Am I free not to talk about Jeffrey Goldberg?

I remember the time — 16 years ago — he got annoyed at me for objecting to his characterization of Dahlia Lithwick as a "haiku genius."

Now, there's something about his bizarre inclusion in a group chat about crushing the Houthis.

For the annals of Things I Asked Grok: When did Shakespeare use the plot device of a character who thinks he's secretly eavesdropping who is being deliberately fed false information to get him to do something? (The answer involves "Othello," "Much Ado About Nothing," and "Twelfth Night.")

I'll just say...

Whispers cloak the stage
Hidden ears catch crafted tales
Truth bends in the dark

"Even by the standards of Yemen, where violence, uncertainty and a weak central government are endemic, the power vacuum has produced a serious crisis..."

"...  that threatens to tear the country apart, allow a resurgent Qaeda room to expand and accelerate a sectarian conflict between the Houthis, who are a Shiite sect, and Sunni tribes and militants."

It also may undermine the United States’ antiterrorism operations in the region, since the ousted president was an ally of Washington.

Still, the mood here remained calm, almost festive at times, as hundreds of Houthi supporters — bitter opponents of Al Qaeda — gathered in the district of Al Juras, their main stronghold in the capital, to condemn the caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad that were published in the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo. It was the local Qaeda franchise that claimed credit for planning the attacks at the newspaper and a kosher market that left 17 dead in Paris this month.

“God is great, death to America, death to Israel, damnation to the Jews, victory to Islam," scattered groups chanted as they strolled back to their cars.

It's only Yemen. Are you paying attention to what is arguably — as opposed to 11 deflated footballs — the most important news story of the week?