Source: USA Today
by Kris Edney
“The world’s tech leaders – the ones who are driving the AI revolution – insist that people like me are actually the foundation of the technology shaping the future. The numbers prove them right.” (04/19/26)
Source: Blockonomi [UK]
“Bitcoin Latinum founder Donald G. Basile now faces federal fraud charges from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The SEC claims Basile and his two companies raised $16 million from hundreds of American investors through fraudulent crypto offerings. Regulators filed the complaint on April 17, 2026, in the Eastern District of New York. The charges center on false claims about insurance, asset backing, and the intended use of investor funds. The case revolves around the sale of Simple Agreements for Future Tokens, or SAFTs. These instruments promised investors the right to receive a crypto asset known as Bitcoin Latinum, or LTNM.” (04/19/26)
Source: Serious Trouble
“Call the Swalwell Hotline.” (04/18/26)
Source: EconLog
by Joy Buchanan
“When astronaut Christina Koch, the first woman to fly around the moon, reported an issue from space that could have been copy-pasted from any IT helpdesk ticket, something clicked for Americans. Her grievance? ‘No joy seeing the device in the list of available devices when I attempt to re-pair it after doing the Bluetooth forget.’ Commander Reid Wiseman, orbiting Earth aboard the Artemis II mission, radioed Houston with a problem millions of office workers share: ‘I have two Microsoft Outlooks, and neither one of those are working.’ So much for old ‘one small step for man …’ Internet commentators found these moments painfully relatable and shared them widely. Why did those quotes about tech maintenance go viral in April 2026? Beneath the comedy lies an underappreciated cost of modernity: we are wealthier, and that wealth means we own more things.” (04/17/26)
https://www.econlib.org/econlog/tech-troubleshooting-in-space
Source: Fox News
by Jonathan Turley
“The legendary baseball player and manager Ted Williams once wrote a letter to Angels outfielder Jay Johnstone on improving his hitting. Among his pieces of advice was that ‘with two strikes, you simply have to protect the plate.’ Williams'[s] advice on not striking out came to mind this week when another leak of confidential information rocked the Supreme Court. (The prior leak of the Dobbs decision went unsolved.) For Chief Justice John Roberts, the message is clear: it is times like these when you have to protect the plate. Roberts, of course, is famous for his own baseball analogies. In his confirmation, he declared that ‘judges are like umpires. Umpires don’t make the rules. They apply them … Nobody ever went to a ballgame to see the umpire.’ Yet, justices do make rules not only in new precedent, but in the operation of the court system. Those rules are being broken.” (04/19/26)
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“Australia and Japan have signed contracts for the first three of 11 warships set to be delivered to the Australian navy under a landmark $7bn defence deal, as the two close US allies in the Asia Pacific region deepen defence cooperation. Australia’s Defence Minister Richard Marles and Japanese Defence Minister Koizumi Shinjiro made the announcement in Melbourne on Saturday at the signing ceremony for the Mogami-class warships. … Australia has committed to a record $305bn in military spending over the next decade, as part of a widespread defence overhaul aimed at boosting the country’s naval power to levels not seen since World War II.” (04/19/26)
https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2026/4/19/australia-and-japan-sign-contracts-for-7bn-warships-deal
Source: Heartland Institute
“Conference Rattles Climate Activists.” (04/18/26)
https://heartland.org/podcasts/conference-rattles-climate-activists-the-climate-realism-show-198/
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“The remains of at least 50 infants and six adults have been dumped at a graveyard in Trinidad and Tobago, police say. In a statement, the country’s police service (TTPS) said the bodies were found in the town of Cumuto, about 40km (25 miles) from the capital Port of Spain on Trinidad – one of the two islands forming the Caribbean nation. A preliminary investigation shows it may be a case of an ‘unlawful disposal of unclaimed corpses,’ it added. It is unclear if the incident is linked to gang violence in the country with one of the highest murder rates in Latin America and the Caribbean.” (04/19/26)
Source: The Findings Substack
by Paul Rosenberg
“Race-consciousness is not something that belongs in the minds of children; rather than being a virtue, it’s far more of a poison. I want children to be entirely separated from and ignorant of racial issues. Rather, they should simply see people, with their pigmentation being an accidental triviality. Race-consciousness robs that from them, and I think it’s tragic.” (04/17/26)
https://thefindings.substack.com/p/why-i-oppose-race-consciousness
Source: Common Dreams
by Abby Zimet
“Seeking to rally the troops for his unholy war, Christian nationalist, TV-carnie and war fanboy Pete Kegseth just passed off some vengeful Gospel According to Tarantino as scripture at his (unconstitutional) Pentagon prayer service, and yes we have them now. Added to the ‘shameless blasphemy’ of quoting — without credit — Samuel Jackson’s homicidal hitman Jules as ‘prayer,’ Pete moronically misses the redemptive point: As he cites the ‘tyranny of evil men,’ he, unlike Jules, doesn’t friggin’ get that he is one.” (04/18/26)
https://www.commondreams.org/further/on-witless-great-vengeance-and-furious-anger