Donald Trump has had it with Iran’s lack of cooperation. Iran has six hours to figure it out.
California is an absolute mess. We, in California, knew it. Apparently CBS News just figured it out.
And NASA, with four brave astronauts, prove that America is awesome!
News
- President Donald Trump has given Iran until 8 p.m. ET to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face strikes against its power plants and bridges on Tuesday.
- The United Nations has warned that Trump’s threats to target Iran’s power plants and bridges could constitute war crimes if they are carried out.
- Rep. John Larson, D-Conn., is mounting a long-shot bid to impeach President Donald Trump as he stares down a primary threat from younger challengers, who seek to thwart his bid for a 15th House term.
- Larson, 77, introduced 13 articles of impeachment against Trump on Monday, citing the president’s military intervention in Venezuela, the deployment of National Guard troops to cities across the country and his executive order to curtail birthright citizenship, among other charges.
- Larson also charged Trump with “murder, war crimes and piracy” for ordering a naval blockade around Venezuela targeting U.S.-sanctioned oil tankers ahead of the U.S. capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in January and for launching dozens of strikes against alleged drug trafficking vessels in the Eastern Pacific and the Caribbean.
- Researchers found that California’s minimum wage hike for fast-food workers led to “negative outcomes” such as automation and reduced work hours.
- The researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz suggested in a report published in March that the policy could produce unintended consequences such as an increase in menu prices, a loss of overtime and benefits, reductions in employee working hours, and an implementation of automation that replaces workers.
- Artemis II’s four astronauts zoomed past Apollo 13’s 248,655-mile mark around 1:56 p.m. ET, reaching 248,656 miles as their aircraft hurtled past the moon at nearly 2,000 mph.
- Then hours later, shortly after 7 p.m.., the crew set a new record for the farthest distance humans have traveled from Earth, at a staggering 252,756 miles. The astronauts then beginning their long journey back to Earth .
- The distance record was set just minutes after the capsule made its closest approach to the moon around 4,067 miles in altitude.
- It also came in the thick of Artemis II’s communications blackout, which was expected to last about 40 minutes while the moon blocked any signals between Orion and the Earth.
- Communications resumed around 7:25 p.m.
https://www.foxnews.com/media/californias-minimum-wage-hike-led-negative-outcomes-like-automation-reduced-work-hours-report
https://www.foxnews.com/live-news/trump-iran-deadline-israel-hormuz-april-7
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/77-year-old-house-dem-facing-younger-primary-challengers-seeks-impeach-donald-trump
It Took Them This Long?
Californians pay $2 more for gas than the rest of the country. The question is now becoming why (yes, it’s been a slow news weekend).
California said it was starting a commission to
Using a 6.00 dollar pump price, here’s what each component would roughly be per gallon based on the CBS breakdown.
Dollar breakdown at 6.00 dollars/gal
| Component | Percent of price | Approx. cents/gal | Approx. dollars/gal |
|---|
| Component | Percent of price | Approx. cents/gal | Approx. dollars/gal |
|---|---|---|---|
| Crude oil | 40% | 240¢ | 2.40 |
| Refining (incl. CA blend premium) | 13% | 78¢ | 0.78 |
| Distribution | 15% | 90¢ | 0.90 |
| Federal gas tax | 5% | 30¢ | 0.30 |
| State excise + storage fee | 15% | 90¢ | 0.90 |
| State climate programs (Cap & Trade, LCFS) | 10% | 60¢ | 0.60 |
| Sales taxes (state + local) | 2% | 12¢ | 0.12 |
| Total | 100% | 600¢ | 6.00 |
Those percentage buckets are approximations the article uses to summarize the detailed line items (61¢ excise tax, 23¢ Cap‑and‑Trade, 14¢ LCFS, etc.), so at different pump prices the cent amounts would change but the shares stay roughly similar.
Do you want a version of this table recalculated for a different typical California price (for example, 5.50 or 6.50 dollars per gallon)?
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/california-gas-prices-investigation-whats-to-blame
https://www.perplexity.ai/search/read-this-article-and-list-the-k0EujFM5TpK7cnZz_sIl7w#2
Just Think About This
Believe it or not, California is still thinking of building this high speed rail system. They’ve already blown $34 billion for:
Roughly 0 miles of the California high‑speed rail system are actually in service; what exists today is partially built civil works on the initial Central Valley segment, not an operating line.
What’s physically built so far
- Construction is active along a 119‑mile Central Valley “spine” from around Madera through Fresno and Kings/Tulare toward Kern County, but this is mainly earthwork, bridges, viaducts, and graded guideway, not finished track.
- As of early 2026, about 70–80 miles of guideway (the prepared railbed/structure) are complete, and roughly 55–60 major structures (bridges, overpasses, viaducts) are finished, with a few dozen more under construction.
- No true high‑speed rail track is in service yet; the Authority is only now moving into contracts to lay track and install systems on that 119‑mile spine, with track installation expected to begin in 2026.
Maybe California should just give up on this train thing.
https://www.perplexity.ai/search/read-this-article-and-list-the-k0EujFM5TpK7cnZz_sIl7w#4
More Bad Policy
According to the New York Post:
Worker advocates in Oakland are pressing for a $30 minimum wage, mirroring a similar goal from socialist New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani from across the country.
A worker’s organization, One Fair Wage, is hoping to put forward a ballot initiative to raise the minimum wage in the area. The organization believes the wage increase will help workers with the expensive cost of living in the Bay Area, especially with the affordability crisis.
The push comes as Oakland continues grappling with a deep structural budget shortfall and ongoing fiscal instability, with officials warning recurring expenses are outpacing revenue.
Essentially, the city wants to raise the minimum wage so they can take more money in taxes. Of course, as usual, this assumes everyone working now will be working when the minimum wage goes up, which they surely won’t. It’s basically a big redistribution program.
By the way, this is why they keep raising the minimum wage. It gets a lot of votes and is easy to do. It is economic suicide, but everyone loves it. Except people that do all the signing of paychecks.
“Every time there has been a downturn or a serious challenge to the economy, in the end, we raise wages as a stimulus,” Saru Jayaraman, the president of One Fair Wage, told Center Square.
“It’s basically a stimulus in the hands of working people, who spend a much bigger percentage of their income than higher-income people because they have to. It’s survival,” she added.
One Fair Wage says the proposed ballot initiative would gradually institute the $30 minimum wage within the city and Alameda County until reaching the proposed amount in 2030. Oakland’s current minimum wage is $17.34 an hour, and California’s minimum wage sits at $16.90 an hour.
A $30 minimum wage would be the highest in the country. New York City legislators introduced a bill last month to also introduce a $30 minimum wage.
Who’d of Thunk It?
According to the Post Millennial:
Police “reforms” in Boston replaced cops with mental health clinicians and social workers, and on Saturday one of those clinicians was attacked by a delusional man wielding a sword. The suspect, who has not been publicly identified, attacked the clinician as well as police officers with the sword. Cops responded by shooting and killing the suspect.
The incident took place near the Northeastern University campus on Saturday morning in Boston. Officers were responding to a 911 call about four people armed with guns and the caller was in the apartment building. After officers arrived at 212 Hemenway Street and located the disturbance they called in a mental health professional with the Boston’s BEST program, according to Mass Daily News.
The program, in which mental health professionals ride along with cops to de-escalate tense situations, has been running since 2011. The EMS clinician deployed to the scene spoke to the man for 45 minutes through the door before the suspect pushed open the door and attacked.
“He immediately opened the door and struck the clinician and an officer who was outside the door. He was armed with some type of sword, stabbing the officer in the arm and knocking the EMS clinician to the ground,” Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox said. “One or more officers, which is under investigation at this time, fired a taser and weapon at the individual, bringing the person to a halt.”
The suspect as well as the officers and clinician that were attacked by the suspect were taken to the hospital. The suspect was later pronounced dead. “This was a very chaotic circumstance. The individual was clearly in some sort of mental distress,” Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden said.
Boston EMS said in a statement that their employee had gotten injured in the altercation.
“Our focus tonight remains on the two members of Boston EMS, including one of our BEST clinicians, who were treated and transported to the hospital after the incident on Hemenway Street in Boston. Both suffered non-life-threatening injuries,” the statement read.
“Today serves as a reminder of the dangers inherent in this work and the sacrifice our members make every day. Members of Boston EMS show up to save lives — not to be assaulted. No one should face violence for simply doing their job. Our thoughts are with our injured members, the Boston Police officers, and everyone affected by today’s incident.”
Interesting
According to the Daily Wire:
The concept is simple: Store your silenced cell phone in a “chicken coop” while you enjoy your Chick-fil-A meal in-store and get a free “Icedream” cone as your reward for staying present with your chicken sandwich and your fellow guests. Open to groups and solo acts, the initiative got its start at a Chick-fil-A in the Atlanta area back in 2016. It hasn’t gotten the nationwide rollout treatment, but it pops up around the country every so often at the whim of individual franchisees. This month, the hype went global after Complex posted Chick-fil-A phone challenge signage on X.
Commenters quickly responded with enthusiasm for the stroke of marketing genius behind quality family time and an immersive tech cleansing. But others called out the “sad” state of affairs with someone adding, “Society has hit a low point holy sh*t.” One hater posted, “I’m trying to enjoy my chicken, not talk to my d*mn family.” Another person bet that this particular Maryland-based Chick-fil-A would be giving out zero ice cream cones since no one can stay off their phones these days.
Well, random X user, I brought receipts proving that at least five people have successfully completed the task and cashed in on those cones: my two parents and the three teenagers they paid to participate in the same challenge at another table. Having known my mom and dad my whole life, this all checks out.
My parents FaceTimed me the minute they returned from their mission, sharing boots-on-the-ground perspective on the promo everyone else in America wishes their local Chick-fil-A was running. They were already fans of Chick-fil-A, as well as the Towson Place location’s spacious dining area and flawless customer service. “I love ‘It’s my pleasure,’” my mom said.
I confessed to stopping by Chick-fil-A when I lived in Los Angeles purely because, unlike people in the rest of the city, the chain’s friendly employees seemed to enjoy serving customers. But back to the challenge at hand.
“We were expecting a chicken coop,” my mom said. There are many representations of the “coop” from the Chick-fil-A phone challenge on social media (one claims to be made of wood), but the Towson Place version involves a plain white cardboard box meant to secure your phone. (Apparently, it could have used some fun chicken-related decoration, according to “reviews.”)
Still, my parents persisted, roping in a trio of local teens into the mix, who my mom says “were like … ‘o-kay?’” about the idea. The boys had completed the challenge before and were happy to walk these nice elderly people through the process, accepting $2 each in cash. My parents value the quality time of other people’s grandchildren. And still carry cash.
They placed their order at the counter, sat down at the table with their drinks, and stowed their phones in the “coop” once their food arrived.
“Wait. So do you normally use your phone during dinner?” I asked, having no idea what my parents do in their free time.
“No, but I usually have it at the ready,” my mom said, like most of us. (How else are we gonna pick it up 186 times a day?) But when she admitted, “I checked my purse for my phone 10 times while my phone was still in the ‘coop,’” my eyeballs ejected from my face. Full disclosure, I did ask her to document as much pre- and post-coop action as possible. But I was shocked. The challenge, which is so obviously aimed at kids, even had my mom feeling the benefits from sealing her phone in a cardboard box.
“I’ve watched many families come in with young kids, and they do it,” said Natalie Martz, owner of the Towson Place Chick-fil-A. “I’ve seen adults come in with adult children and do it.”
Maybe the Chick-fil-A challenge is just a wholesome excuse to encourage customers to “eat mor chikin” and make it an occasion by purchasing meals for the whole family. But breaking bread sans phones might lead to small, surprising joys beyond chicken nuggets — no matter your age.
“I haven’t had a cone in years,” my mom recalled. “It was nostalgic. It brought back good memories for me.” Chick-fil-A happens to be celebrating its 80th anniversary this year with a “Newstalgia” marketing blitz that features retro packaging on drinks and sandwiches along with all-new plushie cows.
“The cone was really good,” my dad reported. That comment on the actual cone part of the old-school vanilla soft-serve dessert is notably high praise from a non-foodie. It warmed my heart hearing that they had fun with the assignment.
As one fan summed it up on Instagram, “A free ice cream for being present with your people? That’s a deal worth taking.” Try the challenge for yourself at a participating Chick-fil-A or politely ask your local shop to get in on the action. I’m sure it would be their pleasure.