Psych! It was TACO Tuesday after all! And now we’re in a position where Iran is collecting tolls on a strait that was free a month or so ago, the one that we totally don’t need, that isn’t our problem, that should be secured by the countries that didn’t start this war and never wanted it. And also, it’s a ceasefire, but Israel is still bombing sound Lebanon.
Well-done, boys. I smell a Nobel in your future.
Good lord, am I tired. Spring break was last week, and this week it’s back to the 5 a.m. alarms — with one at 4:20 a.m. — and it is killing me. I’m trying different strategies to cope; this week I’m trying to return to bed when I get home at 7-ish, abjuring coffee until I reawaken sometime between 8:30 and 10. Today I awoke to seven million emails and twice that many texts. I don’t think this is working. Then again, it’s Wednesday, the 4:20 a.m. day. Approximately eight more weeks of this bullshit, and then I’m off until next fall.
I’m an early riser by nature, but it depends on getting to bed at a reasonable hour, and the Trump administration isn’t making that easy to do. One of a million reasons I hate them.
Over the weekend we watched an above-average rock documentary on Netflix, “Becoming Led Zeppelin.” It concentrated only on the first two albums, and how the band members developed into the musicians who could make them. (Spoiler: They started as actual musicians. Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones were session players of long standing, and both could read a chart. Jones could write one.) That sent me down the YouTube rabbit hole for one of my favorite Obama clips, the one where he’s introducing Led Zeppelin at the Kennedy Center Honors, his charm and humor on full display. And that led me to that evening’s performance of “Stairway to Heaven,” by the Wilson sisters, Jason Bonham and a choir of dozens. If you have a few minutes, both are worth your time. It will remind you keenly of what we once had, and what we lost.
Time to get into the shower. Have a good rest of Wednesday, all.
Icarus said on April 8, 2026 at 12:59 pm
My personal belief is that somebody pulled Trump aside and said dial it back, or we will 25th amendment you.
Here’s an answer I gave on Quora. It’s the same for any POTUS, but of course, a few trolls showed up to tell me I have TDS.
https://qr.ae/pFTZeg
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Dexter Friend said on April 8, 2026 at 1:55 pm
He taco’d? I can come up out of my bunker shelter buried 100 feet down? OK.
7 minutes into the network 6:30 shows the topic abruptly changed: TACO.
So this front page story in The Times is getting wall-to-wall commentary. I called this on day one: Netanyahu the war criminal is who pushed Trump over the edge into full maniacal insanity; yes, Trump has revenge issues against Iran, but it was Netanyahu who indeed pushed Trump into the void. He is crazy, insane, demented, and dangerous. And yes, the 25th must be invoked. Rep. Garcia is the most vociferous Congressman, telling truths about Trump’s terrible administration, and mostly he tells the truth about Trump’s insanity.
But I got a great landscaping contractor on board to mow and trim my yard , very reasonable, just $30 per week. The acceptance went through and in 2 hours my yard was already mowed and trimmed. I am happy. Also, at least another 7–10 day wait for my insurance to pay up and I can order repairs to my hail-damaged exteriors to my house. The dents and the destruction of the wind deflectors on the old F150 , that will not be fixed. Only a damphool carries full coverage on a second vehicle that’s 26 years old.
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Scout said on April 8, 2026 at 2:38 pm
To celebrate that WWIII didn’t start last night we had shrimp TACOs for dinner. Seemed quite fitting. If you haven’t read HCR yet today, she does a great explainer without all the fawning media bullshit and propaganda. She had meant to take a night off, but when the batshit crazy, demented, evil af ‘president’ threatened to take the world to the brink of annihilation, and then TACO’d, she knew we would need her calm, clear reportage.
Last night I watched Becoming Led Zeppelin right before bed. It made it a bit hard to fall asleep because I was pretty revved up by the music and my admiration for the genius musicians they all are, or were, in the case of John Bonham. Bonham is regarded as the best rock and roll drummer in history, by a mile. Maybe it’s because I’m nearing the end of my 6th decade, but I have become one of those old people who gets extremely nostalgic about the music of my youth.
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basset said on April 8, 2026 at 3:53 pm
Me too, guess that’s why REO Speedwagon is still on the playlist around here.
“Becoming…” was indeed interesting, would have liked to see something about their legendary debauchery on tour but it wasn’t the place for that.
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basset said on April 8, 2026 at 4:09 pm
Went to what is becoming my regular dementia carers’ meeting the other night; they read out a poem from the patient’s point of view and I just started weeping, which is not my style at all.
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Jakash said on April 8, 2026 at 4:15 pm
Yes, we all shudder at what’s happened to the WaPo. But this sentence alone is worth the cost of our 99-cent-a-month subscription:
“On Monday, Trump repeated his desire to receive a Nobel Peace Prize, in the same briefing that he said he would bomb Iran into the ‘Stone Ages.'”
Gift link, not that anybody wants one. Plus, the last one I sent to a friend didn’t work, alas.
https://wapo.st/4trpqrw
Somebody, somewhere (how am I supposed to keep track these days?) said something like “When you kick a hornet’s nest, the hornets decide when the conflict is over.” Regardless of how this war plays out, the orange felon has insured that another generation of Iranians will hate us. I don’t like to think about what that might result in.
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Mark P said on April 8, 2026 at 4:55 pm
Iran accuses the US of not conforming to the cease-fire agreement. Israel keeps bombing Lebanon. Iran closes the strait again. The hornets are not done yet.
Icarus, I did not know you were on Quora. Me, too, although I am finding it harder and harder to wade through the garbage.
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Kristen said on April 8, 2026 at 9:19 pm
I also love the clips of the Hamilton cast performing at the White House. And Trombone Shorty. JFC it’s so embarrassing now to be American.
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Mark P said on April 8, 2026 at 9:27 pm
Kristen — amen! I cannot believe so many Trump supporters still show their faces in public. My new MTG replacement says he will be behind Trump all the way. To hell, I suppose. Dumbass.
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Icarus said on April 9, 2026 at 10:12 am
Mark P @ 7: Well, I use my real name there, although I have hidden my last name.
And yeah, it used to be a fun place to learn things. I found it while researching something for a book I’ll never write.
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Deborah said on April 9, 2026 at 2:58 pm
Can someone explain to me why Melania came out today saying that she has never been friends with Epstein or Maxwell, etc? I don’t understand why she is bringing this up now. Are they using this to take attention away from the war? Of course this is going to whip up interest, it’s weird. This is not helping her one bit IMO.
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Jeff Gill said on April 9, 2026 at 3:24 pm
Two words for Melania: Barbra Streisand.
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Julie Robinson said on April 9, 2026 at 5:23 pm
Jeff beat me to it! Who can know the mind of Melania?
basset, I didn’t see your comment until I got home from my own caregivers’ meeting, but if you can track that poem down, I would love to read it at out next meeting. Weeping is par for the course at our meetings. Courage.
Our niece and her family were in town over spring break so we got to see them last night, first time in years. She got her MSW and her therapy practice specializes in trans patients. He’s a hospitalist MD, serving the downtown New Orleans charity hospital. They are lovely, caring people, making a difference with their life work, and so uplifting to be around.
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Sherri said on April 9, 2026 at 9:35 pm
Support for Israel was squarely the mainstream position of both political parties not that long ago. Now support for Israel is on its way to a losing position in both parties.
https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2026/04/07/negative-views-of-israel-netanyahu-continue-to-rise-among-americans-especially-young-people/
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apocalipstick said on April 9, 2026 at 11:43 pm
The 25th Amendment is not invoked: it outlines a process, a process which frankly doesn’t actually provide for the removal of the president. Impeachment and conviction is the only prescribed method of removal from office.
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basset said on April 10, 2026 at 1:43 am
Julie, here it is: https://www.alzheimers.net/do-not-ask-me-to-remember-poem
Damn it, tearing up again and she’s asleep right here next to me.
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Jeff Gill said on April 10, 2026 at 8:10 am
Basset, Julie, Mark, others… I hear you. My sister & I are trying to find the humor in all of this, but the tears sure are easier to get to.
The “boyfriend” our mother made in memory care, which is a story with layers upon layers of weirdness, is now himself being forgotten, which is both a bit of a relief, and sad too, in a strange sort of way. We think he’s on hospice now, but is almost twenty years younger than my mother; both of them are now foggy enough they don’t always react even when they are seated next to each other. His family mostly lives quite a ways away & when we are there at the same time, the conversation is stilted at best — how do you talk to an elderly parent’s adult children when your parents became a couple while resident in memory care? There’s not a book for this one.
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Julie Robinson said on April 10, 2026 at 11:21 am
Jeff, I guess that’ll be up to you to write.
basset, I cried reading it too, but I’ve screen shotted and will share next month. I’ll have to practice to see if I can maintain my composure.
Our group has a set of caregiver affirmations that we read together at the end of each group. I don’t see it in a quick search, so I’ll type it out.
1. I’m doing the best I can do today.
2. I give myself permission to feel frustrated at times and know it’s normal.
3. I don’t look back at past mistakes. Feeling guilty is not an option.
4. I will ask for help and guidance, as often as possible, especially if I am overwhelmed.
5. My self-care is equally important as the care I provide to my loved one or the person I’m caring for.
6. I pledge to go to ALL my medical appointments.
7. I seek out information that can help me through this journey.
8. I will attend workshops and webinars that can help me get the tools and skills to care better for my person.
9. Attending support group meetings provides an opportunity to feel connected other and it’s helpful to me.
I can’t through these without tears either. 5 and 6 have been difficult for me but I am learning their importance, and I scheduled a couple of appointments I was going to skip as a result.
My husband said the hardest day of his life was when his mom didn’t know who he is. By that marker I’ve still got it easy.
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Jeff Borden said on April 10, 2026 at 11:27 am
There’s something on FB today that offers a clue to Melania’s little speech. A new book in the U.K. about the sorry, depraved life of Prince Andrew contains references to Epstein, Lumpy and Melania. Apparently, Epstein is quoted as saying he had sex with Melania a year before she began seeing tRump. These people are so far beyond appalling.
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Mark P said on April 10, 2026 at 11:53 am
“I didn’t even know that man, and even if I did we weren’t friends, and even if we were friends we weren’t close friends, and even if we were close friends we didn’t date, and even if we did date I never had sex with him and even if I did have sex with him I didn’t enjoy it. And I’m positive he didn’t film it. That time. And the bastard never paid me.”
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Jakash said on April 10, 2026 at 1:22 pm
I’m not among those keeping up with the activities of random celebrities — and the orange felon was completely repellent to me since I first learned anything about him in the ’80s, or whenever, so I certainly didn’t make an exception for him. Thus, it was only when he was running for president that I became aware of Melania’s existence at all, and I think it was after he got the nomination in 2016 before I actually found out much about his tawdry marital history. I just refused to believe that he would be the nominee, and was not gonna pay much attention to the carnival barker and his band of devotees any sooner than that.
Her role in any of this Epstein stuff is among the least of the problems associated with this appalling regime, but oh, to go back to the ignorant bliss of never even having seen a photo of her. Though her little speech yesterday was certainly a bizarre development, and I’m sure the explanations for it will be soon forthcoming, as seen in Jeff B.’s comment @ 19, “I really don’t care, do u?”
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Schtreaky said on April 10, 2026 at 2:27 pm
Nancy, thanks for the Kennedy Center link. The song tribute was great, but I was brought to tears by the ending. It was wonderful to see so many different people sharing music, appreciating each other and filled with joy. We haven’t lost that. It’s just buried under layers of foul-smelling hatred and ignorance. After we clean house the joy will rise again.
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Deborah said on April 10, 2026 at 2:52 pm
Of course we all know that Melania was probably previously a sex worker, a highly paid one and she probably had sex for pay with Epstein and others in that strata. Then she realized one of her rich johns could marry her eventually then hopefully making her a wealthy widow. She ended up with lumpy Trump and he surprisingly brought her into the stratosphere of money and attention that she had only dreamed of, in her mind she hit the jackpot. What she didn’t understand was how the elite class that she desperately wanted to be a member of would come to shun her partly because of her association with Epstein which has become anathema to them, understandably. Trump tried to bring her into that upper class which he thought she deserved to be part of because of her beauty and his ownership of her and mostly she has managed to “pass”. Now it’s starting to fall apart because of her idiot husband and she’s pissed her gravy train of attention might come to an end. Will she end up like Diana? Plus she knows she’s past her prime. Poor Melania.
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alex said on April 10, 2026 at 3:31 pm
I think I read somewhere that Melania’s trying to get ahead of a Prince Andrew tell-all that puts her in his orbit along with Epstein and Maxwell.
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Sherri said on April 10, 2026 at 11:57 pm
Eric Swalwell is the latest in a long line of politicians who aren’t clear that women aren’t there for their use. It’s so exhausting. Guys, nobody wants an unsolicited dick pic.
Earlier this week, I read about the school board member in East Tennessee who, in the middle of a school board meeting, turned to the (female) student member of the board and said “God, you’re hot!” And everyone laughed that this old white man said this about this probably high school age girl.
I’m also listening to a podcast, Adults in the Room, about what happened at Garfield High School in Seattle in the late 90’s, when the popular principal and a popular teacher were carrying on inappropriate relationships with students. I mean, I know that kind of shit went on when I was in high school, but I didn’t realize it was still happening twenty years later.
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Deborah said on April 11, 2026 at 8:12 am
Buh bye Eric Swalwell, he always had a smarmy vibe to me, constantly chasing the camera. I’m not surprised to find out he’s been a creep all along, he sounded OK though. Why do guys do that?
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alex said on April 11, 2026 at 10:02 am
The story Melania wants to get ahead of… as told by Maureen Dowd. (Melania held her press conference shortly after she received a threatening text from a former friend who called her a bitch and threatened to spill some shit.) https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/11/opinion/melania-trump-epstein-statement.html?unlocked_article_code=1.aFA.yXTG.41S5xjTsRlTL&smid=url-share
Gift article.
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David C said on April 11, 2026 at 10:29 am
Donald the duplicitous? Like Dowd didn’t know who the fuck he was when she wrote the “Donald the dove, Hillary the hawk” column shit? Does she think we all have goldfish memories? It’s far past time for her to go to the home for useless pundits. Oh no, wait she’s at the Times. She’s already there.
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Jeff Borden said on April 11, 2026 at 1:00 pm
Maureen Dowd’s dream job would be a Hollywood gossip columnist. She has a long, long history of focusing on peripheral bullshit and holding grudges dating to her work while the Clintons were in the White House. On occasion, she can cut like a knife, but mostly, it’s the usual D.C. pablum.
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Dexter Friend said on April 11, 2026 at 1:15 pm
My insurance company totally low-balled me, of course, for the severe hail damage, so I have another company working to get better photographs of all the damage via a secondary claim. It will all be worked out eventually; hundreds of workers are in town repairing what has been called catastrophic regional damage. I just have to live in this house as-is for a while.
I have to gas the F-150 today, it takes medium grade, and I expect to pay about $4.70 a gallon.
I guess “they” should just throw out the 25th into the garbage, because if they won’t invoke it now, they never ever will. This maniac in The White House should have been carried away by white coats and thrown into an ambulance on Easter morning after that Truth Social genocidal threat, which, as you know, is war crime, yes…just the threat is a war crime.
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Icarus said on April 11, 2026 at 3:58 pm
I just realized that we all seem to have forgotten that the “lying, petulant, insecure, thrice married, serial wife-cheating, porn star-banging, blue collar-worker-stiffing con artist” posted a racist video depicting Obama as a monkey not too long ago.
I’m so tired of this 24/7 news cycle we live in now.
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Sherri said on April 11, 2026 at 5:06 pm
Today I learned that it’s possible for military vets to be deported (I knew that), and then when they die, still be eligible to be buried in a national cemetery here.
A friend of mine, who is the ED for Veterans for Peace, shared that tidbit with me. So, we’re happy to have undocumented immigrants serve in our military, and if they die, we’ll bury them in a military grave, but otherwise, they’re not welcome.
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Deborah said on April 12, 2026 at 11:19 am
we finally watched One Battle After Another, it was strange but OK, the coincidences were ridiculously impossible. I can’t remember if it won any Oscars, it didn’t seem like Oscar material. Although Sean Penn was hilarious, come to think of it didn’t he win the best supporting actor Oscar??
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Sherri said on April 12, 2026 at 2:02 pm
“Mom, it’s MY turn to close the Strait!!”
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DavidC said on April 12, 2026 at 3:30 pm
Orban is out!
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annie said on April 12, 2026 at 4:06 pm
so Vance is 0 for 2 with Hungary & Iran failures. How long before Trump dumps him?
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Suzanne said on April 12, 2026 at 4:07 pm
JD Vance visited Pope Francis and he died.
JD Vance visited Viktor Orbán and he is ousted from power.
Don’t hang out with JD.
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