This newsletter goes out a week after the events it records. This is probably bad for SEO, but I’ve long been a fan of cold takes and find it’s better to write about recent history once it’s a few days in the past. That decision means this week’s newsletter is coming out on the 250th anniversary of the American experiment. To honor that, here are three pieces of writing about the country I’m thinking about this year.

The first is from journalist David Strother who reported on John Brown’s assault on Harper’s Ferry for Harper’s Weekly. Strother was present at Brown’s hanging in 1859.

The gibbet was erected on a gentle swell that commanded a view of the country for many miles around. From the scaffold which I ascended the view was of surpassing beauty. On every side stretching away into the blue distance were broad & fertile fields dotted with corn shocks and white farm houses glimmering through the leafless trees — emblems of prosperity and peace. Hard by was the pleasant village with its elegant suburban residences and bordering the picture east & west were the blue mountains thirty miles apart. In the Blue Ridge which lay to the eastward appeared the deep gap through which the Potomac and Shenandoah pour their united streams at Harpers ferry, eight miles distant.

Harper’s Weekly declined to publish Strother’s account and it did not see broad public circulation until 1955. The Atlantic added to Brown’s legend in 1922 when it described words he spoke as he sat on his own coffin while being driven to gallows and scanning the nearby Blue Ridge Mountains: “This is a beautiful country. I never had the pleasure of seeing it before.”

I’m also thinking of Sarah Vowell’s book Take the Cannoli in which she recounts a road trip she took with her sister along the Trail of Tears.

The most happiness I find on the trip is when we’re in the car and I can blare the Chuck Berry tape I brought. We drive the trail where thousands died, and I listen to the music and think, what are we supposed to do with the grisly past?

I feel a righteous anger and bitterness about every historical fact of what the American Nation did to the Cherokee. But at the same time, I’m an entirely American creature. I’m in love with this song and the country that gave birth to it.

Listening to “Back in the USA” while driving the Trail of Tears, I turn it over and over in my head. “It’s a good country. It’s a bad country. Good country. Bad country.” And of course, it’s both.

Finally there is “The Ballad of Booth” from Stephen Sondheim’s musical Assassins.

Someone tell the story

Someone sing the song

Every now and then the country

Goes a little wrong

Every now and then a madman’s

Bound to come along

Doesn’t stop the story—

Story’s pretty strong

Doesn’t change the song...

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6/22/26

The first round of talks between Iran and the United States ended with mixed results. There was no lasting peace and by the end of the week both sides would be taking shots again. America is focused on the Strait of Hormuz and Iran’s negotiators are focused on Lebanon. Representatives from Qatar and Pakistan said they were hopeful and that Memorandum of Understanding had produced talks that led to a roadmap they believed would lead to a final end to the conflict within 60 days.

Images of dead ducks in the Reflecting Pool spread on social media.

6/23/26

The Wall Street Journal reported that shit online shit talk from both Iran and Trump were hurting negotiations to end the war. “Iranian negotiators have told mediators that they consulted a team of psychologists to help them understand the president’s mindset, some mediators said. Iranian diplomats work with the specialists to try to predict Trump’s public response to Iran’s proposals, they said,” the Journal said.

The US F-15 pilot shot down over Iran in April told the Pentagon they had seen a strange jellyfish-like drone swarm before ejecting from his jet. “Multiple drones interconnected and moving as one with smaller drones below the bigger drones like legs [...] real alien shit,” a source told CNN.

Trump said that six people had been arrested in alleged crimes related to the Reflecting Pool.

“Six people have been arrested, and seven people have been cited, for the damage they did to our Country’s now beautiful Reflecting Pool. The 350 foot gash, made by a very sharp knife or razors, is actually numerous slashes over a very long 350 foot length. It was purposefully and criminally done, and somebody had to work very hard, probably in the dark of night, to create such a condition. Likewise, the small area at the bottom of the Pool was cut and powerfully lifted off the surface leaving very jagged, uneven edges. The large areas of grass are being replaced. In any event, even prior to fixing those areas, the Reflecting Pool is as beautiful as it can be. We will drain some of the water, either immediately before or after the Fourth of July, to do the permanent repair,” he said in a post on Truth Social.

The Center for Biological Diversity called for an investigation into all the dead ducks at the Reflecting Pool.

TMZ reported that workers had erected a chain link fence around the Reflecting Pool.

6/24/26

Trump refused to sign a housing bill that’s wildly popular in the House and Senate among Democrats and Republicans. He cancelled a public signing of the bill and explained why in a post on Truth Social.

“Today’s Housing News Conference and Signing is hereby cancelled until such time as we pass the desperately needed SAVE AMERICA ACT, which I consider to be a National Emergency,” he said. This is a controversial voting ID bill that has struggled for wide support in the GOP held congress. Saving the SAVE AMERICA ACT was also the reason Trump blew up his own nomination of Jay Clayton for Director of National Intelligence last week.

Pete Hegseth blocked an Air Force attempt to reinstate a mandatory flu shot for new recruits. An outbreak of the illness at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas has worsened this week and at least 275 people are infected.

6/25/26

The Great American State Fair began in Washington DC. The heat is making it hard for anyone to enjoy.

Vice President JD Vance sat for an interview at the Richard Nixon Foundation. “I’m fascinated by Nixon as a character in history,” Vance said. “I think his historical legacy is enjoying a bit of a renaissance, deservedly so [...] if Watergate happened tomorrow it would be a 12 hour news story. The idea that it would have taken down a presidency is crazy. And, by the way, if you look at the story of how the deep state took down Richard Nixon, it’s not all that different from what the same groups of people, the same institutions, tried to do to Donald Trump in the first Trump administration. There’s a parallel.”

“I also just, at a personal level, you know. OK. Young Senator. Vice President. Writes some best selling books. Is hated by the media. It kind of sounds like JD Vance,” he added.

The National Park Service claimed that the Reflecting Pool was sabotaged by a “sharp knife or razor.”

6/26/26

The International Atomic Energy Agency said it was ready to begin inspections of Iranian nuclear sites. “There is an agreement and to comply with that agreement, the IAEA will have to ​have access and inspect. We ​hope to be there soon [...] Intentions are ⁠not enough. We have to have a very strong verification system in place,” IAEA head Rafael Grossi said at a press conference in Japan.

CENTCOM said it attacked targets in Iran in retaliation for the IRGC’s attacks on a commercial vessel in the Strait of Hormuz. “The unwarranted aggression against commercial shipping by Iranian forces clearly violated the ceasefire. Furthermore, Iran’s dangerous behavior undermined freedom of navigation as commerce increasingly flows through the vital international trade corridor,” CENTCOM said.

Aspiring erotic cannibal Armie Hammer has returned to cinema screens in a movie directed by reviled German filmmaker Uwe Boll. Known mostly for his awful adaptations of video games, Boll has lately spent time directing movies about mass shooters and vigilantes. They’ve not gotten a lot of attention. Enter Citizen Vigilante, a film where Hammer plays an illegal immigrant to Germany who kills other immigrants while ranting about his Turner Diaries inspired philosophy.

Even as a provocative piece of conservative fiction, Citizen Vigilante fails. Dragged Across Concrete this is not. The film has gone viral online, however, due in part to Elon Musk hosting it for free on X for several days.

On Truth Social, Trump shared a picture of National Guardsmen guarding the Reflecting Pool.

6/27/26

Syarcuse.com had the curious story of a woman harassed by ICE while she worked at a polling station at a library in Syracuse, New York.

The agents handed [Paigelynne] Gonyea a form letter that says they were investigating threats made against ICE personnel. The form says the agents had identified an Instagram account they believe breaks federal law. They asked her to remove and discontinue the behavior, according to the unsigned document she shared on Instagram.

“This notice officially informs you that it is unlawful to threaten to assault, kidnap, and/or murder a federal official or that federal official’s immediate family member with the intent to impede, intimidate, and/or interfere with the federal official’s duties or retaliate against a federal official due to the performance of their duties,” the document said.

Gonyea made the offending post on January 8. “The ICE agent who shot and killed Renee Good in broad daylight has been identified as Jonathan Ross by the Minnesota Star Tribune,” it said. “I think today is a great day for Jonathan to be indicted!”

Gonyea told reporters that she did not intend to delete the post and her interaction with federal agents was captured on video.

6/28/26

Bahrain’s military claimed it intercepted Iranian missiles en route to America’s Fifth Fleet base in the country. Kuwait said it intercepted a similar fleet. Iran claimed responsibility for the attacks and said they were done in retaliation for the US attempting to open a new route through the Strait of Hormuz without Iran’s oversight.

“Any attempt to establish new or separate arrangements from those currently being carried out by the Islamic Republic of Iran will only lead to further complications, delay the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and increase the level of tension,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a statement to the press.

“United States aircraft just struck Iranian missile and drone storage locations, and coastal radar sites, for violating the Cease Fire Agreement, AGAIN! It is very possible that they will never learn! There may come a point when we are no longer able to be reasonable, and will be forced to militarily complete the job that we very successfully started. If that happens, the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist!” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

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On this episode of Angry Planet, nuclear…

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The Iran War and the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), by contrast, is confusing. The lies and leaks contradict each other. Western reporters are not on the ground in the conflict zone and the word of the administration can’t be believed. Writing up this week I was struck by how hard it was to keep track of the minutia of the peace negotiations. The exact wording of the MoU itself was published, refuted, and published again before congealing late in the week.

But everyone can see what’s happening with the Reflecting Pool. Until recently anyone could walk by it, see the shoddy construction job that is a hallmark of Trump, and run their hands through the algae filled water.

Michelle Cottle nailed it in the Times. “These are not the most outrageous things the president has done since his return to office. But that is part of what makes this saga so irresistible and resonant. It is Trumpism made laughable — farce rather than horror or tragedy.

The Iran War is a farce too, but the stakes are high. Thousands are dead and America suffered a humiliating defeat. All while our president raged at a Reflecting Pool. Trump’s watery obsession recalls Narcissus or Al Capone, brain ravaged by syphilis, fishing in his own swimming pool.

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6/15/26

An Air Force B-52 Stratofortress bomber crashed during a test mission near Edwards Air Force Base in California. The crash killed eight people, a mix of military and civilians. The B-52s were mostly manufactured in the 1950s and have been flying missions ever since. America can’t seem to quit them and the Pentagon has routinely gone to the Boneyard — the aircraft graveyard at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona — to put old ones back together.

The Iran War continued to be over on Monday and Trump and Vance claimed that they had signed digital versions of the peace deal. At this point, the public did not know the details of the peace yet oil prices tumbled.

The New Yorker published a great longread on the people who attempted to help Trump take over Greenland. A highlight was a scene where Louisiana governor Jeff Landry wandered the city of Nuuk attempting to hand out MAGA hats and talking about chocolate chip cookies.

“If you come to Louisiana and you come to the governor’s mansion? All the chocolate-chip cookies you could eat,” he told a group of boys. Another boy apparently asked if Landry was famous.

“I don’t know if he’s famous, but he’s the governor of Louisiana,” Landry’s wife, Sharon, said.

“Do you want to take a picture?” Landry asked.

“No,” the boy replied.

Landry abandoned the business conference within half an hour of its start. “We have our red lines,” Nielsen, who looked exhausted, told the Danish national broadcaster. “No matter how many chocolate cookies we get, we are not going to change them.”

6/16/26

Tuesday would, eventually, be the day that the world learned the details of the Iran deal. By the middle of the week the deal was officially known as the Memorandum of Understanding and there were days of leaks and reports about its contents. The first came from Bloomberg but an Iranian backed news agency denounced that version as inaccurate the following day. Things would get weirder and more complicated as the week went on.

FBI Director Kash Patel announced that the feds had arrested five people connected to an alleged terror plot to attack the White House UFC event.

A team of workers poured hydrogen peroxide — an ingredient in many common paint thinners — into the reflecting pool in an effort to kill off algae blooms. It didn’t work.

6/17/26

The Justice Department released charging documents related to the alleged UFC terror attack on Wednesday. “The conspirators allegedly planned to deploy drones armed with explosives in and around the UFC Freedom 250 event in order to force an evacuation of the event and then planned to deploy snipers to fire upon ‘high value targets’ within the fleeing crowd,” said a DOJ press release.

The feds shared screenshots of the group chats where the men allegedly planned the attack as well as circumstantial social media posts. “A search of Roa’s phone allegedly found messages in a group with Thomas, Proper, and others discussing an attack at the UFC event at the White House, with some users discussing using drones rigged with explosives to initiate the attack, with rooftop snipers killing individuals. Law enforcement also allegedly found Instagram videos Roa had posted of himself shooting guns,” the press release said.

We learned what was in the MoU on Wednesday. Axios reported that Trump and Iranian officials didn’t actually sign a digital version of the agreement. Trump attended a signing ceremony in Versailles and signed the MoU. CNN published a version of the MoU that was different from what Bloomberg shared and White House comms director Steven Cheung said CNN’s version was bullshit.

By the end of the day several news outlets published the MoU and a consensus reality around its contents formed. They can’t be read as anything but a catastrophic loss of the war for the United States. Iran promised not to pursue nuclear weapons but the cost for that concession (a promise the US already had under Obama’s Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) are astronomical.

Three things jumped out at me:

“The United States of America undertakes that immediately upon the signing of this MoU, and until the termination of sanctions, the U.S. Department of Treasury will issue waivers for the export of Iranian crude oil, petroleum products and derivatives, and all associated services including banking transactions, insurances, transportation, etc.”

“The United States of America undertakes to terminate all types of sanctions against the Islamic Republic of Iran, including the United Nations Security Council resolutions, IAEA Board of Governors resolutions, and all unilateral U.S. sanctions, primary and secondary, in an agreed upon schedule as part of the final deal.”

“The United States of America undertakes, with regional partners, to develop a definitive mutually agreed plan with at least USD 300 Billion, for the reconstruction and economic development of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

The MoU, if implemented as read, will give Iran hundreds of billions of dollars and several pathways to making a lot more money. Trump gave everything away and got little in return.

According to the MoU, the two sides have 60 days to work out the specifics. If it all falls through, Trump said he’ll just blame the vice president. Speaking at the G7, Trump put it all on Vance. “If it works out I’m going to take the credit. If it doesn’t work out I’m blaming JD. You better be careful, JD. He’s going to turn his plane around and get the hell out of here,” he said.

He also said it was only fair that Iran keep its ballistic missiles, a heavy point of contention with Iran hawks and Israel. “If other countries have them, it’s a little bit unfair for them not to have some. A ballistic missile is not the same thing as what we’re talking about, when we talk nuclear. But if Saudi Arabia and Qatar, and they all have some — in relative proportion, I think it’s OK,” he said.

6/18/26

In the 1960s America developed nuclear-powered cruise missiles as part of Project Pluto. It abandoned the idea after tests showed that a nuclear-powered ramjet spewed a shocking amount of radiation in its wake. Russia decided to revive the idea. Say hello to what NATO calls “Skyfall,” Russia’s answer to Project Pluto.

Putin announced the missile during a presentation of six new Russia weapons in 2018 in which he demonstrated their capability with a CGI video of nukes hitting Mar-a-Lago. Russia calls the missile the Burevestnik and NPR published a detailed breakdown of its inner-workings on Thursday.

Hegseth’s decision to give American military recruits the freedom to not take the flu vaccine has been a disaster. A major flu outbreak has sickened 160 troops at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas. The outbreak came less than two months after Hegseth’s announcement.

At the White House, JD Vance took questions from the press about the Strait of Hormuz and Iran. He pushed back on critical coverage of the MoU. “You will hear things about $300 billion or $24 billion or this or that number of money — or amount of money. And the simple fact is that the only way the Iranians get any of those resources — not a single penny, by the way, from the United States of America under any circumstances — but the only way that they would ever get any benefit of the bargain is if they comply fully and change their behavior,” Vance said.

On ballistic missiles, Vance said that a lot of Iran’s stockpile had already been destroyed. “It’s not just the bullets, but it’s the actual gun. And that’s what we were extremely effective at destroying during the last three months of the campaign,” Vance said. “All the President said yesterday is that [...] countries don’t give up the right of self-defense. Israel doesn’t give up the right of self-defense if Hezbollah fires rockets or drones at Israel. The Iranians don’t give up the right of self-defense in their country.”

6/19/26

Bill Pulte became acting Director of National Intelligence after a weeks-long fight between Trump and Congressional Republicans. This wasn’t supposed to happen. Last week the US House voted down the renewal of portions of FISA to stop Pulte from getting nominated and Trump backed down and put forward Jay Clayton as a replacement. But Congress had to confirm Clayton before Pulte automatically became acting DNI on Friday and that confirmation didn’t happen.

Why? It appears that Trump blew up the Clayton nomination as part of a bid to have his will be done by Congress. “To add a slight bit of intrigue but, for the Good of the Nation, and the People of our Country, I will not approve FISA without THE SAVE AMERICA ACT going along with it. Not complicated, actually, the Republicans fell into a trap. Regarding the approval of our Great Patriot, Jay Clayton, we are cancelling the Senate Hearing RE: DNI today, and will not be going forward until Jamie McDonald is approved to be U.S. Attorney. In the meantime, Bill Pulte will remain as the Acting Director of National Intelligence,” he said in a post on Truth Social.

The blue paint of the Reflecting Pool began to peel and rise to the surface. Police arrested former US Olympian David Hearn for vandalism after he was seen touching the pool.

6/20/26

Over the weekend, Reflecting Pool mania fully seized the attention of the American public and its president. On Saturday, the National Guard arrived to protect the pool and Trump announced it would need to be drained to repair damage to the lining.

6/21/26

Trump decided that vandals were responsible for the sorry state of the Reflecting Pool. “Work will begin immediately on fixing the seriously vandalized Reflecting Pool. I just inspected it, and could only say to myself, and those gathered around me, WOW, who would do such a thing? SICK, DERANGED PEOPLE! We will fix it?” He said in a post on Truth Social.

Talks to hammer out the specifics of the Iran deal began in Switzerland.

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Dreaming of the World Cup, some tourists discovered an entirely different kind of divine glory: an enormous beaver themed gas station called Buc-ee’s. The golden beaver statue is a common sight on many a Texas road trip and he did not fail to enchant tourists from around the world. A flood of videos from World Cup fans taken in Texas warmed my heart this week. It was a nice break in a bleak year, and a good reminder that there is much to love about this big, beautiful, and sometimes stupid, country.

As our erstwhile producer Kevin Knodell is fond of saying: “America was always great.”

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6/8/26

For Trump, the week began with boos and ended in cheers.

He attended a Nicks game at Madison Square Garden on Monday, the first time a sitting president has attended an NBA Finals game. The crowd did not treat him kindly. Trump stood and saluted during the national anthem and the crowd booed him. Footage of the incident spread online.

“I thought it was amazing. You mean when they had the camera on me? I thought it was very good, yeah. It was certainly amazing. It was, I think, mostly cheers. It was loud and it was very enthusiastic,” Trump told reporters later.

6/9/26

An Apache helicopter crashed in the Gulf of Oman after colliding with a Shahed drone. Iran said this was an accident and that the Apache was simply caught in a crossfire. According to CENTCOM, both pilots onboard survived the crash uninjured. In retaliation, Trump ordered a series of strikes on Iran.

“CENTCOM forces struck Iranian air defense, ground control stations, and surveillance radar sites near the Strait of Hormuz with precision munitions from U.S. Air Force and Navy fighter jets. The operation was a proportional response to recent attacks on U.S. forces and international commercial ships transiting regional waters,” CENTCOM said in a post on X.

6/10/26

Fallout from the Apache crash and subsequent US strikes on Iranian targets continued today. Trump used the strikes to push for an overall deal with Iran. According to Trey Yingst at Fox News, the US fired 49 Tomahawk missiles as part of the retaliatory strikes and Trump said he would “bomb the shit out of them” if Iran didn’t sit down and sign a deal.

The White House promoted the president’s birthday cage match with AI-generated images of swole Uncle Sam.

6/11/26

Representatives of the United Arab Emirates and Iran met in an attempt to de-escalate the Iran War. In the Oval Office, Trump told reporters that the Strait of Hormuz would be open soon. “We just made a great settlement of the war with Iran,” he said. “The strait will officially open as soon as we sign, which could be soon, very soon, maybe over the weekend in Europe.”

No one likes Bill Pulte, Trump’s nominee to replace Tulsi Gabbard as Director of National Intelligence. Congress is so upset it actually exercised its political power. The GOP controlled house voted down the renewal of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). Democrats said they would not support the renewal of the spying powers unless Trump pulled Pulte’s nomination and 19 House Republicans joined them.

Trump appeared to concede. “I am pleased to announce the Nomination of very Highly Respected Jay Clayton, former Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the former Head of Sullivan & Cromwell, one of the most prominent and successful Law Firms anywhere in the World, and the current United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, to be the next Director of National Intelligence and, importantly, to serve in my Cabinet. Few people anywhere in the Legal Community are respected at the level of Jay. I encourage the United States Senate to confirm Jay as soon as possible,” he said in a post on Truth Social.

The White House posted yet another AI-generated image swole Uncle Sam.

6/12/26

Outgoing DNI Tulsi Gabbard had one final gift for Americans and she released it today accompanied with an announcement video on X. “Today, I’m releasing never before seen intelligence revealing new evidence of past US government funding for more than 120 biolabs in over 30 countries, including Ukraine,” Gabbard said in the video.

The disclosed info was four slides that outlined the basic facts of American-supported biological research labs across the world. This was, for the current administration, all about Joe Biden. “Despite the obvious potential for catastrophic global impact research on dangerous pathogens in biolabs can have, politicians, so-called health professionals like Dr. Fauci, and entities within the Biden administration’s national security team lied to the American people about the existence of U.S.-funded and supported biolabs, and threatened those who attempted to expose the truth,” Gabbard said in a statement on the ODNI’s website.

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Following a long and complicated legal battle, a work crew arrived at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC to remove Trump’s name from the building. Various news outlets set up livestreams to monitor the work. The MS Now video is almost 12 hours long and garnered 44,000 live viewers. As of this writing, it’s been viewed 5.3 million times.

The Department of War released a third tranche of documents related to UFOs. Like previous releases, the new files are a mix of redacted documents from the previous century and FBI interviews with cranks.

The Wall Street Journal published an adaptation of a book about the bombing of the Nord Stream pipeline.

“Seven-foot waves tossed the boat in a howling gale. The crew, drenched and pale with seasickness, voted one by one to abort the mission. It seemed suicidal to dive 80 meters into the Baltic Sea to rig bombs onto pipelines in this kind of storm.

“Then, among the ashen-faced men, a diminutive figure rose.

“A civilian diving instructor, she was the sole woman on the team—and perhaps the reason that one of the greatest acts of sabotage in modern history was carried out successfully, according to individuals involved in its planning and German police who investigated it.

“Shouting over the wind, she volunteered to dive alone.”

6/13/26

On Saturday, just ahead of the President’s birthday, we got the first rumblings of a possible end to the Iran War. It came in the form of a shitpost on Truth Social.

“Barack Hussein Obama’s Deal with Iran, the JCPOA, was an easy, beautiful, smooth road to a Nuclear Weapon, which Iran would have had six years ago, and would have used long before now. My Agreement with Iran is the exact opposite, A WALL TO NO NUCLEAR WEAPON! In fact, they no longer want a Nuclear Weapon, nor will they have one, either through purchase, development, or any other form of procurement. The Deal is scheduled to get signed tomorrow, and immediately after it is signed, the Hormuz Strait is OPEN TO ALL. Our relationship with Iran is a much different and better one than previous Administrations have had. Unlike Obama’s Hundreds of Billions of Dollars in payments to them, including 1.7 Billion Dollars in green, cold cash, no money will exchange hands,” Trump said in a Truth Social post.

When the so-called memorandum of understanding was revealed a few days later it included $300 billion in US payments to Iran for post-war reconstruction.

Obama was on Trump’s brain this weekend. He later posted an AI-generated photo depicting the Obama presidential library in Chicago as a trash can surrounded by a tent city.

6/14/26

It was fight night in America on Sunday as a nation’s eyes turned towards the South Lawn of the White House and wondered if storms would dash Trump’s hopes of watching grown men beat the shit out of each other in a cage. It was touch and go there for a bit, but in the fights went down, and men walked away bloody and battered.

The whole thing was steamed on Paramount Plus and included a list of sponsors like Dodge, Crypto.com, Polymarket, and Bud Light. According to a court filing, the whole affair cost $60 million to produce. A VIP seat cost $1.5 million. Jets flew overhead. Marines guarded tents advertising Black Rifle Coffee. BMX bikes soared through the air. Fighter Justin Gaethje beat opponent Ilia Topuria so badly he’s unrecognizable. The White House achieved its spectacle in honor of the boss’s birthday. All the while, negotiations continued with Iran to end the war.

“The Deal with the Islamic Republic of Iran is now complete. Congratulations to all! I hereby fully authorize the toll free opening of the Strait of Hormuz, and, simultaneously herewith, authorize the immediate removal of the United States Naval blockade. Ships of the World, start your engines. Let the oil flow!” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

“This Great Deal will bring Peace and Security to the whole Region. Many presidents have tried to make Peace with Iran, and all have failed before me. The Leaders of the Region have, for the first time, found a President who can help them achieve real Peace. With the opening of the Strait upon the signing of the Deal on Friday, for purposes of mine removal, oil will flow on both ends again for the Region, and the World!” He said in a follow up post.

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This narrative is just one of the many we’…

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In the days after the announcement most of the artists dropped out and distanced themselves from the Great American State Fair. To hear them tell it, organizers had pitched the event as a non-partisan celebration of America. “The artists were never told about any political involvement with the event. And despite the claims by the organizers that the event is non-partisan, SPIN magazine describes it as ‘Trump-backed.’ I hope to perform in D.C. in the near future at an event that is not so politically charged,” Young MC said in a post on Facebook.

Despite holdouts like Vanilla Ice, the lineup had completely collapsed by the first week of June. Trump denounced the musicians on Truth Social. “On Wednesday, June 24th, at 7 P.M., in magnificent Washington, D.C., now totally beautified, and one of the Safest Cities anywhere in the World, and in celebration of our Country’s 250 Year History, we will be bringing you, LIVE, the Greatest Rally, EVER! It will be special at every level — A Rally to end all Rallies! We don’t want singers with no talent, but big fees to put you to sleep, we’ve told them all to stay home. All we want is you, me, a few speakers, and the Greatest Music ever played, the same Music you have listened to for years! We will have the fabulous Lee Greenwood introducing me with what has turned out to be one of the Greatest Hits of All Time, GOD BLESS THE U.S.A., and the amazing Christopher Macchio, who will sing Nessun Dorma, Hallelujah, Ave Maria, God Bless America, and others — Not since the legendary Luciano Pavarotti has there been such a voice!”

https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/116694027873070210

States are also fleeing the Great American State Fair. The event was supposed to host a pavilion with representatives from every state in the union, but at least six have said they aren’t coming. North Carolina, Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, Washington, and Oregon all declined the invitation.

Ten days before the start of the fair is Trump’s birthday. The plan is to celebrate his 80th by watching a UFC cage match on the South Lawn of the White House. In an interview with The Daily Mail, UFC CEO Dana White explained what a pain it’s been to construct an outdoor ring in the summer in DC. It’s a swamp, you see, and there’s a lot of pests.

6/1/26

The week began with a heated phone call and Trump promising that everything would be fine.

Axios reported that Trump yelled at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for escalating Israel’s attacks on Lebanon. “You’re fucking crazy. You’d be in prison if it weren’t for me. I’m saving your ass. Everybody hates you now. Everybody hates Israel because of this,” a US official said, summarizing Trump’s phone call.

Later in the day, CNBC’s Eamon Javers called Trump on the phone and asked how negotiations were going with Iran. Earlier in the day Tehran had signaled it was cutting off the peace talks.

“I don’t care if they’re over, honestly. I really don’t care. I couldn’t care less. If they’re over, they’re over. If they’re not, you know, I think they took too much time. Frankly, I thought they started to get very boring,” Trump told Javers. “They were giving us what we needed, but I think I think they handled the negotiations poorly. It took too long. I thought they were tapping us along, that’s all.”

On X, the White House’s official account posted pleas for supporters to chill. “TRUMP IN TRUMP,” said one post. “Just sit back and relax, it will all work out well in the end - It always does!”

In another post, an AI generated video of the White House loomed behind a flock of songbirds. To those negatively chirping: quiet. 🤫,” the post said. “It will all work out well in the end - it always does.”

The Department of War banned journalists from using its press office, declaring the area a classified space. “The Pentagon Press Office has been redesignated as a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility due to speechwriters from the Office of the Secretary of War sharing the facility. These speechwriters routinely handle classified material and require SIPRNet access. As a result, journalists will no longer be permitted to enter the office space. Access to the office of the Assistant to the Secretary of War for Public Affairs and to the Press Secretary remains available by appointment only,” Joel Valdez, the Pentagon’s acting press secretary, told The Washington Post.

6/2/26

Trump nominated Bill Pulte to replace Tulsi Gabbard as the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). Pulte is the current head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency and Chairman of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Trump said Pulte would keep those jobs while he worked as DNI. Pulte is a real estate scion with no previous intelligence experience.

This is the same Pulte who, two years ago, received a trophy from Bed Bath and Beyond conspiracy theorists. (It’s a long story.) “Fucks only the young,” read the inscription on the novelty trophy.

“That looks pretty bad ass,” Pulte said as he received his award.

In other ODNI news, Reuters reported that the CIA has stopped contributing to some intelligence assessment as the result of a years long feud between agencies. “The CIA, led by Director John Ratcliffe, contends that Gabbard’s Director’s Initiatives Group has acted recklessly by circumventing traditional intelligence-sharing and declassification protocols, said two of the people. ODNI officials say the CIA has consistently blocked the group’s access to intelligence,” Erin Banco of Reuters said in a thread on X.com.

“The war is over now,” Marco Rubio said of the Iran War during testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Later that day, Iran struck targets in Bahrain, Kuwait, and Iraq.

In a bizarre crossover, Gwyneth Paltrow interviewed Anduril co-founder Trae Stephens on her Goop podcast.

6/3/26

Dozens of people are sick in Idaho after consuming raw milk. The consumption of raw milk was a big talking point for Health and Human Services secretary RFK Jr. A year ago, he took a shot of the white stuff on camera. He’s since backed off the issue and won’t return the calls of raw milk insiders and businesses.

Meanwhile in Idaho, unpasteurized milk has sickened at least 60 people. “At least 45 of those people tested positive for campylobacteriosis, a bacterial infection, although not everyone who is sick was tested. Investigation and interviews of people reported as ill are ongoing and additional illness may be identified,” said a statement from the Idaho Department of Health & Welfare.

Kim Jong Un toured a newly revealed uranium enrichment facility in North Korea. According to nuclear experts, the new machines will allow North Korea to double its production of highly enriched uranium.

6/4/26

In a statement to Iran’s state-run news agency, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said that any lasting peace deal to end the war with the United States must include Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon. “Our initial condition for accepting a ceasefire in the regional war has been a ceasefire on all fronts, including Lebanon,” the IRGC said. “The enemy must urgently stop its attacks on the Lebanese people, and immediately withdraw behind international borders by evacuating the occupied territories of Lebanon, and recognise the territorial integrity of Lebanon.”

6/5//26

Albanians are in the streets protesting real estate developments connected to Jared Kushner. Anti-Kushner sentiment has been building in the country for months and people began to take to the streets in June to demand, among other things, the resignation of the Albanian prime minister. Kushner’s plan was to build a resort on the Narta Lagoon, an environmentally protected coast line home to many unique species including flamingos.

Albanians are calling the protests the Flamingo Revolution.

6/6/26

A photo of a bird’s nest woven from fiber optic cable gathered from the battlefields of Ukraine went viral across several websites and social platforms.

Shared by some as a sign of a dystopic present, I found the nest quite beautiful. It reminded me that life persists, even on the battlefield. This reminder was somewhat undercut by the fact that a similar image had gone viral almost a year ago to the day. The War in Ukraine has officially gone on longer than World War I.

6/7/26

At the end of the week, things were not working out as Trump had promised. Iran launched ballistic missile strikes against Israel, the first since the April 2026 ceasefire. Tehran said the strikes were in retaliation for Israel’s continued war in Lebanon.

“What I would suggest to Iran: You’ve shot your missiles, that’s enough. Get back to the table and make a deal,” Trump told Fox News.

Trump later told the Financial Times that he’d told Netanyahu not to retaliate and that the Israeli PM had no choice but to accept a deal with Iran. “He doesn’t call the shots. I call the shots,” Trump told FT.

A few hours later, Israel launched strikes against Iran and Lebanon.

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I can’t help but keep up with the politics in my home state. It’s a sickness. When I lived there, the long concrete highways, vast miles of open sky and thick liquid summers felt stifling. Now that I’m gone I miss it all desperately. I keep this homesickness at bay by visiting family or checking in on the Texas political scene.

Scandalous scoundrel Ken Paxton, a North Dakotan by birth, won a GOP primary bid to run for Senate in Texas. He ousted native son John Cornyn who, it seems, was not sufficiently loyal to Trump.

Texas politics have always been wild and cruel and I’m watching Paxton’s political campaign with interest to see if he’ll stretch the limits of southern propriety. Paxton was famous before this senate bid as a corrupt serial adulterer. This is a man who was impeached by his own party on a vote of 121–23., a man who former staffers say stole cakes. Literally.

Paxton’s opponent in the general is James Talarcio, a Democrat, a member of the Texas state legislature, and a graduate of the Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Talarico has made faith a core part of his campaign. How are Paxton and his crew reacting to this? Mostly, from what I’ve seen, by calling Talarico gay.

Appearing on Fox News above the chevron “Tala-Freako,” White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller called Talarico transgender. “It’s very bold, one could even say brave, courageous, that the Democratic party would choose Texas, of all places, to nominate their first transgender Senate candidate who’s clearly transitioning into a female,” Miller said while host Jesse Watters laughed. “When Talarico goes in for a blood test, when he gets a physical, blood doesn’t come out, instead soy milk comes out.”

There’s a lot of this.

When the GOP talks Talarico, they’re always sure to add a little 4chan spice to the conversation. I am a recovered cynic. I do not think that Texans, nor the voting public at large, are stupid. But both have proved they can be very cruel. And so I watch Texas to see if attacking a candidate with gross online memes will work. They have for Trump, of course, but he always felt like a special case and a lot of Trump imitators have failed to win political office. No matter how the midterms go, if Talarico loses to Paxton then I won’t be feeling hopeful about the short term future of the country and its politics.

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5/25/26

The week began with Iran accusing the US of violating the ceasefire agreement.

Tehran and DC were still attempting to cut some kind of deal to open the Strait of Hormuz and end the conflict and Trump attempted to sweeten the pot for America and Israel on Monday. He called on Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt, and Jordan to join the Abraham Accords and normalize relations with Israel as part of any deal with Iran. The countries rejected this plea.

Masoud Pezeshkian, Iran’s president, told officials to end the internet blackout that’s kept the Iranian people offline for the past three months. With the traditional internet offline in Iran, sign-ups for a state-monitored intranet have surged.

5/26/26

Health and Human Services secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr. shared a video of himself handling two black racer snakes on the beachside patio of Dr. Mehmet Oz. In the video, the snakes repeatedly bite the Secretary’s hand. You can hear his wife, actress Cheryl Hines just off camera begging him to stop.

Construction began on the arena that will host a UFC fight on the White House’s South Lawn. A chain-link fence will surround an octagon where fighters will batter each other for the amusement of 4,000 spectators, including the President of the United States. The fight will take place on June 14, Trump’s 80th birthday, and is part of a series of events celebrating America’s 250th anniversary.

The US Government wants all its employees to sign non-disclosure agreements. A draft notice from the Office of Personal Management (OPM) hit the federal registrar and outlined the details of the plan. The notice explained that this is happening because Federal employees keep leaking information to the press. “OPM believes that a standard NDA form will promote consistency across Government, better protect confidential information, and better inform Federal employees of their rights and obligations regarding confidential information,” it said.

The Trump administration announced it’s going to give weapons grade plutonium from dismantled nuclear weapons to power companies for use in reactors.

Scandal-ridden Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton defeated Senator John Cornyn in the Texas Republican primary for Senate.

5/27/26

California Governor Gavie Newsom announced his state would levy a 100% tax on any payouts from Trump’s $1.776 billion “Anti-Weaponization” fund. “Anyone from California that receives any of those funds, we want to tax 100 percent of those proceeds,” Newsom said during a press conference.

Oman is an official US ally with ties to Iran. The US has long suspected Oman of being a little too close to Iran. During a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Trump off-handedly threatened to blow them up. “The Strait is going to be open to everybody. It’s international waters. We’ll watch over it, but nobody’s going to control it,” Trump said. “Oman will behave like everybody else or we’ll have to blow them up. They understand that.”

The State Department posted a video of the threat on X.

The FBI arrested a senior CIA official who had $40 million in gold bars stashed at his home. The official is being charged with falsifying military and academic credentials. When the FBI searched his home on May 18, agents found 303 gold bars weighing 1 kilogram each, according to The New York Times.

5/28/26

Officials from the White House floated the idea of cancelling international fights to sanctuary cities several times this week. Homeland Security head Markwayne Mullin first suggested the idea during a Fox News appearance on Tuesday the 26th. He explained the policy more during another interview on Thursday, saying that he’d have to pull CBP employees out of airports to protect DHS assets across the country because they’re facing waves of protests.

“So we’re not gonna halt the flights, what we’re saying is we won’t be able to process them because we don’t have officers there,” Mullin said. “If CBP isn’t there processing international flights, then those individuals when the airlines land won’t be permitted into the United States. If things don’t change, we’re gonna have to make this step pretty quick.”

The World Cup is set to begin on June 11 in the US.

The White House launched a new website that uses open-source information to show users immigration arrests near them. The site uses the aesthetics of alien and UFO conspiracy theories to cast immigrants as a monstrous “other.” The Trump administration has cast immigrants as extraterrestrials before. Last October, various Trump-linked social media accounts released images that compared humans from other countries to the ravenous and monstrous Flood from the Halo video game franchise.

Aliens.gov is more of the same. “If you’ve witnessed an Alien abduction, do not be alarmed,” the site said. The Alien is in good hands. We will take care of it…and return it safely to its place of origin,” the site said.

Susan Benesch and Rebecca Hamilton at Just Security had a good write up of Aliens.gov and what makes it uniquely unsettling. “The Aliens website makes two other moves familiar to scholars of mass atrocities: dehumanizing members of a group (here, conflating them with extraterrestrials and referring to them as “it”) and quashing public compassion for them,” Hamilton and Benesch wrote.

5/29/26

General Francis Donovan, the commander of US Southern Command, met with Cuban military leaders at the perimeter of Guantanamo Bay. Southcom shared an image from the meeting across social media.

“Commander Gen. Francis L. Donovan met with Army Corps General, Gen. Roberto Legrá Sotolongo, First Deputy Minister of the Chief of the General Staff, and other senior leaders from the Cuban military today at the perimeter of Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for a brief exchange on operational security matters. Gen. Donovan also led a perimeter security assessment of the naval base and discussed force protection, safety of service members and their families, and operational readiness with base officials,” it said in the post.

5/30/26

An Iranian missile strike destroyed a MQ-9 Reaper and injured several Americans at an air base in Kuwait. According to Bloomberg, a Fateh-110 ballistic missile struck Ali Al Salem air base and injured five Americans, including civilian contractors, and caused $30 million in damage.

5/31/26

The New York Times published a report on how American forces have begun to act as guides for hundreds of commercial vessels navigating the Strait of Hormuz.

“Vessels taking the U.S. route still risk being attacked by Iran, which has claimed that it controls the waterway. American officials say that the Iranian risk is exaggerated and have sought to talk willing vessels through a safe passage to the other side of the strait. While the assistance is known within shipping circles, U.S. officials acknowledge that they have not widely publicized it to avoid Iran targeting vessels venturing through under American guidance.

“A container ship was attacked in early May even though it was making the passage during Project Freedom. The ship’s owner, France’s CMA CGM, said it was coordinating with the U.S. military but Central Command said the French ship had not followed certain guidelines.

Noam Raydan, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said Central Command’s total of 70 U.S.-coordinated crossings was higher than she had expected. Because the crossings were done with transponders turned off, Ms. Raydan said it would take time to confirm how many vessels had coordinated with the United States.”

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The online crowd endlessly dissected, memed, and shared Harward’s clip. The neckline appeared to be the giveaway. Cloaked in shadow, it seemed as if the edge of the mask was visible, a bit of untucked silicone flapped as Harward talked. The harsh lighting of the set blasted away Harward’s wrinkles, making him appear much smoother than he had in other television appearances and seeming to bolster the mask theory.

But we must guard our hearts against what we want to believe. It would be deeply weird for a man who is frequently on TV to appear in a rubber mask or send someone to do so in his stead. There’s no motive. The more likely explanation, and one provided by Fox News, is that the lighting in the studio was bad and harsh and cast strange shadows around the retired admiral’s throat.

YouTuber, VFX artist, and serial debunker of odd claims Captain Disillusion explained what likely happened in a long thread on X.

“In a news studio (or a commentator’s living room), you’re gonna have some sort of basic top lights at ~45º, which on their own, no matter how soft, create some shadows. Note the one touching the collar. It’s cast by the jaw. So, lazy no-good news studio gaffers might stick a bottom fill light below the subject to counteract the top-heavy key. On its own, it’s doing something like this. (Note how the angle causes the slightly flared shirt collar to cast a shadow upward),” Captain Disillusion said.

“Added together, they end up as barely passable face lighting,” he said. “Except, in this case, on the neck. The shirt collar cuts the fill light, creating a little window of top-only light casting that chin shadow. The top edge moves with the collar, the bottom with the talking jaw.”

A sensible explanation for a paranoid age. A week later I’m more disturbed by my own willingness to believe the mask theory than I am the shadow under Harward’s neck. Lately I feel like MacReady at the end of The Thing.

“Nobody trusts anybody now and we’re all very tired.”

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5/18/26

The Department of Justice established a $1.776 billion “Anti-Weaponization” fund as part of a settlement between Trump and the IRS. The DOJ said this fund would payout claims to people who’d been harmed by the Biden White House.

“The machinery of government should never be weaponized against any American, and it is this Department’s intention to make right the wrongs that were previously done while ensuring this never happens again. As part of this settlement, we are setting up a lawful process for victims of lawfare and weaponization to be heard and seek redress,” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement.

The settlement stems from a lawsuit Trump filed against the IRS in January 2026. During his first term, a contractor for the IRS leaked Trump’s tax returns to ProPublica and The New York Times.

5/19/26

The New York Times had a story about a failed attempt by Israel and Iran to replace Iran’s leader during the early days of their war in Iran. Trump wanted regime change and Israel suggested an odd candidate: former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Ahmadinejad was the President of Iran from 2005 to 2013 and was a frequent foil to president Bush.

According to the Times, the plan to install Ahmadinejad was hatched by Israeli intelligence. The plan was undercut in the early days of the war an Israeli airstrike destroyed Ahmadinejad’s home and injured him. The former president tried to run for office several times since 2013 but had been blocked by other political forces in Tehran after being critical of the regime. He’d been under house arrest for a few months and the air strike that injured him was designed to free him, according to The Times.

The destruction of his house, apparently, soured him on the regime change plan. He hasn’t been seen in public since the strike.

Retired Vice Admiral Robert Harward appeared on Fox News and looked very strange under the lights. It looked weird and conspiracy theories spread like wildfire online.

5/20/26

The United States officially indicted Raúl Castro over his alleged ties to the deaths of four people near the Cuban coastline in 1996. The Cuban Air Force shot down two Cessnas connected to Brothers to the Rescue, an activist group that aids Cuban dissidents.

“For nearly 30 years the families of four murdered Americans have waited for justice,” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said at a press conference announcing the charges. “My message today is clear: The United States and President Trump does not and will not forget its citizens.”

Two US Capitol police officers sued Trump, Blanch, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent over the $1.776 slush fund today. “In the most brazen act of presidential corruption this century, President Donald J. Trump has created a $1.776 billion taxpayer-funded slush fund to finance the insurrectionists and paramilitary groups that commit violence in his name.

The plaintiffs are Harry Dunn and Daniel Hodges, two police officers who defended the capitol during the riots on January 6, 2021. “As a consequence of that work, Officers Dunn and Hodges have been harassed by those who attacked the Capitol, and have received a series of credible death threats,” the lawsuit said.

“The Anti-Weaponization Fund will both compensate and empower the very people making those threats. Militias like the Proud Boys will use money from the Fund to arm and equip themselves. The Fund will grant their past acts of violence legal imprimatur. And, most chillingly, the Fund will signal to past and potential future perpetrators of violence against Dunn and Hodges that they need not fear prosecution; to the contrary, they should expect to be rewarded.”

5/21/26

Reporters in the Oval Office with Trump on Thursday asked if he would attend his son’s wedding in the Bahamas that weekend.

“Uh, he’d like me to go,” Trump said. “But it’s just gonna be a small little private affair and I’m gonna try and make it. I said, you know, this is not good timing for me. I’ve got a thing called Iran and other things. That’s one I can’t win on. If do attend, I get killed. If I don’t attend, I get killed. By the fake news, of course, I’m talking about.”

Trump posted a message to Truth Social about the wedding the next day. “While I very much wanted to be with my son, Don Jr., and the newest member of the Trump Family, his soon to be wife, Bettina, circumstances pertaining to Government, and my love for the United States of America, do not allow me to do so. I feel it is important for me to remain in Washington, D.C., at the White House during this important period of time. Congratulations to Don and Bettina!”

5/22/26

Tulsi Gabbard resigned her position as the Director of National Intelligence. (DNI) “My husband, Abraham, has been recently diagnosed with an extremely rare form of bone cancer,” she said in her resignation letter. “He faces major challenges in the coming weeks and months. At this time, I must step away from public service to be by his side and fully support him through this battle.”

Gabbard was always an odd choice for DNI. She was prone to conspiracy thinking, soft on dictators like Bashar Al-Assad, and often seemed uncomfortable in the role of America’s intel chief. She’ll be replaced by former CIA station chief Aaron Lukas.

5/23/26

Nasire Best fired a gun outside of the White House on Saturday, exchanged fire with the Secret Service, and was shot dead. Multiple reporters were on the scene filming various news segments when the shots rang out and their reactions were captured live, in the moment, and broadcast to the world.

Something about NBC’s Julie Tsirkin reaction to the shots caught the internet’s attention. As the shots rang out, Tsirkin turned toward the noise for a beat before looking just beyond the camera. “What is that?” She asked, her face uncomprehending. The moment was cut, remixed, and repurposed into hundreds of memes.

Tsirkin, a good sport, played along and shared her own.

Tsirkin’s reaction was even mixed with the other big meme of the week, Admiral Howard’s bizarre shadows.

5/24/26

Just ahead of Memorial Day, Trump shared a message from UFC CEO Dana White on Truth Social. White is hosting a UFC cage match on the South Lawn of the White House on June 14 as part of a festival honoring America’s 250th anniversary.

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Pratt is a reality TV star running for the mayor of Los Angeles and I’ve been watching his campaign with morbid fascination. I have never lived in California and can not vote in this election, but the grotesque spectacle of its current politics calls to me. My guilt in following an election on the opposite coast was ameliorated somewhat when a Pratt fan bought a billboard for the candidate in Georgia. That’s a lot of Pratt rather close to my home.

Pratt first came to my attention because of an AI-generated campaign video that depicted him as Batman and Joe Rogan as Commissioner Gordon. In the video current LA mayor Karen Bass is imagined as a cruel Joker ruling over a Los Angeles on fire while Governor Gavin Newsom eats cake. In the video Pratt and normal everyday folk gather together to hurl tomatoes at Democratic establishment figures.

Pratt and his campaign did not buy this ad. It’s the work of a man named Charles Curran who saw Pratt during a televised debate and became a fan “It’s not inherently difficult. Which is why I think you’ll see a lot more of this,” Curran told The New York Times.

Curran is correct. We’re at the start of a new political reality where AI-generated videos become normal campaign fodder. This may seem frightening, but American politics has always been inundated with cartoonish satire using the tools of the day. I may loathe AI-generated art, but the tools are ubiquitous and I think it will be used by all sides in the coming elections.

The AI-generated political slop supporting Pratt is, at least, competently made. When Andrew Cuomo ran for Mayor of New York City last year he deployed a number of AI-generated advertisements that were quite haunting. In one, a satire of the famous Schoolhouse Rock video about how bills are passed, a cartoon Cuomo sang alongside a seemingly pregnant AI-generated cartoon bill.

Elsewhere online, a sex worker connoisseur filmed a video for Instagram where various working girls in Los Angeles shouted out their love for Pratt.

Win or lose, Pratt feels like an evolution of Trumpian style politics in America.

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5/11/26

During an earnings call with investors, Saudi Aramco CEO Amin Nasser said the oil market would remain bad for some time. “If the Strait of Hormuz opens today, it will still take months for the market to rebalance, and if its opening is delayed by a few more weeks, then normalization will last into 2027,” Nasser said. As of this writing, the Strait remains closed.

Trump posted on Truth Social 55 times between 10PM and midnight. He shared videos about Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, conspiracy theory rants about his 2020 election loss, security footage of a man knocking plates out of a waiter’s hands at a restaurant, and a video of a Door Dasher allegedly stealing food.

5/12/26

Guerilla artists Secret Handshake installed arcade cabinets for the video game Operation Epic Furious: Strait to Hell at the DC War Memorial on the National Mall.

“The Trump administration knows that the best way to sell combat is by making it a video game. That’s why they’ve been pumping out the sockets Iran War video game hype reels. But why stop at clips when you could go full throttle?” Said a plaque near the arcade machines.

Journalists spotted members of the National Guard on patrol in DC playing the game. You can play it yourself online.

The FBI in Sacramento announced the arrest of the founder of the Punjabi Devils, a Hell’s Angel’s-style motorcycle gang. The Feds alleged that the founder attempted to sell weapons to an undercover officer.

5/13/26

Japanese snack maker Calbee announced some of its colorful bags will now be sold in black and white. The reason is a shortage of naphtha, a critical ingredient in colored ink that is in short supply because of the global oil squeeze caused by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump landed in China with a delegation that included Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, Apple’s Tim Cook, and Elon Musk.

5/14/26

A lot happened today, let’s start in China.

Thursday was the busiest day for Trump in China. The delegations from both countries sat for lengthy press conferences, posed for pictures, and discussed the fate of Taiwan and the Strait of Hormuz.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio was in attendance despite being under Chinese sanction for speaking out against Beijing’s actions in Hong Kong and its mistreatment of Uyghurs. Early reports indicated that China got around its own sanctions by changing Rubio’s name so it didn’t match the official sanction documents. According to The New York Times, however, this isn’t true.

“The theory linking the multiple versions of his name to sanctions relief is wrong. Many non-Chinese people have varied Chinese transliterations for their names, even in official pronouncements or reports. It turns out that Xinhua, the state news agency, had already been referring to Rubio as both 卢比奥 and 鲁比奥 for about a decade. There might even have been other variations that have appeared in state news reports.”

Admiral Brad Cooper, the commander of CENTCOM, testified before a U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand grilled him on the end of the war and the bombing of civilian targets.

“How did we then bomb 22 schools?” Gillibrand said.

“There is no indication that we have that has been corroborated. Zero—” Cooper said.

“How many schools have we bombed?” Gillibrand said.

“There is one active civilian casualty investigation from the 13,629 munitions.”

Gillibrand asked if Cooper was investigating the various claims made by multiple news agencies and humanitarian groups about the US bombing of civilian targets in Iran. “Have you investigated those claims?” She said.

“We have not,” Cooper said.

The CIA published photographs of Director John Ratcliffe meeting with various officials in Havana, Cuba. CNN reported the meeting and said the DOJ was preparing an indictment against former President Raúl Castro. To me, this is another bid to wrap up all the Boomer plotlines before Trump dies.

The US House voted on a resolution to curtail Trump’s war powers. Such resolutions need a majority to pass and the vote was a tie, 212 to 212, so it failed. Democrats led the effort, but several Republicans voted in favor. An April 16 vote was split 213 to 214. A similar measure has failed in the Senate seven times.

America’s Ambassador to Greece is Kimberly Guilfoyle, California Governor’s ex-wife, the former fiancée of Donald Trump Jr., and former Fox News talking head. Today she cut the ribbon at a McDonald’s at the Mall in Athens, calling it “the most technologically advanced McDonald’s in all of Europe!”

5/15/26

Trump spent his last day in China meeting. A foreign leader visiting Zhongnanhai is rare and Trump did not enter the gardens during his 2017 visit. After taking in the rare delight of the imperial gardens, Trump and the US delegation left China. Before boarding the plane home, they threw away everything the Chinese had gifted them. “American staff took everything Chinese officials handed out—credentials, burner phones from WH staff, pins for delegation—collected them before we got on AF1 and threw them in a bin at [the] bottom [of the] stairs. Nothing from China allowed on the plane,” New York Post WH correspondent Emily Goodin said in a post on X.com.

5/16/26

US forces in Africa announced they’d killed Islamic State leader Abu-Bilal al-Minuki in Nigeria. Al-Minuki was a former Boko Haram faithful who joined the Islamic State’s West Africa division in 2016. He rose to prominence there and became an important figure in the Islamic State’s global campaign. The specifics of the mission are unknown but the Government of Nigeria partnered with US forces to make it happen and AFRICOM said there were no American casualties.

5/17/26

A drone struck a nuclear power plant in the United Arab Emirates. The attack started a fire but the UAE said no one was injured and international monitoring agencies did not detect a radiological leak. The Barakh power plant is the only nuclear power facility in the UAE. No one claimed responsibility for the attack in the aftermath, but the UAE Defense Ministry would later claim the strike came from Iran-backed Shiite militias in Iraq.

Axios published based on “classified intelligence” that claimed Cuba had acquired more than 300 drones and planned to use them to attack US military assets in the region.

“The intelligence—which could become a pretext for U.S. military action—shows the degree to which the Trump administration sees Cuba as a threat because of developments in drone warfare and the presence of Iranian military advisers in Havana, a senior U.S. official said.”

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I imagine the legs of a tarnished gold statue sunk into wetlands that have taken over a former golf course. Kudzu devours the figure’s abdomen, vines obliterating the face making it impossible to know the subject. Arches crumble. Paper disintegrates. Glue evaporates and coins fall from walls. Even memory fades in time.

Here’s what I saw last week.

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5/4/26

US Secret Service agents shot a man named Michael Marx near the White House. According to an indictment released two days later, Secret Service agents noticed Marx had a concealed handgun and was near a Vice Presidential motorcade. Marx allegedly attempted to flee the scene and shot at agents, wounding a civilian in the process. Agents then shot Marx in the “hand, left arm, and upper abdomen.”

“Fuck the White House. Kill me, kill me, kill me,” Marx allegedly said in the ambulance on the way to the hospital.

Monday also saw the start of Operation Project Freedom, a US led effort to guide ships through the Strait of Hormuz and bust the Iranian blockade. US Central Command (CENTCOM) claimed it guided two merchant vessels through the Strait. The IRGC said this was a lie, that no ships had cleared the Strait, and that it had fired warning shots at passing vessels. Merchant ships in the area confirmed the Iranian attacks.

5/5/26

Secretary of State (and so much more) Marco Rubio announced the end of Operation Epic Fury, Trump and the Pentagon’s name for the War in Iran. “Operation Epic Fury is concluded. We achieved the objectives of that operation,” Rubio explained during a press conference.

“I’m not going to—we’re not cheering for an additional situation to occur. We would prefer the path of peace. What the President would prefer is a deal. He would prefer to sit down, work out a memorandum of understanding for future negotiations that touches on all the key topics that have to be addressed, a full opening of the straits so the world can get back to normal, and he’d prefer that that be negotiated through the route that Steve and Jared have been working and that all of us have been supporting.

That’s the route he prefers. That is so far not the route that Iran has chosen. And so the result has been that the United States has to do something about the fact that we’re the only nation on Earth that can do anything to open up a lane within the Straits of Hormuz to get product and to rescue these people that are trapped in there. And that’s what we’re undergoing now.”

The same day, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth claimed Operation Project Freedom was a present. “As a direct gift from the United States to the world, we have established a powerful red, white and blue dome over the strait,” Hegseth said in a briefing to the press. “American destroyers are on station, supported by hundreds of fighter jets, helicopters, drones, and surveillance aircraft, providing 24/7 overwatch for peaceful commercial vessels except Iran’s, of course, which is why our ironclad blockade remains in full effect as well. In fact, six ships tried to run the blockade out of Iranian ports as Project Freedom commenced, and they were all turned around. This is more than strategy. It’s also humanitarian.”

Hours later, Trump said Operation Project Freedom was on hold.

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

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5/6/26

General Atomics shared pictures of a Kansas State University branded Predator drone as part of a long-term partnership between the university and the defense contractor. Along with the deadly drone, General Atomics has donated $10 million to build out the Kansas State University Salina campus. KSU is now The College With Its Own Predator®, according to a press release.

Rep. Mike Collins, a Republican representing Georgia, shared an AI-generated picture of himself decked out in jewelry seized and auctioned by US Marshalls.

Maryland legislators demanded answers from the Pentagon following the revelation that Joint Base Andrews leaked 32,000 gallons of jet fuel into the Potomac River. The DoW knew for months but failed to inform Maryland. There are echoes of the Red Hill water crisis in Hawaii. In 2001 families living on and near Joint Base Pearl Harbor–Hickam noticed their water was contaminated and later learned that a broken fuel container had spilled tens of thousands of gallons of fuel into the Oʻahu aquifer.

Pastor Mark Burns unveiled a 22-foot tall golden statute of Trump at the Trump Miami Doral golf course. “Let me be clear: this is not a golden calf. We worship the Lord and Jesus Christ and Him alone,” Burns said in a post on Instagram.

5/7/26

Iran and the US continued to exchange fire in the Strait of Hormuz. Trump continued to say the ceasefire was still in effect. Pakistan insisted that the war would end soon.

Hegseth lauded the fiscal responsibility of the Trump administration’s proposed $1.5 trillion defense budget in a video posted on X. The Secretary of War promised to eliminate graft and waste in the defense procurement process and said that defense CEOs had grown rich off American taxpayers.

He also name-checked “Deal Team Six,” a group of negotiators he said would get America a better deal on defense projects. Who has Hegseth tasked with handling the negotiations? Steve Feinberg, CEO of the private equity firm Cerberus turned Deputy Secretary of Defense (War). Former Cerberus employee George Kollitidies is leading Deal Team Six.

Slate reported that Trump has been gluing coins to doors in the White House. “Outside the West Wing, he took ‘challenge coins,’ which are these military coins that the president can give away as a party favor when he meets people, and started gluing them to the middle of doors.”

5/8/26

The Department of War released what it said would be the first of a batch of “UFO Files,” a mix of redacted photos and documents related to unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP). The files are an unsorted tranche going back decades, a cross section of sightings and write-ups of people seeing odd lights in the sky.

“These files, hidden behind classifications, have long fueled justified speculation—and it’s time the American people see it for themselves. This release of declassified documents demonstrates the Trump Administration’s earnest commitment to unprecedented transparency,” Hegseth said in a statement accompanying the release.

My favorite of these new UFO disclosures concerns an incident witnessed in September 2023 by a person in an F150 near a “US test site.” Here’s a picture, made by the FBI, of what they say they saw.

“Actual site photo with FBI Lab rendered graphic overlay depicting corroborating eyewitness reports from September 2023 of an apparent ellipsoid bronze metallic object materializing out of a bright light in the sky, 130-195 feet in length, and disappearing instantaneously,” said the accompanying description.

“The vehicles drove through a couple of gates and [redacted] saw a bright light over the horizon. The light was stationary in the air, then started moving to the right, then disappeared. [Redacted] could see the light through the top right of the vehicle’s windshield. The light was bright white and was visible for ten seconds before it disappeared. The light stayed the same size throughout the incident. [Redacted] thought the light was ten to twenty miles away. [Redacted] did not notice any interference with his vehicle.”

The FBI conducted this interview via Facetime, according to the writeup of the incident.

5/9/26

It’s dangerous to divine the thoughts of a person from their social media posts. We aren’t our posts. And yet…I find this is not a truism I can often abide by. The people in power, whether CEOs or politicians, love to post. It often feels like performance is the point of their lives, not corporate or civic governance.

“Trump’s Truth Social lays bare narrow obsessions of an extremely online president,” NPR said in a recent story.

And so.

On Saturday, Trump posted an AI-generated picture of butterflies crumbling into the ocean next to a photo of drones breaking apart below the caption “Drones Dropping Like Butterflies.”

He followed this up with two more pictures of AI-generated war propaganda and then seven photographs of Trump National Golf Course in Virginia. The golf course photos had an odd sheen, as if someone had taken a photo of a television screen. Some of them repeated.

He followed this up by posting more AI-generated war propaganda and a grotesque caricature of Illinois Governor JB Pritzker.

5/10/26

Work began on “repairs” to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington DC. Contractors drained the pool and began to paint it blue. Trump initially said this would cost $1.8 million, but costs have already ballooned to $13.1 million. The White House rushed the bidding process for the project, claiming that a delay would cause “​​serious injury, financial or other, to the government.”

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Tehran has all the cards.

To hear Robert Pape tell it, this was all predictable. Pape is a political scientist who te…

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The truth is that the women are real and many are still in danger. Trump’s post made real Iranian women who protested the Iranian regime appear fake. The story speaks to a moment we’re in where it’s become impossible to parse truth from lies online. This was already difficult before AI-generated pictures and video. Now it feels impossible.

On this episode of Angry Planet, Mahsa Alimardani is here to tell us the story. Alimardani is the Associate Director of Technology Threats and Opportunities at WITNESS.

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• Eight real women turned into AI propaganda

• Real crimes bastardized into regime propaganda

• “We need to come to terms with the fact that our information environment is structurally different.”

• Content Credentials as a partial solution

• How AI is supercharging our chosen reality tunnels

• The cycle of uprising and repression in Iran

• The structure of Iran’s internet and how its blackouts work

• Domestic intranet as an alternative form of communication

• AI-generated Lego propaganda videos

• Iran Reframed

• Explosive Media’s deep connections to the Islamic Republic

• Politics as fandom, fandom as politics

• “Everything is becoming flattened.”

• “The onus on the person scrolling is a bit unfair.”

Mahsa Alimardani’s LinkedIn

The Real Iranian Women Protesters Trump Made Look Synthetic

In the Room With Iran’s Social Media Savants

How AI Content Detection is Being Weaponized in the Iran War

Iran Is Winning the AI Slop Propaganda War

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Since World War II, air power enthusiasts have touted the success and possibility of air power. It’s a seductive promise: that you can defeat an enemy in a war without committing ground troops. Reality and history don’t bear out that promise. What’s happening between the US and Iran right now is just another datapoint.

Air power boosters often bring up NATO’s 1999 bombing campaign against Kosovo as proof of the promise. Professor Robert Pape, author of Bombing to Win, has an excellent post on his Substack about why Kosovo proves the opposite of what air power enthusiasts claim.

“Within days of the bombing, Serbian ground forces accelerated operations on the ground in Kosovo. What Western intelligence would describe as ‘Operation Horseshoe’ evolved rapidly. Units that had numbered in the hundreds expanded into tens of thousands of troops, including mechanized columns moving methodically along Kosovo’s road networks in a sweeping arc — a horseshoe-shaped advance designed for visibility as much as control. Civilians saw it coming. They could do nothing to stop it—because the enemy always gets a say when air power is the only coercive tool, as I explain in Bombing to Win.

“The result was mass displacement on a staggering scale. Mechanized units moved from town to town. Families fled on tractors and on foot, carrying what they could. Border crossings into Albania and Macedonia were overwhelmed. At night, Kosovo glowed from burning homes.

By late spring, roughly 800,000 to 1 million Kosovar Albanians—nearly half the population—had been driven from their homes. Thousands were killed; many more were wounded or brutalized. What had been framed as a limited air operation to prevent humanitarian catastrophe now coincided with its dramatic acceleration.”

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4/27/26

An interactive article in the Sunday New York Times chronicled the disappointment of Trump voters.

“We were made a lot of promises during the election. I know that it’s only been a year and a half, but I don’t think I’ve really seen much progress toward even moving toward what he said he was going to do, such as tax breaks or, let’s see, helping with the education system. I feel like he just defunded a lot of the education systems, the schools. I don’t know why he made so many promises,” said 26-year old Franceska.

“I thought he’d learned his lesson, and was going to prove to everybody he learned from his mistakes, and he was going to turn the country around and he was going to be a stellar president. But it’s turned out to be a horror movie. I was so wrong with the vote for him,” said 62-year old Jose.

4/28/26

The State Department is planning to issue limited editions US passports with Trump’s face on them.

“As the United States celebrates America’s 250th anniversary in July, the State Department is preparing to release a limited number of specially designed U.S. Passports to commemorate this historic occasion. These passports will feature customized artwork and enhanced imagery while maintaining the same security features that make the U.S. Passport the most secure documents in the world,” the State Department told The Bulwark.

Fox News published a mock up of the design, which includes Trump’s face hovering over the Constitution and American flag. His signature, in gold, below.

A federal grand jury indicated former FBI Director James Comey. He’s been charged with two offenses: threatening to kill Trump and communicating that threat via Instagram. The charges stem from a May 2025 Instagram post that depicted seashells on a beach arranged to spell out “86 47.”

“James Comey disgracefully encouraged a threat on President Trump’s life and posted it on Instagram for the world to see,” current FBI director Kash Patel said in a press release about the indictment. “As the former Director of the FBI, he knew full well the attention and consequences of making such a post. This FBI and our DOJ partners pursued a rigorous investigation that followed the facts—and now Mr. Comey will be held fully accountable for his actions.”

4/29/26

As negotiations between Iran and the US continued, Trump posted an inflammatory meme on Truth Social. “Iran can’t get their act together. They don’t know how to sign a nonnuclear deal. They better get smart soon!” He said above an AI-generated picture of himself in aviator glasses holding an assault rifle while explosions destroyed a Middle Eastern landscape behind him, a visual allusion to Tony Stark in Iron-Man.

While Trump posted, the oil market spiraled, peace-talks stalled, and Iranian authorities executed protestors. United Nations human rights officials said that 21 people have been executed since the start of the Iran War and 4,000 more have been arrested.

4/30/26

Trump signed bipartisan legislation that funded the Department of Homeland Security, officially ending a months-long shut down. The Congressional dispute over the budget began in February in the aftermath of the murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis. TSA agents went without pay, air travel wait times increased, and the White House deployed ICE agents to airports. Democrats demanded reforms of various DHS connected agencies and Republicans refused. Republicans in Congress “threw a fit,” according to Speaker Mike Johnson “and were able to pass a budget “with no crazy Democrat reforms.”

On various social media platforms, Trump endorsed a place to change the name of ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) to NICE (National Immigration and Customs Enforcement.) It appears the name change is moving forward.

5/1/26

Trump made good on a threat to withdraw American troops from bases in Europe. The Pentagon announced the removal of 5,000 of its 36,000 troops in Germany. This will be a significant reduction of American soldiers in Europe and a blow to the US ability to project power in the Middle East.

The withdrawal announcement came days after German Chancellor Friedrich Merz criticized Trump’s prosecution of the war in Iran in front of high school students. “An entire nation is being humiliated by the Iranian leadership,” he said. Trump has also threatened to withdraw troops from Spain and Italy.

Just before noon, Trump posted a picture of himself as a fifth head on Mount Rushmore on Truth Social. Three minutes after 11PM, the President posted an AI-generated photo of himself, JD Vance, and Marco Rubio, swimming in the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

5/2/26

Negotiations continued between Tehran and the White House. On Saturday, Pakistan delivered a 14-point peace proposal, itself a counter-proposal to a 9-proposal from the United States. “I’ll let you know about it later. They’re giving me the exact wording now,” Trump said while boarding Air Force one.

“I will soon be reviewing the plan that Iran has just sent to us, but can’t imagine that it would be acceptable in that they have not yet paid a big enough price for what they have done to Humanity, and the World, over the last 47 years,” he later said in a post on Truth Social.

Spirit Airlines, a much maligned and surreally beloved budget airline, suddenly shut down. Spirit had struggled for years, but the recent massive spike in oil prices due to the Iran War was the final nail in the coffin. The airline attempted to get a bailout from the White House, but could not reach a deal.

“Americans will soon be paying a billion, or two or three, dollars a year for plane tickets in the aftermath,” Spirit attorney Marshall Huebner said during bankruptcy proceedings.

5/3/26

Rudy Giuliani, America’s Mayor, former advisor and personal lawyer to Trump, the man who sweated it out during the Four Seasons Total Landscaping press conference that ended Trump’s second election bid, was hospitalized with pneumonia.

“Mayor Rudy Giuliani is currently in the hospital, where he remains in critical but stable condition. Mayor Giuliani is a fighter who has faced every challenge in his life with unwavering strength, and he’s fighting with that same level of strength as we speak,” Ted Goodman, Giuliani’s spokesperson said in a post on X.

His illness was bad enough that a Catholic Priest reportedly administered last rites.

“Our fabulous Rudy Giuliani, a True Warrior, and the Best Mayor in the History of New York City, BY FAR, has been hospitalized, and is in critical condition. What a tragedy that he was treated so badly by the Radical Left Lunatics, Democrats ALL — AND HE WAS RIGHT ABOUT EVERYTHING! They cheated on the Elections, fabricated hundreds of stories, did anything possible to destroy our Nation, and now, look at Rudy. So sad!” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

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On April 20, Eyal Yakoby posted a picture on X of eight women he claimed Iran soon planned to hang. The next day, Donald Trump shared a screenshot of Yakoby’s post and called for the release of the women. On April 22, Trump claimed his request had been honored.

“I have just been informed that the eight women protestors who were going to be executed tonight in Iran will no longer be killed,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social. “Four will be released immediately, and four will be sentenced to one month in prison. I very much appreciate that Iran, and its leaders, respected my request, as President of the United States, and terminated the planned execution.”

Iranian news sources and social media accounts said the women were fake, AI-generated simulacra that had duped the President. The Telegram channel for Iran’s judiciary court said it was all fake news and word spread online that Trump had been fooled by AI.

The truth is stranger. As Mahsa Alimardani outlined in Tech Policy, at least six of the eight women pictured are real. Some of them have been arrested and one is, or was, facing the death penalty.

“This dynamic is not only about what AI can produce. It is also about the doubt AI creates around content that is entirely real. Two days earlier, on April 7, he had reposted authentic footage of Iranian casualties, footage that did not need fabrication. Underneath, one reply read: ‘With Central Casting, AI, and the manipulation and manufacturing of headlines that get inorganic reach on social media has made me question everything. Nobody is innocent here, and I don’t want American tax payers to fund NATO or be involved in the Middle East at any capacity.’

“That reply is the dynamic’s logical endpoint. Faced with an information environment in which authentic and synthetic content sit indistinguishably side by side, audiences do not become better at telling them apart. They withdraw. The pattern on display here is not disinformation in the conventional sense; the underlying events are real. It is propaganda: real cases packaged with synthetic, unverified, or instrumentalized material in service of a political agenda. The damage is not the falsehood. The damage is that real human rights cases, propagandized this way, look fabricated.”

4/20/26

Twenty-seven year old Julio César Jasso Ramírez wounded 13 people and killed a Canadian woman before shooting himself during a mass shooting at a pyramid in Mexico. This was, from what we can tell, a shitpost shooting influenced by American murderer culture. Authorities found an AI-generated picture of Ramírez posing with Columbine killers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold “among his effects.” The shooting occurred on the 27th anniversary of the Columbine massacre.

In the Strait of Hormuz, another cruise ship slipped through the American and Iranian blockades.

4/21/26

The Guardian published an interview with Ecuadorian fishermen who survived a drone strike by US forces in the Pacific Ocean.

“The crew of the patrol boat spoke English to each other, and used a translator to address the Ecuadorians. “From the moment we arrived on the US patrol boat, they were pointing guns at us, shouting: ‘Get in, get in,’” said Palacios, 54. “They handcuffed us, put hoods over our heads and pushed us around. We were terrified they were going to kill us.”

According to the crew’s account, they were held for several hours by the US vessel before being transferred to a Salvadorian patrol boat and, after several more days at sea, eventually to El Salvador, where they were taken to a military base and questioned. Later they were handed over to immigration authorities and taken to a UN shelter.

Back home, their families conducted a desperate search, frustrated by the silence and lack of official information surrounding their disappearance. The fishers were eventually returned to Ecuador, where they were released without charge.”

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced that the flu vaccine would now be optional for servicemembers. “The notion that a flu vaccine must be mandatory for every service member, everywhere, in every circumstance, at all times, is just overly broad and not rational,” Hegseth said. “Our new policy is simple: If you, an American warrior entrusted to defend this nation, believe that the flu vaccine is in your best interest, then you are free to take it; you should. But we will not force you.”

Disease scholars don’t agree on where the Great Influenza of 1918 began, but one popular theory states it started at Fort Riley in Kansas among American soldiers. The cramped living conditions and pre-modern hygiene of barracks life were a perfect incubation ground for the pandemic.

That flu would go on to kill 600,000 Americans and tens of millions worldwide.

Virginia voters approved a Democrat authored gerrymandering plan. If left unchallenged, the redistricting could net Democrats four additional seats in Congress.

4/22/26

Trump fired Secretary of the Navy John C. Phelan and promoted Hung Cao to take his place.

Phelan was a capital management guy, an ardent fundraiser for Trump during his third presidential bid and husband to a former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader, and an Epstein flight enjoyer. He fell out of favor with Trump because he couldn’t do the impossible: launch new battleships named for the President by 2028. The first of the new ships is to be named the USS Defiant and Trump wants them built in the United States with American steel. Phelan told him that was impossible and that the Navy should use the shipyards of Europe.

Big mistake.

Cao, Phelan’s replacement, has already pledged to get the job done to Trump’s specifications. Cao, unlike Phelan, is a Navy veteran. He has tried and failed to win election to the House and Senate in Virginia, said that Monterey, California was beset by witches, and once claimed to have been blown up in combat despite never receiving a Purple Heart of Combat Action Ribbon.

4/23/26

Axios reported that Iran’s military was spotted deploying mines in the Strait of Hormuz. Trump responded in a post on Truth Social.

“I have ordered the United States Navy to shoot and kill any boat, small boats though they may be (Their naval ships are ALL, 159 of them, at the bottom of the sea!), that is putting mines in the waters of the Strait of Hormuz. There is to be no hesitation. Additionally, our mine ‘sweepers’ are clearing the Strait right now. I am hereby ordering that activity to continue, but at a tripled up level!”

4/24/26

During a Pentagon Press conference, TMZ DC asked Hegseth if he’d consider changing the “Department of War” to the “Department of Peace.”

“It’s a great question, actually,” Hegseth said. “You go from defense to war because you want to be proactive about peace through strength. I gave a speech in front of generals about what the ethos of the War Department is all about because I want it to go through every echelon of this department. It means something, it’s not just words. And when you fight a war the right way, the idea is that on the other side you bring about peace. That is what we’d like to see the most. In fact I once did a video about the one institution that should win the Nobel Peace Prize every single year is the United States Military.”

The Department of Justice announced it was bringing back death by firing squad as a punishment for federal crimes. The announcement was part of a broader policy of pursuing the death penalty in certain cases.

“The prior administration failed in its duty to protect the American people by refusing to pursue and carry out the ultimate punishment against the most dangerous criminals, including terrorists, child murderers, and cop killers,” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a press release. “Under President Trump’s leadership, the Department of Justice is once again enforcing the law and standing with victims.”

4/25/26

Cole Thomas Allen attempted to breach security at the White House Correspondent’s Dinner while carrying a shotgun and several other weapons. Allen got to the floor above a room where Trump, JD Vance, and several cabinet members mingled with celebrity journalists. Footage from the evacuation created several viral moments.

Cameras caught CAA agent Michael Glantz calmly eating a salad during the chaos. “I have a bad back. I couldn’t get on the floor, and if I did get on the floor, they’d have to bring in people to get me off the floor. And No. 2, I’m a hygiene freak. There was no freaking way I was getting in my new tux on the dirty Hilton floor. It was not happening,” Glantz told The New York Times when it asked why he didn’t go for cover.

4/26/26

In the aftermath of the attempted shooting, the press and public dug through Cole Tomas Allen’s internet history looking to understand what had happened. CNN pointed out he loved video games. The National Review declared he’d found a “safe space for left-wing extremism” on Bluesky. Right wing provocateur Chris Ruffo laid blame at the feet of left-wing blogger Will Stancil.

Trump and his allies said this latest assassination attempt was proof that the President needed a new ballroom at the White House. “This event would never have happened with the Militarily Top Secret Ballroom currently under construction at the White House,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social. “It cannot be built fast enough! While beautiful, it has every highest level security feature there is plus, there are no rooms sitting on top for unsecured people to pour in, and is inside the gates of the most secure building in the World, The White House. The ridiculous Ballroom lawsuit, brought by a woman walking her dog, who has absolutely No Standing to bring such a suit, must be dropped, immediately. Nothing should be allowed to interfere with with its construction, which is on budget and substantially ahead of schedule!!!”

Senators Lindsey Graham, Katie Britt, and Eric Schmitt introduced legislation to fund construction of the ballroom to the tune of $400 million. “Our bill supports his effort by providing funding to build this ballroom and keep future Presidents, their Cabinet, guests, and other world leaders safe,” Britt said in a press conference announcing the bill.

In polls, Americans overwhelmingly rejected building the ballroom.

On Sunday Night, 60 Minutes aired a 13 minute interview with the President about the shooting. It posted the full, uncut, 40 minute interview on YouTube. As always, it’s worth watching the full Trump ramble if you have the time.

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The Iran War is being fought without much on the ground media coverage. It’s a strange feeling to be deluged 24/7 by social media feeds filled with information but little original reporting. Tehran heavily restricts the internet and the leadership of both the US and Iran are less than forthcoming with journalists. But people want to know what’s going on and a cottage industry of people “monitoring the situation,” which often amounts to posting unvetted Telegram videos and sharing official state propaganda without context.

AI is making the situation worse. Not just because bad actors can create passable fake photos and videos at scale but because it gives people an excuse not to believe what’s in front of them. When the US Navy posted photos of lavish meals served to Sailors in an effort to counter stories of starving troops, I saw a lot of folks pour over the images looking for signs of AI-generation.

There were none, as far as I can tell. It reminded me we should be careful about what we want to believe.

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4/13/26

Trump posts an AI-generated picture of himself as Jesus healing a sick man at 2:49 AM.

The picture was originally posted on Instagram and X by right-wing influencer Nick Adams on February 4, 2026. Adams’ picture depicted an angelic figure floating above Jesus-Trump’s head. When Trump posted it on Truth social, the image had been altered slightly to transform the angel into the demon Bael, a popular figure in Iranian propaganda about the United States.

Trump deleted the post, but the damage was done. Depicting himself as Jesus Christ was a bridge too far for some Christians. Trump has posted images like this many times over the past decade—he posted an AI-generated image of himself as the Pope a year ago, but this image dominated a newscycle in a way others haven’t. In my opinion, the rebuke from a portion of the electorate that would normally wave off this kind of thing is an indication that people are looking for an excuse to stop supporting him.

Later that day, Trump received a DoordDash order from McDonald’s at the White House and talked to reporters about the picture. “I did post it and I thought it was me as a doctor,” he said.

CENTCOM officially began blockading Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.

“The blockade will be enforced impartially against vessels of all nations entering or departing Iranian ports and coastal areas, including all Iranian ports on the Arabian Gulf and Gulf of Oman. CENTCOM forces will not impede freedom of navigation for vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz to and from non-Iranian ports,” CENTCOM said in a press release.

4/14/26

America’s blockade, it seems, was not super effective. The Pentagon claimed zero ships traversed the Strait, but maritime tracking showed some vessels had slipped through. The ceasefire continued and multiple news outlets and Trump said that negotiations would resume in Islamabad soon.

4/15/26

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth delivered remarks at a Pentagon prayer breakfast and appeared to recite lines from Pulp Fiction as if they were a real prayer. This was the framing in much of the press, which referred to the Pulp Fiction prayer as a “blunder.” An op-ed in CNN claimed that Hegseth “trampled all over” the administration’s efforts to resolve a feud between Trump and the Pope.

As much as I dislike the Secretary of War I find myself in the unenviable position of defending him.

In the preamble to the Pulp Fiction quote, Hegseth made it clear he’d been handed the prayer by a member of the combat search and rescue team that rescued the down pilot in Iran. “This prayer was recited by Sandy-1, which is one of the Sandies, to all Sandies, all those A-10 crews prior to all CSAR missions, but especially this CSAR mission that happened in real time. They call it CSAR 25:17, which I think is meant to reflect Ezekiel 25:17,” Hegseth said.

So the Secretary of War is reciting something a troop read out before going on a mission which happens to be a quote from Pulp Fiction they probably thought sounded cool. This kind of thing happens all the time in the American military. Troops adopt stuff from pop culture they like. The first time I ever picked up a phone for a story was to call Air Force pilots to ask about a My Little Pony squadron patch.

It’s unclear if Hegseth knew he was quoting Pulp Fiction, but I’m sure he didn’t think he was quoting the Bible. The Secretary was just reciting something he thought was cool that a Sandy also thought was cool.

I was, once again, reminded to be careful about what I want to believe.

4/16/26

USA Today published a story that shared photos of troop’s meals taken aboard the USS Tripoli and the USS Abraham Lincoln. The two images showed strange gross meats and half-empty plates and went viral online. Hegseth and the Navy denied the reporting. “My team confirmed the logistics stats for the Lincoln & Tripoli. Both have 30+ days of Class I supplies (food) on board. NavCent monitors this everyday, for every ship,” Hegseth said in a post on X. “Our sailors deserve—and receive—the best.”

The sad plates of the US troops fighting the war in Iran was a reflection of other troop food stories that permeated more military minded news outlets in late February. Military folklore has it that the Pentagon always serves troops a heavy meal before a deployment and just before the start of this latest war, Sailors and Marines on social media shared images of steak and lobster dinners.

4/17/26

The Atlantic dropped a report on FBI director Kash Patel that painted him as a drunk.

“Several officials told me that Patel’s drinking has been a recurring source of concern across the government. They said that he is known to drink to the point of obvious intoxication, in many cases at the private club Ned’s in Washington, D.C., while in the presence of White House and other administration staff. He is also known to drink to excess at the Poodle Room, in Las Vegas, where he frequently spends parts of his weekends. Early in his tenure, meetings and briefings had to be rescheduled for later in the day as a result of his alcohol-fueled nights, six current and former officials and others familiar with Patel’s schedule told me.”

“On multiple occasions in the past year, members of his security detail had difficulty waking Patel because he was seemingly intoxicated, according to information supplied to Justice Department and White House officials. A request for “breaching equipment”—normally used by SWAT and hostage-rescue teams to quickly gain entry into buildings—was made last year because Patel had been unreachable behind locked doors, according to multiple people familiar with the request.”

Patel would go on to file a defamation lawsuit against the magazine.

4/18/26

The US Navy posted a photoshoot with fancy foods on X in an attempt to counter the story earlier in the week about Sailors and Marines choking down grey meats aboard deployed ships. People on social media went over the photos with an appraiser’s eye, looking for tell-tale signs of AI-generation and fakery. The truth is the photos were probably staged but there’s no reason to believe they were made with AI.

Obsession over the food of soldiers is a popular pastime in America and is one of the reasons we have the Food and Drug Administration. Popular history has it that Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle is responsible for a push to clean up America’s food supply. But the US Army Beef Scandal was just as influential. During the Spanish American war, more soldiers died due to bad meat than gunfire and America accused the military of feeding its troops “embalmed beef.”

4/19/26

The United Arab Emirates is asking America to ease financial burdens caused by the war in Iran, according to the Wall Street Journal.

“UAE Central Bank Gov. Khaled Mohamed Balama raised the idea of a currency-swap line with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Treasury and Federal Reserve officials in meetings in Washington last week, the officials said. The Emiratis emphasized that they had so far avoided the worst economic effects of the conflict but might still need a financial lifeline, the officials said.”

“Treasury officials invited Gulf countries on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings in Washington last week to outline their needs for repairing infrastructure and rebuilding their economies, promising to put them at the front of the line if assistance is needed.”

The Fed used swap lines heavily used during the 2008 financial crisis, buying the currency of other borrowing central banks with dollars and later selling it back. It also used swap lines to support foreign central banks after the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.”

Since the war began I’ve spent some time on r/UAE, a message board that caters to people “visiting, living, and working in UAE.”

In a war that’s beset by so much misinformation, AI-slop, and outright lies on all sides, the subreddits dedicated to various Gulf coast countries is an interesting place. Without tracking down the author of each individual post, it’s impossible to verify any post, but I find the stories told here more interesting and telling than any video I’m seeing on X or Telegram.

Show note:

Sorry for the delay getting this out. I have pneumonia. (yes, really) How did I get it? From eating too much salsa. (yes, really) The body has many mysteries and aspiration pneumonia is one I have now revealed to myself.

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Last Thursday, the President of the United States shared a video of a woman being beaten to death with a hammer in a Florida gas station parking lot. It’s the exact kind of thing that would have been a minor hit on Rotten.com.

I am often struck by how many of the worst parts of the early 2000s era internet now permeate our culture, but I am just as shocked by how quickly these things slip by. Twenty years ago, the President sharing a murder on social media would have dominated the public’s minds for months. Now, a week after he shared it, it feels already forgotten.

At least we have these new pictures of the Moon.

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4/6/26

Let us pause for a moment and marvel that transcendent human accomplishments are still possible. The Monday after Easter, NASA’s ARTEMIS II mission spent seven hours cruising by the Moon. The last manned mission to the moon occurred in 1972 and the return of people to the Lunar orbit was a pleasant reminder that humans are still capable of great things. The pictures NASA published of the fly by are stunning.

4/7/26

On Tuesday Trump threatened to end the Iranian civilization, leading to a day of mass nuclear anxiety as the world waited to see if he would make good on the threat. As is so often the case with Trump, he did not make good on the threat. That did not lessen the anxiety.

“A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will. However, now that we have Complete and Total Regime Change, where different, smarter, and less radicalized minds prevail, maybe something revolutionarily wonderful can happen, WHO KNOWS? We will find out tonight, one of the most important moments in the long and complex history of the World. 47 years of extortion, corruption, and death, will finally end,” Trump said in a post on Truth social.

4/8/26

Pakistan negotiated a two week ceasefire between Iran and the United States. Multiple versions of a supposed 10 point plan made the rounds online. Iran and the United States argued the finer points of the agreement in public and the Farsi and English versions of Iran’s 10 point plan didn’t match up.

Iran said its proposal included America’s acceptance of its enrichment of uranium as part of Tehran’s nuclear program. Trump claimed that they’d worked with Iran to dig up its highly enriched uranium. Hegseth said Tehran would give over the material voluntarily.

Confusion reigned, but peace talks began.

4/9/26

On Truth Social Trump posted an AI-generated picture of himself standing with UFC CEO Dana White in front of a fighting arena on the White House lawn. It was an advertisement for a White House-hosted UFC fight scheduled to take place over the summer. The picture included the logo of Stake, an online casino.

The President’s endorsement of an online casino comes at a time when gambling has infested all aspects of American life. Every sports event is stuffed with advertisements for some form of betting. Video games are saddled with gambling-style mechanics. People make big money betting on the outcome of world events on sites like Kalshi and Polymarket.

Later that day, Trump kicked off the MAGA civil war by calling out Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly, Candance Owens, and Alex Jones for criticizing the war in Iran. The massive media figures only intensified their critiques.

Still later, Trump posted security footage from a Florida parking lot that showed a woman being brutally beaten to death with a hammer.

4/10/26

The crew of the Artemis II returned safely to Earth.

4/11/26

The first round of peace talks in Iran collapsed in Islamabad. Vice President JD Vance was unable to thread the needle and he retreated from the talks. Trump and White House factotum Marco Rubio were in Florida watching a UFC fight when news of Vance’s failure broke. “We win, regardless,” he told reporters. “We defeated them militarily.”

The Strait of Hormuz remained closed. Iran continued to hold highly enriched uranium.

4/12/26

In a sign of possible shifting political winds, Viktor Orbán lost his re-election bid in Hungary. Orbán’s rule has been a political reality in the country since the 1990s and his election loss was overwhelming. American conservatives viewed Orbán’s Hungary as a kind of bulwark against overreaching liberalism and they have not taken the defeat well.

In the runup to the election, JD Vance stumped for Orbán in the country and Trump posted his support online. In an embarrassing moment on the campaign trail, Vance attempted to get Trump on the phone only to be sent to voicemail. If polls (and Polymarket) are to be believed, the attempted intercession of American power in the country only made Orbán less popular.

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“A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again,” he said. “I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will. However, now that we have Complete and Total Regime Change, where different, smarter, and less radicalized minds prevail, maybe something revolutionarily wonderful can happen, WHO KNOWS? We will find out tonight, one of the most important moments in the long and complex history of the World.”

The promise to kill an entire civilization has caused anxiety, panic, and fear since it was issued in the morning. Some are calling for impeachment or invoking the 25th amendment. White House sources have told reporters that nukes are off the table, while others have told other reporters that nukes ARE a possibility.

It’s good to remember that we’ve been here before. Trump once threatened “fire and fury the likes of which the world has never seen” against North Korea which set off a similar round of nuclear panic and worry. But America wasn’t at war with Iran then and North Korea had nuclear weapons.

So we are left to wait. Maybe you’re reading this on Wednesday or Thursday or Friday and nothing happened. It’s possible Trump just ordered the destruction of civilian infrastructure like bridges and power plants, something he’d threatened in an Easter missive. Feeling relief at that possibility is an obscenity.

“I think what’s happening is that, for the first time in his life, Trump is being told “no.” Having dealt with people who have this particular personality disorder, there’s no obvious limit to what he’ll do to himself or others trying to avoid accepting it,” Jeffrey Lewis, a nuclear weapons expert and previous guest of the show, said on Bluesky.

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3/30/26

TMZ published photos of South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham enjoying a vacation alone at Disney World. The images are odd as is the idea that Graham, who is a 70 year old lifelong bachelor, would visit Disney World by himself. There is a war on, one he has championed. There’s an energy crisis and a partial shutdown of the government.

And there is the Senator, hanging out with Mickey Mouse.

3/31/26

Reuters reported that Italy had previously denied the United States access to some bombers that were headed to the Middle East as part of America’s war with Iran. Speaking with reporters, Italian officials reiterated that they were abiding by existing agreements. The day before, Spain had closed its airspace to any US planes involved in the Iran War. Austria would do the same a few days later. Both France and Portugal have set conditions on the use of their airspace but stopped short of an outright ban.

4/1/26

The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments about birthright citizenship. Trump sat in the crowd for a little more than an hour and listened to the Justices, even those he’d hand picked, tear into his administration’s argument against birthright citizenship. A decision on the issue is expected this summer and early analysts predict it won’t favor Trump. This was the first time a sitting President attended a Supreme Court argument hearing.

Later that evening, Trump addressed the nation on national television to update them on the war in Iran. He thanked the troops, said the War had gone well, denounced Barack Obama, declared victory, and said there was still so much war left to fight.

“This is a true investment in your children and your grandchildren’s future. The whole world is watching and they can’t believe the power, strength and brilliance, they just can’t believe what they’re seeing—theyu—leave it to your imagination, but they can’t believe what they’re seeing, the brilliance of the United States military,” he said.

4/2/26

Pam Bondi is out as Attorney General.

“Pam Bondi is a Great American Patriot and a loyal friend, who faithfully served as my Attorney General over the past year. Pam did a tremendous job overseeing a massive crackdown in Crime across our Country, with Murders plummeting to their lowest level since 1900. We love Pam, and she will be transitioning to a much needed and important new job in the private sector, to be announced at a date in the near future, and our Deputy Attorney General, and a very talented and respected Legal Mind, Todd Blanche, will step in to serve as Acting Attorney General,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

Blanche has previously claimed he was magically “transported” or “teleported” to a Waffle House in Georgia. The Waffle House employees do not remember this. In a post on Truth Social, Blanche claimed that God had cured his prostate cancer and “transported” him.

“I BELIEVE IN MIRACLES,” he said.

4/3/26

It was a big day for American airpower losses.

Iranian forces shot down an F-15E over western Iran. During an early search and rescue mission for the pilots, an A-10 Warthog took fire and went down. The Warthog pilot ejected and American forces recovered him. A Black Hawk and a HH-60 helicopter also took fire during the search but made it back to base. An Iranian drone hit a CH-47 Chinook on the ground in Kuwait.

Back home, rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine got out of jail and showed off a Spongebob Squarepants toy signed by fellow inmate and former president of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro.

4/4/26

The State Department revoked the permanent resident status of the niece and grand niece of assassinated IRGC leader Qasem Soleimani. According to a notice from the State Department, the women spread Iranian propaganda and called America the Great Satan.

“Afshar Soleimani pushed this propaganda for Iran’s terrorist regime while enjoying a lavish lifestyle in Los Angeles, as attested to by her frequent posting on her recently deleted Instagram account,” the memo said.

4/5/26

Trump celebrated Easter by praising Allah and threatening to destroy Iran.

“Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!! Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell - JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah,” the President of the United States said in a post on Truth Social.

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Propaganda emphatically does not tell you how a war is playing out on the ground. It can not communicate who is “winning” or “losing” or if a particular military is achieving its objectives. It captures a vibe and elicits an emotional response in the viewer. That’s the goal. It’s best to guard your heart against it.

I’ve got much more to say about this on the Kill Switch podcast which you can view below.

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3/23/26

Trump made good on a threat/ promise and deployed ICE agents to America’s airports. On Bluesky, independent journalist Marisa Kabas collected images from readers of agents milling around at airports and published a daily thread.

“counted 25 ICE officers (most with ERO vests) during my 26-minute wait in the LGA Terminal C Touchless line this morning,” writer Megan Greenwell said on Bluesky. “every one of them was either standing doing nothing or slowly walking the length of the line doing nothing. at least four were in masks.”

One of Greenwell’s photos showed two young ICE agents wearing plate carriers and walking through the airport in NYC. The image of the young brown-vested ICE agents wandering Laguardia touched a nerve and was shared and reshared online. On Wednesday, the Department of Homeland Security’s official X account posted the photo through a blurry fashwave filter with the caption “Fly Safe, Patriots. JOIN. ICE.GOV.”

3/24/26

The Wall Street Journal reported that the Pentagon has called up 3,000 soldiers from the 82nd Airborne to the Middle East.

“The 82nd Airborne’s combat brigade serves as the Army’s emergency response force and can be deployed anywhere in the world in under 24 hours. They train to parachute into hostile or contested territory to secure airfields and land. The brigade would be deployed along with the division headquarters, which is responsible for planning and coordination, the officials said.”

3/25/26

Trump visited Graceland in Memphis, Tennessee on Monday and the White House published photos from the trip two days later. In my favorite, a bored looking Trump stares forward as if waiting for everything to be over.

On Capitol Hill, members of Congress left a closed door briefing with the White House about the war and signaled their alarm. “I will not support sending South Carolina’s sons and daughters to war in Iran. I won’t do it,” Republican Rep. Nancy Mace said in a post on X.

“We want to know more about what’s going on, what the options are, and why they’re being considered. And we’re just not getting enough answers on those questions,” House Armed Services Committee chair Rep. Mike Rogers said.

“We just wanted them to tell us what’s the plan, and we didn’t get any answers,” Rogers told Politico. “I understand they can’t give us, they shouldn’t give us, specific operational details. But generally, we should be able to get more texture than we’re receiving from them.”

3/26/26

Trump spent the past few days talking about how negotiations were going well with Iran because the Iranians had given him a present. During a filmed cabinet meeting, Trump finally told everyone what was going on. “Steve, can I reveal the present?” Trump asked.

“You can do anything you want sir,” US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff said.

“They said to show you the fact that we’re real and solid and we’re there, we’re gonna let you have eight boats of oil, eight boats, eight big boats of oil,” Trump said. “And they’ll sail up tomorrow.”

The present, Trump explained, was that Iran allowed some ships to pass through the Strait of Hormuz. “I hope I haven’t screwed up your negotiation,” Trump said to Witkoff. “I felt it was appropriate to say because I did taunt you the other day by saying they’re gonna give us a present.”

3/27/26

An Iranian-linked hacktivist group called Handala breached FBI director Kash Patel’s personal Gmail account and published mildly embarrassing pictures from Patel’s photoroll online. Most of the photos come from a personal trip Patel once took to Cuba. They’ve got Patel sniffing cigars, staring at a fancy bottle of liquor, and hanging out with a statue of Ernest Hemingway. The FBI later confirmed the hack and issued a $10 million reward for “information leading to the identification of the Handala Hack Team out of Iran.”

3/28/26

A US AH‑64 Apache helicopter buzzed Kid Rock’s home near Nashville and the rockstar filmed the whole thing and put it online. “This is a level of respect that shit for brains Governor of California will never know. God Bless America and all those who have made the ultimate sacrifice to defend her. 🇺🇸 🙏” Kid Rock said in a post on X.

This was, apparently, an off the books trip. “Fort Campbell leadership is aware of a video circulating on social media depicting AH-64 Apache helicopters operating in the vicinity of a private residence associated with Mr. Robert Ritchie (also known as ‘Kid Rock’),” a 101st Airborne Division public affairs officer told journalists. “The command has initiated an investigation to review the circumstances surrounding this activity.”

By Tuesday the investigation was wrapped up and the Army suspended the aircrew involved.

3/29/26

Another piece in The Wall Street Journal confirmed that Trump and American military leaders are talking about what experts have long known: there’s no way to prevent Iran from building a nuclear weapon without a ground force.

“‘This is not a quick in and out kind of deal,’ said retired Gen. Joseph Votel, the former commander of U.S. Central Command and U.S. Special Operations Command.

“U.S. troops could avoid such a dangerous operation if Iran agreed to hand over its uranium as part of a peace settlement. The U.S. has previously removed enriched uranium from a foreign country in a peaceful transfer. In 1994, the U.S. removed uranium from Kazakhstan in an operation dubbed Project Sapphire. In 1998, the U.S. and Britain were involved in an operation to remove highly enriched uranium from a reactor near Tbilisi, the Georgian capital. It was taken to a nuclear complex in Scotland.”

For more on this, I’ll point readers to my interview with François Diaz-Maurin of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists from a few weeks ago. Diaz-Maurin laid out all the complications in expert detail. On Sunday evening, concurrent with the Journal article, Diaz-Maurin published an investigation that detailed the current location and nature of Iran’s enriched uranium.