Stunning graph: the plummeting tax rates of the richest Americans. For the first time in history, billionaires have a lower effective tax rate than working-class Americans.

I've spoken with a senior officer from Myanmar's military who went AWOL just two months ago. As an army major — a signals officer, working around colonels and generals — he has insight into the regime's thinking.

Here's what he told me. (1/x)

theworld.org/segments/2024/…

against creatives making content on spec, even if it's the Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund

Belatedly posting: A few months ago I went to the Central African Republic, on what was supposed to be the first stop of a trip about small-time gold mining. This piece, out now in Granta, is about what ended up happening

granta.com/wagner-in-afri…

Inside Rahul Gandhi’s (doomed?) run for office, by Samanth Subramanian nytimes.com/2024/04/20/mag…

Yes I am bingeing old Harper's stories because I'm writing one myself, and this, by Dan Halpern, is fantastic. harpers.org/archive/2012/0…

My former Okie grandfather-in-law drowned puppies in the river and once blew a cat's head off because it pissed on the bedsheets.

Nice guy. I probably wouldn't vote for him though.

🤷‍♂️

“Most of the people who say they enjoy it don’t. From walking out, to standing in front of each other while they do the announcements. Getting in a cage and having someone try and knock my head off... it’s awful man, it really is awful.”

Top interview. bbc.com/sport/articles…

Read this corker today, about a reporter's torturous attempt to interview Charles Taylor - by the late Denis Johnson harpers.org/archive/2000/1…

Otter thinks I keep talking about a guy named Bogan Bill.

NEW SHOW - How Andrew Tate and the Romanian Mob were Made for Each Other

We dive into the Tate bros' links to organized crime, and how they're peak Romania—from Ponzi schemes and digital scams, to one of the world's biggest trafficking Mafias

Get it: open.spotify.com/episode/6FMer2…

Didn’t have that one on the bingo card

A movie premiere in Wellington! And it was great - definitely see The Moon Is Upside Down if you can. Loren Taylor, Victoria Haralabidou and Jemaine Clement with brilliant performances

Harrowing reminder of abysmal conditions for political prisoners in Myanmar, where in one case pregnant mothers were refused medical treatment and had to give birth 'with the help of other prisoners because there was no medical staff.'

frontiermyanmar.net/en/left-to-die…

New: Bellingcat and Scripps News followed one IDF battalion’s movements across Gaza, geolocating their social posts to highlight IDF involvement in systematic destruction of Palestinian land and livelihoods: bellingcat.com/news/2024/04/2…

‘As he waited for the ambulance, he casually lit a cigarette. “I figured where I was headed, I couldn’t smoke,” he says.’

Holy moly what a read. washingtonpost.com/sports/interac…

Well you didn't wake up this morning 'cause you didn't go to bed/ You were watching the whites of your eyes turn red

Incredible just how insular the US print media gets in an election year.

An NBC News investigation into seven deadly airstrikes has found Palestinians were killed in areas of southern Gaza that the Israeli military had explicitly designated as safe zones.

Hala Gorani reports from Israel.