The real king

Ironic that a king, from the country we fought a war with to get rid of kings, was the one to remind the Republicans in the US Congress that we are a democracy with limits on presidential power.

I like Charles - he is a long time defender of the environment.

r

Us and the Roman Empire

It used to be theorized that the problem of lead pipes/lead in drinking water ultimately caused the fall of the Roman Empire. It was more complex than that, of course, but that's what comes to mind when I think of modern society and microplastics. It's especially disturbing to me, as I have been drinking all my water from plastic bottles for years now. Gulp :(

Priorities

Lawrence O'Donnell speaks with Nicholas Enrich about his new book, Into the Wood Chipper: A Whistleblower's Account of How the Trump Administration Shredded USAID.

“Propulsive….When the full history of this moment is ready to be written, Into the Wood Chipper will be a vivid source.” —The New York Times

Trump's priorities: take food and medicine away from the poorest of the poor, while asking the US taxpayers to fund his oh-so-wonderful ballroom/bunker ... Republicans now plan for taxpayers to fund Trump’s $400 million ballroom which he promised to cover with private donations.

James T. Kirk

I'm waiting for a couple of books on hold at the library, so meanwhile I'm re-reading The Autobiography of James T. Kirk. It has a forword by Dr. McCoy ;)

If you were a fan of the original Star Trek, you would probably like the book - I thought it was very good. You can read a short review of it here at Goodreads, which gave it a 5 out of 5 - The Autobiography of James T. Kirk: the Story of Starfleet’s Greatest Captain.

I will always love the original series and the characters of Kirk, Spock, and Dr. McCoy.

Doobies

The Doobie Brothers, here John McFee (L) and Patrick Simmons (R), at the Greek Theater, UC Berkeley, September 11, 1982, last stop on their farewell tour.

The "influencers"

These people made a living "influencing" weaker minds to support Trump. I don't know if they supported Trump because they thought he really was the best guy for the job, or if they just thought supporting him was to their financial benefit. Either way, they were corrupt or stupid.

Jon Stewart

Earth Day 2026

It's Earth Day (and April is Earth Month). It doesn't seem like many people care about the environment anymore - I can't recall hearing even a Democratic politician speak up about it recently, and the Trump administration is actively destroying it.

A lot of things led up to the first Earth Day, including ...

The extraordinary attention garnered by Rachel Carson's 1962 book, Silent Spring, the famous 1968 Earthrise NASA photograph of the Earth from the Moon, the saturation news coverage given to the Santa Barbara oil spill and the Cuyahoga River catching fire in early 1969. - Wikipedia

I don't care just about making the planet work for people. I care about the animals, their habitats, our whole ecosystem. I don't understand why people don't seem to care.

An interview

Bill Kristol at The Bulwark discusses an interview given by Trump today to CNBC.

I think these random interviews are worth listening to once in a while, if only to remind ourselves of what kind of person is now running our country.

The elections and the Nordic Model

There's been a lot in the news lately about the message Democrats must have to win not only in the upcoming midterm elections, but also in the next presidential election. Future candidates to lead Democrats are out with their various messages ... Pete Buttigieg, Gavin Newsom, AOC, Josh Shapiro, Cory Booker, JB Pritzker, Kamala Harris, etc.

So far the candidates seem to talk more about the failures of the other side, hoping a shared hatred of Trump will bond voters to the Democratic party. Where is the optimistic plan for the future that will create actual change and make life in the US better? They don't seem to have one of those.

But I do :) Please, Democratic contenders, think different. Don't just put Band-Aids on our present system, embrace real change. Champion the Nordic Model ....



It's not enough for the Democrats to talk about what we are against. We have to be for something.

It's Eric

Settle a bet for me.

Jimmy Page or Eric Clapton

??? pic.twitter.com/2MGqlj7HSf

— The Extreme Music Enthusiast (@TheExtremeMusi1) April 18, 2026

Need we ask?



Layla, Eric Clapton at Royal Albert Hall, London. He played for 24 nights between February 5 and March 9, 1991. He did multiple versions of his songs (blues, rock, orchestral). There are DVDs of the concerts and he also made an album - 24 Nights.

The Daily Briefing

The Times of Israel's daily briefing discusses the current situation of the war in Iran with their diplomatic correspondent Lazar Berman, who references a new Wall Street Journal article.

It's interesting to see the differences between the story about the war put out by the Trump administration and the pov of Israel. I think Israel does understand how precarious it is to rely on Trump, but they don't seem to have a lot of other options.

Dr. Alex and the war in Iran

Larely I've been watching a lot of videos from Dr. Alex Wibberley on health issues. He's an emergency room doc in the UK and has a lot of good preventative advice.

I was surprised to see this video from him today ... one about the war in Iran and how that will affect the health of so many people around the world. It's fascinating ...

Forever Autumn

Justin Hayward of the Moody Blues singing Forever Autumn, 1978, on the British program The Kenny Everett Video Show.

Ezra and Haviv

The most recent podcast by Ezra Klein is about Israel ... Reckoning With Israel’s ‘One State Reality’ .

I like Ezra and enjoy most of his podcasts, but I do think he gets it wrong about Israel. I have always hoped he would have on his show Eylon Levy or Haviv Rettig Gur to discuss this subject. He hasn't.

But today I saw that Haviv has a video in which he talks about Ezra's latest podcast ...

Hezbollah

It’s weird to frame this as a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon, because the joint statement makes clear they are not at war. This is a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. https://t.co/4Kw9el2iaZ

— Eylon Levy (@EylonALevy) April 16, 2026

Maybe I've missed relevant info, but how is a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon going to work when Lebanon is not fighting with Israel, Hezbollah is? Has Hezbollah agreed not to fire missles at Israel anymore?

A Jesus complex

- A picture Trump posted of himself on his social media site.



Recently one of Trump's followers compared him to Jesus ...



Bad bad bad.

Artemis II

World Hamster Day :)

Happy #HamsterDay! 🐹🪩

📸: Lukas Trixl#hamster #europeanhamster #field pic.twitter.com/LXRAFJILn3

— Animal Planet (@AnimalPlanet) April 12, 2026

The ceasefire

Retired professor at the U.S. Naval War College, Tom Nichols, and retired general Mark Hertling discuss the apparent ceasefire between Iran and the US.

Persepolis

I don't know much about contemporary Iran. What I do know a little about is the past of the area, from art history and ancient history classes. Persia.

One of the most amazing sites in Iran is Persepolis ...

Persepolis was the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire (c. 550–330 BC). It is situated in the plains of Marvdasht, encircled by the southern Zagros Mountains, Fars province of Iran. It is one of the key Iranian cultural heritage sites and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The earliest remains of Persepolis date back to 515 BC. The city, acting as a major center for the empire, housed a palace complex and citadel designed to serve as the focal point for governance and ceremonial activities. It exemplifies the Achaemenid style of architecture. The complex was taken by the army of Alexander the Great in 330 BC ...

Irregardless of the present regime in Iran, Trump's threat of destroying everything and everyone in the country, destroying a whole civilization, is just obscene.