This is going to be a disjointed sort of column, I have to warn everyone in advance. It will be nothing more than a few random thoughts strung together on one subject, in no particular order. This is because my brain is rather frazzled right now, here at the end of tax season.

As Benjamin Franklin once said, the only things that are certain in life are death and taxes. Taxes are what we pay to keep society humming along and providing governmental services to its citizens. That's the basic theory, at any rate.

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There have been numerous developments since the last time I wrote about Trump's war of choice in Iran, so I decided today would be a good day to review them all. First and foremost, the two-week ceasefire is now half over, and as originally scheduled is due to expire next Tuesday.

High-ranking representatives from the United States and Iran sat across a table from each other in Pakistan last weekend, which is notable since it is the first such direct bilateral talks between the two countries since the 1979 revolution. Vice President JD Vance led the American delegation. It was apparently just one long marathon of a day of talks. The two sides reportedly sat down for over 20 hours straight, but at the end neither one had anything to announce and everyone flew home.

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Human beings set a record this week for reaching the farthest distance away from Earth ever, as Artemis II looped around the far side of the moon. Hopefully the astronauts will safely splash down in the Pacific Ocean later today. The whole space mission was a bright spot in the news this week -- in a week that sorely needed some positivity.

This week also saw the president of the United States threatening to commit war crimes in his war of choice with Iran. Even this wasn't enough for him, as he quickly moved on to threatening crimes against humanity. Thankfully, neither actually happened, because he chickened out at the last minute.

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The citizens of the Republic of Ireland have a saying about what happened to them after their successful revolution over 100 years ago. They say: "We won the war, but we lost the peace." Without getting into the details too much, what they mean by this is that after they had won their war of independence against Great Britain, they were still forced to relinquish six of Ireland's counties (which would remain under British control). This situation still exists -- it is how the country of Northern Ireland was created.

It's pretty obvious why I was reminded of this saying this week. The current situation is about as murky as can be, but it does seem as though Donald Trump could be considering a similar outcome. After militarily winning the war with Iran, the U.S. might just wind up "losing the peace," at least to some extent or another.

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Today the entire world is waiting to see whether the ceasefire announced last night with Iran is going to prove to be meaningful and lasting or not. So far it seems to be shaky, at best. Will the Strait of Hormuz reopen to oil tankers or not? Is Israel going to undermine the ceasefire? Only time will tell, which is why we're going to wait to see whether this endures or not before commenting at length on it.

Instead, we'd like to focus today on some good news for Democrats. Elections last night in Georgia and Wisconsin brought further proof that the Democratic Party has the wind at their backs heading into this year's midterm election season. As Politico put it, "Democrats just had one of their best election nights since President Donald Trump returned to the White House. Again." That pretty much sums up the shift that has been happening ever since Trump took office.

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The race to see who will be California's next governor has had some big news break over the past few days, and at least one of these developments may prove to be a real earthquake (that's my mandatory "California earthquake" reference -- I thought I'd get it out of the way right here at the start).

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It was a very busy week in politics and we've got a lot to get to, but let's start out on a happy note for once, shall we? NASA's Artemis II mission is on its way to circle the moon, the first time humans have done so in over 50 years. So check out some awesome photos the astronauts took of Earth, including one that shows some Northern Lights (at the very edge of image). Out of this world! Something America can be proud of (during a time when that is rare indeed)....

Speaking of things quickly rocketing upward, this week the average national price of a gallon of gasoline blew through the "four bucks a gallon" milestone and hit $4.10 today. To which we can only say: "Ouch!"

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Last year on this date, Donald Trump wanted to proclaim his "Liberation Day" tariffs to the world. Saner heads prevailed at the White House, and Trump was talked into postponing his announcement for a day. This year, those saner heads obviously weren't available, so Trump is going to address the nation today (of all days) on the state of his war of choice with Iran, with gas prices heading north of $4.00 a gallon. How could anyone live almost 80 years in America without realizing the cultural significance of this date on the calendar? It's a mystery, that's for sure.

Personally, I think it'd be amusing if Trump took to the airwaves tonight and boldly announced he was resigning the office of the presidency at midnight tonight. Then just before the clock struck twelve, he could put out a statement on social media saying: "April Fool's! Gotcha!"

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The national average of the price of a gallon of gasoline now stands at $4.05. It broke through the $4-a-gallon barrier today after spending roughly a week hovering just below it. This isn't really a major change for consumers (it is only the difference of a few pennies), but it is a big psychological barrier that has now been breached. The only time gas prices have been higher in the past decade was at the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine (when not only gas prices spiked but the inflation rate skyrocketed as well). Then, the average U.S. price of gas rose to $5.00 per gallon before falling back again.

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Maybe we need a new word for the way Donald Trump seems to be running the country: "chaocracy." Rule by chaos. The "Madman Theory" writ large. Nobody has any clue what's going to happen next, from Trump himself all the way down to average Americans and the rest of the world.

Of course, this has always been Donald Trump's modus operandi to some extent, but it is much more apparent now that we're in what seems to be a prolonged war. Trump is now attempting a feint in this war, but nobody's really sure what is the feint and what will become reality in the next few weeks. Trump himself probably doesn't know, at this point.

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