“More than 200 years after being sunk by Adm. Horatio Nelson and the British fleet, a Danish warship has been discovered on the seabed of Copenhagen Harbor by marine archaeologists. Working in thick sediment and almost zero visibility 15 meters (49 feet) beneath the waves, divers are in a race against time to unearth the 19th-century wreck of the Dannebroge before it becomes a construction site in a new housing district being built off the Danish coast. Denmark’s Viking Ship Museum, which is leading the monthslong underwater excavations, announced its findings on Thursday, 225 years to the day since the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801.” (04/01/26)
“Trent and Caitlin welcome Houston culture reporter Gwen Howerton about the Texas senate primaries, censorship in prisons, and the state of LGBTQ+ rights in the Lone Star State.” (04/01/26)
“After neglecting the notification of and consultation with U.S. allies about his pending attack on Iran, Trump was then angered when they balked at helping the United States undertake the dangerous and expensive mission of using their warships to convoy oil tankers and other commercial ships through the Strait of Hormuz. And because the Iranians have effectively thumbed their nose at Trump’s threats against Iran’s oil and civilian infrastructure (a war crime if carried out) if they didn’t open the strait, somebody is going to need to undertake opening and keeping open the strait. Yet, Trump has now said that the allies need to do so to take their oil, because much of the oil imported into the United States does not transit the Strait. That statement exhibits the president’s profound ignorance of the oil market.” (04/01/26)
“Missouri operated a film tax credit program before ending it more than a decade ago. In 2010, the state’s Tax Credit Review Commission examined the program and concluded it served too narrow an industry to justify its cost to taxpayers. Lawmakers shut it down soon after. The idea never fully disappeared, though, and in 2023 the subsidy returned, this time with the promise of better results. The current program allows up to $16 million per year in credits for film and television productions. So far, there is little evidence that anything has changed.” (04/01/26)
“A French court has refused to extradite the daughter of Tunisia’s late deposed president, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, who is wanted in her home country over alleged financial crimes. The Paris Appeals Court said its ruling on Wednesday was based on Tunisia’s failure to respond to a request for guarantees of a trial by an independent and impartial court. Halima Ben Ali was arrested in September last year at Tunisia’s request, as she was about to board a flight from Paris to Dubai, on charges of laundering assets gained through her father’s rule of the North African country from 1987 to 2011. Ali’s lawyer, Samia Maktouf, has argued that sending her home would be tantamount to ‘a death sentence.'” (04/02/26)
“Americans don’t have a ton of experience with ‘totally aware’ society, but I’ve seen where it leads. In the Soviet Union everyone was conscious of being watched all the time, by the old lady sitting on the bench outside your apartment to taxi drivers and phone operators. It was dangerous to be quiet, spurring the organic appearance of a citizen type referred to as a Sovok. The Sovok never stopped talking. … At first it annoyed, then you realized constant displays of orthodox stupidity were a rational defense against political surveillance. A nation full of people saying dumb things round the clock is a natural consequence of mass monitoring. Which brings us to modern America.” (04/01/26)
“Democratic Party leaders filed suit Wednesday to block President Donald Trump’s attempt to limit voting by mail ahead of the midterm elections. Democrats argue that an executive order Trump signed at the White House on Tuesday, which creates an approved list of absentee voters among other actions, is an unconstitutional interference in the power of states to regulate elections. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries joined the Democratic National Committee, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the Democratic Governors Association in suing to challenge the order. ‘President Trump possesses no such authority to order such a sweeping change to American elections,’ the suit argues.” (04/01/26)
