French Toast: France’s far right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen finished a close second in elections yesterday and moves on to a May 7 runoff.

Emmanuel Macron, a centrist and political newcomer who supports staying in the European Union, finished with 23.9 percent of the vote to Le Pen’s 21.4 The rest of the vote was split among nine other candidates.

A NY Times editorial says, “France may be entering a new, fractured political era, but on Sunday its voters showed that they remained receptive to Mr. Macron’s hopeful message, including his openness to immigrants and diversity, despite a recent spate of terrorist attacks and Ms. Le Pen’s dark campaign.”

Le Pen touts a “France first” approach with limits on immigration and displays of the Muslim faith in public.  “The great debate will finally take place,” Ms. Le Pen said on Twitter. “French citizens need to seize this historic opportunity.”

She’s tough on Islamism and terrorism. She has said, “The Islamist, Salafist ideology has no right to be in France and should be banned. Preachers of hate should be expelled and their mosques closed.”

Tweeter-in-Chief: President Trump was on a Twitter rampage yesterday, posting about everything from the French elections to Obamacare, his border wall, and his most recent popularity poll. He wrote, “New polls out today are very good considering that much of the media is FAKE and almost always negative. Would still beat Hillary in …popular vote. ABC News/Washington Post Poll (wrong big on election) said almost all stand by their vote on me & 53% said strong leader.”

Trump lost the popular election and while it is true that 53 percent of those polled see him as a string leader, they also doubt that he’s done much so far and they question his honesty. His disapproval rating is also 53 percent.

Deadline: Trump and the congressional Republicans face a Friday deadline to pass a spending bill and keep the government running. Trump wants to attach to that money for his border wall and an increased defense budget so he can say he’s accomplished something major in his first 100 days. He’s also pushing on healthcare and tax reform, although Congress tends to be a one-task body. They can’t walk and chew gum at the same time.

Out of Africa: Italian conservationist Kuki Gallmann has been shot in an ambush at her conservation park in central Kenya.

The author of the best-selling memoir “I Dreamed of Africa” was hit in the stomach and airlifted to a hospital. The 73-year-old Gallmann owns the Laikipia Nature Conservancy, where her safari lodge was burned down last month.

Cattle herders have been knocking heads with landowners in search of grazing land.

The Obit Page: Albert Freedman, a television producer who was a central figure in the television quiz show scandals of the 1950s, died earlier this month in California at the age of 95.

Freedman was tapped to take over the show “Twenty-One” and was ordered to find a way to defeat the long-running champion Herbert Stempel, a man with encyclopedic knowledge who was losing viewers.

Freedman found Charles Van Doren, a tall, studious teacher, and fed him the answers to questions. “In our sessions,” Van Doren later wrote about how Freedman coached him, “He would ask me questions, I would answer them — and then he would tell me how to answer them: pause here; add this or that remark or aside; always seem to be worried, anxious; never answer too quickly; let the suspense build up.”

After federal investigations, Freedman later said it was all just a show for entertainment. He said, “Everyone knows that the magician doesn’t saw the lady in half.”

Reality Television: In a story about the president’s television viewing habits, The Washington Post describes a White House meeting in which the subject came up about firing spokesman Sean Spicer. The Post reports that Trump said, “I’m not firing Sean Spicer That guy gets great ratings. Everyone tunes in.”

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