• I'm not going to Coachella this year for the first time in a decade.
• Over the years, I've seen some big changes at the festival — for better and worse.
• In my opinion, getting a ticket nowadays feels like just another influencer rite of passage.

Every April since 2015, I've packed my bags and headed to the California desert for three days of music, heat, and unforgettable memories.

I'd dreamed about going to Coachella long before I ever stepped foot on the festival grounds, and can still remember watching the official livestream from my bedroom in high school.

When I finally made it there, I felt as though I was stepping into a dream — the energy, the setting, and the performances were unlike anything I'd ever experienced.

I've also been fortunate enough to attend Coachella with various types of passes — General Admission, VIP, Press, and Artist — giving me a unique perspective on the festival's many worlds.

Over the years, though, I've seen some big changes at Coachella, for better and worse. So, when tickets went on sale earlier this year, I didn't feel a pull to return to the desert like I always had.

Although the lineup was packed with great talent, I knew I wouldn't get the same organic feeling I used to when I first started attending the festival.

So, for the first time in a decade, I'm skipping Coachella.

The festival had always felt like an escape for me

Over the years, I got to experience "wow" moments, like seeing Beyoncé's legendary 2018 set (now known as "Beychella"), watching my favorite bands play at sunset with the iconic Ferris wheel in the background, and witnessing surprise performances from icons like Rihanna — who I once found myself dancing next to in the crowd.

I loved being surrounded by like-minded music fans who were excited to see their favorite artists perform and discover up-and-coming talent.

No matter where I was — in the pit, backstage, or on the grass — it felt like Coachella had a way of bringing everyone together. That spirit of serendipity is part of what made it feel so special in the first place.

However, the festival vibe seemed to change over time

When I started attending the festival in 2015, Instagram was still a relatively new app and TikTok hadn't launched yet.

Although there were definitely influencers and celebrities trying to get the picture-perfect shot back then, not everyone was a content creator. Nowadays, though, the TikTok algorithm makes it easy for "normal" people to go viral.

In my experience, the increasing popularity of social-media apps shifted the festival's energy from raw and unfiltered to curated and performative.

In the past few years of attending the festival, I witnessed more and more people using the festival to create content — many of them didn't seem to be at Coachella for the music at all. I still remember watching a group dance to a live set while filming a video and immediately stop once they were no longer recording.

Soon, I felt like I couldn't walk around the festival grounds without photobombing a brand shoot or watching someone try to curate the perfect Instagram moment.

I noticed more attendees choosing heels and complicated outfits that might land them on the Coachella best-dressed list but probably wouldn't fare well or be comfortable after a long day of standing in the sandy desert.

Over time, attending became less about presence and more about presentation. Coachella used to feel like a secret world shared among music lovers and free spirits. Now, getting a ticket feels like just another influencer rite of passage.

Content is packaged, filtered, and posted before the beat drops. Although I know I'll feel a little FOMO when the posts start rolling in this year, I'm OK with that.

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Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has quietly installed William Ruger, a former Charles Koch Institute vice president and skeptic of military action against Iran, into a key position in her department, according to congressional officials.

Why it matters: Ruger's appointment to one of the most important jobs in the intelligence community had led to private concern and public praise among congressional Republicans, reflecting the deep divides in the party on key policy questions, from Iran to Ukraine to China.

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• "Will is a solid choice by DNI Gabbard," Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) told Axios in a statement. "He has honorably served our country and brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the table."
• "This is the kind of principled leadership we need more of in Washington," he said.
• "Donald Trump said no Koch people should serve and at some point he's going to realize that his administration has become littered with them," said a GOP congressional official.

A Gabbard spokesperson declined to comment.

Zoom out: Senate Republicans have outwardly accepted Trump's defense and intelligence nominees, and voted to confirm them.

• But below the surface, there are vicious battles over who will serve in positions that don't require Senate confirmation, but are hugely influential.

The latest flare-up stems from Gabbard's decision to make Ruger the deputy director of national intelligence for mission integration, a consequential job that includes a range of responsibilities, including preparing the president's intelligence briefing.

• He is listed as the "acting" director on one ODNI webpage, but on the official job description page, the "acting" is missing.
• Last month, Gabbard decided not to give the same job to Daniel Davis, a critic of Israel and skeptic of foreign interventions, after an uproar from pro-Israel advocates over his expected appointment.
• But since then, she has quietly given the position to Ruger, according to congressional officials.

Zoom in: Like Davis, Ruger has connections to both the Charles Koch Institute and Defense Priorities, think tanks that have been skeptical of military actions against Iran and take a restrained view on how much the U.S. should intervene abroad. .

• In January, Trump took to Truth Social to warn not to send "or recommend to us, people who worked with, or are endorsed by, Americans for No Prosperity (headed by Charles Koch)," he said, misnaming one of the Koch's groups. The post was broadly interpreted by congressional Republicans as a prohibition against officials affiliated with the Koch network.
• Ruger, a Navy reservist, Afghan war veteran and academic, was nominated by Trump to be his ambassador to Afghanistan in September of 2020, but the Senate ran out of time and he was never confirmed.

Between the lines: A frequent poster on X, Ruger has advocated for a more isolationist approach to global conflicts.

• In 2021, he called on President Biden "to continue with the promised withdrawal" of U.S. troops in Afghanistan in a New York Times op-ed.
• This summer, he was critical of advocates for regime change in Iran, saying on X, "These guys have learned nothing from last 25 years."

The bottom line: GOP divisions over Iran were highlighted during the confirmation process for Elbridge Colby, who was confirmed this week as Trump's under secretary for policy at the Defense Department by a vote of 54-45.

• Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) was the only Republican to vote against him.
• "Elbridge Colby's long public record suggests a willingness to discount the complexity of the challenges facing America," McConnell said in a statement.

• Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway issued $628 million of so-called samurai bonds on Friday.
• Several Japanese companies postponed similar bond sales as Trump's tariffs rocked markets.
• Strategist Larry McDonald suggested Buffett was raising fresh funds to go on an epic buying spree.

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway sold yen-denominated debt worth $628 million on Friday, even as Japanese companies delayed bond issues amid roiling markets and a burgeoning trade war.

The famed investor's conglomerate issued six tranches of bonds ranging from three to 30 years, and offered higher premiums than its last yen note issue in October, per a term sheet viewed by Reuters.

Beverage makers Asahi and Suntory and Cup Noodle owner Nissin Foods postponed yen-bond issues they had planned for this week as President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs and threats of retaliatory duties tanked stocks and rattled bond markets worldwide.

Buffett, famous for keeping his cool when others panic, forged ahead.

The Berkshire CEO nearly doubled his company's stash of cash and Treasurys to more than $320 billion last year, as he pared key holdings such as Apple and Bank of America and halted stock buybacks. This latest fundraising fueled fresh speculation on social media that the bargain hunter is preparing to pounce as stock prices reel.

"Just wow," Larry McDonald, the author of "The Bear Traps Report" and former head of US macro strategy at Société Générale, posted on X. "Buffett is loaded with cash and he's reaching into the margin account (borrowing) in yen. Next 12 months - he's going to buy this puke festival with both hands."

Betting on Japan

Berkshire has been issuing so-called samurai bonds since 2019 to finance its investments in five Japanese trading houses: Itochu, Marubeni, Mitsubishi, Mitsui, and Sumitomo. Friday's yen deal was its smallest so far, which could reflect limited investor appetite given all the market turmoil.

Buffett's company raised its stakes in the five largest "sogo shosha" in March, after he disclosed in his annual shareholder letter in February that the quintet had agreed to let Berkshire increase its ownership of each of them to more than 10%.

The billionaire investor wrote that he and his team originally piled in because they were "amazed" at the companies' cheap valuations.

Buffett also praised their use of capital, quality of management, and shareholder-friendly policies. He pointed to their responsible stock buybacks and dividend increases, and their more modest executive compensation compared to US counterparts.

The famously long-term investor said he expected his planned successor Greg Abel and Abel's successors to keep Berkshire invested in the five companies for "many decades" to come. He also boasted that Berkshire had spent $13.8 billion on the positions, which were worth $23.5 billion, or 70%, more at the end of 2024.

Moreover, Buffett said the five bets were poised to yield $812 million in dividends this year, dwarfing the $135 million of interest on yen bonds that Berkshire expected to pay.

'Like having God just opening a chest'

Buffett's late business partner, Charlie Munger, sang the Japan bet's praises on a podcast in 2023.

"If you're as smart as Warren Buffett, maybe two, three times a century, you get an idea like that," he said. "It was like having God just opening a chest and just pouring money into it."

Munger explained that Berkshire was able to borrow money for 10 years at 0.5% a year and use it to purchase stocks yielding roughly 5% in dividends annually, a type of investment known as a carry trade.

Shares of all five Japanese trading houses have fallen this year with Mitsubishi down about 5%, Marubeni and Sumitomo down about 7%, Itochu down 16%, and Mitsui down 20%. They now trade close to where they did early last year, which could make them appealing targets to an investor with deep pockets and a love for deals.

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