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At Tan-ag Elementary School in the Philippines, kids get to simulate a bus ride, while learning basic empathy:
- News Corpse points to the weird Trump logic that applies Mel Brooks type comedy reasoning to serious foreign policy.
Since Iran threatens to disrupt the world economy by keeping the Strait of Hormuz closed, Trump retaliates by disrupting the world economy by keeping the Strait of Hormuz closed.
- From The Borowitz Report…
…Obama offers to help Trump craft a nuclear deal with Iran:
“Just spitballing here, but it would be good to put limits on uranium enrichment,” he said. “And you’d want to set up regular inspections and monitoring to make sure they’re complying.”Okay, so the deal Trump is trying to get, if he gets it, will not be quite as good for the US as the one Obama got from Iran years ago, without war.
- Well that’s entertaining!
driftglass goes to a brief scene from The Maltese Falcon explaining how each character plays out in the attack on Iran.
One direct analogy:
Trump is a much stupider, narcissistic version of Gutman. - CalicoJack in The Psy of Life speculates on two plausible reasons for otherwise weird Trump associated actions:
– The abrupt, premature ceasefire with Iran.
– Melania’s public denials of accusations against her that nobody has made. - Dave Columbo voices a bit of sympathy for Melania over Epstein non-connections:
- Christian Nationalists have devoted a great deal of creative energy to supporting an image of Trump as a leader sent by God. The latest post by Trump portraying himself pushing aside and replacing Jesus as the Messiah has become a high hurdle for even the rightest of rightward Christians.
Right Wing Watch brings us pastor Lance Wallnau trying out a new formulation:Trump is a sort of embarrassment sent to humiliate Christians for not being Trumpy enough.
- M. Bouffant at Web of Evil links to a dozen and a half accounts of Trump posing as a replacement for Jesus, the predictable – but surprising to Trump – backlash, the deletion, and finally the cover story that Trump thought the image was himself as a doctor.
I can help with that:
I had a doctor's appointment just today.
I'll admit, it was kind of startling when she levitated.— Burr Deming – @BurrLand01@mastodon.world (@BurrLand01) April 14, 2026
- What a world into which we have been transported, where we are compelled once more to agree with Marjorie Taylor Greene.
First, she breaks with Trump because she doesn’t much care for rape, particularly the raping of children.
Now Tommy Christopher brings her reaction to Trump portraying himself as Jesus.
Franklin Graham defends Trump’s defense, that Trump thought he was portraying himself as a doctor administering first aid.
MTG first destroys Trump’s defense, then destroys Franklin Graham’s defense of the defense.
She displays Trump’s self-portrayal side by side with a traditional rendition of Christ.
Oh my.
Pete Hegseth outpaces Graham. He goes along with Trump’s self-image and compares the press, and their critical coverage, with the Pharisees as depicted in the Bible opposing Christ.
Anyone who does not praise Trump and his war is opposing Jesus and God.
Tommy brings us Brian Stelter, working into his usual dispassionate role as CNN’s Chief Media Analyst his own reaction as a Christian in a scathing critique of Hegseth.
- Representative Jamie Raskin (D-MD) has figured out how to use the 25th Amendment to remove Donald Trump without a cooperating Cabinet.
Author and educator Amanda Nelson explains how it would work, why it still won’t work, and why it should be done anyway:
- Since efforts to remove an increasingly dangerous Trump from destructive power would likely fail at this point, national Democrats see that path as a distraction that will weaken Democrats.
An exasperated Brian Beutler is becoming …well… more exasperated:
How in god’s name does an impeachment vote “distract” from the “focus” on Trump’s corruption?!
Some ambitious Dem should just go over his head. Dare him to whip the caucus AGAINST impeaching Trump under the current circumstances. www.offmessage.net/p/republican…
— Brian Beutler (@brianbeutler.bsky.social) April 10, 2026 at 9:34 AM
- Hackwhackers chronicles Trump’s nighttime deterioration, already strange and getting more bizarre, as his mental meltdown becomes more obvious.
- Tamra Brown reveals what Trump has secretly been learning after submitting his frantic questions to ChatGPT:
- Juliet Jeske at Decoding Fox News provides the audio with a script provided by Donald J. Trump:
(It’s a bother, but you have to click on the sound icon) - Ted McLaughlin at jobsanger has the numbers. Americans don’t like Trump, don’t like his economy, don’t like his war on Iran, and don’t like his war on immigrants.
- At The Moderate Voice Trump turns from attacking Iran to a new war on the Pope
Joe Gandelman summarizes the absurdity:
Trump is launching political broadsides at Pope Leo XIV – a pope – for saying that he’s against war, bombs and death. Trump has accused him of being “weak on crime,” claims Pope Leo “wasn’t on any list” and was put there because Trump was president.
Trump claimed, “The Pope made a statement. He says, Iran can have a nuclear weapon.” The Pope never even said that.Joe is cautionary:
Arguing with the pope is not unprecedented. Doing so while sounding like you’re auditioning for a sequel to the New Testament is something else entirely.And there is this:
One poll puts Leo’s approval at 84% and Trump’s at 38%. - North Carolina pastor John Pavlovitz points out that MAGA Christians do not hate the Pope. They only hate the Jesus he strives to represent.
Strange truth:
And the irony of all of this is that Christ’s teachings in the Gospels: of loving neighbor, of not returning violence for violence, of sharing abundance so that all can be fed, of looking after the vulnerable and the endangered, do not find such violent opposition from any other group of people on the planet.
Agnostics, Jews, Muslims, Atheists, Buddhists, Humanists, Wiccans, Hindus, Unitarians, and people of any other worldview can find some shared ground in those aspirations. They may not be deists or theists, or they may have an entirely different religious tradition as their pathway, and still feel some affinity in the Sermon on the Mount’s call to love their neighbor.
The only people who fully reject Jesus’ wall-demolishing compassion, his abhorrence of war, his sacrificial love, and his open-handed generosity outright are MAGA Christians. They are the sole demographic on the planet who appear violently allergic to his life and work. - Dave Dubya takes in Trump’s attack on Pope Leo for promoting Jesus, followed by Trump’s self-portrayal as Christ’s replacement and devises a brief test that helps us decide which team we’re on.
- Norah O’Donnell conducts interviews with Catholic officials about immigration and the views of Pope Leo XIV.
The Center for American Rights is offended. They want the FCC to step in. It’s a long letter, but Adam Steinbaugh helps with a brief, quite accurate, summary.
Wisconsin conservative James Wigderson has a terse reaction to their offended reaction:
The clearly misnamed Center for American Rights. @danielsuhr must've missed that whole 1st Amendment thing in school. https://t.co/zqP5bEwgoT
— James Wigderson (@jwigderson) April 16, 2026
- Our favorite Earth-Bound Misfit explains how MAGA hero Viktor Orbán got crushed in Hungary’s election:
Seems Hungarian voters rejected pretty much everything Trump voters worship.
And this:
🇭🇺 "Russians, go home."
— MAKS 25 👀🇺🇦 (@maks23.bsky.social) April 12, 2026 at 4:49 PM
- Author John Scalzi has warm feelings for Hungary, largely because of extraordinarily friendly stays in that country.
He congratulates that nation for successfully throwing out of office a long-term despot, and hopes whatever they have is catching.
- One vital tool that pretty much has to be employed continuously by any authoritarian ruler is the image of being unstoppable. Resistance is diminished when resistance is seen as less than useless.
In Letters from an American, historian Heather Cox Richardson points to the earthshaking effect of Viktor Orbán’s crushing defeat in Hungary. It pretty much destroys the fiction of Trump inevitability in the US.
And Trump not only knows it, he is becoming more panicky and unhinged with each passing moment.
Trump’s deteriorating mental state has become impossible to overlook, but Republicans are making excuses for it. Cabinet members, who owe their positions to Trump and who likely recognize they will never rise to such power again in a merit-based system, will probably not question Trump’s mental acuity.The same analysis is now available in audio format, as Richardson narrates in podcast.
- In Canadian satire, The Beaverton voters in Hungary admit they voted out Orbán just to see the look on JD Vance’s face.
- tengrain at Mock Paper Scissors, even by Wednesday, chronicles the humiliations as JD Vance has a very tough week.
With crowds numbering literally in the tens, restating how God is on our side in deadly war against unbelievers, insisting Trump was only joshing about being the Messiah, puzzled about Epstein who?
And, of course:
We have a pretty good idea, JD
— The Tennessee Holler (@thetnholler.bsky.social) April 14, 2026 at 6:52 PM
- Max’s Dad covers the bases with pointed commentary about Eric Swalwell and JD Vance.
On Swalwell:
If these charges are true, get rid of him.JD Vance:
This guy is a human natural disaster. Like his master, everything he touches dies.But he begins with:
One down and three to go. Viktor Orbán, the 16-year leader of Hungary and CPAC hero, has gone down hard in Hungarian elections.And ends with:
Finally, Jesus Christ posted on Truth Social (which is neither by the way) ….wait what, it was Trump who portrayed himself as Jesus healing a guy who looks like George W Bush or perhaps Epstein. - In Scotties Playtime Jeanine Pirro doesn’t feel that the multiple (okay, okay…alleged) sexual crimes by Eric Swalwell, including (okay, okay…alleged) rape, are enough. She wants to create a national hotline so anyone who wants to make more accusations can do so anonymously. What could go wrong?
Ali Redford think it’s a cool idea, and has a suggestion.
- Grung_e_Gene, in Disaffected and it Feels So Good, draws on his own experience in combat areas as he expresses anger at those who profit while those in military service are cut back in the field to partial rations. Those in leadership respond by engaging in fake biblical quotes and phony religiosity.
“It can cost around $3 a meal for a piece of chicken, a piece of broccoli, you know, a corn tortilla and one other thing.” – trump’s Agriculture Secretary, Brooke RollinsThere are those who say it publicly in front of God and everybody:
“I believe that uh Donald Trump is better than uh sliced bread. I think he’s almost a second coming, in my humble opinion,” Republican Troy Nehls of Texas told reporters on Thursday. - PZ Myers is encouraged by predictably failed efforts to impeach and remove Pete Hegseth.
It puts Republicans on record, and it’s the right thing to do, even if the effort is unsuccessful.Two reasons you don’t want Hegseth involved with national security:
He’s evil to the core.
He’s a total screw-up. - Is injustice ever justice disguised?
Jason Linkins only implies (strongly implies) an answer:
this is of course an injustice but it's a net good that Jenner is feeling the visceral pain of her own choices
www.newsweek.com/entertainmen…
— Jason Linkins (@dceiver.bsky.social) April 17, 2026 at 12:06 PM
- Julian Sanchez reminds us, because we need reminding, about very real human costs:
Morbidly wondering who will end up with the highest body count. Hegseth trying to force Jesus to hurry it up by starting WWIII, Musk & Rubio abruptly killing virtually all international aid, or RFK mounting a sustained attack on legitimate medicine & public health.
— Julian Sanchez (@normative.bsky.social) April 10, 2026 at 8:31 AM
- It’s been a while since leaders of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers were adjudged in court to have committed what amounted to terrorism.
Journalist Marcy Wheeler at EmptyWheel covers motions from Trump’s Department of Justice, not only to reverse and erase those convictions, but to formally allow them to rearm:
With:
Lots and lots of arms. - Legal expert Imani Gandy and Jessica Mason Pieklo of Rewire News Group look at how and why conservatives are now running a campaign to ban abortion pills:
You may prefer a complete transcript (pdf)
- From Rural Missouri, Jess Piper goes to Cambridge spends four days in and around Harvard and quite naturally feels totally out of place.
I was in my element…
Except I wasn’t. I felt like a fraud. An imposter. I have not had access to that level of academia, and it shows.
I am jealous of those who have access to such good schools, and I’m not just talking about Harvard. I am talking about an educational system set up from pre-K to guide students through learning experiences that kids from my region usually don’t have access to.
Maybe jealous is not the right word. Maybe the word is irate.
Why can’t all the kids have all of the education?She is happy to be back here in Missouri fighting against the Republican war on kids.
- For those of us who can’t imagine the courage and stamina it can take to escape an abusive, physically abusive, relationship…
…SilverAppleQueen goes personal with eloquence and poetry to help us at least recognize what we cannot really know. - Infidel753 goes creatively poetic…
…with a dream journey to another world of terror and terrible protection.
- At The Onion, a study by the University of Chicago has revealed a strong link between poor sleep and the presence of a gong near one’s bed:
- Sarah Cooper shows what weeks of dedicated training can do for you:
- Vincent at A Wayfarer’s Notes entertains with an essay on why he is entertained by the crossword regularly found in the Daily Telegraph.
He explains the cross culture references and celebrates one difficult 3‑letter word with a video devoted to a comedian’s relationship with a bird.
- @whiskeywhistle98 demonstrates that she can be very pleasant:
- In Georgia baseball, we can take a lesson from The Savanna Bananas on celebrating each victory:
- Dave Barry runs down all the news from Florida, beginning with the return of Artemis II:
…having traveled around the far side of the Moon, where they were treated to a breathtaking view of spectacular lunar rock formations never before seen by humans.
So the mission has been a success, although there have been a couple of minor glitches. One involved Microsoft Outlook, theblight upon humanitypopular software program that was installed on Orion so that the astronauts would still be able, even in space, to receive emails from fake PayPal accounts.
We also have much to learn from our time tested sources of internet wisdom:
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