I assume his demands are denominated in kumquats.

Smart, smart fellow.

We are very happy that today Apple issued a patch and a security advisory. This comes following 404 Media reporting that the FBI accessed Signal message notification content via iOS despite the app being deleted.

What's the mega-sized version of the butterfly effect?

There are people in the world who don’t have morals, so why should I [have morals]?

I'm looking forward to the day when I read an Op-ed re:

When does being decent become an act of political protest?

Thankfully, I have several folks (female and male) in my circle who got it immediately.

I’m fine.



But jeez (and please), don’t be that guy.

Don’t be this guy.

Needless to say, I gave this fellow a well-earned earful. I no longer consider him a friend.

I bring this up because he considers himself to a good guy. A male purveyor of feminist thought.

But he obviously doesn’t trust or respect women.

Huh? Really?

I recently told a male friend re: a letter I got from my ex. How it made me very concerned for my safety. (I haven't heard from my ex in ~23 years. The letter content was, to put it mildly, odd.)

Said friend (who never met my ex, has limited info)... said I was being childish. Emotional. Etc.

Dear Gents:



This is going to be a small rant.

I am very dubious of industry "insiders" who stayed long enough to make a ton of $ ... & then suddenly develop a conscience, leave, and flip to criticizing the thing they helped build.

They knew things were really bad. The $ was their salve.

Now they are just chasing a 2nd career.

100%. Most (if not all) of these "healthier" ... well... aren't.

Minor point: the D's "pathological fear of being called weak" goes further back than '02.

Carter & the sweater; Carter & Eagle Claw; Dukakis & the tank; etc.

My take is that Reagan's '80 electoral win (wipeout), plus 9/11 put the D party far, far back on their heels. They haven't recovered.

FT exclusive: Russia is planning to halt the flow of Kazakh oil to Germany, threatening a refinery that supplies 90% of the petrol, kerosene and heating fuel to the German capital, its airport and surrounding region ft.trib.al/BK4ZrtW

Will this be available on-demand after the discussion? If yes, where?

Tnx

Two CIA officers die in Mexico accident after counternarcotics operation The U.S. spy agency has significantly expanded its international antidrug work under President Trump and CIA Director Ratcliffe.

Hum......

wapo.st/4sQCgP7

CATL claims 6-minute charge and 1,500km range for new electric vehicle batteries Chinese group also slashes charging time in race against BYD for electric vehicle battery supremacy

"[A] sharp fall in battery costs, along with CATL and BYD’s rapid advancements, is helping to cement China’s dominance over the technology that is key to both EVs and energy storage systems."

www.ft.com/content/1773...

When Victimhood Takes a Bad-Faith Turn "Wronged" explores how the practice of claiming harm has become the rhetorical province of the powerful.

I've been thinking about this book for a while. Might be time to go back and re-read.

www.theatlantic.com/books/archiv...

Ooof. Been there, done that, have the t-shirt.

Good luck w/the replacement.

Hospital staff using ChatGPT to calculate medication doses, nurses claim Whistleblowers say understaffing at the Northern Territory's busiest hospital is forcing nurses to take on unsafe patient loads, and some are teaching themselves medical procedures via YouTube.

Hum.

I dislike the AI-everywhere trend, but something about this reporting feels thin. Only ref I could find. It could be the 1st in trend, but at the moment... ?

NTL: I take the point, even if something feels over the skis.

www.abc.net.au/news/2026-04...

*points to sign*

Schrodinger's Strait Redux

(To me) What jumps out is the passivity and lack of discernment. How to find helpful resources, who to (generally) trust, how a source's frame/viewpoint will impact their reporting, etc.

To be fair: I suspect this applies to lots of adults in the US as well.

But, yeah. Wow.

A printout of my version of dry rose harissa. A bit too much text to put here... my apologies.

Headed into the kitchen for some large batch meal prep.

First task is to make some dry rose harissa. The stuff is crazy-good.

Below is my current spice blend. It's a twist on Ottolenghi's rose harissa paste.

"The longer-term question for the Gulf capitals is whether, with their security compromised by the reckless American-Israeli war, they can rely on Washington to return to the effective role it played for decades as a provider of deterrence and security rather than a foolhardy disruptor of the peace"

The Inside Story of Five Days That Remade the Supreme Court

There’s so much to say about the remarkable reporting from Jodi Kantor & Adam Liptak—and I’ll say a lot of it in Monday’s newsletter.

But the most striking thing about all of it is the role & behavior of Chief Justice Roberts. “Calling balls and strikes” this ain’t:

www.nytimes.com/2026/04/18/u...

More calming than meditation… Maine Coon Louis Jr kayaking YouTube video by louiswildlife

A Friday moment of zen.

A Maine Coon, a kayak, birds, and sunshine.

youtu.be/DQ6K8xehjgk?...

Kuwait Is Stripping Its People of Citizenship at an Unprecedented Rate Behind the language of legality, the new emir has pushed a political project to narrow national identity and roll back decades of democratic reform

Kuwait has officially stripped citizenship from an astonishing 5% of its population - over 70,000 people - and a full 20% may be impacted. Good backgrounder on what’s going on by Sultan Alamer and Fatimah Muhammad.

newlinesmag.com/essays/kuwai...

This section of the @washingtonpost.com really captures why women are enraged right now and how the system keeps allowing women to die and be assaulted. I’m HOT today so here’s a thread explaining why.