Now it's $1 billion

Senate GOP eyes $1 billion for Trump ballroom security as part of ICE, border patrol package

Senate Republicans are looking to give the US Secret Service $1 billion to shore up security for President Donald Trump’s future White House ballroom, as part of a broader immigration enforcement package.

Two GOP-led Senate committees unveiled late Monday their roughly $70 billion package to fund US Immigration and Customs Enforcement and border patrol, which they plan to pass with only Republican votes

The Senate Judiciary and Homeland Security committees are aiming to spend roughly $38 billion for ICE and around $26 billion for US Customs and Border Patrol functions and upgrades, according to legislative text released by the panels. The funding would run through the end of September 2029.

The Judiciary Committee also tucked in the additional $1 billion in Secret Service funding that could go toward Trump’s ballroom project ...

People are losing health care benefits, food assistance, and gas is through the roof, but ... the ballroom!

Tom Steyer

It's almost time to vote in the primary election for governor of California. It's a nonpartisan or "jungle" primary and the fear is that we will end up with two Republicans to choose between.

I still haven't decided for sure who to vote for. I probably would have voted for Eric Swallwell before all the bad stuff came out about him.

I think I'll end up voting for Tom Steyer, mainly bevcause he cares about the environment, and has been endorsed by organizations like the Center for Biological Diversity.

So anyway, let's find out more about him ...

Forever war

But but but ... I thought the war with Iran had been "terminated"?

SNAP

FACT FOCUS: Why nearly 4.3 million people are no longer receiving food stamps

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins this week attributed a multimillion-person drop in the number of participants receiving food stamps through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to the tamping down of fraud and an improved economy. But experts discount those factors, saying the primary driver of the decrease was more likely new legislation that changed how the program runs ...

This would be millionaire Brooke Rollins, who has said that the only people who should be on food stamps are those who would starve to death otherwise.

How much does a person living where I do need every month for gtoceries and sundry items? According to the Google bot ...

A single person with pets in California can expect to spend approximately $150 to $250+ per week on groceries and pet supplies. While general food costs for one in CA average around $177/week, pet food, litter, and household items, plus higher costs in metro areas, often push this closer to $200-$250.

So that would mean spending about $800 to $1000 a month.

Oh dearie me - no wonder SNAP has to dump so many people off the rolls, when they must get soooo much taxpayer cash every month.

Guess how much money a person like me (elderly disabled homeowner living on social security) gets from SNAP to help pay for one month of food. $27. Yes, twenty-seven dollars.

The jewel in the crown

In the news ... Mamdani says King Charles III should give India back its diamond

What diamond, you ask? The Koh-i-Noor, which sits in the Crown of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother ...

The crown is decorated with about 2,800 diamonds, most notably the 105-carat (21.0 g) Koh-i-Noor in the middle of the front cross, which was acquired by the East India Company after the Anglo-Sikh Wars and presented to Queen Victoria in 1851 ... The Koh-i-Noor became a part of the Crown Jewels when it was left to the Crown upon Victoria's death in 1901. It had been successively mounted in the crowns of Queen Alexandra and Queen Mary before it was transferred to the Queen Mother's crown.

It would be nice if they would give it back, along with the Elgin Marbles and whatever other booty their empire "liberated" back in the day.

AI Data Centers

In the news today ... The $25 Billion Bill: The Hidden Environmental Cost of America’s Data Center Boom

And this from Business Insider ...

Mowing

Out mowing today. My corded electric mower died and my sister gave me her old battery operated one. It's nice to not have the cord to drag around, but the battery doesn't last very long, so I'm mowing for less time but more often. It takes about three times to mow the whole yard. Took some photos while I was out.

This golden lump is a sleeping Prince Wendell ...

Here are some of the wild grape vines. My parents planted them after we moved here - we had a garden of veggies and fruit trees - but most of that is dead now, or gone wild like the grapes ...

Here is Lucy. I tried to get her to stay still for a photo but she was always on the move ...

Behind these trees was the garden. Only the orange tree and some plums trees are left. The apricots died years ago. Now it's mostly oaks and privet trees there. And the weeds ;) ...

Here's Hansel. I think I woke her up ...

We laugh ...

Pathetic

Pathetic overcompensation for his obvious powerlessness in the Iran war. Republicans, you must be so proud.

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 ...