Word of the day: sonder Richard Murphy
4,000-year-old tablets reveal magic spells, kings feared, and a beer receipt Science Daily (Kevin W)
New study in Nature Medicine: Suboptimal diet still drives massive ischemic heart disease (IHD) burden worldwide.
Key findings (2023 data):
• 4.06 million IHD deaths (95% UI 0.74–6.22M) attributable to poor diet.
• 96.84 million DALYs lost.
• Global age-standardized…— World of Statistics (@stats_feed) May 3, 2026
🇺🇸 Mind-blowing demographic shift: For the first time in modern U.S. history, women 40+ now have more babies per capita than teenagers.
The lines crossed in 2022 — and the gap keeps widening.
Teen births down ~80% in 30 years. Older motherhood normalized by delayed families +…
— World of Statistics (@stats_feed) May 5, 2026
Get Them Off the Damn Boat! | M/V Hondius in Cape Verde with a Hantavirus Outbreak Sal Mercogliano, YouTube
BREAKING: human-to-human spread suspected
Cue the classics: “it’s rare,” “it’s mild,” and my personal favorite, “have you considered pretending it’s not happening?”
I’ve seen this movie before .. https://t.co/DygWAbP1ub
— Jess (@MeetJess) May 5, 2026
COVID-19/Pandemics
How many get organ damage after SARS-CoV-2 infection depends on who you ask and how well they check
If you ask me, 100% get persistent, progressive damage
Well done autopsies show 100%
But you can’t go around telling people 100%. Call it 10% and let’s move onCovid is Long Covid https://t.co/Gac6NDr6dF pic.twitter.com/N31AWHU5yj
— 🎒Joanna Teglund✊😷🍉Human life is sacred (@JoannaTeglund) May 2, 2026
Cøvid upregulates osteoclasts over osteoblasts… Increased bone turnover is the consequence.
Premature osteoporosis isn’t your friend
Start here:https://t.co/JLcODpKKDK https://t.co/ZCQOIsd8sE
— David Joffe MB BS (Hons), PhD, FRACP 🇦🇺 (@DavidJoffe64) May 3, 2026
Last time we saw Kapsosi’s sarcoma do this-HIV/AIDS crisis correct? We don’t have a rise in HIV.
AIRBORNE SARS2 however IS behaving “eerily similar to HIV” per HIV researchers correct? Airborne SARS2 uncontained criminally active, BILLIONS, so far, including ALL YOUTH? UNSAFE? pic.twitter.com/v5ceGWznda
— Sass (@sasswashere) May 3, 2026
Climate/Environment
Dangerous heavy rains are getting more likely and widespread Yale Climate Connections. US focused but the finding is widely applicable.
World’s largest marine ecosystems are suffering from sudden jumps in ocean temperature Earth
The strongest El Niño in 150 years? Yes, it’s legitimately possible. Not hype. In fact, the “median” forecast for December of all of our computer models combined is slightly “above” the biggest event we know of back in 1877. (+2.9 vs +2.7 using ONI) While this peak intensity may… pic.twitter.com/ejsYpSawF2
— Jeff Berardelli (@WeatherProf) May 4, 2026
Cities are rehearsing for deadly heat. Will it help when disaster comes? Grist
Amsterdam begins enforcing ban on adverts for meat and fossil fuels: ‘Climate crisis is very urgent’ Independent
Climate change increases spillover risk of rodent-borne arenaviruses EurekaAlert
Hazen Fire near Buckeye still 0% contained, almost 1K acres burned Arizona Repubilc
China?
Trump-Xi summit at best may codify new US-China coexistence rules Asia Times (Kevin W)
Stealing the Farm: China Continues Raid of US Agriculture by Theft and Agroterror AgWeb. Note this is a bona fide US ag pub and not a security/intel state mouthpiece
India
India is burning more coal as extreme heat and the Iran war squeeze energy supplies CNBC
India, Russia Explore Collaboration in Critical Minerals, Industrial Infrastructure InfoBRICS
Africa
Mali is FALLING to Jihadists: What Happened? History Legends
Egypt & Saudi Arabia Are Pitting Sudan Against Ethiopia Andrew Korybko
80% of Africa’s fertiliser is imported: how food systems can adapt to the Iran shock The Conversation
A Strange Change of U.S. Policy in Africa Daniel Larison
European Disunion
The “Big 3” Are Responsible for Europe’s Decline Finn Andreen (Micael T)
Berlin faces missile gap after Trump’s troop cuts Politico
The Economy of the Multipolar Future: Ireland and the case for a People’s Economy Multipolar Press (Micael T)
Old Blighty
Craig Murray: The Morass of Injustice Consortium News (The Joker)
New threat to Labour spending plans as UK long-term borrowing costs hit highest level since 1998 Guardian (Kevin W)
Food prices set to soar by 50 per cent compared to start of the cost-of-living crisis City A.M.
Wild Scottish salmon catch sinks to record low Telegraph
Salmon ‘wiped out’ and other wildlife killed after ‘tragic’ River Spey chemical spill Daily Record
Israel v. The Resistance
‘Total Victory’: How Iran Defeated Israel Kit Klarenberg. Today’s must read.
Israeli Settler Violence Continues Under American Neglect American Conservative. More like “tacit approval” but even this mild a reprimand needs to appear more often.
Israeli Finance Minister Smotrich Says Son Asked Him to Leave Some of Lebanon for Him to Destroy Antiwar.com (Kevin W)
I Was Beaten and Kidnapped by Israeli Soldiers When They Illegally Intercepted the Gaza Flotilla Zeteo
White House gave Iran private message before new Hormuz operation Axios
Over 22,000 People on More Than 1,550 Commercial Ships Trapped in Gulf – Pentagon Sputnik (Robin K)
The internet has a Strait of Hormuz problem Asia Times
Ex-spy Jonathan Pollard says he’s entering politics, slams Netanyahu and Bennett Times of Israel (Kevin W)
New Not-So-Cold War
How Russia Wins the New World War Global Geopolitics
Oreshnik Days Olivier Boyd-Barrett. Important.
Zelensky Threatens Moscow Parade; Putin Allows Strike Central Kiev; Oreshnik; Visits HQs; US Hormuz Alexander Mercouris, YouTube. Discussion of Russia matters starts at 34:00
Brief Frontline Report – May 5th, 2026 Marat Khairullin and Mikhail Popov
Problem with Ukraine’s 25,000 combat robots isn’t hardware — it’s keeping them connected on battlefield Euromaidan (Robin K)
Colombian mercenaries ‘dying for nothing’ in Ukraine – president RT (Robin K)
The idea that Ukraine are able to strike Russian tankers off the coast of Senegal, or in the Arctic, is ludicrous. Who gave them the knowledge, tools, and intelligence to pull this off?
These are US strikes. And the other half of the campaign, Operation Arctic Sentry, is…
— Richard Medhurst (@richimedhurst) May 5, 2026
Lavrov, Rubio ‘touch base’ on current state of international affairs, US-Russia relations TASS
Imperial Collapse Watch
An Equilibrium Model of Counter-Base War in the Western Pacific Policy Tensor (Vikas S). A model with a lot of assumptions to make it tractable, but shows a lot of effort to have them be realistic. Bottom line: “Given these observations and our results, deterrence in Asia is no longer a feasible foreign policy objective for the United States.”
My Temporary Enemy’s Temporary Enemy… Aurelien
The Army is looking for ‘alternative protein’ for soldiers in the field Task & Purpose
Trump 2.0
Trump’s retribution? What to watch in Tuesday’s elections in Indiana, Ohio and Michigan Associated Press
Democrats Suck
>Graham Platner has Democrats wondering if they need an outsider to win the White House The Hill. Help me. Over a lot of dead billionaires’ bodies.
Democrats want Trump to lift lid on Israeli nukes RT (Robin K)
Our No Longer Free Press
X has now removed the blue check from Iran’s MFA Spokesperson’s account—after stripping the Ministry and Minister’s verified badges—despite our full Premium+ payments.
This arbitrary de-verification fits X’s pattern of selective censorship and American digital piracy, aimed at…— Esmaeil Baqaei (@IRIMFA_SPOX) May 5, 2026
Economy
Forget oil, fertiliser is the shortage that will cause the most suffering The Times
Is A Famine Baked In For 2027? Ian Welsh. He forgets lubricants. Not only are they derived from petrochemicals, but output was further dented by Iran’s large and successful strikes on Saudi Arabia’s Jubail petrochemical facility. You need lubricants to run forklifts. You need forklifts to distribute food. So the US is more exposed than many think.
Why Water Scarcity Is Emerging As A Key Energy Constraint Forbes
UK airlines given green light to cancel or consolidate flights to conserve jet fuel Guardian
US gasoline inventories are at their lowest seasonal level for more than a decade – FT pic.twitter.com/L5lHVnirPu
— Energy Headline News (@OilHeadlineNews) May 5, 2026
Manufacturing Is the Biggest Net Loser in Jobs, 5 Quarters Total Michael Shedlock
US economy on an unstable knife edge at present Bill Mitchell
Mr. Market is Giddy
The bond bubble’s reckoning FX Street
AI
The U.S. and China Have a Common Foe. Hint: It’s Not the U.S.S.R. Thomas Friedman, New York Times (Dr. Kevin). ZOMG!!! Not an effort to sell Chinese action v. Iran, as you might expect.
Breaking: Autonomous Agents are a Shitshow Gary Marcus
Pennsylvania sues AI company, saying its chatbots illegally hold themselves out as licensed doctors Associated Press (Kevin W)
The Bezzle
How Microsoft Vaporized a Trillion Dollars Axel Rietschin. Important. Illustrates how too much contact with AI makes people dangerously stupid. Also: “If you’re running production workloads on Azure or relying on it for mission-critical systems, this story matters more than you think.” Our tech maven Dave: “I’m pretty cynical about the state of software, but this 6-part series was eye-opening.”
Private Credit Could Spark Psychological Contagion, Barr Warns Bloomberg
A guy in Alberta is selling tractors with zero computers. No software. No sensors. Just a diesel engine you can fix with a wrench.
400 American farmers tried to buy one after a single interview.
Sometimes the moat isn’t more features.
It’s less.
— Russell Brunson (@russellbrunson) May 1, 2026
Guillotine Watch
Can Tracking Private Jets Predict an Imminent Apocalypse? One Site Thinks So Gizmodo (Dr. Kevin)
Don’t Cry for Jeff Bezos’s Yacht Paul Krugman
Class Warfare
The new generation of fake leftists: from Zohran Mamdani to Zack Polanski Political Economist (Micael T)
Palantir and the New Order: Neoliberalism is dead. Say hello to Techlordism – The Point Yanis Varoufakis
Antidote du jour. Tracie H: “This is a Costa’s hummingbird. First one I ever saw, but I’ve seen him several times. He visits the same branch of one of our trees, is why I think I am seeing him regularly rather than just the same kind of hummingbird. I’m guessing I won’t be seeing the Allen’s hummingbirds that I saw in Orange County (CA) out here in the desert where we’ve moved to.”
And a bonus:
Building a little bridge in the aquarium so the fish never get bored. pic.twitter.com/PEhuqRVLgl
— The Figen (@TheFigen_) May 3, 2026
A second bonus:
This is Mendo. He’s a rescued Vizsla hobbit that steals heart all over IG for his insane balancing skills. He does it best and we love him for it ❤️ pic.twitter.com/8rFR5PQmYq
— Puppies 🐶 (@Puppieslover) May 2, 2026
And a third:
Daughter always said she preferred dogs. They adopted a cat, and this happenedpic.twitter.com/ZdTznsaFHd
— Wolf of X (@WolfofX) May 3, 2026
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
