Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“Vivek Ramaswamy will run for the position of Ohio governor in November, after the staunch ally of US President Donald Trump emerged victorious in one of a series of primary contests held in the US Midwest. Projected results on Tuesday night showed the health-tech entrepreneur had defeated Casey Putsch to earn the Republican nomination. Ramaswamy – who gained prominence during his unsuccessful run against Trump for president in 2024 – said at a victory party that his plan was to ‘leave this state and this country better than we found it.’ Meanwhile, Democratic candidate Amy Acton, who ran unopposed for her party’s own nomination, told supporters she wanted to make Ohio more affordable again. ‘It shouldn’t be this hard,’ said Acton, who is the former Ohio public health director. ‘It is time to put working families first.'” (05/06/26)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4g0xe4qlzxo
Source: Independent Institute
by Craig Eyermann
“No matter how you slice it, the U.S. government has a major fraud problem. The federal government’s watchdog agency, the General Accounting Office (GAO), estimates that about half a trillion dollars will be lost to fraud this year. Let’s put that number a little differently. In February 2026, just three months ago, the Congressional Budget Office projected the U.S. government would spend a net total of $7.448 trillion this year. Half a trillion dollars is about 1 out of every 15 dollars the federal government will spend in 2026. The GAO says Washington, D.C.’s politicians and bureaucrats might as well just flush that money down a bottomless sewer. Why not? If they did, they would have just as much to show for it.” (05/05/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/05/05/steps-solve-massive-problems-fraud/
Source: The Hill
“Democrat Chedrick Greene is projected to win the special state Senate race in Michigan, according to Decision Desk HQ, preserving his party’s narrow majority in the chamber. With Greene’s projected victory in the 35th District, Democrats’ advantage expands from 19-18 to 20-18, easing their path to advance legislation. Democrats won a governing trifecta in 2022, taking control of the governorship and both chambers of the state legislature. But the party lost the state House in 2024 and has held a one-seat majority in the Senate since.” (05/05/26)
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/5863628-michigan-senate-democrats-win-election/
Source: bloggingheads.tv
“Trump Lost the Hormuz Round | Robert Wright & Nikita Petrov.” (05/05/26)
https://bloggingheads.tv/videos/69460
Source: Los Angeles Times
by Jonah Goldberg
“Trump’s famous claim that he could ‘shoot somebody’ on Fifth Avenue and not lose any voters, may have been hyperbole. But it’s not crazy to think he wouldn’t lose as many voters as he should. In the film [A Face in the Crowd, Lonesome Rhodes implodes when Americans encounter his off-air persona. The key to Trump’s success is that he ran as his off-air persona. Why people love that persona is a complicated question. Among the many complementary explanations is that he comes across as authentic, and some people value authenticity more than they value good character, honesty or competence. This is not just a problem for Republicans.” (05/05/26)
https://archive.is/28aDK
Source: SFGate
“Officials and experts in Argentina are scrambling to determine if their country is the source of a deadly hantavirus outbreak that has gripped an Atlantic cruise. The health emergency aboard the ship that’s moored across the ocean comes as Argentina sees a surge of hantavirus cases that many local public health researchers attribute to the recently accelerating effects of climate change. Argentina, where the cruise to Antarctica departed, is consistently ranked by the World Health Organization as having the highest incidence of the rare, rodent-borne disease in Latin America. Higher temperatures expand the virus’ range because, in part, as it gets warmer and ecosystems change, rodents that carry the hantavirus can thrive in more places, experts say. People typically contract the virus from exposure to rodent droppings, urine or saliva.” (05/06/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/hantavirus-is-on-the-rise-in-argentina-where-a-22245017.php
Source: The UnPopulist
by Andy Craig
“In the United States, constitutional amendments are notoriously difficult to adopt. They require two-thirds in both houses of Congress, and then ratification by three-quarters of the states. The process was last used successfully more than 50 years ago. That’s why formal amendments are often dismissed as unrealistic. … There are several worthwhile amendments which could plausibly secure broad consensus if shorn of overtly partisan goals. We also should not fall into a failure of imagination that assumes the current party system and political divisions will be entrenched in perpetuity.” (05/05/26)
https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/constitutional-amendments-to-stop
Source: In These Times
by Brad Swanson
“Donald Trump has long called global warming a hoax, but his sweeping anti-climate agenda has stunned even many of his supporters. Since returning to the White House, he’s withdrawn the U.S. from the Paris Treaty, rolled back critical greenhouse gas regulations, and opened up millions of acres of previously protected public land for oil and gas drilling. In response, big oil and gas companies have abandoned, without the slightest resistance, the showy public commitments they had previously made to climate transition. For example, BP has slashed green energy expenditures by 70 percent, Equinor has cut back its renewable capacity targets by almost 40 percent, and Chevron has reduced its carbon-reduction capital expenditures to about 5 percent of its total capital expenditures.” (05/05/26)
https://inthesetimes.com/article/is-ethical-capitalism-possible-myth-esg-criticism-climate-change
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“Spain has granted permission for a luxury cruise ship hit by a deadly hantavirus outbreak and anchored off the coast of Cape Verde to sail to the Canary Islands. Spain’s Ministry of Health said in a statement late on Tuesday that the World Health Organization (WHO) had explained that Cape Verde in West Africa was unable to receive the 147 crew and passengers of the MV Hondius. ‘The Canary Islands are the closest location with the necessary capabilities,’ it said. ‘Spain has a moral and legal obligation to assist these people, among whom are also several Spanish citizens.’ … A Dutch couple and a German national have died of the rare disease, which is usually spread from infected rodents through urine, droppings and saliva, on board the ship in early April. A British national, who was evacuated from the ship, is in intensive care in South Africa, officials said.” (05/06/26)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/5/6/spain-agrees-to-let-hantavirus-hit-cruise-ship-dock-in-canary-islands
Source: Libertarian Institute
“TEXIT w/Daniel Miller.” (05/05/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/blog/texit-w-daniel-miller/
