April 22, 2026
Iran Attacks Three Ships in the Strait of Hormuz, Claims It Has Seized Two of Them
The attacks aren't just about the ships stopped. The attacks are about bottling up oil shipments, so that insurers won't insure them and the ships won't attempt to travel through the strait, so that the price of oil jumps up, our "allies" pressure us and American opinion forces Trump into conceding the war to Iran.
Trump says Iran is "collapsing." Well, may be, but why are you granting them a cease-fire so that they can regroup?
Like I said yesterday: Trump wants a deal. It is clear that Iran does not. They think they can win by outlasting him (and us). Trump continuing to talk deal, deal, deal just convinces them more and more that they're right that he doesn't have the perseverance to outlast them. For example, he's extending the cease-fire, even though Iran is now attacking ships again, because he says that the Iranian government is "fractured" and some parts of it want a deal and other parts don't. Well, I'm afraid we have to deal with the parts of the Iranian government that do not want a deal first. There is no point talking to the people who want a deal while the people who don't want a deal continue making war. Trump needs to change their minds. And giving them a ceasefire while prattling forever about how "close" we are to a deal is not changing their minds, it's convincing them they are right and Allah will see them through this. I don't even believe the talk of an imminent "deal" is able to fulfill its earlier purpose of stopping the price of oil from climbing too high. I think people have heard this song too many times and just don't believe it any longer. Wars are won with three things, they say: Manpower, firepower, and staying power. Iran has little of the first two but they seek to win by topping us in the third category.
The third I've read was not seized and wasn't damaged too badly but it has stopped movement.
The attacks were conducted by the "fast attack boats" -- speedboats converted for military use -- that for some reason we never dropped daisy-cutter bombs on. I don't know why. But while we observe a "cease-fire," they're shooting up ships and taking the crews hostage.Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) attacked multiple ships in the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, less than a day after President Trump extended the ceasefire indefinitely until Tehran agrees to negotiate a new deal. The U.K. Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) reported that an IRGC gun boat approached and then fired on a container ship located 15 nautical miles northeast of Oman. That attack caused "heavy damage" to the ship's bridge, while no fires or environmental damage were reported and the crew was reported safe, according to the organization. Later in the day, UKMTO noted that an outbound cargo ship eight nautical miles west of Iran was fired upon and had to stop in the water. In that case, the crew was also safe and there was no reported damage to the vessel. The Fars News Agency in Iran, which is close to the IRGC, reported Wednesday morning that two "violating" ships were seized by the IRGC Navy and directed to the coast of Iran. It is unclear whether those ships are the same ones reported by the UKMTO. On Tuesday afternoon, Trump announced that he was extending the ceasefire with Iran until officials from the latter return to the negotiating table.This isn't going to appease Tucker Carlson and the Ron Paul crowd. It might, however, wind up costing Trump actual MAGA voters.
The attacks aren't just about the ships stopped. The attacks are about bottling up oil shipments, so that insurers won't insure them and the ships won't attempt to travel through the strait, so that the price of oil jumps up, our "allies" pressure us and American opinion forces Trump into conceding the war to Iran.
Trump says Iran is "collapsing." Well, may be, but why are you granting them a cease-fire so that they can regroup?
Dining Room of the White House, April 21, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) US President Donald Trump claimed Wednesday that Iran was "collapsing financially" over the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, as Tehran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps attacked three ships in the vital waterway that is blockaded by both Washington and Tehran. Trump's comments came hours after he announced he was indefinitely extending the two-week ceasefire with Iran, which had been conditioned on Iran lifting its blockade on the Strait of Hormuz. Iran last week briefly lifted its blockade following the Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire, but reversed course after the US said it would maintain the blockade it had imposed on Iran-linked shipping on April 13, five days into the truce. "Iran is collapsing financially! They want the Strait of Hormuz opened immediately," Trump wrote on Truth Social. The Islamic Republic is "starving for cash" and its military and police were "complaining that they are not getting paid," he claimed, adding: "SOS!!!"I'm sorry, I do not believe this. Iran is attacking shipping. This is not them saying "SOS." This is Iran attacking shipping. Yes, they are collapsing financially -- but that will take a while. In the meantime, they're attacking shipping, and for some reason, we're not blowing up their attack boats. Because of the "cease-fire" that only we are observing. Why are we not attacking the fast attack boats? Why are we not dropping air-burst bombs over their harbors? So we can "talk" to the Iranians who are plainly playing us for fools?
Like I said yesterday: Trump wants a deal. It is clear that Iran does not. They think they can win by outlasting him (and us). Trump continuing to talk deal, deal, deal just convinces them more and more that they're right that he doesn't have the perseverance to outlast them. For example, he's extending the cease-fire, even though Iran is now attacking ships again, because he says that the Iranian government is "fractured" and some parts of it want a deal and other parts don't. Well, I'm afraid we have to deal with the parts of the Iranian government that do not want a deal first. There is no point talking to the people who want a deal while the people who don't want a deal continue making war. Trump needs to change their minds. And giving them a ceasefire while prattling forever about how "close" we are to a deal is not changing their minds, it's convincing them they are right and Allah will see them through this. I don't even believe the talk of an imminent "deal" is able to fulfill its earlier purpose of stopping the price of oil from climbing too high. I think people have heard this song too many times and just don't believe it any longer. Wars are won with three things, they say: Manpower, firepower, and staying power. Iran has little of the first two but they seek to win by topping us in the third category.
Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 12:10 PM | Comments (421) | Trackbacks (Suck)
Wednesday Morning Rant
Is It Actually Unusual?
There is a former USAF major general named William McCasland. He retired in in the teens. He recently took his .38 revolver and headed out for a hike near his Albuquerque, NM home - and never returned. So far, there is nothing all that unusual about this. A missing persons case - even when it is a former Air Force general - is in fact one of those "local news stories." It is unusual for such a case to be reported on outside of the home market and much more unusual for it be a topic for mainstream outlets like Fox News and Scientific American. Or, for that matter, the FBI, Congress and the White House.
And, in fact, it hasn't. Not on its own. McCasland's recent disappearance, however, is allegedly one incident in a disturbing trend. Per NBC News, there has been much online speculation that McCasland is just the latest incident in a long series of deaths or disappearances of US scientists. The speculation is that US scientists are being targeted, by enemy actors or others of unknown motive. This has since grown into actual investigations to see if there is any there there.
Posted by: Joe Mannix at 11:00 AM | Comments (345) | Trackbacks (Suck)
Mid-Morning Art Thread
Painted in a Welsh Village
Albert Houthuesen
Painted in a Welsh Village
Albert Houthuesen
Posted by: CBD at 09:30 AM | Comments (235) | Trackbacks (Suck)
The Morning Report — 4/ 22/26 
Good morning kids, So Virginians went to the polls and voted, or allegedly "voted" to redraw their congressional map in such a way as to prevent anyone but Democrats from winning any seat ever again...
... I wrote "allegedly voted" above, because as we know all too well, the Democrat party and leftist organizations have the ability and no compunctions to rig, cheat, steal and do whatever they can to win by any means necessary, since they are deluded in the twisted worldview that they and they alone have absolute moral authority and Gott mit uns as their predecessors/kissing cousins from the NSDAP had on their belt buckles, to organize society as they see fit. As CBD and I discussed on the latest episode of the podcast (linked here) as well as in the sidebar and on the outlets/apps listed at the bottom of the post) Abigail Spanberger is an evil harridan. But make no mistake, she is no outlier nor a one-off. The Democrat Party is out to destroy America as founded, and regardless of their excuses and mythologies always to acquire and wield absolute power, period full stop. Until my dying breath, everything wrong with this nation, all of the problems, discord, dissolution, dislocation violence, bloodshed and wastage of human life and human potential is directly the fault of, or has been exacerbated and made worse by orders of magnitude by the Democrat Left. And when the problems are solved or at least well on the way to being solved well what do Democrats do, they gin up the discord or at the very least fake it. This next item while hardly surprising makes the blood boil.
So like the infamous "Charlottesville" hoax" and the alleged 1/6 "insurrection" it's all an op, a lie or a hoax or an elaborate fake. That and projection. Have a great day! And lastly, a quick shout-out and a huge thank you for your continued support in hitting our tip jar. It truly is appreciated more than you can know.
Virginia Democrats’ legally suspect and deceptively worded referendum now gives their allies in the legislature the ability to redistrict the state ahead of the 2026 midterms. The party’s proposal seeks to remake the commonwealth from a six Democrat-five Republican map to a 10 Democrat-one Republican map and effectively disenfranchise millions of rural Virginians in the process. In addition to dishonest ballot language about “fairness,” the referendum also enjoyed heavy support from the left’s dark money network. A Federalist analysis from earlier this month discovered that more than 90 percent of the funds being poured into the left-wing group backing the amendment (Virginians for Fair Elections) came from outside the state. According to the Virginia Public Access Project (VPAP), Virginians for Fair Elections received more than $38 million from D.C.-based House Majority Forward (HMF). HMF notably boasts ties to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and House Democrat leadership.
... I wrote "allegedly voted" above, because as we know all too well, the Democrat party and leftist organizations have the ability and no compunctions to rig, cheat, steal and do whatever they can to win by any means necessary, since they are deluded in the twisted worldview that they and they alone have absolute moral authority and Gott mit uns as their predecessors/kissing cousins from the NSDAP had on their belt buckles, to organize society as they see fit. As CBD and I discussed on the latest episode of the podcast (linked here) as well as in the sidebar and on the outlets/apps listed at the bottom of the post) Abigail Spanberger is an evil harridan. But make no mistake, she is no outlier nor a one-off. The Democrat Party is out to destroy America as founded, and regardless of their excuses and mythologies always to acquire and wield absolute power, period full stop. Until my dying breath, everything wrong with this nation, all of the problems, discord, dissolution, dislocation violence, bloodshed and wastage of human life and human potential is directly the fault of, or has been exacerbated and made worse by orders of magnitude by the Democrat Left. And when the problems are solved or at least well on the way to being solved well what do Democrats do, they gin up the discord or at the very least fake it. This next item while hardly surprising makes the blood boil.
The Department of Justice announced Tuesday that a grand jury indicted the Southern Poverty Law Center for making fraudulent payments of millions of dollars to members of the Ku Klux Klan and other neo-Nazi organizations.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said at a news conference that the 11-count indictment filed in an Alabama federal court alleged the left-wing nonprofit had in the past decade paid at least $3 million to eight members of the far-right groups.
One leader of the 2017 Unite the Right protest in Charlottesville, Va., received roughly $270,000 over an eight-year period. Neither that person nor others were identified in the 14-page indictment. Another embedded in a neo-Nazi organization was paid $1 million to steal 25 boxes of the hate group’s documents . .
. . . Starting in the 1980s, the SPLC began using informants who had infiltrated various groups.
But Blanche said in the press conference that the nonprofit never informed law enforcement that it was “paying off the Klu Klux Klan” or other extremist groups.
Several of the informants were also being paid while simultaneously being featured in SPLC publications — including on its public-facing “Extremist File” webpage — as members of the hate groups.
Prosecutors alleged in the indictment that the informants, or “field sources,” were also “engaged in the active promotion of racist groups.”
So like the infamous "Charlottesville" hoax" and the alleged 1/6 "insurrection" it's all an op, a lie or a hoax or an elaborate fake. That and projection. Have a great day! And lastly, a quick shout-out and a huge thank you for your continued support in hitting our tip jar. It truly is appreciated more than you can know.
- ABOVE THE FOLD, BREAKING, NOTEWORTHY LINKS
- FBI Director Kash Patel called it a “widespread, decade-long multi-million dollar fraud” that was concealed through a “banking network.”
'Manufacturing extremisim' DOJ charges Southern Poverty Law Center with fraud for paying white supremacist groups $3M to ‘stoke racial hatred
Posted by: J.J. Sefton at 07:38 AM | Comments (358) | Trackbacks (Suck)
Daily Tech News 22 April 2026
Top Story
- AMD's new top-of-the-line Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 processor is here. Don't buy it. (Tom's Hardware)
Not AMD's fault. They've resisted shipping CPUs with this configuration for years, claiming that it only helped performance for certain very specific workloads.
They were right.
Also, Intel's new 270K Plus is nearly as fast for creative work at less than half the price. Yes, it's on a dead platform, but even if you'll end up throwing away both the CPU and the motherboard it may work out better value than the 9950X3D2.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:30 AM | Comments (126) | Trackbacks (Suck)
April 21, 2026
Tuesday Overnight Open Thread - April 21, 2026 [Doof]
Posted by: Open Blogger at 10:00 PM | Comments (327) | Trackbacks (Suck)
Suspicious Characters Cafe
San Francisco bay as seen from Sausalito
Pink elephants after the parade. Goose wearing beer goggles. Nightmare. Back off, bruv.
El Capitan in Yosemite. (NOT Yellowstone. Whoopsie.) Some pig. Friendly pig. Goose-stepping chicken. Re-post: Golden retriever wants to pack for the trip, too. Two paws have twice the scratching power. "The guilty dog test." It works every time. Caught red-pawed. Baby tiger tries to calm down his stressy mom.
San Francisco bay as seen from Sausalito
Pink elephants after the parade. Goose wearing beer goggles. Nightmare. Back off, bruv.
El Capitan in Yosemite. (NOT Yellowstone. Whoopsie.) Some pig. Friendly pig. Goose-stepping chicken. Re-post: Golden retriever wants to pack for the trip, too. Two paws have twice the scratching power. "The guilty dog test." It works every time. Caught red-pawed. Baby tiger tries to calm down his stressy mom.
Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 07:30 PM | Comments (294) | Trackbacks (Suck)
Quick Hits
Boy Democrats will do a lot of work to avoid any actual work.
Communist traitor and generational fraud co-conspirator Tim Walz has started a new PAC to, get this, grift money.
This will be the mechanism which funds his very unearned retirement.Boy Democrats will do a lot of work to avoid any actual work.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz launched a federal political action committee on Monday and the name of the new venture quickly created a stir on social media among conservatives. Walz's PAC, first reported in Politico Playbook, is named the "Small Town PAC." The governor said he wants to "show up in small towns" and "organize in places too many people have given up on, and build power with the folks who call these places home." "If Democrats want to win in more places, we've got to start showing up in more places," Walz wrote in an X post. Walz was widely mocked by conservatives when he ran for vice president in 2024 for his attempts to make inroads with rural voters -- like touting his blue-collar roots and hunting hobby.This is a very Minnesota-heavy Quick Hits, because Minnesota is a third-world garbage state filled with nasty communists. Sorry, Minnesotans, but you know it's true. Ilhan Omar has amended her past financial disclosure which revealed that she was now a millionaire with up to $30 million in assets. She now says that was a big whoopsie and that we should just ignore that and stop asking her about it.
"Small towns across Minnesota loathe @Tim_Walz," state Rep. Kristin Robbins, Minnesota Republican gubernatorial candidate, posted. "Small towns and townships overwhelmingly voted against you, Tim," Townhall columnist Dustin Grage posted on X. "We think your policies are despicable." "Small towns across Minnesota loathe @Tim_Walz," state Rep. Kristin Robbins, Minnesota Republican gubernatorial candidate, posted on X. "He infamously disparaged them as @RocksAndCowsHQ and his left-wing policies are opposed by most!" Daniel Turner, executive director of Power the Future, wrote on X, "Good Lord small town America hates everything you stand for: open borders, trans insanity, defund the police, rampant crime, Somali fraud."
House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) said Tuesday that Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) will "be held accountable to the fullest extent" if it is discovered that she was involved in or benefited from "any fraud." His remarks follow a Wall Street Journal report that a financial disclosure listed her and her husband's assets at between $6 million and $30 million. Omar's office later told the outlet the filing contained a "discrepancy," and an amended version put the couple's assets at between $18,004 and $95,000, the Journal reported. "Omar is saying the multimillion-dollar discrepancy was nothing more than an accounting error. In what world is a multibillion-dollar correction to a person's financial disclosure considered normal? Perhaps this member's accountant, perhaps Ilhan's accountant, is a graduate from the Quality Learing Center. Either way, this about-face shows incompetence at best and a cover-up at worst," Emmer told reporters during a press briefing on Tuesday. "Make no mistake, if Ilhan Omar is discovered to have been involved in any or to have benefited in any way from any fraud, she must be held accountable to the fullest extent," Emmer added. A lawyer representing Omar wrote in a letter to the Office of Congressional Conduct (OCC) that, "While the error is of course unfortunate, there is nothing untoward and nothing illegal has occurred," according to the Journal.The "bulbous goon" who violently attacked Savanah Hernandez is now on a media tour, insisting that he attacked the 100-pound woman in self-defense.
But the situation has only intensified GOP scrutiny of Omar. She has long been a target of Republican criticism, with backlash mounting earlier this year over reports of an alleged sprawling fraud scandal in Minnesota, in which many people charged were of Somali descent. Prosecutors claim that billions of dollars were stolen by various groups that purported to have provided meal assistance for children in need, in addition to other social safety net services that were reimbursed through state agencies. House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) told Fox News's Sean Hannity on Monday that, "She's never explained to the public how her net worth was $30 million and if she made a mistake, how the mistake happened." "It's highly unlikely that she made a mistake. This isn't going to go away from her. So we're going to continue to try to push for answers and see if her name pops up in any of these frauds that Vice President Vance and the House Oversight Committee are detecting in Minnesota," he said.
Savanah Hernandez
@Savsays UPDATE: Chris Ostroushko says that the backlash his family has beenreceiving for their actions last weekend has been "overwhelming" and "nonstop" He's now "second guessing" living in the United States, because he's unhappy with how negatively the public has reacted to him assaulting a woman on camera. He is in complete disbelief, stating that, "I've never had anything like this happen in my life". Chris and Deyanna have been going on a press tour continuing to assert that they are the real victims, despite millions watching the footage of them instigating everything. There is also a GoFundMe for them, where they are currently trying to raise $8k, stating that they've lost their jobs and, "are facing one of the most overwhelming and life-altering moments they have ever experienced". The family has still taken zero accountability for any of the violence they committed and are in complete shock that they are facing consequences for their actions. Last week Chris also did an interview where he lied, stating that his family is "absolutely not violent" and that all he did was "stay back and watch" everything, despite being on camera shoving me multiple times.
Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 06:20 PM | Comments (301) | Trackbacks (Suck)
Conservative Former DOJ Prosecutor Joe DiGenova Sworn In as Special Consultant to Investigate the Russiagate Conspiracy
And what are they investigating? That's right, whether Democrat officials created a color change operation to remove a sitting president of the United States.
U.S. Installs a Trump Loyalist to Lead 'Grand Conspiracy' Case Into Trump Foes A former lawyer for President Trump's campaign, Joseph diGenova, is said to be planning to split time between Miami and Fort Pierce, where a grand jury overseen by a Trump-favored judge sits. By Charlie Savage and Alan Feuer As a sprawling inquiry expands into whether former federal officials committed crimes in investigating President Trump, two unusual factors could ease the way toward securing the indictments he craves. A former lawyer for Mr. Trump's campaign, Joseph diGenova, has been selected to lead the inquiry after a career prosecutor in Miami was removed from that post this week, a senior law enforcement official said on Saturday. And at least part of the investigation appears to be using a grand jury based in Fort Pierce, Fla., overseen by a federal judge, Aileen M. Cannon, who issued rulings favorable to Mr. Trump during the classified documents case against him, the official added. Mr. diGenova is expected to split his time between Miami and Fort Pierce. Together, the moves show how the Justice Department under Mr. Trump's control has been willing to embrace politically charged tactics and unorthodox personnel decisions in its efforts to satisfy his demands to prosecute his perceived foes -- even as other prosecutors loyal to him have encountered forceful pushback from courts against his wide-ranging retribution campaign.
Mr. diGenova, 81, who served as a U.S. attorney in the Reagan era, has been given the title of counselor to the attorney general and detailed to the Southern District of Florida, where the U.S. attorney, Jason A. Reding Quiñones, another Trump loyalist, is supervising the inquiry. Mr. diGenova's appointment comes after Maria Medetis Long, a senior career prosecutor in Miami who had been in charge of the investigation, was abruptly removed from the case. Ms. Medetis Long, who leads national security investigations for Mr. Quiñones's office, is said to have objected to moving forward with a portion of the inquiry focused on John O. Brennan, the former C.I.A. director. The law enforcement official familiar with the matter spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive internal issue. Because Judge Cannon is the only federal jurist in the Fort Pierce courthouse, she could be in a position to make critical decisions if Mr. diGenova uses the grand jury there to subpoena documents or witness testimony and the recipients balk, asking her to quash the demands. Judge Cannon was criticized by an appeals court in 2022 after she effectively stalled the investigation into Mr. Trump's mishandling of classified documents by appointing a so-called special master to sort through reams of materials seized from Mar-a-Lago, his private club and residence in Florida. Later, Mr. Trump praised her lavishly, calling her "strong" and "brilliant," after she tossed out the indictment altogether, ruling that Jack Smith, the special counsel who filed the charges, had been improperly appointed.Why did Trump have to reach outside the current DOJ corps of prosecutors? Because Obama, and then Biden, purged every single older, experienced conservative prosecutor from the DOJ.
Bringing diGenova in for that role confirms something that I've long believed about the 2020s version of the Department of Justice -- the near complete purging of DOJ of anyone remotely resembling me between 2009 and 2025 has left the Department without a contingent of gray haired and/or balding older folks with conservative political views AND the experience and skill set needed to methodically piece together a very large jigsaw puzzle of evidence that involves dozens of primary players, hundreds of locations, and lasting over a decade in time. The exercise requires patience and a willingness to backtrack and go a different direction whenever you encounter an evidentiary dead-end. It does not lend itself to "head down bull-in-a-china-shop" youthful enthusiasm. One thing I learned in handling 90+ cases involving January 6 defendants is that the roster of AUSAs across the country who I encountered looked nothing like me in my last 10 years with DOJ -- from age 42 to 52. The number of J6 cases prosecuted by DOJ was so large that the AUSAs working in the D.C. U.S. Attorney's Office were unable to handle them all. The Biden DOJ put out a "tasking" to all U.S. Attorneys' Offices across the country to designate a certain number of AUSAs from their offices to be assigned to handle J6 cases. I personally handled cases that had AUSAs assigned to them who worked in Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, New Mexico, Chicago, New York, Boston, and Tampa -- just as a sample. The majority were women from their late 20s to their late 30s. To the extent I was able to discern their "politics" through conversation or taking the time to learn more about them online, they were uniformly liberal progressives -- not a single exception that I can recall. Similarly, the male AUSAs I encountered -- with only 1-2 exceptions who were well into their 40s -- were pretty obviously liberal progressives. I do not recall a single encounter -- across 90+ cases -- where the AUSA ever let on or suggested any kind of political "alignment" with the January 6 defendants as a group. I don't mean comments that might have excused the conduct or criticized the Biden Admin. approach to the prosecutions -- I don't recall a single comment that could have been construed as suggesting the AUSA was a Republican who supported Pres. Trump during his time in office in his first term.
Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 05:20 PM | Comments (149) | Trackbacks (Suck)
Southern Poverty Law Generational Wealth Center Says It's Being Investigated by Trump's DOJ; Democrat Fundraising Arm ActBlue Takes the Fifth Amendment Rather Than Answer Questions
At PJM, Matt Margolis says that ActBlue is "toast" and doubts they can survive taking the Fifth Amendment on almost all questions about how they raise money -- and from whom, and from where.
The SPLC says the DOJ is investigating them over their use of paid infiltrators who supposedly tell them about extremists' groups plans.
That's silly. There's nothing illegal about that. Sounds like a big bag of bullshit to me. I imagine the SPLC is putting out spin ahead of the actual news coming out. They're being investigated, I would guess, over criminal conduct, but they want to get all the lefties (and I guess all the Rand Paul, Thomas Massie, Marjorie Taylor Space Laser, and Tuq'r Qarlson fans) on their side before the real news drops.The Justice Department is allegedly investigating the Southern Poverty Law Center in connection with the group's use of paid informants to infiltrate extremist organizations decades ago. ... Bryan Fair, CEO of the SPLC, said that the organization doesn't know all the details, but the Trump administration has launched an investigation, which may lead to charges. Fair said the SPLC worked with informants during the height of the Civil Rights Movement, when violence against activists was running high.Yeah I have a feeling it's about self-enrichment and embezzlement. Or about, say, sexually harassing/coercing female staffers and then demanding they remain silent for "The Great Cause."
At PJM, Matt Margolis says that ActBlue is "toast" and doubts they can survive taking the Fifth Amendment on almost all questions about how they raise money -- and from whom, and from where.
A damning interim staff report from the House Administration, Oversight, and Judiciary Committees paints a damning picture of widespread illegal foreign donations flowing through the platform with the full knowledge of ActBlue's leadership, followed by a massive cover-up in the hopes of preventing Congress from finding out. Two ActBlue officials -- including former Vice President of Customer Service Alyssa Twomey, who oversaw the fraud-prevention team during the 2024 election cycle -- and three former lawyers refused to answer a single substantive question from investigators. Combined, ActBlue employees invoked the Fifth Amendment at least 146 times across depositions with the three committees between July and December 2025. ... Then there's the legal and compliance team. By March 2025, every member of it was gone -- resigned, fired, or on extended leave. According to the interim report, "this mass exodus was a direct consequence of ActBlue's failure to deter illegal foreign political donations" and the CEO's prior misstatements to Congress. The report states that every member of the legal and compliance team "appears to have left the platform after the 2024 election because of its 'knowing and willful' acceptance of illegal foreign contributions, and the subsequent cover-up."Read the whole thing.
Every. Single. One.
Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 03:24 PM | Comments (170) | Trackbacks (Suck)
Mollie Hemingway: Leftwing Justices Slow-Walked The Dobbs Decision Even While Right-Leaning Justices Were Targeted With Death Threats and White Powders
And they did this, of course, to expose their colleagues to danger and menace, in hopes they would buckle and change the decision to match what the violent leftist mobs and assassins demanded.
When the draft of the Supreme Court ruling that would overturn Roe v. Wade leaked to the press, the conservative justices who signed on to the majority opinion suddenly wore bigger targets on their backs. The very real threat of assassination hung over them like a coming thunderstorm. And still their pro-abortion colleagues stalled the release of the official ruling for weeks, putting the justices' lives at increased risk, as detailed in Mollie Hemingway's new book on Justice Samuel Alito and reported Saturday by Fox News. Alito is the justice who wrote Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, the ruling ending nationalized abortion. "Alito asked the dissenters to make the completion of their dissents their priority because delay of the decision was a security threat," Hemingway, The Federalist's editor-in-chief writes in Alito: The Justice Who Reshaped the Supreme Court and Restored the Constitution."Abortion supporters had an incentive to kill one or more of the justices in the majority to change the outcome." The dissenters -- Justices Stephen Breyer (counting down the days until his retirement at the end of the 2021-22 term ), Elena Kagan, and Sonia Sotomayor -- "demurred," Hemingway reports. Justice Neil Gorsuch asked the liberals when they expected to be wrapped up. They refused to provide a date. The tension and the threats escalated. ... It took 53 days to finally release the Dobbs decision. Despite the growing threat to their colleagues, the liberals on the court refused to listen to urgent pleas to complete their work, Hemingway reports.Read the whole thing. I love the "conservatives" telling us they'll defect to the left if we don't agree with them that the Zionist Entity must be wiped off the map. There's further bad behavior from leftwingers on the Court -- they've leaked documents about internal deliberations to the New York Times, despite Roberts' very stern warning that they should stop doing that or face another warning. Note that this article does not say that leftwingers leaked these documents. I say it was the leftwingers, because 1, they've done before -- see Dobbs -- and 2, this leak seems designed to create fodder for the left to claim that right-leaning Justices are "activists" who need to be put in check or impeached. (Or reduced in power by packing the Court.)
In yet another blow to the Supreme Court's long-cherished tradition of secrecy, The New York Times has published confidential internal memos that shed rare light on the justices' private deliberations. In a report titled "The Inside Story of Five Days That Remade the Supreme Court," the Times published 16 pages of confidential documents exchanged among justices over five days in February 2016.See, the Court ruled against Obama's EPA and its issuance of orders without legislative authorization to do so -- so this was leaked by leftwingers who think that a Democrat Administration has All the Powers under their twisted version of the Constitution.
...
The memos -- unlikely to have surfaced for decades under normal circumstances -- capture behind-the-scenes discussions led by Chief Justice John Roberts as the court moved swiftly to issue a stay without full briefing or oral argument. They also suggest the majority was concerned that, absent intervention, the Environmental Protection Agency would impose what it saw as unlawful regulatory burdens on electric utilities.
That decision marked a significant shift toward resolving high-stakes disputes through expedited orders, a practice that has since expanded to cases involving presidential authority and other major policy questions.
Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 03:20 PM | Comments (273) | Trackbacks (Suck)
Iran Refuses to Send Delegation to Negotiations in Islamabad as Cease-Fire Is Due to Expire
The trouble here is that Trump wants a deal. Iran does not. They want to keep their nuclear program and missiles and remain in power. Trump wants them to want a deal, but they do not.
So he keeps threatening them in apocalyptic terms to make them want to want a deal. But they don't. And I don't think they believe he would or even could "end their civilization." Trump doesn't want this war to drag on but that's exactly what Iran wants. They figure that if they can drag this out, public opinion in the US will compel Trump to just walk away from the war without actually forcing them to come to terms or to abandon power. And they're probably right, unfortunately.Last-minute ceasefire talks between the United States and Iran looked uncertain Tuesday as a two-week truce was set to expire and both countries warned that, without a deal, they were prepared to resume fighting. U.S. Vice President JD Vance, expected to lead U.S. negotiators if talks continue in Pakistan, remained in Washington on Tuesday, a White House official said. And Pakistan, which has been urging both sides to return to Islamabad, said it was still awaiting confirmation on whether Iran would participate. Earlier in the day, two regional officials said Washington and Tehran had signaled they would hold a second round of talks, with Vance leading the U.S. team and Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf as its top negotiator. Both spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief reporters. But Pakistan's information minister, Attaullah Tarar, said later Tuesday on X that Iran had not formally confirmed its participation. The ceasefire was set to expire Wednesday. AP correspondent Charles de Ledesma reports on further confusion regarding this week's projected Iran-US ceasefire talks. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei told Iran's state TV there has been "no final decision" on whether to attend because of "unacceptable actions" by the U.S., apparently referencing its recent blockade in the Strait of Hormuz.Tousi has a more optimistic take on this than I do, stating that this is just a "desperate" tactic by Iran to show that they're the ones in charge. But... if one person wants to negotiate and you refuse, you are in charge, at least on the question of whether negotiations will happen. He also says Iran is in "chaos" because no one knows who's actually in charge there. But that also means that the deal that Trump so desperately wants -- and I think he has telegraphed his desire for a deal much harder than he should have -- will still not happen. I don't think this bothers Tousi much because he wants regime change, and Iran is making it clear that nothing but regime change will result in a deal. But Trump just doesn't have the Bush-like indifference to public opinion and sheer bullheadedness about continuing an unpopular war. Iran believes that if they just refuse to concede, Trump will eventually be forced, by public pressure, to just declare a (false) victory and go home. Just making more and more extravagant threats isn't changing Iran's posture. I don't know where this goes from here. I think Trump can afford to just wait Iran out with a long and crippling blockade, but I don't know that Trump feels like he has enough public support for several months of low-intensity warfare. I've feared from the start that there is just no way to truly win a war without some ground component -- you have to literally blow their heads off and hang them from street-lamps -- and without an armed civilian overthrow, I'm thinking this war ends in a stalemate. Lots of damage inflicted on the mullocracy -- but the mullahs left in place to rebuild. Do you have a more optimistic take than I do?
Vance had policy meetings scheduled at the White House on Wednesday morning, said a White House official who was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. The vice president's office and the White House did not immediately respond to messages asking whether Vance still intends to travel to Pakistan. Trump says he doesn't favor extending ceasefire Both sides remain dug in rhetorically. U.S. President Donald Trump has warned that "lots of bombs" will "start going off" if there's no agreement before the ceasefire deadline, and Iran's chief negotiator said that Tehran has "new cards on the battlefield" that haven't yet been revealed. The ceasefire, which began April 8, could be extended if talks resume, though Trump said in an interview Tuesday with CNBC: "Well, I don't want to do that." "We don't have that much time," Trump said, adding that Iran "had a choice" and "they have to negotiate."
Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 02:16 PM | Comments (334) | Trackbacks (Suck)
DOT Secretary Sean Duffy Prepares to End New York's Right to Issue Commercial Drivers Licenses
He will also cancel $73 million in federal transportation funding for New York.
JOSH DUNLAP
@JDunlap1974 Apr 20 TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY SEAN DUFFY EXPOSES NEW YORK'S ILLEGAL CDL SCANDAL -- 53% OF FOREIGN LICENSES ISSUED ILLEGALLY, PULLS $73M FUNDING Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy just laid out the shocking fraud uncovered in New York's commercial driver's license program. "We audited New York and 53% of the licenses, commercial driver's licenses issued to foreigners. 53% were issued illegally contrary to our rules," Duffy said. The Trump administration gave New York four months to fix it. "We gave New York four months to say hey what we want you to do is just go back in audit all these licenses that you've given and if you've given them contrary to the rules, we'll revoke that license." New York refused. "In essence New York said go pound sand DOT," Duffy stated. "So we had no choice but to pull funding -- and if they still refuse, we can pull their ability to issue commercial driver licenses." Duffy emphasized the national danger and the America First response: "There are countless Americans that want to drive trucks. These are great jobs. They support families. Instead we have illegals or foreigners getting these jobs hurting the American people. We will not tolerate it at DOT. President Trump said no more."
Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 01:20 PM | Comments (201) | Trackbacks (Suck)
Of Course: Seized Iranian Ship Was Carrying Dual-Use Materials From China for Use in Building Ballistic Missiles
It's time to deploy the oil weapon against China. Trump is now in defacto control of Venezuelan oil and Iranian oil, which together provide China with much of its oil. It's time to remind China of that.
Say, didn't China agree to not send weapons to Iran?
The Iranian ship seized by U.S. Marines on Monday after attempting to break through President Trump's blockade was reportedly found to be carrying dual-use chemicals shipped from China that are commonly used to manufacture ballistic missiles. In an interview on Tuesday, President Trump confirmed the report, describing the chemicals as a "gift from China." He added that he was surprised by it because he thought he "had an understanding with President Xi."
It's time to deploy the oil weapon against China. Trump is now in defacto control of Venezuelan oil and Iranian oil, which together provide China with much of its oil. It's time to remind China of that.
Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 12:10 PM | Comments (412) | Trackbacks (Suck)
The Morning Rant
Even this article in the local rabid-leftist Santa Barbara newspaper exposes the contradictions in the attempt to supersede federal law with state regulation. Luckily the company is seemingly telling the judge to pound sand and continues to pump oil. You know, for national defense requirements that are self evident to anyone with a pulse and a passing familiarity with current events. But the arrogance of a low-level functionary in the California court system is breathtaking. This wasn't a holding that pushed it up the ladder to courts that might actually have some sane legal perspective (although it's CA so probably not). No, this was a demand to stop, on pain of penalty. There is no sense that the federal government might actually have standing, or that the administration's use of the Defense Production Act might be of national import. No...this was simply the amazing self-centeredness of a rabid environmentalist with a soupçon of Trump Derangement Syndrome, all topped with a California leftist's hatred of all things military. So OF COURSE this hack in black was going to try to stop the oil from flowing. She got her 15 minutes, and when she next goes to her favorite vegan lunch cooperative for a meal, the other patrons will stand and clap, and she will bask in their adulation! Never mind that America probably needs that oil to flow for national security reasons that are far more important than the remote possibility that some tidal snail's habitat gets a bit of oil in it. And yes, that is mockery of the environmentalists and their insanity. America is cleaner now than it has ever been in the industrial age, and using the increasingly hypothetical risk of environmental damage to do real damage to our country is tantamount to supporting Iran and the terror networks that America is trying to destroy. [Crossposted at CutJibNewsletter and X/Twitter]. If you folks who are on X/Twitter would follow us it would be much appreciated!
Oil development off Santa Barbara County’s Gaviota Coast has long turned on fine legal margins — interstate versus intrastate, State Fire Marshal versus the U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, court orders versus claims of immunity. On Friday morning, in the Santa Barbara courtroom of Judge Donna Geck, one of those margins snapped into focus. Geck refused to lift the injunction blocking Sable Offshore Corp. from restarting its pipeline system — even as oil continues to flow. That alone might sound like just procedural sparring, but this time, the ruling did something new: It rejected, for the first time, Sable’s argument that a federal order issued under the Defense Production Act allows it to sidestep state law and the court’s prior orders. “This is the first time a court has recognized that the Defense Production Act order does not relieve Sable of its requirements under state law,” said Talia Nimmer, staff attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD).
Even this article in the local rabid-leftist Santa Barbara newspaper exposes the contradictions in the attempt to supersede federal law with state regulation. Luckily the company is seemingly telling the judge to pound sand and continues to pump oil. You know, for national defense requirements that are self evident to anyone with a pulse and a passing familiarity with current events. But the arrogance of a low-level functionary in the California court system is breathtaking. This wasn't a holding that pushed it up the ladder to courts that might actually have some sane legal perspective (although it's CA so probably not). No, this was a demand to stop, on pain of penalty. There is no sense that the federal government might actually have standing, or that the administration's use of the Defense Production Act might be of national import. No...this was simply the amazing self-centeredness of a rabid environmentalist with a soupçon of Trump Derangement Syndrome, all topped with a California leftist's hatred of all things military. So OF COURSE this hack in black was going to try to stop the oil from flowing. She got her 15 minutes, and when she next goes to her favorite vegan lunch cooperative for a meal, the other patrons will stand and clap, and she will bask in their adulation! Never mind that America probably needs that oil to flow for national security reasons that are far more important than the remote possibility that some tidal snail's habitat gets a bit of oil in it. And yes, that is mockery of the environmentalists and their insanity. America is cleaner now than it has ever been in the industrial age, and using the increasingly hypothetical risk of environmental damage to do real damage to our country is tantamount to supporting Iran and the terror networks that America is trying to destroy. [Crossposted at CutJibNewsletter and X/Twitter]. If you folks who are on X/Twitter would follow us it would be much appreciated!
Posted by: CBD at 11:20 AM | Comments (189) | Trackbacks (Suck)
Mid-Morning Art Thread
"The rich man's wealth is his strong city, etc." - Proverbs, x, 15
Emily Mary Osborn
"The rich man's wealth is his strong city, etc." - Proverbs, x, 15
Emily Mary Osborn
Posted by: CBD at 09:30 AM | Comments (300) | Trackbacks (Suck)
The Morning Report — 4/ 21/26
Israel on Monday exposed the global terror network operated by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) through its covert “Unit 4000,” detailing how the apparatus directed plots against Israeli officials, embassies, and strategic infrastructure worldwide while key commanders were killed during the U.S.-Israel campaign against Iran. According to the joint statement, members of the cell were arrested with explosive drones and fragmentation charges they had smuggled into the country, after gathering intelligence on targets through surveillance and photography under direct orders from handlers in Iran. . . The arrests led Israeli intelligence agencies to uncover the broader structure and chain of command of Unit 4000, a covert division within the IRGC’s intelligence apparatus responsible for directing terrorist activity abroad against Israeli and Western targets, including attempts to smuggle advanced weaponry into Israel.Remember that "Global" doesn't just mean Israel since given the nature of our pre-Trump era nearly non-existent southern border or even the smallest iota of an illusion of border security going back decades, and with Iranian agents operating with impunity all over Latin America (especially Cavez/Maduro ruled Venezuela), it's safe to assume that quite a few Iranian and other Islamic terror cells have made it over the border along with the wetback lettuce and grape-pickers. That said, it's I was expecting some sort of Iranian backed or executed terror attack on our soil, despite the decapitation strikes on Iran's military and intelligence leadership. It's a good thing that our law enforcement and intelligence agencies are fully on board with protecting the American homeland and citizenry. Okay you can stop laughing, and start weeping:
Maryland’s new immigration enforcement restrictions are drawing sharp pushback from law enforcement, who warn the “sanctuary” shift undermines public safety and cooperation with ICE. . . . Maryland is flexing its “sanctuary state” muscles, working against its own citizens in an effort to protect illegal immigrant criminals who are acting in the state. Ridiculous. And the reasoning behind this is even worse. Senator Mary Beth Carozza noted the following: “Maryland Sheriffs have warned that legislation like this could actually increase the presence of ICE agents in Maryland. Without open lines of communication, we are only raising the chances that Maryland could become the next Minnesota. But it’s funny. When you actually ask law enforcement about how something like this can take effect, you get a much different answer.Yes, multi-billion dollar grifting as well as rapes, robberies and murder are bad enough but as noted above potential mass casualty terrorist events are quite something else. Yes, it's encouraging that the author notes "Pushback" from Maryland's law enforcement rank and file, but unless the latter en masse informs the MD governor and legislature that they will disregard and disobey this illegal and insane law by fully cooperating with ICE, it's just just hot air. Take a stand or dry up and go away. Have a great day! And lastly, a quick shout-out and a huge thank you for your continued support in hitting our tip jar. It truly is appreciated more than you can know.
- ABOVE THE FOLD, BREAKING, NOTEWORTHY LINKS
- Victor Davis Hanson: The Left’s political imagination builds heroes, villains, and entire histories untethered from reality, substituting narrative for fact until it collapses under scrutiny.
All the Dream Houses of the Left
Posted by: J.J. Sefton at 07:33 AM | Comments (394) | Trackbacks (Suck)
Daily Tech News 21 April 2026
Top Story
- Tim Cook is stepping down as Apple CEO after fifteen years of keeping the company in a very profitable holding pattern. (Tech Crunch)
A visionary? No.
But did he make the shareholders wealthy beyond the dreams of fieldmice? Yes.
He will be succeeded by John Ternus, Apple's President of Hardware Engineering.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:30 AM | Comments (94) | Trackbacks (Suck)
April 20, 2026
Overnight Open Thread [04/20/2026]
Posted by: CBD at 09:49 PM | Comments (416) | Trackbacks (Suck)
Sick Bay Cafe
San Gimignano
San Gimignano
Posted by: Disinformation Expert Ace at 07:30 PM | Comments (212) | Trackbacks (Suck)
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