x01 Archives
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Beyond the bubble of hardened MAGA cultists and a smattering of elite pundits, the joint American-Israeli war on Iran announced by a somnolent President Trump on February 28 is widely regarded as a pointless fiasco that is doing incalculable and growing damage to the global economy. The fact that the president once again unilaterally extended the ceasefire with Iran last week means that he still has no credible ideas about how to get traffic moving through the Strait of Hormuz. He’s similarly flummoxed when it comes to imposing America’s settlement terms on an emboldened regime in Tehran—despite his constant insistence that the war has resulted in an unprecedented, monumental American victory.
Regardless of if or when Trump’s crack negotiating team featuring zero Iran experts returns to Islamabad to meet with Tehran’s delegation, the status quo in the Strait of Hormuz is untenable. Oil prices are creeping up again after dropping on President Trump’s flurry of hallucinatory statements on April 17 proclaiming that the war would be wrapping up soon. The end was inevitably near, Trump insisted, because Iran had agreed to open the Strait of Hormuz, forgo the ability to enrich uranium forever and relinquish its stockpile of what the president with almost child-like wonder calls “nuclear dust.”
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US President Donald Trump’s approval rating sank to the lowest level of his current term, as Americans increasingly soured on his handling of the cost of living and an unpopular war with Iran, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll.
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King Charles III called Tuesday for the United States and Britain to renew their longstanding transatlantic alliance, in a speech at a White House state dinner hosted by President Donald Trump amid tensions over Iran and Ukraine.Speaking alongside Trump for the first time during his four-day state visit, Charles skirted around any direct mention of the bad blood between the US leader and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
But as in his rare address to Congress earlier in the day, the British monarch highlighted a partnership in which London and Washington had “stood together in the best of times and worst of times.””Tonight, we are here to renew an indispensable alliance which has long been a cornerstone of prosperity and security for both British and American citizen,” said Charles.
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I didn’t have plans to write about the latest Jimmy Kimmel saga. I thought my colleagues, Scott Pinsker, Catherine Salgado, and Matt Margolis did more than a fine job on that story, and there was really nothing left to say. But then I saw something where the Trump administration sort of pulled a thread from that situation, and it’s at least indirectly tied to another situation—and now the whole thing is unraveling.
Ever since President Donald Trump returned to the White House in January 2025, he and his administration have not wasted a minute trying to implement an agenda that is even larger and more ambitious than the one he laid out on the campaign trail in 2024. Most politicians over-promise and under-deliver. Trump has done the opposite.
The latest example of this comes to us courtesy of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which announced on April 28 that it is moving up its review of the ABC network’s eight local broadcasting licenses over the network’s diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices.
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DUBROVNIK, Croatia — DUBROVNIK, Croatia (AP) — Croatia and Bosnia signed an agreement Tuesday to build a gas pipeline designed to reduce energy dependency on Russia in the volatile Balkans region.
The Southern Interconnection pipeline will link Bosnia with Croatia’s gas network and the liquefied natural gas terminal on the Adriatic Sea island of Krk. Bosnia has designated a U.S.-based company, AAFS Infrastructure and Energy, as the project’s investor and developer.
Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic and the chair of Bosnia’s Council of Ministers, Borjana Kristo, signed the deal in the presence of U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright on the sidelines of a summit of the countries of the Baltic, Black and Adriatic regions.
Plenkovic on social media said the gas pipeline would help diversify supplies: “We are strengthening energy security and independence … which is especially important in these challenging global circumstances.”
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Britain’s King Charles told the U.S. Congress on Tuesday that despite an age of uncertainty and conflict in Europe and the Middle East, the UK and the U.S. will always be staunch allies united in defending democracy, at a time of deep divisions between the two long-time allies over the war with Iran.
“Whatever our differences, whatever disagreements we may have, we stand united in our commitment to uphold democracy, to protect all our people from harm, and to salute the courage of those who daily risk their lives in the service of our countries,” Charles told U.S. lawmakers during a rare speech to a joint meeting of the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives, and after a prolonged standing ovation at his entrance with Queen Camilla.
Charles’ address came on the second day of a four-day state visit to the U.S. during a tense time in relations between the two countries, after U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly criticized UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer for what Trump says is his lack of help in prosecuting the Iran war.
“I come here today with the highest respect for the United States Congress – this citadel of democracy created to represent the voice of all American people to advance sacred rights and freedoms,” Charles said.
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Federal authorities raided over 20 locations across Minnesota, in connection with an ongoing investigation into massive public assistance fraud. The story should have run across all three major broadcast network evening newscasts but only made it to air on one. The Elitist Media does not like this story.
Watch the report in its entirety, as aired on NBC Nightly News on Tuesday, April 28th, 2026:
WATCH: @NBCNightlyNews had the sole report on the Minnesota fraud raids across the broadcast network evening news dial.
TOM LLAMAS: In Minnesota tonight, federal and state agents executing more than 20 search warrants at businesses across the Twin Cities, raids linked to a… pic.twitter.com/OcLVyFyn48
— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) April 29, 2026
TOM LLAMAS: In Minnesota tonight, federal and state agents executing more than 20 search warrants at businesses across the Twin Cities, raids linked to a growing fraud scandal that has reached the steps of The White House. Maggie Vespa has been following this one for us and has this story.
MAGGIE VESPA: Tonight, new raids rocking Minnesota, with video showing federal and state authorities executing more than 20 search warrants at sites across the Twin Cities, including autism centers, child care facilities and at least one senior center. All, federal authorities say, tied to allegations of widespread welfare fraud within Minnesota’s large Somali community.
NICK SHIRLEY: It’s just a simple question: where are the children at?
VESPA: Allegations reignited by this viral video posted four months ago by a right-wing influencer claiming multiple Somali-run child care centers in Minnesota were fraudulently collecting state subsidies while sitting empty. But according to the state agency in charge, those centers were operating “as expected.” Today’s raids marking the boldest move yet by a White House fraud task force led by Vice President Vance.
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The State Department, following reports by Fox News and The Bulwark, confirmed it would offer a limited-edition passport to mark this year’s 250th anniversary of the US Declaration of Independence.
The articles included two images set to appear inside the passports, one of Trump’s official photo imposed over the Declaration of Independence, with his signature — in gold — underneath.
The second showed a historic painting of the US Founding Fathers.
“As the United States celebrates America’s 250th anniversary in July, the State Department is preparing to release a limited number of specially designed US passports to commemorate this historic occasion,” State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said on X, linking to the Fox News piece.
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70 structures. 11 US military bases overseas. Seven countries. $5 billion in damage.
The damage inflicted by Iranian forces on American and allied bases in the Middle East during the opening weeks of Operation Epic Fury will have substantial financial consequences. Not only will America’s now-degraded forward troop presence change as a result, but the deliberations over what to rebuild will be time-consuming and highly consequential.
After rebuilding and repairs, US military force posture across Qatar, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Jordan, and Iraq is likely to shift locations, and shrink in the Gulf overall. Given the way in which the war in Iran has revealed America’s shallow munitions stockpiles and limited air defenses, the remaining open question for US allies and partners is: Are US bases still a net benefit to their security? The implications for force planning and modernization could see major disruptions depending on how the US and Gulf governments answer this question.
| Country | Base | Estimated Damage |
| Bahrain | 5th Fleet Headquarters | 2 SATCOM terminals, 2 radomes, and 3 large warehouses |
| Iraq | Erbil Military Base | 1 storage building |
| Jordan | Muwaffaq Salti Air Base | 1 general administrative building |
| Kuwait | Ali Al Salem Air Base | 3 hangars, parts of the runway, 15 small warehouses, 1 maintenance shed |
| Kuwait | Camp Arifjan | 6 radomes, 4 small and large warehouses, 1 general administrative building, 1 maintenance shed |
| Kuwait | Camp Buehring | 1 SATCOM terminal, 1 hanger, 4 small and large warehouses |
| Kuwait | Shuaiba Port | 1 general administrative building |
| Qatar | Al Udeid Air Base | Parts of the runway |
| Saudi Arabia | Prince Sultan Air Base | 1 small warehouse, 1 radome |
| UAE | Al Dhafra Air Base | 2 general administrative buildings, 2 small hangars, 1 medical clinic, 6 fuel storages, 1 barracks |
| UAE | Al Ruwais Military Base | 5 small warehouses, 2 general administrative buildings |
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Incredibly, the Department of (In)Justice has secured an indictment of James Comey for…a seashell meme.
Here’s a little story for you. Once upon a time, former FBI Director James Comey went for a little walk on the beach when he happened upon…this.
And lo, the wingers went wild. “HE’S CALLING FOR TRUMP’S ASSASSINATION!” “86 MEANS KILLING!!!” “JAMES COMEY WANTS TO OFF TRUMP!!”
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An 89-year-old gunman allegedly opened fire inside two Athens government buildings Tuesday, wounding at least four people in a rare outbreak of violence that rattled Greece’s tightly controlled gun landscape and ended with his arrest hours later.
Police said the suspect first stormed a social security office, went up to the fourth floor and fired, striking an employee in the leg. Officials said the gunman warned one worker to duck before pulling the trigger, though he didn’t appear to specifically target the employee he hit.
“He went in, went up to the fourth floor, raised his shotgun, told an employee to duck and hit another one,” Alexandros Varveris, head of Greece’s National Social Security Fund, told state broadcaster ERT radio.
The wounded man was treated at the scene, but the suspect fled and later opened fire again inside a courthouse in another part of the city, where several people were wounded.
