People's suffering is not acceptable collateral for someone else's comfort.
What we're doing now
is what we'd be doing
in 1930s Germany
or 1960s America
May 15, 2026
Chris Kohler
The market value of all US farmland is about $3½ trillion.
The market value of Nvidia today is about $5½ trillion.
The Crook In Chief
There's no better indication of our rapid slide into plutocracy than a federal government run by guys so lacking in honor that they steal from us right out in open.
Go ahead - tell me we don't have a big fuckin' problem.
The purchases included securities linked to Microsoft, Meta Platforms, Oracle, Broadcom, Bank of America and Goldman Sachs.
President Donald Trump disclosed a flurry of at least $220 million in financial transactions earlier this year in the securities of major U.S. companies, according to two new financial disclosure forms released Thursday by the U.S. Office of Government Ethics.
The new reports cover the first three months of 2026 and reported transaction values in broad ranges rather than exact amounts, showing a cumulative value of between $220 million and around $750 million. The purchases included securities linked to companies such as Microsoft, Meta Platforms, Oracle, Broadcom, Bank of America and Goldman Sachs, as well as trades in municipal bonds.
Examples of large purchases, valued at between $1 million and $5 million each, were an S&P 500 Index fund, Nvidia Corp. and Apple Inc. Large sales of between $5 million and $25 million each included Microsoft, Amazon and Meta. The filing does not always make explicit the type of security, such as whether it was a stock or a corporate bond.
The filings also do not make clear in what accounts the transactions took place or who placed the trades. The president’s assets are held in a trust controlled by his children, while some of the transactions in the new filings indicate that a broker acted as an agent.
The White House press office referred questions to the Trump Organization. An attorney for the Trump Organization did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Since returning to the White House last year, Donald Trump has repeatedly disclosed financial transactions through a series of public ethics filings, showing trades in both municipal debt and securities issued by major corporations.
The disclosure forms are required under federal ethics rules and provide only a partial snapshot of an official’s financial activity because they list transactions above $1,000 in broad value bands and do not disclose exact prices, profits or whether assets were purchased directly or through managed accounts. The president’s annual financial disclosure, a broader filing that includes business assets and income, such as golf resorts and crypto ventures, is expected in the coming months.
Weird Nerdy Thing
Sometimes, it seems like half of the great global conspiracy is aimed at keeping as many women pregnant as possible, while the other half is trying to stop us from having sex altogether.
Make up your fuckin' mind, you guys.
Study finds virus survived in the testes of 55-year-old man for 71 months, and experts recommend safe sex protocols to cut risk
Hantavirus can remain in human semen for up to six years and has the potential for sexual transmission even after a person has recovered, according to a peer-reviewed study.
The discovery means male patients are likely to be advised to change their sexual practices as happens with other viruses such as Ebola, which also survives in the sexual tract.
The research was conducted at the Spiez Laboratory, a Swiss government institute tasked with fighting nuclear, biological and chemical threats, and published in the journal Viruses.
They investigated a Swiss 55-year-old man who had become infected with the Andes strain of the hantavirus in South America six years earlier.
They found that although there was no longer any trace of the virus in man’s blood, urine and respiratory tract, it was still detectable in his semen 71 months later.
As with other viruses, including Ebola and Zika virus, male testes may act as a “reservoir” where the virus can essentially “hide” and evade the body’s immune system, said the paper.
A 2021 Ebola outbreak in Guinea, which resulted in 23 cases and 12 deaths, was later linked to a survivor of the West Africa 2014-2016 epidemic, who had gone on to spread the virus through sex.
“Taken together, our results show that the Andes virus has the potential for sexual transmission,” the 2023 study said, although this has never been documented.
It is unclear what implications this may have for the eight confirmed hantavirus cases linked to the MV Hondius cruise or the 20 people with no symptoms isolating in Britain.
Analysts at Airfinity, a company that tracks global health risks, recommend that male patients should receive “extensive safe-sex guidance beyond the [42-day] quarantine.”
The guidance should be “analogous to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Ebola survivor semen-monitoring protocols,” it added.
The WHO protocols say the semen of male survivors of Ebola should be tested every three months and not be considered clear before two consecutive negative test results.
Until cleared, they should “abstain from all types of sex” or “use condoms consistently and correctly.”
They should also wash themselves “thoroughly” with soap and water after any contact with semen – including after masturbation, according to the guidance.
The testes are known to act as a “safe harbour” for at least 27 infectious diseases, allowing some pathogens to live in the body and infect others years after the patient has recovered.
Sperm cells are protected against attack by the body’s immune system as they are needed for procreation. But this also means that viruses can survive there.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), which is monitoring British passengers from the MV Hondius, told The Telegraph: “UKHSA keeps all guidance under constant review and monitors emerging evidence, including international research, as it becomes available.
“Any individuals in England who are confirmed as cases or identified as contacts will be provided with all necessary public health advice, including on reducing the risk of onward transmission.”
Time With The Family
Tom Durante
Mike Banks, President Donald Trump’s top Border Patrol official, resigned from the position on Thursday, “effective immediately.”
Banks confirmed his departure in a text to Fox News reporter Bill Melugin.
“It’s just time,” Banks told him. “I feel like I got the ship back on course. From the least secure disastrous chaotic border to the most secure border this country has ever seen. Time to pass the [sic] reigns, 37 years its time to enjoy the family and life.”
Banks’ departure from the Border Patrol comes under the cloud of sex tourism allegations against him.
Several current and former border patrol agents told the Washington Examiner last month that Banks “bragged” about having sex with prostitutes in countries that included Colombia and Thailand.
“I don’t know how he became the chief of the Border Patrol with his character,” one former agent told the Examiner, adding that Banks asked him to accompany the agency honcho on one such trip. “He’s going to third-world countries to take advantage of poor f*cking women, which disgusts the hell out of me.”
Another agent told the outlet: “In our line of work, part of what we do is try to combat the trafficking of females, that is part of our job. It’s counter to what we do or what we should be standing for. If you’re partaking in those activities, you’re supporting the trafficking and exploitation of women.”
Banks was appointed Border Patrol chief shortly after Trump took office in 2025, following a two-year stint as Texas border czar under Governor Greg Abbott (R). Before that, he had been involved in border security operations for 23 years.
In a 2025 interview that appears on the Homeland Security website, Banks said that he was inspired to join the ranks of the border patrol “after having a few beers” and listening to stories from his border agent friends.
May 14, 2026
The Siege Of Cuba
It's not hard to imagine Rubio and Trump thinking it's a good idea to punish the Cuban people for their failure to rise up and overthrow the evil nasty government in Havana and blah blah blah.
I hate this shit.
May 14 (UPI) -- Cuban Energy Minister Vincente de la O Levy said the country's diesel and fuel oil stocks had run completely dry and that the energy system was on life support due to the oil embargo imposed by the United States in January.
"We have absolutely no diesel," O Levy said in an interview broadcast on state-run national television Wednesday night in which he repeatedly stated that oil stocks to generate power for the electrical grid were pretty much exhausted too.
O Levy said that a lone delivery of 730,000 barrels of oil gifted by Russia in March had run out and the national grid was now completely dependent on Cuba's home-produced crude oil, natural gas and renewable energy.
"In Havana, the blackouts now exceed 20-22 hours [per day]. The situation is very tense, it's becoming hotter," he said, referring to surging demand for energy with the arrival of summer on the island.
In a post on X on Wednesday evening, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel blamed a 2,000 megawatt electricity shortfall overnight and 1,100 megawatts that could have been produced during the day had the fuel to generate it been available to power stations on a "criminal siege."
"This dramatic worsening has a single cause: the genocidal energy blockade to which the United States subjects our country, threatening irrational tariffs against any nation that supplies us with fuel," Diaz-Canel wrote.
The comments came as Havana and Washington traded claim and counterclaim over purported behind-the-scenes U.S. offers to provide $100 million in assistance that the Cuban government claimed it was unaware of, with the State Department formally reiterating Wednesday that its offer was still on the table.
In a news release, the State Department said Cuba had rebuffed repeated private offers of financial assistance made by the United States, including support for free and fast satellite internet.
"The regime refuses to allow the United States to provide this assistance to the Cuban people, who are in desperate need of assistance due to the failures of Cuba's corrupt regime. Today, the Department of State is publicly restating the United States' generous offer to provide an additional $100 million in direct humanitarian assistance to the Cuban people that would be distributed in coordination with the Catholic Church and other reliable independent humanitarian organizations," the news release said.
The State Department added that the decision lay with the Cuban government to either accept the offer or be accountable to the people of Cuba for blocking them from receiving "critical living-saving aid."
On Tuesday, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno RodrÃguez Parrilla denied any knowledge of the offer of assistance, calling it a "fable" and a "$100 million lie."
"Someone should ask the U.S. secretary of state about the fable of the alleged offer of $100 million in humanitarian aid to Cuba, which nobody here knows anything about," RodrÃguez said.
He questioned the source of the funds for the aid, the means of distribution, and if it would be in cash or goods.
"It would be good to know who specifically would contribute the money, whether it would be delivered in cash for fundamental needs, like fuels, food, and medicines, or whether it would be a material delivery and of what and from which company or agency the products would be purchased," Rodriguez said.
He also cast doubt on the intent, arguing that lifting the oil embargo was an easier way to help.
"Will it be a donation, a deception or a dirty business to undermine our independence," said Rodriguez.
U.S. President Donald Trump resumed ramping up a six-decade-old American ecomonic embargo on Cuba in January after cutting off its main supply of oil from Venezuela and threatening sanctions on Mexico, its second largest supply, and any other country that provided oil to the island.
A Jan. 29 executive order issued by Trump declaring the Cuba situation a national emergency said "the policies, practices, and actions of the Government of Cuba constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States."
On May 7, the State Department sanctioned Moa Nickel S.A., Grupo de Administracion Emresarial S.A., and GAESA senior executive officer Ania Guillermina Lastres Morera, saying they were being held accountable for helping the regime ruin Cuba.
It alleged that proceeds from GAESA, a state organ controlling about 40% of Cuba's economy, were being "funneled away to hidden overseas bank accounts" instead of being invested to solve the hunger, poverty and improve the failing power grid and other critical infrastructure.
The State Department said MNSA had "exploited Cuba's national resources to benefit the regime" and profited from assets belonging to U.S. citizens and companies seized by the Cuban regime in the past.
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