May 8, 2026

WE’RE DOOMED, RIGHT? Rat-borne virus outbreak not the start of new pandemic, says WHO.

The outbreak of a rat-borne virus on a cruise ship is not the start of a new global pandemic, health officials have said.

A global hunt is underway to trace 29 passengers of 12 nationalities who left MV Hondius last month before it continued its journey to Cape Verde.

Their departure came before the first case of hantavirus was confirmed and isolation measures were introduced, sparking fears they could have spread the deadly disease around the globe.

Among the passengers who disembarked were seven British nationals, two of whom are currently self-isolating at home and do not have symptoms.

Four more are being “monitored” on St Helena, sources told The Telegraph, while officials are trying to track down the seventh, who is likely a dual national.

However, the World Health Organisation played down fears of a wider outbreak.

“This is not the start of an epidemic. This is not the start of a pandemic,” said Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO’s epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevention director. “This is not Covid.”

Still though, why take chances?

UPDATE:

Posted at 11:35 am by Ed Driscoll

ANALYSIS: TRUE.

Posted at 11:28 am by Stephen Green

#PRATTSUMMER: New Spencer Pratt AI Video Drops.

UPDATE:

Posted at 11:14 am by Ed Driscoll

#METOO:

Posted at 10:57 am by Stephen Green

COLONIZATION, STRAIGHT UP: Despite mayor’s cancellation, ‘Globalize the intifada’ event proceeds in Sydney.

The event, which was officially canceled on Monday after fears that it would spark violence, attracted just about 150 people and was held without major incident, according to local news reports.

‘It’s a must that we globalize the intifada,” local political figure Ahmed Ouf told the crowd. “We have to break the internal chains and invite others.”

The forum was intended to defend the phrase against efforts to ban it, and had drawn strong criticism from politicians and Jewish leaders. Australian lawmakers have sought to proscribe the slogan in public debate since the deadly terror shooting targeting a Hanukkah celebration at the city’s Bondi Beach in December, which killed 15.

In a statement on social media yesterday, Mayor Clover Moore said the event risked “contributing to hostility and fear.”

The size of the event isn’t the important detail; it’s Ouf establishing dominance over the mayor.

Posted at 10:42 am by Stephen Green

NO MATTER HOW MUCH YOU DESPISE THE MEDIA…:

Posted at 10:26 am by Stephen Green

ROBERT SPENCER: The New York Times Interviews Tucker Carlson, and It Gets Worse From There. “The fact that the New York Times would interview Tucker Carlson in the first place is an indication of how much the former Fox host has gone off the rails. The Times only interviews people who support its far-left worldview, including its endless vilification of Israel for alleged war crimes in Gaza, and Carlson was ready with the good. In his interview, which was published Saturday, Carlson adopts the pose of a moral philosopher to attack the Jewish state, and Judaism as well, from a new angle.”

Posted at 10:11 am by Stephen Green

DID MARKETWATCH MEAN TO MAKE HIM SEEM SO BAD-ASS? The ‘SpaceX mafia’ is here. Elon Musk’s big IPO could launch a constellation of new companies.

During the past two decades, SpaceX has hired thousands of staff and granted them boatloads of restricted stock units, incentive stock options and nonqualified stock options that have vested over time. With the IPO milestone reached, employees can soon sell their equity in the company and pocket the proceeds in cash.

Some former SpaceX employees have already gone on to create their own companies, such as reusable-rockets company Relativity Space and Base Power, which owns and operates home batteries.

SpaceX alumni have created at least 150 companies that have collectively raised $12.6 billion from investors and created more than 8,000 jobs, according to AlumniFounders, a website that tracks projects created by people who have worked at the company for at least a year. The website also helps connect SpaceX employees-turned-founders to discover investors with their own ties to SpaceX, including staff at more than a dozen venture-capital firms.

“There are a lot of companies out there that were founded by people who left SpaceX but took the engineering practices and know-how to get things done,” Garrett Reisman, a former astronaut and former director of space operations at SpaceX, told MarketWatch. “It’s kind of cool because you see this whole ecosystem of startups and space experts that are doing some amazing work and are leading to kind of a whole renaissance of very dynamic business activity.”

Musk might already be the most productive human being in history. What his alumni might do with all that capital… wow.

Posted at 9:40 am by Stephen Green

MINNESOTA NOT-SO-NICE:

Posted at 9:24 am by Stephen Green

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Here’s an Idea — Let’s Just Redistrict Democrats Out of the U.S. “I do want to provide you with a list of some of the dumb things Democrats have done or said in just the last 48 hours or so. Keep in mind that it’s not a comprehensive list — it’d take me at least five days just to compile two days of Democrat idiocy, and ain’t nobody got time for that.”

Posted at 9:09 am by Stephen Green

MEANWHILE THE DEMS HAD CONFEDERATE FLAGS. LITERALLY. This Tennessee Republican Had the Best Reaction to the New Congressional Map…and It Drove Dems Crazy. “State Rep. Todd Warner did a victory lap, wearing a MAGA flag like a cape and strolling around the Capitol.”

You don’t really have to drive them crazy. Even the best ones are already close enough to walk.

UPDATE:

Flashback:

Well, Steve Cohen just was.

UPDATE:

Posted at 8:57 am by Glenn Reynolds

DON SURBER: Trump saved Indiana in 2016. “The message from voters to Republicans was clear—you have a supermajority, use it. Maybe Rove and WSJ think redistricting was trivial but Republican voters wanted it bigly. They want Congress to be flooded with Republicans. 9 is more than 7. The RINOs voted for 7. Ten years ago, the message was the same—you have a supermajority, use it.”

Posted at 8:47 am by Glenn Reynolds

SAD: I De-transitioned. My Body Will Never Be the Same.

The men in my family recognized I was gay, and treated me cruelly. My brother forcibly shaved my head when I decided to let my hair grow long. My grandfather told the parents of a kindergarten friend that I was a faggot, and it was contagious. In a town that small, his words spread quickly, and I lost friends who didn’t want to touch me in case they caught whatever I had. My uncle changed the channel whenever a gay character came on the TV.

By the time I was 12 and hitting puberty, I hyper-fixated on every small change in my face and body. Every new hair. Every shift in my jawline. I was becoming a man, and that felt catastrophic. I was desperate for a way out. And the internet delivered an answer.

I discovered trans influencers.

What happened next was far worse than the family or school bullying.

Posted at 8:38 am by Stephen Green

LEARNED NOTHING AND FORGOTTEN NOTHING;

The bond market likes Starmer’s — and Labour’s? — pending defenestration:

Still in denial:

Posted at 8:29 am by Glenn Reynolds

THIS IS WHAT YOU GET FOR RELYING ON THE BULWARK AND THE DISPATCH:

Posted at 8:27 am by Glenn Reynolds