Here’s yet another example of a sentence that, under even marginally normal circumstances, would set off deafening alarm bells. “American officials and a Saudi briefed on their conversations said that Mr. Kushner and Prince Mohammed have continued to chat informally. According to the Saudi, Mr. Kushner has offered the crown prince advice about how to weather the storm, urging him to resolve his conflicts around the region and avoid further embarrassments.” (In short, the president’s son-in-law is giving the Saudi prince some tips on how to get away with murder.) NYT: The Wooing of Jared Kushner: How the Saudis Got a Friend in the White House.

+ “Both the Obama and Trump administrations have supported the Saudi war in Yemen with a military partnership, arms sales, intelligence sharing and until recently air-to-air refueling. The United States is thus complicit in what some human rights experts believe are war crimes. The bottom line: Our tax dollars are going to starve children.” NYT on the state of things in Yemen: “Some 85,000 children may have already died here in Yemen, and 12 million more people may be on the brink of starvation.”