Thoughts for the Day, April 20, 2026: Is crazy like a fox or just plain crazy?

This not what I learned about how to negotiate.

Crazy like a fox or just plain crazy.

For a person who wrote a book titled Trump: The Art of the Deal, I am not impressed with the way the negotiations are going with Iran. The information coming from Trump and Iran are lightyears apart. Take the weekend as an example.

First, we hear from Iran that the Strait of Hormuz is open for traffic. Immediately, thereafter, Trump in a post confirms the Strait is open.

Less than hour later, Trump says the Strait is open, but the U.S. is maintaining its barricade of ships. Shortly thereafter Iran announces the Strait is not open because Trump is not lifting his barricade.

On Sunday Pakistan announces it is working with the U.S. and Iran to begin peace talks on Monday. Trump says that we are close to peace and he is sending V.P. Vance to be chief negotiator along with Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff. In the meantime, Iran says it has no plans to attend the peace talks. Also on Sunday, the U.S. Navy stops an Iran oil tanker/barrage and shoots a hole in in motor room and then takes over the ship.

Trump may feel like he is creating leverage, but I don’t see it. As I learned as a parent, you cannot negotiate with a two-year-old because they have nothing to lose and they know it. At this point in the process, Iran is acting like they have nothing to lose, because they know that Trump does not want to get into a contracted war that requires troops on the ground.

Trump is already facing problems at home in his own party because of the $2 billion per day he is spending on the war and because the war is now in the seventh week with no end in sight. He promised it would be over in six weeks.

I have been part of a few negotiations in my life, none better than raising two two-year-olds. I have never seen anything like the current negotiations in my lifetime. I am convinced Henry Kissinger is rolling over in his grave.

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$2 Billion per day can go a long way

Per The Guardian: The $2bn (£1.5bn) a week that Donald Trump was spending on his reckless war in Iran could have funded saving more than 87 million lives, the head of the UN’s humanitarian agency, Tom Fletcher, said on Monday.

He also warned the normalization of violent language, such as threatening to bomb Iran back to the stone ages, was very dangerous since it encourages every “wannabe autocrat” to use similar threats and tactics, including the destruction of civilians and civilian infrastructure.

Speaking at Chatham House in London, Fletcher, a former UK diplomat and adviser on foreign policy to successive prime ministers said: “For every day of this conflict, $2bn is being spent. My entire target for a hyper-prioritized plan to save 87 million lives is $23bn. We could have funded that in less than a fortnight of this reckless war. Now, of course, we cannot.”

Fletcher’s budget is about $10bn short of his target of $23bn.

He added: “The idea suddenly that it is OK to say, ‘We are going to blow stuff up, we are going to bomb you back to the stone ages, destroy your civilization’ – normalizing that kind of language is really dangerous.

“It gives more freedom to all the other wannabe autocrats round the world to use that sort of language and those sort of tactics, targeting civilian infrastructure and civilians in a way that completely breaches international law.”

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Michigan Democrats must have missed this.

On Sunday, April 19, the Michigan Democrats endorsed Washtenaw County Prosecutor Eli Savit as their nominee for the Michigan’s attorney general in the November election. They must not have read the following article that appeared in the Detroit News on Friday April 17 in which Savit admitted to charging Washtenaw County up to $4,000 for travel expenses that had nothing to do with Washtenaw County business but were related to his campaign for AG.

It would seem to me that honesty and integrity should be the most important characteristic of a candidate for AG. But then again, I may be naïve, when you consider the characteristics of the current AG of Michigan and the previous U.S. AG.

Per the Detroit News: Washtenaw County Prosecutor Eli Savit said Friday he’ll repay the county government for spending on his fuel for travel across the state after The Detroit News revealed that some of the government expenditures had directly supported his campaign for attorney general.

Twelve hours after The News Investigation was published online, tying $838 in gas purchases to campaign events outside Washtenaw County, Savit’s campaign released a statement that said the candidate “will be voluntarily reimbursing the county in the amount of any gas purchases he has made since he launched his campaign.”

“As a public servant, Eli has always strived to hold himself to a higher standard than simply what is allowed,” his campaign’s statement said. “And Eli will always strive to maintain the public trust.

“When, upon reflection, he believes a course-correction is necessary to avoid unnecessary questions or concerns, he will do so.”

Savit’s statement didn’t specify the tally of how much he would repay, but it said he would reimburse the county “in the amount of any gas purchases” he made since launching his campaign on May 13, 2025.

That would equal about $4,644, according to an analysis of county records by The News.

The above is not a surprise to me. I have been hearing roomers about Savit and the Washtenaw County Sheriff since their first days on the job. The current Sheriff had her ability to hire staff taken away from her by the County Board of Commissioners). She was accused of not properly filing expense statements, which has also been reported extensively in the media.

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The Stock Market

Anyone trying to make sense of the stock market last week must be pulling their hair out. In spite of the turmoil over Iran and the price of Oil, the S&P reached a record high on Friday as it closed over 7,000.

People trying to predict the market haven’t a chance in today’s environment.

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The Pistons

In their first playoff game against the Orlando Magic (8 seed), the Pistons (1 seed) took it on the chin in the first few minutes as they were down quickly 18-5, and for the remainder of the game they took body blows all game long and could never take the lead. The Magic led for the entire game except for a moment when it was tied in the third quarter. The final score was 112-101 as the Magic took the first game of a seven-game series.

It was not a surprise as the Magic was playing their third playoff game in five days, while the Pistons had not played since last Sunday and that was in a meaningless final game of the regular season. The Magic looked razor sharp, and the Pistons were as rusty and as uncoordinated as the Tin Man. The Magic were bigger, stronger, and faster on Sunday.

The next game on Wednesday is a must win for the Pistons as they try to stop an eleven-game home losing streak in the playoffs. The Pistons last home playoff win was in 2008.

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The ABS system in major league baseball is working as planned

The ESPN website tracks the ABS challenge system on a daily basis. It ranks success rates by position (pitcher, batter, and catcher) and by umpire (overturned vs challenge). Here are some interesting statistics.

Batters

• · Pete Alonzo of Baltimore has won 6 of 6 challenges

• · Kevin McGonigle the 21 year-old rookie from Detroit has won 5-7 challenges

Catchers:

• · Mitch Garver of Seatle has won 6 of 6 challenges

• · Dillion Dingler of Detroit has won 11 of 13 challenges including the first pitch of the game on Sunday.

Teams:

• · The Kansas City Royals rank first, winning 65.9% of their challenges

• · The Tigers rank seventh, winning 61.4% of their challenges

Umpires:

• · Erich Bacchus has been challenged 9 times on 920 pitches called for a 1.0% challenge rate. Of the 9 pitches challenged has 1 call overturned for an 11.1% overturn rate

• · Andy Fletcher has been challenged 21 times on 1208 pitches called for a 1.7% challenge rate) Of the 21 challenges he has 18 calls overturned for an 85.7% overturn rate.

Pitchers are smart enough to let their catchers do the challenge. The data on pitchers is not statistically valid other than there are not very many pitcher challenges.

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Question of the Day:

One more time. Do you feel our country and our citizens are safer now than we were prior to the start of the war with Iran? I don’t.

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Contact your Congressperson

Contact your congressman by following these easy steps This can be done in a few easy steps.

Step 1: find your congressman by clicking on this link, Find Your Representative | house.gov

Step 2: Put your zip code in the proper space.

Step 3: Click the button “find your representative””

Step 4: In the new page that comes up you will see a picture of your congressman. Click on your congressman’s name under the picture.

Step 5: In the new page that comes up, Click on Contact Me at the top of the page and then click on Email me.

Step 6: Fill out the information as required.

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Quote of the Day: “The idea suddenly that it is OK to say, ‘We are going to blow stuff up, we are going to bomb you back to the stone ages, destroy your civilization’ – normalizing that kind of language is really dangerous” Tom Fletcher, a former UK diplomat and adviser on foreign policy to successive prime ministers said:

Orchid of the Day: The MLB ABS. It works well and provides great information on the quality of the umpires at the MLB level. With challenge rates well under 2% it shows that the umpires are very good.

Onion of the Day: Michigan Democrats for nominating Eli Savit for Michigan’s attorney general. The integrity of an AG candidate should never be called into question. Savit has proved his integrity is questionable. See above story.

Question of the Day: One more time. Do you feel our country and our citizens are safer now than we were prior to the start of the war with Iran?

Lyrics of the Day: Everywhere I hear the sound of marchin’, chargin’ feet, boy. ‘Cause summer’s here, and the time is right For fighting in the street, boy

Well now, what can a poor boy do? ‘Cept to sing for a rock-n-roll band
‘Cause in sleepy London town There’s just no place for a street fighting man No

Lyrics of the Day for April 15 2026. Up Where we Belong by Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes from an Officer and a Gentleman.

Video of the Day: Yes: I Have Seen All Good People

I write reflective, opinionated essays on leadership, politics, sports, and life—grounded in experience rather than ideology. If this perspective resonates with you, you can subscribe here for free.