Let’s plan to win by more than one.

American combat deaths in World War I: 54,000.
American soldiers killed by flu in World War I: 45,000.
They would have given anything for a flu vaccine.

Washington Examiner: Imagine it was someone other than President Donald Trump. Suppose a different leader were posting deranged rants in the small hours, insulting the spiritual leader of 1.3 billion Catholics, threatening entire civilizations with annihilation, and comparing himself to God. What would be the reaction?

trib.al/8NOOXa6

MAGA star issues mass apology for supporting Trump: 'Sorry for misleading people' Prominent conservative media figure Tucker Carlson issued a public apology Monday for having supported President Donald Trump in the 2024 election, telling his millions of followers that he was “sorry...

Yeah, gee, who could have predicted that Trump would be a disaster? 🙄

www.rawstory.com/trump-267679...

Smallpox, Inoculation, and the Revolutionary War (U.S. National Park Service)

It would make for a tidy narrative arc if the US was a country who came into existence (in part) because its first military leader ordered mass inoculation, while its last one ripened the military up for defeat by discouraging vaccination. www.nps.gov/articles/000...

The Influenza Pandemic and The War The Influenza Pandemic and The War, essay by Frederick Holmes, MD

As a learned scholar of the history of war fighting, Pete Hegseth understands that flu has never negatively impacted a military’s ability to fight. www.kumc.edu/school-of-me...

Vaccines are part of readiness. Hegseth is a dangerous idiot.

historyofvaccines.org/blog/washing...

Pete Hegseth tosses 'absurd' flu vaccine requirement for troops More U.S. troops could soon be suffering from influenza after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that the flu vaccine was no longer mandatory for the armed forces."Under the disastrous Biden adm...

Vaccines are part of readiness. Let’s hope we never need to deploy during flu season. Pure idiocy.

www.rawstory.com/hegseth-flu-...

Ukraine’s Second Miracle Year The war isn’t won, but for the first time in years, outright victory seems possible.

open.substack.com/pub/thebulwa...

I’m glad I was sitting down when I read this.

Trump pressured Republican states to rig their electoral maps, because he saw a midterm disaster coming for his party. He knows they will lose big without rigged districts. Virginia can level the playing field and stop his newest scam tomorrow by voting YES for fair election maps. #VoteYesVirginia

Karoline Leavitt @PressSec Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump is Accelerating Medical Treatments for Serious Mental Illness

we've noticed and i'm glad he's getting help

Does this look like a guy who might have issues with alcohol? 🤔

Psycho.

"The average IQ in Somalia hovers around 70, and that's the threshold for mentally handicapped ... they're a net drain on the society" -- even by MAGA standards, the unvarnished racism of this interview of Rep. Brandon Gill by Benny Johnson is breathtaking

Consumer sentiment is at a 70 year low, the lowest it has ever been since measurement began. What Trump has done to the economy is terrible, but now we need to turn this into an overwhelming blue wave in November.

Ron Filipkowski (@ronfilipkowski) Everything you need to know about what happened this weekend in politics.

An essential daily read.

substack.com/@ronfilipkow...

From Ron Filipkowski’s always excellent daily news update:

Trump has always been a misogynist but he is increasingly disinhibited by his progressive dementia.

Gotta give credit where credit is due. Donald Trump is doing an absolutely terrific job appearing unstable. No one can do it better.

Psycho.

Donald Trump is back threatening war crimes against Iran again.

Sooooo…

I guess we didn’t win?

🙄

RIP Charles Darwin, died this day 1882.

“It is not the strongest of the species that survives,
not the most intelligent that survives.
It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.”

“In the long history of humankind (and animal kind, too) those who learned to collaborate...

Behind Trump’s Public Bravado on the War, He Grapples With His Own Fears The president’s impulsive style has never been tested in a sustained military conflict, and he’s been ruminating on Jimmy Carter’s failure in Iran.

www.wsj.com/politics/nat...

Iran Fires on Tanker After Trump Says Strait of Hormuz Open Iranian gunboats fired on an oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz less than 24 hours after Trump announced the Strait was open and would never be closed again.

Oops.

www.mediaite.com/media/news/b...

Iran War Live Updates: Iran’s Military Says It Has Reimposed ‘Strict Control’ of Strait of Hormuz

The Strait of Hormuz is not open.

www.nytimes.com/live/2026/04...

You always have to pay attention to what is actually happening, not what Trump says is happening. Because Trump lies about everything. Too often media serves as Trump’s daily stenographer, passing along his propaganda verbatim.

The FBI Director Is MIA Kash Patel has alarmed colleagues with episodes of excessive drinking and unexplained absences.

www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...

MAGA’s Friends in Europe Just Got the Message The Contagion After Orbán

open.substack.com/pub/shankarn...

Here's a fun thread