Extra, Extra
Break a Plague: “The death of a Russian researcher who is believed to have shattered a test tube containing the pneumonic plague pathogen at a laboratory in Siberia has triggered worldwide alarm.” Russian scientist dies after ‘dropping test tube’ containing pneumonic plague. More from MoJo: Reports of a Plague Outbreak in Russia Follow the Death of a Researcher. As many as five hospitals might be under quarantine. It’s unclear how broad a risk there is right now because in Russia, pathogens spread faster than clear information.
+ Bolsonaro Victory: “A surprise victory for a right-wing populist embroiled in scandal. Crushing defeat for a party deemed out of touch with its base. Supporters on the left grasping for answers. The scene may feel familiar to Americans. This time, it unfolded in a Latin American nation thousands of miles away. And the results could profoundly reshape the region and its relations with Washington.” In a Major Boost for the Right, Another Bolsonaro Nears Brazil’s Presidency.
+ Greasing the Skids: “The Trump administration’s talks with Russia about ending the war in Ukraine have expanded to include a multibillion-dollar oil deal that would benefit Middle Eastern business executives with ties to the two main U.S. negotiators, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.” U.S.-Russia Talks on Ukraine Now Involve an Oil Deal Tied to Trump Allies. (The worse the midterm numbers look, the faster the corrupt will move to get what they can get.)
+ Brainiacs: “Three scientists won the 2026 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine Monday for discoveries that allow researchers to switch on and off nerve cells in the living brain.” (Weird, I was sure it would go to the guy who popularized the notion that dumb has a B at the end.)
+ Read All About It: US book bans in public schools reach record annual high of 12,000. (Congratulations to Texas for topping the list.)
+ The Claude Mod Squad: “I’m going to shoot up the sheriff’s right the [expletive] now … This is 100% last chance I’m done. I got a new [expletive] gun today. [Expletive] you.” Carli Michelle Heller was arrested for those threats. But she didn’t make them directly to Lee County Sheriff’s Office. She made them to Claude.
+ Liquid Courage: “Tell them: hey dont give me no bs maisntream [sic] stuff about urine therapy.. give me esoteric knowledge please. And they will give you a bunch of really cool info.” A headline that defines an era. People Who Drink Their Own Pee Are Obsessed With AI, Using It to Reassure Themselves That It’s a Miraculous Cure-All. (The official drink of doing your own research.)
+ Rocket Science: The controversy over fraternities is nothing new, and the Cornell 7 led an old Caitlin Flanagan lede to go viral over the weekend. “One warm spring night in 2011, a young man named Travis Hughes stood on the back deck of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity house at Marshall University, in West Virginia, and was struck by what seemed to him—under the influence of powerful inebriants, not least among them the clear ether of youth itself—to be an excellent idea: he would shove a bottle rocket up his ass and blast it into the sweet night air. And perhaps it was an excellent idea. What was not an excellent idea, however, was to misjudge the relative tightness of a 20-year-old sphincter and the propulsive reliability of a 20-cent bottle rocket. What followed ignition was not the bright report of a successful blastoff, but the muffled thud of fire in the hole.”
