Extra, Extra
The Vance Advance: When things don’t go according to plan, the leaks start. And you get stories like this from The Atlantic (Gift Article): Vance Doubts the Pentagon’s Depiction of the Iran War. “In closed-door meetings, J. D. Vance has repeatedly questioned the Defense Department’s depiction of the war in Iran and whether the Pentagon has understated what appears to be the drastic depletion of U.S. missile stockpiles.” Meanwhile, “Iran has offered to end its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for the U.S. lifting its blockade on the country and an end to the war, two regional officials said Monday. Under the proposal, discussions on the larger question of its nuclear program would come later. U.S. President Donald Trump seems unlikely to accept the offer.” Here’s the latest from AP.
+ In Context: “That Obama-era agreement suffered from flaws and omissions. It would have expired after 15 years, leaving Iran free after 2030 to make as much nuclear fuel as it wanted. But once Mr. Trump withdrew from the deal in 2018, the Iranians went on an enrichment spree much sooner, leaving them closer to a bomb than ever before. Now, Mr. Trump’s negotiators are dealing with the consequences of that decision, which he made over the objections of many of his national security advisers at the time.” NYT (Gift Article): Trump Seeks to Abolish Iran’s Atomic Stockpile, a Problem He Helped Create. (And this probably won’t improve Trump’s view of NATO: US is being ‘humiliated’ by Iran’s leadership, says German chancellor Friedrich Merz.)
+ All That Gold Does Not Glitter: “The Mint buys gold that originates in a Colombian drug cartel mine. It makes Lady Liberty coins out of gold from Mexican and Peruvian pawn shops and from a Congolese mine that is part-owned by the Chinese government, records show. Some Mint gold has come from a company in Honduras that dug up an Indigenous graveyard for the ore underneath.” U.S. Mint Buys Drug Cartel Gold and Sells It as American.
+ Netanyahu Let the Dogs Out? “As is usually the case with Netanyahu, who is legendary for his short-term approach to politics, the long-term damage to the American Jewish community and to Israel’s standing in the United States is a problem for another day. With an Israeli election looming later this year—and as his seemingly endless trial for public corruption continues—Netanyahu appears more focused on his immediate political problems. For american jews, however, the problem is in the here and now.” How Netanyahu Hurt America’s Jews.
+ Ground Control to Major Calm: “We see students all the time change majors. That’s not new or different. But it’s usually for a ton of different reasons. The fact that so many students say it’s because of AI — that is startling.” College students are changing course in search of ‘AI-proof’ majors. But no one knows what they are.
+ Florida (Gerry)Man: “The path toward redistricting in Florida is difficult. The state outlaws political gerrymandering, or redrawing lines for partisan gain. Other states allow partisan gerrymandering and that was the reason politicians have used to justify joining the race Trump kicked off last year.” Florida’s DeSantis unveils a voting map that could add to Trump’s GOP redistricting
+ Boon Walk: I mean, at this point, knowing what we know, people wouldn’t want to see a Michael Jackson biopic that totally avoids any mention of child sexual abuse, right? Hah. The Michael Jackson film scored the top launch ever for a biopic domestically after passing up ‘Oppenheimer,’ as well as the best global opening for a music biopic.
+ Springing in the Rain: “In experiments with rice seeds, the team found that the sound of falling droplets effectively shook the seeds out of a dormant state, stimulating them to germinate at a faster rate compared with seeds that were not exposed to the same sound vibrations.” Plants can sense the sound of rain, a new study finds.
