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Do Cavaliers fans have Dave Portnoy to blame for the team's implosion in the fourth quarter as the Knicks defeated them in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals? 

A chilling mix of alleged “hex” emails, a deadly plant poison, and a wife who vanished without a trace has gripped a San Diego courtroom as Larry Millete stands trial for the murder of his missing spouse, May “Maya” Millete. After opening statements wrapped Monday in Chula Vista Superior Court, prosecutors began calling their first...

With under eight minutes to go in the fourth quarter on Tuesday night, the Cavaliers led the Knicks by 22 points.

Heroes and zeros from the Knicks' 115-104 Game 1 win over the Cavaliers on Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden.

The winner of the runoff will take on incumbent Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) in November. 

Report card from the Knicks’ wild 115-104 overtime win over the Cavaliers in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals on Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden. Jalen Brunson It took awhile for Brunson to find his rhythm, but he certainly found it, finishing with 38 points — including 15 in the fourth quarter — as Captain...

Jeff Van Gundy, who has not been an NBA head coach in nearly 20 years, is on one team's radar to take over their top coaching spot.

Albert Itzkowitz, 75, was a prominent elderly member of the Queens Jewish community and longtime bakery owner, according to Yeshiva World News.

House Lawmaker Introduces Legislation To Expose CCP Exploitation Of Sister City Agreements

Authored by Frank Fang via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

A House lawmaker has introduced legislation to prevent foreign adversaries, particularly the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), from exploiting sister city partnerships and jeopardizing U.S. national security.

Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) speaks during a campaign event with Republican presidential candidate Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on Jan. 14, 2024. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), who serves on the House Judiciary Committee, introduced the Sister City Transparency Act (H.R.8833) on May 14. In a statement announcing the bill, Roy’s office said local governments across the United States maintain roughly 1,800 sister-city partnerships with foreign municipalities, including 157 with communities in China.

“America’s local communities should never be left vulnerable to foreign influence operations masquerading as cultural exchange,” Roy said in a statement on May 14.

“The Sister City Transparency Act brings much-needed oversight and accountability to these partnerships, helping ensure they serve the interests of the American people—not the strategic ambitions of the Chinese Communist Party or other foreign adversaries.”

Study on Sister City Partnerships

The legislation would direct the comptroller general—the head of the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO)—to conduct a study of sister-city partnerships with communities in countries deemed to have “significant public sector corruption,” including Russia and China, the lawmaker’s office explained. According to the language of the bill, the measure would specifically target countries that scored 45 or lower on Transparency International’s 2019 Corruption Perceptions Index.

China scored 41 in the 2019 index and 43 in the 2025 index.

The study would identify how foreign communities select U.S. communities for sister city partnerships, including whether certain economic activities or demographic factors influence those decisions; analyze the activities conducted in these partnerships and their economic and educational outcomes; review what types of information these partnerships make publicly available, including details related to contracts; and review how American communities “safeguard freedom of expression” and mitigate risks such as “foreign espionage and economic coercion” within these partnerships, according to the legislation.

Another part of the study would look into whether these partnerships involve economic arrangements that could make American communities “vulnerable to malign market practices” or educational arrangements that could “diminish the freedom of expression,” according to the legislation. Additionally, it would assess the extent of foreign access to local commercial, educational, and political institutions, and whether foreign actors could achieve “strategic objectives” contrary to U.S. economic or national security interests.

The legislation would also require a study of whether these partnerships are linked to broader foreign malign activities, such as “human rights abuses and academic and industrial espionage,” and how U.S. communities can prevent misuse of visa programs connected to them, according to the legislation.

The comptroller general would have six months to submit a report on its study to six congressional committees, including the armed services and foreign affairs committees in both chambers. The report would include findings, conclusions, recommendations, and, if necessary, a classified annex.

Concerns Over CCP Influence

“The CCP has demonstrated a pattern of exploiting international partnerships to expand influence, gather intelligence, and apply political pressure. Similar to concerns raised with Confucius Institutes, sister city relationships can create vulnerabilities for American communities, including exposure to foreign espionage, economic coercion, and ideological influence operations,” Roy’s office stated.

Similar legislation (S.1351) was introduced in the Senate in April 2025 by Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.).

“Communist China is exploiting sister city partnerships to achieve its own strategic objectives, and we need to make certain we are not enabling this activity in our own communities,” Blackburn said in a statement at the time. “This legislation would shine a bright light on these partnerships to keep our enemies from furthering their own dangerous agendas.”

Tyler Durden Tue, 05/19/2026 - 23:25

Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco is torching Republican rival Steve Hilton's campaign as a “full-blown lie” and claims he's been “bought and paid for” by Democrats.

For over a month, many in the media have been writing the epitaph of a war that isn’t over — because selling defeat, undoubtedly for partisan political purposes, is shamefully in vogue.

Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals appeared destined to be a dud for the Knicks. Instead, it turned out to be an instant classic.

An off-duty cop calmly came to the rescue of a frantic young girl trapped inside a claw machine at a Missouri bowling alley.

Demographic Winter Pushes South Korea To Field War Robots As Troop Pool Shrinks

South Korea's population decline and shrinking pool of military-age men are forcing Seoul to rethink its military force structure, with officials now exploring robots and AI-powered drones to offset future manpower shortages.

South Korea's military is taking a direct page from Ukraine's battlefield playbook by preparing to procure low-cost unmanned aerial systems and robotics for future wars, primarily through a potential partnership with Hyundai Motor - for now.

"Potential deployments include Boston Dynamics' four-legged Spot, the four-wheeled MobED mobility droid, and wearable platforms like the X-ble Shoulder exoskeleton," Bloomberg reported.

South Korea's standing force has slumped 20% over the past six years to about 450,000 troops and is projected to fall to 350,000 by 2040. The demographic winter is already hitting national defense: the population of 20-year-old men has declined by 30% between 2019 and 2025, shrinking the enlistment pool.

Samsung Securities analyst Esther Yim wrote in a note that "robotics is a field without legacy constraints," adding that "these systems can leverage electrical and electronic technologies developed for autonomous vehicles, allowing for rapid proliferation."

For many months, we have outlined how modern warfare is being reshaped by Ukrainian innovation and, more recently, the U.S.-Iran conflict. Ukraine has served as an AI warfare laboratory, accelerating the rise of low-cost drones, ground robots, and, eventually, humanoid warbots.

What's clear: future wars of attrition will mostly be fought with intelligent machines, as manpower-constrained militaries substitute AI drones and ground bots for soldiers on the battlefield.

Beyond Ukraine and South Korea, many other countries are experiencing a demographic winter, characterized by ultra-low fertility, rapid aging, and current or projected population decline.

Here are those countries by region: 

East Asia and Southeast Asia

• South Korea

• Japan

• China

• Taiwan

• Singapore

• Thailand

Southern and Western Europe

• Italy

• Spain

• Greece

• Portugal

• Germany

• Austria

Central and Eastern Europe / Balkans

• Poland

• Hungary

• Romania

• Bulgaria

• Croatia

• Latvia

• Lithuania

• Moldova

• Albania

• Bosnia and Herzegovina

• Serbia

This suggests that militaries in the countries listed above will be some of the first to prioritize ground bots, drones, and other battlefield robotics as their pools of military-age men continue to shrink. The next weapons stockpiling cycle has already begun as the world fractures into a more volatile and increasingly dangerous environment.

Tyler Durden Tue, 05/19/2026 - 23:00

Before Rashee Rice was thrown behind bars, the controversial Chiefs wide receiver had surgery to remove loose debris in his right knee that was causing inflammation.  The surgery was performed a week before Rice was handed a 30-day jail sentence for violating the conditions of his probation, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported Tuesday night.  The procedure...

Aaron Boone was fired up on Tuesday night.

Rabb, who was endorsed by New York "Squad" Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez ahead of the Democratic primary, received 44.1% of the vote in the solidly blue district. 

A rep for the "Piano Man" singer said filmmakers moving forward would be "both legally and professionally misguided."

A rep for the "Piano Man" singer said filmmakers moving forward would be "both legally and professionally misguided."

"Digital Enslavement" Is A Subtle Weapon Of Social Subordination And Global Control

Authored by Peter Koenig via Global Research,

In a recent Buddhist retreat in Lima, Peru, about 200 participants were urged to abstain for the three-day retreat from our enslavement screens, “smart” phones, computers and television.

Difficult to say how many really followed the advice, but many did.

What was amazing is that during the first day, ignoring constant phone notifications was not easy for the many. But consciously resisting it made it easier. And the following days, we were hardly thinking of them anymore. The days were filled with meditation and different types of spiritual exercises… the digital age was peacefully removed into a corner.

Unfortunately, after the retreat, the hide-out corner became lively again and took up again most of our attention, in “angst” of what we may have missed during the highly divine retreat. Spirituality must have gradually evaporated again… and what we call “reality” kicked in.

Interestingly, what we call “reality” is a fake, indoctrinated reality. Over years we were told that technical advances, or as the World Economic Forum (WEF’s) Great Reset calls it, The Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) is a concept describing how emerging technologies are blurring the lines between the physical, digital, and biological worlds. It fundamentally alters how we live, work, and relate to one another.

Sending messages, videos, and silly jokes, rather than talking to each other, interchanging with physically presence. Along with this brainwashing propaganda, we were drugged with the belief that working from home is full of advantages. It is an outright lie.

These “work-from-home” benefits are geared to separate us from one another so that physical interaction is avoided, making us more manipulable, controllable and dispensable, capable of being replaced by robots, and eventually by Artificial Intelligence (AI).

And mind you, the 4IR was illegally approved by the United Nations (UN). There was a not-well-known Cooperation Agreement signed between the WEF and the UN in Geneva in June 2019 that established an unequivocal link between the UN (created by 51 nations (today 193 member nations) in October 1945 in San Francisco) and the world’s by far richest NGO, the WEF, established in Geneva Switzerland.

The UN was created to guarantee peace in the world, to make sure that no more wars, especially World Wars (WW), that would ravage planet earth. That principle is anchored in the UN Charter. The WEF is owned and run by BlackRock, the world’s largest financial asset manager, controlling together with Vanguard, an interchangeable partner, and StateStreet, a close associate, some 25 to 30 trillion US dollars equivalent in assets, controlling literally every sector of vital industries and services, like energy, food, transport, health but also of the world’s weapon industrial complex. It is a blatant contradiction to the UN Charter. The UN is controlled by financial behemoths, with powers way beyond BlackRock.

The 4IR is, therefore, not a human-friendly program. It is a global control mechanism, that could be right out of Orwell’s “1984” – but way more complex, dangerous and deadly.

Unlike previous revolutions, 4IR is not just about smart machines and systems; it is characterized by a lightning-fast convergence of diverse technologies. The WEF highlights several core pillars:

• Digital: Artificial Intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), cloud computing, and blockchain.

• Physical: Autonomous vehicles, 3D printing (additive manufacturing), and advanced materials.

• Biological: Gene editing (CRISPR), synthetic biology, and neurotechnology.

CRISPR stands for “clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats.” It is a technology that research scientists use to selectively modify the DNA of living organisms including humans.

The WEF, an executing agency for the financial giants attempting to control the globe, and especially for those pulling the strings behind the WEF, are viewing these advancements as an unprecedented opportunity to address global challenges—such as fast-tracking the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – in fact the population reduction agenda – and improving sustainable energy management – the fake Global Climate Change Agenda (GCCA).

The GCCA can be made responsible for every calamity affecting the world, the human race, including any new diseases and plandemics that another key executing agency, the World Health Organization (WHO) has been put in charge of.

As this article may go to print, the 79th World Health Assembly (WHA) takes place in Geneva from 18 to 23 May 2026. One of its primary objectives is to make the Pandemic Treaty operational. For that, unanimous agreement is needed on the details of the Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing (PABS) System. This framework regulates how countries share virus samples and genetic data in exchange for guaranteed, equitable access to vaccines, diagnostics, and treatments.

PABS Agreement has not been reached during last year’s WHA. The PABS is unlikely to be approved this year either. The PABS would give WHO full control over every member country’s health system. National health sovereignty would be gone.

What is little known to most people, instead or in parallel with PABS debates, some 300 so-called “side events” are taking place in the WHA week. Topics range from Climate Change, Environment and One Health, to Global Public Health, to Health Systems and Universal Health Coverage, to Population and Care [Control]. See this for the full list.

Through its global Center for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (C4IR), the WEF brings together governments, businesses, and civil society to establish governance protocols. This ensures that these exponential technologies are harnessed responsibly for human control.

While the C4IR’s foundational headquarters and its first location was launched in San Francisco, USA in 2017, it has evolved into a highly decentralized global network. The network spans dozens of independent national and thematic centers across Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and the Americas.

Digitization of humanity is thought-out to the last detail and the WHO is in-charge for much of these details. WHO has been created in April 1948, some three years after the UN and most of its sub-agencies. WHO is in charge of controlling health and death, a Rockefeller project; the Rockefeller clan being among the world’s prime eugenists.

Back to the Buddhist retreat: what people experienced by abstaining for three days from their electronic devices is rather phenomenal. Many said, they could imagine a life without these digital handcuffs. Indeed, it’s only a bit more than a generation that humanity has been gradually indoctrinated and subjugated to ever growing digitization, to its gradual use for everything.

We have literally developed a Stockholm syndrome – loving our hangman, our judge and prison ward. Sad but the majority of people today still have a hard time realizing it.

Imagine, only 30 years ago, the internet was hardly known to the public. The Network Infrastructure was developed by the US Department of Defense (DoD) (1969–1983), a Pentagon project, evolving into the modern internet on January 1, 1983.

The World Wide Web (1989) emerged from the CERN (Centre européen pour la recherche nucléaire, French acronym for European Center for Nuclear Research) in Switzerland. The Web is used to navigate the Internet.

What many say and feel is that, if EVERYONE would step back and return to the good old non-digital age, say 30 years back, it would be easy, because we would start afresh, and feel free again – in unison, having learned a lesson, never to forget.

That doesn’t mean we couldn’t use the societal useful electronic inventions for improving our lives – but never again fall for the targeted enslavement from full-control digitization – which is so far advanced that we are shortly before all electronic, digital money — to the point where you walk through a shopping mall’s cashier gate and pay by facial recognition which is linked to your all digital bank account. This exists already in large cities, like Moscow and other parts of the world.

Beware of misbehaving, or else your digital bank account is blocked.

Spiritual teachings and guidance may bond us together to form a strong body of think-alike humans called RESISTANCE.

And we shall overcome.

Tyler Durden Tue, 05/19/2026 - 22:35