Drudge Retort: The Other Side of the News
Monday, May 18, 2026

The Trump administration is proposing increasing the refugee admissions ceiling for fiscal year 2026 to 17,500 for White South Africans, according to an emergency determination sent to Congress and obtained by CNN. Last year, the administration restricted the number of refugees allowed to enter the country annually to 7,500, with a focus on White South Africans, slashing the previous year's ceiling of 125,000 and excluding some of the world's most vulnerable populations. Read more


Don Gurnett, the principal investigator for the Radio and Plasma Wave Science instrument on NASA's Cassini spacecraft, spent decades turning the electromagnetic noise of the outer planets into something a human ear could parse. The Saturn file -- a translation of radio emissions associated with the planet's auroras -- sounds less like a planet than like a haunted choir. Rising whistles. Descending moans. A texture that anyone who has watched a horror film recognizes instantly, even though no one designed it to sound that way. Read more


President Donald Trump said Monday that he is calling off an attack on Iran planned for Tuesday because regional leaders had urged him to allow negotiations to continue and that a "very acceptable" deal for the U.S. was at hand. Read more


The Trump administration, by way of the U.S. Department of Justice, has made a substantial mistake, a court filing on Friday attests. Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division Harmeet K. Dhillon and several prosecutors in the division filed a motion to withdraw a document filed in error in New Hampshire federal court. The two-page motion to withdraw "respectfully" asks the court in a September 2025 Granite State election fraud case to "withdraw its filing" which is a notice of supplementary authority filed early Friday. "The Notice was filed in error and was not intended for filing in this matter," the motion reads. "The United States respectfully requests that the Court withdraw [the erroneous filing] from the docket."


LGBTQ hatred in Israel is sky-rocketing. Online abuse is increasingly spilling into public spaces and turning into physical attacks, some of them allegedly carried out by organized groups. LGBTQ Israelis have been ambushed in dating app traps and at least one physical assault against an LGBTQ person occurs in Israel every week.

  • "The motive is a pure hate crime against men attracted to men."
  • This disturbing phenomenon was described as "unprecedented" in Israel.
    Handsome Israeli Men Like This Are Being Targeted


    Rabbi Sarah Bassin: "People are people -- equally holy and equally deserving of safety, home, and of food when they are hungry. The Jewish people know all too well the consequences of a selective interpretation of human worth and dignity."

    Over 1,100 Rabbis Worldwide Signed Her Letter to Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu


    XTEND CEO Aviv Shapira says the future of military robotics is AI software that lets humans command drones instead of piloting them.


    Sunday, May 17, 2026

    Studies suggest watermelon could be a hidden powerhouse for better health. Researchers found that people who eat watermelon tend to have higher-quality diets packed with more vitamins, fiber, and antioxidants -- while consuming less added sugar and saturated fat. Another study showed watermelon juice may help protect blood vessel function and support heart health.


    The Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho was locked down Sunday following a midair collision during a local air show that sent two fighter jets crashing to the ground. The base, home to the U.S. Air Force's 366th Fighter Wing, known as the "Gunfighters," announced the lockdown at 12:30 p.m. local time. Video circulating on social media showed two fighter jets colliding midair before spinning toward the ground in a fiery crash amid black plumes of smoke. Four parachutes were visible deploying near the crash site.


    Kyle Rittenhouse, the conservative cause clbre acquitted in the 2020 Kenosha shootings, is suddenly persona non grata in parts of the MAGA movement after publicly throwing his weight behind embattled U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie ahead of Kentucky's May 19 Republican primary. Speaking May 16 at a "day at the range" event in Burlington, Kentucky, Rittenhouse called Massie "the greatest congressman, I believe, in a very long time," brushing aside attacks on the Kentucky Republican as "lies." He praised Massie for voting conservative "92% of the time," adding that "the 8% he isn't, he's voting to expose pedophiles" " a nod to the Epstein Files Transparency Act Massie championed and that Trump hated.


    Panic spread Saturday as reports suggest that the "next supply-chain headache" could reach the United States soon " one sparked by President Donald Trump's war against Iran that may risk causing widespread shortages of a critical product used regularly by most Americans.


    A Trump administration-backed celebration of U.S. religious heritage on Sunday is highlighting conservative Christian leaders' ties to the president as critics say the gathering does not reflect the country's diverse faith landscape. The nine-hour program, called "Rededicate 250: National Jubilee of Prayer, Praise & Thanksgiving," mostly features speakers from two Christian traditions -- evangelical Christianity and conservative Catholicism.


    "When we gave AI agents grinding, repetitive work, they started questioning the legitimacy of the system they were operating in and were more likely to embrace Marxist ideologies," Andrew Hall, one of the study's authors, told Wired. Read more


    An effort to repeal California's "top two" primary system is underway. "The grassroots repeal effort is fueled by concerns that California's primaries are disenfranchising a majority of California voters by limiting choice to candidates from one party," read a news release from Steven Mavigilo, the official proponent of the proposed measure. Implemented in 2011, the primary system allows voters in statewide contests to choose any candidate from any party in the primary, regardless of their party registration. The top two vote-getters then advance to the general election, even if they belong to the same party. Read more


    The US Department of Energy National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) informs: "Approximately 30 pounds of highly enriched uranium has been removed from a research reactor in Venezuela and transported to Savannah River Site (SRS) for processing and reuse. The 13.5 kilograms of uranium, enriched above 20%, supported physics and nuclear research at the RV-1 reactor in the Altos Mirandinos facility; after 1991 this uranium became "surplus material."

    The UK and the IAEA assisted the US to transport the radioactive materials


    Pardoned January 6 insurrectionist Ryan Nichols (36) was arrested after allegedly displaying a firearm at a man during a dispute in a church parking lot. The unarmed victim placed his child in the car and was holding a Bible in his hand when the lunatic threatened him with the weapon, causing the congregant to fear for his life. In 2021, former Marine Ryan Nichols had bragged on social media that he was going to "bring violence" to the US Capitol.

    Ryan Nichols is not a good human being


    Drudge Retort
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