Today is Monday, April 21, 2025. As if you haven’t heard already, Pope Francis, the first Latin American pontiff in nearly 1,300 years, has died on Easter Monday. He was 88 years old and died of a stroke followed by heart failure, according to CNN updates. Latest updates appear on an online CNN piece by Antoinette Radford, Maureen Chowdhury, Christopher Lamb, Christian Edwards, Issy Ronald, Aditi Sangal, and Elise Hammond entitled “The latest on the death of Pope Francis as tributes pour in worldwide.”

The news arrived as the pontiff spent his last days participating in the celebration of Easter and making a high-profile appearance in public after battling multiple health issues.

In the wake of such sad news, it was reported that Emperor Dump and his First Lady [who seems as invisible as they come] will be attending the funeral in Rome. Why? He wasn’t liked by this progressive pope at all.

Condolences and tributes started to pour in shortly after the announcement was made by Cardinal Kevin Farrell, the Vatican camerlengo (chamberlain) who said Francis died at 7:35 a.m. local time (1:35 a.m. ET). Until a new pope is chosen, Farrell acts as the head of the Vatican. Farrell was also the cardinal who sealed the Papal Apartment of the Apostolic Palace, the traditional residence of the pope, to mark the beginning of the mourning process. This tradition was highlighted in the recent Conclave film starring Ralph Fiennes that focused on the selecting of a new pontiff on the death of the current one. However, the apartment was not used by Francis, who lived in Casa Santa Marta, and that apartment was also sealed.

The fact that Pope Francis met odious Vice President JD Vance shortly before his death this morning has set off a torrent of internet memes and jokes in which Vance is somehow blamed for the pontiff’s death. Pope Francis had been released from the hospital less than a month ago following a five-week stay for life-threatening double pneumonia. Francis’s passing came soon after he briefly met with Vance to exchange Easter greetings on Sunday. Now, the internet is joking that Vance killed – Heaven forbid! – the Pope – or at the very least, his presence did. One meme depicted lasers coming out of Vance’s eyes as he greeted the Pope. Others darkly joked that Vance should meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin next.

A second disturbing piece of news breaking today is the appearance of another Signalgate incident in which drunken Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has found himself in hot water yet again after revelations that a second high-level chat concerning military operations has been captured on the less-than-secure app Signal. Here he used the app to discuss classified military plans, this time involving his wife and even brother as participants in the chat. This is shocking beyond measure and it’s about time that this idiot president realize how much of a security risk is his stupid choice of Defense Secretary and fire his ass already! In the meantime, the asshole Hegseth just attacked the media for revealing the truth of his indiscretion. This is what these bums do: delay, deny, and deflect. The best thing this guy should do is tender his resignation immediately. This president will never admit he made a fucking mistake, so it’s up to Congress – sheesh! – to demand Hegseth be terminated. Let’s see if this ever becomes reality.

Tomorrow will be my last entry on this page until after May 2, as I’ve indicated yesterday.

And so it went!