Sigh. Gonna keep telling anywho will listen that while viral origins are hard to “prove”, the vast majority of the evidence points to a spillover from an animal reservoir. The “evidence” for a virus created in a lab is conjecture and largely rests on “but there’s a virus lab in Wuhan” 🤦🏻‍♂️🤦🏻‍♂️🤦🏻‍♂️

If Waffle House doesn’t make this their new slogan, then capitalism has failed

Retail sales +0.9% in May +3.4% gas stations +1.5% online +1.2% cars, parts +1.0% furniture +0.6% health, personal care +0.3% clothes +0.3% sporting, hobby, music, books 0.0% building mats, garden 0.0% grocery -0.1% restaurants, bars -0.3% dept stores -0.5% electronics

👇👇👇

*3% of GDP. That is what Musk's net worth represents. At the height of his fortune, Rockefeller's net worth was 1.4% of GDP

*MUSK BECOMES WORLD'S FIRST TRILLIONAIRE AS SPACEX JUMPS AT OPEN *WORLD BANK CUTS GLOBAL GROWTH FORECAST TO 2.5%, POST-COVID LOW (Bloomberg) -- The World Bank cut its outlook for global growth this year and said two-thirds of economies have seen prospects deteriorate...

The Art Of The Deal

MAGA insisted immigrants had to "come the right way" and are now blowing up "the right way" for non-white immigrants. www.bbc.com/news/article...

“I’m Kid Rock.” “I’m Naomi Wolf.” “I’m Kanye West.” “I’m Matt Taibbi.” “I’m Catturd. Those stories, plus Rob Schneider, tonight on 60 Minutes.”

The con is on.

#1 class of gun death? Suicide. #2 class of gun death? Homicide of family attendant to suicide. The pro-gun and anti-gun lobbies both ignore this grim reality, that guns kill owners and their “loved ones” in greater numbers than guns kill all others.

I'm old enough to remember the weekly headlines about how close Francisco Franco was to death, and the SNL lampooning of them.

GOP has "abandoned the idea of crafting policy. They are a full-time media operation, trolling and creating content. The president is checked out. There is no turnaround coming as long as Trump/GOP are in power." On the pod, @dceiver.bsky.social nails the moment: newrepublic.com/article/2108...

Again, please share. In every aspect of American history you will run smack dab into the critical contributions of Black people. It’s not Black history. It’s American history. Trying to erase it is a fool’s errand. We live it every day. time.com/5836444/blac...

“Those who have long enjoyed such privileges as we enjoy forget in time that men have died to win them.” ~President Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1941. Wishing everyone the best for a meaningful Memorial Day. Image: Arlington National Cemetery.

“As more Americans believe the military is on 1 side, or that military leaders have partisan loyalties, there will be an upper limit on approval of the military that corresponds with the proportion who believe military shares their partisan leanings.” Good investigations make good organizations.

1. Number of stories about Trump buying and selling hundreds of millions of dollars in stocks in the first three months of 2026: CBS: 0 CNN: 0 Fox News: 0 NPR: 0 PBS: 0 Politico: 0 Semafor: 0 Business Insider: 0

The podcast bros said they were supporting Trump for two reasons: He wouldn’t start any wars, and he’d release the Epstein files. Massie lost tonight for two reasons: (a) forcing the release of the Epstein files, and (b) trying to restrain Trump’s war in Iran.

No one wants to acknowledge that we are paying unrealized capital appreciation annually on our homes and then wring their hands when we want people/ businesses making over $100 million a year to do the same.

QUINTANILLA: According to the filings, the president has been trading some Intel in the quarter JIM CRAMER: Yeah, uh, yeah, hmm FABER: Got nothing to say? CRAMER: Uh, uh, yeah, whoa, yeah. FABER: Don't worry. We're not having technical difficulties, but we gotta go

NEWS: At least two people are reported dead and multiple others injured in an active shooter situation at the Islamic Center of San Diego in California, according to initial reports; this is a developing situation and details may change as authorities release additional information.

Man, there are some crazy “labor vs. capital” charts, lately. @ianbremmer.com

Oh. Huh.

The wealthy keep buying Manhattan real estate despite potential pied-à-terre tax

RED FLAG: The Trump Justice Department has demanded the identities of every worker who staffed the 2020 election in Fulton County, Georgia, according to court records. The demand targets employees of Fulton County elections as well as volunteer poll workers, who likely numbered in the thousands.

Say it ain't so, Joe.

Read @markhertling.bsky.social www.thebulwark.com/p/the-last-t...

This graph shows how registration rates between Black and White voters varied in Louisiana since Reconstruction. In a single image, it tells the story of political power and discrimination. Black voters had power, briefly, then it was taken from them. donmoynihan.substack.com/p/power-demo...

This kind of downstream consequence is precisely how authoritarianism works - even if SPLC beats the case, they suffer severe financial and reputational harms, deterring further opposition.

This morning at Hancock High, seniors headed to the floor of the gym to receive their caps and gowns, each from a teacher they had chosen. Stacy Campbell waited there, holding her student Israel Makoka's cap and gown. But he wouldn't come. He and his brother, Max, 15, had been taken by ICE.

Mark Carney: "Many of our former strengths, built on our close ties to the US, have become weaknesses. The US has changed. That's their right. And we're responding ... we're deepening our partnerships with our closest allies, including the EU, the Nordic countries, and Australia."

"The defense of civil liberties and the rule of law is as important today as it was before Saturday night. The true moment of national danger we face is Trumpism, and there is no reason to hesitate or waver in opposition to it."

It's an understudied element of our media environment that Republicans can insult Democrats in any way they see fit, regardless of propriety or truth value, without repercussion, but Dems are consistently forced to use measured tones to describe Republicans no matter how outrageous their actions.

In Louisiana this week. What’s notable is the absence of any and all Trump paraphernalia. Not so much as a faded bumper sticker. No flags, caps, signs, shirts, nothing. Trump won LA 60/40. Shame takes many forms.

Imagine, if you will, how Fox would have reacted had Hunter Biden bragged about something like this on CNN.

400 US service members injured in Iran war - WSJ

And we're all going to die anyway.

OOP New York Times got receipts on John Roberts being like, 'I know this isn't how anything works, but a Democratic president is about to implement a policy!!' www.nytimes.com/2026/04/18/u...

Fascinating paragraph from Scott Alexander, where he admits he’s the dog that caught the car

Pete Hegseth quoted a fake Bible verse from the Tarantino movie Pulp Fiction yesterday during a Pentagon prayer service

They hope if they're cruel and inhumane enough legal residents will choose to "self-deport" to anywhere but the hell ICE/DHS/MAGA has created for non-white people. Until SCOTUS declares the 8th Amendment applies to pre-trial detention they'll to do whatever they want.

Attacking the holy temple of pastrami & knishes is both wildly antisemitic & wildly un-American.

This thread is horrifying...

Corporate profits: all-time high. Consumer sentiment: all-time low. This is one reason why both can be true: (via MetLife)

I knew it was bad but really didn’t appreciate it was quite this bad as.ft.com/r/db911dd6-f...

"asked"

In this clip Kevin Hassett predicts 4-5% GDP growth this year. Comparable 2026 forecasts from... Fed: 2.4% WSJ survey of economic forecasters: 2.1% CBO (from Feb, pre-war): 2.2% FT/Clark Center survey: 1.9% IMF (Jan, pre-war): 2.4% OECD: 2.1%

Bezos assumes Washington Post readers excited to learn Amazon employees hacks