5:34 a.m. Sunday April 26, 2026

I wasn’t especially interested, but we were going to watch the White House Correspondents Dinner last night starting at 7 p.m. CDT.

Apparently it had very limited play on TV.  I know it was being carried live on CNN and MS Now.

I watched for about the first hour, then went to bed.  Life is too short to spend the night with speculation about who, what, when, where, why, how the drama unfolded, though the issue in the broadest sense is certainly important.

Stay tuned.

8:06 a.m. April 26: I printed out and read at coffee this overnight post from Heather Cox Richardson, received in my inbox at 12:09 a.m.  It speaks for itself.  This story is just beginning.

4:50 p.m. April 26: Here are two brief comments from folks I consider to be very reliable and well informed sources of information, far above my pay grade:  Joyce Vance, this morning, and Robert Reich, this afternoon.  I expect this story will have legs.  Stay tuned.

8:00 p.m., April 26: 24 hours ago we were watching the beginning of the Correspondents Dinner program.  Joyce Vance filed her update at 6:30 p.m.  At 6 p.m.  CBS 60 Minutes opened with Norah O’Donnell interviewing the President.  The segment is worth watching.  The following segment, an interview with former Nebraska U.S. Senator Ben Sass is also worthwhile.  He is a young – 54 years – man with terminal cancer; a conservative with a message to everyone regardless of party.

2:14 a.m., April 27, 2026: Heather Cox Richardson April 26.

I basically note that the President has a single default position: the opposition is enemy, to take no prisoners.  This might seem to work in cutthroat business, but it is destructive to a society where people of differing points of view need to live together.  It is destructive for him to blame people like myself – Democrats, liberals, progressives – for all his problems, when he is the one who acts as a dictator, incites division, and complains when his opponents fight back.  His is not a recipe for a healthy community – country, state, town.  But he is not inclined to learn.  There is much more to say, but let this suffice.

*

I asked a few folks from outside the U.S. to comment if they wish.  First one came from Remi in Montreal:

Comparison of Firearm Deaths (Recent Annual Data)

The following table summarizes the most recent available annual statistics for total gun-related deaths and specific homicide counts for 2024.

from Christine in France: