(a) According to a WSJ exclusive (see also Times of Israel liveblog) US intel is said to indicate a likely Iranian strike on Israeli soil in the next 24-48 hours. In response, Israel has threatened to strike Iran directly.
(b) Likely Quixotic, but it’s a start: https://freebeacon.com/national-security/republican-senator-to-force-vote-on-measure-to-strip-qatar-of-non-nato-ally-status/ (via Ace of Spades) Senate Republicans introduce legislation to strip Qatar of its “major non-NATO ally status” unless it mends its ways. But yes, too many politicians are financially in the pocket of the banu sittim alaf sharmuteh. The covert bribe of invitations to give lectures or consultations for a fat fee is a well-known stratagem for decades now (and not just of Qatar)…
(c) Who are the real “one percent”? Larry Elder, commenting on the NPR exposé by former editor Uri Berliner (link via Powerline):
Consider this proposition: “Suppose that your favorite candidate loses a close election. However, people on the campaign know that they can win by cheating without being caught. Would you rather have your candidate win by cheating or lose by playing fair?” Just 7% of Americans said, “Win by cheating.” This is from a startling new Scott Rasmussen poll.
Rasmussen then put this question to those the pollster calls “the elite 1%.” They make over $150,000 per year, have a postgraduate degree, live in densely populated up areas and give President Joe Biden an 82% approval rating. Why poll this group? Rasmussen said: “A heavy concentration of them went to one of 12 elite schools. … [H]alf the policy positions in government, half the corporate board positions in America, are held by people who went to one of these dozen schools.”
Thirty-five percent of this group said they would rather their candidate win by cheating than lose by playing fair. It gets worse. Rasmussen put the question to a subset of this elite 1%, whom the pollster calls the “politically obsessed,” defined as those who talk about politics every day. Among this group, the number who would rather win by cheating jumps to 69%.
Rasmussen said: “Most Americans think we don’t have enough individual freedom. Among the elite 1%, about half say, ‘No, we’ve got too much freedom.’ And among that politically obsessed group, about 7 out of 10 say, “There’s too much individual freedom in America.”
As for why they think this way, Rasmussen said: “… part of the reason is because they trust government. In America, it’s been 50 years since most voters trusted the government to do the right thing most of the time. But among the elite 1%, 70% trust the government. … They really believe that if they could just make the decisions and get us out of the way, we would be a lot better off.”
As a renegade member of that same class, I have to say the picture of my colleagues and peers painted above rings entirely true.
TODAY IN HISTORY: on April 12, 1945, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt died suddenly (but not unexpectedly) of a cerebral hemorrhage, and his vice-president Harry S Truman was sworn in as his successor.
Spin, strangeness, and charm 
So – the people with the most money, access, and power in our country are the ones most likely to cheat? Disconcerting, to say the least.
And praying for Israel will be far more effective than relying on the man about whom Obama stated “Never underestimate Joe’s ability to f*** things up.”
Well of course they trust government. They’re in the 1%. For them, it works.
For the rest of us, not so much.