US spending on ‘reckless’ Iran war could have saved 87m lives, says UN Head of UN’s humanitarian agency frustrated that $2bn weekly cost of conflict comes amid big cuts to aid budgets

"The $2bn (£1.5bn) a week that Donald Trump was spending on his reckless war in Iran could have funded saving more than 87 million lives, the head of the UN’s humanitarian agency, Tom Fletcher, said on Monday."
www.theguardian.com/world/2026/a...

Trump’s Bottomless Nihilism Is Eating Our Future While a few lucky insiders may be getting rich from this misrule, the rest of us are watching the needless destruction of our collective future.

From @anamariecox.bsky.social:

"The only constant in Trump's decision-making, whether he follows through on his latest insane idea or backtracks, is his enormous capacity for delusion." trib.al/Vx3HX9s

Love "Ten Minutes" by @robinkocz.bsky.social in @Beautiful Things" t @riverteeth.bsky.social today.

Official post is up! Thanks @miamioh-press.bsky.social !
#booksky #writing #publishing

Congratulations! Such a great story!

Dawn Tasaka Steffler ~ Three Stories - New World Writing Quarterly I’m a decorative throw pillow, I’m a pair of memory foam house slippers After Eric Scot Tryon I work the afternoon shift at the TJ Maxx Homegoods. I eat yogurt

Love these stories by @dawnsteffler.bsky.social in @newworldwriting.bsky.social! Dentures! Geese! Hot flashes!
newworldwriting.net/dawn-tasaka-...

"Nobody knows exactly when the check engine light came on in his dad’s head. They woke and he was gone, disappeared down a rabbit hole, one where Sandy Hook didn’t happen…." These stories by @keithwoodruff.bsky.social in @newworldwriting.bsky.social are great!

Close-up picture of a green and yellow hardcover book with the text "The Pushcart Book of Twenty-First Century Poetry and Prose edited by Phillip Schultz and Bill Henderson with the Pushcart Prize Editors." The book is on a dark wooden table.

Congratulations to our brilliant and intrepid @kimchinquee.bsky.social, whose work is included in the new Pushcart anthology! Much love to you Kim ❤️❤️❤️❤️

Thanks for reading and posting, Jan! 🙏

Jacqueline Doyle ~ Three Flash Fictions - New World Writing Quarterly Maisie Fails to Anticipate the Ordinary As her body began to break down, first one joint at a time—knees, hips, shoulders, then the discs in her spine, then

Bowled over to have work in @newworldwriting.bsky.social again, a magazine that I love. Not one flash, but three. Hope you enjoy “Maisie Fails to Anticipate the Ordinary,” “I Still Don’t Care About Hegel,” and “All Told.”
newworldwriting.net/jacqueline-d...

Pope Leo is having NONE of it!

Pete Hegseth quotes fake Pulp Fiction Bible verse during Pentagon sermon By Nick Pearson - 13 hours ago Samuel L Jackson's character in Pulp Fiction quotes a fake Bible verse in the movie. f Donald Trump's Defence Secretary has adapted lines from Pulp Fiction falsely attributed to the Bible, while giving a sermon at the Pentagon.

This headline epitomizes the entirety of this administration. No real engagement with learning or scripture, no checking of sources—only what is received through media to justify violence. amp.9news.com.au/article/1ffd...

Excited to have a CNF prompt in THE WRITER’S CHRONICLE today! This is behind a paywall, but if you’re an AWP member, you can sign in and read the full issue. Big thanks to @jamestatehill.bsky.social for inviting me to think about this.
writerschronicle.awpwriter.org/TWC/FY26/202...

Celebrating my first skull today. Immense gratitude and thanks to the always amazing @havehashad.com for taking this one and to @joshuahebburn.bsky.social for the edit. Shout out to Cleveland, Ohio - my heart away from home.

www.havehashad.com/hadposts/sta...

Wow.

Hungary election live: Viktor Orbán concedes defeat in Hungarian election after 16 years in power Long-serving prime minister beaten by opposition after early results showed clear lead

Orban has lost. What a great day! (Unlike some sundowning clowns we know, he has admitted he lost, too.)

"Every department, every branch, every bureau and function of the federal government is being fatally corrupted or altogether dismantled or disabled. … in ways that will have downstream consequences for decades and perhaps, especially when it comes to climate, centuries." @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social

Artemis II crew splashes down in Pacific Ocean, ending record-breaking moon flyby The four astronauts touched down on Earth off the coast of California, concluding historic 10-day mission

When so much news is so bad, the Artemis and the astronauts' camaraderie and sense of awe has been uplifting this week. www.theguardian.com/science/2026...

"You remember now what kids call it: a faceplant. Don’t skateboarders faceplant all the time? And they’re okay"

Wonderful build of tension (both external and internal) in this CNF from @jacqdoyle.bsky.social; the way this reflects outwards into universal experience - such great writing

Thank you, Matt!

Jacqueline Doyle: FACEPLANT • Cleaver Magazine Jacqueline Doyle lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with recent flash, Ghost Parachute, Aquifer, Fictive Dream, Centaur, and more.

Thrilled to be in CLEAVER magazine again with a nonfiction flash “Faceplant.” (Love @karenrile.bsky.social 's art! It moves!) Keep reading. I love the whole issue.

www.cleavermagazine.com/faceplant-by...

It’s my pub day!! I appreciate the support of this literary community. Get your copy today! Thank you to AV @cowboyjamboree.bsky.social!

Exactly One Hundred Years Ago Today, Violet Gibson Attempted to Assassinate Mussolini On my flash about Violet Gibson in my forthcoming essay collection The Lunatics' Ball and on recent readings and salons

I’ve got a new Substack! Where I reflect on recent readings, and literary salons, and Violet Gibson’s centenary. And THE LUNATICS’ BALL, of course.
open.substack.com/pub/jacqueli...

"My mother’s got a look of smug disbelief, like I’m tired of your big words and intellectual claptrap." @jacqdoyle.bsky.social in @nervetowrite.bsky.social with this searing essay 🧡🧡🧡 www.nervetowrite.com/post/normal

Thanks for reading and posting, Pat! ❤️

Love this piece! ❤️

Beast of Burden Tracie Adams   I didn’t go to the funeral because he meant nothing to me. That’s what I told myself. He was just a boy with a white work van with ladders strapped to the roof. Just a seventeen…

Thanks to @pitheadchapel.bsky.social for including my CNF in this gorgeous April issue.

Thanks also to my @smokelong.bsky.social Fitness peeps for all the help with this one and to my mentor @mattkendrick.bsky.social for helping with the final edit.

pitheadchapel.com/beast-of-bur...

See my Substack today for more about my new essay “Normal” and my book The Lunatics’ Ball and for an appreciation of @sfmontgomery.bsky.social and her new online magazine @nervetowrite.bsky.social.

open.substack.com/pub/jacqueli...

Normal by Jacqueline DoyleIn the dream, Mom and I are arguing about my aunt Maddy. Again. I’m tense, my chest tight. Which story has my mother just told? The one about Maddy pilfering change from her purse a...

Is “I’m the only normal one in the family” one of those lines that’s destined to play on eternal repeat in my dreams?

Read @jacqdoyle.bsky.social @nervetowrite.bsky.social

www.nervetowrite.com/post/normal

Thanks for reading and posting, Sudha! 🙏