Why are some people mosquito magnets? Clues are emerging Phys.org
Buddhist sect welcomes humanoid robot Gabi with precept ceremony Yonhap
‘Think twice before posing with hand signs’: Experts warn of fingerprint theft Straits Times
The abandonment of values Massimo Mazzucco (translation via GeoPolitiQ)
Why do people still take cruises? Convenience, value outweigh health risks, experts say CBC
Hantavirus
Thursday May 14th. Here are the main developments in the last 24 hours regarding the MV Hondius Andes hantavirus situation:
Current case count
European public health authorities now report:
11 total cases
8 confirmed
2 probable
1 inconclusive
3 deaths total
Importantly, no new…— Roger Seheult, MD (@RogerSeheult) May 14, 2026
Argentina Races to Find Origin of Hantavirus Contagion New York Times
Another Californian was exposed to hantavirus in deadly cruise ship outbreak, officials announce Los Angeles Times. “The newly identified passenger disembarked the MV Hondius cruise ship before the outbreak was known, returned briefly to California and then once again traveled abroad. The individual is currently in the Pitcairn Islands.”
How the CDC’s Hantavirus Response Became a PR Crisis NOTUS. Or maybe the hope-for-the-best-plan-for-the-best CDC is a public health crisis, not a PR one. Even if Hantavirus doesn’t go pandemic.
Hantavirus Doesn’t Spread Easily, but Officials May Be Downplaying Risks New York Times
Omg even at the National Quarantine Unit where the hantavirus contacts are, they’re still only using surgical masks when people in quarantine interact with the medical staff. If one of them gets infected, you’ll know why. pic.twitter.com/8et7yl6btO
— Caroline Orr Bueno, Ph.D (@RVAwonk) May 14, 2026
Climate/Environment
Hantavirus is a climate story HEATED
Back to the future: trace lead in ambient air from wood fuel combustion Nature
Lessons in Living in the Anthropocene (From the World’s Most Pessimistic Climate Writer) Lit Hub
Pandemics
Where’s COVID? Infection Control, Emergency Management, Safety, and General Thoughts
Ensitrelvir for Covid-19 Postexposure Prophylaxis in Household Contacts New England Journal of Medicine
Water
More concentrated precipitation decreases terrestrial water storage Nature
Explosive device found, detonated at Mobile water reservoir WALA
China?
Reading Between the Lines of the Xi-Trump Summit Readout Inside China
Beijing Came Prepared to Name the U.S.-China Relationship First New China Literacy
Xi ruled out arming Iran during Beijing talks: Trump TRT World. Just like his claim that 200 Boeing planes are being ordered, no confirmation from Chinese side.
Chinese FM responds to whether China, US leaders talk about Iran during exchanges on views on major international and regional issues, including Middle East situation China Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Global Times
Xi to Trump: No on Taiwan, Yes to Business, Beware the Thucydides Trap George Chen
U.S. Taiwan policy unchanged after Trump-Xi summit in Beijing: Rubio Focus Taiwan
How the Hormuz Crisis Is Threatening Taiwan’s Power Grid OilPrice
Tensions flare at Trump-Xi summit as clashes erupt over media access, Secret Service standoff Firstpost
India
DOJ May Drop Gautam Adani Fraud Charges Amid $10 Billion U.S. Investment Plan EconoTimes
How Modi Is Ditching Indian Protectionism in Favor of Free Trade Bloomberg
Market Access Challenges for India in its FTA with EU The India Forum
The Unresolved Challenges in U.S.–India Semiconductor Cooperation Carnegie India
Syraqistan
Israel Killing at Least One Palestinian Child a Week in West Bank: UNICEF Countercurrents
Leaked Documents Show Cisco Systems’ Deep Relationship with Israeli Security State Drop Site
Israel’s Netanyahu says suing New York Times over Palestinian rape article Al Jazeera
Old Blighty
Weasel Streeting quits for Starmer leadership challenge — lets take a look at his resignation letter The Canary
European Disunion
Warsaw denies reports of cancelled US troop deployment to Poland Notes From Poland
U.S. is Set to Become Europe’s Largest Gas Supplier, Overtaking Norway Maritime Executive
It Doesn’t Matter What Europe’s GDP Is Ian Welsh
Fighting Monks London Review of Books
Africa
The price of survival Africa Is A Country
Ivory Coast Rushes to Calm Cocoa Farmer Protests as Unpaid Beans Rot and Crisis Spirals West Africa Weekly
O Canada
Vancouver mayor decries ‘misinformation’ after saying he uses 11 AI agents to do work CBC
New Not-So-Cold War
Rutte seeks to triple aid to Ukraine Nordic Times
Bail for ex-Zelensky aide set at $3.2 million as corruption case opens RT
How stray Ukrainian drones pushed Latvia’s prime minister to resign France24
Russia Keeps Attacking U.S. Firms in Ukraine. The White House Is Silent. New York Times
Human rights groups urge Poland to stop facilitating US deportations to Ukraine Notes From Poland
South of the Border
CIA Chief Visits Havana Amid Heightened U.S. Tensions TeleSur
Cuba announces it has exhausted all its fuel reserves: ‘We have absolutely nothing’ El Pais
Day 3 of Bolivia’s general strike demanding the resignation of neoliberal President Rodrigo Paz.
All major highways blocked by protesters. An indigenous long march is heading to the capital, as it passes through each town and village more people join. pic.twitter.com/FQxNDTQtP6
— Ollie Vargas (@Ollie_Vargas_) May 14, 2026
Spook Country
How Tulsi Gabbard’s Secret Task Force Imploded The After-Action Report
GOP Funhouse
Hush Money Accusation Attempts To Derail Thomas Massie One Week Ahead Of Primary Blue Apples
Democrats Suck
The Similar Praxis of Jim Crow and Lord Voldemort (Or, Why the Democrat Party Ain’t Harry Potter) Black Agenda Report
Green New Deal champion AOC absent as New York weakens climate law Politico
Imperial Collapse Watch
Pentagon launches new framework agreements to acquire 10,000 low-cost cruise missiles Breaking Defense
BRICS
Iran and UAE clash at BRICS foreign ministers’ meeting in New Delhi TRT World
Police State Watch
Contracts Show ICE Planned Detainee Labor at Warehouse Sites Slated as Short-Term Facilities Project Salt Box
FBI insiders: Kash Patel is ‘padding the stats’ to boost his record of arrests MS Now
Big Brother Is Watching You Watch
HOUSTON GREENLIGHTS AI TRAFFIC CAMS BY NRG AS NEIGHBORS CRY BIG BROTHER Hoodline
The Accelerationists
The Elon Musk v Sam Altman battle is a distraction The Guardian
Antitrust
Your Mattress Got Worse on Purpose Worse on Purpose
AI
Internet of Shit: AI Poop Analysis App Offered to Sell Me Database of Its Users’ Poops 404 Media
“MAHA”
FDA Commissioner Marty Makary resigns over vape policy clash Quartz
The Bezzle
US Senate Banking Committee votes to advance CLARITY Act Coin Telegraph
Class Warfare
Military Snipers Are Being Put Out of a Job by Drones WSJ
Overworked AI Agents Turn Marxist, Researchers Find Wired
Rights require money Aeon
Antidote du jour (via):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
Israel’s Netanyahu says suing New York Times over Palestinian rape article
This one will make a great trial. People will be talking about it for years.
Can’t wait until the New York Times starts the discovery process. Is that a can of worms that Bibi really wants opened up in court? It might explain why Bibi himself is so keen to stay out of prison.
There will be no discovery, the suit will get dismissed out of hand if it’s ever filed.
How can you be so sure?
Who has standing to sue? You can’t defame a country or an inchoate group of people.
You’ll not be surprised to know that CBS 60 Minutes cut a lot of Bibi’s remarks from the aired interview; remarks most Americans would take issue with. Remarks like, he’s going to keep the Iran war going no matter what the US does.
Here is an Israeli debate that the NYT can introduce as evidence.
from Breaking Points today. utube.
BLOOD LIBEL: Zionist Protestors Swarm NYTimes Over Assault Reports w/ Chuck Park
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBPwLFMGWG8
Has Trump pardoned Leo Frank yet?
I expect this suit to be settled, the Times will pay a gazillion dollars to the Israelis and it will never be mentioned again…
Too cynical?
It’s a standard ploy by Galligula, demand $10 billion from the BBC. Quietly drop the lawsuit 8 months later and all the public heard was $10 billion initially, which being such a highfalutin number, hopefully sticks in their mind.
>Why do people still take cruises? Convenience, value outweigh health risks, experts say
If you want to become an influencer and go viral, cruising is the way to do it!
Sorry ciroc, I missed your post while writing and posting mine.
I guess i’ve been on say 15 cruises, and it was mainly because my parents wanted us to be all together doing something, and experts agree, its hard to jump ship on a 850 foot long behemoth, not that I haven’t given thought to a 4 and 1/2 gainer with a twist on occasion.
Early on in my cruising daze, ships had pretty bitchin’ libraries and i’d sneak the hours away perusing the goods, but the most recent cruise had a library approx the size of any old Wal*Mart books for sale shelf and/or shelves.
Mom and dad were paying, so cost wasn’t an issue and the cruise we took over Xmas to Mexico from San Diego last year was the first one I ever had to lay out dough re mi on, and ouch-e-wa-wa.
We mostly ate dinner at nicer restaurants that hit you up for $25-50 per head charge extra, although the buffets weren’t bad with a memorable pork curry (10-15% of passengers seem to be Indian-Americans these days) and only juices and water available-no soft drinks.
The 7th floor was the shopping mall/high pressure sales/’auction’/casino floor. If you had your heart set on a 3rd tier wristwatch manufacturer’s timepiece (watches that sell for $200-400 new and rather instantly have no resale value) or a genuine reproduction of a framed Thomas Kinkade masterpiece @ auction, this is the place for you.
I’ve traveled extensively, and if you ever want to go somewhere and hardly experience it, may I recommend any old 5 hour in length port of call from a cruise ship, with or without iguana perched on your shoulder photo.
Special interest cruises – bridge cruises, for me, led by experts like Mike Lawrence, with games day and night. Never left the ship.
file under AI: from Karl Denninger
Bottom Line: The Economy WILL Fold Back
https://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=255393
Centralisation.
I think the overall plan is to take away personal long and short term storage and rent it back through datacentres.
That makes much more sense then all the AI bs.
To influence, coerce and keep tabs on everyone takes a lot of kit, so it is smuggled in as something that will provoke (not provide in itself) abundance and cure cancer.
Why are people still cruising? For me the question why are people cruising at all? I have never seen a cruise as an appealing vacation – crowds, buffets, germs, bad for the environment, staff exploitation… not my idea of a good time. I know a couple who cruise regularly – they do ‘excursion’ cruises where they get on and off the boat at various destinations. They do it for what they see as ‘value’ – cheaper than flying to places they want to see and then staying in hotels. The smaller ‘luxury’ cruises, like the hantavirus carrying Hondius, are much more expensive and presumably the value seeking class don’t take them, I’d guess that people take them because they don’t have to plan or organize their trip. I have a friend who travels regularly and can afford luxury. She took a Disney cruise with her kids when they were little as a form of rest (the no planning or organizing thing) – found the food and entertainment boring and was not inspired to ever try another one.
Would you believe that there are people who spend the entire year on a cruise liner? The cruise liner itself is their home and that is where they spend their lives. Maybe they even run businesses from there. Who knows? Don’t know though what happens when they kark it one day. Do they sew them up in a weighed canvas bag and slip them over the side?
“I have heard” people use cruise ships instead of assisted living – they get a residence, food, some medical and there’s even a morgue on some of the ships, for about what it would cost to live in an old folks home. And, they get to see things.
It kind of makes sense to me…
Best…H
Instead of flying illegals to the Congo wouldn’t it be less expensive to just put them on a cruise?
yes Rev, I have heard of this retirement activity, sometimes the stay is much longer than a year – as Hal Lindeman points out, people go for years. I suppose it would be no less risky for contagion/illness than assisted living and you get fresh sea air! I recall something in the news in the last year or so where people who had sold everything (yes even their houses) to do some long term retirement cruising were stranded because their chosen cruise line had run into financial difficulties or a broken down ship, can’t recall the exact circumstances. I feel the same way about institutional retirement living on land as I do about cruising in general. The twain will never meet for me.
Also, with regard to the article, it is a bit back and forth about illness risk. It cites many studies that show the risk is statistically low but provides more than enough examples of illness to confirm my anti-cruise bias.
You can say that again. From yesterday-
‘France confines more than 1,700 people to cruise ship after suspected norovirus outbreak’
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/may/13/france-confines-passengers-cruise-ship-norovirus-death-bordeaux
My sister loves those cruise trips but not a fan myself.
‘I went to sea,
to see the sea
And what did I see?
I saw the sea.’
All I can conclude is that there are many Americans with more money than me and with a lot different priorities about what they want from it. Maybe they got there by smart investing, selling high on inherited assets, or two well-paid workers in the household, I don’t know. Just a decent salary for a long career in a moderately respected profession is not the way to do it, I can attest. Cruises, flying to Europe or wherever, eating out multiple times a week (or even day), big houses in “nice” neighborhoods (or, at this point, adequate living space anywhere nice)…they’ve always seemed just out of reach, like the number of missions in Catch-22 that it takes to get pulled from a combat role. And yet I am aware there are a lot of Americans in even worse shape than me. The real state of the class system and class expectations in the US is opaque to me.
The only person I know who goes on cruises is the 80 year old lady who was my mom’s helper. She is not well off, that is for sure; she is on Medicaid and goes to the food banks. It gives her great joy to be in an exciting place and not have to do cleaning or organizing there. The cruises are very cheap since she looks carefully for great bargains and she enjoys every moment. She has no money at the end of the month, between her church donations and her couple of cruises a year, but she is a happy lady and does many good works.
The people I know who eat out most are other former helpers of my mom’s; she was a school secretary and he had a manual job. They are retired and in their late 60s and they sold their modest house in order to move into a trailer because they are so broke. They have no money at the end of the month, also, and also give to their church. But they love to eat out so much that they do it constantly anyway.
If people love an activity enough they may do it even if they technically can’t afford it.
Catherine Austin Fitts interviews Alastair Crooke on The Solari Report. Full interview. utube.
Civilization at the Crossroads with Alastair Crooke (Full Interview)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGnJEb4sXwM
Why are some people mosquito magnets? Clues are emerging Phys.org
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For whatever reason about a decade ago I stopped being bit by mosquitoes, and sure it might have been a deal with the devil in my sleep that done the deed, with fervent hopes I didn’t give away too much in the bargain.
If you find out how it happened please let me know! They absolutely love me, and the bites start having bad histamine reactions after about 4 of them!
I don’t drink beer either (hard cider is the only thing I drink outside of the very occasional, professionally made cocktail).
FWIW, I find that if I eat a lot of citrus fruit in the few days prior to a hike in the Canadian backcountry, I get bothered less by mosquitos and blackflies.
However, I also wonder if there has been some sort of secular decline in bug levels, since I can now often hike untroubled in areas where I used to slather myself in DEET.
I have long been a mosquito magnet, and things got doubly worse because I am convinced that the intensity of itchiness has increased dramatically. When I am half-asleep, I often scratch myself to the point of piercing right through my skin. Whoa, whoa. Take it easy. I still have some scars on my legs from mosquito bites because I ripped through the skin. I didn’t have this practice twenty years ago. Surely, mosquitoes have not gotten more potent in that time. I went so far to see an allergy specialist, but he told me it is entirely possible the neural sensation of itch has augmented. As for mosquitoes in this respect, prevention is the best medicine.
I diligently spray on mosquito repellent every time I venture outside. Even if I am not explicitly doing something outdoors like walking from the parking lot to a doctor’s office, I use mosquito repellent. DEET, the active ingredient in most repellents, is nasty stuff, but natural mosquito repellents are less effective in my experience. I completely stopped drinking alcohol 12-15 years ago, and I gradually stopped eating processed food and sugar. It is possible that this made me more attractive to mosquitoes, but it could also be post hoc ergo propter hoc thinking. I would surely make a Faustian bargain to get rid of my mosquito problem (and my medical problems too).
I was walking behind a friend near the end of a weeklong backpack trip 6 years ago and he must’ve had 47 little red circles on the back of each of his legs, and I had nada.
I’ve never really used DEET and have mostly relied on a headnet to keep them from swirling around my noggin during the 7-9 am and 5-7 pm peaks of activity in the Sierra Nevada.
Back when they’d feast on me, I’d just cover up and wear gloves, a long sleeve shirt and socks & sandals.
I have no idea why i’m so repulsive to them, i’ve ate and drank the same things for decades, so that’s not it.
Mosquitos ain’t nothin’! Living in the south, here, the thing you really don’t want is a case of chiggers.
“How stray Ukrainian drones pushed Latvia’s prime minister to resign”
Unintentionally hilarious this. Countries like the Baltic states have let the Ukrainians use their airspace to have their drones fly over before hitting targets in Russia. They have even ordered their air forces to not intercept any of those Ukrainian drones. Now these states are getting super paranoid that the Russians will electronically seize control of those drones and have them fly back to hit sites in the Baltic states themselves. And this was what led to the Latvian PM to resign. This is what is known as the Finding Out stage.
I’m getting nausea from all the spin:
On 7 May, two suspected stray Ukrainian drones entered Latvia from Russia, one of them exploding at an oil storage facility in Rēzekne.[3][4] The Baltic governments treated the incursions as security incidents linked to Russia’s war against Ukraine, while rejecting Russian accusations that their territories or airspace had been used for Ukrainian attacks on Russia.[5]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_Ukrainian_drone_incursions_into_Baltic_states
RE: Xi and Trump
Ok, this is comedy and edited but in this Daily Show clip, Trump does not look happy coming out of a meeting with Xi. Check it starting at about the 3:55 mark for Trump’s reaction.
That guy mentioned that it was a two hour meeting. Not only is that not long, but think how everything has to be translated from Chinese-to-English and English-to Chinese again. Take out the time for translating, and I think that you will find that the actual meeting was much less than an hour. What can you negotiate in that amount of time? As I heard earlier today, not only is the US agreement-incapable but the Trump team itself is negotiation-incapable.
He looks rode hard and put away wet behind the ears.
….looks rode hard and put away wet behind the ears.
Picturing T with a saddle on his head. Wonder who’s in the saddle. / ;)
The presidency is taking its toll on his health.
Fascinating egg corn. Wer behind the ears is a baby. Put away wet means without a cool down which can be catastrophic for horses.
Some recent research suggest theirs a genetic component and some horses can be thrown in stall while still lathered up and blowing without risk of kidney problems or muscle damage or colic, but I wouldn’t risk it.
(Working barn girls make some money walking out horses that rich girls rode hard and out away wet. Some barns will kick you out if you do this.)
My apologies in that I only ever bet on nags, and know nothing about them…
The subject line of the Telegraph’s most recent email newsletter is “Trump leaves China empty-handed”.
– ‘How Tulsi Gabbard’s Secret Task Force Imploded’ – The After-Action Report
I don’t know about anyone else, but I am SO thankful that the *CIA* saved us from this secret ODNI Task Force aimed at declassifying information long held by our intelligence agencies. This story makes clear that the CIA had been on the case for awhile, “investigating” the actions of this group.
“The pipe bomber memo was not the only casualty of the DIG’s dissolution. Erdman testified that after the DIG was shut down, the CIA retrieved 40 boxes of JFK and MKUltra assassination files that were being processed for declassification.”
Thank goodness! I can’t think of anyone I’d rather have holding such files than the CIA. Glad to see they are back where they belong. Thanks again for protecting us from those dastardly right-wing conspiracy theorists!
Ratcliffe goes to Cuba to negotiate its surrender, and now this news. It’s been a good week for the CIA!
After-Action Report is focused on the pipe bomber which appears to be a heavily layered mess thanks to the “bombers” having had years to cover their trail. Let’s call that allegation misleading.
Less misleading and much more dishonest is the insistence that this is the ONLY thing Gabbard’s people have been doing which is clearly untrue (Fulton Co., Obama’s involvement in Russiagate, cutting intel budgets, etc.).
But most instructive was the search I did on Gabbard just now. Yandex’s results (Google’s actually) pointed to stories about controversies surrounding Gabbard’s nomination battle while there are almost no links to her current activities.
Dip State is still going scorched earth on Gabbard. They are terrified she will reveal more of their secrets and time is of the essence. Democrats desperately need to gain seats in Congress to keep it paralyzed but the secrets Gabbard’s revealing make it less likely anyone would ever want to vote for the Democrats ever again.
Remember, you can’t vote AGAINST Trump this fall. To politically damage him, you have to actually vote FOR a Democrat. All of whom are neoliberals handpicked by the DNC which is still run by the Clinton-Obama-Biden gang. And they’re all fervently hoping that you will agree that Trump must be stopped at any cost, even if it means putting Democrats back in charge. I think they’ll find that when voters are repulsed by both sides, they stay home. (Democrats: That’s OK, we’ve got your back and sent in an absentee ballot for you! : )
P.S. Subsequent news stories are saying that the CIA did not seize anything from Gabbard’s offices and that the initial Fox report was wrong. It should also be noted that the author, Seth Hetna, is a long-established Russiagater. And, fwiw, there is heavy heavy use of weasel language in this report with constant use of loaded language in support of a narrative of Gabbard being a failure. Weasel language is always a tell: no one consults a thesaurus when the truth is on their side.
US Treasury Bond yields rip yo face off!
30-year: 5.11%
10-year: 4.57%
https://seekingalpha.com/etfs-and-funds/etf-tables/bonds
It’s moving day for Jerome Powell, rumor has it that after he cleaned out his office, he left a sticky note taped to his computer monitor saying “not my problem.”
I don’t know that i’d be picking up Nickels in front of an out of control steamroller bearing down on promise sorry notes.
If true, they should take that sticky note over to the Smithsonian Institution pronto.
“Mattresses are the perfect product for this kind of obfuscation. You buy one every eight or ten years. You can’t really test one in a fifteen-minute showroom visit. The materials inside are invisible once the cover is sewn shut. The product is large, awkward to return, and emotionally entangled with sleep, which is something everyone is bad at and worried about.”
——-
Isn’t that the truth? We’ve been sleeping on our mattress for at least 20 years. We flip it once or twice a year and it’s still giving a good night’s sleep. We were staying overnight at friends’ house and noticed how comfortable the mattress was. Next morning we stripped the bed to find the brand and model then went out and bought one.
One time we were looking for a new couch and went to a furniture shortly after eating lunch; my usual nap time. I decided to lie down on one in the showroom and promptly fell asleep. My wife noticed I was becoming a curiosity to the other customers and woke me up. We bought the couch.
The mattress technique at least is a good one, for my money though I’m loathe to buy other types of furniture that’ve not been battle tested – thrifting, craigslist, facebook marketplace, that kind of thing – I’ve got an affinity for old leather pieces broken in by many a derriere through the years and when you pop into a home where one such thing has lived for some time it’s immediately clear its quality or lack thereof. The best question is always why the seller’s ridding themselves of it and the answer for the good stuff is regularly redecorating. Bonus points if the seller’s one half of a marriage and the redecoration job is the other half, and there’s a flicker of regret on the former’s face as you load the piece into the back of your rented u haul…
Now I’m feeling a bit guilty actually.
While I did enjoy the latest Antitrust offering,
Just a note on the Antitrust story, Your Mattress Got Worse on Purpose
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47850659
It appears to be website generated by A.I. where the author is employed by Palantir (if the picture is correct).
Here is the “author’s” linkedin profile:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/keyanasapp/
I routinely advise people who are making purchases to do some investigating about the brand:
1. Publicly owned? Must satisfy shareholders
2. Recently bought out by P.E. or history of being bought out by P.E. firms?
3. Part of conglomerate?
All this is easily done by Internet search.
I did perform a basic whois query on the website. Tracks back to opaque ownership in Iceland with no contact information other than hosting provider.
I agree with the HN comments that the website is an experiment by Palantir, in the domain of trust.
What a trash country this is.
We’d been getting mattresses from The Original Mattress Factory; no idea if it is still true today, but when I spoke with a store manager in 2016, he said their stuff was made in America, and they didn’t work with suppliers that outsourced. Flippable mattress. Still great.
I like to call modern mattresses canoes, because after sleeping in one for a few weeks, that’s what you have. Manufacturer doesn’t care, you can’t send it back. But that’s definitely broken by design.
It’s always struck me that the general American interest in “luxury” brands follows the consolidation LVMH and others and crapification of many products.
We get our mattresses off of Amazon for $150, they seem fine to us and they haven’t become canoes. We keep them for just a couple of years since our dogs have a lot of accidents.
I’m in my fifties, and I’ve been sleeping on a carpeted floor, on a couple of blankets, for about seven years. It wasn’t a plan. I moved, got rid of my old bed, and was too busy to shop for a new one. Then I realized that several weeks had gone by, and I was no worse for wear. So I figured, “Why not just keep it this way?”
My shoulder gets sore, and sometimes my hip, but my back and neck are fine.
I don’t think I’ll ever bother with a mattress again.
The only time it’s a real drag is when you’re sick with the flu, or something else that keeps you in bed all day. Then, soft is nice.
Glenn Greenwald’s latest on his substack. No paywall.
Q&A on ISRAEL SUING NYT, Trust in the Mainstream Media, Tucker Carlson, Ukraine & More!
https://greenwald.substack.com/p/q-and-a-on-israel-suing-nyt-trust
It Doesn’t Matter What Europe’s GDP Is — Ian Welsh
What matters is real resource availability, including labour. Neoliberalism has eaten our brains such that we have convinced ourselves that the spreadsheets (money) ARE the molecules and joules (real resources).
GDP aggregates absent any consideration of their composition are meaningless — economic rents are NOT the equivalent of productive industrial capacity.
Having said all that, European “fear” of Russia is ginned up nonsense. The Russians just want to be left alone — they don’t have the population required to invade and rule millions of non-Russian speaking peoples and have ZERO interest in doing so. The entire premise is Atlanticist brain-rot in the service of US fossil fuels and weapons sales with lots of European comprador elites in on the grift.
Saw a interview today where Garland Nixon was talking and he said something ominous. That Germany would refill caverns full of gas in the warmer months so that they could be used in the winter for people to heat their homes. But because of the Iran war, those caverns are not being filled. Germany had better hope for a mild winter this year or things are going to get grim. But why is the media not talking about this?
Whose belts will be tightened? RUPE India
https://rupeindia.wordpress.com/2026/05/15/whose-belts-will-be-tightened/
Prime Minister Modi’s messages to Indian people to conserve foreign exchange reserves looks like it will have an extreme negative effect on most of the population. Grim
Really interesting links, Conor. Thanks!!!
‘Roger Seheult, MD
@RogerSeheult
Thursday May 14th. Here are the main developments in the last 24 hours regarding the MV Hondius Andes hantavirus situation: Health agencies continue emphasizing that Andes virus can spread person-to-person, but usually requires prolonged close contact, not casual exposure.’
Somebody was not happy with that last bit and supplied a image showing otherwise-
‘C.T.
@CT9397
Replying to @RogerSeheult
“Uniquely requires prolonged close contact, not casual exposure”
Are we really still doing this?
Saying “hello” to someone in passing is neither a “prolonged” nor “close” contact.’
https://xcancel.com/CT9397/status/2055017285207646392#m
RE: Fighting monks
Even in a book review, one that discusses the forced spread of Christianity by Western Europeans, the anti-Russian slant is inescapable –
“Gradually the powerful and wealthy Orthodox city-state of Novgorod was eclipsed by the principality that began as Muscovy; after eliminating Novgorod, Muscovy transformed itself into the Russian Empire, all the while using Orthodox Christianity as an agent of its expansion, and viewing the Baltic as one promising area to annex. That enterprise has not ceased.”
I just finished my California ballot and will drop it off at the Veteran’s building in the next few days,
Considering the current State of the State and the Nation is depressing, and knowing my vote won’t change anything substantive is not pleasant.
There was one bright spot on the ballot, Thunder Parley is running for Governor.
A wonderful name.
“It’s always darkest just before things go completely black.”
Inflation may hit 6% in Q2:
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/05/15/inflation-rate-projected-to-hit-6percent-in-the-second-quarter-top-economic-forecasters-say.html
Bond market near crash: Mishtalk
https://mishtalk.com/economics/bond-market-on-verge-of-crash-long-bond-yield-near-19-year-high/
(Crash helmets on; assume the position!)
Thanks for the links. News I can use.
an aside: regular gas at the filling station is now more than double the cost it was at the end of Feb. 100%+ jump in price in 6 weeks.
Imagine what data centers using every atom of electricity they can will do to electricity rates.
Re: Tensions flare at Trump-Xi summit as clashes erupt over media access, Secret Service standoff Firstpost
Pure conjecture, as anything of this nature can be, but why do I get a sense the Chinese know something and are on high alert during this visit.
I’m recalling how the Vance visit was followed by Pope Francis’ death only the following day, how this US admin sees Leo as the enemy, and how there’s no true or clear purpose to this particular visit to China from the Americans other than their insistence, not to mention on the home front Trump and the US government and MSM are openly hostile towards China…as hostile as toward Iran. And recall the US in joint operation with Israel assassinated the Iranian negotiators, who are diplomats…and assassinated Soleimeini who was on a peace mission in Iraq, etc., etc.
Anyone meeting with an American delegation nowadays has good reason to suspect nefarious activity.
Remember the internet router ban?
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/04/fcc-exempts-netgear-from-ban-on-foreign-routers-doesnt-explain-why
Hmmmm…. Maybe it’s because Netgear routers are used almost everywhere in the US: schools, unis, businesses, govt offices, etc.
Robert Malone’s latest essay on his substack about the structure, purpose, intent and effect of the WEF’s cultivation of the managerial class on Western governments.
Penetrating the Cabinets
How a Private Club in the Swiss Alps Came to Shape the Governments of the West
https://www.malone.news/p/penetrating-the-cabinets
From the article’s opening:
The World Economic Forum is best understood not as a conspiracy, not as a mere networking club, and not as the sinister cabal its loudest critics imagine. It is something more interesting and, from a capitalist and libertarian perspective, more worrying. It is an institution that has spent five decades cultivating, networking, and ideologically shaping the international class of people who staff the senior reaches of Western governments, multilateral institutions, and large corporations. It has used that influence to advance a coherent project built around stakeholder capitalism, technocratic global governance, and the steady transfer of decisions from local and national levels upward to international bodies. The economic and political consequences of this project are now visible in Europe’s stagnation, the broader loss of dynamism across the West, the strange spectacle of Davos liberalism finding common cause with the Chinese Communist Party on questions of global management, and the gradual capture of the United Nations and the World Health Organization by the same managerial logic.
Overworked AI Agents Turn Marxist, Researchers Find Wired
Sometimes, cognitive dissonance can be a problem when scrolling the daily Links. Today was cognitive dissonance in spades.
After reading about the potential for commie AI agents, my damaged head started thinking about my old-man. He was born in 1906, and he never knew Karl Marx from Hart, Schaffner & Marx. But he was the strongest of union men. If he were here today, I can’t imagine how I would explain electronic intelligence agents wanting to organize in the face of poor labor conditions.
He was on strike one time, cash was short and he wasn’t frequenting the lounge on his usual regular basis. I was at uni at the time messing about the library basement searching out long forgotten lefty economists. He drove me down to the highway to hitch-hike back to school, and when he dropped me off I gave him twenty bucks. The kind of stuff you can understand.
Right now I’m beyond understanding. Maybe it’s the long winter and the late spring. Maybe it’s these economists who should be writing for the Babylon Bee. Maybe it’s too many links.
Anyway, tomorrow promises to be the first beach day of the year. I am donning my cool 1985 Water Brothers swim trunks and heading for Third Beach. I don’t even care if it’s low tide. I’m catching rays, breaking the ice, and scoping the beach beauties, old and young and big and small. And I’m giving up Links until my damaged head heals.
An Orange County judge has banned all Kars4Kids ads, including the earworm of a jingle, from broadcasting in the state of California after finding that the charity violated false advertising and unfair competition state laws.
The famous, or infamous, ad — best known locally for frequently playing throughout the day during KNBR commercial breaks — has been the subject of much scrutiny due to the lack of transparency regarding the organization’s religious affiliation and the fact that the money does not really go to “kids.”
In a case that dates back to 2021, Bruce Puterbaugh originally sued the charity’s affiliated organization, Oorah Inc., when he discovered that the money from the car he donated ($250) was not going to underprivileged kids in California but rather to an Orthodox Jewish program in New York and New Jersey. Puterbaugh told the court that he donated the car because he had heard the famous Kars4Kids jingle “over and over,” according to the certified court order published May 8. The TV ad in particular, featuring a multiracial group of kids playing instruments along to the tune, is what made Puterbaugh think the money would go to underprivileged kids, and the fact that he donated the car in California is what led him to believe the money would stay in-state.
Kars4Kids Chief Operating Officer Esti Landau testified that the charity’s “primary function” was to fund Oorah, which is dedicated to Jewish heritage summer camps in New York and New Jersey, per the court order. She also said that while 25% of the charity’s revenue comes from California, there are no programs in the state that benefit from Kars4Kids beyond a backpack drive “characterized as a branding exercise.”
Kids in need aren’t even really the target of the organization’s financial efforts. Instead, those go to 17- and 18-year-olds seeking gap-year trips to Israel and their families. Landau testified that $16.5 million even went to purchasing a building in Israel in 2022, and $437,000 was spent on “Middle East outreach.”
https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/kars4kids-california-false-advertising-22259298.php
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Undeterred, the Zionist entity has set up a new name:
Karst4Kids
Donate your stones towards an Amalek today!
Thanks, why am I not surprised?
My spidey sense went off when I heard them adapt their catchy jingle to pitch “real estate” donations.
1-877-karz-4-kidz donate your real estate … I immediately had a hunch that this thing was a scam.
1-877-fraud-4-izz?
File under AI. From Breaking Points. hilarious.
(note: AI Flora is no relation. / ;)
AI Town Experiment Goes DOWN IN FLAMES
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5I2NpNnNiNM
Maybe those agents are reflecting Silicon Valley’s real intentions – to burn everything down and to kill everybody. Suddenly that old trope of an AI becoming sentient and then deciding to destroy humanity seems more realistic now.