#9: My wife and and I saw Duran Duran a few years back. Before the band began playing "A View to a Kill," the lead singer introduced the song thus: "Bond. Simon Le Bond."

#35: Enjoy the food and good luck with CBP when you arrive home.

Florida Bans Fluoride in Public Water

"Florida has become the second state to officially ban fluoride in public water." (Utah was the first with this lunacy).

Gov. Ron DeSantis called the fluoridation of water "forced medication," saying it violates "informed consent."

"The move to block fluoride has been decried by major health organizations, who warn that it would negatively affect residents' health."

Nota Bene: The governor of the Sunshine State is an Ivy League graduate like JD Vance.

#32: Welcome back, TFD Nihilist. Weren't you in Colombia recently?

Vladimir Putin Fires Commander-in-Chief of Russian Ground Forces

General Oleg Selyukov was fired by presidential decree on 15 May. He had been in this position since 2014 and commanded the Victory Parade on Red Square on 9 May. The Russian despot moved Selyukov to be deputy secretary of the Russian Security Council under Sergey Shoigu.

Putin refused to meet Ukrainian President Volodomir Zelensky in Istanbul this week, so that whole affair was a monumental waste of time and money. But it gave the diplomats the opportunity to enjoy delicious Turkish cuisine and hospitality while jabber-jawing at taxpayer expense.

Since Russia's brutal invasion of Ukraine, they have lost ~970,590 military personnel (plus 1,220 over the last 24 hours), 372 aircraft, 337 helicopters, and 10,820 tanks.

An international arrest warrant issued by the ICC for war crimes remains active for Vladimir Putin. An indictment is merely an accusation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

MAGA Mouthpiece Ed Martin Under Investigation by Ethics Committee

"The former DC US attorney nominee revealed he faces a legal disciplinary review in an all-office goodbye email, while claiming his confidentiality was violated."

This couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.

Hi QCP: Indeed the Third Reich is not to be treasured. But both the archives find in the basement and the government's release is a treasure trove of data for historians and war crimes investigators.

Trumpf: "...It is a gift from a Nation, Qatar, that we have successfully defended for many years..."

This maniac made bond at $75,000 and is now on pre-trial supervised release. Incredible.

US AG Pam Bondi Sold Up to $5 Million in Trumpf Media Stock Same Day the Dotard Announced Sweeping Tariffs

"Insider trading at the White House? Who knew?"

****UPDATE****

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) is carrying out a criminal investigation into UnitedHealth Group for possible Medicare fraud, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.

The company's stock slipped 8% in after-hours trade following the report, which follows a series of problems at the insurer.

On Tuesday, UnitedHealth Group's CEO, Andrew Witty, stepped down unexpectedly, and the company simultaneously suspended its 2025 financial forecast due to rising medical costs. The announcement sent shares plunging nearly 18% to a four-year low.

Sources:

#5: Hi Lamplighter: In 2024, antiwar volunteers nationwide were angry over the immorality of bombing and blockading the Palestinians in Gaza with US economic aid and military supplies. Political recognition of Palestine as a state was their second immediate concern. First, stop the suffering.

So, the Kamala Harris alternatives for antiwar Democrats in 2024 were either Jill Stein or simply sitting out, like northern Democrats not choosing segregationist George Wallace or Republican Richard Nixon in 1968. The few crossovers from Democrats to Trumpf in 2024 were most likely from Jewish-Americans. Several months ago I posted the numbers in an OP for Drudge (or another platform). I know of one Jew who voted for the Dotard because "he would be better for Israel" and I suspect another who voted similarly (but I can't prove it).

Regardless if a Democrat or a Republican sits in the White House, the Palestinians are finished. Nearly 50,000 of them were killed under a Democratic administration. Asking whether an Arab-American regrets voting for Trumpf in 2024 is a red herring and a distraction because that vote would have changed absolutely nothing with the ruling Likud Party. Israel is responsible for the wanton carnage and misery in the Warsaw Ghetto of the Middle East (AKA the Gaza Strip) and both US parties are complicit. And for chutzpah, AIPAC and the Western MSM are appalled when the Palestinians fight back from annihilation, land seizures in the West Bank, or warrantless military detentions with the only tools and weapons at their disposal: guerilla tactics, abductions, knife attacks, or martyrdom operations.

Joe Biden appeared on a TV show recently (I don't watch TV), but from what I read, he thinks he would have been beaten Dotard Trumpf last year if he wasn't eased out for the younger Kamala Harris. Biden pointed to the winning 2020 numbers as his reasoning, but not on the losing 2024 numbers. Again, the status quo leader won't admit that from 2020 to 2024 the Democrats lost 6,265,888 votes because they supported the unpopular Israeli onslaught on Gaza that took place every single day of 2024.

For the younger folks, Hubert Humphrey's 1968 Democratic ticket also lost millions of voters they had in 1964 because of their support for the unpopular Saigon regime, as well as sending our boys to fight and die in Vietnam.

Like at the 1968 DNC convention in Chicago, antiwar Democrats (and Arab-Americans) were also shunned at the 2024 DNC convention in the same city. However in 1976, antiwar activist and former Marine Ron Kovic spoke at the DNC Convention in Madison Square Garden, the year Jimmy Carter became President.

The most underqualified person to ever lead a US intelligence organization, D/DNI Tulsi Gabbard, fired the top two career officials leading the National Intelligence Council (NIC), the senior most analytical group in the USIC, whose "job it is to understand and assess the biggest threats facing the US."

"The dismissals come as Gabbard has vowed to root out what she has described as politicization of the intelligence community, and launched a war on leaks to the media that critics say is hollowing out the intelligence community of needed expertise from experienced professionals."

This purge should not be a surprise to anyone. The NIC recently contradicted Trumpf's lies about Venezuela Pres Maduro's alleged ties to violent street gang Tren de Aragua. By the end of this four year nightmare, the USIC will be left with Yes-Men and toadies. WMDs in Iraq! Fight them there before they come here!! Etc etc.