Morning

Wacky Wednesday.

Oh No They Lost The Dersh

It's over.

America's Worst Humans

Jesse Watters.

Never Post

Good advice for us all.

Some Trump officials privately acknowledged to CNN that the president’s public commentary has been detrimental to talks, noting the sensitivity of the negotiations and the Iranians’ deep mistrust of the US. Compounding matters: American officials suspect there is a divide between Iran’s negotiating team, led by Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, leading to questions about who can ultimately sign off on a deal.

“The Iranians didn’t appreciate POTUS negotiating through social media and making it appear as if they had signed off on issues they hadn’t yet agreed to, and ones that aren’t popular with their people back home,” one person familiar with the talks told CNN, adding that the Iranians are particularly concerned about appearing to look weak.

America's superdiplomat, JD Vance, has postponed his trip to Islamabad. 

Warfighters

Whiskey Pete announced that flu vaccines would no longer be mandatory. Life aboard the big boats is going to be great.

I do believe that (most) Americans have no idea what the flu is, thinking it is just a bad cold. A bad cold is just a cold. The flu is fucking nasty and debilitating and possibly deadly.  

Totally

Trump: "We totally control the strait, just so you understand. For all the fake news out there."

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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) April 21, 2026 at 1:37 PM

I think part of the story of 2020 is Trump increasingly losing his mind as Covid failed to obey his regular decrees.

He has less mind to lose, now.

Fake Laws

Years ago, some economists, and lawyers and judges pretending they were economists, convinced everybody that because antitrust laws violated the truly sacred higher laws of economics, they were actually fake laws.

Emails released on Monday by California’s attorney general show Amazon allegedly colluding with other companies to raise the prices of pet treats, khaki pants, eyedrops and other products sold online.

According to a newly unsealed court filing released by attorney general Rob Bonta, Amazon employees have repeatedly worked with vendors using its platform to push retail vendors including Walmart and Chewyto set higher prices collectively.

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TACO Tuesday.

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The Deepest Shade of Mushroom Blue

Gramps is having a good day.

Libertarians Never Surprise

(From Al Jazeera)

Can They Both Lose

In any case, this could very funny.

April 20 (Reuters) - FBI Director Kash Patel filed a defamation lawsuit against the Atlantic and its reporter Sarah Fitzpatrick ​following the publication of an article on Friday alleging the director had a drinking problem that could pose a threat to national ‌security.

They're Not Wrong

The Art Of The Deal was, always, Trump not actually sticking with the terms of his deals (paying people).  You're a sucker if you do! That's his whole thing!

Irans foreign ministry spokesperson says Iran has no plans for a second round of negotiations as the United States is not serious about pursuing any diplomatic process after its violated the ceasefire a number of times

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— Saul Staniforth (@saulstaniforth.bsky.social) April 20, 2026 at 9:30 AM

Some version of "we'll make a deal and then, when they have let their guard down, bomb the shit out of them" is the plan, whether or not such a plan is workable in any sense.

Seems Bad

All above my pay grade, but... 

When the war in Iran started on Feb. 28, Asia expected to see serious, gradual impacts from losing access to a huge portion of the world’s oil and gas. But the conflict’s economic and social impacts have hit the region harder and faster than officials and experts expected.

Many countries across the Asia-Pacific are experiencing sudden jolts of disruption that they are struggling to manage, with some comparing the crisis’s breakdowns and scope to the Covid pandemic.

Even if there is a peace deal soon, the future of this industrious region that has driven global economic growth for decades will likely include months of canceled flights, surging food prices, factory pauses, delayed shipments and empty shelves for products long considered quick and easy to buy worldwide: plastic bags, instant noodles, vaccines, syringes, lipstick, microchips and sportswear.

My possibly incorrect mental model of all of these things is that the system is incredibly resilient right up until it isn't. 

There's extra stuff in the warehouse until suddenly it's all gone.

Armageddon's Back On The Menu, Boys

Sunday Afternoon

 Touching grass

I'm Not Like Those Other Crazy Democrats

Elected national Democrats never say any of these things, but many Dem politicians are out there regularly telling people that they do.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear tells Michigan Democrats the party has "let advocacy speak seep into our language." He gives the example of calling inmates the "justice involved population." "If we want to be the party of the people, we've got to talk like we are people," he says.

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— Andrew Roth (@roththereporter.bsky.social) April 19, 2026 at 2:23 AM

One way to talk like regular folks is stop talking about the dumb shit in the rich donor/centrist dipshist group chat as if regular folks know what the fuck you are talking about.

It isn't quite the same thing, but there has recently been a coordinated attack from prominent orgs and politicians against streamer Hasan Piker. I don't care about Piker, he can take care of himself, but there was subsequently a poll showing that (of course) most people didn't know who the fuck he was or why any of these politicians were talking about him.

Somehow this was portrayed as vindication of the people who made attacking him an issue. See no one cares about Piker! Right, so why the fuck did you organize a media campaign against him and make it a major campaign issue?

I get why people think hippie punching is helpful (I even think they are correct, sometimes!), but doing this "most National Democrats are out there saying [stuff they aren't saying, nobody knows what you are talking about], and I am a different kind of Democrat "schtick  is just clumsy hack shit.

How Long Can This Go On

I'm not capable of judging the veracity of the dire warnings about various shortages which will happen if the Strait remains mostly closed to traffic, but they are pretty dire!

Also as brains have been poisoned on Econ 101, people don't really comprehend that shortages aren't just "oh the prices go up a lot, but everything is good because The Market Clears (smiley face)!"

The unavailability of certain things at (effectively) any price means society begins to collapse.  Certainly normal existence begins to fracture.  It isn't just "stuff gets more expensive."

Current status:

President Donald Trump issued a threat to Iran’s government early Sunday morning, writing on Truth Social that it would be his “honor” to direct the U.S. military to target Iranian bridges and power plants if the country did not reach a deal with U.S. negotiators around the Strait of Hormuz.

The president fell back on his threats to target civil infrastructure after it was reported that Iranian forces were refusing passage through the strait over the weekend.

“We’re offering a very fair and reasonable DEAL, and I hope they take it because, if they don’t, the United States is going to knock out every single Power Plant, and every single Bridge, in Iran. NO MORE MR. NICE GUY!” Trump wrote.

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