“They have hearts broken into pieces.” A report on the recent U.S. air strikes in Yemen, where more than fifty people, including children, were killed, after plans were discussed in the Administration’s infamous group chat. Also in today’s newsletter:
- A social-media company giving power to the people
- Will A.I. save the news?
- The Trump Administration’s assault on medical research
The Other Side of Signalgate
The Trump Administration’s extraordinary security breach has elicited shock, amusement, and anger. An eyewitness in Yemen describes what happened when the bombs started to fall.
By Rozina Ali
On the morning of March 14th, while Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Vice-President J. D. Vance debated a possible U.S. attack on Houthi targets in a now infamous Signal chat, it was afternoon in Yemen, and a five-year-old boy named Hamad was still alive. Hamad had spent the day running around the city with his father, and when night fell he was back home, playing in the yard with his cousins, likely slipping one too many sweets into his mouth.
In a thread called “Houthi PC Small Group,” which included other top national-security officials, Vance seemed concerned about getting dragged into another conflict that was peripheral to American interests. The operation was meant to disrupt the Houthis’ ability to attack commercial ships and American military vessels in the Red Sea, which they had been doing for about a year and a half, in response to Israel’s bombing campaign in Gaza. Vance floated the possibility of delaying the strikes so that the Administration could work on the public “messaging.” “I understand your concerns,” Hegseth told him, but messaging would be “tough” no matter the timing. “Nobody knows who the Houthis are,” he explained.
- Bluesky’s Quest to Build Nontoxic Social Media
- The Trump Show Comes to the Kennedy Center
- Will A.I. Save the News?
- “I Am Seeing My Community of Researchers Decimated”
- The Dire Wolf Is Back
Daily Cartoon
- Play today’s moderately challenging puzzle. A clue: Runner who won her 2023 marathon début and her 2024 Olympic-marathon début. Eleven letters.
- Shouts & Murmurs: An A.I.-Generated Article on How to Tell If the Article You’re Reading Is A.I.-Generated
P.S. “The Handmaid’s Tale,” based on Margaret Atwood’s novel of the same name, premières its sixth and final season today on Hulu. Michael Schulman joined the show’s star, Elisabeth Moss, on set while she was filming Season 5, where he watched as she gave notes on just how mangled a penis should be.
