The Daily Misanthrope

May 14, 2026  •  Misanthrope Index: 7.9 — Approaching Walken

Folly of the Day

Federal Government Made $186 Billion in Improper Payments in a Single Year. Total Since 2003: $3 Trillion. The Number Is Acknowledged to Be Incomplete.

Six programs with improper payment rates above 25 percent. One agency's explanation: they stopped waiving their own rules and forgot how the rules worked.

Source: Fox Business

The Wire

Two British Men Sold Shares in a Luxury French Château Resort, Collected €16 Million, Did No Construction, Funneled the Money Offshore — and Kept Posting Facebook Ads After the Estate Was Seized

Source: The Local France

The Wire

Bryan Johnson Published His Partner's Vaginal Health Results Online (Top 1%). Plans to Consume the 'God Molecule' Next. Morning Routine: 4 Hours, 46 Minutes. His $1M/Year 'Immortals' Program Received 1,500 Applications in 30 Hours.

Source: LADbible

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The Wire

Indian AI Firm Director, Already Under Investigation for a ₹35 Crore Fraud, Was Found to Have Forged Official Kumbh Mela Authority Letterheads to Create Fictitious Government Contracts — Including 300 Traffic Wardens Who Never Existed

Source: The Week India

The Wire

Australian Solicitor Arrested for Allegedly Facilitating $25 Million AUD in Fraudulent Property Transactions for an Organised Crime Group. Bail Refused.

Source: AML Intelligence

The Wire

Ohio Deputies Dispatched to Wrangle Escaped Zebra Named Zack. Zack Was Returned to His Owner. The Sheriff's Office Noted It Was 'Not Your Average Tuesday.'

Source: UPI

Treadwell's Corner

Zebra Named Zack Escapes in Licking County, Ohio. Deputies Respond. Zack Is Safely Returned. Zack Has No Comment.

Source: UPI

Treadwell's Corner

Cow Escapes Denver Suburb, Wanders Into City, Triggers Impromptu Rodeo in Public Park. Cow Returned. Park Unscathed.

Source: UPI

From the library — 26 special editions

Neighbors Behaving Badly: The Greatest Spite Houses, Hedge Wars and Boundary FeudsThirteen feuds in which grown adults spent fortunes, decades and in one case two empires' worth of artillery… Political Stupidity: A Bipartisan Confederacy of DuncesOn political stupidity — the one truly bipartisan institution the republic has ever managed to build. Britain Behaving Badly: 22 Judges, Bosses and Regulators Caught by Their Own Records22 adjudicated British cases, drawn from the disciplinary registers nobody reads — and the one thing every…

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