“One morning in Boston in 1895, as K. C. Gillette stood before the mirror, a brilliant idea flashed across his mind. ‘As I stood there with the razor in my hand, my eyes resting on it as lightly as a bird settling down on its nest — the Gillette razor was born. I saw it all in a moment, and in that same moment many unvoiced questions were asked and answered more with the rapidity of a dream than by the slow process of reasoning. I stood there before that mirror in a trance of joy at what I saw.’ He quickly wrote a letter to his wife, ‘I have got it; our fortune is made.’ Simple ideas often appear obvious in retrospect, but simplicity is usually the far edge of genius.” (06/01/26)
“Samantha Hancox-Li and guest Secretary of Defense Rock talk the state of modern war: the proliferation of drones, the endurance of the human factor, Ukraine’s successful strategic bombing campaign vs. Trump’s unsuccessful one.” (06/01/26)
“Because defense contracts often prevent the military from repairing its own equipment, critics say weapons companies are price-gouging the Pentagon at every turn. As experts and observers tell RS, the military’s lack of a ‘right to repair’ doesn’t just allow defense contractors to charge thousands of dollars, for fixes that could be done for free or very cheaply. Rather, the Pentagon’s dependence on weapons makers for maintenance undermines military readiness. Namely, contractors’ extensive repair delays and sweeping decisions about whether to service gear routinely leave warfighters without critical equipment and weapons systems — even while deployed.” (06/01/26)
“Nicaraguan Indigenous leader and activist Brooklyn Rivera died from health complications after nearly three years in detention, the country’s health ministry said on Sunday. Last week, the Nicaraguan government’s confirmed that he had been detained since 2023. UN representatives, the US government and Rivera’s family have demanded proof that he was still alive. ‘We regret to confirm that he has sadly passed away,’ the health ministry said in a statement on state-run media outlets. … The 73-year-old was a renowned leader of the Miskito People and a former member of Nicaragua’s Congress. He was arrested in 2023 by the left-wing authoritarian government of President Daniel Ortega on undisclosed charges.” (06/01/26)
“Recent reporting from Axios suggests that President Donald Trump is considering a new nuclear deal with Iran as a way to turn the temporary ceasefire into something longer-term and more sustainable. It also suggests that the Iranian regime is interested in playing ball. The reporting is light on details, but suggests that the deal will have the same core ingredients as the one negotiated by President Barack Obama and signed in 2015 that the U.S. later left — some kind of financial/sanctions relief in exchange for verification of promises not to pursue a weapons program.” (06/01/26)
“Over the last twenty years, illiberal forces have coordinated ideas, personnel, and finances across international borders. Liberals can learn from this.” (06/01/26)
“The U.S. military conducted a deadly strike against a vessel in the Pacific on Saturday, killing several alleged ‘narco-terrorists,’ according to U.S. Southern Command. That attack, which killed three men, was one of four such military strikes announced by SOUTHCOM last week. … ‘On May 30, at the direction of #SOUTHCOM commander Gen. Francis L. Donovan, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations. Intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations. Three male narco-terrorists were killed during this action. No U.S. military forces were harmed,’ the post on X noted.” (06/01/26)
