Today's News: Do Trump and Miller and Poilievre ever get tired of losing? Plus, April Fools, Kit-Kat Kaper, The Launch! and Canada Good News

February 28:

April 1:

Will Trump ever get tired of losing?

Sent this free piece out yesterday morning, but Trump's speech confirmed it. Trump is stuck in Iran. He would like to leave, but as of now he cannot because Iran will not do what he wants. So, all he can do is babble and possibly escalate. Plus it helps Putin, so for Trump that's good.

- Phillips P. OBrien

Read on Substack

Wesley Wark

...How would the war end? Trump evoked, shockingly, the ghost of US Air Force General Curtis Lemay, a life-long proponent of air power, even of the use of atomic weapons, who urged massive air strikes during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Fortunately, President John F. Kennedy thought better of such a strategy. Undeterred, LeMay advocated for an all-out air campaign on industrial targets in North Vietnam. His goal, in his infamous phrase, was to force an end to the fighting, or “we’ll bomb them back to the Stone Age.” Trump went further, not only threatening to bomb Iran back to the Stone Age, but adding, “where they belong.”
When would the war end? There was some speculation that Trump might use the speech to to proclaim victory and announce the war was over. “Take the win” as some European leaders have urged him. No, not yet. He said only that the US was “on track” to meet its objectives and promised that the war would end soon, maybe in the next 2-3 weeks. At the same time, the speech was full of boasts about the destruction wrought by US power on Iran’s navy, air force, its ballistic missiles capabilities, defence industrial base, the command and control of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, and, of course, the regime leadership. Between the depiction of an Iran whose military power was totally obliterated, and a war that still needed some weeks of prosecution lay only a puzzle about what more was intended. Trump said nothing about boots on the ground, nothing about seizing Kharg island with its key oil facilities, nothing about forcibly reopening the Strait of Hormuz, nothing about launching special forces missions to capture stockpiles of enriched uranium. But he did threaten to bomb Iran’s electricity generation –a war crime.
What would victory look like? According to Trump, it would look like American leadership “of the free world,” to forever end an Iranian nuclear weapons program and bury a terrorist regime. He just couldn’t say how he was going to accomplish any of this by bombing....
... the biggest Presidential whopper was Trump’s statement that he never said regime change was the US goal, despite saying just that in his message at the very outset of Epic Fury. True, regime change didn’t happen; there was no plan to make it happen; in fact the US-Israeli war seems to have led to regime resurgence and retrenchment. A brazen lie covers none of that up.
What would the future hold? In Trump’s imaginary, everything would just go back to the way it was before, minus the threat of Iran. The Strait of Hormuz would reopen, naturally; the world’s oil and natural gas would flow through it, naturally. The US would remain the world’s mightiest military power, naturally. Gas prices would come down; the stock market would rise.
What would the future hold? In Trump’s imaginary, everything would just go back to the way it was before, minus the threat of Iran. The Strait of Hormuz would reopen, naturally; the world’s oil and natural gas would flow through it, naturally. The US would remain the world’s mightiest military power, naturally. Gas prices would come down; the stock market would rise.
Not much else of the future was sketched out. A future that has been shaken, and irredeemably changed, by the US-Israeli war of choice.
Trump Agonistes is not quite Milton’s Samson Agonistes. But they share something. Recall the story. Samson, vastly proud of his strength, but robbed of his hair by his treacherous wife, brought low and blinded, seeks to show off his might and seek his revenge against the Philistines, pulling down their temple, killing his enemies, and dying himself in the rubble.
If Trump cannot find an exit ramp for his Iran war, one that he can sell to a restive American audience, and an appalled set of allies, if he remains blinded by the Venezuelan scenario of a quick coup d’etat and an accommodating successor regime, if he remains tied to the chariot wheel of Israeli war plans, he risks pulling down his MAGA temple on himself.
Poor Samson.

Post tonight by U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth stating: “Back to the Stone Age.” Parroting a phrase said today by President Trump in his Address to the Nation and in a post on TruthSocial, in which he threatened to bomb Iran “back to the Stone Ages!!!”

[image or embed]

— OSINTdefender [UNOFFICIAL] (@sentdefender-mirr.selfhosted.social) April 1, 2026 at 9:11 PM

Trump's "bom" is not "bast"-ing very well anymore:

Call me crazy but I feel like there's starting to be some constraints applied to Trump behind the scenes and he's being boxed in more and more. i don't have any special knowledge or anything, but that address tonight was really .... weird. and .... flat. he feels like he's deflating quickly.

— The Captain (@thoreau.bsky.social) April 1, 2026 at 7:38 PM

[image or embed]

— JeffTrnka (@jefftrnka.bsky.social) April 1, 2026 at 8:02 PM

If you are having trouble remembering all the ins and outs and ups and downs of this war, like I am, the 2026 Iran War Wikipedia page is pretty good.

Will Stephen Miller ever get tired of losing?

The Other 98% Today, in a move that's never been done before in American history, trump showed up in person to the Supreme Court to watch his own administration's lawyer get absolutely worked over for two hours straight. When Solicitor General John Sauer tried to argue the world had changed since the 14th Amendment was written, Chief Justice John Roberts shut him down cold: "Well, it's a new world. It's the same Constitution." Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson went after the practical absurdity of the whole scheme, asking Sauer point blank: "Is this happening in the delivery room?" And then there was Amy Coney Barrett, a trump appointee, who cornered Sauer on his own theory about the 14th Amendment existing to protect freed slaves. She told him bluntly: "That's not textual. How do you get there?" When Sauer tried to pivot to federal law, Barrett cut right through it: "Yeah, but what about the Constitution?" Trump slipped out about 75 minutes in, right as his own lawyer wrapped up, and never stuck around to hear the ACLU dismantle what was left of the administration's case. Within the hour he was rage posting on Truth Social that the U.S. is the "only Country in the World STUPID enough to allow Birthright Citizenship," which is factually wrong. More than 30 countries have unrestricted birthright citizenship, including Canada and Mexico. The optics of a sitting president storming out of his own Supreme Court hearing early, then immediately venting incorrect information online, tell you everything you need to know about how badly the morning went for his team. Every single lower court that has examined this executive order has struck it down as unconstitutional, and after today's arguments, the Supreme Court looks ready to do the same. The administration's argument was built on a historical theory that even trump's own justices didn't buy, and the justices he put on that bench were some of the loudest voices tearing it apart. A ruling is expected by early summer, and if today was any preview, trump's attempt to rewrite 158 years of settled constitutional law is headed straight for the same fate as every other court that has looked at it.

- Jamal X

Read on Substack

Kavanaugh twice says that he thinks their arguments about other countries adopting different rules is a good argument as a policy matter (ugh). Sauer falsely claims "almost every other country" doesn't have birthright citizenship, which is wildly wrong.

[image or embed]

— Aaron Reichlin-Melnick (@reichlinmelnick.bsky.social) April 1, 2026 at 8:58 AM

Indeed, Canada just decided to *expand* who can be a citizen.

[image or embed]

— Burrowcrat (@burrowcrat.bsky.social) April 1, 2026 at 9:09 AM

Will Pierre Poilievre ever get tired of losing?

So tell me again that Poilievre and his MAGAt party are supportive of labour, of average Canadians, of anyone beyond his narrow base, of Canadians that are not Albertans. And his complete ignorance of his own party policy document that supports high-speed rail in Canada is astounding … but high speed rail for Alberta but not for Quebec / Ontario, I assume. But like the Republicans in the Taliban states, he will obstruct any policy or program that is introduced by the Liberals, strictly out of spite, not out of concern for Canadians or Canada. This is who Conservatives voted - Conservatives again voting against their own interests.

- Anne Ward

Read on Substack

Wait until Poilievre hears about Doug Ford's plans to build a fucking tunnel highway under the 401. www.cbc.ca/news/politic...

[image or embed]

— Emmett Macfarlane 🇨🇦 (@emmettmacfarlane.com) March 31, 2026 at 5:09 PM

Peterborough mayor ‘disappointed’ in Pierre Poilievre, Conservative opposition to Alto high-speed rail project

- Ben Atkinson, PhD

Read on Substack

April Fool! 

From the BBC 1957

View on Threads

SAUSAGE Dogs

A hilarious April Fools video made by the police.

[image or embed]

— Paul Graf (@paulginva.bsky.social) April 1, 2026 at 12:48 PM

View on Threads

Finally, something more authoritative!

April Fool is not an ancient tradition - or even a Medieval one - it didn't exist before the 16th Century and wasn't known in the UK until later in the 17th Century. So how did it come about and who was the original April Fool? I investigated... eleanorswifthook.com/2026/04/01/w...

[image or embed]

— Eleanor Swift-Hook (@emswifthook.bsky.social) April 1, 2026 at 3:34 PM

The Great Kit-Kat Kaper!
A truck of Kit-Kat bars was hijacked in Europe, so other brands decided to have a good time with it:

View on Threads

View on Threads

View on Threads

Kit Kat is on the case:

View on Threads

The so-called Kit Kat Tracker is almost impossible to find on their Instagram page. Click here for The Tracker. 

The Launch!
If you are under the age of 55, today was the first time ever that you could watch the launch of a spaceship going to the moon.




David Rothkopf

...Watching the launch, it reminded me of what it felt like to believe that America was a country that while imperfect was capable of great things.
And, born in a time of unlimited promise, I thought to myself as I had not done in a while…maybe.
Maybe we still are.
Maybe this is still us.
Maybe we can overcome the worst among us and perhaps within us and rededicate ourselves to the best of what we are capable of becoming.
It is worth savoring.
It is worth fighting for.

And the moon launches and landing also changed the face of MEDICAL SCIENCE along with the things you mention!!

[image or embed]

— weatherman-1616 (@weatherman-1616.bsky.social) April 1, 2026 at 11:26 PM

View on Threads

It's only a book FOR NOW

[image or embed]

— John Scalzi (@scalzi.com) April 1, 2026 at 5:40 PM

View on Threads

Canada is a nation of explorers, builders, and innovators. Today Colonel Jeremy Hansen carries that legacy forward as he becomes first Canadian to venture to the Moon.

[image or embed]

— Mark Carney (@mark-carney.bsky.social) April 1, 2026 at 3:07 PM

On a side note, I saw a reference today to a tweet about "the moon's haunted" being one of the funniest tweets of all time, and then I found it. Here it is:

bsky.app/profile/mdun...

[image or embed]

— Nathaniel (@hoosiernathaniel.bsky.social) April 1, 2026 at 8:49 PM

Canada Good News

View on Threads

View on Threads

Here's some good news. Maya Gebala, the 12 year old girl who was shot in the head during the Tumbler Ridge school shooting, has been moved from the ICU to a recovery and rehab unit. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

[image or embed]

— Bon Hanson (@bonhanson.bsky.social) April 1, 2026 at 1:03 PM

"The Rossignol team took three robots, designed to manoeuvre around obstacles and complete tasks within four minutes, to the Skills Canada Saskatchewan provincial competition in Regina on Friday. The team members won gold medals and the trip to nationals." www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

[image or embed]

— Cathie from Canada🍁 (@cathiecanada.bsky.social) April 2, 2026 at 12:56 AM