Barbara Bush: Former First Lady Barbara Bush, the wife of one president and mother of another, died yesterday at age 92. Her death came only two days after her family announced that she was terminally ill and had given up life-saving medical care.

With a full head of gray hair and a string of pearls draped around her neck, Bush was dubbed the “grandmother in chief,” but she had a sharp wit and fierce loyalty to her men in politics. Son George W. was President and Jeb was governor of Florida.

One thing that dies with her is a bit of civility in public life.

Bush gave up having a career for her husband and children, one of whom, a daughter, died of leukemia at age three. She said, “My career was my family.” At her death she had five children, 17 grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren. She and the President were married for 73 years. He was 20 when they met and she was 16.

Barbara Bush had a great sense of humor. Explaining her popularity, she said, “It’s because I’m fat, and old, and nobody feels threatened by me.”

She was also the family disciplinarian. She made the rules. Her husband told a story of Barbara telling George W. to “take your feet off my table.” George HW said, “The guy is president of the United States of America!” and Mrs. Bush said, “No, he knows better than that.”

Up in the Air: One person is dead after an engine exploded on a Southwest Airlines jet, hitting the cabin with fragments. A New Mexico woman, a married mother of two, was killed as she was sucked part way through a broken window as the cabin decompressed.

The plane was bound from New York’s LaGuardia to Dallas. Passengers later said some members of the flight crew were crying as the plane dropped 21,000 feet and made an emergency landing. The female pilot, a former fighter pilot, is being hailed as a hero for bringing it down safely.

Tax Day: Yesterday was tax day and so is today. The IRS system for electronic filing failed yesterday, so they extended the deadline a day. Having nothing to do with that, President Trump asked for an extension.

Prove It: Two families who lost children in the 2012 Sandy Hook school massacre in Connecticut are suing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones who claims the massacre was a hoax in which no one was really killed. The suits claim defamation.

Jones has a radio show and runs the website Infowars.

Incredibly, soon after the killing of 20 children and six adults, conspiracy nuts like Jones were challenging the families, claiming it never happened.

Fake News Network: After the revelation that host Sean Hannity has been a friend and possible client of President Trump’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen, a man Hannity has interviewed and defended on the air, Fox News decided to do nothing about it.

The network issued a statement saying, “While Fox News was unaware of Sean Hannity’s informal relationship with Michael Cohen and was surprised by the announcement in court yesterday, we have reviewed the matter and spoken to Sean and he continues to have our full support.”

Hannity is possibly Fox’s biggest moneymaker after the departures of Bill O’Reilly and Megyn Kelly. He says he’s not a journalist and therefore claims immunity from the rules of honest journalism, but he works for an organization that has “News” in its name, and you can’t have it both ways.

The White House Mess: Un Ambassador Nikki Haley is being blamed for announcing new sanctions against Russia that President Trump later cancelled and she’s fighting back.

Trump’s new economic adviser Larry Kudlow — and please tell us what he’s got to do with it — told reporters, “She got ahead of the curve. She’s done a great job. She’s a very effective ambassador, but there might have been some momentary confusion about that.”

Haley yesterday told Dana Perino on Fox News, “With all due respect, I don’t get confused.” She’s very sharp. Let’s see how long she stays on before she resigns and runs for President.

Pravda: Suspicions are aroused about the death of a prominent Russian journalist, who died after a fall from his fourth-floor apartment in Yekaterinburg, Russia’s fourth-largest city. Maxim Borodin, 32, was found by neighbors and died two days later in a hospital. He reported about the underworld but had recently broken stories about the death of as many as 200 Russian mercenaries fighting in Syria.

Police said there was no sign of a break-in and his door was locked from the inside. His friends said he had recently told them he was being watched and might be in danger.

Grande Latte: The Starbucks coffee chain said it will close more than 8,000 of its US shops on May 29 to conduct racial bias training for nearly 175,000 employees. They’ve had two ugly racial incidents with customers in recent days.

Bombing Out: Former FBI Director James Comey’s book and blunt interviews criticizing President Trump have let loose the knife wielders of partisan politics. The other night on Fox News  former Trump operative Corey Lewandowski said Comey failed to protect Boston from the April 2013 Boston Marathon bombing.

Comey became FBI director the following September.

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