The last of the 200-some defenders of the massive Azovstal foundry in Mariupol in Eastern Ukraine were taken to a separatist controlled region on Tuesday ahead of an expected prisoner exchange with the Russian backed rebels and/or the Russian army itself, the BBC reports.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, typically keeping an unusual distance between him and others, dressed down the leaders of the five nations allied with Russia who were beckoned to the Kremlin Monday, the Daily Beast reports.

The leaders of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan–along with Russia the entire membership of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, the post Warsaw Pact security alliance Russia formed after the fall of the USSR.

Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko, whose country Russia used as a second launching point for the invasion and who sent some soldiers into Ukraine, complained to Putin about the suffocating impact of Western sanctions, claiming they were unjust.  “Belarus and Russia… are being defamed and excluded from international organizations at the whim of the West,” he said.

The Department of Health and Human Services has opened the website so households can request their third set of free rapid antigen coronavirus tests, NBC News reports.

By going to Covid.gov/tests, you can request eight tests for your household that will be delivered through the US Postal Service.  The first tests were made available to households in January.

“And you never want to let your people down,” says floundering Republican Pennsylvania Senate carpetbagger Mehmet Oz on the day before the primary.  “When you go to bed at night, put your head on that soft pillow, you’ll know Oz will be doing exactly what you want him to do if you were there next to him.”

Think about having Oz next to you as you rest your head on that soft pillow.  G’ahead, try.  Sleep well.

Donald Trump’s rallies are getting smaller, and his list of guest stars is worse than the “celebrity” performers on Dancing with the Stars. When you’re top two appearances are from your son and his step-Oedipal complex.  But I’m sure wannabe presidential candidate Mike Pompeo will be a uplifting and rousnnnooooorrrreeeeeee.  Oh, and the site for the June 18th event in Memphis is the Landers Center, a 8,400 seat arena–maximum capacity of 10,000 people–so I’m sure Trump will claim to 30,000 people there.

“What sort of person uses mass murder to give a campaign speech or increase his political power?” Tucker Carlson asks no one in particular before going into a rant about how President Joe Biden will discuss–(hold your breath)–race at the site of a mass murder where the shooter specifically cited race as the reason he chose that location to kill people.

Carlson then goes on a rant about Rwanda–yes, Rwanda–to advocate for government censorship where race is no longer allowed to be mentioned by anyone because, Carlson claims, that worked in Rwanda after the genocide in 1994.  Because the Rwandan government banned the references to Hutu and Tutsi–which are actually ethnic groups, not races–Carlson believes no one should ever mention race because Rwanda hasn’t had another genocide since that rule went into effect.  Because now, avoiding genocide is what Carlson wants us to think we’re trying to do. 

The night sky west of the Ukrainian city of Lviv, which has been a way station for refugees fleeing fighting in the east, lit up as Ukrainian air defenses reportedly repelled a missile attack aimed at the city, the Associated Press reports.

“According to preliminary information, air defences worked,” Makysym Kozytskyy, the region’s governor, posted on social media site Telegram.  An AP team working in Lviv saw explosions in the sky west of the city.

Witnesses said at least eight explosions lit up the sky as missiles intercepted incoming weapons.  Andriy Sadovyi, the mayor of Lviv, said there were no reports of any missile hits inside the city limits.

The Arizona state Senate immediately began proceedings against psychotic QAnon fan member Wendy Rogers on Monday as news spread of her “Fed boy summer has started in Buffalo” Telegram post suggesting the federal government was behind the MAGA white supremacist attack that killed 10 innocent Black Americans in Buffalo, New York, The Informant’s Nick Martin reports.

A snap vote to expel Rogers on Monday afternoon failed to meet the required 2/3rds threshold for removal, 14 to 11 with four abstentions, but Martin says other Republicans want her to face the chamber’s ethics committee first before they move to kick her out, citing due process. While the delay could also be a stalling tactic to get the heat to die down, Rogers was censured 24 to 3 back in March over her pro-Putin tweets, so they may really be sick of her shit, party be damned.

Abbott announced that the baby formula company has come to an agreement with the Food and Drug Administration to facilitate the reopening of its Michigan plant that had been shut down due to a contamination, the Associated Press reports.

With inventories of baby formula running at around 90% pre-pandemic levels at the start of the week, much of the shortage will be alleviated with days after two weeks where a shortage seemed to be at hand.

Abbott and the FDA entered into a consent decree outlining steps that the Sturgis, Michigan plant must take before it’s to reopen.  The plant had been under an FDA investigation after at least two children died after ingesting formula manufactured at the plant.

The best parts of the Trump Media and Tech Group’s S4 filing to go public via a merger with that scam shell company Digital World Acquisition Corporation are the frank admissions that the Donald is really bad at business and cites numerous instances of his failures and liabilities. Some lowlights:

“President Trump is involved in numerous lawsuits and other matters that could damage his reputation, cause him to be distracted from the business or could force him to resign from TMTG’s board of directors. Additionally, TMTG’s business plan relies on President Trump bringing his former social media followers to its platform. In the event any of these, or other events cause his followers to lose interest in his messages, the number of users of TMTG’s platform could decline or not grow as TMTG has assumed A congressional committee is investigating President Trump’s role, if any, in violence at the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021. Two groups of U.S. Capitol Police officers, in two separate lawsuits, have sued President Trump for allegedly inciting riots on that date. U.S. Representatives Bennie Thompson and Eric Swalwell have, separately, also sued President Trump for allegedly inciting riots at the Capitol—and Rep. Swalwell has further claimed emotional distress” on page 107.

“A publicly-traded entity controlled by President Trump has previously been subject to a cease and desist order issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission” on page 108 details how his Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts, Inc was hit with a cease and desist in 2002.

“A number of companies that were associated with President Trump have filed for bankruptcy. There can be no assurances that TMTG will not also become bankrupt” on page 109 goes on about the “Trump Shuttle”, “Trump University”, “GoTrump.com” a travel booking site launched in 2006, cease operations in 2007… Seriously laughed out loud at that one. Read more here.

Orange County, California cops say the Las Vegas man who shot up a Laguna Woods Taiwanese church congregation Sunday was a pro-ChiCom terrorist motivated by hatred of the island republic, NBC News reports. On Monday Orange County Sheriff Donald Barnes called the shooting a “a politically motived hate incident,” and that the shooter, David Chou, is a Chinese citizen who was “upset about political tensions between China and Taiwan.” One churchgoer, Dr. John Cheng, 53, charged at Chou in attempt to disarm him, but was fatally shot. Five others were injured in the attack. Chou was charged Monday with five counts of attempted murder and one count of murder.

Republican former Colorado state House Minority Leader Joseph Stengel was in on Elbert County Clerk Dallas Schroeder’s Dominion conspiracy “investigation” bullshit and received data improperly taken from county computers, Reuters reports in their ongoing series of breaches of election systems nationwide by MAGA assholes seeking revenge for the 2020 election.

Stengel, who has long been out of politics, having resigned his seat in 2006 over allegations he fucked around with his timesheet and overbilled taxpayers (kind of like fellow “Stop the Steal” asshole Wisconsin state Rep Tim Ramthun), was named by Schroeder in testimony as part of the investigation by the Colorado Secretary of State’s office for the leak of election systems data in Elbert County… Not to be confused with Mesa County, whose clerk Tina Peters also pulled the same kind of shit and was hit with a 13 count indictment for it in March.

The FIX is in for GA. Too bad we found them out. WSB huge mistake in that election results release. The people of GA better WAKE UP!

— Kandiss Taylor (@KandissTaylor) May 16, 2022

One week before the Georgia primaries on May 24th, Republican Kandiss Taylor–who’s running in third place in polling with a percentage of support at a solid four percent, equal to the margin of error of most polls–is claiming the election is rigged because the incumbent has more than 50% support in polling.  Sadly, this is what will happen in all future elections until Republicans start running sane people.

Susquehanna Polls and Research, a GOP pollster, has TV quack Dr Mehmet Oz and insurgent Q fan Kathy Barnette statistically tied at 28 and 27 percent, respectively, in the final survey before Tuesday’s super mega MAGA primary champion of the GOP universe election in Pennsylvania.

Honest question:

What crime did the SCOTUS leaker commit?

— Matt Gaetz (@mattgaetz) May 16, 2022

Hopefully dying of cancer scumbag Russian dictator Vladimir Putin said Monday he has no issues with Finland and Sweden joining NATO, Reuters reports. “As far as expansion goes, including new members Finland and Sweden, Russia has no problems with these states – none. And so in this sense there is no immediate threat to Russia from an expansion to these countries,” said Putin.

On Sunday hardcore white nationalist QAnon fan Arizona state Senator Wendy Rogers posted “Fed boy summer has started in Buffalo,” falsely suggesting the white nationalist terror attack that killed 10 was some kind of false flag. The evil hell witch has a long history of espousing replacement theory, probably why she’s too chickenshit to actually reckon with it.

Exactly how Rogers thinks it was a false flag is unclear, though she wrote “We need more #UltraMAGA and less #MKUltra” and “They call it programming for a reason. #FakeNews” in subsequent posts Monday morning, which we think means she thinks some sort of mind control technology induced a MAGA kid to go gun down innocent Black people shopping for groceries.

A new unauthorized biography of pro golfer Phil Mickelson – apparently a “legend” with guys who watch Prudential Investments commercials for fashion tips – strongly hints that Mickelson’s gambling debts were the reason behind his openness to joining a new golf tour founded by the Saudi royal family and Prince Mohammed Bonesaw, the Washington Post reports.

“We know they killed [Washington Post journalist Jamal] Khashoggi and have a horrible record on human rights. They execute people over there for being gay. Knowing all of this, why would I even consider it? Because this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reshape how the PGA Tour operates,” said Mickelson to the book’s author Alan Shipnuck last fall – which Mickelson later tried to walk back when they surfaced in February of this year. From there PGA stars rushed to distance themselves from the toxic Saudi regime despite the massive payouts involved – payouts that Mickelson probably needs as Shipnuck alleges the golfer accumulated as much as $40 million in gambling debts early last decade. On Friday Mickelson withdrew from this week’s PGA Championship, which would’ve been his first officially sanctioned event since playing at a tournament in Saudi Arabia in February, just prior to when Shipnuck leaked the conversation.

Mickelson’s shadiness shows the corrupting allure of foreign blood money on those compromised by debts and/or greed is not just limited to assholes of the Trump-Kushner-Manafort type, but other public figures who live far outside the realm of politics. They must be held accountable.

More than one million Americans have died from the coronavirus according to the tally of deaths, with the Associated Press stating that the milestone happened overnight, while the Johns Hopkins University tracker will surpass the total sometime Monday.

The numbers are likely low due to the number of people who died early in the pandemic who weren’t tested.  Ancillary deaths–people who died of issues other than Covid but couldn’t get care because of the pandemic–will raise the official count of pandemic deaths.  The number of people who died would be the equivalent of a 9/11 attack every day for nearly one full year.

The vast majority of fatalities were people over the age of 65, with Black, Hispanic and Native American populations impacted at a far higher rate than white people.