Independent News Drop

KELI From Inkwell, this is the Independent News Drop. I'm Keli, with Hast.

HAST Heavy on power and money today. Let's go.

KELI Texas Governor Greg Abbott ordered a statewide halt on data center approvals Monday. The Public Utility Commission and ERCOT — that's the grid operator — have to audit every data center seeking connection to the state power network before any new permits move forward. No timeline on when those audits finish. The order came as data centers have consumed a growing share of Texas electricity, and the state's grid has faced strain during heat waves. Abbott framed it as due diligence; the underlying story is whether the rush to attract data center investment has outpaced the actual capacity of the power system to absorb it.

HAST From our Ground News desk — and this is the lead we're carrying today — Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir posted a video of himself on social media May twentieth. In it, zip-tied detainees, Israeli national anthem blaring on loudspeakers, and Ben-Gvir on camera saying, quote, "Welcome to Israel. We are the landlords here." He didn't leak it. He posted it himself. The prisons chief had approved the tour. Netanyahu issued a statement saying it wasn't reflective of Israel's values. The press ran it as an outrage moment. What got buried: the structural question of who actually authorizes detention facility tours when the National Security Council oversees police operations. That gap — the governance void — didn't survive the news cycle.

KELI Counter-read on that one. Most outlets framed Ben-Gvir's video as a gaffe, a tone-deaf minister, and Netanyahu cleaning it up. The real mechanism underneath is institutional authority when security and police overlap. If the prisons chief approved the tour, either the NSC knew or there's no real oversight. The falsifiable part: watch whether any Israeli government body announces a review of approval authority for detention access in the next seventy-two hours. If it doesn't, you know the governance question went unanswered.

HAST Staying with accountability — President Trump was asked Monday whether Representative Max Miller of Ohio should resign following abuse allegations against the Republican congressman. Trump said Miller is a good person and he's going to let the families figure it out. Miller has not announced he'll step down and is running for reelection. The allegations have not been adjudicated.

KELI Different front now. Iran. The Trump administration says an agreement with Iran is imminent, with negotiations set to begin Monday. Tehran's foreign ministry said today there are no current talks with the United States. That's a direct factual contradiction on the record. We'll know which statement holds up as the week moves.

HAST The yen. United States and Japan announced a joint intervention in currency markets Monday — a rare move. Both countries said they won't hesitate to do it again. The backdrop is yen weakness and market volatility. Coordinated central bank action signals concern on both sides of the Pacific about currency stability.

KELI On Capitol Hill, prosecutors dropped charges against David Hearn on Friday over Reflecting Pool damage, blaming a botched installation rather than vandalism. That decision has opened the door for three other people charged in the same case to have their charges dropped as well. The shift in legal theory — from intentional damage to installation failure — changes the entire liability picture for those defendants.

HAST Before we close, a history note.

KELI On this day in 1940, Italian forces began the invasion of British Somaliland, expanding the theater of World War II in East Africa.

HAST That's the Independent News Drop. We'll be back this evening. From Inkwell.

KELI Before we close, a word from Inkwell. A principle from Gil's Intelligent Version worth borrowing: where a source genuinely leaves a question open, an honest translation preserves the ambiguity instead of quietly deciding for you.

HAST They call it The Refused Verdict. At inkwell dot wiki, slash giv.