Welcome. Today’s menu is a feast of assorted misdeeds: an infectious disease specialist improvising as a sports commentator, an American president who wants Iranian uranium as a souvenir, a cybersecurity chief who resigns without making a sound, a rockstar party interrupted by a bumbling mayor, and a suspicious fire that resurfaces after two years. The pen is hot, the arsenic is served.

Bassetti and the Ebola Reprieve: The Virus Isn’t the Twelfth Player, But Meanwhile the National Team Doesn’t Qualify

Matteo Bassetti, an infectious disease specialist, tackles viruses and football with equal casualness. The Ebola Bundibugyo epidemic spreads across Congo, the Congolese national team has moved their training camp to Belgium, and Italy might hope for a dramatic reprieve for the World Cup. Bassetti says it would be “sad” and that “World Cups must be earned on the field.” Wise words. Too bad the field, for the Azzurri, turned out to be a trap. They didn’t qualify, period. Ebola can’t be the twelfth player, but neither can it be an excuse for self-pity. Bassetti is right, but perhaps he should remember that the real problem isn’t the reprieve—it’s a national team that no longer knows how to win. Meanwhile, the epidemic is “much larger than what we’re seeing,” he says. One wonders if anyone, between one goal and another, will notice.

Trump, Uranium, and the Triangle with Putin: The Cold War of Talk Shows

The American president wants the four hundred kilograms of Iranian uranium enriched to sixty percent. He says he’ll take it even if he doesn’t need it. He’ll destroy it, maybe. Meanwhile, Iran’s Supreme Leader orders the uranium to remain in the country. And Putin offers himself as mediator, proposing to store it in Russia. A Bermuda Triangle of nuclear proportions where no one trusts anyone, yet everyone talks to the media. Trump grants Iran “a few days” to respond. Iran prepares for war. Israel watches. And the world awaits the next tweet. Diplomacy, as we know, is the art of repeating the same threats with different words. Time passes, the uranium stays put, and citizens of Tehran and Washington continue to pay the bill.

Frattasi Resigns from Cybersecurity: An Assourdining Silence

Bruno Frattasi, prefect and director of the National Cybersecurity Agency, has left his post. No official explanation, no controversy, just a quiet exit. In his place, rumors suggest Andrea Quacivi, former CEO of Sogei, will arrive. Cybersecurity is a hot topic in an era where cyberattacks multiply and citizen data travels like merchandise. But Frattasi leaves and no one questions it. Perhaps because cybersecurity doesn’t make headlines like a Mick Jagger party. Perhaps because digital viruses, unlike real ones, don’t kill on live TV. Too bad. Because silence, in this case, is more dangerous than an epidemic.

Stromboli, the Mayor Who Silenced Rock: Jagger Muted, the Aeolian Islands Apologize

Mick Jagger, Dakota Johnson, Isabella Rossellini, Saoirse Ronan. An Oscar-worthy cast on Alice Rohrwacher’s set in Stromboli, celebrating the end of filming. Lipari’s mayor, however, has an ordinance: no music on Wednesdays. The carabinieri arrive, the party stops. The rockstars, dignified, comply. But the Pro Loco and local businesses revolt: “A missed opportunity to promote the island.” And they invite Jagger back as guest of honor. The mayor could have welcomed the stars, shaken their hands, leveraged international visibility. Instead, he chose to enforce a municipal ban. Bureaucracy, even in the face of Rolling Stones success, always wins. Too bad common sense lost hands down this time.

Crans-Montana, the Vieux Chalet Fire Burns Again in the Courts

The Swiss prosecutor’s office is investigating a fire that broke out in 2024 at Vieux Chalet, the establishment owned by the Moretti couple—the same ones behind Constellation, where forty-one people died on New Year’s Eve. At the time, the case was archived as a “technical malfunction.” Now suspicions of insurance fraud, forged documents, and opaque operations are emerging. The Morettis, already under the spotlight for the New Year’s tragedy, return to the eye of the storm. Jacques Moretti’s lawyer speaks of “unnecessary investigations.” But justice, sometimes, takes its slow and inexorable course. Meanwhile, victims’ families wait for truths that may never come. And the fire—the real one—continues burning beneath the ashes.

Today, dear readers, we’ve witnessed yet another spectacle of the absurd. An infectious disease specialist dealing with World Cups, a president playing at enrichment, a cybersecurity chief vanishing into nothingness, a mayor silencing rockstars, and a fire that refuses to stop burning. RVSCB doesn’t tire of watching. But you should tire of enduring. Turn off the news, turn on your conscience. It’s the only filter that still works.

RVSCB – Archive of Uncomfortable Truths, May 22, 2026

“I’m not interested in being loved. I’m interested in being read after they’ve hated me.”