this means war” chud-ery from, er, former Neil Gorsuch clerks. And numerous Republicans went through the motions of accusing Democrats of having encouraged violence against the president by vilifying him, never mind that the only prominent elected official in the United States who reliably celebrates the deaths of his enemies is Donald Trump himself.

The “climate of hate” news cycle that now reliably follows any act of political violence has become paint-by-numbers stuff in modern America. The left does it to the right, the right does it to the left, and the intent in both cases is the same—to discourage accurate criticism of one’s faction by demagoging that criticism as incitement. It’s the ol’ “speech is violence” fallacy, formerly a fringe progressive belief that’s gone mainstream and bipartisan.

A fascist is no less a fascist because a dangerous person happens to agree.

But as I say, most right-wing populists eschewed the aggressive finger-pointing that we’ve come to expect. The rage and vengefulness that followed Charlie Kirk’s murder last year were largely missing, as was the galvanizing ecstasy of Trump’s defiant fist-pumping after he was nearly shot in the head during the 2024 campaign. No doubt the circumstances on Saturday partly explain why: A foiled assassination attempt in which the target was in no immediate peril was bound to inflame grassroots spirits less than one in which he was.

Still, I did not expect that the clarion cry of outraged MAGA social media influencers as the drama unfolded, the core grievance in urgent need of addressing, would be to let Trump move forward with the ballroom he wants to build on the White House grounds.

If the president had a secure site to entertain large gatherings, the influencers complained, he wouldn’t have had to risk visiting the Hilton. Is that so? Color me skeptical that Donald Trump, media-hater extraordinaire, would have graciously allowed the White House Correspondents’ Association to use “his” site to host a dinner at which reporters give each other awards for unflattering coverage of his administration.

The only reason he’d consider doing so, I suspect, is to create leverage over the press, threatening to yank the WHCA’s access to the venue each time some newspaper ran a harsh story about him.

Even if I’m wrong and the dinner were to become an annual ballroom tradition, he and his successors would continue to attend large events around the country during their terms. Staging galas at the White House potentially solves only the problem of how to secure presidential appearances around Washington, D.C., not the more daunting problem of securing those outside the city limits. How many local appearances in the capital does he actually make in an average year? A half-dozen, maybe?

Forget the logistics, though. Focus instead on the absurdity of a movement of feral right-wing populists, forever waving rhetorical pitchforks about “draining the swamp” and restoring power to the forgotten man, rallying after their hero’s brush with death to demand that he be allowed to … construct a banquet hall worthy of Versailles.

From “Build the wall!” as a rallying cry in 2015 to “Build the ballroom!” 11 years later. How’s that for a populist story arc?

[…]

The irony of these frightening incidents is that Americans have, as a whole, been quite docile during the Trump era.

Not since Woodrow Wilson, I’d surmise, has the country been led by someone who aspires to Caesarism as plainly as Trump does, and even Wilson didn’t manage to unhinge his jaw and swallow the legislative branch whole like the current president has. From handing out pardons like candy to cronies to self-dealing that would make Tammany Hall blush, the ethos of Trump’s administration distilled to one word is impunity. And he flaunts that impunity every chance he gets.

His ballroom, if it’s built, will be a monument to it. He wanted to make the White House more like a royal palace and he didn’t care what the law might have to say to the contrary. In a constitutional scheme based on limited powers and designed by men who overthrew a monarchy, the relish with which the president revels in his impunity is the most contemptibly un-American thing I can imagine.

But We the People have mostly kept calm and carried on. I’ve spent enough time in right-wing media to know that if a Democratic president engaged in half the abuses of power that Trump has, Republican media would be awash with dark warnings about refreshing the tree of liberty with the blood of tyrants. Gun sales wouldn’t just be through the roof, they’d have achieved orbit.

As it is, not only does political violence remain mercifully rare, there’s barely a modern protest movement to speak of. Ten years ago, if you’d asked me how Americans would respond to an unpopular president waging an unpopular war in an era of destabilizing hyperpolarization, I would have predicted that it’d be the 1960s on steroids. 2026 America is not that, the occasional mad-dashing idiot with a shotgun notwithstanding.

As long as American institutions continue to operate (sort of), patriots should and must continue to do their country proud by keeping their cool amid the many abuses to come. And there will be many.

Dave (3d6f81) — 4/27/2026 @ 3:16 pm

As it is, not only does political violence remain mercifully rare, there’s barely a modern protest movement to speak of. Ten years ago, if you’d asked me how Americans would respond to an unpopular president waging an unpopular war in an era of destabilizing hyperpolarization, I would have predicted that it’d be the 1960s on steroids. 2026 America is not that, the occasional mad-dashing idiot with a shotgun notwithstanding.

No draft.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/27/2026 @ 3:30 pm

Lack of a draft is obviously important, but even without one, there were near constant (if not large) protests during the Iraq war.

Dave (1d160a) — 4/27/2026 @ 3:53 pm

Government airlines:

A group of budget airlines including Frontier and Avelo is seeking $2.5 billion in government assistance in exchange for warrants that could convert into equity stakes in the companies.

The Association of Value Airlines said Monday that it asked the administration to consider creating a $2.5 billion pool that budget carriers could draw from because they have been disproportionately affected by the run-up in fuel prices. The estimate assumed jet-fuel prices would remain above $4 a gallon on average for the rest of the year, according to people familiar with the matter.
………..
The chief executives of several low-cost carriers were in Washington, D.C., last Tuesday to meet with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and Federal Aviation Administration chief Bryan Bedford. Transportation Department officials have advanced the airlines’ request to the White House, some of the people said.

Some budget airlines will soon update investors on the toll that higher jet-fuel prices are placing on their businesses. Larger airlines, including United and American, reduced their full-year outlooks amid surging fuel costs in the wake of the U.S. war with Iran. However those airlines said they have been able to pass along much of the cost increase by charging higher fares, and travel demand had yet to weaken.
………..

…………
The Association of Value Airlines, which represents Spirit, Frontier, and Allegiant, claim the current jet fuel crisis is a threat to their business model. This week, they met with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy to plead for a temporary tax holiday.

The discount airlines are spooked by surging energy costs. Oil prices doubled after the outbreak of the Iran war. For an airline like Spirit, which is already struggling to stay out of bankruptcy, these could be the closing credits.

The airlines are asking Congress to suspend two major taxes:

• The 7.5 percent federal excise tax on all domestic airline tickets.
• The $5.30 per-segment tax that hits travelers every time they take off.

The Association of Value Airlines argues that waiving these fees would offset about one-third of the extra costs it’s eating because of fuel prices. Without relief, it warns that travelers will face even higher fares and more baggage fees.

Fuel is the biggest single cost in an airline’s operation, and for discount carriers built on razor-thin margins, a prolonged price shock hits them differently than it does a legacy carrier, which has more pricing flexibility and hedging programs. Exempting them from jet fuel taxes for some defined period isn’t unprecedented. Plenty of industries have gotten targeted relief during supply disruptions.

But here’s where it gets interesting: If Congress hands the airlines a tax break, should any of those savings flow to passengers? Because right now, every time you buy a domestic ticket, you’re paying a pile of federal and state fees that have nothing to do with the seat price.
#########

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/27/2026 @ 3:56 pm

Lack of a draft is obviously important, but even without one, there were near constant (if not large) protests during the Iraq war.

Dave (1d160a) — 4/27/2026 @ 3:53 pm

There were far more US casualties during the Iraq War: over 4,000 killed and nearly 30,200 wounded.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/27/2026 @ 4:02 pm

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/27/2026 @ 3:56 pm

More:

Airlines argue they need every dollar of relief to stay solvent. They say targeted relief during supply disruptions is not unprecedented and is necessary to prevent route cuts and price spikes. By suspending these taxes, the government could help preserve competition in a market dominated by legacy carriers.

Travelers could use some tax relief, too. Imagine getting rid of that pesky 9/11 Security Fee? Or the Passenger Facility Charge? Unfortunately, passenger rights groups are not lining up in front of the DOT office in Washington to ask for a tax holiday. But maybe they should. Lower airline ticket prices would go a long way to help during the jet fuel crisis.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/27/2026 @ 4:05 pm

University of Michigan Survey of Consumers April 2026:

Consumer sentiment ticked down 3.5 index points this month, now comparable to the trough seen in June 2022. Decreases in sentiment were seen across political party, income, age, and education. Expected business conditions declined for both short and long time horizons, nearly matching year-ago readings when the reciprocal tariff regime was implemented. After the two-week cease-fire was announced and gas prices softened a touch, sentiment recovered a modest portion of its early-month losses. The Iran conflict appears to influence consumer views primarily through shocks to gasoline and potentially other prices. In contrast, military and diplomatic developments that do not lift supply constraints or lower energy prices are unlikely to buoy consumers.

Year-ahead inflation expectations surged from 3.8% in March to 4.7% this month, the largest one-month increase since April 2025. The current reading exceeds those seen in 2024 and remains well above the 2.3-3.0% range seen in the two years pre-pandemic. After hovering between 3.2 and 3.3% for the previous four months, long-run inflation expectations climbed to 3.5% in April, the highest reading since October 2025. In 2024, values ranged between 2.8% and 3.2%, while in 2019 and 2020, they were consistently below 2.8%.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/27/2026 @ 4:11 pm

Buyer’s remorse:

………..
Senate Republicans who spoke to The Hill on the condition of anonymity say Hegseth wouldn’t be confirmed to head the Pentagon if he were renominated by Trump today, and they say senior staff turmoil at the Defense Department under Hegseth’s leadership is a major concern.

Republican defense hawks in the Senate aren’t happy about media reports that Hegseth pushed popular Army chief of staff Randy George to resign in early April, and they were surprised and disappointed to hear that Hegseth fired Navy Secretary John Phelan this past week.

One Republican senator who requested anonymity said there have long been questions within the Senate GOP conference over Hegseth’s lack of experience managing a large and complex bureaucracy, as well as leeriness about his unconventional and often brash leadership style.

The lawmaker, however, said confidence in Hegseth has dropped among Republicans because of his battles with senior military leaders who have strong relations with policymakers on Capitol Hill.

“The hollowing out of incredible leadership at the Pentagon has been a big concern,” said the senator. “It really came to a tipping point when Gen. George was dismissed.”
…………
(Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.)), who cast a pivotal vote for Hegseth during his Senate confirmation last year, questioned whether Hegseth has the management skills to run an organization as large and complex as the U.S. military. He noted that Hegseth, who served as an infantry officer in the Minnesota Army National Guard, had experience managing “30 or 40 people” before taking over the Pentagon.
………
Tillis said that while he voted to confirm Hegseth more than a year ago, he said “there’s no question he’s got a failing grade” on technical, managerial skills.

“In some respects, maybe not as extreme, but in some respects he’s displaying the exact lack of experience that got [former Homeland Security Secretary] Kristi Noem in trouble,” he said.
………..
“I have the greatest admiration and respect for Gen. Randy George. He’s probably one of the finest officers the United States Army has ever produced. It was a mistake for Secretary Hegseth to dismiss him,” said Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), the chair of the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities.

“As far as the reason for his dismissal, I wouldn’t even begin to know what it was,” she said.
………..
Some GOP lawmakers have also questioned Hegseth’s judgment in announcing last week that service members will no longer be required to get flu vaccine shots, something that had been standard for decades.

Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) said it was “a mistake” to no longer require all U.S. service members to get flu shots, which he said have a much longer track record of safety and effectiveness than the more controversial COVID-19 vaccine.
…………

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/27/2026 @ 4:54 pm

The End of an Era: All Four Black House Republicans Are Leaving Congress This Year

According to a recent report from The New York Times, the Republican Party is about to experience a massive setback in its congressional diversity efforts. Call it the unofficial end of DEI within the House GOP. By the end of this year, every single Black Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives will be retiring or vacating their current seats.

This mass departure marks a reversal of the party’s recent push to build a more inclusive coalition. For the last few election cycles, GOP leadership worked hard to recruit and support candidates of color to broaden the party’s national appeal.

Now, that progress is effectively being wiped out in a single election year.

So, who exactly is heading for the exits? The exodus involves all four of the current Black House Republicans, with each leaving for their own unique political or structural reasons.

For two of these lawmakers, the departure is fueled by ambitions for higher state office. Rep. Byron Donalds, a highly visible figure within the conservative movement, is leaving his House seat to mount a statewide campaign for Governor of Florida.

Similarly, Rep. John James is vacating his Michigan congressional district to focus his efforts on his own gubernatorial run.

The remaining two representatives are dealing with entirely different political realities.

Rep. Wesley Hunt of Texas opted to leave the House to make a bid for the U.S. Senate. Unfortunately, the political gamble didn’t pay off, as he recently lost the highly competitive Texas Senate primary.

Meanwhile, Rep. Burgess Owens of Utah is facing structural roadblocks rather than chasing a new office. Unlike his peers, Owens is being forced into retirement due to recent mid-decade redistricting after Utah redrew its congressional lines, making it incredibly difficult for the incumbent to retain his seat.

This wave of departures leaves the Republican Party in a very tough spot regarding minority representation. Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and other party leaders had previously championed efforts to bring a more diverse group of conservative lawmakers to Washington, but this rapid turnover shows just how fragile those gains really were.

Looking ahead to 2027, the Republican side of the aisle is going to look noticeably different. If no new Black Republican candidates manage to secure House victories in the upcoming November elections, Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina could end up being the absolute only Black Republican left in the entire U.S. Congress next year.

Colonel Klink (ret) (3215ef) — 4/27/2026 @ 5:10 pm

Today is US Grant’s 204th birthday, and here’s a great tribute. I might have to read his book.

He won the Civil War, broke the Klan, went bankrupt at 62, got terminal throat cancer, and wrote one of the greatest books in American literature in the final year of his life. He finished it 5 days before he died.

Ulysses S. Grant was born 204 years ago today.

His name wasn’t even Ulysses S. Grant. He was born Hiram Ulysses Grant in Point Pleasant, Ohio on April 27, 1822. The congressman who nominated him to West Point wrote down the wrong name. Grant kept it. The “S.” stands for nothing.

He hated his father’s tannery and loved horses. Graduated 21st of 39 at West Point. Fought in the Mexican-American War, then came home convinced it was an unjust war designed to expand slavery. He later said he believed the Civil War was divine punishment for it.

He married Julia Dent in 1848, into a slave-owning Missouri family. His abolitionist father refused to attend the wedding. In 1859, broke and desperate, Grant freed the one enslaved man he’d briefly owned instead of selling him. He could have gotten a year’s wages.

In the Civil War he became what no other Union general was: relentless. Vicksburg (July 4, 1863) split the Confederacy in half. Lincoln then gave him every Union army. His Appomattox surrender terms: officers kept sidearms, men kept horses for spring planting, no one prosecuted.

As president (1869 to 1877) he did something no president would do again until LBJ: used federal troops to crush the Ku Klux Klan. He suspended habeas corpus in 9 South Carolina counties, prosecuted Klansmen before predominantly Black juries, and broke the first Klan.

His presidency was also rocked by scandal: Black Friday 1869. Crédit Mobilier. The Whiskey Ring. Belknap. Grant himself never took a dime. He was just disastrously loyal to corrupt friends. The pattern damaged his reputation for a century.

After the White House, he toured the world for 2 years. Dined with Queen Victoria. Met the emperor of Japan. Then in 1884, a Wall Street partner named Ferdinand Ward ran what we’d now call a Ponzi scheme. Grant was wiped out. 62 years old. Penniless.

Weeks later he was diagnosed with terminal throat cancer. Mark Twain offered to publish his memoirs. Grant wrote in agony, sometimes 50 pages a day, racing the disease to leave Julia an inheritance. He finished the manuscript July 18, 1885. He died July 23.

The book made Julia $450,000, about $14M today. It’s now considered one of the finest memoirs in the English language. For decades historians ranked Grant a failure. Since 2000 he’s jumped 13 spots in the C-SPAN survey, the biggest rise of any president.

Happy birthday, General 🇺🇸

And here’s a letter from a former Confederate, honoring Grant.

Paul Montagu (ab76f1) — 4/27/2026 @ 6:12 pm

For the last few election cycles, GOP leadership worked hard to recruit and support candidates of color to broaden the party’s national appeal.

Colonel Klink (ret) (3215ef) — 4/27/2026 @ 5:10 pm

I disagree with the notion that a leader has to look like me in order to appeal to me.

MLK’s colorblind approach is better.

norcal (117560) — 4/27/2026 @ 6:47 pm

Good for him

Mentalist Oz Pearlman has pulled out of his scheduled appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live in the first episode following intense backlash to the host’s jokes at Melania Trump’s expense.

Kimmel cracked in an episode last week that the First Lady looked ‘like an expectant widow’ in comments that have aged poorly in the wake of the attempted shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner both she and Donald Trump attended.

Kimmel always takes his bucket to the Trump well when he needs a ratings boost.

lloyd (572385) — 4/27/2026 @ 7:39 pm

@lloyd@352 Sure. Do you remember Leno in the 90s?

nic (120c94) — 4/27/2026 @ 7:54 pm

350, Paul, that was excellent. Thank you! (I have a set of US Grant’s memoirs with stars on the binding).

Harcourt Fenton Mudd (360ea4) — 4/27/2026 @ 8:07 pm

nic @353 Yes. Signifying something, I’m sure.

lloyd (572385) — 4/27/2026 @ 8:09 pm

@lloyd@355 If you remember Leno in the 90s, you know.

nic (120c94) — 4/27/2026 @ 8:14 pm

The Secret Service Failed Trump — Again
……………
The question everyone should be asking is: How did an armed suspect get that far in the first place?
……………
Sure, the suspect was ultimately stopped. But that isn’t proof that the system worked; in fact, it’s evidence that every decision made leading up to the moment didn’t.

What if the would-be assassin had been carrying a bomb or other explosive device? A device detonated just outside the magnetometer may not have breached the ballroom, but it could have caused mass casualties and chaos nonetheless.

Saturday’s assassination attempt is not proof that the Secret Service functioned as it should; it’s evidence that the Secret Service has failed Trump yet again.
########

Given the number of shots fired (3-6), why is Cole Tomas Allen still alive?

Rip Murdock (16cf23) — 4/27/2026 @ 8:15 pm

You’re welcome, Harc.

Paul Montagu (ab76f1) — 4/27/2026 @ 8:16 pm

More like Kimmel can count on the Streisand Effect, lloyd.
It’s so easy to trigger this thin-skinned con man, and apparently his wife, too.
It’s the old thing, that if you’re gonna dish it out, you damn well better take it.

Paul Montagu (ab76f1) — 4/27/2026 @ 8:19 pm

@lloyd@355 If you remember Leno in the 90s, you know.
nic (120c94) — 4/27/2026 @ 8:14 pm

Oh, in that case, I guess I don’t remember Leno in the 90s. Maybe I was thinking of Letterman. Welp, anyway….

lloyd (572385) — 4/27/2026 @ 8:19 pm

@lloyd@360 Ah, I’d be glad to explain then, although Letterman did similar things, though in his own style IIRC. In the 90s, Leno went to the Clinton well a lot. It’s kind of a staple of late night comedy to pluck the low lying political fruit of comedically vulnerable Presidents.

nic (120c94) — 4/27/2026 @ 8:23 pm

@359 You’re right, Paul. I’m glad you laugh at Trump’s jokes all the time in this comment section. We can all learn from it.

lloyd (572385) — 4/27/2026 @ 8:23 pm

@352If Kimmel is fired over threats to pull abc’s license, when democrats get in we will have the fcc pull every right wing radio station and fox tv license. We will then go after their cable stations. Cons say they want to pull citizenship of democrats like Ilhan Omar. We will pull murdock’s citizenship for sedition and send faux noise back to australia!

asset (573846) — 4/27/2026 @ 8:34 pm

@361 nic, I think you’ve confused Leno with Kathy Griffin. Easy mistake.

lloyd (08ea47) — 4/27/2026 @ 8:48 pm

Trump: I can’t be killed I will be thrown directly into the lake of fire. Hopefully lloyd and robb will catch me! (thats a joke I have come to know how sensitive you two are)

asset (573846) — 4/27/2026 @ 8:55 pm

Funny how folks here set their hair on fire after Trump said he was glad Mueller was dead, when he was already dead. I called it hateful rhetoric here and that was an easy call.

Really didn’t think it was controversial that Kimmel’s jokes about Kirk and Melania cross a line, but asset, nic and Paul — glad to be proved wrong!

lloyd (08ea47) — 4/27/2026 @ 8:56 pm

@366 What line? I find these words to live by. Have the sensitivity of a rhinoceros and subtlety of a panzer division in full attack. Some say sincerity is an option ‘but I disagree.

asset (573846) — 4/27/2026 @ 9:05 pm

‘It was a very light roast joke about the fact that he’s almost 80 and she’s younger than I am. It was not by any stretch of the definition a call to assassination. And they know that,’ he said.

Well Jimmy, as they say, if you have to explain a joke….

lloyd (08ea47) — 4/27/2026 @ 9:25 pm

How did an armed suspect get that far in the first place?

10 feet inside the perimeter?

Dave (699e46) — 4/27/2026 @ 9:41 pm

@lloyd@364 Nope. I’d do youtube links, but my post would get eaten. You can go to youtube and search Jay Leno Clinton Jokes or Lewinsky jokes and get a whole ton of clips. @366 Kimmel’s joke was filmed before the attempt, so there wasn’t anything to be sensitive about. I take it you also didn’t ever see any jokes about Anna Nicole Smith and her elderly husband. Jokes about much younger women and elderly rich husbands are also frequent late night comedian fodder.

nic (120c94) — 4/27/2026 @ 10:20 pm

Ever here of gold diggers?

asset (573846) — 4/28/2026 @ 4:03 am

@359 You’re right, Paul. I’m glad you laugh at Trump’s jokes all the time in this comment section. We can all learn from it.

Stupid. Did I laugh at Kimmel’s jokes? Not that one, the one that cause snowflake reactions from Trump and his wife.
Does Trump even make jokes? Or is he the joke?

Paul Montagu (ab76f1) — 4/28/2026 @ 4:20 am

BTW, Kimmel’s right about the pearl-clutching by Melania and her husband.

But I understand that the first lady had a stressful experience over the weekend and probably every weekend is pretty stressful in that house. And also, I agree that hateful and violent rhetoric is something we should reject. I do. And I think a great place to start to dial that back would be to have a conversation with your husband about it, because, by the way, I also should point out Donald Trump is allowed to say whatever he wants to say, as you are you, as am I, as are all of us, because under the First Amendment we have a right, as Americans, to free speech.

After all, her husband hasn’t been reticent about using violent commentary or that saying someone is a fascist incites political violence.

Paul Montagu (ab76f1) — 4/28/2026 @ 4:32 am

@370

“I’d do youtube links, but my post would get eaten.”

LOL nic, what? You can’t post an example? LMAO sure!

Leno didn’t make jokes about a president dying or about an assassination that just happened. A fellow comedian didn’t refuse to come on his show because he thought Leno crossed a line, either. Leno made jokes but didn’t cross a line.

You know this because you can’t dig up a link. Yet, rather than just admitting it you choose to lie about it.

lloyd (08ea47) — 4/28/2026 @ 6:12 am

@373 Paul, except that Trump is the one who has had multiple assassination attempts. And, again, thanks for the helpful 1A reminder, which is actually another reminder of that when the Left crosses a line it’s all about whether it’s legal and when Trump does it it’s about whether it was right or wrong. Just the same hypocrisy as always.

When Trump was happy after Mueller died of natural causes, I should’ve just said he had a 1A right to say it and you would’ve been fine. LOL

lloyd (08ea47) — 4/28/2026 @ 6:22 am

The US isn’t alone in having problems paying for the promises made to old people:

The new state pension has risen by more than £500 a year, as a result of the triple lock arrangement.

The triple lock guarantees that the state pension goes up each year in line with either inflation, wage increases or 2.5% – whichever is the highest.

The age at which millions of people can claim their state pension has started to increase from 65 to 67.

source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cq6m03ld7nvo

The “triple lock” is unaffordable in the long run. Nonetheless, the current leader of the Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch, has just promised to keep it. (The Conservatives draw disproportionately from older voters.)

(For the record: At 82, I am a beneficiary of the automatic increases in social security payments. But I have been keeping healthy, so my Medicare hasn’t cost you much.)

Jim Miller (b9d670) — 4/28/2026 @ 6:34 am

lloyd, you’re the last person who should be whining in defense of the MAGA snowflakes and their pearl-clutching about a late-night comedy sketch.

Paul Montagu (3d77b4) — 4/28/2026 @ 6:35 am

My apologies for the formatting mistake — and for bringing up a trivial problem. (As compared, of course, to a lame joke by a late night host.)

Jim Miller (b9d670) — 4/28/2026 @ 6:37 am

It’s like a group of MAGAs going into room, pull their drawers down and sht in it, and then start complaining about the smell.

Paul Montagu (3d77b4) — 4/28/2026 @ 6:37 am

@379 Wow, Paul. I’ll bet that joke is a real hit on the playground.

lloyd (08ea47) — 4/28/2026 @ 6:42 am

Probably the strongest argument against birthright citizenship of illegal aliens I’ve seen:
Are We Subjects or Citizens? Birthright Citizenship and the Constitution

…
Thus “subject to the jurisdiction” does not simply mean, as is commonly thought today, subject to American laws or American courts. It means owing exclusive political allegiance to the U.S.
…

whembly (b5da4b) — 4/28/2026 @ 6:50 am

whembly:

The birthright citizenship clause is what the current Supreme Court says it is. Which is as arbitrary a construct as it sounds.

Appalled (2c0768) — 4/28/2026 @ 7:35 am

If you are really concerned about how birthright citizenship has been understood for generations, this article might help:

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/04/newspapers-history-birthright-citizenship/686946/?gift=GETxgkzAqEYlT7d6KgZ8RaxkPGZ9ge88elTJOaA5084&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share

It’s a gift link (not paywalled)

Appalled (2c0768) — 4/28/2026 @ 7:53 am

357, Rip” No kidding–3-6 shots and all missed?

Reminescent of the incredible blunders made by SS when Obama was Pres. Aside from the hookers while on a foreign assignment.

A man breached the WH fence, and ran across the lawn up to a WH door. A sensor to detect a man doing just that “wasn’t working” at the time. A dog there to attack intruders wasn’t out at the time. A guard (this actually happened) saw the man, walked up and got w/in 6 feet—and turned away and did nothing. Then the intruder got inside! Because the doors were not locked. A door opening sensor had been deactivated because it annoyed some staff. The intruder got further inside until a visitor noticed him and he was tackled.

Mayor Karen Bass could have done better.

Too many in the SS think like Admiral Kimmel (he was in command at Pearl Harbor, Dave). No imagination, no responsibility except on their shift, and only a 9-5 mentality when on duty.

And then Butler, and a man lurking by Mar Lago for hours before being detected, and now this.

This institution is asleep from inside: firing the incompetent Obama -era appointee/Director barely touched the problem. Firing the one after Butler didn’t either. Doesn’t anyone do their d_ _ n job anymore?

Harcourt Fenton Mudd (bc8284) — 4/28/2026 @ 8:03 am

whembly (b5da4b) — 4/28/2026 @ 6:50 am

This is a rehash of the same losing dissent in Wong Ark v. US. It’s unlikely that five Justices will agree to cancel that precedent, IMO.

Paul Montagu (3d77b4) — 4/28/2026 @ 8:11 am

376, Miller, and that is why no serious politician will make the slightest move to trim entitlements. Not in France, the UK or here. Recipients are like an ex-wife, they assume payments are a right. And since many voters paid into Social Security, they feel, with much justification, that those are owed to them.

The trendy movement to limit births because of global warming or some such nonsense, is going to crush that entitlement system. 2 workers can’t pay for one retiree who is being supported by about 4 such workers now. Which is another reason we ought to be paying billions into a social security trust fund and not to foreign health clinics in Uganda, gay operas in Serbia, or to house benefit-needy illegals in NY hotels etc.

Harcourt Fenton Mudd (bc8284) — 4/28/2026 @ 8:13 am

@385

It’s unlikely that five Justices will agree to cancel that precedent, IMO.

Paul Montagu (3d77b4) — 4/28/2026 @ 8:11 am

Just like how there won’t be 5 Justices who would agree to cancel that Abortion precedent.

Oh waaait a minute?!?!!

whembly (b5da4b) — 4/28/2026 @ 8:13 am

It’s unlikely that five Justices will agree to cancel that Wong Ark v. US) precedent, IMO.

Paul Montagu (3d77b4) — 4/28/2026 @ 8:11 am

Just like how there won’t be 5 Justices who would agree to cancel that Abortion precedent.

Oh waaait a minute?!?!!

whembly (b5da4b) — 4/28/2026 @ 8:13 am

Wong Kim Ark v. US has been a precedent for nearly 130 years, Roe v. Wade not so much. In addition, it is highly unlikely (except for a couple of Justices) that the Supreme Court will redefine citizenship that will suddenly strip it from millions of people and in some cases render them stateless.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/28/2026 @ 9:22 am

Nor is citizenship a hotly contested moral issue like abortion.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/28/2026 @ 9:26 am

Thus “subject to the jurisdiction” does not simply mean, as is commonly thought today, subject to American laws or American courts. It means owing exclusive political allegiance to the U.S.
…

whembly (b5da4b) — 4/28/2026 @ 6:50 am

We’ll see.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/28/2026 @ 9:30 am

Don’t hold your breath:

Republicans will find it very difficult to make good on their vows to fast-track President Donald Trump’s White House ballroom, even after Saturday night’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner attack targeting him and his administration.

Democrats are not convinced that the $400 million ballroom is needed, seeing little connection between the gunman who targeted the Washington Hilton and Trump’s long-sought venue, which is too small to host the correspondents’ dinner. Republicans are offering competing proposals to approve the ballroom, showing they aren’t on the same page.

And GOP leaders are reluctant to add language approving the ballroom — which a federal judge recently ruled must get Congress’ signoff — to a forthcoming party-line immigration funding plan that can skirt a Democratic filibuster in the Senate.

Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., and Katie Britt, R-Ala., said they would introduce a bill dedicating $400 million in customs fees to construction of the ballroom. Graham said he’s leaning on Senate Majority Leader John Thune to “expedite” the bill and that he wants it to be a standalone vote.
………..
……….. Senate Democrats say the ballroom authorization lacks sufficient support in their caucus to get 60 votes. Moderate Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., decried political violence but said “I don’t see the connection” between the attack and the new ballroom.
………..
“I want to vote. I want to see: Where is America on this? I bet you 90% of the people would love to have a better facility than the Hilton Hotel to make sure this crap never happens again,” Graham said.
………..
………..Congress also has a full plate right now: The Iran war is still unresolved, key foreign surveillance powers run out this week, and the Department of Homeland Security is still shut down.
………..

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/28/2026 @ 9:47 am

Ouch!

Maurene Comey can pursue her lawsuit against the Justice Department for her abrupt termination as a Manhattan federal prosecutor, a federal judge ruled Tuesday, handing her a significant victory against the department.

Lawyers for the department had argued that Comey needed to bring her claims before the Merit Systems Protection Board, an executive branch agency that oversees federal workers’ complaints alleging violations of civil service laws. Comey’s lawyers argued that would have doomed her case.

U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman wrote in a 27-page opinion that because Comey was fired pursuant to Article II of the Constitution, rather than the Civil Service Reform Act, her lawsuit should remain in federal court.

“The Court finds that Comey’s claims are not of the type Congress intended to be reviewed within that scheme because it would deprive her of meaningful judicial review, her claims are wholly collateral to the CSRA’s review provisions, and her claims — which raise fundamental constitutional questions — fall outside of the MSPB’s traditional expertise,” Furman wrote.

Comey’s firing last summer sent shock waves through the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office, where she had served as one of the most prominent federal prosecutors in the country for nearly 10 years, handling cases including those against Jeffrey Epstein, his co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell and Sean “Diddy” Combs.

Comey, the daughter of former FBI director and longtime Trump foe James Comey, was given no explanation for her firing. ………

In his decision, Furman, an appointee of President Barack Obama, appeared to subscribe to the notion that Comey’s firing took place as a result of her family ties, noting that “in the spring of 2025, prominent supporters of President Trump began to call for her ouster based on that connection,” and that she was terminated shortly thereafter.
………..

According to the opinion, Comey was sent a memo stating:

Subject: Notice of Removal from Federal Service.

This memorandum provides official notice that you are removed from your position of Assistant United States Attorney, AD-0905-29, Criminal Division, Southern District of New York, Offices of the United States Attorneys, and from the federal service, effective immediately.

Pursuant to Article II of the United States Constitution and the laws of the United States, your employment with the Department of Justice is hereby terminated, and you are removed from federal service effective immediately.

If applicable, you may have a right to file an appeal of this removal with the U.S. Merits Systems Protection Board (MSPB) within 30 days of the effective date of this removal action. For more information on how to file an appeal with the MSPB, please visit http://www.mspb.gov.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/28/2026 @ 10:10 am

https://nypost.com/2026/04/28/opinion/democrats-rants-show-their-enemies-list-is-serious-business/

The fascist left is telling you what they are. Deny the truth all you want. but Sen Murphy makes it plain as day.

NJRob (c2e508) — 4/28/2026 @ 10:25 am

@389

Nor is citizenship a hotly contested moral issue like abortion.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/28/2026 @ 9:26 am

I disagree.

The debate over this has been just as hot, if not more, than abortion.

whembly (b5da4b) — 4/28/2026 @ 10:31 am

Nor is citizenship a hotly contested moral issue like abortion.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/28/2026 @ 9:26 am

I disagree.

The debate over this has been just as hot, if not more, than abortion.

whembly (b5da4b) — 4/28/2026 @ 10:31 am

“Facts” not in evidence. I don’t recall the annual March on Washington Against Birthright Citizenship, nor do I see states trying to define when citizenship occurs.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/28/2026 @ 10:37 am

🚨 BREAKING: The Supreme Court of Virginia has denied the Attorney General’s Motion for Emergency Stay in RNC v. Koski – the one where he didn’t quote the ballot language.

One sentence. No dissent. No partial relief.

“Upon consideration whereof, the Court denies the motion.”… pic.twitter.com/lr2gPAosZO

— Wren Williams (@WrenWilliamsVA) April 28, 2026

Seems like there’s a bevvy of reasons why they may rule the redistricting unconstitutional.

whembly (b5da4b) — 4/28/2026 @ 10:38 am

@395

“Facts” not in evidence. I don’t recall the annual March on Washington Against Birthright Citizenship, nor do I see states trying to define when citizenship occurs.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/28/2026 @ 10:37 am

One doesn’t need to have an annual March in order to determine if the issue at hand is considered important Rip.

whembly (b5da4b) — 4/28/2026 @ 10:39 am

One doesn’t need to have an annual March in order to determine if the issue at hand is considered important Rip.

whembly (b5da4b) — 4/28/2026 @ 10:39 am

Then what is the evidence that “The debate over this has been just as hot, if not more, than abortion.”

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/28/2026 @ 10:43 am

One doesn’t need to have an annual March in order to determine if the issue at hand is considered important Rip.

whembly (b5da4b) — 4/28/2026 @ 10:39 am

I never said the birthright citizenship was unimportant. Your contention is that it is “as hot, if not more, than abortion.”

I don’t see any evidence that it is “as hot” as abortion. No one has been murdered or bombed due to the birthright citizenship debate, as happened to abortion doctors and clinics.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/28/2026 @ 10:51 am

The indomitable Cathy Young on left-wing and right-wing violence.

Paul Montagu (3d77b4) — 4/28/2026 @ 11:33 am

This looks like good news for the oil markets, given that UAE is OPEC’s 3rd largest producer and is now unconstrained from their quotes.
We’ll see if other OPEC members follow suit.

Paul Montagu (3d77b4) — 4/28/2026 @ 11:56 am

West Texas Intermediate crude is just over $100/barrel (+3.84%), and Brent crude is $104/barrel (+2.79%)

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/28/2026 @ 12:05 pm

DOJ secures new indictment against James Comey over seashell “threat.”

Rip Murdock (a4bf55) — 4/28/2026 @ 12:14 pm

There’s usually more than one reason for an increase in oil prices, Rip.
UAE’s decision sparked uncertainties about the future of OPEC, and markets don’t like uncertainties.
Unlike Bahrain and Qatar and Kuwait and Iraq, and even Iran, UAE can wholly bypass usage of Hormuz.

Paul Montagu (3d77b4) — 4/28/2026 @ 12:26 pm

@401

This looks like good news for the oil markets, given that UAE is OPEC’s 3rd largest producer and is now unconstrained from their quotes.
We’ll see if other OPEC members follow suit.

Paul Montagu (3d77b4) — 4/28/2026 @ 11:56 am

I wonder if this sparks some initial instability if OPEC truly does dissolve.

It might, however, open the door for other oil nations (ie, Russia or even the US) to create a new OPEC-like arraignment.

whembly (b5da4b) — 4/28/2026 @ 12:42 pm

@403

DOJ secures new indictment against James Comey over seashell “threat.”

Rip Murdock (a4bf55) — 4/28/2026 @ 12:14 pm

Again?

Is it a “threat”.

Sure.

Is it really that much different from what we see on social media or even news opinion sites?

Not really.

It’ll get thrown out again.

whembly (b5da4b) — 4/28/2026 @ 12:43 pm

There’s usually more than one reason for an increase in oil prices, Rip.
……….
Paul Montagu (3d77b4) — 4/28/2026 @ 12:26 pm

My post on oil prices wasn’t in response to your comment.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/28/2026 @ 12:56 pm

DOJ secures new indictment against James Comey over seashell “threat.”

Rip Murdock (a4bf55) — 4/28/2026 @ 12:14 pm

Again?

Is it a “threat”.

Sure.

Is it really that much different from what we see on social media or even news opinion sites?

Not really.

It’ll get thrown out again.

whembly (b5da4b) — 4/28/2026 @ 12:43 pm

Debatable. The Supreme Court in Counterman v. Colorado, 600 U.S. ___ (2023) said the government will need to prove that the defendant had some subjective understanding of the threatening nature of the statements (or seashell arrangement).

In this context, a recklessness standard—i.e., a showing that a person “consciously disregard[ed] a substantial [and unjustifiable] risk that [his] conduct will cause harm to another,” Voisine v. United States, 579 U.S. 686, 691—is the appropriate mens rea.

That will be tough to prove.

This is the first indictment of Comey over the seashells. Comey was previously indicted for making false statements to Congress on a different matter.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/28/2026 @ 1:17 pm

Trump is now putting his face on US passports…

Dave (255e9e) — 4/28/2026 @ 1:21 pm

Count 1 of the Comey seashell indictment states that Comey did

knowingly and willfully make a threat to take the life of, and to inflict bodily harm upon, the President of the United States, in that he publicly posted a photograph on the internet social media site Instagram which depicted seashells arranged in a pattern making out “86 47”, which a reasonable recipient who is familiar with the circumstances would interpret as a serious expression of an intent to do harm to the President of the United States.

In violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 871(a).

Count 2

knowingly and willfully did transmit in interstate and foreign commerce a communication that contained a threat to kill the President, Donald J. Trump, specifically, by publicly posting a photograph on the internet social media site Instagram which depicted seashells arranged in a pattern making out “86 47”, which a reasonable recipient who is familiar with the circumstances would interpret as a serious expression of an intent to do harm to President Trump.

In violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 875(c).

Unless the government has witnesses to Comey arranging the seashells, and to confirming his state of mind that he intended to make a threat, the jury will have a good laugh before they vote to acquit.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/28/2026 @ 1:32 pm

@409

Trump is now putting his face on US passports…

Dave (255e9e) — 4/28/2026 @ 1:21 pm

Dammit… I lost a bet.

..

..
I betted that Trump would put his face on a large denomination bill.

whembly (b5da4b) — 4/28/2026 @ 1:32 pm

@410

Count 1 of the Comey seashell indictment states that Comey did

knowingly and willfully make a threat to take the life of, and to inflict bodily harm upon, the President of the United States, in that he publicly posted a photograph on the internet social media site Instagram which depicted seashells arranged in a pattern making out “86 47”, which a reasonable recipient who is familiar with the circumstances would interpret as a serious expression of an intent to do harm to the President of the United States.

In violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 871(a).

Count 2

knowingly and willfully did transmit in interstate and foreign commerce a communication that contained a threat to kill the President, Donald J. Trump, specifically, by publicly posting a photograph on the internet social media site Instagram which depicted seashells arranged in a pattern making out “86 47”, which a reasonable recipient who is familiar with the circumstances would interpret as a serious expression of an intent to do harm to President Trump.

In violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 875(c).

Unless the government has witnesses to Comey arranging the seashells, and to confirming his state of mind that he intended to make a threat, the jury will have a good laugh before they vote to acquit.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/28/2026 @ 1:32 pm

It’s not going to the jury. The judge will throw this one out too.

whembly (b5da4b) — 4/28/2026 @ 1:47 pm

I betted that Trump would put his face on a large denomination bill.

whembly (b5da4b) — 4/28/2026 @ 1:32 pm

There’s still time.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/28/2026 @ 1:48 pm

It’s not going to the jury. The judge will throw this one out too.

whembly (b5da4b) — 4/28/2026 @ 1:47 pm

I don’t know-the case is in the Eastern District of North Carolina, not Virginia or Washington DC.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/28/2026 @ 1:50 pm

@413

There’s still time.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/28/2026 @ 1:48 pm

Don’t give ’em the idea.

Certain segments of the population won’t want to carry around “Donnie” bills.

whembly (b5da4b) — 4/28/2026 @ 1:55 pm

@414

I don’t know-the case is in the Eastern District of North Carolina, not Virginia or Washington DC.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/28/2026 @ 1:50 pm

Judges everywhere should absolutely be on the lookout for Government abuses, even potential ones.

I still think the NC judge would deep-six this before it going to a jury. It smacks of political retribution.

whembly (b5da4b) — 4/28/2026 @ 1:58 pm

It’s not going to the jury. The judge will throw this one out too.

whembly (b5da4b) — 4/28/2026 @ 1:47 pm

You may be right, but not for the reasons you probably think. There’s no there there.

Flashback May 2025:

……….
Legally speaking, prosecuting Comey may be fruitless as any legal action would stand little chance, especially after a recent Supreme Court decision regarding threats and among a judiciary that has expanded free speech rights in recent years, legal experts say.
……….
The 2023 decision, authored by Justice Elena Kagan, held that prosecutors must show that a person has “some subjective understanding of the threatening nature of his statements” to bring a winning case that doesn’t run afoul of First Amendment protections of speech.

“To prosecute true threats, you need to show recklessness to accord that prosecution with the First Amendment,” Danielle Keats Citron, a University of Virginia law professor, told CNN. “The court didn’t distinguish the person making the threat or the victim who is terrorized.”
………..
State prosecutors secured the conviction by relying on a legal standard that a “reasonable person” would have understood those and other statements to be threats. In its 7-2 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that standard was too low. Instead, the court said, prosecutors must demonstrate that a person making a statement has some awareness that their words could be understood as a threat – a much higher hurdle to clear.
………..
On a practical level, Citron predicted, prosecutors are not likely serious about bringing an actual case against Comey.
………..
In a statement Friday, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), a First Amendment legal advocacy organization, said the post from Comey fell within political speech protected by the Constitution.

“It neither constitutes a true threat nor merits federal investigation. 86 has a lot of possible meanings, and the idea that spelling it out in seashells and posting it to Instagram is a true threat is quite a stretch,” the organization said. “The administration should drop any investigation of Mr. Comey because it’s an unconstitutional waste of time.”

“The claim that this is a threat is laughable under any standard,” said Mary Anne Franks, a professor at the George Washington Law School who published a book called “Fearless Speech” last year.

“I suppose one could say that it’s even more laughable after the court’s ruling” in 2023, she said. But, she said, earlier precedents had already made it clear for decades that “‘crude political hyperbole’ about the president does not constitute a true threat.”

In 1969, she noted, the court reversed a conviction against a man who said publicly that if he was ever inducted into the Army and made to carry a rifle “the first man I want to get in my sights is L.B.J.,” a reference to then-President Lyndon Johnson.
…………

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/28/2026 @ 1:58 pm

Don’t give ’em the idea.

Certain segments of the population won’t want to carry around “Donnie” bills.

whembly (b5da4b) — 4/28/2026 @ 1:55 pm

Agreed, but I’d almost want to see it just to see the usual suspects stroke out.

NJRob (d5a616) — 4/28/2026 @ 1:58 pm

Retribution is what MAGA voters want.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/28/2026 @ 1:59 pm

@419

Retribution is what MAGA voters want.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/28/2026 @ 1:59 pm

Agreed, and they have good reasons for advocating as such.

But I’m not sublime about it…

I don’t think “shoving the same medicine down their throat” is going to stop the progress/left next time they take power.

whembly (b5da4b) — 4/28/2026 @ 2:03 pm

Certain segments of the population won’t want to carry around “Donnie” bills.

whembly (b5da4b) — 4/28/2026 @ 1:55 pm

Do you think Trump would put his face on something that ordinary people would carry around?

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/28/2026 @ 2:05 pm

Would be interesting to see Patrick’s thoughts on when frivolous abuse of the courts like this should bring consequences on the malfeasors.

If this doesn’t cross the line, how far can a prosecutor go?

Dave (255e9e) — 4/28/2026 @ 2:10 pm

I mean, Trump already put his face on the national parks pass.

All of this is unprecedented; the president’s face has not historically been put on stuff like this *ever* … and yet here we are, and no doubt the usual Trumpists will say that this is justified by some malfeasance of Biden or Obama that didn’t include putting their pictures on arbitrary government documents.

aphrael (db3aa9) — 4/28/2026 @ 2:13 pm

https://nypost.com/2026/04/28/opinion/democrats-rants-show-their-enemies-list-is-serious-business/

The fascist left is telling you what they are. Deny the truth all you want. but Sen Murphy makes it plain as day.

NJRob (c2e508) — 4/28/2026 @ 10:25 am

If the Democrats try to silence the media who disagree with them, I will oppose them.

Likewise, I am against Trump banning the AP from the White House because they didn’t go along with his grandstanding stunt to rename the Gulf of Mexico.

norcal (cd8bf8) — 4/28/2026 @ 2:23 pm

The FCC is openly investigating the broadcast licenses of a major network, in theory because it disapproves of their DEI policies, but the *Democrats* are the real threat to freedom of speech? Is that it, NJRob?

aphrael (db3aa9) — 4/28/2026 @ 2:38 pm

> Agreed, and they have good reasons for advocating as such.

At this point it’s pretty much guaranteed that we spend the next generation in a series of escalating tit-for-tat retributions that will leave the country a smoldering wreck.

Well done, y’all. Well done.

aphrael (db3aa9) — 4/28/2026 @ 2:40 pm

How did an armed suspect get that far in the first place?

He checked in as a hotel guest the day before. And he took the stairs down from the 10th floor.

Interestingly, according to radio host Greg Kelly, the Secret service had already disassembled the magnetometer. (But they weren’t letting anyone down so the effect was the same)

One shotgun shot (of buckshot) was fired by the would-be assassin, and five by one of the Secret Service people all of which missed unless one hit a Secret Service person and was stopped by the bullet proof vest, and the perpetrator missed.

It is not clear whether anyone tackled the perpetrator or whether he simply tripped (over a cord, maybe.)

Then they tore off his clothes.

Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 4/28/2026 @ 2:58 pm

lloyd (08ea47) — 4/28/2026 @ 6:12 am

Leno didn’t make jokes about a president dying or about an assassination that just happened.

Kimmel made a “joke” about Melania being happy because she expected her husband to die, but the joke was made two days before. Kimmel says it was reference to Trump’s age, and both CBS and the New York Times noted he also made jokes about Trump’s health whether they really sounded connected or not.

Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 4/28/2026 @ 3:04 pm

hotel security has been a known weak point since route 91 harvest, if not earlier.

aphrael (db3aa9) — 4/28/2026 @ 3:04 pm

Here’s the monument to Trump’s Big Fat Ego at Doral*, in a nice tacky gold of course.

* Of course, the official name has his name on it: Trump National Doral Golf Club.

Paul Montagu (3d77b4) — 4/28/2026 @ 3:11 pm

The (slightly) wounded agent is apparently the only LEO who fired their weapon.

This article says they have not been able to find the fragment that struck him, or confirm it came from Allen.

It suggests Allen stumbled and was subdued on the ground. He did not reload after firing once.

Dave (255e9e) — 4/28/2026 @ 3:17 pm

The (slightly) wounded agent is apparently the only LEO who fired their weapon.

This article says they have not been able to find the fragment that struck him, or confirm it came from Allen.

It suggests Allen stumbled and was subdued on the ground. He did not reload after firing once.

Dave (255e9e) — 4/28/2026 @ 3:17 pm

It also notes that:

No officers or agents were stationed in the stairwell that Allen used to get to the main hotel floor and just steps from the checkpoint he breached. Investigators’ review of hotel video shows Allen reached the checkpoint, where magnetometers screened guests for weapons, by walking down the stairwell 10 floors down from his hotel room, one of the people said.
……….
The Secret Service does not require agents in stairwells of this public hotel when they are outside the magnetometer-screened perimeter of the dinner event.
………
The ability of Allen to breach the final checkpoint at the Washington Hilton has raised alarm among top White House aides, even though no one was seriously injured and officers and agents were able to stop Allen before he reached the ballroom doors. The doors were also guarded by armed law enforcement officers and agents.

The shooting one floor above the ballroom has spurred White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles to request a meeting with the Secret Service director and Department of Homeland Security officials about both the incident and how to harden security for Trump for a series of large events planned in the coming weeks.

This is the third time in less than two years that an untrained and armed man, charged with seeking to assassinate Trump, has gotten close to the president by breaching the perimeter the Secret Service created for his protection.
………..
At a Monday news conference, Blanche said Allen had been charged with discharging a firearm during a crime of violence because the FBI determined he fired a single shell from the shotgun he was carrying. But he said authorities were not prepared to say whether that was the shot that hit the Secret Service agent’s body armor.
………..
Blanche said investigators determined that the agent who was shot fired five rounds at the suspect, none of which hit him. But he said they could not be sure those were the only rounds fired by law enforcement officers.

“When you fire a bullet, it ends up somewhere,” he said. “Sometimes you find it and sometimes you don’t.”
…………

Another black eye for Secret Service, and especially for the officer who shot at Allen five times and missed. As I’ve said, the attendees were very lucky it was a lone gunman and not an Iranian suicide squad with automatic weapons and bomb vests.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/28/2026 @ 3:53 pm

If these claims are accurate, then I think it might be possible to find a better person for that position: https://x.com/factpostnews/status/2048818506066543094

Jim Miller (5a2902) — 4/28/2026 @ 4:07 pm

Another black eye for Secret Service, and especially for the officer who shot at Allen five times and missed.

He was estimated to running at 9 mph, and only a few feet away, making the deflection problem essentially impossible. If, as suggested, Allen stumbled, the sudden change of momentum would have complicated the shot too.

The risk of hitting a friendly target would have also argued for tackling rather than shooting Allen.

As I’ve said, the attendees were very lucky it was a lone gunman and not an Iranian suicide squad with automatic weapons and bomb vests.

There were a dozen or more agents in that lobby (reinforcements are already arriving through the double doors, even during the brief video of Allen’s dash), more on the stairwells, more at the doors into the ballroom, and likely a hundred or more armed undercover agents in the ballroom itself. By focusing on protecting the ballroom, the Secret Service had the numbers to handle any plausible threat in the area that mattered.

Dave (255e9e) — 4/28/2026 @ 4:31 pm

There were a dozen or more agents in that lobby (reinforcements are already arriving through the double doors, even during the brief video of Allen’s dash), more on the stairwells, more at the doors into the ballroom, and likely a hundred or more armed undercover agents in the ballroom itself. By focusing on protecting the ballroom, the Secret Service had the numbers to handle any plausible threat in the area that mattered.

Dave (255e9e) — 4/28/2026 @ 4:31 pm

So what? A team of suicide bombers with automatic weapons, explosives and willing to blow themselves up could plausibly overwhelm the defenders.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/28/2026 @ 4:49 pm

Betrayal

A month into his tenure, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin is facing mounting pressure from conservative groups that fear the Trump administration is going soft on its mass deportation agenda amid a public backlash over aggressive enforcement tactics.
………..
Organizations such as the Mass Deportation Coalition, formed in March and led by the Heritage Foundation, interpret that approach as a potential betrayal of one of the president’s core campaign promises. The coalition recently published a lengthy report concluding that the administration had deported 350,000 immigrants in the first year of President Donald Trump’s second term, far fewer than the 650,000 deportations that Trump officials have cited.

The numbers “don’t represent a victory in quantity,” said the report, which offered 21 recommendations to vastly expand operations. “What remains is a policy choice: to carry out a program of mass deportation, in keeping with the campaign promise, or not,” the report said. Mike Howell, president of Heritage’s Oversight Project, said Mullin’s comments thus far appear aimed at “assuaging left-wing concerns.”
…………
During an interview on Fox News in mid-April, Mullin told host Laura Ingraham that the nation favors legal immigration. Ingraham cut him off.

“We want mass deportations,” she said. “That’s what the American people voted for.”
…………
…………(F)ederal data suggests the administration has begun to shift its approach, relying less heavily on the type of large-scale enforcement operations in Minneapolis and other big cities that led to a surge in “at-large” arrests of migrants in community sweeps, according to an analysis from the American Immigration Council.

The number of such arrests fell from a peak of more than 800 per day in December to fewer than 500 per day in March, the analysis found. In early April, ICE was holding 60,311 immigrants in detention, the lowest number since September and down from a peak of 70,766 in January, according to an analysis from TRAC Immigration.
…………
Some anti-immigration groups said they welcome a broader enforcement approach, including cracking down on employers who hire undocumented workers and prohibiting banks from providing financial services to people who are in the country illegally.

Mark Krikorian, executive director of the pro-enforcement Center for Immigration Studies, expressed frustration that the Trump administration has been reluctant to mount large-scale workplace enforcement, which he attributed to countervailing pressure from the business community.

“The problem there isn’t really Mullin — it’s probably the president,” Krikorian said, adding: Trump has said “our hospitality industry needs these people. You can’t generate significant amounts of self-deportation without large-scale, sustained, work-related enforcement.”
………..
“There is not mass deportation taking place, unfortunately,” (former Border Patrol commander Gregory) Bovino said Monday during a live Spaces chat on X. He said Border Patrol had plans to massively ramp up deportation sweeps across the country after the Minneapolis operations but that those were thwarted for political reasons.
………….
Bovino said the administration should be aiming for 100 million deportations, a number that wildly exceeds the estimated 14 million people living in the country illegally, according to an analysis from Pew Research Center last year.

His message has been cheered by prominent MAGA influencers, including Benny Johnson, who invited Bovino onstage at the Conservative Political Action Conference in late March. Johnson called him a “hero to the America First movement,” and Dean Cain, the former “Superman” actor who last year sought to enlist as an ICE officer, came out to shake his hand.

“I truly don’t care about the short term political ramifications of mass deportations,” Nick Sortor, a conservative influencer with 1.5 million followers who has supported Bovino, wrote on X this month. “If grown men’s tummies hurt over third worlders being sent home, they’ll have to get over it WE CANNOT SAVE AMERICA WITHOUT MASS DEPORTATIONS.”

Bovino could not be reached for comment. In response to a question about Bovino, the DHS spokesperson said: “Disgruntled former employees at DHS are welcome to criticize their nation’s leadership.”
………….

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/28/2026 @ 5:34 pm

A team of suicide bombers with automatic weapons, explosives and willing to blow themselves up could plausibly overwhelm the defenders.

Putting aside the question of why the Iranians would blow up their most valuable strategic asset and put somebody more competent in charge, by “team”, I understand something of order 10 attackers, who would be outnumbered 10- or 20-1 in the ballroom area. The problem with blowing yourself up is that you only get to do it once, and they would have needed to cross the densely packed and heavily defended room to have a chance of injuring the target.

Unless the Iranians are somehow able to sneak an infantry brigade into the Washington Hilton, I can’t imagine brute force being successful.

If I had to come up with a plan, I’d try to use deceit.

The attack would start with a loud attack on the perimeter, similar to Allen’s, but more protracted to occupy attention for longer. In the video with Allen on the ground, you can see that the local security is briefly distracted and disorganized.

Part 2 then begins at a different point on the perimeter, where what appear to be a team of security reinforcements arriving to assist are actually disguised attackers, hoping to exploit a moment of doubt or hesitation to ambush and neutralize a roughly equal number of real security, breaching the perimeter here.

Part 3, the real threat, consists of attackers who appear to be panicked hotel staff carrying trays of food. These individually attempt to get within range of the target; when one is stopped, the next comes from a different angle.

More generally: get the security out of their plan by reacting to multiple apparent crises that are not the real threat, and hope they focus their attention on the wrong things.

Dave (01e37e) — 4/28/2026 @ 6:18 pm

@lloyd@374 Oh for the love of God, every time you do this, you hate my answer. Leno told numerous jokes about Bill Clinton..

nic (120c94) — 4/28/2026 @ 6:44 pm

nic (120c94) — 4/28/2026 @ 6:44 pm

Thank you, Ms. Obvious. I never claimed otherwise.

I guess the dog keeps eating your homework.

lloyd (49bba2) — 4/28/2026 @ 7:16 pm

@loyd@439 You did, in fact, claim you had no idea that Leno had told jokes about Clinton.

Lloyd@352: Kimmel always takes his bucket to the Trump well when he needs a ratings boost.

Me@353: Sure. Do you remember Leno in the 90s?

Lloyd@355: Yes. Signifying something, I’m sure.

Me@356: If you remember Leno in the 90s, you know.

lloyd@360: Oh, in that case, I guess I don’t remember Leno in the 90s. Maybe I was thinking of Letterman. Welp, anyway….

Me@361: Ah, I’d be glad to explain then, although Letterman did similar things, though in his own style IIRC. In the 90s, Leno went to the Clinton well a lot. It’s kind of a staple of late night comedy to pluck the low lying political fruit of comedically vulnerable Presidents.

Lloyd@364: nic, I think you’ve confused Leno with Kathy Griffin. Easy mistake.

Me@370: Nope. I’d do youtube links, but my post would get eaten. You can go to youtube and search Jay Leno Clinton Jokes or Lewinsky jokes and get a whole ton of clips. @366 Kimmel’s joke was filmed before the attempt, so there wasn’t anything to be sensitive about. I take it you also didn’t ever see any jokes about Anna Nicole Smith and her elderly husband. Jokes about much younger women and elderly rich husbands are also frequent late night comedian fodder.

lloyd@374 (having realized that Leno did tons of Clinton jokes and thus both attempting to move the goal posts and be insulting enough that I’d argue about that instead of the original discusion, nice try btw):

LOL nic, what? You can’t post an example? LMAO sure!

Leno didn’t make jokes about a president dying or about an assassination that just happened. A fellow comedian didn’t refuse to come on his show because he thought Leno crossed a line, either. Leno made jokes but didn’t cross a line.

You know this because you can’t dig up a link. Yet, rather than just admitting it you choose to lie about it.

Me@438 (addressing the original discussion that late night comedians often go to the well of making fun of politicians and ignoring lloyd’s goal post move and poor attempts at being insulting): Oh for the love of God, every time you do this, you hate my answer. Leno told numerous jokes about Bill Clinton (a link)..

lloyd@439 (attempting to deny his original argument since it was so eminently refutable while emphasizing his goal post move and the insults he hopes will be sufficiently distracting): Thank you, Ms. Obvious. I never claimed otherwise. I guess the dog keeps eating your homework.

Nice try?

nic (120c94) — 4/28/2026 @ 7:50 pm

LOL nic, obsessed much? My original comment was about Kimmel’s assassination humor, and a booked guest who refused to appear on his show. But, you deleted all that — dishonestly — to make it seem like my comment was about something else entirely.

Because I always hate your answer, or something.

lloyd (49bba2) — 4/28/2026 @ 8:05 pm

Are you somehow unable to understand: “Kimmel’s joke was filmed before the attempt, so there wasn’t anything to be sensitive about. I take it you also didn’t ever see any jokes about Anna Nicole Smith and her elderly husband. Jokes about much younger women and elderly rich husbands are also frequent late night comedian fodder.” Or did you just not read that far through the comment? Do you need data on the Anna Nicole Smith jokes too? It’s in the article I linked.

nic (120c94) — 4/28/2026 @ 8:25 pm

Assassination Culture 101

A teacher from a Wisconsin high school has been placed on administrative leave over alleged comments he made on social media in response to a shooting that occurred Saturday night at the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) Dinner.

Patrick Meyer, a social studies teacher from Kaukauana High School, allegedly wrote he was not “impressed with recent presidential assassins,” according to FOX 11 Online. “It’s [expletive] embarrassing! Booth, Guiteau, Czolgosz, Oswald must all be spinning in their graves! MAGAA (make Americans great assassins again)! Sad!,” Meyer added in the same post. Meyer’s LinkedIn page confirms he is employed as a teacher at Kaukauna High School.

lloyd (49bba2) — 4/28/2026 @ 8:25 pm

If this doesn’t cross the line, how far can a prosecutor go?
Dave (255e9e) — 4/28/2026 @ 2:10 pm

Crocodile tears.

lloyd (49bba2) — 4/28/2026 @ 8:40 pm

Top Anthony Fauci adviser indicted for ‘criminal conspiracy’ against the United States

Dr Anthony Fauci’s top former aide has been indicted for conspiracy against the US after he allegedly concealed and falsified information to suppress alternative theories of COVID-19’s origins.

Dr David Morens, 78, of Chester, Maryland, was charged by the Department of Justice on Tuesday morning.

Morens notoriously testified before Congress in 2024 that he learned how to make controversial internal agency correspondence ‘disappear.’

The advisor’s subpoenaed emails show that Morens said he ‘learned from our foia lady here how to make emails disappear,’ meaning he had a way to help them avoid scrutiny under the Freedom of Information Act.

He also used his personal email to illegally correspond with top officials and Dr Peter Daszak, the boss of Ecohealth Alliance, a group that funded gain-of-function research at the Chinese Wuhan lab where COVID-19 is believed to have escaped from.

Taxpayer funds supported Daszak’s research, and to help the Wuhan-linked scientist avoid scrutiny during the pandemic, Morens communicated with Daszak through non-official channels, namely his personal email.

Another war on scientists… who happen to be criminals.

lloyd (49bba2) — 4/28/2026 @ 10:14 pm

@393 I wish! The party hacks like murphy pretend tough talk is to fool the tofu eating snowflakes that they are not corporate stooges. When aipac says jump they ask how high?

asset (98ed99) — 4/28/2026 @ 10:25 pm

@437 pros use a car bomb. See beirut numerous times and around the world.

asset (98ed99) — 4/28/2026 @ 10:31 pm

Top Anthony Fauci adviser indicted for ‘criminal conspiracy’ against the United States

Shocking corruption and violation of the public trust on Donald Trump’s watch.

Dave (ab9657) — 4/28/2026 @ 11:46 pm

Trump’s stooge at fcc goes after ABC broadcast stations licenses to serve his master. People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. I am no fan of corporate media ;but their loss will be our gain as we will demand our 2028 presidential candidates fcc appointees pull the licenses of every right wing station in America and all fox station licenses. Also go after faux news cable and satellite outlets. If SC rules against birthright citizenship pull the murdock’s citizenship and send them packing.

asset (98ed99) — 4/29/2026 @ 3:23 am

Are you somehow unable to understand: “Kimmel’s joke was filmed before the attempt, so there wasn’t anything to be sensitive about. I take it you also didn’t ever see any jokes about Anna Nicole Smith and her elderly husband. Jokes about much younger women and elderly rich husbands are also frequent late night comedian fodder.” Or did you just not read that far through the comment? Do you need data on the Anna Nicole Smith jokes too? It’s in the article I linked.

nic (120c94) — 4/28/2026 @ 8:25 pm

Kimmel’s lame joke was done after 2 previous assassination attempts and after he was kicked off the air for his vile remarks after Charlie Kirk’s assassination.

Yet you still defend his filth. Why?

NJRob (eb56c3) — 4/29/2026 @ 4:35 am

Shocking corruption and violation of the public trust on Donald Trump’s watch.
Dave (ab9657) — 4/28/2026 @ 11:46 pm

Even Dave’s ridiculous spin can’t rise above stupid.

The indictment stops short of actually accusing Morens of deleting emails that were federal records, but it references a 2021 message Morens sent, saying: “I learned from our FOIA lady here how to make emails disappear after I am FOIA’d, but before the search starts, so I think we are all safe. Plus, I deleted most of those earlier emails after sending them to Gmail.”

lloyd (49bba2) — 4/29/2026 @ 7:52 am

@426

> Agreed, and they have good reasons for advocating as such.

At this point it’s pretty much guaranteed that we spend the next generation in a series of escalating tit-for-tat retributions that will leave the country a smoldering wreck.

Well done, y’all. Well done.

aphrael (db3aa9) — 4/28/2026 @ 2:40 pm

What’s your recommendation then?

Mine: If one side acknowledges their past actions perpetuated this cycle, maybe those in current power can find enough grace to dial it down.

Do you see that happening in this case?

whembly (8a376b) — 4/29/2026 @ 8:15 am

Boomity.

Louisiana v. Callais (Voting Rights Act)

Holding
Because the Voting Rights Act of 1965 did not require Louisiana to create an additional majority-minority district, no compelling interest justified the state’s use of race in creating SB8, and that map is an unconstitutional racial gerrymander.

Judgment
Affirmed and remanded, 6-3, in an opinion by Samuel Alito on Apr 29, 2026. Justice Thomas wrote a concurring opinion, joined by Justice Gorsuch. Justice Kagan wrote a dissenting opinion, joined by Justices Sotomayor and Jackson.

Dave will have the sadz.

whembly (8a376b) — 4/29/2026 @ 8:23 am

Even Dave’s ridiculous spin can’t rise above stupid.

Bzzt. I looked up the indictment on PACER before posting to make sure of the dates.

The crimes Moreno is charged with began “in or about April 2020”. The nefarious Trump-spawned scheme continued into 2023.

The indictment lists 10(!) overt acts in furtherance of the conspiracy committed on Trump’s watch.

The indictment is here: https://ecf.mdd.uscourts.gov/doc1/093115678640

I’m not sure whether it requires a PACER account (with some patience and persistance you can create a free account, as I did last year…).

Dave (4eac41) — 4/29/2026 @ 9:47 am

The Morens indictment.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/29/2026 @ 9:53 am

Dave will have the sadz.

Having read the text of the overturned amended section of the VRA (which passed the House 389-24, the Senate 85-8 and was signed into law by Ronald Reagan in 1982) I find the dissent somewhat persuasive.

It seems no precedent is safe from the Alito court.

Dave (4eac41) — 4/29/2026 @ 10:06 am

@456

Having read the text of the overturned amended section of the VRA (which passed the House 389-24, the Senate 85-8 and was signed into law by Ronald Reagan in 1982) I find the dissent somewhat persuasive.

It seems no precedent is safe from the Alito court.

Dave (4eac41) — 4/29/2026 @ 10:06 am

I very much doubt you’ve read the majority opinion if that’s your takaway.

whembly (8a376b) — 4/29/2026 @ 10:07 am

I very much doubt you’ve read the majority opinion if that’s your takaway.

I read the majority opinion for the first case, and Thomas’s concurrence.

I skipped the majority opinion for the second case, figuring it would be repetitive.

Dave (4eac41) — 4/29/2026 @ 10:14 am

Courtesy of Drudge, the wags on Wall Street have coined a acronym to mock our brain-addled monarch.

TACO – Trump Always Chickens Out – originated on Wall St. last year.

This year, the new buzzword is

NACHO – Not A Chance Hormuz Opens

Dave (4eac41) — 4/29/2026 @ 10:20 am

West Texas Intermediate crude oil is up to $107/barrel (+7.36%) while Brent crude is up to $119/barrel (+8.31%).

President Trump has instructed aides to prepare for an extended blockade of Iran, U.S. officials said, targeting the regime’s coffers in a high-risk bid to compel a nuclear capitulation Tehran has long refused.

In recent meetings, including a Monday discussion in the Situation Room, Trump opted to continue squeezing Iran’s economy and oil exports by preventing shipping to and from its ports. He assessed that his other options—resume bombing or walk away from the conflict—carried more risk than maintaining the blockade, officials said.

Yet continuing the blockade also prolongs a conflict that has driven up gas prices, hurt Trump’s poll numbers and further darkened Republicans’ prospects in the midterm elections. It has also caused the lowest number of transits through the Strait of Hormuz since the war began.

Since ending the major bombing campaign in an April 7 cease-fire, Trump has repeatedly walked back from escalating the conflict, opening space for diplomacy after earlier threatening to destroy the entirety of Iranian civilization. ………

Trump’s decision represents a new phase of sorts of the war and highlights the fact that the president, who always seeks a quick and salable victory, is devoid of a silver bullet.

Unilaterally stopping the fight offers a quick exit to the conflict and relief to the U.S. and global economies. But Iran’s proposal last weekend would have allowed Tehran to set the terms of that off-ramp. ……..
………..
………..The blockade shrinks the Islamic Republic’s funds but commits U.S. forces to a longer deployment in the Middle East—with no guarantee the regime capitulates.

“Iran is calculating that its ability to withstand and circumvent the blockade outstrips the U.S. interest in preventing a wider energy crisis and potentially a global recession,” said Suzanne Maloney, an Iran expert and vice president of the Brookings Institution’s foreign policy program. “A regime that slaughtered its own citizens to silence protests in January is fully prepared to impose economic hardships on them now.”
………..
Trump is receiving conflicting advice about his next moves. Some officials and outside allies such as Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, are openly urging the White House to keep the pressure on Tehran. Others, including business leaders close to the president, worry that a shuttered Strait of Hormuz or more war would only hurt the economy, a potential political death knell heading into the November midterm elections.
………..
“Both sides seem to believe that they have calculated this right and that time is on their side,” said Nico Lange, director of Germany’s Institute for Risk Analysis and International Security and a former chief of staff at the German defense ministry.
………..

$10/gallon gas, anyone?

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/29/2026 @ 10:28 am

Having read the text of the overturned amended section of the VRA (which passed the House 389-24, the Senate 85-8 and was signed into law by Ronald Reagan in 1982) I find the dissent somewhat persuasive.

It seems no precedent is safe from the Alito court.

Dave (4eac41) — 4/29/2026 @ 10:06 am

I’m shocked Dave finds the racist, radical leftist opinion persuasive while not bothering with the Majority holding and trying to delegitimize it by calling it the Alito Court.

If only it was true that it was the Alito Court instead of the lefty leaning Roberts Court

NJRob (14994b) — 4/29/2026 @ 10:40 am

The Morens indictment.

The laws should be enforced (obviously), especially those involving government accountability.

Trump and his lackeys are known to have intentionally destroyed, stolen and concealed official documents that they did not want to be preserved, or to answer for.

I’m not suggesting Morens should be excused if he broke the law, but when the people at the top show open disdain for the rules, everyone else probably will too.

Dave (4eac41) — 4/29/2026 @ 10:43 am

while not bothering with the Majority holding

Why are you always telling lies about me, Rob?

I read the majority opinion for the first case, and Thomas’s concurrence.

Dave (4eac41) — 4/29/2026 @ 10:45 am

435, you are 100% right and its appalling that the SS lacks your insight: imagine one guy runs in and detonates a suicide vest, others follow shooting as the SS remnant tried to recover their hearing or euesight, and figure out what was happening. They would have overwhelmed the SS. And 2 penetration people could have rushed into the venue.

Or as you suggested, 2 guys with automatic weapons could have cleared the room and enabled 2 others to rush in.

They should at a minimum, have had a barrier desk and agents in the hallway; someone in the lobby. I am just astonished at the feckless assessment that was made. As if they were guarding the entrance to a Swift concert.

Harcourt Fenton Mudd (0c349e) — 4/29/2026 @ 11:56 am

Dave’s upset because he thinks race-neutral means discriminate based on race like the leftists on the court do. That’s what the true conservative would believe.

NJRob (14994b) — 4/29/2026 @ 12:01 pm

This is what can happen when the Russian terrorist whom Trump loves and adores whispers 90 minutes of sweet lies into this mentally deranged president’s ears.

President Trump appears to mix up countries here
“I think Ukraine—militarily, they’re defeated. They had 159 ships. Every ship is underwater. Every one of their planes has been shot down.”

About that call…

🇷🇺🇺🇸🇺🇦 Putin and Trump just spoke for over 90 minutes.

– Putin offered a ceasefire in Ukraine for Victory Day, Trump supported the idea
– Putin strongly condemned the assassination attempt on Trump
– Trump told Putin a Ukraine deal is “already close”
– Putin warned of “extremely dire consequences” if the U.S. and Israel launch new strikes in the Middle East
– Putin accused Ukraine of “purely terrorist methods” in attacks on civilian targets

Source: TASS / Ushakov

Classic, that the Russian terrorist is accusing his victim of “purely terrorist methods”. That tack won’t work for anyone who actually knows what’s going on, but it could have seeped into Trump’s mushbrain.

Paul Montagu (75d183) — 4/29/2026 @ 12:42 pm

“The nefarious Trump-spawned scheme continued into 2023.”

LOL As we already learned upthread with Dave’s “seven J6 deaths” lie, he isn’t afraid to look ridiculous in defense of the Left.

lloyd (b7c663) — 4/29/2026 @ 12:45 pm

Dave’s upset because he thinks race-neutral means discriminate based on race like the leftists on the court do. That’s what the true conservative would believe.

Neither the Voting Rights Act nor the Constitution contain the words “race-neutral”, Rob.

The Fifteenth Amendment explicitly gives Congress authority to prevent efforts to deny or abridge anyone’s right to vote on the basis of race.

Section 2 of the VRA (as amended and signed into law by President Reagan in 1982) says:

Sec. 2. [52 U.S.C. 10301] (a) No voting qualification or prerequisite to voting or standard, practice, or procedure shall be imposed or applied by any State or political subdivision in a manner which results in a denial or abridgement of the right of any citizen of the United States to vote on account of race or color, or in contravention of the guarantees set forth in section 4(f)(2), as provided in subsection (b).

(b) A violation of subsection (a) is established if, based on the totality of circumstances, it is shown that the political processes leading to nomination or election in the State or political subdivision are not equally open to participation by members of a class of citizens protected by subsection (a) in that its members have less opportunity than other members of the electorate to participate in the political process and to elect representatives of their choice. The extent to which members of a protected class have been elected to office in the State or political subdivision is one circumstance which may be considered: Provided, That nothing in this section establishes a right to have members of a protected class elected in numbers equal to their proportion in the population.

[bold emphasis mine, italicized emphasis in the original]

The amendment signed by Reagan was to make clear that it was the effects (“…in a manner which results in…”), and not the intent, which matter.

The law also says that “The extent to which members of a protected class have been elected to office in the State or political subdivision is one circumstance which may be considered”. And it draws a clear line that even though minorities must have the same opportunities, there is no guarantee of equal or proportionate results.

The legacy of slavery and racial discrimination left a huge mess, and the VRA was a good-faith effort to help clean it up.

Today’s ruling seems to say: if you can draw 5 white-majority districts in a state which is 60-40 white, it’s perfectly fine if no black is ever elected again.

Dave (4eac41) — 4/29/2026 @ 12:48 pm

NACHO – Not A Chance Hormuz Opens
Dave (4eac41) — 4/29/2026 @ 10:20 am

So much wishcasting in this. Sad.

lloyd (b7c663) — 4/29/2026 @ 12:49 pm

lloyd (b7c663) — 4/29/2026 @ 12:45 pm

Unitary Executive Theory

Dave (4eac41) — 4/29/2026 @ 12:52 pm

Oh look, Dave found another rabbit hole to hide in.

lloyd (b7c663) — 4/29/2026 @ 12:58 pm

While lloyd just moves right along from his false claim about when the crimes took place, and on to the next lie…

Dave (4eac41) — 4/29/2026 @ 1:04 pm

@468

Today’s ruling seems to say: if you can draw 5 white-majority districts in a state which is 60-40 white, it’s perfectly fine if no black is ever elected again.

Dave (4eac41) — 4/29/2026 @ 12:48 pm

And now I know you didn’t read it the majority opinion.

The majority holds that it requires strict scrutiny on all such applications of Section 2.

There is nothing in Section 2 that mandates minority-majority districts.

In other words, districting strictly by race is now unconstitutional.

whembly (8a376b) — 4/29/2026 @ 1:05 pm

And now I know you didn’t read it the majority opinion.

As I told you, I did.

The majority holds that it requires strict scrutiny on all such applications of Section 2.

The law spells out what constitutes a violation.

There is nothing in Section 2 that mandates minority-majority districts.

The law says that whether minority candidates are elected or not “may be considered” in establishing a violation:

A violation of subsection (a) is established if, based on the totality of circumstances, it is shown that the political processes leading to nomination or election in the State or political subdivision are not equally open to participation by members of a class of citizens protected by subsection (a) in that its members have less opportunity than other members of the electorate to participate in the political process and to elect representatives of their choice. The extent to which members of a protected class have been elected to office in the State or political subdivision is one circumstance which may be considered

Dave (4eac41) — 4/29/2026 @ 1:23 pm

Today’s ruling seems to say: if you can draw 5 white-majority districts in a state which is 60-40 white, it’s perfectly fine if no black is ever elected again.

I understood Alito to say: if you can show that it’s possible to create 5 Republican majority districts, one of which happens to also be majority black, then and only then can you invoke Section 2 and argue that blacks “have less opportunity than other members of the electorate to participate in the political process and to elect representatives of their choice”.

But I don’t think majority-Republican districts that are also majority black can be drawn very often.

Dave (4eac41) — 4/29/2026 @ 1:43 pm

I still think you’re misreading the majority.

There is no possible way for a minority plaintiff to argue that these minorities districts have been locked out of redistricting decisions, not recently and not for a long time.

What the majority SCOTUS ruling will do is prevent absurd gerrymanders explicitly based on race, ie that LA district, as mandated by the VRA for section 2 rationale.

Section 2 clearly doesn’t mandate that.

Only that minorities has the same opportunities as do non-minorities.

Lemme give you several examples:

The current push in VA would be totally fine under this VRA doctrine, and even federally non-justiciable, because its obviously a partisan gerrymander, rather than racial. (notwithstanding the current issues with state laws)

Likewise the new Florida district maps, approved today, is totally fine because the criterions were driven by factors other than race. The 3 new likely Dems district are compact (unlike VA) and very partisan (like VA). (notwithstanding the current issues with state laws)

What’s explicitly prohibited, is to creating districts, with the main reason based on race. The LA map in question had a knarly gerrymander for the 2nd minority-district was built as a way to protect several GOP incumbent at the same time.

All of this could’ve been avoided, if people would simply embrace CJ Robert’s “stop discriminating on the basis of race.“

whembly (8a376b) — 4/29/2026 @ 2:01 pm

There is no possible way for a minority plaintiff to argue that these minorities districts have been locked out of redistricting decisions, not recently and not for a long time.

Help me parse this sentence, I can’t understand it.

What’s explicitly prohibited, is to creating districts, with the main reason based on race.

That’s the opposite of what the law says.

It says denying minorities the opportunity to elect candidates of their choice is a violation (abridgement of their voting rights under the 15th amendment). The VRA explicitly says that it is the effects which matter, and not the intent of the map-makers (that was the major element of the 1982 amendment, since under the original wording minority opportunities had been diluted by facially or ostensibly race-neutral measures where the court could not show intent, even if the effects were obvious).

Dave (4eac41) — 4/29/2026 @ 2:27 pm

Today’s ruling seems to say: if you can draw 5 white-majority districts in a state which is 60-40 white, it’s perfectly fine if no black is ever elected again.

Dave (4eac41) — 4/29/2026 @ 12:48 pm

Your racism is noted. You seem to think people can only vote for their race. You spit in the face of MLK.

NJRob (14994b) — 4/29/2026 @ 2:30 pm

@477

That’s the opposite of what the law says.

Dave (4eac41) — 4/29/2026 @ 2:27 pm

SCOTUS says otherwise.

whembly (a23d63) — 4/29/2026 @ 2:32 pm

I’m a black Republican who currently represents a majority-white district in the Ohio State House and is running to represent a majority-white district in Congress.

The idea that black Americans need special districts carved out just for them is complete nonsense. It’s a violation of the law and blatantly unconstitutional.

Glad the Supreme Court made the right decision.

Rep Josh Williams calls you out on your racism. Do better.

NJRob (14994b) — 4/29/2026 @ 2:40 pm

The Voting rights Act should protect voters not politicians.

Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 4/29/2026 @ 2:44 pm

Your racism is noted. You seem to think people can only vote for their race. You spit in the face of MLK.

I said nothing of the kind. Please stop lying Rob.

Rep Josh Williams calls you out on your racism. Do better.

The ~13% of Blacks who vote Republican (2024 exit poll result) will not be bothered much by this, it’s true.

This breakdown is also evident in Congress, where 85% of minority representatives are Democrats, and 15% are Republicans.

SCOTUS says otherwise.

Anyone can read what the law says for themselves, and it says:

The extent to which members of a protected class have been elected to office in the State or political subdivision is one circumstance which may be considered

Dave (4eac41) — 4/29/2026 @ 3:08 pm

The next Trump bailout target :

….………
LIV Golf plans to tell players and staff by Thursday that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund will no longer bankroll the circuit after this season, according to people familiar with the matter. The move sounds the death knell for the upstart that sowed chaos in professional golf by plowing billions into the sport and poaching A-list players.

The writing had been on the wall for nearly a month. ……….

…………(T)he Saudis lost billions on the endeavor. They paid exorbitant fees to put on tournaments with lucrative purses featuring elite players such as Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm. LIV is already in talks with outside investors, a person familiar with LIV’s thinking said.

………….(O)ne thing has already become clear: The mainstream golf world isn’t ready to simply welcome them back.

“There were rules, and they were broken,” PGA Tour chief executive Brian Rolapp said before the PIF news on Wednesday. “With rules comes accountability.”

Already, five-time major champion Brooks Koepka rejoined the PGA Tour from LIV this year through a one-time returning member program that could cost him up to $90 million between charitable donations and forfeitures of bonuses and equity. But even that punishing arrangement, which was only offered during a brief window earlier this year, is unlikely to be available to LIV’s remaining high-profile players.

Rolapp said the circumstances surrounding Koepka’s return were unique because he had gotten out of his LIV contract and actively sought a return to the Tour. And Koepka’s path won’t be treated as a precedent if and when others seek to do the same.
……………
When DeChambeau joined LIV, he joined a group of players who filed an antitrust suit against the Tour challenging their suspensions, which generated intense animosity among those who stayed and cost the Tour vast sums of money before the litigation was dropped. (Koepka, on the other hand, never participated in the suit.) …………
…………..
………….. Players who flaunted their contracts might well face additional punishments.
…………..

Rip Murdock (a4bf55) — 4/29/2026 @ 3:11 pm

While lloyd just moves right along from his false claim about when the crimes took place, and on to the next lie…
Dave (4eac41) — 4/29/2026 @ 1:04 pm

Liar
Liar
Liar

Receipts are all upthread.

lloyd (240e2d) — 4/29/2026 @ 3:38 pm

The Voting rights Act should protect voters not politicians.

Arguably, that’s what it was doing.

Partisan gerrymanders have been determined to be non-justiciable.

If you had a racially-monolithic population, it would be legal to divide the districts in any way whatsoever (with equal population).

So in an all-white or all-black state, with a 60-40 partisan split, the 60 party could arrange to monopolize the districts, and it would be perfectly legal.

Now consider a hypothetical 60-40 state where party and race are 100% correlated. As Rob will hasten to remind us, this is not the true situation, but it is closer to reality than the opposite assumption of uncorrelation. Without claiming that this represents any real state, let’s see what would happen as a limiting case.

Without the VRA, assuming the majority party aimed to maximize its seats, no minority party candidate would ever be elected, just as in the single-race 60-40 state. But the VRA treats this outcome as unacceptable, in light of the 15th Amendment. While it lasted, it protected minority voters from the most savage partisan gerrymandering (it makes partisan gerrymandering somewhat less effective, limiting it to maps that don’t entirely extinguish minority representation).

But now that protection is gone.

Dave (4eac41) — 4/29/2026 @ 3:41 pm

I believe both parties want to win, and care about the political leanings of a district, not skin color. For example, the Republicans would take a majority-minority district that leans Republican over a white-majority district that leans Democratic.

I dislike Biden’s “If you don’t vote for me, you ain’t black” school of thought.

norcal (3f5bf8) — 4/29/2026 @ 3:53 pm

I believe both parties want to win, and care about the political leanings of a district, not skin color. For example, the Republicans would take a majority-minority district that leans Republican over a white-majority district that leans Democratic.

Yes, but under the VRA as amended in 1982, intent is unimportant.

I dislike Biden’s “If you don’t vote for me, you ain’t black” school of thought.

No disagreement there.

Dave (4eac41) — 4/29/2026 @ 4:19 pm

Hegseth lies in House hearing

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Wednesday defended his decisions to fire or sideline nearly 30 generals and admirals over the past year with little explanation by falsely comparing his record to that of President Barack Obama.

“I would also note that under Barack Obama, 197 general officers were removed,” Mr. Hegseth said in testimony before the House Armed Services Committee. “So this is not something specific to this administration.”

The number Mr. Hegseth gave has no basis in fact. It originated with an unsigned 2018 editorial in Investor’s Business Daily, which cites the right-wing news site “Breitbart.com’s Facebook page” as its source.

Mr. Hegseth’s actions to fire senior military leaders are without precedent in recent decades and have come with little explanation. On Wednesday, lawmakers pressed him to justify his decisions, including his move this month to remove Gen. Randy A. George, the Army chief of staff.

[…]

In November, Sean Parnell, the Pentagon’s chief spokesman, cited the 197 figure in a statement to The New York Times related to an earlier firing by Mr. Hegseth. News outlets “peddling Democrat talking points have clearly forgotten that 197 officers, including flag officers, were fired during the Obama administration,” the statement read.

When challenged on the figure’s origins, Kingsley Wilson, the press secretary for the Pentagon, asked The Times not to publish the statement, saying it had been written by a lower-level staff member and had not been cleared for release. Ms. Wilson then sent a new statement, which did not include the 197 figure and was in a news article.

The Pentagon did not reply to questions on Wednesday regarding Mr. Hegseth’s use of the false number.

Dave (4eac41) — 4/29/2026 @ 4:35 pm

@NJRob@450 1. As previously established, I’m a freedom of speech person. 2. Kimmel’s joke was about Melania having married a much older man and hoping to inherit, which is tasteless but still free speech. 3. If one of your movement’s slogans is “Fvck your feelings” I don’t think you get to be twee about your feelings.

nic (120c94) — 4/29/2026 @ 4:40 pm

nic (120c94) — 4/29/2026 @ 4:40 pm

Plus, Kimmel’s joke was a few days prior to the event. He had no way of knowing what was going to happen.

It’s manufactured outrage.

norcal (3f5bf8) — 4/29/2026 @ 4:52 pm

A moderate (I guess?) Dem trashes Hasan Piker:

Hasan Piker and the Limits of the Big Tent (gift link)

[…] Piker is becoming increasingly prominent in offline left-wing circles, too. He has campaigned alongside Democratic Senate candidates, been a guest on some of the largest podcasts in America, and appeared on CNN and NBC News. He’s received the tacit blessings of Democratic tastemakers like Ezra Klein and Jon Favreau. This is a miscalculation. Embracing Piker is a step toward a Democratic mirror of the GOP’s extremism problem.

It bothers me that Democrats need to spend time discussing this. Donald Trump and his merry band of MAGA minions are actively lighting the country on fire. Engaging in intraparty fights right now feels indulgent at best and needlessly destructive at worst. But the discourse around Piker refuses to go away. He continues to grow in prominence, continues to be welcomed into mainstream Democratic media spaces, and continues to be treated as a valuable voice for reaching younger voters.

Democrats trying to normalize Piker are making a mistake. He is not just a cool, edgy guy who wants universal health care. Nor is he disliked simply because he speaks up for Palestinians, as his supporters would claim. The core problem with Hasan Piker is that he is, at the most basic level, an ideological authoritarian. He promotes violence and repression whenever that violence and repression have a socialist lean.

[…]

When confronted with China’s human rights abuses, Piker frequently defends China’s government. When asked about the discrimination against LGBT people—China does not allow gay marriage, bans gay dating apps, and severely represses effeminate male celebrities—Piker first refused to acknowledge the problem before actively defending the ban on gay dating apps on the specious grounds that the ban was about ‘privacy’. He continued to champion the country even after his team was harassed by Chinese secret police for filming in Tiananmen Square. Setting aside that Piker’s first instinct was to show the secret police a meme of Mao Zedong on his phone (which led to the police confiscating his phone), hours later he was already arguing that America is worse.

We should be clear about what the Chinese Communist Party is. China is a country where mobile execution vans exist. The CCP runs a police state where you can be arrested for wrongthink as simple as holding up blank pieces of paper. The party is more than happy to literally weld people shut inside their homes, brutalize student political organizers, and jail or kill critics. It is still actively using Uyghur slave labor on a massive scale in Xinjiang. Beijing has also crushed other ethnic minorities and broken any semblance of political freedom in Hong Kong. The only reason it has refrained from invading and subjugating Taiwan is the Western world’s protection. China’s government is a nightmarish, totalitarian dictatorship.

And yet Piker always seems to have its back. He has downplayed the genocide in Xinjiang, recasting the concentration camps there as “reeducation” centers and claiming they’re all closed now (they are not). He has described Chinese colonialism in Tibet as a good thing, using arguments reminiscent of “civilize the savages” justifications for Western imperialism. He has deemed the idea of a politically free Hong Kong “ridiculous.”

Piker ends up parroting the CCP because he genuinely admires authoritarian governments. When asked which country does socialism in a way he approves of, he doesn’t point to social democracies like Sweden or Norway. He says that China is the closest to his vision of socialism. He recently said that he would “never make fun of Mao Zedong, one of the great leaders of the world.”

[…]

In his recent column on Piker, New York Times opinion columnist Ezra Klein argued that Americans should be more willing to talk to people with whom we disagree politically. To Klein’s credit, he is consistent on this point. The left got very angry with him for making a similar point about Charlie Kirk, and now the right and center are angry with him because he’s advocating for keeping Piker inside the Democratic tent.

The problem with Klein’s argument is that other Democrats aren’t inviting Piker to their events and on their shows in order to have tough debates about his controversial stances. Bill Buckley versus Noam Chomsky, this is not. Virtually every podcast in today’s media environment is a hugfest, a conversation where the host spends 99 percent of the time sympathetically nodding along with the guest’s points. Nobody profiling Piker is grilling him on why he defends Chinese colonialism. They’re writing puff pieces and lusting over how physically attractive he is.

The Democratic Party needs a big tent. Donald Trump is uniquely dangerous, and it’s irresponsible to turn away allies, even if those allies are problematic in some ways. In theory, if Piker showed signs of moderating and wanted to help Democrats defeat Trump, it would behoove moderates to swallow their complaints and accept him in the tent. The issue is that Piker has no interest in changing or in helping Democrats. The only Democrats he promotes are far-left socialists running in primaries against moderates. He’s already talking about how he might not vote for Democrats in 2028. He repeatedly talks about how Democrats are just as bad as Republicans and how Kamala Harris would be doing the exact same things as Donald Trump. Even after attending the 2024 Democratic National Convention, he did not endorse Kamala Harris for president.

Democrats shouldn’t be afraid to talk with people who disagree with them, whether on the right or the left. But there’s a difference between having a conversation and letting the extremists choose the direction of the party. Hasan Piker is an authoritarian socialist who openly disdains liberal democracy. His views should not be glossed over, he should not be coddled in friendly interviews, and he should not be considered a leader in the Democratic Party.

Amen.

Dave (4eac41) — 4/29/2026 @ 4:52 pm

490, true, but tasteless just the same. “Jokes” implicitly about someone dying are generally not funny, and in a political context, should be regarded as low-life behavior.

Even with a 75 year old actor with a 25 y/o wife there are ways of joking about the age diff w/o mentioning death.

Harcourt Fenton Mudd (0c349e) — 4/29/2026 @ 5:04 pm

488, Dave-

Obama fired enough high-ranking officers. Its not so atypical that the left should be trying to manufacture a case of the vapors over it.

The figure 194 or 197 was not a “lie,” any more than Obama ‘capaigning in 57 states’ was a lie. It was an error. A mistake.

No one contests that the president has the power to relieve those people. So the debate over the number is silly–a rabbit hole one might say.

Harcourt Fenton Mudd (0c349e) — 4/29/2026 @ 5:14 pm

. As previously established, I’m a freedom of speech person. 2. Kimmel’s joke was about Melania having married a much older man and hoping to inherit, which is tasteless but still free speech. 3. If one of your movement’s slogans is “Fvck your feelings” I don’t think you get to be twee about your feelings.

nic (120c94) — 4/29/2026 @ 4:40 pm

So you are 100% in support of detransitioning counseling and pro-life birth centers. You are in favor of those who support counseling away homosexual feelings and are against the government in leftist states like your own that restrict such behaviors. Right?

NJRob (eb56c3) — 4/29/2026 @ 5:58 pm

I wouldn’t outlaw “counseling away homosexual feelings”, but then again, I wouldn’t outlaw Flat Earthers, either. They’re both about as credible.

norcal (3f5bf8) — 4/29/2026 @ 6:33 pm

Plus, Kimmel’s joke was a few days prior to the event. He had no way of knowing what was going to happen.
It’s manufactured outrage.
norcal (3f5bf8) — 4/29/2026 @ 4:52 pm

He knew of at least two prior assassination attempts.

lloyd (071470) — 4/29/2026 @ 6:58 pm

He knew of at least two prior assassination attempts.

lloyd (071470) — 4/29/2026 @ 6:58 pm

Even so, Melania seems like a gold digger to me. Look at the age gap, and the looks gap. Even after Trump diddled Stormy Daniels, she stayed. That’s what makes the joke funny.

norcal (3f5bf8) — 4/29/2026 @ 7:14 pm

Even so, Melania seems like a gold digger to me. Look at the age gap, and the looks gap. Even after Trump diddled Stormy Daniels, she stayed. That’s what makes the joke funny.

norcal (3f5bf8) — 4/29/2026 @ 7:14 pm

No. The joke was not funny. It was cruel.

You only find it funny because your hate of Trump overrides all other objective observations.

NJRob (eb56c3) — 4/29/2026 @ 7:23 pm

You only find it funny because your hate of Trump overrides all other objective observations.

NJRob (eb56c3) — 4/29/2026 @ 7:23 pm

No. I’d laugh at any gold digger joke, left or right. I’m not broken by partisanship like you are, Rob. You beat that same tribal drum, over and over. Democrats bad, Republicans good, right?

Neither life nor politics is that simple.

norcal (3f5bf8) — 4/29/2026 @ 7:28 pm

Nursing tribal grievances, and seeing politics through a Manichean lens, cannot make for a happy life.

norcal (3f5bf8) — 4/29/2026 @ 7:30 pm

I’d laugh at any gold digger joke, left or right.

Ever see Gold Diggers of 1933? Pre-code Hollywood is a gas…

With a 22 year-old Ginger Rogers belting out We’re in the Money in pig Latin…

😮

Dave (4eac41) — 4/29/2026 @ 7:39 pm

Dave (4eac41) — 4/29/2026 @ 7:39 pm

My mother led me to watch old movies. Now I love them. I don’t enjoy musicals, though.

norcal (3f5bf8) — 4/29/2026 @ 7:43 pm

As opposed to posting a photo on Instagram of sea shells, here’s a real terroristic threat:

On April 23, 2026, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Louisiana charged Jakob Marcoulier, a 22-year-old soldier stationed at Fort Polk, by criminal complaint with transmitting a threat in interstate commerce after he told people on the platform Discord that he would kill Jewish people in a synagogue. Marcoulier faces up to 5 years in federal prison for the charge.
………….
According to court documents, FBI’s National Threat Operations Center received an online tip in February 2026 about a Discord user named “el.bostino” who had made threats toward synagogues. FBI secured recorded audio from Discord in which the individual, later determined to be Marcoulier, made these threats, stating among other things that “after this deployment if the Jews still have reign over our government, I am going to walk into a synagogue with my AK, with a 75-round drum mag, and all of my extra mags, with my level four plates, and my haka helmet that’s three plus, and I am going to kill every single Jew I know inside of that synagogue. And that’s my goal in life.”

Marcoulier went on to emphasize the seriousness of his threats, saying among other things that “you guys will never do anything about but I will. I just have to finish this, I have to go back overseas and do what I have to do. And then you’ll see me in the news. I promise you,” and that “you guys don’t want to do anything for the f[***]ing cause when it actually needs to happen … I’ll still kill these mother[***]ers in order to make sure the white youth is f[***]ing secured.” Marcoulier was arrested on April 23.
………….

Paragraph breaks added.

Rip Murdock (ef29f0) — 4/29/2026 @ 7:55 pm

Even so, Melania seems like a gold digger to me. Look at the age gap, and the looks gap. Even after Trump diddled Stormy Daniels, she stayed. That’s what makes the joke funny.
norcal (3f5bf8) — 4/29/2026 @ 7:14 pm

Next you’ll tell us you understood the joke before it was explained to you.

Since you dislike Trump even more, I take it you thought Kathy Griffin’s Trump severed head joke was hilarious. Surprise me.

Melania has a son and, like a lot of folks, probably put up with a lot to keep the family together. That probably means nothing to you since it gets in the way of a good joke. When you don’t have any skin in the game, as JD put it, thinking about just yourself avoids a lot of tough messy decisions. Best to sit from afar, point and laugh. The joke’s sort of on you.

lloyd (49c7ac) — 4/29/2026 @ 7:56 pm

I don’t enjoy musicals, though.

Not my usual cup of tea either, but that one was a fascinating trip back in time, with references to the depression, the war, etc. Several of the musical numbers are striking in the originality and creativity of their production.

Dave (4eac41) — 4/29/2026 @ 7:59 pm

I don’t enjoy musicals, though.

Not my usual cup of tea either, but that one was a fascinating trip back in time, with references to the depression, the war, etc. Several of the musical numbers are striking in the originality and creativity of their production.

Dave (4eac41) — 4/29/2026 @ 7:59 pm

@NJRob@494:

Detransitioning therapy is actually a really necessary thing for a person who is detransitioning, just the same way someone should have therapy if they are going to transition in the first place.

Pro-life birth centers, sure, as long as they are upfront that that is who they are.

Counseling that works on homosexual feelings/actions/lifestyles, as long as they aren’t defrauding people and are ethical about it, sure. I think it’s not very effective and I don’t think it’s a great idea to be in a mixed orientation marriage or spend your life celibate and alone if you aren’t called to that, but people have a right to live their lives.

nic (120c94) — 4/29/2026 @ 8:23 pm

Pete hegseth attacks journalists at pentagon briefing for not being loyal to his fuhrer. Dr. Samuel Johnson 250 years ago said about people like this dry drunk. Appeals to patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel. Good ;but Sameul Johnson’s best was when asked what he thought of the american revolution going on at the time said: “It appears to me that those screaming the loudest about freedom and liberty are the slave holding southerners!”

asset (f90157) — 4/29/2026 @ 10:25 pm

@453 dirty little secret white democrats happy black district voters are spread into white districts giving white democrats better chance to win with more minorities put into them. Even though they feign outrage. Also black democrats who are corrupt (like bribe taking) more easily voted out so they are more careful in their grift.

asset (f90157) — 4/29/2026 @ 10:34 pm

Where Trump got his inspiration for his latest addition to Doral.

Meantime, here’s the “deep rough” near the 9th hole at Bedminster.

Paul Montagu (75d183) — 4/30/2026 @ 6:56 am

@485

Without the VRA, assuming the majority party aimed to maximize its seats, no minority party candidate would ever be elected, just as in the single-race 60-40 state. But the VRA treats this outcome as unacceptable, in light of the 15th Amendment. While it lasted, it protected minority voters from the most savage partisan gerrymandering (it makes partisan gerrymandering somewhat less effective, limiting it to maps that don’t entirely extinguish minority representation).

But now that protection is gone.

Dave (4eac41) — 4/29/2026 @ 3:41 pm

Do you not realize how racist you sound here?

Re-read this again. Please. I truly don’t believe you are trying to be racist, but your fundamental worldview is skewing you badly.

whembly (fc6f4e) — 4/30/2026 @ 7:07 am

@490

nic (120c94) — 4/29/2026 @ 4:40 pm

Plus, Kimmel’s joke was a few days prior to the event. He had no way of knowing what was going to happen.

It’s manufactured outrage.

norcal (3f5bf8) — 4/29/2026 @ 4:52 pm

Don’t care about manufactured outrage claims.

A freaking rodeo clown lost his job because he wore an Obama mask.

whembly (fc6f4e) — 4/30/2026 @ 7:09 am

One of the good things happening in the US is the slow recovery of our civil rights laws from the decades-long attacks (mostly from the left). The Supreme Court deserves the most credit for that recovery.

The recent decision on “majority-minority” districts is a good example of that recovery. As Chief Justice John Roberts said, back in 2005, “the way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.”

Incidentally, the decision is likely to help the Democratic Party in the long run. The central idea behind gerrymandering is to concentrate the other party’s voters in a few districts; majority/minority districts often do exactly that. When the idea was first discussed, I expected unscrupulous Republicans to work with minority Democrats who wanted safe seats — and that does appear to have happened in some states.

Jim Miller (ef6300) — 4/30/2026 @ 7:12 am

It’s a grim milestone, our national debt now exceeding our GDP.

Under Trump, our national debt went from $36.05 trillion on Inauguration Day to $39.18 trillion right now, an increase of $3.13 trillion in a little over 15 months. This shouldn’t be appalling just to fiscal conservatives.

If Trump gets his proposal to increase defense spending by 42%, to $1.5 trillion, will only and obviously worsen out debt and interest-payment situation.

Paul Montagu (75d183) — 4/30/2026 @ 10:07 am

Personally, I don’t see a problem with adding four seats to the Supreme Court,as long as Democrats pick two and Republicans pick two, to start. I would also add a couple Circuit Courts and reapportion them so they’re more proportionate to the populations they serve.
The 9th Circuit, for example, is out of date and out of whack, presiding over 9 states and 67 million folks

Paul Montagu (75d183) — 4/30/2026 @ 11:30 am

Unlikely to change.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/30/2026 @ 1:25 pm

Out:

President Trump on Thursday pulled the controversial nomination of Casey Means for surgeon general, announcing on Truth Social that her replacement would be Fox News contributor and radiologist Dr. Nicole Saphier, marking his third nominee for the post.

“Nicole is a STAR physician who has spent her career guiding women facing breast cancer through their diagnosis and treatment while tirelessly advocating to increase early cancer detection and prevention, while at the same time working with men and women on all other forms of cancer diagnoses and treatments,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post, calling Saphier an “incredible communicator.”
……….
Saphier, who will no longer be a Fox contributor, is Trump’s third nominee to be Surgeon General, with two picks who have now failed to win Republican support in the Senate. His first pick was Fox News contributor Janette Nesheiwat.
………..
Republican senators on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee had numerous reservations following her sole confirmation hearing. With no Democrats inclined to support her, losing just a few Republican votes effectively ended her chances of being confirmed.

GOP Sens. Bill Cassidy (La.) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) expressed concerns about her views on vaccinations for measles and hepatitis B. Despite saying she believed the shots to be safe and effective, Means held back on giving the immunizations a ringing endorsement that the senators seemed to have been wanting.
…………

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/30/2026 @ 1:31 pm

Out II:

President Donald Trump has withdrawn his nominee for the head the National Park Service, as the agency heads into peak tourist season without a chief and amid low staffing levels following the administration’s efforts to shrink the federal government.

The White House announced the decision on its website Monday. The Interior Department, which oversees the Park Service, and the White House did not respond to questions on why the administration withdrew Scott Socha, a tourism executive, from consideration.

A White House official and another person familiar with the matter, both of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said Socha decided to withdraw his own nomination rather than being asked to do so.

Socha made a “purely personal decision” as he did not want to face the financial scrutiny of the confirmation process or to sell off certain assets he held, according to the person familiar with the matter. There were no red flags, and the administration otherwise still had confidence to move ahead with his nomination, the person said.
………….
Socha had worked for Delaware North, a food and hospitality company, for 27 years and had no government experience. Delaware North has government contracts to run certain operations at parks, such as the retail and food services at Yellowstone National Park.
………..

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/30/2026 @ 1:42 pm

Do you not realize how racist you sound here?

Nope. Not one iota of racism.

Dave (adac4e) — 4/30/2026 @ 1:54 pm

As Chief Justice John Roberts said, back in 2005, “the way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.”

If Chief Justice Roberts wants to rewrite the country’s civil rights laws, he should run for Congress.

Pursuant to the explicit authority granted by the 15th Amendment, Congress overwhelmingly passed a law saying you cannot arrange things to deny minorities equal opportunity to elect candidates they support. The law says that this is forbidden even if there was no racially discriminatory intent, but merely the effect.

Dave (adac4e) — 4/30/2026 @ 2:11 pm

The amended version of Section 2 that Alito repealed by fiat was drafted by Bob Dole, and signed into law by Ronald Reagan.

Dave (adac4e) — 4/30/2026 @ 2:29 pm

lloyd (49c7ac) — 4/29/2026 @ 7:56 pm

Melania has a son and, like a lot of folks, probably put up with a lot to keep the family together.

She probably threatened to leave him (she had been his mistress for around 6 years) unless he agreed to marry her and agree to be a father to a child. This was in 2005. His son Barron was born in 2006.

She did say his money was part of the reason for his attractiveness..

Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 4/30/2026 @ 2:43 pm

The 1982 amendments were a distortion of the original purpose of the Voting Rights Act.

Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 4/30/2026 @ 2:45 pm

President Trump put pressure on House Republicans and they finally passed the bill ending the shutdown that was agreed to weeks ago. Holdout Republicans had insisted they wanted progress on the reconciliation bill funding ICE till the of Trump’s term before they would vote for the bill funding all parts of DHS not connected with immigration. House Democrats I guess were still insisting on changes to the way ICE worked.

Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 4/30/2026 @ 2:48 pm

Trump had claimed he couldn’t divert more money to pay the other parts of Homeland Security.

Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 4/30/2026 @ 2:51 pm

Iran Foreign Minister said Iran planned to attack the U.S. Navy and the U.S. is getting ready for more bombing.

Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 4/30/2026 @ 2:53 pm

1020 years ago, light from this event reached earth: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SN_1006

Jim Miller (d8556f) — 4/30/2026 @ 2:56 pm

Iran is using junk storage in possibly leaky containers and trying to ship crude oil by rail to China.

UAE left OPEC and 20 ships went through the strait

Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 4/30/2026 @ 2:56 pm

#521 I had not realized that Justice Alito had that many votes on the Supreme Court.

Jim Miller (d8556f) — 4/30/2026 @ 2:59 pm

Mark Simone said a number of times on WOR that a mistake made at the WHCA dinner was that they didn’t do what they do for cars at military bases – not create a zig zag path in front of the checkpoint. Cars can’t go fast. But the would-be assassin could run at the checkpoint.

Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 4/30/2026 @ 3:00 pm

60 days

……….
Under a 1973 law called the War Powers Resolution, the president is required to notify Congress within 48 hours of military action and withdraw U.S. troops 60 days later, unless lawmakers declare war or authorize the use of force. The expectation on Capitol Hill was that the 60-day deadline expires on Friday.

In testimony Thursday before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the current cease-fire with Iran, which began April 8, stopped the countdown.

While Trump halted airstrikes against Iran, the U.S. military continues to enforce a military blockade that prohibits ships from reaching or leaving Iranian ports. A blockade is considered an act of war under international law.

“We are in a cease-fire right now, which our understanding means the 60-day clock pauses or stops in a cease-fire,” Hegseth said. “That’s—it’s our understanding.”

Under the law, the 60-day period can be extended for 30 days if the president certifies to Congress in writing that the continued use of force is needed to safely withdraw U.S. troops.

Sen. Tim Kaine (D., Va.) pushed back on Hegseth’s suggestion that the cease-fire paused the clock, saying “I do not believe the statute would support that.”

Hegseth deferred to the White House on Kaine’s question about whether Trump intends to seek congressional approval for the war eventually, or send Congress the legally-required certification that he needs an additional 30 days to withdraw forces.
………..
Some Republicans also expressed skepticism about Hegseth’s argument.

“It stopped from the cease-fire? Which cease-fire? Does the cease-fire still count if they don’t cease firing?” said Sen. Todd Young (R., Ind.). “I don’t know. Is there any legal precedent to this? I mean, these are the sorts of questions members would ask.”
…………
Sen. Josh Hawley (R., Mo.) also pressed Hegseth. “The right way to make that argument to Congress would be to put that in writing and send that up here to us,” he said.

In the absence of official notification or request for extension, Hawley said Congress would probably need to debate legislation to authorize the war. “I don’t really want to do that, because I don’t want to open up further conflict. I want to wind it down,” he said.

Sen. Thom Tillis (R., N.C.) questioned whether Hegseth understood the law. “I’ll let my legal experts tell me if they agree…I felt like the War Powers Resolution says in 60 days you have to take some action.”

Sen. John Curtis (R., Utah) had previously said he wouldn’t support continued operations against Iran—or vote to fund the war effort—beyond the 60-day deadline, in the absence of congressional approval.

On Thursday, Curtis said in a statement that the law is clear: After 60 days, military action must begin to wind down without formal congressional authorization.

“As we reach this 60-day mark, it is time for decision-making from both the administration and from Congress—and that can happen in league with one another, not in conflict,” he said.
…………
…………(A) small group of Republicans have been privately discussing how to draft legislation to authorize the use of military force in Iran. Congress passed such measures, known as AUMFs, for the First Gulf War, the Iraq war and the Afghanistan War.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R., Alaska) said in a speech Thursday that she would introduce an Iran AUMF—with guardrails and reporting requirements—when the Senate reconvenes on May 11. “It’s not a blank check,” Murkowski said.

Authorizations should precede wars, not be enacted in their midst, she added. “That wasn’t a choice for us here, but it cannot be used as an excuse to abandon our responsibilities.”
………..
For (Maine Republican Susan) Collins, the most vulnerable Republican senator up for re-election this year, the 60-day deadline was decisive. Thursday’s vote was the sixth time since the war began that senators had weighed in on whether to rein in Trump’s war powers in Iran. The first five times, Collins voted no. This time, she voted yes.

The president’s authority as commander in chief isn’t without limits, Collins said. She said the Constitution “gives Congress an essential role in decisions of war and peace, and the War Powers Act establishes a clear 60-day deadline for Congress to either authorize or end U.S. involvement in foreign hostilities.”

“That deadline is not a suggestion; it is a requirement,” Collins said.
##########

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/30/2026 @ 3:04 pm

https://apnews.com/article/iran-us-gulf-khamenei-5cbf26dc89ce5e868e414320178f4c1b

Iran’s supreme leader vows to protect nuclear and missile capabilities

Or whoever wrote that. Although if e’s only half out of it, he’d likely sign on to that.

Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 4/30/2026 @ 3:10 pm

Governor of Maine drops put of Senate primary before the election. She was doing very badly in the polls.

Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 4/30/2026 @ 3:12 pm

Ms. Meloni is a remarkable leader, not afraid to stand up to a bully.
My fellow Republicans, take note. This alienation by Trump of yet another country was wholly unnecessary.

Paul Montagu (75d183) — 4/30/2026 @ 3:16 pm

Starbucks to open a $100 million corporate office in Tennessee, which will employ 2,000. And there’s some related news…

Congratulations to Washington Gov Bob Ferguson and Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson on being named as Nashville’s Realtors of the Year after successfully getting Starbucks to leave the Evergreen State

It’s what happens when you have a socialist mayor and a liberal governor who got a new income tax passed. Starbucks says they’ll keep their HQ in Seattle, but I remember Clayton Bennett promising the Sonics would stay in town, so…

Paul Montagu (75d183) — 4/30/2026 @ 3:32 pm

It’s what happens when you have a socialist mayor and a liberal governor who got a new income tax passed. Starbucks says they’ll keep their HQ in Seattle, but I remember Clayton Bennett promising the Sonics would stay in town, so…

Paul Montagu (75d183) — 4/30/2026 @ 3:32 pm

The mayor and governor are just the latest examples of people who study too much philosophy, and not enough economics.

norcal (dfc6c0) — 4/30/2026 @ 3:35 pm

My best friend, who lives in Camas, Washington, is talking about moving to another state.

It worked for me. I left California for Nevada years ago.

norcal (dfc6c0) — 4/30/2026 @ 3:37 pm

Talk about long shots:

President Donald Trump has been named the early favorite to win the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize by major U.K. bookmaker William Hill, although nominees have not been officially confirmed.

The firm, which said the the president was “overlooked” in 2025, has given him odds of 3/1 of securing the prestigious award.

“Although the Norwegian Nobel Committee have not confirmed that Donald Trump is among the 287 candidates for the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize, we make Trump the leading contender to take this year’s award,” William Hill spokesperson Lee Phelps said.

“Trump was overlooked by the committee last year in favour of Venezuelan politician Maria Corina Machado, but we now price the U.S. President at 3/1 to claim the 2026 prize – a 25% chance,” he added. “That is a longer price than we quoted late last year, when we rated Trump’s chances at 55%.”
………….

Never heard of a Peace Prize winner who started wars.

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/30/2026 @ 5:13 pm

508, nothing like using an English author to define the American Revolution.

Harcourt Fenton Mudd (0c349e) — 4/30/2026 @ 5:23 pm

Never heard of a Peace Prize winner who started wars.

Anwar Sadat.

His co-lauriate, Menachem Begin, had a rather bloody and violent past too.

And then there was Yasser Arafat.

Despite Sadat’s role in starting the Yom Kippur war, the Camp David agreements were a courageous act on his part, and deserved recognition (they have preserved peace between Egypt and Israel for almost 50 years).

Dave (4eac41) — 4/30/2026 @ 7:35 pm

@511 see my post at 509.

asset (7248c4) — 4/30/2026 @ 9:27 pm

April 30, 1975 for the first time ;but not the last America was run out of a country fleeing the angry natives. Afganistan August 30, 2021. Iran … 30, 2026.

asset (7248c4) — 4/30/2026 @ 9:32 pm

Dave (4eac41) — 4/30/2026 @ 7:35 pm

The odds that President Trump receiving the Nobel Peace Prize are still an extreme long shot.

I would add Henry Kissinger/Le Duc Tho to list of those who fought wars and inexplicably won the Nobel Peace Prize. The fact that Arafat also received the award devalues it considerably.

The only reason the cold peace of the Camp David accords have held up is the fact that Egypt is ruled by a military dictatorship and the fact Israel is militarily much stronger than Egypt (plus the $1.3B Egypt receives annually in foreign aid from the US.)

Rip Murdock (275bc0) — 4/30/2026 @ 9:48 pm

NBC news angers trump/hegseth by reporting them saying Iran’s military has been destroyed is untrue despite them being threatened. Today trump says he is going to destroy Iran’s military after continuously saying it has already been destroyed. BTW who really shot the secret service agent?

asset (7248c4) — 5/1/2026 @ 12:57 am

@519

Nope. Not one iota of racism.

Dave (adac4e) — 4/30/2026 @ 1:54 pm

Simply amazing Dave.

Unaware racism is a spectacle to behold…

whembly (fc6f4e) — 5/1/2026 @ 6:18 am

@521

60 days

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/30/2026 @ 3:04 pm

The War Powers act is likely unconstitutional (I’m leaning that way).

If congress disapproves these things, they can pass funding (or defunding) if any war activities.

whembly (fc6f4e) — 5/1/2026 @ 6:25 am

@543

The odds that President Trump receiving the Nobel Peace Prize are still an extreme long shot.

Rip Murdock (275bc0) — 4/30/2026 @ 9:48 pm

C’mon, it ain’t happening.

whembly (fc6f4e) — 5/1/2026 @ 6:27 am

Trump’s meme coin scam is going as expected.
The little guys lost their shirts and whales cashed in. Its price peaked near Inauguration Day and has lost 95% of its value.
Three-quarters of Trump’s $4 billion in earnings were from his crypto scams, and it’s paid off.

Paul Montagu (b0e1ba) — 5/1/2026 @ 7:01 am

whembly, could you explicate your reasoning for why you think Dave’s comment was racist. I’m fairly attuned to unintentional racism, but I’m just not seeing it there.

Nate (be5ee2) — 5/1/2026 @ 7:15 am

Yep.

Canada: you wonder why Trump is acting the way it does? Constantly making the decision that benefits Russia, even to the detriment of the USA and -always- to the detriment of its allies like Canada?

This Guardian exclusive explains it all :
“Vladimir Putin personally authorised a secret spy agency operation to support a “mentally unstable” Donald Trump in the 2016 US presidential election… according to what are assessed to be leaked Kremlin documents.”

“There is also apparent confirmation that the Kremlin possesses kompromat, or potentially compromising material, on the future president, collected – the document says – from Trump’s earlier “non-official visits to Russian Federation territory”.”

“There is a brief psychological assessment of Trump, who is described as an “impulsive, mentally unstable and unbalanced individual who suffers from an inferiority complex”.”
TRUMP, TO THIS DAY, WHO SUES EVERYBODY AND THEIR MOTHER, HAS NEVER SUED THE GUARDIAN.

The Guardian piece was in July 2021, based on Kremlin source documents.

Paul Montagu (b0e1ba) — 5/1/2026 @ 7:18 am

@549

whembly, could you explicate your reasoning for why you think Dave’s comment was racist. I’m fairly attuned to unintentional racism, but I’m just not seeing it there.

Nate (be5ee2) — 5/1/2026 @ 7:15 am

It stems from the idea that minorities ought to be able to reasonably elect other minorities.

That’s what Dave’s analysis that the VRA “protects”.

That’s racist.

Here’s the quote again:

Without the VRA, assuming the majority party aimed to maximize its seats, no minority party candidate would ever be elected, just as in the single-race 60-40 state. But the VRA treats this outcome as unacceptable, in light of the 15th Amendment. While it lasted, it protected minority voters from the most savage partisan gerrymandering (it makes partisan gerrymandering somewhat less effective, limiting it to maps that don’t entirely extinguish minority representation).

But now that protection is gone.

Dave (4eac41) — 4/29/2026 @ 3:41 pm

whembly (fc6f4e) — 5/1/2026 @ 9:13 am

It stems from the idea that minorities ought to be able to reasonably elect other minorities.

That’s what Dave’s analysis that the VRA “protects”.

As I explained very carefully, I considered a hypothetical limiting case where race and party were 100% correlated. In that scenario, therms “white”, “republican” and “majority” are synonymous, and “black”, “democrat” and “minority” are likewise interchangeable.

In the real world, race and voting are not 100% correlated, but – especially in the rural south – they are far from uncorrelated, either. For example, according to Fox News exit polls, 82% of whites in Mississippi voted for Trump in 2024, and 82% of blacks voted for Harris.

The VRA, as amended and signed into law by Ronald Reagan, says you cannot lawfully deny minorities equal opportunity “to elect representatives of their choice”. No intention to discriminate on the basis of race is necessary – the effect is unlawful no matter how it is brought about (the purpose of the 1982 amendment was to strengthen the VRA in this regard). The law further says “The extent to which members of a protected class have been elected to office in the State or political subdivision is one circumstance which may be considered”.

Dave (09cdd0) — 5/1/2026 @ 10:52 am

60 days

Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 4/30/2026 @ 3:04 pm

The War Powers act is likely unconstitutional (I’m leaning that way).

If congress disapproves these things, they can pass funding (or defunding) if any war activities.

whembly (fc6f4e) — 5/1/2026 @ 6:25 am

The War Powers Act’s constitutionality is not for a President to decide .

Rip Murdock (a4bf55) — 5/1/2026 @ 10:58 am

This piece in The Atlantic articulates a lot of my concerns:

Voters Can Be Disenfranchised Now – Just say it’s because they’re Democrats (gift link)

The decision purports to uphold Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which prohibits racial discrimination in voting, but effectively nullifies it, ruling that a Louisiana redistricting map that created two majority-Black districts out of six, in a state whose population is one-third Black, was an “unconstitutional racial gerrymander.” The majority opinion uses procedural language to obscure what its rewriting of the VRA will allow lawmakers to do: engage in racial discrimination in drawing political districts as long as they say they are doing so for a partisan purpose rather than a racist one—as if the results would not be identical.

In states with large Black populations that remain under Republican control—half of the Black American population resides in the South—lawmakers will now be able to draw districts that dilute Black residents’ voting power. In his opinion for the right-wing majority, Justice Samuel Alito wrote that “in considering the constitutionality of a districting scheme, courts must treat partisan advantage like any other race-neutral aim: a constitutionally permissible criterion that States may rely on as desired.” The Court’s decision is consonant with the philosophy, articulated by [segregationist James J.] Kilpatrick in his earlier days, that the state is oppressive when it interferes with the right to discriminate, and respects liberty when it allows discrimination. And the decision fits just as well with Kilpatrick’s later spin on that philosophy: Attempts to ban racial discrimination are themselves discriminatory—against white people.

What Kilpatrick wanted, and what the Roberts Court is making possible, is a country where white people can maintain their political dominance at the expense of Americans who are not white. The anticaste provisions of the Reconstruction amendments, intended by their authors to reverse the “horrid blasphemy” that America was a white man’s country, are being inverted to defend that dominance. This is not the color-blindness of Martin Luther King Jr., but what the scholar Ian Haney López has called “reactionary colorblindness,” the purpose of which is to maintain racial hierarchy through superficially neutral means. It takes the view that the Constitution’s “color-blindness” renders any attempt to remedy anti-Black racism unconstitutional, because by definition that would involve making racial distinctions. Similarly, the ruling in this case does not explicitly overturn the VRA’s ban on racial discrimination in voting so much as rewrite it to allow such discrimination.

In 2022, Louisiana lawmakers passed a redistricting plan that limited Black voters to a single congressional district out of six (“packing” them into a majority district and “cracking” the remaining Black population into other districts to limit their influence). These practices go back to Reconstruction, when Black men first won the vote and white-supremacist Democrats sought to limit or annihilate their political influence. Civil-rights organizations sued Louisiana over the map and won on the basis that it violated the VRA’s requirement to ensure that minority voters have equal opportunity to elect a candidate of their choosing. Louisiana was ordered to create a new Black-majority district, which it did. But then Louisiana was sued again, this time by a group arguing that the new map was unconstitutional because it sorted voters by race. This is the case that went before the U.S. Supreme Court.

In his opinion, Alito argued that “social change has occurred throughout the country and particularly in the South,” suggesting that racial discrimination is a thing of the past. (This ignores plenty of contemporary evidence to the contrary—including the fact that the president who appointed half of the Callais majority has called Somali immigrants “garbage.”) Since the Roberts Court began dismantling the VRA with 2013’s Shelby County v. Holder ruling, the racial turnout gap has increased.

It is true that—thanks in large part to the protections that the Roberts Court is carefully dismantling—Americans experience less overt discrimination than they once did. But the obvious flaw in Alito’s logic was revealed when he defended the gerrymander as partisan and not racial by pointing out that most Black people support Democrats, “because race and politics are so intertwined.”

In other words: Discriminating against Black voters is okay because they vote for Democrats. Many Democrats in the 19th century, when Black people overwhelmingly voted Republican, would have enthusiastically agreed with Alito’s assessment. But if you apply Alito’s logic to those white-supremacist Democrats, they weren’t racist either. They just, you know, wanted to win elections or something, and Black people were in the way. The fact that discriminating against Black voters would give Republicans an advantage today is not exculpatory; it only establishes a motive for discrimination.

Drawing a different map that did not disenfranchise Black voters, as a lower court had ordered, would itself be an “unconstitutional racial gerrymander,” Alito concluded. Trying to disenfranchise Black voters isn’t racist; preventing Louisiana from disenfranchising Black voters is racist.

Erring in perception is one thing. But this ruling ignores the will of Congress, which in its 1982 reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act stated that voting provisions that had the purpose or effect of discriminating against minority voters were illegal. Alito seemed to contradict this entirely when he wrote that the VRA “imposes liability only when the evidence supports a strong inference that the State intentionally drew its districts to afford minority voters less opportunity because of their race.”

Dave (09cdd0) — 5/1/2026 @ 11:10 am

There were two magnetometers. Only one had been taken apart at the time the perpetrator tried to race into the ballroom. He apparently fell because he hit one of them.

Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 5/1/2026 @ 2:14 pm

@554 The black voters can still vote in their new districts they are not stopped from voting. If you are a republican who’s district went from 5% black & 5% latinx to a district that is 25% black and 10% latinx How many white democrats will be in the district. The minimum in most districts is at least 20% This is why Indiana refused to redistrict fearing a wave election in 2026. Also many democrats have changed their registration to unaffiliated or indepnedent making it harder to gerrymander them.

asset (8a6b76) — 5/2/2026 @ 2:45 am

4/24/2026

Weekend Open Thread

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4/24/2026

Weekend Open Thread

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