Poetic Justice
Buck Banks | Apr. 29, 2026
The current state of our national political debate is pathetic,
And politicians’ performative stunts make us crave an emetic.
But when the bullets start flying,
Both sides start denying:
Saying MY violent rhetoric is less violent than YOUR violent rhetoric.
Verbatim
“They assume my ambition is a title or a seat. My ambition is way bigger than that. My ambition is to change this country. Presidents come and go, elected officials come and go, single payer healthcare is forever.”
— Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), speaking at the University of Chicago.
“I want to tell you what I really think of Donald Trump. This man is a pathological liar… He lies practically every word that comes out of his mouth… The man cannot tell the truth, but he combines it with being a narcissist at a level I don’t think this country has ever seen.”
— Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), 10 years ago today.
“We’re moving from one fire drill to the next every single week, and then half the time it feels like, why are we even here?”
— A House Republican, quoted by MS NOW, on the chaos this week in the House Republican caucus.
Numerati
352,000
\
“About 352,000 Russian soldiers had died in the war against Ukraine through the end of 2025, according to a new estimate, underscoring the high cost that President Vladimir V. Putin is willing to bear to pursue his battlefield aims,” the New York Times reports.
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115,000
America’s employers delivered a surprising 115,000 new jobs last month despite an economic shock from the Iran war, reported the AP. Hiring beat the 65,000 jobs forecasters had expected, though it decelerated from the 185,000 jobs created in March. The unemployment rate remained at a low 4.3%, the Labor Department reported Friday.
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228
Washington Post: “Iranian airstrikes have damaged or destroyed at least 228 structures or pieces of equipment at U.S. military sites across the Middle East since the war began, hitting hangars, barracks, fuel depots, aircraft and key radar, communications and air defense equipment. The amount of destruction is far larger than what has been publicly acknowledged by the U.S. government or previously reported.”
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6,274
Physical assaults against Jewish people in the U.S. last year reached the highest levels since 1979, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) announced Wednesday, Axios reported. ADL counted 6,274 antisemitic incidents in 2025, down 33% from 2024, but still the third-highest year on record. Last year saw 203 anti-Jewish assaults, up from 196 in 2024; 32 of those assaults involved deadly weapons, up from 23 in 2024. Three people were killed in antisemitic attacks in 2025, the survey found. It was the first year since 2019 that Jewish people were murdered in the U.S. due to antisemitic violence.
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$4.54
Bloomberg: “The nationwide average retail price for regular unleaded gasoline rose to $4.54 a gallon on Tuesday, according to the American Automobile Association, and is now around 50 cents off the record $5.01 set in June 2022. … On a seasonal basis, prices are already at an all-time high for this time of year.”
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