21ST CENTURY WARFARE: CENTCOM using underwater drones to clear mines in the Strait of Hormuz. “Iran is estimated to have between 2,000 and 6,000 naval mines, and upward of 80-90% of its small boats and mine layers, making it possible to lay hundreds of mines in the waterway. On Saturday, US officials said that Iran reportedly lost track of the locations of mines deployed in the Strait of Hormuz and has no clear idea of where all the mines were placed.”
Author Archive: Stephen Green
April 15, 2026
THE LITTLE COUNTRY THAT COULD:
*Israel’s economy surges past $700B despite war*
New IMF data for 2026 shows Israel’s GDP has crossed $719.85 billion for the first time, marking a historic milestone. Despite over two years of war, the economy continues to expand at a rapid pace, with projections pointing… pic.twitter.com/DSUdNpEmwF
— Israel Now (@neveragainlive1) April 15, 2026
Plus, a reminder that US aid to Israel is only $3.8 billion annually, and almost all of that comes right back here as arms purchases.
KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Abigail Spanberger’s Virginia Is a Creepy, Commie Place. “Democratic Governor Abigail Spanberger is leading an unhinged leftist revival in Virginia that has been rather horrifying in its swiftness. Democrats have complete control of the government now and the wraith-like Spanberger has them all whipped into a frenzy and ready to charge off of the radical progressive cliff as quickly as they can.”
“INCOMPETENT TO STAND TRIAL” SHOULD ALSO MEAN “UNABLE TO LEAVE THE ASYLUM”:
Two years ago, Naomi Guzman doused her father in lighter fluid and tried to set him on fire, then broke into a church and threatened a priest with a knife. She was found incompetent to stand trial and released.
Today, she abducted a toddler and stabbed him before she was shot… https://t.co/yhIylOr5fS
— Daniel Friedman (@DanFriedman81) April 15, 2026
Unleash crazy people on the public, expect crazy results.
A growing number of developers and AI power users are taking to social media to accuse Anthropic of degrading the performance of Claude Opus 4.6 and Claude Code — intentionally or as an outcome of compute limits — arguing that the company’s flagship coding model feels less capable, less reliable and more wasteful with tokens than it did just weeks ago.
The complaints have spread quickly on Github, X and Reddit over the past several weeks, with several high-reach posts alleging that Claude has become worse at sustained reasoning, more likely to abandon tasks midway through, and more prone to hallucinations or contradictions.
Some users have framed the issue as “AI shrinkflation” — the idea that customers are paying the same price for a weaker product.
Others have gone further, suggesting Anthropic may be throttling or otherwise tuning Claude downward during periods of heavy demand.
Those claims remain unproven, and Anthropic employees have publicly denied that the company degrades models to manage capacity. At the same time, Anthropic has acknowledged real changes to usage limits and reasoning defaults in recent weeks, which has made the broader debate more combustible.
VentureBeat has reached out to Anthropic for further clarification on the recent accusations, including whether any recent changes to reasoning defaults, context handling, throttling behavior, inference parameters or benchmark methodology could help explain the spike in complaints.
Anthropic lost maybe as much as $6 billion last year, and is expected to lose another $8-10 billion this year. Revenue is growing, but infrastructure costs are growing even faster.
Maybe something had to give.
JAW, JAW: Trump tells The Post US-Iran talks ‘could be happening over next two days.’
Trump did not say who would represent the US in a potential second round of talks, but confirmed he would not take part.
The president also indicated he was not pleased with reports that the US had asked Iran to suspend its uranium enrichment program for at least two decades during this past weekend’s unsuccessful talks.
“I’ve been saying they can’t have nuclear weapons” he said, “so I don’t like the 20 years.”
Asked about proponents suggesting a moratorium may encourage Iran make an agreement, Trump answered: “I don’t want them [Iran] to feel like they have a win.”
Not sure what a second round of talks might accomplish that the first round didn’t, particularly since the 20-year deal seems to be off the table.
Besides, all the really interesting talk seems to be happening in Iran already:
🚨WATCH: From C14 (English subtitles) After the Iranian delegation returned from Pakistan empty-handed, President Pezeshkian erupted, shouting at members of the delegation. In an exclusive quote obtained by C14, he told associates, “We are weeks away from collapse. They are… pic.twitter.com/fhJvkIfAso
— Raylan Givens (@JewishWarrior13) April 14, 2026
Iran doesn’t seem to be playing its A game, but to be fair, the US and IDF killed most of its A players.
UPDATE (FROM GLENN):
TrUmP dIdN’t HaVe A pLaN https://t.co/24dHOxKA3d
— Joel Pollak (@joelpollak) April 15, 2026
DISPATCHES FROM THE BLUE ZONES:
🚨OH. MY. GOSH!!!
A judge in Charlotte NC just DROPPED THE BOND of an known Tren de Aragua (TdA) gang member ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT FROM VENEZUELA from:
$1,000,000 -> $25,000
No justification was given.
Luis was charged after he fired a gun, his pregnant wife wrestled it away from… pic.twitter.com/gCaA6KnWQp
— Matt Van Swol (@mattvanswol) April 14, 2026
JUST SO WE’RE CLEAR, IT’S A BLOCKADE OF IRAN: 10,000 Troops at Work: CENTCOM Update on U.S. Blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
April 14, 2026
THE SCIENCE IS NEVER SETTLED: Mammal ancestors laid eggs, and this 250-million-year-old fossil finally proves it.
THAT EXPLAINS IT:
Robert Prevost's politics were somewhere between Rachel Maddow and The View.
Now he's Pope Leo XIV. pic.twitter.com/zPgk8r22J7
— KanekoaTheGreat (@KanekoaTheGreat) April 14, 2026
IT’S DIFFERENT WHEN THEY DO IT:
Horrific https://t.co/Yxq6A3Z0Fy
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 13, 2026
Movie prices don’t bother me that much. Believe it or not, adjusted for inflation, ticket prices were at their highest in the early ’70s and have slowly declined since.
But the barrage of ads is a real turnoff.
TO BE FAIR, MILEI IS RIGHT ABOUT PRETTY MUCH EVERYTHING:
In 2024, Milei warned that Pedro Sánchez's wife was corrupt.
All the media outlets and the establishment came out to criticize Milei and claim he was wrong.
Today, Pedro Sánchez's wife was convicted of four crimes, including corruption and bribery.
Milei was right. https://t.co/tnnsBznQEf pic.twitter.com/rMML7cglxj
— BowTiedMara (@BowTiedMara) April 13, 2026
BE TOLERANT, THEY TOLD ME, OR ELSE:
What’s impressive about this is that the education system didn’t just eliminate virtually all conservative thought as it moved toward left wing extremism, they got rid of almost anyone who was in the middle too. Anyone who doesn’t fully comply with the groupthink isn’t welcome. pic.twitter.com/1pvNKCGqxW
— Ian Miller (@ianmSC) April 14, 2026
JOANNE JACOBS: It’s a marathon, not a miracle.
As founder of the education nonprofit Mississippi First, Canter saw her home state start getting serious about meeting higher expectations in 2008. That change included state power to take over low-performing districts, A-F grades for schools and districts based on student achievement and challenging new learning standards.
The state’s literacy law passed in 2013: Schools screen students’ reading skills three times a year and report progress to parents. Students can’t read adequately by the end of third grade are held back a year. The law meant “everyone in the system would be in a hellfire hurry to teach children to read,” writes Canter. “No one wanted children to fail.”
Accountability works — who’d have thought?
IF BY WEIRD YOU MEAN BUSINESS AS USUAL:
Wild that banging a Chinese spy wasn’t what got Swalwell out of Congress, rather it was the democrat ruling class machine deciding he isn’t useful to them anymore
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) April 14, 2026
FRANCE SURRENDERED ITS INTERESTS IN LEBANON LONG AGO: Israel to Nix France From U.S.-Lebanon Talks?
IF ONLY EUROPE WOULD MAKE CRUSADES GREAT AGAIN:
Have you ever noticed that we never see Catholic cardinals or the Pope speak out about all the Christian churches being burned down around the world?
But yet, Pope Leo runs to showcase a mosque in a country that restricts Christians and other faiths, and coerces conversion to… https://t.co/leIOyn6SEF
— Kate (@kate_p45) April 14, 2026
Why, it’s almost as if…:
Update: Sorry, the embed is broken for some reason and just noticed. Hope the screencap helps.
THAT’S BARELY A DOWN PAYMENT ON OUR NEEDS: The Pentagon wants a 188 percent bump for missile procurement. Can industry deliver?
NOTHING TO SEE HERE, MOVE ALONG:
A California news team finds a left-wing group, “Build a Better California,” paying homeless people $5 a signature to sign petitions for ballot measures using other people’s names. This transpired in the Tenderloin area of San Francisco. The man became violent when the reporter… pic.twitter.com/75MdhInVCM
— Doreen Linder (@DorLinder) April 13, 2026
THIS IS EXCITING: Gentlemen, Start Your Stills — America’s Next Craft Boom Begins.