Good morning! Get ready for a massive influx of dudes rocking golf shirts at the office. The Masters began yesterday. Bryson DeChambeau led the first round with odds favorite Scottie Scheffler in second.

The U.S. Navy posted a pic on Insta of a ship’s commander “shooting a gun” with the scope mounted backward and the lens cap still on. They deleted the post after being mocked by the Marine Corps.

DIPLOMACY

🍣 Biden hosts state dinner for Japan

Shiso leaf fritters. Dry-aged rib eye steak. Fava beans (hold the nice chianti). This is a small part of the menu from President Biden’s state dinner for Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Wednesday. Paul Simon (hold the Garfunkel) performed.

• Kishida is a member of Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party (which is actually right-wing and conservative).

Over 200 people attended, including Jeff Bezos, Tim Cook, Robert DeNiro, the Clintons, and hordes of politicians and diplomats. It was held at the White House in the aptly named State Dining Room.

The visit: Official state visits begin with an arrival ceremony at the White House. This involves national anthems, troop inspections, speeches, and music from a military band that dresses like it’s 1776.

• The visiting head of state often travels around the country, holds multiple events (Kishida had lunch at the State Department), and speaks to Congress.

• President Ulysses S. Grant held the first state dinner in 1874 for the visiting King Kalākaua of the then-Kingdom of Hawaii.

Kishida spoke — in English — to a joint session of Congress yesterday. He encouraged America to overcome "self-doubt" and continue its "pivotal role" in the world.

The purpose: The visit was meant to tighten the U.S.-Japan relationship. The two nations agreed to deepen cybersecurity and industrial cooperation.

• Biden announced a Japanese astronaut will join NASA's planned return to the moon. They will be the first non-American to step foot on the lunar surface.

• He reiterated his opposition to the takeover of US Steel by Japan's Nippon Steel.

The Philippines: Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. joined Biden and Kishida yesterday for a trilateral meeting.

• Biden reiterated the strength of the still-in-effect 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty between the U.S. and the Philippines.

• China has tested the boundaries of this by injuring Filipino sailors with water cannons.

The three countries plan to begin joint naval patrols in the South China Sea to combat Chinese aggression. That's where China has attempted to claim waters that belong to the Philippines.

In other news... The Biden administration approved a new regulation designed to close the so-called "gun show loophole" (and the "online sale loophole"). We’ll have more on this process, what the heck it means, and Congress’ response on Monday.

MAIL

📮 The Post Office wants to give grandma a heart attack

You probably couldn’t answer this question correctly if your life depended on it. But the mere thought of it is enough to make your grandparents’ blood boil. Here goes: What is the cost of a single U.S. postage stamp?

If the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) gets its way, sending a letter two thousand miles in two days will cost 73 cents by July. The proposed increase from 68 cents isn’t the first in recent years. Back in 2019, stamps cost just 50 cents a pop.

• They’ll have to get the idea past the Postal Regulatory Commission first. That's the presidentially appointed bipartisan group with final say on rates.

• Because government loves making things complicated, this is different than the Post Office Board of Governors that runs the show.

First-Class Mail volume fell by 6.1% last year to its lowest level since 1968. With competition from, well, everything, the USPS is struggling financially. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy blamed "10 years" of "defective pricing" and said multiple increases are necessary.

• DeJoy said the Post Office expects to lose $6.4 billion in 2024.

• Congress tossed the USPS $50 billion in 2022 to pad their coffers.

• Many blame the financial problems on a 2006 law requiring the USPS to pre-fund employee pensions.

Despite the existence of smartphones and the internet, don’t expect the Post Office to go anywhere anytime soon. It’s been around since 1775 and is specifically authorized by the Constitution.

POLITICS

🔵 After the Arizona Supreme Court ruled an 1864 anti-abortion law is still on the books, the Biden campaign launched a million-dollar abortion-focused ad campaign in the state.

🔴 Donald Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson will present a united front when they meet today at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate. But things could be tense. Johnson faces calls for his ouster from Trump-aligned representatives. And Trump isn't making life easier by tanking a security bill pushed by the speaker.

🔵 Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D) leads her no-name Republican opponent by 17%, according to a new poll. The Gopher State is very much still safe Democratic territory.

⚪ Socialist philosopher Cornel West is pushing full steam ahead with his independent presidential campaign despite pleas from Democrats. He announced BLM activist Melina Abdullah as his vice presidential running mate.

🔴 The Republican primary in Nevada’s U.S. Senate election is heating up. National Republicans recruited Army veteran (and burn victim) Sam Brown for this race. But Donald Trump’s former Ambassador to Iceland, Jeff Gunter, is also running. Brown’s allies keep sending Trump negative stories about Gunter as Gunter's allies hit Brown for his connections to Republican leadership. The winner will face incumbent Sen. Jacky Rosen (D) in November.

⚪ A liberal member of the Wisconsin Supreme Court announced her retirement. Wisconsin's justices aren't appointed. They're elected in nonpartisan statewide races. The election isn’t until 2025, but expect it to be intense. Liberals control the court 4-3 and the last race saw the two campaigns spend a cool $50 million.

TRIVIA

The U.S. Postal Service is what’s called an “independent agency.” It’s not part of a bigger department and hasn’t been since 1971. Before that, the Post Office Department was part of the president’s Cabinet. Either way, it’s always been led by a postmaster general. In 1775, which Founding Father served as the first postmaster general?

Hint: This guy is also something of a hair icon.

WORLD

🇮🇷 Iran: Iran is preparing a military response to Israel's strike on its embassy in Syria. The U.S. asked China to talk Iran out of retaliating. Fears of escalation into a wider war are growing as Israel says it will retaliate to any retaliation.

🇷🇺 Russia: The Russian republic of Chechnya banned music that's too fast or too slow because Russia. Everything's got to be between 80 and 116 beats per minute now. Jack Harlow? Out. The Lumineers? So back.

🇰🇷 South Korea: The (liberal) Democratic Party retained its majority in this week's parliamentary elections over President Yoon Suk Yeol’s conservative People Power Party. In true Korean fashion, the PPP leader responded with this banger: "I apologize to the people on behalf of our party…”

🇺🇸 United States: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a new regulation forcing chemical plants to reduce the use of some cancer-linked chemicals. Agencies do this via rulemaking power granted to them in laws passed by Congress.

🇿🇼 Zimbabwe: Businesses are struggling to transition to Zimbabwe's new currency. This is the sixth change in 16 years. This one, called ZiG, is backed by reserves of gold and some foreign currency.

BRIEFS

• A woman in Vietnam was sentenced to death for her role in a $12b fraud as part of the communist government’s anti-corruption fight

• Elite universities are reinstating standardized testing requirements after abandoning them during the pandemic

• President Biden will expand the boundaries in California of two national monuments (which are not quite national parks)

• The former NFL star low-key responsible for creating the Kardashians passed away of prostate cancer — O.J. Simpson was 76

• Soaring cocoa prices are drawing many African farmers back to the crop they’d previously quit growing

• Prince Harry's U.S. immigration docs are under review for possible lies about drug use he later admitted to in his memoir

• The Motion Picture Association is planning a "major" push to convince Congress to ban U.S. access to movie piracy sites

• Instagram is testing new features designed to curb "sextortion" such as blurring nude images in DMs

• Europeans are building their own chatbots to combat fears that English-speaking AI will slowly kill European languages

QUOTE

SNACKS

🎲 Cinema: Margot Robbie will produce a movie (somehow) based on Monopoly. No word yet on a possible Chutes and Ladders Cinematic Universe.

🎞️ "The Apprentice:" A biopic on the real estate rise of a young Donald Trump starring Bucky Sebastian Stan will premiere at Cannes next month.

🤖 AI: There’s a new free music-generating robot in town: Udio.com. It’s only a matter of time until record labels try to nuke these things from orbit.

🎵 Taylor: Ahead of next week’s new album, Taylor Swift's music is back on TikTok despite her label, UMG, not having a new deal with the platform.

ANSWER

Serving from 1775 to 1776, the first U.S. postmaster general was none other than hair icon, inventor, diplomat, and president of Pennsylvania Benjamin Franklin.