Dear Everybody:
There were two big stories today. One about the Iran ceasefire and the other about Trump’s incompetent administration:
--Trump tweeted 13 times in one hour that the war with Iran was over and the Strait of Hormuz was open, and that’s about how long the ceasefire lasted before it all fell apart (if it ever existed.)
--Iran almost immediately announced that the Strait was only open for the ten days of the ceasefire, and that if the ceasefire was broken in any way by Israel or the US, they would close it again.
--Iran said they had NOT agreed to a new round of talks with the United States due to the US’s "unreasonable demands."
--The Negotiator and speaker of the Parliament in Iran: "The President of the United States made seven claims in one hour, all seven of which were false. They did not win the war with these lies, and they will certainly not get anywhere in the negotiations either. With the continuation of the blockade, the Strait of Hormuz will not remain open. Passage through the Strait of Hormuz will be conducted based on the ‘designated route’ and with ‘Iranian authorization.’ Whether the Strait is open or closed and the regulations governing it will be determined by the field, not by social media."
--Within hours, it was announced that the Strait was closed again (surprise, surprise) and that the US blockade was back on. The news reported that multiple ships had been fired on by Iranian gunboats. Iran accused the US of engaging in piracy and maritime theft under the so-called title of blockade.
--Iran says no form of nuclear material transfer to America has been negotiated. Last night, in a desperate attempt to appease Iran, Trump waived sanctions on Iranian oil.
--Iran’s Supreme Leader, the new Ayatollah, said the country’s navy is ready to "inflict new bitter defeats on its enemies."
--Ann Coulter: "Yay. The Strait that was open before we began bombing Iran is open again. Everybody pretend this is a huge victory for Trump so he’ll end this catastrophe."
--Sam Stein: "This might come as a shock to most, but it appears that Trump’s depiction of the deal struck with Iran is not the same as Iran’s depiction of the deal.
--Just twenty minutes before Trump’s announcement that the Strait of Hormuz was open, massive trades hit the market. (You will notice that this announcement came on Friday afternoon--again--just in time for the stock markets to shoot up and oil prices to fall right before the markets closed for the weekend.)
--Aaron Astor: "My general tendency is to reject conspiracy theories. And yet, this keeps happening--massive trades just minutes before Trump announces something. And that something (Iran handing over uranium and opening Hormuz) often turns out not to be true at all."
The other big story was from the Atlantic, which published a MAJOR expose on Trump’s head of the FBI, Kash Patel:
--The Atlantic, citing 9 FBI agents who were willing to go on the record and more who weren’t) reported on Patel’s constant drinking and instances of public drunkenness at clubs in Washington, DC, and in Las Vegas, where he spends most of his time. (Apparently his wild partying with the Olympic hockey players wasn’t the only time he’s gotten drunk in public.)
--They reported multiple occasions on which his security detail couldn’t wake him up because he was intoxicated and described at least one incident in which he locked himself in his office while drunk and FBI agents had to send for "breaching equipment" to try to break down the door and get him out. They also reported meetings and briefings that had to be rescheduled to later in the day because of his drinking.
--The report also described worries at the FBI over his constant use of agency planes for personal use, going to concerts around the country to see his country music singer girlfriend, giving her a Secret Service security detail, and flying home to Las Vegas, where he spends most of his time, and the fact that he is frequently unreachable when he is needed and/or unprepared during crises like the Boston terrorist incident and the murder of Charlie Kirk.
--They also talked about his paranoia. He’s apparently in a constant threat that he might be fired (with good reason) and whenever his computer goes on the fritz, he’s convinced that he’s been locked out of it because Trump has fired him. They described frequent "freak-outs." And they said his drinking was a "recurring source of concern across the government."
--His communications strategist said everything in the report was "fake news" and that he plans to sue.
--Late Saturday afternoon Patel posted; "Memo to the fake news--the only time I’ll ever actually be concerned about the hit piece lies you write about me will be when you stop. Keep talking, it means I’m doing exactly what I should be doing. And no amount of BS you write will ever deter this FBI from making America safe again and taking down the criminals you love." (Professional-sounding from the Director of the FBI, huh?)
--MS NOW’s Mehdi Hasan: "If you’re not concerned, why are you threatening to sue them?"
--Dem Rep Ted Lieu: "If the allegations in this article are true, Patel should be fired immediately."
--Dem Rep Yassamin Ansari: "Let’s be clear: half of Trump’s cabinet is a national security vulnerability, Trump himself included."
--Mark Baker: "A drunk running the FBI...the military...and a dementia-addled moron running the country. And none of that was an exaggeration."
--Internet Conspiracy Dork: "Don’t forget the drunk US Attorney for DC."
--Angus Day: "This is a guy who has access to some of THE most secure files outside of the Military and NSA. Why?"
--Doug Profitt: "Excessive drinking and erratic behavior are things that can prevent you from getting a security clearance. But here we are, having the guy who’s IN CHARGE of security clearances behaving this way."
--T2inDC: "There is no evidence any of Trump’s appointees ever completed security clearances for their positions. None."
--Outspoken: "Their ineptitude will be their downfall...if we make it out alive."
Trump held another rally last night, this one with Erika Trump for Turning Point USA:
--Trump spoke at the Turning Point USA rally last night. His entrance music had sounds of a woman shouting "No," and then screaming, set to dire music from The Phantom of the Opera. It was like something out of a horror movie.
--Zapp: "Is Dracula about to walk in? The fuck is this?"
--Mitch Solomon: "One of the gifts of out-and-out insanity is the endless telling on yourself."
--The stage background was a giant brick wall and the words "Build the Red Wall." As Trump came out, Wrestlemania-style fountains of fireworks blasted and the music reached a fever pitch.
--Craig Harrington: "An important thing I learned a long time ago about Trump is he’s absolutely obsessed with musical theater, and he does not seem to understand a single one of them."
--Trump spoke to a crowd that was not nearly as big as his crowds used to be. The event was in a megachurch that holds 4500 people, but it was only 2/3 full, and there were no lines waiting hours to get in, like Trump always brags about. Raw Story said Trump was experiencing "a dramatic erosion of his political momentum...for a president who once commanded arena-sized audiences, the half-empty megachurch represents a stunning reversal."
--Trump: "Global warming--we’re actually cooling as a planet."
--Trump: "We will pass the great healthcare plan." (There is no plan.)
--Trump: "Maine, so bad. But we’re right on their ass."
--Trump: "I think I’m doing the best job of anybody. But for some reason, a president, the party does poorly in the midterms. It doesn’t make sense. We’re ending wars all over the place. And wait until you see the prices fall."
--Comfortably Numb: "He knows it’s going to be a bloodbath, and is washing his hands of this in advance."
--Trump: "We will also bring a new dawn for Cuba. Watch what happens."
--Trump announced he’s completely shutting down the Department of Education.
Federal government jobs are boring, lousy jobs."
--Trump claimed Democrats were clapping for him at the State of the Union. "They were clapping for everything I said."
--Trump: "We will make Lebanon great again."
--Trump on Charlie Kirk: "His movement is forget it. It’s not gonna happen any other way but success. He was such a great friend of mine."
In the War with the Pope news:
--The Pope said, responding to what Trump said about wanting to debate him, that it was not in his interest at all to debate Trump about the war, but he would continue preaching the Gospel message of peace.
--Ahmed Baba: "Remarkably, the Pope has become the most prominent voice speaking out against Christian nationalism in the world."
--Rick Wilson: "If you wanted to surgically alienate the suburbs of Chicago, Philadelphia, Milwaukee, and Detroit--oh, and new York--you couldn’t design a better strategy than telling Catholic voters their spiritual leader is a globalist RINO libtard cuck shill for Soros. Keep it up, guys. You’re doing GREAT."
--Charlie Sykes: "Even non-Catholics ought to be asking themselves: Who sounds more like the Jesus of the Gospels? The ranting Trump? The bloody Hegseth with his fake Bible quotes? The smugly revisionist JD Vance? Or the Pope from Chicago who says, ‘Jesus is the King of Peace, who...does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them?"
--JF: "Is it blasphemy to be in love with the Pope? When I’m not even Catholic?"
--Christopher Wood: "Makes sense. Having a morally consistent and intelligent world leader is a breath of fresh air."
--In How Can We Make This Any Worse news, Trump and his entire administration are going to be spending the next week reading the Bible aloud on TV from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., starting with Genesis and going all the way through the last chapter of Revelation. (Although I’m not sure that’s really possible? The Bible’s pretty long. The English Honor Society used to read Dickens’s "A Christmas Carol" aloud at Christmas. It took about 3 hours, and that was just a novelette.) They will be reading live from the Museum of the Bible. Readers will include Ben Carson, Sean Duffy, Marco Rubio, Pete Hegseth, and Trump. (My question: Will Pete Hegseth be reading from the Gospel of Pulp Fiction? And will Trump be reading Two Corinthians?")
--Owlette: "It’s so difficult to keep up with all the idiocy, incompetence, indecency, ignorance...and now blasphemy."
In Gosh, I Wish This Was 1930 news:
--The BBC delivered a 15-minute news update every night at 8:45 p.m, preceded by the chimes of Big Ben, and pretty much everybody in the UK listened to it.
--On this day, April 18th, in 1930, the BBC did something it had never done before during that news update. It announced, "There is no news," and then played music for the rest of the newscast.
In historical news:
--This is the historic anniversary of Paul Revere’s (and William Dawes' and Samuel Prescott’s) daring midnight ride, later commemorated in Longfellow’s poem, which began, "On the eighteenth of April in ‘75, hardly a man is still alive who remembers that date and year..."
--That night the British, who had occupied Boston and were determined to put down the colonists’ rebellion, planned a surprise raid on Lexington and Concord to seize the armories there, with their stores of arms and gunpowder, and, more importantly, capture two of the main rebel leaders and ship them off to England to be tried for treason--and thereby nip the whole uprising in the bud.
--But the rebels got wind of the raid, though they didn’t know whether the army would be marching by land or coming by boat. That they were supposed to find out by means of a lantern hung in the Old North Church--one if by land and two if by sea. The minute they got it, they took off at a gallop, warning every Middlesex village and farm along the way, and by the time the British got there, the colonists were ready for them. And the rebel leaders had escaped to fight another day.
--Those leaders? You may have heard of them--John Adams and John Hancock.
In other news:
--The DOJ fired the top prosecutor investigating former CIA Director John Brennan (one of Trump’s enemies he’s trying to retaliate against) after the prosecutor said there was no basis on which to charge Brennan.
--RFK, Jr. recently applied to trademark his own MAHA (Make America Healthy Again) slogan for use in marketing potential products--food supplements, vitamines, essential oils, and vaccines.
--Steton University College of Law, where Pam Bondi is an alumna, faces a donor boycott if they don’t denounce her. Over 500 alums have signed on to the boycott.
In good news:
--Justices Alito and Thomas both said they will NOT be retiring before the midterms, even though Trump was really pressuring them to so he could replace them with his own guys.
--In the special elections in Whittier, California, the Republican incumbents were all defeated, primarily because of anger over ICE.
--In Indiana, a federal judge blocked a GOP-backed state law banning the use of student IDs as an acceptable form of ID at the polls."
Finally, today is Hayley Mills’s birthday. If you’re old enough to have seen her in POLLYANNA or the twins in THE PARENT TRAP when they came out and are still thinking of her as an adorable child, brace yourselves--she’s 80 years old. But she’s still going strong, most recently starring in an episode of DEATH IN PARADISE. She’s had an amazing career, going from "the biggest child star since Shirley Temple" to the teenager in THAT DARN CAT and then the mother in the Masterpiece Theater series, THE FLAME TREES OF THIKA. She also did lots of theater, playing Anna in THE KING AND I and acting in Noel Coward plays (I got to see her onstage in a thriller in London, and she was great!) In honor of her birthday, I recommend THE TROUBLE WITH ANGELS (my favorite Hayley Mills movie) in which she plays a "scathingly brilliant" girl at a Catholic school who causes nothing but trouble for the Mother Superior (Rosalind Russell), and THE FAMILY WAY, about a just-married couple who get off to a bumpy start. It has a score by Paul McCartney, and is just charming.
Best comment of the day, from Hayley Mills (as Pollyanna) talking about her father, "He read something one day that he said helped him...he had it put on this chain. He wore it always. It’s all I have of his." (She opens the locket and reads.) "When you look for the bad...Ooh! It always makes me cross-eyed...’When you look for the bad in mankind, expecting to find it, you surely will.’ Abraham Lincoln."
Keep calm and carry on,
Connie Willis