Is it okay for the U.S. president, darling of Evangelical Christians, to be this foul-mouthed?

My many social media timelines are inundated with celebratory declarations of Christ's ascension to Heaven—my understanding is that He did this more than 2,000 years ago—by votaries who have themselves refused to resurrect from lives of deceit, duplicity, and double standards.

Birds of Lagos (juvenile Common Kestrel - Falco tinnunculus). #BirdsOfLagos

"'Only God', it has been said, 'knows how many saints there are'—and His data are not publicly available." | The Economist

From The Economist's Espresso.

You do not make Simple Simon your president, only to blame the pieman at the fair for not selling him a pie when Simon had no penny.

From the Financial Derivatives Company Limited, as of April 2, 2026.

Does one resign as an "honourable minister" or as "minister"? I thought the "honourable" prefix was just that—an honorific.

A couple of years hence, "Trump" will be a synonym for "reckless misadventure," on a par with "Quixotic."

Birds of Lagos (?) (Rock Pigeon - Columba livia domestica). #BirdsOfLagos

The extreme foolishness of the Nigerian "security infrastructure's" (and street thugs) aversion to cameras is, pardon the cliché, "not ordinary eyes".

"Such was the throughline of Ms Bondi’s tenure: prosecutorial theatre—warrants, subpoenas, indictments—loudly trumpeted on social media but marred by ineptitude, bad faith and flimsy evidence." | The Economist

From The Economist's Espresso.

Good morning.

There was a time when all association football boots were black—with white trimmings—and a choice of metal or plastic studs.

"China is putting a lot of weight on the assumption that America will fail to thrive amid the anarchy it is creating. There is a future in which America embraces upheaval and China shuts itself off. That future may belong to America." | The Economist

Birds of Lagos (Common Kestrel - Falco tinnunculus). #BirdsOfLagos

Those who make peaceful change impossible, because they understand how indefensible violent change increasingly is, invite popular ill will.

"An E-3 AWACs, a flying radar, was destroyed on March 27th in Saudi Arabia. Open-source analysts say it was hit on a taxiway, suggesting Iran had accurate information about its location." | The Economist

Birds of Lagos (Shikra -Tachyspiza badia). #BirdsOfLagos

From The Economist's Espresso.

Birds of Lagos (Laughing Dove - Spilopelia senegalensis). #BirdsOfLagos

Birds of Lagos (African Thrush - Turdus pelios). #BirdsOfLagos

"The Chinese entrepreneurs pouring into Jakarta are betting that Indonesia's future will look like China's past. Indonesia's ethnic-Chinese minority pray that their past will not be repeated." | The Economist

From the Financial Derivatives Company Limited, as of March 31, 2026.

"This copious milk comes from a herd that is smaller than it has been for decades. With the help of robotic milkers, advanced breeding and wearable tech and ai, a cow today produces twice as much milk as one from the 1970s." | The Economist

Birds of Lagos (Woodland Kingfisher - Halcyon senegalensis). #BirdsOfLagos

Birds of Lagos (Common Kestrel - Falco tinnunculus). #BirdsOfLagos

Birds of Lagos (African Thrush - Turdus pelios). #BirdsOfLagos

"Cheap, clean renewables will win out in the end as countries seek to conflict-proof their energy mix. Until then, coal is likely to burn brighter." | The Economist

"Only 17% of coal dug up around the world is traded across borders, compared with 20% of all natural gas and virtually every load of LNG." | The Economist

"Donald Trump said America could end its war against Iran in two or three weeks, whether 'we have a deal or not'. Marco Rubio, America’s secretary of state, suggested there was still 'potential for a direct meeting' with Iran’s leaders." | The Economist

"America’s Supreme Court ruled that Colorado cannot ban 'conversion therapy' for patients under 18...Defending the eight-to-one decision, Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote that 'the First Amendment stands as a shield against any effort to enforce orthodoxy'." | The Economist

“Every man is an abolitionist; every man is selfish enough to be an abolitionist for himself, but every man is not unselfish enough to be an abolitionist for others.” | Gerrit Smith

From The Economist's Espresso.

Iwofa l’ẹnu, ibí tí ó bá wù olówó ẹ, ló lé ran lọ.

Birds of Lagos (Green Woodhoopoe - Phoeniculus purpureus). #BirdsOfLagos

America's MAGA movement may find increasingly exotic thought-beaches to hide its ostrich head in, but as with his tariff war, Donald Trump's war against Iran once again underscores the fact that the U.S. President is wrong on the most important issues.

Birds of Lagos (Woodland Kingfisher - Halcyon senegalensis). #BirdsOfLagos

"In his book, Mr Trump admitted that his dealmaking depends on lying, which he calls 'truthful hyperbole'." | The Economist

From The Economist's Espresso.

"High prices and fat profits tell consumers to economise on energy while encouraging producers to find and sell more. And as the energy crisis of 2022 showed, interfering with these signals can hurt some of the world’s poorest people." | The Economist

Folks who would temporarily reintroduce subsidies to cushion the effect on fuel prices of the war in the Gulf are better off supporting reforms that improve the local price discovery process, including free exit and entry of participants in all industries/markets.

From The Economist's Espresso.

Nigeria's biggest shortage is of thinking folks in high places. Every other scarcity is simply a derivative of this.

It's one of the richer ironies of our current history that, having described the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) as one of the worst deals ever, Mr. Trump would wish for a slightly bad version of it as the U.S.'s way out of its new never-ending war in the Middle East.

A measure of the American public's conceit of its political leadership is the ease with which it blames Israel for the failure of U.S. policies in the Middle East.

"Iran executed three young men in connection with the demonstrations that swept the country earlier this year. They are thought to be the first formal executions of any protesters detained during the unrest; more are expected. Observers said it was a sham trial." | The Economist

Birds of Lagos (Green Woodhoopoe - Phoeniculus purpureus). #BirdsOfLagos