QUINTANILLA: Do we think the Russians have shared intel about US military assets, and if so, why would we be giving waivers on oil sanctions?
WITKOFF: I can tell you that on the call with POTUS, the Russians said they have not been sharing. That's what they said. We can take them at their word.
Isnt the risk offloaded to homans? Doesn't matter what (damage) the technology does when the driver is responsible for the results.
Worth noting that unlike other Gulf States the Kuwaitis have experienced the direct impact of several wars, which may also increase societal resilience
Saw a post from Reza Akbari on here translating a firsthand account from someone in Tehran. People just waking up blocks away from the US leveling entire buildings, not knowing if the next one will be theirs. The seemingly stochastic nature of extreme violence will traumatize tens of thousands.
Indeed.
The three global powers are on a collaborative bender of tearing it all down, and Europe isn’t sure yet if it wants to be the fourth real power in this spectrum.
www.greatpower.us/p/wars-of-in...
Email from Chris Reynolds to the AXIS Team. Subject is disappointing AXIS news. Text of e-mail reads: Dear AXIS Friends, The AXIS team has received some very disappointing news – we have been informed by NASA HQ that AXIS is not eligible for selection and hence the Concept Study Report (CSR) will not be subjected to the full review process. AXIS represents the scientific aspirations of a large international community. As a member of one of the AXIS science working groups, you deserve a candid explanation from the PI of what happened and why. That is the purpose of this note. NASA’s decision was programmatic and not based on a review of the technology or science; the mission profile described in the submitted CSR was over the allowed budget and schedule. How was such a thing possible? In short, with NASA-GSFC as the AXIS managing center, the mission formulation process was critically compromised by the seismic shifts occurring in NASA and the Federal government. The AXIS study team was hit hard by three unprecedented challenges: NASA’s Deferred Resignation Program (DRP) and the pressure at GSFC to resign/retire created a rapid and uncontrolled loss of over 20 personnel with key expertise during a critical mission formulation period, including the main GSFC Project Manager (Jimmy Marsh) and the X-ray mirror lead (Will Zhang) and many discipline engineers.
GSFC priorities rapidly realigned to the FY2026 President’s Budget Request (PBR) that eliminated the Probe program, further reducing the availability of GSFC engineering and mission formulation personnel (incl. cost analysts and schedulers) over the critical Summer and Fall months. Key work was halted for almost seven weeks when the core GSFC AXIS study team, dominated by NASA civil servants, was furloughed during the government shutdown. NASA HQ’s extension to the CSR submission deadline (from 18-Dec-2025 to 29-Jan-2026) was inadequate compensation for the disruption and lost time. Taken together, these factors disrupted the basic grass-roots costing process (which requires extensive “reach back” to the discipline engineers to assess labor requirements) as well as the cost-design iteration process that is central to the formulation of a cost-capped and schedule-constrained mission. While the mission design was finalized in April, our initial grass-roots costing (which was ~10% over budget) could only be completed in September due to the lack of assigned resources. With the subsequent government shutdown and then “pens down” in early-December forced by the GSFC Executive Review process, there was no opportunity to work through the set of cost/schedule savings that had already been identified by the AXIS team. Ultimately, the GSFC executive council gave AXIS leadership the choice of submitting a CSR with a non-compliant schedule and cost, or not submitting a CSR at all. We of course proceeded with the submission, including a narrative that we understood the path to a cost-compliant profile (that we would have discussed with the review panels during the Site Visit). NASA HQ has ruled this stance to be unacceptable. It is important to stress that NASA’s programmatic decision was before any technical review had been conducted. The decision was NOT due to any concerns about AXIS technology. Indeed, the AXIS Phase A work had major successes with furthering
Indeed, the AXIS Phase A work had major successes with furthering the key technologies. GSFC’s Next Generation X-ray Optics (NGXO) team successfully demonstrated iridium-coated, stress-compensated mirror segments that meet AXIS baseline requirements (i.e. segment-level performance at sub-arcsecond level). NGXO also built the first AXIS demonstrator mirror module, learning critical lessons about mirror alignment, mounting and bonding. On the detector side, MIT quickly moved to fabricate AXIS-like CCDs and, working with our colleagues at Stanford, recently demonstrated that they achieve the required readout rate and spectral resolution. Similarly, NASA’s decision was NOT a judgment of the importance of AXIS science. The AXIS science case was rated excellent in the Step 1 review, and it only became stronger during our Phase A study. The AXIS Community Science Book, which many of you contributed to, is an extremely powerful demonstration of the relevance and importance of high-resolution X-ray observations to all areas of astrophysics. The Science Book is one of the most important legacies of the AXIS Phase A study and, I believe, will help define future mission concepts for many years to come. I thank you all from the bottom of my heart for all of your work on this. AXIS has been a long journey; we started under the leadership of Richard Mushotzky more than nine years ago. During that time, it’s been an enormous privilege to work with amazing people; the AXIS science team, the incredible/brilliant GSFC and Northrop Grumman engineers, and the wider astrophysics community. I am, quite frankly, livid that AXIS ultimately fell victim to the programmatic chaos of 2025. The astronomical community deserves better. I hope that NASA leadership, especially at GSFC and HQ, can have an honest discussion about how to better support and protect programs during extraordinary times.
For now, as a community, we must look forward. There is still one excellent mission under consideration for the Probe program, PRIMA, and we wish them a smooth and speedy path to selection and flight. In X-ray astronomy, the SMEX and MidEX programs represent concrete pathways for focused, high-impact missions, and the scientific case we built for AXIS provides a strong foundation for those concepts. The technologies we advanced in Step 1 and Phase A, particularly the NGXO mirror work and the MIT/Stanford detector demonstrations, can anchor the next generation of proposals. Most importantly, the AXIS Community Science Book, representing more than 500 scientists across, is a living document and a powerful signal to NASA leadership that this community is organized, serious, and not going anywhere. I encourage everyone to use it actively, as a resource for future concept development, for Astro2030 engagement, and for building the next mission that will deliver high angular resolution X-ray imaging to address the fundamental questions about black hole growth, galaxy evolution, and the hot universe that motivated AXIS from the beginning. This community built something remarkable over nine years and that doesn't end here. Thank you again for your support of AXIS over these times. Best Chris and the AXIS leadership team
The @axisprobe.bsky.social team learned that the phase A concept study report of AXIS (the Advanced X-ray Imaging Satellite) will not be reviewed because the lost personnel at NASA Goddard and government shutdown impacted our schedule and budget. 🔭 Here is the PI's e-mail with the explanation.
Pakistan's main APT group has switched from off-the-shelf low quality malware tools to vibe-coded custom malware
businessinsights.bitdefender.com/apt36-nightm...
Two of the world's most wanted men, Daniel and Christy Kinahan, were photographed at an MMA event, Bellingcat and @thetimes.com found — their most recent sighting since the US issued multi-million dollar bounties. www.bellingcat.com/news/2026/03...
NEW, from me: A secret chapter of Cold War history, told here for the first time. A deep cover Soviet Bloc spy in America at the end of the Cold War. The shocking moves by a European intel chief. And the incredible CI chess games by FBI and CIA counterspies.
www.politico.com/news/magazin...
A GitHub Issue Title Compromised 4k Developer Machines
View Article | Join the HN Conversation
Summary of HN discussion 🧵👇
🔴 BREAKING: Ukraine’s Oshchadbank confirms employees missing in Hungary with millions in assets.
Oshchadbank has confirmed the disappearance of its employees in Hungary after authorities detained vehicles carrying approximately $40 million USD, €35 million, and 9 kg of gold.
The Christian Nationalists in our military seem a bit too excited about bringing about the end of everything.
Images of an old silver 1999 Toyota Corolla for sale
You want a car that gets the job done? You want a car that's hassle free? You want a car that literally no one will ever compliment you on? Well look no further. The 1999 Toyota Corolla. Let's talk about features. Bluetooth: nope Sunroof: nope Fancy wheels: nope Rear view camera: nope...but it's got a transparent rear window and you have a fucking neck that can turn. Let me tell you a story. One day my Corolla started making a strange sound. I didn't give a shit and ignored it. It went away. The End. You could take the engine out of this car, drop it off the Golden Gate Bridge, fish it out of the water a thousand years later, put it in the trunk of the car, fill the gas tank up with Nutella, turn the key, and this puppy would fucking start right up. This car will outlive you, it will outlive your children. Things this car is old enough to do: Vote: yes
Consent to sex: yes Rent a car: it IS a car This car's got history. It's seen some shit. People have done straight things in this car. People have done gay things in this car. It's not going to judge you like a fucking Volkswagen would. Interesting facts: This car's exterior color is gray, but it's interior color is grey. In the owner's manual, oil is listed as "optional." When this car was unveiled at the 1998 Detroit Auto Show, it caused all 2,000 attendees to spontaneously yawn. The resulting abrupt change in air pressure inside the building caused a partial collapse of the roof. Four people died. The event is chronicled in the documentary "Bored to Death: The Story of the 1999 Toyota Corolla You wanna know more? Great, I had my car fill out a Facebook survey. Favorite food: spaghetti Favorite tv show: Alf Favorite band: tie between Bush and the Gin Blossoms This car is as practical as a Roth IRA. It's as middle-of-the-
When I ran the CarFax for this car, I got back a single piece of paper that said, "It's a Corolla, It's fine." Let's face the facts, this car isn't going to win any beauty contests, but neither are you. Stop lying to yourself and stop lying to your wife. This isn't the car you want, it's the car you deserve: The fucking 1999 Toyota Corolla. Google map of cars location
Never forget: 8 years ago a random person on Craigslist wrote the most effective ad for the Toyota Corolla, ever.
1/4
#Zelenskyy
💬 Ukrainians are living under thousands of russian strikes with various types of weapons. In the last week of winter alone, russia used more than 1,720 strike drones, nearly 1,300 guided aerial bombs and more than 100 missiles of various types against #Ukraine
⚠️ Disturbing 📽️
Post See new posts Conversation Laura Rozen @lrozen · 2h From US admin official background briefing recording listening to, seriously question if US negotiators understood what Iranians were proposing. One official keeps saying acronym for “IAEA” wrong. They seem astonished Iran would not agree to the US supplying them nuclear fuel Laura Rozen @lrozen · 2h They took as suspicious proposals that Iran saw as concessionary. Laura Rozen @lrozen · 2h Explains why Oman FM tried to come to DC to explain what US negotiators may not have fully understood Laura Rozen @lrozen Am not saying what Iran proposed would have been enough, I dont know, but it seems US negotiators did not have the expert guidance to understand it correctly
On top of all the reporting that this war of aggression was planned well in advance, it seems that the reporting also indicates that the US political leadership are quite literally too stupid to understand basic diplomacy. I mean literally not smart enough.
In parts of the Middle East and North Africa, a patchwork of sanctions, payment failures, and licensing gaps pushes people into piracy networks. www.wired.com/story/the-pi...
We are early in this movie, but I think Trump's apparently success here has more to do with Israel wiping out so much of Iran's capabilities over the past year+, and their accurate assessment that a knockout punch could be delivered
Great pic for the story ☺️
Belgium and France have seized the Russian shadow fleet tanker Ethera, sailing under a Guinean flag, with the vessel now headed to the Belgian port of Zeebrugge, Belgian Defense Minister Theo Francken announced. #Russia
Functioning democracies place anti-corruption regulation and enforcement as a high priority.
Not enforcing against corruption allows malign opportunists to garner outsized wealth and influence that helps steer policy and choose leaders. Corruption exacerbates democratic decline.
The Trump administration’s global havoc is unending.
My latest story is about how the Trump admin is amplifying anti vaxx conspiracies just as measles outbreaks are spreading across the globe; many countries have just lost elimination status, and others are on the brink.
bar chart showing methane emissions from US Oil and gas production rising significantly from 2023 to 2024.
The US leads the world in methane emissions from oil and gas production. And the total amount of emissions keeps going up based on the data from the IEA.
They killed him. Border Patrol killed Nural Shah Alam. Add him to the ever growing list of innocent people ICE and Border Patrol have killed. The border patrol agents who dumped him out in the cold should be on trial for murder.
The ICE surge in Minnesota cost $280M to detain 4k people. Of those- only 30 were accused of violent crimes.
$9 million per capture of the "worst of the worst".
Renee Good and Alex Pretti were unavailable for comment….
Financial Times exclusive: Tens of thousands of internal emails and documents released by the US Department of Justice as part of the Epstein files paint for the first time a vivid picture of how Deutsche Bank rolled out the red carpet for the serial sexual abuser.
ft.trib.al/6lAW6ay
It seems all Kansas-issued trans drivers' licenses are invalid, effective tomorrow
It is now illegal for trans people to drive a car until they surrender their license at a DMV (that most will need to drive to) and have it reissued with the wrong gender marker
This was never about woman's sports
