“A robbery suspect now faces murder and attempted murder charges along with a long list of other felony counts in the shooting death of a Chicago police officer and the wounding of another at a hospital where they took him for treatment. Alphanso Talley, 26, was scheduled to make his first appearance Monday in Cook County Circuit Court, the state’s attorney’s office said. Officer John Bartholomew, 38, a 10-year veteran of the force, was pronounced dead just before 1 p.m. Saturday after being shot at Endeavor Health Swedish Hospital, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office. A second officer was critically wounded in the Saturday morning shooting, police said. His name was not immediately released..” (04/27/26)
“Twenty-two monks have been arrested at an airport in Sri Lanka after officials discovered 110kg (242lbs) of cannabis concealed in their luggage. Customs officials said each monk was found with around 5kg of Kush — a particularly potent form of the drug — hidden within ‘false walls’ in their luggage when they arrived in the capital Colombo on Saturday. The monks, who were mainly students, were returning from Thailand after being treated to an all-expenses-paid four-day holiday by an unnamed sponsor when they were detained. A 23rd monk, believed to have organised the trip, has since been arrested in a suburb of Colombo, police told BBC Sinhala. According to the acting police spokesman, the monk — who did not join the trip — had told the other monks that ‘these parcels are a donation’ and that a van would come to collect the packages.” (04/27/26)
“The attempted shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner Saturday night shouldn’t surprise us. Not only does America have the world’s most active small-arms industry that essentially controls the GOP (the reporters got a taste of what American — and only American — schoolkids experience every few months from their ‘realistic’ active shooter drills), but we also host the world’s largest and most profitable hate-amplification industry. Algorithms that amplify hate and division in order to “increase engagement” have made Mark Zuckerberg into one of the richest people on the planet, complete with a super-yacht and a doomsday bunker estate in Hawaii; Elon Musk’s X has turned into a sewer of Nazi-style rhetoric while Musk himself has posted, according to The Washington Post, nakedly white supremacist slogans and statements over 850 times just in the past seven months.” (04/27/26)
“South Carolina’s measles outbreak — the worst in the U.S. in more than 35 years — is over, state health officials declared Monday. On Sunday, the state passed the threshold of 42 days with no new outbreak-related cases. In the end, 997 people were sickened by the vaccine-preventable disease since October and at least 21 of them were hospitalized, based on voluntary reports to the state. State health officials estimate the outbreak response cost $2.1 million. ‘The outbreak was predominantly contained to one area of one county and never went statewide, thanks to timely investigations, identification of those exposed, and people’s willingness to stay home,’ said Dr. Edward Simmer, interim director of the South Carolina Department of Public Health.” [editor’s note: I caught the measles at around age 10 or 11; it was no fun, and I spent about a week in lowered light, running from bed to bathroom and back, but it was far from fatal – SAT] (04/27/26)
“It is difficult to determine whether the bizarro worldview of the current Democrat-media nexus can simply be attributed to its generic Trump Derangement Syndrome — but the crazy world of the left [sic] increasingly bears scant resemblance to reality. In this alternate universe, Eric Swalwell was a liberal [sic] icon and invaluable asset for years, though admittedly a bit randy and occasionally a serial sexual predator. Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner was, at last, the left’s [sic] ‘real thing’, the white working-class liberal stiff who could win back the hoi polloi — although he can’t get his story straight on whether his Nazi tattoo was an accident or proof that he was brainwashed by the toxic US military.”[editor’s note: I admit I can’t contest Hanson’s credentials when it comes to expertise in inhabiting strange alternate realities – TLK] (04/27/26)
“Eight children are still missing after gunmen raided an unregistered orphanage in Nigeria’s north-central Kogi State and kidnapped 23, authorities have said. Kogi’s information commissioner Kingsley Fanwo said 15 children were rescued due to the ‘prompt and coordinated response’ of security agencies. Sunday’s attack also saw the owner of the facility taken, he added. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but security sources say the state has a functional Boko Haram cell, and that there have been several violent attacks in the area. Nigeria is also grappling with a kidnap crisis in many parts of the country, with criminal gangs abducting people for ransoms. The government has made paying ransoms illegal but this has not prevented the kidnappings.” (04/27/26)
“Southern California’s waters appear to be teeming this spring with white sharks, drawing the attention of fishers, surfers and biologists. A reportedly aggressive 10-foot shark off Huntington Beach led to a partial ocean closure and the postponement of a professional surf competition on Thursday. State experts explain that the extreme marine heat wave baking the Pacific Ocean likely prompted baby white sharks to arrive in February, at least a month earlier than normal, and that older and bigger sharks are now starting to follow. ‘Every year about this time, females are coming back from their open ocean migrations to give birth somewhere in Southern California, and then those baby white sharks show up at our beaches,’ Chris Lowe, the director of Cal State Long Beach’s Shark Lab, told SFGATE.” (04/27/26)
“The executive order President Trump signed in February protecting and encouraging the production of glyphosate, the primary ingredient in Roundup, is a major victory for Bayer AG, the German biotech giant that produces the notorious herbicide. The company has been aggressively implementing its five-point plan to thwart the ability of cancer patients to sue over claims that it failed to warn them about the link between Roundup and non-Hodgkin lymphoma. But Bayer is not resting on its laurels, and is pushing for a more permanent win in the Supreme Court this spring — and eventually in Congress. By the time Bayer introduced its plan to stem a flood of Roundup-related lawsuits in 2021, the company already owed billions in verdicts and settlements.” (04/27/26)
“Iran has put forward a fresh proposal to the United States that focuses on easing tensions at sea first, while pushing nuclear talks to a later stage, Axios reported. According to reports, Tehran is offering a deal that would help reopen the Strait of Hormuz and reduce conflict, but only if discussions on its nuclear programme are postponed for now. Trump said negotiations would continue over phone calls after Iran declined direct talks with American negotiators amid tensions surrounding the Strait of Hormuz. Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is heading to Russia and is expected to meet President Vladimir Putin on Monday to discuss the status of ongoing negotiations.” (04/27/26)
“In a manifesto attributed to Cole Allen, the 31-year-old suspect in the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner shooting, he identifies as a ‘Friendly Federal Assassin’ who had a ‘real opportunity’ [to] kill ‘Administration officials.’ Allen remains in federal custody. ‘What my representatives do reflects on me,’ Allen allegedly wrote in a manifesto released by the New York Post on Sunday. ‘And I am no longer willing to permit a pedophile, rapist, and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes.’ Allen, of Torrance, California, was arrested at the scene Saturday night after he allegedly charged a Secret Service checkpoint at the Washington Hilton, armed with a shotgun, handgun and knives.” (04/26/26)
