The News-to-Death Ratio Strikes Again

Source: Brownstone Institute
by Carl Heneghan & Tom Jefferson

“There is a peculiar arithmetic that governs modern health reporting, one that has very little to do with actual risk. Hans Rosling captured it neatly during the 2009 swine flu episode, when he calculated a ‘news-to-death ratio’ of 8,176-to-1. In other words, for every death attributed to swine flu, there were over eight thousand news stories. Tuberculosis, by contrast, received less than 0.1 news stories per death over the same period. If that sounds absurd, it is, and yet very little has changed. Take the current hantavirus scare. A cruise ship, the MV Hondius, sits off Cape Verde. There are 7 cases in total (2 confirmed, 5 suspected) and 3 deaths …. In the past week alone, there have been at least 10 to 15 unique news stories, generating hundreds of articles.” (05/20/26)

https://brownstone.org/articles/the-news-to-death-ratio-strikes-again/

Thomas L. Knapp

Two humpback whales set records swimming between Australia and Brazil

Source: SFGate

“Scientists have spotted two humpback whales that made separate, record-breaking crossings between Australia and Brazil. The whales were identified by their distinctive tail markings at the two locations about 9,000 miles (14,500 kilometers) apart. They traveled in opposite directions and journeyed farther than any humpback known so far. ‘It’s a very rare event, but it is a really wonderful demonstration of just how wide-ranging these animals are,’ said Phillip Clapham, former head of a NOAA whale research program who was not involved with the new findings. Humpback whales are known for roaming long distances across major oceans in predictable patterns, typically following migration routes learned from their mothers.” (05/20/26)

https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/two-humpback-whales-set-records-swimming-between-22267439.php

Steve Trinward

We shut out independent voters at our own political risk

Source: USA Today
by Chris Brennan

“There’s a growing trend of American voters breaking up with American political parties. A Gallup survey in January found that 45% of Americans identify as political independents. And now their voter registrations are starting to reflect that. But in Pennsylvania, voters must be registered as a Democrat or a Republican to cast ballots in a closed-party primary. That means that only registered Democrats in Pennsylvania’s 3rd District were the only Philadelphians who got to vote on May 19 for a new representative in the House.” [editor’s note: What? Only members of a particular party get to choose that party’s candidates? The horror! This guy wants “open primaries.” How about NO primaries, the parties choose their candidates, all parties and candidates get equal, open ballot access (by eliminating government control of ballot printing), “problem” solved – TLK] (05/20/26)

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/columnist/2026/05/20/open-primary-election-vote-independent/90158448007/

Thomas L. Knapp

Bolivia: Capital under siege as protests and blockades deepen crisis for president

Source: South China Morning Post [Hong Kong]

“Bolivia’s President Rodrigo Paz faces a deepening crisis as widespread protests and blockades leave the political capital under siege less than six months after he took office. Two weeks of road closures – spearheaded by the Bolivian Workers’ Central, COB, peasant unions and miners – have emptied markets in La Paz and depleted vital hospital oxygen reserves. The government reported that at least three people died after emergency vehicles were blocked from reaching medical centres. On Monday, supporters of Bolivia’s influential ex-president Evo Morales clashed with police in the capital city as they joined multiple sectors demanding the resignation of the president, who lacks both a legislative majority and a robust political party to anchor his administration.” (05/20/26)

https://archive.is/eyGDP

Thomas L. Knapp

What Happens Next?

Source: Lisa Liberty
by Lisa Liberty

“For years, automation has primarily threatened physical labor. Factory workers worried about robots. Cashiers worried about self-checkout kiosks. But something has certainly changed with artificial intelligence. For the first time in modern history, the jobs most vulnerable to replacement are not manual labor jobs, but cognitive ones. The people at greatest risk are not welders or electricians, but office workers, analysts, coders, marketers, accountants, journalists, support staff, designers, and countless others whose jobs exist primarily on a screen. … While technology has always disrupted labor markets, this transition feels different because of its scale and speed. Previous industrial revolutions still required massive amounts of human labor to operate the new systems being created. AI, by contrast, will increasingly remove the need for human labor altogether in many sectors. That leaves us with some hard questions society still seems reluctant to seriously confront: What happens next?” (05/20/26)

https://lisaliberty.substack.com/p/what-happens-next

Thomas L. Knapp

The Wonderful, Loving Left

Source: Town Hall
by Mark Lewis

“They try so hard to convince people how ‘wonderful’ and ‘loving’ they are. And, frankly, countless millions fall for it. You see, folks, it’s ‘loving’ to let a mother murder her unborn child. Or to let a child be mutilated for life. Or to keep people enslaved under government welfare with little hope of ever getting out of it. It’s a wonderful thing to let people sleep on the streets, or to turn criminals loose so they can prey on innocent citizens, or to open the borders of America so that countless people can illegally come to America, live off the hard-earned money of American taxpayers, or take American jobs, or kill and rape American citizens. These are all ‘wonderful,’ ‘loving’ things, aren’t they..” (05/20/26)

https://townhall.com/columnists/marklewis/2026/05/20/the-wonderful-loving-left-n2676348

Steve Trinward