Links For Today

Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, May 15, 2025

Trump’s Syria announcement surprised his own sanctions officials

FBI warns of ongoing scam that uses deepfake audio to impersonate government officials

Why Apple can’t just quit China

In early 2006 I was in charge of creating The Warchiefs, an expansion to Age of Empires 3. A special “strike team” was sent to talk to us. They were ostensibly about localization but in reality their job was to make products worse so they wouldn’t offend anyone

“I Can’t Understand My Professor”

Links For Today

Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, May 14, 2025

President Trump meets with a Specially Designated Global Terrorist, lifts sanctions on Syria

Donald Trump sends signal to Israel: It’s time to turn page on Syria

Robot chefs take over at South Korea’s highway restaurants, to mixed reviews

Facing a budget deficit, Gov. Gavin Newsom is proposing changes to California’s program to provide free healthcare coverage to low-income undocumented immigrants. The cost of coverage for immigrants has exceeded state estimates by billions of dollars.

Republicans Push to Refill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve With $1.3 Billion

Underwater Volcano Off the Oregon Coast Poised to Erupt

Links For Today

Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, May 13, 2025

Ukraine Situation Report

“But the results were not there. The United States had not even established air superiority over the Houthis. Instead, what was emerging after 30 days of a stepped-up campaign against the Yemeni group was another expensive but inconclusive American military engagement in the region.

House Republican Bill: $4 Trillion in Tax Cuts, But Not Enough Spending Cuts

After all, in L.A. County’s unincorporated areas, where more than 12,000 homes, buildings, and parcels were scorched in the fires that started January 7, there have been a grand total of eight permits to rebuild issued so far. Eight.

Arcane Accounting Rule Is Draining Millions From New York Classrooms

Beekeepers across the U.S. see unprecedented honeybee die-offs. Lindsey Moroch, an owner of Kutik’s Everything Bees in Oxford, said they were lucky to not see the same number of die-offs as other beekeepers, but they did scale back their pollination services this year.

Links For Today

Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, May 11, 2025

Trump’s Mideast moves increasingly seem to sideline Israel

Best overview I have found about what happened between India and Pakistan so far. Illusions and Realities of ‘Cross-Border Incidents’, Part 1 and this is the second part.. Illusions and Realities of ‘Cross-Border Incidents’, Part 2

Saudi Arabia Spends Like Oil’s Still at $90

French PM to testify under oath on snowballing child abuse scandal

Links For Today

Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, May 10, 2025

Taiwan is walking an energy tightrope. The island nation’s isolated energy grid supports a population the size of Australia’s at 23 million and one of the most advanced and energy-intensive tech sectors in the world. And not only is it being pushed to its absolute limit by economic factors, it’s also facing an existential threat from potential Chinese aggression.

What’s in the 2025 New York State Budget? Here’s Everything You Need to Know.

In America, we tell ourselves one kind of story — about the backlash to science, on one side, or the liberal overreach, on the other. But this is not just an American phenomenon. The measles outbreak in Canada, for instance, is even bigger than ours; in Europe, they’ve gone from 127 cases in 2022 to more than 35,000 in 2024. Routine vaccination rates went down almost everywhere.

Links for Today

Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, May 9, 2025

Indian (and Pakistani) Military Etiquette

Senior Biden administration officials consistently told the Saudis during months of dialogue about normalization with Israel that they could have a civilian nuclear program—but only if a peace agreement with Israel was in place. However, according to a Reuters report, President Trump is now decoupling the nuclear issue from normalization.

Newark airport air traffic controller screens black out again. Older related story: Newark airport air traffic controller offers damning assessment: ‘It is not safe. Don’t fly into Newark’

I am not sure this is really correct. It relies on one source that is self interested. But it don’t matter because it could be a self fulfilling if enough people see headlines like this. Toilet paper shortage could be coming to US thanks to Trump tariffs

Trump Makes Concessions on Auto Parts Tariffs for Domestic Car Producers

The State Is Making New York City Spend $275 Million More for Child Care Vouchers

How to Salvage a Transit Project