[We are having a storm. Even though I have a backup connectivity, both are low on juice. This post is pretty much done but forgive any oversights of stories you deem important]
For over a thousand years, historians thought the Viking “sunstone” was nothing more than a myth, until the ocean gave up its secret.
The Norse sagas repeatedly referenced a mysterious object called a “sólarsteinn” or sunstone, a navigational tool so powerful that Viking sailors… pic.twitter.com/etAfI3DAWX— SubRosa )✿( Magick @subrosamagick.bsky.social (@SubRosaMagick) May 7, 2026
What your body stops doing when you’re stressed Big Think
Hantavirus
Here’s How Freaked Out You Should Be About the Hantavirus Cruise Ship New York Times. The Gray Lady is officially not freaked out but still worried enough to put the article outside the paywall.
Spanish woman in hospital with suspected hantavirus infection; new case suspected on remote island NBC. If she tests positive, = airborne transmission.
Hantavirus misinformation runs rampant as the US is unequipped to respond to infectious disease health scare Guardian (Kevin W). Calling bullshit on this statement: “While not a virus with pandemic potential…”. First, the big reason for the worry among the great unwashed masses is the way nominal pubic health officials is the way they threw their weight behind business interests as opposed to safety of the population. That is the reason they frantically grabbed for the “vax only” approach in the (known to be false) hope idea that it would stop spread (as opposed to overloading of hospitals) and did not back other methods to limit contagion, notably masking and better ventilation, as supposedly too inconvenient as well as providing a reminder to consumers that Covid was not over. Can’t scare restaurant diners, travelers, or in-person shoppers, now can we?
Second, there is growing evidence that this Andes hantavirus is not like other hantaviruses and may be (per above) transmitted by air. Airborne transmission would mean these airy risk denials are affirmatively dangerous. See:
The detailed investigation of a prior hantavirus human-human transmission event has evidence of airborne transmission of Andes strain:
Patient 1 –> Patient 4
“did not have any physical contact and simply said “hello” to each other as they crossed paths”Patient 1 –> Patients… pic.twitter.com/Y0HgL67gNa
— Joseph Allen (@j_g_allen) May 7, 2026
The only good news here is the high mortality rate of a pretty transmissible hantavirus should force fast and stringent official action, as happened in Asia with SARS-1.
Bar-Yam was one of the first to designate Covid a pandemic in January 2020 and presented a mathematical analysis to support his alert. So take his reading seriously:
3/ About 30 passengers have already dispersed internationally. Roughly 140 additional passengers are expected to fly out from the Canary Islands this Sunday.
Because incubation may extend for weeks, it may not become clear immediately whether containment has succeeded or failed.
— Yaneer Bar-Yam (@yaneerbaryam) May 8, 2026
The Dutch woman, whose husband died on the ship, disembarked in Saint Helena with “GI symptoms” on April 24. Her condition “deteriorated during a flight to Johannesburg” on April 25. She died on April 26.
Travel via Africa’s busiest airport means *MANY* were potentially exposed. pic.twitter.com/3WRJJgMnvU
— Nick Mark MD (@nickmmark) May 6, 2026
I’m just going to say it again once, as simply as I can, for everyone who is slow to understand this:
Covid infection damages the vascular endothelium, the delicate lining inside your blood vessels.
Hantavirus *targets* the vascular endothelium.
— tern (@1goodtern) May 8, 2026
#COVID-19/Pandemics
The result was striking.
Patients with prior COVID-19 had a much higher rate of coronary slow flow.
COVID+ group 18.9%
COVID− group 5.3%
That is more than a threefold difference.— Zdenek Vrozina (@ZdenekVrozina) May 8, 2026
Climate/Environment
Why the odds keep rising for the strongest El Niño in a century Washington Post
Climate models struggling to capture human impact on storm tracks Guardian
Carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere just hit a ‘depressing’ new record Scientific American
Drought deepens across Central Plains, slashing winter wheat outlook Brownfield
China?
The Chinese Foreign Ministry has just repeated again today what it said yesterday, the day before, and the day before that – no confirmation that the visit of President Trump will proceed on May 14, when Trump thinks it will. pic.twitter.com/QUQEVvd5k7
— Dances_with_Bears (@bears_with) May 8, 2026
China’s April Bank Lending Seen Plunging Amid Soft Credit Demand Reuters
90% of Tibetans speak Tibetan. That’s after 76 years of reports of China about to “wipe out” Tibetan culture.
18% of Wales speaks Welsh, 10% of Ireland speaks Irish. This is after roughly the same amount of time of trying to preserve those languages. https://t.co/JEZHuRsClD
— Domhnall (Cogito) (@CogitoEdu) May 6, 2026
Japan
Why Japan is now opening its door to lethal weapons exports DW
Japan fires missiles during drills, drawing China rebuke Arab News
Koreas
North Korea acknowledges ballistic missile attacks on Ukraine for first time NK Pro
North Korea will deploy new artillery guns targeting Seoul and commission its 1st destroyer Independent
Africa
Top Iran War Analyst Says The Recolonization Of Africa has begun Chico Unscripted. Robert Pape, so worth a listen.
Al-Qaeda-linked attacks in central Mali kill more than 30 people France24
The new scramble for Congo Africas Country
Conflict-linked delays, funding gaps deepen Somalia’s hunger crisis Reuters
Sudan was already at war and hungry. Now its farmers are hit by another conflict Independent
Why is Mozambique’s financial crisis going from bad to worse? ZAWYA
City of Johannesburg ‘teeters on the edge of financial collapse’ IOL
European Disunion
EU cyber plan barring Chinese suppliers will cost US$430 billion: report South China Morning Post
Record EU imports keep Russia’s main LNG terminal in the money EurActiv
Rheinmetall to start producing cruise missiles as early as this year Financial Times
Greenland’s PM slams ‘indecent’ bid to buy locals’ signatures for US adhesion petition South China Morning Post (Kevin W)
A small town in Germany braces for end to decades of life with U.S. troops Japan Times
Old Blighty
2026 elections mapped: how Labour lost ground in different directions Guardian
Labour’s Failure London Review of Books
Starmer faces growing pressure after Labour suffers heavy election losses BBC. Gee, ya think?
Keir Starmer vows to fight on after Labour’s historic battering The Times
Plaid Cymru wins Welsh Senedd elections, ending 100 years of Labour control Guardian (Kevin W)
In the Outer Hebrides, Britain’s energy crisis is already here Telegraph
Israel v. The Resistance
Rats, Disease and Waste: Health Crisis Deepens across Gaza and West Bank Palestine Chronicle
Recent accounts from released Palestinian detainees held in Israeli custody reinforce serious allegations concerning the treatment of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya. According to testimonies, he has been subjected to severe and repeated abuse since his detention🧵#FreeDrHussamAbuSafiya pic.twitter.com/GLjikMjTQp
— Euro-Med Monitor (@EuroMedHR) May 8, 2026
Levin says he’ll let Supreme Court ‘disappear’ if his justice picks are not selected Times of Israel (Kevin W)
Gulf banks tighten digital oversight to curb Iranian shadow money flows Arab News
The companies making billions from the Iran war BBC (Robin K)
New Not-So-Cold War
RUSSIA AND UKRAINE FIGHT ON DESPITE WW2 CELEBRATION CEASEFIRE PROPOSAL DubaiEye
Greece investigating Ukrainian sea drone – Reuters RT (Kevin W)
Zelensky’s Israeli Family Events in Ukraine
Big Brother Is Watching You Watch
Google Chrome silently installs a 4 GB AI model on your device That Privacy Guy (Micael T)
Imperial Collapse Watch
US Imperialism Enters a New Stage: The Left Needs to Take a Close Look at It Venezuelanalysis
Trump 2.0
RFK Jr. unveils campaign for ‘deprescribing’ antidepressants The Hill. From earlier in the week, still germane.
A new form of piracy!
Trump admin seizes US$120,000,000 owned by the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board as stake in an offshore wind project, demands that it be invested in fossil fuel development instead https://t.co/JLrc27h5RG pic.twitter.com/bJWGe7Lc9R
— Edward Row 𓃡 (@edwardrow) May 7, 2026
Democrats Suck
Maine Dems to Vote on Condemning DCCC Interference in House Primary Intercept
Our No Longer Free Press
The Next Frontier of Trump’s Assault on Free Speech New York Times (Dr. Kevin)
🇷🇺🌐 Russian journalists have been officially and permanently expelled from the International Federation of Journalists.
Reason for expulsion:
– Creating media branch in “occupied” territory
– “Russia kiIIs journalists and uses information as weapon”No, Israel wasn’t expelled.… pic.twitter.com/a2dxE5ZOnH
— Spetsnaℤ 007 🇷🇺 (@Alex_Oloyede2) May 8, 2026
L’affaire Epstein
Weird: Epstein Suicide Note Printed On Hillary Clinton’s Personal Stationery Babylon Bee
Economy
Time is running out to avoid a power crunch in America: ‘The current situation is not tenable’ MarketWatch
‘Plastic shock’ hits Asia as Iran oil crisis strangles supplies Financial Times
Whirlpool warns of ‘recession-level’ slump as Iran war and tariff ruling hit sales Guardian
Mr Market is Gorged
China, US drive global debt to record $353 trillion as Iran war adds pressure South China Morning Post
Global bond demand slumps, pushing governments toward bank loans IDN Financials
AI
More proof as to why never never to use AI for anything more than what used to be called machine learning:
We are in deep, deep trouble.
A reader wrote in to me this week saying that they wouldn’t read my Trump corruption story because ChatGPT “fact-checked the piece” and informed them most of it was false.
Among other things, ChatGPT told them that there is no Iran war, Jared… pic.twitter.com/7tTjhZDK6b
— Isaac Saul (@Ike_Saul) May 8, 2026
Agents and ROI Gary Marcus
IMF warns new AI models risk ‘systemic’ shock to finance Financial Times
The Bezzle
Global finance watchdog warns over private credit industry fuelling AI boom Guardian
Guillotine Watch
Musk’s sweetheart deal Oligarch Watch
Central NY landlord accused of sexually exploiting tenants for decades charged again Syracuse.com. bob: Best landlord ever.
Class Warfare
Labor Leader Walter Reuther Was Among 1960s Liberal Leaders Who Appear to Have Been Assassinated By “the Deep State” Covert Action (Chuck L)
Antidote du jour (Tracie H):
A bonus:
They put a German Shepherd in charge of babysitting a litter of Doberman puppies…
and the poor guy had no idea why they were acting so wild. 😂 pic.twitter.com/CeiSsDww7W— The Figen (@TheFigen_) May 3, 2026
A second bonus:
The farmer went to collect the hen’s eggs… but instead found three adopted children waiting for him. 😂 pic.twitter.com/8Eux3CA1Ni
— The Figen (@TheFigen_) May 3, 2026
And a third (Chuck L):
Two Australian paddleboarders saved an exhausted wallaby that had been swept out to sea 😍 pic.twitter.com/aMJmu8KPtS
— Interesting things (@awkwardgoogle) May 8, 2026
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
