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Tuesday, April 14, 2026

Post #7643 M: Stossel on The Truth About Taxing the Rich; Trump's Foreign Policy: Iran War, Argentinian Beef & Venezuela Regime Change; Ro Khanna: Congress Has Surrendered on War

 Quote of the Day

An order that can be misunderstood 
will be misunderstood.
Napoleon Bonaparte  

Trump's Foreign Policy: Iran War, Argentinian Beef & Venezuela Regime Change

Stossel on The Truth About Taxing the Rich

Ro Khanna: Congress Has Surrendered on War

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Political Cartoon

Courtesy of Steve Sack via Politico

Musical Interlude: 1963 Top 100 Hits

Go Away Little Girl-Steve Lawrence

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Monday, April 13, 2026

Post #7642 M: White House Easter Eg Roll; Weekend Update; McClanahan on Is NATO Useful in 2026?

 Quote of the Day

There are two ways of meeting difficulties. 
You alter the difficulties 
or you alter yourself to meet them.
Phyllis Bottome 

Weekend Update

The G**damn White House Easter Mother****in’ Egg Roll

McClanahan on  Is NATO Useful in 2026?


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Political Cartoon

Courtesy of Rick McKee via Politico

Musical Interlude: 1963 Top 100 Hits

Al Martino - Painted Tainted Rose

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Sunday, April 12, 2026

Post #7641 Social Media Digest

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X\Twitter

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Post #7640 M: Minimum Wage Policy and Poverty; Minimum Wage: Evidence and Effects; Limits of Minimum Wage Policy

 Quote of the Day

All cruelty springs from weakness.
Seneca  

Minimum Wage Policy and Poverty

Minimum Wage: Evidence and Effects

Limits of Minimum Wage Policy

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Political Cartoon


Courtesy of Michael Ramirez via Politico 

Musical Interlude: 1963 Top 100 Hits

Sam Cooke - Another Saturday Night

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Saturday, April 11, 2026

Post #7639 J

 Endemic Report

The latest COVID-19 weekly stats:



The Sick Times:

Stats show a continuing decline across the country as a whole, no state reporting increases. By far the biggest news over the past week is the Trump administration's pause on the CDC report showing strong protection from recent COVID-19 vaccines against serious disease. There is some chatter about whether the rapidly spreading Cicada variant may spark an early summer wave.

COVID-19 news items include:

Other Notes

The blog continued to experience high pageviews. I finally published my first April essay. I'll probably need another to reach 40 posts in a 30-day month. My next essay will likely reflect on the Iran war. My X/Twitter account continues its slump, with my followers threatening to drop below 200 for the first time in months.

I need to touch on a pet peeve. I've been doing the above summaries for years. It's a free blog, and I haven't made a penny since starting the blog in 2008. At least a handful of sites in my search tend to be paywalls so nagging, I can't even grab the headline, never mind read the content. I'm basically promoting their content. I understand why, say, an Idaho newspaper wants to promote digital subscriptions. But I don't have a budget to subscribe to every site with COVID content that might be relevant to my time-consuming weekly summary.. If it's not worth my time and effort, I'll simply drop the content in question.

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Post #7638 M: Farewell, Pam Bondi; The Untold Story of FDR; A lawyer using AI to draft briefs encounters an unhappy court

 Quote of the Day

The man who is so conscious of the rectitude of his intentions 
as to be willing to open his bosom to the inspection of the world 
is in possession of one of the strongest pillars of a decided character. 
The course of such a man will be firm and steady, 
because he has nothing to fear from the world, 
and is sure of the approbation and support of heaven.
Wiliam Wirt  

Farewell, Pam Bondi

The Untold Story of FDR

A lawyer using AI to draft briefs encounters an unhappy court

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Po;itical Cartoon

Courtesy of M. Wuerker via Politico

Musical Interlude: 1963 Top 100 Hits

That Sunday, That Summer - Nat King Cole

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Friday, April 10, 2026

Post #7637 M: No One Knows What Trump Is Thinking; McClanahan on Does a State Have a Right to Exist?; Heaton Fixes Manufacturing

Quote of the Day

'Tis distance lends enchantment to the view, 
And robes the mountain in its azure hue.
Thomas Campbell  

No One Knows What Trump Is Thinking

McClanahan on Does a State Have a Right to Exist?

Heaton Fixes Manufacturing

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Political Cartoon

Courtesy of Dave Whamond via Politico

Musical Interlude: 1963Top 100 Hits 

Donna The Prima Donna - Dion

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Thursday, April 9, 2026

Post #7636 M: Trump Drops in on SCOTUS; Man Arrested for Filming Police Wins Lawsuit; Who Controls Your Money?

 Quote of the Day

Any word you have to hunt for in a thesaurus is the wrong word. 
There are no exceptions to this rule.
Stephen King  

Trump Drops in on SCOTUS & Bulldozes Judge’s Ballroom Construction Ruling

Man Arrested for Filming Police Wins Lawsuit

Who Controls Your Money?

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Political Cartoon

Courtesy of Kal via Poitico

Musical Interlude: 1963 Top 100 Hits

Washington Square - Village Stompers

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Wednesday, April 8, 2026

Post #7635 M: Trump Wants To Cut And Run In Iran; McClanahan on Are Conservatives Changing History?; Commander. Not King

 Quote of the Day

Things are beautiful 
if you love them.
Jean Anouilh  

Trump Wants To Cut And Run In Iran

McClanahan on Are Conservatives Changing History?

Commander. Not King

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Political Cartoon

Courtesy of M. Wuerker via Politico

Musical Interlude: 1963 Top 100 Hits

Ricky Nelson - Fools Rush In

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Tuesday, April 7, 2026

Post #7634 Rant of the Day: Alex Pretti, ICE and Minneapolis

When I published my last essay on the Renee Good murder, I had no idea that I would write a sequel. In fact, I routinely get upset at resources for daily blog videos, saying things I disagree with. For instance, whereas I respect Brion McClanahan's scholarship on Southern history, I take exception to his dismissal of birthright citizenship; as I have repeatedly pointed out, the reason why the 14th Amendment addressed it was the exclusion of slaves from birthright citizenship in English common law. I am not impressed with some ad lib comments he made without due diligence, by saying Good attempted to run over Ross. I have not seen photos of the gunshots or any alleged car contact with Ross, but I saw the right side of Ross' body with the SUV at rest. I have seen footage of Good furiously turning the steering wheel to the right, away from Ross (and stills of the tires turning). An upright Ross fired 2 of his 3 shots through the driver's side window. The indisputable fact is that Ross' partner was trying to force his way into the driver's side door, and I'm sure she was trying to get away from him, not at Ross, standing near the left headlight. When Good put the car in motion, she initially put the SUV in reverse (away from Ross, who was maybe a half-step away from the SUV at rest). I think I'm immediately skeptical when political extremists from the left or right make claims of domestic terrorism like former DHS Secretary Noem has now done on multiple occasions, preempting a legitimate internal investigation. 

It's difficult for me to speak on behalf of the average American. But I thought that Obama had the right approach with his DACA program (my reaction at the time was not the merits of the program, but his bypassing Congress). The basic idea was that foreign-born children were not legally responsible for their parents' decision to migrate. Was it fair to deport children from likely the only home and community they've ever known? The schools they attended with other American children, playmates in the neighborhood, and attending church services were treated differently simply by place of birth or parental status (for instance, one of my nephews was born in West Germany, where my USAF brother was stationed). What about the meddling in families, potentially spouses or siblings of differing statuses? I think (or would like to think) that most Americans have a "live and let live" tolerance of their peaceful neighbors.

In fact, the median unauthorized alien has lived in the US for over a decade. Via Google AI:

Up to 74% of adult unauthorized aliens are tax-paying workers, accounting for about 5% of our workforce, paying payroll taxes, although ineligible for benefits. They are often entrepreneurial, are typically younger, with decades of future work. tend to be more mobile, and have a hard work ethic:


Personally, I am flexible about aliens who have lived here in good standing (e.g., no violent offenses) for, say, for a deade or longer an offer permanent residency after payment of a fine. I realize the tenure is somewhat arbitrary, but I would probably offer others temporaary work permits. (No doubt restritionists would acuse me of advocating "amnesty"). I am also empathetic with "sanctuary city" policies, which reassure aliens to report loal crimes without disclosure of immigrant status to federal officials:

This is highly relevant beause Minneapolis, the setting for the homicides of Good and Pretti, is a sanctuary city, which immigration restrictionists oppose,especially the xenophobic Trump Administration, a likely reason for Minneapolis being targeted.in  the ICE crackdown. Good and Pretti were more protestors/legal observers of ICE activities.Many  Amerian citizens reject Trump's aggressive deportation poliies 

I will  not repeat what I already wrote about Good's murder. I still haven't read a good explanation of why Good parked where she did or why ICE targeted her. All I've seen is an account of how she encountered an ICE vehicle disabled by snow in the neihborhood after dropping off her kid at a nearby school . The protestors/observers were in possession of whistles drawing attention to ICE 

Alex Pretti, a VA ICU nurse protestor (inluding the Good murder), had an earlier incident where he kicked out an ICE vehicle taillight. (I do not condone destruction of public property but it doesn't seem related to the fatal incident: see above embedded video.) In the incident of discussion Pretti seems initially in the middle of the street like he is trying to direct traffic. ICE/BP manhandle a female protestor to the ground. Pretti tries to come to her assistance when the federal cops immediately target him,spraying his eyes and converging on him, wrestling him to the ground.

Before continuing it should be noted that he had been carrying his cellphone in one of his hands before the federal cop ambush. He was also carrying lawfully a concealed weapon,  although there is no evidence Pretti ever reached for his weapon. He was on the ground his vision impaired and trying to fend off multiple cops swarming around him. One of the cops was patting him down, warned the group that Pretti was armed and pulled out the weapon. We hear gunshots shortly thereafter aimed at a disarmed Pretti.

There is no legitimate defense for the use of fatal force against either protestor. I was paticularly alarmed in the case of Pretti because all of the cops are masked/unidenified. To the best of my knowledge, the USG is still not cooperating with the local/state government to explore justice for the murdered protestors. However:
The two federal immigration agents who fired on Minneapolis protester Alex Pretti are identified in government records as Border Patrol agent Jesus Ochoa and Customs and Border Protection officer Raymundo Gutierrez.

There are multiple closing points:

  • There must be justice for slain protestors Good and Pretti. The use of deadly force is unjust under the relevant circumstances. Federal killer cops  should be held accountable on both the federal and state levels.
  • DHS must be held accountable for lying to the American people identifying slain  protestors as "domestic terrorists", for inadequate training and management of ICE/BP police and for failure to enforce constitutional standards of First Amendment protections, due process, and judicial warrants.
  • We need compehensive immigration reform. Unauthorized aliens make up about 5% of our work force. We have an obsolete quota system which affects industries like high tech, construction, and agriculture  We need more just policies,  like supporting family cohesion. We need more employer-friendly access to  foreign wokers  

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Post #7633 M: Kristi Noem's Husband Gets Busty; Policing for Profit: $82 Billion Since 2000; Minnesota Fraud Scandal

 Quote of the Day

Be wary of the man who urges an action 
in which he himself incurs no risk.
Seneca  

Kristi Noem's Husband Gets Busty

Policing for Profit: $82 Billion Since 2000

Minnesota Fraud Scandal

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Musical Interlude: 1963 Top 100 Hits

Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport - Rolf Harris

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Monday, April 6, 2026

Post #7632 M: Trump Launches White House Mobile App, Forces His Signature on U.S. Currency; McClanahan on Why is This Influencer Charming the Left?; You're Wrong About Social Media Being Addictive

 Quote of the Day

Our heritage and ideals, our code and standards -- the things we live by and teach our children -- are preserved or diminished by how freely we exchange ideas and feelings. - Walt Disney  

Trump Launches White House Mobile App, Forces His Signature on U.S. Currency

McClanahan on Why is This Influencer Charming the Left?

You're Wrong About Social Media Being Addictive

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Political Cartoon

Courtesy of Michel Ramirez via Politico

Musical Interlude: 1963 Top 100 Hits

Judy’s Turn To Cry - Lesley Gore

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Sunday, April 5, 2026

Post #7631 Social Media Digest

 X/Twitter

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