Derrick Gaffney

"The U.S. Forest Service is closing 57 of its 77 research facilities in 31 states under a reorganization plan announced this week, threatening science that looked at how wildfires, drought, pests and global warming are putting pressure on forests." nytimes.com/2026/04/03/cli…

NEW: The Pentagon today invited more than 3,500 employees to attend a Good Friday service at its in-house chapel. Except it’s only for Protestants, not Catholics. huffpost.com/entry/news-liv…

Ryan Goodman has the right frame and the NBC reporting fills in the piece that makes this more than a pattern story. Hegseth pressed Army Secretary Driscoll for months to pull these officers. Driscoll said no. So Hegseth did it himself, without the legal authority to selectively remove individual names - the system is specifically designed to prevent that. When Gen. Randy George asked to meet and discuss the blocked promotions, Hegseth refused. Then fired him. Mid-term, two years before his tenure was up. Nine officials. All four branches. “Not a single service has been immune.” The Pentagon called it fake news. They haven’t disputed a name.

This is why Rubio suddenly stopped saying the war aim was to "destroy" Iran's missile capacity. Now the aim is to "degrade" it. What is the point of Americans dying and billions in taxpayers' money being spent, to just leave Iran with thousands of missiles?

NEW: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has taken steps to block or delay promotions for more than a dozen Black and female senior officers across all four branches of the military, some of whom are seen as having been targeted because of their race, gender or perceived affiliation with Biden administration policies or officials, according to nine U.S. officials familiar with the process. nbcnews.com/politics/natio…

Hegseth's repeated moves to purge the military of anyone not judged a Trump loyalist should set off major alarms. But, because Hegseth presents as such a buffoon, his role in Trump's authoritarian project is underrated. wapo.st/3OfHHck

The reason for Gen. George's firing, in part: Hegseth for months has pressed Gen. George & Army Secy Dan Driscoll to remove 4 officers -- 2 Black & 2 female -- from a promotions list. George & Driscoll have refused, citing the officers long and exemplary service.

Exclusive: Roughly half of Iran’s missile launchers are still intact and 1000s of one-way attack drones remain in Iran’s arsenal despite daily pounding by US and Israel over the past five weeks, according to recent US intel assessments, three sources familiar with the intel told myself and colleagues @NatashaBertrand @halbritz @talshalev1 cnn.com/2026/04/02/pol…

The US military reportedly committed a "double tap" strike in Iran. The "two strikes had hit the bridge around an hour apart, the second arriving while emergency responders were assisting the wounded," even though rescue workers are protected civilians. trib.al/KRzSayT

More than 10,000 veterans lost their homes to foreclosure since May of last year, when the Trump admin shut down a key safety net in the VA home loan program, according to the latest industry data. That is the highest pace of foreclosures for VA loans in a decade. npr.org/2026/04/02/nx-…

Trump wants a $1.5 trillion military budget. It would only cost $45 billion to end homelessness and hunger in the U.S.

Amazon is charging all sellers an additional 3.5% fuel and logistics charge starting on April 17th. Guess who these fees are passed onto? Donald Trumps Epstein War is making *everything* more expensive.

BREAKING: Amazon will add a 3.5% surcharge for U.S. and Canadian sellers starting April 17 due to "elevated costs in fuel and logistics."

Again, it never fails. Trump's defenders say "trust the plan, of course he didn't go into the war with such a stupid assumption", and then Trump himself says actually yeah that was my assumption

The president himself called his library "most likely to be a hotel." Miami Dade College bought the land in 2004 for $25 million. It is now valued at over $67 million. Florida transferred it to the Trump Foundation for $10. The college board vote that started the process listed only "potential real estate transactions" in the public notice — no Trump, no library. The Florida AG announced the destination on X minutes after the vote. 74% of Miami-Dade voters opposed the transfer. 29% of Republicans included. The $1 billion fundraising target is already drawing from a media settlement: ABC's defamation deal sends $15 million directly to this library. The AI render misspells "Library" as "Lierary" on the building itself. "Most likely to be a hotel." His words. A $67 million parcel of public college land for $10, a misspelled brand video, and a settlement-funded trophy tower that the man commissioning it cannot decide is a library or a lodging. That is the whole argument in a paragraph.

Please show the graph back to 2015. Then readers will see that 60% enriched uranium was "0%" under JCPOA. 0%! JCPOA capped enrichment at 3.67%. Iran had the ability to produce "0" nuclear weapons under JCPOA. 0. And that would have lasted until 2030. And then another agreement could have been negotiated. Instead, now, we will now need another war in 2030 (just as Trump suggested) or maybe sooner. Iran today has more highly enriched uranium today than under JCPOA. That is a fact. (Everyone else, go and ask CHAT GPT or Claude to check these facts. The data are very clear.) PS Trump hinted tonight that he not NOT going to do anything to get rid of the 400kg of 60% enriched uraniaum that the theocrats have right now. Thats the way I interpreted his speech tonight. We are just doing to use satellites to monitor it! I hope Im wrong. Ill check back with you in 6 months to see who was right and who was wrong. (Im very experienced at acknowleging my inaccaurate assessments.)

I am optimistic about this country's ability to assimilate immigrants and their children into American values, and less optimistic about our ability to assimilate citizens with a seething hatred of immigrants into American values.

NEW: US-Israeli strikes target home of Iranian key negotiator Kamal Kharazi, who was overseeing mediation with Pakistan to broker peace between Iran and the US, severely injuring him and killing his wife, thwarting any chance to reach peace deal.

Since Liberation Day, a year ago today: * US foreign direct investment is lower * US factories employ 89,000 fewer people * US goods trade deficit is UP 2% npr.org/2026/04/02/nx-…

This is massive. China successfully hacked the FBI and had access to court-authorized surveillance orders. Putting the PRC in the position to detect investigations into its own espionage activity. politi.co/4tmDW3I via @politico