Trump/Pope clash; tanking the midterms; Yellowstone magma update; what to do with all those pennies; White House DoorDash gaffe
It's Oreo Cookie Cheesecake Day!
Trump says he won’t apologize to Pope Leo and explains his reason for posting much-criticized meme. (AP)
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The newsletter is published Monday through Thursday (holidays excepted).
—Kevin G. Barkes
(Most) everything you need to know for today:
April 14 is the 104th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 261 days remain until the end of the year. As of this writing, 1,011 days remain in Trump’s term of office.
Knee-deep in the hoopla:
The latest on the Iran war from the Associated Press. (Use this link if other is not working.)
The Parable of the President. Donald Trump’s criticism of Pope Leo XIV reveals that to him, religion is primarily about power, not morality. (The Atlantic gift article)
Pope Leo responds to Trump’s criticism, saying he has ‘no fear’ of US administration. (ABC News)
Vance says Pope Leo should stay out of U.S. Affairs. (New York Times gift article)
As Iran war drags on, midterm forecasts for Republicans get even worse. The GOP was already bracing for a tough election, but with the ceasefire in doubt, gas prices are likely to stay high, and voters’ economic outlook is dismal. (Washington Post gift article)
Trump set for fresh humiliation at event he boycotted for years. The president will attend White House Correspondents Dinner, ending his 15-year boycott, only to witness the Wall Street Journal be rewarded for its bombshell story about him and Jeffrey Epstein. (The Daily Beast)
Trump’s publicity stunt goes wrong as DoorDasher talks about humility. The ‘DoorDash Grandma’ roped into a publicity stunt by Donald Trump spoke about her cancer-afflicted husband’s newly written book on humility as the president defended his social media post depicting himself as Christ. (The Daily Beast)
Yellowstone’s magma source may be closer to the surface than expected. A volcano that can change the climate of the entire planet sounds like something from a movie. But super-eruptions are real, and Earth has experienced them before. (Earth.com)
What you should do with your pennies now that minting has ended - before it becomes a regret. (Scaredof)
Amazon accused of hiding worker’s death for a week, making employees keep working as corpse lay on floor. (Futurism)
Late Night:
The Daily Show: Jon Stewart dives into the backlash over Trump Jesus-ifying himself with AI, the president claiming he was just depicting himself as a “doctor” (treating a bedridden Jon Stewart?), and Trump starting an Easter beef with Pope Leo. Plus, JD Vance fails to secure a deal with Iran while also failing to get Hungarian strongman Viktor Orban reelected. (Video)
Jimmy Kimmel Live: Trump attacks the Pope, thinks he’s Jesus and bashes Springsteen in his most bananas posting spree yet. (Video)
Late Night with Stephen Colbert: Vice President Vance returned empty-handed from negotiations with Iran, President Trump is no closer to achieving his war goals, and the president deleted an AI-generated image of himself that many found blasphemous. (Video)
Cold Open: America's first lady addresses last week's bizarre press conference about her involvement with Jeffrey Epstein. (Video)
Keep scrolling… lots of interesting stuff in Quote of the Day, Holidays, On This Day, Birthdays, and Deaths. I can pretty much guarantee you’ll learn something new.
History highlight:
1960 – The Motown Record Company was incorporated by Berry Gordy.
Quote of the day:
I always look for a woman who has a tattoo. I see a woman with a tattoo, and I’m thinking, okay, here’s a gal who’s capable of making a decision she’ll regret in the future.
--Richard Jeni (Wikipedia link)
(More Richard Jeni quotes from the KGB Quotations Database)
Today’s holidays:
Cake and Cunnilingus Day, Children With Alopecia Day, Dreams of Reason Feast Day, Holocaust Remembrance Day, International Be Kind To Lawyers Day, International Laverbread Day, International Moment of Laughter Day, Look Up at the Sky Day, National Dolphin Day, National Ex-Spouse Day, National Grits Day, National Library Workers Day, National Pecan Day, Oreo Cookie Cheesecake Day, Pan American Day, Pathologists’ Assistant Day, Reach as High as You Can Day, World Chagas Disease Day, and World Quantum Day.
On This Day:
2014 – Boko Haram abducted 276 girls from a school in Chibok, Nigeria.
2003 – The Human Genome Project was completed with 99% of the human genome sequenced to an accuracy of 99.99%.
1999 – A severe hailstorm struck Sydney, Australia causing A$2.3 billion in insured damages, the most costly natural disaster in Australian history.
1988 – In a United Nations ceremony in Geneva, Switzerland, the Soviet Union signed an agreement pledging to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan.
1986 – The heaviest hailstones ever recorded, each weighing 1 kilogram (2.2 lb), fell on the Gopalganj district of Bangladesh, killing 92.
1981 – STS-1: The first operational Space Shuttle, Columbia completed its first test flight.
1960 – The musical “Bye Bye Birdie” opened on Broadway.
1960 – The Motown Record Company was incorporated by Berry Gordy.
1958 – The Soviet satellite Sputnik 2 fell from orbit after a mission duration of 162 days. This was the first spacecraft to carry a living animal, a female dog named Laika, who likely lived only a few hours.
1944 – Bombay explosion: A massive explosion in Bombay harbor killed 300 and causes economic damage valued at 20 million pounds.
1935 – The Black Sunday dust storm, considered one of the worst storms of the Dust Bowl, swept across the Oklahoma and Texas panhandles and neighboring areas.
1912 – The British passenger liner RMS Titanic hit an iceberg in the North Atlantic and began to sink.
1894 – The first ever commercial motion picture house opened in New York City, United States. It uses ten Kinetoscopes, devices for peep-show viewing of films.
1865 – U.S. President Abraham Lincoln was shot in Ford’s Theatre by John Wilkes Booth; Lincoln dies the following day.
1775 – The Society for the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage, the first abolition society in North America, was organized in Philadelphia by Benjamin Franklin and Benjamin Rush.
(For more comprehensive lists of the day’s historical events, check here, here, and here.)
Some Birthdays:
1977 – Sarah Michelle Gellar, American actress
1973 – Adrien Brody, American actor
1968 – Anthony Michael Hall, American actor
1960 – Brad Garrett, American actor and comedian
1958 – Peter Capaldi, Scottish actor
1949 – John Shea, American actor and director
1941 – Pete Rose, American baseball player and manager (died 2024)
1940 – Julie Christie, Indian-English actress and activist
1936 – Frank Serpico, American-Italian soldier, police officer and lecturer
1936 – Arlene Martel, American actress and singer (died 2014)
1935 – Erich von Däniken, Swiss pseudohistorian and author (died 2026)
1932 – Loretta Lynn, American singer-songwriter and musician (died 2022)
1930 – Bradford Dillman, American actor and author (died 2018)
1929 – Gerry Anderson, English director, producer, and screenwriter (died 2012)
1925 – Rod Steiger, American soldier and actor (died 2002)
1904 – John Gielgud, English actor, director, and producer (died 2000)
1889 – Arnold J. Toynbee, English historian and academic (died 1975)
1866 – Anne Sullivan, American educator (died 1936)
1629 – Christiaan Huygens, Dutch mathematician, astronomer, and physicist (died 1695)
(A more complete list of today’s birthdays.)
Some Deaths:
2021 – Bernie Madoff, American mastermind of the world’s largest Ponzi scheme (born 1938)
2015 – Percy Sledge, American singer (born 1940)
2012 – Jonathan Frid, Canadian actor (born 1924)
2007 – Don Ho, American singer and ukulele player (born 1930)
2000 – Phil Katz, American computer programmer, co-created the zip file format (born 1962)
1999 – Bill Wendell, American television announcer (born 1924)
1999 – Ellen Corby, American actress and screenwriter (born 1911)
1999 – Anthony Newley, English singer-songwriter and actor (born 1931)
1995 – Burl Ives, American actor, folk singer, and writer (born 1909)
1975 – Fredric March, American actor (born 1897)
1964 – Rachel Carson, American biologist and author (born 1907)
1925 – John Singer Sargent, American painter (born 1856)
(A more complete list of today’s deaths.)
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