A group of Ecuadorian fishermen survived a US drone strike, were detained at gunpoint, hooded, phones wiped, ship blown up, disappeared to El Salvador, then released without charge.
“They knew we were fishermen. Even the Salvadorian authorities said things had been handled very badly.”
Kevin Warsh, Trump’s pick to be the Fed chair, declined a straightforward answer when asked repeatedly if Trump lost the 2020 election www.nytimes.com/live/2026/04...
CERTIORARI -- SUMMARY DISPOSITION 24-1099 SMITH, KYLE, ET AL. V. SCOTT, ROCHELLE, ET AL. The petition for a writ of certiorari is granted. The judgment is vacated, and the case is remanded to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit for further consideration in light of Zorn v. Linton, 607 U. S. ___ (2026) (per curiam). Justice Sotomayor, Justice Kagan, and Justice Jackson would deny the petition for a writ of certiorari.
By a 6–3 vote, and with no opinion, the Supreme Court throws out a lower court decision denying qualified immunity who killed an unarmed, mentally ill man by using "bodyweight force" to restrain him. All three liberals dissent. www.supremecourt.gov/orders/court...
“Take a moment to think before you dive in. That’s the best advice for Google Photos users, as the company confirms its latest update can scan all your photos to “use actual images of you and your loved ones” in AI image generation.”
www.forbes.com/sites/zakdof...
Clarence Darrow. Photo credit: Bettmann / Getty Images.
#ResistanceRoots
Clarence Darrow was born on this day in 1857 in Farmdale, Ohio. He was one of the most famous and influential defense attorneys in American history, known for his wit and eloquence. He is remembered as a champion of civil liberties and a fierce opponent of capital punishment. /1
"Pancreatic cancer mRNA vaccine shows lasting results in an early trial: Scientists caution that more research is needed, but nearly all of the patients who responded to the personalized vaccine are still alive six years later."
Remarkable SCOTUS reporting in the NYTimes, which pretty much confirms what observers have always assumed, but still astonishes. (Gift link)
www.nytimes.com/2026/04/18/u...
In the months leading up to the midterm elections, hundreds of accounts have emerged on social media featuring A.I.-generated pro-Trump influencers posting at a rapid pace. Several accounts have already amassed thousands followers. Some of the posts have more than half a million views.
“It’s a couple of things that work beautifully in concert. First: no music. Audiences are so sophisticated, but what they’re not accustomed to is not being told how to feel,” Wyle says. “You take all that out and it forces a level of engagement where you’re now looking for clues within the frame of the screen, which forces you to look up from your phone. And I think that is extremely engaging, especially to young viewers who aren’t accustomed to being asked to participate in a nonpassive way in the viewing experience.
![“Second point, shooting it with almost exclusively 50-millimeter or 65-millimeter lenses, which is the most comparable to the human eye—and only shooting from the point of view of a human being that’s present in this space. There are no cameras on gurney wheels going in the hallway. There’s no cameras on the ceiling looking down from a God point of view. You are limited to the perspective of a participant. You can look away, but you can’t leave, and it becomes an endurance test for you to stay on your feet as long as we’re on our feet. Which [brings me to my] third point: real time. Real time has an aggregate sense of tension that you don’t get in any other form of storytelling. What happened before is happening now, and these two things are going to add up to the next thing. And if we throw more ingredients into this cooker and keep ratcheting it up, it’s going to pop.”](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:guthikarwozoldkzhueivkl6/bafkreihklvhtymho7wpemo5mj2f7xaiq6ulvfvcwnzo6hjstg3wixzgesy)
“Second point, shooting it with almost exclusively 50-millimeter or 65-millimeter lenses, which is the most comparable to the human eye—and only shooting from the point of view of a human being that’s present in this space. There are no cameras on gurney wheels going in the hallway. There’s no cameras on the ceiling looking down from a God point of view. You are limited to the perspective of a participant. You can look away, but you can’t leave, and it becomes an endurance test for you to stay on your feet as long as we’re on our feet. Which [brings me to my] third point: real time. Real time has an aggregate sense of tension that you don’t get in any other form of storytelling. What happened before is happening now, and these two things are going to add up to the next thing. And if we throw more ingredients into this cooker and keep ratcheting it up, it’s going to pop.”
Wyle makes eye contact for his next point, delivering it with a Robby-esque matter-of-factness. “Fourth point: The election went the other way,” he says with a shrug. “We could have been a really good show with a lot of nice things to say in a perfectly normal Kamala Harris universe. And instead we became almost a beacon of hope and humanity in an alternative universe. But in the midst of that, fifth point—this is essentially competence porn. You’re watching really smart, dedicated people do what only they know how to do at a level that you don’t know how to do it, and you’re so fucking glad that they’re there doing it, and compartmentalizing their own stuff to put your broken pieces back together. You’re so reassured by knowing that there are people out there that laugh and joke and have the ability to lock in like that.”
this is fucking unreal stuff from Noah Wyle on the magic of The Pitt. www.gq.com/story/noah-w...
If everyone is trained on AI, how will they fact check AI? — is the thing we need to keep hammering home.
The Confederacy Lost the War. South Carolina Republicans Want You to Forget Why. #CivilWarMemory open.substack.com/pub/kevinmle...
BARTIROMO: We just heard from the FBI there was a major cyber attack from China. What response is under consideration?
TRUMP: We do it to them. They do it to us, we do it to them
BARTIROMO: So it's not gonna be addressed?
TRUMP: Maria, I'll address things, but it is what it is. China is China.
New Jersey’s NJ Transit is currently planning to charge more than $100 for return rail tickets from New York’s Pennsylvania Station to MetLife Stadium for FIFA World Cup games.
The 18-mile rail journey ordinarily costs $12.90 for a return ticket.
📝 @adamcrafton.bsky.social
🔗 nyti.ms/3QaZJwX
Hungary's prime minister elect announcing that Orbán was funding CPAC and other Trump-related political activities (also Heritage Foundation's Project 2025), and this will now end.
LOCH NESS
Upon the vernal equinox,
when all our fictions come to pass,
a shadow leans across the rocks.
Beneath the water, clouds amass:
a nebula absorbs the loch’s
illusions — hoaxes, dreams in glass,
the jostling haze of history’s whims —
until, at last, the creature swims.
Man Who Threw Molotov Cocktail At Sam Altman’s Home Claims He Was Following ChatGPT Recipe For Risotto
Man Who Threw Molotov Cocktail At Sam Altman’s Home Claims He Was Following ChatGPT Recipe For Risotto theonion.com/man-who-threw-molotov-co...
“…the character is being trained on the billionaire’s mannerisms, tone and publicly available statements, as well as his own recent thinking on company strategies, so that employees might feel more connected to the founder through interactions with it.”
Note that he is depicted healing “white” America- exclusively “white” America.
Chancellor Merz:
I am personally very grateful and relieved that there was such a clear election result yesterday in Hungary.
This shows that our democratic societies are evidently much more resilient against Russian propaganda and other external interference in such elections.
Swalwell “suspends” campaign for governor’s race following allegations of sexual assault, nude photos
www.latimes.com/california/s...
A letter signed by more than 50 former staffers of Rep. Eric Swalwell described recent allegations of sexual assault and misconduct against him as “serious” and “credible,” while demanding he resign from Congress and drop his bid for California governor. https://cnn.it/47Vxjx2
Trump: "I predict they come back and give us everything we want. And I told my people, 'I want everything. I don't want 90%, I don't 95%.' I told them, 'I want everything.' They have no cards."
pic of Dana White, Rubio, and Trump
Secretary of State Marco Rubio at UFC in Miami tonight as diplomatic negotiations with Iran fail
(Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AFP via Getty)
Chicago White Sox pope hats giveaway
In the running for greatest giveaway of all time
“My favorite thing that a younger person said … is, VHS is just something that works: there’s no menu, there’s no ads, there’s no anything,” he recalled.
Girl is now the new sketch artist for police 😭🤣😂😭
As the Integrity crew splashed down TO THE MINUTE of their estimated arrival and hit the BULLSEYE, this is a reminder that Katherine Johnson was an absolute genius. My God. #NASA #ArtemisII
