Anti-Netanyahu protests in Israel.

 

הוידאו הזה שווה ציוץ מחודש.@ynetalerts pic.twitter.com/swcijMR3rI

— איתי בלומנטל Itay Blumental (@ItayBlumental) April 19, 2020

Approximately 2,000 Israelis stood six feet apart in Tel Aviv's Rabin Square to protest what they consider the erosion of democracy under the coronavirus-era government of Benjamin Netanyahu. https://t.co/xhkD34Q5nm

— Axios (@axios) April 19, 2020

This couldn't be coming at a worse time.

 

 

There are rumors that Kim is brain dead. It's weird that his sister has been spotted around more than ever lately--guess this explains why.

4 minutes ago, DramatistDreamer said:

There are rumors that Kim is brain dead. It's weird that his sister has been spotted around more than ever lately--guess this explains why.

 

I saw Katy Tur tweeted and deleted (she said she deleted out of caution).

 

I'm seeing people celebrating this on Twitter but I feel like it could all go very very wrong. 

 

I know it sounds glib but I just hope you all stay safe. 

2 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

 

I saw Katy Tur tweeted and deleted (she said she deleted out of caution).

 

I'm seeing people celebrating this on Twitter but I feel like it could all go very very wrong. 

 

I know it sounds glib but I just hope you all stay safe. 

 

It's floating around since I didn't even see Tur's social media and had no idea she had tweeted this. I wouldn't put it out there publicly either.

 

In my book "The Great Successor," I wrote that Kim Jong Un's biggest risk factor was his obvious poor health -- and in particular the risk of cardiac problems.

Kim Jong Un is five feet, seven inches tall, and weighs about three hundred pounds = BMI of 45, or "extremely obese" pic.twitter.com/04EsZfuues

— Anna Fifield (@annafifield) April 21, 2020

So, what is the truth??

 

just now from S Korea's @YonhapNews wire: S.KOREA GOV'T SAYS KIM JONG UN IS NOT SERIOUSLY ILL

— Elise Hu (@elisewho) April 21, 2020

If he is sick or even dead the North Korean government will not disclose it right away.

Pay attention to how N. Korea handles this. Republicans will do the same thing when Trump finally becomes incapacitated. We'll see more of the kids and Pence somebody will take over his Twitter and send out wildly offensive and crazy tweets meant to inflame and distract.

That McConnell "tell-all" book by his first wife would make for some interesting reading, I bet.

 

I finally read @JaneMayerNYer’s big Mitch McConnell piece. I waited for the print issue and read it by the firepit, fortified by bourbon and Prine. Since I have familiarity w/ the subject, here are some thoughts on what the piece reveals & brings to fore. https://t.co/ifiomFvUDM

— Alec MacGillis (@AlecMacGillis) April 22, 2020

The cultists are flooding Twitter begging Jesse Ventura to run for President. 

 

I read that Biden did OK on Corden's show. After the Nancy Pelosi mess I couldn't watch, and I have a hard time watching any of his interviews to be honest, but hopefully it means he's becoming more comfortable oncamera again. 

 

As it at the moment the whole election rests on Trump, which is dangerous, but we have no real choice but to keep getting through and hoping there is even reliable voting available in November.

 

We all knew that this was going to happen, no?

 

It wasn’t supposed to work this way.

It always works this way.

Luxury Hotel Company Is Biggest Beneficiary of Small-Business Funds https://t.co/5anc2Ha4Au

— Richard Hine (@richardhine) April 23, 2020

I posted it earlier, but yes that McConnell piece is essential.

 

 

Yes, the United States is already in decline. Like many of us have been saying, this pandemic has exposed structural weaknesses that had been hiding in plain sight for decades.  At least other countries no longer bother to look to America for any kind of leadership, the terrible mismanagement of the U.S. response to COVID-19 has put a stamp on that aspect. 

 

https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/sadness-and-disbelief-from-a-world-missing-u-s-leadership/

This is exactly what Putin wanted. The United States having damaged credibility and failures on display gives Russia an opportunity to step up to the front of the world stage. Not that Russia is fit to be on that stage at all, but they can influence smaller countries and possibility regain some of the power they had as the Soviet Union.