May 4, 2026

The New York Times liveblog of Iran war updates is here. 

Zolan Kanno-Youngs, et al., of the New York Times: Donald “Trump said on Sunday that the United States would launch a new effort to help guide stranded ships out of the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has effectively closed. Mr. Trump said the initiative, called Project Freedom, would begin on Monday morning 'Middle East time,' after his administration heard from nations seeking help freeing their ships. He warned that any interference in the program would be dealt with 'forcefully,' but offered few details about how it would work. 'These are Ships from areas of the World that are not in any way involved with that which is currently taking place in the Middle East,' Mr. Trump said in a lengthy social media post. Mr. Trump’s announcement was essentially a challenge to Iran, and a bet that it would not want to take the risk of firing the first shots — or laying mines — in a challenge to the United States. He said nothing about lifting the American blockade on all shipping in and out of Iranian ports.... Ebrahim Azizi, the head of the national security commission of the Iranian Parliament, posted his response on social media, writing 'Warning' in capital letters and saying, 'Any American interference in the new maritime regime of the Strait of Hormuz will be considered a violation of the ceasefire.'” A Politico story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Re: the War Powers Act, it sure sounds as if we're engaged in an active 60-day-plus active war. Which ships will the U.S. escort? Who will decided? This sure sounds like another opportunity to collect bribes from shippers and nations anxious to get their cargoes through the Strait. 

Scott Anderson in a New York Times op-ed: “There are now only two outcomes to the [Iran] conflict: either the kind of wholesale destruction of Iran that Mr. Trump posited, or a settlement that will leave the government intact and empowered, and a blustering American president humiliated.... This was predictable, if only the president and his administration had bothered to take note of a new feature of modern warfare, a feature that can be boiled down to a single word: drones.... Despite the president’s assertion that 'We have all the cards,' almost the exact opposite is true.” ~~~

     ~~~ This Is a Lesson Trump & Drunk Pete Did Not Learn. Paul Krugman: “The war in Ukraine had entered its fifth year by the time the U.S. began bombing Iran. Drones have turned the entire front line of that war into an ever-widening 'kill zone'. So nobody should have been surprised by the lethality — Hegseth’s favorite word — of inexpensive drones in the Persian Gulf. Yet Hegseth and co. were evidently caught completely off guard. Many reports indicate that U.S. military sites have suffered far more damage than the Pentagon has acknowledged. And Trump remains unmoved in his determination to build Death Stars — specifically, huge 'Trump-class' battleships.... As far as I can tell, there is an overwhelming consensus among military experts that giant battleships are as obsolete as, well, coal power. Ukraine sank the Moskva, Russia’s Black Sea flagship, with missiles early in the war.”

Marie: How is it that I, an unemployed retired person with no one to take care of other than myself, have less time to post crap on social media than does the POTUS*? I don't know precisely who is running this country, but it isn't Donald Trump. He's a decrepit, zonked-out slacker. ~~~

     ~~~ Update. The Madness of King Donald. Robert Davis of the Raw Story: "The Daily Beast reported on Sunday that Trump was up at all hours of the night posting on Truth Social on at least 80% of the nights in April. There were only five days in April when the president didn't post between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m., according to the report, which raises concerns about Trump's brain health and his increasingly erratic behavior. The analysis concluded that Trump appears to get about three hours of sleep per night, which is much less than what doctors and sleep experts recommend.... [Hugh Dougherty, the Beast's editor, said] that Trump's sleep habits may be related to his increasingly erratic decision-making, such as his decision to institute a counter blockade in response to Iran's efforts to shut down the Strait of Hormuz."

Two Kings. Thanks to RAS for the photo.

Isaac Saul of the Tangle: "... I believe the president is profiting off the office and making foreign policy decisions based on business interests to a level we’ve never seen or even conceived of before, and apparently nothing is being done to stop it.... There is no oversight, or accountability, or even the slightest inclination to ask about these actions in the majority party [which controls Congress]. The Trump administration has also dismantled many of the federal watchdogs responsible for prosecuting fraud, grift and corruption.... Perhaps the largest vehicle for Trump’s self-dealing has been his foray into cryptocurrency.... [As just one example,] the Trump administration announced criminal charges against a transnational criminal syndicate for stealing billions of dollars from Americans in online scams. A month later, two of the men it sanctioned partnered with the Trump family’s crypto company. And so forth. As RAS writes, "You have get past all the 'I also investigated Biden corruption too', but he does a good to cataloguing the corTrumption."

Will Bunch of the Philadelphia Inquirer, republished on a Tumbler site, on Donald Trump's "Southern strategy": "Trump’s new strategy is to make America look like Louisiana, without the cool stuff like crawfish or zydeco. His Hail Mary Project for saving what looks like a disastrous midterm balloting is to take a Selma-caliber bludgeon to most of the 23 current Black Southern House members, even if that means stalling an election or two. Meanwhile, the Comey and SPLC indictments appear to have created a new blueprint for prosecutorial oppression, by jury shopping across Trumpland to avoid these pesky citizens in blue cities. And the worst is yet to come." MB: I don't know if these pirated copies hold up, and it would be reasonable to have an ethical objection to reading them. However, I've done what I've done for as long as it lasts. 

Sean James of Mediaite: “The Daily Stoic author Ryan Holiday got pretty worked up by what he called Ivanka Trump’s 'incredibly cringe' interpretation of Stoicism and argued that if she were a true Stoic like him, she would be doing a better job of reining in her 'sh*tty brothers' and ... Donald Trump. Holiday shared his not-so-stoic response to Ivanka Trump in an X post on Thursday. He played a clip of her celebrating the 'amazing' meditations of Marcus Aurelius, the Roman emperor and philosopher whom Holiday helped bring back into the popular consciousness with his podcast and best-selling book.... 'Stoicism is not a brand, it’s a practice,' Holiday lectured.... .And it demands honesty, it demands self-awareness, it demands accountability, it demands doing the right thing, even with it costs you something. Even when it’s painful, even when it would mean, I don’t know, confronting your horrible family members..” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Now, to be fair to Ivanka, it isn't just her horrible family members who are corrupt. There is, of course, her husband Jared. As his wife, she likely shares in half the profits of his multi-billion-dollar Middle East high jinks. And Isaac Saul points out near the top of his Substack essay linked above, Ivanka & Jared also “are negotiating a luxury hotel with Syrian billionaires who are simultaneously lobbying the president to lift economic sanctions on their country.” Ivanka is not merely “complicit,” as Holiday complains, she's a player. 

~~~ Marie: And I was so sure the feds were coming to take me away for the preference expressed above: ~~~ 

~~~ Devlin Barrett of the New York Times: “Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general, on Sunday sought to contrast the Justice Department’s indictment of the former F.B.I. director James B. Comey over a social media post with other instances in which people have shared the same message, saying that the department had gathered additional evidence during an 11-month investigation. Mr. Comey was indicted last week over a photo that he posted on Instagram in May 2025 of seashells on a beach that spelled out '86 47,' which the department characterized as a threat to the president.... [Mr. Blanche claimed] that there was 'a body of evidence' that led to Mr. Comey’s indictment. The three-page indictment, secured on Tuesday, was focused only on the seashell post.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ For an excellent takedown of Top Toady Todd, Sam Stein & Will Salatin of the Bulwark go at it in this 12-minute YouTube video. For a more serious, more general discussion of Todd the Toady's dismantling of what was left the federal justice system, see ~~~

~~~ Quinta Jurecic of the Atlantic: “The Justice Department is entering a hyperaggressive new era, cutting legal corners in service of getting ... [Donald] Trump the headlines — and revenge — he wants.... On [Todd Blanche's] watch, the department has announced a spate of new prosecutions and submitted a bizarre court filing channeling Trump’s voice to argue for the construction of a White House ballroom. Under any other president, DOJ’s recent activity would represent an astonishing abuse of power. Even by the standards of the second Trump administration, these actions are absurd, and unusually dangerous.” Thanks to akaWendy for this gift link. ~~~

And you knew this would happen: ~~~ 

~~~ Trumpette Rolled Thom Tillis. Minho Kim of the New York Times: “Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney in Washington, signaled on Sunday that federal prosecutors were still interested in investigating Jerome H. Powell, the Federal Reserve chair who had faced a criminal inquiry regarding a renovation of the Fed’s headquarters amid President Trump’s demands that the central bank lower interest rates. Ms. Pirro dropped the case last month after a Republican senator [-- Thom Tillis --] with a crucial vote to confirming Mr. Trump’s nominee to replace Mr. Powell, Kevin M. Warsh, said he would hold up that process until prosecutors stopped their inquiry into Mr. Powell. But on Sunday, Ms. Pirro [said]..., 'We continue to litigate the issue,' ... [She vowed] again that she would also appeal a federal judge’s order from March that had quashed grand jury subpoenas in the case, a major roadblock for the prosecution.” ~~~

~~~ AND/OR ... Matt Peterson of CNBC: “U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro on Sunday appeared to abandon a plan to appeal an adverse ruling in her attempts to criminally investigate Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. Pirro has long said she planned to ask a higher court to review recent rulings by Chief Judge James Boasberg of the District of Columbia quashing her subpoenas to the Fed. She has argued that the judge’s decision makes it difficult for her to conduct grand jury investigations in general. Her appeal was due by Monday. Pirro appeared to change tack in an appearance on CNN’s 'State of the Union.' 'We’re going to make a motion to vacate the order of Judge Boasberg, because we think it’s extremely important for us as prosecutors, the precedent that it sets to prevent us from going into a grand jury,' Pirro said.... t wasn’t immediately clear what precisely Pirro would be asking the court to vacate, or on what grounds.”

Douglas MacMillan, et al., of the Washington Post: There have been “at least 780 [incidents] in which staff members at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities used physical force or chemical agents to control immigrant detainees during the first year of the Trump administration.... Detention guards have used punches, kicks, takedown maneuvers, restraint holds and restraint chairs, as well as less-lethal weapons such as Tasers and pepper spray.... In several incidents covered by the reports, guards forcibly handled detainees who repeatedly asked staff for things to which they are legally entitled, including food and water, medical care and personal belongings.... ICE detention standards stipulate that force can be used only as a last resort....”

    ~~~ Marie: Here's one graf from the report: “'We weren’t violent people — we were all fighting our cases,' said Cantú Ríos, a Mexican national who came to the United States as a teenager more than 50 years ago. 'No one was causing trouble.'” MB: Unless Rios is a hardened criminal, guilty of numerous offenses, I don't see why we're holding, and presumably deporting, a man who is about 70 years old and has lived here most of his life.

Miriam Jordan of the New York Times: “Foreign doctors will be able to receive visas allowing them to practice in the United States, after the Trump administration quietly changed a policy to exempt them from a travel ban. A Department of Homeland Security policy stemming from a travel ban that was put in place in January had frozen decisions on visa extensions, work permits and green cards for citizens of 39 countries. As The New York Times reported last month, some physicians were subsequently placed on administrative leave by hospitals, and many others faced the imminent threat of being forced to stop working. Late last week, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services updated its website, without a formal announcement, to indicate that physicians are no longer subject to the processing hold.... D.H.S. confirmed in a statement that 'Applications associated with medical physicians will continue processing,' meaning that the agency will resume issuing visas and work permits for the group. The United States faces a shortage of about 65,000 physicians, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges, and the deficit is expected to surge over the next decade as Americans live longer and more doctors retire.” (Also linked yesterday.)

Jonah Bromwich of the New York Times: “Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former mayor of New York City, is in a Florida hospital in critical condition, his spokesman said Sunday. The spokesman, Ted Goodman, would not specify which hospital and said that the former mayor 'remains in critical but stable condition.'” The link appears to be a gift link. An ABC News report is here.

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Marie: This a headline on the front page of the Bezos Post online: "How do stars pee at the Met Gala? An investigation." Yeah, inquiring minds want to know and all. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Hmm, I wonder if this could possibly explain the Post headline & "investigation": ~~~

     ~~~ Jesse McKinley & Alisha Gupta of the New York Times: “... this year, the Met Gala is facing stiff headwinds, most notably for the decision to name Jeff Bezos, the Amazon founder and one of the world’s wealthiest men, and his wife, Lauren Sánchez Bezos, as honorary chairs. Opposition to the Bezoses started almost immediately after they were announced as financial sponsors in February, and comes amid a surging anti-rich sentiment nationwide and in New York City, the event’s liberal home. The outrage seemingly gained momentum after the city’s newly elected mayor, Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist, declared in mid-April that he would skip the gala, breaking with many of his predecessors....”

~~~~~~~~~~ 

Patrick Wintour of the Guardian on how other countries are optimistic about forming stronger alliances with friendly nations and getting out from under an unreliable United States.

Ukraine/Russia, et al. Natalia Abbakumova & Catherine Belton of the Washington Post: “Ukraine is intensifying drone strikes on Russian oil facilities, hitting a key Black Sea refinery four times in two weeks and setting off a days-long carcinogenic blaze that environmentalists say represents one of the country’s worst ecological disasters since the fall of the Soviet Union. A plume of black acrid smoke once again rose over Russia’s Black Sea city of Tuapse on Friday after Ukraine struck the refinery and oil terminal there overnight, the fourth in a spate of attacks that have also caused oily droplets of 'black rain' to fall on residents and contaminated more than 30 miles of coastline as an oil slick spread. Firefighters have battled for days to extinguish major fires at the refinery and storage facilities since the first strike, on April 16, only to see the fires reignited by repeated drone attacks. 

“The Ukrainian strikes, which also damaged and caused fires last week at a refinery and oil-pumping station in Perm near the Urals, demonstrate Ukraine’s increasing reach — thousands of kilometers into Russian territory — and growing ability to evade Russian air defenses. The strikes cast a further shadow — in this case, actual black, throat-burning clouds — over Russian President Vladimir Putin, at a time when he is already facing growing discontent over his failure to end the war in Ukraine, the worsening Russian economy and clumsy attempts to impose restrictions on access to the internet.”