The New Coffee Room

https://www.newsmax.com/politics/cia-anthony-fauci-wuhan/2026/05/13/id/1256166/

An active CIA officer told senators Wednesday that Dr. Anthony Fauci played a significant role in influencing intelligence officials to back away from concluding that COVID-19 originated from a laboratory leak in Wuhan, China.

James Erdman, a CIA special operations officer, testified before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee that the intelligence community in August 2021 was nearing a determination that the pandemic likely stemmed from a lab leak before the assessment changed days later, reports The Daily Mail.

"Dr. Fauci's role in the cover-up was intentional," Erdman told the committee. "Dr. Fauci influenced the analytical process and findings by leveraging his position to ensure the IC consulted with a conflicted list of curated subject matter experts, public health officials, and scientists."

Erdman said documentation showed the CIA was prepared to declare COVID-19 a lab leak on Aug. 12, 2021, but that position shifted by Aug. 17.

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/2026/05/cassidy-kennedy-maha-maga-vaccines/687152/

Interesting article about whether Sen. Cassidy regrets his vote on Sec. Kennedy.

Bill Cassidy did not want to talk about Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Last month, as we shuffled through the U.S. Senate subway, a subterranean corridor connecting lawmakers’ offices to the Capitol, the senator from Louisiana was fielding rapid-fire questions from reporters about two of his favorite topics: drug pricing and college sports. But I asked him about his least favorite: Did he regret confirming Kennedy as health secretary?

I was eager to know because, in spite of that decision, Cassidy may be looking at the end of his political career. This weekend, after 11 years in the Senate, he is headed into a Republican primary election with polls trending out of his favor. His vote last year to hand the keys of America’s immunization policy to one of America’s most prominent vaccine skeptics now hangs over him as a political move that may not have been enough to save his life in politics.

Cassidy—who was one of the few Republicans to initially balk at confirming Kennedy—is pro-vaccine. As a liver specialist in a crowded Baton Rouge charity hospital at the turn of the new millennium, he saw firsthand the effects of hepatitis B, a vaccine-preventable disease; he later set up a school-based program in Baton Rouge that inoculated tens of thousands of children against the virus. At Kennedy’s confirmation hearing, Cassidy justified his vote by claiming that Kennedy could help restore faith in the medical establishment. It was, by all apparent measures, a vote against his values, an attempted olive branch to the new administration.

Cassidy has since criticized some of Kennedy’s actions as secretary, namely his decision to stack the CDC’s vaccine advisory committee with vaccine skeptics. Cassidy was also among a group of Republican senators who declined to publicly endorse the surgeon-general nominee Casey Means—a Kennedy ally and wellness guru. (Trump announced a new candidate for the job late last month.) But Cassidy refuses to acknowledge that he made a mistake by confirming Kennedy. In the months since the vote, his staff has repeatedly declined my requests for a sit-down interview. In the Senate subway that day, he sidestepped. “I’m a doctor. You make a decision, you move on,” he told me. “You don’t sit around and say, ‘Oh my gosh, that was a great decision. Oh my gosh, that was a bad decision.’ No, you just move on.”

In Louisiana, being anti-Kennedy means being anti-Trump. And the problem for Cassidy is that many of his constituents already see him as both.

https://sciencex.com/news/2026-05-striped-turbines-millions-birds.html

One recent study, in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface, actually proposes an ingenious solution: paint patterns on turbine blades that change "optic flow" seen by birds, the changing visual contrast experienced as a bird flies through its environment. Changing this optical flow could make turbines more visible, helping birds avoid them more effectively.

Researchers note, "The ultimate goal is to enhance the overall conspicuity of turbines under a range of natural conditions, ensuring that birds detect the structure in time to avoid collisions."

"By looking at the world through a bird's eyes, we are exploring new ways to prevent deadly turbine collisions. The idea is to blend sensory ecology with natural flight strategies, how birds scan, steer, and avoid obstacles, and use that knowledge to redesign turbine blades."

and

One way to avoid birds smashing into wind structures is to change the appearance of turbines so that birds see them as an obvious threat and avoid them. Some studies suggest that painting towers and blades black, with reference to a bird's visual perception, can reduce collisions for some species.

In lab tests, kestrels and red-tailed hawks could spot turbine blades best when they had two wide black bands across a white surface. Narrower stripes were less effective.

A retinal study of kestrels tested computer-simulated turbine blades and found that staggered thin stripes on all three blades, or a mix of one black blade and two white blades, provided the clearest visibility by reducing motion blur.

For all that, lab studies mostly looked at how well blades could be seen, hardly a collision-avoidance measure. So far, only two full field trials and one small UV-paint test have been done, all at Norway's Smøla wind farm.

Painting one rotor blade black reduced bird deaths more than 70%, primarily of raptors, but based on only a small number of turbines.

Another study revealed that painting the lower sections black virtually halved the ptarmigan death rate, sometimes more, sometimes less.

Though these results are promising, the designs tested may not have been the best possible solutions.

https://www.fastcompany.com/91540194/the-wheels-are-falling-off-teslas-cybertruck

The headline sounds like a pun: “The wheels are falling off Tesla’s Cybertruck.” But it isn’t a joke. Tesla is recalling 173 Cybertrucks because the wheels can literally fall off while the vehicle is in motion.

Yes, friends, you could be driving to Costco, take a right, and off goes one wheel from your six-figure polygonal truck. Goodbye! Your car is now a prop from a Buster Keaton movie.

The recall covers Cybertrucks fitted with 18-inch steel wheels, built between March 21, 2024, and November 25, 2025. The problem is as straightforward as it is alarming and surreal. Rough roads and hard cornering can crack the stud holes in the brake rotor, causing the wheel stud to separate from the hub.

Wolf tries to eat bison carcess that grizzly bear is already eating

Link to video

https://apnews.com/article/hudson-river-tunnel-new-jersey-nyc-2c102b1dc7bddebca21524a1dfbbfe17

When the original train tunnel beneath the Hudson River connecting Manhattan to New Jersey was built more than a century ago, workers toiled with picks and shovels from each side until eventually meeting in the middle.

A new tunnel, one of the largest U.S. mass transit projects in generations and which is expected to cost $16 billion, will take a decidedly modern approach.

Giant drilling machines nearly the length of two football fields armed with cutters harder than diamonds will chew through dense rock. A crew of about 40 will oversee a conveyor system hauling out debris as well as equipment to install the tunnel's curved concrete lining.

and

The machines are expected to take about a year to grind through the first section in the New Jersey Palisades, which is made of tough volcanic rock, once digging starts later this year, according to Starace.
That's about 30 feet of tunnel a day. Other machines will dig under the riverbed.

In full, the new tunnel with two train tracks inside will run almost 2.5 miles (4 kilometers). The original two-tracked tunnel, damaged by saltwater during Superstorm Sandy, will be renovated.

So, they would not market them, but would still sell them in Europe?

(What does MFN mean?)

@kluurs that is awesome!!!

Thanks!!

IN THE STRAIT of Hormuz, Iran has developed an asymmetrical naval strategy that is crippling the passage of container ships. This “hemostat” uses guerrilla tactics, after Iran's “traditional” fleet was almost entirely destroyed by US and Israeli attacks. No longer able to rely on specialized military ships, Tehran is using an unconventional force made up of dozens of small military vessels armed with missiles, machine guns, and drones. Quick and nimble, this “mosquito fleet” is capable of assaulting ships carrying tons of cargo.

In mid-April, US president Donald Trump had reassured the public in a post on Truth Social that Iran's hemostat fleet did not pose a major problem for the US and Israel. “The Iranian Navy lies at the bottom of the sea, completely annihilated: 158 ships,” Trump wrote. “What we didn't hit are their small numbers of what they call ‘fast attack boats’ because we didn't consider them a big threat.” Less than 10 days later, on April 22, an Iranian attack conducted with the small vessels led to the seizure of two large container ships leaving the Strait of Hormuz, changing the course of the war.

and

“The effectiveness of Iran's fleet of small boats comes from their numbers and their use in swarms, which makes them difficult to counter,” Eisenstadt adds. “Iran has over a thousand of these small boats armed with rockets, machine guns, anti-ship missiles, and mines.” In this way, Tehran can pose a serious naval threat even though much of its military fleet has been destroyed.

“As Iran showed in March, it can close the straits by launching only a few dozen drones against oil tankers and cargo ships in the Persian Gulf,

https://www.wired.com/story/iran-is-using-tiny-mosquito-boats-to-shut-down-the-strait-of-hormuz/

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/05/12/south-carolina-redistricting-vote-fails-00917584

The South Carolina Senate just made it harder for the state to redraw its congressional map, resisting pressure from President Donald Trump.
Lawmakers on Tuesday failed to reach the two-thirds majority needed to approve a measure that would have allowed them to take up a vote on redistricting even after the legislative session ends later this week. Five Republicans joined all Democrats in voting against the proposal.

Republican Gov. Henry McMaster could still call a special session, though his office has so far dismissed that idea.

We'll see how things go in the future.

Kyle Diamantas, the deputy commissioner for food, would take over leading the agency in an acting capacity.

and

Within hours of the announcement, anti-abortion groups were attacking Diamantas for work his law firm did representing Planned Parenthood regarding a dispute with one of its clinics that was slated to open in Florida’s Kissimmee Health Center medical complex.

“We cannot allow someone who represented Planned Parenthood to oversee rules surrounding the deadly abortion pill mifepristone,” Lila Rose, an anti-abortion activist, posted on X.

“Kyle Diamantas was a junior legal associate who was assigned to that case by his superiors. He expressed his objections to representing Planned Parenthood, based on his personal convictions, and ultimately removed himself from the case,” said White House spokesman Kush Desai.

• PROtest/proTEST

I dont get this one. What are the two different words?

that was quite interesting.

https://www.discoverwildlife.com/animal-facts/pee-facts

For example:

A 2014 study showed that all mammals weighing more than 3kg empty their bladders over about 21 seconds. Rats, goats, cows and elephants were among the subjects. Small animals vary significantly here though, with rats urinating in a fraction of a second. The study was undertaken by Patricia Yang, a PhD student in mechanical engineering, and three colleagues, whose findings were published in the journal PNAS.

@89th said:

Well the website now says it's no longer "made in the USA", it just says "America-proud design", LOL. I do have a question, do you have to be white trash to buy it or is the phone sort of a ticket to the white trash club?

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/06/26/trump-phone-website-removes-made-in-the-usa-tag-for-the-device.html

Well, the phones may never be made. (But we will keep your deposit.)

A year after followers of President Donald Trump put down $100 deposits for a Trump-branded gold phone, not one has shipped, and a recent change in the fine print has some worried they may never arrive.

Last month, the company behind Trump Mobile, T1 Mobile LLC, quietly updated its preorder terms and conditions to clarify that it “does not guarantee that a Device will be produced or made available for purchase.”

“A preorder deposit provides only a conditional opportunity if Trump Mobile later elects, in its sole discretion, to offer the Device for sale,” the most recent terms, dated April 6, read.

Purchasers like tech content creator Carter Ryan, who goes by CarterPCs online, were quick to call out the company’s vague language.

“I’m paying $100 for the chance to maybe give you more money in the future, if you decide to make the product that I’m paying for in the first place?” he said in a post on TikTok.

https://fortune.com/2026/05/11/trump-mobile-gold-trump-phone-deposits-t1-device-fcc/

https://s3.amazonaws.com/sec.irpass.cc/2660/0001140361-26-020117.pdf

The parent company of President Donald Trump’s Truth Social network reported more than $405 million in first-quarter net losses this year, in the latest sign of trouble at the media conglomerate, after it replaced its CEO last month.

During the first quarter, Trump Media and Technology Group posted net sales of just over $871,000, according to the financial results.

The company, whose activities span Truth Social, digital assets, and forthcoming access to prediction markets, attributed the losses to “unrealized losses on digital assets, digital assets pledged, and equity securities ($368.7 million), accreted interest ($11.5 million), and stock based compensation ($11.8 million).”

In a press release, the company touted figures including its $2.2 billion in total assets and its fourth consecutive quarter of positive operating cash flow.

As of Friday evening, TMTG stock was just under $9, down for the year, and having shrunk by more than ten times since the stock’s 2022 record high.

The first call came to Bob Allen’s phone at 6 p.m. ET on a Friday. The message: Get the repo men ready.

Spirit Airlines was still in operation and planes were in the air. But the aircraft leasing firms that own dozens of its bright yellow jets were getting anxious as Spirit barreled toward liquidation. They wanted their planes back.

“I had six hours to find 20 pilots,” Allen said.

Nomadic Aviation Group, his company, had been standing by for months as Spirit teetered closer to the brink. Allen and co-founder Steve Giordano quickly assembled a roster of pilots, most of whom had worked for Spirit. They made a WhatsApp group, which swelled to 40 pilots. One had just landed.

“He said, ‘can I fly in shorts?’” Giordano recalled. Not a problem. “We generally go khakis and polos, but you know, you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do,” he told him.

By 9 a.m. the next day, with Spirit’s death now official, they were ready to go. Pilots had fanned out to airports in South Florida, Charlotte, Houston and Columbus, Ohio, to go pick up the stranded jets. Some were still at the gates where they’d parked after their final flights.

https://www.wsj.com/business/airlines/spirit-airlines-jets-liquidation-repo-men-5c44a46f

@jon-nyc said:

Heh

To the defense of any president, they generally keep a schedule that I dont think that I could (nor would I want to) do.

Interesting interview with Jon Krakauer, who wrote "Into Thin Air", and it is now 30 years later.

On May 10, it will be 30 years since a squall swept across the upper reaches of Everest, killing eight climbers that night in what was then one of the deadliest mountaineering disasters of all time. (By the end of the season, twelve climbers had died on the mountain in all.) Worse, this was at the dawn of Everest’s guided era, when strong, competent Western mountaineers thought they could pacify the mountain’s myriad death traps and build, as Mountain Madness guide and owner Scott Fischer famously put it, “a yellow brick road right to the summit.”

Writer Jon Krakauer was there as a client of Kiwi Rob Hall’s Adventure Consultants on assignment for Outside, and the magazine story he turned in became the book Into Thin Air, which immediately surged to #1 on the New York Times bestseller list. Far from dissuading would-be clients and guides, the book seems to have supercharged the commercialization of Everest. By the time I was reporting on the mountain regularly in the early twentyteens, mass casualty events had become a regular feature of many seasons. There were the four climbers who couldn’t get themselves down in 2012 despite the good weather, the 2014 serac collapse that killed 16 Sherpa porters, and the avalanche set off by the 2015 Nepal earthquake which took at least 19 lives in Base Camp. The death toll climbed and so did some 13,000 summiters’ apparent ability to memory-hole the disasters and keep coming at the mountain, decade after decade.

Now, 30 years on, Krakauer has written a new foreword to Into Thin Air, chronicling those changes as Vintage Books re-releases the book. I spoke with him at length about that dark and stormy night and the after-effects that are still haunting him today.

Interview with Jon Krakauer