OPEN THREAD: Happy Thursday.

STARSHIP TEST TENTATIVELY SCHEDULED FOR MAY 19. Godspeed.

THE POISON IS IN THE DOSE: A Common Vitamin Has a Complicated Link to Cancer, Experts Reveal. More likely, as the article notes, unusually high B12 levels may be a symptom or a marker for cancer, not a cause.

COLOR ME UNSURPRISED: Mixing Edible Cannabis and Alcohol May Impair Driving More Than Scientists Expected.

MARK JUDGE: Cops Are Cool People.

IT’S CUTE, BUT THE E.V. MARKET CONTINUES TO DEFLATE: Volkswagen ID Buzz Discounts Are Huge Now. Is the Retro EV Van Finally Worth It? “Massive dealer markdowns are making VW’s retro EV van more affordable, but lack of range remains a stubborn issue.”

I PREFER .458 WINCHESTER: The Only Bear Defense Still Legal in California Nat’l Parks: Horns, Bells and Harsh Language.

BAD NEWS FOR ILLEGAL ALIEN TRUCK DRIVERS AND THE PEOPLE WHO HIRE THEM: SCOTUS Decision Hits Shipping Brokers Like a Ton of Freight. “Up to today, trucking companies bore the liability for anything that happened with their vehicle or driver during. Brokers had always claimed immunity from any liability as they were a step removed from ownership. All they did was scheduling – pick up a phone and schedule with Company A or B to get a load from here to there. There were ways to know if said company was in full compliance with DoT regulations, had safety violations, and had paid their insurance bill, but zero impetus for a broker to check. The trucking company was just another name in the book, willing to deliver for the price quoted. A unanimous decision from the Supreme Court today has changed that dynamic and sent a seismic shock through the entire trucking industry.”

Big win for third party inspection/certification services, and the lawyers who will be suing the freight brokers who hire dangerous drivers.

IF YOU SWIM OFF TIJUANA YOU CAN GET THAT ANYTIME: Your next sunscreen could be made from E. coli.

PRE-NOVOCAIN: ‘Exceptional’ drilled tooth reveals Neanderthals practiced dentistry in Siberia 60,000 Years Ago.

IF ELON CALLS YOU A JACKASS, YOU’RE PROBABLY A JACKASS: OpenAI exec recalls ‘tense exchange’ where Elon Musk called him a ‘jackass.’

NEWS YOU CAN USE: The truth behind the ‘runner’s waist’ myth.

TEACH WOMEN NOT TO RAPE! (CONT’D): First-grade teacher arrested for allegedly having sex with student — after confessing to her hubby.

THE PROCESS IS THE PUNISHMENT: UCLA Law faces Senate probe after warning conservative students not to expose hecklers.

AS THEY WHEEL YOU INTO THE O.R., THE LAST FACE YOU SEE WILL BE YOUR DEI SURGEON: UCLA med school illegally discriminated based on race, DOJ concludes.

AT REALCLEARBOOKS, a powerful review of Roger Simon’s new novel, Emet. “Although the tale starts in Nashville, it soon shifts to Cyprus and then Israel, and it has plenty of action with scenes of danger and suspense. The settings are ones Simon is familiar with, and he describes them with great specificity. This assists in making a boldly imaginative story more believable.”

I read it and liked it. The book — with my blurb — is here.

THE MANAGERIAL GOVERNING CLASS’S WORST NIGHTMARE IS FOR THE VOTERS TO GET WHAT THEY WANT: Why the European Right Keeps Rising.

What is rising across Europe, in Germany, in Austria, in France, in the Netherlands, in Italy, is not a single party but a recognition by an every growing number of citizens: That elections, in the form they have taken since the 1990s, have stopped producing the changes voters keep asking for. The British political scientist Colin Crouch described this condition twenty years ago in a book called Post-Democracy. Although the formal rituals continue – people going to the polls, watching the debates, not studying the party manifestos – all the substantive decisions most people see as existential priorities like migration and energy, are made elsewhere: At the European level, in supranational bodies, in NGO networks supported by public money, and in administrative organs accountable to nobody the voter can remove. The state, whose representatives often speak about “saving democracy” these days, actually likes this pattern.

Something similar obtains here, and our managerial class is brutally resisting the loss of its unaccountable power, and has been for a decade.

ANOTHER TARGET OF TRUMP’S ANACONDA STRATEGY:

Trump's already irretrievably crippled their 'human wave' migration machine by defunding it.

All those "Catholic charities" aren't getting the US Treasury/USAID money any longer.

Trump's been shutting off their REVENUE STREAMS to the human wave machinery for over 15 months… https://t.co/9lftGMlVlX pic.twitter.com/3BNBG7vR5C

— Brian Cates – Political Columnist & Pundit (@drawandstrike) May 13, 2026

If you wonder why the Pope is attacking Trump, this is why.

LOL, BLUESKY: Renowned Left-Wing Crank Turns on Bluesky, the Social Media App for Left-Wing Cranks: Former Vox columnist David Roberts has been described as ‘one of the least likable progressives in the Milky Way galaxy.’

Ya know, you gotta beat out a lot of awful people for that kind of ranking.

JEEZ. THAT GUY. Chris Van Hollen and his decorative margarita glass have a ‘I did not inhale’ moment.

JEEZ:

Georgia politics make North Carolina politics look good. The judge in this case is Stacey Abrams' sister. https://t.co/e4q8nFc51p

— Margo (@MargoinWNC) May 13, 2026

OPEN THREAD: Hump Day.

21ST CENTURY HEADLINES: Star Catcher just raised $65 million to build the world’s first power grid in space — with lasers.

Related: Cowboy Space raises $275 million to launch AI data centers on brand-new rocket.

ALL THE BEST PEOPLE ASSURED ME THE DANGERS WERE IMAGINARY: Cannabis Use Disorder Strongly Linked to Major Depression, New Review Finds.

RAISE YOUR ARM TO HEART LEVEL: Your Blood Pressure Reading Could Be Wrong Because of One Simple Mistake.