The crucial thing to understand about Peter Thiel is that he adores "The Lord of the Rings" and no one in human history has ever so utterly completely missed all the salient points of what a book is about.

Josh Rogin: “Somebody shorted the oil market today by hundreds of millions of dollars exactly 20 minutes before Trump made his announcement— If you see that once, it could be a coincidence. But that's happened at least three times, if not more, since the war began — that's a pattern”

1/3. And this is one more reason the war goes on in some form — people close to Trump are making money from it. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/a...

This is the reason the stock market is completely disconnected from the real economy.

🔥SEN. @ossoff.senate.gov : “Ivanka’s husband Jared Kushner’s on the Saudi payroll for $2 BILLION— as he leads 🇺🇸 diplomacy + asks sheikhs for billions more… Never have we seen so little effort to hide so much corruption. The Mar-a-Lago mafia taking corruption to spectacular new heights.”

Right out in the open, Donald Trump is suing his own IRS to try to steal $10 BILLION taxpayer dollars. I just introduced a bill that would make this theft ILLEGAL.

A federal judge in Illinois today ruled that the Trump administration improperly coerced Facebook and Apple to remove ICE-tracking apps in violation of the First Amendment. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

A budget is a declaration of priorities. Trump has made clear that you and your family aren't one of his.

Wtaf.

Meanwhile in China...

Crows remember human faces. For years. If you wrong one, it will tell other crows about you — and they'll harass you too. Even crows that never met you! This is not just a bird. This is one of the most intelligent animals on the planet. #birds #crows #animas #nature

"The problems with Patel's conduct go well beyond what has been previously known, and include both conspicuous inebriation and unexplained absences. His behavior has often alarmed officials at the FBI and the DoJ." www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...

Fact.

Heartbreaking description of the pointless, thoughtless damage being done to the Kennedy Center. It was such an important part of life in Washington, and is now being destroyed for no reason www.theatlantic.com/culture/2026...

Peace, but only during trading hours

“Trump, Vance, Hegseth, Bondi, Miller, Blanche, Pirro, RFK Jr, Noem, Lewandowski, Vought, Bovino, Leavitt, Cheung and Johnson are some of the greatest villains in American history…Together, they have engaged in crimes, corruption and lawlessness that beggars belief and description.” Steve Schmidt

📌Pope Leo XIV TODAY: “The world is being ravaged by a handful of tyrants. Blessed are the peacemakers, but woe to those who manipulate religion and the name of God for their own military, economic and political gain, dragging that which is sacred into darkness and filth.” He is NOT backing down.

And so it begins.

Take a moment and watch this until the end.

“Jesus told us, ‘Blessed are the peacemakers,’ but woe to those who manipulate religion in the very name of God for their own military, economic, or political gain, dragging that which is sacred into darkness and filth.” — Pope Leo XIV today in Cameroon

Pope Leo is having NONE of it!

The press corps tends to reflect the value system of the moneyed elites. If there is little press coverage of Trump’s sex crimes, it’s because the moneyed elites are unbothered by them. Human suffering is inconsequential. They are not normal people but most of us still view them as if they were.

Bluesky goes wonky.

We Americans have a hard time seeing ourselves in the world, and so even when we want to criticize our fascist oligarchs we fail to see the international networks of which they are nodes.

BREAKING: @democracydefendersfund.org is demanding a CFTC investigation into anonymous traders who netted millions on suspiciously timed bets on US military actions—Iran ceasefire, Venezuela invasion & more Alleged insider trading on war plans IS a national security threat CFTC must act now - TN

Time to drop Disney.

ZOHRAN: “I ran on taxing the rich — Today, we’re taxing the rich… the first ever pied-a-terre tax for second homes worth $5 Million+… $500 MILLION from the richest of the rich to fund child care, etc…💰” Promises kept.

Big Oil is raking in $30 million AN HOUR as the public struggles to afford rising costs. It didn't have to be this way. The fossil fuel industry conspired for decades to keep us hooked on oil and gas, blocking cleaner and cheaper alternatives and driving up costs. It's time for accountability.

ICE activity in Chicagoland has been on the rise with the temperature the last few weeks. These incidents don't have the spectacle that characterized Greg Bovino and Border Patrol's raids in the fall, but people are still being abducted by federal agents across the city and suburbs.

NEWS: Huge first win for Mayor Mamdani’s tax-the-rich plans in NYC. Mamdani just secured a deal with Gov. Hochul to create the state’s first-ever tax on $5 million+ second homes owned by ultrawealthy out-of-state residents.

Yessssss www.nytimes.com/2026/04/14/u...

it is a little odd how conservatives are just casually discussing if the president of the united states is the antichrist

Sanders: The people have got to determine the future of what happens in our country and in the entire planet, not a handful of extraordinarily wealthy, arrogant, anti-democratic multibillionaires. That’s what they want. They have their goals. They are not our goals.

We are deciding right now if we are to be a nation of concentration camps and ethnic cleansing. And there is much citizens can do!

This is Hildegard. She doesn't blink during breakfast because she doesn't want to miss anything. Cowboy hat unrelated. 13/10 (TT: hildebark)

Rewriting history 🤥⚖️

Can someone out there please count up all the CPAC speakers who ranted about George Soros funding left wing causes? Be sure to take breaks and stretch every hour or two.

Always follow the money.

Exactly 💯

Turned on NBC. They talked about “President tipping a DoorDash driver $100”. This woman participated in GOP ads before playing other roles. There is no DoorDash deliveries to the Oval Office. Please exercise proper judgement when consuming news.

Trump wanted to kill off PBS & NPR by defunding them. It hasn't worked as intended—viewers came to their aid & now a fed'l judge has held Trump's executive order unconstitutional. We also look at why Trump might dislike public media & a Muppet named Donald Grump. open.substack.com/pub/joycevan...

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has condemned U.S. President Donald Trump’s social media tirade against Leo XIV, even as the president continued his war of words with the first American pope.

Fair point, also true of Tusk in Poland in 2023, and good recommendation!

The leader of Iran apologizes to Pope Leo for President Trump's blasphemy.

The Holy See will continue to speak out against war, despite challenges from Donald Trump. “I don’t ‌think that the message of the Gospel is meant to be abused in ‌the way that some people are doing. I will continue to speak out loudly against war, looking to promote peace." trib.al/jqDhKPE

When the culte crashes down in on itself, it’s going to crash down hard. Hard.

Viktor Orbán created the global blueprint for authoritarian populism and became a MAGA hero. Today, Hungarian voters sent him packing after 16 years in power. There is nothing inevitable about these guys. Organize. Vote. Fight back. It works.

Except the orange felon is soulless, a spawn from hell and doesn’t understand anything but hatred and self loathing.

Fascist republicans hate Pope Leo because they claim he’s “too liberal” but wait until they find out who Jesus was.