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Tuesday, April 28, 2026

An additional day of reporting has largely confirmed the outlines of my morning-after analysis on Saturday night's scary-but-contained security incident at the White House Correspondents Association dinner. Saturday's incident was closer on the spectrum to the Clinton era "assassination attempt" when a guy opened fire on the White House with an AK-47 from the public sidewalk than it was to Butler, where the president was actually in danger. It was just a Hail Mary at the first line of security.


Monday, April 27, 2026

President Donald Trump has repeatedly said his war against Iran is intended to prevent Tehran from ever getting a nuclear weapon. But when it comes to core nuclear issues, he risks ending up with a worse deal than the one he abandoned in his first term. read more


More than 120 organizations issued a travel warning for the United States on Thursday, telling those who want to visit for the FIFA World Cup to use caution amid the Trump administration's heightened immigration enforcement measures. read more


Whether poop speeds through your gut like a bullet train or takes a more smell-the-roses approach could have more profound implications for your overall health ... read more


Sunday, April 26, 2026

AI's increasing ability to sift through data and track Americans' locations has some lawmakers reconsidering parts of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.


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Pentagon Defends Latest Kid Rock, Hegseth Flight in Army Apache Helicopters
www.military.com

... Kid Rock flew to Fort Belvoir, Va., on Monday and took part in Army Apache helicopter flights alongside Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, according to Pentagon officials and flight tracking data. The Pentagon defends the flight.

The visit comes weeks after Army aviators drew scrutiny for flying similar helicopters near Kid Rock's Tennessee home and over a protest in Nashville, prompting questions about safety, authorization and U.S. taxpayer dollars. ...


More from the OpEd ...

... There were four pieces I wanted to highlight, both good and bad:

There was, for instance, a breathless Washington Post piece that seemed to imply some level of scandal or "laxness" in the security based on how the dinner wasn't designated a "National Security Special Event," but then (a) failed to mention whether that was a change from any prior WHCA dinner and (b) in its own subsequent reporting explained how the dinner failed to meet the standard for an NSSE, thereby undercutting the whole premise of the "scandal."

At the other end of the thoughtful-and-informed spectrum, one piece worth reading that brings some important nuance was this MS NOW one by Carol Leonnig, just about the only journalist who has written meaningfully about the long-term challenges of the Secret Service. She points out how the Secret Service has narrowly averted tragedy three times in two years when faced with "a low-tech lone wolf."

It's also astounding -- and worrisome -- how quickly and widespread how what one might call the "median online perspective" has coalesced around the incident being staged or a false-flag operation, citing a mix of evidence. It surely wasn't, but it's a troubling sign of how corrupted the public backdrop of trust is and how compromised our information environments are these days. As one person joked yesterday, the strongest evidence it wasn't staged was that no one tried to insider-trade on Kalshi or Polymarket.)

Lastly, I want to highlight Brian Stelter's very smart -- and heartfelt -- essay about how America's elite merely got a taste Saturday night of what it's like to now be a schoolchild in the US: "We need to say out loud that it was actually all too ordinary. In America this is all too common -- a shots-fired moment, a chaotic lockdown, a spasm of violence interrupting a peaceful gathering. Thousands of media and political elites have now gone through what countless millions of other Americans have experienced in their schools, offices, malls and churches. And on most of those occasions, there were no Secret Service agents." I did an entire podcast season about how America lost its mind and sense when it comes to guns, and it's sad that one time after another, we miss the opportunities to change our country's trajectory on gun violence. ...

[emphasis mine]


How Asia-Pacific Is Fighting a Fuel Shock That Could Get Worse
financialpost.com

... Asian nations face the prospect of prolonged strain on crucial energy supplies as the conflict in the Middle East grinds past the two-month mark, with the Strait of Hormuz still largely off-limits to shipping.

Governments have already raided their policy toolkits by amping up subsidies to keep a lid on energy prices, restricting fuel use and ordering public officials to work from home. Officials have shuttled across the globe to secure alternate oil and gas supplies, including from sanctions-hit Russia. It's all coming at a cost to their budgets.

The disruption has laid bare how reliant the region is on Middle East energy, and how dwindling stockpiles may hit everything from Taiwan's chip supply chain to rice harvests, Asia's biggest food staple. ...


Idemitsu Maru tanker carrying Saudi oil crosses Strait of Hormuz
www.reuters.com

... Panama-flagged tanker Idemitsu Maru, carrying 2 million barrels of Saudi oil, crossed the Strait of Hormuz, LSEG shipping data showed on Tuesday, becoming the first Japan-linked crude tanker to do so since the Iran war began. ...

Related ...

Meta to start capturing employee mouse movements, keystrokes for AI training data
www.reuters.com

... Meta (META.O), opens new tab is installing new tracking software on U.S.-based employees' computers to capture mouse movements, clicks and keystrokes for use in training its artificial intelligence models, part of a broad initiative to build AI agents that can perform work tasks autonomously, the company told staffers in internal memos seen by Reuters.

The tool, called Model Capability Initiative (MCI), will run on work-related apps and websites and will also take occasional snapshots of the content on employees' screens, according to one of the memos, posted by a staff AI research scientist on Tuesday in a channel for the company's model-building Meta SuperIntelligence Labs team.

The purpose, according to the memo, was to improve the company's AI models in areas where they struggle to replicate how humans interact with computers, like choosing from dropdown menus and using keyboard shortcuts. ...


OK, I have been trying to find a live performance with the original lyrics of this tune ...

Jefferson Airplane - We Can Be Together (1969)
www.youtube.com

But I am unable to find a video of the band in a live performance where they go into the "up against the wall" lyrics.

I even looked at the video of Jefferson Airplane at the 1969 Woodstock festival. I had thought for sure, they would have uttered those usually censored lyrics then. But, no.

Nothing.

So you have to listen starting around 3:15 into the video I linked above to hear the lyrics that so upset the whole FM radio environment back in the day ...



Rhinoceros - Apricot Brandy (live 2009)
www.youtube.com

... and the original ...

Rhinoceros - Apricot Brandy (1968)
www.youtube.com

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