Republicans are allegedly concerned with making government more efficient, but they're wasting millions giving employees time off for non-federal holidays and offering superfluous "prayer services" featuring (likely paid) speakers. And, of course, only right-wing Christian views get promoted.

🎉 Senior Spotlight! 🎉 Leela Ohri is a graduating Senior majoring in National Security and Foreign Affairs! 📚🎓 Leela looks back on her time at Virginia Tech as incredibly valuable, due to the many opportunities the Department of Political Science provides students in and out of the classroom! 🧡

This report on the “Biden Administration’s Weaponization of the FACE Act” repeatedly cites conduct that occurred…during the first Trump administration.

"one might be forgiven for concluding that America’s war against Iran has gone pretty well. That would be a mistake. And it is a mistake with a time-honored but deleterious tradition: that of mistaking tactical success for victory and of operational excellence for a strategy.” @ryanevans.bsky.social

I called Trump to ask about having a man who says such things in charge of federal disaster response, Trump asked “what does teleport mean” and “was he kidding?” Adding, “It just sounds a little strange, but I know nothing about teleporting or him.” DHS/FEMA/Phillips didn't respond to inquiries.

Good morning! Since Trump was re-elected, Forbes estimates— 💰His net worth is up $2 billion, to $6.3 billion 💰Eric’s is up 10x, to $400 million 💰Don Jr.’s is up 6x, to $300 million 💰20-year-old Barron is worth $150 million And Jared became a billionaire last year. Have a great day!

A Divided America Processes a War That Trump Has Scarcely Explained As the war in Iran extends into its seventh week and a truce feels increasingly shaky, many Americans expressed bewilderment about a conflict that came with little warning. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/14/u...

Normal stuff here, very normal: "As the president threatens to wipe out Iran and attacks the pope, even some former allies and advisers are questioning whether he has grown increasingly unbalanced, describing him as 'lunatic' and 'clearly insane'..." www.nytimes.com/2026/04/13/u...

Judge Darrin Gayles rejecting Trump's WSJ lawsuit today: "To establish actual malice, 'a plaintiff must show the defendant deliberately avoided investigating the veracity of the statement in order to evade learning the truth.' The Complaint comes nowhere close to this standard. Quite the opposite."

Caveat lector. I've read a lot of Chinese MoD writing in translation and this does not seem authentic (and no evidence of such a statement on any official PRC websites). Among other things, China would not say "Iran controls the Strait of Hormuz" (because they care about GCC relationships).

It’s almost like a coordinated talking point went out on Red Cross doctor Jesus H. Trump.

"There's something deeply wrong with this man...and he holds, in his pocket, the codes to 1,500 strategic nuclear weapons." - @radiofreetom.bsky.social

Leo: "The message of the church, the message of the gospel -- blessed are the peacemakers. I do not look at my role as being political. I don't want to get into a debate with him. I don't think the message of the gospel is meant to be abused in the way that some people are doing."

NEW: In 2020, as President Trump tried to overturn his loss to Joe Biden, the institutional guardrails of American democracy held — barely. A @propublica.org investigation found that, ahead of the midterms, Trump has systematically demolished those guardrails. 🧵

this--particularly given the authors--is good www.nytimes.com/2026/04/10/o...

I was actually quite wrong about this. Trump managed to choose humiliation *AND* escalation.

Breaking News: Pope Leo XIV said he had “no fear of the Trump administration” after President Trump lashed out at him on social media.

Finally done. ~30 minutes ranting phone interview, mostly about how Iran has no cards

He keeps coming back to Venezuela, believing that the world will yield to him the way Maduro did. It's a clear sign of his deterioration, his worsening madness as the world refuses to bend to his will.

Gov. JB Pritzker’s ambitious housing plan for Illinois: More four-flats, looser rules. Story about a potential yes in my backyard reform, by @olivia0.bsky.social www.chicagotribune.com/2026/04/12/j...

BARTIROMO: Do you believe the price of oil and gas will be lower before the midterm elections? TRUMP: I hope so. I mean, I think so. It could be the same or maybe a little big higher (Check out Maria's face as he says this!)

lol www.404media.co/artemis-2-as...

The man with the nuclear codes www.nytimes.com/2026/04/11/u...

This picture should haunt Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the nation's top diplomat and the National Security Advisor, who is complicit in this disastrous war (cc @dandrezner.bsky.social). The NYT reporting shows he had reservations and did nothing to try to stop it. And gutted the State Dept.

He’s flailing. He doesn’t have a strategy. Blockading the Straits of Hormuz is exactly the opposite of what we want, both in principle and practice.

Yeah, let’s go to war with China. Let’s open fire on their tankers. Have we seriously thought this one through??

Wait! What? 🤦🏽‍♂️

What evidence is there that the Navy is moving to blockade the Strait? Trump claimed he told them to do it, but is there evidence of real world follow-through?

I guarantee you Trump hasn't thought about this

BARTIROMO: The blockade in the strait, the opening up capacity in the United States -- is this gonna be enough to lower the price of oil and gas? TRUMP: Well, eventually it's gonna be lower. No, it might not happen initially but it's gonna go down. Look, the Dow hit 50,000.

Marathon talks? Compared to what? It took years for Obama to deliver a detailed Iran deal. The Trump admin are packing it in after 20 hours. (H/T @bgrueskin.bsky.social)

Again there's simply no comparison between the scope, scale, & tone of the JOE BIDEN EPICALLY AND INCOMPETENTLY FAILED IN AFGHANISTAN coverage of August/September 2021 & the "just the facts, very measured" reporting of what's going on with Iran & Trump now.

If this was the substance of the negotiations then I don’t see how a deal can be made. *Maybe* the Trump administration would trade sanctions relief for reopening the Strait but the nuclear issue remains unresolved—unless Trump decides, “that’s OK it doesn’t matter.” www.nytimes.com/2026/04/11/w...

Spring garden coming along.

"The judge concluded his opinion with an unusually sharp rebuke of the Trump administration: 'Suppression of political speech is the mark of an autocracy, not a democracy — as the Framers recognized when they drafted the First Amendment'...” www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

BREAKING: the judges who dismissed high-profile cases in immigration court against two international students who have advocated for Palestinian causes, Rümeysa Öztürk and Mohsen Mahdawi, were fired yesterday, alongside four other judges. /w @haleaziz.bsky.social and @nicknehamas.bsky.social

Settle in with your morning coffee, and what I’m hearing on the NFL’s biggest storylines, from folks inside the league. ☕️ 🏈

told New York Times the size & composition of Iran’s delegation shows “that they have not come to stonewall,” but with full authority and seriousness to reach a deal with US. They might have advanced in talks further than publicly known during back-channel messaging.” www.nytimes.com/2026/04/11/w...

The trope is that the US achieves its military objectives but fails to translate them into strategic success. In this war even the first part isn't true. www.wsj.com/world/middle...

This is quite extraordinary- scientists set a kind of trap for AI chat bots by inventing a fake disease. AI told people it was real and… the deliberately bogus preprints started being cited in peer reviewed literature 🫣 🧪 #MedSky www.nature.com/articles/d41...

US consumer sentiment dives to a record low in April amid Iran war reut.rs/4vm2zPF

Consumer prices jumped 0.9% in March as Iran war sent gas prices soaring “The annual rate of inflation hit 3.3%, led by a 21.2% increase for gasoline — the largest one-month increase at the pump since 1967.” www.nbcnews.com/business/eco...

VIRGINIA REDISTRICTING ELECTION POLL RESPONSES GOING LIVE AT NOON - HOP IN projects.statenavigate.com/25-26/states...

Last night, as Trump was crashing out online, he posted a graphic video on Truth Social showing a hammer killing at a Florida gas station. More Trump supporters publicly break ranks, expressing regret and saying expectations of a “golden age” have not materialized.

Editorial: Trump's threats force Catholics to decide if they will be complicit www.ncronline.org/opinion/edit...

CATO: “.. the circumstances that would trigger Section 122 do not (and cannot currently) exist.” 🤡 @cato.org @scottlincicome.bsky.social www.cato.org/blog/new-tar...

I wanna point out something serious. The admin has been complaining about Iran winning the information war. This same administration shut down Voice of America, and other information operations the US govt does. It’s a self goal. Actions have consequences

I lIke the way the Guardian states obvious facts as facts instead of stepping around them as U.S. news outlets tend to do.

NEW: Iowa Hawkeyes Women's Basketball Scholarship Distribution - Updated after the news that Emely Rodriguez has entered the transfer portal - How the Hawkeyes roster looks at this moment in time MORE📊: www.on3.com/teams/iowa-h...

"That has been one of my bigger fears, just when this whole thing got going, was us getting poached." Kirk Ferentz discusses how the #Hawkeyes construct their football roster in the NIL era: www.ourquadcities.com/sports/hawke...