OH, NO… ANYWAY: She Had Fans? Kathy Griffin Says She Lost a Third of Her Fans Over Trump Severed Head Photo.

MENTAL HEALTH: Number of College Students Diagnosed With PTSD Has More Than Doubled.

Diagnoses of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among college students more than doubled between 2017 and 2022, finds a new study conducted by researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Based on data collected from five waves of college students participating in the Health Minds Study at 332 colleges and universities, the investigators found that the prevalence of PTSD increased by 4.1 percentage points from 3.4% (2017-2018) to 7.5% (2021-2022). The rate of a similar disorder, Acute Stress Disorder (ASD), also more than doubled, increasing from 0.2% (2017-2018) to 0.7% (2021-2022).

The rates jumped the most in 2020-21 and 2021-22, following the Covid-19 pandemic, which closed down many American campuses and caused severe disruptions in the lives of students.

Not just “disruptions” but nonstop panicmongering from all levels of government, social media, and the entertainment industry.

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Merrick Garland’s KGB Is Keeping America Safe From Pro-Life Grandmas. “Attorney General Merrick Garland spent some time Capitol Hill on Tuesday, sparring with Republicans who, once again, were expressing their extreme displeasure with the way he does business but not really doing anything about it.”

DECOUPLING CUTS BOTH WAYS: The Goal for China’s Chip Giant: Cut Out the U.S.

It is a part of a broader campaign to eradicate American technology in China, dubbed “Delete A” or “Decouple From A,” which has accelerated in recent years as the world’s two biggest economies intensify their battle to dominate in next-generation technology.

The Biden administration, and some U.S. allies such as Japan and the Netherlands, have introduced targeted export curbs that have undercut China’s ability to make high-end chips. But those measures have also served as a rallying call for China’s homegrown industry to develop more quickly, leading to big spending, experimentation and even some breakthroughs.

China, defying the global drop in semiconductor-equipment purchases, went on a spending spree in 2023 and represented a third of worldwide sales, according to industry association SEMI. This year, the country will add more new semiconductor-production capacity than the rest of the world combined, all for mature-technology chips, according to an estimate by analytics firm Gavekal Research. In May, China established a third round of its national semiconductor fund worth roughly $48 billion—coming on top of the previous two iterations that totaled nearly $50 billion.

I doubt China’s massive intervention in the chipmaking business will perform much better than Biden’s has but we’ll see.

MIDDLE EAST: Israelis Weigh in on the State of the War Against Hamas.

The top-line numbers are encouraging: “39% of Israelis say Israel’s military response against Hamas in Gaza has been about right, while 34% say it has not gone far enough and 19% think it has gone too far.” Additionally, just over two-thirds of Israelis believe that Israel will achieve its goals in battling Hamas, with 40% saying that Israel will “definitely” win and 27% saying that it will “probably” succeed.

This confidence doesn’t eliminate any worry about the conflict. According to Pew’s report, “61% say they are extremely or very concerned about the war expanding into other countries in the region” and “68% say they are extremely or very concerned about the war going on for a long time.”

They’re right to be concerned about the war expanding. Hezbollah has been working hard to make that happen in the north, resulting in yet more punishing IAF airstrikes late Tuesday.

WHEN CITY FOLK RUN ROUGHSHOD OVER THE RURAL COMMUNITIES: Dead cattle and high blood pressure: Wolf depredation takes toll on Colorado ranchers.

So far, Farrell said he has lost three yearlings and three calves. He’s seen the pair of wolves on several occasions, as have others. Thermal night-vision photos and videos and trail cameras have also documented their movements.

“They couldn’t compensate us enough to put us through what they’re putting us through right now,” Farrell said. “Compensation doesn’t mean a thing. When you see the stress on your family, the stress on your marriage, the stress on the cattle — these cattle are so messed up.”

Farrell said that before the wolves showed up, his cattle were calm enough that they could be rounded-up and moved by one man on a horse and a few stock dogs.

“We take pride in our dogs and what we do every day. We go out there with our dogs moving these cattle and we have really good dogs,” Farrell said. “So, with these dogs, usually one guy can go out there with two dogs and move 300 or 400 head of cattle, yearlings, or cows, and do it by yourself.”

“Now, these yearlings, these cows are so stressed out, you can’t even hardly take a dog into the field with them because they all just go different ways,” Farrell added. “They start running after they’ve been chased by the wolves. And now we can’t even hardly use them.”

Everything is going swimmingly, to coin an Instaphrase.

UKRAINE WAR: What the Hell Is a Turtle Tank… and WHY?

LIVE RESULTS: D.C., Iowa, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, and South Dakota Go to the Polls.

FINALLY: SpaceX lands FAA license for Starship megarocket launch on June 6. “For Flight 4, SpaceX aims to fly its Starship and Super Heavy booster on a similar trajectory as its Flight 3 test, a mission that would launch the Starship vehicle up to orbital velocity, then reenter the craft over the Indian Ocean. The Super Heavy booster, meanwhile, is expected to return toward South Texas and make a controlled ‘landing’ in the Gulf of Mexico.”

SARAH HOYT’S SHOCKED FACE HAS BEEN ORDERED TO TAKE EXTENDED BED REST: Looks Like Team Biden Is Trying to Sway Hunter’s Jury.

HMM: Elon Musk ordered Nvidia to ship thousands of AI chips reserved for Tesla to X and xAI.

On Tesla’s first-quarter earnings call in April, Musk said the electric vehicle company will increase the number of active H100s — Nvidia’s flagship artificial intelligence chip — from 35,000 to 85,000 by the end of this year. He also wrote in a post on X a few days later that Tesla would spend $10 billion this year “in combined training and inference AI.”

But emails written by Nvidia senior staff and widely shared inside the company suggest that Musk presented an exaggerated picture of Tesla’s procurement to shareholders. Correspondence from Nvidia staffers also indicates that Musk diverted a sizable shipment of AI processors that had been reserved for Tesla to his social media company X, formerly known as Twitter.

Tesla shares slipped as much as 1% on the news Tuesday morning.

By ordering Nvidia to let privately held X jump the line ahead of Tesla, Musk pushed back the automaker’s receipt of more than $500 million in graphics processing units, or GPUs, by months, likely adding to delays in setting up the supercomputers Tesla says it needs to develop autonomous vehicles and humanoid robots.

It’s the smart move. AI-powered full-self driving is still probably a long way off, if ever. But xAI — Musk’s new AI firm — just got another $6 billion worth of investments on its way to a $24 billion valuation.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY! 20 Years Ago Today: Killdozer Smash.

HEALTH: Colon cancer crisis in young people could be fueled by booming drinks brands adored by teens. “Researchers in Florida theorize that cancer cells use taurine – an amino acid thought to improve mental clarity – as their ‘primary energy source.'”

NOTHING TO SEE HERE, MOVE ALONG: Pandemic Fraud Juror Got a Bag Full of $120,000 and a Promise of More if She’ll Acquit.

STOP, YOU HAD ME AT “GETTING FIT”: Getting fit is great – but it could turn you into a rightwing jerk. “But there is a dark side to wellness, which I always, for shorthand, thought of as political: getting fit makes you more rightwing. The mechanism is incredibly simple: you embark on this voyage of self-improvement, and more or less immediately see results. You feel stronger and more energetic, probably your mood lifts, and pretty soon you think you are master of your own destiny. You’re still not, by the way: destiny does not care about your step count. But until that fact catches up with you, which it may never, there you are, high on self-righteousness. You can tell this has happened to you when you start inhaling performatively, like the hero of an Ayn Rand novel.”

Stay weak and woke for the cause, comrades.

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL DIDN’T EVEN TRY: Even the MSM Can’t Hide How Stupid Biden’s Ceasefire Plan Is.

FACTS ARE STUBBORN THINGS: Why Biden’s economic comeback story is falling flat. “It’s hard to spin a comeback story when voters think the president is trying to recover from shooting himself in the foot.”

ROBERT SPENCER: Maxine Waters Calls Trump Supporters ‘Domestic Terrorists,’ Demands Action Against Them.

NOTHING CONCENTRATES THE MIND LIKE THE PROSPECT OF AN ELECTION IN NOVEMBER: Will Biden’s new border restrictions sway voters?

CHANGE? Maybe a Bunch of White Guys Can Save the Washington Post — Maybe!

BLUE STATE BLUES: Rubio’s Coastal Grill, citing rising business costs, abruptly shuts down 48 restaurants in California.

As a college student in San Diego, Ralph Rubio discovered fish tacos while on spring break in Baja California. And in 1983 he opened a modest walk-up stand, helping popularize fish tacos in the country and seeing his business, known over the last decade as Rubio’s Coastal Grill, grow to about 200 restaurants in California and several other states.

But the pandemic slammed the company, prompting it to shut down restaurants in Florida and Colorado. Rubio’s also has been struggling under the shadow of Mexican restaurant giant Chipotle in the hyper-competitive segment known as fast casual. And then there were the costs: rising food prices and increasing worker wages.

On Monday, Rubio’s confirmed that it had closed 48 of its California restaurants on Friday — more than a third of its already slimmed-down chain of 134 restaurants.

Rubio’s, in a statement Monday issued by media strategist Sitrick & Co., attributed the closings to the rising cost of doing business in California.

The big chains are better able to absorb the punishment Sacramento loves to dish out than smaller chains like Rubio’s are. They’re also generally more compliant with big government’s social goals.

THE ENEMY WITHIN: U.S. Media and Students Do Precisely What Hamas Leader Urged.

EVERYTHING IS GOING SWIMMINGLY: ‘The manufacturing side of the economy appears to have stalled,’ ISM says.

The industrial side of the economy is unlikely to generate sustained growth until interest rates fall and a lower cost of borrowing entices customers to buy more goods or invest.

“Companies are extremely cautious with any form of investment,” Fiore said.

At the same time, higher prices of raw materials such as oil, plastics, copper and aluminum are putting upward pressure on prices. That could keep inflation elevated.

Previously: Biden claims his economic policies are reviving manufacturing, making his case at a wind farm plant.

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Anthony Fauci Deserves a Gulag of His Own. “I don’t know about most of you, but I’m beginning to lose count of how many ‘Oops’ moments that there have been from the COVID ‘experts.’ Gosh, it’s almost as if the public health protocols were nothing more than flexing by a bunch of power hungry government types.”

OUCH: OPEC+ Agrees to Extend Production Cuts in Bid to Boost Oil Prices. “The curbs are aimed at bolstering prices and avoiding a global surplus in a context of rising output from other nonmember producers, particularly the U.S., and concerns over demand amid high interest rates and inflation.”

Maybe President Biden could try calling the Saudis pariahs some more.