Monday, June 08, 2026

This Is No Time for Biden-Blinken Restraint. Let's Go!

At first I thought the fighting between Trump and Netanyahu was another ruse of the sort that was acted out right before Operation Midnight Hammer. Now I'm not too sure.

I voted for Trump 3 times, but I'm also firmly on Israel's side here. They don't need our permission to attack Iran after being attacked -- yet again -- by Hezbolleh.

Let's put Iran out of its misery. A "deal" we've waited weeks for can only be a bad one for Israel and for America.

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From The Times of Israel today, 6-8-26

Trump seeks to tie Netanyahu’s hands, as the partnership that went to war 100 days ago collapses.

Telling Israel it had better not respond to an Iranian missile attack, the US president — desperate for a deal with the devilish Tehran regime — presented the PM with a stark dilemma

By David Horovitz

One hundred days after they went to war together to thwart Iran’s rogue nuclear weapons program, radically degrade its ballistic missile industry, end its support for the Hezbollah and Hamas terror armies, and create the conditions for the fall of the regime, the US-Israel alliance against the Islamic Republic on Sunday reached its nadir.

With its north battered relentlessly by Hezbollah in recent weeks, Israel resorted to a largely symbolic strike on the terror group’s Dahiyeh stronghold in Beirut, reportedly without telling the disapproving Trump administration ahead of time that it was doing so.

And, as it had warned it would, Iran responded by firing about 10 missiles at northern Israel — again sending that sector of the country rushing to bomb shelters, though causing no injuries or damage.

But as Israel prepared to “respond forcefully” against Iran, in the words of an unnamed senior Israeli official, US President Donald Trump ordered it to think again.

Before he had even spoken to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his partner of 100 days ago, the president was telling his favorite Israeli journalist, Barak Ravid, that Israel had better not hit back: “I am going to call Bibi right now and tell him not to retaliate,” Trump vouchsafed. “Each of them had their fun. Israel had its strike and Iran had its strike. We don’t need another one.”

Trump has repeatedly denied claims that Netanyahu dragged him and the United States into the war. But he has made it increasingly clear that he is desperate to end the inadequately planned campaign, even with none of the declared US-Israeli goals achieved. He’s still insisting that he is holding out for terms that will ensure the regime never gets nuclear weapons, but there’s no guarantee of that in the leaked drafts of the memorandum of understanding he’s been working toward. And his overriding priority is to get the Strait of Hormuz reliably open again and alleviate the global energy chaos that Tehran has proved so adept at creating.

Even as Iran was firing on the north, Trump was asserting for the umpteenth time that he is days away from a deal with the manifestly obdurate and duplicitous regime: “I would say an agreement would be signed on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday of this coming week,” the US president claimed. “And now this takes place,” he groused.

Trump’s “don’t retaliate” demand left Netanyahu with a stark choice. He could indeed surrender to the presidential diktat and hold his fire, destroying more of Israel’s deterrent capability against a gloating, triumphant Tehran, rendering Israel weak in the eyes of the region, sorely undermining its foundational independence, and enfeebling himself politically a few months before elections. Or he could defy the US president and embark on what would almost certainly turn into an escalating war with Iran in which Israel could find itself quite alone.

But as Israel prepared to “respond forcefully” against Iran, in the words of an unnamed senior Israeli official, US President Donald Trump ordered it to think again.

More than 35 years ago, under Netanyahu’s generally intransigent Likud prime ministerial predecessor Yitzhak Shamir, Israel agreed to hold fire when it came under missile attack — Scud missile attack by Iraq’s Saddam Hussein. But that was to avoid fracturing president George H. Bush’s US-led coalition, including many Middle Eastern nations, bent on taking down a tyrannical aggressor, not accommodating one.

First reports on the Sunday night call, again from Ravid, suggested that Netanyahu tried in vain to overcome Trump’s opposition to an Israeli counterstrike, and that the US believed Netanyahu would not order a retaliatory attack in the near future. First reports, it turned out soon afterward, did not tell the full story.

Michael Oren, the former Israeli ambassador to the United States, speculated that Netanyahu might also have sought Trump’s support for an “under-the-radar” attack on Iran for which Israel would not claim credit or, alternatively, some kind of tangible benefit for its restraint, perhaps in the shape of America’s B-2 stealth bombers, uniquely capable of pounding Iran’s underground nuclear facilities in a future hour of need. The prime minister might also have sought to try, once again, to talk Trump out of the kind of lousy deal he is working toward, under which Iran can reliably expect to stave off any substantive compromise on its nuclear weapons drive.

But all of that seemed unlikely. Netanyahu was facing a president who has not disputed calling him “fucking crazy” last week and telling him that everybody hates him and hates Israel. A president whose domestic political needs require anything but an escalation. A president in a pretty bad mood

A key question now is whether the regime is feeling so bullish, so emboldened, as to overplay its hand even against a US president so blatantly desirous of a settlement. Could Iran, that is, so frustrate Trump as to compel him, against his will, to do what he ordered Netanyahu not to do, and revive the military campaign?

On past and current performance, the Islamic Republic is too canny to make that mistake. Which leaves a frustrated American president playing the supplicant to a duplicitous Iran, with Israel in the middle.

In another of his Sunday interviews, with the Financial Times, Trump said that if he couldn’t reach a deal with Tehran, he might either “go in and take care of the rest of the place that we didn’t take care of militarily,” or maintain the current blockade.

But he was certain about one thing: Netanyahu would have to accept any deal he agreed with the regime. “He won’t have any choice,” Trump said of Netanyahu. “I call the shots. I call all the shots.”

Not in Iran, he doesn’t.

Dr Ruth Report, 6-7-26

Here's Dr Ruth Ann Crystal's latest report containing lots of information on very important medical topics!

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Dr. Ruth Report, 6/7/26

Ruth Ann Crystal MD

Jun 08, 2026

Hi all,

Before you scroll past, please check out the Government News and Other News sections at the end of this issue of the newsletter. There is a Friday night executive order you may have missed, diabetes researchers removed by police at the ADA medical conference, a personalized melanoma vaccine with striking five-year results, and an Alzheimer’s case report that is surprising.

Weekly Virus Summary

COVID, RSV, Influenza A, and Influenza B remain low in wastewater across the country. In fact, COVID wastewater levels are their lowest in 5 years.

From: WastewaterSCAN

COVID

COVID data through 5/23/26 from Mike Hoerger:

1 in 277 Americans are currently infected with COVID which equals to about 177,000 new daily COVID infections in the U.S., and 1.2 Million new COVID infections per week.
SARS-CoV-2 transmission remains at its lowest levels nationwide since mid-July 2021.

6/3/26 Newsweek: Worrying COVID ‘cicada’ variant spreads as US maps go dark https://buff.ly/Dq65XAn

Newly proposed federal budget cuts would slash CDC wastewater surveillance funding from $125 million to $25 million annually, threatening the national early warning system experts say detects outbreaks weeks before clinical cases emerge.

Acute COVID infections, General COVID info

6/4/26 MedRxiV: Shared epigenetic regulation acting on neuroimmune pathways contributes to the comorbidity between generalized anxiety disorder and COVID-19

Yale researchers analyzed genes from 893 participants and found that “generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and COVID-19 share epigenetic and genetic architecture involving pathways related to vascular integrity, immune function, and cellular adaptation, highlighting a potential neuroimmune basis for their co-occurrence.” They found 60 overlapping genetic loci between GAD and COVID and brain-specific analyses flagged HLA and MICB genes.

6/2/26 Nature Sci Reports: A 19-layer convolutional neural network for accurate COVID-19 detection in chest X-ray images: comparative analysis with pretrained networks

Using a new 19-layer convolutional neural network to evaluate 25,679 chest X-rays, Singaporean researchers found that the model was 98.4% and 97.5% accurate for diagnosing COVID infection. The model outperformed several established pretrained networks in image classification performance, but whether this translates to measurable improvements in real world patient outcomes would require clinical trials.

Pediatrics

6/3/26 Nature Scientific Reports: Retinal microvascular alterations consistent with endothelial dysregulation in paediatric post-COVID-19 syndrome: A prospective matched-cohort study

German scientists examined the eyes of 74 pediatric patients with Long COVID and found measurable retinal microvascular abnormalities. These vascular changes, detectable through noninvasive eye imaging, point to disrupted endothelial cell function and abnormal blood flow patterns and may reflect microvascular issues in other organs in children with Long COVID.

Made with ChatGPT

6/3/26 BioRxiV: SARS-CoV-2 BA.3.2.2 is more evasive of neutralization by sera from young children

BA.3.2 is a fairly new COVID variant that appears to infect children more than adults. Columbia University researchers found that young children produced substantially weaker neutralizing antibody responses to the BA.3.2.2 variant compared to adults, while antibody responses to the XFG and NB.1.8.1 variants were broadly comparable across all age groups. Prior infection and vaccination histories, which differ considerably between children and adults, may be driving differences in immune protection against specific emerging variants.

Antiviral treatments

6/1/26 Shionogi Announces FDA Approval of XOCOVA® (ensitrelvir), the First and Only Oral Option to Help Prevent COVID-19 Following Exposure

The FDA approved Ensitrelvir (XOCOVA) this week, making it the first oral medication indicated for preventing COVID following known exposure to the virus. In a Phase 3 clinical trial, the drug reduced the incidence of symptomatic COVID-19 by 67%, functioning by suppressing viral replication before symptoms have a chance to develop.

Made with ChatGPT

Long COVID

Comment here by June 11:

https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/05/12/2026-09366/drug-repurposing-for-unmet-medical-needs-request-for-information

PolyBio posted summaries of presentations and links to the talks from their recent PolyBio Spring 2026 Symposium

https://2026-spring-symposium-polybio.netlify.app/

“Twenty-eight research presentations on Long COVID, ME/CFS, and related infection-associated chronic illness. Each card opens to a full technical summary.”

PolyBio topics discussed:

6/2/26 Applied Psychopharmacology: The expanding potential of low-dose naltrexone in clinical practice with a focus on long COVID

Researchers at the VA Northeast Ohio Healthcare System conducted a review of existing small-scale studies examining low-dose naltrexone (LDN) as a potential treatment for Long COVID. The findings suggested an association between LDN and reductions in fatigue, post-exertional malaise, disrupted sleep, and cognitive impairment, with researchers pointing to the suppression of neuroinflammation as a likely underlying mechanism. Evidence remains preliminary, however.
Share

5/31/26 Journal of Sleep Research: Association of Prodromal Parkinson’s Disease-Like Features in Long COVID With Dream-Enactment Behaviours

Dream enactment behaviors (DEBs) are when someone physically acts out their dreams with movements or vocalizations during sleep. A large multinational study found that Long COVID patients show significantly elevated rates of prodromal Parkinson’s disease features including loss of smell, constipation, excessive daytime sleepiness, and cognitive difficulties. People with Long COVID who also developed or worsened DEBs had the highest risk. Because frequent DEBs can be an early marker of neurodegeneration including Parkinson’s and Lewy body dementia, the authors call for long term neurological monitoring of Long COVID patients.

Figure 2: Forest plot of adjusted odds ratios for potential prodromal PD-like features in participants with Long COVID (weighted sample).

From: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jsr.70371

6/4/26 BioRxiV (UCSF): No objective evidence of neuropsychological deficits in people with subjective cognitive changes following COVID-19 infection

UCSF scientists studied 86 people and found that individuals who reported brain fog following COVID infection did not have measurable cognitive deficits on standardized tests, yet they demonstrated elevated levels of the inflammation marker sCD14 along with greater rates of anxiety, depression, and the APOE ε4 genetic variant. These findings suggest that the subjective experience of post COVID cognitive impairment may reflect underlying neuroinflammatory and psychological processes that standard cognitive assessments are not designed to detect.

5/29/26 BMC Public Health: Bidirectional relationship between depression and long COVID symptoms: findings from the Sulcovid-19 longitudinal survey

Researchers studying 2,919 Brazilian adults with prior COVID infection found that depression and Long COVID symptoms mutually amplify one another, creating a reinforcing cycle. A history of depression increased the likelihood of neurological Long COVID symptoms, and experiencing Long COVID raised the odds of a subsequent depression diagnosis by 65%.

5/30/26 Respiratory Medicine: Inspiratory Muscle Fatigue and Pulmonary Deposition–Perfusion Imaging Predict Sleep Dysfunction in Long COVID: Evidence From MTC Scintigraphy and FIT Performance Metrics

Brazilian scientists studied 33 Long COVID patients and found that weakened inspiratory muscles corresponded with reduced aerosol deposition and abnormal perfusion patterns on scintigraphy, alongside disrupted sleep. Inspiratory muscle fatigue was a strong predictor of impaired lung ventilation, pointing to a mechanistic link between breathing muscle dysfunction and broader respiratory and sleep impairments in Long COVID.

Figure 4 Representative ventilation and perfusion scintigraphy images comparing symptomatic and asymptomatic post-COVID-19 individuals.

From: https://www.resmedjournal.com/article/S0954-6111(26)00288-X/fulltext

Here is a helpful explainer video from Tokyo on the basics of Long COVID:

6/3/26 Infectious Diseases and Therapy: Prior SGLT2 Inhibitor and Metformin Use and Risk of Long COVID in Type 2 Diabetes: A Nationwide Population-Based Cohort Study

Researchers from Singapore analyzed 71,698 adults with Type 2 Diabetes and found that those who had previously taken SGLT2 inhibitors or metformin faced a meaningfully lower risk of developing Long COVID, with SGLT2 inhibitors showing a particularly notable association with reduced neurological complications. As this was an observational cohort study, it cannot establish that either medication directly protects against Long COVID, so more studies are needed.

6/4/26 Military Medicine: Lung Function in Young, Active Duty U.S. Marines After SARS-CoV-2 Infection

The Naval Medical Research Command evaluated lung function in 889 Marines (mean age 19 years). Among those infected with COVID-19, nearly 25% reported Long COVID (PASC). Marines with PASC had reduced peak expiratory flow compared with recovered peers, suggesting subtle airway dysfunction that standard spirometry may miss, even in young, physically fit adults.

6/1/26 Wired by Alan Levinovitz: The Painful Truth About Long Covid https://buff.ly/bAYh0iE

This week, Alan Levinovitz wrote an article in Wired magazine that received sharp criticism from the Long COVID community. He wrote about people recovering from Long COVID by doing “brain retraining”, but patients and researchers pointed out on Twitter and Instagram that the article was biased with cherry picked data that did not represent the experiences of most Long COVID patients.

MCAS

6/4/26 Diagnosis Journal: Progress in mast cell activation syndrome: the global consensus-2 diagnostic criteria at six years https://buff.ly/5DcTlYg

Six years after consensus-2 diagnostic criteria were introduced for Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS), fears of overdiagnosis have not materialized, according to a new review. Appropriate treatment can dramatically improve quality of life for patients who often spent decades undiagnosed. MCAS frequently co-occurs with dysautonomia and EDS, with POTS as its most common comorbidity.

Measles

CDC Measles update (Wednesdays):

As of June 4, 2026, 2,030 confirmed measles cases were reported in the United States in 2026 so far.

South Carolina’s measles outbreak is over after 997 cases.

John Hopkins US Measles Tracker

In the past 2 weeks:

Central Virginia has had 17 measles cases in the last 2 weeks.
Utah has had 34 measles cases in the last 2 weeks.

New World Screwworm

6/4/26 CIDRAP: Texas reports New World screwworm in 3-week-old calf

Texas reports New World screwworm in a 3-week-old calf. This is the first detection of larva of the parasitic fly in the U.S. in 60 years. The screwworm poses a significant threat to livestock and pets, but it rarely infects humans.

Ebola

6/1/26 NBC: As Ebola spreads, the institute Fauci once led (NIAID) stays on the sidelines without a leader https://buff.ly/QXMdlbQ

6/5/26 CIDRAP: WHO, Africa CDC announce joint Ebola response plan https://buff.ly/bfHwd4o

June 4 update from the government of DRC:

Government Health News

6/1/26 Melanie Matheu PhD (Lil Science): The President’s Friday Night Executive Order He Didn’t Want You To See: Elimination of Recommendations for 6 Childhood Vaccines

On May 29, 2026, President Trump signed an executive order removing six childhood vaccines from the CDC recommended schedule, including Influenza, COVID-19, Rotavirus, Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B birth dose, and Meningococcal vaccines. A court previously blocked the RFK Jr. appointed ACIP committee from making these same changes. Many states are now following the guidance of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) instead of the CDC.

6/1/26 NY Times: Trump Administration Announces Stricter Rules for Medicaid Work Requirement

“A new rule by the Trump administration could make it even harder for millions of sick Americans to obtain or stay on Medicaid after work requirements start next year.” Adults on Medicaid will be required to work 80 hours per month. It is hard to work when you are sick with cancer or HIV.

6/2/26 NY Times: New Proposal Would Allow Administration to Block Grants if They Don’t Support Trump’s Agenda

“A new proposal would allow the administration to block grants if they do not satisfy President Trump’s agenda or support what it calls “anti-American” values... The proposal was only the latest attempt by the Office of Management and Budget, led by Russell T. Vought, to exert power over federal funding.”

6/5/26 MedPage Today: Video: Police Tussle With Diabetes Experts at ADA Meeting

At the American Diabetes Association‘s annual meeting in New Orleans, police escorted out senior researchers, including the Editor in Chief of the ADA’s journal Diabetes Care, for distributing copies of an editorial the journal had published criticizing Trump administration cuts to biomedical research. The editorial warned that NIH funding reductions threaten diabetes research and outcomes.

Here is the article that the doctors were passing out to their colleagues:

4/29/26 Diabetes Care:

Misguided Brushes of a Pen Continue to Dismantle and Destroy Biomedical Research in the United States: We Can No Longer Afford Complacency and Fear. We Must All Act Now!

From: Medpage Today

6/4/26 Wash Po: House bill rolls back food aid for pregnant women, children

“Millions of WIC recipients would have less money for fruits and vegetables under the legislation.”

6/2/26 Nature Medicine: Medically tailored meals receipt and healthcare utilization and costs in Massachusetts’ Medicaid demonstration

A new study shows that if you give people healthy meals, they have fewer hospitalizations, fewer emergency department visits, and lower healthcare costs. Ironically, the House voted to remove funding for pregnant women and children to have fresh fruits and vegetables this week.

6/5/26 NPR: South Africa rolls out game-changing HIV shot amid funding shortfalls

Lenacapavir is a new medication that can be given by injection once every 6 months to prevent HIV infections. South Africa is rolling out a program to provide Lenacapavir to reduce HIV infection rates, but cuts to USAID mean that access will be limited.

Other news

6/6/26 Journal of the American Heart Association: Glucagon‐Like Peptide‐1 Receptor Agonists and Cardiovascular Events in Adults With Obesity and Autoimmune Disease: A Target Trial Emulation

In a propensity-matched analysis of more than 26,000 adults with both obesity and autoimmune disease, GLP-1 receptor agonists were linked to reduced mortality, stroke, pulmonary embolism, and emergency room visits.

5/27/26 Frontiers in Neuroscience: Transient multidomain functional improvement in advanced Alzheimer’s disease following high-dose psilocybin-containing mushroom administration: a case report

A woman in her 80s with advanced Alzheimer’s disease could barely speak, had a flat affect, was incontinent, and could not walk. After taking a high dose of psilocybin mushrooms, she initially went into a sleep-like state and then woke up 19 hours later able to speak in full sentences, sharing detailed memories. Over the next few days, her family reported improved memory, ability to walk, emotional connection, and regained bladder control. This is a single case report, but the results are promising.

Made with ChatGPT

6/1/26 Journal of Clinical Oncology: Intismeran Autogene Plus Pembrolizumab Versus Pembrolizumab Alone in High-Risk Resected Melanoma: 5-Year Update of the Randomized Phase 2b KEYNOTE-942 Study

Wow! Five-year follow-up of a randomized trial finds that adding a personalized mRNA neoantigen vaccine called Intismeran autogene to Keytruda (pembrolizumab) cut metastatic melanoma recurrence and death by 49% compared to Keytruda alone. At five years, 69% of vaccine recipients were cancer-free versus 49% in the Keytruda-only group, with overall survival of 92% versus 71%. Distant metastasis of melanoma was also reduced by 59% with the addition of the personalized vaccine.

Figure 1. Kaplan-Meier estimates of Relapse-Free Survival (RFS). RFS was defined as time from first pembrolizumab dose to first recurrence (local, regional, or distant metastasis) by investigator assessment, new primary melanoma, or death from any cause.

From: https://ascopubs.org/doi/10.1200/JCO-26-00835

6/4/26 Cell: Plasma signals of lung tumor promotion for molecular cancer prevention

Researchers identified a 14-protein plasma signature that predicts lung cancer more than five years before diagnosis, validated across eight cohorts. The signature, discovered using machine learning, also identifies patients likely to benefit from anti-IL-1β preventive therapy, pointing toward a molecular early warning system for the disease.

Yesterday was D-Day, when the allied forces invaded Normandy. Historian Dr. Helen Fry shared the story of Gustav the carrier pigeon who flew 150 miles to Britain to relay news of D-Day success.

Dr Helen Fry | WWII Historian@DrHelenFry

The first message to reach Britain confirming the success of D-Day wasn’t sent by radio... it was carried by a pigeon. Gustav flew 150 miles through heavy cloud, 30mph headwinds and German hawks to deliver the news. This is the story of the bird that helped win D-Day: (🧵)

7:52 AM · Jun 5, 2026 · 44.7K Views

22 Replies · 582 Reposts · 2.36K Likes

6/4/26 Space.com: Meteorite found in Sahara desert may be 1st evidence of lost solar system world

A one pound meteorite found in the Sahara desert in 2019 may be the first physical evidence of a lost planet. Researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder identified it as an angrite, one of the oldest volcanic rock types in the solar system, with a chemical makeup distinct from Earth and Mars. Mineral crystals inside formed under pressures requiring a parent body at least the size of Earth’s moon, suggesting the rock originated from a now-destroyed protoplanet that existed 4.5 billion years ago.

John Kashuba, CU Boulder

6/21/26 NY Times: ‘La La Land’ Orchestral Performance Saved by Keyboardist in the Audience

When the keyboardist fell ill mid-performance at a Sydney orchestral showing of La La Land, composer Justin Hurwitz asked the 2,000-person audience for a sight reader. 21-year-old University of Sydney student Sterling Nasa stepped up, delivered a solo on “Start a Fire,” and walked away considering music as his new career.

Photo: Lindsay Harapa, via Storyful

Have a good week,

Ruth Ann Crystal MD

Sunday, June 07, 2026

NOW Can We stop Talking About "Peace" With Iran?!

No more Blinkenitis. Israel should be unleashed to respond and to attack Iran -- and so should we. This long so-called ceasefire waiting for a "peace deal" that will never happen has achieved nothing except to embolden Iran even more. We have to destroy them, period.

Look at the map and see how large Iran is compared to Israel. Israel is right to protect herself and retaliate against Hezbolleh, Hamas, and Iran. That's the only response our enemies understand!

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Times of Israel, 6-7-26

Sirens sound across northern Israel amid Iranian ballistic missile attack

Two Iranian ballistic missiles shot down, in first attack since April 8 ceasefire

Saturday, June 06, 2026

D-Day, June 6, 1944: The Greatest Generation of Men, Heroes, and Leaders

The clip above shows 107 war veteran Arthur Rose reading a letter he had sent to his parents.

The Allied liberation of Europe beginning with the invasion of Normany, France, went off spectacularly well, considering it involved 160,000 troops and several countries, and no cell phones or internet to make it easier. The coordination among men and countries was brilliant in its planning, and we were lucky to have Eisenhower as the commander.

Here's another commemoration, on the British side:

D-Day veterans gather for 82nd anniversary of Normandy landings amid poignant commemorations by French schoolchildren and the grandson of Field Marshal Montgomery

"Veterans have gathered for the 82nd Anniversary of the Normandy landings as French children and the grandson of Field Marshal Montgomery take part in poignant commemorations.

"Today in 1944, on a cool, cloudy June morning, nearly 160,000 Allied troops landed on beaches across Normandy to carry out the largest seaborne invasion in history.

"Their brave actions began the liberation of Nazi-occupied France and turned the tide of the Second World War that would eventually lead to the defeat of Hitler's forces in 1945."

Friday, June 05, 2026

Hilarious! The Babylon Bee on California Vote-Counting

Here's The Babylon Bee's hilarious take on California's ridiculously slow counting of ballots:

California Announces They Have Finished Counting The Votes, Ronald Reagan Has Won The 1966 Governor's Race

Politics · Jun 3, 2026 · BabylonBee.com

"SACRAMENTO, CA — California officials announced on Wednesday that they had finally finished counting the votes and Ronald Reagan had officially won the 1966 governor's race.

"Exit polling data showed Reagan with an early lead on the night of November 8, 1966, but election officials were hesitant to declare a winner before each and every vote was painstakingly tabulated. Now, 59 years later, Reagan was declared California's next governor.

"I'm excited to see how Reagan will clean up our state," said one voter. "He didn't say much about the fentanyl crisis back in 1966, but I'm confident he'll work hard to get it off our streets."

"Is this the beginning of California becoming a red state? It's too soon to tell, say experts. "What concerned voters in 1966 doesn't necessarily concern them today," said Dr. Abel Hemming, a political strategist and historian. "Reagan doesn't even have a plan to prevent wildfires because they weren't a big problem back then. So I'm not sure how well he's going to go over with today's Californians."

"Reagan, a former screen actor, could not be reached for comment.

"At publishing time, it was revealed that Ronald Reagan, who apparently served two consecutive terms as President of the United States in the 1980s, had sadly passed away in 2004 and therefore could not serve his gubernatorial term."

Democrats: The Party of Antisemitism

If catering to anti-Israel & anti-Jewish voters is the Democrats' best way to win elections, it's pure evil. Even after the October 7 pogrom, these are the results! No wonder they're defending someone like Platner.

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Almost 40% Of Democrats Support Hamas Over Israel
Needless to say, this midterm season, please DO NOT vote blue no matter who.

Joseph Ford Cotto | June 3, 2026

"Recent polling, conducted by the venerable Harris organization for Harvard University, reveals a stark and troubling fault line across American public opinion.

"In the Israel-Hamas conflict, more than seven in 10 Americans stand with Israel, with the strongest backing coming from older citizens and Republican voters. Yet among Democrats, support for Hamas reaches a disturbing 36 percent. For young adults aged 18 to 24, 54% actually side with Hamas over Israel.

"This is not a minor disagreement. It represents a serious national emergency.

"Nearly four in 10 Democrats aligning with a terrorist group against the Middle East’s only thriving democracy signals something rotten at the core of today’s progressive movement. The hatred directed at Israel serves as a stand-in for broader resentment toward the values that built American strength: self-reliance, innovation, Western heritage, and the right of a free people to defend themselves.

"That these free people are generally white, and fighting to preserve a first-world nation built by pioneers, further enrages leftists.

"The evidence of this is overwhelming.

"Since the horrors of October 7, 2023, antisemitic incidents have exploded across the United States. The Anti-Defamation League recorded a record 9,354 incidents in 2024, up from the already shocking total the year before. A majority of these involved anti-Israel or anti-Zionist elements, many tied directly to rallies organized by groups like Students for Justice in Palestine and the Party for Socialism and Liberation.

"Campus incidents alone jumped 84 percent, turning universities into hostile environments for Jewish students.

"American Jews themselves feel the shift.

"The American Jewish Committee’s 2024 report shows growing numbers now view the extreme political left as a major source of antisemitic threat. Many liberal Jews expressed shock at the vitriol from progressive circles. They hear rhetoric that excuses or even celebrates violence against Jews while downplaying their trauma.

"Large majorities reported changing daily routines out of fear. Once-safe spaces in activist and academic communities now feel alien and threatening.

"Academic research confirms the pattern.

"A 2025 study published in Political Research Quarterly found that old-style racial prejudice lingers more on the far right. However, the kinds of attitudes Jews experience as antisemitic—denying Israel’s right to exist, applying double standards to the Jewish State, or framing it as a colonial oppressor—are far more common on the political left. Especially among far-left and strongly anti-Israel voices.

"Of course, left-wing ideologies dominate most post-secondary campuses, fueling exclusion, intimidation, and disruption.

"Democrat leaders have been disturbingly slow to confront this cancer within their own ranks. After October 7, President Joe Biden tried to hold a moderately Zionist line, but many in his party’s progressive wing quickly pivoted to blaming Israel or offering equivocal statements. Groups aligned with influential progressive coalitions minimized Jewish suffering and amplified narratives that blurred into classic antisemitic tropes.

"2025 brought gruesome attacks, including a firebombing in Boulder and the murder of Israeli embassy workers. Progressive Democrats condemned the violence but refused to challenge the underlying pro-Palestinian activism and ideological currents that fed the hatred. Rhetoric framing Israeli self-defense as oppression continued unchecked, prioritizing blue coalition maintenance over moral clarity.

"This reluctance is a transparent political calculation. Democrats fear alienating young voters, activist groups, and key segments of their base. Cracking down too hard risks primary challenges and lost turnout from the far left. The result is hesitation and half-measures that allow the problem to fester.

"In contrast, U.S. House Republicans have acted with urgency and resolve.

"Through aggressive hearings, they held university leaders accountable for failing Jewish students and pushed to tie federal funding to real protections. They advanced the Antisemitism Awareness Act to provide clearer tools against harassment while safeguarding free speech, and launched broad investigations into campus failures.

"President Donald J. Trump moved decisively upon returning to office.

"His Executive Order 14188 expanded earlier efforts, directing every federal agency to combat antisemitism with full force. That includes prosecutions, visa revocations for radical activists, and reviews of university compliance. These steps treat the crisis as the national priority it truly is.

"The deeper truth is painful but clear.

"This left-driven surge in hostility toward Israel reflects contempt for key qualities which the Jewish State embodies. These are essential to traditional Americana. Think about steadfast patriotism, globalist opposition, Western exceptionalism, spectacular prosperity, and the success of first-world pioneers surrounded by primitive tribes.

"Surface level anti-Israel leftism stems from a far deeper rejection of American greatness and the traditions that made this country triumph. When nearly four in 10 Democrats choose terrorists over a steadfast ally, and when young people are indoctrinated into these views on campus, the republic faces a genuine internal threat.

"America cannot afford to indulge this ideological cancer. That would betray everything that makes this country worth defending.

"Needless to say, this midterm season, please do not vote blue no matter who."

"Weakened Public Health"

Obviously, the states learned nothing from COVID. Florida's Joseph Ladapo has been the poster boy for weakening public health. Remember he referred to school vaccine mandates as "slavery"?

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Weakened public health powers raise outbreak risks

By Rob Stein at NPR Health, 6-4-26:

"As Americans worry about the risks from hantavirus and Ebola, many state and local health officials now have less power to protect the public from all kinds of disease outbreaks than during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"That's because some jurisdictions weakened their public health authorities in response to criticism of lockdowns, school closures, mask mandates, vaccine requirements and other COVID-era restrictions.

"There's been such an enormous backlash from the COVID-19 pandemic right across America, particularly in red states," says Lawrence Gostin, a professor of public health law at Georgetown University. "It's become part of our national lore of overreaching government."

"The Trump administration has reined in the Centers the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention with budget cuts, staff reductions and tighter oversight by political appointees.

"But most public health powers reside with the states, and more than half have made changes to their own state, city and local powers, according to the Network for Public Health Law. The changes affect their ability to respond to public health emergencies. Many watered down those authorities.

"Taken all together, we're in a much weaker position post-COVID in handling a health emergency," Gostin says.

"At least 15 laws in 11 states, including Alabama, Virginia and Louisiana, imposed new restrictions on declaring public health emergencies — declarations necessary to do things such as muster disease fighters and clear away red tape.

State lawmakers have a bigger say

"There have been examples where they have said, 'Well, if you want to do this, you now need to come to the legislature to get it.' Or the legislature has the authority now to reverse it," says Dr. Georges Benjamin, who heads the American Public Health Association. "I'm worried that many public health officials will now have their hands tied."

"Some localities, such as Kansas and Utah, have hamstrung use of traditional public health tools such as quarantining people who might have been infected with a dangerous pathogen or isolating people who are already sick.

"In some states where there has been a lot of activity around public health power, it's going to create confusion," says Elizabeth Platt, director of research and operations at the Center for Public Health Law Research at Temple University. "And so just understanding if your public health entity has these authorities is going to take time. And as we learned during the pandemic, time is of the essence."

Backlash over COVID mandates

"Some states, such as Florida, Oklahoma and Texas, pulled back the authority to impose mask mandates. Others limited vaccination requirements. Some curtailed the power to restrict gatherings.

"If you think about what that really means, it's like telling the police department that you can't arrest people, that you can't protect people when you know there's extreme weather happening," Benjamin says.

"At the same time, some state and local health departments have lost staff and funding. And some state and local health officials have gotten more skittish about pulling the levers they have left. Some were harassed and threatened over COVID. And some who objected to the pandemic response are now in charge.

"There are a lot of public health commissioners now who are not traditional public health people and who are much more MAHA or MAGA," Gostin says. "And so I think all in all you've got weakened authority, you've got weakened political backing and you don't have traditional public health scientists at the head of public health agencies."

"Still, there is support for some of the changes as a way to build trust and as an understandable response to criticism of some COVID measures.

"You're building a level of accountability into how we utilize some of the most restrictive public health measures in the United States," says James Hodge, director of the Center for Public Health Law and Policy at Arizona State University. "I'm fine with that."

Thursday, June 04, 2026

Apparently It's "Racist" To Show Anger Over Henry Nowak's Murder

This is from the great Brendan O'Neill at Spiked, 6-4-26, regarding the murder of Henry Nowak. I have to say, though, that comparing Henry to George Floyd is unfair to Henry. Henry wasn't a criminal or a drug addict. His murderer was a Muslim extremist with a knife, something we have seen over and over again in the UK. He took pictures as Henry lay dying, rather than call for an ambulance. The police believed his "racism" story and didn't believe Henry was critically wounded.

After the riots and looting over George Floyd, streets were named in his honor, and we were forcefully fed DEI at work. I doubt anything will be done to honor Henry Nowak, a true victim.

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We are right to feel rage over the death of Henry Nowak. The elites want to crush the working-class fury over this vile murder – don’t let them.

"Are you raging over the death of Henry Nowak? Has the horror of that boy’s slaying, the lynching-like savagery of it, incensed you? Did you feel molten fury as you watched the bodycam footage of those lowlife officers dragging Henry across the harsh gravel? Were you consumed by wrath seeing this dying boy be libelled as a racist by his killer? If so, then according to the chattering classes you are tantamount to a fascist. It is you and your febrile emotions that pose the truest threat to the nation, even more so than knife-wielding scum like Vickrum Digwa

"What has happened in Britain over the past 48 hours has been extraordinary. Even as a seasoned critic of the hubris of our rulers, I’ve been shocked by the speed with which they’ve turned this atrocity into yet another soapbox from which to harangue the little people over what we think, what we say, even what we feel. More ink is now being spilled on the ‘problematic’ emotions of the masses than on the cruel killing of young Henry. We live under a regime so morally remote, so far up the fundament of its own self-righteousness, that it frets more over the justified rage of ordinary people than the unjustified destruction of a lad’s life.

"It was comments made by Nigel Farage, leader of Reform UK, that tore off the smug set’s veil of concern for Henry to reveal the classist sneer beneath. He called for ‘pure, cold rage’ in response to Henry’s awful, lonely death. Cue rage – ironically – across the faux-liberal establishment. The bourgeois press fizzes with angst over Farage’s words. There are ‘fears’ that the ‘populist right’ will ‘whip up racist resentment’, says the Guardian. Farage’s words will ‘inflame tensions’, blubs the Independent. Every centrist twat’s favourite pod – The News Agents – accuses him of blowing a ‘careful dog whistle’, slyly goading the mob to ‘go and do your thing

"The commentary drips with the haughtiest dread. You can smell the panic of the establishment at the prospect that the lower orders might pour on to the streets to express an unsanctioned emotion. The ‘dog whistle’ comment captures it beautifully. They view the masses as human hounds dumbly awaiting the coded orders of their demagogic masters. The emotional wasteland that is Keir Starmer, who seems incapable of either rage or joy, called Farage’s remarks ‘unforgivable’. Now is ‘a time for serious work, not rage’, he robotically spluttered.

"Pick up a broadsheet or switch on the news and you’d be forgiven for thinking Farage had wielded that knife in Southampton. His ‘violent’ words are triggering the woke classes even more than the violence visited on Henry. The press is awash with handwringing over the barbarous ‘atmosphere’ his comments might conjure up, the ‘lynch mobs’ they might draw on to the streets, the innocents who might get hurt on the back of his ‘stoked anger’. The liberal elites’ fleeting grief for Henry has given way to fabulist fever dreams about the zombie masses that might swarm the streets at the behest of their monstrous controller, Farage.

"And now we have Wes Streeting, the former health secretary, accusing Farage of whipping up a 1930s-style vibe. ‘[To] stoke rage… is really dangerous’, he said. ‘It’s not too dramatic to say this has echoes of the 1930s.’ Every time ordinary people push back against the state – every single time – these cowards and snobs play the 1930s card. The vote for Brexit, concerns over mass immigration, rage over the state’s denigration of a dying boy – all of it reminds them of Nazism. It is such rank elitism. That they sniff the spectre of Hitler every time Brits get angry about something says so much more about them than us. Not only do they not trust us – they even see us as brownshirts-in-waiting, easily activated by the dog whistling of some demagogue.

"They have no idea of how hateful they sound. Or how hopelessly cloistered. Rage is precisely what millions felt upon viewing that bodycam footage. Fury rippled through my WhatsApp groups on Monday night when it was released. ‘Made me vomit.’ ‘FUCKING HELL.’ ‘A million times worse than I was expecting.’ What is truly inhuman is to not feel rage when reading about this boy being taunted by his killer for 10 minutes before being disbelieved, dragged and arrested as he begged for his life. It isn’t the fury of ordinary people that is scary – it’s the absence of it among our supposed betters. Instead of keeping a check on our emotions they should check themselves for a pulse.

"Then there’s the hypocrisy. It is off the charts. The Guardian slams us for feeling rage over Henry, yet it published pieces in the wake of George Floyd’s death saying: ‘We need… rage.’ Cathy Newman of Sky News badgered Reform UK’s Zia Yusuf over Farage’s ‘rage’, yet back then she was delighted that ‘the fury over Floyd’s death’ had been transported ‘to all four corners of the globe’. Owen Jones condemned Farage’s ‘rage’ remarks and implied they had stirred up the idiots who threw bins at cops in Southampton on Tuesday night – yet in 2020 he gushed over the ‘righteous rage’ in response to Floyd’s death.

"Rage over a man who died 4,000 miles from Britain? Go for it. Rage over a boy who died right here in England? Don’t even think about it. The reason for this brazen double standard is clear. It’s because the Brits who ‘raged’ over Floyd were primarily bourgeois leftists who obsequiously bent the knee to the ruling-class ideology of identitarianism. Meanwhile, the Brits raging over Nowak’s death include huge numbers of working-class non-Londoners who want to dismantle identitarianism, with its hyper-racialism, anti-whiteness and two-tier policing.

"The establishment can handle the sight of Oxbridge keffiyeh-wearers partaking in orgies of performative virtue, whether over ‘racist America’ or ‘evil Israel’. But oiks? Gammon-coloured men draped in the England flag? Those people with their angry criticisms of the neo-racialism of the elites? Absolutely not. They must be demonised, driven from the streets. Only the righteous graduate classes are permitted to vent their moral fury in public places.

"The instinct of the elites, always, is to curb populist fury. We saw it after the Manchester Arena bombing of 2017, when we were encouraged to say ‘Don’t look back in anger’ and discouraged from talking about the Islamist menace. We saw it in relation to the rape-gang scandal, when we were sternly told that any use of ‘inflammatory language’ about those mostly Muslim gangs might ‘incite mass violence’. And now we see it after the death of Henry Nowak – that familiar imperious instruction to watch what you say, police how you feel, and, above all else, don’t get angry

"Some are accusing Farage of using the Nowak horror as a weapon in the culture war. In truth, Starmer and the rest of them are using it as a shield. They’re hiding behind the spectre of lynch mobs, and the phantom of the 1930s and even the deep pain of the Nowak family in a desperate bid to avoid the criticism and dissent of ordinary people. It’s not going to work. They are too weak and the populist surge is too strong. Working-class anger won’t be tamed this time."

Brendan O’Neill is spiked’s chief political writer and host of the spiked podcast, The Brendan O’Neill Show. Subscribe to the podcast here. His latest book – After the Pogrom: 7 October, Israel and the Crisis of Civilisation – is available to order on Amazon UK and Amazon US now. And find Brendan on Instagram: @burntoakboy.