Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“Israeli [pirates] have raided a Gaza-bound aid flotilla, with video showing numerous vessels being boarded and crews [abducted] despite being in international waters. The Global Sumud Flotilla, the international movement heading the mission, said Israeli military personnel boarded several boats off Cyprus on Monday, as the convoy tried to reach the besieged Gaza Strip. … More than 50 vessels sailed from the Turkish port city of Marmaris last week, in what organisers described as the final stage of a journey aimed at challenging Israel’s blockade of the Palestinian enclave.” (05/18/26)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/5/18/israeli-forces-intercept-gaza-bound-aid-flotilla
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by James Bovard
“Trump constantly blusters as if he deserves the Nobel Prize for Economic Triumphs, just like he supposedly deserved the Nobel Peace Prize. In a January speech in Iowa, he doubled down on his triumphs by referring to himself in the third person: ‘Just after one year of President Trump, our economy is booming …. Incomes are rising. Investment is soaring. Inflation has been defeated.’ Unfortunately, Trump’s record on the economy is as shaky as his claims that he ended eight wars. The core wholesale inflation rate rose in January at an annual rate of 9 percent. ‘Howl louder’ has been the president’s response. Beginning late last year, the affordability issue made Trump schizophrenic.” (05/18/26)
https://www.fff.org/explore-freedom/article/will-affordability-bankrupt-president-trump/
Source: Reason
“Why Is Trump Trying To Purge Thomas Massie?” (05/18/26)
https://reason.com/podcast/2026/05/18/why-is-trump-trying-to-purge-thomas-massie/
Source: Reuters
“A Russian air attack damaged port infrastructure in Ukraine’s Izmail city in the early hours of Tuesday, while Russian authorities said they had downed four drones launched by Ukraine that were headed towards Moscow. Izmail, in the southern Odesa region and home to the largest Ukrainian port on the Danube River, is a frequently hit strategic location. … Elsewhere in Ukraine, two people were rescued and one person may still be trapped under rubble after a Russian drone attack on the northeastern city of Kharkiv, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said on Telegram. There also were drone attacks in the regions of Dnipropetrovsk, Mykolaiv and Zaporizhzhia, local authorities said on Telegram. … Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Telegram that four drones heading for the capital had been downed and that emergency services had been deployed, but provided no further details.” (05/18/26)
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russia-attacks-ukraines-danube-port-city-ukraine-launches-drones-towards-moscow-2026-05-19/
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man
“Israel is officially entering election season, and with it comes the perennial and inescapable excitement among some progressives in the United States who are eager to see Israeli voters send Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu packing. That excitement, however, is an illusion. It is built on a belief, long clung to by American supporters of Israel, that Israel without Netanyahu would somehow become a liberal democracy that aligns more with their own values. That illusion is based on a false view of Israeli policy in the decades before Netanyahu’s reign.” (05/18/26)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/bennett-israel/
Source: Yahoo! News
“Two teenage gunmen opened fire on Monday at the Islamic Center of San Diego, California, killing a security guard and two other men outside the mosque before the suspects were found dead …. Scores of law enforcement officers called to the scene encountered the bodies of the three men affiliated with the mosque shot dead. Officials credited the slain security guard as likely having helped prevent further bloodshed. A short time later, police discovered the bodies of two teenage males, aged 17 and 18, in a vehicle in the middle of a street, dead from apparently self-inflicted gunshot wounds.” (05/18/26)
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/mayor-reports-active-shooter-situation-193602852.html
Source: Kent’s “Hooligan Libertarian” Blog
by Kent McManigal
“In a discussion about the effect of self-driving cars on cops and their DWI grift, someone said, ‘Self driving cars are a fantasy. They do not have the ability. They can assist but cannot drive themselves.’ Now, this is objectively not true. Someone else pointed out. ‘I’ve seen them driving around downtown, sans human driver.’ The Luddite’s response. ‘They are not reliable. Several have ran over pedestrians and they have been the cause of accidents.’ I pointed out, ‘Humans are even less reliable, unfortunately.’ So, he responded, ‘If that is true then why is it required for a person to be at the wheel and paying attention while the vehicle is driving itself?’ … That ‘laws’ require something dumb isn’t an argument. It proves nothing.” (05/18/26)
https://kentmcmanigal.blogspot.com/2026/05/what-do-laws-prove.html
Source: ABC News
“The Philippine Senate convened as an impeachment court Monday for the trial of Vice President Sara Duterte over criminal charges, in a time of deep divisions that erupted into an exchange of gunfire last week in the chamber. The House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to impeach Duterte last Monday over alleged unexplained wealth, misuse of state funds and a public threat to have the president assassinated if she herself were killed due to their political disputes. The vice president, who has announced her plan to seek the presidency in 2028, has denied the charges but has refused to answer the allegations in detail.” (05/18/26)
https://abcnews.com/International/wireStory/philippine-senate-convenes-impeachment-court-vice-president-political-133061391
Source: The Hill
by Emzari Gelashvili
“Russia entered the war at maximum sustainable capacity without general mobilization. After years of attrition, it has burned through most of its Soviet-era equipment stocks. Given Russia’s weakened state, a conventional confrontation with NATO is not only unlikely now, but it has become almost impossible — prohibitively expensive and demographically unsustainable. The real strategic risk is not a confident Russia launching a conventional assault on the Baltics. It is the behavior of a cornered, nuclear-armed state that perceives itself in terminal decline. A leadership facing military failure and domestic crisis may calculate that tactical nuclear signaling or hybrid escalation offers its best chance to reset the board.” (05/18/26)
https://thehill.com/opinion/national-security/5880263-russia-decline-military-economy-2026/
Source: New York Post
“President Trump has dismissed his $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS in exchange for an apology and the establishment of a $1,776,000,000 billion [sic] fund to compensate victims of federal government weaponization. Anyone who believes they have been unfairly targeted by any administration could apply for compensation from the the Justice Department’s new Anti-Weaponization Fund — including those charged in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot and even disgraced former first son Hunter Biden, a senior administration official told The Post. … President Trump, his sons Don Jr. and Eric and the Trump Organization — all of whom were plaintiffs in the IRS suit — are not entitled to any compensation from the fund, but will receive a formal apology.” (05/18/26)
https://nypost.com/2026/05/18/us-news/trump-drops-irs-suit-in-exchange-for-apology-1-776b-fund-for-victims-of-government-weaponization-and-even-hunter-biden-can-ask-for-award/
