04/20/26

Good morning! It’s Monday, April 20th.

Nice. Hey. Grow up. 

Lima Bean Respect Day.

Put some respect on it.

And now, the news.

Louisiana Shooting

-via ABC News, Gun Violence Archive, SAV, and DV Awareness

We start how we start here in America. With eight children dead in Shreveport, Louisiana Sunday morning, after the suspect, who was killed by police after a police chase, shot and killed them.

The victims range from 14-years-old to 18-months.

Two other adults and a teenager were injured in the shooting that took place at three different locations. One of the adults was the mom of the kids.

An investigation is ongoing but police do know this is a domestic violence dispute and that seven of the kids that the suspect killed were his kids.

And it is a tragedy.

It is.

But it was preventable. 

This is Speaker Johnson’s district.

Speaker Johnson, who put his thoughts and prayers into a statement. And I’m sure they’re much appreciated. I’m not saying they aren’t. 

But in 2019, he voted against the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, which would have expanded protections against exactly this. It would have closed the gaps in gun restrictions. 

He voted expanding background checks for gun control, including specifically preventing domestic abusers from having guns. 

And in 2022, after the Robb Elementary School Shooting, Congress passed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which closed parts of the “boyfriend loophole” that extended gun restrictions to not just spouses but partners who were convicted of domestic abuse. 

Johnson voted no. 

And maybe I’m feeling spicy because last week two House Reps stepped down after allegations of sexual misconduct were made public, but you better believe other House members knew and none of them came forward to tell on their friend. It was the women who had to come forward. And I can’t even talk about the Rape Academy that’s been all over the news, because what am I supposed to do? Be surprised? And then the week ended with the news that a former Lt. Gov., who previously raped two women and was 15 days away from being forced out of his home, murdered his wife before turning the gun on himself and then I had to see multiple articles, MULTIPLE, talking about how unfortunate it is that he didn’t get the mental health he needed in time.

Of course it is.

You know what else is unfortunate? A judge told him he had 15 days to leave the house, when it is a statistical fact that the most dangerous time for a woman is the period of time when she is leaving her partner.

And a judge let that man, who has a history of violence, live there still. 

Tomorrow is the 110th day of the year. There have been 114 mass shootings so far this year. 

Additionally – more than 20,000 calls are placed to domestic violence hotlines every day. And every minute in America there are 1.3 forcible rapes of adult women, just adults, in America.

And those are the reported ones. Which are believed in to be 1 in 3. 

And while we’re doing facts… 78% of rapes are done by someone the victim knows. 

I’ve never, in my entire life, met a single woman who doesn’t have a story. 

We have to learn to protect ourselves. We spend our whole lives learning to do it. We don’t get to enjoy so many of the privileges that a man does, simply because we have to protect ourselves from what is, statistically, our biggest threat. 

And I am, by no means, saying all men. But always men. And then something like this happens, the same men in power who voted against the laws who could have helped. Who could have prevented this… give their thoughts and prayers.

As if we can what they’re thinking.

As if their prayers have any chance of saving them.

Cause I don’t know much about religion. But I know enough about Mike Johnson to know… he’s going to be pretty confused when he gets to the end of his days, if he thinks he can vote the way he does and hope for the best. 

All in all, this one here is an American story through and through.

Strait of Hormuz

-via AP News, Washington Post, and CNN

After briefly opening for a hot little second over the weekend, with Trump saying, “Iran has agreed to never close the Strait of Hormuz again”…the Strait of Hormuz is closed again, with Iran blaming the US for “repeated breaches of trust.”

Us?? Trump?? Breaches of trust? That… yeah, no okay. Super bummed, very unideal, but you have read us correctly.

So the Strait, she is closed again. And Trump is handling it super cool – by once again saying that negotiators are headed to Pakistan today for more peace talks, which is news to Iran and Pakistan (they have yet to officially confirm), and then adding that if they don’t make a deal, he will knock out every single bridge and power plant in the country.

So… normal. Normal stuff. (That actually is normal from him. That’s a common threat. But it doesn’t have to mean that we need to normalize it. You see the difference?)

The ceasefire is set to expire on Wednesday.

In the meantime, the United States seized an Iranian tanker, accusing it of trying to go past the US blockade. 

Kash Patel’s Problem

-via Atlantic

Speaking on the condition of anonymity, current as well as former FBI staffers, members of Congress, hospital-industry workers, staff at law enforcement and intelligence agencies, political operatives, lobbyists, and former advisers, so like… a lot of people… all told the Atlantic that Kash Patel, former podcaster and current leader of the FBI, has a very serious drinking problem. 

One that is probably going to lead to his firing.

It’s been well-reported that he takes a jet that you, and I, pay for to spend most weekends in Vegas. He reportedly drinks to excess there, at a place called the Poodle Room, as well as a private club called Ned’s in DC.

Early in his time as the head of the FBI, morning meetings often had to be rescheduled because he’d been out drinking the night before.

Multiple times, MULTIPLE TIMES, his security detail had trouble waking him up and a request for “breaching equipment” (thinking a battery ram, like the SWAT team would use) was made because he could not be roused behind a locked door.

Now, obviously, that’s an addiction, and that’s its own thing. I’m not going to comment on that.

But, as the article points out, but what you don’t need an article to point out because you don’t need to be a genius to see it, is that this is a serious security threat. 

But it should worry you that some of his colleagues at the FBI say the same thing.

Those same people worry that his drinking is the reason Patel has done things like announce there was a person of interest in December’s Brown University shooting, only to then turn around and release that person. The FBI also shared inaccurate information about the Charlie Kirk shooting.

I’ve said a few times, in previous high-stakes cases, that it’s hard to trust information coming from this FBI. 

It sounds like this might be the reason why.

Patel, of course, denies the allegations and says he is filing a defamation suit today.

And that’s it. That’s the news.

I’m proud of lima beans. 

They are gross, and yet have convinced everyone that they still serve a purpose (kind of reminds me of that last story).

But more than lima beans – because you are not gross but serve a great purpose… I’m proud of you.