31 thoughts on “Sunday Serendipity”

  2. pas, pax or pox de deux?
    the guardian:

    Zelenskyy accuses Russia of creating an ‘impression’ of a ceasefire as shelling on Ukraine continues
    Welcome back to our live coverage of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has accused Russia of creating a mere “impression” of a ceasefire as Moscow reportedly continued shelling areas of Ukraine overnight.
    In a televised meeting with his commander-in-chief on Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the temporary ceasefire would last from 6pm Moscow time (4pm BST) on Saturday until midnight (10pm BST) on Sunday.
    Putin claimed he had ordered his forces to “stop all military activity” along the frontline during this window for “humanitarian reasons”.
    But Zelenskyy said there had been hundreds of instances of shelling on Saturday evening. Early on Sunday, Ukrainian forces reported 59 instances of shelling and five assault attempts along the frontline, he said.
    In a post on X, the Ukrainian president wrote:
    Overall, as of Easter morning, we can state that the Russian army is attempting to create the general impression of a ceasefire, while in some areas still continuing isolated attempts to advance and inflict losses on Ukraine. Russia must fully comply with the conditions of the ceasefire.
    Ukraine’s proposal to implement and extend the ceasefire for 30 days after midnight tonight remains on the table. We will act in accordance with the actual situation on the ground.
    Previous attempts at holding ceasefires for Easter in April 2022 and Orthodox Christmas in January 2023 were not implemented after both sides failed to agree on them.
    In some other developments:
    On Saturday, Ukraine and Russia said they had each returned 246 soldiers being held as prisoners of war, in a swap mediated by the UAE. Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the total number of returned POWs now stood at 4,552. The UAE’s foreign ministry said 31 injured Ukrainians and 15 wounded Russians were also exchanged.
    Moscow’s troops have driven out Ukrainian forces from nearly all of the Kursk region, Russia’s chief of general staff, Valery Gerasimov, has said. “The bulk of the area where the invasion took place has now been cleared,” Gerasimov told Putin in a televised meeting. “It’s 1,260 sq km, 99.5%.” The RIA state news agency cited the Russian defence ministry as saying on Saturday that Russian troops recaptured the village of Oleshnya in Kursk.
    Russian troops are “solidifying their presence” in the village of Kalynove in the Donetsk region, the Kyiv Independent reported, citing the DeepState military blog. The publication reports, sourcing DeepState, that Russian forces are deploying infantry and establishing logistical routes and communication lines in Kalynove.

  4. for this easter 2025 I gave up hope for Lent. Now that Lent is over, not sure hope’s coming back.

  6. Craig – Correct. There’s no dashboard, so there’s no way for me to access my profile. There’s no login( I’m basically a guest each time, using CAPTCHA each post.

    Also, I had to clear out my searches and find you new this morning, because all I could access was yesterday’s thread.

  7. BiD,
    when I log in (clicking the log in link under “contraptions” in the column on right of this page and doing the captcha) the dashboard automatically comes up. look in left column going down on that page for profile. click it, check what’s entered and change if necessary, then click on “update profile” at the bottom of that page. voila! when I go back to thread my avatar is there and I can comment again.

    thanks to Pogo & Craig for telling me about this method.

  9. I understand they’ve turned the WH Easter Egg Roll into a pay-for-play.

    During an egg shortage, and with food pantries bare after being extorted for information by DHS/ICE and having food withheld, why use real eggs?

    Kids want the kind with candy inside.

    Have they always used real eggs, like in modern times?

  10. patD – I have no “contraptions” – it doesn’t look like it used to look.

    I can sign in as a guest and do CAPTCHA with each post, but I had to clear my browser history to see the new day’s page.

    Anyone not familiar with the trail would see the same thread until they clear out their history.

    None of the changes were an issue until I tried to log in yesterday morning. I clear out my history regularly. If I had been logged in during whatever change was made, it probably would’ve been OK until I cleared my history.

  11. blueINdallas, that is a total mystery to me. I’ve tried all my browsers and devices to see if i can duplicate your issue, and i can’t. What browser and machine are you using?

  14. “The worst thing is never the last thing.”

    This morning’s message from a Methodist minister. Coded against Orange Adolf. He even talked about concentration/death camps.

  15. BID, does any of this look familiar? I use an iPad and this is at the very bottom of the page.

  16. BiD,
    At the top of the thread, do you see the cartoon of Putin & Trump on the far right of the page?
    If so, scroll down that column past Our Mission, New on Tap, and Smoke Signals until you get to Contraptions which has listed under it 2 links register and log in.
    If you don’t perhaps your screen maybe only covers the thread & its comments and needs expanding (enlarging? I don’t know technical term for it) to see what’s on the right of the full page.

    p.s. I’m at a desktop computer with a wide screen so could be some folks reading the Trail on some phones may have abbreviated views or like Ivy are reading the column at bottom of thread vertically on a tablet.

  19. “The worst thing is never the last thing.”

    Worse Off is the new Better Off, right maga?

  23. I can’t help but feel the pain of the family for them to have to listen to nonsensical but heartless politicians grandstanding on the backs of their victimized loved ones. On a holy day, no less. I see a devilish pattern here.

    — Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) on Van Hollen and Abrego Garcia, on NBC’s “Meet the Press”: “[Van Hollen] is utterly and gloriously wrong. I mean, most of this gauzy rhetoric is just rage-bait. Unless you’re next-level obtuse, you know that Mr. Garcia is never coming back to the United States, ever. And that’s not because of President Trump. That’s because of Mr. President [Nayib] Bukele. … Look, this was a screw-up, in my opinion. The administration won’t admit it, but this was a screw-up. Mr. Garcia was not supposed to be sent to El Salvador. … [But] I don’t see any pattern here.”

    https://www.politico.com/playbook

  24. just because you’ve been affected by tragedy doesn’t afford you license to lie and facilitate the destruction of other lives

    fuck that

  25. i’ve seen a lot of inspiring expressions of grace in my life by people who could’ve turned their grief into anger, but didn’t

    Point being, supporting Nazis isn’t an automatic grief response

  26. holy shit these MAGA people are incredibly racist, in plain sight now too

    let’s think of ways to rationalize their behavior!

    ok have a great day

    Slava Ukraine

  28. https://landline.media/arkansas-governor-signs-english-proficiency-bill-into-law/

    It’s official: Any truck driver operating in Arkansas who cannot exhibit English proficiency will get hit with a fine of up to $1,000.

    On Monday, April 14, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed HB1745 into law. Now officially Act 604, the law requires English proficiency among truck drivers and turns improper documentation into a felony for foreign-domiciled drivers.

    Drivers who cannot display English proficiency can be fined $500 for the first offense and $1,000 for all subsequent offenses.

    *They are reportedly carrying out short reading and writing proficiency tests in English at weigh stations in Arkansas…one of the lowest states on the education totem pole. I’d like to see SFB try to pass it.

  29. https://www.newsweek.com/houston-texas-ymca-cuts-staff-due-refugee-funding-cuts-2061934

    The YMCA of Greater Houston announced last week it will cut 2.7 percent of its workforce across 160 locations in Texas due to federal funding cuts, The Houston Chronicle reported Friday.

    This comes as Harris County’s Alief Family YMCA, which primarily served refugees through its New American Initiative, will close on May 30 following President Donald Trump administration’s cuts to refugee program funding.

  31. I don’t believe this story for one instant. First, Dodo is attracted to chaos, and second, he wouldn’t know how to conduct himself in the absence of total chaos.

    The Pentagon is in “total chaos” and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is unlikely to remain in his role, according to its former top spokesperson, who painted a scene of dysfunction, backstabbing and continuous missteps at the highest levels of the department.

    “The building is in disarray under Hegseth’s leadership,” John Ullyot wrote Sunday in a POLITICO Magazine opinion piece. “The dysfunction is now a major distraction for the president — who deserves better from his senior leadership.”

    https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/20/ullyot-pentagon-hegseth-chaos-00300695

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