Hello, dear reader, and welcome to Saturday, April 18, 2026. Kind of a light day on national observances today. It’s Adult Autism Awareness Day, National Husband Appreciation Day, National Lineman Appreciation Day, and National Animal Crackers Day.
It's supposed to be getting to 80 degrees around the shack today, with a thunderstorm this afternoon. This is the time of year around western New York that gives rise to the speculation that Mother Nature makes Kamala Harris look like a teetotaler.
1593 William Shakespeare's poem "Venus and Adonis" is registered for publication, becoming his first work to be printed and his most famous work during his lifetime.
1775 Paul Revere meets with Samuel Adams and John Hancock in Lexington, Massachusetts, and warns them that British troops are marching from Boston to Lexington.
1783 George Washington issues general orders announcing the end of hostilities with Britain in the American Revolutionary War, giving thanks to the Almighty, offering congratulations, and authorizing an extra ration of alcohol to the troops to celebrate.
1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire kills nearly 4,000, while destroying 75% of the city.
1925 The World's Fair opens in Chicago.
1942 The Doolittle Raid: James Doolittle leads the first air raid on mainland Japan.
Birthdays Today include Clarence Darrow, American defense attorney (Scopes Monkey Trial ); Tony Mottola, American jazz guitarist; Barbara Hale, American actress (Della Street in Perry Mason); Henry Hyde, American politician (Republican representative from Illinois, 1975-2007); Bob Hastings, American actor (McHale's Navy; All in the Family); Glen Hardin, American rock and country piano player and arranger (Buddy Holly’s Crickets); Harvey Kagan, American musician and bassist (Sir Douglas Quintet); Hayley Mills, British actress (The Parent Trap; Pollyanna; The Trouble with Angels); James Woods, American actor and popular commentator; Geoff Bodine, American race car driver; Rick Moranis, Canadian actor (SCTV; Spaceballs; Ghostbusters; Honey I Shrunk the Kids); and Conan O’Brien, American comedian and TV host.
If today’s your day, have a great one.
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Fox News ran a story this morning by Ashley Oliver on Mollie Hemingway's new book Alito. The article — and apparently much of the book itself — centers on Supreme Court Justices' security fears during the deliberations that culminated in the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson ruling, which overturned Roe v. Wade in a 6-3 decision.
Justice Elena Kagan’s frustrations boiled over in the aftermath of the Dobbs opinion leak in 2022, leading her to allegedly scream "so loudly" at Justice Stephen Breyer that the "wall was shaking," observers said, according to a new book.
Conservative author and Fox News contributor Mollie Hemingway’s forthcoming book "Alito," reviewed by Fox News Digital and set for release Tuesday, details the incident and other heated moments surrounding the leak, which spurred waves of protests and death threats against the five conservative justices expected to overturn Roe that year.
The Supreme Court's deep division on abortion was clear at the time, but the book reveals that a typically unified liberal bloc was also fractured.
[…]
The security threats at the time were severe, as protesters who supported access to abortion frequently showed up at conservative justices' homes. Shortly after the leak, Attorney General Merrick Garland ordered the U.S. Marshals Service to provide full-time security for all the justices, but he drew criticism because authorities did not arrest protesters despite a law that prohibits "picketing or parading" near a federal judge's home to influence a court decision.
In June 2022, before the Supreme Court issued its decision, a suspect armed with a pistol, knife and burglary tools was arrested near Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s home. Nicholas Roske, who now goes by Sophie, later pleaded guilty to attempting to murder a Supreme Court justice and received a controversial sentence of eight years in prison, which the Department of Justice is appealing.
That last paragraph — ummmm... Sophie? — amazes me, though it doesn't surprise me. I’ve often suggested a link between transsexualism and violent acts such as mass shootings. By my own reckoning, killing USSC justices in support of abortion isn’t too many steps beyond that. Is each of thse positions a sign of mental illness? I could see the argument being made.
And let’s remember the number of pro-life centers that had threats of violence and vandalism and firebombing. Hard to imagine the mental gymnastics required to talk oneself into such actions.
But equally telling is a 2022 BuzzFeed story by Michelle Broder Van Dyke that I stumbled across in my files this morning, from right around the same time all this was unfolding at the Supreme Court. (Easy to do, since my older files are usually sorted by date).
Hercules and Leo, who are currently used for biomedical experiments at Stony Brook University on Long Island, were granted habeas corpus by Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Barbara Jaffe.
Habeas corpus is a legal petition that detainees use to seek relief from unlawful imprisonment, and by granting habeas corpus to chimps, Jaffe endorsed the idea that they deserve the rights of a human being.
Advocates argue great apes are highly intelligent and self-aware beings with complex emotional lives that deserve basic rights, including the right to be free of inhumane punishment.
At the time, America was aborting at about the rate of a million babies per year. In light of that, look closely at the logic that the cases, when combined, collectively imply: Chimps are intelligent and self-aware; human babies, apparently, are not. Yeah, it doesn’t make much sense to me, either.
It’s not too much of a stretch of imagination that Judge Barbara Jaffe would happily grant the chimps voting rights — just as soon as someone teaches them to pull the straight-party Democrat lever. (Insert sound of tongue popping from cheek).
There’s no explaining the massive illogic here.
What truly troubles me is the casual disregard for human life — which ends in prioritizing chimps over babies, and endorsing the murder of Supreme Court Justices to advance the killing of children. That seems to be of a piece with the "assisted suicide" industry that popped up recently north of the border.
But that's a whole 'nother column.
Thought of the day: We've been watching the rather decisive moves that removed Eric Swalwell from government in less than a week. We've all seen it. And yet there are people out there thinking that there's a magical career-ending bombshell they've had on Trump but not released over the past eleven years.
Take care today. Your entire life has been leading up to this.
I'll see you tomorrow.
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