When your estimate about height is totally wrong. pic.twitter.com/fKgE8AK3Lb
— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) May 13, 2026
People Who Are Blind from Birth Never Develop Schizophrenia. This Could Transform Treatment ZME Science
A New Theory of Dark Matter Could Solve Three Cosmic Mysteries Universe Today
Scientists Say Cognitive Decline Isn’t Inevitable — Your Brain Can Improve at Any Age SciTech Daily
Mediaphobia — A Timeline of Panic Fair Observer
COVID-19/Pandemics
Study Results Position Ensitrelvir as Potential First Oral Antiviral for COVID-19 Post-Exposure Prevention ContgagionLive
E&C Democratic Leaders Blast RFK Jr.’s Ongoing Censorship of COVID-19 Vaccine Efficacy Data Energy & Commerce Committee Democrats
Climate/Environment
The Mediterranean sea is capable of generating hurricanes and climate change will make them worse The Conversation
Declare climate crisis a global public health emergency, experts tell WHO The Guardian
South of the Border
Life-saving aid must reach Cuba quickly and without delays, UN warns amid US blockade Andolu Agency
Cartel corruption claims push US-Mexico relations to breaking point The Guardian
Trump’s talk of 51st US state met with near-silence in Venezuela AP
Argentina Has Milei Malaise Foreign Policy
China?
China now has flexible solar panels that can be installed on factory roofs. Drones deliver the panels. China is miles ahead in clean energy! pic.twitter.com/V137BF9pTs
— Li Zexin 李泽欣 (@XH_Lee23) May 16, 2026
Trump went to China to protect the US economy – and walked away with nothing The IndependentChina’s Iran balancing act grows more costly Iran International
Kandrach: US surrendering biotech lead to China Boston Herald
Can AI-assisted unmanned vessels be Beijing’s answer to South China Sea patrols? SCMP
India
India and UAE sign defence pacts, as Iran war tensions simmer Al Jazeera
Air India to cut international flights due to fuel shortages Semafor
Africa
New energy deals for Africa sealed at Nairobi summit Mongabay
New outbreak of Ebola kills 80 in eastern DR Congo
Global Maritime Firms Prioritize Expansion in West Africa The Maritime Executive
European Disunion
Could Slovakia replace Hungary as EU’s main disruptor? DW
Europe built sovereign clouds to escape US control. Then forgot about the processors The Register
EU Commissioner warns stability in Kosovo key to Europe’s security future The Brussels Times
Old Blighty
After resigning as minister, Wes Streeting challenges PM Starmer for UK Labour leadership The Times of Israel
UK borrowing costs rise and pound falls as leadership drama continues BBC
Inside the capture of the BBC How transgenderism killed impartiality UnHerd
Israel v. Gaza, Yemen, Lebanon, Syria, Iran
Newly released aerial footage shows the extent of damage and destruction in the town of Bint Jbeil in southern Lebanon as a result of the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.
Video: @AmitSegal
Location: 33.116790, 35.436409@GeoConfirmed pic.twitter.com/GcYgMqTlhr
— Shayan Sardarizadeh (@Shayan86) April 19, 2026
How David Ben-Gurion got the Palestinians wrong in 1948 Al JazeeraLeader of Hamas’s armed wing killed in strike on Gaza, says Israel France 24
Netanyahu sues New York Times over rape and sexual abuse article Andolu Agency
As Iran talks stall, Israel and US prepping to renew war as soon as next week – report The Times of Israel
New Not-So-Cold War
“Zelensky is one of the biggest obstacles to peace today”: Ukrainian president’s former press secretary speaks out Thomas Fazi substack
Brief Frontline Report – May 15th, 2026 Marat Khairullin substack
US unlikely to approve new financial aid package for Ukraine, congressman says Ukrainska Prvada
Big Brother Is Watching You Watch
SNAP Shoppers Alert: New Verification Rules Require Selfies & Facial Recognition — Privacy Advocates Are Concerned SavingAdvice.com
How Meta Turned a Pair of Sunglasses Into the Most Controversial Camera in the World Open Magazine
Imperial Collapse Watch
The Homeless Industrial Complex Eats San Francisco For Lunch Manhattan Contrarian
A lifeline or ‘dystopian’?: Schools open parking lots for homeless students & families Tucson Sentinel
Trump 2.0
‘Mega-Bloodbath’: Trump Officials Hate His Plan to Seize Iran’s Uranium Zeteo
Inside Trump’s Midterm Strategy: a Mountain of Cash to Stem GOP Losses Wall Street Journal
Donald Trump’s Inflationary Agenda The Atlantic
Musk Matters
Everyone lost in Musk v. Altman Semafor
Taking a Good, Long Look Into Elon Musk and “Muskism” Jacobin
Democrat Death Watch
Biden announced as keynote speaker for South Dakota Democratic event South Dakota Searchlight
Without the working class, Democrats will tank the midterms — and 2028 The Hill
Immigration
Some immigrants face indefinite detention, likely leading to Supreme Court case Times of San Diego
Our No Longer Free Press
Todd Blanche targets press, leakers as acting attorney general U.S. Press Freedom Tracker
Mr. Market Is Moody
Stock markets worldwide drop from records as worries about oil prices rattle the bond market WTOP News
Crude oil price spike signals harsh reality check The Street
Treasury Yields Just Hit a 1-Year High—Here’s How You May Feel It Investopedia
AI
AI-generated code is ‘pain waiting to happen’ The Register
The School Trying to Rebuild Education for an AI World The Free Press
AI helps South Korea stop 99% of suicide attempts on Han River bridges in Seoul SCMP
Anger Management Is Getting Mindfully Guided Via Generative AI Such As ChatGPT Forbes
The Bezzle
Newsom’s former chief of staff pleads guilty to conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud The National News Desk
Myanmar unveils death penalty plan for those forcing victims into crypto scam compounds The Cool Down
Guillotine Watch
An aurora glass igloo in Lapland, Finland, where you sleep under the northern lights. pic.twitter.com/nxkmGikDXO
— Science girl (@sciencegirl) May 15, 2026
The brand new luxury VIP glamping stargazer domes at Grand Canyon Glamping Resort are the perfect romantic retreat, family camping in style and the best way to enjoy the west rim without traveling too far from Las Vegas. If you’re a local, make this your next staycation and… pic.twitter.com/ShErFuwCDT
— Jen G. (@vegasstarfish) October 3, 2025
Luxury Glamping Dome in El Salvador. Would you stay here? 🇸🇻 pic.twitter.com/qyjKRhvRzu
— Salvadoran Pride (@SalvadoranPride) January 30, 2024
Antidote du jour (via)
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here
“‘Mega-Bloodbath’: Trump Officials Hate His Plan to Seize Iran’s Uranium’
This article neglects to mention the fact that the US has already tried to seize some of Iran’s uranium and the whole operation proved to be a fiasco. But Trump is all over the shop a far as Iran’s uranium is concerned. Some days he demands that Iran hand over that uranium for the US’s own use for free and other days he says that he wants it as a matter of publicity.
The article only allowed me to read a part of it before asking me to subscribe for more. I saw “Seemingly everybody in the federal government thinks such a mission would be a bloodbath.” Who do they think it would be a bloodbath for – the Iranian military, Iranian civilians, or the enemy?
They do not care one iota for the wellbeing of Iranians, do the math…
When Civil unrest breaks out in the USA I expect the Government’s reaction to be savage.
I witnessed the National Guard spraying Military grade CS gas on an American City and there is no reason to think that the current administration will be anywhere near as restrained as Ronald Reagan was.
The draft riots of 1863 caused 3,000 deaths in NYC, when push comes to shove a regime with no legitimacy resorts to force.
Shock and Awe.
Not a happy prospect.
WE THE PEOPLE ARE READY TO GET IT OVER WITH.
🇺🇸 🫡
#AMERICANREVOLUTION2
That number seemed awfully high, so I looked it up, and 120 was the total number of deaths in the draft riots.
I looked it up and checked several sites. 119 or 120 is the agreed upon figure with estimates ranging up to “more than 1200.” One account says that the African-American population of New York dropped by 20% as many fled the city for Brooklyn and New Jersey. If that is the case, and African-Americans were targeted, might there not have been many of those who disappeared from the city killed during the riots? 3000 is high. More than 1000 seems all too plausible.
“How Meta Turned a Pair of Sunglasses Into the Most Controversial Camera in the World”
But wait – it gets worse. I read of one women that had a make out session with a guy she met, not realizing that it was a pair of Meta Smart glasses that he was wearing. He then uploaded the video to a pron site because of course he did. He then contacted the woman and said that if she paid him, that he would take down that video from that pron site but as we all know, the internet ever forgets.
Didn’t we go through this already with the whole “glasshole” fiasco of Google Glass more than a decade ago now?
The Zuckbot can never resist the smell of money and cares little how many people get hurt or damaged in his pursuit of it.
– ‘Inside the capture of the BBC How transgenderism killed impartiality’ – UnHerd
The issues discussed in this article are real and relevant. But when I consider the problems with the BBC today, its “capture” by a “transgender world view” is not one that comes immediately to mind. In fact I’d argue that this type of discussion is exactly the kind of misdirection that serves to obfuscate the real problems with the BBC, as similar discussions obfuscate those of the “liberal media” in the US.
Brits can correct me if I’m wrong, but my impression is that Rob Burley is the equivalent to our mainstream establishment media “liberals” in the US. If so, that would explain what to me is a rather obvious obliviousness to other deficiencies of “impartiality” on issues that are, perhaps, of more global importance.
Sure, but the focus on this issue is at the wrong level. The narrative focuses on pro vs con trans arguments, when the real issue should be that this is a marginal conflict affecting a tiny sliver of people (compared to the others – genocide, hunger, corruption, inequality and the rest), but somehow it pushes all the more important issues off the front page. Convenient that, for some. Almost like that was it’s intended purpose.
In the USA, evangs in particular are most offended by anything trans, so the Pachyderm Party plays it up for all they’re worth-which is currently a plugged Nickel.
Maybe this belongs under guillotine watch.
At what age plastic surgery can be done on naughty bits is an ultimate first world problem.
“Naughty bits” – first time I heard that was on Monty Python’s Flying Circus about a half century ago.
The reason the trans issue is (was) alarming is not that it splits up society (though it does that too). It is because it is not the kind of issue that a sane society would waste any time on at all. It is utterly, completely bizarre, It is a result of the confluence of two (related) issues — a society that is hyperindividualistic, and a society that has ceased constructing its categories based on objective physical things in the world. That is, a society that doesn’t make anything, but just juggles symbols around and takes that activity as paradigmatic.
Future sociologists will regard this kind of thing as a pathological side effect of financialization of the economy.
‘Massimo
@Rainmaker1973
When your estimate about height is totally wrong.’
And the moral of this story is-
‘Don’t drink and dive.’
The “guillotine watch” taught me a word I had never seen before: glamping. It even has its own Wikipedia page.
I view this kind of decadent excess as another sign that we are reaching the last stage before the collapse of our civilization.
Probably more in a glamping-lite realm, one of my favorite places to stay was the Bearpaw Meadow High Sierra Camp here in Sequoia NP.
You had to walk almost a dozen miles to get to nirvana perched on paradise, and there were 6 tent cabins with 2 beds in each of them, a dining hall/kitchen, hot showers and a flush toilet, the former heated up by burning wood in a contraption everybody called ‘the dragon’.
Everything was supplied by mule train twice a week and breakfast and dinner were served, and you could buy a lunch to go for a day hike if you’d like.
As was the fate with many other things we used to do, Covid killed Bearpaw, along with the substantial winter of 2022-23 wrecking all of the buildings, a fade accompli.
It had been around since 1934, many of you would have loved it as I did, methinks.
https://www.redwoodhikes.com/SequoiaNP/Bearpaw.html
The closure is sad news. Bear Paw is an example of public-interest use of sovereign/fiat money, established as it was through deficit spending under (if Google Search is accurately describing it) the auspices of one of the New Deal programs to put into useful employment people whom the almighty private sector did not want to employ.
90 years later, the New Deal is still being chipped away. It was a remarkably durable idea.
We did “glamping” once in the off season near the Grand Canyon. It was a little affordable as it was a before the season started and the middle of the week. The experience is better and more cost effective (than a Vegas hotel for Eg)
The key draw was, they can be set up in the middle of nowhere and is much closer to the activities and a bit friendly for the outdoors handicapped.
I would not do that again though.
Glamping has been a ‘thing’ for years here in the US…often used to describe people who own $500K RVs that are only used for a few weekend concerts/races/etc and it goes into climate-controlled storage the rest of the year. And, yes…the occupants are every bit the smug jackholes you would imagine them to be.
Not to be confused with those that live full-time in their RV…another class of people altogether. mrs coin and I are in the latter camp (pun intended).
Glamping is nothing new, take a look at the hunting trips wealthy englishmen took in the wild west of the 1870’s or the luxurious Safaris in Africa and India in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries.
Sign me up for Finland (in another timeline, lol)!
Not sure I would call this glamping, but a group of about 25 of us did this once a year on Mt. LeConte in the Great Smoky Mountains. A long beautiful walk up and a long walk and beautiful walk by a different route back down. LeConte Lodge is (or was) supplied by mule train. National Park Service said “absolutely not” to helicopters. Once on the way back down I saw an adolescent black bear amble out of the rhododendron and open a zipped up unattended day pack left on the log bridge like it was a bag of potato chips when people scrambled away from him or her. The bear was probably harmless but had the strength to do serious damage.
Sounds similar to Bearpaw Meadow, there are a number of hike-to Backcountry lodges in the country, most offer just enough in the way of food, lodging and amenities to make it most pleasant, not overdone.
While I despise the term, there is one glamping that interests me. San Ignacio Lagoon in Baja Mexico is a gray whale nursery where the mother’s give birth and nurse their calves for the journey north. It seems the calves like having their gums rubbed, I got a soft spot for cetaceans and while rubbing a gray wale calf’s gums aint on my bucket list, if I did it I would certainly add it.
RE: “A lifeline or ‘dystopian’?: Schools open parking lots for homeless students & families”
I would say it is a lifeline that exists in this dystopia. I have been homeless and living out of my van (with a serious mental illness) for seven years now. The only people who have ever helped me have a save place to park is Walmart, Cracker Barrel, the BLM Lands, and a very few random towns. My own extremely Liberal hometown in NC would not even let me park ion the street!
Every “homeless organization” I asked for helped were ridiculous. Quiet a few asked if I “checked Facebook Marketplace”! The Homeless Industrial Complex is real and it needs to be demolished.
I am truly sorry Christian. Unfortunately so many others are in the same predicament as you. Even here in “socialist” Canada, I see people everywhere struggling to find affordable accommodation. Welcome, as you say, to the Homeless Industrial Complex, which goes hand-in-hand with Imperial Collapse. A wealthy nation that can’t—or won’t—provide for its less fortunate is a nation in decline.
Fifteen years ago I posted a comment on another website which predicted that because of government’s and the Fed’s rescue of the banks in 2008-09 we all were doomed to become renters. Or worse—homeless. And so has it turned out, after those ten years of ZIRP. Banks and private equity investors and big corporations all doing fine, having feasted on low cost borrowing for a decade and buying up any affordable real estate in sight. The rest of us? Well, take a look at this video:
https://ca.video.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?fr=yhs-fc-5178&hsimp=yhs-5178&hspart=fc¶m1=7¶m2=eJwtjstqwzAURH9FywQk%2BV69LEcrp6EfULqq0MJ1FEf4iR%2B49OuLS5jNwJyB06S7d%2BHjhgAawXgaBu%2BCBJCehmPyNNTehaIoPA1p8
A new investment opportunity for the predators! Go long storage units!
Good to hear from you Christian, it has been a few years. Yes Carrboro NC still “tackles” homelessness in its same hamfisted fashion. Recently cops emptied the large encampment in the woods behind the town post office on 54.
Re the “glamping” domes – I stayed at one of these in Kentucky’s Red River Gorge, it was @ the price of a hotel room, on the edge of the gorge. They looked exactly like the ones in the videos, I would not describe them as luxurious. They were upscale tents, pleasant enough – the luxury side in the examples shown are the “pick you up at the airpot, bring you food, check out the cool outbuilding with the outdoor shower”, etc.
Best…H
High winds expected here in Sonoma County starting a 4 PM.
Red flag fire warning in May…
I’ll be checking my “Bug out Bag” this morning just in case.
Being stranded in the Walmart parking lot with the dog and cat, that sounds like the kind of glamping in store for many of us.
Stay safe.
“EU Commissioner warns stability in Kosovo key to Europe’s security future The Brussels Times” – Correct me if I’m wrong, but the United Nations still does not recognize Kosovo as a legitimated country. It remains a giant U.S. airbase.
About 60% of UN members recognise Kosovo as an independent nation, but Chinese and Russian opposition in the Security Council has prevented it becoming a member. The US has about 600 personnel there, who might now, it seems, be withdrawn, as part of an NATO force some 5000 strong. The NATO force is housed at Camp Bondsteel, which has important facilities for handling helicopters.
– ‘Without the working class, Democrats will tank the midterms — and 2028′ – The Hill
Gotta hand it to this Republican pundit. He’s not wrong. Ignoring working class issues and running solely on a “We Hate Trump” platform is not a promising strategy for the Democrats. Oh wait… there’s more:
“Coupled with that is another very real problem for Democrats who felt they had the midterms wrapped up: the openly socialist mayors they elected to lead New York City and Seattle.
“These working-class Americans are deeply disturbed by New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson, whose far-left policies seem to be echoing those seen in China, the former Soviet Union, and Cuba. More troubling to them is that the leadership of the Democratic Party is embracing their socialistic giveaways and attacks on job creators, when they should be distancing themselves.”
How could I leave out those radical leftist Democrats’ embrace of *socialism*! What the working class wants is for us to start *rewarding* our “job creators,” not attacking them!
So this guy agrees with the Democrat Establishment that they must move to the *Right* to be successful. What an original idea!
By the way, the author, Douglas MacKinnon, grew up in poverty in a family who received welfare. So like J.D. Vance, he knew what he was talking about when he eventually worked his way up to serve in the Reagan and Bush II administrations. As Trump was running to recapture the Presidency in 2024, MacKinnon said this:
“One day, when unbiased, non-woke, not-in-the-tank-for-the-Democrats historians appear once again in our nation, they will draw apt comparisons between former President Donald J. Trump – before, during, and after the sham show-trial forced upon him by the Democratic machine seeking to keep him off the ballot – and the likes of Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and John Hancock…”
“… Honest history will one day record that when the United States of our time needed a champion with the traits of a “Founding Father,” Trump stood up and fought the good fight against the entrenched establishments and overwhelming odds.”
Here’s the link to the full article for those who want more on Trump’s valiant fight against the Powers that Be:
https://texasinsider.org/articles/why-trump-personifies-the-courage-of-our-founding-fathers
We need more working class heroes like this!
You gotta Love right wing pundit concern about the Democrats. How thoughtful of them! Interesting how the Democrat leadership always seems to agree with their prescriptions, which are always that they need to move to the right.
They’ll keep moving ’em to the right…more…just a little bit more…until their asses fall off the seat.
Working class Americans are “disturbed” by Mamdani if they watch Fox News. After all, it tells them to be disturbed. Over and over. But more working class Americans are disturbed by the price of gasoline, the unaffordability of homes that qualify for mortgages, the rising prices and shrinkflation in grocery stores, etc. Without anyone telling them they have to be disturbed by those things. The Republicans and Democrats are very much alike in that all they really have to run on is “look how bad those other guys are!”
Yeah, the two paragraphs (they aren’t really paragraphs) you quote in their entirety are the whole ballgame. I would have, if you hadn’t first.
Of interest is how right-wing economic populism forms a kind negative space throughout the piece (it’s barely a piece); perhaps because MacKinnon suspects it is too used up and worn out for the kind of muscular presence it had before, when burning coal, tariffing primary industries, some other cargo-cult stuff mixed in with garden-variety giveaways, and Sumerian god-king pronouncements against companies thinking about offshoring, would guarantee every Straight White Man a Straight White Job.
One should also note that right-wing economic populism, beside dovetailing nicely with white/Christian nationalism, and seeking to turn our planet into Venus, refers back to a past that never existed. The 1950s were not that great.
Can anything be done with a population that insists state intervention preserve the illusion of rugged individualist success? (Meritocratic blue-staters should think twice before smiling wryly at this question.)
Yeah, that paragraph was pretty amusing, about the evils of socialism, when Republicans have no-lube capitalism on offer, with Democrats providing the “with lube” version. And we can’t attack our “job creators”, heavens no. The ones today furiously working to implement AI to eliminate jobs! What a clown.
No thanks to both.
U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Doug Burgum issued an order in January directing multiple agencies to remove what he termed “unnecessary regulatory or administrative barriers” to hunting and fishing and justify regulations they want to keep in place.
“Expanding opportunities for the public to hunt and fish on Department-managed lands not only strengthens conservation outcomes, but also supports rural economies, public health, and access to America’s outdoor spaces,” Burgum wrote. “The Department’s policy is clear: public and federally managed lands should be open to hunting and fishing unless a specific, documented, and legally supported exception applies.”
Burgum’s order comes as hunting continues to decline in the face of increasing urbanization. Only about 4.2% of the U.S. population identified as a hunter older than 16 in 2024, according to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and U.S. Census data, leaving state wildlife agencies short on revenue from license sales and excise taxes on guns and ammunition.
Hunting advocates and conservative policymakers have been exploring multiple avenues to keep hunting alive, including promoting the sport to women and young children, creating seasons for more species and expanding hunter access to public land.
Dan Wenk, a former Yellowstone National Park superintendent and NPS deputy operations director, said park managers established their regulations by talking with stakeholders and, as a result, most of the restrictions have been widely accepted. He said it makes no sense for the Trump administration to upend that structure without substantial public discussion.
“Process never seems to stand in the way of many things with this administration,” Wenk said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. “This was never a big issue. I’d love to know the problem we’re trying to solve. Then I could understand the costs that it’s going to take to solve it in terms of resources and visitor safety.”
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/trump-is-lifting-restrictions-on-hunting-in-national-parks-and-other-areas
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I’ve never had to worry about anybody with hand cannons in our National Parks, which is a great perk. The denizens of the forest for the trees appreciate it too.
Hikers in those National Parks may want to start wearing bullet proof vets and helmets. And wear bright fluorescent yellow or red outfits as well. Maybe a bright rotating light atop that helmet as well. Admittedly the sounds of gunfire in a National Park would not be a welcome addition.
While weapons that are state and federal law conforming can be carried in the back-country of a NP, they cannot be discharged: No Hunting. Bergum notwithstanding.
And if Rangers see you with a weapon out they are likely to radio base command.
Canada confirms first hantavirus case in isolation in British Columbia
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/may/16/canada-first-hantavirus-case-british-columbia
Israeli group sues Canadian human rights museum over ‘Nakba’ exhibit
https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/legal-action-looms-over-nakba-portrayal-at-cmhr-in-winnipeg
Cubans prepare for “invasion” as US escalates tensions with long-suffering island
https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/16/americas/cubans-prepare-for-us-invasion-latam-intl
World Health Organization declares Ebola outbreak in Congo a global health emergency
https://www.npr.org/2026/05/16/g-s1-122494/new-ebola-outbreak-drc-who-global-emergency
Japan team has 1st successful engine test for Mach 5 aircraft, eyeing 2-hr trips to US
https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20260511/p2a/00m/0sc/015000c
One wonders if a hantavirus outbreak in US would even merit official notice.
Good news for a lot of people. The USS Gerald R. Ford has finally returned to the States and I bet that a lot of swabbies were glad to get off that boat. Would you believe that Hegseth was there trying to get some reflected glory? They should have tossed him in the drink-
https://www.eurasiantimes.com/uss-gerald-r-ford-makes-history-sets-326-day-deployment-record-longest-by-any-u-s-aircraft-carrier-in-50-years/
The Last of Barrett’s Privateers, by Stan Rogers
Oh, the year was 1778
How I wish I was in Sherbrooke now
A letter of marque came from the King
To the scummiest vessel I’ve ever seen
God damn them all
I was told we’d cruise the seas for American gold
We’d fire no guns, shed no tears
But I’m a broken man on a Halifax pier
The last of Barrett’s Privateers
Oh Elcid Barrett, cried the town
How I wish I was in Sherbrooke now
For twenty brave men all fishermen who
Would make for him the Antelope’s crew
God damn them all
I was told we’d cruise the seas for American gold
We’d fire no guns, shed no tears
But I’m a broken man on a Halifax pier
The last of Barrett’s Privateers
The Antelope sloop was a sickening sight
How I wish I was in Sherbrooke now
She’d a list to the port and and her sails in rags
And the cook in the scuppers with the staggers and jags
…….
four more verses
……
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=the%20last%20of%20barrett%27s%20privateers
How nice, thank you ! One my Australian partner’s all time favourite songs.
Or flushed his moussed head down the backed-up toilets.
Tesla falls out of China’s EV top 10 as BYD surges
https://finance.yahoo.com/sectors/technology/articles/tesla-falls-chinas-ev-top-104000735.html
TPUSA’s “Make Heaven Crowded” revival tour is a disaster: Charlie Kirk’s death did not inspire the national spiritual awakening that was promised
https://www.salon.com/2026/05/17/tpusas-make-heaven-crowded-revival-tour-is-a-disaster/
‘Silence of virgin girl can be treated as consent’: Taliban formally recognises child marriage with special rules in Afghanistan
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/rest-of-world/silence-of-virgin-girl-can-be-treated-as-consent-taliban-legalises-child-marriages-with-special-rules-in-afghanistan/articleshow/131148782.cms
If he was not otherwise occupied, the new Iranian Supreme Leader of Iran probably be screaming in rage. He’s an actual legal scholar.
India rejects Hague court ruling on Indus Water Treaty, says pact remains in abeyance
https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/india/india-rejects-hague-court-ruling-on-indus-water-treaty-says-pact-remains-in-abeyance/
re: German labour unions vs. war
interview by GERMAN-FOREIGN-POLICY-BLOG
machine-translation
“The Perspective of Peace”
Interview with Ulrike Eifler about the intensifying struggle of trade unions at the national and international level against the threat of war and why this struggle is unavoidable for trade unions
https://archive.is/ZIPQl
This Morning’s news reminded me that while Russia plays Chess and the Chinese play “Go”, Americans play “Pocket Pool.”
NYT and other MSM report that “Acting President” Delcy Rodriguez has extradited Alex Saab to the US. Saab is described as a Colombian. In fact he was a Venezuelan diplomat, and had been kidnapped and extradited to the US once before: he was pardoned and released by the Biden administration.
Saab was close to Maduro and one of the first people Rodriguez fired after she became “Acting President.” TeleSur has not reported on his extradition.
I can’t even:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2026/05/15/marco-rubio-nike-tracksuit-maduro/90094923007/
Rubio wearing the same Nike tracksuit they took Maduro in? And this is supposed to enhance his presidential profile? Just wow.
Master-Slav dialectic, from The Hague-l.
I’m elated to announce the launch of AI BnB, where instead of having to think about anything, you just rent knowledge.
Slide 22 ( The companion deck to AI Eats The World, via YouTube & ben-evans.com)
… it was always the plan.
:)
Incredible footage of two US Navy EA-18G Growler jets colliding at an airshow and getting jammed together. All four crew managed to punch out seconds before those combined jets hit the ground-
https://www.rt.com/news/640107-us-navy-jets-collide-crash/
I was expecting the El Salvador VIP Glamping to be one of the prison cells where US detainees were sent, and the ravishing accented blonde woman showing you effectively a toilet and double or triple bunk setup and doing a Nigella Lawson semi erotic moves all over the joint, for satire… but my mind went to one in a hillside areas overlooking Lebanon, or Gaza…all palatial like the domed ones in the videos… but overlooking rubble…. Please don’t tell me there is some….
What a Mess!