William Bendix

I've been MIA. Nice to have a lucky, quick return.

Wordle 1,632 3/6

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"Politicians become dependent on the wealthy not because the money actually delivers votes, but because they believe it does."

"German security officials say Putin is well-positioned to hit a declared target of a 1.5 million–troop army next year. That rapid industrial and military build-up has rattled European policymakers, who increasingly see it as preparation for military action beyond Ukraine."

"The incentives go beyond cash, with pledges of debt relief and free childcare for soldiers’ families and guaranteed university places for their children. Criminal records, illness and even HIV are no longer automatic disqualifiers."

How Russia keeps raising an army to replace its dead An online bazaar of freelance headhunters finds new recruits to fight Ukraine, emboldening Vladimir Putin at the negotiating table and scaring European leaders about what his growing army might do nex...

Putin maintains his army through generous signing bones. One Russian explains his decision to fight: “During one argument, my wife said: ‘It would be better if you went to war.’ A month and a half later, I signed the contract. It felt like the only way out.”
www.politico.com/news/2025/12...

Putin says Russia will take Donbas by force or Ukraine's troops will withdraw The Russian leader's comments come as US and Ukrainian negotiators are due to hold a new round of talks.

Interesting story. Putin doubles down publicly on continuing the war. Also, a leaked transcript of a confidential call among EU leaders concerning Ukraine peace negotiations is quoted and discussed.
www.bbc.com/news/article...

Great culture can save lives. Literally.

Amazing letter in today’s @thetimes.com about Tom Stoppard

More discharge petitions to come! One on a stock trading ban for legislators and another on Russian sanctions.
thehill.com/homenews/hou...

Said before, will say it again: Better to be lucky than good.

Wordle 1,626 3/6

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World arms makers post record $679 billion in sales as wars drive demand, output lags Sales by the world’s top 100 arms makers hit a record $679 billion last year, up 5.9% as wars in Ukraine and Gaza drove demand, researchers said on Monday, though production bottlenecks slowed deliver...

"Over the 2015-2024 period, revenues for the top 100 arms makers have risen 26 percent."

www.france24.com/en/europe/20...

Wordle puzzle created by LesNaim 3/6

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I don't think I've ever had this before: no correct letters after the first two guesses.

Wordle 1,625 4/6

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Why does poetry trick large language models into giving up dangerous and prohibited information? Here's why:

Poems Can Trick AI Into Helping You Make a Nuclear Weapon It turns out all the guardrails in the world won’t protect a chatbot from meter and rhyme.

"We experimented by reformulating dangerous requests in poetic form, using metaphors, fragmented syntax, oblique references. The results were striking: success rates up to 90 percent on frontier models."
www.wired.com/story/poems-...

The solution made me laugh.

Wordle puzzle created by LesNaim 5/6

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Wordle 1,624 4/6

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Happy Thanksgiving, Norm, and all the many Wordle friends. (A stroke of luck for me today.)

Wordle 1,622 2/6

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Opinion | How the Elite Behave When No One Is Watching: Inside the Epstein Emails

"If you were an alien landing on Earth and the first thing you saw was the Epstein emails, you could gauge status by spelling, grammar, punctuation. Usage is inversely related to power in this network." In other words, the truly elite feign functional illiteracy.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/23/o...

Yes, striking out early eliminates many options. I got lucky with my third guess.

Wordle 1,617 3/6

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I had an easier go today. Yesterday, however, I needed all six guesses.

Wordle 1,616 4/6

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Read Trump’s latest Russia-Ukraine peace plan The proposal will be difficult for Kyiv to swallow, as it includes making serious territorial concessions to Moscow.

"Russia would commit to not attack again and be granted reintegration into the global economy, including potential sanctions relief that will be discussed 'on a case-by-case basis' and an invitation to return to the G7."
www.politico.eu/article/read...

Senate to move on Trump-backed Russia sanctions, Graham says Sen. Lindsey Graham said “with President Trump’s blessing,” the Senate will move on the sanctions.

"President Donald Trump told reporters Sunday night that the proposed Senate legislation would be 'OK with me,' his strongest approval on the sanctions."
www.politico.com/live-updates...

The words are getting harder, I think.

Took me a long time to come up with my last guess.

Wordle 1,610 5/6

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Twenty-Eight Shutdown Thoughts May I never have to write about these things again

open.substack.com/pub/mattglas...

And mentally exhausting! At least for me.

Even though I solved yesterday's puzzle in four and today's in five, I found yesterday's much, much harder.

Wordle 1,607 5/6

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Germany’s rearmament upends Europe’s power balance As Berlin again becomes Europe’s leading military power, Paris and Warsaw face a massive political shift.

A French official on Germany and its fast-growing military power: “They won’t need to invade Alsace and Moselle. They can just buy it.”
www.politico.eu/article/germ...

Margaret Atwood Leans Into Her Dark Side in a New Memoir

A friend describing Margaret Atwood: “Don’t piss her off, or you will live forever.”
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/03/b...

This one hurt my head...

Wordle 1,604 4/6

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