America’s strength is closely tied to the role mothers play in shaping character, education and moral order within families. From morning until night, mothers serve as the first teachers of empathy, aspiration and discipline. It is mothers who do so much to shape a child’s mind — how to think, how to distinguish right from wrong and how to persevere in challenging times.
Wednesday Reads: Shootout on Memorial Drive and Other News
Posted: May 13, 2026 Filed under: just because | Tags: Assault rifles, Donald Trump, inflation, iran, Natalie Harp, Shooting in Cambridge MA, Trump China visit, Trump's poll numbers, Trump's social media addiction, Truth Social, Tyler E.. Brown, U.S. Economy 6 CommentsGood Afternoon!!
I’m going to begin with a local story today. On Monday, we had a terrible shooting incident not far from where I live, and I can’t understand why it hasn’t gotten more national coverage. It makes me wonder how many really awful shooting incidents just get ignored by the mainstream media. There were a couple of stories yesterday–one in The New York Times–but no TV coverage as it was happening.
Here’s what happened. A man with an assault rifle made his way to a stretch of Memorial Drive in Cambridge–a very busy road, one of two routes into Boston from outlying towns. The road passes the Harvard and MIT campuses and splits off to the bridge the leads to the BU campus.
A still frame from witness video showing a gunman on Memorial Drive in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
The guy began firing his weapon, getting off as many as 30 rounds at once. He fired at cars and drivers randomly, eventually walking down the middle of the road, waving the rifle around. Hundreds of cars were abandoned, as people ran for their lives. One bullet went through the windshield of a post office truck and just missed the driver’s head. So far there haven’t been any fatalities, but two drivers were shot and are in critical condition. I heard this morning that one of them is expected to live.
The entire stretch of Memorial Drive, from the edge of the Harvard Campus to MIT as well as the bridge to BU were shut down and treated as a crime scene. I can’t even begin to imagine the struggle people had getting home on Monday night.
This all took place just a short distance from where my brother lived for years and right in front of the gas station where I used to take my nephews for Italian ice in the summer. (Interestingly, this is also the gas station where the Boston bombers stopped for gas as they tried to escape. During that stop, the man whose car they had highjacked escaped and ran to another gas station across the way to call police.)
It turns out the shooter was on probation and had had met with his probation officer on Facetime on Monday morning. He had shown the rifle and given indications that he was suicidal, so the probation office had notified law enforcement, and they were tracing the shooter, I guess by his phone. They knew he was in Cambridge, so they were able to respond quickly when the 911 calls starting coming in. The shooter was taken down by a state police officer and a civilian–a former marine with a legal gun. So far the ex-marine hasn’t been named. He would probably be wise to remain anonymous.
It turns out this man should not have been out of prison. He had a history of getting in shootouts, including with police and been given very lenient sentences. I hope they put him away for good this time.
We have very strict gun laws here in Massachusetts, but dealers bring the guns down from Vermont, which has zero gun laws.
Here’s a summary article about the incident from The Boston Globe: Assault-style rifle, former Marine who stepped in, panicked drivers: What to know about the Memorial Drive shooting.
An active shooter on Memorial Drive in Cambridge Monday afternoon prompted panicked motorists to abandon their vehicles and sent people running for their lives along the Charles River.
Two drivers were shot and critically injured, officials said. The suspected shooter, identified as Tyler E. Brown, 46, of Boston, was shot while police apprehended him. He was in police custody at a Boston hospital late Monday night….
Middlesex District Attorney Marian T. Ryan said Cambridge police received a 911 call from Boston police at 1:06 p.m. reporting a person who was believed to be in Cambridge, observed acting erratically, and believed to be in the possession of a rifle.
By the time police responded, Brown had started shooting, she said.
“The suspect created a extraordinarily dangerous situation during a busy part of the afternoon where innocent people were driving their vehicles, walking, biking and rowing on the river,” Ryan said. Some took cover under their vehicles, she said.
Authorities say Brown randomly fired 50 to 60 rounds from an “assault style rifle” while walking down the middle of Memorial Drive near the River Street Bridge. At least a dozen vehicles were struck, including a State Police cruiser. The two drivers struck by bullets were hospitalized with life-threatening injuries….
The shooting came to an end after Brown was confronted by a State Police trooper and an armed civilian, described as a former Marine with a license to carry a firearm. Brown was shot several times in the extremities.
Brown is currently serving three years of probation after his release from state prison last year where he served a sentence for a May 2020 shooting in the South End that involved four Boston police officers. The officers were not injured but they were evaluated at a hospital. Brown had been released from prison five months before that shooting. He was sentenced to five to six years with credit for 545 days time served. Court records do not specify the exact date of Brown’s most recent release….
In connection with Monday’s shooting, Brown is expected to face two counts of armed assault with intent to murder and firearms offenses. His arraignment has not yet been scheduled.
Video of the takedown:
WCVB ABC: ‘I was running for my life’: Witnesses describe Memorial Drive shooting.
Multiple witnesses describe seeing a man armed with a rifle shooting into busy traffic along Memorial Drive in Cambridge on Monday afternoon.
They described more than a dozen shots being fired rapidly, and officials confirmed at least one person was treated for a gunshot wound. Memorial Drive was closed at the River Street Bridge for the investigation.
“People just started running. People got out of their cars and just started running the opposite way,” said Todd Czubek, a witness.
Czubek said the gunman continued to fire as he got out of his car and joined the crowd running from the scene.
“Shooting cars, shooting sometimes in the air, sometimes just spraying. All over the place. It was craziness,” Czubek said.
Joseph Minino Rodriguez, who saw the incident unfolding from his apartment on the 18th floor, described seeing the gunman firing into traffic. He shared a cellphone video from the incident and said that he was on the phone with emergency dispatchers as the incident unfolded.
Rodriguez said that, while he was watching, the shooter “just straight up gets into a gunfight with the cops.”
He said the gunman appeared to fall during that gunfight and then threw his gun.
“Once he throws the gun, my boy is just out here, just lying down, and now he has his hands up. Now he’s done,” Rodriguez said.
One more from WBUR public radio: Alleged Cambridge gunman was released from psychiatric hospital 3 days before shooting.
The alleged gunman charged in Monday’s chaotic shooting on Memorial Drive in Cambridge that left two people seriously wounded had been released from a psychiatric hospital three days earlier, according to a state police report on the incident.
Less than an hour before the shootings, Tyler E. Brown allegedly told his parole officer that “these people are gonna f—ing pay.” He did not say whom he was targeting, but would go on to fire at least 60 rounds erratically into cars and at passersby, according to the police report filed in Cambridge District Court.
Tyler E. Brown, accused of firing on drivers on Memorial Drive in Cambridge on Monday. credit Boston Regional Intelligence Center
The Middlesex County District Attorney’s office has charged Brown, 46, with armed assault with intent to murder, carrying a firearm without a license and possessing a large-capacity firearm. He was in a local hospital Tuesday and no arraignment date has been set.
Brown has a history of violence. He previously served time in prison for shooting at Boston police officers in 2020 while already on probation for a 2014 conviction for assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.
He was released from prison in May last year, to serve the remainder of his sentence under parole supervision, according to the Department of Correction.
On Monday, less than two hours before the shooting, a parole officer flagged to police that Brown was at risk of violence again. The parole officer called the Boston Police Department, reporting that Brown, “a known crack cocaine user, had relapsed and was ready to end his life,” according to the report.
It sounds like the guy had a lot of problems. But why do these angry guys want to take other people with them? It’s either their families or total strangers. They can’t just kill themselves and leave the rest of us alone. Sorry if that sounds cold. And sorry if I bored you with a local story, but I just had to get it off my chest.
Now back to politics news.
I’m sure you’ve heard that Trump publicly admitted he doesn’t give a shit about Americans’ financial struggles.
The Guardian: ‘I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation,’ says Trump amid Iran talks.
Donald Trump has said the growing financial pressure inflicted on Americans by the war on Iran is “not even a little bit” motivating him to make a peace deal with Tehran.
With US inflation at a three-year high, and fuel costs still climbing after a sharp rise in oil prices, the US president said on Tuesday that he is not focused on the economic hardship sparked by the conflict.
“The only thing that matters when I’m talking about Iran [is] they can’t have a nuclear weapon,” Trump told reporters at the White House before boarding a plane to China. “I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation. I don’t think about anybody. I think about one thing: We cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon. That’s all.”
The remarks come ahead of a US midterm election campaign season which looks to be defined by mounting concerns around affordability.
Trump was also speaking hours after official figures revealed that US prices had risen 3.8% in April – their fastest pace since 2023 – driven largely by energy costs that have surged since the US and Israel first attacked Iran in late February.
Gasoline now averages over $4.50 a gallon, according to AAA, which makes it the highest price in four years. Food prices are also up nearly 4%, electricity and utility bills have climbed and airlines have raised fares by more than 20%.
Trump’s top officials have spent months struggling to explain when, or whether, such pressures will fade. Chris Wright, the US energy secretary, said in March that fuel could return to prewar levels by summer, but on Sunday he said he “can’t make predictions”. In April, he told CNN that prices falling below $3 a gallon “might not happen till next year”.
Trump himself, asked recently for a forecast, offered that prices could go lower, “or the same, or maybe a little bit higher”, by November.
We’ll probably see that quote in a lot of Democratic candidates’ ads during the midterm campaigns.
The polls aren’t looking good for Trump either.
Mediaite: ‘Jesus!’ Hot Mic Catches CNN’s Harry Enten Gobsmacked by ‘Brutal’ Inflation Report.
CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten was caught on a hot mic reacting to the Trump administration’s disastrous new inflation numbers on Tuesday.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics on Wednesday morning published its latest Producer Price Index (PPI) report. For the month of April, The PPI rose 6% compared to April 2025. Compared to last month, the PPI rose 1.4%. It was the largest month-to-month increase since 2022. As noted by CNBC’s Rick Santelli, that month-to-month figure nearly tripled the expected increase.
Enten was just as stunned. Just moments before he began a segment breaking down President Donald Trump’s poor approval ratings, he reacted to the new inflation report in disbelief:
CNN ANCHOR JOHN BERMAN: Breaking just moments ago, a new brutal report on wholesale inflation. Way, way worse than expected. You can see that’s the month-to-month increase at 1.4%. That was much more than was expected. On an annualized basis. It’s at 6%.
ENTEN: Jesus.
BERMAN: This, after consumer inflation just surged to the highest level in three years. With us now is CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten. So we’ve been talking about inflation, we’ve been talking about the president’s approval on it, which is not good–
ENTEN: No.
BERMAN: Our new poll shows that people are very unhappy with the economy, with inflation, with his handling of inflation. On a historical perspective, though, how much don’t they like how he’s handling inflation?
Enten went on to say Trump’s approval rating on inflation were the “ugliest numbers I have ever seen.” He then revealed in just the last month, Trump had the five worst inflation polls of any president in history.
Simon Rosenberg at Hopium Chronicles examines the current state of the economy: Trump Admits What Has Become Obvious – He Simply Doesn’t Care About The American People Only Himself, His Ridiculous Ballroom, His Fellow Oligarchs.
Yesterday, the main gauge of inflation, the Consumer Price Index (CPI), came in way above expectations at 0.6 for April. This morning another inflation gauge, the Producer Price Index, came in way, way above expectations at 1.4 percent for April. The consensus forecast was an increase of 0.5 percent. So 1.4 is almost three times what was expected. 1.4 percent is an annualized rate of over 16%!!!!!!!! [….]
When I looked at the PPI report on the BEA website this morning I audibly gasped as it was so much higher than expected.
Let’s review what the other two main gauges of inflation tell us:
Again, on prices and costs, Trump’s agenda – tariffs, mass deportation, Big Ugly Bill – had caused inflation to rise prior to the war. You see it there in the data, clear as day. Now due to the war inflation has surged, significantly, rising faster than expected in this week’s two measures, and is starting to get baked into the broader economy. PPI measures the cost of goods to producers, costs which are eventually passed on to consumers, suggesting that we are now in a much more challenging and sustained period of higher costs even if the Strait of Hormuz were to open tomorrow. For remember higher energy prices are a force multiplier – they make anything that uses energy and transportation cost more – manufactured goods, food, business travel, vacations, etc. And these highly elevated producer costs we are seeing today are going to show up in goods we buy in the coming months……..
The inflationary dynamic is not easing. Brent crude starts the day at one its highest points of the war:
30 Year Treasuries are rising, nearing their highest level in 19 years. This is significant for this is a bench mark for borrowing costs across the economy – car loans, mortgage rates, credit cards, and our own debt. So when Treasuries rise everything gets more expensive for everyone, and a sign of inflation getting baked into the broader economy.
Head over to Rosenberg’s Substack to read more and see the charts and graphs.
You probably heard about Trump’s insane Truth Social posting night before last. Today the Wall Street Journal wrote about it; too bad about the paywall. But Raw Story summarized the article:
President Donald Trump’s Truth Social account has become a round-the-clock amplification machine since his return to the White House, and an aide who helps him generate the posts has reportedly frustrated other insiders.
A Wall Street Journal analysis found the 79-year-old president has posted more than 8,800 times since January 2025 — including dozens of late-night bursts that spread conspiracy theories, personal attacks and fringe content to his 12.6 million followers.
On a recent Monday, after a full day of Oval Office meetings and a Rose Garden dinner with law enforcement officers, Trump’s account posted 55 messages between 10:14 p.m. and 1:12 a.m., the Journal found, and those posts falsely claimed the 2020 election was stolen, aired calls for the arrest of former President Barack Obama and amplified frustrations that Democrats had not been indicted by the Justice Department.
Since returning to office, according to the analysis, Trump’s account has produced 44 similar late-night bursts of a dozen or more posts between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. The single most active day came on Dec. 1, when his account posted nearly 160 times in under four hours.
Natalie Harp
Natalie Harp, Trump’s executive assistant, plays a central role in the posting operation, the Journal reported. She presents Trump with printed stacks of draft posts — often content recycled from other social media accounts — for his approval, then logs on and publishes them in batches, sometimes outside normal working hours.
The arrangement has drawn internal friction, according to the report. Harp – who other aides have dubbed the “human printer” for carrying around sheafs of material – typically does not share draft posts with the chief of staff’s office, communications aides or national security officials, telling colleagues she answers only to Trump.
The account drew bipartisan criticism earlier this year after Harp posted, at Trump’s direction, a video containing racist imagery depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as apes and another AI-generated image depicting Trump as a Christ-like figure, both of which the president later deleted.
That’s interesting. Harp is the woman who follows Trump everywhere printing out favorable articles on a portable printer. She was at all of Trump’s court appearances back in the good old days when we hoped he could be stopped.
Historian Heather Cox Richardson also wrote about the night of insane posting: May 12, 2026
The biggest story in the country, today and always, is that the president of the United States is mentally unwell.
Over the course of three hours last night, he posted on social media fifty-five times. Those posts accused a number of those Trump considers his personal enemies, including former president Barack Obama, of treason; claimed that investigations of the ties between his 2016 campaign and Russian operatives were an attempt to damage Trump; insisted the 2020 presidential election was stolen; reposted a fake quotation from Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) accusing Obama of making a personal fortune of $120 million from the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare; labeled Obama and others “traitors” and called for their arrest; and demanded to know why acting attorney general Todd Blanche hadn’t indicted any of those people yet.
This morning, he started in again with a long screed attacking the New York Times for its coverage of his alterations to the reflecting pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., and insisting that Democratic presidents Obama and Joe Biden had “botched” renovations that he was now fixing for “a ‘tiny’ fraction of the cost!” He posted an AI image of Obama, Biden, and former House speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) apparently swimming in a filthy version of the reflecting pool with the caption: “Dumacrats Love Sewage.” Then he posted an image of himself on the $100 bill. And then he was back to calling House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) “Low IQ.”
After posting a number of AI images showing the U.S. military destroying the Iranian military, Trump posted: “When the Fake News says that the Iranian enemy is doing well, Militarily, against us, it’s virtual TREASON in that it is such a false, and even preposterous, statement. They are aiding and abetting the enemy!”
Then he posted an image of a map with Venezuela overlaid with the U.S. flag. The caption read: “51st State.”
Trump seems to be comforting himself by lashing out at his perceived enemies and insisting he is competent and popular. Before he left for China today, he claimed: “We have Iran very much under control. We’re either going to make a deal or they’re going to be decimated. One way or the other, we win.”
She’s probably right. Trump uses social media self-soothe, like a baby uses a blanket or a pacifier.
Trump has landed in China for his meeting with Xi Jinping. The New York Times: What China’s Choice of Airport Greeter Says About Trump.
President Trump arrived Wednesday night in Beijing, where he was welcomed by a military band, an honor guard, hundreds of Chinese youth waving flags and China’s vice president, Han Zheng.
U.S. President Donald Trump greets Vice President of China Han Zheng on upon his arrival at Beijing (with a bunch of U.S. oligarchs in the background.)
Such carefully designed receptions for foreign leaders telegraph Beijing’s attitude toward these visits. Sometimes Beijing sends a lower-level official to convey displeasure or distance. Sometimes they send someone senior and influential to signal a high degree of respect.
This time, they sent someone who is high-level but whose position is mostly that of a figurehead — which could be a way to send a layered message.
“Beijing sent Han Zheng to Trump’s inauguration and knows that his title of vice president, even though it is a ceremonial role, will impress the status-conscious American president,” said Julian Gewirtz, a China historian at Columbia University who served in senior China policy roles in the National Security Council under President Biden.
“It’s an example of how, throughout this summit, China is hoping to trade symbolism for substance — using protocol and Trump’s preference for pageantry to hold off a return to economic escalation and buy time for China,” he said.
Interesting. I wonder how long it will take Trump to make a fool of himself and embarrass us as he never fails to do?
That’s all I have for today. I guess this is kind of a weird post. I hope you don’t mind.
Tuesday Political Cartoons: Quack Doctor
Posted: May 12, 2026 Filed under: just because 2 Comments
So today I am going to focus on the doctor that removed the wrong organ and killed his patient.
These are some of the comments from the facebook post on this Guardian article:
While Shaknovsky first claimed to investigators that he was able to control the aneurysm, he later admitted that “he had never been able to control the aneurysm, but instead decided to complete the splenectomy in a last-ditch effort to control the bleeding after [William] had already been in cardiac arrest for 15 minutes.”
Furthermore, a medical examiner later performed an autopsy on William and found no evidence to suggest there had ever been an aneurysm in the body. In fact, the medical examiner found that the patient had lost their life because Shaknovsky had managed to dissect his inferior vena cava, the largest vein in the body.
Meanwhile, William’s spleen and its attachments were “untouched” and “in the normal position.” Shaknovsky has since been barred from practicing medicine in both Alabama and Florida.
As you see from the comments up top, this is not the first time this doctor has fucked things up.
Key Takeaways
- Dr. Thomas Shaknovsky, 44, was indicted on second-degree manslaughter charges after allegedly removing a 70-year-old patient’s liver instead of his spleen during a 2024 surgery at a Florida hospital, resulting in catastrophic blood loss and death on the operating table.
- The victim’s wife, a registered nurse, was initially told her husband died from a ruptured spleen. An autopsy later revealed the spleen was untouched and the liver had been removed. OR staff reportedly raised concerns about the surgeon’s competence before the procedure began.
- Shaknovsky faces up to 15 years in prisonand has had his medical licenses suspended in Florida, Alabama, and New York. The case raises critical questions about surgical safety protocols and nurse advocacy in the OR.
What Happened During the Surgery
On August 21, 2024, Bryan was scheduled for a laparoscopic splenectomy at Ascension Sacred Heart Emerald Coast Hospital in Miramar Beach, Florida. According to prosecutors, what happened next was far from routine.
Shaknovsky allegedly converted the minimally invasive procedure to an open surgery without proper documentation, then blindly fired a stapling device into the patient’s abdomen. At one point during the operation, he reportedly told staff, “That’s scary,” after feeling a pulsing vessel.
Bryan died on the operating table from catastrophic blood loss. An autopsy later revealed that his spleen and its attachments were completely untouched and in their normal position. His liver, however, was missing entirely.
Prosecutors allege that Shaknovsky told staff the cause of death was a ruptured splenic artery aneurysm and insisted the removed organ be labeled as a “spleen” for pathology. The medical examiner found no evidence to support his claim. According to a civil lawsuit, the person responsible for labeling the organ reportedly knew it was not a spleen but followed the surgeon’s instructions.
Perhaps most troubling for nurses: OR staff reportedly had concerns before the surgery even began that Shaknovsky lacked the skill for the procedure. They also raised issues about surgical timing and insufficient staffing.
According to NBC News, Shaknovsky also operated on Dorothy Dorsett, 76, a Miramar Beach resident who died on Aug. 4, 2023, following complications from surgery to remove a tumor.
Both procedures were performed at Ascension Sacred Heart Emerald Coast in Miramar Beach, where Destin-based Shaknovsky had surgical privileges.
NBC News spoke with Dorsett’s son, Weyman Dorsett, who said he sensed something was wrong almost immediately after his mother’s procedure.
“I’ll never forget … the look on that doctor’s face,” he said, describing an intensive care physician reviewing her chart and “shaking his head, like, ‘What in the living hell is going on?’”
After the tumor was removed from her digestive tract, Dorothy Dorsett’s condition quickly deteriorated, according to a lawsuit cited by NBC News. She struggled to eat, developed a rapid heartbeat and was eventually moved to intensive care.
“She just started really spiraling, pain,” her son said. “She was not my mom.”
Despite being told the surgery “went great,” Dorsett said his mother’s health declined sharply. He recalled being called back to the hospital, where his mother told him she believed she was going to die. He said he then “had to sit there and watch her die.”
How horrible…
Now the cartoons via Cagle:
Be careful out there, and stay safe.
Mostly Monday Reads: The Chaos Picayune
Posted: May 11, 2026 Filed under: #FARTUS, #MAGAnomics, 2026 MidTerm elections | Tags: 51st State, Cadet Bonespur's Iran War, Oil Prices Surge, Oil Tax, Pete Hegseth weirdo sexual assaulter, Senator Mark Kelly, Venezuela 3 Comments
Good Day, Sky Dancers!
Well, it’s deja vu all over again. So, we have another candidate for our 21st state. Given how bluntly bothered the other so-called candidates were, I can’t see Venezuela being any more eager. Oil prices continue to rise as Cadet Bonespurs’ war on Iran runs amok. American Hero, former Astronaut, and current Senator Mark Kelly still faces a second bogus investigation, with stern words from the ever-drunk and stupid Pete Hegseth. Just another day in the democratically backsliding USA.
I guess we will take those headlines in the order they appear, however disorderly.
I guess blowing up fishing boats and regime change weren’t enough for Cadet Bonespurs. This is the headline this morning from the Washington Examiner. “Trump says he’s ‘seriously considering’ making Venezuela the 51st state.” This story is reported by Christian Datoc. Has someone told him that they speak Spanish there? Oh, and there are lots and lots of indigenous tribes there. The best part is that we can pay tribute to the birthplace of Simón Bolívar with a great new National Holiday! That ought to knot a lot of panties in the US Southern States.
President Donald Trump said Monday that he’s considering making Venezuela the 51st American state, months after removing former dictator Nicolas Maduro from power.
Trump spoke to Fox News on Monday, stating that he was “seriously considering” the proposition. The president has previously floated annexing Canada and Greenland.
The foreign policy of Trump’s second term, influenced by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, has placed a new emphasis on the United States’ role in stabilizing the Americas.
According to Fox, Trump cited Venezuela’s $40 trillion worth of oil reserves as driving the decision.
“Venezuela loves Trump,” the president added on Monday.
That’s one of those pronouncements that makes you shake your head, laugh, and cry all at the same time. So, do you wonder exactly how he might try to do that and win a Nobel Peace Prize at the same time? This is from CNN. “US intelligence-gathering flights are surging off Cuba.”
US military intelligence-gathering flights are surging off the coast of Cuba, a CNN analysis of publicly available aviation data shows.
Since February 4, the US Navy and Air Force have conducted at least 25 such flights using manned aircraft and drones, most of them near the country’s two biggest cities, Havana and Santiago de Cuba, and some coming within 40 miles of the coast, according to FlightRadar24.
Most of the flights were by P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft, which are designed for surveillance and reconnaissance, while some were by an RC-135V Rivet Joint, which specializes in signals intelligence gathering. Several MQ-4C Triton high-altitude reconnaissance drones have also been used.
The flights are notable not only for their proximity to the coast, which puts them well within range of gathering intelligence, but for the suddenness of their appearance – prior to February, such publicly visible flights were exceedingly rare in this area – and for their timing.
There’s more on that link about what’s going on with Trump and Venezuela. There’s also an update on the Cuban situation. Still makes me wonder what all those new citizens and voters would do if that situation actually comes to fruition, which, of course, it won’t.
All a country’s leader has to do is increase the level of unpredictability of something and the price will rise. I don’t know how many times I’ve taught this little bit of demand-and-supply theory over my career, but the headlines show it’s still a solid theory, proven by evidence. This headline is from the New York Times. “Oil Prices Rise as Prospects for U.S.-Iran Peace Deal Fizzle.”
Oil prices rose and stocks wavered a bit on Monday as investors reacted to the failure of the United States and Iran to reach a peace deal.
President Trump said on social media Sunday that Iran’s latest proposal was “TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE!” He did not share details about what Iran had offered. Tehran has said that the two countries were working on a short-term agreement that would pause fighting for another 30 days and end Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil and gas shipping route in the Persian Gulf.
The price of Brent crude, the global benchmark for oil, rose roughly 2 percent on Monday, trading at around $103 a barrel.
West Texas Intermediate crude, the U.S. benchmark, moved 1.5 percent higher, trading at around $97 a barrel.
After opening a tad lower on Monday, the S&P 500 rose about 0.3 percent by midday. On Friday, the index had notched its sixth straight week of gains.
Stocks in Asia, where countries import vast quantities of oil and gas, were mixed. South Korea’s benchmark KOSPI Index rose more than 4 percent, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell less than 1 percent.
In Europe, stocks were little changed. The Stoxx 600, a broad index that tracks the region’s largest companies, and the DAX in Germany were flat.
So, of course, Orange Caligula comes up with a hare-brained policy. Nancy Cordes reports this for CBS NEWS. “Trump says he aims to suspend gas tax for a period of time”. Oh, great! Let’s create a much worse Federal Debt Crisis than we have now!
President Trump said in a phone interview with CBS News Monday morning that he aims to suspend the federal gas tax “for a period of time.”
“I think it’s a great idea,” the president said. “Yup, we’re going to take off the gas tax for a period of time, and when gas goes down, we’ll let it phase back in.”
Gas prices have soared over 50% since the start of the Iran war on Feb. 28, hitting a high of over $4.52 on Sunday, according to AAA. Analysts say the prices are likely to remain high with Iran blocking access to the Strait of Hormuz.
But suspending the excise taxes — 18.4 cents per gallon on gas and 24.4 cents a gallon on diesel — requires an act of Congress, and pausing it would cost the federal government about a half billion dollars a week.
Following the president’s comments, Reublican Sen. Josh Hawley said Monday that he would introduce legislation to suspend the federal gas tax. And GOP Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida also said she plans to introduce a bill in the House this week to suspend the federal gas tax “in light of Trump’s recent remarks.” Several Democratic lawmakers had already introduced legislation to either pause or lower it.
Revenue raised by the federal gas tax goes toward the Highway Trust Fund to construct and repair roadways, and it also pays for other transit projects.
In the interview, Mr. Trump rejected the idea of a bailout for U.S. air carriers as they contend with jet fuel costs that have more than doubled since the start of the war with Iran.
For all the defect hawking these MAGA Republicans do, they sure love themselves some senseless U.S. Pork. When policy fails, all good Trump minions go on opportunistic political attacks using the courts as a theatre. This is also from CNN. Aleena Fayez has the report. “Hegseth calls for Sen. Mark Kelly to be investigated by Pentagon for second time.” Once is never enough. Right?
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Sunday called for Sen. Mark Kelly to be investigated over comments he made about US weapon stockpiles, marking the second time the Pentagon chief has opened a review into the Democratic senator.
Hegseth slammed the retired Navy captain and former astronaut for expressing concern on CBS’ “Face the Nation” over US weapons stockpiles amid the Iran war, saying Kelly was “blabbing on TV” about a classified Pentagon briefing.
“Did he violate his oath…again? @DeptofWar legal counsel will review,” Hegseth posted on social media Sunday evening.
Kelly said earlier Sunday that following briefings by the Pentagon on munitions, including Tomahawks, ATACMS and Patriot rounds, he found it “shocking how deep we have gone into these magazines.”
“We’ve expended a lot of munitions. And that means the American people are less safe. Whether it’s a conflict in the western Pacific with China or somewhere else in the world, the munitions are depleted,” Kelly, who sits on the Senate Armed Services and Intelligence committees, told CBS News’ Margaret Brennan.
Kelly responded to Hegseth’s post with a video of the pair at a recent Senate hearing. “We had this conversation in a public hearing a week ago and you said it would take ‘years’ to replenish some of these stockpiles. That’s not classified, it’s a quote from you,” Kelly posted, adding that the “war is coming at a serious cost.”
Ryan Burke at Just Security has some interesting legal analysis. “Lessons from the Pentagon’s Empty Case Against Mark Kelly.”
Secretary Pete Hegseth’s Pentagon is in disarray. Adherence to the rule of law is now, apparently, a ground for termination. The latest target in Hegseth’s continued purge was former Secretary of the Navy John Phelan. Phelan’s firing reportedly frustrated some White House officials, and it apparently came after the Navy Secretary found himself square in Hegseth’s crosshairs over his refusal to punish Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ) for his appearance in a video purported to be an alleged catalyst for mutiny. After a federal judge ruled against the Pentagon’s pursuit of disciplining Kelly, Secretary Hegseth reportedly ordered Phelan to ignore the order and issue punishment to the retired Navy captain anyway. These reported events are an alarming development in the ongoing saga of instability in the Pentagon that should concern every DOD employee who thinks the law is on their side.
Months ago, Hegseth moved to downgrade Kelly’s retirement rank and pay as punishment for the senator’s participation in the so-called “Seditious Six” video. The problem for the Secretary’s pursuit: there’s no there, there. This is a manufactured scandal built on hollow ground, and the harder the Department of Defense tries to sculpt it into something meaningful, the faster it crumbles.
The central claim for punishing Kelly rests on the idea that the Senator encouraged troops to reject legal orders. The most glaring problems for DOD are twofold. First, Kelly clearly referred to the ability to refuse illegal orders – a fact in the record that was apparent in the DC Circuit oral argument late last week. “He never did say those words,” Judge Cornelia Pillard, said in response to the government’s attempt to put words in Kelly’s mouth.
The second problem, ironically for DOD, is the government can’t point to any specific orders to which Kelly referred. In the hearing, the government tried to glom onto Judge Karen L. Henderson’s suggestion that Kelly, at a press conference nearly two weeks after the video was published, said “we were looking forward to try to head something off at the pass” (video and transcript of Kelly press conference). Looking forward. Head something off. And that something clearly not being deployment orders to U.S. cities – which had long ago occurred:
Let’s not forget there’s one more war of choice out there, causing the deaths of many at our cost. The Iran War was brought about by the same two assholes. This is from the New York Times. “Trump and Netanyahu Say Iran War Is Not Over. The Trump administration said last week that the war had run its course, but the U.S. president and Israel’s prime minister in interviews on Sunday did not rule out renewed combat.”
President Trump and Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said in separate interviews on Sunday that the war against Iran was not over, seeming to undermine messaging from the Trump administration last week that the conflict had run its course.
The interviews further compounded confusion about a military campaign marked by shifting goals and messaging since the American-Israeli attacks on Iran began in late February.
Mr. Trump, in an interview released by the syndicated news show “Full Measure,” said Iran had been defeated militarily. Yet when asked if it was accurate to say that combat operations were “over and done,” he refuted that assessment.
“No, I didn’t say that,” Mr. Trump said, adding that Iran was “defeated, but that doesn’t mean they are done.”
Mr. Trump estimated that about 70 percent of the United States’ targets in Iran had been hit. “We could go in for two more weeks and do every single target,” he added.
Mr. Netanyahu also told CBS’s “60 Minutes” in an interview that the conflict was not over, laying out a longer list of unfinished business to address.
“There is still nuclear material, enriched uranium, that has to be taken out of Iran,” Mr. Netanyahu said. “There’s still enrichment sites that have to be dismantled. There are still proxies that Iran supports. There are ballistic missiles that they still want to produce.”
Mr. Netanyahu added that an agreement with Iran to remove its enriched uranium would be the ideal method to ensure the country no longer has materials for a nuclear weapon. The fate of that nuclear material has been one of the key sticking points in U.S.-Iran peace talks, according to Iranian officials.
“I think it can be done physically, that’s not the problem,” Mr. Netanyahu said. He added, “If you have an agreement and you go in and you take it out, why not? That’s the best way.”
Who voted for this? Something needs to change for the better with the Midterms. Oh, wait, there’s still all that gerrymandering and law-upending stuff happening to thwart that. That means it’s really important to vote. I may not be able to vote for my Congress Critter this primary in Louisiana, but I’m damn determined to go vote against every Constitutional Amendment that our governor and Republican twits put on the ballot this year. Please, whereever you are, VOTE!
What’s on your Reading, Action, and Blogging list today?
Sunday Mother’s Day Cartoons
Posted: May 10, 2026 Filed under: just because 4 Comments
Happy Mother’s Day to all those who celebrate today…
Enjoy the cartoons today, via Cagle:
Have a great day…
Lazy Caturday Reads
Posted: May 9, 2026 Filed under: just because | Tags: cat photos, caturday, CDC, cost of the Iran war, Donald Trump, gerrymandering, hantavirus, Iran War, Jeff Bezos, Justin Wolfers, Melania Trump, mothers, Samuel Alito, Voting Rights Act 3 CommentsGood Day!!
Tomorrow, May 10, is Mothers Day. My Mother is no longer alive, but I still talk to her frequently. I think of her every day and take comfort in remembering stories she told me and the many times she encouraged me.
Tomorrow is also the day I stopped drinking, way back in 1982. I can’t believe it will be 44 years! My mother was visiting me on those first days of sobriety. No one believed I could do it, but somehow I knew that day that I was really going to stop drinking this time. I think having my Mom there with me helped, even though she wasn’t sure I could do it either. I love you Mom.
In the “news,” Jeff Bezos’ newspaper, The Washington Post, has seen fit to publish an “opinion” piece, supposedly written by Melania Trump. Obviously, she didn’t write it, even though it’s incredibly simplistic. Here’s bit of it: Mothers are America’s strength.
A mother’s devotion to her child is unmatched. This love takes many forms: strength, compassion, wisdom, grace, joy, labor, humor and even grief, to name a few. The love between mother and child has helped shape America’s identity since the nation’s founding 250 years ago.
It is time to revisit the enduring American family traditions that have supported generations, while also recognizing the challenges for mothers of building both a career and a home. This balancing act reflects the realities women face today.
The household is our nation’s smallest institution, yet it is the foundation of all others, including democracy itself. The values cultivated in homes often shape the moral voice of the next generation. Looking ahead, we must consider how to strengthen this vital role.
Being a modern mother demands the discipline and restraint to not disregard what came before us. In this spirit, the healthy evolution of the American family can best be achieved by preserving the elements of the past that have proved their worth. In doing so, America can restore the honor of motherhood after years in which feminism often placed career above family, with consequences to our nation.
There just had to be a dig at feminism, right? Here’s her list of accomplishments:
I constantly challenge myself, as first lady, to think beyond the traditional responsibilities of the East Wing. That has resulted in many new opportunities, including leading four reunifications of Ukrainian and Russian children with their families, addressing the U.N. Security Council on achieving peace through education, and, at the White House, launching Fostering the Future Together, a global effort to help children thrive through the safe and innovative use of technology. But family always comes first.
(Emphasis added) Does she know the East Wing has been torn down?
The Voting Right Act decision fallout:
I don’t really want to write about redistricting, even thought that still seems to be the leading story today. Dakinikat did a great job with that topic yesterday.
I’ll just share this interesting piece by Carl Hulse in The New York Times (gift article): How Minority Districts Fueled the G.O.P.’s Southern Ascendancy in Congress.
Representative James E. Clyburn of South Carolina, formerly the No. 3 Democrat in the House, is certain he would never have been elected to Congress without changes in the Voting Rights Act that the Supreme Court determined last week amounted to unconstitutional racial gerrymandering.
“And about half of the members of the Congressional Black Caucus wouldn’t be there,” said Mr. Clyburn, the first African American sent to Congress from his state since Reconstruction. He was part of the historic 1992 class of Black and Hispanic lawmakers elected after new maps were drawn to comply with 1982 changes meant to strengthen the Voting Rights Act.
The predominantly Democratic minority groups that set to work back then to increase their representation were boosted by some unlikely allies: Republican strategists who saw an opportunity to break the Democratic hold on the South and force an extraordinary realignment.
Now, Republicans see the chance to cement their grip on the region — and to try to maintain their thin House majority — by eliminating the minority districts that initially worked to their advantage and to take those seats for their own.
It is the latest chapter in an ongoing political saga that has had profound implications for the House of Representatives over the past three decades. Redistricting in minority communities could again be a major factor in deciding the November elections as Republicans try to lessen the traditional midterm advantages for the party out of power — the Democrats in this case — in a year when they face particularly strong headwinds.
Having consolidated their power throughout the South, Republicans are now emboldened to try to eliminate the majority-minority districts, believing they can carry them without risking their strength elsewhere as Democratic-leaning minority voters are dispersed into other districts.
Are they right?
But as Republicans and Democrats have both seen as they have waged a tit-for-tat battle this year to redraw districts around the country to their advantage, such changes do not always work out as planned. The true consequences of the Supreme Court’s recent ruling remain to be seen.
The G.O.P. may find it more difficult to win in more diverse districts of the kind that existed before the reshuffling of maps prompted by the Voting Rights Act.
And Democrats now must decide whether they want to maintain the predominantly minority districts they once demanded as a matter of basic fairness or try to turn the tables on Republicans in blue states and reconfigure them in an effort to threaten G.O.P. lawmakers in those states.
In the late 1980s, Republicans had been deep in the House minority for nearly 40 years. But growing dissatisfaction with the Democratic Party had begun moving white Southern conservatives into the Republican ranks, as illustrated by high-profile party switches in Washington. Then the redistricting initiated under a series of court decisions aimed at fostering more minority representation provided yet another opening that might have seemed counterintuitive at first glance.
Architects of the maps realized that if they could maximize Black and Hispanic representation in the new districts, they would simultaneously dilute Democratic strength in surrounding jurisdictions where coalitions of white and Black voters had elected white Democrats for decades. The shift would ultimately create dozens of openings for Republican candidates in what had formerly been known as Democrats’ “Solid South.”
Hulse’s argument is interesting. He also notes that
Some civil rights figures such as Representative John Lewis, the Georgia Democrat, warned at the time that the new maps could empower Republicans by weakening the partnership of progressive white and Black voters in the South. But others said the new districts were the only way to overcome centuries of institutional discrimination against minorities in the region.
“Gerrymandering was done to keep Black folks out,” Mr. Clyburn said. “If you gerrymander to keep them out, you’ve got to gerrymander to bring them in.”
Who was right? We may find out in November. Use the gift link to read the rest.
In other voting news, It seems Sam Alito cheated in his opinion on the Voting Rights case. Sam Levine, Will Craft and Andrew Witherspoon at The Guardian: Samuel Alito’s Voting Rights Act ruling cited misleading data from DoJ.
The claims Samuel Alito, a supreme court justice, made about voter turnout in Louisiana in a landmark Voting Rights Act case were based on a misleading data analysis, a Guardian review has found.
In his opinion gutting section 2 of the Voting Rights Act last week, Alito said that Black voter turnout had exceeded white voter turnout in two of the five most recent presidential elections, both nationally and in Louisiana. Alito’s claim was copied almost verbatim from a friend-of-the-court brief filed by the justice department. It was a critical data point Alito used to make the argument that the kind of discrimination that once made the Voting Rights Act necessary no longer exists.
“Vast social change has occurred throughout the country and particularly in the South, where many Section 2 suits arise,” Alito wrote in a majority opinion in the case, which concerned Louisiana’s congressional map, joined by the five other conservative justices on the court. “Black voters now participate in elections at similar rates as the rest of the electorate, even turning out at higher rates than whitJuson piece in The New York Times (gift article): Hegseth Says This War Has Cost $25 Billion. I Tallied Up the True Amount.
The Defense Department says the conflict with Iran has cost taxpayers $25 billion so far. But this tally significantly understates the true cost. By my calculations, the bill for a typical American household likely runs to thousands — or even tens of thousands — of dollars.
Yes, that’s a wide range; blame the economic fog of war. But what’s clear is that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is trying to obscure just how expensive this war will be.
The Pentagon’s stated number reflects only a narrow accounting of the tab that Operation Epic Fury is running up. It’s the price of the more than 2,000 Tomahawk and Patriot missiles already fired, the warplanes already flown and in some cases lost, and the rest of the gear already chewed through. It does not measure the true cost of the war — including the human toll. Russell Vought, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, acknowledged as much when he told the House Budget Committee on April 15, “I don’t have a ballpark for you.”
I do. Since the start of the war, oil markets have been disrupted, and consumer confidence has cratered. The global economy is groaning, and military budgets are growing. The toll from this upheaval must be counted in lives disrupted, jobs lost, companies shut down (see: Spirit Airlines), and the income and output sacrificed. The less easily quantified costs — death, disability and mental health — could become much more dramatic should President Trump send troops into Iran, which still can’t be ruled out.
Start with oil. While the White House is keen to tell you that oil markets will bounce back to normal, futures markets disagree. Futures prices for oil at the end of 2026, 2027 and 2028 are all still sitting well above where they were before the start of the war. Indeed, the November 2026 futures price of West Texas Intermediate hit a new high this week at $86.12 a barrel. It could be that oil traders are pricing in near-term disruption. Or perhaps they see the current episode as raising the risk of future disruption. Either would be expensive.
The rise in geopolitical risk is costly. Recent research by the Fed economists Dario Caldara and Matteo Iacoviello suggests that heightened geopolitical risk leads to lower investment and employment and dramatically raises the chances of an economic disaster. Their measure of this risk has skyrocketed, and their estimates of the effect of risk on the economy suggest a cost of about $200 billion, with a million fewer Americans working in a year.
The war has also pushed the Federal Reserve Bank into a corner. Back in February, many economists expected a couple of rate cuts this year; markets now think that’s unlikely. If the Fed raises rates, it may succeed at beating back a war-fueled burst of inflation, but only by destroying hundreds of thousands of jobs and edging the economy closer to recession. A reasonable guesstimate — informed by the Fed’s own models — is that this will cost the economy about $200 billion.
Use the gift link to read the rest.
One more on Iran from Jonathan Lemire at The Atlantic (gift article): Trump Is ‘Bored’ With the War He Started.
President Trump really, really wants the war with Iran to end. He has declared victory many times, including about three weeks ago, when Iran briefly reopened the Strait of Hormuz. He has repeatedly extended his cease-fire deadlines instead of following through on his (sometimes-apocalyptic) threats to resume hostilities. This week, his administration abruptly abandoned an effort to escort ships through the strait in part because of a fear that it could provoke violent, escalating confrontations.
Trump is tired of the war, which has proved far more difficult and lasted far longer than he had expected. His party is warily watching rising gas prices and falling poll numbers. He doesn’t want to be bogged down in a Middle East conflict like some of his predecessors were. He doesn’t want it to upend his high-stakes summit next week in China. He is ready to move on.
Trump is left with a vexing question: How do you end a war when your opponent won’t budge? And while Trump grasps for an exit, the hard-liners in Tehran have used the war to tighten their grip on power. Iran seems hell-bent on pulling off something it’s historically done well: humiliating an American president.
Trump never thought it would turn out like this. After the impressive military operation to snatch Nicolás Maduro from Caracas, the president set his eyes on Iran, telling confidants that it would “be another Venezuela,” a pair of outside advisers told me. They, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal strategy. Trump believed that the U.S. military was unstoppable, and that he had a chance to topple Tehran’s theocracy, a prize that had eluded his predecessors. He was redrawing the world’s maps and expected a victory to come in days, a week or two at most. The initial U.S.-Israel onslaught killed Iran’s supreme leader and included waves of bombings that reportedly obliterated much of the country’s missile capabilities. But Tehran did not capitulate, and instead attacked its Persian Gulf neighbors and seized control of the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20 percent of the world’s oil passes. With a mix of mines, small attack boats, and drones, Iran effectively closed the waterway. Energy prices soared. The conflict settled into a stalemate and then a fragile cease-fire. One high-profile, official round of negotiations failed. No more are scheduled….
…the real question is the timing: A number of experts have forecast that Iran can withstand pressure from the blockade for months, not weeks. A U.S. intelligence assessment delivered to policy makers this week agrees, suggesting that Iran could make it at least three or four more months. If so, and Iran continues to keep the strait closed, then prices will continue to rise in the West, including in the United States during a midterm-election year. It then becomes a matter of pain: Which side can withstand the most economic hardship?
Use the gift link to read more.
The Hantavirus outbreak:
NBC News: 7 states prepare to receive Americans possibly exposed to hantavirus.
The U.S. has entered emergency response mode as a cruise ship hit by a deadly hantavirus outbreak sails toward Tenerife, one of Spain’s Canary Islands, where it will evacuate nearly 150 passengers on board, including at least 17 Americans.
State and local health officials in the U.S. are monitoring at least eight passengers who disembarked on April 24 and returned home. For the time being, those individuals are not being told to isolate, since they have not developed symptoms.
As early as Sunday, global health authorities will help transport passengers still on board the ship — all of whom are currently asymptomatic — to their respective home countries. Passengers will be taken to a “completely isolated, cordoned-off” area in Tenerife, then board guarded vehicles to transport them to a section of the local airport that will also be cordoned off, Virginia Barcones, Spain’s head of emergency services, said Thursday at a press conference.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday in a statement that it is sending a team of epidemiologists and medical professionals to the Canary Islands to meet the Americans on board, who will fly to Nebraska upon arrival.
“Because the disease status of the exposed passengers is unknown and responders will be in close contact with potentially symptomatic individuals, it makes sense for emergency responders to don gloves (rubber or latex), a respirator mask like an n95, a protective gown, and eye protection,” a CDC epidemiologist who did not speak on behalf of the agency said in a text message.
The flight will land at Offutt Air Force Base in Omaha, Nebraska. The repatriated passengers will then be transported to the National Quarantine Unit at the Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha. It’s unknown how long the quarantine will last.
AP: Experts wonder ‘Where is the CDC?’ as a hantavirus outbreak unfolds on a cruise ship.
No quick dispatching of disease investigators. No televised news conference to inform the public. No timely health alerts to doctors.
In the midst of a hantavirus outbreak that involves Americans and is making headlines around the world, the U.S. government’s top public health agency, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has been uncharacteristically missing in action, according to a number of experts.
To President Donald Trump, “We seem to have things under very good control,” as he told reporters Friday evening.
To experts, the situation aboard a cruise ship has not spiraled because, unlike COVID-19 or measles or the flu, hantavirus does not spread easily. It has been health experts in other countries, not the United States, who have been dealing primarily with the outbreak in the past week.
“The CDC is not even a player,” said Lawrence Gostin, an international public health expert at Georgetown University. “I’ve never seen that before.”
Not until late Friday did CDC actions accelerate.
Health officials confirmed the deployment of a team to Spain’s Canary Islands, where the ship was expected to arrive early Sunday local time, to meet the Americans onboard. They said a second team will go to Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska as part of a plan to evacuate American passengers from the ship to a University of Nebraska quarantine center for evaluation and monitoring. Also, the CDC issued its first health alert to U.S. doctors, advising them of the possibility of imported cases.
There’s more at the link. I guess RFK Jr. doesn’t think this outbreak is that concerning. The scary thing is that it can take weeks for the symptoms to show up in a person who has been exposed, and 38 percent of people who get the disease die. And it can be spread person to person.
That’s it for me today. What’s on your mind?
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