Midday open thread: Paul Ryan hearts Trump, Operation Git-Meow and VW fined

• Today’s comic by Mark Fiore is Armada of Misinformation: 

• What’s coming up on Sunday Kos …

• If Trump in the White House can’t stop Democratic circular firing squads, we really are finished, by Ian Reifowitz
• ‘Our children are dying, every day,’ by Susan Grigsby
• The YUGE job losses Trump is ignoring: retail workers, by Sher Watts Spooner
• If progressives win locally, the national wins will follow, by Egberto Willies
• The activist’s dilemma: Extreme protest tactics decrease support for movements, by David Akadjian
• Only Trump can save ISIS now, by Jon Perr
• The future of science in America, by Mark E Andersen
• A white ally in the battle against Reconstruction white supremacy, by Denise Oliver Velez
• Montana: The (fossil) treasure state, by DarkSyde
• DNC, DCCC, DSCC: How to decipher the alphabet soup of Democratic party organizations, by David Jarman

• Things you can’t make up: Paul Ryan on the greatness of Trump:

A businessman always willing to challenge convention, he has shaken up Washington and laid out an agenda of generational proportions. Never afraid of a battle, he has made it his mission to fight for those who feel forgotten. Where others would pivot, he stays true to who he is. Where others would turn back, he forges ahead. Up close, I have found a driven, hands-on leader, with the potential to become a truly transformational American figure.

• Operation Git-meow:

Guantánamo Bay Naval Base is home to a military prison, and now, a growing stray cat population.

In March, a nonprofit billing itself as Operation Git-Meow issued a request to start an adopt-a-cat program to help connect feral cats with new homes. Last year, almost 200 feral cats at Guantánamo underwent euthanasia because the military base had no alternative method to address the cat population, according to the Miami Herald.

The navy base commander Capt. Dave Culpepper rejected the formal proposal to create a rescue program for cats, citing regulations and a lack of authority over the matter. [...]

Operation Git-Meow—a play on Guantánamo's nickname, Gitmo—intends to appeal the decision to the Department of the Navy, putting forward a "no-cost solution" that would include volunteer veterinarians and other experts who can vaccinate and sterilize the cats ... The proposal, if implemented, would be free for taxpayers.

• The father of Maryland Governor Larry Hogan has died:

Lawrence J. Hogan Sr., a combative Prince George’s County politician who rose to national prominence in 1974 by being the first Republican member of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee to call for President Richard M. Nixon’s impeachment, died April 20. He was 88.

• Good—but should have been more:

Volkswagen has been ordered to pay a $2.8 billion criminal penalty in the United States for cheating on diesel emissions tests.

Federal Judge Sean Cox in Detroit followed the deal negotiated by VW and the U.S. Justice Department. The sentence was ordered Friday, six weeks after the German automaker pleaded guilty to conspiracy and obstruction of justice.

On today’s Kagro in the Morning show: How will The Donald vacation/melt down this weekend? Read up on the next name coming under the microscope. Jeff Gannon x a million! Media Matters’ Matt Gertz documents the Bannon/Mercer axis that should, by rights, deny Breitbart press credentials.

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