--The only problem is Trump has NO idea what he’s talking about. The release will do nothing to help the fires or release fire danger, and it will result in "channel capacity" in all the rivers in the area (water right up to the brims of all of them) and major flooding downstream. The last time "channel capacity" was seen (during the 2023 floods, when they had no choice but to release the water) the water destroyed dozens of homes and businesses and caused significant damage to infrastructure.

--Safety managers were not notified. Even worse, Trump didn’t give farmers any notice that he was doing this. They only heard it through the grapevine, and it caused them to scramble to move machinery and animals out of the resultant flooded areas.

--River Water Master Victor Hernandez: "In 25 years I’ve never seen anything like this. I was given no explanation at all."

--There are agreements about how releases should be made and how affected populations should be notified, none of which were observed here.

--And worst of all, the water in the reservoirs is there to provide water for irrigation during the dry summer months. Releasing it now means there won’t be any left when it’s needed for crops. Farmers are scrambling to preserve fresh water resources.

--And the water doesn’t belong to the federal government. The reservoirs do, but the water belongs to the farmers and others through an incredibly complex system of water laws.

--Tulare City Water Manager Dan Vink: "This decision was clearly made by someone with no understanding of the system or the impacts that come fromn knne-jerk political actions."

--The Army Corps of Engineers eventually convinced Trump to release only a fraction of the water (one-sixth) but even so it caused major problems downstream. And was insane. Which means if you’re counting on various government entities like, say, the military, to refuse to do what he orders them to do even if it’s crazy, you can forget that.

--The irony here is that the Central Valley is Republican (which I’m sure Trump doesn’t know--he thinks the entire state is "leftist") and all these farmers who are now screwed voted for Trump. Talk about FAFO.

In other FAFO news:

--Liley Gaines, a pro-deportation conservative activist, is melting down because her immigrant husband is facing deportation.

--Florida Republican Rep Maria Salazar is very upset that Cubans are being deported.

--The chair of the Arab election campaign for Trump blasted the President’s "wild" call to relocate Palestinians.

--The head of Gays for Trump is upset about Trump’s remark about there being only two genders. "He’s talking to the wrong people," he said, and added that Trump needs to get away from social conservatives.

--A Latina tweeted: "This is so crazy that we voted for Trump. We trusted in the word that he promised, as Latinos. This is crazy, that starting next week multiple cities will be hit be immigration raids...I hate that I voted for him, now I am so scared for my family."

--(You’ll notice that none of these people are screaming at Trump. They’re just unhappy about his policies, all of which he said he would implement MULTIPLE TIMES during his campaign. Many of them think he’s being influenced by bad advisers or that he doesn’t know what is happening.)

--In another kind of FAFO, Kansas City is reporting 70 cases of tuberculosis.

The second horror story of the day is that Trump has launched his global trade war:

--Trump announced yesterday that he is imposing tariffs on Canada, Mexico, the EU, and China starting today. The U.S. is now in a massive trade war.

--The stock market promptly dropped 338 points before the stock market closed (with more to come.)

--All of these countries are going to have 25% tariffs put on them except China, which will get 10%. This is a perfect example of the corruption of this administration--they were supposed to get 25% tariffs but Elon Musk has big companies in China, so Trump dropped the tariff. Ron Filipkowski: "Trump promised much higher tariffs than this on China repeatedly during the campaign, but it appears Elon Musk was successful in negotiating those down for his largest business partner--the Chinese Communist Party.

--Trump is also threatening 100% tariffs against Brazil, India, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE for no discernable reason except I guess he thinks it will make us even richer.

--The problem is Trump has NO idea how tariffs work. He thinks the tariffs are paid by the countries he imposes them on when really they’re paid by the Americans who buy stuff, which drives prices up. Trump said yesterday,: "Tariffs don’t cause inflation. Tariffs cause success. There could be some temporary short term disruption. And people understand that." He also said nothing anyone could do at this point would stop the tariffs.

--This will no doubt "concern" Susan Collins, who’s from Maine, which will take a huge hit from the Canadian tariffs. She wrote a long tweet today, explaining that 95% of Maine’s heating oil comes from Canada and so does the jet fuel and diesel oil the Air National Guard Base in Bangor depends on completely. "From fisheries to potato farmers to paper mills, these tariffs will have a significant impact on Maine’s economy and risk increasing costs for our residents." She said she was working with the Trump administration trying to convince them not to do it, but Trump is obviously not listening.

--Even some Republicans are alarmed. Rand Paul: "Taxing trade will mean less trade and higher prices."

--Hedge funds are betting the stock market is going to suffer a devastaing crash due to Trump’s tariffs. Goldman Sachs data reveals a dramatic surge in "shorting." (Remember the last big crash?) The bond market is indicating an economic disaster ahead and expects rising inflation.

--ByTor: "What the Trumpists are doing to the economy is like if a nuclear power plant operator said, ‘Let’s pull out all the control rods and see what happens. It won’t melt down immediately, but it will shortly. And at some point you can’t just put those rods back in."

In good news:

--The Mexican president is sending a letter of protest to Google over their renaming of the Gulf of Mexico.

--Elon Musk is really mad that his cars are being called "Swasticars" and he is being called "Muskolini."

--The LA school police will not comply with ICE raids on the schools.

--The Quakers are suing over ICE raids in churches on the grounds that it is a violation of the free exercise of religion.

--All of the Latin Anerican heads of state are holding an emergency summit to discuss immigration, the environment, and regional unity.

In really interesting news:

--Trump’s new press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, has ties to convicted fraudster Guo Wengui.

Best insight of the day, from David Michigan: "Trump is a historically weak president. He was elected with less than majority support and by a threadbare margin. His party ‘controls’ Congress only by a hair. He issues blustery executive ‘orders’ because he can’t get anything substantive passed through the legislature, and most of those ‘orders’ collapse under he most cursory scrutiny. When Democrats unite to oppose him--and I hope and pray they finally will come out of their foolish defensive crouch and do so (looking at you, Michigan delegation)--they will be able to stop almost his entire program. All is NOT lost. There will be elections this year, and next year, and the year after that, each one a means for throwing the bums out, and the sooner the better."

Most ironic and un-self-aware line of the day, from Trump’s "I’d rather be pretty than smart" lawyer, Alina Habba: "We cannot have sloppy, lazy, and inappropriate hires because American people are going to suffer and die."

Best line of the day, from alally: "If the deaths of almost 70 people due to a plane crash makes you joke sarcastically, you might be a psychopath."

Keep calm and carry on,