News roundup
(1) Swalwell quits the race for governor.
Let me just say that when the Democrats want you out, they don’t pull their punches. Do they have this volume of opposition research prepared on everyone, just in case? Is one of the other Democrats running for governor in California next under that commodious bus? They have to winnow that field down to eliminate any chance, however slim, of a Republican winning the race.
(2) I don’t know how I got to it. I don’t know why I clicked on it. But once I did, I became fascinated with this one fact about the home Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez once shared, having purchased it for $60 million:
The former couple struggled to find a buyer for the 12-bedroom, 24-bathroom mansion for more than a year.
What’s up with that ratio? Two bathrooms for each bedroom?
(3) From Trump:
(4) There have been large demonstrations in Ireland over high fuel costs:
The Irish government has announced a package worth €505m (£440m) to support those “most impacted” by rising fuel costs.
Fuel costs have soared globally as a result of the US-Israel war with Iran and demonstrators in the Republic of Ireland have been blocking fuel distribution sites and many major motorways and roads in protest.
Taoiseach (Irish PM) Micheál Martin said on Sunday that his government are extending temporary measures to reduce excise duty on petrol, diesel and marked gas oil.
They will also be postponing an increase on carbon tax …
So, which thing are they protesting – or probably both? The high fuel costs due to the war, or the high fuel costs due to the taxes and the proposed tax increase?
(5) How our blockade of the Strait of Hormuz is planned to work:
So we aren’t closing the Strait, we are blockading Iranian ports. This means that Iran won’t be able to sell any oil. Two countries will be hurt: Iran and China, which buys 80% of Iranian oil. The Gulf States will be able to ship their oil through the Strait as soon as they choose to do so.
Meanwhile, we are sending vessels to the Strait to try to dispose of the mines that Iran may or may not have laid there. Other countries may aid in that effort. Iran still has a lot of small boats that they have used to harass shipping, but they will be useless against our ships. And reportedly, a number of oil tankers have diverted from other courses and are heading to the Gulf of Mexico America to load up on American oil and gas.
Based on real-estate listings, giant mansions always seem to have more bathrooms than bedrooms. I think that’s because they’re used more for entertaining (i.e., parties and dinners, usually as professional or charity events) than living in. Still, it’s kind of funny to imagine Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez throwing parties for friends in the enormous home they shared during their ill-fated second attempt at a relationship — or even agreeing on a guest list.
Speaking of the California governor race, the California GOP had their convention this weekend and punted. They did not endorse any candidate for governor even though Hilton is leading in the polls and the President endorsed him. If the Democrats were in this position they would have cut Bianco loose. As it is, there’s a good chance that the Republicans will be shut out in the governor race.
I think Hilton haz a good chance, well as as good a chance as any Republican in California, against the remaining democrats. Steyer comes off as a nut job, and Porter’s mean streak is really unattractive. The other candidates are nonentities but the Democrats’ machine can probably push them across.
My prediction is that the Democrats will nominate one of the non-entities and then run a basement campaign like Biden in 2020 and Hobbs in Arizona. They will run against Trump and ICE.
FDD, Jonathan Schanzer interviews Miad Maleki (30:31) on “Can Iran bypass the blockade?”:
https://www.youtube.com/live/lGE1itqHVbA
Katie Porter is the poster child for the expression “politics is show business for ugly people.”
I live in Riverside County Ca; I support our Sheriff, Bianco. If Hilton has actual qualifications I missed them; but he is smoother than Bianco. British, you know.
With respect to the blockade, and Trump’s announcement. It is so unfortunate that he has trouble speaking with clarity. When I read his statement, my reaction was ‘what the hell?’.
Melania should cancel his Truth Social account. That’s a joke.
Over the weekend, Admiral Cooper at CENTCOM corrected Trump’s egregious misstatement that we were blockading the Straits of Hormuz. Of course by that time the Media were running wild with reports that we were blockading all shipping in the Straits.
Then he had to get in a Peeing contest with the Pope. Come on. Pope’s are going to be Popeish. Just ignore them when they get off of the reservation and go beyond ecclesiastical and into politics.
It is getting beyond tedious and into concerning.
What is interesting is that demining ships have hulls made up of things like wood, fiberglass, plastic – not steel – so as to not trigger magnetic activated mines.
In old war movies you see the infantry guys “probing ” their way thru a minefield with a metal knife. That is a big no-no now with modern mines. Best to use a wooden stick probe if EOD cant get to you in time.
Oldflyer, I do not have a strong preference between Hilton and Bianco, but we have to make a choice. Both of them being in the top two is not going to happen. Bianco does have some rough edges. What do you make of the kneeling to BLM incident?
Carl Demaio of ReformCalifornia suggests what he calls strategic voting. Look at the polls when you are filling out your ballot and choose the candidate who is ahead.
Makes sense to me. As Al Davis of the Raiders used to say, just win baby.
https://www.reformcalifornia.org/news/strategic-voting-using-latest-polling-in-ca-governors-race-2
Two bathrooms at the pool, two at the tennis courts (if any), several half baths around any large gathering area?
It’s hard to imagine California Dems voting for the repellent Katie Porter, but then, they are Democrats. With Hilton and Bianco running neck and neck, who should bail out? I can see native Californians favoring Bianco, both because he’s got practical law-enforcement experience and because he’s been in California since 1989. Hilton is not a British aristocrat. His parents fled Hungary in 1956 and anglicized the name. Parents divorced, and Hilton grew up with his mother on public assistance. He got a scholarship to university and has done well. He served as an advisor to PM Cameron as recently as 2012; became a U.S. citizen in 2021.
The rumor is that to be admitted into the upper ranks of the Euroweenies they have to have dirt on you so you can be controlled.
Mark Montgomery (ret RADM) discusses the blockade with a BBC nitwit: https://youtu.be/3rQmuBObHAE
Blockade of Iranian ports went into effect. As of this moment, the DOW is up!
The next move will be to break the blockade,
as a guess it’ll be Turkish flagged or escorted.
Erdogan wants to revive the Ottaman Empire,
low round furniture hasn’t been in style for awhile.
Sea mines are not land mines and sea mines can be moored to the bottom or sitting on the bottom. Sea mines can be contact fuzed, magnetic fixed, or acoustic fuzed. Cutting the mooring cable is one proven method, non magnetic boats is helpful, acoustic decoys is a tool.
See H I Sutton “Covert Shores” on YouTube for a primer.
I’m still thinking this mine stuff is 99.99% bullshit from the jump. But hey, whatever floats your boat.
Trump didn’t say there would be exceptions for any allegedly “friendly” escorts. No maritime traffic into or out of Iran. Ships passing through the Strait and not stopping, okay.
@Oldflyer at 1:56 pm: “Then he had to get in a Peeing contest with the Pope.”
Totally agree. I thought the exact same thing (if with different verbiage) when I saw the news this morning. Before the 2024 election, I didn’t want to vote for him, running around running his mouth and picking fights and name-calling, criticizing half the people he was conscious of at any given moment. And for what?? (Of course, I did vote for him, but not happily.) Talk about unforced errors. So stupid.
“Never miss a good chance to shut up!” (Quote attributed to various sources)
I would give him an “A” for his performance as President thus far since 2024.
I’m still trying to rationalize his more juvenile behavior.
David Axelrod (Obama’s fixer, who’s Jewish) has an audience with the Pope and days later the pope attacks US immigration and foreign policy?
Catholic Church received billions (with a B) of US tax dollars to settle immigrants and now that it is cut off, attacks US immigration policy?
Muslims flood Europe, changing the demographics enough that British monarch doesn’t give traditional Easter message, and the Pope attacks Trump on immigration?
Hundreds of Christians slaughtered in just the last few weeks, but US Bishops come to defense of theocratic Muslim regime that just slaughtered 30,000 of its own citizens, calls attacks on a country trying to get nuke with the pledge to eliminate Israel ‘an unjust war’.
For those of you saying Trump shouldn’t have responded you’re missing the big picture. The Catholic Church has always been and still is a political organization, with a side hussle of religion to keep the coffers full. And when it comes to keeping those dollars, the side hussle becomes even less impotent and bare knuckle and politics their only aim, even if it helps with expansion of Islam.
I’m glad someone is pushing back.
Is the Pope Catholic (or Democrat)?
This must pain Sharon W and others, pray for the pope.
Not beanbag: therefore, sez I, more Pope-a-dope welcome.
Re the Bennifer House, it isn’t surprising to have that baths-to-bedroom ratio. What accounts for the other 12 bathrooms? Excluding the bedrooms, based on the rooms seen in some of the house descriptions, 1st in his office, 2nd in her office, 3rd and 4th by the dining room/kitchen space/in-home theater, 5th by the laundry room, 6th by other in-house staff domain space (e.g., flower arranging, in-house staff office, gift wrapping room, whatever), 7th by the bar, 8th by the sport court, 9th and 10th a his-and-hers off the gym (in this kind of market, likely with a sauna in hers, steam room in his, or each off a shared spa-type space like that), 11th by wherever you go immediately from house to garage.
As for the 12th? Well, that is where you can have fun. Best door near where you go from indoors to outdoor terrace (though there are baths in the pool house)?
Or, the Master Bedroom also has a “his bath” and “hers bath” (with full hair/makeup stations, etc). Yes, it’s a thing at this price point (or at least in the Miami/Ft. Lauderdale market), just like his and hers closets.
A special dog bathroom with doggie spa and grooming station?
Or, some of the extra bedrooms are set up as suites (notwithstanding the 5000 sf guest house) with a half bath off the living room/”suite” part of the space? Etc.
Think about it this way–logistically, the main house is 38,000 square feet. You really don’t want anyone to be more than 1000-1500 sf away from a bathroom if you don’t have to be, in your living spaces…
This post by Jeff Childers covers several of the rounded-up topics.
https://www.coffeeandcovid.com/p/little-lost-mine-saturday-april-11
I don’t drink coffee, I think I had COVID before it became fashionable, and I have added C&C to my “must read daily” list.
No wonder I never get everything done around the house!
This post by Jeff Childers covers several of the rounded-up topics.
https://www.coffeeandcovid.com/p/little-lost-mine-saturday-april-11
I don’t drink coffee, I think I had COVID before it became fashionable, and I have added C&C to my “must read daily” list.
No wonder I never get everything done around the house!
So it looks like the Leftists—the Democrats and their media allies–apparently always had a file on Swalwell, always knew what kind of guy he was, what he had done, his proclivities and, as long as he was useful, they held these files back, made sure that certain things never made it into the news.
But, once he was no longer useful, it’s obvious that they just let the tide of bilge spill out, to overwhelm him, and it only took a couple of days.
I presume that these same Leftists have amassed files on practically everyone of consequence, as a means of control; a flood of sewage ready to be released if someone becomes too great a threat, steps out of line, and needs to be destroyed.
Unfortunately for them, no matter how much bilge they’ve found or fabricated, Trump seems to be immune to this tactic.
New news, Oh, Hello: https://x.com/i/status/2043806446328943056
Perhaps Affleck & Lopez simply don’t like to share the same ‘water closet’ and / or both suffer from fecal incontinence.
I wish Trump had not responded to the Pope’s political opinions. Not responding is not something typical of Trump, alas. On the other hand, Pope Francis and now Pope Leo have (in my opinion) often strayed from their core calling into things on which they have no experience or expertise. Popes and Catholic bishops have been making pronouncements about public policies, in particular about immigration policies, for years in terms which are sometimes very harsh. This behavior is by no means restricted to Catholic clergy. There are plenty of liberal Protestant and Jewish authorities also pontificating (if you’ll forgive the term) about matters beyond their calling, often instead of matters they should be paying attention to.
… pray for the pope.
Exactly.
J.D. Vance, who is Catholic, agrees with me. He’s quoted at Fox News as saying that the Pope should speak to morality and Catholic Church matters, and let President Trump handle American public policy.
Kate,
Hus and Luther laugh!
Well, I seem to be seeing double….a bathroom here, 11 bathrooms there… pretty soon you’re in a real peeing contest ….
See the very interesting and informative “The Rights of Englishmen,” quotes and historical background laying out the rights the American subjects of the Crown fought for in the Revolution, and how those rights came about in England.*
* See https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2026/04/usa_250_the_rights_of_englishmen_and_the_american_revolution.html
This ‘Pope” seems to have missed the Biblical imprecation of ‘render unto Caesar that which is Caesars, and render unto God that which is His”.
Tear down your walls, Pope or be cast as the hypocrite you are.
Well, as Sennacherib points out, above, the Bishops of Rome have involved themselves in politics for a long time. We should, actually, pray for him and for all Christian leaders in these times. We are, jointly, under assault.
Don’t know where to put this comment, but this morning I read that Trump didn’t think that meme which is being looked at as “Jesus” was that at all. He thought it showed him as a doctor healing the nation. I must say I didn’t immediately think “Jesus” when I saw it, although “over the top” I saw instantly.
I’d already heard about Trump’s meme before I saw it, so I was primed to see it as Jesus. I wouldn’t have necessarily seen it that way otherwise. If it was meant to be Him, that could have been explicitly indicated. Just more Trump silliness, entertainment, and trolling the Pope.
Jesus, as I have been taught to envision him, will not be returning backed by US military forces in the clouds, as in that silly meme. It reminded me more of various hack faith healers. It was dumb, and he has deleted it, which is good.
— neo
I would say both yes and no. No, I don’t think they have a formal collection of files and dirt as a Party on everyone, per se. But apparently Swalwell’s behavior had been more or less ‘common knowledge’ for a while. Maybe not every detail, but enough.
It’s probably true that lots of candidates have oppo research on people they might want to run against, too, or to defend against such. So do the GOP people, for that matter. Swalwell is probably an extreme case.
— neo
Maybe, but they may not all have as many skeletons in their closets, either.
— Bob Wilson
I’m at the point where I would just as soon have a Democrat governor as a RINO in Cali. We’ve been down that road before, with Arnold in Cali, with Rauner in Illinois, etc. The only thing it got us was advancing the Dem agenda and weakening the GOP brand in those States.
In Illinois, for ex, Rauner, a liberal Republican businessman, said that yes, he was pro-choice and pro-immigration, but vowed he would not attempt to do anything to advance either as governor in exchange for GOP voting support.
What did he end up doing? Sanctuary State and helping abortion. His only accomplishments as Governor were to advance Dem priorities.
Sometimes a squishy GOPer is better than a Dem, such as Susan Collins. But often it’s a case of ‘better an open enemy than a pretend friend’.
— Kate
The trouble with that is that there is no distinction. Foreign policies and other political matters are moral matters. Whether the current Pope is motivated by earthly issues, moral ones, or both, he’s under no obligation not to speak on such matters, and in fact the office carries an obligation to speak by its nature.
I don’t agree with the Pope on this, but I recognize the contradiction in what Vance is saying.
One could always focus on the contradictions, I suppose…
https://instapundit.com/789729/
I guess in the Victim Olympics, some contestants are “more equal than others”…amen.
HC68, I would say rather than foreign policy and other political matters may be moral matters.
Trump said it was supposed to be him as a doctor. He said he removed it because it was widely misunderstood.
I have no idea what it was meant to be, but it was odd.
— Kate
Their foundations are always moral. So are the foundations of society as a whole. That’s why the word ‘de-moral-ize’ has the linguistic root that it does. Likewise the word ‘morale’.
With the exception of purely regulatory things like which side of the street to drive on or the like, pretty much all law is legislated morality, directly or indirectly. Foreign policy is about national self-interest, yes, but you can’t divorce that from moral considerations. Even the very choice to obey the law, or support your country’s interests, has a significant moral dimension.
This is so foundational, and so pervasive, that it become paradoxically invisible, like fish and water.