Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters at a White House briefing Wednesday that the U.S. plans to ramp up economic pain on Iran, and said the new moves will be the “financial equivalent” of a bombing campaign.
https://apnews.com/article/trump-treasury-bessent-iran-sanctions-f45619d7ea3050bd4b1cdd9c3881ca2b
Why wasn’t this done first, before initiating military action? Oh, right. Bibi talked Donald into going to war.
I wondered how some random lady, the “Door Dash Grandma,” was able to walk right up to the White House to deliver Donald’s comfort food.
The answer is, she isn’t some random lady. Once again, Republicans play the game of accusing everybody else of what they’re doing. That wasn’t the first time she’s been planted for a photo op.
Watching more classic Doctor Who, I wondered who this young beauty is. She’s another reminder of the passage of time. Hilary Ryan is a month older than I am.
On a whim, I looked behind the new dryer and, to my dismay, saw there’s no strain relief clamp* on the power cord. Argh. If the guy who installed the dryer didn’t have the part on hand, he could have used the clamp from the old dryer. It’s a standard UL-listed part.
Recalling that I have a clamp somewhere, I decided to do the job myself. I pulled the dryer out from the wall, unplugged it, and removed the wiring access panel.
But, of course, the clamp wasn’t in the toolbox. (Had I already used it for something?) After too many minutes spent in fruitless searching, and not wanting to hunt down a clamp, I contacted Best Buy and arranged for a service call. At least that way they’d know one of the guys at the sub-contractor they hired is doing sub-optimal work. (The team that Best Buy sent to install the dishwasher two years ago was excellent.)
That keeps me stuck here, looking at today’s newspaper, while waiting for a call with an expected arrival time for the service technician. It should take him all of two minutes to secure the power cord.
Most days, I get a suburban Boston newspaper. Yes, an actual paper-paper. I feel my connection to the National Cartoonists Society demands it. The paper has the Jumble puzzle.
Some days, like today, I instead get a copy of The Boston Globe. It has a Jumble variation that’s a lot easier to do, but it’s better than having no Jumble. (I sound very retired, don’t I.)
Which takes me to this video with Globe reporter Emily Sweeney, who articulates a genuine Boston accent, with its “hahd ahh” sound.
@bostonglobe Authorities are still searching for a masked intruder who broke into a Beverly mansion early Saturday morning, assaulted and tied up the home’s caretaker, snatched several valuable items, and fled in a stolen Porsche. As the case remains unsolved, questions are swirling about the heist and its mysterious aftermath. Globe reporter Emily Sweeney explains what we know so far. Head to the link to read more. Reporting by Emily Sweeney and Lea Skene Video by Raphael Chinca #localnews #beverlyma#massachusetts ? original sound – The Boston Globe
* The technician has been told it’s okay to hand me the part (that they call “the butterfly”), and I’ll install it myself.
The crisis that Trump created in Iran is a total diplomatic mess. So, of course he’s returning to his comfort zone from The Apprentice, of being the big, bad boss. “You’re Fired!”
Trump threatens to fire Powell if he does not resign from the Fed
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/04/15/us/trump-news#trump-powell-fed-fire
The joke is that Trump has no authority to fire Powell.
Tonight’s PBS News Hour had this segment about the art of Paddington Bear.
In 2018, I was interested in seeing a Paddington illustration exhibit at the Eric Carle Museum in Amherst, MA. But between recovering from melanoma skin cancer and being the trustee of my late parents’ estate, I didn’t make it out there.
https://carlemuseum.org/explore-art/exhibitions/past-exhibition/paddington-comes-america
The museum is located at one end of the Hampshire College campus. Today came the shocking, yet not surprising, news that Hampshire College will be shutting down. That leaves UMass and Amherst College in Amherst, along with Mount Holyoke in South Hadley and Smith College in Northampton, with the latter two being schools for women.
