Jimmy Kimmel on Trump: ‘His list of threats is now longer than Kash Patel’s bar tab’
Late-night hosts discussed the Trump administration’s confusing messaging about the war in Iran and why fruit-flavoured vapes have suddenly become a Republican priority.On Jimmy Kimmel Live! the host spoke about the conflict in Iran and how the strait of Hormuz is still to be reopened.While Trump claims that the US is close to a deal, Kimmel said it was “still very much in flux, as in what the flux are we doing over there?”Trump has been issuing more threats this week, which led Kimmel to joke that “his list of threats is now longer than Kash Patel’s bar tab”.It’s meant that gas prices are still sky high, with California experiencing the highest in the country.This week will also see Marco Rubio being sent to “make nice” with the pope including asking him “why God didn’t answer his prayers for smaller ears”.
Kimmel also said “he’s hoping to get the pope down to five commandments”.He then spoke about a pre-Mother’s Day event, where Melania Trump made comments about her husband’s empathy that led to both of them laughing at the same time.“I really feel like I brought those two back together,” he said.This week Trump has also been in a “reported beef” with Marty Makary, the head of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).The president has been “angrily bullying” him over the approval of fruit-flavoured vapes, which is important for “young Maga”.
Kimmel called it “as noble a cause as there is”.On The Late Show, Stephen Colbert spoke about the US “closing in on an end to the war” although reports suggested this week that an Iranian official called the terms an “American wishlist and not a reality”.At a press briefing this week, Marco Rubio claimed that Operation Epic Fury is over and now it’s being transitioned to Project Freedom, yet that was then halted after one day.Colbert said it was all “living up to the Trump family motto: when the going gets tough, bye, bitch”.He then spoke about the $1bn that will allegedly be going towards Trump’s ballroom from taxpayers.
Colbert called it all “bullshit” as despite Trump having “one unwavering promise” that the money would come from donors, this is now not the case,“To lie that blatantly takes a lot of balls and he still hasn’t built the room to store them,” he joked,This week has also seen RFK Jr try to change FDA rules to allow minors to use tanning beds,Colbert said it “comes as no surprise from someone who looks so hickory smoked”,He also spoke about the push to approve fruit-flavoured vapes for adults and, like many, claimed that this would ultimately be used more by children.
“Those kids need something to take the edge off after a couple of hours in the tanning booth,” he said.On Late Night, Seth Meyers called the situation with Iran “confusing and unclear” and also spoke about the problems with Trump and his cronies using the word “war”.They have been “desperate to avoid” using the word as it would make the invasion illegal as it was not officially approved by Congress.While Trump has often used the word “war”, he’s also been using “other dumber euphemisms”, such as “excursion” and “skirmish”.But “sometimes he gets tripped up on his own bullshit” and goes back to saying “war” or “mini-war”, to which Meyers said there is “no such thing”.
The attempt to rebrand it as Project Freedom had Meyers joke that “they’re treating the war like it’s HBO”.He also looked at Trump’s confusing social media posts this year and asked: “How can you expect to get an outcome when no one knows what outcome you want?”Meyers said that “Trump can’t hold one position for even a day” and is “still trying to bullshit his way out of it”.
US consumer confidence hits record low as Americans fret about rising prices; jobs report beats forecasts – as it happened
Newsflash: the US economy added more jobs than expected in April.Non-farm payrolls rose by 115,000 last month, the Bureau for Labor Statistics reports, beating forecasts of a 62,000 increase.That’s still a slowdown compared with March, though – where the NFP has been revised up to 185,000 jobs, from 178,000 initially.But February’s data is even worse than previously thought – payrolls that month are now estimated to have fallen by 156,000, down from a previous estimate of a 133,000 decline.Those revisions mean employment in February and March combined is 16,000 lower than previously reported
UK borrowing costs fall and pound rises after Starmer says he will stay as PM
UK government borrowing costs fell and the pound rose on Friday as Keir Starmer vowed to remain as prime minister despite the Labour party losing hundreds of council seats across England.Investors calculated that some of the intense pressure on Starmer’s leadership had eased, as Labour appeared on track for smaller losses than election experts had predicted.The yield – effectively the interest rate – had jumped earlier this week, amid fears that the prime minister could face a leadership challenge if the results from the local elections and the devolved parliaments in Scotland and Wales were particularly poor.But after Starmer insisted he would not walk away, the yield on benchmark UK 10-year gilts was down 5 basis points, or 0.05 of a percentage point, at 4
AI-powered surveillance company Palantir created a chore coat. Great, now I have no choice but to burn mine | Van Badham
It’s taken me years to find a chore coat with a cut that flatters my big tits but, now that I finally own one, I want to incinerate it.Such is the power of brand contamination; infamous data surveillance megacorp Palantir, has decided to bang a logo on a chore coat to sell as corporate merch.Chore coats are the traditional short denim or twill jacket of the 19th-century French working class. Palantir, however, is a company whose public words and commercial-in-confidence activities are inspiring local calls to have its contracts cancelled and its business banned.The gentle French garment is now as cursed as whatever “Marie Amazonette” will ever wear to the Met Gala
‘Being human helps’: despite rise of AI is there still hope for Europe’s translators?
In February 2022, while he was plugging away at rendering the US writer Dana Spiotta’s novel Wayward into French, the literary translator Yoann Gentric decided he needed a bit of light relief. He would test whether AI could put him out of work.Gentric had been grappling with a short non-verbal sentence that described the book’s protagonist’s feelings upon opening a window: “Bright, sharp night air, bracing.” He put the prompt into DeepL, a neural-network-powered machine translation engine that regularly outperforms Google Translate in accuracy assessments.The proposed translation was reassuring, with his job security in mind: L’air de la nuit, vif et vif, était vivifiant (The night air, lively and lively, was enlivening
Novak Djokovic accepts ‘new reality’ after returning with defeat at Italian Open
Novak Djokovic believes he must accept the “new reality” of his continuous physical struggles in the latter part of his career as his return to competition after an injury-ravaged clay-court season ended in a second-round Italian Open loss to the young Croatian qualifier Dino Prizmic, who recovered courageously from a set down to topple his idol 2-6, 6-2, 6-4.Djokovic has not competed since the Indian Wells Masters event two months ago, his only other tournament since his spectacular run to the Australian Open final. As the fourth seed in Rome, he received a first-round bye. Despite starting the match positively, the 38-year-old was outplayed by his 20-year-old opponent, who wore the Serb down physically and played bold tennis to escape with the greatest victory of his career.“It’s not an ideal preparation, to be honest,” Djokovic said
County cricket as it happened: Nottinghamshire v Surrey, Glamorgan v Somerset and more
The vacancy sign over one England openers slot continues to swing. The selectors fancy James Rew, but he keeps wicket and bats in the middle order for Somerset. How to square the circle? Friday’s answer was Rew opening for Somerset for the first time in his first-class career. It was a short-lived experiment, Rew lasting just seven balls before being bowled for four.Around Rew there were runs for young Josh Thomas (71) and Tom Lammonby (45) before Glamorgan debutant Tom Norton picked the first of three wickets
