demmiblue
demmiblue's JournalMike Luckovich: Hopefully these talks will bring the two sides together...
— Mike Luckovich (@mluckovich.bsky.social) 2026-04-21T17:09:13.553Z
Smoking ban for people born after 2008 in the UK agreed
Both the Commons and Lords have settled on a final draft of the "landmark" legislation that aims to stop anyone born after 1 January 2009 from taking up smoking by making it illegal for shops to sell them tobacco, to create a smoke-free generation.
When it gets royal assent, ministers will also have new powers to regulate tobacco, vaping and nicotine products, including their flavours and packaging.
It is part of a series of measures aimed at tackling the health effects of smoking, one of the UK's leading causes of preventable death, disability and ill health.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn08jy6w0l5o
Kegsbreath: We are discarding the mandatory flu vaccine requirement, effective immediately.
Yeah that will solve all of our problems…..
— Shipwreck (@shipwreck75.bsky.social) 2026-04-21T14:15:47.510Z
Good lawd, these people are fucking idiots!
US forces board a sanctioned oil tanker in the Indian Ocean, the Pentagon says
Source: AP
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. forces have boarded an oil tanker previously sanctioned for smuggling Iranian crude oil in Asia, the Department of Defense said Tuesday.
In a social media post, the Pentagon said U.S. forces “conducted a right-of-visit maritime interdiction” and boarded the M/T Tifani “without incident.”
It’s the latest move in the U.S. war on Iran to stop any ship tied to Tehran or those suspected of carrying supplies that could help its government, from weapons and oil to metals and electronics. The announcement comes hours ahead of the expiration of an already tenuous ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran, and as Pakistan attempts to broker talks between Washington and Tehran.
Ship-tracking data showed the Tifani was carrying oil in the Indian Ocean on Tuesday between Sri Lanka and Indonesia. The Pentagon described the Tifani as “stateless” despite it being a Botswana-flagged vessel. The announcement did not say precisely where or what time Tuesday the ship was boarded.
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/iran-war-tifani-sanctioned-ship-bd0190ae22d133d85f331cb300b179bf
Alan Dershowitz: Why I'm Becoming a Republican
Oh no!
— Wajahat Ali (@wajali.bsky.social) 2026-04-21T05:13:07.034Z
'We were terrified they were going to kill us': fishers who survived US boat strike speak out
“We were just working, waiting for the last trawler to return,” Jhonny Sebastián Palacios, one of the fishers, told the Guardian. “Everything was perfectly fine.”
From nowhere, an explosion ripped through the boat. “There was a sudden crash – boom! It came from a drone,” he said.
The blast tore through the vessel, shattering glass, and injuring several crew members. “I ran upstairs and saw the boat destroyed … The whole ship was stripped bare,” he said.
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2026/apr/21/ecuador-us-boat-strike-survivors
People need to be held accountable… but they won’t be.
Senator Mark Warner and his wife, Lisa Collis, share the devastating news that their beloved daughter, Madison, has died
Senator Mark Warner and his wife, Lisa Collis, share the devastating news that their beloved daughter, Madison, has died at 36.
— Yashar Ali 😠(@yasharali.bsky.social) 2026-04-20T16:18:01.658Z
So we get multiple conflicting reports, including from Trump himself, that Vance is or is not leading the US delegation
So we get multiple conflicting reports, including from Trump himself, that Vance is or is not leading the US delegation for peace talks on Tuesday, then we get multiple reports from Iran state media that they have no plans to attend peace talks on Tues & didn’t know about it.
— Ron Filipkowski (@ronfilipkowski.bsky.social) 2026-04-19T17:34:23.765Z
A well-oiled machine as always.
— Ron Filipkowski (@ronfilipkowski.bsky.social) 2026-04-19T13:55:44.894Z
What a surprise.
— Ron Filipkowski (@ronfilipkowski.bsky.social) 2026-04-19T17:22:10.436Z
Behind Trump's Public Bravado on the War, He Grapples With His Own Fears
WOW: A stunning new report in the WSJ reveals that military advisers intentionally excluded Donald Trump from the command room during the recent high-stakes operation to extract a downed U.S. airman in Iran, because they feared his erratic behavior could jeopardize the mission. 1/
— MeidasTouch (@meidastouch.com) 2026-04-19T15:07:53.365Z
It was Good Friday afternoon in a nearly empty West Wing soon after the president learned that an American jet had been shot down in Iran, with two airmen missing. Trump screamed at aides for hours. The Europeans aren’t helping, he said repeatedly. Gas prices averaged $4.09. Images of the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis—one of the biggest international policy failures of a presidency in recent times—had been looming large in his mind, people who have spoken to him said.
“If you look at what happened with Jimmy Carter…with the helicopters and the hostages, it cost them the election,” Trump had said in March. “What a mess.”
Trump demanded that the military go get them immediately. But the U.S. hadn’t been on the ground in Iran since the government overthrow that led to the hostage crisis, and they needed to figure out how to get into treacherous Iranian terrain and avoid Tehran’s own military. Aides kept the president out of the room as they got minute-by-minute updates because they believed his impatience wouldn’t be helpful, instead updating him at meaningful moments, a senior administration official said.
https://www.wsj.com/politics/national-security/trump-public-bravado-private-fear-59814dca
https://archive.ph/84fto
Quite the read.
Trump: "... the United States is going to knock out every single Power Plant, and every single Bridge, in Iran."
Trump: “We’re offering a very fair and reasonable DEAL, and I hope they take it because, if they don’t, the United States is going to knock out every single Power Plant, and every single Bridge, in Iran. NO MORE MR. NICE GUY! They’ll come down fast, they’ll come down easyâ€
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2026-04-19T12:37:54.283Z
6 days after Trump made 13 celebratory posts in a hour claiming that Iran surrendered to all his demands and the war is over, he’s back threatening to blow up power plants and bridges.
— Ron Filipkowski (@ronfilipkowski.bsky.social) 2026-04-19T12:17:19.264Z
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