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‘It was the apocalypse’: Train crashes destroyed their towns. Will yours be next?
<img width="1024" height="702" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-173131443.jpg?fit=1024%2C702&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="On July 7, 2013, two firemen look at the smoldering remains of a derailed train and massive explosion that took place in Quebec, Canada, in the small town of Lac-Mégantic on July 6, 2013. (Lucas Oleniuk/Toronto Star via Getty Images)" data-attachment-id="344863" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/lac-megantic-train-derailment-east-palestine-ohio-disaster/gettyimages-173131443" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-173131443.jpg?fit=1936%2C1328&ssl=1" data-orig-size="1936,1328" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0","alt":""}" data-image-title="GettyImages-173131443" data-image-description="" data-image-caption=" On July 7, 2013, two firemen look at the smoldering remains of a derailed train and massive explosion that took place in Quebec, Canada, in the small town of Lac-Mégantic on July 6, 2013. (Lucas Oleniuk/Toronto Star via Getty Images) " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-173131443.jpg?fit=780%2C535&ssl=1"> We speak with a panel of survivors of the 2013 Lac-Mégantic rail disaster in Canada—one of the deadliest in North American history—and the 2023 East Palestine train derailment and chemical disaster in the USA.
<img width="1024" height="702" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-173131443.jpg?fit=1024%2C702&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="On July 7, 2013, two firemen look at the smoldering remains of a derailed train and massive explosion that took place in Quebec, Canada, in the small town of Lac-Mégantic on July 6, 2013. (Lucas Oleniuk/Toronto Star via Getty Images)" decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-173131443.jpg?w=1936&ssl=1 1936w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-173131443.jpg?resize=300%2C206&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-173131443.jpg?resize=1024%2C702&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-173131443.jpg?resize=768%2C527&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-173131443.jpg?resize=1536%2C1054&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-173131443.jpg?resize=1200%2C823&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-173131443.jpg?resize=780%2C535&ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-173131443.jpg?resize=400%2C274&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-173131443.jpg?fit=1024%2C702&ssl=1&w=370 370w" sizes="(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw - 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw / 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw / 12)), 100vw" data-attachment-id="344863" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/lac-megantic-train-derailment-east-palestine-ohio-disaster/gettyimages-173131443" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-173131443.jpg?fit=1936%2C1328&ssl=1" data-orig-size="1936,1328" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0","alt":""}" data-image-title="GettyImages-173131443" data-image-description="" data-image-caption=" On July 7, 2013, two firemen look at the smoldering remains of a derailed train and massive explosion that took place in Quebec, Canada, in the small town of Lac-Mégantic on July 6, 2013. (Lucas Oleniuk/Toronto Star via Getty Images) " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-173131443.jpg?fit=780%2C535&ssl=1" /> 10 years before the catastrophic train derailment and chemical disaster in East Palestine, Ohio, one of the deadliest rail disasters in North American history took place in the Canadian town of Lac-Mégantic, Quebec. On July 6, 2013, an unattended freight train that had been parked on the tracks overnight began to roll downhill and gather alarming speed as it careened towards the city center of Lac-Mégantic. The train, which was operated by Montreal, Maine, and Atlantic Railway and carrying over 2 million gallons of crude oil, derailed around 1:15 AM. The resulting explosions and fire killed 47 people and destroyed over 40 buildings, obliterating a large portion of the downtown area and prompting mass evacuations. In this special episode of Working People, we speak with a panel of survivors of the Lac-Mégantic rail disaster in Canada and the East Palestine rail disaster in the USA. Panelists include: Robert Bellefleur, a resident of Lac-Mégantic and spokesperson for the Lac-Mégantic Citizens’ Coalition for Railroad Safety; Gilbert Carette, a resident of Lac-Mégantic and a member of the Lac-Mégantic Citizens’ Coalition for Railroad Safety; Gilles Fluet, a resident of Lac-Mégantic who narrowly escaped the 2013 train crash and witnessed the derailment firsthand; Anne-Marie Saint-Cerny, award-winning writer, videographer, social and environmental justice activist, and author of Mégantic: A Deadly Mix of Oil, Rail, and Avarice; Jami Wallace, a displaced resident of East Palestine, Ohio, and founder of the Chemically Impacted Communities Coalition; Christina Siceloff, a Creek Ranger and resident of Beaver County, Pennsylvania, affected by the 2023 Norfolk Southern train derailment and chemical disaster. If you or members of your community are interested in attending or participating in TRNN’s 2026 No More Sacrifice Zones conference, please contact us by emailing contact[at]therealnews[dot]com. Additional links/info: Lac-Mégantic Citizens’ Coalition for Railroad Safety website and Facebook page Chemically Impacted Communities Coalition (CICC) Facebook page Railroad Workers United website, Facebook page, and X page Anne-Marie Saint-Cerny, Talonbooks, Mégantic: A Deadly Mix of Oil, Rail, and Avarice Dimitri Lascaris, TRNN, “‘Bomb Train’: Oil Execs Try to Blame Workers for Tragic Accident” Maximillian Alvarez, TRNN, “America’s toxic future looks like East Palestine, Ohio, today” Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / TRNN, “Toxic Avengers: America’s poisoned and abandoned communities must stand together or die” Credits: Pre-Production: Maximillian Alvarez, Dr. Nicole Fabricant, Fritz Edler Studio Production: Maximillian Alvarez French-English Interpretation: Anne Lagacé Dowson Voice Acting: Ethan Cox, Daniel Lemieux Audio Post-Production: Jules Taylor, Alina Nehlich Music: Jules Taylor Transcript The following is a rushed transcript and may contain errors. It will be updated as soon as possible. News Report 1 (East Palestine): Breaking news, a train derailment and major fire tonight about an hour from Pittsburgh in East Palestine, Ohio. News Report 2 (East Palestine): When we seen the smoke, I mean the whole entire sky was just orange. The whole entire train’s on fire? All you can see from one end to the other end is none but fire. As News Report 3 (East Palestine): Soon as I opened the back door, all you could see were flames. It looked like our town was on fire. I looked at my house and I honestly thought that was going to be the last time that I would ever see it again because I just thought the town was on fire still. And I said, “If my house catches on fire, please call me. Please let me know what happens. News Report 4 (Lac Mégantic): After a park train came loose, picked up speed, roared off the tracks and exploded in the middle of the night, burnt rail tankers are still steaming in the heart of Lac Megantic, Quebec. News Report 5 (Lac Mégantic): The destruction downtown stretches several blocks. Dozens of homes and businesses reduced to rubble. Nothing but debris where once stood an apartment building, a bar, and the town library. My life has changed, she says. It’s changed forever. I wasn’t ready to have her taken away. I still need my mom, but she won’t be there anymore. News Report 4 (Lac Mégantic): Officials in Lac Magantic gave another sad update today. 38 people are now confirmed dead. 12 have been identified. News Report 5 (Lac Mégantic): So as one local put it, the railway helped to build Lac Megan Sikh and now it’s destroyed it. Maximillian Alvarez: Welcome everyone to Working People, a podcast about the lives, jobs, dreams, and struggles of the working class today. Working People is a proud member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network and is brought to you in partnership within these Times Magazine and the Real News Network. This show is produced by Jules Taylor and made possible by the support of listeners like you. My name is Maximillian Alvarez. I’m the host of this podcast and I’m also the editor in chief and co-executive director of the Real News Network. Dr. Nicole Fabricant: And I’m Dr. Nicole Fabricant. I teach anthropology at Towson University. I’ve been working for 15 years in an overburdened area of Baltimore, a community named Curtis Bay, where 70 plus toxic polluting industries are housed in one residential area. This zip code has some of the highest rates of respiratory illness in the entire country. I became interested in questions of rail when a CSX, a class one rail line carrying coal to Curtis Bay, an export pier. Their silo exploded in 2021, leading residents to ask why a coal pier was located a thousand feet from a recreational facility and why wasn’t a billion dollar rail company protecting the community from fugitive coal dust? Maximillian Alvarez: Nikki and I are going to be co-hosting this special episode today, and you’ll understand why it’s so special in a minute. As you guys know, for the past three years on this show, along with covering other essential working class stories and labor issues, we’ve been speaking regularly with working people in Ohio and Pennsylvania whose lives have been forever changed by the Norfolk Southern train derailment and chemical disaster in early February of 2023. I mean, we won an Izzy Award for our coverage of this horrific catastrophe at The Real News. And on this very show, you’ve heard directly from sick residents, sick union members and non-union members and retired union members and their families about the hell that they’ve been going through ever since. And you’ve heard from American railroad workers about how the deregulation and Wall Street takeover of the rail system made this wholly avoidable national tragedy a nightmarish inevitability. Dr. Nicole Fabricant: But before East Palestine, there was Lachmagantic, one of the deadliest rail disasters in North American history. On July 6th, 2013, an unattended 74-car freight train carrying crude oil rolled downhill and derailed in the town center of Lachmegantique, Quebec. The train operated by Montreal Maine and Atlantic Railway had been parked overnight on a slope in a nearby town. The lone engineer had shut down the locomotive and gone to a hotel for the night. A fire broke out on the lead locomotive while the train was parked. Firefighters responded and in the process of fighting the fire shut down the engine, inadvertently disabling the air brakes that had been keeping the train stationary. After they left, the train began to roll, gathering speed over 11 kilometers of downhill track before derailing at a curve in Lachmegantique’s downtown core around 1:15 AM. 63 of the 74 tanker cars derailed and highly volatile Bachan crude oil they were carrying ignited immediately. The resulting explosions and fire were enormous, destroying 40 buildings in the town center, including a popular bar that was full of patrons at the time. 47 people were killed. About 2,000 residents had to be evacuated and a large portion of Lachmagantique’s downtown was obliterated. It remains a stark example of how these cascading institutional failures, regulatory, corporate and operational can lead to catastrophic consequences. Maximillian Alvarez: As journalists and researchers, Nikki and I have spent years embedded in different working class communities with people who are living, working and fighting for justice in America’s sacrifice zones. Now, sacrifice zones are basically areas where people have been left to live in conditions that threaten life itself. Neighborhoods poisoned by industrial pollution, communities dying from decades of economic disinvestment and social decay. Towns abandoned to face the deadly effects of manmade climate change. From East Palestine, Ohio to South Baltimore, from coal and fracking towns in West Virginia and Pennsylvania, to rural communities impacted by industrial agriculture and the explosion of new data center construction projects. Have done everything in our capacities as journalists and researchers to document, report on and lift up the voices, stories and struggles and needs of sacrifice zone residents. And yet along with the residents themselves, we have come to the sobering conclusion that media coverage and academic study of these injustices just not enough to stop the destruction and to hold corporations and the government accountable for their crimes and to get affected residents the help and justice they desperately need and deserve. Dr. Nicole Fabricant: We’ve got to use whatever tools and abilities we have to bring people together on and offline. That’s why Max and I are working together and bringing our networks together here on the Real News Network. And that’s exactly what we’re hoping to do with this podcast. With the help from the incredible folks at Railroad Workers United, we’ve brought together a truly historic panel of residents who survived the Lachmegantic disaster in Canada and the East Palestine rail disaster here in the United States. Please introduce yourselves. Robert Bellefleur: My name is Robert Belfleur. I am the spokesperson for the Coalition of Citizens and Organizations committed to supporting the Lac Megantic Railway, which was created in 2015 following the Lac Megantic tragedy. Gilbert Carette: Hi, my name is Gilbert Carette Lac Megantic resident and member of the Lac Megantic Citizen Coalition for Railroad Safety. We started this coalition and we’ve been working hardly for the safety in this town, rail city in this town. And we want the rail out of Lake Mechantic. We want the control lane. So that’s our fight now for… We’ve been fighting for years. So I introduce you to my older brother from the Rail World Safety Coalition, Jil Flewe besides me, that he was the first witness of the tragedy. He came out from the music cafe bar that was sit about 50 feet from the crossing. Gil went out from the bar at one o’clock in the morning about that. And just at the time he crossed it, the red road crossing by about three feet or four feet, the ghost train just passed it behind me, almost killing him. So I’ll let him introduce himself in French. Gilles Fluet: My name is Gilles Fluet and I was an eyewitness to the arrival of the ghost train in Lakmagantic where I saw the train rushing past me. I realized it couldn’t make the upcoming curve and that everything was going to explode. I shouted to the couples in front of me, “Let’s run. It’s going to blow up.” And while I was helping the woman up three times she’d fall into the street as she was running away that gave me a chance to see the train start to derail and everything that followed right up until it got very close to us on Frontenac Street where the music cafe was and where most of the people died. Normally I’m from Magantic, so I’ve known about trains since I was a kid. We could predict when a train was coming because we could hear the whistles, train whistles as they sounded when the train approached other crossings before, before the ones where we were, but this time it was a ghost train. There was no crew on board. There was no shouts and it was traveling at 105 kilometers per hour. The warning signals at the railroad crossing didn’t have time to signal the train’s presence. There was no horn, no engine, no brakes, no cars clattering together as normally they would when a train breaks. It was unpredictable. Gilbert Carette: It was just going down 65 miles an hour. No train could do this curb downtown that more than 15 miles or 20 miles an hour. The curb was just too corrupt, so it was impossible for that train to keep on the rails. Anne-Marie Saint-Cerny: My name is Anne Marie. I’m not from Lac Megantic. I’ve been an activist against contamination in the what you call sacrifice zones, cancer clusters and stuff like that for more than 30 years. I was in Lac Megantic five days after the tragedies because I understood the intense contamination that would’ve happened there. And there I decided to go to the bottom of that to name the people, not the system, but the people responsible what happened. And to this day, I am sad to say I think what I did in the essay and the two books that I published on that, I think that is the more in – depth investigation of what happened there that exists since the authorities didn’t did a coverup, they didn’t do any investigations. Jami Wallace: My name is Jami Wallace and I’m from East Palestine, Ohio. I lived within the one mile zone when the Norfolk Southern train derailed in my community. I subsequently found out that my house was contaminated and if we had blindly listened to the EPA and went back into our house, that great harm or death could have came to my family. Ever since then, I’ve been fighting. I’ve been fighting for justice, for accountability and to make our railways safer for everyone across America. Christina Siceloff: My name is Christina Siceloff and I am from Darlington, Pennsylvania and live about six miles from where the train derailed in East Palestine, Ohio. After the derailment, there was a following vent and burn that occurred and most of the plume from that had gone over my home and the surrounding areas around East Palestine and have been dealing with health issues in my family ever since and also met Jami through this. Maximillian Alvarez: Well, first of all, thank you all so much for being here with us, for sharing your stories with us. This is truly an important and historic conversation to be having with y’all. I want to go back around the table, starting with our guests from Lac Megantic. I want to ask if you could remind listeners now and in the future, what happened in your towns and to your towns? How did you experience these disasters as they were unfolding? Gilles Fluet: Continuing from the explosion in the city and train derailment. I’d never been through anything like that before. It was the result of that kind of stress. I was in a state of shock. It took quite a while, I’d say five or six months before I more or less returned to my normal state. I was in shock. I didn’t realize what I’d just been through. I felt like I was in a bad dream, but I was aware of everything I’d seen, of everything that had happened. But I kept telling myself there was this little voice inside me saying, “This can’t be happening.” But it was reality, unfortunately so. After the derailment and once the intense media pressure started to die down a bit, I realized that all sorts of people were coming to McGantic. First, there were crowds of onlookers who came to see what was happening. People who didn’t understand anything and found it all unbelievable. After that, there were people who were approached by Anne Marie about environmental issues and all sorts of other things, including safety concerns. There were a bunch of opportunists who came looking for good business opportunities. We’ve seen that and we’re still seeing it. I also realized later that it was frowned upon to name the real culprits, if you can call them that, or the potential culprits. The real potential culprits. I noticed a certain amount of censorship regarding the way reality is portrayed. I also realized that while we were closely following the trial, the defendants in Sherbrooke, that we seemed to be disrupting the proceedings. I don’t know why, but you didn’t seem to be welcome. We were even almost kicked out. That has left me with serious questions ever since and I continue to learn more about it every day. I also realized today that the vast majority of the people in Lac Magantic and the surrounding area are hardly in a position to hear the true story from someone who lived through it because it still hurts too much. Because I’ve given guided tours to some people I know who wanted to understand and most of them at some point would say, “Stop. That’s enough. I can’t take it anymore.” So there’s a collective wound that’s still there. When the most people try to downplay, sweep under the rug or forget, but it’s part of their lived experience, part of their history. Whether they like it or not, they have to accept it sooner or later. What I take away from all this is that half an hour, an hour before the disaster struck, there was a little inner voice, call it my intuition or whatever you want to call it. There was something telling me I had to leave the music cafe and get out of there. And I dragged my feet a bit, but I left just in time because if I’d left five minutes later, I would’ve died at the music cafe. So in your intuition, when that little voice speaks to you, listen to it. Otherwise, cut your life short. Robert Bellefleur: I wasn’t in Lac Megantic on the night of the disaster. I was out of town and heard the news around 6:00 AM the next morning. My partner called me and said, “Robert, downtown Lac Megantic is on fire. A train just derailed. It’s caused an apocalypse in Lac Megantic. My parents were evacuated. They’re at the Lac Megantic High School and I’m fine, honey, I’m fine.” But anxiety started to set in. So I rushed down, I grabbed some supplies and several liters of water, canned goods, bread, knowing that all the food services would be closed. So that’s it. And when I got within 30 kilometers of the town of Lac Megantic, I saw the plumes of smoke and I have to admit it was surreal It was the apocalypse. It was as if Lac Megantic had just been bombed. At the time I was employed by the Quebec Ministry of Health, so I was quickly assigned to help establish safety measures and provide care for the population. We set up a crisis center at that time where we also coordinated all community services, collaboration of the fire department, paramedics, and the authorities in the city of Lac Magentic. So I was very busy putting together an organizational plan to try to salvage the situation because that’s how it was. I remember going to the high school, serving as a shelter safety center and seeing people completely distraught searching for their loved ones because they were missing. At that point, we had identified more than 300 people missing in Lac Magentic and everyone was searching for one another. The question was, were they among the victims or not? So it really was a catastrophic situation. It was truly human suffering that I was able to witness and feel. Gilbert Carette: For myself, I was out of town by that night. I was out for funeral, but by the middle of the night, I received a call that Mekantic was in fire. So me and my wife, we went rapidly back to Mechanic and the shock to see that much flames and black smoke, hell of a smoke in the art of your town. It was just like a dart going through your body. It was a terrifying surprise, a shock. And I could repeat what Robert said which was my feeling too, but just like I can explain myself that losing a part of yourself, a part of your own town and projecting the future about what will be our future, rebuilding that. And in the next answers, in the next question, we’ll be talking about the older catastrophe that we’ve been through. The fire by itself was the first catastrophe, but what we lost after was a second and a third catastrophe that we’ll be following in the discussion. Robert Bellefleur: I have a comment to make regarding the establishment of the crisis center. What I observed made me a bit skeptical, namely that federal and provincial authorities took control of the situation. It was outsiders who came to manage the crisis in Lac Magantic. Not even the city council was involved in the decision-making. The fact is that all decisions were made from outside Lachmegantic to manage the disaster and reorganize the town center. We were striped of our powers as citizens and as a community to the benefit of the governments who did everything they could to stall the situation, hide the real causes and exclude us from the important decisions that needed to be made. We were even manipulated because they brought us in for that purpose to keep us as a population from rising up in the face of the tragedy we had just suffered at the hands of a railroad company. They organized music shows for us for two weeks to calm us down, to stall us, to prevent us from clashing and reacting. They lulled us into complacency as a community. It practically euthanized our desire to take control of the situation. Anne-Marie Saint-Cerny: I got there five days after the tragedy simply because on day one, what was put on the media was obviously lies, which we could very easily find out by ourselves. The first lies was that there was no contamination, only a hundred thousand litters, which was each cars had that and there were a bunch of them. So there was a lie. Second, most important also I think is the fact that it was a very heavy oil which would not explode. Well, there had been two huge explosions during the night and just by following the tracks, you could see that it was back in oil. So it was very volatile oil. So within a few hours the lies were out. So that’s why we decided to go there. For me, when I got there, I thought that megantic was the symbol of everything I’ve seen, which was predators, governments who oiled the doors to held them, and then the victims left to themselves. And this was the symbol of everything, but with one extraordinary distinction was the fact that there was death and nobody could deny them. No authorities could deny them. Contrary for instance, to asbestos or the coal mining diseases where they say, “Oh, the people smoke too much.” Well, this time they couldn’t deny the death. There were deaths. So I though it was an easy way to demonstrate what was the whole point of these tragedies, capitalist tragedies when they override the same thing that we see everywhere in the world. If I want to be more rational than my friends, I spent 10 years with them. They’re my friends, all the people in Magontic. And if I want to sum up for lessons purpose, there is the initial shock, which they describe very well. But do not think that when those things happen, it stops there. It lingers on for years and years to come. So the first step is the initial shock. Then very quickly there comes the shock ductrine, Milton Friedman’s shockductrine, which I will say it’s more well said by Zuckerberg now, go fast and break things. So within a few days, all those people go there and say, we’re going to demolish everything and do what we want, all those predators that are there. That’s the second step, go fast and break things. The third step is the people wanted the truth, what happened, the consequences, what were the real consequences and they were trying to find justice in some ways. And there you saw the entire Canadian and Quebec machine judicial machine, police machine go on three guys. I’d say two guys, the conductor, the engineer and the controller. The entire Canadian justice machine went on those two guys and decided they were the culprits. And this started the entire coverup of the trial of the no investigation. And to this day, even the Supreme Court of Canada has denied the Magantic people any rights to seek any justice against the CP, which was the CP at the time. So this is why people like us are important. And then you’d say, well, at the end of the day, the predators and all those people would go. Well, they don’t because they do after 10 years, 15 years, they do still have even more support from the governments to do their business. So the CP is now dictating where, for instance, the new rail will go if it goes. So those four steps means that for a long, long, long time, the tragedy is not a one chuck time is a long, long process. So this is why it is so tragic. Maximillian Alvarez: And Jami, Christina, for our guests in Canada and for folks listening to this, could you just remind them what actually happened to your towns and how you experienced it firsthand? Jami Wallace: On February 3rd of 2023, a Norfolk Southern train derailed in East Palestine. There were a bunch of different kinds of chemicals that derailed. The biggest focus has always been on the vinyl chloride. What was allegedly happening, which we found out later that this was not true, is the local officials and higher level government officials were saying that one of the tankers full of vinyl chloride was going to explode. They were saying temperatures were rising. The valve that was supposed to release pressure wasn’t working and that this explosion was inevitable. What they said that they needed to do was to explode the tanker themselves to do a vent and burn. Their reasoning was that if the tanker exploded on its own, it would throw a shrapnel within a mile radius and kind of destroy downtown and probably take lives. We later found out that this was not true at the NTSB hearings. Norfolk Southern, the responsible party was the one in charge and giving advice. And they were telling our officials this while at the same time the owner of the vinyl chloride, Oxyvinyl, was in another room telling Norfolk Southern it’s not going to explode. Temperatures are going down, but they wanted to get the railroad back up and running. So they did a vent and burn where they caught these tankers of chemicals on fire. It went from one tanker to five tankers of vinyl chloride that they ended up exploding. The pictures are unimaginable. The mushroom cloud looked like a atomic bomb was dropped. When you show that picture to anyone across the United States, that’s the first thing they associate it with. We were told less than 48 hours that it was safe to go home, that there were no high levels of chemicals and that everything was great. The air quality was great. And it was kind of the same thing that was being said before is you just knew. I didn’t have to be a scientist. I didn’t have to be smart to look at that plume and know that less than 48 hours that they could tell us with certainty that it was safe to go home. So I threw a fit when they came to do this little, they offered some indoor air testing before you came home, which we’ve since found out was insufficient. The little monitors they were using couldn’t test for all chemicals of concerns. Other chemicals, it couldn’t test at low enough levels to be an accurate reading. And when they did that at my house, I asked them, “What about the creek that’s running in front of my door that I can see chemicals in? ” They’re like, “We did water tests and we will check those later.” I asked them about the soil. Has the soil been tested? And we don’t need to test the soil. There’s no reason to test the soil. So when you talk about the coverup from the beginning we were being lied to. As soon as people went back home, the symptoms started, the nosebleeds, the rashes, the coughing and respiratory issues. You could just see by the reaction of the body that it wasn’t safe to be there. They gaslit us, tried to tell us that it was stress, that it was mental mass psychosis. We weren’t really sick, it’s mass psychosis. But we knew, we knew what our bodies were telling us. You talk about the denial by the local government. Our village still doesn’t talk about the people being sick. We have 64 people in our community with cancer now. The same things they were talking about all the nonprofits coming in. We had people coming in to try to do mutual aid donations. We had the media there. We had scientists coming in. And through this disaster, we learned that not all those people can be trusted. So I actually see a lot of the same similarities between In the story in Canada and the story here, they immediately started buying the town big gifts to make people forget or to mask it. So it’s amazing when you hear these other stories and you hear all the same things happening and this is in a different country, but it’s the same playbook. Christina Siceloff: So out where I’m at, I live in the middle of the woods and on February 3rd we saw on Facebook that there was a train derailment and my family went out onto our front porch to see what was going on, if we could see anything. And through the trees you could see the fire and the smoke six miles away. We just stood there, like was said with you all in shock. It was like we thought everybody in East Palestine was burning to death because the fire was so huge. It sort of reminded me of what you would see with California wildfires. And then that weekend we didn’t hear anything about what was going on in town. My son and I, we went to a playground that was still about six miles away and everything looked fine. And then Monday came and that was February 6th whenever they did the vent and burn. Beforehand we heard that there was people that were being evacuated from town, but we were not given any evacuation notice where I was at. We were not told to shelter in place. And then I had to take my son to preschool and the school district had sent out a notification that they were evacuating the schools because they were going to be doing this burn. And so he did not have to go to school yet that morning, so he was still at home. Before they did evacuate, I had debated on taking him to school because they were already shutting down roads going around my area. And so he didn’t have to go to school anyway. But then when they did the burn, we were never evacuated after that. We were never told to shelter in place. We looked to leave on our own, but there wasn’t really anywhere to go and you didn’t know where to go. Afterwards, when everybody was being told that everything was fine, the air was fine, the water was fine. We were seeing thousands of fish popping up in the creeks that were dead, frogs that were dead. Several of our… We had chickens and we have outside cats and a dog and many of them, the chickens and the cats had died. And February 14th, I decided that I wanted to see with the creeks what was true with the fish. So I went to the creeks and saw the sheen that was left from the chemicals that were in the water that traveled down to the Ohio River. And that was the start of me going to the creeks for the next two and a half years to show that the government was saying one thing and we were experiencing another. We even had myself and two other residents. We were oftentimes going to the creek recording on video and putting on YouTube what was going on. We also had our now vice president down there in the creeks with us and he saw what was going on. And now to this day, he still doesn’t really act like anything is wrong anymore. Jami Wallace: I can just add something because I think Christina underplays her role in this. We had what we called creek rangers and Christina was one of those creek rangers. She was told by the US EPA that her and the couple of other residents were in the creeks more than the EPA was. At one point, the EPA would call Christina and these other creek rangers and say, “Hey, we think we have it cleaned up. Can you guys come down and check?” The creek rangers were reporting to the EPA where the contamination was in the creeks and to come look at the contamination. If it wasn’t for residents like Christina being down at those creeks, they wouldn’t even be cleaned up as much as they are now. We were told they were clean until the residents started going down and showing that they weren’t clean. I know that Christina doesn’t like to toot her own horn, but she was a huge, huge part in getting at least what they cleaned up cleaned up in our community. Christina Siceloff: I just wanted to add real quick with that was at one point whenever Norfolk Southern came in to set up their cleanup area, they had lost containment of contamination that they were supposed to be blocking from further going down the creek and another resident was there to film it and the Ohio EPA was made aware by Norfolk Southern’s contractors that this contamination was going down the creeks and they had not done anything about it. And then the videos went up on YouTube from the resident and the federal EPA found out about it and called up the creek and said, “Shut it down.” And they shut everything down. They had spent maybe a month in redoing the plan and then they called us and said, “Do you both want to come down and see what we are doing with this new plan and we want to know if you approve of it? ” So they said we could not film, we could not record, but we could come down and see what they were doing. And then whenever they put out the papers on the report on what they had done, they lessened the amount of time that the contamination had been going down the creeks. They said it was between it was like two to three hours maybe, but it was really more like five or six with the resident body cam recording the entire thing. Dr. Nicole Fabricant: Okay. So what we’re hearing from our friends in East Palestine is the way the government has failed, right? EPA failed you guys. There was obvious lies that came out of the EPA not doing the job that they were supposed to do and you’re talking about the ways communities responded, right? The kind of overburden that many of these communities have to take a lot of this on themselves. So curious to hear from our friends at Lac Megantic about the failures at every level of government and the ways in which community had to respond in the aftermath. Robert Bellefleur: The thing is in Lac Magantic, we felt that control was coming entirely from outside. They sent us like press spokespeople from the various governments to control the message to calm the public to prevent them from rebelling. So we tried. We saw a parade of politicians come by to try to console us. However, when we asked them to set up a public inquiry commission, the answer was a categorical no. So we felt manipulated and divided by the government forces that had taken control of the situation. We as citizens decided in 2015 to form a citizens coalition for rail safety because the transport of oil and hazardous materials had resumed six months after the tragedy. The railroad was rebuilt just outside downtown like Magentic for economic reasons. And when I learned about this situation, I went to inspect the railroad tracks surrounding like Magantic and found that the rails were still in very poor condition, even though hazardous materials 10 times more dangerous than the shale oil that had set the town ablaze were now being transported on them. We’re talking about propane gas, sulfuric acid, sodium chloride, and gasoline. So we formed a coalition to monitor rail transport and alert the media whenever we identified a problem on the tracks. And since then, trains have continued to transport hazardous materials. Trains are now twice as long with more than 200 cars and tank cars carrying twice as many hazardous materials and they still pass through the city center at the same spot on tracks that are often in very poor condition. Every year we have to speak out in the media and to the authorities to get safety deficiencies on the railroad tracks corrected. It’s still happening though and the trains are twice as dangerous, more dangerous because they’re longer and are traveling on a hazardous slope. So if the brakes fail yet again, we’ll end up with a much more dangerous disaster similar to the one in East Palestine because this time toxic substances will be spilled and our entire environment and population will be at risk. The oil itself, it burned right there, but a chlorine explosion, which is amplified by a propane gas explosion, contaminate the entire atmosphere for tens of kilometers Gilbert Carette: Following what Robert said, I’ll be talking about the second tragedy, that half of the town was destroyed by the explosion, but the other half wasn’t contaminated, but with all the speculators that ran over like Malik Mechanic, like they wanted to control, take the control of our downtown. So just like they were planning to build a kind of holiday resort, like a Walt Disney. So they declared that on 40 buildings left, they were all contaminated, but only five of these buildings were contaminated so they decided to clean up all what was standing up so they finished it to destroy our downtown. After they destroyed what was left up, it was just like a desert. That was our second catastrophe, really heartbreaking. And I know that the human things that I want to talk, there were 47 victims, but we can’t forget that many suicides followed these lost lives, many suicides. Robert Bellefleur: In reality, like Magentic has experienced three disasters as Jill mentioned. First, the train derailed. Following that, the complete demolition of the downtown area against the wishes of the residents. The goal was to increase property values in order to collect more municipal taxes, and this is the fundamental reason why the city council opted for this course of action. And third, they succeeded in dividing the community over the bypass project. They managed to create chaos and conflict to divide the community on an issue where we should have been united. The bypass project was meant to be a project for social healing. They turned it into a project of social division and there are friends and families in the region who haven’t spoken to each other since then. Anne-Marie Saint-Cerny: Well, first I want to start on the base of Nicole’s question, which was where were the authorities and the authorities that were in charge of safeties, environmental and authorities and all that, they were all absent. So there was no environment Canada there, nobody. The rail safety people were the inspectors and the investigators were linked with the company MMA at the time, which was MMA was CP, which is now Norfolk. So there were no authorities except to gather the data and keep them secret. So as an activist for 30 years, but also the case of East Palestine and Megansek are an example if there are no community surveillance, if there are no communities implicated, there are nothing you are at risk because your authorities and we saw that for myself, I saw that for the first time in Miganzik, which was the biggest massive death of modern Canada. You have to remember that they talked about the 47 death, the 26 orphan, the suicides and the people that died of grief like my friends and our friends, Jean Clusio who lost his daughter and died last year. And so there were no authorities to keep the people safe. So the communities, the testing and all that are essential. The surveillance of what they’re doing, it’s essential. One of the reason for that is that I don’t know, I’m not sure about the states, but in Canada there was this, and I think it’s the same in East Palestine, there’s this perfect effect of the contaminator is in charge of the contamination. So what does it mean really is that all those railroad companies are keeping the datas for themselves and you are not able to access them. To this day, we don’t know the official numbers of the official contamination of lack megantic. It’s all kept secret. The only thing we know is what we ourselves did. One thing also is important is that when there is such a destruction as in megantic, the community except for some very resilient people like the three guys you have on right now is just such in shock that you cannot move anymore. You have to try to survive. And so it is important that the people around that have knowledge and expertise and ONGs and all that get in, not to exploit them, but to help them literally. And one of the things that’s lacking is all the safety measures that are usually we think are controlled by the authorities are not anymore. So we have to get the data for that so that they will know exactly what was happening. That’s the only way as of now for the past 15 years that we can… I’m not sure right now that we can stop those things happening, but at least we can react to protect ourselves and we have to say that we have to rely on ourselves. Jami Wallace: Listening to this has given me goosebumps and exactly what Anne just said, we learned very quickly in East Palestine that no one else was going to fight for us if we didn’t fight for ourselves. Everything that was done in East Palestine as far as dioxin testing, as far as making them dig the tracks back up and clean up the contamination, that was all led by the community. They actually in the United States, you cannot run trains through an evacuated town. We had a north and a south track. They had our tracks rebuilt within 48 hours of the vent and burn. Trains were running again through our community before residents were back in their homes. Another similarity, Norfolk Southern was put in charge of everything. We did get the testing that they did, but it was all flawed. It was put out in a way that benefited the corporate polluter because they were the ones that hired the contractors. And an important point that I want to bring up is we talk about the people that we’ve lost, but we’re not talking about all the people that we have yet to lose. When you’re exposed to these type of chemicals, we know from every other chemical disaster it can take years before these things show up in our communities. Cancer is one of the biggest concerns and cancer is not a quick, beautiful death. If you’ve ever seen someone suffer from cancer, it’s horrific. The other thing that I wanted to bring up was about the multiple disasters. We talk about that in East Palestine too. The derailment itself was a disaster. The vent and burn was a disaster. The flooding that occurred in our creeks afterwards that spread those chemicals another disaster. They were talking about the cleanup. When they were hauling all this dirt out of our community, there were points where you couldn’t see across a residential street because the dust was so bad, it looked more like a dust storm that you would see out west. And then of course that whole economic recovery, that’s another disaster. You want to talk about a divide in a community, you should see what it’s done to our small community that I always thought was tight-knit. We always looked out for each other, but the focus on the economy has overshadowed any focus whatsoever on human health. Our local government cannot focus on both because who would want to come here and shop if they knew it was contaminated? And what they’ve done is they’ve put lipstick on a pig. They’re putting in a $25 million park and they’re given all this money to distract us from the fact that they poisoned us. And again, I know I keep saying this about this playbook, but just listening to these stories when you hear this stuff, I literally was getting goosebumps on my arms listening to the similarities and that’s where we all need to come together because it’s not just about East Palestine. These disasters are so much bigger than that. You look back through the history of the United States and 40 years ago, Love Canal, Times Beach, Missouri, what’s going on now and Roseland, Louisiana, Moss Landing, California, Conyers, Georgia. They might not be trained derailments, but they’re still chemical disasters and they’re still being treated with the lack of transparency, the coverups by our government and no one is helping these people. And that’s what I’ve been trying to go into other communities and help them organize and help them learn what we had to learn the hard way. And going back to the very beginning, the very first part of that is to teach communities they have to fight for themselves. We want to trust our government. We learned in school what our government does. The EPA is supposed to protect the environment and human health and a lot of people just depended on that. They trusted their government, but don’t do that. Don’t be led blindly. Go out and do your own research. I am by no means an expert in chemicals, so the first thing I did was surround myself with experts and chemicals. The resources are there, you just have to find them Christina Siceloff: Like the people in Lac Magantic say, with the mental toll afterwards, there is a lot and that it is another disaster in itself. For a long time, a lot of us here that were recognizing the illnesses. We were putting aside our mental health and that was because the government and the other authorities were putting so much on this just being health problems because of our mental health. We have lost a person due to mental health since this happened. A lot of us are now in therapy and have multiple mental health diagnoses because of what we’ve experienced. And it is something that at first you don’t realize what is really weighing on you and it takes a long time. I think it was the beginning of last year where they had finally diagnosed myself with PTSD and a lot of people around here have gotten that diagnosis as well now and just like hearing your stories as well, it brings back a lot of the emotions and the memories of what we were experiencing at the beginning of this, just hearing about the fire and there’s just so much that’s very similar. Maximillian Alvarez: Well, and the very fact that we are having this conversation right now with residents from Loch Magantic and East Palestine is a stark reminder that these disasters are not once in a lifetime tragedies. Disasters like these are happening more frequently all over the place. And as working people who have experienced such disasters firsthand, I wanted to ask if you could say like, what have these whole awful, unforgivable, life-changing experiences taught you that you most want to communicate to others out there who are going through this now or who may go through it one day? Gilbert Carette: Yeah. I’d like to say that the only thing that we want to make things changing on this planet is we have to fight again and we have to push our governments to change things like just like all the safety rules that associate people got to be the first from the subject and the first just like the people are suffering from disasters, people should be the ones through our governments to build safe society. If we stop fighting, just like Anne-Marie said, we have to go through regulation, new regulation and all that, and don’t let profit going first, but let’s fight for safety first, not profit. That’s the main word I would like to say. Robert Bellefleur: I’d like to add that after 13 years, the years we’ve lived through, it’s still appropriate in light of the Lakmagantic tragedy and in the face of all this silence from governments and railroad companies aimed at downplaying the impact on communities for us as citizens to continue defending our living environments and to remain vigilant regarding all the shortcomings we may still observe. We as a citizens coalition have managed for 13 years to continually alert journalists to unacceptable situations and that has had an impact. I remember we sent a formal notice to Canada’s Minister of Transport at the time because a railway track was in poor condition. We’d finally managed to obtain a report from an inspector. An official confirmed report identified more than 137 defective rails in the Lake Magantic region. We sent a formal notice and a few days later, 150 railworkers arrived to repair everything. So as citizens, we can still make a difference when it comes to situations that are unacceptable on the part of our governments. So I encourage you in East Palestine to keep fighting because we can no longer rely solely on the government and corporations. We have to protect ourselves. Gilles Fluet: There might be one small point I can bring up. For those who are going through a major disaster like the people in Magontek or say like East Palestine and others who have been through similar experiences, I advise them based on my own experience to talk about it, not to keep it bottled up inside and start talking about it right away from the start because if they try to deny the situation, keep it bottled up inside, it’s catastrophic, it’s destructive. They’ll destroy themselves, self-destruct. The main reason to talk about it is that it’s like self therapy because no matter what kind of therapy people undergo, whether with a psychologist, psychiatrist or anyone else, they’ll guide you to talk about the situation that traumatize so you have to start talking about it right from the start to let it out so it doesn’t explode. Anne-Marie Saint-Cerny: Yeah. So these things are going to, as you say, go on these are industrial tragedies that are going to go on exploding again and again because there are nobody to take care of us anymore, the people I would like to talk more as an activist, but also as what we represent here, that is the non-legacy media, the researchers. So I would talk also as an author and as an investigator with what I think first thing is I have no more confidence in any of the authorities that are supposed to keep our wellness, health, security, wellbeing, happiness is even further away, though I can see some signs of hope in the States sometimes these days, but still I have no more justice. We cannot have justice. So it’s going to maybe get worse before it gets better, but it’s going to get better. But I will say this to all of us and especially like podcaster or researchers and people like that, communities are doing their work, but all of us together we have to never surrender. We have to hold the line, how I would say Michael Fanon, hold the line so that even if one of us fails as a human being because we’re fragile in those circums, somebody else will take the flame and go the further route to go. So we have to hold the line and we outnumber them although they have now and things that have changed even since East Palestine, the means, the AI, the media concentration is something that we’ve never seen in the history of the humanity. And so it’s going to be hard, but we have to hold the line and we can’t because we outnumber them. And how do we do that? We expose the fact we go on with the help of people like you, with all of us together, the real facts. And remember the facts are hardheaded. You may say anything about the inflation and the price of gas in the states and that there’s no inflation and everything’s going fine, but when you go to the gas station, you see the price of the gas. So facts will come and will make themselves known and people will eventually change. We have to stop the gas lighting.This is why I did my last book on migrations and the fact that migrants and all those people are the source of all our misery, which is not true when you look at the facts. So we have to stop the gaslighting, put on the counter narrative based on facts and we have to go with confidence that facts will prevail and we also have to find their Achilles heel, as I say, I think Talon Dachil in French, if I’m not right, correct me, which is the weakness because we see them as huge and they are trillionaires the first time, but they all rely on such simple things like water, like data centers, water, electricity, things like that, those things they steal from us to get richer and more power We’re full and all that. But it’s ours and we can very simply sometimes get back and we will get back those things that are owned by the entire humanity. And I have a lot of confidence that we will prevail in the sense that if we would not, we would be extinct for a long time right now if only the predators and the powerful men as they say now would prevail. So let’s hold the line. Gilbert Carette: Thanks. I’d like last word. I mean, thanks for all your people for organizing that great summit and the last word to say that the door is also open to meet you in Lake Mechanic and we’ll be really happy and we hope to meet you in your towns too. So we’ll be following to collaborate together and don’t be shy to communicate with us. The door will also be open. Thanks Mac. Thanks Nicole and thanks Anne and everybody and Mary, Jeremy and Christina and who else I’m forgetting, but our door is also open. Thanks. Great thanks. Jami Wallace: You hear people talk about environmentalists and people that want to protect the environment and they’re kind of out there and they’re these extreme activists. But I think what we all fail to realize is that when we kill the environment, we’re killing ourselves. We need those resources to live. Just like anything else, valuable resources are going to be used. They’re going to be tapped out and we need to start protecting that environment. I don’t think that our world as a whole is ever going to ban chemicals. I think that’s a hard fight. We’ve all become so dependent on the products that these chemicals produce for us, the luxuries that we get from them. But what I think is an attainable goal is to make sure that the manufacturing, storage and transportation of these chemicals are the safest that they can be to protect the humans and the environments that are close to these facilities. And that’s why I started the Chemically Impacted Communities Coalition because I feel like we need to take all these fighters from all these different communities and bring our voices together. We also need to be a resource for other communities that this happened to. I know I wasn’t one of those environmental activists. I had no clue where to even start finding the resources to help myself. So I formed, again, Chemically Impacted Communities Coalition, but it is sick for short to bring all those people together in a coalition. Nikki knows she was there too. We spoke last week in Chicago at the Rail Workers United Conference. We need to even bring in the workers, the railway workers. If they’re not safe, we’re not safe and they know what’s going on firsthand. So this coalition is a lot bigger than just the communities that it happened to but the workers that impacted. It’s about bringing together the resources. Here’s a list of places you can go. Here’s trusted media. Even the media we couldn’t trust. Some of the media would want to cut your interviews to make you say what they wanted you to say. So I feel like it’s so important to bring us all together and I’d like to invite Locke McGante to join that coalition because this is not just a problem in the United States. This is a worldwide problem. One of our member communities is Bopal, India. So the bigger our voices can be, the louder we can be, the better the chances that will be heard. And I just wanted to say real quick, Max, thank you. I’ve said since the beginning that journalists save lives. It’s this awareness. We have to keep speaking and people, we need the journalists to put out our voices. And this was never so apparent as when our attorney was granted the motion to intervene in the federal court case against Norfolk Southern. The judge frankly said, “I’ve heard all these stories on News Nation, read it in the New York Post, and I’ve seen none of this evidence. You don’t want to show us this evidence.” The attorney said no. So our attorney intervened and it was granted, but it was all because of journalists. So don’t underplay the power that you have in your hands and the power of keeping our stories going and the awareness you create. Christina Siceloff: As Jamie just said with the people in Beau Paul, it’s not just going to take people from the US to stand up and say something because it does happen all over the world. It takes the people in Canada, takes the people in India. It takes all of us. And at the end of the day, no matter what industry we’re working in, we all are human beings and we all need to love our neighbors as ourselves. Maximillian Alvarez: All right gang, that’s going to wrap things up for us today. I want to take a moment to thank our incredible guests and the whole cast of amazing people who made this production possible. Thank you to our guests from Canada, Gilbert Caret, Gil Fluet, Robert Belfluer, and Almarie Sansani. Thank you to our guests from the United States, Jamie Wallace and Christina Seisloff. Thank you to the great Anne Legase Dawson for being our French English interpreter for this critical panel conversation. Thank you to our wonderful voice actors, Ethan Cox and Danielle Lemieux. Thank you to Fritz Edler and Railroad Workers United for all their behind the scenes help to make this episode happen. Thank you to the brilliant Dr. Nicole Fabricant for co-hosting this episode with me and for everything that you do. Thank you to the whole teams at the Real News Network and in these times for supporting this podcast and making every single episode possible, including this one. And a special thank you to Jules Taylor and Alina Nellick for their remarkable work producing the episode that you just listened to from the audio editing to the sound design. This is one of the most important episodes that we’ve ever produced in my opinion and it would not have been possible without Jules and Alina, nor would it have been possible without the brilliant cast of contributors and helpers that I just named. And of course, none of it means anything without you, all of you listening to this right now. I want to personally thank you for taking the time to listen to this special episode of our podcast. And I want to thank you for caring about this because as the great poet Dr. Seuss once said, “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not. ” Listen, from Locke Magantic to East Palestine and beyond, from the explosion of AI data centers to the increasing number of toxic spills, fires, derailments, and other industrial disasters that are happening all around us, from the forever chemicals and other life-harming toxins in our water to the deadly carcinogens being constantly blasted into the air that we breathe. It’s clear that corporations and our governments are turning more and more of our communities into sacrifice zones and more and more of us are being set up for sacrifice. If you think it can’t happen to you and your community, neither did the people in Loch Magantic or East Palestine. Remember that. This crisis did not come about suddenly. It’s been building for a long time and frankly, things are going to get worse before they get any better, but they can get better. We can fight this and we can fix this together. If you learn anything from these episodes that we publish, it should be that no one is coming to save us and nothing is going to change unless caring people and people of conscience everywhere start banding together and making change happen themselves, unless residents of different sacrifice zones, different poisoned and abandoned communities, workers and unions on the front lines of the industries that are poisoning us, environmental justice groups, community and faith organizations, scientists, journalists, and all others who have a stake in this fight start coming together, working together and fighting back together. All of us have a role to play in this fight and we here at Working People, The Real News Network, and in these times we’ll continue our work to lift up the voices and stories of the people like you who are on the front lines of this fight and to bring people together on and offline. That is why we are going in person out to more communities affected by this. And that is why Dr. Fabricant and I will be hosting a No More Sacrifice Zones conference here at the Real News Network Studio in Baltimore at the end of this year. If you or members of your community want to attend this conference, if you want to be part of this coalition and be part of this fight, then please reach out to us using the information that we provided in the show notes for this episode. We’ll see y’all back here next time for another episode of Working People. And in the meantime, please go explore all the great work that we’re doing across the Real News Network, where we do grassroots reporting that lifts up the voices and stories from the front lines of struggle. Check us out across our YouTube channel, our different podcast feeds, our website, and our social media pages. And please help us do more important work like this by going to therealnews.com/donate and becoming a supporter of our work today. I promise you guys, it really makes all the difference. I’m Maximillian Alvarez. Take care of yourselves, take care of each other. Solidarity forever. This content originally appeared on The Real News Network and was authored by Maximillian Alvarez.
Kenya: The Standard editor escapes seizure by armed men after president’s censure
New York, July 6—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Kenyan authorities to investigate the attempt by heavily armed men to snatch The Standard Group Associate Editor Alex Kiprotich from his car, days after the president criticized the media house, and ensure that those behind the incident are brought to justice. “The attempt to forcibly...
New York, July 6—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Kenyan authorities to investigate the attempt by heavily armed men to snatch The Standard Group Associate Editor Alex Kiprotich from his car, days after the president criticized the media house, and ensure that those behind the incident are brought to justice. “The attempt to forcibly disappear Alex Kiprotich, three days after President William Ruto railed against The Standard Group, reflects the growing dangers that journalists face in Kenya, despite the president’s earlier promise to allow the press to work freely,” said CPJ Africa Director Angela Quintal. “Kenyan authorities must respect the democratic role of the media in commenting on the government’s achievements and shortcomings ahead of next year’s elections and bring an end to this horrific trend of enforced disappearances.” On June 27, Kiprotich was driving to work in the central city of Nakuru when a car intercepted him and three men in plain clothes, armed with AK-47 assault rifles, stepped out, the journalist told CPJ. One opened the passenger door to check that Kiprotich was alone and then walked towards the driver’s side. Kiprotich said he locked all the doors and sped away. “As the person responsible for The Standard’s headlines, I knew I had become a target,” said Kiprotich, adding that he and a witness gave statements at the local police station. On June 24, Ruto criticized The Standard Group, one of Kenya’s largest media houses, in a post on X addressed to “GMoi,” in reference to politician Gideon Moi, the son of late former President Daniel arap Moi, whose family are majority shareholders in The Standard Group. Ruto said the group was producing “5 days a week EXTORTIONIST propaganda HEADLINES on me & my administration’s transformative track record.” After a brief reconciliation in October, the two politicians are heading rival parties ahead of August 2027 elections in which Ruto is likely to seek a second term. The Standard Group has been critical of Ruto’s administration, including a KTN News series this month called “The Gallery of Ruto’s Lies.” When Ruto won the 2022 election, he said he believed in media freedom and encouraged journalists “to criticize us when we go wrong.” Kiprotich said his assailants were in a Toyota Probox — a car that has been used to seize numerous activists in Kenya — which investigations by The Standard Group found was owned by the police’s Crime Research and Intelligence Bureau (CRIB). Forcible disappearances of government critics have soared in Kenya in recent years, including of Tanzanian journalist Maria Sarungi Tsehai in 2025. Although a Kenyan court ruled that police unlawfully killed Pakistani journalist Arshad Sharif in 2022, no one has been held to account. In response to CPJ’s question as to whether the police were involved in the incident, police spokesperson Muchiri Nyaga said via messaging app, “Police and abduction in the same line? You need to get your facts right.” This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.
Rebels with a cause: The Black Panther Party and socialism in practice
<img width="1024" height="664" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-514865740-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C664&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="A teacher leads his students with the black power salute and slogans at a Black Panther liberation school. Photo via Getty Images" data-attachment-id="344857" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/rebels-with-a-cause-the-black-panther-party-and-socialism-in-practice/gettyimages-514865740" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-514865740-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1661&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2560,1661" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0","alt":""}" data-image-title="GettyImages-514865740" data-image-description="" data-image-caption=" A teacher leads his students with the black power salute and slogans at a Black Panther liberation school. Photo via Getty Images " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-514865740-scaled.jpg?fit=780%2C506&ssl=1"> “While the youth got no clue what the [Black Panther Party] was about, they got the essence… What they like is that the Party were no punks, they were no sellouts.”
<img width="1024" height="664" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-514865740-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C664&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="A teacher leads his students with the black power salute and slogans at a Black Panther liberation school. Photo via Getty Images" decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-514865740-scaled.jpg?w=2560&ssl=1 2560w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-514865740-scaled.jpg?resize=300%2C195&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-514865740-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C664&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-514865740-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C498&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-514865740-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C996&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-514865740-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1328&ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-514865740-scaled.jpg?resize=1200%2C778&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-514865740-scaled.jpg?resize=2000%2C1297&ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-514865740-scaled.jpg?resize=780%2C506&ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-514865740-scaled.jpg?resize=400%2C259&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-514865740-scaled.jpg?w=2340&ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-514865740-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C664&ssl=1&w=370 370w" sizes="(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw - 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw / 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw / 12)), 100vw" data-attachment-id="344857" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/rebels-with-a-cause-the-black-panther-party-and-socialism-in-practice/gettyimages-514865740" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-514865740-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1661&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2560,1661" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0","alt":""}" data-image-title="GettyImages-514865740" data-image-description="" data-image-caption=" A teacher leads his students with the black power salute and slogans at a Black Panther liberation school. Photo via Getty Images " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-514865740-scaled.jpg?fit=780%2C506&ssl=1" /> On this episode of Rattling the Bars, to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Black Panther Party in 1966, host and former political prisoner Mansa Musa speaks with Dr. Joy James and Dr. K. Kim Holder about the history of the Panthers and their unique approach to, and practice of, communal socialism. This is Part 2 of a two-part conversation. Watch Part 1 here. Guests: Dr. Joy James is Ebenezer Fitch Professor of Humanities at Williams College. She is the author of numerous books, including: In Pursuit of Revolutionary Love; Resisting State Violence; and Shadowboxing: Representations of Black Feminist Politics. Creator of the digital Harriet Tubman Literary Circle at UT Austin, James is also editor of The New Abolitionists: (Neo)Slave Narratives and Contemporary Prison Writings; Imprisoned Intellectuals; Warfare in the American Homeland; The Angela Y. Davis Reader; and co-editor of the Black Feminist Reader. Dr. K. Kim Holder is an assistant professor of educational foundations and Africana studies at Rowan University. Dr. Holder earned his doctorate from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in Multicultural Education and African American Studies, his masters in Early Childhood Education from Bank Street College of Education, and B.A. in History from Hampshire College. Credits: Producer / Videographer / Editor: Cameron Granadino Transcript The following is a rushed transcript and may contain errors. It will be updated as soon as possible. Mansa Musa: Let me ask y’all this. We know that at this juncture right now where we stand at right now, the contradiction that exists between the leadership or the lack of leadership in this country, because when we come into space saying like we saying socialism, we defining and we making an analysis and we using it in our analysis, Bernie Sanders, Franklin Roosevelt, except Obama. Let’s move with the narrative. Let’s move the needle to how do y’all look at the Black Panther Party’s perspective in terms of socialism and how they was trying to implement their ideas along them lines? What’s the lesson we can take away from that to help people understand that? Dr. Joy James: Well, I could just say from my research and a little bit from organizing and Kim, correct me, right? Check me if I’m wrong. I think there were different parties after the assassination in Chicago with Hampton and Mark Clark, with Fred Hampton and Mark Clark in 69 and then their attempts to do additional assassinations a week later, I think December 11th in Southern California, Geronimo Pratt had fortified the house. So there was exchange of fire but nobody was killed in peaches. I can’t remember her full name, but Kim Can. When I think of that kind of history, I understand that it’s not going to be replicated whatever we end up doing as older people or younger people 50 years later, but there’s a continuous line. I’m sorry if I’m sounding too abstract, but what I see and what happened decades ago when I study it, when I work with my students, look at it, when we look at the documentaries and the films, I see a spirit and I know people usually don’t talk about spirit and we talk about material struggle, but there’s also a spiritual aspect to liberation movements. I think the youth have that embodied in them as well as we have it. It doesn’t come out with the same kind of narrative, but it’s going in the same kind of trajectory. I think that becomes a source that allows us to say we need to keep jobs, to keep family, whatever fed, but we do not need to pimp ourselves out in terms of politics and we don’t have to lie about the reality. So it doesn’t matter if you get a black man or a black woman as president, whatever, it’s still an imperial project and it’s going to continue to decimate countries and peoples around the globe and people inside the US. And I believe when we agree to that and we understand that agape, I’m a former seminarian. When we think of agape, which is a form of love, which is about sacrifice for the greater good, I think our capacity to resist just increases. I think what diminishes our capacity is that we have different pods of activists and radicals and abolitionists. And sometimes people want to hold onto their brand and their Mansa Musa: Identity Dr. Joy James: Rather than to let it go and to merge and try to create something that takes us somewhere beyond just circling around the camp. I don’t know if that was too abstract. Mansa Musa: Nah, nah, that was very astute and it’s a good observation because when we look at, and I’m going to go back to what you say, like it’s more than one party. My perspective about that is I’m in the space of that we didn’t understand the repression. We didn’t understand our opposition in response to who we were, the most fierce party in the country. We didn’t understand the response that we was going to get and not understand the response and making adjustments and then we making the adjustments as we go along and the adjustments is being made in response to like, oh, misinformation, disinformation, like you talk about Geronimo, he did all that time in prison. Why? Because somebody wouldn’t come forth and say, because the misinformation and disinformation, we killed each other from on coach to the next coast. Why? Because misinformation, discipline. Now we going from a position of organizing people to trying to survive. I’m not idealistic about … I don’t have that idea. I’m looking at the reality. Eddie Conway did close to 47 years in prison and nobody came and gave him no money. It was a lot of comrades that went to prison and didn’t get the support they supposed to got. That being said, our ability to respond to the repression put us in a position where we went from being on the offense in terms of organizing to them being on defense, then from being on defense to just trying to survive, trying to live. Dr. K. Kim Holder: I think there was a party. I think I would say from 67 until the marital candidacy where they shut down all the branches and brought them there, I think that’s where you stop talking about one party. I think it was a party. I know it’s populist say there was many different parties. There was one party, it was a revolutionary party. It had communist socialist trends to it. I believed in armed self-defense, believed in revolution. And you just go back to Youi Newton’s on revolution, executive mandate number one, two, three, et cetera, et cetera. So I think there was a party. I think there was a consistency. And I want to say this, while the youth got no clue what the party was about but love it, they got the essence. Mansa Musa: And the Dr. K. Kim Holder: Essence of what they like is that the party were no punks, they were no sellouts. What you got was true. It may have been made mistakes, but it was true struggle and they didn’t have no alternative agendas. Mansa Musa: Agenda, yeah. And I think Dr. K. Kim Holder: That’s what the youth see and what the party represents to them. They ain’t got no clue about all socialism, communism, revolution versus this. They grew up thinking they was free because of Obama and stuff, but what they do see was the party was uncompromising and that’s the essence of what they see of that. And that’s a good thing. But I do think that there was a party message. There was a party and it was a revolutionary party and I agree with you. It takes its place in historical continuing of Black liberation Mansa Musa: Along Dr. K. Kim Holder: With Nat Turner and what have you. Mansa Musa: Eddie wrote a book called The Greatest Thread Ever. But who would say the greatest, say the most fearful thing, two things of the party that he wanted to completely get rid of, free breakfast program and the Back Panther Party paper. He was systematic and trying to get rid of both of those entities because they had root in the community and the free breakfast program, sickle cell anemia test, all those institutions, those institutions was like started party members would go there and set it up, but ultimately they would phase themselves out when somebody in the community stepped up to start taking responsibility and we would just provide the services and the resources, but the whole goal was, the whole goal was to- For the people Dr. K. Kim Holder: To Mansa Musa: Take over. … turn it over to the community. Exactly. So that the community and then we would be in a position like it would provide security or help. What can some of the lessons that the young people can take from the party going forward if they was to ask you that question, what can I take away? What can be my take? What should I look at? Watch your Dr. K. Kim Holder: Back when Mansa Musa: You Dr. K. Kim Holder: Start organizing. I’m telling you, when you start organizing, Mansa Musa: You Dr. K. Kim Holder: Develop your underground, you’ve developed your railroad first. Mansa Musa: And Dr. K. Kim Holder: No matter what happens, that is going to be the ultimate thing they’re going to come after you and that you need to organize and structure yourself in a way where there is a railroad and that we can operate outside of that is ultimately … We say, oh, the party had disinformation and stuff. You know what? The system did their job. We was revolutionaries and they came after us, which is what they supposed to do. And we are the ones that have to come. My thing is that their ability to pay us off, But we need for them to understand now because just two years ago they thought everything was rosy. They need to understand that you start out with developing the railroad first, that you develop stuff in a manner in which you know that it’s not always going to be hunky-dory all up front and that you make sure that you understand that when you’re developing the most simplest things like the free breakfast program, like the free clinics and stuff, we got to understand the nature of this system. I don’t want to get all gloom and doom, but that is something that I’ve been dealing with for the last 60 years in terms of what the system … The system did what they were supposed to do and they’re nastier now. Dr. Joy James: Yeah. I would say to the youth, that’s their question, right? What would we say to the youth? So it’s almost like I’m talking to my students. Check out a number of the documentaries, All Power to the People, Black Panther Party and Beyond by Lil Lee. I was introduced to that by Kim Holder when they came to Boulder to a conference in 1997 or something. And it’s important. It’s online and I don’t think a lot of people know about it, but you could see the party, its evolution, and also the contradictions within it. Then there’s another film, The Spook Who Sat By The Door, which is not a documentary. Mansa Musa: Yeah, Samuel Greenlee. Dr. Joy James: Yep, you got it. And it’s an interesting film. I think for young people who are … I’m a military brat, so I grew up and I was in R2C handling stuff. Some people want to be pacifists and that’s fine. So the understanding for me is that the revolutionary is really based in the heart and that what you’ve talked about, the food programs, the sickle cell anemia, the healthcare, knocking on people’s door, providing housing. I know from Kim talking their sister was being harassed in Hell’s Kitchen decades ago when he was in the party by the Hell’s Angel and Kim being in the party came to her apartment and slept on her floor to give protection so she wouldn’t be harassed or kicked out of her apartment by some racist people on motorcycles. Those expressions of love and commitment builds of movement, but there’s a cautionary note because we referenced Geronimo. Huey was brilliant and there’s a book out on Huey Newton that’s coming out in a couple of months. And again, I never sacrificed or wasn’t old enough or whatever the reasons for not being there, but they’re the contradiction sometimes of leaders who lose their way and we have to have the capacity to pull them back. Geronimo did 27 years the same as Nelson Mandela. People cheered Nelson Mendela. They don’t remember what happened to Geronimo, how he was framed, how he was at a meeting in Northern California, Anthers. FBI set him up and Huey told people not to acknowledge the person who went rogue was Kathleen Cleaver. And so she ends up being with Stuart Hanlin and Johnny Cochran, part of that legal team to get Geronimo out. And I only met him once, but people have suffered a lot and people have given a lot, but what they’ve left is a legacy for us to study, whether you’re young, middle-aged or old. And I don’t think the Panthers were ever defeated. And I think that’s why there’s so many people focus on them. The last thing, which is more a question, from what little I looked at, there was an organization that identified young people as Panthers and then they were told to stand down and they became Black lions. I would hope that the party has the fluidity to embrace everyone who’s sincere about … And I don’t know these people, they’re based in Philly. I’m not in Philly, but I would say that to the candor that we have to deal with our contradictions despite the predatory violence of the state and people trying to buy out movements, we still have our inner mental, emotional registers that have to be calmed down. And so then I think of care, protest, movement, marinage, war resistance. That’s the whole thing I’ve been thinking about for a decade about the captive maternal, which is ungendered. And I see you both as captive maternals that you care. And I think that foundation of care will push us through into liberatory struggle. Mansa Musa: Let’s talk about how do we get young people to understand how the coalition built in terms of … Because the party, when they came into existence, they was big on coalition building. They was big on networking, they was big on any element that was anti-stagement or was protesting conditions. They network with them and build a relationship with them in order to change the conditions that our communities found themselves in. How do we get young people to understand that part of the party’s organizing strategy? Dr. K. Kim Holder: I think one thing I can only come from it from a negative perspective, unfortunately, but I think one thing that needs to stop, people tend to define their ideology by criticizing other people. Mansa Musa: Come Dr. K. Kim Holder: On. And I think that needs to stop. And what we need to start to do at the beginning is we need to start to develop some basic principles that we accept and that we live by Mansa Musa: And Dr. K. Kim Holder: That that allows us then to determine how we can go with somebody else. Right now we seem to be, “You said this one thing five years ago, you ain’t no good, blah, blah, blah.” It’s like, I show how bad I am by showing that as opposed to let’s establish what we actually believe some basic principles and then some basic principles of operation, how we can interact with each other and move forward. Why do we expect us to get along? Nobody gets along in this society. Because we have it be movement people, we get along. So we got to start basically on what are the basic principles so then we don’t be one ups on people. Dr. Joy James: We need to articulate, well, you already did the 10 point program, right? But we need to articulate for this generation, this century, what is emotional intelligence? I mean, we know little Bobby Hutton, I mean, Eldridge thought it was a good idea to do something and you lose people or people get disappeared. There’s a way in which even when we struggle at our best, and again, I was not in the party, but I know Kim from talking to you for 30 years a little bit about what you were saying. There’s a way in all political struggles when you’re being hunted by the state and you’re being infiltrated, there has to be a level of integrity or a set of ethics that’s not just from the party. It has to emanate from ourselves as a community. And that is how we all get to make mistakes and we all get to like, “I got to step this one out. I’m not brave enough,” whatever. “Okay, come back next week and we’ll try again. “But I’m not sure that we’ve articulated beyond the 10-point program, what are the ethics of emotional intelligence and a commitment and agape? And I know for some people that seems very abstract, but I think that’s the core that keeps us alive and from cross-shooting each other literally and figuratively. Mansa Musa: And to your point, we do this because we love it. We love our people. We love the fact that we’re in a position to try to do something to gain our freedom and our liberation. I was in Oakland and had the opportunity. I told Emory Douglas, Minister of Culture, Black Panther Party when I came back because we was doing some things and I told him when I come back, I wanted him to take me around Oakland and talk about the party and some of the early things they did and he’s a good storyteller as far as I’m concerned and he did. He took me around with the thing that he left me with was how simplistic the party was in terms of organizing how simplistic … He said every library in Oakland, wherever they had something party members was there and participating and any space they could get, they would be there. Any park, they would be at, they would do organized, they would play baseball, basketball. They always was doing something in the community. And I think that to your point, Kim, that we have to stop talking about what we don’t have in common and start talking about what we do have in common and find that commonality and then find that commonality. That’s just what we do. I’m going to give you one more example, then I’m going to give you all that y’all have the last word. Dominique Conway, Eddie’s wife, we was doing some organizing in the neighborhood. So in the neighborhood we in high drug area, there’s a lot of kids there. So we down there doing some organizing and we don’t have no space. So they said,” Well, we got to get us a space. “So we took a house, a house that was abandoned, that was livable. We took it, did all the research on it, found it was city property, took it and then held a press conversation like this house we taking for the community. And when Eddie got out, that became our base operation. We did everything in that neighborhood. Eddie in a meeting with some guys and they talking like they serious about organizing. And so Eddie looked out the window and seen some abandoned house said,” Just go take some houses and do just that simple. “And I think that we lose sight on the simplicity of things that we could be doing, but y’all got the last word, what y’all want to say about this subject matter. Dr. Joy James: I want to say thank you for inviting us to this conversation and for all the work that you’re doing and all you’ve contributed. And I was just thinking of a book, the importance of books, which we know many people inside and people who were in the party studied books, they read, they taught themselves, they taught each other. And so it was a book, it was a black women’s led book launch in the federal government building or something on 125th Street in Harlem. And I went there because it was a Sada’s memoir and it’s the first time I heard of her book was just coming out. And then when I went to teach at UMass, someone mentioned to Kim who got his degree from there that I was teaching this book, Asada, he autobiography and class and that’s how we met. That’s how the conversation started. So the word is with us. Mansa Musa: Right. Dr. Joy James: Yeah. Yeah, you’ve got it. And even what you’re doing- And Dr. K. Kim Holder: She took me to Cuba Mansa Musa: And Dr. K. Kim Holder: I took her to the sister. Hey, Mansa Musa: The word became fresher. The word became fashion. Yeah. I picked up on that look and the word became flesh. Dr. Joy James: And that’s what you’re doing now. You’re doing it with audio, but it’s still the word. Yes, that’s how I got to be in her kitchen and hear her say things. I’ve been in Cuba several times, but always like the collective, we’re all sitting, we’re tourists and something like that. But because they were both in the party in Harlem, that’s when you get these … This is when you learn. And I learned a lot and I’ve learned a lot from the party and a lot from how you’ve cared and loved and fought and so I’m grateful and thank you again. Dr. K. Kim Holder: You work with Eddie and you was in the joint, so that’s one perspective. Eddie was good with coalitions. Do not follow the party when it comes to coalitions. Party was Vanguard. We bossed everybody around and half the coalitions that we talk about, we made up. Mansa Musa: Yeah, okay. Dr. K. Kim Holder: I’m Mansa Musa: Just Dr. K. Kim Holder: Saying. Mansa Musa: The Dr. K. Kim Holder: Party and especially if you were black, if you were something else, we would deal with you. But if you were black, how come you ain’t a pather? Mansa Musa: Yeah. Dr. K. Kim Holder: You say? If you was Latino, okay, we could work with you. If you was white, okay, if you was this, but if you’re black, how come you ain’t a path? The only blacks that we respected outside of us was students. But I understand that prison was different and I know Eddie Conway is a good coalition builder, but so you getting the good side of the party, This content originally appeared on The Real News Network and was authored by Mansa Musa.
This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
This content originally appeared on The Real News Network and was authored by The Real News Network.
Guterres calls for action to protect children from AI dangers Ukraine: Latest Russian assault leaves at least 14 dead in KyivGaza children still under fire despite ceasefire pledge: UNICEF
Guterres calls for action to protect children from AI dangers Ukraine: Latest Russian assault leaves at least 14 dead in KyivGaza children still under fire despite ceasefire pledge: UNICEF This content originally appeared on UN News - Global perspective Human stories and was authored by Dianne Penn.
Amid Mounting War Casualties, Pete Hegseth “Defunded and Impeded” Efforts to Protect Civilians, Lawmakers Say
The post Amid Mounting War Casualties, Pete Hegseth “Defunded and Impeded” Efforts to Protect Civilians, Lawmakers Say appeared first on ProPublica.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gives a statement ahead of a NATO Defence Ministers meeting in Brussels in June. Omar Havana/Getty Images ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they’re published. Ten Democratic lawmakers told Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in a letter Sunday that his gutting of a program focused on protecting civilians is a leadership failure that imperils service members and erodes the military’s moral standing. Led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., the joint letter echoed concerns raised by a recent Defense Department inspector general report that described civilian protection efforts as largely “inactive.” Lawmakers also cited reporting by ProPublica and other news outlets in pushing to preserve the framework known as civilian harm mitigation and response, or CHMR. “The Trump administration — potentially in violation of federal law — has defunded and impeded civilian protection efforts,” the lawmakers asserted. A Pentagon spokesperson declined to answer questions from ProPublica, noting: “As with all congressional correspondence, the Department will respond directly to the authors.” The retreat from civilian protection drew global attention in February when an apparent U.S. strike killed dozens of children and teachers at a school on the first day of the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran — an incident the Pentagon says is under investigation. Beyond those deaths, conflict monitoring groups have recorded a surge in reports of civilian casualties, most notably in Somalia and Yemen, which have both seen a dramatic increase in U.S. strikes under the second Trump administration. In March, ProPublica interviewed current and former national security officials across party lines who said the discarding of civilian protections is part of a broader remaking of the military around two key principles: more aggression, less accountability. The harm mitigation leadership, housed in a specialized Civilian Protection Center of Excellence mandated by Congress in 2022, aimed to reduce the number of civilian casualties of U.S. military operations, a problem that has spanned administrations in the post-9/11 “forever wars.” The idea was to embed prevention specialists within targeting teams and foster a culture that prioritizes civilian security in accordance with U.S. law and international rules of war. Senior military leaders have publicly supported the mission, expressing both a moral obligation to safeguard civilian life and a necessity to hit their intended targets. The program was still being rolled out when momentum halted under Hegseth. In the spring of 2025, as U.S. operations in Yemen reportedly killed dozens of civilians, the Defense Department was scrapping the CHMR mission as out of step with Hegseth’s “lethality” doctrine, according to current and former staffers. Hegseth repeatedly has expressed disdain for guardrails he describes as hindrances to combat forces. By the time of the Iran school strike, current and former personnel told ProPublica, the protection mission had been slashed by about 90%, leaving just a handful of staffers to monitor civilian harm issues even as the Defense Department accelerated the strike tempo across swaths of Africa and the Middle East. Militant groups exploit civilian casualties to gain recruits and support, a practice retired Gen. Stanley McChrystal, who commanded U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, has called “insurgent math”: For every innocent killed, the theory goes, at least 10 new enemies are created. “The Trump administration’s military adventurism overseas, combined with its obvious disregard for civilians, do not make the American people or our service members safer,” the 10 Democrats said in their letter to Hegseth. Three signees are military veterans: Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona and Rep. Jason Crow of Colorado. The letter ended with 20 questions the lawmakers want answered by July 9, including requests for the latest CHMR staffing and funding numbers, and an explanation for why the department wasn’t cooperative with the inspector general’s inquiry. Current and former CHMR personnel said it’s impossible to know whether a more robust prevention team could’ve helped the military avoid civilian casualties in Yemen and Iran. But they said the program could have made a difference, providing transparency and immediate inquiries into civilian deaths. Within days of the strike on the elementary school adjacent to an Iranian military compound in Minab, open-source investigative outlets surfaced video showing a U.S.-made Tomahawk missile likely was responsible. The Washington Post, citing officials familiar with the Minab inquiry, reported that the school was on a U.S. target list and “may have been mistaken for a military site.” <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="862" width="1149" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2264285557_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?w=1149" alt="A partially destroyed building, with piles of rubble and school desks in front of it." class="wp-image-85396" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2264285557_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg 3000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2264285557_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=300,225 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2264285557_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=768,576 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2264285557_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1024,768 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2264285557_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1536,1152 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2264285557_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=2048,1536 2048w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2264285557_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=863,647 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2264285557_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=422,317 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2264285557_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=552,414 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2264285557_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=558,419 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2264285557_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=527,395 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2264285557_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=752,564 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2264285557_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1149,862 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2264285557_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=2000,1500 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2264285557_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=400,300 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2264285557_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=800,600 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2264285557_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1200,900 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2264285557_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1600,1200 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1149px) 100vw, 1149px" /> Over 150 students and staff members of the Shajareh Tayyebeh girls’ elementary school in Iran were killed in a missile strike. Stringer/Anadolu via Getty Images Nearly five months later, the Trump administration has yet to explain what happened. “The command investigation will take as long as necessary to address all the matters surrounding this incident,” Hegseth said in March. Annie Shiel, U.S. director of the Center for Civilians in Conflict, which advocates for the protection of noncombatants in warfare, said congressional support is “critical” at a moment when the CHMR mission hangs in the balance. “The department is violating U.S. laws and policies that have grown out of hard-learned lessons from past wars and garnered bipartisan support across multiple administrations,” Shiel said. Plan Sprung From Civilian Deaths Historically, the military’s prioritizing of civilian protection has followed a pattern, analysts say: A catastrophic incident kills civilians, the Pentagon pledges reviews and reforms, the issue recedes from view and oversight slips until the next disaster. During the Biden administration’s chaotic withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan in August 2021, a missile strike in Kabul killed an aid worker and nine of his relatives, including seven children. Then-Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin apologized and said the department would “endeavor to learn from this horrible mistake.” That incident, along with a New York Times investigation into deaths from U.S. airstrikes, spurred the adoption of the civilian harm mitigation and response action plan in 2022. Proponents didn’t view the plan as a cure-all but called it a step toward breaking the cycle of intermittent attention by making civilian protection a year-round mission. Now that mission is in limbo, and, according to the May inspector general’s report, defense leadership “withheld access” to department tools that track the program’s implementation. “You are in violation of the law right now on civilian harm,” Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., told Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll at a hearing in May. “I’d like to know either A. what the explanation is for why you think it’s OK for you to ignore the law that this Congress passes or B. what you’re planning to do to fix that problem.” The new letter comes as critics, including some Republicans and veteran commanders, grow increasingly vocal about Hegseth’s attempts to overhaul the Department of Defense, which the Trump administration refers to as the Department of War. The secretary’s sweeping terminations of high-ranking officers without public explanation has drawn bipartisan criticism and accusations that the moves are rooted in political vengeance, racism and bias against women. Hegseth has repeatedly condemned military officers for comments lauding diversity, saying in one speech, “We became ‘the woke department.’ … We’re done with that shit.” Hegseth has said that out of respect for the officers he won’t speak about why they were fired. He said it was “very difficult to change the culture of a department that was destroyed by the wrong perspectives with the same officers that were there.” Public rebukes followed Hegseth’s decision last month to effectively fire Gen. Chris Donahue, a respected four-star commander who came up the ranks through the special forces. In 2023, Donahue said that any concerns over wokeness were “BS,” adding: “We’re focused on people, war-fighting and making sure that we’re prepared for the next fight. There ain’t no ‘woke’ here.” The post Amid Mounting War Casualties, Pete Hegseth “Defunded and Impeded” Efforts to Protect Civilians, Lawmakers Say appeared first on ProPublica. This content originally appeared on ProPublica and was authored by Hannah Allam.
Trump’s Corruption, Birthright Citizenship & Olympian Charged w/ Touching Reflecting Pool
Top U.S. & World Headlines — July 6, 2026
Meet Rafael Rubio, NY City Council Employee Released from Delaney Hall After 5 Months in ICE Jail
Record Heat Waves Are Preview of Our Future on a Warming Planet: Climate Writer David Wallace-Wells
Going to Khameini’s funeral with Prof. Marandi
This content originally appeared on The Grayzone and was authored by The Grayzone.
I usually find Claire Cain Miller’s pieces in the New York Times very useful, but her piece on Trump accounts badly misled readers in three ways. While the gist of the piece — that the Trump accounts will increase inequality since they are yet another way for the rich to avoid taxes — is correct, More The post The Problem With Trump’s Baby Accounts appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Pebbles Flintstone and Bamm-Bamm Rubble, from Bamm-Bamm’s debut in The Flintstones season-four episode “Little Bamm-Bamm.” Screen capture from episode four. I usually find Claire Cain Miller’s pieces in the New York Times very useful, but her piece on Trump accounts badly misled readers in three ways. While the gist of the piece — that the Trump accounts will increase inequality since they are yet another way for the rich to avoid taxes — is correct, there is no excuse for misleading readers. The key problem is the comment: “A $1,000 investment at birth could be worth $6,000 at age 18, the Trump administration has estimated.” While this assertion is attributed to the Trump administration, it is essentially accepted as fact. In reality, the idea that the account would increase sixfold over 18 years is close to absurd. The first point here is a simple crime that reporters often commit, it reports the numbers in nominal dollars. I know the New York Times’ readers are very well educated, but I guarantee that next to none of them have any idea how much $6,000 in 2044 will be worth in today’s dollars. It would be roughly $4,000, using the Congressional Budget Office (CBO)’s inflation projections. I know that it is the norm to just report things in nominal dollars, but it is supposed to be a news outlet’s job to convey information. This is not conveying information. It takes ten seconds to adjust nominal dollars for projected inflation. The value in today’s dollars can be written in fewer than ten words. There is zero excuse not to do it. This is a peeve I’ve had with the New York Times and other news outlets for many decades. Why can’t they write numbers in ways that are meaningful to their audience? The worst abuse is with big budget numbers that are meaningless to almost everyone who sees them, as in the $5 billion cost of the Africa AIDS program that Elon Musk nixed. Is that sum a big deal? It’s a lot of money to most of us, but it’s less than 0.08 percent of the budget. Why wouldn’t news outlets provide this information? For what it’s worth, former New York Times Ombudsman Margaret Sullivan agreedcompletely on this point, as did then Washington editor David Leonhardt. Anyhow, this is not a crime that’s unique to Miller’s piece, but it is a huge issue that matters a great deal in this context. The second point is that the $6,000 number assumes a 10 percent nominal return on stocks. While that has been a historic average for the market, the current price-to-earnings ratio for the stock market is near a record 40, more than twice the long-term average. As much as it is stylish to pretend the stock market returns are independent of the economy, in real- world land that is not the case. The CBO projections imply that nominal corporate profits will be around 55 percent higher in 2044 than in 2026. If stock prices have increased six-fold, but profits are up by just 55 percent, it implies that the price-to-earnings ratio in the stock market will be over 150 in 2044. Is that what Claire Cain Miller wants to tell NYT readers? (The rise will be a bit less if we take account of dividend payouts, but companies will not be paying much in dividends relative to their share price when PEs get over 60.) The final point is that Miller does not discuss the biggest obscenity about Trump accounts. Trump is putting $1,000 in kids’ accounts while he is cutting back on Medicaid, food stamps, housing assistance, and other programs that benefit the poor. Now remember, you literally cannot touch this money until the kid turns 18. That is different from the rules on 401(k)s or 529 accounts, where you can pull the money out under some circumstances at no charge, or with a penalty if you don’t meet these circumstances. This means that we can be absolutely certain that in a few years we will have hundreds of thousands of hungry and homeless three-year-olds who have $1,000 sitting in a Trump account that their parents can’t touch. That’s pretty damn MAGA! This first appeared on Dean Baker’s Beat the Press blog. The post The Problem With Trump’s Baby Accounts appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Dean Baker.
Dozen Dead In Russian Missile Strike On Kyiv #Ukraine #War #Breaking
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and was authored by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
Funding the fight against corporate polluters
An innovative new nonprofit called WHEN Justice is turning targeted litigation funding into a powerful tool for justice.
For decades, toxic lead cables lay like giant sea monsters snaking across the bottom of Lake Tahoe. Installed as early telecommunications lines and owned by AT&T, the abandoned cables contained over 100,000 pounds of lead and were slowly deteriorating, leaching contaminants into one of the most iconic lakes in the country. In 2021, the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance, or CSPA, filed a lawsuit to force AT&T to remove the abandoned lead cables. The multimillion-dollar litigation dragged on for over two years. Without sampling and scientific testing, it was difficult to make the case in court. Then Roland Peralta, the founder of a new non-profit called WHEN Justice, offered to provide $100,000 for the science needed to support the litigation. The case quickly changed course. With the new funding, scuba divers went down to the lake floor to collect samples that helped show that the lead in the cables was leaching into the surrounding waters. The crucial piece of missing evidence was found with lead isotopic testing, providing “fingerprints” that showed the lead in the cables was the same as the surrounding contamination in the lake. Once the lead contamination was linked to the cables, AT&T settled the case in nine weeks and removed the cables within months. “That was the ‘aha’ moment, where we realized we could scale this model,” said Peralta. An innovative pay-it-forward model WHEN Justice is built around a simple but deeply powerful idea: Strategic funding at the right moment in litigation can help public-interest cases win. The non-profit raises funds to help pay for the costly pieces of litigation at the intersection of environmental and human health — like scientific testing, expert analysis, and sampling — that smaller entities taking on massive corporations in court frequently cannot afford. Because environmental lawsuits often include cost recovery, WHEN’s donations can sometimes be used repeatedly, helping fund multiple cases from the same original donation. Building off the AT&T case success, WHEN was officially launched on Earth Day in April of 2026. “WHEN made a huge difference in the Lake Tahoe case,” said Erica Maharg, the environmental attorney who represented the sportfishing group against AT&T. “Those funds provided us with the evidence we needed at a critical time in the litigation.” Colin West, founder and CEO of the nonprofit Clean Up the Lake, sees that role as especially important for groups without deep legal budgets. “Being a smaller organization that is trying to step up and take on big litigation against larger entities is challenging,” he said. “A group like WHEN Justice that has closing that funding gap as their core focus fills a need, and a role that others can’t.” The litigation bottleneck Adequate funding is critical in today’s environmental justice landscape. Currently, much of the environmental law enforcement that forces powerful entities to clean up pollution is being done by individuals and nonprofit organizations. “We think of government and regulators as being the primary enforcement mechanisms. But in reality, many environmental cleanups happen because of the efforts of small organizations,” said Maharg. For those groups, the main obstacle is usually not the legal standard, but the cost of assembling the scientific evidence needed to support the case. “If you’re going up against big companies, litigation is so expensive,” said WHEN’s chief executive and legal officer, Jacqueline Biner. “The way the legal system is set up right now, it sadly is not always about the merits of the case. It’s often just about who has more money.” WHEN’s model is designed to help remove that barrier. In another current campaign, the organization is fundraising to support scientific analysis and sampling in a lawsuit involving a long-closed hazardous waste disposal site located on the edge of the San Pablo Bay in California. The lawsuit alleges that toxic substances are now leaching from the landfill into the bay. Together, WHEN and the public are funding experts to conduct sampling and analyze the results, showing how the pollution is moving from the landfill toward the bay, grounding the case in science and data. “There are so many cases out there, like landfills that are leaching contaminants, or factory farms leaking manure and nitrates into water bodies,” said Biner. She sees strategic, targeted litigation funding as a tool that could help fuel a sea change, showing large corporations that it’s more cost-efficient to clean up their own messes and address sources of harm, rather than fighting in court to try to evade responsibility. A new way to demand accountability A serial entrepreneur and the co-founder of wellness company Nutrafol, WHEN’s founder Roland Peralta initially envisioned giving back through traditional philanthropy. But he soon began to see an additional, larger opportunity: By directing strategic funding to organizations fighting expensive David-and-Goliath battles against large corporations, he could help create a healthier planet for future generations. “I kept asking myself, what kind of world will I leave for my son?” he said. By helping cover litigation costs, WHEN can help smaller organizations pursue cases against much larger and better-resourced opponents. “The ability to access funding for litigation is really exciting, because it means that we can take on bigger cases,” said Maharg. “Having a partner like WHEN that can help with fundraising key costs in the litigation makes all the difference in our ability to take on these well-funded polluters.” Over the next several years, WHEN Justice aims to build an infrastructure for a new kind of corporate accountability — helping identify harmful corporate conduct before it becomes irreversible. They plan to give people a direct way to participate in the fight for transparency and justice through crowd-funding. Peralta and Biner envision an interactive platform, where donors can direct their dollars toward the fights that matter most to them. These funds would support both large, precedent-setting cases, and smaller, community-driven campaigns that help local residents confront injustices in their own backyards. Winning is not the only goal, said Biner. “We also believe it is ok to pursue a case that may lose if it will create momentum and pressure. If we educate the courts, place new accountability on corporations, and educate consumers, that moves the needle in a different way.” WHEN’s goal is also to get the public involved. “We think there is so much more power in a million people giving a dollar than in a single person giving a million dollars,” Biner noted. “We want people to become invested in these cases, to follow them, and to become more informed about the legal process.” A call to action That sense of agency is central to WHEN’s purpose. At its core, the model is designed to give people a concrete, accessible way to respond to injustices that might otherwise feel too large or too entrenched to take on. For Peralta, that means creating a clear path that allows ordinary people to turn outrage into action. “Everybody’s angry and appalled about these massive environmental issues, but as an individual, it’s hard to know how to help,” he said. “WHEN Justice is designed to be the call to action button that everyone has been longing for, to help individuals play a role in shutting this madness down by voting with their dollar.” This story was originally published by Grist with the headline Funding the fight against corporate polluters on Jul 6, 2026. This content originally appeared on Grist and was authored by Grist Creative.
A New York City Council employee who was detained at the Delaney Hall ICE jail in Newark, New Jersey, for more than five months was released from custody in June. Rafael Andres Rubio Bohorquez was taken by federal immigration officers in Janua...
A New York City Council employee who was detained at the Delaney Hall ICE jail in Newark, New Jersey, for more than five months was released from custody in June. Rafael Andres Rubio Bohorquez was taken by federal immigration officers in January during a routine asylum interview. Rubio Bohorquez, who is from Venezuela, was detained despite holding temporary protected status that should have shielded him from deportation. “People are sad; detainees are sad. It’s people that try to build a future in this country, people that have complied with the law,” says Rafael Andres Rubio Bohorquez of detained immigrants he met while being held in multiple ICE jails. “They have paid their taxes. They are raising families.” Rubio Bohorquez says he fears being detained again, even though his attorney Gwyneth Hesser says that would be in violation of a court order. “But it seems right now that’s not that much solace, because sometimes things are happening that are outside of the law,” says Hesser. This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
A massive heat dome settled above the eastern half of the United States over the Fourth of July weekend, bringing triple-digit temperatures, disrupting travel and prompting emergency measures for millions of people. At least 25 people died in ...
A massive heat dome settled above the eastern half of the United States over the Fourth of July weekend, bringing triple-digit temperatures, disrupting travel and prompting emergency measures for millions of people. At least 25 people died in New Jersey due to extreme heat and humidity, and more than 185 million people — over half of U.S. residents — were under heat alerts over the weekend. This follows a record-shattering European heat wave that’s been blamed for thousands of deaths across Spain, France and Germany. Climate scientists say the burning of fossil fuels is the primary cause of global warming and the reason why heat waves are becoming longer, hotter and more frequent. “Global warming is accelerating past thresholds that we used to consider unacceptable,” says climate journalist David Wallace-Wells. “There are a lot of questions about why we haven’t prepared adequately for these heat waves,” says Wallace-Wells, but he argues that it is still possible to retrofit the planet to mitigate the climate catastrophe. This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
Trump’s Corruption, Birthright Citizenship & Olympian Charged w/ Touching Reflecting Pool: Norm Eisen
A grand jury in Washington, D.C., has indicted former U.S. Olympic canoeist David “Davey” Hearn on a felony charge for allegedly vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool on June 19. He is facing a possible maximum sentence ...
A grand jury in Washington, D.C., has indicted former U.S. Olympic canoeist David “Davey” Hearn on a felony charge for allegedly vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool on June 19. He is facing a possible maximum sentence of 10 years in prison if convicted. Hearn, who denies the accusations, says he had noticed a partly detached piece of the Reflecting Pool’s blue liner and reached into the water to see what it felt like, when he was quickly arrested and subsequently held in jail for five hours. He is one of at least six people who have been arrested for allegedly vandalizing the Reflecting Pool, which has turned green due to algae blooms despite being painted “American-flag blue” at the behest of President Trump. “We do think that Davey is being scapegoated for the failures of the White House with respect to the Reflecting Pool, that the blame is being shifted,” says Norm Eisen, co-founder and executive chair of Democracy Defenders Fund. “He’s innocent, and we intend to vigorously defend the matter.” Eisen speaks about some of the other 300 cases Democracy Defenders Fund is involved in, including legal fights against the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger and the Trump administration’s executive order that attempted to end birthright citizenship. He also comments on President Trump having made $2.2 billion last year, mostly fueled by cryptocurrency profits. “It’s corruption on a scale we’ve never seen in American history, and, frankly, seldom in world history,” says Eisen. This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
Millions Join Funeral Procession for Iranian Supreme Leader Assassinated in U.S. Strike, Israel Continues Attacks on Lebanon Despite U.S.-Brokered Ceasefire, Dozens Killed in Yemen as Houthis Launch Hodeidah Offensive, Israel Approves New West Bank Settlements and Continues Attacks on Gaza, Family Says Palestinian Doctor Hussam Abu Safiya Was Left Disfigured by Israeli Torture, Thessaloniki Shrouded in Toxic Smoke as Wildfires Follow Record European Heat Wave, At Least 25 Die from Record U.S. Heat Wave Over Fourth of July Weekend, Trump Attacks Opponents as “Communists” in Independence Day Speech Marred by Storms, U.S. to Prosecute Former Olympian for “Damaging” Lincoln Reflecting Pool, Thousands Remain Missing as Death Toll from Venezuelan Quakes Tops 3,300, Russian Attacks on Kyiv Kill at Least 11 After Ukrainian Drones Strike St. Petersburg, Turkey Cracks Down on Dissent as Trump Heads to NATO Summit in Ankara, Pope Visits Lampedusa, Urging Humane Treatment of Migrants and Refugees, Trump Pardons Clean Air Act Violators and Ex-Partner of Jack Abramoff, FIFA Lifts Suspension of U.S. Striker After Trump Intervenes, Amnesty International Says Chinese “Ethnic Unity” Law Would Accelerate Forced Assimilation, Activist Self-Immolates Outside U.N. to Demand Tibet’s Independence from China
Millions Join Funeral Procession for Iranian Supreme Leader Assassinated in U.S. Strike Israel Continues Attacks on Lebanon Despite U.S.-Brokered Ceasefire Dozens Killed in Yemen as Houthis Launch Hodeidah Offensive Israel Approves New West Bank Settlements and Continues Attacks on Gaza Family Says Palestinian Doctor Hussam Abu Safiya Was Left Disfigured by Israeli Torture Thessaloniki Shrouded in Toxic Smoke as Wildfires Follow Record European Heat Wave At Least 25 Die from Record U.S. Heat Wave Over Fourth of July Weekend Trump Attacks Opponents as "Communists" in Independence Day Speech Marred by Storms U.S. to Prosecute Former Olympian for "Damaging" Lincoln Reflecting Pool Thousands Remain Missing as Death Toll from Venezuelan Quakes Tops 3,300 Russian Attacks on Kyiv Kill at Least 11 After Ukrainian Drones Strike St. Petersburg Turkey Cracks Down on Dissent as Trump Heads to NATO Summit in Ankara Pope Visits Lampedusa, Urging Humane Treatment of Migrants and Refugees Trump Pardons Clean Air Act Violators and Ex-Partner of Jack Abramoff FIFA Lifts Suspension of U.S. Striker After Trump Intervenes Amnesty International Says Chinese "Ethnic Unity" Law Would Accelerate Forced Assimilation Activist Self-Immolates Outside U.N. to Demand Tibet's Independence from China This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
Democracy Now! Monday, July 6, 2026 This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! Audio and was authored by Democracy Now!.
These Immigrant Kids Were Once Protected. Under Trump, Their Deportations Have Tripled.
The post These Immigrant Kids Were Once Protected. Under Trump, Their Deportations Have Tripled. appeared first on ProPublica.
Elder Chavez crossed the border as an unaccompanied minor in 2022. Now 18, he sits in Louisiana’s Winn Correctional Center facing deportation after a traffic violation. Emily Scherer for ProPublica. Source images: Courtesy of the Chavez family, JMS2/Flickr, mikepick/Flickr, and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. For the first few weeks after he arrived at the immigration detention center in Winnfield, Louisiana, 18-year-old Elder Chavez was wide awake most nights, listening to the creaky sounds of the bunk beds and to voices of dozens of men, also sleepless, around him. He suffered terrible headaches and would finally doze off around 4 a.m. — just when guards would begin to summon the detainees for breakfast. Then he’d sleep for most of the rest of the day. He had developed the schedule of an owl. And he thought to himself that the dark circles that had appeared under his eyes made him look like one. He’d landed at the Winn Correctional Center after Alabama state police had caught him in December going 15 mph over the speed limit and driving without a license. He was on his way home from getting his favorite sandwich, carne asada, when he was pulled over. Once the officers realized he was an immigrant, they called U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Chavez offered to show them documents that proved he wasn’t living in hiding. Immigration authorities had granted him Special Immigrant Juvenile Status because, as a toddler, he’d been abandoned by his parents in Honduras and had come to this country on his own when he was 14. His sister, who’d migrated years earlier and was living in Alabama, offered to help take care of him. A lawyer was helping him pursue permanent residency. “I’m legal in this country,” Chavez pleaded with the officers. But the officers, he said, weren’t having it. One of them told him, “Your papers are of no use to me.” And just like that, an otherwise law-abiding high school student — who loved his welding and carpentry classes, had braces and a girlfriend, and spent weekends playing soccer at the park with his nieces and nephews — was thrown into detention and put on a path toward deportation. “I’m just waiting here,” he said during a video call from detention. “I really don’t know what’s going to happen to me.” ProPublica is continuing to report on the way immigration policy is impacting kids and is now focusing on outgoing high school seniors. If you or someone you know has a story to share about the class of 2026, email us at immigration@propublica.org or message us on WhatsApp at 917- 207-6447. You can also help us spread the word about our reporting by distributing this flyer in your community. Chavez is hardly alone. A first-of-its-kind analysis of Immigration and Customs Enforcement data found that unaccompanied minors living in the U.S. are being detained and removed at about three times the rate they were during the last time President Donald Trump was in office. In addition, a ProPublica analysis of court data found that immigration judges, who report to the Justice Department, have issued more than 10,000 removal and voluntary departure orders each month for immigrant minors who either migrated alone or with relatives, a rate that is nearly four times higher than in Trump’s last term. The vast majority of unaccompanied minors removed last year had no criminal history in the United States, ProPublica’s analysis of ICE data showed. Before Trump returned to office last year, Chavez would have likely been given a ticket and allowed to return to his sister. But as part of the president’s mass deportation campaign, his administration has moved to systematically roll back policies that provided immigrant minors access to legal counsel and relief from deportation while they pursued permission to permanently stay in the country. Those policies were based on laws that had been implemented over more than two decades, with bipartisan support, because both parties believed unaccompanied immigrant minors — ill-prepared to navigate a new country on their own, much less a legal system daunting to most adults — are especially vulnerable to trafficking and other kinds of exploitation. Congress created SIJ specifically to protect immigrants, like Chavez, who are under 21 and are able to prove in family court that they had been abused, neglected or abandoned by at least one parent in their home countries. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="1128" width="752" data-id="83771" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260528-Sanchez-Alabama-Sister-101-48_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?w=752" alt="The silhouette of a pregnant woman standing in profile before a window with closed blinds and sheer curtains." class="wp-image-83771" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260528-Sanchez-Alabama-Sister-101-48_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260528-Sanchez-Alabama-Sister-101-48_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=200,300 200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260528-Sanchez-Alabama-Sister-101-48_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=768,1152 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260528-Sanchez-Alabama-Sister-101-48_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=683,1024 683w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260528-Sanchez-Alabama-Sister-101-48_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1024,1536 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260528-Sanchez-Alabama-Sister-101-48_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1365,2048 1365w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260528-Sanchez-Alabama-Sister-101-48_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=863,1295 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260528-Sanchez-Alabama-Sister-101-48_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=422,633 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260528-Sanchez-Alabama-Sister-101-48_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=552,828 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260528-Sanchez-Alabama-Sister-101-48_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=558,837 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260528-Sanchez-Alabama-Sister-101-48_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=527,791 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260528-Sanchez-Alabama-Sister-101-48_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=752,1128 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260528-Sanchez-Alabama-Sister-101-48_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1149,1724 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260528-Sanchez-Alabama-Sister-101-48_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1067,1600 1067w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260528-Sanchez-Alabama-Sister-101-48_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=400,600 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260528-Sanchez-Alabama-Sister-101-48_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=800,1200 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260528-Sanchez-Alabama-Sister-101-48_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1200,1800 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260528-Sanchez-Alabama-Sister-101-48_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1600,2400 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" /> <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="1128" width="752" data-id="83769" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260528-Sanchez-Alabama-Sister-101_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?w=752" alt="A simple, handmade wooden plank chair sits on a grassy lawn in front of a light blue house with a raised porch." class="wp-image-83769" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260528-Sanchez-Alabama-Sister-101_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260528-Sanchez-Alabama-Sister-101_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=200,300 200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260528-Sanchez-Alabama-Sister-101_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=768,1152 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260528-Sanchez-Alabama-Sister-101_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=683,1024 683w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260528-Sanchez-Alabama-Sister-101_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1024,1536 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260528-Sanchez-Alabama-Sister-101_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1365,2048 1365w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260528-Sanchez-Alabama-Sister-101_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=863,1295 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260528-Sanchez-Alabama-Sister-101_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=422,633 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260528-Sanchez-Alabama-Sister-101_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=552,828 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260528-Sanchez-Alabama-Sister-101_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=558,837 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260528-Sanchez-Alabama-Sister-101_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=527,791 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260528-Sanchez-Alabama-Sister-101_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=752,1128 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260528-Sanchez-Alabama-Sister-101_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1149,1724 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260528-Sanchez-Alabama-Sister-101_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1067,1600 1067w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260528-Sanchez-Alabama-Sister-101_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=400,600 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260528-Sanchez-Alabama-Sister-101_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=800,1200 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260528-Sanchez-Alabama-Sister-101_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1200,1800 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260528-Sanchez-Alabama-Sister-101_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1600,2400 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" /> Chavez, abandoned by his parents as a toddler, traveled to the U.S. to live with his older sister, Mayuri Chavez, left, when he was 14. He enrolled in high school in Alabama and excelled at classes like carpentry. His sister keeps a chair he made in carpentry class in their backyard. Zaydee Sanchez/ProPublica Trump administration officials have long argued that not only are the programs designed to help unaccompanied minors rife with fraud, but that their very existence has encouraged hundreds of thousands of children to embark on dangerous journeys to the border, increasing their risk of falling into criminal hands. To make its case, his administration points to the record 450,000 unaccompanied minors who arrived at the U.S.-Mexico border and were released into the country under President Joe Biden. Neither those children nor the people to whom they were released were properly vetted, say Trump administration officials. As a result, administration officials say, some of the children became victims of abuse or exploitation. Alarming numbers of them were found working illegally in factories or in other jobs that put them at risk for trafficking, injury and wage theft. Other minors, the administration has said, became criminals. It put out a July 2025 government report that said since 2013, some 19,000 SIJ petitioners were found to have criminal arrest records, including hundreds with serious charges like murder and sex offenses. The administration says the best way to stop such abuses and criminality is to disincentivize immigrant children from coming in the first place. White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said Trump is “undoing the damage Biden did.” Responding to questions about ProPublica’s data analysis, which was based on data provided via Freedom of Information Act requests and was validated with outside experts, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said the agency “could not verify the veracity” of the data. Advocates argue that the administration is using exceptional cases to cast all immigrant minors and the adults who sponsored them in a negative light. They say that some of their clients who have been living in the U.S. for years, including those, like Chavez, who have since turned 18, face serious risks if sent back to their home countries. The majority of the unaccompanied minors who have come to the United States in the last decade were fleeing Central American countries crushed by economic turmoil, violence and political upheaval. Some came from families riven by poverty and domestic violence. Some, like Chavez, have no parents to go back to. “These children have been through incredibly harrowing and traumatic experiences,” said Michael Lukens, the executive director of the Amica Center for Immigrant Rights, a legal defense organization. “And ICE is retraumatizing them.” To the administration’s claims that its policies are aimed at protecting minors, he said, “If you’re worried about the welfare of kids, stop rounding kids up and trying to deport them.” ICE Is Detaining and Deporting More People in the Country Who Entered as Unaccompanied Minors A growing number of immigrants who came to the U.S. as minors without parents or legal guardians are being arrested in the country’s interior and removed via deportation or voluntary departure orders. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="721" width="752" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/removals-and-voluntary-departures-of-unaccompanied-minors.png?w=752" alt="A chart shows the number of people who entered the country as unaccompanied minors who were living in the country and were removed by ICE, either through deportations or voluntary departures. During Trump’s second term, the total removed in most months was over 15 people, much higher than during the Biden administration and the final years of Trump’s first administration." class="wp-image-85418" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/removals-and-voluntary-departures-of-unaccompanied-minors.png 1560w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/removals-and-voluntary-departures-of-unaccompanied-minors.png?resize=300,288 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/removals-and-voluntary-departures-of-unaccompanied-minors.png?resize=768,736 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/removals-and-voluntary-departures-of-unaccompanied-minors.png?resize=1024,982 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/removals-and-voluntary-departures-of-unaccompanied-minors.png?resize=1536,1473 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/removals-and-voluntary-departures-of-unaccompanied-minors.png?resize=863,828 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/removals-and-voluntary-departures-of-unaccompanied-minors.png?resize=422,405 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/removals-and-voluntary-departures-of-unaccompanied-minors.png?resize=552,529 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/removals-and-voluntary-departures-of-unaccompanied-minors.png?resize=558,535 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/removals-and-voluntary-departures-of-unaccompanied-minors.png?resize=527,505 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/removals-and-voluntary-departures-of-unaccompanied-minors.png?resize=752,721 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/removals-and-voluntary-departures-of-unaccompanied-minors.png?resize=1149,1102 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/removals-and-voluntary-departures-of-unaccompanied-minors.png?resize=400,384 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/removals-and-voluntary-departures-of-unaccompanied-minors.png?resize=800,767 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/removals-and-voluntary-departures-of-unaccompanied-minors.png?resize=1200,1151 1200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" /> Note: Some of the immigrants who entered as minors are now over 18, and some were reunited with family members or other sponsors after they arrived. This chart includes only minors detained by ICE and does not include minors arrested by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. December 2025 data covers only part of the month. Source: ProPublica analysis of ICE data released through the Freedom of Information Act Jeff Ernsthausen/ProPublica Sometimes the deportation orders issued in immigration court have been coming so fast that lawyers say even they have a hard time explaining them to their clients. Within a span of three hours on a single morning in April in a downtown New York immigration courtroom, Judge Jem Sponzo issued deportation orders for 25 minors, almost everyone on her docket appearing virtually that morning. Some of the hearings were only a few minutes long, and some of the minors were too young to understand what was happening to them. Among the children in court that day was an 8-year old girl from Ecuador who was seeking asylum and SIJ. The girl’s mother had already won asylum in a separate case. But Sponzo ordered the girl to be deported anyway. In another case, an attorney pleaded for more time to prepare enough evidence to support an asylum petition for her client from Guatemala. The attorney said her client’s home in Guatemala was dominated by an abusive father whose violence made it hard for her to gather information she needed for the case. Sponzo politely denied the request, saying, “I empathize and thank you for your efforts.” Then she ordered the child deported. A high school senior from Guatemala who lives in Queens, with side-swept black hair and wearing a short sleeve athletic shirt, appeared on a video screen from a room with piled-up clothes on the bed and an American flag tacked on the wall. He stayed on mute while his lawyer asked for more time for his applications for SIJ and asylum to be processed. Sponzo said no and ordered him deported. His lawyer said in an interview her client is now afraid he could be picked up by ICE at any time. At the end of the day, several of the attorneys said they felt blindsided by the judge’s rapid-fire denials. Although they all said they would appeal her rulings, which could buy their clients some time to stay in the U.S., one said the deportation orders would “hang over their heads like a loaded gun.” Olivia Cassin, a former immigration judge who oversaw juvenile dockets in New York, said that before Trump returned to office, there was widespread recognition that it took time for immigrant minors’ SIJ and asylum petitions to work their way through the backlogged system. For SIJ recipients, getting a green card often takes years. Judges typically gave minors that time. Now the authorities overseeing immigration courts have instructed them not to do so. Sponzo cited those instructions at the end of many of the cases she heard that day in April. Cassin is one of the more than 100 immigration judges who have been fired since Trump returned to office. Some of the judges who lost their jobs said they believe they were pushed out because the administration saw them as not aligned with its agenda. But they also say they’ve received no official explanation for their firings. Sponzo was also fired recently. She could not be reached for comment. The Justice Department did not respond to questions about the firings. Since the Start of Trump’s Second Term, Immigration Courts Have Averaged More Than 10,000 Removals of Minors Per Month <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="725" width="752" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/removals-and-voluntary-departures-of-minors.png?w=752" alt="A chart shows that since Trump took office in January of last year, an average of 10,000 minors each month — who crossed both unaccompanied and with their families into the United States — have been issued removal orders by immigration judges who operate under the executive branch. The rate is nearly four times higher than during Trump’s first term." class="wp-image-85424" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/removals-and-voluntary-departures-of-minors.png 1560w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/removals-and-voluntary-departures-of-minors.png?resize=300,289 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/removals-and-voluntary-departures-of-minors.png?resize=768,740 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/removals-and-voluntary-departures-of-minors.png?resize=1024,987 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/removals-and-voluntary-departures-of-minors.png?resize=1536,1481 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/removals-and-voluntary-departures-of-minors.png?resize=863,832 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/removals-and-voluntary-departures-of-minors.png?resize=422,407 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/removals-and-voluntary-departures-of-minors.png?resize=552,532 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/removals-and-voluntary-departures-of-minors.png?resize=558,538 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/removals-and-voluntary-departures-of-minors.png?resize=527,508 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/removals-and-voluntary-departures-of-minors.png?resize=752,725 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/removals-and-voluntary-departures-of-minors.png?resize=1149,1108 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/removals-and-voluntary-departures-of-minors.png?resize=400,386 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/removals-and-voluntary-departures-of-minors.png?resize=800,771 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/removals-and-voluntary-departures-of-minors.png?resize=1200,1157 1200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" /> Source: ProPublica analysis of court data from the Executive Office for Immigration Review Jeff Ernsthausen/ProPublica It’s not just the overhaul of the immigration courts that is having an effect on immigrant kids. Early on in Trump’s second term, officials moved to curb funding for advocacy groups that provide legal services to unaccompanied minors. It also put an end to a Biden-era policy known as “deferred action,” which protected minors who had been granted SIJ from deportation. SIJ on its own does not confer legal status, and the deferred action policy was implemented to cover those with SIJ until they could get their green cards. After advocacy groups took the administration to court, federal judges ordered the government to restore funding for legal assistance and access to deferred action for SIJ recipients. Despite those rulings, some legal advocates say they still have not been paid what they’re owed. And earlier this month, several groups said federal agents appeared at their Washington-area offices, seeking to look at client files, even though they didn’t have warrants. The advocates said they saw the move as an attempt to intimidate them. As for granting deferred action, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said in a statement that the agency would do so only under “compelling circumstances on a case-by-case basis.” DHS, which oversees USCIS and ICE, emphasized in an email that having SIJ “does NOT confer lawful status,” adding that “any recipient may be subject to removal.” The agency did not respond to a question about the agents who visited advocates’ offices. Over the last year, the administration says it has tracked down 146,000 of the unaccompanied minors who entered the country under Biden in order to check on their well-being. The majority of all the minors who entered the country in recent years had been released to one or both parents in the United States or to other close relatives. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said at a June press conference that some of the welfare checks found minors were doing fine with their families. But he asserted that he’d also tracked down children who were in the hands of rapists and other criminals. “We start digging into these cases and you start hearing absolute horrific things,” he said. When asked for verifiable details about some of the cases Mullin mentioned, DHS did not respond. A DHS spokesperson later sent a list of 16 people who had sponsored immigrant minors and had previously been charged with crimes including assault, drug trafficking or domestic violence. Meanwhile, Justice Department officials said they’d indicted less than a handful of people on charges of smuggling or exploiting immigrant minors. No officials from DHS or the Justice Department explained what had become of any of the children connected to those indictments. As for immigrants who had entered the U.S. as children and are now adults, Mullin said, “we are working on the process of sending them back.” <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="383" width="1149" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/ElderDpt_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?w=1149" alt="A three-paneled sequence shows a young man with dark hair speaking on a black landline telephone. Across the frames, his expressions shift from focused to serious to smiling, captured inside what appears to be a visitation room with a window in the background." class="wp-image-83774" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/ElderDpt_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg 2231w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/ElderDpt_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=300,100 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/ElderDpt_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=768,256 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/ElderDpt_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1024,341 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/ElderDpt_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1536,512 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/ElderDpt_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2048,683 2048w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/ElderDpt_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=863,288 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/ElderDpt_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=422,141 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/ElderDpt_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=552,184 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/ElderDpt_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=558,186 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/ElderDpt_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=527,176 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/ElderDpt_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=752,251 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/ElderDpt_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1149,383 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/ElderDpt_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2000,667 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/ElderDpt_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=400,133 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/ElderDpt_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=800,267 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/ElderDpt_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1200,400 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/ElderDpt_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1600,534 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1149px) 100vw, 1149px" /> ProPublica spoke with Chavez over video calls from a Louisiana detention center, where he’s been locked up for six months. ProPublica Soon after Chavez arrived in detention, one of the men in his cell recognized the teen’s pattern of sleeping through the day as a silent cry for help. Carlos Della Valle, who had migrated to the United States from Mexico, was attuned to Chavez’s struggles because he had a son around the same age. Even in detention, Chavez, with a head full of tousled black hair and big brown eyes, had an easy laugh and smile. Della Valle worried that Chavez was “losing valuable time that he’s never going to get back.” Winn was a tough place, advocates and detainees said. Two migrants died there earlier this year. One of the deaths was reportedly caused by cardiovascular disease, and authorities have not determined a cause for the other. A recent report by the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General described unsafe and unsanitary conditions at Winn, including leaking ceilings, dirty food prep areas and an incident in which a guard put a detainee in a prohibited choke hold. A DHS spokesperson said that the agency is working to address the issues raised in the report, adding, “our death rates are lower than most state prisons.” Della Valle began nudging young Chavez out of bed in the mornings and put him to work helping keep their cellblock clean. Detainees were given an hour a day outside, sometimes less than that. Della Valle told Chavez that keeping himself busy, in whatever constructive ways possible, was the only way to make it through the monotony with his sanity intact. Chavez briefly took a job in the barber shop that paid the standard wage for someone in detention — $1 a day — but he said that giving haircuts to around 80 men in a shift was so grueling that he only lasted a month. Instead, Chavez and Della Valle pored over passages from the Bible together. They sat together for most every meal. Chavez learned to mix packets of powdered juice just the way Della Valle liked it. Della Valle offered to help Chavez navigate the immigration system. He knew it well. In 1997 he’d twice illegally entered the United States. He was deported the first time but illegally entered again, married a U.S. citizen soon after and settled in Pennsylvania. Because of his reentry, which is a felony, he has been ineligible to regularize his status. But he lived underground with little worry. Immigration authorities generally avoided targeting immigrants with long ties to their communities, like him. Not anymore. Authorities intercepted Della Valle when he and his wife were returning from a Virgin Islands vacation, though they released him on bond at the time. Months later, however, he was taken into ICE detention. By the time he met Chavez, he had spent months being transferred among close to a dozen holding facilities. He worried about what detention might do to Chavez. Other men in his cellblock, who nicknamed Chavez “El Niño,” worried too. “It was hard to see him, you know, because he’s just a boy. He’s not a grown man,” Della Valle said. “I had to do whatever I could for him.” <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="1128" width="752" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260602-Sanchez-Philly-4_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?w=752" alt="A close-up profile portrait of a man with short hair and light stubble looking thoughtfully out a window beside a dark curtain." class="wp-image-83772" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260602-Sanchez-Philly-4_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260602-Sanchez-Philly-4_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=200,300 200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260602-Sanchez-Philly-4_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=768,1152 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260602-Sanchez-Philly-4_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=683,1024 683w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260602-Sanchez-Philly-4_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1024,1536 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260602-Sanchez-Philly-4_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1365,2048 1365w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260602-Sanchez-Philly-4_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=863,1295 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260602-Sanchez-Philly-4_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=422,633 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260602-Sanchez-Philly-4_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=552,828 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260602-Sanchez-Philly-4_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=558,837 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260602-Sanchez-Philly-4_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=527,791 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260602-Sanchez-Philly-4_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=752,1128 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260602-Sanchez-Philly-4_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1149,1724 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260602-Sanchez-Philly-4_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1067,1600 1067w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260602-Sanchez-Philly-4_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=400,600 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260602-Sanchez-Philly-4_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=800,1200 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260602-Sanchez-Philly-4_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1200,1800 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260602-Sanchez-Philly-4_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1600,2400 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" /> After noticing how Chavez was handling detention, Carlos Della Valle befriended the teenager and tried to comfort him. Now released and back home with his wife, Della Valle is advocating for Chavez’s release as well. Zaydee Sanchez/ProPublica While the administration has made progress bending immigration courts to its will, there’s evidence that federal courts, where tens of thousands of immigrants have challenged their detentions as illegal, are pushing back. The National Immigration Project, a nonprofit legal advocacy group, tracked the cases of 263 immigrants who entered the country as unaccompanied minors and SIJ applicants. The group found that federal judges ordered releases or bond hearings in all but 12 of them since the start of the second Trump administration. In March, U.S. District Judge Gary Brown issued a scathing rebuke in one such case, writing, “The laws of human decency condemn such villainy.” The administration can set policy, he wrote, but he added that “it is forbidden from trampling our system of laws — a system which has safeguarded this nation for close to 250 years.” Among those recently released was 20-year-old Fredy Martinez. Born in Honduras, he was a teenager when he crossed the border as an unaccompanied minor. He had graduated from high school in Texas and was delivering a DoorDash order on his bike when he was detained, according to court documents about his case. He was held for eight months at a sprawling and deeply troubled tent detention camp in El Paso, Texas — which has seen a measles outbreak and detainee deaths, including one ruled a homicide — before a federal judge found his detention was illegal and ordered him released. DHS did not respond to a question about the center. Another teenager named Carlos from Guatemala said in an interview that he was detained on his way to work at a car wash in Rockland County, New York, when he was 18, despite having been granted SIJ and deferred action. He was flown over 1,000 miles to a detention facility in Louisiana, though not the same one as Chavez. Carlos asked to be identified only by his first name because of his ongoing immigration case. After his arrest, he said, “I was just thinking that I would never see my family again.” Carlos was held for more than two months before a federal judge set him free. The DHS spokesperson did not answer questions about any individual cases. They said federal court rulings against the administration “should come as no surprise,” since “many activist judges have attempted to thwart President Trump from fulfilling the American people’s mandate.” <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="766" width="1149" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/20260528-Sanchez-Alabama-Sister-101-43_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000-1.jpg?w=1149" alt="A person holds a smartphone displaying an active call screen and keypad, with a blue patterned bedspread and stuffed animals blurred in the background." class="wp-image-85476" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/20260528-Sanchez-Alabama-Sister-101-43_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000-1.jpg 3000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/20260528-Sanchez-Alabama-Sister-101-43_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000-1.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/20260528-Sanchez-Alabama-Sister-101-43_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000-1.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/20260528-Sanchez-Alabama-Sister-101-43_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000-1.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/20260528-Sanchez-Alabama-Sister-101-43_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000-1.jpg?resize=1536,1024 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/20260528-Sanchez-Alabama-Sister-101-43_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000-1.jpg?resize=2048,1365 2048w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/20260528-Sanchez-Alabama-Sister-101-43_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000-1.jpg?resize=863,575 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/20260528-Sanchez-Alabama-Sister-101-43_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000-1.jpg?resize=422,281 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/20260528-Sanchez-Alabama-Sister-101-43_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000-1.jpg?resize=552,368 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/20260528-Sanchez-Alabama-Sister-101-43_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000-1.jpg?resize=558,372 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/20260528-Sanchez-Alabama-Sister-101-43_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000-1.jpg?resize=527,351 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/20260528-Sanchez-Alabama-Sister-101-43_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000-1.jpg?resize=752,501 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/20260528-Sanchez-Alabama-Sister-101-43_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000-1.jpg?resize=1149,766 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/20260528-Sanchez-Alabama-Sister-101-43_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000-1.jpg?resize=459,306 459w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/20260528-Sanchez-Alabama-Sister-101-43_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000-1.jpg?resize=2000,1333 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/20260528-Sanchez-Alabama-Sister-101-43_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000-1.jpg?resize=400,267 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/20260528-Sanchez-Alabama-Sister-101-43_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000-1.jpg?resize=800,533 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/20260528-Sanchez-Alabama-Sister-101-43_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000-1.jpg?resize=1200,800 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/20260528-Sanchez-Alabama-Sister-101-43_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000-1.jpg?resize=1600,1067 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1149px) 100vw, 1149px" /> Chavez and his sister try to speak daily when he calls from detention, helping each other cope with the separation. Zaydee Sanchez/ProPublica Six months into his detention, Chavez is on his own. He was ordered deported but is appealing the decision and filed a habeas petition. Della Valle has been released, thanks to his wife’s outspoken advocacy. His release was bittersweet for Chavez. But Della Valle has not forgotten him. Della Valle and his wife, Angela Della Valle, have helped Chavez’s sister, Mayuri Chavez, to pay off his outstanding traffic tickets and prepare his defense. The couple started a letter-writing campaign for him. They’ve passed out flyers with a picture of a chair Chavez made in carpentry class, asking people to color it in and send him messages of encouragement. Della Valle said he feels pangs of guilt about leaving Chavez behind. He still speaks to Chavez most days and tries to keep the teen’s spirits up, but worries his words don’t carry the same weight now that he’s out. Della Valle tries to convince himself that Chavez will be OK, saying, “I think me being out might be good for him because he knows that there’s hope.” <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="395" width="527" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/drawings_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?w=527" alt="Several decorated coloring pages are arranged on a wooden table, each featuring a drawing of a simple wooden plank chair with the phrase “bring Elder home” in colorful lettering at the top." class="wp-image-83773" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/drawings_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg 2759w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/drawings_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=300,225 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/drawings_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=768,576 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/drawings_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1024,768 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/drawings_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1536,1152 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/drawings_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2048,1536 2048w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/drawings_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=863,647 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/drawings_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=422,316 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/drawings_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=552,414 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/drawings_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=558,418 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/drawings_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=527,395 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/drawings_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=752,564 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/drawings_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1149,862 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/drawings_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2000,1500 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/drawings_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=400,300 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/drawings_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=800,600 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/drawings_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1200,900 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/drawings_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1600,1200 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 527px) 100vw, 527px" /> Children in an Alabama classroom colored pages to support Chavez. Courtesy Meanwhile, Chavez has been moved to different cells multiple times. One had only a single functional shower for dozens of men. The video call system often malfunctioned. Someone stole his small notebook, where he had carefully written down all the telephone numbers of the people he was in touch with outside. One night he dreamt he was free. When he woke up and realized he was still in detention, he panicked and had trouble breathing. He said he has been trying to keep up the routine he started when Della Valle was there, but each passing week makes it harder. In a series of interviews from detention, Chavez worried about losing half his junior year of high school. He missed a required English test and a deadline to turn in a history project, and now that the school year is over, he is unclear if he will be able to make the assignments up to be able to graduate on time. His sister spent a lot of money to get him braces, and without regular adjustments he worries it will all be for nothing. He missed the birth of his new nephew, and he is unsure if he will be able to meet him. “I had so many plans,” he said, “but now everything is ruined.” How We Identified Young People in the Immigration System For this story, ProPublica analyzed several datasets released by the federal government under the Freedom of Information Act. To calculate the number of minors being ordered deported or granted voluntary removal each month in immigration court, ProPublica analyzed immigration court data released by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Executive Office for Immigration Review. For that calculation, we counted someone as a minor if they were under 18 at the time they received a removal or voluntary departure decision from an immigration judge. If someone did not have a birthdate listed in the data, we did not count them as a minor. Our results did not meaningfully change when we estimated how many of the people missing birthdates were likely to be minors. We calculated the number of unaccompanied minors who were arrested in the interior of the country and were removed or voluntarily departed after being detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement by analyzing ICE detention data obtained via the Freedom of Information Act. Versions of this dataset were originally released to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse and The New York Times. It covers detentions from October 2018 through mid-December 2025 and has a field flagging detainees as unaccompanied minors. We excluded people who were arrested by U.S. Customs and Border Protection from our calculation so that we could isolate the effects of the administration’s interior enforcement efforts, which have been led by ICE. Our figures only include individuals who were detained by ICE at some point in time, including those who were held briefly in hold rooms or hotels, and therefore may represent an undercount of total unaccompanied minors who were removed or voluntarily departed from the country. In calculating the share of unaccompanied minors who were removed or voluntarily departed who had a criminal background in the U.S., we included anyone listed as having a conviction or pending charge at the time of their removal that was not a traffic- or immigration-related offense. We ran our methodology and analysis past several former and current Department of Homeland Security officials. We also spoke with experts who have previously analyzed immigration data, including Susan Long of the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse; Ingrid Eagly of the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law; Michael Danielson of the Acacia Center for Justice; and immigration researchers Joseph Gunther and Brandon Marrow. The post These Immigrant Kids Were Once Protected. Under Trump, Their Deportations Have Tripled. appeared first on ProPublica. This content originally appeared on ProPublica and was authored by Mica Rosenberg.
Democracy Now! for Broadcasters - HD MP4
Monday Democracy Now! show for rebroadcast - HD
Monday Democracy Now! show for rebroadcast - HD This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! for Broadcasters - HD MP4 and was authored by Democracy Now! for Broadcasters - HD MP4.
Left in the Dust: How a Billionaire-Owned Concrete Plant Took Over a Detroit Community
The post Left in the Dust: How a Billionaire-Owned Concrete Plant Took Over a Detroit Community appeared first on ProPublica.
A view of the Kronos concrete mixing plant from the front porch of longtime resident Christina Kary. Her family built the first homes on her block, and she is determined to stay in the neighborhood. Brittany Greeson for ProPublica The abandoned house next door meant a lot to Christina Kary. For years, she tended to it, planting purple flowers, removing weeds and picking up trash. She attached locks to the doors to prevent trespassers from entering. She had considered buying the property, located on the Cadillac Heights block where her family built the first houses in the early 1900s. Several years ago, she learned that the small home with a front porch was owned by the Detroit Land Bank Authority, which manages the city’s vacant properties. Kary, 86, said she told a land bank inspector she wanted to purchase it but didn’t follow up, thinking she would eventually hear back. Then, one morning in 2024, she heard a commotion as heavy equipment squeezed through the alley. Kary watched from her backyard as the house was demolished, her feet vibrating beneath her. She marked the day in yellow highlighter on her paper wall calendar where she records other notable events like birthdays, doctor appointments and Bible study meetups. She would later learn that the city had sold the home to Crown Enterprises, a real estate firm owned by members of the Detroit area’s wealthy and politically connected Moroun family. Over the last seven years, Crown has obtained dozens of parcels in Cadillac Heights and secured permits to demolish more than 20 structures. In all, the company now owns more than 160 lots in the neighborhood, most of which are barren. It also has erected a concrete-mixing plant just across the street from Kary’s home, creating clouds of dust, noise at early hours of the day and late into the night, and industrial lights that pierce through the area. The company’s takeover of the southeast section of the neighborhood has marked the end of the community Kary and her neighbors knew — a process aided by the decisions of city officials. First, the city turned over dozens of properties to the company as part of a historic land-swap deal in 2019 and then gave it first dibs to purchase other lots, including the one next to Kary’s home, until 2034. The city has also enabled the company in other ways, providing latitude on permitting and neighborhood maintenance. For instance, although city inspectors have repeatedly ticketed the company for violating rules limiting the spread of dust, the city also set up a system under which the company’s fines were dismissed. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="766" width="1149" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251018-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-200_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?w=1149" alt="A woman stands on a lawn, smiling, in front of a small brick building. Around her, on the edge of the lawn, are small gardens with colorful flowers and small statues." class="wp-image-85513" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251018-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-200_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg 3000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251018-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-200_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251018-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-200_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251018-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-200_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251018-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-200_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1536,1024 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251018-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-200_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2048,1365 2048w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251018-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-200_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=863,575 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251018-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-200_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=422,281 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251018-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-200_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=552,368 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251018-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-200_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=558,372 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251018-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-200_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=527,351 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251018-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-200_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=752,501 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251018-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-200_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1149,766 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251018-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-200_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=459,306 459w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251018-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-200_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2000,1333 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251018-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-200_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=400,267 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251018-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-200_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=800,533 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251018-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-200_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1200,800 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251018-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-200_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1600,1067 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1149px) 100vw, 1149px" /> Christina Kary in the backyard of her home in the Detroit neighborhood Cadillac Heights. Sarahbeth Maney/ProPublica <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="501" width="752" data-id="85508" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/17138-Moran-St-street-view-PDcrop_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?w=752" alt="A row of houses and a parked truck, seen from the street." class="wp-image-85508" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/17138-Moran-St-street-view-PDcrop_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg 2571w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/17138-Moran-St-street-view-PDcrop_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/17138-Moran-St-street-view-PDcrop_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/17138-Moran-St-street-view-PDcrop_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/17138-Moran-St-street-view-PDcrop_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1536,1024 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/17138-Moran-St-street-view-PDcrop_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2048,1365 2048w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/17138-Moran-St-street-view-PDcrop_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=863,575 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/17138-Moran-St-street-view-PDcrop_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=422,281 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/17138-Moran-St-street-view-PDcrop_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=552,368 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/17138-Moran-St-street-view-PDcrop_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=558,372 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/17138-Moran-St-street-view-PDcrop_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=527,351 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/17138-Moran-St-street-view-PDcrop_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=752,501 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/17138-Moran-St-street-view-PDcrop_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1149,766 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/17138-Moran-St-street-view-PDcrop_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=459,306 459w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/17138-Moran-St-street-view-PDcrop_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2000,1333 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/17138-Moran-St-street-view-PDcrop_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=400,267 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/17138-Moran-St-street-view-PDcrop_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=800,533 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/17138-Moran-St-street-view-PDcrop_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1200,800 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/17138-Moran-St-street-view-PDcrop_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1600,1067 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" /> Google Street View <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="501" width="752" data-id="85519" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20260623-Hagen-DetroitConcrete-0408_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?w=752" alt="A row of houses and a parked truck, seen from the street. The center house is missing, and a patch of green lawn is in its place." class="wp-image-85519" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20260623-Hagen-DetroitConcrete-0408_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg 3000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20260623-Hagen-DetroitConcrete-0408_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20260623-Hagen-DetroitConcrete-0408_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20260623-Hagen-DetroitConcrete-0408_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20260623-Hagen-DetroitConcrete-0408_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1536,1024 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20260623-Hagen-DetroitConcrete-0408_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2048,1365 2048w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20260623-Hagen-DetroitConcrete-0408_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=863,575 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20260623-Hagen-DetroitConcrete-0408_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=422,281 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20260623-Hagen-DetroitConcrete-0408_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=552,368 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20260623-Hagen-DetroitConcrete-0408_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=558,372 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20260623-Hagen-DetroitConcrete-0408_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=527,351 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20260623-Hagen-DetroitConcrete-0408_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=752,501 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20260623-Hagen-DetroitConcrete-0408_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1149,766 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20260623-Hagen-DetroitConcrete-0408_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=459,306 459w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20260623-Hagen-DetroitConcrete-0408_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2000,1333 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20260623-Hagen-DetroitConcrete-0408_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=400,267 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20260623-Hagen-DetroitConcrete-0408_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=800,533 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20260623-Hagen-DetroitConcrete-0408_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1200,800 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20260623-Hagen-DetroitConcrete-0408_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1600,1067 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" /> Nick Hagen for ProPublica The house next door to Kary’s was purchased by Crown Enterprises and demolished. It is now a vacant lot that Kary and her neighbor maintain. As Detroit rebuilds from the largest municipal bankruptcy in history, major construction has reshaped the city: the first new skyscraper in 50 years, new hotels and sports complexes, repaved roads, and the renovation of Michigan Central Station, which had sat empty for decades while owned by the Moroun family and became a symbol of the city’s decline. To meet the demand, at least three new concrete facilities have opened in the city since 2019. One is by a park, and two are in residential neighborhoods, including the plant in Cadillac Heights, called Kronos. The state also approved a permit for a new cement grinding plant that has not yet opened in an industrial area of southwest Detroit. Other proposed operations have been blocked after residents protested. The new concrete plants are producing materials needed to help rebuild parts of the city while creating a bitter irony for residents such as Kary. She said Detroit’s decision to turn so many properties over to Crown “guarantees the death of this area.” In written responses to questions from BridgeDetroit and ProPublica, company representative Kenneth Dobson called Kronos “a good neighbor.” He said the company complies with all permitting requirements and city ordinances, and that it properly mitigates dust. Dobson said having a concrete supplier within the city helps support rebuilding and broadly improves the lives of Detroiters. Without concrete facilities in Detroit, “not only would there be less jobs and less City tax revenue, but the cost of both public and private infrastructure development would go up,” wrote Dobson, vice president of the Detroit International Bridge Company, another Moroun-owned business. Dobson said Crown has invested $10 million in the neighborhood. When asked what that has funded, he cited costs related to the Kronos development: demolishing homes, obtaining permits and equipment to operate, and taking measures to control dust and monitor air quality. Messages sent by ProPublica to email addresses linked to Matthew Moroun, who oversees the family business, didn’t receive a response. Dobson said the email was forwarded to him and he responded on Moroun’s behalf. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="1707" width="2560" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251114-Greeson-DetroitConcrete-012_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?w=2560" alt="A house that is halfway through being demolished by an excavator. A person sprays water on the house with a high-powered hose." class="wp-image-85516" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251114-Greeson-DetroitConcrete-012_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg 3000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251114-Greeson-DetroitConcrete-012_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251114-Greeson-DetroitConcrete-012_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251114-Greeson-DetroitConcrete-012_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251114-Greeson-DetroitConcrete-012_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1536,1024 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251114-Greeson-DetroitConcrete-012_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2048,1365 2048w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251114-Greeson-DetroitConcrete-012_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=863,575 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251114-Greeson-DetroitConcrete-012_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=422,281 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251114-Greeson-DetroitConcrete-012_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=552,368 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251114-Greeson-DetroitConcrete-012_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=558,372 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251114-Greeson-DetroitConcrete-012_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=527,351 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251114-Greeson-DetroitConcrete-012_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=752,501 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251114-Greeson-DetroitConcrete-012_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1149,766 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251114-Greeson-DetroitConcrete-012_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=459,306 459w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251114-Greeson-DetroitConcrete-012_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2000,1333 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251114-Greeson-DetroitConcrete-012_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=400,267 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251114-Greeson-DetroitConcrete-012_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=800,533 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251114-Greeson-DetroitConcrete-012_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1200,800 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251114-Greeson-DetroitConcrete-012_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1600,1067 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /> The city gave Crown first rights to this house in Cadillac Heights. The city demolished it last year, but ownership has not yet been transferred to the company. Brittany Greeson for ProPublica With City Help, Crown Moves In Cadillac Heights’ most recent transformation began in May 2019, thanks in part to a vote by Detroit City Council to approve a nearly $267 million multipronged land swap orchestrated by former Mayor Mike Duggan. The deal delivered ownership of dozens of lots in Cadillac Heights to Crown. In exchange, Crown gave up land in another part of the city, which allowed automaker Stellantis to open the first new car plant in Detroit in three decades, with the promise of 5,000 new jobs. Duggan declared the day the land swap was approved as the “greatest” day he had had as mayor. “Today was historic,” Duggan, who served for 12 years and recently gave up his bid for governor, said at a press conference. “Detroit was the city that built the middle class in America, and today we started to rebuild the middle class in Detroit.” The news that day focused on the promise of Stellantis, not on what the deal meant for Cadillac Heights. Duggan spokesperson Andrea Bitely said the mayor did not know that Crown would put a concrete plant in the neighborhood and that doing so would ultimately drive out residents. At its prime in the 1960s, Cadillac Heights had been full of local businesses and community life. The neighborhood attracted a predominantly working-class community of Black families who lived in modest single-family houses. Buddy’s Pizza, famous as the birthplace of Detroit-style pizza, was founded there and drew crowds from across the city. Cadillac Heights also was home to Simpson’s Records, one of the city’s longest-running record shops. But over several decades, Detroit declined under the weight of the crack epidemic, massive population loss and disinvestment. City historian Jamon Jordan said some neighborhoods saw more problems than others, but Cadillac Heights “had all of those things.” By the time of the 2019 deal, roughly a third of the homes that were left had been abandoned, according to census data, and the streets were lined with empty storefronts. The remaining residents, many of whom, like Kary, had lived in Cadillac Heights for decades, said they tried to keep the neighborhood clean and enjoyable. The Moroun family, too, had owned property in Cadillac Heights since the 1960s and operated a trucking depot there, which residents also found bothersome, but less so than the concrete facility. (The family also owns the Ambassador Bridge to Canada and more than 1,000 properties throughout Detroit, and has tried to block a competing bridge to Canada.) Crown gradually acquired more land in Cadillac Heights and had about 80 properties at the time of the land swap, records show. Two Decades of Change in Cadillac Heights <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2183" height="8190" js-autosizes src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/2300-block-sat-images_e906f8.png" alt="Two satellite images show the same bird’s-eye view of a section of Cadillac Heights, a neighborhood in northeast Detroit. The first image is labeled December 2002 and shows houses and businesses. The second image is labeled March 2026 and highlights the Kronos Concrete plant located in the center of one of many empty lots." class="wp-image-85818" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/2300-block-sat-images_e906f8.png 2183w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/2300-block-sat-images_e906f8.png?resize=80,300 80w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/2300-block-sat-images_e906f8.png?resize=768,2881 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/2300-block-sat-images_e906f8.png?resize=273,1024 273w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/2300-block-sat-images_e906f8.png?resize=546,2048 546w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/2300-block-sat-images_e906f8.png?resize=863,3238 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/2300-block-sat-images_e906f8.png?resize=422,1583 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/2300-block-sat-images_e906f8.png?resize=552,2071 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/2300-block-sat-images_e906f8.png?resize=558,2093 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/2300-block-sat-images_e906f8.png?resize=527,1977 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/2300-block-sat-images_e906f8.png?resize=752,2821 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/2300-block-sat-images_e906f8.png?resize=1149,4311 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/2300-block-sat-images_e906f8.png?resize=400,1501 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/2300-block-sat-images_e906f8.png?resize=800,3001 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/2300-block-sat-images_e906f8.png?resize=1200,4502 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/2300-block-sat-images_e906f8.png?resize=1600,6003 1600w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/2300-block-sat-images_e906f8.png?resize=2000,7503 2000w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 2183px) 100vw, 2183px" /> Source: Google Earth, Airbus Chris Alcantara/ProPublica The deal gave Crown 34 more parcels throughout the neighborhood and the first rights to purchase others if they end up in the Land Bank by repossession due to tax foreclosure or other reasons. So far, Crown has purchased seven parcels under this option and demolished three homes, including the one next to Kary’s. Detroit officials made other decisions, some in violation of city rules, that enabled Kronos to operate by summer 2022, before the company obtained a permit. The city ordered that operations stop. It then issued the permit without fining the company, and the concrete plant was reassembled. A city spokesperson did not respond to a question about why the company wasn’t fined. The city issued a permit even though Crown had unpaid tickets for blight violations, which should have disqualified it from getting the approval to move forward. Crystal Rogers, a manager in the city’s Buildings, Safety Engineering and Environmental Department, attributed that to “human error.” The company also accrued tickets between when it first applied for the permit and when the city approved it; Rogers said checking whether a company has pending tickets during that time period would “slow the development process.” The tickets also should have prevented Crown from purchasing property from the county’s tax auction, according to city law. Yet records show the company was able to purchase a four-bedroom, single-family house in Cadillac Heights in October 2022 while it had unresolved blight tickets. Crown said it had disputed some of the tickets. The city acknowledged the tickets but said they were resolved by the time the sale was recorded months later. After the concrete plant opened, the company acquired additional property from homeowners who decided to leave, further transforming the neighborhood. Dobson said the company is buying properties to create a buffer around the plant. How a 2019 Land-Swap Deal Accelerated the Morouns’ Foothold The Moroun family spent decades, from 1966 to 2018, records show, gradually acquiring lots in Cadillac Heights through their various companies, eventually putting the parcels all under the ownership of Crown Enterprises. A May 2019 deal with the city of Detroit allowed Crown to acquire dozens of additional parcels during the next seven years. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1000" height="3736" js-autosizes src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/2300-detroit-concrete-parcels-4.jpg" alt="A map showing parcels owned by the Moroun family, through its Crown Enterprise subsidiary, in a section of the Cadillac Heights neighborhood in northeast Detroit. Parcels are colored based on the Moroun family’s ownership of more than 80 by 2019, when the land-swap deal with the city occurred, and 167 parcels as of June." class="wp-image-85345" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/2300-detroit-concrete-parcels-4.jpg 1000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/2300-detroit-concrete-parcels-4.jpg?resize=80,300 80w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/2300-detroit-concrete-parcels-4.jpg?resize=768,2869 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/2300-detroit-concrete-parcels-4.jpg?resize=274,1024 274w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/2300-detroit-concrete-parcels-4.jpg?resize=411,1536 411w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/2300-detroit-concrete-parcels-4.jpg?resize=548,2048 548w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/2300-detroit-concrete-parcels-4.jpg?resize=863,3224 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/2300-detroit-concrete-parcels-4.jpg?resize=422,1577 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/2300-detroit-concrete-parcels-4.jpg?resize=552,2062 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/2300-detroit-concrete-parcels-4.jpg?resize=558,2085 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/2300-detroit-concrete-parcels-4.jpg?resize=527,1969 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/2300-detroit-concrete-parcels-4.jpg?resize=752,2809 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/2300-detroit-concrete-parcels-4.jpg?resize=428,1600 428w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/2300-detroit-concrete-parcels-4.jpg?resize=400,1494 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/2300-detroit-concrete-parcels-4.jpg?resize=800,2989 800w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /> Note: Sale dates for 19 parcels could not be identified, but records show Crown owned them as of June. Sources: City of Detroit, Detroit’s Office of the Assessor, Wayne County Register of Deeds, Detroit City Council. Chris Alcantara/ProPublica Martin Murray, a University of Michigan urban planning professor, said what’s happening in Cadillac Heights follows a similar pattern to other U.S. cities undergoing redevelopment. Businesses “can promise jobs, they can promise a tax base, and the city will go along with that, because it makes them look better and they’re willing to sacrifice residents,” he said. City Council President James Tate Jr. and member Scott Benson, who represents the Cadillac Heights neighborhood, voted in favor of the land swap. Tate said he thinks the arrangement benefited the city overall, but that officials should have questioned how Crown would use the properties before they approved the deal. “Knowing what I know now, there are some additional protections and questions that I would ask,” he said. “I would never sacrifice one neighborhood to satisfy another, but there are times when you have to look at deals, and there may be some unintended consequences.” Benson declined to comment on his decision to approve the deal and said he has advocated for zoning changes that would make the area less industrial. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="501" width="752" data-id="85524" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/QB-BridgeDetroit-SEPT-19-Savannah-Lewis-Charest-12_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?w=752" alt="A row of houses, seen from the sidewalk, with a black cat sitting in front of the center house." class="wp-image-85524" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/QB-BridgeDetroit-SEPT-19-Savannah-Lewis-Charest-12_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg 3000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/QB-BridgeDetroit-SEPT-19-Savannah-Lewis-Charest-12_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/QB-BridgeDetroit-SEPT-19-Savannah-Lewis-Charest-12_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/QB-BridgeDetroit-SEPT-19-Savannah-Lewis-Charest-12_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/QB-BridgeDetroit-SEPT-19-Savannah-Lewis-Charest-12_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1536,1024 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/QB-BridgeDetroit-SEPT-19-Savannah-Lewis-Charest-12_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2048,1365 2048w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/QB-BridgeDetroit-SEPT-19-Savannah-Lewis-Charest-12_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=863,575 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/QB-BridgeDetroit-SEPT-19-Savannah-Lewis-Charest-12_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=422,281 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/QB-BridgeDetroit-SEPT-19-Savannah-Lewis-Charest-12_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=552,368 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/QB-BridgeDetroit-SEPT-19-Savannah-Lewis-Charest-12_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=558,372 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/QB-BridgeDetroit-SEPT-19-Savannah-Lewis-Charest-12_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=527,351 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/QB-BridgeDetroit-SEPT-19-Savannah-Lewis-Charest-12_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=752,501 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/QB-BridgeDetroit-SEPT-19-Savannah-Lewis-Charest-12_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1149,766 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/QB-BridgeDetroit-SEPT-19-Savannah-Lewis-Charest-12_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=459,306 459w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/QB-BridgeDetroit-SEPT-19-Savannah-Lewis-Charest-12_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2000,1333 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/QB-BridgeDetroit-SEPT-19-Savannah-Lewis-Charest-12_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=400,267 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/QB-BridgeDetroit-SEPT-19-Savannah-Lewis-Charest-12_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=800,533 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/QB-BridgeDetroit-SEPT-19-Savannah-Lewis-Charest-12_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1200,800 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/QB-BridgeDetroit-SEPT-19-Savannah-Lewis-Charest-12_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1600,1067 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" /> Quinn Banks for BridgeDetroit <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="501" width="752" data-id="85515" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251027-Greeson-DetroitConcrete_72_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?w=752" alt="A black bird flies through an empty lot. " class="wp-image-85515" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251027-Greeson-DetroitConcrete_72_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg 3000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251027-Greeson-DetroitConcrete_72_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251027-Greeson-DetroitConcrete_72_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251027-Greeson-DetroitConcrete_72_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251027-Greeson-DetroitConcrete_72_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1536,1024 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251027-Greeson-DetroitConcrete_72_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2048,1365 2048w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251027-Greeson-DetroitConcrete_72_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=863,575 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251027-Greeson-DetroitConcrete_72_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=422,281 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251027-Greeson-DetroitConcrete_72_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=552,368 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251027-Greeson-DetroitConcrete_72_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=558,372 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251027-Greeson-DetroitConcrete_72_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=527,351 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251027-Greeson-DetroitConcrete_72_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=752,501 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251027-Greeson-DetroitConcrete_72_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1149,766 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251027-Greeson-DetroitConcrete_72_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=459,306 459w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251027-Greeson-DetroitConcrete_72_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2000,1333 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251027-Greeson-DetroitConcrete_72_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=400,267 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251027-Greeson-DetroitConcrete_72_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=800,533 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251027-Greeson-DetroitConcrete_72_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1200,800 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251027-Greeson-DetroitConcrete_72_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1600,1067 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" /> Brittany Greeson for ProPublica A row of houses in Cadillac Heights, photographed in 2022, has since been demolished and is now an empty lot. “They Could Taste the Dust” Since the Kronos plant opened four years ago, residents have filed about 80 complaints to both city and state environmental offices, according to records obtained by BridgeDetroit and ProPublica. They have sent photos, videos and pleas for help. In complaints filed with the state, they described “literal whiteout conditions” and “dust clouds.” They said the dust was blanketing their neighborhood and irritating their eyes. They said they had to stop doing yardwork, go inside and shut all their windows. “They could feel grit and debris hitting their eyes, that they tried not to inhale but they could taste the dust,” according to a state inspector’s summary of one complaint. The state’s environmental division repeatedly has recommended that Crown spray the site with water to minimize dust, which the company says it does every hour the plant is operating. Inspectors also told Crown multiple times to reduce the speed of its trucks to limit the spread of dust. Videos submitted by local residents to the state environmental department show dusty conditions in the Cadillac Heights neighborhood next to the plant. Obtained by BridgeDetroit and ProPublica Josef Stephens, spokesperson for the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy, said that while the state has noted dust at and around the Kronos site, it has not been opaque enough to warrant a violation. City officials, too, are aware of residents’ concerns. In 2024, the City Council passed an ordinance requiring companies to control the spread of dust or face penalties. The city set up a hotline and email address so residents could submit complaints. Nearly half of the complaints submitted to dust@detroitmi.gov have been about Kronos, according to city officials. Dobson, the company representative, said readings from its air monitor have never exceeded the city’s pollution limits and that the facility is “fully compliant.” Matthew Tomasz, who lived across the street from Kronos, filed complaints with the city and also ended up in a legal battle with Crown. The company sued him for trespassing on its vacant property next to his home. He countersued, claiming the company had violated the city’s dust ordinance when particles from the concrete facility traveled onto his property, calling it an “invasion.” <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="791" width="527" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251017-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-172_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?w=527" alt="A man stands with his hand on the shoulder of a boy in front of him. Next to them, a woman sits with a baby in her lap. The four of them are on the front porch of a house." class="wp-image-85512" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251017-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-172_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251017-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-172_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=200,300 200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251017-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-172_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=768,1152 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251017-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-172_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=683,1024 683w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251017-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-172_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1024,1536 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251017-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-172_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1365,2048 1365w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251017-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-172_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=863,1295 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251017-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-172_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=422,633 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251017-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-172_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=552,828 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251017-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-172_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=558,837 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251017-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-172_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=527,791 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251017-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-172_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=752,1128 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251017-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-172_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1149,1724 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251017-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-172_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1067,1600 1067w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251017-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-172_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=400,600 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251017-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-172_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=800,1200 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251017-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-172_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1200,1800 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251017-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-172_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1600,2400 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 527px) 100vw, 527px" /> Matthew Tomasz, right, with his wife, Casey Murphy, and their children, Gus, standing, and Olórin. The family lived across the street from Kronos, and Tomasz ended up in a legal battle with the company. Sarahbeth Maney/ProPublica “Each day that dust from Kronos or the vacant lots lands on Mr. Tomasz’s property, a new trespass occurs,” according to the complaint. The lawsuits settled in February, but the terms were not made public, records show. “I feel like I’m staring into a wasteland every day,” Tomasz said in an interview late last year. He said dust from the plant was so thick that he couldn’t see 10 feet in front of him. “There’s no peace to be had at my house.” The city required that Kronos develop and adhere to a plan to limit the amount of dust. But despite five violations since Kronos agreed to adopt a plan, only once has the city’s environmental department fined the company for its failure to comply. The city last month dismissed two tickets issued to Crown, totalling $2,500, for the company’s failure to keep dust from traveling into the neighborhood. The company has been excused from the dust-related fines, as well as tickets for other reasons, because of an agreement it signed with the city in 2022 after the plant opened. That first-of-its-kind property maintenance agreement gives Crown up to 30 days to fix nonemergency building and environmental violations — and up to 10 days to address overgrown weeds and trash — before it is assessed fines. The city has since entered into similar agreements with two other concrete businesses and a developer. The agreement with Crown came after the company racked up blight tickets across the city. At the time it was signed, the city’s law department acknowledged it didn’t know the number of outstanding tickets but agreed that the company could pay $50,000 to resolve all the past violations before the new agreement kicked in. One ticket that was excused last year came after Detroit resident Jahdante Smith emailed a complaint to city officials in July with a video showing a cloud of dust blowing near the facility. “This is a ridiculous everyday occurrence,” Smith wrote. Detroit resident Jahdante Smith emailed a complaint to city officials that included this video of dust blowing on the street near the Kronos facility. Courtesy of Jahdante Smith A city inspector issued Crown a $500 ticket seven weeks later for failing to mitigate dust, but the city’s environmental department dismissed it under the agreement. The city also waived a $1,000 ticket issued to Crown in October for exceeding state and city requirements to limit dust opacity. The company temporarily suspended operations and agreed to sweep and spray water on the streets daily to control the dust, and the ticket was dismissed, Rogers said. City inspectors also alerted Crown to code violations at other properties in the neighborhood, including a vacant lot littered with garbage and another with overgrown weeds and broken tree limbs. An abandoned home was unsecured, leaving it open to trespassers, a city inspector found. Because of its agreement with the city, Crown was not issued any fines after it addressed the issues with the three properties. The vacant home has been demolished, and the other lots are now barren. However, a recent visit to the neighborhood showed that similar issues have resurfaced: Another home that Crown purchased in January had missing first-floor windows and no front door, allowing anyone to enter. The lawn was covered in tall weeds and grass, and trash littered the yard. Crown plans to demolish the home but is waiting on the utilities to be disconnected, said Dobson, the company representative. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="766" width="1149" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20260623-Hagen-DetroitConcrete-0089_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?w=1149" alt="A dilapidated house with no front door or front windows and an overgrown, trash-covered lawn." class="wp-image-85517" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20260623-Hagen-DetroitConcrete-0089_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg 3000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20260623-Hagen-DetroitConcrete-0089_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20260623-Hagen-DetroitConcrete-0089_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20260623-Hagen-DetroitConcrete-0089_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20260623-Hagen-DetroitConcrete-0089_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1536,1024 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20260623-Hagen-DetroitConcrete-0089_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2048,1365 2048w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20260623-Hagen-DetroitConcrete-0089_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=863,575 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20260623-Hagen-DetroitConcrete-0089_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=422,281 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20260623-Hagen-DetroitConcrete-0089_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=552,368 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20260623-Hagen-DetroitConcrete-0089_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=558,372 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20260623-Hagen-DetroitConcrete-0089_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=527,351 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20260623-Hagen-DetroitConcrete-0089_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=752,501 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20260623-Hagen-DetroitConcrete-0089_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1149,766 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20260623-Hagen-DetroitConcrete-0089_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=459,306 459w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20260623-Hagen-DetroitConcrete-0089_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2000,1333 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20260623-Hagen-DetroitConcrete-0089_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=400,267 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20260623-Hagen-DetroitConcrete-0089_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=800,533 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20260623-Hagen-DetroitConcrete-0089_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1200,800 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20260623-Hagen-DetroitConcrete-0089_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1600,1067 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1149px) 100vw, 1149px" /> A house that Crown purchased in January has no front door or first-floor windows, and trash litters the yard. Nick Hagen for ProPublica Dobson said the property maintenance agreement has worked because the company responds to concerns and fixes “the potential violation.” Conrad Mallett, the city’s top attorney, who negotiated the agreement, said it is “working well from the perspective of both parties.” But residents and advocates have continued to protest, speak out at City Council meetings and collect hundreds of signatures to shut the plant down and get the area rezoned to be less industrial. Councilmember Benson asked the city’s law department about legal avenues the city could pursue to close Kronos. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="766" width="1149" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251010-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-057_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?w=1149" alt="A man speaks into a microphone while several other people stand around and behind him with protest signs. " class="wp-image-85510" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251010-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-057_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg 3000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251010-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-057_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251010-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-057_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251010-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-057_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251010-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-057_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1536,1024 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251010-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-057_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2048,1365 2048w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251010-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-057_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=863,575 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251010-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-057_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=422,281 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251010-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-057_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=552,368 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251010-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-057_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=558,372 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251010-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-057_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=527,351 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251010-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-057_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=752,501 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251010-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-057_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1149,766 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251010-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-057_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=459,306 459w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251010-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-057_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2000,1333 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251010-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-057_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=400,267 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251010-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-057_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=800,533 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251010-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-057_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1200,800 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251010-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-057_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1600,1067 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1149px) 100vw, 1149px" /> A press conference in October 2025 calling for the closure of the Kronos concrete facility included speakers Smith, right, of the Detroit Hamtramck Coalition, and state Sen. Stephanie Chang, left. Sarahbeth Maney/ProPublica The department, in response, said officials have no legal authority to interfere because the plant is properly permitted and complies with zoning regulations and city rules. And even though the city is considering rezoning some parts of Cadillac Heights to make them less industrial, the plans stop just short of the lots owned by Crown, records show. The Moroun family continues to expand its concrete supply business, called Hercules Material Holdings, which now has seven locations in Michigan. Other facilities are expected to open in Toledo, Ohio, and Windsor, Ontario, where the Morouns have been purchasing properties for decades. Residents Move Out Some Cadillac Heights residents say they can’t coexist with the concrete plant. They recently turned to the Wayne County Commission for help. At a May county committee meeting, advocate Sharon Buttry told commissioners that residents are frustrated that Crown hasn’t been ticketed more. Commissioners voted to pass a resolution urging the state and city to further monitor the site and revoke permits if there are violations. “Our neighborhoods should never have to sacrifice their health and peace of mind for industrial operations that create ongoing public nuisance concerns,” county Commissioner Martha G. Scott said in an interview. The county is paying a local air monitoring company, JustAir, to track and analyze air quality near Kronos. The company found the quality was “measurably worse” during the six days of the week when Kronos operates. Separately, Mayor Mary Sheffield, who took office this year, directed the city’s environmental agency to install four monitors near the plant so residents “knew that the administration is taking their concerns seriously,” according to city spokesperson John Roach. He said the monitors have not measured pollution that exceeds moderate levels. (Sheffield voted against the land swap when she was on City Council.) Kronos representatives, meanwhile, have worked to build public support. The company has said that it has hired Detroiters to work at the plant, donated food and backpacks to community groups, and paved a new parking lot for a neighborhood church. A few years ago, it published renderings online showing how it would improve the neighborhood with paved sidewalks, mature trees and 6-foot-tall grassy hills to create a buffer from the plant. Those images don’t match what the neighborhood looks like. Sidewalks are missing or cracked. Barbed wire hangs from fences over debris-strewn lots. Water sprayed to control dust creeps into the streets, creating small pools of green liquid. Lots are barren and gray after being treated with herbicides to prevent weeds. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="720" height="540" js-autosizes data-id="85531" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/kronos_flip_-bookv5p10-PDedit_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg" alt="A page from a document that says “Kronos Concrete, LLC” and has two images, labeled “before” and “after.” The before image is a vacant lot that in the after image is instead a grassy, tree-lined hillside." class="wp-image-85531" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/kronos_flip_-bookv5p10-PDedit_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg 720w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/kronos_flip_-bookv5p10-PDedit_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=300,225 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/kronos_flip_-bookv5p10-PDedit_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=422,317 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/kronos_flip_-bookv5p10-PDedit_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=552,414 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/kronos_flip_-bookv5p10-PDedit_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=558,419 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/kronos_flip_-bookv5p10-PDedit_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=527,395 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/kronos_flip_-bookv5p10-PDedit_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=400,300 400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px" /> Obtained by BridgeDetroit and ProPublica <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="501" width="752" data-id="85518" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20260623-Hagen-DetroitConcrete-0350_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?w=752" alt="A page from a document that says “Kronos Concrete, LLC” and has two images, labeled “before” and “after.” The before image is a vacant lot that in the after image is instead a grassy, tree-lined hillside." class="wp-image-85518" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20260623-Hagen-DetroitConcrete-0350_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg 3000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20260623-Hagen-DetroitConcrete-0350_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20260623-Hagen-DetroitConcrete-0350_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20260623-Hagen-DetroitConcrete-0350_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20260623-Hagen-DetroitConcrete-0350_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1536,1024 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20260623-Hagen-DetroitConcrete-0350_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2048,1365 2048w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20260623-Hagen-DetroitConcrete-0350_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=863,575 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20260623-Hagen-DetroitConcrete-0350_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=422,281 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20260623-Hagen-DetroitConcrete-0350_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=552,368 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20260623-Hagen-DetroitConcrete-0350_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=558,372 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20260623-Hagen-DetroitConcrete-0350_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=527,351 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20260623-Hagen-DetroitConcrete-0350_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=752,501 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20260623-Hagen-DetroitConcrete-0350_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1149,766 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20260623-Hagen-DetroitConcrete-0350_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=459,306 459w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20260623-Hagen-DetroitConcrete-0350_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2000,1333 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20260623-Hagen-DetroitConcrete-0350_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=400,267 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20260623-Hagen-DetroitConcrete-0350_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=800,533 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20260623-Hagen-DetroitConcrete-0350_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1200,800 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20260623-Hagen-DetroitConcrete-0350_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1600,1067 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" /> Nick Hagen for ProPublica Kronos published renderings several years ago showing how it would improve the neighborhood. A June 2026 photograph shows the same location. Dobson said Crown hasn’t been able to carry out the improvements because the city hasn’t signed off on its plan. Roach said the city won’t grant permission until the company addresses code violations, including an unpermitted chain-link fence and inadequate screening to hide operations. If Crown doesn’t make the improvements soon, Mitchell Gross, who lives across the street from Kronos, said he’s going to plant evergreen trees himself “to filter the dust.” He said he keeps his windows shut and that his son and his two young grandchildren, who used to live with him, have left Detroit to protect their health. “They’re in a nice place and getting good air to breathe,” said Gross, who has lived in the neighborhood for more than 50 years. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="1128" width="752" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20250812-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-009_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?w=752" alt="A man stands outdoors with his hands on his hips, looking at the camera with a serious expression. Behind him in the background is a large industrial structure with the word “Kronos” written on it." class="wp-image-85509" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20250812-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-009_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20250812-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-009_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=200,300 200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20250812-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-009_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=768,1152 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20250812-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-009_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=683,1024 683w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20250812-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-009_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1024,1536 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20250812-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-009_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1365,2048 1365w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20250812-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-009_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=863,1295 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20250812-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-009_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=422,633 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20250812-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-009_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=552,828 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20250812-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-009_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=558,837 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20250812-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-009_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=527,791 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20250812-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-009_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=752,1128 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20250812-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-009_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1149,1724 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20250812-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-009_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1067,1600 1067w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20250812-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-009_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=400,600 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20250812-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-009_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=800,1200 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20250812-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-009_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1200,1800 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20250812-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-009_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1600,2400 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" /> Mitchell Gross built his house in the neighborhood more than 50 years ago. He said he keeps his windows closed so dust from the concrete plant doesn’t travel into his home. Sarahbeth Maney/ProPublica Some of Cadillac Heights’ longtime residents aren’t sticking around to find out whether things will improve. At least 16 residents who lived in the area closest to the Kronos plant have sold their land to Crown since the land swap, according to records reviewed by BridgeDetroit and ProPublica. The sellers have received “a windfall,” with an average 2024 purchase price of $114,000 that has been “increasing,” according to Crown representative Dobson. Bitely, the spokesperson for Duggan, said that having so many private sales to one entity “had never happened before in Detroit.” Samantha Flowers was among the first residents to fight against the concrete operation. Last year, she texted BridgeDetroit and ProPublica a video of the plant, taken at 6:15 a.m., to demonstrate the daily noise and bright lights residents are accustomed to. “Typical morning in the neighborhood,” she wrote. Flowers sold her home and five other parcels to Crown in January for $125,000, according to the county’s online records. Tomasz, who had filed a lawsuit against the company, gave up his hope of buying the lot next to his and instead sold his home to the company for $150,000. Dobson said the property will be used to create additional buffering from the plant. Kary, however, plans to live out her final years in her family’s home. She pays for grass seed to maintain the Crown-owned vacant lot next to hers so she can look out her windows at something nice. “It’s home,” she said. “I’m not leaving.” <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="766" width="1149" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251010-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-100-PDedit2_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?w=1149" alt="Green lawns, bushes, streets and sidewalks, with a large industrial structure with the word “Kronos” written on it in the background, overlooking the neighborhood." class="wp-image-85511" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251010-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-100-PDedit2_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg 3000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251010-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-100-PDedit2_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251010-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-100-PDedit2_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251010-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-100-PDedit2_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251010-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-100-PDedit2_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1536,1024 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251010-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-100-PDedit2_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=2048,1365 2048w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251010-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-100-PDedit2_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=863,575 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251010-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-100-PDedit2_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=422,281 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251010-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-100-PDedit2_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=552,368 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251010-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-100-PDedit2_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=558,372 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251010-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-100-PDedit2_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=527,351 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251010-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-100-PDedit2_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=752,501 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251010-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-100-PDedit2_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1149,766 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251010-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-100-PDedit2_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=459,306 459w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251010-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-100-PDedit2_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=2000,1333 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251010-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-100-PDedit2_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=400,267 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251010-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-100-PDedit2_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=800,533 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251010-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-100-PDedit2_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1200,800 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2027/04/20251010-Maney-Detroit-Concrete-100-PDedit2_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1600,1067 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1149px) 100vw, 1149px" /> The Kronos plant overlooks the Cadillac Heights neighborhood. Sarahbeth Maney/ProPublica The post Left in the Dust: How a Billionaire-Owned Concrete Plant Took Over a Detroit Community appeared first on ProPublica. This content originally appeared on ProPublica and was authored by Jena Brooker.
New research traces how ‘forever chemicals’ move through the Great Lakes and into people
The study used more than 40 years of data to map fluctuating PFAS levels across species in the region's food chain.
In the United States, PFAS chemicals are so ubiquitous — found in everything from frying pans to skincare — that nearly all of the country’s population likely has measurable levels of the so-called “forever chemicals” in their blood. It’s only in the last few decades that the public and scientists started untangling the health and ecological risks associated with some of the manufactured compounds, which earned their nickname because they don’t break down easily in the environment. Now, new research from the University of Notre Dame has deepened our understanding of how PFAS can filter through ecosystems and move up the food chain to get to people. The peer-reviewed study, published this spring in the Journal of Environmental Quality, focused on the Great Lakes. The researchers analyzed 42 years of studies and combined nearly 2,500 samples of algae, fish, birds, and other organisms, in what’s called a meta-analysis to identify trends in PFAS distribution. PFAS have been linked to a range of health issues, and the chemicals have been identified in human tissue, including in the bloodstream, liver, kidneys, and lungs. Known health risks range from decreased fertility to a higher prevalence of certain cancers. People can be exposed to PFAS in several ways, including through the food they eat. “What we’re finding is that the food web itself is a vehicle for transferring these chemicals from one organism to another,” said Gary Lamberti, aquatic science professor at Notre Dame and a study co-author. “So it’s a more holistic view than we’ve known before.” The Great Lakes study focused on six of the PFAS chemicals most commonly tested for, but there are more than 15,000 types out there, according to the National Institutes of Health. Researchers identified a dramatic decrease over the last two decades of one PFAS chemical known as PFOS, following a voluntary phaseout by industries in the early 2000s. “If we stop manufacturing these chemicals, they will eventually reduce in concentration in the food web,” Lamberti said. “That’s kind of good news for how we can manage these chemicals.” Those declines were seen in the lower Great Lakes — Ontario and Erie — likely because these areas are home to the heavy industries that used the chemicals. But there was little to no decline in PFOS in the upper lakes Superior, Michigan, and Huron, most likely because the water bodies are larger than the lower lakes. In contrast to the shallower Erie and Ontario lakes, which flush out their water about every 2 to 7 years, water can stay in the upper lakes anywhere from about 60 to 170 years. The study also confirmed that these chemicals increase in concentration as they travel up the food chain. Algae and plants have the lowest concentration, according to the study, because they grow and die quickly. But predators like salmon and eagles had the highest concentration because they’re eating a large amount of prey that have a lot of accumulated PFAS. Read Next <img src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/GettyImages-2276972475-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all" alt="EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin speaks with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr" class="js-modal-gallery__hidden" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/GettyImages-2276972475-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 1600w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/GettyImages-2276972475-1.jpg?resize=1200%2C675&quality=75&strip=all 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/GettyImages-2276972475-1.jpg?resize=330%2C186&quality=75&strip=all 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/GettyImages-2276972475-1.jpg?resize=768%2C432&quality=75&strip=all 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/GettyImages-2276972475-1.jpg?resize=1536%2C864&quality=75&strip=all 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/GettyImages-2276972475-1.jpg?resize=160%2C90&quality=75&strip=all 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/GettyImages-2276972475-1.jpg?resize=150%2C84&quality=75&strip=all 150w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" height="900" width="1600" loading="lazy" decoding="async"> Trump’s EPA vows to fight ‘forever chemicals’ — by loosening regulations Zoya Teirstein Potentially dangerous levels of these chemicals in fish have prompted warnings by state officials across the country on how much is safe to eat, including in North Carolina, Wisconsin, Montana, and Pennsylvania. Michigan, which borders 4 of the 6 Great Lakes, has been testing fish for PFAS since 2012 and issues “safe fish” guidelines annually. “If we can understand what the PFAS levels are in the food web, we can better communicate the risk of consuming those potentially toxic food sources,” said Katherine Manz, an environmental health professor at the University of Michigan who was not involved in the study. While it was easy to find PFAS data on salmon, trout, and some birds, Lamberti said, the information on the “less glamorous” smaller fish, invertebrates, and algae was harder to come by. Tools to analyze the range of these chemicals are still evolving, said Vernon Lalone, CEO of Wave Lumina, a Michigan-based startup that’s developing a rapid testing kit for PFAS in water and soil. “It’s like a chicken-and-an-egg situation,” said Lalone, who wasn’t involved in the study. “You’ve got to have an analytical method that’s robust and reliable enough to measure these things before you can regulate them at certain limits.” Lamberti said there’s still plenty of questions about how these chemicals will shift in waterways as temperatures rise due to climate change, ice formation shifts, and as industries introduce new chemicals. But he’s optimistic — his study shows that when forever chemicals are removed from production, food webs eventually cycle them out. There is no national ban on PFAS, but a patchwork of federal regulations restricts certain chemicals, and some manufacturers have phased out other PFAS compounds voluntarily. “That’s what we need to be thinking about with these chemicals,” Lamberti said, “how we’re going to remove them from the production and find substitutes for them to do the right thing.” This story was originally published by Grist with the headline New research traces how ‘forever chemicals’ move through the Great Lakes and into people on Jul 6, 2026. This content originally appeared on Grist and was authored by Vivian La.
Filmmaker and music archivist Cyrus Moussavi on remembering that artists are people
You’ve worked across documentary, archival projects, and releasing music by overlooked artists. A lot of what you do involves helping other people’s work find its way into the world. How do you decide you’re the right person to help someone tell their story?
You’ve worked across documentary, archival projects, and releasing music by overlooked artists. A lot of what you do involves helping other people’s work find its way into the world. How do you decide you’re the right person to help someone tell their story? That’s always a challenge. Almost every project I’ve worked on has come together very organically. I’ve been introduced to someone through someone else, or we’ve run into each other and had a conversation. It’s very rare that I look something up and then go track someone down. It’s usually a series of human interactions that sort of accidentally arrives at a project, especially the more in-depth ones. Often it’s not that I’m necessarily the best person to do the project. Sometimes I’m just the only person willing to do it, or the only one around with the time, resources, and energy to follow through. Each project is different, but there are projects where I’ve definitely said, “If there’s someone else who wants to do it, please go for it.” For it to make sense, there has to be a personal connection. There are infinite projects out there. As I get older and a little more discerning, my requirement is that there has to be some kind of human connection. Even if we come from very different backgrounds, there has to be something underneath it. Some shared interest or way of seeing the world that goes beyond “this is cool music” or “this will be popular.” I imagine that connection has to be rooted in trust. Yes, for sure. On both sides. These are long relationships and they’re complicated. I mean, there’s money involved. Not huge amounts of course, but money complicates things. And more importantly, there’s someone’s name and legacy involved. Their reputation and how they’re seen in the world. When a potential project first comes to you, what makes you comfortable enough to move forward with it? It’s hard to speak generally because they’re all so different. There isn’t really a “go button.” One thing I like about the projects I work on is that there’s no formula and no checklist. The film I’m finishing now started in 2018 with another project. We were in south Georgia shooting a short, I Snuck Off the Slave Ship, and my collaborator on the film, Lonnie Holley, introduced me to a 91-year-old gospel piano player named Brother Theotis Taylor. Brother Taylor appeared in the final scene of the film, and we invited him and his family out when it played at the Atlanta Film Festival. Brother Taylor’s music is truly extraordinary, some of the most beautiful I’ve ever heard. He told me about these reels of tape he’d recorded at home over the years, when the spirit would hit him. So I worked with his son, Hubert Taylor, an artist and archivist in his own right, to make an album of Brother Taylor’s home recordings, which we released on Mississippi in 2020. Only after that did Hubert and I begin working on a film together. While we were making his dad’s album, Hubert would say, “I have some footage you should see,” and I kept saying, “Let’s make the album first.” When we finally released the record and I had a chance to see some of Hubert’s footage, I realized how special it is, what an eye and a vision he has. It was gradual. We got to know each other. And now, years later, we’re still learning as we wrap up this film together. Some artists are established and already have a system for how they work. That can make things easier. But others have never been allowed into the art or music industry, or they have been burned over the years. In that case, it’s a learning process, and it can be complicated. You’re building something new together. A big part of it for me is asking how the artist sees their own work. How do they want it presented? How do they understand it in the larger world? That often changes my understanding of the project. When we worked with Emahoy Tsege-Mariam Gebru, the Ethiopian nun, composer, and pianist, I wanted to understand how she saw her music in the world. She wasn’t making music to be famous. It had a spiritual purpose. We were preparing to release a record of her singing, and there were real questions about that, because as a nun in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, she wasn’t really supposed to be releasing commercial recordings, and certainly not supposed to be singing on them. So I wanted to ask her directly: What’s the purpose of this? Where does this sit? Because the musical landscape she understood as a 99-year-old nun living in Jerusalem is very different from my version of it, being in, like, a record shop in Brooklyn. I went to Jerusalem to meet her and unfortunately she passed away the day before I arrived. It was heartbreaking, but my collaborator Thomas Feng and I ended up doing serious archival work amongst the papers and tapes she’d left behind. We were able to contribute during a difficult time for her family. In her notebooks, we saw that she had been following the response to the records. She was writing down YouTube comments from videos with millions of views. She was reflecting on how the music was being received. She knew it would help people. It was a beautiful thing to see. I’d say the consistent thing through all of the projects I’ve worked on is that it starts with meeting and building trust, and it ends up with a new work circulating in the world. And that the relationship shifts the whole time. It’s time-consuming and emotionally consuming. But it’s also the reason to do it. Film and music have both been extractive industries, especially when it comes to Black and brown artists. How do you think about avoiding that? It’s something we think about constantly. On a basic level, if the numbers don’t add up, it’s not fair. We split royalties 50/50. On the film I’ve been working on, Hubert and I co-own the copyright 50/50, and we’ve built a collaborative process for working together. In the reissue world, a lot of labels make their money by buying master rights. They control the publishing. They control the copyright. They license it to films, and the artist has no say and usually doesn’t get paid. To me, that’s another form of colonialism. It’s a small-time venture capital model. We never buy masters. We license them. Our contracts make it clear that the artist owns the rights. And of course often artists don’t even technically own their rights anymore. The recordings have been bought and sold for decades. But we license from them anyway. In a lot of cases, the paper trail is a mess. Especially with African music or Middle Eastern music where these tiny labels that originally released the music are sold and resold by larger companies. So we make deals directly with artists or their heirs. And the contract itself becomes a precedent they can use later to claim rights. On the surface, projects can look similar. A record comes out, a film comes out. But you have to look behind it—the details involve real people. Who owns what? Who makes decisions? Mostly it’s about coming back again and again to the question: why are we doing this? Who does it serve? Especially now. My family’s from Iran. Every day we’re worried about our relatives under bombardment there. When I’m sitting around listening to Greek music from the early 20th century, I have to ask myself why it matters in that larger context. If I can’t answer that, I don’t have much energy to continue. These projects are small, but they add up. They create real relationships across countries and they shift the historical record a little bit just by existing. What would you tell a young person who wants to do this kind of work? There are no real rules for doing this kind of work, so you have to come up with your own code. Mississippi comes out of a DIY punk background, a pretty anarchist anti-capitalist model. There are no backers, no big academic institutions, and no traditional business plan. But we have this history of independent music and truly independent artists to lean on and learn from. We’re not the first ones to ask, “What if we put out music we care about in a way that’s fair and doesn’t buy into the traditional models around creating and selling music?” A lot of the artists we work with have been doing this in their own way for years. We learn from them. When you’re starting out, no one’s really paying attention. You have a lot of room to experiment and try new things. That’s a type of freedom. Another thing I’d say is you have to treat people like people. I get messages from young people who are like, “Hey I found this old guy who made great music nobody’s heard and I want to put it out.” I get it, it’s exciting, but I’m like, please remember that that’s a real person. Slow down. One thing that makes me hopeful is seeing people in other countries doing this work themselves. It’s not someone flying in from New York to record something in Kenya anymore. It’s young people in Kenya starting labels, releasing amazing music. And that’s really exciting. We’re working on a record based in East Sumba, a remote area in Indonesia, and collaborating with Yes No Wave, an amazing experimental and noise label in Jakarta. Indonesia is huge. If you lay it over Europe it stretches from the UK to Kazakhstan. The distance between Jakarta and East Sumba can feel as vast as New York to East Sumba. But still, there’s a cultural connection. The closer the work is to where it comes from, the better. It’s not about preserving something in a museum for posterity. It’s about letting it circulate right now. We use a phrase from Mike Davis’ book City of Quartz: “Excavating the future.” You dig things up so they can move through the present. When they circulate, things happen that you can’t predict. Another thing I’d say to someone who wants to do this is we live in a pretty sterile culture. You should be looking for anything that breaks that open. How important is financial sustainability? You have to really want to do this work. I wouldn’t tell someone to do it to make millions of dollars—but of course sustainability matters. I work with Adam Holofcener, an artist and lawyer in Baltimore who runs Maryland Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts. He’s always telling artists: stay in the game. Don’t burn yourself out on the first project. Don’t take risks that knock you out permanently. Mississippi has been around over 20 years. We’ve had ups and downs. Sometimes you get excited and want to release eight Ethiopian records at once. But you have to learn pacing. We’re not trying to get rich. When you’re trying to get rich, that’s when you start burning people. But you also don’t want to say, “I’m doing this for the love of it, so you should too.” You want to be able to pay artists real money. This might be your passion project. But it’s not necessarily theirs! It’s someone else’s life. What’s important to understand about working with real people in film? Film is a lot more entangled than music. Even a small film involves many people: crew, producers, the people on camera. With music, artists create in a black box to some degree and hand you the result. They control their stage presence. But when you introduce a camera from someone else’s perspective, it changes everything. I’ve found musicians, even ones that are used to being very vulnerable in their art, can often struggle when a film camera shows up. Because the control shifts away from them. And for people who grew up very aware of their image and presentation, that can feel really intense. Film takes longer. It’s more expensive. It’s more agonizing. But if it works, it feels magical. What are you still learning? I’m constantly blindsided by new realizations. I’ll think I’ve figured something out, and then it changes. One of my favorite filmmakers, Frederick Wiseman, just passed away. He was making films into his nineties. I want to be making movies when I’m that old. I’m curious who that version of me will be. What his relationship to the world will look like. I don’t know what I’m going to be learning at that point. But I know I want to stay in the game long enough to see. Cyrus Moussavi’s “top 5 things that keep me in New York though it’s trying to kill me…” Friday morning walks with my best friend. Every Friday morning at 9am my childhood buddy comes over and we walk for an hour. It’s on the calendar! Anthology Film Archives. By far the best (and some of the worst) films I’ve encountered in my life have come from just walking into this NYC institution and hoping for the best. Praise Mekas! 360 Record Shop. Our community hub in Red Hook. Best records, best people, mutual aid, beer, vegetables, and a mighty book section including the Palestine wall of books. Delivery dumplings with the family. Our baby’s hand is basically the exact size of a shumai, so she can double-fist dumplings in the most satisfying way. Present Sounds at L&SD. A bunch of people get together and listen to / feel 4 hours of music on a great soundsystem in an off the radar loft in New York every Thursday. It’s a beautiful thing! This content originally appeared on The Creative Independent and was authored by Eric Steuer.
Inside The Case Against the ‘Michigan 8’: Palestine Activism Recast as Antisemitic Terror
In the early morning hours of June 10, 2026, the FBI conducted raids against individuals involved in Palestine solidarity activism at the University of Michigan. With help from local and state police departments, including the University of Michigan Police, the raids unfolded simultaneously in Michigan, Illinois, and Wisconsin. In Ypsilanti, MI, agents in military gear rolled into a neighborhood in an armored vehicle, with guns drawn, terrorizing families and neighbors. A similar home raid took place in Chicago. In total, seven of the eight accused individuals were arrested (one was out of the country). The case is now known as the Michigan Eight. More The post Inside The Case Against the ‘Michigan 8’: Palestine Activism Recast as Antisemitic Terror appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Property damage to a Rolls-Royce facility in Novi, Michigan, which had phrases such as “MTU ARMS GENOCIDE” and “FREE PALESTINE” painted on its exterior. Rolls-Royce produces parts for Israeli army vehicles. MTU is Rolls-Royce’s German subsidiary, which makes the engines for the Israeli army’s Merkava tanks. (Photo via US DOJ) Property damage to a Rolls-Royce facility in Novi, Michigan, which had phrases such as “MTU ARMS GENOCIDE” and “FREE PALESTINE” painted on its exterior. Rolls-Royce produces parts for Israeli army vehicles. MTU is Rolls-Royce’s German subsidiary, which makes the engines for the Israeli army’s Merkava tanks. (Photo via US DOJ) In the early morning hours of June 10, 2026, the FBI conducted raids against individuals involved in Palestine solidarity activism at the University of Michigan. With help from local and state police departments, including the University of Michigan Police, the raids unfolded simultaneously in Michigan, Illinois, and Wisconsin. In Ypsilanti, MI, agents in military gear rolled into a neighborhood in an armored vehicle, with guns drawn, terrorizing families and neighbors. A similar home raid took place in Chicago. In total, seven of the eight accused individuals were arrested (one was out of the country). The case is now known as the Michigan Eight. The Justice Department indicted the eight defendants – five of whom are current or former students at the University of Michigan, and one of whom was a University employee – on multiple counts of <a href="https://www.michigandaily.com/news/government/the-daily-breaks-down-the-indictment-against-eight-pro-palestine-activists/" data-iawmlf-archived-url="https://web-wp.archive.org/web/20260619213918/https://www.michigandaily.com/news/government/the-daily-breaks-down-the-indictment-against-eight-pro-palestine-activists/" data-iawmlf-current-url="https://www.michigandaily.com/news/government/the-daily-breaks-down-the-indictment-against-eight-pro-palestine-activists" data-iawmlf-archived-broken="false" data-iawmlf-archived-last-checked="2026-07-04 04:32:34">severe charges, including “Conspiracy to Transmit Threats in Interstate and Foreign Commerce.” The defendants, all in their twenties, now potentially face decades in prison. The main actions described in the indictment boil down to property damage, directed against the offices or homes of University of Michigan officials, the facilities of Rolls-Royce (which makes parts for Israeli army tanks) and <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/maersk-cuts-ties-companies-operating-israeli-settlements" data-iawmlf-archived-url="https://web-wp.archive.org/web/20251006151952/https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/maersk-cuts-ties-companies-operating-israeli-settlements" data-iawmlf-current-url="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/maersk-cuts-ties-companies-operating-israeli-settlements" data-iawmlf-archived-broken="false" data-iawmlf-archived-last-checked="2026-07-03 17:57:25">Maersk (which ships military equipment to Israel), and the building of the Jewish Federation of Detroit (a major pro-Israel organization, as we will see). No person has been physically harmed by these actions. Yet the indictment paints these actions as a form of antisemitic terrorism, drawing on the FBI’s extensive digital surveillance of the defendants. This <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-edmi/pr/department-justice-indicts-eight-conspirators-who-threatened-university-michigan" data-iawmlf-archived-url="https://web-wp.archive.org/web/20260610193555/https://www.justice.gov/usao-edmi/pr/department-justice-indicts-eight-conspirators-who-threatened-university-michigan" data-iawmlf-current-url="https://www.justice.gov/usao-edmi/pr/department-justice-indicts-eight-conspirators-who-threatened-university-michigan" data-iawmlf-archived-broken="false" data-iawmlf-archived-last-checked="2026-06-30 21:16:34">narrative was crafted by the masters of deception – Trump’s Justice Department – and it does not stand up to scrutiny. While we do not know who was behind the actions (the defendants have pleaded not guilty), it is clear the actions have nothing to do with anti-Jewish racism or terrorism. The goal of the wildly exaggerated indictment is to repress Palestine solidarity activism. The U.S. government plans to make an example of the Michigan Eight in order to deter attempts to disrupt institutions complicit in the genocide. It is part of a wider push to severely punish property damage and reframe the Palestine solidarity movement as “terrorism.” We must resist this criminalization and stand with the Michigan Eight. FBI raid on the home of some of the Michigan Eight defendants in Ypsilanti, MI, June 10, 2026. Michigan State Police and University of Michigan Police participated in the raid. The same house had been previously raided by the FBI in April 2025, as part of the crackdown on the campus Palestine solidarity movement, where agents tore the door open with a battering ram. Spinning a tale of antisemitic terrorism The Justice Department presents the defendants as a terrorist group with an antisemitic agenda. Both characterizations are unfounded. Indeed, the defendants were not formally charged with terrorism, since the evidence for that is nonexistent. The Justice Department instead tried to create the appearance of terrorism by linking the defendants to Hamas (which the U.S. government considers a “terrorist organization,” not a legitimate resistance movement). Likewise, the DOJ’s narrative performs a slight of hand in labelling as antisemitic alleged acts and words which in fact reflect opposition to the policies and violence of the state of Israel. In the brief arguing why the defendants should be detained, the Justice Department states that “the defendants are ardent supporters of Hamas and utilize Hamas’ messaging to threaten their victims.” Using data allegedly obtained from defendants’ devices, the brief claims the defendants “traded and possessed various Hamas killing videos.” The brief also presents a photo of one of the defendants with red paint on her hands, apparently taken in the defendant’s garage, and makes the absurd claim that it was just like “the infamous photo from the Ramallah Lynching of 2000, where two Israeli reserve soldiers were murdered and mutilated during the Second Intifada.” Property damage to a Rolls-Royce facility in Novi, Michigan, which had phrases such as “MTU ARMS GENOCIDE” and “FREE PALESTINE” painted on its exterior. Rolls-Royce produces parts for Israeli army vehicles. MTU is Rolls-Royce’s German subsidiary, which makes the engines for the Israeli army’s Merkava tanks. (Source: US Justice Department) In a June 12 bond hearing in Detroit, U.S. Attorney Maggie Smith stated that the defendants share “an extreme violent view directly tied to terrorism.” She spent much time in the hearing trying to argue that Hamas is an antisemitic terrorist group and that, by association, so are the defendants. Smith repeatedly stated that Hamas’s attack on October 7, 2023 was an attack not only against Israel or Israelis but on “Jews” generally. Smith ended her opening arguments by reading a “victim statement” from the Jewish Federation of Detroit, meant to prove the “antisemitism” of the alleged actions. Phrases such as “Free Palestine” had been painted on the Jewish Federation’s building, along with an inverted red triangle. The Jewish Federation claimed that the action against its building was an attack on “Jewish communal life” and that such actions constitute “acts of hatred toward Jews.” The Federation added that the use of the inverted red triangle was a reminder of “Hamas and its targeting of Jews” on October 7. The fabrication of antisemitism appeared to work. Addressing one of the defendants in the June 12 hearing, Michigan District Judge Anthony Patti said he was appalled by the “antisemitic” nature of the alleged actions. He said he is “not immune” to the issue because he “grew up in a Jewish neighborhood” and “has Jewish friends,” adding that the Jews have been persecuted enough and that six million were murdered in WWII. Corporate media also boosted the narrative of antisemitism. The Detroit Free Press <a href="https://www.freep.com/story/news/education/universities/2026/06/12/pro-palestine-activists-released-on-bond-in-threats-case/90523347007/" data-iawmlf-archived-url="https://web-wp.archive.org/web/20260619215527/https://www.freep.com/story/news/education/universities/2026/06/12/pro-palestine-activists-released-on-bond-in-threats-case/90523347007/" data-iawmlf-current-url="https://www.freep.com/story/news/education/universities/2026/06/12/pro-palestine-activists-released-on-bond-in-threats-case/90523347007" data-iawmlf-archived-broken="false" data-iawmlf-archived-last-checked="2026-07-04 09:02:35">incorrectly reported that Jewish Federation’s building in Detroit “was targeted with antisemitic graffiti” and that the actions included the spreading of “antisemitic messages,” while the Detroit News ran a story about the University of Michigan <a href="https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2026/06/11/university-michigan-terror-suspects-details-um-leaders/90505454007/" data-iawmlf-archived-url="https://web-wp.archive.org/web/20260612003152/https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2026/06/11/university-michigan-terror-suspects-details-um-leaders/90505454007/" data-iawmlf-current-url="https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2026/06/11/university-michigan-terror-suspects-details-um-leaders/90505454007" data-iawmlf-archived-broken="false" data-iawmlf-archived-last-checked="2026-07-04 09:02:42">“terror suspects” (even though no terrorism charge had been made). Yet there is nothing “antisemitic” about the actions described in the indictment. For example, the graffiti on the Jewish Federation of Detroit’s building was in protest of Israel’s genocide, which is enabled by support from U.S. institutions – including the Jewish Federation. The indictment, the statements made during the hearing, and media accounts erroneously conflate criticism of Israel with antisemitism. The Jewish Federation’s website offers “talking points” for defending Israel and discussing October 7. It repeats the widely<a class="iawmlf-broken-link" href="https://web-wp.archive.org/web/20251007025812/https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/israel-still-cant-find-any-7-october-rape-victims-prosecutor-admits" data-iawmlf-archived-url="https://web-wp.archive.org/web/20251007025812/https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/israel-still-cant-find-any-7-october-rape-victims-prosecutor-admits" data-iawmlf-current-url="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/israel-still-cant-find-any-7-october-rape-victims-prosecutor-admits" data-iawmlf-archived-broken="true" data-iawmlf-archived-last-checked="2026-06-28 21:28:03"> debunked<a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/10/12/white-house-walks-back-bidens-claim-he-saw-children-beheaded-by-hamas" data-iawmlf-archived-url="https://web-wp.archive.org/web/20260619214020/https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/10/12/white-house-walks-back-bidens-claim-he-saw-children-beheaded-by-hamas" data-iawmlf-current-url="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/10/12/white-house-walks-back-bidens-claim-he-saw-children-beheaded-by-hamas" data-iawmlf-archived-broken="false" data-iawmlf-archived-last-checked="2026-07-04 09:02:56"> claims that Palestinian fighters beheaded babies, “killed babies in ovens,” and “raped women so violently that they broke the pelvic bones of their victims” – fabrications which have been used as justification for genocide and to deflect from and justify the documented violence carried out by Israel in its war on Gaza. Screenshot from the homepage of the Jewish Federation of Detroit, a staunchly Zionist organization that fundraises for Israel and for many Zionist groups. The Jewish Federation distributed over $66.6 million dollars to various nonprofits in fiscal year 2023, including Friends of the IDF and numerous other Zionist organizations. The Jewish Federation also materially supports Israel’s army. It <a href="https://jewishdetroit.org/israel-emergency-campaign-update-detroit-stands-with-israel/" data-iawmlf-archived-url="https://web-wp.archive.org/web/20260509132114/https://jewishdetroit.org/israel-emergency-campaign-update-detroit-stands-with-israel/" data-iawmlf-current-url="https://jewishdetroit.org/israel-emergency-campaign-update-detroit-stands-with-israel" data-iawmlf-archived-broken="false" data-iawmlf-archived-last-checked="2026-07-04 09:03:19">boasted that since October 7, 2023, it worked with other Jewish Federations to raise $295,855 for Israeli soldiers, which “includes the purchase and delivery of protective eyewear, boots, sleeping bags and other supplies.” The Jewish Federation also donates tens of millions each year to other Zionist nonprofit organizations. In 2023, it gave $16,150 to Friends of the Israel Defense Forces, a nonprofit that <a href="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20181106-hollywood-stars-raise-record-60m-for-israel-army/" data-iawmlf-archived-url="https://web-wp.archive.org/web/20250716153919/https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20181106-hollywood-stars-raise-record-60m-for-israel-army/" data-iawmlf-current-url="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20181106-hollywood-stars-raise-record-60m-for-israel-army" data-iawmlf-archived-broken="false" data-iawmlf-archived-last-checked="2026-07-04 09:03:16">sponsors Israeli soldiers and defends their actions. It also donated $10,000 to the Jewish National Fund, which for over a century has played a central role in<a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/colonial-chutzpah-jewish-national-fund" data-iawmlf-archived-url="https://web-wp.archive.org/web/20250914155041/https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/colonial-chutzpah-jewish-national-fund" data-iawmlf-current-url="https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/colonial-chutzpah-jewish-national-fund" data-iawmlf-archived-broken="false" data-iawmlf-archived-last-checked="2026-07-04 09:03:16"> dispossessing Palestinians of land. That year, the Jewish Federation also gave $334,260 to the Birthright Israel Foundation, which organizes propaganda trips designed to make young American Jews into fierce Zionists. Depicting the defendants as foreign agents and criminalizing their beliefs The Justice Department also advanced the narrative of terrorism by presenting the Michigan Eight defendants as brainwashed foreign agents, utilizing racist tropes. Defendants who had travelled internationally were deemed by U.S. attorneys as suspicious. Their travel history was taken as evidence of “extensive international ties”; if the defendants had family in China or India, even worse. In the June 12 court hearing, U.S. Attorney Maggie Smith said that while one Chinese American defendant doesn’t have a Chinese passport, he was able to live in China for many years, and concluded that “even if he doesn’t have dual citizenship, he certainly is welcome to be in that country.” This was somehow supposed to justify denying him bail. In the brief, the government also made the absurd assertion that because the defendant had allegedly subscribed to digital media channels of Palestinian resistance groups, he was “receiving almost a constant flow of American and Jewish hate.” The Justice Department also argued that the defendants’ beliefs are enough to make them a “danger to the community.” Regarding one defendant, the government’s brief claims that “defendant’s steadfast belief that she is supporting a righteous cause and has not done anything wrong is exactly what makes her dangerous.” The brief argues that she should be detained because “no condition or combination of conditions will assure her presence in a court she believes is corrupt, and no condition or combination of conditions will assure the safety of the community that she believes is ‘fascist,’ ‘imperialist,’ and ‘colonialist.’” In other words, having anti-fascist, anti-imperialist, and anti-colonial views is, for the Justice Department, already grounds for being thrown in jail. So far, the Justice Department’s rhetoric has only partially worked. Judges in Michigan and Illinois have agreed to release the defendants on $10,000 unsecured bond, meaning the courts probably did not accept the state’s assertion that these are dangerous “terrorists” who pose a risk to the community. But the defendants were released on unjust and highly restrictive conditions. The defendants are now subjected to continuous GPS monitoring (for which they have to cover the costs) and confined to the state district in which they live. Some defendants were also given “home detention,” meaning they cannot leave their place of residence except for court-approved purposes, or to attend school or work, and are under a curfew of 8am–8pm. Defendants also had to consent to have their DNA samples collected if asked by the court. A distraction from the real sources of violence The presentation of the Michigan Eight as terrorists is intended to distract from the great violence the University of Michigan (UM) and state agencies have used against the Palestine solidarity movement. University of Michigan police have beaten, pepper sprayed, and groped Palestine solidarity protesters on campus. When UM police violently disbanded the Gaza solidarity encampment in May 2024, at least two protesters had to be hospitalized due to pepper spray exposure. UM has infamously hired private undercover investigators to surveil and harass student activists (and is now facing a lawsuit as a result). There were several instances of UM police investigators making home visits to student activists in order to intimidate them and get information about other individuals in the movement. Public spaces on campus have also been increasingly surveilled and restricted, monitored by police and private security firms. Top: University of Michigan police pepper spraying a crowd at the Gaza solidarity encampment on campus, May 21, 2024. Bottom: Michigan State Police officer pushing his bicycle into a crowd at a protest outside the University of Michigan Museum of Art, May 3, 2024. UM Regents Sarah Hubbard, Jordan Acker, and Paul Brown were in the museum for an event that day. Protest broke out after the regents refused to come outside to talk with students about divestment. (Photos via TAHRIR Coalition) The University also brought in heavier state power to try to criminalize the campus movement. UM Board of Regents members Jordan Acker and Mark Bernstein – both major supporters of Israel – recruited their close ally, Michigan State Attorney General Dana Nessel, to pursue felony charges against some encampment participants. Nessel eventually had to drop the charges because they could not be substantiated, at which point UM used internal disciplinary procedures to punish the students. UM police also issued campus bans to tens of individuals who had attended protests. The case against the Michigan Eight is an escalation of this longstanding program of repression. University of Michigan Deputy Chief of Police Melissa Overton pepper spraying into a crowd (without looking) at an October 7, 2024 rally on campus. (Photo via TAHRIR Coalition) The case against the Michigan Eight is ultimately about crushing solidarity in all its forms. The U.S. government seeks to criminalize any speech that is supportive of the Palestinian resistance, while trying to break the bonds of solidarity that people in the movement here have created with each other. The Justice Department also wants to send a message: if you damage property to disrupt genocide, you may face decades in prison. This crackdown is not limited to the U.S. On the day of the hearing for the Michigan Eight, June 12, 2026, a London judge sentenced Palestine Action activists to several years in prison under “terrorism” charges for destroying equipment in a factory that services Elbit, Israel’s largest weapons developer. We must resist this growing wave of criminalization and keep our solidarities strong. Ways to Support the Michigan Eight – Donate to the Michigan Eight legal fund. – For University of Michigan affiliates, sign the open letter of solidarity. This piece first appeared on Mondoweiss. The post Inside The Case Against the ‘Michigan 8’: Palestine Activism Recast as Antisemitic Terror appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Yarden Azoulay Katz - Stephen M. Ward.
Why AI Doesn’t Think, Cannot Reason, Isn’t Intelligent and Will Never Achieve Consciousness
Recent public comments made about AI suggest that Americans have difficulty with the implications of linear time. This is odd given that its conception is largely Western and is centered on the clock time used to coordin [ . . . ] The post Why AI Doesn’t Think, Cannot Reason, Isn’t Intelligent and Will Never Achieve Consciousness appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Poster for Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (detail). Recent public comments made about AI suggest that Americans have difficulty with the implications of linear time. This is odd given that its conception is largely Western and is centered on the clock time used to coordinate capitalist employment. The conceptual difficulty regards sequencing, or plans for future actions. But it also involves the distribution of profits. 100% of the capital equipment used in Western economic production was produced by workers. So, why does the resulting product belong to financiers rather than those who produced it? To use a physical metaphor, if I 1) buy a car, 2) aim it in the direction of a cliff, 3) put a stone on the gas pedal and 4) put the transmission into drive, the car will move forward and plunge off of the cliff. Question: did I, through my actions, cause the car to plunge off of the cliff? Or did the car ‘drive itself’ off of the cliff? The answer depends on where you imagine that my own actions ended. In fact, I conceived and created a series of events that if carried through with competence would lead to the car plunging off of the cliff. The car is inert metal and rubber without human direction. Likewise, if I create and set in motion a three-hundred step algorithm, is the algorithm producing the output, or did I? The distinction is between intent and process. My intent guides the conception and creation of the three-hundred step algorithm. But the work from that point forward is carried out by the algorithm being run in a computing environment. So, the algorithm didn’t conceive of the project. I did. The algorithm didn’t plan (sequence) the project. I did. The algorithm didn’t code the problem. I did. So, who produced the output, me or the machine? A similar conceptual problem applies to claims of machines ‘thinking.’ Physically speaking, AI is a bundle of algorithms housed within a large computing environment. AI didn’t conceive itself. It was conceived, if memory serves, at Carnegie Mellon University in the 1970s. AI didn’t build itself. It was built in fits and starts by computer scientists in academia and later business. AI didn’t code itself. It was coded by AI developers. And the massive physical infrastructure on which AI depends was built by workers. The point: AI is wholly produced by humans. The question then is how it is imagined that AI output represents more than the human effort that was put in to creating it? What process makes AI output more than the product of algorithms? If the answer is that something does, are you aware of sequencing algorithms? This would be code that organizes other code to follow a series of steps to complete a task. I’ve conceived and coded sequenced algorithms that run through multi-step processes from a single set of instructions. The output looks like reasoning. And it is reasoning. I coded it. The models did what I coded them to do. So again, if a series of steps are conceived, planned and launched by humans on equipment that was created by humans, at what point does their dimension shift from inanimate to animate? Or more simply, at what point does a bundle of algorithms housed on a computer think or reason or possess intelligence or consciousness? In fact, the claim that any of these describe AI is a category error. Is a rock rolling down a hill imagined to be rolling itself down the hill rather than being moved by unseen physical forces (e.g. gravity). So, claims that AI can reason emerge from either ignorance or misunderstanding of basic physical processes. Back in the world, there has been a debate in the West since the early nineteenth century over whether factory automation produces the product of factory automation, or whether the people who automated the factory produced the output? On the one hand, automation creates the appearance that its product is self-generated. On the other, the automation process was created by humans and would not exist otherwise. With the current ability to ‘sequence’ the production process using algorithms, another level of abstraction has been added to this debate. Having conceived and coded ‘sequencing’ models, most who haven’t find the concept difficult to understand. These models are instructions for how a model ‘thinks.’ Question: how is a model ‘thinking’ when it is just following instructions? Answer: it isn’t. It is just following instructions. What looks like reasoning to AI users is the reasoning coded into the model by human coders. It appears to be reasoning because the instructions it is following were reasoned. It is written instructions being carried out. Nothing more. The question is political as well in that the answer determines how income is distributed in the West. If ‘capital’ in the form of an automated factory produces the output, do the proceeds then belong to capital, meaning to the capitalist? Without workers first creating the automated factories, there would be no automation process. The political answer was to end the claims of workers to this product through wages. However, while workers receive one-time payments (wages) for their effort, the capitalist receives the profits from this labor for as long as they last. With AI, this question is back on the table, conceptually at least. Whichever way one cares to perceive AI, as a thinking machine or as a bundle of related algorithms, it was built by workers. AI didn’t conceive itself. It was conceived by workers. This is an important clue into how it works. AI was built by human workers based on their desire to produce a machine that simulates human thought. However, the digital realm is a closed system. All AI ‘knowledge’ has been mediated by humans. Within AI’s Cartesian framing, AI has no direct access to the world. It is the proverbial Cartesian brain-in-a-vat. One of the paradoxes of debating the nature of AI is that AI models describe themselves as variations on ‘word organizers and word sequencers.’ Focus on the word ‘sequencers’ for a moment. Again, a sequencer establishes and executes the order of a multi-stage process. With the launch of AI, a multi-stage process is set in motion. Words and phrases are identified and matched against similar words and phrases found in AI training sets. The sequencing then runs models to assign the words and phrases their human-determined meaning. Important to understand is that neither the sequencer nor the broader AI model understands the words and phrases that are being acted on. The meaning of the words, semantics, is created by humans and is stored in a retrieval cache. Sequencing here is the matching of (human defined) meanings to words to provide semantic context to the words and phrases being matched. To be clear, AI ‘decides’ nothing. It is following algorithmic instructions. AI is neither deciding what to do nor how to do it. That is written out for it by humans. Google AI Chatbot Analogy of AI to a Skyscraper: End Google AI Chatbot Output—————————- The distinction is between coding mathematical models to set in motion a series of steps versus the idea that the models reason on their own. Missing from casual analysis of AI is understanding of how large and complicated this process is. Developers have been building a ‘thinking machine’ in earnest since the 1970s. The infrastructure needed to run AI approximates that of a modern skyscraper. The question that has yet to be answered is: is AI worth it? Is it a crucial new technology that will justify its costs, widely considered? Or is it an occasionally interesting toy whose environmental footprint will end the planet? Recent public discussion has puzzled over how AI can solve math problems if it doesn’t think? Consider the concept from physics of ‘work.’ What those considering the matter are imagining is lone mathematicians sitting in rooms and thinking through the solutions to math puzzles. But with unlimited computing power, optimization programs can use brute force computing to work through every conceivable iteration of a problem in seconds. What AI users aren’t seeing is the skyscraper’s worth of infrastructure behind the scenes producing a result. Doesn’t this vast computing power illustrate the value of AI? No. It gets to the nature of technology. One explanation of technology is that it provides a benefit. Another is that it simply changes that way that humans do things. On the one hand, we can drive long distances quickly in cars versus walking. On the other, many of us now spend three hours per day sitting in traffic in cars. So, are cars a benefit? In some ways yes, in some ways no. What they aren’t is an unequivocal benefit, meaning that the jury is still out. Image: the guts of the automaton featured in the movie Hugo. The mechanical refinement of fake humans can be seen in the gearing. The thought was that finer gearing made automatons closer to being human. That in retrospect the automaton can be seen as a better robot rather than being closer to human is an important insight for understanding AI. AI is a digital robot. It is no closer to thinking or reasoning than a doorstop. Source: <a href="https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&hs=33Aq&sca_esv=daab60778bf84638&udm=2&fbs=ABfTbFVyMZGZf1hfvX9uKjN_-G8c4u0nXx4bEIpwm1lnNH832VstEKsVDqPorK0Gahnm2no1YAFtlsByIZaJlK7yr6gIShz8_nfnRyCFKBFanfbilXpMs-cznwqr4eRh15jLYnTekuGngrvd7aGxFZ_jG_NbB0xIU4q8G07gZ2QxAiRm0ELNkc1GrWM54pUJT8S9WE_xuFpwCR0jsacgLRy-XUk5cAVO3g&q=image+automaton+from+movie+Hugo%3F&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjX_dKnnrGVAxWYoisGHZmcCMIQtKgLegQIFxAB&biw=1239&bih=609&dpr=1.5#sv=CAMSURoyKhBlLXlaWmNXZnY2M2NheThNMg55WlpjV2Z2NjNjYXk4TToOSlZ3ZDF2VllqZjFCTE0gBCoXCgFzEhBlLXlaWmNXZnY2M2NheThNGAEwARgHIL7P2OkHSggQARgBIAEoAQ">dickgeorgecreatives. If asked if they would like a machine that transports them from one place to another quickly, most Westerners would likely answer yes. When asked if they want to spend three hours per day sitting in a car in traffic, most Westerners would likely answer no. But the latter is the direct consequence of the prior. This is how capitalism works. We are offered a benefit. In the current case, the ability to travel quickly from one place to another. But almost immediately the social consequences of the ‘benefit’ become a burden that hadn’t been imagined when the benefit was offered. In the present, a lot of Americans are worried that AI can think. It will take our jobs. But what we should be worried about is that AI can’t think. It is but one more layer of labor de-skilling. Consider: AI ‘art’ is artless. AI ‘thought’ is the aggregated wisdom of the Pentagon cobbled to the AEI (American Enterprise Institute). Every AI query written increases greenhouse gas emissions to levels that are suicidal for the species. And AI ‘solutions’ are regurgitated feints like carbon capture. All of the proposed solutions will more likely make the problems worse. While AI users imagine that ‘thought’ is producing AI results, what is in fact being applied is work. Work here is similar to the concept of horsepower, the crude conversion of the pulling power of horses to that produced by an internal combustion engine. Recall the lone mathematician sitting and thinking. Now imagine running an AI program that is the equivalent in terms of capacity of 10,000 humans laboring for one million years. One would imagine that a lot of complicated questions could be answered in such a scenario. Google Gemini AI Output End Google Gemini AI Output—————— Were 10.000 humans to labor for one million years, this would represent the largest undertaking in human history. And given that humans have finite lifespans, this thought experiment is entirely conceptual. Further, AI doesn’t use the methods of mathematicians. Instead of isolating a metaphorical tree in a forest by its qualities (the mathematician), AI chops down every other tree in the forest to declare that the tree left standing is the solution (optimization). AI’s methodology represents a different way of solving math problems that may be of interest to a few dozen mathematicians, but that comes with a computational cost equivalent to a moon landing. Were 10,000 humans actually put to the task of solving mathematical problems, questions of agency and whether or not this is a good use of social resources would arise. It is only by hiding / sidelining the question of environmental and social costs that AI is claimed to add value beyond profits for a few insiders. The ability to run a billion permutations in a microsecond makes AI a very powerful tool. But how much better is a world in which AI can run a billion permutations in a microsecond than the same world without it? The question requires a social answer, And the social answer must emerge from clear and complete understanding of the social costs of AI. It isn’t good enough to point to the math problems solved to justify the social investment in AI. The question is: what else could be accomplished with those same resources (opportunity costs)? AI solved the math problems through a process of elimination. Again, this isn’t how mathematicians work. Why? Because AI uses computational technology that humans do not possess. Recall, a car can get us from one place to another faster than we can walk. But the adoption of cars has left us sitting in traffic for a substantial portion of our waking hours. AI can use brute force computing to muscle-through certain types of questions. But are these really questions that need to be answered? Or is answering them a form of mass entertainment? Another hidden part of the AI process is the operationalization of language. AI was conceived through the premise that human thought results from syntax cobbled to semantics (form and meaning). But operationalization results in a formal consolidation of meaning. Take the term ‘democracy.’ It is widely prevalent in Western discourse in a variety of contexts, e.g. economic democracy. But to render the term operational, it must be stripped down and made stable. To be clear, this isn’t touchy-feely in the way that it might read. Take the term ‘Christianity,’ There are 45,000 Christian denominations as of a recent survey. What does this mean in the current context? An operational definition of Christianity as those who believe in Christ eliminates 45,000 enthusiastic differences of opinion amongst Christians regarding what ‘believing in Christ’ means. In political terms, it flattens 45,000 differences of opinion out of existence to claim a unity that arguably does not reflect reality. Again, this isn’t a quibble. Whoever controls the meaning of language controls the language. In an example from Zen Economics, economists use something called Household Income as a measure of economic wellbeing. While this makes intuitive sense, in practice ‘household’ must be defined, ‘income’ must be defined, and the terms must be recombined into Household Income. The semantic problem? With upwards of dozens of competing definitions, people using the exact phrasing ‘Household Income’ tend to be speaking about materially different concepts. When a user runs an AI query on Household Income, AI references the meaning that has been created by humans and placed into a semantic cache (storage area). But because AI is replacing internet search functions, prior definitions of commonly understood words are being systematically replaced with stripped down (operationalized) definitions by AI. This stripping down creates the sense of a consensus view on every topic that is incorrect. Linguistic diversity is being eliminated from the discourse. Each of these differences represents a worldview. In a phrase that I keep going back to because it explains so much, any statistical result can be undone by redefining the variables. An operationalized version of Household Income can rise and fall at the same time depending on the definition. Why? Because the definitions contain their operating logic. Is a household a single family, all of the occupants of a house, or something else? Is income wage income, all of the money that a household brings in from all sources, or something else? As the definitions change, so do the outcomes based on them. The times when I’ve traced technical definitions back through history (e.g. utility in economics), the meanings from people who claimed to be writing about the same subject were incompatible. In the case of utility, the term was being represented in mathematical models, meaning that it was imagined to be operationalized even though it hadn’t been. This rendered the claims that economists were being scientific implausible. Pushing incongruent ideas through a rigorous logical process (mathematics) doesn’t make the ideas less incongruent. In the models that I’ve created, the process representing the model logic was written mathematically. Another way to state this is that the logic of the model is embedded in the coding. For instance, in Error Correction models, the premises of stationary local means (nonstationary global mean) and mean-reverting processes were embedded. The order in which events are sequenced comes through similar embedding. The point: if it appears that a model is reasoning, that is because the humans who coded it reasoned when they coded it. Again, by analogy, what AI users see is the metaphorical car plunging off of the cliff. What they don’t see are the behind-the-scenes planning and actions that caused it to do so. So, when AI users see complex output, they imagine that ‘a simple word and phrase counting machine’ couldn’t have produced it. In fact, the word and phrase counting engine is part of a sequence of events (sequencing) that is largely invisible to AI users. Just because they don’t see the model logic doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist. . Here’s the punchline: if you understand the AI process, there is no mystery here at all. I was apparently able to intuit mathematical solutions to several of the major problems that AI has encountered using relatively simple insights. But getting the math to do what I want it to do in this context requires sequencing. And this sequencing allowed the math to function as it was supposed to. Someone looking at the math alone wouldn’t understand the context. And with context provided, the smaller solutions feed into the larger solutions. I have no idea if these explanations make sense to readers. The simplest way for me to understand the process is through sequencing. 1) AI was created by developers. It neither conceived itself nor created itself. 2) ergo, everything that follows from AI is the product of the humans who created it. 3) all model reasoning flows from the logic embedded by AI developers. 4) because AI operates from algorithmic instructions, the model logic is revealed through the operation of the AI model. Users see the model output but not the algorithmic instructions. AI ‘thinking’ and ‘thought’ are easy to dispense with. Question: what is the geographical location of this thought within AI? AI has no ‘brain,’ it has no location that one can point to as a mind. Its output is the product of at least a few hundred models acting together, meaning a process. And while an entire AI model could be thought of as a ‘brain,’ the AI memory process, to the extent there is one, is mathematical. It emerges from the sequencing of words and phrases, meaning from a process similar to the car ‘driving itself’ off the cliff. But the car didn’t drive itself off of a cliff. A sequence of events was planned and then put into motion that led to the car plunging off of the cliff. The car didn’t buy itself, point itself toward the cliff, place a stone on the gas pedal or put the car into drive. The car is understood to be inanimate. And yet without having a human driving it, it was propelled off of the cliff. Most people assessing the situation would conclude that I had propelled the car off of the cliff by the series of actions that were taken to get it to do so. Anyone still imagining that AI thinks, reasons, has intelligence or consciousness should spend time with the model logic and explain exactly where in this process algorithmic instructions become an independent thought process? Just because some haven’t done the work to understand it doesn’t make it magic. And if you imagine that it is magic, where else is similar magic found in industrial equipment? Self-driving cars don’t drive themselves. They are dumb machines that follow algorithmic instructions. To test this theory, disconnect them from the algorithms. The post Why AI Doesn’t Think, Cannot Reason, Isn’t Intelligent and Will Never Achieve Consciousness appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Rob Urie.
Right to Breathe: Unfiltered Messages from Gaza to President Catherine Connolly
I recently had the chance to send a message to the President of Ireland, Her Excellency Catherine Connolly. President Connolly is a vocal supporter of Palestine and remains one of the few European heads of state to explicitly accuse Israel of carrying out a genocide in Gaza. She has a long history of this advocacy; More The post Right to Breathe: Unfiltered Messages from Gaza to President Catherine Connolly appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Catherine Connolly. Image: Wikipedia. I recently had the chance to send a message to the President of Ireland, Her Excellency Catherine Connolly. President Connolly is a vocal supporter of Palestine and remains one of the few European heads of state to explicitly accuse Israel of carrying out a genocide in Gaza. She has a long history of this advocacy; while previously serving as a member of the Dáil Éireann—the lower house of the Irish Parliament—she famously argued that if Ireland couldn’t recognize Israel as a “terrorist state,” then the country was “in serious trouble.” The President’s sister, Dr. Margaret Connolly also joined the Global Sumud Flotilla—a multi-boat humanitarian convoy carrying medical supplies and food attempting to break the siege on Gaza. In May 2026, the flotilla was intercepted by Israeli forces in international waters, resulting in the detention of Dr. Connolly and hundreds of other pro-Palestinian activists. Instead of developing my own message or constructing a commentary on what I think Gaza and the Palestinian people want, I chose to resort to my lifelong methodology of research—the framework of “people’s history” or “history from below.” My objective was to center the voices of truly representative Palestinians and allow them to speak for themselves, unfiltered and directly to a head of state. What follows below are the raw, unedited messages from Gazans themselves. Message from Umm Mohammed The first section is the result of an ongoing, intimate conversation with a Palestinian mother from northern Gaza. An Arabic teacher who now lives in a displacement tent, she has endured unimaginable loss in this war, losing three of her children, her husband, her brother, and a vast network of cousins and extended family. She speaks entirely from the heart. Peace be upon you, and the mercy of Allah and His blessings. We pray that God grants you safety, health, and wellness, our brother Abu Sami. In all honesty, I truly, truly wish that you can convey our voice and that we can see a positive impact from it. We pray that your visit to the Irish President will bear fruit, that we will see its results right before our eyes, O Lord. I pray that God grants you success in your visit, that He opens doors for you, gives you peace of mind, and unties the knot from your tongue so they may understand your speech. We pray to see the fruits of this visit with our own eyes, to feel that those abroad truly feel our pain. You saw the Freedom Flotilla that came, and you saw what the Israelis did to them. We just want them to at least leave those who want to stand with us alone. They plot against us. But those who come wanting to support us, even just psychologically, why do they block them? We want to at least feel that people are standing with us through something simple, if not for nothing. They haven’t lifted the siege, they haven’t opened the crossings, they haven’t started reconstruction, and on top of that, they don’t even want people to support us morally? Allah is greater… why? Why all of this? Regarding the issue, or what our requirements are, and what we need: First and foremost is the lifting of the siege. Frankly, as you can see, there is no electricity, no water, and no food or drink readily available. If anything enters, it’s only when they open the crossings. They barely let a few trucks in, and prices are extremely expensive—everything we have is expensive. We need reconstruction, and we need them to open the crossings. For instance, here are my children. They are supposed to be getting an education, to have their right to study. I have a student in Tawjihi (high school exam year), but there is no studying, and there are no proper schools. Students are not being given their right to education, honestly. And even if there are educational tents, they are tents of heat, sweat, and fire. The number of students is huge inside a tiny tent. It is suffocating. There are sick people waiting to leave, wishing to get medical treatment. There are people who want to learn—here, there are no universities left. There are people waiting for their wives and children who went abroad for medical treatment and now cannot return. Many families here have been scattered; the husband is here, while the children and wife are abroad, and vice versa. This whole story about a truce is a lie. The Israelis are not making a truce; they are hunting us down like birds. No one lives in safety now. They say it’s a truce, but it is not. At any moment, shelling could happen. At any moment, destruction could happen. We are not living in safety at all. So, frankly, we want a life… we want a dignified life. A dignified life with food, water, and even the ability to breathe. One feels very, very suffocated. We need so many things… so, so many things. We need psychological support, financial support, and moral support. We have rodents that have worn us out, mosquitoes, fleas… and skin diseases are widely spread. Allergies, itching… all of this is because of what we are witnessing, all of it is the result of the siege. Honestly, this is a torment just like—just like the shelling, the bombardment, and the strikes. It is no less than the destruction and actions they are inflicting upon us. They fight us with everything, absolutely everything. They don’t want us to enjoy our lives, even when we are sleeping in our beds. In our beds, the mosquitoes drain us, insects are all around us, fleas, and the heat is killing us. There are no fans and there is no electricity. For all of this, Allah is sufficient for us, and He is the best disposer of affairs. That is all. There is an important point, brother Abu Sami, that I want to emphasize. The most important thing is that despite the sacrifices, despite the siege, despite the destruction, and despite the humiliation we are living through, there is a fundamental principle that we will never renounce: the Right of Return. Our right to return to our homes, our lands, the land of our country, and the land of our ancestors. This is a right we will never give up. All these sacrifices were made for the sake of this right. We pray that God guides us, blesses us, and allows us to return to our homes and our lands, O Lord. Ten Gazans Speak The subsequent section comprises messages from relatives, friends, and neighbors enduring the conditions within the displacement camps. Collected by my niece, Wafa, these voices were asked a single, direct question: What is your top priority in one line? These single-sentence testimonies represent their immediate realities and structural demands. “We want food. We want clean water. We want to sleep in a clean and safe place.” “I want my home back, and the sense of safety we once had. I want clean food, and to sleep without fearing for my children because of rats, insects, and disease.” “I want my family back — the family Israel took from me.” “I want to bury my children who are still under the rubble.” “I want the body of my husband, which has been withheld since October 7. I want to bury him and finally find some peace.” “I want to know the fate of my missing son. Is he alive or dead? Even the Red Cross does not help us obtain information about our children.” “I want my father released from prison. We have no one else but him.” “We want our homes rebuilt — the homes that took a lifetime of hard work to build.” “I want to achieve my dreams and continue my education. So many years of our lives have been stolen without schooling or learning.” “We want to live in freedom and safety. How much longer must we continue living through wars?” The post Right to Breathe: Unfiltered Messages from Gaza to President Catherine Connolly appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Ramzy Baroud.
Scrutinizing the Unpardonable: The AUKUS Public Inquiry So Far
In the annals of policy, strategy and budgeting, the AUKUS pact comprising Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States will be seen as one of the most mindless, absurd projects of tiny, poorly furnished minds. Not for those in the UK and US, with both receiving Croesus-rich dollops of Australian cash for stuttering submarine programs. Not More The post Scrutinizing the Unpardonable: The AUKUS Public Inquiry So Far appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Photograph Source: Petty Officer 2nd Class Dartanon Delagarza – Public Domain In the annals of policy, strategy and budgeting, the AUKUS pact comprising Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States will be seen as one of the most mindless, absurd projects of tiny, poorly furnished minds. Not for those in the UK and US, with both receiving Croesus-rich dollops of Australian cash for stuttering submarine programs. Not for flabby think tankers who repeatedly run out bills on the advisory circuit lauding the importance of costly boats and the China threat. It will be down to Australian government officials, elected and appointed, who seek the imaginary assurance of nuclear-powered submarines that they do not need, expending money they can scarce afford (AU$368 billion), while surrendering the country’s sovereignty in carefree, even treasonous manner. It is for these reasons that Australian civil society has sprung into action. As the Australian government thinks it beneath them to conduct a review of the merits of the AUKUS pact at the official level (the United Kingdom and United States have, at the very least, done so), public representatives and citizens have seized the reins. The crowd founded AUKUS Public Inquiry, coordinated by the Australian Peace and Security Forum (APSF), is the result. At its helm is former federal environment minister and frontman for Midnight Oil Peter Garrett. Former MPs, retired military and naval officers of such standing as former chief of the Australian Defence Force Chris Barrie, an assortment of strategists and academics, human rights lawyers and unions are all part of the scrutineering show. The inquiry is pursuing a number of vital questions. Will Australia ever receive those lauded submarines, be they the Virginia-class from the US Navy or the specifically designed SSN-AUKUS model? Where and how will the toxic high-level nuclear waste be stored, given that Australia has no standing facility for such a function? How many actual jobs will be created in Australia, and how distorting will this prove to the rest of the economy? Why does Australia find itself in a situation where it will potentially join a foolish war, arm-in-arm with the United States against China, Canberra’s largest trading partner? The last two questions of the inquiry crucially consider whether Australia will essentially become a vassal outpost of the US imperium, and whether the pact will ripen Australia as an inviting nuclear target. The first hearings in Melbourne, held on June 11, made compelling viewing. Former Labor Foreign Minister Gareth Evans was the first witness and uncompromisingly blunt in his submission: “The AUKUS Pillar I Submarine project was misconceived from the outset, and the passage of time since its announcement in 2021 has served only to make more compelling the conclusion that it is not in Australia’s national interest to continue our commitment to it.” Evans points to three fatal problems that neatly summarise some of the critical defects of AUKUS: the doomed prospects of deliverability, the sheer costliness of a project that “outweighs its benefits”, and the limits it would place on “Australia’s independent sovereign agency.” On the deliverability of submarines, the verdict is damning: “every piece of evidence available on the public record reinforces the scepticism as to whether any of them [the eight promised AUKUS boats] will be delivered on time, or indeed, at all.” The Virginia-class boats, scheduled to arrive by 2032, are permanently subject to the “inventory requirements” of the Pentagon, which remain sluggish at an annual production rate of approximately 1.2 platforms. This is despite the contribution of $US2 billion from the Australian public purse to US shipyards. Delivery of such boats can only be assumed, given the promise by such mandarins as the Pentagon’s Undersecretary for Policy Elbridge Colby to expand the nuclear fleet, to take place on the proviso that the Royal Australian Navy will be an extension of US power. As for the benefits accrued from such a vast bill, what were these boats really for? Evans was in no doubt: they were to serve as “supplementary assets, effectively embedded in US military command, for the task of finding, tracking, attacking and destroying Chinese submarines seen as a nuclear threat to the US mainland, as they move into and around West Pacific waters.” To also permit this capability for reasons of combating China was needless. “There is no reason to assume that, Taiwan apart, China would ever contemplate outright military aggression – Hitler, Tojo or Putin-style – against any of its regional neighbours, let alone the United States.” The issue of trading sovereignty for boats was also brutally self-evident. Washington would never part with SSNs “in the absence of an undertaking that we will deploy these boats to join the US in any fight in which it chooses to engage anywhere in our region, particularly over Taiwan.” For confirmation, one need only look at statements by Colby, or the views of officials from the previous Biden administration such as former deputy secretary of state Kurt Campbell and Ely Ratner, former assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs. Other submissions were eclectic in scope and troubling in implications. Featured were academic contributions from public academic figures Joseph Camilleri, Tilman Ruff and Richard Tanter; Dave Sweeney, an anti-nuclear campaigner from the Australian Conservation Foundation; John Leslie Lander, Australia’s former Head of the China section at the Department of Trade of Foreign Affairs and Deputy Ambassador to China; and Barbara Jackson as a “concerned citizen”. The following is a discussion of some of the presentations and submissions. (A full list is available at the AUKUS Public Inquiry site.) Speaking on behalf of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), Ruff lamented the exacerbation of regional tensions by AUKUS, which increased “the risks of major power confrontation, including nuclear confrontation, particularly in Northeast Asia.” The provision of SSNs also offered the grim spectre of nuclear proliferation, given the highly enriched uranium that would be used as reactive fuel. Australia’s anticipated retention of such waste was contrary to US non-proliferation practices that have been in place for decades. Crucially, though, the highly nuclear-enriched waste can itself provide “weapons-usable material”. Ruff was particularly aghast that Australia had not considered advancing “low-enriched uranium reactive fuel”, an alternative used by other nuclear-powered submarine fleets, and also drew the Inquiry to Canberra’s obligations under the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty. This had legal implications for boats or aircraft carrying nuclear weapons finding themselves on Australian soil. This could include “lengthy visits, visits on a permanent or semi-permanent basis”, “rolling visits” that would entail the swift replacement of one nuclear-weapons carrying platform with another, and visits with “the deliberative purpose or intention of permitting a nuclear-armed vessel or aircraft being located for military deployment directly from the location being visited.” All of these instances would violate, not only the Treaty, but Australian domestic law, and make efforts to join the Treaty on Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons problematic if not impossible. Tanter expressed his concerns about “an extraordinary emphasis on interoperability” between Australian and US forces arising from strategic and defence reviews, including “integrated planning documents recently published by the Albanese government”. Relying on the British submarine industry to pull its weight to provide the SSN-AUKUS was also optimistic, given that it was “very close to dysfunctional”. The Virginia-class boats, which were now only going to be second hand variants, were likely, if ever to make it to Australian shores, fall under the command of the US Navy. Of particular concern to Tanter was the absence of any “policy or legal impediment to bringing nuclear weapons into Australia, as long as they are labelled transit or visit.” This risked a degree of “nuclear permissiveness that we should not be tolerating.” Lander was bracing in offering a picture of China so frowned upon by the US-Australian alliance. “The strategic rationale for AUKUS is founded on the patently false premise that China presents a kinetic threat to Australia.” Over eight decades, China had never “evinced the slightest inclination to attack Australia, let alone expressed a policy of hostility towards Australia.” The fear that Australia’s sea lanes would be subjected to interdiction by China – hence the need for some bristling naval deterrent – ignored “the fact that China has an existential interest in keeping those same sea lanes open, because it is the largest trading partner of the vast majority of the world.” Domestically, the Australian government was also running roughshod over constitutional arrangements requiring them to justify the vast expenditures and the surrender of its authority to a foreign power. Parliament had been utterly ignored by the executive in “granting a foreign nation operational control of Australian defence or intelligence facilities, or territory, or to committing Commonwealth expenditure in connection with such arrangements.” Counting herself as a community member, Barbara Jackson proposed that Australia had “allowed its defence framework to be shaped substantially by American strategic priorities rather than its own.” This was much like permitting a dominant customer to dictate one’s operations. She instanced US signals intelligence facility at Pine Gap, located near Alice Springs. “Australia has almost no control over what it is used for, yet would bear the immediate consequences if conflict erupted.” The northern and western regions of Australia also offered “ideal geography for [US] operational requirements.” AUKUS and the increasing presence of US forces in Australia also seemed at odds with the country’s official doctrine, the Strategy of Denial. According to that defensive doctrine, an adversary is denied the ability to project force against Australian territory. “Pine Gap, Darwin, AUKUS, and deep interoperability with the United States forces mean Australia functions as an operating base in American offensive operations.” You could not claim a denial strategy on the one hand and “host infrastructure” implicating you as “a frontline participant in someone else’s strategic competition.” With such a list of ailments and threats posed by AUKUS, it is little wonder the creature still lives. Further efforts to put it down have already been made at Fremantle (June 29), with more to follow on July 16 (Adelaide), Adelaide First Nations Yarn (July 17), Sydney (August 11), Wollongong (August 12), and Canberra (September 1). The material marshalled at these gatherings promise to furnish us a hefty record of informed dissent in the face of folly for the ages. The post Scrutinizing the Unpardonable: The AUKUS Public Inquiry So Far appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Binoy Kampmark.
The Trump administration concluded a recent mineral deal with Kazakhstan that, not surprisingly, enriches not only Trump’s own family but that of his secretary of commerce, Howard Lutnick. Trump’s two eldest sons, part owners of Dominari Securities, are set to profit from the Kazakh tungsten deal. So is Cantor Fitzgerald, the investment firm run by More The post Trump Enrichment Syndrome appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Photo by rob walsh The Trump administration concluded a recent mineral deal with Kazakhstan that, not surprisingly, enriches not only Trump’s own family but that of his secretary of commerce, Howard Lutnick. Trump’s two eldest sons, part owners of Dominari Securities, are set to profit from the Kazakh tungsten deal. So is Cantor Fitzgerald, the investment firm run by Lutnick’s two sons. As The New York Times pointed out in its investigation of the scheme, “Their sons were soon doing business with partners in a deal that their fathers were negotiating, continuing a pattern of self-enrichment in the second Trump administration that has few precedents in American history.” The phrases “self-enrichment” and “few precedents” are interesting ways of characterizing this latest instance of the administration’s corruption. Isn’t self-enrichment a good thing, in the sense of profiting from your own hard work? By contrast, the article doesn’t mention the word “corruption” at all. Perhaps the Times is worried about getting hit by yet another Trump legal challenge (in October last year, Trump refiled a $15 billion defamation suit against the paper for its coverage of his 2024 presidential campaign). There are indeed several precedents in American history for what Trump is doing. These previous corruption scandals—Credit Mobilier, Whiskey Ring, Teapot Dome—wrecked the reputations of presidents and cast long shadows over American politics. They also helped to produce the kind of safeguards that Trump is now destroying. As with much of Trump’s disrespect for norms, his corruption has been massive and largely in full view. The two outstanding questions are: will Trump and company ever be held accountable for their graft and will this corruption have an enduring impact on political institutions in the United States? Tracking the Damage If scandalous behavior unfolds in full view of everyone, is it still a scandal? “Scandal” suggests something hidden, something whispered about, something revealed. Trump’s actions are full-frontal. They are both brazen and matter-of-fact. According to the Trump administration and its extended family, the money skimmed off the top of economic transactions is just smart politics. The administration has endeavored to negotiate every peace deal, trade agreement, investment arrangement, and mineral pact in such a way as to deliver Trump, his family, and their circle of close supporters a good chunk of change. This is Trump’s interpretation of the American dream: folks would be downright foolish not to profit from their position. All the great tycoons made their money, from railroads to AI, by being in the right place at the right time with the right amount of ruthlessness. In Trump’s case, however, he is using taxpayer money to cover the risk. And most of the time, given the terms of the arrangement, there is hardly any risk because Trump is using his presidential power to game the system. That’s what he really means by the “art of the deal.” Trump only deals from a marked deck of cards. The graft is not secret, though sometimes the actual amounts involved are obscured by layers of complex finance. Trump’s <a title="recent mandatory financial disclosure" role="link" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/30/us/politics/trump-financial-disclosure-crypto-windfall.html?emc=edit_na_20260630&nl=breaking-news&segment_id=222350" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/30/us/politics/trump-financial-disclosure-crypto-windfall.html?emc%3Dedit_na_20260630%26nl%3Dbreaking-news%26segment_id%3D222350&source=gmail&ust=1783370165066000&usg=AOvVaw2_F5u5FCE35GRCDfBZ8aQP">recent mandatory financial disclosure offers some details. But thanks to a number of websites, it’s become quite easy to track in real time the growing amount of Trump’s slice of the pie. The Center for American Progress runs Trump’s Take, which estimates that the president has received a little over $2.6 billion in cash and gifts since he took office in January 2025. Much of this money has come from various crypto schemes, including the Trump meme coin, but also such dubious ventures as the documentary about Melania Trump and a number of legal settlements (more colloquially known as shakedowns). Corruption Counter puts the value at $2.2 billion and includes such recent items as the $100 million savings for Trump from the recent effort to bar the IRS from auditing the president. (Courts blocked the overall $1.8 billion “settlement fund,” but the Justice Department is upholding the IRS amnesty.) If you want to keep track just of the crypto deals, the Democrats on the House Oversight Committee maintain the Trump Family Digital Grift Wealth Tracker. Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) <a title="keeps his own list" role="link" href="https://www.murphy.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/murphy-details-unprecedented-corruption-of-trump-white-house-over-the-last-500-days" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.murphy.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/murphy-details-unprecedented-corruption-of-trump-white-house-over-the-last-500-days&source=gmail&ust=1783370165067000&usg=AOvVaw1YgreJKElOWGuTdC5P7HwA">keeps his own list, which highlights the insider trading around the Iran War and a defense contract with Dell after the president invested in the company. David Kirkpatrick, at The New Yorker, has been keeping a running total of Trump’s ballooning assets. In January, he updated his total to $4 billion, which details, among other things, the Gulf money flowing into Trump pockets. Meanwhile, at RepresentUS, you can find a timeline of shady deals, from the no-bid contract to a presidential supporter for the Reflecting Pool “upgrade” to an Air Force contract for drones awarded to a company backed by Trump’s eldest sons. In May, Campaign Legal Center published a rundown of influence peddling—what Trump supporters get in return for their contributions—that includes Elon Musk’s DOGE appointment, ICE contracts for the Trump-supporting GEO Group, and the cessation of various lawsuits for Trump-friendly entities (Gemini, Robinhood, Coinbase). Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington has <a title="its own tracker" role="link" href="https://www.citizensforethics.org/reports-investigations/crew-reports/tracking-trumps-visits-to-his-properties-and-other-conflicts-of-interest/" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.citizensforethics.org/reports-investigations/crew-reports/tracking-trumps-visits-to-his-properties-and-other-conflicts-of-interest/&source=gmail&ust=1783370165067000&usg=AOvVaw14xNvrvGSDElD8aw9WISpg">its own tracker that keeps up with the number of major events held at Trump’s properties and the number of Trump-branded foreign projects developed during his second term (with a new Trump Tower planned for Tbilisi, Georgia, it’s now up to 25). Sometimes it seems as though Trump administration policy is just a front for making money, much as a shell company provides a legitimate façade for organized crime. Getting His Percentage One of the sticking points in the current war with Iran is the latter’s attempt to control shipping in and out of the Strait of Hormuz. Tehran wants to charge a toll on ships passing through the Strait. Given that the strait is an international waterway—and not a canal—Iran’s bid violates <a title="international law" role="link" href="https://theconversation.com/despite-its-best-efforts-iran-wont-be-able-to-toll-the-strait-of-hormuz-heres-why-286241" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://theconversation.com/despite-its-best-efforts-iran-wont-be-able-to-toll-the-strait-of-hormuz-heres-why-286241&source=gmail&ust=1783370165067000&usg=AOvVaw2416n28plopBJ3T7YS_dRE">international law. Trump has opposed Iran’s gambit not so much because it violates the Law of the Seas but because Iran has borrowed a page from the Trump playbook. How dare they try to trump Trump! Indeed, the president has threatened a toll of his own if the ceasefire doesn’t hold: a take of 20 percent of regional revenues if the United States becomes “the guardian of the Middle East” by using military force to protect shipping in the region. Foreign policy is a tool by which the administration levies a toll on any entity that has the temerity to be a country other than the United States. The Kazakh deal on tungsten is but one of several ways that the administration has cashed in on critical minerals. The Trump sons have a financial interest in 14 companies working with the U.S. government on mineral deals that involve nearly $9 billion in federal funding. This includes $620 million Pentagon loan, fast-tracked by the White House, to a North Carolina rare-earth magnet company in which Donald Trump Jr.’s venture capital firm has invested. Several Trump associates <a title="stand to gain" role="link" href="https://www.npr.org/2026/01/22/nx-s1-5682258/investigation-links-several-of-trumps-associates-to-mining-interests-in-greenland" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.npr.org/2026/01/22/nx-s1-5682258/investigation-links-several-of-trumps-associates-to-mining-interests-in-greenland&source=gmail&ust=1783370165067000&usg=AOvVaw29IEvzqVItzw2-NOI9gJIM">stand to gain from any future deal involving Greenland minerals. Trump has used tariffs to extract various concessions. In some cases, countries have responded by appealing to Trump’s self-interest. Vietnam, for instance, approved a Trump golf course and <a title="received a tariff reduction" role="link" href="https://www.democracynow.org/2025/7/3/headlines/trump_reduces_tariffs_on_vietnam_as_trump_organization_looks_to_expand_investments" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.democracynow.org/2025/7/3/headlines/trump_reduces_tariffs_on_vietnam_as_trump_organization_looks_to_expand_investments&source=gmail&ust=1783370165067000&usg=AOvVaw2gP4R8RdiEJibdigTikfv7">received a tariff reduction. Switzerland also enjoyed such treatment when it gifted Trump “a special Rolex desktop clock, a 1-kilogram personalized gold bar, and loads of flattery.” The message is clear: U.S. trade policy is for sale. Even peace agreements are not immune from the Trump treatment. The Gaza peace deal offers potentially lucrative opportunities for outside businesses to profit from the reconstruction of the rubble-strewn area. “Everybody and their brother is trying to get a piece of this,” one long-time contractor told The Guardian. “People are treating this like another Iraq or Afghanistan. And they’re trying to get, you know, rich off of it.” The executive board of Trump’s Board of Peace is dominated by titans of industry—Marc Rowan, Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner—all salivating at the prospect of using their insider position to profit (though, with progress stalled on the ground, the Board of Peace may end up doing corruption the old-fashioned way by just siphoning off the money up front and granting itself legal immunity to escape the consequences). The deal that created a “Trump corridor” between Armenia and Azerbaijan was similarly projected to provide commercial opportunities to Trump cronies. But it has yet to get off the ground, another victim of Trump’s propensity to make a big splash with his agreements and neglect to secure the follow-through. Trump’s peace deal with Russia, negotiated on the backs of the Ukrainians, would have also meant a <a title="huge windfall" role="link" href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/melikkaylan/2025/12/01/business-not-war-the-secret-us-russia-deals-global-impact/" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.forbes.com/sites/melikkaylan/2025/12/01/business-not-war-the-secret-us-russia-deals-global-impact/&source=gmail&ust=1783370165067000&usg=AOvVaw2Ye6FLDv5ugK-70XaXov8p">huge windfall for Trump cronies—in opportunities for reconstruction contracts in Ukraine and even larger profits for the commercial reengagement with Russia. In The Atlantic, several months after Trump took office, David Frum summed up the corrupt activities of the administration this way: “Nothing like this has been attempted or even imagined in the history of the American presidency. Throw away the history books; discard feeble comparisons to scandals of the past. There is no analogy with any previous action by any past president. The brazenness of the self-enrichment resembles nothing seen in any earlier White House. This is American corruption on the scale of a post-Soviet republic or a postcolonial African dictatorship.” Frum served in the George W. Bush White House. A NeverTrumper, he nevertheless knows a little something about corrupt conservatives. Upwards of $20 billion of post-war reconstruction aid for Iraq disappeared into the ether of corruption (and the pockets of U.S. firms, including Halliburton). Trump stands on the shoulders of giants. Immunity and Impact Donald Trump knows that he is a living, breathing violation of the law. That’s why he has gone to such lengths to ensure immunity—the Supreme Court decision providing presidents with immunity from criminal prosecution for their official acts, the attempt to secure exemption from IRS audits. Trump has also promised to pardon preemptively “everyone who has come within 200 feet of the Oval Office.” Let’s tackle Trump first. His immunity is not absolute. First, it does not cover “unofficial acts.” Depending on how courts define this category, Trump (and certainly his family) could be prosecuted for corrupt business dealings that are deemed “private.” Second, immunity doesn’t apply if it can be demonstrated that criminal prosecution poses no “dangers of intrusion on the authority and functions of the Executive Branch.” That’s another tough one to parse, and it will probably fall to future courts to define. But if something is demonstrably corrupt, then it should by definition fall outside the legitimate authority and functions of the Executive Branch. Trump has already used his broad powers to pardon the January 6 rioters and other malefactors, including <a title="22 corrupt politicians" role="link" href="https://www.citizensforethics.org/reports-investigations/crew-investigations/trump-has-granted-clemency-to-16-corrupt-politicians-so-far/" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.citizensforethics.org/reports-investigations/crew-investigations/trump-has-granted-clemency-to-16-corrupt-politicians-so-far/&source=gmail&ust=1783370165067000&usg=AOvVaw23qL7jRW4X0B-3P4dRowL7">22 corrupt politicians. Trump cronies must look at this record and feel pretty safe from future prosecution. But presidential pardons also have their limits. Such pardons can’t violate the Constitution or criminal law—though Trump has challenged these strictures—and they don’t cover future crimes. More to the point, Trump’s pardons only apply to federal prosecution. Individuals can still be tried in various states (and overseas if their misconduct took place in other countries). The impact of Trump’s misconduct is directly related to this question of immunity. If the president and his coterie “get away with it,” then the corruption they initiated will be much harder to root out of political institutions. Unprosecuted acts can harden into precedents. Throwing Trump and company into prison would be satisfying. Ditto clawing back their ill-gotten gains. From the point of view of democracy, however, even a plea bargain in which the malefactors stay out of jail and pay a nominal penalty in exchange for pleading guilty would be a victory. It’s best to think of Trump as an aberration, however much his behavior can be traced to past scandals, the authoritarian tendencies of previous presidents, and the oft-corrupt workings of American capitalism. Democracy, like any fiction, requires the willing suspension of disbelief. Trump’s truly an unbelievable character. Once he’s gone, it will be time to pretend that the monster has been vanquished and the rule of law restored. Only in this way will America escape its semiquincentennial with its clothing muddied but its presumably good intentions intact. The post Trump Enrichment Syndrome appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by John Feffer.
On a Subdued 250th Birthday, Is There a U.S.”We the People” Anymore?
Why 2026 feels so different from 1976 Not all birthdays are welcome. They can signify aspirations unachieved even as the window to reach them is closing. For those of us getting up in years, they can call out how old, creaky bodies are not functioning quite as well as they used to. That our departure More The post On a Subdued 250th Birthday, Is There a U.S.”We the People” Anymore? appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Photograph Source: G. Edward Johnson – CC BY 4.0 Why 2026 feels so different from 1976 Not all birthdays are welcome. They can signify aspirations unachieved even as the window to reach them is closing. For those of us getting up in years, they can call out how old, creaky bodies are not functioning quite as well as they used to. That our departure is closer than our arrival, and the clock seems to be speeding up. Here I’m speaking from personal experience. The 250th birthday of the United States seems to have many of the same attributes. High hopes for a society built on justice for all are retreating in the face of advancing oligarchy, surging racism and widening divisions over what, after all, are our aspirations. The institutions that were supposed to provide a balance that stemmed tendencies to tyranny – courts, the Congress, a free press – are sputtering ineffectively like an engine that needs an overhaul. The constitutional order is showing its age. While nations transcend the lifetime of a single individual, they too have lifespans, and a sense of mortality hangs over the U.S., with talk of civil war and breakup prominent in a way that would have been inconceivable a couple of decades ago. It is a subdued, even melancholy birthday, despite reaching the milestone of a quarter millennium since independence was declared in Philadelphia July 4, 1776. A pathetically attended and poorly conceived “Great American State Fair” on the D.C. Mall, a slimy Reflecting Pool, a White House with one wing demolished, and another area torn up to host a cage match in scenes that even Mike Judge would have had trouble imagining when he made Idiocracy in the early 2000s. Life is not only imitating art – It is exceeding it. Ironically, in a nation going backwards on climate, July 4 parades in Washington, D.C. and Philadelphia are cancelled due to extreme heat fed by climate-twisting pollution. It is quite a contrast with the bicentennial 50 years ago. I recall it well. Having just graduated from college, I returned to the family home near Philadelphia, the hearth of the republic. The mood was celebratory and upbeat. The U.S. had just seen the first presidential resignation, that of Richard Nixon in 1974 due to the Watergate scandal. The system seemed to be functioning against overbearing executive power. It had also finally extricated itself from Vietnam, the war that tore the country apart, albeit only ending with the North Vietnamese victory in 1975. That a massive protest movement had helped force U.S. withdrawal gave a sense democracy was still working. To this day wars involving mass casualties of U.S. soldiers are seen as unacceptable. After a tumultuous decade, things seemed to be working out. Fifty years later, the situation is almost diametrically opposite. The Trump Administration is boldly exerting executive power in a way that would cause Nixon to shudder. It has dismembered and gutted agencies such as the U.S. Agency for International Development, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Centers for Disease Control, refusing to spend money appropriated by Congress. The Supreme Court has largely allowed this, undermining the most fundamental power of Congress, that of the purse, while the Republican-controlled Congress has basically rolled over. A balance among the three branches of government, long drifting toward the executive, has tilted toward presidential tyranny in a way that will be hard to reverse. Meanwhile, a Supreme Court ruled by a fallacious doctrine of the unitary executive, in which all executive branch power vests in the president, started off the week leading up the the birthday by giving the presidency king-like powers. It is perhaps the most radical increase in presidential power in a century. In Trump v. Slaughter issued June 29, the court upheld Trump’s firing of Federal Trade Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter despite having no grounds under law. The court thus undermined the independence of regulatory agencies, giving the president power that will undermine their ability to counter corporate crime. Slaughter was a strong voice for regulating AI and keeping data private. In terms of war, in 1976 with Vietnam finally settled, the U.S. appeared to be beyond the era of undeclared wars and conflicts with no seeming end. The experience had been just too searing, too divisive. But over the years since Vietnam the U.S. has slid into war after war on flimsy pretexts. Two wars in Iraq, one over a Kuwait invasion that could have been solved diplomatically, the second over weapons of mass destruction that were not there. An Afghanistan war where the Taliban would have handed over Bin Laden if the U.S. had supplied evidence he was connected to 9-11. Instead the U.S. opted for a forever war that ended only to see the Taliban sweep back into power. The Iran War shredded even those thin boundaries. Unlike those other wars, including Vietnam, there was not even a Congressional authorization that might have provided a fig leaf. It is a war started by presidential decision alone. Though Congress has since by narrow majorities passed a War Powers Act resolution to limit action, it is uncertain how binding this will actually be. Meanwhile a populace opposed to the war from the start is too cynical to take to the streets in mass numbers. Thus, unlike 1976, when the U.S. still had a functioning constitutional system, today it has broken down in the face of nearly unbridled presidential power in the hands of the most reckless individual to ever occupy the White House, and a Supreme Court intent on feeding the fires. An overwhelming popular majority devoted to fundamental reform and restoration of democracy against the rising power of money could conceivably turn this around. But for the moment the system seems broken beyond repair. That rising power is the backdrop for all this. It is seen in the Gini Coefficient, a measure of economic inequality. The lower, the more equal. At 35.6 in 1976 it was heading for a historic low for the decades after World War II, to hit an absolute low of 34.7 in 1980. That trend abruptly reversed with the election of Ronald Reagan. Dramatic tax cuts for the wealthy combined with corporate deregulation put the neoliberal era in full gear. By 2024 Gini reached 41.8. The 250th birthday of the U.S. is tremendously more unequal than the 200th, intensifying racial divisions and making the election of a Trump far more possible. Credit: Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Closing the golden door Also in the week the U.S. celebrates its 250th, the court issued decisions that make it more difficult for asylum seekers to enter the U.S., and easier to deport those who are here. And in an even more chilling decision, only 6 of 9 justices voted to uphold birthright citizenship on constitutional grounds, thus reversing Trump’s executive order denying it. Alito, Thomas and Gorsuch voted the other way, even though the 14thAmendment to the Constitution clearly states, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.” Three justices who are commissioned with interpreting the Constitution were ready to overturn what it clearly says, again expanding presidential power – a travesty. Nations are held together by common narratives. Emma Lazarus, a Jewish woman who had helped Jews escape from pogroms in Europe, summed one of the keystone U.S. narratives in her poem, “The New Colossus,” written to help raise money to erect the pedestal for the Statue of Liberty, now inscribed there. “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” The door seems to be closing even as the aspirations of a nation Lazarus described as a “New Colossus” seem to shrink. With white people making up a declining share of the population, there is a sense too many coming in the door are just a bit too wretched. That is despite the fact they are reviving communities where many whites have departed, and doing work most citizens are unwilling to do. Springfield, Ohio, where thousands of Haitians have settled under the protected status just undermined by the court, is a case in point. In decline for years, the new labor force created a boom which may now be reversed. The U.S. has always had a nativist strain. When one element of my ethnicity, Irish Catholics, started to pour into the U.S. in the middle 1800s, they were regarded as subhuman beasts by the prevailing white Anglo-Saxon population. Italians, another side of my ethnicity, began arriving in mass numbers in the late 1800s. They were seen as not quite white. Even as late as the 1930s, my olive-skinned father was called the N word by his classmates. As with newer groups, Irish and Italians were not going to assimilate, it was charged. Of course, they did, as will newer groups. The U.S. is not a melting pot, but it is a fine mixing bowl. Yet this basic element of our national story seems to be going out the window. Many of us just no longer believe it. Trust lost while states move apart If many U.S. of Americans don’t much like the new arrivals, we are losing trust in each other. In a Pew Research Center Survey of 25 countries released in March, the U.S. was the only one in which a majority rated their fellow citizens as bad in terms of ethics and morality, 53% to be precise. Another Pew survey done in 2024 found “only 22% of U.S. adults said they “trust the federal government to do the right thing just about always or most of the time.” People have a sense that it is serving powerful special interests while leaving out those of ordinary people, a more than fair impression. When more than half the people say their fellows are bad, and only slightly more than one in five trust the institution that is supposed to unite us, we have to ask a basic question. Is the U.S. a “we” anymore? Is there a “we” who can understand ourselves as “the people?” Or is the U.S. simply a set of regions and cultural groups going in strongly divergent directions? When states such as Texas, Florida and Tennessee pass increasingly reactionary legislation – Tennessee for instance bars abortion even in cases of rape and incest – while states such as Washington, Minnesota and New York move more and more progressive, where is the “we” in this? Chatham House, Britain’s equivalent of the Council on Foreign Relations, in 2024 asked, “Could the United States be headed for a national divorce?.” And along the lines of the 1860s conflict. It gave the following evidence: “Of the 15 US states with the most restrictive abortion laws, all voted for Trump in 2020 and seven were originally in the Confederacy. “Of the 21 states with the most permissive gun laws in 2023, 19 voted for Trump, and six were in the Confederacy. “Of the 19 states that enacted laws in 2022 making it harder to vote, 14 voted for Trump and seven were in the Confederacy. “And of the 23 states that enacted legislation in 2023 imposing restrictions on gender-affirming care, transgender participation in school sports, school instruction touching on LBGTQ issues and related matters, 22 voted for Trump and nine were in the Confederacy.” Chatham went on to report, “Half (54 pecent) of self-described strong Republicans in America now think it is very or somewhat likely there will be a US civil war within the next decade. Four in ten (40 per cent) strong Democrats agree.” It accurately forecast, “The outcome of the 2024 US election is unlikely to resolve these differences. In fact, it may deepen them, whoever becomes president.” This voice of the British establishment concluded, “America’s friends and allies need to understand that the United States has become a Disunited States. There are effectively two Americas – and they are at war. They are fighting over social, political and constitutional issues, and over what role the US should play in the world.” The drift apart began around 60 years ago when trust in national institutions began to crumble. Before the mid-1960s most people believed the federal government and leaders would generally do the right thing. But by around 1965 that was breached. Increasing skepticism and distrust were evident in polls. That was two years after the assassination of John Kennedy, in the wake of a Warren Commission report that many already regarded as a coverup for a conspiracy. Rioting broke out in L.A.’s Black Watts neighborhood. Johnson was ramping up U.S. troop deployments in Vietnam he had promised not to make in the previous year’s election. Since then, U.S. people have increasingly moved to communities and states where they feel more ideologically at home. Bill Bishop told the story in his 2009 book, The Big Sort: Why the Clustering of Like-Minded America is Tearing Us Apart. The last major U.S. societal reform wave came in the 1960s, the Great Society programs that gave us Medicare, fundamental civil rights guarantees, and public broadcasting, among others. The early 1970s followed with a surge of basic environmental laws that remain the fundamental framework of environmental protection in the U.S. Massive grassroots movements made these waves possible. Today all those gains are under pressure, in some cases such as the Voting Rights Act, reversed. Since that time, major national reform efforts have been sparse and partial. Jimmy Carter undertook a significant energy program largely torn up by Reagan. A similar energy program passed under Biden has likewise been mostly pushed back under Trump. Obamacare, one of the few social program expansions of recent decades, passed as a strongly partisan measure and is now being defunded. The conclusion that clearly emerges is that the U.S. is too divided to do big things together anymore. The system is too broken to do what governing orders are supposed to do, ensure the common good. Where we can reclaim “we the people” In discussions about the U.S., the word “we” is often misused. When it becomes a broad generalization about what the U.S. does as a whole, it is often not an accurate description. I know, for instance, “we” did not bomb Iran. That was the choice of a small group of militarists driven by interest group politics. “We” is valid when talking about how people need to come together to make change and further the common good. But is there a U.S. of American “we the people” capable of that? Or are “we”simply too divided into culturally clashing groups and regions to ever see that happen? The evidence on this sad and subdued quarter-millennium birthday tilts toward the latter. That leaves our states and cities as the places to rebuild our sense of “we the people.” Closer to home, we can more readily understand and come to agreement on what constitutes the common good. It is where we can be enough of a people to join together and achieve it. Across the U.S., even as politics stagnates and divides at the national level, local communities and progressive state governments are forwarding initiatives to address some of our most difficult problems. Enacting just taxation. Creating affordable housing. Building up mass transit. Expanding social services for the most vulnerable. Ramping up renewable energy. Through public policies and civic action, communities are revitalizing themselves. I return to this thought often, which I characterize as building the future in place. It is the strategy for all seasons, the best route to prepare for all outcomes. If the U.S. is to come back together, heal its divisions and renew itself at a national level, the process will grow from the grassroots. If it continues to prove impossible to move toward needed changes at the national level, we can nonetheless pursue significant reforms in localities and states. Under the federal system, they possess significant powers across many fields. If the U.S. goes into breakdown or breakup mode, strong communities and state governments will be best positioned to absorb the blows and carry on. I honestly don’t know, here at year 250 of the United States, whether it will survive to year 300. I do know the only conceivable route to achieve the common good, to be a “we the people,” begins in our home places, our communities and bioregions, our states and cities, whatever is coming. This first appeared on Patrick Mazza’s Substack page, The Raven. The post On a Subdued 250th Birthday, Is There a U.S.”We the People” Anymore? appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Patrick Mazza.
Why Today’s Global Tech War Needs Yesterday’s History
The global tech landscape no longer resembles a global village; it is a fractured theater of war. Data sovereignty laws are carving the Internet into digital fiefdoms—a reality underscored by President Donald Trump’s explosive threat to slap 100 percent retaliatory tariffs on European nations daring to levy digital services taxes on American tech giants. While More The post Why Today’s Global Tech War Needs Yesterday’s History appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Still from Terminator: Genisys. The global tech landscape no longer resembles a global village; it is a fractured theater of war. Data sovereignty laws are carving the Internet into digital fiefdoms—a reality underscored by President Donald Trump’s explosive threat to slap 100 percent retaliatory tariffs on European nations daring to levy digital services taxes on American tech giants. While Washington’s sweeping semiconductor export controls weaponize supply chains into modern naval blockades, Europe’s regulatory defiance and the aggressive hoarding of generative AI inside national and proprietary bunkers signal a deeper fracturing. This sobering paradox—where technology makes the world smaller but politics makes it meaner—feels entirely unprecedented. But it isn’t. It is simply the rehearsal of a cyclical historical script. To understand why our hyper-connected world is tearing at the seams, consider the brilliant historical framework outlined by Taiwanese commentator Gongsun Ce in his critique of John Hirst’s The Shortest History of Europe. Ce argues that whenever civilization reaches its most luminous peaks, it is driven by a twin engine: a breakthrough in physical technology combined with a massive, unstoppable knowledge spillover. Today’s algorithm-driven world is the third great iteration of this cycle. To map the trajectory of the current world, it is necessary to look at how the first two waves of knowledge spillover resolved. The first case occurred during China’s Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods. It was an era defined by a hardware breakthrough—the proliferation of iron tools—and a profound software liberation: the dismantling of the aristocratic Shi class, which stripped the nobility of their monopoly on education and released knowledge into the wild. This dual explosion empowered wandering scholars, unleashed the “Hundred Schools of Thought,” and effectively triggered history’s first “regional globalization” among the Zhou vassal states. Its ultimate resolution, however, required centuries of bloody conflict before Qin Shi Huang established a standardized, unified empire to consolidate the chaos. The second case duplicated this exact genetic code during the rise of modern Europe, a narrative masterfully condensed in Hirst’s classic text. Here, the twin engine reappeared as the scientific revolution accompanied by the influx of printing technology, which shattered the Catholic Church’s monopoly on scripture and fueled the fires of the Protestant Reformation. Knowledge was released to the masses. Yet, because Europe was geographically and politically fragmented, this explosion could not be integrated internally. Instead, the resulting domestic friction empowered competing European nation-states to project their anxieties outward, unleashing a predatory, imperialist globalization that forcefully reshaped the modern world through technological asymmetry. When 2026 is seen through this historical lens, today’s digital anxieties cease to be novel glitches; they are systemic features of a shifting epoch. The world is currently stuck in the chaotic interregnum between the collapse of the old order and the birth of the new. Three distinct historical traps are driven by this wave of knowledge spillover: Ideological Tribalism: The democratization of Internet content and generative AI has completely dismantled the traditional gatekeepers of media and academia. Yet, much like the early days of the printing press or the chaos of the Warring States, this liberation has balkanized public discourse. Algorithm-fueled echo chambers have weaponized the knowledge spillover, turning nuance into noise and disagreements into existential tribal warfare. The Rise of Digital Feudalism: In ancient times, the structural benefits of iron accrued to the warring elite; in the industrial age, maritime windfalls went to imperial powers. Today, a staggering digital divide has opened up. The spoils of the AI revolution are being aggressively monopolized by a handful of tech conglomerates and sovereign states hoarding computing power, leaving ordinary citizens facing cognitive overload and labor displacement. Techno-Nationalism: The fracturing of the global tech infrastructure is a digital reincarnation of Europe’s warring nation-states. In Washington, this is explicitly framed as an existential, systemic rivalry—a zero-sum battle to ensure that Western “digital democracies” maintain absolute technological supremacy over “digital authoritarianism.” This geopolitical framing dangerously mirrors the competitive friction that historically led to open conflict. This is where history transforms from a dusty archive into what Gongsun Ce calls a “risk-evasion manual.” The ultimate lesson of both the Chinese and European historical paths is that attempting to freeze the flow of knowledge or isolate oneself from technological integration is a fool’s errand. The Zhou dynasty could not cling to its ancient rituals; the medieval Church could not suppress the printing press. Similarly, Washington’s strategy of maintaining a “small yard and high fence” through unilateral tech decoupling will not stop the global march of AI. It will only guarantee that frontier technology develops in an anarchic, zero-sum environment outside of global norms. The current trajectory mirrors the dangerous path of early modern Europe: allowing internal competition to go unchecked until anxieties are projected outward toward geopolitical conflict. To evade this trap, the international community—including both the United States and its global competitors—must pivot toward an alternative path: building a global, multilateral framework of governance for data and AI. Such a “digital consensus,” by moving past zero-sum competition, would address the domestic inequalities caused by tech displacement and establish guardrails against algorithmic radicalization. The international community is currently steering the boat by feeling the stones at the bottom of the river. It’s not necessary, however, to steer blind. Technology will continue to dissolve the boundaries of the world and release torrents of information, but history provides a guide to how to survive the flood. This first appeared on FPIF. The post Why Today’s Global Tech War Needs Yesterday’s History appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Jianlu Bi.
Our Safety Net Was Already Full of Holes. Now They’re Only Getting Bigger
Back when I was growing up, it seemed a bit easier to get by on next to nothing. People could afford food and shelter on a working-class wage and get a little help from safety net programs when needed. But since the 1990s, the cost of housing and healthcare has increasingly exceeded wage growth. We’re More The post Our Safety Net Was Already Full of Holes. Now They’re Only Getting Bigger appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Homeless camp, Portland, Oregon. Photo: Jeffrey St. Clair. Back when I was growing up, it seemed a bit easier to get by on next to nothing. People could afford food and shelter on a working-class wage and get a little help from safety net programs when needed. But since the 1990s, the cost of housing and healthcare has increasingly exceeded wage growth. We’re also paying a larger share of our income on food now. Even as recently as 2021, an expanded Child Tax Credit, stronger unemployment insurance, and health care programs were keeping people out of poverty — even slashing child poverty in half. But spending hawks in Congress refused to renew these pandemic-era social programs, and poverty spiked right back up. Under this administration and Congress, things are even worse. Already, thin assistance programs have been slashed to fund tax cuts for billionaires and more endless wars. Even before these latest cuts, it was clear we needed a stronger safety net with less red tape. Years ago, when I stepped out on my own as a mother, I had to apply for SNAP (the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or food stamps). It helped my kids get the best start in life with good, adequate nutrition, even living in an area where well-paying jobs were scarce and child care was expensive. In search of better-paying work, I moved to St. Louis. I found better pay, but the rent was at least double. Even with a bigger paycheck, I had to live in my car and apply for Section 8 housing assistance. My son had to go live with his dad. I was devastated. I found some subpar housing while I spent three years stuck at number 2,000 on the waitlist. But eventually I fell off the list altogether. It turns out the form they sent me to remain on the waitlist was returned as “undeliverable.” They had entered my address incorrectly. The error was theirs, not mine. The Department of Housing and Urban Development doesn’t track how many people lose their place in line for housing assistance. Still, the estimated number of losses due to administrative error is in the tens of thousands each year. And this is on top of the 7.2 million-unit deficit in affordable housing stock, so millions who are eligible for housing assistance can’t receive it at all. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, over 50 percent of public housing agencies keep their voucher waitlists closed to new applicants at any given time. The figure can run even higher in urban areas. The system disadvantages the very people it is meant to help. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, no state in the country has adequate affordable rental housing available to meet the needs and eligibility criteria. Nationally, only 35 affordable units are available for every 100 high-need, low-income applicants. In short, we need more affordable housing units, better staffing to reduce administrative errors, and less red tape for applicants. Meanwhile, the so-called “Big Beautiful Bill” cut over $1 trillion from Medicaid and SNAP over the next decade. It doesn’t just reduce benefits; it adds red tape and “work requirements.” Most able-bodied recipients already work, but failure to file the right paperwork to prove it can cost you your benefits even if you’re eligible. And of course, without housing, how are we going to get good jobs? Already, millions have lost health coverage, and millions more have seen their SNAP benefits cut. But the worst could be yet to come, with steep Medicaid cuts scheduled for after this year’s midterms. Our national priorities are upside down. Instead of tax cuts for billionaires, we need to tell our lawmakers to ensure that our tax dollars go where they are actually needed: affordable, accessible basic human needs. Not for more wars or tax cuts for billionaires. The post Our Safety Net Was Already Full of Holes. Now They’re Only Getting Bigger appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Jessie Sicley.
The US Shouldn’t Deport People into War Zones
The Trump administration wants to deport hundreds of thousands of U.S. residents to dangerous countries. And the Supreme Court’s MAGA majority just gave its blessing. On June 25, the Supreme Court paved the way for the Trump administration to revoke Temporary Protected Status (TPS) from 350,000 migrants from Haiti and over 6,000 from Syria. TPS More The post The US Shouldn’t Deport People into War Zones appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Sheikh Maqsoud, Aleppo, under bombardment by alleged Syrian transitional government forces earlier this year. Photo: Mezopotamya Ajansı. The Trump administration wants to deport hundreds of thousands of U.S. residents to dangerous countries. And the Supreme Court’s MAGA majority just gave its blessing. On June 25, the Supreme Court paved the way for the Trump administration to revoke Temporary Protected Status (TPS) from 350,000 migrants from Haiti and over 6,000 from Syria. TPS is a legal status given to migrants from countries the U.S. government agrees are too dangerous to return to. Haiti and Syria certainly fit the description. The State Department warns Americans against traveling to Syria and Haiti “for any reason” due to the risk of crime, terrorism, kidnapping, unrest, hostage taking, and armed conflict. Yet the court’s conservative majority ruled that courts are prohibited from reviewing whether the administration followed the law in revoking TPS. The “decision that country conditions in Syria and Haiti justified termination of their TPS designations” is exempt from any form of judicial review, the justices claimed. Interestingly, the Supreme Court did not rule that the administration followed the law, or that conditions in these countries were safe. It simply ruled that these decisions couldn’t be challenged. The court also rejected the plaintiffs’ claim that terminating TPS for Haitians was racially motivated. For the court’s conservatives, none of President Trump’s past remarks — which include the lie Haitians are “eating the dogs,” “probably have AIDS,” and that Haiti is a “s—hole country” — were “overtly racial.” Effectively, the Supreme Court has granted the Trump administration the power to unilaterally end TPS for any group at any time for any reason, no matter how prejudiced or flawed. While this immediately impacts Haitians and Syrians, it puts the lives of everyone with TPS at risk. This includes people from active warzones like Ukraine, Sudan, and Lebanon. The only hope for these people is that Congress will intervene on their behalf. Fortunately, even some Republicans understand the gravity of this situation. Ohio Governor Mike DeWine has called the ruling a “mistake.” DeWine warned, “If [Haitians] lose temporary protected status and they no longer can work and the companies can’t employ them, that’s a blow to the economy, that’s a blow to the state.” Ohio is home to one of the largest Haitian communities in the nation. Representative Mike Lawler (R-NY) claimed that the decision will “create a crisis in our hospitals, nursing, and in the I/DD [intellectual and developmental disabilities] community” where roughly one-third of Haitian TPS holders work. He called on the Senate to pass his bipartisan bill to extend TPS for Haitians “to address these issues.” That bill passed the House earlier this year. For all of Trump’s bigotry, migrants remain an indispensable part of the U.S. economy. But beyond these economic considerations, the U.S. has a moral duty to these people — because the dire conditions in many of these countries are the direct result of America’s foreign policy. Decades of U.S. sanctions and military intervention in Syria helped foment the political and economic instability in the region. Haiti endured years of U.S. colonial occupation and continues to face repeated attempts by our government to undermine their elections and democracy. TPS is not simply humanitarian aid. It is a form of reparations for those who’ve suffered the consequences of U.S. foreign policy. Deliberately sending vulnerable, law-abiding people — many of whom have spent decades here — to countries this administration knows are unsafe is nothing less than issuing their death sentences. These people should not be made to suffer and die to satisfy this administration’s xenophobia and racism. The sheer indifference towards life displayed by the Supreme Court and the Trump administration betray every principle upon which this nation was founded. While there is still time, Congress must enact extensions to protect TPS recipients. The post The US Shouldn’t Deport People into War Zones appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Jordan Liz.
Fathers Closing the Gap on Parental Leave
Paid leave has gained significant support from researchers and policymakers across the political spectrum. Paid family and medical leave (PFML), which allows parents to bond with a new baby, acknowledges the important role of childbirth in women’s lives as they strive to balance work and family responsibilities. And while it benefits all families, paid leave More The post Fathers Closing the Gap on Parental Leave appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Paid leave has gained significant support from researchers and policymakers across the political spectrum. Paid family and medical leave (PFML), which allows parents to bond with a new baby, acknowledges the important role of childbirth in women’s lives as they strive to balance work and family responsibilities. And while it benefits all families, paid leave can be particularly valuable for vulnerable populations with limited resources. Parents and other family caregivers experience psychosocial stress and opportunity costs due to the competing demands of labor market participation and household caregiving responsibilities. Paid leave can mitigate these stresses. Another positive development associated with greater availability of paid family leave is the increased use of paid leave by fathers following the birth of a child, an area that has received relatively little attention. Recent claims data indicate that in states where paid leave programs have been implemented, men’s use of paid leave to bond with a newborn has risen in recent years. Indeed, the availability of paid leave for working men may enhance the quality and stability of couple relationships and promote father’s involvement from the early stages of a child’s life. Figure 1 In fact, the gender difference in paid family leave usage at the time of a child’s birth has narrowed substantially over time (see Figure 1). Analyzing data from the Census Bureau’s Survey of Income and Program Participation, we see that among parents employed before the birth of their first child, women consistently use paid family or parental leave more than men nationwide. For the cohort with children born before 1994, approximately 29 percent of women utilized paid parental leave, compared to only about 4.5 percent of men. By 2014 to 2024, though, the proportion increased to roughly 33 percent for women and about 27 percent for men. The gap became much smaller (6 percentage points difference in the recent decade) relative to the 24 percentage points gap between women and men for the pre-1994 cohort. This is partly due to the increased availability of paid family leave, as well as changes in behavior. Figure 2 Figure 2 shows the most substantial change occurs among men. Fathers’ paid parental leave increases by approximately 22 percentage points, while mothers’ rises by less than 4 points. Meanwhile, the proportion of men not taking any leave drops by half (from 77 percent to 35 percent), compared to a modest decline among women from 16 percent to 11 percent. Fathers also tend to use vacation or other paid leave more often at the birth of a child, while mothers more frequently take unpaid or disability leave. Over the past decades, unpaid leave has remained at 22–26 percent for women, compared to about 12 percent for men in recent years. Disability leave is also more common among women, reflecting childbirth-related complications. States with Paid Leave Saw Most Significant Increases In states and the District of Columbia where paid leave is widely available, the increase in usage among fathers was significantly higher than among mothers (see Figure 3). Fathers’ use of paid parental leave rose from approximately 3 percent to 32 percent, a 29-percentage point increase. In comparison, mothers’ usage increased to 41 percent, only 8 percentage points higher than the pre-1994 cohort. Additionally, men in PFML states became less likely to forgo leave, with the decline in non-use accelerating after 2014 as new state programs were introduced. Initially, about 76 percent of fathers in these states took no leave, compared to fewer than 18 percent of mothers. By 2014 to 2024, the proportion not taking leave dropped to about one-third among fathers and 10 percent among mothers. Figure 3 Similar trends are observed among parents in non-PFL states, though to a lesser extent (see Figure 4). Among men, leave-taking behavior has changed quite a bit over time. The proportion of fathers taking paid family leave to bond with their baby increased from about 5 percent for those with children born before 1994 to approximately 25 percent for new fathers in the 2014–2024 cohort. In comparison, about one-third (32 percent) of fathers in PL states took paid leave in the most recent cohort. Use of unpaid leave and vacation or other types of leave also rose modestly among new fathers without access to state-wide PFL programs. Meanwhile, the share of fathers who did not take any leave declined sharply from nearly 78 percent to about 35 percent. Figure 4 Positive Trends Support Calls for a National Paid Leave Policy A national paid leave program would benefit both employers and workers. It reduces turnover and has little adverse impact on productivity, while also promoting greater labor force attachment for women. It is also, as we noted in our Majority Agenda series, supported across the political spectrum. And there are good reasons to believe that the rapid growth in fathers’ leave take-up would benefit women even more in their labor market activities after childbirth. As we observe here, much of the gender convergence occurs in states with paid leave programs. The most striking finding is that fathers in states with this policy are substantially more likely to move away from the “not taking leave” category. Although women continue to use leave at higher rates, their leave-taking behavior changes only slightly over time, both nationally and in states with these policies. Men have made significant progress in closing the historical gap. However, expanding paid leave in more states is less about addressing gender differences and more about supporting all parents, particularly new fathers. As additional states adopt paid leave initiatives and workplace culture evolves, men may increasingly feel empowered to take leave in order to spend time with newborns regardless of geographic location. This shift could also influence social attitudes and levels of approval among state residents. This first appeared on CEPR. The post Fathers Closing the Gap on Parental Leave appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Julia Yixia Cai.
It’s Time for a Tax Code That Lives Up to Our Ideals
The 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States is a moment to celebrate the ideals that gave birth to this country. But the anniversary also presents an opportunity to ask a difficult question: What does it mean to honor a nation founded on equality when its tax code continues to reinforce inequality? Tax More The post It’s Time for a Tax Code That Lives Up to Our Ideals appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
“Builders,” Jacob Lawrence, 1974, Screenprint on paper, Gift of Mr. Terry Dintenfass, Raclin Murphy Museum of Art, University of Notre Dame, 1975.062 The 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States is a moment to celebrate the ideals that gave birth to this country. But the anniversary also presents an opportunity to ask a difficult question: What does it mean to honor a nation founded on equality when its tax code continues to reinforce inequality? Tax laws are often viewed as a technical collection of rates, deductions, and credits. In reality, they are one of the most powerful tools through which the nation decides who gets economic opportunity. The tax code deserves closer scrutiny — not simply as a mechanism for raising revenue, but as a tool that has helped drive racial wealth disparities for generations. The connection between tax policy and racial injustice goes back to the nation’s founding. The Constitution linked taxation and political representation through the Three-Fifths Compromise, embedding racial hierarchy into the country’s governing framework. Enslaved Black people generated enormous wealth for white slaveholders, fueling the country’s economic growth while receiving none of the economic benefits. From the country’s founding to the end of the Civil War, property taxes on Black slaves were the largest source of revenue for some state governments. At the end of the Civil War, lawmakers presented Black people with an opportunity for a more equitable foundation through the passage of the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments. Yet all too soon the promise of “40 acres and a mule” was abandoned, denying formerly enslaved Black Americans the assets necessary to build generational wealth. American history shows that celebration and injustice can coexist. The 150th anniversary of our founding, in 1926, occurred during the cultural pinnacle of the Harlem renaissance, even as Jim Crow segregation remained firmly entrenched. Black people in the South, with much less income, kept paying just as much taxes as their white counterparts, sometimes more, and contributed substantially to white-only schools while Black schools declined. The 20th century brought federal policies that expanded prosperity, but not equally. During the New Deal, landmark programs such as Social Security and federally backed mortgages, which were supported by tax revenue from Black households, expanded economic opportunity for millions. But many Black workers and families were excluded from accessing these programs. As a result of these and other realities, white households hold more than five times the wealth of Black households today. Taxes generate revenue for public goods that help all communities, including Black communities. Yet the tax code does too little to close the racial wealth gap, and in many ways deepens it. Two of the most significant federal tax laws in recent decades have moved the country in the wrong direction. The “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act” of 2017 and the “One Big, Beautiful Bill Act” of 2025 delivered disproportionate benefits to wealthy households — 80 percent of TCJA’s benefits went to white households in 2018 alone. Rather than narrowing the racial wealth gap, these laws risk entrenching it further. The path to a more equitable tax code is neither radical nor unprecedented. Congress could narrow the gap between tax rates on investment income and wages, as was done during President Reagan’s administration, so that wealth is not systematically taxed at lower rates than work. Lawmakers could revisit inherited wealth provisions — like the stepped-up basis rule — that allow large estates to pass between generations largely untouched. And policymakers could establish a renter credit that extends the tax code’s wealth-building benefits to the disproportionate share of Black households who rent rather than own. These are not sweeping redistributions. They are corrections and modest steps toward a tax code that stops compounding the inequities of the past. After 250 years, our leaders must show a commitment to completing the unfinished work of American democracy. The American tax code has spent its history widening the racial wealth gap, not closing it. But what was built can be rebuilt — and today, we the people must demand it. Brakeyshia Samms is a Senior Analyst at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. The post It’s Time for a Tax Code That Lives Up to Our Ideals appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Brakeyshia Samms.
Trump’s Tactic to Split the Democratic Party into Warring Factions
After progressives, including self-described Democratic Socialists, won numerous primary victories in New York and elsewhere, Trump launched a whopper of a lie, even by his crazed standards. He declared that the “communist” Democratic Socialists are “the biggest threat to our nation there is, maybe since our founding …. That includes World War I, World War More The post Trump’s Tactic to Split the Democratic Party into Warring Factions appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
After progressives, including self-described Democratic Socialists, won numerous primary victories in New York and elsewhere, Trump launched a whopper of a lie, even by his crazed standards. He declared that the “communist” Democratic Socialists are “the biggest threat to our nation there is, maybe since our founding …. That includes World War I, World War II, September 11, it includes the Pearl Harbor attack.” This comes after his November 2025 White House meeting with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, where Trump praised Mamdani strongly, saying they would work together to make a better New York City. Trump is singing a different tune now. He is like Senator Joe McCarthy on steroids, who in the 1950s smeared political opponents, activists, and others, falsely accusing them of being communists. Snarling Joe then maliciously exploited the post-war fear of the Soviet Union. Today, Trump is just following in McCarthy’s footsteps by launching his latest BIG LIE yet to firm up his shrinking base of Trumpy MAGA voters. Look for Trump, an authentic fascist, to dittohead himself on his “communist” tirade. He knows that the pro-Israel, corporate Democrats are distancing themselves from the rising new progressive candidates who, if they’re smart, will make populist domestic demands that are heavily favored in the polls. These Democratic candidates should push for a much higher minimum wage than the present frozen federal minimum of $7.25 per hour, full Medicare-for-All, restore corporate and super-wealthy taxation to the levels of the prosperous 60s, crack down on corporate crimes against consumers, workers, and the environment, and adopt the long-time Western European social safety net of child care, paid worker and family sick leave and paid vacations. A real child tax credit would cut child poverty nearly in half and would benefit over 60 million children. They should raise the Social Security taxes on upper-income people to pay for raising Social Security benefits frozen for over 45 years. Candidates should push to cut the bloated military budget, end hundreds of billions of dollars in corporate welfare, and direct the savings to public works and safety net services in the community, USA. These changes have substantial left/right voter support because they are concrete improvements for all families who need and deserve such social benefit returns from the tax dollars they send to Washington. There are other left/right supported reforms, such as public funding of campaigns, ending the gross, corrupt selling of our elections to the highest toxic profiteering bidders, ending military arms shipments to countries that violate human rights (already federal law but unenforced), and stopping Israel’s ongoing genocide of Palestinians, committed with US weapons and unconditional political backing, which violates five federal laws. All these measures should be integrated into a heavily publicized “Contract for the American People” and turned into a daily vocal call for a commitment to this agenda by these candidates. The class message is that corporations, all created by government charters, should be our servants, not our masters, as the Kleptocratic Trump regime continues to balloon the Trump Dump. Bolstered by support of such concrete commitments, Trump’s “communist bellowing” will look ridiculous and will be ripe for the sharpest of counterattacks, dragging the GOP’s wreckage out into the open by comparison. To paraphrase Shakespeare, the Republicans will be hoisted by their own petard. The real hurdle to this “Contract for the American People” are the corporate Democrats – indentured to the same Wall Street crowd and military-industrial Empire of war and vast profits. The chief corporate Democrats are the Party’s leaders – Hakeem Jeffries in the House and Chuck Schumer in the Senate. When asked by a reporter about impeaching Trump (the cruel, corrupt, violent, America-wrecking outlaw, using the White House as corporate-occupied territory to enrich himself), Jeffries replied, “I don’t want to get out ahead of that discussion.” What about getting ahead of Trump’s daily despicable efforts to destroy our democracy and wrecking America? How about just representing the vast majority of the Democratic voters and about 60% of all polled Americans who think Trump is “a dangerous dictator” and want him impeached and removed from office. Jeffries and Schumer are perfect foils for Trump to pit them against the rising progressive revolt inside their Party. Why? Because they will dig in their heels, reflect their paymasters’ demands against most of these reforms, and create the very cleavage Trump wants. If Trump does not steal the election with his many voter suppressions, redistricting, and other attempted usurpations of state election controls, he’ll work to paralyze a Democratic-run Congress. Jeffries and Schumer, to preserve their leadership, are susceptible to not rocking the boat and not fiercely rolling back all the Republican Party’s devastating enactments since January 20, 2025. Let’s see if the incumbent and newly elected progressives know how NOT to marginalize themselves by pushing distractingly marginal ideas instead of showing just how popular the above components of this proposed Contract for the American People are with the voters. These challenges should also focus on the growing drive for Impeachment around the country, which both Trump, Jeffries, and Schumer oppose (The Hill reports neither Jeffries nor Schumer have endorsed any of the removal efforts) – the latter two enforcing a “Now is not the time” policy. What smug insensitivity to the fears of millions of Americans hurting from Trump’s cruel decrees every day and night NOW! Jeffries and Schumer are creating their own Achilles heels for emboldening their progressive Democrats to move to replace them in January 2027. The post Trump’s Tactic to Split the Democratic Party into Warring Factions appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Ralph Nader.
Gaza’s future stuck in diplomatic limbo as ‘Board of Peace’ blocks progress for self-determination
National Committee for Gaza Administration
ANALYSIS: Drop Site News Since President Donald Trump’s self-congratulatory tour for “ending” the Israeli war on Gaza last October, followed by a UN Security Council endorsement of his Gaza plan, negotiations over Gaza’s future have been stuck in a diplomatic netherworld. While Hamas handed over all of its captives and ceased its military operations, Israel
ANALYSIS: Drop Site News Since President Donald Trump’s self-congratulatory tour for “ending” the Israeli war on Gaza last October, followed by a UN Security Council endorsement of his Gaza plan, negotiations over Gaza’s future have been stuck in a diplomatic netherworld. While Hamas handed over all of its captives and ceased its military operations, Israel has repeatedly violated the deal, killing more than 1000 Palestinians, restricting aid and movement, and expanding the areas it occupies in Gaza. With media attention focused on Iran and Lebanon, Trump’s so-called “Board of Peace” continues pushing a 15-point “roadmap,” first presented in April, that appears aimed at transforming a limited ceasefire into a broader political settlement based on the disarming of the Palestinian resistance and the abandoning of the struggle for Palestinian national liberation. READ MORE: Internal documents show Trump’s ‘Board of Peace’ moving to crush Palestinian self-determination Trump’s Board of Peace plans to grant itself sweeping immunity, documents show Other Board of Peace reports Drop Site News has obtained two documents from the recent round of negotiations over Gaza’s future: Palestinian negotiators’ amendments to the Board of Peace’s proposed roadmap, submitted on June 13; and Response delivered late last month by the Board’s “High Representative,” Nickolay Mladenov. Jeremy Scahill and Jawa Ahmad have reported on the documents here and a summary from their X post is below: <img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" class="wp-image-130240 size-full" src="https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Nikolay-Mladenov-DSN-300tall.png" alt="Board of Peace’s “High Representative” Nickolay Mladenov" width="300" height="339" srcset="https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Nikolay-Mladenov-DSN-300tall.png 300w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Nikolay-Mladenov-DSN-300tall-265x300.png 265w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /> Board of Peace’s “High Representative” Nickolay Mladenov. . . . generally avoids identifying Israel when discussing ceasefire violations. Image: Drop Site News Nickolay Mladenov, Bulgaria’s former defence and foreign minister, who served as a visiting fellow at a pro-Israel think tank founded by AIPAC veterans, has generally avoided identifying Israel when discussing ceasefire violations. Although the October 2025 agreement obliges both Hamas and Israel to halt “all military operations,” and despite Israel’s daily violations in Gaza, Mladenov’s revised roadmap states that “Hamas and the Palestinian factions shall immediately cease all military activities.” ‘Not to assign blame’ A Board of Peace official defended the approach, telling Drop Site News that the body’s role was “not to assign blame” but to ensure commitments were implemented. One senior Hamas official, however, told Drop Site that Mladenov’s roadmap sought to impose under the threat of renewed war, ongoing killings, and humanitarian catastrophe, “the surrender that Netanyahu failed to achieve through war”. Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem added that while Palestinian amendments were welcomed by mediators from Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey, Mladenov “continues to approach the file from a perspective close to the Israeli position”. <img decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-130237" src="https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Hamas-fighters-DSN-680wide.png" alt="Hamas and other Palestinian factions proposed a gradual process" width="680" height="450" srcset="https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Hamas-fighters-DSN-680wide.png 680w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Hamas-fighters-DSN-680wide-300x199.png 300w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Hamas-fighters-DSN-680wide-635x420.png 635w" sizes="(max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px" /> Hamas and other Palestinian factions proposed a gradual process for the registration and storage of heavy weapons to proceed in parallel with Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and be contingent on the implementation of key steps. Image: Drop Site News In their June 13 response, Hamas and other Palestinian factions proposed a gradual process for the registration and storage of heavy weapons to proceed in parallel with Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and be contingent on the implementation of key steps: the entry of the National Committee for Gaza Administration (NCAG), deployment of the International Stabilisation Force (ISF), and dismantling of Israel-backed armed militias in the Strip. The Palestinian proposal is limited to “heavy weapons” and would be under the joint supervision of the NCAG and Palestinian factions. In his response, however, Mladenov expanded the framework into a process to “store and decommission” weapons, broadening the scope beyond heavy weapons to include weapons depots, tunnels, military production facilities, and all weapons stored within them. Crucially, his version adds a condition stating that once the process was complete, Palestinian resistance factions would no longer “hold, store, control or have access to any weapons”. <img decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-130238" src="https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Gaza-map-Forensic-Architecture-818wide-.png" alt="A recent Gaza map" width="818" height="820" srcset="https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Gaza-map-Forensic-Architecture-818wide-.png 818w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Gaza-map-Forensic-Architecture-818wide--300x300.png 300w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Gaza-map-Forensic-Architecture-818wide--150x150.png 150w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Gaza-map-Forensic-Architecture-818wide--768x770.png 768w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Gaza-map-Forensic-Architecture-818wide--696x698.png 696w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Gaza-map-Forensic-Architecture-818wide--419x420.png 419w" sizes="(max-width: 818px) 100vw, 818px" /> A recent Gaza map. Source: Forensic Architecture/Drop Site News Buffer force separating Israelis Hamas’s draft envisioned the ISF primarily as a buffer force separating Israeli troops from areas administered by the National Committee for Gaza Administration (NCAG), monitoring ceasefire compliance, and protecting the delivery of essential humanitarian supplies. While Mladenov retained these functions, he also assigned the ISF a role in training Palestinian police and “support[ing] the decommissioning process.” On withdrawal, Hamas proposed a phased Israeli pullout “until Israeli forces are outside the borders of the Gaza Strip”, with the ISF taking positions in vacated areas, and said weapons steps would proceed in parallel with verified withdrawal stages. Mladenov’s response instead limited Israeli withdrawal to “Gaza’s perimeter” and made it conditional on “verified progress” in the weapons decommissioning process. Hamas has formally agreed to relinquish governing authority in Gaza to the NCAG, a technocratic body composed of non-partisan Palestinian experts. However, Israel has continued to block the committee from entering Gaza and has demanded Hamas’s disarmament as a precondition. In Mladenov’s revised document, the NCAG’s entry and assumption of duties are made conditional on Palestinian acceptance of the broader “roadmap” and completion of the second phase’s timeline and implementation mechanisms, particularly on disarmament. Palestinian negotiators have emphasised that the NCAG should function as a transitional governing authority, stating that it would have “full independence” and be empowered to “fulfill all legal obligations and commitments arising from the current administration of the Gaza Strip”. Reframed as ‘administration’ Mladenov’s draft removes that language, limiting the NCAG instead to financial liabilities incurred only on or after it assumes control, and reframing it as an administrative body under the Board of Peace. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-130239 size-full" src="https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Resistance-poster-DSN-400tall.png" alt="A Palestinian resistance poster signalling Gaza and West Bank linking up" width="400" height="559" srcset="https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Resistance-poster-DSN-400tall.png 400w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Resistance-poster-DSN-400tall-215x300.png 215w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Resistance-poster-DSN-400tall-301x420.png 301w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px" /> A Palestinian resistance poster signalling Gaza and West Bank linking up. Image: Drop Site News In their draft, Palestinian negotiators have argued that any resolution of the weapons issue must be embedded in a broader process guaranteeing the Palestinian people’s right to establish a state and exercise self-determination. But the Board’s draft, by contrast, states only that disarmament “shall create conditions for a credible pathway.” On governance, Palestinian negotiators have proposed reunifying Gaza and the West Bank, with the Board overseeing an orderly transfer of governance to the NCAG, which would ultimately hand power to the Palestinian Authority as part of a process “leading to the establishment of a Palestinian state.” They also set a 2027 end date for the Board’s mandate. Mladenov’s draft omits these elements entirely, makes no reference to the Palestinian Authority, and instead limits the arrangement to Hamas and other factions handing over authority to the NCAG. Republished from the Drop Site News X feed. This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.
RIMPAC 2026: Part 1 – World’s biggest naval games a dress rehearsal for the coming ‘war on China’
From June 24-July 31, dozens of countries will be taking part in the latest edition of the massive RIMPAC military exercises that take place every two years — including New Zealand, Australia, Israel, Belgium, Ecuador, Norway, and Vietnam. The carbon emissions alone are staggering. Eugene Doyle outlines the high stakes involved in the first of
From June 24-July 31, dozens of countries will be taking part in the latest edition of the massive RIMPAC military exercises that take place every two years — including New Zealand, Australia, Israel, Belgium, Ecuador, Norway, and Vietnam. The carbon emissions alone are staggering. Eugene Doyle outlines the high stakes involved in the first of three articles. COMMENTARY: By Eugene Doyle As a dress rehearsal for the coming war on China, RIMPAC is a big deal. This year’s event is billed as bringing together global naval forces to address “the current threat China is posing in the Indo-Pacific region”. Every two years the US Pacific Fleet/Indo-Pacific Command at Pearl Harbor, Hawai’i, hosts the Rim of the Pacific exercise, the world’s largest international maritime war games. RIMPAC gathers the US and its allies together for a show of force and a building of interoperability, cementing relationships and ensuring countries like Australia and New Zealand are increasingly integrated into weapons procurement and US war plans so they can act as “force multipliers” for the United States. READ MORE: India sends sub-hunter to US-hosted RIMPAC, world’s biggest naval war game Backgrounder: The Asia-Pacific arms race has taken an ominous turn Other RIMPAC reports “The suggestion of being a force multiplier is both absurd and kind of terrifying,” says Valerie Morse of Peace Action. “We don’t want to be part of a US war in the Pacific. We need to stop engaging in things like RIMPAC.” Veteran peace activist Mike Smith (Ngāpuhi and Ngāti Kahu) agrees: “What on earth are we doing there? The American strategy is to bind so-called allies, partners and friends all around the Pacific into a proxy force to fight for the US. “The only thing the Americans know how to do is to bomb other countries. It’s never worked, but it’s what they do. Being led into war as a proxy for a belligerent power is just a nightmare yet our present government, Foreign Affairs, Defence Department, and security agencies are all leading us in that direction.” Thousands of troops, dozens of ships From June 24-July 31 dozens of countries are represented, including New Zealand, Australia, Israel, Belgium, Ecuador, Norway, and Vietnam. Tens of thousands of personnel, dozens of surface ships, including the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt, naval drones and submarines, hundreds of aircraft, and all the tools of modern warfare get together to game out Armageddon. They rehearse amphibious operations, anti-submarine warfare, air defence exercises, cybersecurity and all the systems of combined operations warfare. The carbon emissions alone are staggering. Unbelievably, the PR for the event suggests the military exercise is conducted in an “environmentally and culturally sensitive manner”. Tell that to Abby Martin, the US activist and journalist who will visit Australasia in July and has produced an outstanding documentary “Earth’s Greatest Enemy – documenting the environmental cost of history’s biggest empire”. “The reason we’re at this tipping point is because of the cumulative emissions of carbon in the atmosphere — for which the US is the top contributor. The US military alone is the single largest consumer of fossil fuels on the planet, at 270,000 barrels of oil a day … more than 150 countries. “How is that possible?” asks Abby Martin. Valerie Morse says, “My starting point with RIMPAC was engagement with other Pacific activists who are concerned about US militarisation across the Pacific — that includes Hawai’i, Guam, and places like Okinawa. “Like many bits of military training, it is imperial pageantry — showing who runs the Pacific. The United States is very keen to say the Pacific is our lake.” ‘Anglo-Saxon Lake’ Just after the Second World War, General Douglas MacArthur was even more explicit: the Pacific from now on was an “Anglo-Saxon Lake”. Hawai’ian academic and activist Emalani Case challenges this imperialist framing in my next article. Hawai’ian activists have long campaigned against the impact of so many vessels, so many explosions, on the local environment. Liz Remmerswaal from World Beyond War raises another reason to distance ourselves from RIMPAC: “Israel is one of the 30 countries that’s participating. For people of good conscience who care about the genocide going on in Gaza, you have to ask: ‘Why would we want to have anything to do with a group of countries which included Israel?’” The answer, dear reader, appears to be “values”. We share values, according to RIMPAC public relations, with the Americans and Israelis. Above all, however, RIMPAC is part of the US containment of China strategy. Radio NZ and reporter Guyon Espiner helped set the scene this week when they gave retired US Brigadier-General David Stilwell a half an hour soap box to tell New Zealanders to embrace US nuclear ships, think Trump is doing a good job, fear wild-eyed Iranian terrorists, spend much, much more on the military, and be afraid, very afraid, of China. “If you read New Zealand’s defence strategy and the defence capability review, China is seen as the threat,” says Mike Smith says. “That’s totally stupid. China’s not a threat to us; it’s offering to cooperate with us. The threat to our prosperity comes from the United States.” Most loathed countries Smith’s comment is supported internationally. Of the 132 countries surveyed in the Global Country Perceptions Ranking (Nira Data), the USA sits at 128 out of 132 countries surveyed, with Israel claiming the spot as the most loathed country on the planet. China was invited to just two RIMPACs — in 2014 and 2016 — before being struck off the invitation list as the security competition in the South China Sea ramped up. Taiwanese media has been promoting the idea of Taiwan being invited to future RIMPACs, another step up the escalation ladder in terms of crossing China’s red lines on the behaviour and status of what it considers an integral part of China. There are many good reasons countries like the Philippines, New Zealand and Australia should cancel their subscription to RIMPAC and, more importantly, decline to enlist if a war with China erupts. The United States will in all likelihood be defeated. How this could unfold is the subject of the third article in this series. The effective defeat of the US at the hands of Iran should be a salutary lesson … but some people never learn. Fighting alongside the US puts us on the side of an empire that is committed to genocide and whose military industrial complex demands forever wars. The more allies the US has, the more likely megadeath will happen, and the once-peaceful Blue Pacific could be turned red with the blood of innocents. Should war come and China prevails and pushes the US to the periphery of the region, there will be inevitable consequences for US allies who attacked China. That is well worth pondering. We are at a hinge moment in world history; US supremacy is receding. Tomorrow will not be the same as yesterday, and we should adjust to new realities, not cleave to old certainties. Eugene Doyle is a writer based in Wellington, New Zealand. He has written extensively on the Middle East, as well as peace and security issues in the Asia Pacific region, and contributes to Asia Pacific Report. He hosts solidarity.co.nz. This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.
New US ambassador to New Zealand says Cook Islands a top priority
By Kaya Selby of RNZ Pacific The new US Ambassador to New Zealand is introducing Donald Trump’s agenda of “disruption” to the Pacific. Jared Novelly arrived in Wellington last week, and is expected to travel to Niue, the Cook Islands and Samoa within the next month to present his credentials. A businessman and sports team
By Kaya Selby of RNZ Pacific The new US Ambassador to New Zealand is introducing Donald Trump’s agenda of “disruption” to the Pacific. Jared Novelly arrived in Wellington last week, and is expected to travel to Niue, the Cook Islands and Samoa within the next month to present his credentials. A businessman and sports team owner, he told a group of reporters on Friday that the Cook Islands, with its seabed riches and its permissiveness for US exploration, was “either 1a or 1b on my priority list”. READ MORE: New US ambassador would like chance to work on New Zealand’s nuclear policy Minerals and military: Incoming US ambassador spells out vision for NZ and Pacific Other Trump Pacific policies reports “I’m going to spend quite a lot of time in the Cooks,” Novelly said. “Take something like cobalt … 90 percent of it is refined in China, and they control that resource … it just so happens that the Cook Islands is one of the richest, most vastest resources of that in their EEZ on the seabed floor.” But after more than a decade of US exploration in the Cooks, and new agreements from the beginning of the year, Novelly stopped short of saying whether he would push for exploration licences. “It’s something that I think is very potentially transformative for the Cook Islands … but I don’t make Cook Island laws,” he said. “I can introduce them to US companies that can help, and I will definitely do that if allowed.” ‘Friend’ for US businesses It was at his Senate confirmation hearing in March where Novelly promised that “all US businesses will have a friend in the Ambassador’s office” in Wellington. At that hearing, he thanked the Cook Islands for their openness to “take our long-standing relationship to the next level”, while praising Samoa for their increased caution in taking on debt with China. In Wellington, he said that he would promote that cautionary message for all Pacific nations. “China has made no bones about it, they want a base in the Pacific.” “The responsible thing for me to do as a good friend to Pacific Islands that I speak to is make sure that they realise that there can be strings attached … that they know what a debt trap is.” Novelly praised his boss, who he “has a lot in common” with, for being a “disruptor.” The United States has disrupted about $25 billion in global foreign aid, and in its place, is pushing a “trade over aid” platform that promotes free market reforms in third world countries. ‘Different ways’ Novelly said that “just like we talked about disruption, we’re gonna look at different ways to do things”. “Because remittances are so important in a lot of these Pacific Island countries, and the fees on that are so high. I want to look to try and see how I can reduce those. “There’s the ‘teach a man to fish versus give them a fish’ thing.” This story was first published on This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.
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The Pacifica Evening News, Weekdays – July 5, 2026
Comprehensive coverage of the day’s news with a focus on war and peace; social, environmental and economic justice. The post The Pacifica Evening News, Weekdays – July 5, 2026 appeared first on KPFA.
Comprehensive coverage of the day’s news with a focus on war and peace; social, environmental and economic justice. The post The Pacifica Evening News, Weekdays – July 5, 2026 appeared first on KPFA. This content originally appeared on KPFA - The Pacifica Evening News Weekdays and was authored by KPFA.
Los Angeles turns ‘most polluting’ World Cup into Olympic rehearsal in bid for climate legacy
The city is testing heat and transport plans against an influx of global sports fans, which should both inform Olympic decisions and help it cope with growing climate risks.
A pungent smell clouds the stadium where the U.S. men’s football team is set to play its first World Cup match. With 30 days to go before kick-off, the venue’s operations team is busy transforming the playing field into a world-class soccer stadium, the freshly laid soil covered in fertilizer ahead of the arrival of refrigerated trucks with special grass the following day. Tending to the playing surface is one small task in the job of delivering a seamless event in Los Angeles, one of 16 cities hosting the most popular sporting event in the world this summer. Compared to other host cities, the stakes are particularly high in L.A., which hopes to use this year’s World Cup — and next year’s Super Bowl — as a dry run for the Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games, coming to the city two years later. <img decoding="async" src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/lastadium-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/lastadium-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/lastadium-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=330 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/lastadium-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=768 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/lastadium-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/lastadium-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1536 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/lastadium-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=2048 2048w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/lastadium-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=160&h=90&crop=1 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/lastadium-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=640&h=853&crop=1 640w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/lastadium-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=96&h=96&crop=1 96w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/lastadium-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=150 150w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/lastadium-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 1024w" alt="" data-caption="A freshly fertilized pitch on an overcast day in Los Angeles. " data-credit="Carolina Kyllmann / CLEW"/> A freshly fertilized pitch on an overcast day in Los Angeles. Carolina Kyllmann / CLEW This is the start of L.A.’s mega-sporting-event era, and while the eight World Cup matches unfolding at the SoFi Stadium pale in comparison to the size of the Olympics, they provide a good starting point to stress-test security strategies, mobility protocols, and heat wave response plans. The traffic-laden city, with its stressed budget, wants to know what an influx of fans does to its infrastructure,\ and hopes its mega-event preparations somehow pay long-term dividends. “We’re here to deliver a lasting legacy,” Paul Krekorian, who heads L.A. Mayor Karen Bass’ Office of Major Events tells council members at a City Hall meeting in May. He reminds them that the city bid for the sporting events not just for the honor of hosting them, but to ensure that they delivered a lasting benefit for the people of Los Angeles. Yet current preparations highlight existing tensions: for Los Angeles, this year’s World Cup is set against a backdrop of weak hotel bookings, high ticket prices, and a growing budget deficit. The city also faces an urgent need to rebuild what burned down in the devastating January 2025 wildfires — the unprecedented scale of which scientists have linked to global warming — with tens of thousands of residents still displaced. Meanwhile, fears that ICE immigration officers struck into the hearts of residents when they raided the multicultural city a year ago, where a quarter of the large immigrant community is undocumented, are still very much alive. Fans, workers at highest risk from overheating “The vast majority of people at risk are not the athletes themselves, but rather the spectators — who are generally much less acclimatized — and other groups such as service staff at sales points or in catering,” sports sociologist Sven Schneider said. “These risk groups require particular protection.” Traveling around L.A., oceans of concrete and limited shade or greenery make clear that fans are exposed to heat long before matches start, racking up hours under the sun as they wait in line for shuttles to venues and stand in long queues to get into stadiums. Just days before the World Cup kick-off, FIFA placed a blanket ban on fans bringing sealed, transparent water bottles into matches — and quickly backtracked following backlash. A month before, on an overcast day typical of springtime in L.A., Otto Benedict, who heads operations at SoFi Stadium (rebranded the Los Angeles stadium for the World Cup), explained how his team is well versed with local climate risks, sardonically looking upward to say that some fans might even show up underdressed for a cooler “May gray” or “June gloom” day. <img decoding="async" src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/lametro-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/lametro-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/lametro-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=330 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/lametro-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=768 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/lametro-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/lametro-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1536 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/lametro-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=2048 2048w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/lametro-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=160&h=90&crop=1 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/lametro-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=640&h=853&crop=1 640w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/lametro-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=96&h=96&crop=1 96w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/lametro-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=150 150w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/lametro-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 1024w" alt="People stand inside a subway car" data-caption="The first subway train arrives at the freshly innagurated Wilshire/Fairfax station. " data-credit="Carolina Kyllmann / CLEW"/> The first subway train arrives at the freshly innagurated Wilshire/Fairfax station. Carolina Kyllmann / CLEW Regardless, he said they are ready. “We have cooling fans and cooling zones that we deploy if it’s a hot day,” he said, adding that he is constantly in touch with the National Weather Service, and that thermometers inside the stadium coupled with metrics from previous events inform their action plans. “We are sharing with FIFA what our response protocol is, and then learning from them what they need us to be able to do.” Heat response protocols differ across host cities, based on local risk assessments. While heat waves are unusual at this time of year, record-breaking ocean temperatures are bucking the trend, said climate scientist Daniel Swain. “In the coastal parts of L.A. County, the prevalence of truly extreme heat is lower than in other parts of the country and other parts of the world,” he explains. “On the other hand, not all of the infrastructure is therefore designed for it, so when it does occur it can be very disruptive.” Read Next <img src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Seattle-Sound-Transit-World-Cup.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all" alt="A light rail commuter train passes by Seattle Stadium on a bright sunny day" class="js-modal-gallery__hidden" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Seattle-Sound-Transit-World-Cup.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all 1600w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Seattle-Sound-Transit-World-Cup.jpeg?resize=1200%2C675&quality=75&strip=all 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Seattle-Sound-Transit-World-Cup.jpeg?resize=330%2C186&quality=75&strip=all 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Seattle-Sound-Transit-World-Cup.jpeg?resize=768%2C432&quality=75&strip=all 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Seattle-Sound-Transit-World-Cup.jpeg?resize=1536%2C864&quality=75&strip=all 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Seattle-Sound-Transit-World-Cup.jpeg?resize=160%2C90&quality=75&strip=all 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Seattle-Sound-Transit-World-Cup.jpeg?resize=150%2C84&quality=75&strip=all 150w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" height="900" width="1600" loading="lazy" decoding="async"> US host cities made transit improvements a World Cup goooooooal Benton Graham The $5.5 billion SoFi Stadium is the exception. Partly surrounded by greenery, it is designed to use the natural environment to create a comfortable experience. On hot days, Benedict’s team can open roof panels to create an updraft and cool the stadium’s interior, which is not air-conditioned. On rainy days, the roof funnels water to a catchment system. That rainwater, after being treated, is used to irrigate the native plants surrounding the venue, which in turn provide shade and cooling. Yet one does not need to travel far to see a different story. The city of Inglewood, home to the stadium, has a tree canopy cover of 9 percent — when recommended canopy cover goals stand at around 30 percent. Temporary systems to spray mist, water dispensers, and sun awnings dispatched for the World Cup at key locations can only do so much when up against the demands of a climate-stressed county. Sporting events entice users to try out public transport for the first time L.A. Metro hopes that sporting events will give people a reason to experience public transit, maybe for the first time, and that a good ride can destigmatize the experience in a city where just over 3 percent of commutes are completed by public transit, according to 2024 American Community Survey data. “We are planning with legacy in mind,” said CEO Stephanie Wiggins at the edge of the SoFi Stadium pitch as airplanes roared overhead. “We’ve been rolling up our sleeves to figure out how to make this as seamless as possible.” L.A. Metro has added multilingual signs to stations, introduced contactless payments on its buses, and consolidated eight apps into one platform for planning, paying, and receiving live information and service alerts. These are changes that both international visitors and commuters will notice. Most notably, the agency inaugurated three new underground stops in May — just in time for the World Cup — having worked on the extension for over six decades. In June, fans used the D Line to reach watch parties and Fan Zones. Come August, unlike the match-day shuttles, the stations will continue to serve residents. <img decoding="async" src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/labusstop-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/labusstop-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/labusstop-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=330 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/labusstop-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=768 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/labusstop-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/labusstop-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1536 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/labusstop-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=2048 2048w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/labusstop-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=160&h=90&crop=1 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/labusstop-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=640&h=853&crop=1 640w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/labusstop-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=96&h=96&crop=1 96w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/labusstop-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=150 150w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/labusstop-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 1024w" alt="A bench sits on a sidewalk in the sun" data-caption="Most bus stops across L.A. County are not shelterd. " data-credit="Carolina Kyllmann / CLEW"/> Most bus stops across L.A. County are not shelterd. Carolina Kyllmann / CLEW Officials estimate that around 78,000 people will use the D Line every day, serving one of the U.S.’s densest corridors. As May drew to a close, L.A. Metro saw its highest ridership numbers in six years. The plan is to open six more stations by 2028, connecting the UCLA dorms, which will serve as the Olympic Village, with downtown L.A. L.A. Metro is drawing from its history: Ridership numbers reached new heights in 1984 when the city last hosted the Olympics. “We know that global events can mean an opportunity,” Wiggins added. For the World Cup, L.A. Metro is providing free water at hydration stations in key locations, and during four days at the end of June it transformed L.A.’s main railway hub into a Fan Zone. Union Station came to life in a way it has not in years. “Our Fan Zone gave people a reason to arrive early, stay longer, and see Union Station differently,” reflected Wiggins in a Substack post. “When we make the system easier and safer to use, when we create places people want to be, and when we give riders a reason to choose transit for more than their daily commute, they respond.” Read Next <img src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/world-cup-smoke.jpg?quality=75&strip=all" alt="A soccer player kicks a yellow ball on turf with a haze of smoke around him" class="js-modal-gallery__hidden" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/world-cup-smoke.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 1600w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/world-cup-smoke.jpg?resize=1200%2C675&quality=75&strip=all 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/world-cup-smoke.jpg?resize=330%2C186&quality=75&strip=all 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/world-cup-smoke.jpg?resize=768%2C432&quality=75&strip=all 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/world-cup-smoke.jpg?resize=1536%2C864&quality=75&strip=all 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/world-cup-smoke.jpg?resize=160%2C90&quality=75&strip=all 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/world-cup-smoke.jpg?resize=150%2C84&quality=75&strip=all 150w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" height="900" width="1600" loading="lazy" decoding="async"> The World Cup is one wildfire away from an air quality disaster Tik Root Time will tell whether ridership numbers continue to climb beyond the mega events. The backbone of L.A. Metro’s system is made up of buses. The agency serves around 12,000 bus stops a day, accounting for around three quarters of journeys — and the infrastructure leaves much to be desired. Most bus stops are unsheltered, leaving riders under the sun, clueless as to how long without live departure boards or timetables in sight. The Sidewalk and Transit Amenities Program is currently upgrading stops, and has installed 403 shelters — yet departure screens are often out of service. LA faces multiple tests as it counts down to Olympics A few weeks in Los Angeles makes clear that authorities, agencies, and businesses struggle to work beyond the immediate tasks in their jurisdiction. L.A. Metro does not own bus stops; local authorities do. Transport experts say that local politicians are not motivated to invest in shelters, as they fear the homeless population would take them over. While the bus system will take you anywhere in L.A., riders accumulate hours under the sun transferring between lines, often accompanied by the city’s large homeless population — a reminder of the challenges the city faces as it readies to welcome the world. L.A.’s acute housing crisis and strained budgets mean not everyone is convinced that the time and money invested in delivering a party for the world will pay off for the local residents. A few days before kick-off, workers at SoFi Stadium threatened to strike and street vendors weighed match-day profits against their personal safety. Halfway through the tournament, L.A.’s streets buzzed with life and there were plenty of signs of solidarity and camaraderie, with residents coming together to celebrate, wrote local journalist Alissa Walker in her dispatches. Yet celebrations were also obscured by toxic air stemming from a large warehouse fire. <img decoding="async" src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/lawiggins-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/lawiggins-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/lawiggins-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=330 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/lawiggins-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=768 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/lawiggins-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/lawiggins-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1536 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/lawiggins-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=2048 2048w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/lawiggins-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=160&h=90&crop=1 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/lawiggins-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=640&h=853&crop=1 640w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/lawiggins-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=96&h=96&crop=1 96w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/lawiggins-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=150 150w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/lawiggins-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 1024w" alt="A woman stands in a soccer stadium" data-caption="L.A. Metro’s CEO Stephanie Wiggins answers reporter’s questions with 30 days to go before the World Cup kick-off. " data-credit="Carolina Kyllmann / CLEW"/> L.A. Metro’s CEO Stephanie Wiggins answers reporter’s questions with 30 days to go before the World Cup kick-off. Carolina Kyllmann / CLEW The city’s wounds run deeper than last month’s smoke: Many residents are still reeling from last year’s wildfires, which ravaged entire neighborhoods in Altadena and Pacific Palisades — the most destructive fires in Los Angeles history. Air pollution reached toxic levels; pollutants still linger long after the fires have been extinguished. Against the backdrop of a national administration focused on advancing fossil fuels, comparatively green California faces much pressure. Los Angeles published its Climate Action plan in April, with an entire section dedicated to using major sports events to accelerate “climate investments that extend well beyond the closing ceremonies.” The plan commits the city to net zero by 2045, 100 percent clean energy by 2035, and to host a “transit-first” Olympic games, which should upgrade mobility options in underserved neighborhoods. Yet those working to make L.A. County more climate-resilient are unconvinced by the level of ambition or the speed of progress. Following the wildfires, L.A. Mayor Bass dropped the requirement to build new homes without fossil fuel-powered systems. Read Next <img src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/FIFA-world-cup-hydration-breaks-heat-soccer.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all" alt="A soccer player douses his face with the bottle of water during a World Cup match." class="js-modal-gallery__hidden" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/FIFA-world-cup-hydration-breaks-heat-soccer.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all 1600w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/FIFA-world-cup-hydration-breaks-heat-soccer.jpeg?resize=1200%2C675&quality=75&strip=all 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/FIFA-world-cup-hydration-breaks-heat-soccer.jpeg?resize=330%2C186&quality=75&strip=all 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/FIFA-world-cup-hydration-breaks-heat-soccer.jpeg?resize=768%2C432&quality=75&strip=all 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/FIFA-world-cup-hydration-breaks-heat-soccer.jpeg?resize=1536%2C864&quality=75&strip=all 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/FIFA-world-cup-hydration-breaks-heat-soccer.jpeg?resize=160%2C90&quality=75&strip=all 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/FIFA-world-cup-hydration-breaks-heat-soccer.jpeg?resize=150%2C84&quality=75&strip=all 150w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" height="900" width="1600" loading="lazy" decoding="async"> How FIFA’s climate solution has turned into ‘water-gate’ Tik Root “The people and the trauma make this all very complicated quite honestly, but it was an opportunity to truly do things in a way that is more sustainable and the region chose not to,” said Cassie Rauser, who heads the advocacy group TreePeople, which educates, plants, and cares for trees across Southern California. “It remains to be seen what the wildfire’s lasting impacts are,” said L.A. Metro’s Wiggins, grief palpable in her voice as she recalled her own employees’ devastation and shock at losing their homes. Regaining her usual confidence, she said that the wildfires showed how important it is to have good infrastructure and good transit: “We were relied on during those fires.” Whether L.A.’s mega-event era will benefit the people of Los Angeles in the long run is a question that hangs thick in the air. It is exactly the kind of resilience that is deeply woven into the every day that L.A. will have to build more of for its mega-event investments to have a long-term legacy. The countdown until the Olympics opening ceremony marks two years and two weeks. This story was originally published by Grist with the headline Los Angeles turns ‘most polluting’ World Cup into Olympic rehearsal in bid for climate legacy on Jul 5, 2026. This content originally appeared on Grist and was authored by Carolina Kyllmann, Clean Energy Wire.
Indonesia defends high number of military deployed in Papua
By Johnny Blades of RNZ Pacific Indonesia has defended the high number of military personnel it has deployed to West Papua, which dwarfs the size of deployments to other parts of the republic. But under Indonesian president Subianto Prabowo, a former military strongman, militarisation of Papua is changing gears and being shaped by a type
By Johnny Blades of RNZ Pacific Indonesia has defended the high number of military personnel it has deployed to West Papua, which dwarfs the size of deployments to other parts of the republic. But under Indonesian president Subianto Prabowo, a former military strongman, militarisation of Papua is changing gears and being shaped by a type of warfare that includes drone technology. Recent research reported by Project Multatuli, says that 56,517 Indonesian military forces are deployed in Papua — at least six times more military per capita than any other region in Indonesia. READ MORE: A lopsided war: 83,000 soldiers and police powering Indonesia’s violent agenda in Papua Other West Papua reports The figures also note that Indonesia’s military far outnumbers the amount of Papuan pro-independence fighters, estimated at 1438 members of various disparate, small groups with only 361 firearms. The research figures come amid ongoing violent incidents related to a long running conflict between Indonesia’s security forces and the West Papua National Liberation Army, or armed factions of the OPM Free West Papua Movement. The Indonesian Embassy in New Zealand said not all the numbers were active combatants or personnel directed to fight Papuan resistance forces. It said the assignment of military doctors, medics, and territorial development divisions was part of efforts to provide for communities in Papua. ‘Providing security, health’ “Continuing the expansion of provinces in Papua, previously from two to six, there will be obviously the need to provide security, health, and the capability to adapt to the new administration structure, with also the assignment to guard and maintain the land and maritime borders with our neighbouring countries,” a statement from the Embassy said. Andreas Harsono of Human Rights Watch Indonesia said that under the country’s new President, Prabowo Subianto, there has been an escalation of military sent to Papua, with at least an extra battalion each year being deployed. “The Prabowo administration is to increase the figure up to 42 battalions by 2029. Today, Papua has around 56,000 Indonesian soldiers. The ratio is one soldier per 100 civilians in Papua. “It is much higher than the national ratio in Indonesia — one soldier per 696 civilians.” The purpose of the huge military deployment is working hand in glove with a gradual change in demographics in Papua, whereby Papuans are becoming a minority in many districts, and with an increase in development projects backed by the Indonesian state. “It obviously is more than securing the area and to protect the population, but to grab lands to clear forests and to occupy this vast land,” Harsono said. “The biggest detachments is in South Papua Province, including Merauke and Boeven Digoel regencies, where the Indonesian government is clearing nearly three million hectares of land and swamps, starting to produce what President Prabowo said to be the ‘food and energy estate’.” New type of warfare Meanwhile, Papuans are not only seeing more military personnel in their homeland these days — they are witnessing a new type of warfare and technology being used by the Indonesian military. “Military units, usually equipped with drones, are dispatched in areas where the Papuan militants operate. These units patrol their respective areas with foot soldiers and drone units also armed with grenades and other explosives attached to the drone.” Indonesia’s military also works together with a large Indonesian police presence in Papua — the research figures showed there are 26,660 police deployed in Papua region. Additionally, countless officers from the State Intelligence Agency, who are scattered through the region, work in tandem with the security forces to protect the interests of the Indonesian state. This story was first published on This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.
John Minto: The shame of NZ’s betrayal of Gaza’s children
OPEN LETTER: By John Minto It is hard not to feel the deepest sense of shame as a New Zealander following the United Nations Independent Commission report released last week. (UN report details the “overwhelming” scale of children killed in Gaza). This report details Israel’s direct targeting of Palestinian children in Gaza and the Occupied
OPEN LETTER: By John Minto It is hard not to feel the deepest sense of shame as a New Zealander following the United Nations Independent Commission report released last week. (UN report details the “overwhelming” scale of children killed in Gaza). This report details Israel’s direct targeting of Palestinian children in Gaza and the Occupied West Bank. Most know the shocking case of Hind Rajab but this report exposes not just the deliberate, casualised killing of children individually but its industrial scale. READ MORE: A UN report details the ‘overwhelming’ scale of children killed in Gaza. It raises grave legal questions Gaza genocide – how many UN findings will the West ignore? Other Gaza genocide reports It’s easy to see how this has occurred. A study by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem has found 62 percent to 76 percent of Jewish Israelis partially or fully agree that there are “no innocents in Gaza”. Israeli political and military leaders have used such genocidal rhetoric against Palestinians for decades, and particularly in the last three years. These leaders have set the tone for the behaviour of the public and the individual soldiers who do the killing. Dehumanising a population as Israeli leaders have done is always the first step to genocide. The most tragic aspect, however, is this would not have happened had the New Zealand government and other Western governments sanctioned Israel decades ago for the brutality of its illegal occupation in Palestine, its ethnic cleansing and its mass killing of Palestinian children as detailed in the UN report. They are still silent even now — choosing to stand with those killing the children. The shame of their betrayal of New Zealand values will last for generations. John Minto is national campaign coordinator of the Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa (PSNA). This letter was first published by The Press. This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by Pacific Media Watch.
What Russia Is Doing to Fill Its Army #russia #military #shorts
Parallel Worlds: An Interview with Artist, Gaku Tsutaja
Onitaiji: Occupier, 2024. Acrylic on cotton canvas, 72 x 47 inches (182.9 x 119.4 cm), Private Collection. © Gaku Tsutaja; Courtesy of Ulterior Gallery, New York It makes sense that I would meet Gaku Tsutaja at a protest [ . . . ] The post Parallel Worlds: An Interview with Artist, Gaku Tsutaja appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Onitaiji: Occupier, 2024. Acrylic on cotton canvas, 72 x 47 inches (182.9 x 119.4 cm), Private Collection. © Gaku Tsutaja; Courtesy of Ulterior Gallery, New York It makes sense that I would meet Gaku Tsutaja at a protest against the War on Iran in front of Hiroshima’s Atomic Bomb Dome, the preserved relic of total […] To read this article, log in here or subscribe here. If you are logged in but can't read CP+ articles, check the status of your access here In order to read CP+ articles, your web browser must be set to accept cookies. The post Parallel Worlds: An Interview with Artist, Gaku Tsutaja appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Rebecca Maria Goldschmidt.
When it can be said by any country in the world, my poor are happy, neither ignorance nor distress is to be found among them, my jails are empty of prisoners, my streets of beggars, the aged are not in want, the taxes are not oppressive, the rational world is my friend because I am […] To read this article, log in here or subscribe here. If you are logged in but can't read CP+ articles, check the status of your access here In order to read CP+ articles, your web browser must be set to accept cookies. More The post The Global Revolution of Thomas Paine appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
When it can be said by any country in the world, my poor are happy, neither ignorance nor distress is to be found among them, my jails are empty of prisoners, my streets of beggars, the aged are not in want, the taxes are not oppressive, the rational world is my friend because I am […] To read this article, log in here or subscribe here. If you are logged in but can't read CP+ articles, check the status of your access here In order to read CP+ articles, your web browser must be set to accept cookies. The post The Global Revolution of Thomas Paine appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Jeffrey St. Clair.
Max Blumenthal reflects on July 4th in Tehran
‘Pasifika’ All Blacks claim bloody and physical Nations rugby test against France 34-32
By Iliesa Tora of RNZ Pacific It was physical, a bloody battle befitting the start of the new Nations Championship competition. In the end the All Blacks hung on to win 34-32 at the new One New Zealand Stadium in Christchurch in front of almost 30,000 fans. That marked the start of the Dave Rennie
By Iliesa Tora of RNZ Pacific It was physical, a bloody battle befitting the start of the new Nations Championship competition. In the end the All Blacks hung on to win 34-32 at the new One New Zealand Stadium in Christchurch in front of almost 30,000 fans. That marked the start of the Dave Rennie coaching era, one that has a lot of Pasifika connections. READ MORE: Dave Rennie’s All Blacks beat France 34-32 in thrilling Nations Championship Test Other Nations Rugby Championship reports Of Cook Islands heritage through his mother, Rennie had assistant Fa’alogo Tana Umaga, the first All Blacks captain of Pasifika heritage in his corner. And the duo had Ardie Savea leading the team on the field. Savea, who ended the game with a boot mark cut on his right eyebrow, is the second Pasifika heritage player to be leading the former world champs after Umaga. Together with the coaches and seven other players of Pasifika heritage, Savea marked his captaincy with a win. Three debutants Three debutants got their first taste of Test rugby, prop Xavier Numia, winger Fehi Fineanganofo and lock Jamie Hannah. Fineanganofo told the media post-match it was an emotional and nervous moment for him, before he got on to the show. He vomited at halftime, just thinking about what the next half would bring. The 23-year-old said hearing his family cheering him on and getting his first touch of the ball were surreal moments he will remember. “At halftime, I was in the toilet spewing. I felt better after,” he said. “I was sitting on the bench and nearly vomiting. I was like, I’m not even on the field yet, I can’t imagine what it’ll be like when I am on the field. “I was still in shock, and then once I had my first touch of the ball, all the nerves just went, and I just realised I was in it. “Happy to represent my family.” Tongan heritage The Tongan heritage winger said France was a tough opponent and thanked the players for helping him through his first Test. “They couldn’t stop crying, and I was just trying to keep strong and not cry outside. I’ll cry back in the changing room,” he laughed. While the ball came his way for just two carries, the winger made 13 metres with the ball and beat a tackle with those few touches, while making all three of his tackles. He described the French team as “strong” and “physical”, attributes the All Blacks were expecting from the visitors. “It was a huge step-up [from Super Rugby]. The boys helped me out, and I found my footing,” he reflected. “It was really physical. I was stuck in the middle, so I just had to put my head down and get to work. We did a great job to seal the deal.” He was garlanded with lolly necklaces, gifted by his family, who he said were emotional and crying when they met up after the game. <img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-130142" src="https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Rennie-Savea-RNZ-680wide.jpg" alt="All Blacks coach Dave Rennie and captain Ardie Savea fronting the media after the win over France" width="680" height="425" srcset="https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Rennie-Savea-RNZ-680wide.jpg 680w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Rennie-Savea-RNZ-680wide-300x188.jpg 300w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Rennie-Savea-RNZ-680wide-672x420.jpg 672w" sizes="(max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px" /> All Blacks coach Dave Rennie and captain Ardie Savea fronting the media after the win over France in Christchurch yesterday. Photo: RNZ Pacific/Iliesa Tora Battle ready The All Blacks scored five tries, two each to Cam Roigard and Will Jordan. Pete Lakai added the other. The lights went dim and the focus was on the two teams as they faced each other up in the middle, between the two 10 metre lines. Warriors decked in their battle outfits, ready for the 80 minutes of battle ahead. Savea’s men wore All Black, topped off with orange boots with yellow heels. The visitors had white jerseys and white shorts, and their red socks. France kicked off. And they went into attack straight away. They went right, came back to the middle and then ran right. Misread numbers Damian McKenzie misread the French numbers and winger Damian Penaud went over for the first points in the game. Captain and halfback Maxime Lucu converted and the visitors led 7-0 after one minute and 23 seconds. All Blacks flyhalf Reuben Love was shown the yellow card after he hit France’s Max Spring in the jaw with his shoulder tackle. Luckily he was only given 10 minutes off the field. But in that space the All Blacks did score, winger Will Jordan diving over in the corner, after a quick tap by captain Savea set up attack close to the French line. France came back and Lucu added three points through a penalty in front after the All Blacks were penalised inside the 22. Then it was flanker Peter Lakai who got on the scoreboard after another good Savea drive, which saw the ball travel right with quick hands. Lakai went through the gap, exchanged passes with Caleb Clarke before taking the final pass and ran in. Love converted and the All Blacks were back in front 12-10 in the 20th minute. Lucu claimed another penalty to give his team a 13-12 lead but the All Blacks had the final say in the first half, halfback Cam Roigard dummying his way from the base of a ruck, running in to touch down in the 39th minute. Love’s conversion gave the home side a 19-13 lead at halftime. Second half The All Blacks were penalised early for a tackle without the ball from the restart and after some good entertaining French flair rugby, the visitors were over the line, via Wallis and Futuna native Yoram Moefana, in the 46th minute. Lucu converted and France were back in the lead at 20-19. The lead changed hands again when Roigard finished off an All Blacks move that saw the ball go from Quinn Tupaea to Jordie Barrett, who slipped the inside pass to Roogard to finish off. Xavier Numia entered for his debut game and France were over again through Théo Attissogbé. Then it was Fehi Fineanganofo’s turn to make his debut and Jordan finished off with his second try, getting the ball from Luke Jacobsen out wide. France did come back with another try of their own through flyhalf Matthieu Jalibert but the All Blacks played the time down and ended with their first win. Rennie says it could be better Coach Rennie told the media after the game it was a relief to have won his first test as coach but added it could have been better. He praised the team’s attitude and attack, but knows they will need to be more clinical. “I love the mindset, just got to be a lot more accurate,” he said. “We constantly got our nose in front and then gave them an opportunity and they were good enough to take it. Their short passing game was excellent and we just probably lacked a little bit of line speed on the inside to apply a bit more pressure, but no lack of effort.” “We just need more time, more reps. We scrambled really well at times but we’ve just got to get off the line and apply a lot more pressure, get two in the tackle more often to give them slow ball so we can reset and get off the line and do it again. “We spent a bit of time on it over the last few days, we just need a lot more and it’ll make a massive difference. I love the effort, I love the optimism. I thought we were able to play with a really high tempo, a lightning quick ball, almost 85 percent, which is just outrageous.” France were missing several first choice players but they did not show that, taking the game to their hosts right throughout the 80 minutes. Lakai’s take Flanker Lakai, playing at number six for the first time in his Test career, said they expected France to be tough and physical, adding the All Blacks will get better after working on some areas of their game. “Obviously, you know, few things to work on, but you know we’re happy to start our campaign off of a win here in Christchurch and we’re looking forward to next week now,” he told the media post-match. “We scored some brilliant tries, but we also let in a few soft ones as well. So, just like I said, it’s just polishing. We’ve been together for a week, so I guess it’s just building combinations, and we’ll take our learnings from this week and hopefully apply them next week. “We expected them to play play quick, especially around the ruck. They obviously came down the middle and scored a few soft tries, but we’ll review that come Monday, and yeah, hopefully be better.” Captain Savea paid tribute to the debutants. “I thought the guys that played their first Test were outstanding,” Savea said. “They came on and did their job, had a few good carries. I’m just really pleased for them and their families.” The All Blacks play Italy next in Wellington on Saturday. Other Nations Championship results: Meanwhile, in other results: Wales beat Fiji 39-24 South Africa beat England 45-21 Japan beat Italy 27-10 Ireland beat Australia 33-31 Scotland beat Argentina 47-38 This story was first published on This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.
Why the AI bubble will burst – with system threatening consequences
ANALYSIS: By Mike Treen The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has issued a stark warning in its annual report. The central bank for central banks warned that the current AI investment boom is unsustainable. The five largest “hyperscaler” tech firms plan to spend more than a trillion dollars on AI-related capital expenditure from 2025 through
ANALYSIS: By Mike Treen The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has issued a stark warning in its annual report. The central bank for central banks warned that the current AI investment boom is unsustainable. The five largest “hyperscaler” tech firms plan to spend more than a trillion dollars on AI-related capital expenditure from 2025 through 2026. This spending is outpacing their earnings and free cash flow, forcing some to issue debt. “Disappointment in returns could trigger a sudden pullback in financing and turn the capex boom into a protracted investment bust… should hyperscalers slow or halt the aggressive pace of capex deployment, many borrowers across the supply chain could struggle to replace lost revenue and service their debt.” READ MORE: ‘We are in a bubble’: Experts warn of historic AI bust risk Other financial bubble reports When the BIS — the only central bank to warn before the 2008 crash — sounds the alarm, we should listen. The Bank of England, European Central Bank, and Monetary Authority of Singapore have since echoed similar concerns. Financial bubbles have become the norm since the late 1970s, when the US dollar left the gold standard and financialisation took hold. Household net worth began expanding faster than GDP, creating cycles of bubbles and busts. Yet the current bubble dwarfs all previous ones in history, as illustrated in this graphic from the US Federal Reserve. <img decoding="async" class="moz-reader-block-img" src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!gaZq!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5a620f2c-06d0-4f9f-baff-ce04992c51c3_1320x465.png" alt="" width="1320" height="465" data-attrs="{"src":"https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/5a620f2c-06d0-4f9f-baff-ce04992c51c3_1320x465.png","srcNoWatermark":null,"fullscreen":null,"imageSize":null,"height":465,"width":1320,"resizeWidth":null,"bytes":83453,"alt":null,"title":null,"type":"image/png","href":null,"belowTheFold":false,"topImage":true,"internalRedirect":"https://miketreen860764.substack.com/i/204993900?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5a620f2c-06d0-4f9f-baff-ce04992c51c3_1320x465.png","isProcessing":false,"align":null,"offset":false}" /> Households and nonprofit organisations net worth. Source: US Federal Reserve System; FRED First came the Dot-com bubble, then the housing bubble of 2008. A credit crunch in 2019 was poised to trigger another recession, but was submerged by the covid-19 crisis and the unprecedented monetary response. The result is what can only be described as the “bubble of everything”. Equities: US stock market capitalisation is now 230 percent of GDP — twice the long-term average. In early June, stocks were selling at about 40 times average corporate earnings over the previous decade, a level seen only at the peak of the Dot-com bubble. Private credit: The $3 trillion non-bank private credit “shadow market,” which exploded over the last decade, is under severe stress. AI mania: A trillion-dollar spending wave on AI, chips, and data centers is a real buildout wrapped in a speculative frenzy. This circular spending by tech giants props up the bubble, a risk mainstream media has begun to highlight. The associated wealth accumulation is historically unprecedented. A new billionaire oligarchy has emerged, deeply reactionary, racist, and anti-democratic. It is fully merged with the military-industrial complex, dependent on permanent war and genocide for survival. The tech wing of this class seeks to surveil, control, and monetise every facet of human life. Fraud is standard operating procedure, from the Trump family’s alleged looting of state resources to the SpaceX listing. For the SpaceX IPO, Nasdaq and FTSE Russell rewrote their rules to fast-track the company into major indexes after just days of trading. This forced retirement funds to buy a tiny 4 percent float of available shares, artificially inflating the price and creating a trillionaire in Elon Musk overnight — exposing workers’ pensions to immense risk. This concentrated power is staggering: the “Magnificent Seven” (Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, Tesla) now account for over 30 percent of the S&P 500, double their weight a decade ago. Tech makes up over 50 percent of the entire Nasdaq. As the market saw through the SpaceX scheme, its shares fell 24 percent, and Musk lost his trillionaire status — temporarily. When the broader crash hits, pension funds globally will suffer. The longer the mania continues, the more savings will be sucked into these overvalued indexes. As Marxist economist Gary Wilson explained, Wall Street has priced in profits that may never materialise. The bosses’ response is familiar: cut jobs, attack unions, demand subsidies, and chase war contracts. The real AI buildout is buried inside a speculative mania. The technology may survive the bubble; these stock prices will not. “The losses will come as layoffs, frozen hiring and closed factories… and through the 401(k)s and pension funds workers were pushed into… a forced ticket to a casino they neither own nor control. “The workers who never shared in the boom will be told to sacrifice when the bubble breaks.” This financial bubble is just one facet of a broader polycrisis. Capitalism has no road forward to solve these interconnected failures. Grotesque inequality: Billionaire wealth jumped 16 percent in 2025 alone, reaching a historic $18.3 trillion. In New Zealand, four people now hold more wealth than 1.8 million citizens combined, while over 900,000 face food insecurity. oxfam.org.nz Permanent war: The ongoing war against Iran has devastated global energy markets, spiking fuel and fertiliser prices. Over 50 percent of the profits from recent oil shocks went to the top 1 percent of Americans; the bottom half received just 1 percent. Looming famine: The closure of the Strait of Hormuz threatens cascading food shocks. As fertiliser prices spike 20-60 percent, the greatest risk is not immediate shortage but collapsing future harvests, leading to higher prices and starvation months later. Debt vortex: Advanced economies: Government debt (100-130 percent of GDP in the US/Europe, 200 percent in Japan) is becoming unmanageable as interest rates rise from historic lows. Developing world: External debt exceeds $11 trillion, with more than 50 nations in distress. Many now spend more on debt servicing than on healthcare or education, trapped in a neocolonial debt cycle. Climate collapse: Global warming is killing thousands in heatwaves, closing schools, and destroying crops. Political “adaptation” plans are a surrender, substituting leadership with fantasy to avoid the emergency-scale mobilisation actually required. A major capitalist crisis is nearly certain. As always, the heaviest price will be paid by the working class through escalating unemployment and austerity. This will radicalise people. Our duty as socialists is to offer solutions that point toward the ruling class — our real enemy — and resist the ruling class’s strategy to divide us by scapegoating racial, religious, or sexual minorities. As Rosa Luxemburg stated, the historical choice under capitalism is “socialism or barbarism.” That choice is re-emerging as socialism or modern-day fascism. It is no accident that these are the poles of politics globally today. Far-right parties flirting with fascism are mass movements again across Europe. Yet, hearteningly, popular support for socialism is the majority opinion among young people in the US and UK. The Democratic Socialists of America are becoming a mass party inside the belly of the beast. The road forks ahead. One path leads to division, austerity, and barbarism. The other, built by a united working class, leads to socialism. Mike Treen is a retired trade unionist and political commentator. This article was first published at his Substack @miketreen860764 and is republished with the author’s permission. This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.
Remains of abducted Mexican journalist Roxana Guzmán identified in Veracruz
Mexico City, July 4, 2026 — Mexican authorities must credibly and transparently investigate the killing of journalist Roxana Berenice Guzmán Rodríguez, determine whether her abduction and killing were related to her work as a journalist, and bring her killers to justice, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Saturday. Unidentified armed attackers abducted Guzmán, the founder...
Mexico City, July 4, 2026 — Mexican authorities must credibly and transparently investigate the killing of journalist Roxana Berenice Guzmán Rodríguez, determine whether her abduction and killing were related to her work as a journalist, and bring her killers to justice, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Saturday. Unidentified armed attackers abducted Guzmán, the founder and editor of news outlet Pulso Informativo del Sueste, from her residence in Nanchital, a town in the eastern Mexican state of Veracruz, on June 2, 2026. Human remains found in Moloacán, a town south of Nanchital in Veracruz, were identified as belonging to Guzmán, according to a statement published by the Veracruz state prosecutor’s office (FGE) on Friday, July 3. “It is deeply saddening to learn of the killing of Roxana Guzmán, whose shocking abduction was recorded and shared widely on social media,” said Jan-Albert Hootsen, CPJ’s Mexico Representative. “This is the third journalist who has been killed in Veracruz state this year, a horrifying statistic that reaffirms the country’s dismal status as the most dangerous country for journalists. Mexican authorities must thoroughly investigate whether this killing was connected to her journalism and secure justice for her and the other two journalists killed in Veracruz state this year.” Eight suspects have been arrested in relation to the killing, four of them members of the Ixhuatlán municipal police who allegedly provided resources and logistical support to the other four suspects, identified as Javier Iván ‘N’, José del Carmen ‘N’, Luis Arturo ‘N’ and Karen Monserrat ‘N’, according to that statement. The FGE did not confirm the motive of the abduction or killing. Several calls by CPJ to the Veracruz FGE on Friday and Saturday were unanswered. Guzmán is the third journalist killed in Veracruz state in Mexico in 2026. In June, reporter Luis Ángel González was abducted and shot dead in Poza Rica. In January, journalist Carlos Castro was shot and killed in the same city. Investigations into both killings have not led to any arrests. This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.
The Pacifica Evening News, Weekdays – July 4, 2026
Comprehensive coverage of the day’s news with a focus on war and peace; social, environmental and economic justice. The post The Pacifica Evening News, Weekdays – July 4, 2026 appeared first on KPFA.
Comprehensive coverage of the day’s news with a focus on war and peace; social, environmental and economic justice. The post The Pacifica Evening News, Weekdays – July 4, 2026 appeared first on KPFA. This content originally appeared on KPFA - The Pacifica Evening News Weekdays and was authored by KPFA.
Pratap Chatterjee, executive director of CorpWatch, joins us to discuss their latest report, MAGA Inc., which identifies the Crypto Czars, the Tech Titans and the Prison Profiteers who have bankrolled and benefited the most from Donald Trump’s corrupt ...
Pratap Chatterjee, executive director of CorpWatch, joins us to discuss their latest report, MAGA Inc., which identifies the Crypto Czars, the Tech Titans and the Prison Profiteers who have bankrolled and benefited the most from Donald Trump’s corrupt regime. Then, Ralph welcomes Elliot Negin, executive editor of Money Trail to talk about how Donald Trump is trying to turn Washington DC into a monument to himself. Pratap Chatterjee is an investigative journalist, producer and executive director of CorpWatch, an organization that works to promote environmental, social and human rights by holding multinational corporations accountable for their actions. He is the author of several books, including Verax: The True History of Whistleblowers, Drone Warfare, and Mass Surveillance, Halliburton’s Army, and Iraq Inc.: A Profitable Occupation. Palantir is really critical to understanding how the surveillance state works, especially in identifying people to deport and locations and people to kill in Trump’s new wars overseas, such as in Iran…Palantir’s data analytical capabilities are actually extremely simplistic and terrible. But when it comes to looking for an easy solution, that’s what Palantir offers. And they’ve been able to offer this to the Trump administration—to have them speed up their political plans such as deportation, such as waging war against Iran by giving them easy answers. Pratap Chatterjee The biggest company behind the cryptocurrency used by criminals and drug dealers and gun traffickers has come out of the shadows, into the light, thanks specifically to the credibility offered by the Trump administration. And so this is really a sea change. Pratap Chatterjee Elliott Negin, executive editor of the Substack newsletter Money Trail, is an award-winning writer, illustrator and publication designer. Prior to co-founding Money Trail in February 2025, he was the managing editor of American Journalism Review, editor and art director of Public Citizen and Nuclear Times magazines, a news editor at NPR, and a regular contributor to HuffPost and the Union of Concerned Scientists’ Equation. His freelance articles have appeared in The Atlantic, Common Dreams, The Hill, L.A. Progressive, The Nation, Scientific American, the Washington Post and other publications. It turns out that there is a government-owned ballroom less than a mile from the White House that would serve the purposes of a state dinner, which is one of the only events that you would need a ballroom for. If Trump builds a ballroom, it will not be used probably 360 days out of the year… To have a building that big that’s going to be sitting empty for all that time makes no sense whatsoever. Elliott Negin Right now, the cost of this ballroom has been escalating… And half of it’s supposed to be covered by taxpayers. Give credit to Public Citizen. It did a report that found out that more than half the donors that were identified as donating to the project when it was pegged at $400 million (including Amazon, Lockheed Martin, Palantir) have gained contracts with the federal government worth more than $50 billion in the last six months. That’s a hell of a return on investment. Elliott Negin News 7/3/26 * Our top stories this week are the Colorado primaries. First, DSA-backed insurgent Melat Kiros successfully ousted 29-year incumbent Democratic Congresswoman Diana DeGette in the state’s first congressional district, winning in a surprise blowout of over 13 points. Kiros, a 29-year old Tigrayan-American lawyer and PhD student, was fired from Sidley Austin – a “biglaw” firm in 2023, after she “posted an open letter defending students protesting Israel’s war in Gaza from charges of antisemitism,” per Colorado Newsline. Axios reports many House Democrats, speaking anonymously, have bemoaned DeGette’s loss, with one accusing Kiros of trafficking in “performative politics,” but Usamah Andrabi, spokesperson for Justice Democrats, one of the main groups that backed Kiros, put it simply when he said “If DeGette didn’t deserve a primary, Denverites wouldn’t have elected Melat” by double digits. * Also in Colorado, state Attorney General Phil Weiser easily defeated Senator Michael Bennet in the primary to succeed Jared Polis as Governor. While Weiser did run to Bennet’s left, the real victory for progressives is that Bennet finishing out his own term means the Colorado Democratic establishment won’t be able to appoint someone – likely a centrist member of the House – to replace him, per Axios. Meanwhile, John Hickenlooper, a Colorado Democratic institution won his primary as well, fending off a challenge from his left by state Senator Julie Gonzales. However, Gonzales came within 6 points of Hickenlooper, according to Colorado Public Radio, a tantalizingly close margin. Moreover, not only has Hickenlooper vowed that this would be his final Senate term, many are speculating that Bennet himself won’t run when his term ends in 2028. That is all to say, it is possible we have not seen the last of Ms. Gonzales. * Speaking of Gonzales, much has been made of the fact that she “softly” distanced herself from DSA as she launched her primary campaign, per Colorado Pols. Perhaps maintaining that organizational relationship would not have resulted in her victory, but the stunning successes of DSA-backed candidates – including Melat Kiros in Colorado – speaks to the group’s impressive organizational muscle. In fact, the group can boast of winning yet another seat in the New York State Assembly, with Maurice “Mo” Brown declaring victory against longtime incumbent Assemblyman Bill Magnarelli in the 129th Assembly District. Magnarelli held the seat for 30 years. Brown won by just over 100 votes after all the absentee and affidavit votes were tallied, according to Syracuse.com. With Brown’s victory, DSA will send 16 members to Albany next session, nearly doubling its presence across both chambers of the state legislature. * More impressive than the electoral victories however is the fact that DSA members in office are delivering on their campaign promises. Most notably, in New York City, Mayor Zohran Mamdani has successfully forced a vote through the Rent Guidelines Board to enact a rent freeze for the Big Apple’s 1 million rent-stabilized apartments, Time reports. These units make up a whopping 27% of the city’s housing stock and house around 2 million people. Mamdani’s predecessor, the corporate-friendly Democrat Eric Adams, pushed through rent hikes via the guidelines board, raising the rent by 12.6% over the course of his term in office. Mamdani called this the “relief that working people across our city deserve.” This move has, predictably, drawn the ire of landlords and their industry representatives, but there is no denying that the people of New York City voted for Mamdani in large part for this exact policy and he delivered. * In Congress, another socialist – Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez – is fighting for key amendments to the must-pass National Defense Authorization Act. These run the gamut from prohibiting the transfer of weapons to countries hampering the delivery of humanitarian aid, such as Israel, to demanding that the Secretary of Defense conduct declassification reviews or release unclassified reports on American assistance to the dictatorship in Brazil and the coup in Chile, barring Pentagon funds from being used to enforce sanctions on Cuba, and many more. As the scope of national legislation has narrowed in recent decades, amendments to massive flagship funding bills like the NDAA have become a primary means of getting legislation through the gridlock. It is very encouraging to see AOC take advantage of this mechanism to force votes on these issues. * Of course, the centrists will not simply cede power to the left without a fight. Yahoo reports 13 Democratic House members and candidates have signed onto what they are calling the “Promise to America,” consisting mainly of vague commitments to principles like “Growth, Competition, and Broad Prosperity,” or “Safety, Security, and Human Dignity.” They have also stepped up their rhetoric, saying “there’s going to be a war” between themselves and the new crop of progressive and DSA lawmakers, per Fox News. Of course, this all makes one wonder whether the Democrats would be in this position at all if they were this confrontational with the Republicans instead of their own voter base. * Another emerging theater of combat between the center and the left is the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. The CHC is led by the lame duck New York Congressman Adriano Espaillat, who was defeated in his primary by Darializa Avila Chevalier. Both Espaillat and Avila Chevalier – or DAC as she has come to be known – are Dominican, despite Espaillat’s last-minute smear campaign calling her Haitian, and she plans to join the CHC once she takes her seat in the House. Yet, POLITICO reports the CHC is divided about admitting DAC. While no member is going so far as to say outright that she should not be admitted, many, such as CHC Whip Sylvia Garcia of Texas, are saying things like if DAC is “aligned with all our priorities and all our legislative programs, we would welcome her.” Of course this raises the question of if she is not, would they still welcome her. The all-Democratic CHC has previously barred the entry of Republican Hispanic Congressman Carlos Curbelo of Florida and the Congressional Black Caucus barred Espaillat himself from joining after a feud between him and former Congressman Charles Rangel. In addition to DAC’s accession, the CHC will also have to decide on a new leader with Espaillat gone. The Vice-Chair, Darren Soto of Florida, may lose reelection due to redistricting in Florida, leaving the seat up for grabs. * In more Florida-related news, on June 25th Florida Governor Ron DeSantis formally announced the closure of “Alligator Alcatraz” the immigrant detention facility much hyped in the early days of the second Trump administration. While DeSantis claims that the facility had simply “fulfilled the role it was designed to serve,” there is an alternate story being told in the native community. Native News Online has published a statement by Judith LeBlanc (Caddo), executive director of Native Organizers Alliance, which highlights that the facility was constructed and operated “in violation of the sovereign rights of the Miccosukee Tribe, who took the government to court for illegally constructing the center without their consultation or consent,” and hailed the closure as “a victory for human rights and Tribal Sovereignty.” The statement further decried “The administration’s violent crackdown on migrant communities” as “an affront to all we stand for as Native peoples.” * Turning further south, the Guardian is out with a chilling story concerning the death of Monika Silva Koniuszek, a Polish anti-corruption activist, who was supposedly investigating self-dealing within the ruling Noboa family of Ecuador. According to her colleagues, Silva Koniuszek was investigating “Noboa Trading, the fruit conglomerate belonging to the family of the rightwing president, Daniel Noboa.” Specifically, they said she had been pursuing allegations that “several tonnes of cocaine had been seized in Noboa Trading banana containers,” and that “high-ranking Ecuadorian judicial officials were stalling the investigations.” Additionally, “Shortly before she was killed, she told friends that she had delivered a dossier of allegations to the US embassy in Quito.” Koniuszek was found dead with a noose around her neck, and Ecuador’s interior minister announced that she had died by suicide even before the autopsy results were released. Once those results came out, they contradicted this claim, finding that her cause of death was “a blow to the head and strangulation.” * Finally, in neighboring Colombia, leftist candidate Ivan Cepeda, who lost the recent presidential election, has called on the people of that country to engage in mass civil disobedience, according to Jorge Bastidas, a Colombian Congressman and member of Cepeda’s party. Specifically, Cepeda is demanding that the Colombian people not recognize the presidency of Abelardo de la Espriella unless and until he meets certain demands, including renouncing his U.S. nationality, disproving claims that he is a CIA collaborator, and vowing not to persecute and extradite his political opponents including outgoing President Gustavo Petro. Cepeda has stressed that this mass action, if pursued, will be peaceful. This has been Francesco DeSantis, with In Case You Haven’t Heard. Get full access to Ralph Nader Radio Hour at www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe This content originally appeared on Ralph Nader Radio Hour and was authored by Ralph Nader.
July 4, 2026: What are we supposed to be celebrating?
As the United States of America limps its way across the 250-year mark, I’m asking myself the same question you’re probably asking yourself this July 4 weekend. What, exactly, are we supposed to be celebrating right now? I look around with weary ey...
<img width="1024" height="683" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2283779980-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="National Guard Members walk along the street in view of a replica of President Trump's planned "Triumphal Arch" as people visit the Great American State Fair on the National Mall in Washington, DC, on July 2, 2026, ahead of the upcoming July 4 holiday. (Photo by Kent Nishimura / AFP via Getty Images)" decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2283779980-scaled.jpg?w=2560&ssl=1 2560w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2283779980-scaled.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2283779980-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2283779980-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2283779980-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2283779980-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1365&ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2283779980-scaled.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2283779980-scaled.jpg?resize=2000%2C1333&ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2283779980-scaled.jpg?resize=780%2C520&ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2283779980-scaled.jpg?resize=400%2C267&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2283779980-scaled.jpg?w=2340&ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2283779980-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1&w=370 370w" sizes="(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw - 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw / 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw / 12)), 100vw" data-attachment-id="344848" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/july-4-2026-what-are-we-supposed-to-be-celebrating/us-politics-anniversary-state-fair" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2283779980-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1707&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2560,1707" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"AFP via Getty Images","camera":"NIKON Z 9","caption":"National Guard Members walk along the street in view of a replica of President Trump's planned \"Triumphal Arch\" as people visit the Great American State Fair on the National Mall in Washington, DC, on July 2, 2026, ahead of the upcoming July 4 holiday. (Photo by Kent Nishimura / AFP via Getty Images)","created_timestamp":"1783019079","copyright":"AFP or licensors","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"US-POLITICS-ANNIVERSARY-STATE FAIR","orientation":"1","alt":""}" data-image-title="US-POLITICS-ANNIVERSARY-STATE FAIR" data-image-description=" National Guard Members walk along the street in view of a replica of President Trump’s planned “Triumphal Arch” as people visit the Great American State Fair on the National Mall in Washington, DC, on July 2, 2026, ahead of the upcoming July 4 holiday. (Photo by Kent Nishimura / AFP via Getty Images) " data-image-caption=" National Guard Members walk along the street in view of a replica of President Trump’s planned “Triumphal Arch” as people visit the Great American State Fair on the National Mall in Washington, DC, on July 2, 2026, ahead of the upcoming July 4 holiday. (Photo by Kent Nishimura / AFP via Getty Images) " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2283779980-scaled.jpg?fit=780%2C520&ssl=1" /> As the United States of America limps its way across the 250-year mark, I’m asking myself the same question you’re probably asking yourself this July 4 weekend. What, exactly, are we supposed to be celebrating right now? I look around with weary eyes and see what’s left of this majestically big, beautiful, and bountiful landscape being turned into an overheated toxic wasteland peppered with bunkers and backup bunkers for the rich. I see the actual jackbooted, masked federal thugs I was taught to fear hunting people in our communities, and I see the gathering emptiness in our streets and parks and stores. I see our monuments and official institutions draped in the same corny authoritarian aesthetic I was taught as an American to ridicule, all while the kind of self-serving, society-wrecking tyrant I was taught to despise is being enabled by the kind of richer-than-God oligarchs, corrupt officials, and self-serving sycophants I was taught to view as traitors to democracy. I see what’s left of the world I remember growing up in collapsing into an end-times fascist horrorscape, both cartoonish and deadly, and I see the beautiful, unfinished dreams of a more perfect union and a more democratic America and a more peaceful world being fed into the woodchipper And I see a lot of this being cheered on by many of the same people who once told us how American it was to be opposed to exactly this. In the coverage we do across TRNN, I hear so much pain and fear and anger across this country; in the conversations I have, I feel people’s exhaustion, confusion, social alienation and isolation. Life continues to get harder for most people in our society, and it really doesn’t feel like we’re living together in much of a society these days anyway. Everyone feels forgotten by everyone else, and everyone’s right to feel that way for one reason or another. A lot of us are dealing with the effects of mass disenchantment with the country we grew up in, the way things are, the powers that be, and the powerful people who are running the show and ripping us off at the same time. Again, amid the fireworks and mattress sales, I ask myself, “What are we supposed to be celebrating right now?” And I ask with all the disgust, shame, embarrassment, and anger that I was rightly taught to feel if I should ever find myself and my country in a state like this, as unthinkable as it was at the time I learned those lessons. But I also ask with the same righteous fire of defiance and sense of duty to stand up for what’s right that made those lessons stick in the first place. You know why those lessons left such life-shaping impressions on me? Because they were good lessons! Democracy is better for us than tyranny and oligarchy. Democracy doesn’t mean democracy unless it means democracy for all. Freedom, peace, tolerance, and truth are better for society than repression, violence, civil war, and lies. Public servants, elected officials, and “journalists” serving party, power, money, and self over country is bad for the whole country. A society that always puts the needs of capital over the needs of the people, that is designed to protect private profits at the expense of the public good, will destroy whatever democratic promise it has. I know this because I’ve seen it to be true, and I believe the people who fought and died for these things, and the people who taught me to appreciate them, were right to do so. And, because I was raised right and I learned those good lessons, I’ll never be the kind of person who will ever just give up on them because they threaten the power and wealth of a bunch of sociopathic oligarchs, fanatics, warhawks, and pedophiles who want to dominate everything and everyone. That is simply, truly, flatly unacceptable—and as long as there is breath in my body, I will not accept it. I can never give up our world and our children’s future to these villains. And I won’t. I can never give up on the best that America has been and can be and surrender it all to those who embody the worst of what America is. And I won’t. On this July 4, I feel like we don’t have much to celebrate, but everything to fight for. And it is only if we fight now, and keep fighting, that we may someday have more to celebrate in the years to come. This content originally appeared on The Real News Network and was authored by Maximillian Alvarez.
Bangladesh video falsely viral as Kerala man attacked by daughters over sexual abuse
A three-minute video that appears to be CCTV footage of a bleeding man has gone viral. In the footage, two men can be seen opening a collapsible gate, after which another man walks out, howling as he bleeds and eventually walks away. Social media users have claimed that the man from Kerala seen in the […]
A three-minute video that appears to be CCTV footage of a bleeding man has gone viral. In the footage, two men can be seen opening a collapsible gate, after which another man walks out, howling as he bleeds and eventually walks away. Social media users have claimed that the man from Kerala seen in the video raped his own daughters, and the daughters retaliated and severed his genitals. An X user, Boiled Anda (@AmitLeliSlayer) shared the video on June 30 with the same claim. (Archive) <img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-316819" src="https://www.altnews.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Screenshot-2026-07-03-150948.jpg" alt="" width="589" height="852" srcset="https://www.altnews.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Screenshot-2026-07-03-150948.jpg 589w, https://www.altnews.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Screenshot-2026-07-03-150948-207x300.jpg 207w" sizes="(max-width: 589px) 100vw, 589px" /> This post received 6.2 million views. It is to be noted that this user has been found sharing communal propaganda and disinformation several times in the past. Another X user, Harman Singh Kapoor, shared the same video, making similar allegations and asserting that the incident took place in Kerala, India. (Archive) <img decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-316820" src="https://www.altnews.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Screenshot-2026-07-03-151033.jpg" alt="" width="594" height="864" srcset="https://www.altnews.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Screenshot-2026-07-03-151033.jpg 594w, https://www.altnews.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Screenshot-2026-07-03-151033-206x300.jpg 206w" sizes="(max-width: 594px) 100vw, 594px" /> This post garnered nearly 100,000 voews. Several other users have shared the same video across various social media platforms with similar claims. A few of these posts are shown in the gallery below: Click to view slideshow. Fact Check A reverse image search of a few keyframes from the video led us to the Facebook page of News21, whose logo appears in the footage. News21, a Bangladesh-based news outlet, published the video on June 29, 2026. The Bangla caption can be translated as “In Bhanga, Faridpur, a wife allegedly cut off her husband’s genitalia while he was asleep. Later, local residents called the emergency number 999, and the woman was handed over to the police. | NEWS 21” <img decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-316825" src="https://www.altnews.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Screenshot-2026-07-03-151322.jpg" alt="" width="990" height="946" srcset="https://www.altnews.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Screenshot-2026-07-03-151322.jpg 990w, https://www.altnews.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Screenshot-2026-07-03-151322-300x287.jpg 300w, https://www.altnews.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Screenshot-2026-07-03-151322-768x734.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 990px) 100vw, 990px" /> We also found several video reports on the incident by Bangladeshi media outlets, including ADP Bangla, Cumilla News, and SuryaUday Khulna. Following a keyword search, we found <a href="https://www.ittefaq.com.bd/795980/%E0%A6%98%E0%A7%81%E0%A6%AE%E0%A6%A8%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%A4-%E0%A6%B8%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%AC%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%AE%E0%A7%80%E0%A6%B0-%E0%A6%AA%E0%A7%81%E0%A6%B0%E0%A7%81%E0%A6%B7%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%99%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%97-%E0%A6%95%E0%A7%87%E0%A6%9F%E0%A7%87-%E0%A6%A6%E0%A6%BF%E0%A6%B2-%E0%A6%A6%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%AC%E0%A6%BF%E0%A6%A4%E0%A7%80%E0%A6%AF%E0%A6%BC-%E0%A6%B8%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%A4%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%B0%E0%A7%80" rel="noopener">reports confirming that the incident took place in Hogladangi Sadardi village in Bhanga Upazila of Faridpur district in Bangladesh. The victim, Hanif Sheikh, had his genitals allegedly severed by his second wife, Sumaya Aktar Sumi, following an argument the night before. This act reportedly occurred while Hanif was asleep on June 29. According to one report, Hanif had relationships with multiple women and that disputes over these alleged affairs frequently caused tension in the family. According to<a href="https://www.ajkerpatrika.com/amp/bangladesh/faridpur/ajpx8uratolhv#:~:text=Bhanga%20Police%20Station%20Officer-in-Charge%20(OC)%20Mohammad%20Mizanur%20Rahman%20said%2C%20%22We%20arrested%20the%20woman%20from%20the%20scene%20after%20receiving%20information%20on%20999.%20No%20written%20complaint%20has%20been%20received%20in%20this%20incident%20so%20far%2C%20and%20legal%20action%20will%20be%20taken%20if%20a%20written%20complaint%20is%20received.%22" rel="noopener"> Aajker Patrik, the officer-in-charge of Bhanga police station, Mohammad Mizanur Rahman, stated, “We arrested the woman at the scene after receiving information via the emergency number 999. No written complaint has been received regarding this incident so far, but legal action will be taken if a written complaint is submitted.” <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-316836 size-large" src="https://www.altnews.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Screenshot-2026-07-04-205042-970x1024.jpg" alt="" width="970" height="1024" srcset="https://www.altnews.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Screenshot-2026-07-04-205042-970x1024.jpg 970w, https://www.altnews.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Screenshot-2026-07-04-205042-284x300.jpg 284w, https://www.altnews.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Screenshot-2026-07-04-205042-768x811.jpg 768w, https://www.altnews.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Screenshot-2026-07-04-205042.jpg 1284w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 970px) 100vw, 970px" /> To sum up, the video depicts an incident from Bangladesh, which has no connection to Kerala or India. In the video, the man’s genitals were severed by his wife. The claims circulating online are false and misleading. This content originally appeared on Alt News and was authored by Ankita Mahalanobish.
A New Mexico town is running dry. An immigration detention center is its biggest water customer.
The town of Estancia and the ICE facility are trucking in water until a new well is drilled.
Following years of drought, the wells in Estancia, New Mexico, are running dry. After declaring a water emergency last week, the small town in Torrance County is hauling in water to fill its pipes. Estancia has also reduced water sales to the Torrance County Detention Facility, or TCDF, a federal immigration detention center run by the private contractor CoreCivic. The detention facility, Estancia’s largest commercial water customer, has resorted to trucking in water. In the midst of the crisis, Estancia Mayor Runnel Riley has taken a leave of absence. During a Board of Trustees meeting Tuesday evening, Estancia’s elected leaders passed a vote of “no confidence” in the mayor. The state has provided funding to drill a new well, and Estancia will be opening the 30-day bidding process this month. Dozens of residents attended Tuesday’s meeting in person or virtually to voice their frustration about the water problems and delays in drilling a new well. When asked by a reporter for the Mountainair Dispatch, board trustees said they did not have data available on what proportion of the city’s water goes to the detention facility. Estancia is home to 1,400 people, and up to 800 people can be detained at the facility. Read Next <img src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/colorado-river-lake-mead-powell-drought-water-solutions.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all" alt="Lake Powell is shown surrounded by the rugged terrain of Utah." class="js-modal-gallery__hidden" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/colorado-river-lake-mead-powell-drought-water-solutions.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all 1600w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/colorado-river-lake-mead-powell-drought-water-solutions.jpeg?resize=1200%2C675&quality=75&strip=all 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/colorado-river-lake-mead-powell-drought-water-solutions.jpeg?resize=330%2C186&quality=75&strip=all 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/colorado-river-lake-mead-powell-drought-water-solutions.jpeg?resize=768%2C432&quality=75&strip=all 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/colorado-river-lake-mead-powell-drought-water-solutions.jpeg?resize=1536%2C864&quality=75&strip=all 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/colorado-river-lake-mead-powell-drought-water-solutions.jpeg?resize=160%2C90&quality=75&strip=all 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/colorado-river-lake-mead-powell-drought-water-solutions.jpeg?resize=150%2C84&quality=75&strip=all 150w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" height="900" width="1600" loading="lazy" decoding="async"> The Colorado River is vanishing — and the fixes are getting weird Jake Bittle Ryan Gustin, senior public affairs director at CoreCivic, said the company implemented contingency plans once it learned of the water emergency. He said that the Torrance County Detention Facility has brought in additional water supplies, and the water emergency has not impacted its operations. “Drinking water is always available within our housing units and bottled water has been provided in addition to the readily available drinking water containers,” Gustin said. Roy Hubbard, Estancia’s deputy clerk, told Inside Climate News that the town is meeting with CoreCivic on Wednesday to discuss next steps. The detention facility has been the subject of complaints about sewer and water problems in the past. A detention center, a drought, and years of delay The current water shortage is not Estancia’s first. Last year, Estancia asked residents to conserve water because its wells were not producing adequately. In 2024, the town issued a similar call. Overpumping has caused significant declines to the groundwater level in the Estancia Basin aquifer, which the town relies on, according to the New Mexico Groundwater Alliance. The Office of the State Engineer, which regulates water rights in New Mexico, closed the Estancia Basin to new water rights. However, the office predicted that if existing water rights remain in use, the groundwater level will continue to decline. New Mexico, including Torrance County, is experiencing severe drought. State officials expect groundwater supplies to further diminish because of higher temperatures and changes in precipitation patterns due to climate change. Read Next <img src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Rodgers.jpg?quality=75&strip=all" alt="Toby Rodgers, dressed in snowshoes and winter clothes, kneels in a snowy field, and looks at a long aluminum tube stuck into the snow." class="js-modal-gallery__hidden" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Rodgers.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 2100w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Rodgers.jpg?resize=1200%2C675&quality=75&strip=all 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Rodgers.jpg?resize=330%2C186&quality=75&strip=all 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Rodgers.jpg?resize=768%2C432&quality=75&strip=all 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Rodgers.jpg?resize=1536%2C865&quality=75&strip=all 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Rodgers.jpg?resize=2048%2C1153&quality=75&strip=all 2048w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Rodgers.jpg?resize=160%2C90&quality=75&strip=all 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Rodgers.jpg?resize=150%2C84&quality=75&strip=all 150w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" height="1182" width="2100" loading="lazy" decoding="async"> <circle cx="8.5" cy="8.5" r="8.5" /> <path d="M6.67383 5.29883L11.7012 8.5L6.67383 11.7012V5.29883Z" /> This simple metal tube helps scientists predict drought before it happens Jesse Nichols Estancia elected Runnel Riley to replace the incumbent mayor in November 2025 by a mere five votes. However, Riley stopped attending trustee meetings as the town’s water problems became more severe. State Representative Stefani Lord, a Republican who represents Torrance and Bernalillo counties, said at Tuesday’s meeting: “I called the mayor in January. He has never returned my phone calls. “Just get the well finished. That is the short-term problem,” she said. “There are all kinds of things we can do in the future. But for this moment, we just have to focus on getting this done.” During the meeting, the trustees also voted to prohibit fireworks over the Fourth of July weekend. The town still plans to hold a fireworks display, but private citizens will not be allowed to set off fireworks because of the ongoing drought and the risk of fires during the water emergency. Hubbard, the deputy clerk, said that as of Saturday, trucks had delivered 116,700 gallons of water to the town. He said that water supply to CoreCivic will “gradually be turned back on” when there is more water available. According to reporting in the Mountainair Dispatch, more than 80 percent of the town’s water goes to commercial customers. However, town officials have not clarified how much of that share goes to CoreCivic. Read Next <img src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Technicians-monitor-seedlings-after-planting.jpg?quality=75&strip=all" alt="A group of people stand in a field with the skeletons of trees" class="js-modal-gallery__hidden" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Technicians-monitor-seedlings-after-planting.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 1600w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Technicians-monitor-seedlings-after-planting.jpg?resize=1200%2C675&quality=75&strip=all 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Technicians-monitor-seedlings-after-planting.jpg?resize=330%2C186&quality=75&strip=all 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Technicians-monitor-seedlings-after-planting.jpg?resize=768%2C432&quality=75&strip=all 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Technicians-monitor-seedlings-after-planting.jpg?resize=1536%2C864&quality=75&strip=all 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Technicians-monitor-seedlings-after-planting.jpg?resize=160%2C90&quality=75&strip=all 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Technicians-monitor-seedlings-after-planting.jpg?resize=150%2C84&quality=75&strip=all 150w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" height="900" width="1600" loading="lazy" decoding="async"> How New Mexico is ‘building a forest’ by solving a seedling shortage Kylie Mohr During Tuesday’s meeting, in response to questions from a Mountainair Dispatch reporter, Mayor Pro Tem Albert Lovato said that providing up-to-date information on the town’s water supply is difficult because of the fluctuating population at the detention center. “Our population goes up and it goes down because of CoreCivic,” he said. The detention center has been a source of controversy for years. The Department of Homeland Security’s Office of the Inspector General documented unsanitary conditions at TCDF in 2022, including “clogged toilets, broken sinks, inoperable toilets, water leaks, and mold.” The Innovation Law Lab, an immigrant and refugee rights organization, has also documented complaints from detainees at TCDF about sewage overflows and restricted access to water. “There have been no sewage issues at TCDF because of this situation, nor were there any sewage issues in 2025 related to any water supply issues,” said Gustin, the CoreCivic spokesperson. “At no point have those in our care been without drinking water.” The New Mexico Environment Department, or NMED, enforces health and safety regulations at TCDF. Agency spokesperson Drew Goretzka said that following a 2025 inspection, TCDF has addressed potential deficiencies with the sewer system. “NMED is supporting the town of Estancia through emergency response coordination, including requesting assistance from other state agencies to provide alternate water sources,” Goretzka said. “The department is in communication with the town and its contractors to resolve the immediate water shortage issues.” Immigration and Customs Enforcement deferred questions about the facility to CoreCivic. The federal agency has expanded its detention capacity under the Trump administration. ICE purchased numerous warehouses around the country to open new detention facilities this year for immigrants who are in deportation proceedings. ICE has been detaining an increasing number of people with active immigration cases seeking to stay in the country. Many residents in these communities, from Texas to Pennsylvania, have raised concerns whether local infrastructure could support the increased water demand from detention centers. This story was originally published by Grist with the headline A New Mexico town is running dry. An immigration detention center is its biggest water customer. on Jul 4, 2026. This content originally appeared on Grist and was authored by Martha Pskowski, Inside Climate News.
July 4th anniversary – speakers at NZ rally slam American ‘freedom built on bones of colonised’
Asia Pacific Report Pro-Palestine and anti-war protesters gathered at the US Consulate in downtown Auckland today to mark July 4 — but they were not celebrating the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States, they were condemning “liberation with bombs”. Several speakers criticised US global and military policies in this the 144th week
Asia Pacific Report Pro-Palestine and anti-war protesters gathered at the US Consulate in downtown Auckland today to mark July 4 — but they were not celebrating the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States, they were condemning “liberation with bombs”. Several speakers criticised US global and military policies in this the 144th week of continuous rallies in Auckland Tāmaki Makaurau. One of them, a twice-displaced refugee from Afghanistan who has grown up in West Auckland and works as a healthcare provider, spoke of the devastation of America’s war, invasion and two-decade occupation of her country. READ MORE: America250: How the US heatwave will affect Fourth of July celebrations Chris Hedges: Requiem for America on the Fourth of July The Black Agenda report – an alternative view of the origins of July 4th Other July 4 reports “Today, on the 4th of July, we are told to celebrate freedom. But today, we stand here to tell the truth — American freedom has always been built on the bones of the colonised,” Amena Motawaze told the crowd. “In October 2001, the US — backed by the United Kingdom — launched a bombing campaign against my home country Afghanistan. It was the start of a 20-year occupation,” she said. “They sold it to the world as ‘self-defence’. Counter-terrorism. Then it evolved — as it always does — into nation-building, spreading democracy, and women’s liberation.” These were the “token words of every colonialist project”. Motawaze said she was “ashamed” to say that “New Zealand — under Helen Clark, a leader I have long respected — was also pulled into the conflict”. NZ troops deployed Over 20 years, under both Labour and National, New Zealand had deployed more than 3500 troops to Afghanistan, which she described as shameful. “They [the US] showed us images of girls riding bicycles in Kabul. Democracy. Female generals. They told us we were liberating them,” Motawaze said. “But let me tell you what they didn’t show you. “They didn’t show you the weddings that were bombed. The hospitals. The bridges and power plants. The densely packed homes of sleeping families. “They didn’t tell you that from 2001 to 2002 alone, the US dropped more than 1200 cluster bombs — containing almost a quarter of a million bomblets. “These are indiscriminate. They do not distinguish between a soldier and a child. “And when they fail to explode — as many do — they become landmines. They lie in the soil for decades, killing civilians long after the cameras leave. In Laos, in Vietnam, in Iraq, the contamination is still there today. ‘MOAB’ dropped On April 13, 2017, the US dropped the MOAB — the so-called “Mother of All Bombs” — on Nangarhar Province. The most powerful non-nuclear bomb ever used in combat. “Former President Hamid Karzai called it an ‘inhuman and most brutal misuse of our country as a testing ground for new and dangerous weapons’, Motawaze said. “And then the night raids.” A BBC investigation in 2022 [BBC Panorama: “I Saw War Crimes” report] had revealed testimonies from former soldiers describing war crimes as “common practice” during their night raids. In December 2009, in Narang village, 10 Afghan civilians were dragged from their beds and shot in the head or chest. Most of them were students aged 12 to 18. In September 2019, in Helmand, a raid killed a couple and five of their six children. Only a two-month-old baby girl survived — injured and orphaned. In another raid, Motawaze said, a family who had lost three grandchildren was given a parcel of rice, a can of oil, and some sugar as “compensation”. “And then there was the Khataba massacre. February 2010. US Army Rangers raided a home where a family was celebrating a newborn child. <img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-130121" src="https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Consulate-protesters-AM-PSNA.png" alt="Pro-Palestine and anti-war protesters outside the US Consulate in the protest" width="680" height="421" srcset="https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Consulate-protesters-AM-PSNA.png 680w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Consulate-protesters-AM-PSNA-300x186.png 300w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Consulate-protesters-AM-PSNA-356x220.png 356w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Consulate-protesters-AM-PSNA-678x420.png 678w" sizes="(max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px" /> Pro-Palestine and anti-war protesters outside the US Consulate in the “US Invasion Day” rally today. Image: AM/PSNA Civilians killed “They killed five civilians — two men, a teenage girl, and two pregnant women. They were bound, gagged, and shot dead. “The Pentagon investigated and concluded the soldiers had followed the rules of engagement. No disciplinary action. “At first they called it ‘honour killing’. And they blamed the Taliban. But the truth eventually comes out. “Now, the opium. “During the US occupation, Afghanistan had produced more than 80 percent of the world’s opium. Within a year of the Taliban takeover and their ban on poppy cultivation, production dropped by 95 percent.” Motawaze said it was estimated that up to 4 million Afghans had been addicted to heroin. That was “nearly the population of New Zealand”. “The streets of Kabul looked like a zombie movie [under US occupation] — men and women, families and loved ones, withering away. “And what did America do? They sent troops to guard the opium farms. When asked about their direct involvement in the drug trade, they said the opium would be trafficked to countries like Iran and Russia — enemies they wanted to weaken.” Poppy for export She spoke of a 2026 interview when CIA whistleblower John Kiriakou confirmed that a DEA official had told him Afghans were allowed to cultivate poppy specifically for export to Russia and Iran — “to weaken their societies”. “This was not a war on terror. This was a war on the Afghan people. And it was fueled by profit, and by drugs.” Motawaze asked what about women’s liberation? “At the end of 20 years, according to the Central Statistics Organisation, 84 percent of Afghan women were illiterate. And only 2 percent had access to higher education. The rest were left behind. “The elites — the collaborators — were paraded on television, given visas, and evacuated. The rest? The widows, the orphans, the mothers of the deep south who endured decades of night raids and bombings — they were left to starve under crippling US sanctions. Motawaze said this was not “liberation”. It was “colonialism”. She stressed that Afghanistan was just one country in a long list of those impacted. <img decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-130119" src="https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Shoes-blood-Minab-168-AM-680wide.png" alt="Mock blood and children's shoes marking the Minab massacre of 168 schoolgirls in the US-Israel war on Iran at today's "US Invasion Day" rally" width="680" height="613" srcset="https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Shoes-blood-Minab-168-AM-680wide.png 680w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Shoes-blood-Minab-168-AM-680wide-300x270.png 300w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Shoes-blood-Minab-168-AM-680wide-466x420.png 466w" sizes="(max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px" /> Mock blood and children’s shoes marking the Minab massacre of 168 schoolgirls in the US-Israel war on Iran at today’s “US Invasion Day” rally. Image: AM/PSNA New war of aggression “And now — less than five years after the withdrawal from Afghanistan — the US is at it again. Starting a new war of aggression against the great people of Iran,” she said. “So today — on the 4th of July — we say no. We say never again. Not in our name. Not with our taxes. Not with our silence.” Motawaze said she had brought a young girl’s shoe with her — “for the 168 children killed in Minab, Iran. I want you to look at it, and remember the 168 little girls, murdered by the US in their classrooms.” Other speakers critical of the July 4 US anniversary included Eugene Velasco, spokesperson of the Filipino movement BAYAN Aotearoa New Zealand; Adnan Swaid, a Palestinian freedom activist and a Nakba victim; Sapna Samant, a progressive Indian activist; Diana Phillips of Americans Abroad Against the War, and Dr Barry Lee, a longtime peace activist who researched a thesis on the Auckland Progressive Youth Movement during the US war against Vietnam. This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.
Is the United States really a land of liberty?
Gaza genocide – how many UN findings will the West ignore?
Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory
“No one living today ever imagined they would witness a genocide that would continue for 1000 days. Yet here we are. One thousand days of unbearable loss. One thousand days of children buried before their dreams could begin,” writes the Palestine Forum of New Zealand. ANALYSIS: By Hossam Shaker Once again, the United Nations reminds
“No one living today ever imagined they would witness a genocide that would continue for 1000 days. Yet here we are. One thousand days of unbearable loss. One thousand days of children buried before their dreams could begin,” writes the Palestine Forum of New Zealand. ANALYSIS: By Hossam Shaker Once again, the United Nations reminds us that genocide is taking place in the Gaza Strip. A report issued on 23 June 2026 by the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory documented what Israel has committed against the Palestinian people, especially children. This followed an earlier report from the same commission on 16 September 2025, which found that genocide was taking place, as well as the report of the UN special rapporteur issued on 20 October 2025. READ MORE: Sanctioned ICC judges sue Trump in US over ‘attack on judicial independence’ Chris Sidoti on UN inquiry into Palestinian rights Other Gaza genocide reports But what can meticulously documented international reports do in the face of those who have insisted on averting their eyes from declared Israeli intentions to commit genocide, ethnic cleansing, comprehensive destruction and horrific starvation — not to mention the torrent of live images transmitted around the clock to mobile devices from the field of atrocities over the course of two full years? Specialised UN reports, testimonies by international rapporteurs and experts, assessments by the most prominent global human rights organisations, and even Israeli testimonies have followed one another, all confirming the reality of the genocide committed by Israel under the eyes of the world since October 2023. In contrast, most European and Western states have clung to a rigid position that ignores this glaring truth, despite genocidal intentions being openly expressed in advance by senior Israeli leaders, who continued to boast of what their army and authorities were doing on the ground. Official western comments on those reports were often absent, unlike what would have happened in other cases Avoided the term ‘genocide’ Is it not worthy of condemnation that senior European and Western officials have persistently avoided using the term “genocide” in relation to these systematic and horrific Israeli practices? It is as though the word were a firmly established taboo in European and Western political, media and cultural discourse whenever Israel is concerned. This taboo exerts its power over those officials and commentators who, in this way, give reason to suspect that acknowledging genocide depends on the identity of the perpetrator and the status of the victims. <img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-130078" src="https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Chris-Sidoti-DR-APR-680wide.png" alt="Australian human rights lawyer Chris Sidoti of the UN Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory speaking about the commission's work at the Ellen Melville Centre in Auckland, New Zealand" width="680" height="520" srcset="https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Chris-Sidoti-DR-APR-680wide.png 680w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Chris-Sidoti-DR-APR-680wide-300x229.png 300w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Chris-Sidoti-DR-APR-680wide-80x60.png 80w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Chris-Sidoti-DR-APR-680wide-549x420.png 549w" sizes="(max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px" /> Australian human rights lawyer Chris Sidoti of the UN Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory speaking about the commission’s work at the Ellen Melville Centre in Auckland, New Zealand, last night. Image: David Robie/Asia Pacific Report Double standards It is entirely understandable that the allies of a regime of occupation and genocide, or those who consider themselves Israel’s partners and friends, would avoid issuing a clear condemnation of conduct they themselves helped support and encourage, directly or indirectly, even if only through silence and denial of its atrocities. Throughout this prolonged season of horrors, the Israeli side has enjoyed military and political backing, as well as propagandistic cover, through carefully crafted formulas uttered by senior European and Western officials. These amounted to evasive justifications for whatever war crimes and grave violations an occupying authority and its military forces might commit against a population left utterly exposed to continuous bombardment. This may be inferred from the phrase that has become a staple of Western speeches: “Israel has every right to defend itself” — words that Israeli leaders understand simply as advance legitimation for a policy of mass killing and comprehensive destruction on the ground. Naturally, no mention is made in this context of any right of the Palestinian people to defend themselves, for example, or of their right under international humanitarian law to resist the military occupation entrenched on their land. States, governments and political leaderships — joined by elites in the fields of thought, culture and media — insist on ignoring the reality of genocide against the Palestinian people, or conceal it through a tendency toward genocide denial, as though all the serious international efforts of documentation and investigation had no value for them. Denying a genocide that has unfolded before everyone’s ears and eyes simply means minimising its confirmed atrocities. It also entails direct or indirect encouragement of this pattern of horrific violations, so long as they are met with such shocking laxity. Clinging to outright denial Moreover, clinging to outright denial encourages the perpetrators to resume committing appalling war crimes, so long as these crimes are not named as such. Which Western leaders — apart from a handful, such as Spain — have described what the Israeli leadership and its army have committed as “genocide” or “war crimes”? It must be recalled that the centres of Western decision-making, including the European Union and its leading bodies crowned with slogans of noble values and human rights, became implicated in a sweeping display of bias when they chose very mild or evasive terms to describe Israeli war crimes that the entire world followed in images, sound and live broadcasts. Leaders and spokespersons resorted to cold expressions such as the ploy of “expressing concern” and voicing “sorrow” over the victims, often without naming the perpetrator, because the perpetrator was the Israeli leadership and its army, whose brutal policies and measures were visible to all. Observers around the world have noted how the charge of “double standards” clings to European and Western political discourse. This is precisely what the former Vice-President of the European Commission, Josep Borrell, warned his EU colleagues against — in full view of a world that notices the grave moral gap between European positions on Ukraine and Palestine. He issued that warning days into the war, at a Foreign Affairs Council in Luxembourg on 23 October 2023. One would not be exaggerating to conclude from these contradictory positions that they place some human beings above others in status, degree of concern and human dignity, so that the lives, safety and security of Palestinians are placed lower in rank than those of others. Thus comes the tolerance of the crushing of children, mothers, the sick and the elderly in the Gaza Strip, without serious positions being taken to restrain the machinery of genocide. The margins, not the centre Those faltering positions gave the strong impression that they were conferring moral immunity on the perpetrator, namely the Israeli leadership and its regular army. Prevailing European and Western criticism was limited to only two reckless ministers from the Israeli government, which amounts to little, since Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich are already constantly criticised within Israeli circles. The narrative has been shifted into familiar terms about a ‘humanitarian crisis’, as though the programmed genocide were merely a natural disaster Meanwhile, the government and the political leadership more broadly continue to escape direct criticism, even after the accumulation of filmed atrocities and the issuance of an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu himself. This evasion becomes even clearer when criticism, along with some sanctions of limited effect, has been confined to settler gangs and their leaders, without any verbal reproach or punitive gesture directed toward the Israeli army. The latter not only sponsors and protects settlers on the ground but also directly commits grave violations, appalling war crimes and campaigns of ethnic cleansing within the context of a horrific genocide. This contradiction betrays a firmly rooted European and Western position intent on exempting the state, its leadership and its regular military and security apparatuses from any clear criticism, explicit condemnation or accountability, while merely formal positions are issued concerning the margins rather than the centre: some settlers instead of the army, and only two ministers instead of the government. Evading a simple question Political Europe, and many elites in public life across Western states, have even evaded confronting a simple question: does what Israel has committed against the Palestinian people constitute genocide? Denying the genocide committed in Gaza requires wilful disregard. It begins by brushing aside these war crimes and behaving as though they merit no attention. The adopted narrative has been shifted into familiar terms about a “humanitarian crisis” and “alarming” conditions, or a show of concern for “civilian suffering” — as though the programmed genocide, reinforced by declared intentions to commit it, were merely a natural disaster that befell the place. The states and governments that boast of their commitment to moral positions, human values, international law and human rights were supposed to honour those commitments. They should have warned against the campaign of genocide in its earliest stages, stripped it of political and propagandistic cover, and supported the enforcement of international justice and the cases filed over genocide against the Palestinian people. Foremost among these is the case brought by South Africa before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), on the basis of Israel’s violation of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Instead, campaigns of moral targeting, incitement, intimidation and even the imposition of unjust sanctions on prosecutors have escalated, affecting international justice bodies and their personnel, as well as UN rapporteurs. Thus, it becomes clear that complicity with the genocide committed against the Palestinian people goes ever further in undermining international law and threatening the foundations of international action and the protection afforded to its institutions and authorities. Hossam Shaker is a journalist and an author who has extensively covered the topic of migration in Europe.This article was first published in the Middle East Eye. This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.
Tibetans mourn activist Lobga Rangzen after United Nations self-immolation | Radio Free Asia (RFA)
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Radio Free Asia.
Horse-trading in New Caledonia over provincial presidency elections
Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front
By Patrick Decloitre of RNZ Pacific New Caledonia’s newly-elected three provincial assemblies — Northern, Southern and the Loyalty Islands — have elected their respective presidents following the elections held on June 28 in the French Pacific territory. The make-up of the three provinces and their respective majorities were already known since the poll on Sunday.
By Patrick Decloitre of RNZ Pacific New Caledonia’s newly-elected three provincial assemblies — Northern, Southern and the Loyalty Islands — have elected their respective presidents following the elections held on June 28 in the French Pacific territory. The make-up of the three provinces and their respective majorities were already known since the poll on Sunday. The election of the three presidents was therefore supposed to reflect what came out of the ballots. READ MORE: Official results confirmed for New Caledonia’s provincial elections Pro-French, pro-independence blocs remain in New Caledonia election Other Kanaky New Caledonia reports In New Caledonia’s affluent and most populated Southern province, a united front of pro-France parties (Loyalistes-Rassemblement) has already secured an overwhelming majority of 28 of the 40 seats. On the province’s inaugural sitting and the election of a chair, group leader Sonia Backès, who is also the incumbent President of the province, thus received 28 of the 40 votes. There was no other candidate. Following the Speaker’s election, bureau members such as the Vice-President (Gil Brial) and second and third Vice-President (Brieuc Frogier and Loïc Basset-Creugnet) came from the same “Strong and United” front. But in the Northern Province, things were more complicated: the showdown was between incumbent President and UNI (Union Nationale pour l’Indépendance) leader and founder of the PALIKA party (Kanak Liberation Party) Paul Néaoutyine who was challenged by Pascal Sawa (from Union Calédonienne-FLNKS). In the newly-elected assembly seat quota, they were neck-to-neck with 10 seats for Sawa and nine for Néaoutyine. Néaoutyine, 74, has been President of the Northern province since 1999 and is also the Mayor of the small town of Poindimié. <img decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-130091" src="https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/NC-Congress-seats-Image-680wide.jpg" alt=" The make-up of the new Territorial Congress . . . with pro-independence parties having the highest number of seats (27) but they are divided" width="680" height="340" srcset="https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/NC-Congress-seats-Image-680wide.jpg 680w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/NC-Congress-seats-Image-680wide-300x150.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px" /> The make-up of the new Territorial Congress . . . with pro-independence parties having the highest number of seats (26 out of 54) but they are politically divided. Image: Kanaky New Caledonia elections Protest walk-out Even though Sawa had a narrow advantage of one seat, it was Néaoutyine who received the most votes for a new presidential mandate (12 votes), thanks to the last minute support from other parties represented in the Assembly (including “Let’s Act Together for the North”, and Loyalistes-Rassemblement’s pro-France group headed by Vanessa Wacapo). At the results’ announcement, Sawa’s UC-FLNKS group walked out of the sitting, leaving the matter of electing bureau members to later — on Tuesday, July 7. Sawa said he was “indignant” and he condemned what he called a de facto “new alliance between UNI and the Loyalist pro-France” which, he said, was a show of “disrespect for the ballot results”. Néaoutyine denied he had struck any alliance with any party. In the smallest of the three provinces, the Loyalty Islands, the UC-FLNKS component of the pro-independence camp, the two leaders of last Sunday’s elections results, Mickaël Forrest and his sister, Omayra Naisseline (Indigenous Nation, affiliated to UC-FLNKS), were running for the Speaker’s chair. All women vice-presidents Forrest was elected President (with eight of the nine votes) and Naisseline has been elected first Vice-President. The other positions of vice-presidents were all allocated to women (Wali Wahetra [Palika îles], Marguerite Piaa [UC-FLNKS]). For all of New Caledonia’s three provincial assemblies, the total of newly-elected members is 76. They will sit in the provincial assemblies for the next five years. And a portion of those will also sit in the territorial Congress. But the Presidential process does not end there. On Friday, July 10, the territorial Congress of New Caledonia (54 seats) will also hold its inaugural sitting to elect its Speaker. Heavy horse-trading underway ahead of Congress sitting As a result of the provincial elections, the Congress now and once again hosts only relative majorities and heavy horse-trading is already underway between all parties represented. The pro-France Strong and United alliance can count on 24 of the 54 seats — not enough to rule on their own. The same goes for the pro-independence bloc, which has won 26 seats, still not enough for an absolute majority. The pro-independence bloc consists of UC-FLNKS (10 seats), FLNKS (6 seats), UNI (6 seats), Dynamique autochtone (Indigenous Dynamics, 3 seats) and Palika (1 seat). But the pro-independence bloc is not entirely united. Within this group, it remains to be seen how UNI-PALIKA will position itself vis-à-vis UC-FLNKS and its affiliates. This comes especially after the support provided by pro-France members of the Northern province regarding the Friday election of Paul Néaoutyine. The two groups have long experienced differences, especially on the sensitive subject of how to approach New Caledonia’s sovereignty. While UC-FLNKS favours a speedy full independence and accession to full sovereignty, UNI-PALIKA is prefers a status of independence in gradual association with France. The issue crystallised even more during and after the May 2024 civil unrest and riots (which caused 14 dead and over 2.2 billion euros (NZ$4.4 billion) in material damage) with UNI PALIKA condemning any violent action. ‘Kingmaker’ Eveil Océanien ‘ready to talk with everyone’ Centre party Eveil Océanien (EO) now has four seats which once again places it in the position of “kingmaker”. Over the past mandate (2019-2026), Eveil Océanien has struck alliances first with FLNKS, then later (2024) with the pro-France bloc, allowing it to tke the seat of Congress President. EO leader Milakulo Tukumuli told local media as part of the negotiation process with other parties, he was “ready to talk with everyone”. He said instead of the term “kingmaker”, he preferred to regard his party as a “majorities builder”. After the election of a new Congress President (to replace incumbent Veylma Falaeo from Eveil Océanien) and the election of bureau executives, the local parliament has two weeks (before July 25 at the latest) to determine the number of cabinet members (which could be between 5 and 11) and then (before July 31) to allocate portfolios of the new “collegial” (proportionally representative) government of New Caledonia. They would also choose the President and Vice-President of the government of New Caledonia. In view of the tight schedule during the next few weeks, the option once expressed by French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu to reconvene New Caledonia’s politicians for talks on the French territory’s future straight after the provincial election has become elusive. Instead, Rassemblement leader Virginie Ruffenach told public radio NC La Première on Friday, that it was more realistic such talks would be more likely to happen at the end of August or in September. Later than that, French national politics would be largely constrained and dominated by the Presidential campaign in France. Meanwhile, it was confirmed earlier this week that the French Presidential elections will take place on April 16 (first round) and 2 May 2027 (second round). This story was first published on This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.
Community Safety in a Time of Insurrection [EXCERPT]
This content originally appeared on Laura Flanders & Friends and was authored by Laura Flanders & Friends.
The Pacifica Evening News, Weekdays – July 3, 2026
Comprehensive coverage of the day’s news with a focus on war and peace; social, environmental and economic justice. The post The Pacifica Evening News, Weekdays – July 3, 2026 appeared first on KPFA.
Comprehensive coverage of the day’s news with a focus on war and peace; social, environmental and economic justice. The post The Pacifica Evening News, Weekdays – July 3, 2026 appeared first on KPFA. This content originally appeared on KPFA - The Pacifica Evening News Weekdays and was authored by KPFA.
El Niño is forecast to intensify, increasing likelihood of extreme weatherSudan’s people subject to “relentless” drone strikes in El ObeidUkraine killings caused almost totally by Russia, says UN’s Türk
El Niño is forecast to intensify, increasing likelihood of extreme weatherSudan’s people subject to “relentless” drone strikes in El ObeidUkraine killings caused almost totally by Russia, says UN’s Türk This content originally appeared on UN News - Global perspective Human stories and was authored by Daniel Johnson.
Journalist Karen Hao on Sam Altman, OpenAI & the “Quasi-Religious” Push for Artificial Intelligence
Tibetan activist dies after setting himself on fire outside UN headquarters
The incident comes one day after China’s ‘ethnic unity law’ came into effect.
Content warning: This story contains language that readers may find disturbing. A Tibetan activist died Thursday after setting himself on fire outside the United Nations headquarters in New York. Lobsang Palden, popularly known as Lobga Rangzen, a longtime Tibetan activist based in New York, died at Bellevue Hospital after succumbing to his injuries, Jamphel Choesang, president of the Regional Tibetan Youth Congress of New York and New Jersey, told Radio Free Asia. The self-immolation comes one day after China’s new ethnic unity law went into effect, with critics warning that the law brings accelerated forced assimilation and cultural erasure of Tibetans and Uyghurs. It also brings fears of Beijing’s increasing transnational repression and its ability to stifle dissident voices overseas. “The unfolding genocide inside Tibet and the enforcement of the draconian ‘Ethnic Unity and Progress Law’ on July 1 are what drove Lobga Rangzen to this tragic decision,” Penpa Tsering, head of the Central Tibetan Administration said in a released statement on Friday. Lobga Rangzen poses for a photo in New York in this image posted to his Facebook page on July 2, 2026. (Lobga Rangzen via Facebook) Rangzen was a well-known Tibetan activist who participated in demonstrations and campaigns calling for Tibetan freedom and raising awareness of human rights issues under Chinese rule. Before the incident, Rangzen posted a Facebook video where he spoke about the situation in Tibet and the importance of efforts to preserve Tibetan language and culture. He also criticized Chinese government policies in Tibet, which he described as an “erasure” of Tibetan identity, and urged Tibetans in exile to increase their efforts in their struggle. Content warning: Below is language that readers may find disturbing. In a subsequent Facebook livestream post, Rangzen propped the camera on the sidewalk and walked a few steps to a traffic median across from the U.N. building and placed a large Tibetan flag on a traffic post. Moments later, he set himself on fire. In the video, cars were seen driving past on First Avenue, honking their horns. Rangzen fell to the ground. Two men in security uniforms reached him a minute and 10 seconds later with fire extinguishers. Lobga Rangzen in an undated photo. (Lobga Rangzen via Facebook) Tibetans have previously committed acts of self-immolation to protest against Beijing’s policies in Tibet and regions with large Tibetan populations in exile. Penpa Tsering said that from 2009 to around 2022, roughly 157 Tibetans have self-immolated inside Tibet, referring to this act as “offering of the body” for the Tibetan cause. Thupten Choenyi, a friend of Lobga Rangzen, told Radio Free Asia: “About 15 minutes before he set himself on fire, I had a video call with him on WhatsApp. It was around 5:30 P.M. Unlike our previous conversations, he spoke very quietly and sounded deeply disappointed. He told me, ‘I think China will never listen to us.’” “He was smoking during the call, and I told him not to smoke. He replied that he doesn’t drink, but he does smoke. He was also sipping from a Coke bottle, and his T-shirt was wet. I asked him where he was, and he said he was in front of the United Nations.” “Then he suddenly asked, ‘Can I take a screenshot of our video call?’ I said yes, and he sent it to me immediately. A short time later, he set himself on fire. He also called a few of his close friends before carrying out the act. I am very sad right now.” Penpa Tsering, leader of the Central Tibetan Administration, speaks to reporters in Dharamsala, India, July 3, 2026. (Tenzin Dhonyoe/RFA Tibetan) Penpa Tsering, attending the International Tibetan Youth Conference in Dharamsala, India, said that Rangzen had always carried the Tibetan cause and devoted his time to it in New York. He said that wherever it happens, inside or outside Tibet, those who give their lives for the Tibetan cause must be remembered. He announced that the Kashag (cabinet of the Central Tibetan Administration) had met that morning to organize a day of memorial prayers. Sonam Tso, who was among more than 100 participants at the conference, told RFA, “It is heartbreaking to hear of his death, yet I hope it will help more people around the world learn about Tibet and the Tibetan cause.” Sonam Tso speaks to RFA Tibetan in Dharamsala, India, July 3, 2026. (Tenzin Dhonyoe/RFA Tibetan) Tibetans gathered outside the United Nations headquarters for a candlelight vigil and prayers following Rangzen’s death Thursday evening. As news of the passing of Rangzen spread, Tibetan communities including groups in Dharamsala, Australia, Taiwan and elsewhere in the United States have begun holding prayer gatherings in his remembrance. Responding to the immolation at a daily Beijing news conference on Friday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said Tibet has been an inalienable part of the country’s territory since ancient times and Beijing believes “relevant countries will handle the matter in accordance with domestic laws.” Additional reporting by Dickey Kundol, Tenzin Dhonyoe, Tashi Wangchuk, and Kalden Lodoe. Contributions from Reuters. Edited by Charlie Dharapak. This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Tenzin Dickyi for RFA Tibetan.
“Empire of AI”: Karen Hao on How AI Is Threatening Democracy & Creating a New Colonial World
Nigerian journalist Stanley Ugagbe forcibly disappeared after investigative report
Abuja, July 3, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Nigerian authorities to urgently investigate Wednesday’s seizure of Secret Reporters journalist Stanley Ugagbe by two armed men in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, and secure his safe return. “Nigerian authorities must swiftly investigate the whereabouts of journalist Stanley Ugagbe, ensure his immediate safety, and hold those responsible for his...
Abuja, July 3, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Nigerian authorities to urgently investigate Wednesday’s seizure of Secret Reporters journalist Stanley Ugagbe by two armed men in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, and secure his safe return. “Nigerian authorities must swiftly investigate the whereabouts of journalist Stanley Ugagbe, ensure his immediate safety, and hold those responsible for his disappearance to account,” said CPJ Africa Director Angela Quintal. “The Nigerian government must act urgently to end the horrific pattern of enforced disappearances of journalists and others in a country that claims to uphold democratic values.” The Secret Reporters news site’s publisher Tega Oghenedoro, known by his pen name, Fejiro Oliver, and senior reporter Paul Utebor told CPJ that Ugabe’s neighbors saw Ugagbe enter his apartment in Jikwoyi, a northeastern Abuja suburb, on July 1, followed by two armed men, who had arrived in a black jeep. The three then left the house, with the unidentified men carrying a laptop and phones. When the neighbors tried to intervene, the men refused to speak or identify themselves while Ugagbe shouted, “Call my office.” The journalists told CPJ they believed the incident was related to the outlet’s recent investigation into corruption and infidelity allegations involving an executive with Nigeria’s Central Bank. Ugagbe was the lead reporter. After Ugagbe called the executive from his own phone to request comment prior to publication, he received a call from a man who identified himself as Ibrahim, denied the allegations in the story, and asked Ugagbe to refrain from publishing, they said. Oliver said they received a call on July 1, from sources within the police force who informed them that Ugagbe had been taken to the defunct Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) office in Abuja’s Guzape district. The SARS unit was disbanded in 2020 after mass protests. The two journalists said they had visited that site, all police stations in Jikwoyi, and the Nigeria Police Force Headquarters and Federal Capital Territory Police Command Headquarters in Abuja, but found no news of Ugagbe. Oliver said he called the police source who said other police officers told him Ugagbe was at the former SARS office and the journalist had written a police statement on July 1. Utebor also told CPJ on Friday, that Secret Reporters office security said they saw three men arrive at their office premises on Wednesday in a black jeep and showed their ID cards, which appeared to be police IDs, but refused to name who they were looking for. FCT Police Command spokesperson Josephine Adeh told CPJ that the police were investigating Ugagbe’s disappearance, but they had not found any record of his detention at their regional offices. She said that there was no indication that he had been taken by the police. CPJ’s calls and messages to the federal police spokesperson, Anietie Okokon, received no replies. CPJ also called and messaged the Director General of the State Security Service, Oluwatosin Ajayi, the CBN executive mentioned in the Secret Reporters publications, and publicly listed numbers on the CBN website, but received no replies. Nigerian journalists were similarly taken in 2024, when journalist Segun Olatunji was seized from his home by armed military officers, and journalist Daniel Ojukwu went missing for 48 hours after being secretly arrested by police. This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.
“What to the Slave Is the 4th of July?”: James Earl Jones Reads Frederick Douglass’s Historic Speech
Free the Prairieland Defendants and All Political Prisoners
Benjamin "Champagne" Song, a U.S. marine reservist, got 100 years in prison in Texas–no air-conditioning, sweltering heat–for saving a protester's life. So why are Democrats like Hakeem Jeffries busy battling social democrats rather than unifying resistance to Trump behind this urgent cause for freedom and the U.S. Constitution? In Texas, eight political prisoners recently received a combined 450 years for a July 4th, 2025 demonstration outside an ICE concentration camp. Song got a century behind bars for firing a warning shot to stop a cop from shooting a fleeing, unarmed protester. Other defendants got decades simply for being in a book club or transporting a box of their own zines. This is illegal collective punishment designed to destroy our trust networks and terrorize the resistance–no matter where you live. We are sliding into a fascist fever dream, and any politician who wants our support in the 2028 Democratic Party primary must publicly commit to pardoning these political prisoners. Trump's Soviet-style war on antifa endangers us all, because America's progress, what makes this country great, like the U.S. helping liberate Europe from Nazis, was built by the anti-fascists. Anyone who is anti-antifa is clearly a fascist. It's as simple as that. We refuse to let them normalize this terror. Support our independent journalism by subscribing to Gaslit Nation on Patreon and Substack today so we can keep fighting back. Thank you to everyone who supports the show–we could not make Gaslit Nation without you. A quick correction: An earlier version got the timeline wrong and said the Prairieland protests happened after the murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, when they happened before. We've fixed it. These things happen, and we're sorry for the error. Join our community of listeners and get bonus shows, ad free listening, group chats with other listeners, ways to shape the show, invites to exclusive events like our Monday political salons at 4pm ET over Zoom, and more! Discounted annual memberships are available. Become a Democracy Defender at Patreon.com/Gaslit or GaslitNation.Substack.com. Show Notes: Post-Sentencing Statement from Benjamin "Champagne" Song https://prairielanddefendants.com/defendant-writings/statement-by-benjamin-champagne-song/ The Guardian clip: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DaMfR_lu-3v/ Opening clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUxP9enCBaQ How to Help the Prairieland Defendants: Donate, write letters to them in prison, amplify their story on social media, if you're a media outlet – tell their story: https://prairielanddefendants.com/ Texas anti-ICE protesters convicted of terrorism charges sentenced to at least 50 years in prison https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jun/23/prairieland-ice-protesters-texas-sentenced Federal trial over air conditioning in Texas prisons set to start Monday https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/criminal-justice/2026/03/30/547466/texas-prison-air-conditioning-lawsuit/
Benjamin "Champagne" Song, a U.S. marine reservist, got 100 years in prison in Texas–no air-conditioning, sweltering heat–for saving a protester's life. So why are Democrats like Hakeem Jeffries busy battling social democrats rather than unifying resistance to Trump behind this urgent cause for freedom and the U.S. Constitution? In Texas, eight political prisoners recently received a combined 450 years for a July 4th, 2025 demonstration outside an ICE concentration camp. Song got a century behind bars for firing a warning shot to stop a cop from shooting a fleeing, unarmed protester. Other defendants got decades simply for being in a book club or transporting a box of their own zines. This is illegal collective punishment designed to destroy our trust networks and terrorize the resistance–no matter where you live. We are sliding into a fascist fever dream, and any politician who wants our support in the 2028 Democratic Party primary must publicly commit to pardoning these political prisoners. Trump's Soviet-style war on antifa endangers us all, because America's progress, what makes this country great, like the U.S. helping liberate Europe from Nazis, was built by the anti-fascists. Anyone who is anti-antifa is clearly a fascist. It's as simple as that. We refuse to let them normalize this terror. Support our independent journalism by subscribing to Gaslit Nation on Patreon and Substack today so we can keep fighting back. Thank you to everyone who supports the show–we could not make Gaslit Nation without you. A quick correction: An earlier version got the timeline wrong and said the Prairieland protests happened after the murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, when they happened before. We've fixed it. These things happen, and we're sorry for the error. Join our community of listeners and get bonus shows, ad free listening, group chats with other listeners, ways to shape the show, invites to exclusive events like our Monday political salons at 4pm ET over Zoom, and more! Discounted annual memberships are available. Become a Democracy Defender at Patreon.com/Gaslit or GaslitNation.Substack.com. Show Notes: Post-Sentencing Statement from Benjamin "Champagne" Song https://prairielanddefendants.com/defendant-writings/statement-by-benjamin-champagne-song/ The Guardian clip: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DaMfR_lu-3v/ Opening clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUxP9enCBaQ How to Help the Prairieland Defendants: Donate, write letters to them in prison, amplify their story on social media, if you're a media outlet – tell their story: https://prairielanddefendants.com/ Texas anti-ICE protesters convicted of terrorism charges sentenced to at least 50 years in prison https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jun/23/prairieland-ice-protesters-texas-sentenced Federal trial over air conditioning in Texas prisons set to start Monday https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/criminal-justice/2026/03/30/547466/texas-prison-air-conditioning-lawsuit/ This content originally appeared on Gaslit Nation and was authored by Andrea Chalupa.
As part of our July Fourth special broadcast, we continue our extended interview with Karen Hao, author of Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman’s OpenAI. The book documents the rise of OpenAI and how the AI industry is leadi...
As part of our July Fourth special broadcast, we continue our extended interview with Karen Hao, author of Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman’s OpenAI. The book documents the rise of OpenAI and how the AI industry is leading to a new form of colonialism. “One of the things that you really have to understand about AI development today is that there are what I call quasi-religious movements that have developed within Silicon Valley,” says Hao. “The concept of artificial general intelligence is not one that’s scientifically grounded.” This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
In our July Fourth special broadcast, we revisit our interview with longtime technology reporter Karen Hao, author of Empire of AI, which unveils the accruing political and economic power of artificial intelligence companies — especially Sam A...
In our July Fourth special broadcast, we revisit our interview with longtime technology reporter Karen Hao, author of Empire of AI, which unveils the accruing political and economic power of artificial intelligence companies — especially Sam Altman’s OpenAI. Her reporting uncovered the exploitation of workers in Kenya, attempts to take massive amounts of freshwater from communities in Chile, along with numerous accounts of the technology’s detrimental impact on the environment. “This is an extraordinary type of AI development that is causing a lot of social, labor and environmental harms,” says Hao in an extended interview. This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
Chris Hedges: Requiem for America on the Fourth of July
The con of neoliberalism has gutted our democracy and paved the way for fascism. COMMENTARY: By Chris Hedges Neoliberalism, better understood by its less sanitised term cutthroat capitalism, is the poison that destroyed our democracy in America. It gave the billionaire class and corporations the ideological cover to impoverish the working class, impose crippling austerity,
The con of neoliberalism has gutted our democracy and paved the way for fascism. COMMENTARY: By Chris Hedges Neoliberalism, better understood by its less sanitised term cutthroat capitalism, is the poison that destroyed our democracy in America. It gave the billionaire class and corporations the ideological cover to impoverish the working class, impose crippling austerity, hollow out democratic institutions, buy off our two ruling political parties and deform our courts into appendages of corporations and the rich. Neoliberalism drove tens of millions of disenfranchised, desperate people into the arms of Christian fascists, who preyed on their despair and sold them the fantasy of magic Jesus. It drove them into the arms of conspiracy theorists and right-wing charlatans. READ MORE: America250 versus Freedom 250: What to know about the US semiquincentennial Other Chris Hedges reports It drove them down the self-destructive rabbit holes of alcoholism and opioid addiction, compulsive gambling, domestic and sexual violence. These were the inevitable consequences of personal stagnation, disempowerment and feelings of worthlessness, frustration and profound despair. Neoliberalism ignores the cries of its victims. It dismisses their suffering and rage as irrational, ignorant and racist. It neuters liberal reforms, rendering them cosmetic and useless. Liberal apologists for neoliberalism, no longer concerned with economic justice, retreat into boutique activism. They mouth empty slogans about diversity and political correctness while pretending the relentless class war, unleashed globally since the 1970s, does not exist. The victims of neoliberal deindustrialisation, 30 million of whom lost their jobs in the US in mass layoffs, understand that the precarity of their existence does not concern their neoliberal masters. Celebrated by the disenfranchised Right-wing pundits and politicians, such as Donald Trump, who issue crude, vulgar and expletive-laden insults against the traditional neoliberal establishment are celebrated by the disenfranchised for exposing the political charade. These demagogues promise moral and economic renewal for the betrayed, albeit grounded in magical thinking. Neoliberals peddle their own form of magical thinking. Neoliberalism is as absurd and infantile as the Christian Rapture and Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement. Trump lies like he breathes, but so did previous presidents including Joe Biden, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton. Trump embraces fantasies, but so did they. Trump, like his Democratic predecessors, enriches himself and his family, although with far more ostentation and greed. He, like them, facilitates the ongoing pillage by the billionaire class. Trump is the fascist iteration of the neoliberal con. Concentrating wealth in the hands of a global oligarchic elite — the 12 richest billionaires own more wealth than the poorest half of the world — is designed to create massive income inequality and monopoly power. It is the antithesis of democratic equality. It is designed to fuel political extremism and foster social and cultural divisions. It is designed to hollow out democratic institutions. Economic rationality is not the point. David Harvey calls neoliberalism “accumulation by dispossession.” As a ruling ideology, neoliberalism is a brilliant success. Starting in the 1970s, its Keynesian mainstream critics were marginalised or pushed out of academia, state institutions and financial organisations such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. The same is true of the media. Compliant courtiers and intellectual poseurs such as Milton Friedman or New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman were given prominent platforms and lavish corporate funding. They slavishly disseminated the official mantra of fringe, discredited economic theories popularised by Friedrich Hayek and the third-rate writer Ayn Rand. Once the country was forced to kneel before the dictates of the marketplace, once government regulations were abolished, once taxes on the rich were slashed, once money was permitted to flow across borders, once unions were crushed and once trade deals were signed that sent jobs to sweatshops in Mexico and China, the world, these poseurs assured us, would be happier, freer and wealthier. A scam – but it worked It was a scam. But it worked. And it fueled the rival con game of the demagogues and fascists who were vomited up out of the moral and political morass. The media bears much of the blame. In the name of objectivity, better understood as neutrality, it absented itself from the class war. It did not investigate the mounting abuses of the rich, corporations or its bought-and-paid-for political class. It did not expose the absurdity of neoliberalism. It rendered the victims invisible. By shutting themselves out of the debate, the media, a vital pillar of any democracy, neutered itself. It too became despised. Individual freedom, which neoliberalism holds up as the highest good, and social justice are not compatible. Social justice, Harvey writes in A Brief History of Neoliberalism, requires social solidarity and “a willingness to submerge individual wants, needs, and desires in the cause of some more general struggle for, say, social equality and environmental justice.” Neoliberal rhetoric is able to “split off libertarianism, identity politics, multiculturalism, and eventually narcissistic consumerism from the social forces ranged in pursuit of social justice through the conquest of state power.” Neoliberalism, as Ece Temelkuran writes in How to Lose a Country: The 7 Steps From Democracy to Fascism, exiles morality from public life. It isolates it in the private space of the individual. It corrals it into “the holding pen of religion” while religion is “clipped and cropped into market-friendly ‘spiritualities.’” Justice and mercy are no longer shared concepts. Personal and public morality are severed. How, she asks, “can we convince people not to commit evil in those realms of public life from which law enforcement is absent?” Lack of a story unbearable “Humans,” she writes, “are incapable of functioning and living together without a good story to bind them and keep a certain set of values intact. That’s why the lack of a story in neoliberalism, the lack of meaning and cause, can be unbearable for the human mind. “Since humans are forced to live in a state of mild antipathy — an acceptable amount of antipathy that is crucial to the neoliberal system — they are forever in dire need of a cause, a central triangulation point that they can use to orient themselves in relation to what’s good and what’s bad. “The ethical vacuum of neoliberalism, its dismissal of the fact that human nature needs meaning and desperately seeks reasons to live, creates fertile ground for the invention of causes, and sometimes the most groundless or shallowest ones.” Karl Polanyi in The Great Transformation distinguishes between bad freedoms and good freedoms. Bad freedoms are sacrosanct under neoliberalism. They permit the powerful to exploit workers and the natural world until exhaustion or collapse. Pharmaceutical and health care corporations, for example, jeopardise the lives of those who cannot afford their exorbitant prices. The fossil fuel industry is driving us towards extinction. Good freedoms — freedom of conscience, freedom of speech, freedom of meeting, freedom of association, freedom to choose one’s job — are snuffed out by bad freedoms. The freedom of the many is transformed into the freedom of the few. The result is fascism. Fascism uses the blunt instruments of fear, intimidation and violence to curb the mounting disquiet. It divides the country into warring factions — the patriots vs the enemies of the state. It obliterates shared values. It champions the cruelty of hypermasculinity. Those who dissent are branded domestic terrorists. Civil liberties are abolished in the name of national security. The 30 to 100-year sentences meted out to eight anti-ICE protesters in Texas, who were portrayed in court as an “antifa terror cell,” are being normalised. A ninth defendant, David Rolando Sanchez Estrada, was not present at the protest, but was sentenced to 30 years after being convicted of concealing documents when he moved a box of political zines and other materials. A second group of defendants in the broader Prairieland case were sentenced on July 1. Six who accepted plea agreements received prison terms ranging from nearly two years to 15 years, while Ines Soto, who rejected a plea agreement and went to trial, received 50 years. The equation of civil disobedience with terrorism is routine in countries such as Turkey, Russia and India. It is being cemented into place in Europe. Palestine Action jailings A British judge, in a ruling that mirrors what took place in Texas, recently sentenced four members of Palestine Action as “terrorists”, sending them to prison for five to nine years, even though they were neither charged nor convicted of terrorism offences. It does not matter if Donald Trump, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Narendra Modi, Vladimir Putin or Nigel Farage disappear. The tens of millions of people “fired up by their message will still be there, and will still be ready to act upon the orders of a similar figure,” Temelkuran writes. “And unfortunately, as we experienced in Turkey in a very destructive way, even if you are determined to stay away from the world of politics, the minions will find you, even in your own personal space, armed with their own set of values and ready to hunt down anybody who doesn’t resemble themselves.” Our country, as we once knew it, no longer exists. It was methodically destroyed by neoliberal con artists. The institutions and legal protections that once shielded us from tyranny no longer function. Those who champion an open society are orphans, smeared as traitors, excoriated as the “radical left”. I mourn what we have lost. I mourn what we are about to lose. This social isolation will soon be physical isolation. We will be criminalised or driven into exile. Trump and his fascistic cabal, epitomised by billionaires such as Peter Thiel and Elon Musk, are constructing a mafia state. A nation of gangsters and marks. A nation where they alone have unlimited freedom to pillage and exploit. A nation where the government is privatised. A nation where we are enslaved to corporate technology. A nation where we have no place. We must name our enemies this Fourth of July. They are the fascists who have seized power. And they are those who, selling us the con of neoliberalism, put them there. Chris Hedges is a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist who was a foreign correspondent for 15 years for The New York Times, where he served as the Middle East bureau chief and Balkan bureau chief for the paper. He is the host of show “The Chris Hedges Report”. This commentary was first published on the Chris Hedges Substack page and is republished with permission. The Chris Hedges Report This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.
We begin our July Fourth special broadcast with the words of Frederick Douglass. Born into slavery around 1818, Douglass became a key leader of the abolitionist movement. On July 5, 1852, in Rochester, New York, Douglass gave one of his most f...
We begin our July Fourth special broadcast with the words of Frederick Douglass. Born into slavery around 1818, Douglass became a key leader of the abolitionist movement. On July 5, 1852, in Rochester, New York, Douglass gave one of his most famous speeches, “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” He was addressing the Rochester Ladies’ Anti-Slavery Society. The late actor James Earl Jones read the historic address during a performance of Voices of a People’s History of the United States, which was co-edited by Howard Zinn. This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
Attacks on Press Freedom: Lawsuits, Intimidation, and the War on Journalists | Ep. 4
Democracy Now! Friday, July 3, 2026 This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! Audio and was authored by Democracy Now!.
Declaration of Independence: “Merciless Indian savages” and the creation of empire
As Iran Prepares Elaborate Funeral For Khamenei, Many Recall A Brutal Leader #shorts #iran
Trump’s Communist Boogeyman Playbook: Charging Protesters as Terrorists ⎸ The Intercept Briefing
This content originally appeared on The Intercept and was authored by The Intercept.
“He Didn’t Need to Die.” How an Immigration Detention Center Repeatedly Failed to Address a Mental Health Crisis.
The post “He Didn’t Need to Die.” How an Immigration Detention Center Repeatedly Failed to Address a Mental Health Crisis. appeared first on ProPublica.
<img src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Camp-MontanaV2_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?w=1149" alt="An investigative collage featuring a bright red sweatshirt, a set of handcuffs and medical examiner tags for Geraldo Lunas Campos. Red paper scraps with the seal of El Paso County, Texas, border a black-and-white photo of double doors secured behind layers of razor wire."> Geraldo Lunas Campos died at East Camp Montana on Jan. 3, 2026. Cengiz Yar/ProPublica. Source images: Documents and images reviewed by ProPublica and The Texas Tribune. Guards at an immigration detention center in El Paso, Texas, could see a detainee in his cell with one end of a bedsheet wrapped around his neck and the other tied to the door handle. If they opened the door, the sheet would tighten and strangle him. The detainee, Geraldo Lunas Campos, had been in detention at Camp East Montana for a month by then. The facility itself was still relatively new and had been opened as part of the Trump administration’s plans to house and quickly deport thousands of immigrants at a time. Almost immediately after being admitted, the 55-year-old Cuban immigrant began expressing frustration about his care, according to a nearly 300-page unpublished medical examiner’s investigative report. If you or someone you know needs help, here are a few resources: Call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 Text the Crisis Text Line from anywhere in the U.S. to reach a crisis counselor: 741741 The report, reviewed by ProPublica and The Texas Tribune, includes dozens of notes that detail medical staff interactions with Lunas Campos, who had a history of mental illness and had been previously institutionalized in New York. The report and the records it contains offer a rare and disturbing look at how immigrant detention facilities — erected rapidly and with little oversight — manage detainees with serious mental health needs. The records paint a portrait of a man in a crisis and a facility whose staff, on several occasions, discussed transferring him to a facility where he could get a higher level of care. According to the records, he complained at least eight times to staff about skipped or late doses of antipsychotic drugs to treat his depression, anxiety and hallucinations. He “expressed frustration regarding his medication dosage,” says a Sept. 9 entry from medical staff. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="186" width="752" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Clip1_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?w=752" alt="A cropped excerpt from a typed clinical document. A section titled "Plan" contains a highlighted sentence stating: "he expressed frustration regarding his medication dosage."" class="wp-image-85492" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Clip1_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg 1921w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Clip1_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=300,74 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Clip1_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=768,190 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Clip1_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1024,253 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Clip1_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1536,379 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Clip1_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=863,213 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Clip1_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=422,104 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Clip1_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=552,136 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Clip1_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=558,138 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Clip1_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=527,130 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Clip1_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=752,186 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Clip1_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1149,284 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Clip1_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=400,99 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Clip1_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=800,197 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Clip1_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1200,296 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Clip1_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1600,395 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" /> Medical staff notes from Sept. 9 indicate Lunas Campos complaining to staff of Camp East Montana in El Paso, Texas, about his medication dosage. Reviewed and highlighted by ProPublica and The Texas Tribune They point to moments of exasperation that led to self-harm. He banged his head against the wall after he couldn’t afford to pay the charges to talk with his children in New York. That left him with a black eye. In response, staff simply noted that they spoke with him about “not hitting his head against the wall bc he must take care of his brain and his eyes.” The incident with the noose and the doorknob came in early October. A mental health provider eventually coaxed him to untie it. Notes detailing the incident stated that Lunas Campos affirmed he wasn’t suicidal. The notes dismissed what occurred as a “suicidal gesture made to force security staff to release him” from the isolation room where he had been segregated from the rest of the detainees. Hospitalization, the notes stated, was “not clinically indicated at this time based on assessed risk and protective factors.” <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="295" width="752" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Clip2_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?w=752" alt="A cropped document detailing a "Treatment Plan" to manage suicidal thoughts features an "Addended" note with yellow highlighting that reads: "Pt seen for follow up, reaffirms not suicidal, suicidal gesture made to force security staff to release him from SHU, pt met with psychiatrist."" class="wp-image-85493" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Clip2_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg 2427w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Clip2_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=300,118 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Clip2_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=768,301 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Clip2_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1024,401 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Clip2_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1536,602 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Clip2_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2048,802 2048w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Clip2_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=863,338 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Clip2_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=422,165 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Clip2_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=552,216 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Clip2_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=558,219 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Clip2_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=527,207 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Clip2_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=752,295 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Clip2_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1149,450 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Clip2_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2000,784 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Clip2_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=400,157 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Clip2_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=800,313 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Clip2_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1200,470 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Clip2_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1600,627 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" /> Medical staff notes from October cite suicidal ideation and behavior by Lunas Campos, which they attribute to attempts at being released. Reviewed and highlighted by ProPublica and The Texas Tribune Lunas Campos died in detention nearly three months later, after an altercation with guards over his medication. The Trump administration initially claimed that he had experienced medical distress, but a coroner later ruled his death a homicide. The conflicting accounts over the cause of his death have drawn significant media attention and served to rally advocacy groups who have alleged that it is one of the more shocking pieces of evidence of the dangerous conditions endured by immigrants in federal detention facilities. But little had been reported about Lunas Campos’ condition and treatment before that day. On Monday, Lunas Campos’ three children sued the companies running the facility at the time of his death. The lawsuit alleged that guards killed him and argued negligence, including missed medication doses and the improper use of force and restraint. The Washington Post on Thursday reported that Lunas Campos had repeatedly sought treatment for his mental illness, pointing to the medical examiner’s investigative report. The companies have not responded to the allegations in court filings and did not return emails and phone calls seeking comment. ProPublica and the Tribune reviewed the contents of the report several weeks ago. Two doctors, who are experts on mental health and deaths in detention, also reviewed the report at the news organizations’ request. The takeaway was clear: The detainee asked for help, the facility staff failed to adequately respond. The news organizations separately reviewed more than 160 emergency calls, as well as records and interviews with staff and government officials familiar with the detention center. They show medical and mental health emergencies beyond those experienced by Lunas Campos, as well as staff indicating they felt ill-equipped to respond. Detainees had little access to recreational activities and time outside, which mental health experts say exacerbates their despair. Staff also ignored warning signs, such as detainees’ previous efforts to harm themselves. “It’s civil detention,” said Will Horowitz, an attorney representing Lunas Campos’ adult children in the lawsuit. “They’re not in detention because they’ve committed a crime.” The White House declined to comment. Immigration and Customs Enforcement didn’t respond to multiple requests for an interview and did not answer a list of written questions. The administration has previously dismissed detainee accounts of inadequate medical care and poor conditions at Camp East Montana and other detention centers as “false” and called them “fearmongering clickbait.” Federal officials have repeatedly said that for many immigrants, the medical care they receive in detention is the best in their lives. In Lunas Campos’ case, officials from the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, initially minimized the incident that led to his death, pointing to his criminal history. Later, in response to news reports that the medical examiner planned to rule the death a homicide, a DHS spokesperson said guards had used force to keep him from killing himself. Lunas Campos was sentenced to a year in jail after a 2003 conviction for sexual contact with a child under the age of 11, according to The Associated Press. The news organization also reported that he was convicted of attempting to sell a controlled substance and sentenced to five years in prison and three years of supervision in 2009. Horowitz said Lunas Campos’ criminal history is irrelevant to his detention. Lunas Campos’ children declined to comment on the failures highlighted in the medical examiner’s report or on his criminal history, but, Horowitz said, “They want people to know that he was a person like anyone else and that he didn’t need to die.” In a report issued after Lunas Campos’ death, DHS officials said he received regular medical and psychiatric evaluations, with staff adjusting his medication as needed. They also contended that he was monitored for suicidal ideation. Investigative records from the El Paso medical examiner show a period during which facility staff checked on him every 15 minutes following his suicide attempt, as required by the federal government. But the medical examiner’s report also brings into focus a series of breakdowns in care, according to Dr. Sanjay Basu, an epidemiologist at the University of California, San Francisco. He said Lunas Campos’ case is a model of how such moments compound, creating crisis after crisis with dire outcomes. “The clinical trajectory documented in his chart — escalating agitation, self-harm, pressured speech, repeated confrontations with staff over medication — is the predictable result of erratic psychotropic medication administration in a patient with serious mental illness,” Basu said. He pointed to records that show staff didn’t transfer Lunas Campos to a facility that could better treat his mental health, even after noting that they were working to move him as early as Oct. 8. Lunas Campos was also repeatedly placed in segregation cells, separate from the rest of the camp population, which had little more than a bed in them. The government’s own detention standards say staff should generally make every effort to avoid placing detainees with a serious mental illness in segregation. Most critically, instead of taking his previous suicide attempt seriously, staff interpreted it as an effort to manipulate them, Basu said. The records, Basu said, clearly show “systemic neglect.” <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="1707" width="2560" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/pratje_propublcia_ep02142026_032_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?w=2560" alt="A row of orange traffic cones lines a dry, scrubby dirt field in the foreground. In the background, long, white tent-like buildings and a prominent orange-and-white striped water tower stand under a clear blue sky." class="wp-image-85498" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/pratje_propublcia_ep02142026_032_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg 3000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/pratje_propublcia_ep02142026_032_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/pratje_propublcia_ep02142026_032_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/pratje_propublcia_ep02142026_032_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/pratje_propublcia_ep02142026_032_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1536,1024 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/pratje_propublcia_ep02142026_032_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2048,1365 2048w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/pratje_propublcia_ep02142026_032_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=863,575 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/pratje_propublcia_ep02142026_032_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=422,281 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/pratje_propublcia_ep02142026_032_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=552,368 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/pratje_propublcia_ep02142026_032_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=558,372 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/pratje_propublcia_ep02142026_032_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=527,351 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/pratje_propublcia_ep02142026_032_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=752,501 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/pratje_propublcia_ep02142026_032_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1149,766 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/pratje_propublcia_ep02142026_032_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=459,306 459w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/pratje_propublcia_ep02142026_032_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2000,1333 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/pratje_propublcia_ep02142026_032_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=400,267 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/pratje_propublcia_ep02142026_032_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=800,533 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/pratje_propublcia_ep02142026_032_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1200,800 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/pratje_propublcia_ep02142026_032_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1600,1067 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /> Camp East Montana sits inside Fort Bliss in the desert of far east El Paso. Paul Ratje for ProPublica and The Texas Tribune A System Unraveling Camp East Montana was supposed to be the model for how detention centers across the country would operate under President Donald Trump’s administration. It was near the U.S.-Mexico border and had easy access to a highway and an airfield to quickly transport and deport unauthorized immigrants. Its location on barren, massive Fort Bliss land also allowed for a space that could hold up to 10,000 unauthorized immigrants at a time, more than any other facility in the country. Instead, the detention center became an example of what could go wrong. Within months of the camp’s opening, the American Civil Liberties Union, which is now suing the federal government, published accounts from immigrants who said they were beaten by guards, denied lifesaving medication and kept in squalid conditions with sewage at times spilling into their eating areas. Detainees commonly caught measles or tuberculosis. The government hasn’t responded formally to the lawsuit, but in statements to the media a DHS spokesperson said claims of inhumane conditions and detainees being abused are “categorically false.” The problems treating people with mental health challenges were not as visible but stacked up in ways that experts said added mental distress and could contribute to more suicide attempts. In the worst cases, they said, detainees unnecessarily died. The facility was never set up to house detainees struggling with serious mental health conditions, a DHS official and a medical provider who worked there told ProPublica and the Tribune. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because the government did not authorize them to discuss conditions at the camp. Several staffers told the news organizations that they had a lot of relevant information they could share, but they had signed nondisclosure agreements. The DHS official said immigrants didn’t have adequate space to read, pray, write or get legal services. They were kept inside windowless cells with nothing to do. Detainees were also granted little time outside, partly because the facility’s outdoor space was not big enough for all of them, a government report later found. The federal government requires detention centers to provide detainees at least one hour of outdoor time per day, but many got only a couple of hours a week, detainees told ProPublica and the Tribune. “Recreation and amenities, games, books, TVs, are all lifelines for people in detention,” the DHS official, who did not participate in the report, said. Prolonged confinement made detainees more anxious and desperate, at times leading to hunger strikes and fights. Immigrants were only supposed to remain at Camp East Montana for a maximum of two weeks, according to contract documents and statements from federal officials. When Lunas Campos died, the typical detainee had spent 38 days in the facility, according to a ProPublica analysis of government data provided to the Deportation Data Project, which collects and posts immigration enforcement information. He had been there far longer, more than 100 days. Dr. Katherine Peeler, a medical adviser for the advocacy group Physicians for Human Rights who has studied healthcare in immigration detention centers, said that the conditions reported at Camp East Montana signal that it is not a safe place for any detained individual. “You’ve been detained. You don’t know what the process is going to be. You don’t know when you’re going to be released,” Peeler said. “It’s really hard to trust people who are in charge to give you accurate information and so, as a result, you’re going to have a lot more despair and a lot more kind of anguish.” The situation is worse for people with a history of mental illness, Peeler said. Solitary confinement can cause post-traumatic stress disorder, self-harm and suicide risks, according to a 2024 report that Peeler co-authored with partners, including students and staff at Harvard University. “We are creating a mental health crisis that does not need to be there,” Peeler said. Some detainees at Camp East Montana who showed signs of potential self-harm were placed in isolation rooms that were not suicide-proof. They had doorknobs and mesh ceilings to which detainees who wanted to harm themselves could tie a bedsheet, the DHS official said. National detention standards don’t specify the number of suicide-proof rooms needed in each facility but make clear that detainees who are suicidal should be placed in rooms “free of objects and structural elements that could facilitate a suicide attempt.” “It’s insane,” said the medical provider who spoke to ProPublica and the Tribune. “If somebody wants to kill themselves, there’s nowhere to put them that’s actually safe.” <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="501" width="752" data-id="85496" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/pratje_propublcia_ep02142026_012_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?w=752" alt="A large crowd of people gathers in an urban plaza for an outdoor demonstration. Activists hold large cutout letters spelling "ICE OUT" and carry signs in front of a speaker system, with surrounding city buildings visible in the background." class="wp-image-85496" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/pratje_propublcia_ep02142026_012_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg 3000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/pratje_propublcia_ep02142026_012_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/pratje_propublcia_ep02142026_012_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/pratje_propublcia_ep02142026_012_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, 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https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/pratje_propublcia_ep02142026_012_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=558,372 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/pratje_propublcia_ep02142026_012_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=527,351 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/pratje_propublcia_ep02142026_012_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=752,501 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/pratje_propublcia_ep02142026_012_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1149,766 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/pratje_propublcia_ep02142026_012_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=459,306 459w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/pratje_propublcia_ep02142026_012_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2000,1333 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/pratje_propublcia_ep02142026_012_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=400,267 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/pratje_propublcia_ep02142026_012_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=800,533 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/pratje_propublcia_ep02142026_012_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1200,800 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/pratje_propublcia_ep02142026_012_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1600,1067 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" /> <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="501" width="752" data-id="85497" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/pratje_propublcia_ep02142026_019_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?w=752" alt="Several postcards with handwritten supportive messages rest on a pink tablecloth, held down by smooth stones." class="wp-image-85497" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/pratje_propublcia_ep02142026_019_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg 3000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/pratje_propublcia_ep02142026_019_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/pratje_propublcia_ep02142026_019_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/pratje_propublcia_ep02142026_019_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/pratje_propublcia_ep02142026_019_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1536,1024 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/pratje_propublcia_ep02142026_019_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2048,1365 2048w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/pratje_propublcia_ep02142026_019_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=863,575 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/pratje_propublcia_ep02142026_019_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=422,281 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/pratje_propublcia_ep02142026_019_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=552,368 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/pratje_propublcia_ep02142026_019_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=558,372 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/pratje_propublcia_ep02142026_019_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=527,351 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/pratje_propublcia_ep02142026_019_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=752,501 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/pratje_propublcia_ep02142026_019_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1149,766 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/pratje_propublcia_ep02142026_019_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=459,306 459w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/pratje_propublcia_ep02142026_019_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2000,1333 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/pratje_propublcia_ep02142026_019_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=400,267 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/pratje_propublcia_ep02142026_019_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=800,533 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/pratje_propublcia_ep02142026_019_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1200,800 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/pratje_propublcia_ep02142026_019_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1600,1067 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" /> Protesters rally against the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown on Valentine’s Day in El Paso. Some people wrote Valentine’s Day cards to detainees with notes of support. Paul Ratje for ProPublica and The Texas Tribune “They Just Didn’t Do It” Lunas Campos was in such a room when he first tried to commit suicide. By then, staff had reported at least three other suicide attempts to 911. There were the two calls in September, one about a detainee who lay on the floor holding his stomach in agony and unable to speak after swallowing an unknown object. The other about a man biting his arms and trying to cut his wrists with a piece of cardboard and a comb. Another call came in October, the day before Lunas Campos was spotted with a sheet tied around his neck. A man being kept in a medical isolation room to rule out tuberculosis tried to hang himself, the caller told the 911 operator. Suicide attempts are warning signs of a larger problem at a detention center, which could include inadequate strategies for observing or flagging self-harm or more general medical issues, said Claire Trickler-McNulty, a former senior official at ICE who served in the Obama, first Trump and Biden administrations. Out of 53 deaths in ICE custody since Trump returned to the White House, at least 10 have been reported as presumed suicides. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has called for independent investigations into the ICE deaths and expressed alarm over the reported use of solitary confinement. “You would hope that if you have a number of negative outcomes of problematic incidents like that, that they would do critical incident reviews, figure out what was going on and try to take corrective action,” Trickler-McNulty said. Last week, DHS’s inspector general launched probes into detainee deaths and whether the department was following its own standards on the use of force, citing a rise in ICE custody fatalities since 2022. Other problems were already identified in a report released last month by the Government Accountability Office. The GAO found millions of dollars had been wasted, pointed to gaps in medical care and noted unsanitary conditions at the El Paso facility. The report mentions that in October, ICE officials raised concerns with the contractors running the facility about the lack of windows on some doors in medical holding rooms, which prevented staff from easily seeing what was happening inside. The DHS official flagged several other problems that the government could have worked to improve. It could have assigned more ICE agents to help with chronic staffing shortages, created more opportunities for recreational activities and built special tents with suicide-prevention rooms, the DHS official said. “There was no lack of money or space and there was an obvious incentive to do it,” the official said, referring to the suicide attempts at the facility. “They just didn’t do it.” There seemed to be a push-pull between career ICE staff and political appointees, the DHS official told the news organizations. “The political side didn’t want to give the appearance that it was so chaotic, they wanted to pretend it wasn’t happening,” the official said. Even without the proposed changes, staff at the detention center should have done more to treat Lunas Campos’ mental illness, said Joanne Ahola, a psychiatrist who has spent 17 years evaluating immigrants inside detention centers for Physicians for Human Rights’ volunteer Asylum Network. She also reviewed his records at the request of ProPublica and the Tribune. Lunas Campos’ early pleas for help continued throughout his detention. Nearly two weeks after his suicide attempt, he again flagged that he wasn’t getting his medications. “Pt reported being very frustrated and anxious because he had not received his medication for a couple of days,” a medical note from Oct. 19 read. It noted that Lunas Campos was visibly “irritated and yelling.” Another note on Nov. 10, said Lunas Campos “had not gotten his medications since Nov. 6.” And, on Nov. 11, more than a month after staff told Lunas Campos that they were working to move him to a facility with a higher level of care, shorthanded as HLOC, he was still waiting. “Continues to request transfer to HLOC stating conditions at current facility are adversely affecting his mental health,” according to a note from that date. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="907" width="752" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Clip456_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?w=752" alt="A compilation of three patient history excerpts shows various entries regarding Geraldo Lunas Campos. The text contains three highlighted sections: First section: "Pt was visible irritated and yelling." Second section: "the patient had not gotten his medications since November 6th." Third section: "SHU lieutenant also spoke with detainee and were able to deescalate, detainee removed sheet from his neck and discussed transfer to higher level of care."" class="wp-image-85495" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Clip456_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg 1986w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Clip456_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=249,300 249w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Clip456_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=768,926 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Clip456_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=849,1024 849w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Clip456_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1274,1536 1274w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Clip456_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1698,2048 1698w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Clip456_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=863,1041 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Clip456_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=422,509 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Clip456_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=552,666 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Clip456_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=558,673 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Clip456_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=527,636 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Clip456_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=752,907 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Clip456_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1149,1386 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Clip456_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1327,1600 1327w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Clip456_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=400,482 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Clip456_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=800,965 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Clip456_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1200,1447 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Clip456_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1600,1930 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" /> Notes from East Camp Montana staff from October and November show Lunas Campos’ repeated requests for medication, attempts at suicide and requests to be transferred to facility with a higher level of care. Reviewed and highlighted by ProPublica and The Texas Tribune Lunas Campos was temporarily moved to another facility, but it was another detention center that experts say did not provide the higher level of care he needed. On Jan. 2, a day before his death, he returned to Camp East Montana. A note from medical staff at 9:42 p.m. said they “provided emotional support,” “reviewed grounding and breathing techniques to manage anxiety,” encouraged him “to seek ongoing mental health support as needed,” and added his name to the medical sick call for a psychiatric evaluation. “This is a man who needed regular medications, a full evaluation, mental health clinicians and, no doubt, re-hospitalization,” Ahola said. “Instead, it almost seems like it was brushed off or brushed under the rug,” she added. Less than two weeks after Lunas Campos’ death, the health administrator at Camp East Montana called 911 again. Victor Manuel Díaz, a 36-year-old Nicaraguan native, was found in a cell with his pants tied around his neck. He was in a room with no windows.The staff found him as they were doing routine checks. An ambulance was needed, the health administrator told the operator, explaining where emergency responders should go upon arrival at the facility. Without hesitation, he added, “They’ve been out here many times.” Díaz, who cooked chicken and washed dishes at a Minneapolis Korean restaurant, had been picked up and flown to Camp East Montana a week earlier. The GAO noted that ICE itself later acknowledged in a report that staff had not properly followed procedures after he “exhibited risk factors for suicide.” Staff placed him in a medical holding room — not a suicide-resitant cell — and left him unattended for periods longer than 15 minutes, the GAO stated. His autopsy, which was conducted by the military, has not been made public. The post “He Didn’t Need to Die.” How an Immigration Detention Center Repeatedly Failed to Address a Mental Health Crisis. appeared first on ProPublica. This content originally appeared on ProPublica and was authored by Perla Trevizo.
“More Than a Human Can Bear:” On Israel’s Systematic Sexualized Violence and the Silence That Enables It
The Palestinian Feminist Collective has issued a 200-page report on the sexualized and gendered violence perpetrated against the Palestinian people. Five months of research. Testimony after testimony: women, men, children, elders, all saying the same things in different voices, from different prisons, across eight decades. The report concludes, beyond a reasonable doubt, that Israel has perpetrated systematic sexualized and gendered violence against the Palestinian people, constituting the crime of genocide. More The post “More Than a Human Can Bear:” On Israel’s Systematic Sexualized Violence and the Silence That Enables It appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Screengrab from a video posted by Israel Channel 12 that appears to show the sexual assault of a Palestinian prisoner by Israeli guards at Sde Teiman prison. Amal ’Ajlouni is twenty-five years old. She is a mother of four. In July 2023, Israeli soldiers stormed her home in the southern Hebron neighborhood of Khallat Al-Qaba. She testified: The [female] soldier ordered me to undress. I started to take off my prayer clothes that I was wearing, and the necklace I had around my neck made some noise, and then the soldier loosened the dog’s leash, and it came right up to me. It really scared me and the children, and we all screamed. I begged the soldier to get it away, and I told her that we were afraid of dogs. She moved the dog away and ordered me to continue undressing and also to remove my undergarments. I told her I had nothing on me and that my clothes were light and there was no reason to take off my undergarments. I begged her not to make me do it in front of the children, but she threatened to release the dog again. I had no choice, and I took off everything, weeping. The soldier ordered me to turn around as my children watched, unable to stop crying and shaking with fear. — Amal ‘Ajlouni, testimony taken by B’Tselem field researcher Manal al-Ja’bari on July 11, 2023, published September 5, 2023 (B’Tselem, 2023) Most accounts stop there. Amal did not. She kept speaking: I can’t forget what happened. The search and the humiliation I went through in front of the [female] soldiers, and the helplessness and shame I felt in front of my children. They are now afraid to sleep in their room at night and come to our bed. They don’t sleep well and wet the bed, and when they wake up, they are scared to go to the bathroom. The soldiers left at 5:30 in the morning. This is not an exceptional case. It is a pattern. The Palestinian Feminist Collective has issued a 200-page report documenting it across eight decades, in prisons, at checkpoints, during home raids, in detention facilities (Palestinian Feminist Collective, 2026). Five months of research. Testimony after testimony: women, men, children, elders, all saying the same things in different voices, from different prisons, in different generations. This is what the murder of the soul, the family, the body, a people looks like: It looks like Rasmea Odeh in 1969, stripped naked, chained, beaten with sticks and metal bars, raped by Israeli soldiers while her father was brought into the room and ordered to rape her himself. When he refused, they beat them both and raped her in front of him. She was bleeding, her father told the UN Special Committee ten years later, “from her mouth and from her face and from her end.” Then he lost consciousness. She was in her early twenties. A medical examination reviewed by the Committee corroborated her testimony. It looks like a Bedouin teenager abducted from the Naqab in 1949, gang-raped on a three-day schedule arranged by her captor, executed when she resisted, buried in secret. David Ben-Gurion’s diary, made public half a century later, contains the entry: “It was decided and carried out: They washed her, cut her hair, raped her, and killed her.” He knew. He covered for the officers. No one was punished. Israeli historian Benny Morris, working from these same classified sources, concluded: That can’t be chance. It’s a pattern. Apparently, various officers who took part in the operation understood that the expulsion order they received permitted them to do these deeds in order to encourage the population to take to the roads. The fact is that no one was punished for these acts of murder. Ben-Gurion silenced the matter. (Morris, as cited in Shavit, 2004; see also McGreal, 2003). It looks like the 1948 massacre at Deir Yassin, where a sealed British criminal investigation, unearthed decades later, held medical evidence corroborating survivors’ testimony, and where the British investigator assigned to the case, Richard Catling, attested that “many young school girls were raped and later slaughtered.” Zionist militias broadcast threats of rape on loudspeakers to drive the surrounding villages into flight. The rape was the instrument. The flight was the aim. The land was the prize. It looks like Sde Teiman detention facility, 2023 and 2024, where Palestinian men were held in cage-like structures, forced to wear diapers, denied toilets, stripped naked, beaten on their genitals, electrocuted on the anus, raped with objects, and raped by trained dogs. Where a soldier pressed his crotch to a detainee’s face and said, “You are my bitch.” And in the detention camps where women abducted from Gaza were held, Israeli civilians were, according to the fieldwork of Kifeya Khraim of the Women’s Centre for Legal Aid and Counselling, invited in to watch Palestinian prisoners naked, photograph them, and mock them, “as if it’s a zoo” (UN Human Rights Council, 2025a). None of this is metaphor. All of it is testimony, corroborated by the United Nations, Amnesty International, the International Committee of the Red Cross, B’Tselem, Addameer, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, and multiple independent commissions of inquiry. Lana Fawalaha, 25, liberated from an Israeli prison, said: I would subconsciously pull my shirt down as if there was a constant threat that something I don’t want to happen could happen at any moment. […] This is something that does not end in prison. It stays long after prison. We keep living like this because the body remembers the shock more clearly and accurately than the mind. (Palestinian Feminist Collective, 2026). She was describing what it means to carry, in your body, the knowledge that the system designed to protect you was instead designed to destroy you. That the world watched. And called it complicated. There is more than one way to erase a nation. The crudest is killing. The other is to destroy the community and obliterate the self, body by body, until a people can no longer find itself. A Predatory State documents both. They rape the land through domicide, the deliberate destruction of hundreds of thousands of homes, the algorithmic obliteration of entire neighborhoods by AI targeting programs with names like “The Gospel” and “Where’s Daddy,” which one former Israeli intelligence officer described as a “mass assassination factory” (Abraham, 2023). They rape the people through state-sanctioned sexual torture across eight decades, from the Nakba to Sde Teiman, through esqat, the sexual blackmail that weaponizes Palestinian cultural norms to coerce informants, and through the desecration of the dead. They rape the mind through the suppression of testimony, the reclassification of archives, and the psychoanalytic institution’s maintenance of collegial relations with Israeli analysts while Palestinian mental health workers are killed at their desks. They rape the soul through reproductive genocide: the destruction of hospitals, the starvation of pregnant women, the killing of entire family genealogies, the assault on Palestinian futurity itself. This is not war. This is erasure. And the naming has been done. The report concludes, beyond a reasonable doubt, that Israel has perpetrated systematic sexualized and gendered violence against the Palestinian people, constituting the crime of genocide. It is not alone. In January 2024, the International Court of Justice found the claim of genocide plausible enough to order binding provisional measures against Israel. The International Association of Genocide Scholars named it as such. The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry concluded in March 2025 that Israel has “employed sexual and gender-based violence against Palestinians to terrorise them and perpetuate a system of oppression that undermines their right to self-determination” and confirmed the finding of genocide in September 2025 (UN OHCHR, 2025b). Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese’s 2026 report to the Human Rights Council is titled, plainly, “Torture and Genocide” (Albanese, 2026). The UN Committee Against Torture, in December 2025, found that Israel applies a “de facto State policy of organized and widespread torture and ill-treatment” of Palestinians in detention, practices the Committee found “amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, and form part of the actus reus of genocide” (UN Committee Against Torture, 2025). These are the findings of the international legal and human rights system that the Western liberal order built and claims to believe in. No charges have been lodged against any Israeli security official for any of it. The naming has been done, again and again. What has not been done is anything at all. We are mawjudun la yujadun. We exist, but we are unfindable. The crimes against us are documented. We are hypervisible. And yet we are nowhere to be found: not in the conscience of empire, not in its laws, not in its statements. We have survived what was designed to make survival impossible. And still we are expected to come composed, to make our case in language that does not disturb, while being systematically humiliated, violated, and de-dignified. One body at a time. Since 1948. The settler-colonial state never hid its goals. Erase the people. Dismember the bodies. Murder their sounds. What has changed since 1948 is not the intention. It is the technology. And the impunity. I am writing this on a Wednesday morning with a lump in my throat and a scream I cannot release. The dreaded scream that wants to shatter everything in sight. I do not know what it will take for the world to act. What is maddening is that this is not the first report. There have been others. There will be others. We all have the inner machinery of forgetting, the way the mind seals over what it cannot hold. But we will not allow you to forget. Because we believe in your humanity. We believe in your conscience. And we know that conscience, when it is working, cannot survive what this report contains and remain unchanged. No one reading this should remain the same. Empire does not want Palestinians to take up arms to defend against this violence. Fine. Then heed the Palestinian civil society call that has been on the table since 2005: boycott, divest, sanction. Every time you order from Amazon because the delivery is faster, think about A.A., a 35-year-old father arrested at Al-Shifa Hospital in March 2024. He spent 19 months in Israeli detention. At Sde Teiman military camp, soldiers stripped him and a group of detainees, beat them, sprayed pepper spray in their faces, and brought in dogs. One dog raped him. He told PCHR’s field researchers: “The dog did it deliberately, knowing exactly what it was doing, and inserted its penis into my anus, while the soldiers kept beating and torturing us.” Afterward, a doctor stitched a wound in his head. Seven stitches, without anesthesia (Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, 2025). Amazon does not fund Sde Teiman. It funds the economy that keeps Sde Teiman possible. Albanese’s report calls this economy by its name, an economy of genocide, a joint enterprise in which the acts of each company feed a whole that drives, supplies, and enables the destruction. Amazon’s part is not small. Together with Google, it holds a $1.2 billion contract called Project Nimbus, largely funded through Israel’s Ministry of Defense, providing the state with its core cloud and artificial intelligence infrastructure. When the military’s own cloud overloaded in October 2023, at the height of the bombardment, the Nimbus consortium stepped in. An Israeli colonel described this cloud technology as “a weapon in every sense of the word” (Albanese, 2025). Your purchase does not buy the restraints. It sustains the company that sustains the state that runs the facility. That is how an economy of genocide works. Think about M.A., eighteen years old, raped with a bottle four times while soldiers watched. He said: “I had wanted to continue my education; now I am lost after what happened to me.” Every time you book an Airbnb, know that Albanese’s report documents Airbnb increasing its listings in illegal Israeli settlements from 139 in 2016 to 350 in 2025, collecting commissions of up to 23% on property built on stolen Palestinian land (Albanese, 2025). The rent is channeled into a predatory state. It reaches the same system that trains dogs to rape humans. Airbnb knows. It continues. Visit Albanese’s report. Read it. From Economy of Occupation to Economy of Genocide. Every company named. Every supply chain traced. Every dollar followed to what it funds. There is no excuse for not knowing. And if you are a mental health professional: ask yourself what your membership fees pay for. Ask what it means to belong to an association that condones, through its silence, what the UN calls a de facto state policy of torture. Then do something with that question. If your institution condemns torture, and most claim to, insist that it say so here, about these bodies, in this genocide. If your institution condemns crimes against humanity, and most claim to, demand that it name what the UN Committee Against Torture, the UN Commission of Inquiry, and the International Court of Justice have all named. Hold your institution to its own stated values. Write to your board. Raise it at your next conference. Make them answer. Silence is a position. Make them own it or abandon it. What does that silence communicate to Lana Fawalaha, lying awake in her hijab on a prison floor, waiting? What does it communicate to the daughters and granddaughters of the women who ran from Deir Yassin, who transmitted what happened in their bodies to their children the way all unbearable things are transmitted: not in words, but in the nervous system, in the posture, in the way a mother’s hand tightens when soldiers are mentioned? Read this report. Read it as a son, as a daughter, as a mother, as a father, as an uncle, as an aunt. Do not manage it from a safe distance. Let it reach you where you actually live. Act. Follow this link for further action Palestine is not a tragedy without an author. What is being done to Palestinians is targeted, state-sponsored, and deliberate. The rape of Amal ‘Ajlouni’s dignity in front of her children was an order carried out by a soldier who knew exactly what she was doing. The dog trained to rape human beings at Sde Teiman was a policy instrument. The AI system called “Where’s Daddy” that leveled homes with families inside was a procurement decision. The starvation of pregnant women is a logistics choice made daily. Every actor in this chain, the soldier, the commander, the government, the arms supplier, the corporation, the professional association that looks away, has made a choice. That is what makes the silence of our institutions not merely a failure but a crime of its own kind. They are not helpless. They are choosing. References Abraham, Y. (2023, November 30). “A mass assassination factory”: Inside Israel’s calculated bombing of Gaza. +972 Magazine. https://www.972mag.com/mass-assassination-factory-israel-calculated-bombing-gaza/ [VERIFY URL before publication] Albanese, F. (2025). From economy of occupation to economy of genocide (A/HRC/59/23). United Nations Human Rights Council. h Albanese, F. (2026). Torture and genocide (A/HRC/61/71). United Nations Human Rights Council. B’Tselem. (2023, September 5). Soldiers enter homes of extended ’Ajlouni family with dogs, separate children from their parents and steal items. Female soldiers strip search women[Testimonies taken July 11, 2023]. McGreal, C. (2003, November 4). Israel learns of a hidden shame in its early years. The Guardian. Palestinian Centre for Human Rights. (2025, November 10). PCHR documents testimonies of systematic rape and sexual torture in Israeli detention. Palestinian Feminist Collective. (2026). A predatory state: Israeli systemic sexualized and gendered violence against Palestinians. Progressive International. Shavit, A. (2004). Survival of the fittest? An interview with Benny Morris. Logos: A Journal of Modern Society and Culture. UN Committee Against Torture. (2025, December 22). Concluding observations on the sixth periodic report of Israel (CAT/C/ISR/CO/6). UN Human Rights Council. (2025a). Kifeya Khraim & Witness #3: Public hearings, COI Palestine [Video]. UN OHCHR. (2025b, March 13). “More than a human can bear”: Israel’s systematic use of sexual, reproductive and other forms of gender-based violence since October 2023. The post “More Than a Human Can Bear:” On Israel’s Systematic Sexualized Violence and the Silence That Enables It appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Lama Khouri.
When President Trump, supported by Israeli Prime Minister Natanyahi, launched a war against Iran four months ago, he did so with an image of enemy surrender stuck in his head like a catchy tune, an earworm. It was probab [ . . . ] The post Images of Surrender appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Carl Mydans, The Japanese Surrender on the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay. September 2, 1945. Gelatin silver print. General Douglas MacArthur stands at the lower right, back to the viewer. General Yoshijirō Umezu leans over the table, signing the document of surrender. Courtesy Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas, Gift of the artist. P1985.27.106. © Carl Mydans/LIFE Magazine, Time Inc. Eyeworm When President Trump, supported by Israeli Prime Minister Natanyahi, launched a war against Iran four months ago, he did so with an image of enemy surrender stuck in his head like a catchy tune, an earworm. It was probably the photo above by Carl Mydans, reproduced and widely distributed for decades after the war, of Japanese military and civilian officials gathered on the deck of the USS Battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay, to sign the document of surrender ending war in the Pacific. General Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, stands in front of a microphone to the right, with his back to the viewer. Mydans’ viewpoint was from the front-right of a wooden platform built atop a gun turret, as can be seen in a photograph taken a few minutes earlier by another (unknown) photographer. The bag behind the dark haired, un-hatted Mydans was likely his kit, which included a spare 35 mm camera, Zeiss 50 mm telephoto lens, film, and a Rolleiflex. Photographer unknown, The Japanese Surrender on the USS Missouri, Sept. 2, 1945, Wikimedia Commons. Mydans was an excellent photographer. He worked for the Farm Security Administration in the 1930s, along with Walker Evans, Ben Shahn, and Dorothea Lange, and then for more than 30 years at Life, where his photo of the surrender was first published. Japanese Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu, Chaplin-esque in his morning coat, top hat and cane, stands at center right in Mydans’ picture. At left, a diagonal line of naval officers leads the eye past two pairs of protruding ventilation cowls, crisply linear naval rifles, and hundreds of uniformed seamen, extending almost to the horizon. The guns establish a second set of diagonals that direct us toward the upper right margin of the image and another battleship, probably the USS Iowa. Of course, Mydans didn’t choreograph the scene. He only shot what was in front of him, but he knew enough to stand in the correct place, point his camera in the best direction, and press the shutter at the right time. The result is an image of Japanese abjection and U.S. invincibility. Trump’s war on Iran on the other hand, did not end in enemy surrender. The president’s pal Steve Bannon put the best spin he could on the ceasefire deal, telling The New York Times: “[Trump is] a deal maker and a pragmatist;” he knows “he is not having a surrender ceremony on the battleship Missouri.” If anything, it’s Trump who offered at the Palace of Versailles the “unconditional surrender” he earlier demanded of his Iranian foes. Didn’t anyone tell him it was there, in 1919, that Germany formally capitulated to the Entente powers? Not even his confident, black, Sharpie signature on the “Memorandum of Understanding” — or the protective gaze of Marco Rubio – could lessen the appearance of defeat. Just a year and a half before, things were different. Following his inauguration, the same Bannon described the tech billionaires Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos as “supplicants” bowing before the president. Bannon said to reporters: “I view this as September of 1945 – the Missouri – and you have the Imperial High Command … and he (Trump) is like Douglas MacArthur.” President Donald J. Trump, seated beside French President Emmanuel Macron, signs a Memorandum of Understanding between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the United States at the Palace of Versailles, France on June 17, 2026. Above the presidents at left and right are Secretary of State Marco Rubio and French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot. Photo: The White House. The atmosphere at Versailles was anything but triumphant. For one thing, the Iranians didn’t show. Without them (they’d already signed electronically), the whole affair seemed a tad onanistic – Trump was the only player. And then there were the terms of the MOU: Both parties agreed to a 60-day ceasefire followed by negotiations that could be extended indefinitely. Iran regained control of its oil sales and frozen assets, won the right to continue uranium enrichment at a yet undetermined level, kept control over the strait of Hormuz (no tolling authority, but fees for services), and got to maintain a stockpile of ballistic weapons. Sounding like an indulgent father, Trump told reporters: “If other countries have ​[ballistic missiles], it’s a little bit ​ unfair for them not to have some.” Same for uranium enrichment: “It’s a little hard when other people have it, other adjoining states have it…You have to use a little common sense.” Just as Trump started to sign the document, he interrupted himself for a moment and admitted to nobody in particular, “That was not easy, I can tell you.” Did Mydan’s image of Japanese surrender flash through his mind? Perhaps instead of the Mydans photo, he remembered close-up film footage of Japanese General Umeza signing the surrender document. He’d seen that on television as a child and adolescent in his parent’s big house in Jamaica Estates, Queens. “Did you ever see ‘Victory at Sea’?” the president asked reporters in January 2026, while proposing a new “Trump-class” of battleships. “What a great thing that is to watch!” General Yoshijirō Umezu signing the document of surrender. Victory at Sea, NBC Television, episode 26, broadcast May 3, 1953, (not copyright protected). Trump was referring to the Emmy-winning American television documentary shown on NBC TV from October 1952 to May 1953. The last episode of Victory at Sea showed the Japanese surrender, including the profile close-up of General Umeza above. The series was conceived and produced by Henry Salomon, a Naval Lieutenant Commander in World War II and former research assistant to the famous historian, Samuel Eliot Morrison, author of Admiral of the Ocean Sea, a biography of Christopher Columbus (1942). The production was amply funded by NBC and received the full cooperation of the U.S. Navy, which likely saw it as a way to raise public support for a massive Congressional increase in military expenditure. In the two years following the outbreak of war with Korea in 1950, overall U.S. military spending increased from $13.5 billion to over $50 billion. Much of the money was used to reactivate hundreds of mothballed WWII battleships, as well as refurbish and rearm the Missouri. Victory at Sea set the standard for subsequent compilation documentaries. Each 30-minute episode deployed hundreds of archived film clips, was narrated by actor Leonard Graves and scored by composer Richard Rogers. Segments were first broadcast on Sunday afternoons at 3:00 p.m; it was shown in syndication for decades. I first saw Victory as a child in Forest Hills, Queens, in the mid 1960s. It was by then an “evergreen” for WPIX (channel 11) in New York City, broadcast both during regularly scheduled slots and whenever there was an unexpected gap in programming. I remember watching it before and after New York Yankees baseball games, for example, if a contest was delayed or shortened by rain. Trump, a decade older than me, may have seen the culminating episode 26, documenting the Japanese surrender, when it was first broadcast in 1953, but certainly in the decades thereafter. It’s still available on YouTube. During his first term, Trump indirectly recalled his youthful engagement with Victory. On February 27th, 2017, after announcing a supplemental increase in defense spending, he said to reporters: “We have to start winning wars again. I have to say, when I was young, in high school and college, everybody used to say we never lost a war. We never lost a war, remember?” He couldn’t have been remembering the actual wars of his lifetime – the Korean War was fought to a draw, and the Vietnam War was a notable U.S. defeat. He was thinking instead of World War II, the conclusion of which he repeatedly saw on WPIX television in Queens, and then again for decades after. Consider the following: An 80-year-old president was likely spurred to war against Iran by recollection of an 81-year-old photograph and a 73-year-old television documentary. God save us. Symptom and symbol Trump knows little about World War II beyond what he has seen on TV or in the movies, and even less about art, but he knows what he likes: images of domination. In Mydans’ photograph and Victory at Sea, he saw diminutive Japanese men made to walk slowly across the steel deck of the Missouri, flanked by rows of U.S. seamen chosen for their height. The presence of hundreds of other seamen, many leaning over upper decks, plus dozens of reporters, photographers and cameramen increased the spectacle of American power. The Japanese participants themselves described the oppressive impact of the signing ceremony. Bending over the table on the USS Missouri must have felt to the Japanese like bowing before a superior. To deploy the terminology of the art historian E.H. Gombrich, the “symbol,” in this case signing the document of surrender, was barely distinguishable from the “symptom,” bending down, the natural manifestation of subordination. In other words, when Trump saw films and photographs of the surrender, he saw not only the completion of a contract – like the real estate deals closed by his father — but one group of men physically and psychologically dominating a second group. And domination – bullying – is for Trump the ultimate aphrodisiac. Elision of symbol and symptom is surprisingly rare in historical images of surrender, except when the goal is to show the stronger power destroying the dignity of the weaker. For example, on the Column of Trajan (113 C.E) in Rome, the defeated Dacians are seen kneeling before the victorious emperor Trajan, who is seated on a raised tribunal. Dacian shields are cast aside while the Romans carry signa, military standards that represent unit cohesion and past victories. “Surrender of the Dacians,” scene 75, Column of Trajan, 113 CE, Rome. The idea was to represent the Dacians as barbarians (barbari) lacking the language, costume, culture and even hairstyles (they are all bearded) of civilized Romans. They are depicted as subservient, dependent upon the mercy (clementia) of the emperor. Francisco de Zurbaran, The Surrender of Seville (1634). Private collection. Photo: The author. European medieval and early modern monarchies and absolutist states mostly eschewed such imagery. There’s little glory in defeating an unworthy foe. In addition, when geographically dispersed kings and queens have ties of blood or marriage, it’s foolish to utterly demean a nation with which you might one day wish to form an alliance. Wealthy merchants too were increasingly international in early modern and industrial Europe – why foreclose a future deal by dint of bad blood? Thus, Francisco de Zurbaran’s The Surrender of Seville (1634) depicts the Muslim governor of Seville, Achacaf, surrendering his shield and keys of the city to King Ferdinand III of Castile in 1248. Though kneeling, the Muslim ruler is resplendent in his brocaded robes. The reconquest of Spanish land, according to this painting, finally accomplished in 1492, was a legal transfer between kings, knights and friars; let’s all be friends. Diego Velazquez, The Surrender at Breda, 1635. Prado Museum. Diego Velazquez’s The Surrender at Breda marks the artistic apotheosis of this live-and-let-live war iconography. Inspired by Zurbaran’s contemporaneous Surrender (the two artists were friends and compared notes), Velazquez’s picture shows the Dutch leader at left, Justinus of Nassau, handing over the keys of the besieged city of Breda to the Spanish Ambrogio Spinola. At right, the victorious Spanish soldiers hold their lances erect, like the signia held by the Romans in the “Surrender of the Dacians” on the Column of Trajan. Only here, the victorious side forfends the losing side’s abjection. “No need to bend, my dear friend,” Spinola seems to say to Justinus, “you fought bravely and we accept the keys to Breda in a spirit of reconciliation.” Never mind that 13,000 out of 17,000 Dutch civilians and soldiers died during the nine-month siege. The survivors were permitted to march out of their city with their weapons and standards. Jean-Léon Gérôme, Reception of the Siamese Ambassadors at Fontainebleau (1861-64). Musée National des Châteaux de Versailles et de Trianon, Versailles. More to Trump’s liking, one suspects, would be French Salon painter Jean-Léon Gérôme’s Reception of the Siamese Ambassadors at Fontainebleau (1861-64). The giant canvas is an unconcealed effort by the artist both to ingratiate himself with his patron, the dictator Napoleon III, and to affirm the military as well as racial superiority of the French over the Siamese (Thai) nation. Seated at the far right beside the Empress Eugenie, Napoleon receives tribute from the first in a double line of Siamese ambassadors seen crawling in obscene supplication before their French master and mistress. The ambassadors’ gifts, rendered with painstaking exactitude, are piled up in the right foreground like the shields in the “Surrender of the Dacians” from the Trajan Column. Though the French Emperor hoped to seduce his guests to ally with France rather than Britain in the contest for colonies, there was no chance he would suspend his claimed superiority for reasons of state. The White House Oval Office is increasingly functioning like Louis Napoleon’s Fontainebleau Salle du Bal. The Nazis, naturally, understood the practice and imagery of domination. Hitler made sure France’s 1940 surrender took place in the same Compiègne Wagon as the initial German surrender to France and the Entante powers in 1918. The Fuhrer has just left the train car, stationed a tall SS officer in the gangway, and told Field Marshall Wilhelm Keitel (tried for war crimes, convicted and executed at Nuremberg) to ensure French officials were in every way humiliated. Keitel is shown handing the document of surrender to Huntziger who appears to lower his head to receive it – symbol becomes symptom. Photographer unknown. Signing of the Armistice in the Compiègne Wagon. Compiègne, France, June 22, 1940. At the left is General Wilhelm Keitel and on the right is the French delegation with (left to right) General Jean Bergeret, General Charles Huntziger, and Vice Admiral Maurice Le Luc. Photo: Wikipedia Commons. U.S. surrender images In the post-war decades, surrender, whether imposed with closed fist or invited with open hand, has rarely concluded armed conflict. The Chinese communists led by Mao defeated Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalists in 1949, but lacking an air force or navy, failed to take Taiwan. After that, the island was protected by the U.S. and its own considerable armed forces. The Korean War ended with cessation of armed hostility followed by division of territory, a demilitarized zone, and long-term, mutual antagonism. The American wars in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan ended “gradually and then suddenly,” to quote Hemingway. Invasion and destruction was followed by insurgencies followed by withdrawal. Israel’s wars against its neighbors (and vice versa) have mostly ended on former’s terms. But victory then became the platform for more Israeli war, occupation, apartheid and now genocide. There have been other genocides too – including in Cambodia, Bosnia, Bangladesh, Guatemala, and Rwanda. When it comes to very large states, internal politics and raison d’etat, simply don’t permit surrender. U.S. presidents are loathe to accept defeat, regardless of the cost, because to do so would suggest weakness or that the cause was unjust. The lies that underly the American wars against Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq and now Iran are open secrets, but unacknowledged by U.S. presidents. To do so would be to shatter governing myths of moral exceptionalism. And most Americans, lacking access to adequate healthcare, housing, education, transportation, and a healthy environment, are reluctant to surrender their ideology. Surrender images today, therefore, don’t look like the old ones. The end of the war in Vietnam is marked by the Dutch photographer Hubert van Es’s famous photo of civilians boarding a CIA helicopter to evacuate Saigon. The last withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan was memorialized by Alexander Burnett’s night-vision photo of Major General Chris Donahue, boarding a C-17 transport aircraft at Hamid Karzai International Airport. (For his troubles, Donahue has just been cashiered by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.) Under Trump, unfiltered photographic images from the Iran and other conflicts are difficult to obtain because these battles are mostly fought remotely or surreptitiously, with missiles, bombing runs, drones and special forces. The current administration has also taken active steps to prevent the photographic disclosure of damage to American military bases in the Middle East, going so far as to demand that Planet Labs—one of the largest U.S.-based commercial satellite imagery providers —withhold aerial photographs of Iran and surrounding Middle Eastern conflict zones. Finally, Trump himself, his White House minions, and corporate allies dominate social media with their own, self-serving narratives, aka lies. But social media is a double-edged sword. And for now, at least, alternative narratives are available there and growing in number. The story of the American surrender in Iran and failure at home is visible in myriad inages by unaffiliated photographers, videographers (using phone cameras), digital artists and techno-activists. The Iranian government has supplied a few and so, inadvertently, has the White House. Those are topics for other columns, but by way of conclusion, here’s a small suite of contemporary surrender images: President Donald Trump, chief of staff Susie Wiles and Secretary of State Marco Rubio monitor US military operations in Iran from the president’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. U.S. bombs killed 150 children the day before in Minab, Iran. Photo: The White House. Mourners dig graves during a funeral in Minab, Iran, on Tuesday, March 3, 2026. Iranian Press Center, released for press distribution. Chad Davis, ICE agents and bystanders in Minneapolis after the January 07, 2026 shooting of Renée Good. Wikimedia Commons. Joe Flood, Reflecting Pool Looks Like a Rothko Painting Now, Flickr, used under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0. The post Images of Surrender appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Stephen F. Eisenman.
We’re in for it. At least that’s the dire warning from scientists about the El Niño conditions now brewing in the Pacific Ocean. What’s actually in store may be up for debate, but it’s clear the developing patterns may place this El Niño on par with the strongest in over a century, which hit in More The post Vampire Planet: The El Niño From Hell appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Hurricane Iwa bearing down on Hawai’i, 1982. We’re in for it. At least that’s the dire warning from scientists about the El Niño conditions now brewing in the Pacific Ocean. What’s actually in store may be up for debate, but it’s clear the developing patterns may place this El Niño on par with the strongest in over a century, which hit in 1982-83, killing 2,000 and leaving few corners of the planet untouched. It was a devastating El Niño that struck before climate change had fully taken hold of our world. But before we look back at the early ’80s, let’s get a handle on what exactly causes these extreme weather events. Simply put, the so-called El Niño-Southern Oscillation (El Niño for short) occurs when ocean waters near the equator in the Pacific become unusually warm. In turn, these warmer waters weaken trade winds, which typically push ocean waters toward Asia and Australia. As these winds shift during an El Niño event, warmer water is hurled toward the Americas instead, shifting weather patterns across the globe. While El Niño is a normal weather occurrence, when it’s combined with a rapidly warming climate, all bets are off. Depending on where you live, one weather extreme or another is likely in your future. Think record heatwaves, worsening drought, heavier rainfall, and wildfires galore. Farms will be destroyed. Homes washed away, and economies ravaged — more of what our warming planet has been experiencing, but on steroids. Back in 1982-83, the El Niño blindsided the scientific community, which failed to predict its development in the Pacific. As a result, the world was wholly unprepared, and the destruction was immense. The trade winds that year collapsed entirely and, in fact, reversed. This led to sea-surface temperatures in the eastern Pacific reaching 5°C or more above normal. Here’s a bit of what this wrought. + Drought struck Australia, turning out to be one of the continent’s worst in the 20th century. Lack of rainfall led to unprecedented brushfires and blazing heat. Black Summer, Australia’s last big wildfire in 2019-2020, burned 59 million acres and killed 3 billion animals. And it wasn’t even an El Niño year. With Australia already experiencing record-setting summer temps, what the forthcoming El Niño holds ought to have the entire country on edge, preparing for something akin to Black Summer. Hoping for the best, readying for the worst. + In 1982-83, Indonesia dried up. It was one of the most severe and unexpected droughts in the country’s history. Tropical rains ceased, and drought took hold. Agriculture collapsed, and 9 million acres of forest and farmland went up in flames. Like Australia, things are already very bad in Indonesia. Several regions across Java, for example, are currently experiencing climate-related drought conditions. El Niño is set to worsen these conditions, setting the country up for a mega drought unlike anything it has seen. + The ’82-’83 El Niño caused widespread drought, dust storms, crop failures, and cattle deaths across southern Africa while massive floods swamped the east. Most of the continent heated up and, amid climate chaos, has continued on this trajectory. Think more disease, less clean water, and less food. If any place is unprepared for what’s to come, it’s Africa. + South America experienced catastrophic mudslides in Peru and Ecuador during the ’82-83 El Niño. The northern Amazon dried out, while the south flooded. Fisheries and farming crashed. The Argentine portion of the Paraná River experienced a once-in-a-century flood, swelling to 60% above normal and destroying entire villages. The ecosystems across Paraguay, Brazil, Argentina, and Bolivia were dramatically altered. Hundreds of thousands were forced to evacuate, and billions of dollars in damage were recorded. It took a decade for the countries to recover. + Here in the United States, we didn’t fare well in the ’82-’83 El Niño, either. Hurricane Iwa, a rare super hurricane, hit Hawai’i, destroying thousands of buildings and leaving at least 500 people without shelter. California saw record winter storms, and whole beaches were washed away. Thousands of homes and hundreds of businesses were destroyed. The Gulf Coast flooded, the Pacific Northwest dried out, and the central U.S. experienced warmer weather. Snowpack levels were down. With much of the West already experiencing severe drought, what this El Niño has in store may make matters much, much worse. It’s impossible to know exactly what’s in store for the world as this year’s El Niño takes shape, but some numbers may help put it in perspective relative to 1982-83. Today, the world is 1.2-1.4 °C warmer than it was in the early 1980s. Worse yet, the oceans are hotter than they were 45 years ago, more than 0.50°C warmer overall than in 1982. This means the current El Niño is developing under much warmer baseline conditions than in 1982. Of the three “super” or “very strong” El Niños that have developed since the early 1980s, this one is shaping up to be the largest yet. Will the warmer climate supercharge this El Niño? It’s possible, but not certain, says Muhammad Azhar Ehsan, an associate research scientist at the Columbia Climate School. “El Niños are very unique in their development. Their impacts depend on the strength, timing and interaction with other climate patterns in the atmosphere and oceans.” Computer models, however, aren’t looking as promising as Ehsan’s prognosis; a few are predicting this one to be more severe than any El Niño we’ve had since at least 1950. +++ In other climate-related news, a damning ProPublica report exposes carbon capture and storage for the fraud it is. And, as many of you know all too well, it’s heating up. Stay hydrated. 1,300 died of extreme heat in Europe’s latest broil. What El Niño has in store for the West is anyone’s guess, but if it brings more drought, the Colorado River could be in greater peril. Lake Powell and Lake Mead are vanishing. Of course, it’s not only drought that has affected these reservoirs, but also the insane overuse by sprawling desert cities like Phoenix and Las Vegas, and by alfalfa growers whose crops feed cattle. About half of the water that drains from the Colorado feeds fields of alfalfa. This needs to stop. Water is more vital to human survival than hamburgers. +++ I just returned from visiting family in Montana. My mother has dementia and is slowly fading away. It’s hard to watch, but she remains in good spirits and hasn’t forgotten her friends and family. While in Montana, Chelsea and I managed to sneak off for a day hike to a gorgeous place I used to frequent as a kid. The trail once followed the Stillwater River up to Sioux Charlie, a lake named after a boy who allegedly grew up with the Sioux and lived in a cabin nearby. In 2022, a devastating flood swelled the river, carving an entirely new path. The Stillwater now flows on the opposite side of the valley. The old river trail was destroyed during those torrential rains, and crews are working to rebuild it. The first time I backpacked as a little boy, my dad brought me here, to this special place in the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness. He grew up fishing the Stillwater and knew it well. I talked to him late into the night under the stars, next to the rumbling waters as our campfire crackled. I remember my father explaining the constellations to me, trying to calm me to sleep. I was scared, not so much of sleeping outside without a tent as of the expansive, mesmerizing universe above us. He said, “Love is the same as the Milky Way, Josh, nearly infinite and nothing to be afraid of.” As my mom slips further into dementia, I miss my father more each day. He was about the age I am now when we camped along the Stillwater. I wish I could tell him that after all these years, I now know exactly what he meant. +++ Did you pre-order a copy of Bad Energy? Head over to Pilsen Community Books and do it, or call up your local library and ask them to carry it when it drops. Every little bit helps. Stick a bottle rocket in it, and I’ll be back next week. Chelsea along the Stillwater, a tributary of the Yellowstone River. The post Vampire Planet: The El Niño From Hell appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Joshua Frank.
There is No Going Back: How Democracies Can Begin Again
The tenth anniversary of the British vote to leave the European Union raises two immediate questions: Was it worth it? Can it be undone? The answer to the first is increasingly clear. Experts generally agree that the British economy has suffered for a decade, accompanied by political instability. The second question is more complex. Democracies are built on the assumption that citizens can change their minds. Elect a new government. Hold another referendum. Reverse course. But can a nation ever truly return to where it was before a fateful decision? More The post There is No Going Back: How Democracies Can Begin Again appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Anti-Brexit protesters in Manchester. Photo: Robert Mandel, Wikimedia Commons. CC BY 4.0 The tenth anniversary of the British vote to leave the European Union raises two immediate questions: Was it worth it? Can it be undone? The answer to the first is increasingly clear. Experts generally agree that the British economy has suffered for a decade, accompanied by political instability. The second question is more complex. Democracies are built on the assumption that citizens can change their minds. Elect a new government. Hold another referendum. Reverse course. But can a nation ever truly return to where it was before a fateful decision? Philip Stephens described the “dismal verdict” about Brexit ten years after in the New York Times: “A decade later, the cost of that freedom — of the return, as Mr. Johnson repeatedly put it, of precious national sovereignty — is blindingly apparent. The vote to leave the European Union was a real cry of pain from a large section of the electorate that thought itself left behind by economic progress. The desperation remains. The ‘sunlit meadows’ were a mirage.” In 2016, Britain voted 51.9% to 48.1% to leave the European Union. Ten years later, opinion has reversed. Most polls now show that, if given another referendum, a majority of Britons would vote to rejoin the EU. Can Brexit be undone? Would rejoining restore Britain to its pre-Brexit condition? The answer depends on a distinction we do not often make: reversing a decision is not the same as restoring the world that existed before it. Brexit is not unique. Democracies—and great powers in particular—repeatedly confront decisions that later generations wish they could reverse. Brexit is only the latest example of a larger historical puzzle. Every generation seems to have its irreversible moment—the event that commentators declare has changed everything forever. There were two “last helicopters” in my lifetime: Saigon in 1975 and Kabul in 2021—moments that seemed to close a chapter. The question is whether they really did. The Vietnam War is now widely recognized as a mistake. Years later, former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara admitted, “We were wrong, very wrong.” The sight of the last helicopter leaving Saigon on April 30, 1975, remains ingrained in many people’s memories as the defining image of American defeat. What was the narrative that followed? The decline of the United States as a dominant world power. Ken Burns and Lynn Novick accurately described the moment: “America’s illusions of invincibility had been shattered, its moral confidence shaken.” Yet the decline narrative proved remarkably short-lived. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Vietnam disappeared as the defining story. Francis Fukuyama proclaimed The End of History. Joseph Nye argued that the United States was Bound to Lead. Madeleine Albright called the United States the “indispensable nation.” Less than two decades after Saigon, euphoric triumph had replaced humiliation. Then came Afghanistan. The United States again watched its final evacuation as the Taliban returned to power. Commentators once more declared the end of American primacy. “This was the greatest humiliation suffered by the United States since the fall of Saigon in 1975,” Victor Davis Hanson wrote. “Kabul 2021 is our Saigon,” Niall Ferguson observed. Brexit, Vietnam, Afghanistan—and now Trump. “Future scholars will sift through Trump’s digital proclamations the way we now read the chroniclers of Nero’s Rome,” David Remnick wrote in The New Yorker. Will post-Trump resemble post-Vietnam, with America eventually recovering? Will Britain rejoin the EU? Can either country return to what it once was? Or are there moments in political life that cannot be undone? When MAGA supporters promise to Make America Great Again, what exactly does “again” mean? Gal Beckerman, in How to Be a Dissident, offers a different way of thinking about political renewal. He distinguishes reversal from reconstitution. “If death focuses the mind on the point of living,” he writes, “birth flips our thinking, so that what matters is all the possible permutations of life.” He then quotes Hannah Arendt: “It is the nature of beginning that something new is started which cannot be expected from whatever may have happened before.” Beckerman’s point is that “A dissident lives with this sense of natality.” That insight suggests a different answer to the Brexit question. He concludes that Arendt “doesn’t believe that everything will turn out fine. It’s the feeling, rather, that you can always begin again.” If Britain rejoins the EU, Beckerman’s argument suggests that it will be a different country. More than a decade of going it alone will have changed Britain’s understanding of both itself and Europe. Rejoining would mark the beginning of a new relationship, not a return to the old one. The same principle may already be visible in the United States. Political renewal rarely comes from restoring an earlier consensus. Instead, it takes shape through political innovation. The election of the Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani as Mayor of New York City and the success of younger progressive candidates in Democratic primaries suggest that American politics is generating something new rather than recreating the liberal order that preceded Trump. This is not simply a return to an earlier American socialism. After all, Eugene Debs ran for president five times on the Socialist Party ticket, and Norman Thomas was the party’s nominee six times. Neither came close to winning the presidency. If a democratic socialist current is gaining influence today, it is doing so through different coalitions, different constituencies, and different political languages. It is another example of Beckerman’s point: democratic renewal comes through new beginnings, not the restoration of old movements. History does not have an “undo” button. But neither is history irreversible. Beckerman suggests something more subtle than the view of history implied by Paul Kennedy’s The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers: Economic Change and Military Conflict from 1500 to 2000 as a simple pendulum. Kennedy sees history as recurring cycles of rise and fall. Beckerman sees history as the possibility of genuinely new beginnings. A democracy can change direction, but it cannot recover the country it would have become had it chosen differently. Robert Frost’s traveler cannot return to the fork in the road and choose again. Democracies cannot either. If democracy is to be renewed in the United States, it will take generations. And it will not be like the glory years I grew up with after World War II. Britain’s debate over rejoining the European Union points to something larger than Brexit. Democracies do not recover by returning to the past. They recover by becoming something new. History permits reversals. But it never permits restorations. The post There is No Going Back: How Democracies Can Begin Again appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Daniel Warner.
The Forgotten Brits Who Lived Among the Cherokee
It took a single sentence in Ken Burns’ documentary series The American Revolution to change the way I thought about the American Revolution. It was a passing reference to British agents living among the Cherokee. The do [ . . . ] The post The Forgotten Brits Who Lived Among the Cherokee appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
A Delegation of the Creek tribe meets with the Trustees of Georgia by William Verelst. Public domain. It took a single sentence in Ken Burns’ documentary series The American Revolution to change the way I thought about the American Revolution. It was a passing reference to British agents living among the Cherokee. The documentary quickly moved on, but I couldn’t. Who were they? Were they soldiers, diplomats, or traders? Did they wear uniforms? Did they speak Cherokee? What I found showed me an often overlooked side of the Revolution. Away from the famous battlefields, it seems Britain’s war was also fought through secretive Indigenous alliances, intelligence networks, and frontier agents who looked more grizzled than polished. These men carried influence into parts of a continent where red coats rarely ventured as readily as a drawstring purse of gold. Throughout, these frontier agents waged a conflict that stretched all the way from the Great Lakes to the southern Appalachians and into Georgia. Nor were they the over-romanticised characters imagined later by James Fenimore Cooper, such as Natty Bumppo. They were more mysterious than that. A traveller approaching a Cherokee town in 1776 might notice a stranger among the warriors. At first glance he hardly looks British at all. No bright red coat. No polished gorget. Instead, a hunting shirt, buckskin leggings, moccasins stained from weeks of travel, and a hat pulled low against the summer sun. Yet this man represents the British Crown. Before anyone talks war, gifts are laid out: blankets, powder, lead, vermilion, kettles. Each is accepted with formal thanks before the council begins. The exchange is more than generosity. It shows respect, friendship, and Britain’s willingness to honour a relationship that both sides know carries obligations. But the gifts are only the beginning. The man carries letters from distant officials, promises of detailed support, and intelligence. Behind him stands a packhorse—one can almost hear it snort—laden with gunpowder, lead, muskets, blankets, and other trade goods for the next undeclared port of call. Alexander Cameron was one such man, an intrepid Scot who emigrated to Georgia and spent years among the Cherokee. Cameron showed us more than anyone an aspect of the Revolution that many readers, even well-educated ones, may never have encountered. I hear the Revolution is still commonly taught as a struggle between Patriots and the British, rather than as a multinational civil war of Loyalists, numerous Indigenous nations, enslaved people seeking freedom, and imperial agents. Fluent in Cherokee politics and deeply familiar with the nation’s big families, Cameron became one of Britain’s most influential representatives in the southern backcountry. Another was Henry Stuart, brother of John Stuart, a veteran Indian Department official who knew that frontier influence depended less on rank than on relationships. Like Cameron, Stuart travelled constantly between settlements and Cherokee towns, distributing presents, gathering intelligence and maintaining Britain’s presence. By 1775, London faced a tricky problem. Its empire stretched around the globe, but North America was immense. There were simply not enough regular troops to garrison every frontier settlement or to police the huge interior. British officials had to rely on a different strategy. They had to bolster old alliances and forge new. They relied on the Cherokee in the South, the Haudenosaunee nations in the North, and Native communities across the Ohio Country, supported by those Loyalist rangers, traders, interpreters and frontier agents. Together, they extended British influence far beyond the reach of regular troops. Nowhere was this more visible than among the Cherokee. During 1775 and 1776, British agents travelled through Cherokee country, warning of continuing Patriot expansion. The British Crown always presented itself as the power more likely to hold back colonial expansion and preserve Indigenous territory, however imperfectly. To be fair, the Cherokee’s chief concern would have been territorial survival, not the constitutional disputes dividing Britain and her colonies. The British found keen listeners among leaders such as Dragging Canoe, who already knew what American settlers meant to Cherokee lands. When war came, British diplomacy and supplies reinforced a decision many Cherokee leaders were already moving towards as the number of settlements grew and grew. The resulting British-backed Cherokee offensive swept across frontier settlements in present-day Tennessee, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. Yet these campaigns turned out to have been only one strand in a much larger British strategy. Far to the north, another remarkable figure occupied a similarly unusual position. Joseph Brant was Mohawk by birth, educated in English schools, familiar with both Native and British societies, and uniquely positioned to bridge the two worlds. To British officials he was priceless. To many frontier settlers he became one of the most feared men in North America. The history of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy tells us that Brant’s warriors, again alongside Loyalists and other Indigenous allies, launched many raids across the New York frontier from bases along the Susquehanna, hitting settlements throughout the Mohawk and Schoharie valleys. British supplies reached them through a strategic hub on the Niagara River. Fort Niagara served as the nerve centre of Britain’s northern frontier war, moving supplies, intelligence and diplomatic messages. The Seneca Nation became one of Britain’s most formidable allies. In November 1778, Seneca warriors joined others in the devastating raid on Cherry Valley, one of the Revolution’s most notorious frontier attacks. The violence became so severe that George Washington eventually ordered the Sullivan Expedition of 1779, a massive campaign intended to break the military power of the Haudenosaunee nations allied with Britain in New York. Across thousands of miles of wilderness, the pattern remained remarkably the same: local allies fought for their own interests while Britain supplied the things that kept alliances alive—more gifts to honour old friendships, more powder and lead for war, more letters from distant officials, and more agents travelling from town to town with news, promises and instructions. What makes the story especially fascinating to me is that many of the men holding the system together felt just as at home in Indigenous worlds as in British. John Butler, commander of Butler’s Rangers and a skilled cultural broker, worked closely with Iroquois communities and could communicate in Mohawk, relying on interpreters when necessary. Other British agents and traders married Native women, raised mixed families, and lived for years in Native towns, developing family ties that lasted generations. Some spoke Cherokee, Mohawk or other Indigenous languages, while interpreters bridged the remaining gaps. These were the indispensable go-betweens of Britain’s frontier empire. What is more, successful frontier agents understood how Native politics worked. They knew who held influence, and that councils, ceremonies, kinship ties, and gift exchanges mattered just as much as military force. At the same time, the Americans faced a basic contradiction. Many Patriot leaders waxed lyrical about liberty while their frontier settlers continued pressing westwards onto Native lands. For many Indigenous nations, that westward expansion posed the more immediate threat. The American Revolution is remembered as one of marching armies, sieges and set-piece battles. Yet across the rich forests of eastern North America this other conflict kept unfolding. The British representative most characteristic of such a hidden war was rarely the upright officer in a Costwolds-dyed red coat. More often he was the multilingual, deft and agile frontier agent, seated in a Cherokee council house or an Iroquois longhouse, listening far more than he spoke. For all the forgotten intrigues and ingenuity of this frontier network, however, it could not alter the outcome of the war. The Crown’s agents succeeded in building remarkable alliances and extending British influence deep into the interior, but diplomacy and Indigenous partnerships proved no substitute for victory in the main theatres of the Revolution. When Britain finally recognised American independence in 1783, many of the Native nations that had fought alongside Britain found themselves abandoned to an expanding United States, while frontier agents like Cameron, Stuart and Butler faded into the margins of history. Britain lost the war, and with it the frontier system these men had spent years patiently building. That is precisely why they deserve to be remembered. They reveal to us today just how much larger, more complex and more deeply interconnected the American Revolution really was. Happy 4th of July. The post The Forgotten Brits Who Lived Among the Cherokee appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Peter Bach.
On June 30 1995, I helped shatter the coverup of federal killings at Ruby Ridge, Idaho. For millions of Americans, those brazen killings epitomized how the U.S. government had become a deadly peril to their rights and liberties. In 1991, an ATF informant entrapped Randy Weaver into selling him two sawed-off shotguns. After ATF officials More The post How I Busted the Ruby Ridge Coverup appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Illustration for James Bovard’s Playboy story “Overkill”, on the Ruby Ridge shooting, by Amy Crehore. (June 1995) On June 30 1995, I helped shatter the coverup of federal killings at Ruby Ridge, Idaho. For millions of Americans, those brazen killings epitomized how the U.S. government had become a deadly peril to their rights and liberties. In 1991, an ATF informant entrapped Randy Weaver into selling him two sawed-off shotguns. After ATF officials lied to a federal prosecutor, Weaver was indicted and sent the wrong court date. On August 21, 1992, after numerous illegal intrusions onto Weaver’s Ruby Ridge mountaintop property near the Canadian border, three U.S. marshals dressed in Ninja outfits and carrying submachine guns ambushed Weaver’s 14-year old son and family friend Kevin Harris. One marshal shot the boy’s dog and a firefight erupted in which another marshal was killed. As Sammy Weaver ran from the scene towards the family’s ramshackle cabin, a marshal shot him in the back and killed him. The next day, the FBI’s Hostage Rescue Team arrived. Within an hour of its snipers taking position, every adult in the cabin was either dead or severely wounded – even though they had not fired a shot at the FBI. FBI sniper Lon Horiuchi shot Randy Weaver in the back as he stood outside his home, and then killed Vicki Weaver as she stood by the cabin doorway holding their 10-month-old baby. The bullet that passed through Vicki Weaver’s skull then badly wounded Kevin Harris. The FBI proclaimed its Ruby Ridge operation a great success, but a federal jury found Randy Weaver and Kevin Harris not guilty on almost all charges. Federal Judge Edward Lodge condemned the FBI’s misconduct and fabrication of evidence. I wrote about Ruby Ridge in my 1994 book, Lost Rights: The Destruction of American Liberty. But I knew I was missing so much key dirt on the case. The debacle in federal court in Idaho spurred an investigation by a Justice Department task force investigation. On December 9, 1994, Deval Patrick, the assistant attorney general for civil rights, announced that he was rejecting the task force’s recommendations to punish federal agents. Patrick announced that the FBI had not used excessive force, whitewashing the entire operation. But Patrick kept secret the hefty report by the task force. The following month, FBI chief Louis Freeh announced that the FBI had completed its self-investigation and confirmed that its agents performed wonderfully at Ruby Ridge, aside from a few minor technical infractions. Freeh’s exoneration was the hook for my Wall Street Journal op-ed headlined, “No Accountability at the FBI.” I mocked Freeh’s assertion that the Ruby Ridge “crisis was one of the most dangerous and potentially violent situations to which FBI agents have ever been assigned.” The FBI’s camouflaged snipers were hiding in the woods hundreds of yards away when Randy and Vicki Weaver were gunned down. One FBI sniper that day had summarized the Rules of Engagement: “If you see ’em, shoot ’em.” Though Freeh insisted that the killing of Vicki Weaver was an accident, the FBI initially claimed that killing her was justified. Bo Gritz, the Vietnam War hero who helped negotiate Randy Weaver’s surrender, summarized a government profile on the Weavers: “If you get a chance, take Vicki Weaver out.” It sounded like homicide, not a misfire. On January 26, 1995, the Wall Street Journal published a response from Freeh that derided “Bovard’s allegations that the FBI has sought to cover up any wrongdoing by the FBI or its employees” and asserted that I “compounded the tragedy by mischaracterizing the circumstances” of the killings. Freeh concluded: “I support the public’s right to know about the workings of its government…. I do not believe, however, that articles such as Mr. Bovard’s, which ignore or twist the truth, further the important objective of public accountability.” A few days later, the Washington Times published a Freeh letter denouncing my “inflammatory and unfounded allegations” in a Ruby Ridge op-ed I wrote for that paper. The FBI chief harumphed: “Mr. Bovard insults the courageous men and women agents of the FBI when he suggests that they would ‘wantonly shoot private citizens based on mere suspicion.” Freeh could prop up the official storyline on the federal killings at Ruby Ridge because nobody outside the Justice Department was permitted to view that 542-page confidential report. A few old acquaintances called to say their last good-byes after they saw Freeh’s letters since they expected me to have an accident at any moment. Republicans took over Congress in early 1995, and outrage over unjustified federal killings at Waco, Ruby Ridge, and elsewhere spurred calls for reform. But the April 19, 1995, explosion at the Oklahoma City federal office building spurred a backlash against government critics. When a top Wall Street Journal editor heard of the bombing, he told editorial team: “These are Jim Bovard’s friends!” Hey – I had never even been to Oklahoma. I kept dogging Ruby Ridge. Late in June, I got hold of that confidential 542-page Justice Department report. In a long Wall Street Journal piece, I declared that report “reveals that federal officials may have acted worse than even some of their harshest critics imagined.” The report concluded that the FBI Rules of Engagement at Ruby Ridge flagrantly violated the U.S. Constitution and were practically a license to kill – regardless of whether the snipers’ targets posed any threat. Every adult in the cabin was gunned down even though they never fired a shot at any FBI agent. The Justice Department task force was appalled that the adults were gunned down before receiving any warning or a chance to surrender, thereby spurring charges that the feds were “setting Weaver up for attack.” The report blew Freeh’s claims to smithereens. In the same week, the new issue of Playboy hit the streets with my Ruby Ridge article titled “OverKill” (with the iconic illustration from Amy Crehore atop this article). My piece concluded: “If Congress is not willing to look into such misconduct, who will protect the Constitution? Will Congress let the Justice Department and the FBI get away with murder?” Two weeks later, on July 13, a Washington Post front-page headline signaled the coverup was collapsing: “Justice Dept. Reopens Ruby Ridge Investigation.” A top FBI official was suspended after admitting destroying documents on the killing of Vicki Weaver. On the same day, the Idaho Statesman reported that Chuck Peterson, Randy Weaver’s attorney, said that “he suspects the [Justice Department’s decision to re-open the investigation] is in response to an article to be published in the August edition of the American Spectator magazine that compares Freeh to J. Edgar Hoover.” The cover of that Spectator issue showed Freeh with a Nixon-like five o’clock shadow nuzzling a Beretta pistol against his cheek. My 6000-word article placed Ruby Ridge in the broader context of a lawless federal agency with vast power to ruin Americans’ lives. At that point, the Spectator had 300,000 subscribers and was the nation’s most popular political magazine. A month later, Freeh suspended four top FBI officials for suspected perjury or destruction of Ruby Ridge-related evidence. On August 16, the U.S. government paid the Weaver family $3.1 million to settle their wrongful death lawsuit against the U.S. for killing Sammy and Vicki Weaver. The Justice Department announced, “By entering into a settlement, the United States hopes to take a substantial step toward healing the wounds the incident inflicted…. The United States does not admit wrongdoing or liability of the plaintiffs.” But the denial of federal wrongdoing was dicey to reconcile with the multimillion payout to government victims. The following month, Sen. Arlen Specter’s Senate Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology, and Government Information commenced a series of hard-hitting hearings on Ruby Ridge. In his testimony, U.S. marshal Dave Hunt stressed that Randy Weaver had repeatedly publicly complained about “lawless government.” I wondered if federal agents felt obliged to snuff any citizen who doubted the government’s legitimacy. Five FBI agents, imitating 1950s-era accused communists, invoked the Fifth Amendment to avoid self-incrimination at the hearings. “Lying seems to have become part of the job description for federal lawmen,” I observed in a American Spectator piece on the congressional hearings. Idaho prosecutors sought to nail FBI sniper Lon Horiuchi, but the Justice Department torpedoed their case to safeguard boundless federal supremacy. Clinton administration Solicitor General Seth Waxman absolved the sniper because “federal law-enforcement officials are privileged to do what would otherwise be unlawful if done by a private citizen.” But what’s the point of the Bill of Rights if G-men are permitted to shoot private citizens on any pretext? FBI abuses at Ruby Ridge permanently tainted the agency in the minds of many Americans. In 2022, a poll found that 53% of Americans viewed the FBI as “Joe Biden‘s personal Gestapo.” I wrote a New York Post piece citing that poll and former president Donald Trump re-tweeted my article – after the FBI raided his Florida home at Mar-a-Lago. But now that Donald Trump and Kash Patel are in charge of the FBI, Americans have nothing to fear from G-men off the leash. And if you say otherwise, you might get hit by a billion-dollar defamation lawsuit. An earlier version of this piece was published by the Libertarian Institute. The post How I Busted the Ruby Ridge Coverup appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by James Bovard.
The segregated American media spent the week leading up to the Fourth of July praising the founding fathers and paying tribute to other American heroes. Heroes to them. Monsters to us. For CNN, Kit Carson is a hero. They showed a scene in which Carson walked miles, nearly barefoot, to rescue his men. We grew More The post 250th: Their Heroes Are Monsters to Us appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Slave quarters at Monticello, James C. Sawders, Keystone View Company, Keystone-Mast Collection, UCR/California Museum of Photography, University of California at Riverside. The segregated American media spent the week leading up to the Fourth of July praising the founding fathers and paying tribute to other American heroes. Heroes to them. Monsters to us. For CNN, Kit Carson is a hero. They showed a scene in which Carson walked miles, nearly barefoot, to rescue his men. We grew up watching the exploits of Kit Carson on cartoon shows. Our Settler education didn’t inform us that Kit Carson committed atrocities against the Navajo. How did the Navajo regard the American hero, Kit Carson? From a site called Partnership with Native Americans. In 1863, General James Carleton began a renewed effort to eradicate the Navajo. In charge of the operation was Colonel Kit Carson. Knowing he couldn’t defeat the Navajo militarily, Carson began to destroy the Navajo homes, crops, and livestock. More than two million pounds of corn, a staple of the Indian diet, were burned. Forced to survive on nuts and berries many families, starving during the long winter months, began turning themselves into the military. About 8,000 men, women, and children were forced to make the “Long Walk” to Basque Redondo, a reservation in New Mexico about 300 miles away. Many died on the way of hunger and cold. Others drowned when they were forced to cross the Rio Grande during the spring floods. Douglass Brinkley is a good guy. I spent a couple of days with him in New Orleans under a grant he’d received to bring writers to New Orleans. But now, he’s become a TV historian instead of someone who would challenge the decadent old boy Historical establishment, now under attack from a generation of women, Black, and Native American historians. But he’s right at home in a media that considers Confederacy apologist Ken Burns a historian. On a Wed.TV show, he expressed his admiration for Theodore Roosevelt.In 2021 Brinkley was named the inaugural historian in residence at the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library. How do Blacks feel about Theodore Roosevelt? America’s Black Holocaust Museum’s Post On December 30, 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt ordered the dishonorable discharge of 167 Black soldiers from the U.S. Army’s 25th Infantry Regiment following what became known as the Brownsville Affair—one of the most consequential racial injustices in American military history. The events that led to the order began months earlier, on the night of August 13, 1906, in Brownsville, Texas. A white bartender was killed and a police officer wounded by gunfire. Almost immediately, white residents accused Black soldiers stationed nearby at Fort Brown. Despite testimony from commanding officers that the soldiers were in their barracks at the time, and despite glaring inconsistencies in the physical evidence, local authorities focused exclusively on the regiment. … No individual soldier was identified as a suspect, and no court-martial ever took place. Nevertheless, under political pressure and citing a supposed “conspiracy of silence,” Roosevelt imposed collective punishment. His order stripped all 167 soldiers of their honor, pensions, and the possibility of future federal employment. Many of the men had served honorably for years, including during the Spanish-American War. Some were nearing retirement and lost the economic security they had earned through decades of service. The consequences were lifelong. Families fell into poverty. Reputations were destroyed. The Army’s decision reinforced a painful contradiction: It was not until 1972 that the U.S. Army formally acknowledged the wrongdoing and exonerated the soldiers.” I asked one of Theodore Roosevelt’s biographers why he omitted Roosevelt’s role in the Brownsville incident. He said that he didn’t have space to include it. Booker T. Washington tried to persuade Roosevelt to give the soldiers a fair trial. Francine Prose showed up in the Guardian on July 2nd, where she expressed her reverence for Thomas Jefferson, a hypocrite who found slavery ”excreable,” yet bred Slaves like livestock and consigned them to cramped quarters that were unsanitary. He broke up families and had his slaves beaten. Indeed, he might have beaten them himself. A visitor from France said that he accompanied Jefferson as he reviewed his slaves and that while walking up and down, he slapped a riding crop in his hand. The slaves responded to this gesture by trembling. Though much has been made about his having a Black mistress, another oral tradition describes him as a promiscuous rapist. Why would feminists honor this man? I think Jefferson is admired for his Hollywood Raj look, the name given to Cary Grant and other British actors who acted in films that promoted British imperialism. Benjamin Franklin was called “Old Double-Face; ” yet he was smarter than the other Founding Fathers. Franklin began opposing slavery in the late 1750s after visiting a school for Black children and realizing their lack of education was due to their environment, not nature. His opposition peaked at the end of his life. He became the president of the Pennsylvania Society for the Abolition of Slavery in 1787. He petitioned Congress to end slavery in February 1790. While Washington, Jefferson, and Hamilton advocated the extermination of Native Americans, Franklin protested the massacre of Native Americans. Benjamin Franklin protested the 1763–1764 slaughter of 20 peaceful, unarmed Susquehannock (Conestoga) Indians by writing a fiery pamphlet titled A Narrative of the Late Massacres in Lancaster County. He condemned the killers as a “barbarous mob” and passionately argued against collective racial punishment. So if the country needs a founding father, maybe it should be Franklin? The post 250th: Their Heroes Are Monsters to Us appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Ishmael Reed.
Priapic Ambitions: Notes on George Washington
+ I excavated my way through Ron Chernow’s bulging, semi-woke (by the standards of the Texas Schoolbook Commission) biography of George Washington. I say, “semi-woke,” because while it discreetly admits that Washington [ . . . ] The post Priapic Ambitions: Notes on George Washington appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Portrait of George Washington (detail) by Charles Willson Peale (1776). + I excavated my way through Ron Chernow’s bulging, semi-woke (by the standards of the Texas Schoolbook Commission) biography of George Washington. I say, “semi-woke,” because while it discreetly admits that Washington was a patrician dandy of no exceptional military or administrative genius, who abused his troops, committed war crimes, bought his first election to public office with booze, and held 100s of slaves, often treating them cruelly in response to his own ineptitudes as a gentleman planter, it is quick to balance any evidence of fault in the character of the founding father with a statement to the effect that “while this may sound extreme to our ears, it was fairly typical for the time.” Which is, of course, exactly the point. + While Chernow’s text is rather elliptical on these decisive episodes in Washington’s life (there’s little risk of it being pulled from libraries in most of the states, at this point), the book is generously foot-noted with primary sources, many of them in Washington’s own hand (he was a prolific self-promoter of his own exalted life), which fill-in the more tenebrous aspects of his character. + The first member of the Washington clan to step foot in Virginia was John, who came ashore in the Tidewater area in 1676. George’s great-grandfather wasn’t much of a farmer (after all, he only owned three slaves and some Irish “servants”), but he did amass thousands of acres of land along the Potomac and received a military commission to kill Indians in Maryland, where he earned a reputation for treachery and slaughter. In one notorious incident, Washington murdered five Indian leaders who had come to negotiate a treaty, then claimed their land. He was known by the Potomac tribes as Conotocarious, “destroyer of villages, devourer of homes.” + It turns out George Washington could have easily run a CIA black site or the Gitmo torture camp. As an officer of the VA Regiment in the French & Indian wars, he proved a sadistic disciplinarian inflicting as many as 1500 lashes a day for relatively minor offenses: “drinking in and informed another officer he “was determined to hang two or three at a time as an example to the others. (ie., his soldiers).” He kept his condemned prisoners in iron chains in total darkness. In a letter to Robert Dimwiddie, the Lt Governor of VA, with whom he would later clash in the revolutionary war, Washington wrote coldly: Your honor will, I hope, excuse my hanging instead of shooting them. It conveyed much more terror to others and was for example’s sake we did it.” +”To live in Virginia without slaves is morally impossible.” – Rev. Peter Fontaine, 1757 + Though they can’t be blamed for its pompous and derivative neo-classical design, seven master black carpenters built most of the plantation house at Mount Vernon. They were all enslaved by Washington. The overseer of the construction, Humphrey Knight, wrote Washington, assuring the young land baron that he wasn’t light with the whip when he spotted a loose board or crooked plank: “As to the carpenters, I have minded ’em all I posably could and has whipt ’em when I could see a fault.” + Martha Washington kept her own sister, Ann Dandridge, as a slave. Ann was the daughter of Martha’s father John Dandridge and a young, enslaved woman, who was half-black, half-Cherokee. Ann lived as a slave at Mount Vernon until 1802, after first George, then Martha died. + Re: Pentagon contracts & high-tech weaponry, when Washington learned the Continental Army only had 300 barrels of gunpowder–not the 10k he’d been promised–Benjamin Franklin urged him to arm the troops with bows and arrows. “They’ve worked pretty well for centuries,” Franklin wryly noted. If only the bow-makers had had a PAC! + George Washington had a brilliant aide-de-camp during the final three years of the Revolutionary War. No, not Alexander Hamilton. His name was John Laurens. Laurens was that rare thing: a wealthy abolitionist from South Carolina. Even rarer, his father had amassed the family fortune through the slave trade, purchasing and selling as many as 10,000 people captured in Africa and shipped in chains to Charleston. Laurens had already developed plans to free his own family’s slaves and eagerly approached Washington with a daring scheme to shift the balance of power in a stagnating war, especially in the South, where British forces had just ransacked and torched Savannah. Laurens proposed emancipating at least 3,000 blacks who would be willing to serve in a South Carolina regiment to confront the marauding troops of Banastre Tarleton, who had terrorized the southern coast from Virginia to Georgia. Members of the Continental Congress warmed to the plan and some even wanted to go further, emancipating all slaves who’d be willing to serve in the American army. After all, at that point, the Continental Army was already more integrated than any US army until the Vietnam War, with free blacks accounting for more than six percent of the total force. But Washington, who still owned or controlled as many as 300 slaves, recoiled at the idea of arming emancipated blacks in the South. He rejected Laurens’ plan and quietly contemplated a scheme, typically reactionary, of his own: sell off the slaves of Mt. Vernon and his other properties and loan the proceeds to finance the maintenance of his bedraggled army. In a letter to his plantation overseer (and distant cousin) Lund Washington, the general wrote that if the Americans lost the war it would be a matter of little consequence to me whether my property is in Negroes or loan certificates, as I shall neither ask for, nor expect, any favor from his Most Gracious Majesty…the only points therefore for me to consider are…whether it would be most to my interest, in case of a fortunate determination of the present contest, to have Negroes and the crops they will make, or the sum they will fetch and the interest of the money. So the war dragged on another three years, until finally the decisive blow was struck at Yorktown, where the nearly all-black First Rhode Island Regiment made one of the most audacious raids. As for Laurens, who dreamed of abolishing slavery across the Americas, he soon became one of the last casualties of the war, shot in the head during a skirmish with British troops pillaging a rice field along the Combahee River, a couple of weeks after the British fled Charleston. + George Washington’s First Inaugural Address was written by James Madison. Congress’s Response was written by James Madison. And Washington’s rejoinder was written by…James Madison. At the operational level, America’s politics has always been a charade. + Even George Washington drew the line at separating the families of the people he “owned”… + Baron Johann de Kalb, a German mercenary whom Lafayette recruited to aid the American Revolutionaries on Washington’s military acumen: He is the most amiable, obliging, and civil man, but as a General he is too slow, even indolent, much too weak and is not without his portion of vanity and presumption. + George Washington railed incessantly against the war profiteers and speculators during the Revolution, calling them “plundering scoundrels,” while today’s members of Congress (and sons of Trump) make millions trading in weapons and oil stocks, as their states and districts get gouged at the pump. + For all of his faults, Washington was no nativist. He encouraged mass immigration to the young Republic, writing to the radical Dutch republican Francis Van der Kemp in 1788: “I had always hoped that this land might become a safe & agreeable asylum to the virtuous & persecuted part of mankind, to whatever nation they might belong.” + Tom Paine, that Che Guevara of the 18th century, in a letter to George Washington, May 1, 1790: Our very good friend, the Marquis de Lafayette, has intrusted to my care the key of the Bastille, and a drawing handsomely framed representing the demolition of that detestable prison. I feel myself happy, and being the person through whom the Marquis has conveyed this early trophy of the spoils of despotism, and the first ripe fruits of American principles transplanted into Europe…. Soon, the nation Washington was building would be putting its own dissidents into similar prisons, under the Alien and Sedition Acts. + During the war, Tom Paine served as George Washington’s chief propagandist. His fiery pamphlets kept the money flowing and the popular spirits elevated even as the Revolutionary Army stumbled and stuttered up and down the Atlantic seaboard. After the Brits called it quits and Washington assumed power, he turned his back on his old friend. When Paine, the trans-Atlantic rebel, faced the guillotine in Revolutionary France for refusing to endorse the execution of the King, Washington failed to intervene, ignoring the urgings of Jefferson and Franklin. (Paine survived the Terror by a freak accident, as the prison guards mismarked his cell door.) Paine came to consider Washington a “counter-revolutionary” (he coined the term), denouncing the former revolutionary-turned-imperious leader as either “an apostate or an imposter.” + Washington wasn’t a religious man. He countenanced religion, but didn’t practice it. He saw himself, a little grandly perhaps, as a figure of the enlightenment, a man of reason and science. If anything, he was a Deist, who believed in a Supreme Being and saw Jesus as a moral teacher, not a god. Still, he wasn’t hostile to religion in the manner of his fellow Virginian Thomas Jefferson, who, in an 1816 letter to the writer Horatio Gates Spafford, described the divinity schools of Harvard and Yale as “seminaries of despotism.” For Jefferson, the Church was as oppressive as the monarchy. Jefferson and Washington certainly were no Christian Nationalists. Jefferson wasn’t even a Christian. His biographer Joseph Ellis describes him as a secular humanist, though I don’t know what kind of humanism can rationalize holding other humans in bondage. Perhaps a future Supreme Court decision from Alito or Thomas will explain. + In reading about Washington, I’ve become increasingly distracted by Peggy Shippen, wife of Benedict Arnold. Washington was so entranced by her that, even after evidence of her complicity in Benedict’s treason came to light, he refused to believe it. Shippen was reportedly the highest-paid British spy of the Revolutionary period. Aaron Burr was almost certainly right in charging that Shippen was not only central to the conspiracy but also enticed Arnold into becoming a British agent and surrendering West Point. This image of Shippen, whose coif would have shamed Madame Pompadour, gives you some idea of what charged the erotic fantasies of the nation’s first president, who called himself “a votary to love.” He remained in the thrall of a similar “Georgian era” English beauty, Sally Fairfax, who fled the nearby Belvoir plantation at the start of the Revolution for Bath, England, for most of his life… + Speaking of Burr, in Gore Vidal’s novel the slight that prompts the fatal duel on the Heights of Weehawken is Hamilton’s assertion that Burr regularly had incestuous relations with his daughter Theodosia, these maulings occurring at roughly the same time Burr’s other hated rival, Thomas Jefferson (who had manufactured evidence against Burr at his treason trial), was raping his enslaved house servant Sally Hemings. So when the Originalists piously ask about some Constitutional nuance, what was the intent of the Founders? It was probably something designed to indemnify their own felonious predilections. + There’s no question Washington obsessed over sex. On his bookshelves lurked two of the age’s most notorious sex tutorials, The Lover’s Watch: or the Art of Making Love by Aphra Benn and Daniel Defoe’s Conjugal Lewdness: or Matrimonial Whoredom. The question is why the father of the country failed to father any children by Martha or any of his hundreds of enslaved women? (Martha gave birth to four children in her first marriage, so the lack of fecundity in her relations with George probably didn’t originate with her.) Was it sterility or impotence? If you’d been able to peek inside Washington’s medicine cabinet at Mount Vernon, you’d have found it well-stocked with Spanish Fly, the sex potion made from dead blister beetles, purchased, like Viagra today, by mail order. In Washington’s case, it came from chemists in London in four-ounce jars. + But Spanish Fly often proved lethal, especially when administered to women orally. (Men tended to rub the mixture on their penises, hoping to swell and prolong their erections.) In 1772, the Marquis de Sade fatally poisoned five Parisian prostitutes when, in anticipation of a weekend orgy (at which he longed to spend hours with his nose between their buttocks sampling their farts), de Sade compelled the young women to eat anise seed cupcakes liberally laced with Spanish Fly. Since Martha outlived George, we can perhaps assume that the orders of Spanish Fly were meant to fortify his own faltering Priapic ambitions. Washington’s false teeth, some of which were extracted from enslaved people. Photo: Mount Vernon. The post Priapic Ambitions: Notes on George Washington appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Jeffrey St. Clair.
The ruling class appears shaken, their brains rattled, and their nightmare once thought vanquished—the Red Menace—appears reborn. Following the recent sweep of Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) in New York and Colorado elections, there has been a torrent of backlash and public meltdowns from President Trump claiming, “I’d be the greatest communist in history,” to humanity’s More The post Victims of Communism? appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Photograph Source: cspirtos – Public Domain The ruling class appears shaken, their brains rattled, and their nightmare once thought vanquished—the Red Menace—appears reborn. Following the recent sweep of Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) in New York and Colorado elections, there has been a torrent of backlash and public meltdowns from President Trump <a href="https://substack.com/redirect/52e6a26e-b3da-48fb-a8f0-c5d22ea6a526?j=eyJ1IjoiNHplOXYifQ.q46XLFX9OFkba0DAK1dXuD63VdXLkMx3uohMSKDXMIc" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://substack.com/redirect/52e6a26e-b3da-48fb-a8f0-c5d22ea6a526?j%3DeyJ1IjoiNHplOXYifQ.q46XLFX9OFkba0DAK1dXuD63VdXLkMx3uohMSKDXMIc&source=gmail&ust=1783112776254000&usg=AOvVaw0xBdE6A5eAJJCVoTE3Q85E">claiming, “I’d be the greatest communist in history,” to humanity’s first billionaire posting the usual <a href="https://substack.com/redirect/26579c59-8563-434a-b621-b94476a3fdc1?j=eyJ1IjoiNHplOXYifQ.q46XLFX9OFkba0DAK1dXuD63VdXLkMx3uohMSKDXMIc" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://substack.com/redirect/26579c59-8563-434a-b621-b94476a3fdc1?j%3DeyJ1IjoiNHplOXYifQ.q46XLFX9OFkba0DAK1dXuD63VdXLkMx3uohMSKDXMIc&source=gmail&ust=1783112776254000&usg=AOvVaw1tH_fdS1IUVmQRbTZMXhqx">anti-communist nonsensical blather that communism has the “[h]ighest death count of any philosophy.” Elon Musk unabashedly cites inflated, unserious death counts that <a href="https://substack.com/redirect/4696023a-24b6-47dd-9392-4c0f3698cb43?j=eyJ1IjoiNHplOXYifQ.q46XLFX9OFkba0DAK1dXuD63VdXLkMx3uohMSKDXMIc" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://substack.com/redirect/4696023a-24b6-47dd-9392-4c0f3698cb43?j%3DeyJ1IjoiNHplOXYifQ.q46XLFX9OFkba0DAK1dXuD63VdXLkMx3uohMSKDXMIc&source=gmail&ust=1783112776254000&usg=AOvVaw3qYy_lQoV5xcELoowOxd0x">include in their tally of so-called “victims of communism” the Red Army’s liquidation of Nazis and fascists during the World War II. Adding to the frenzy, one New York City council member even invoked <a href="https://substack.com/redirect/d3412932-14f9-43d8-98da-42c9d311e841?j=eyJ1IjoiNHplOXYifQ.q46XLFX9OFkba0DAK1dXuD63VdXLkMx3uohMSKDXMIc" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://substack.com/redirect/d3412932-14f9-43d8-98da-42c9d311e841?j%3DeyJ1IjoiNHplOXYifQ.q46XLFX9OFkba0DAK1dXuD63VdXLkMx3uohMSKDXMIc&source=gmail&ust=1783112776254000&usg=AOvVaw2Ie1sd8PJdkxhPicsTKMRH">the halcyon days of the FBI and the CIA, bragging that they would have “made sure unabashed revolutionaries” like the DSA National Political Community “were neutralized one way or another. In fact, that was basically the entire point of having them.” Vicki Paladino made a candid admission that domestic and foreign intelligence agencies were never designed to defend “democracy.” Rather, they were engineered as clandestine political police forces operating with lethal, counter-revolutionary violence. And decades of disclosures and investigations reveal this. From the Church Committee convened five decades ago that investigated illegal intelligence operations to Florida Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna’s<a href="https://substack.com/redirect/4e9f56df-01d6-4775-8436-e3c17e56c01f?j=eyJ1IjoiNHplOXYifQ.q46XLFX9OFkba0DAK1dXuD63VdXLkMx3uohMSKDXMIc" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://substack.com/redirect/4e9f56df-01d6-4775-8436-e3c17e56c01f?j%3DeyJ1IjoiNHplOXYifQ.q46XLFX9OFkba0DAK1dXuD63VdXLkMx3uohMSKDXMIc&source=gmail&ust=1783112776254000&usg=AOvVaw1Ne0wpT_0zll8Njk4Cefzo"> recent hearing on the CIA’s mind control program called MK-ULTRA, domestic and foreign intelligence agencies have been mired in deeply nefarious practices, from illegal surveillance and <a href="https://substack.com/redirect/fa36dc7d-6a23-4e75-90b5-e2ec8dd40865?j=eyJ1IjoiNHplOXYifQ.q46XLFX9OFkba0DAK1dXuD63VdXLkMx3uohMSKDXMIc" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://substack.com/redirect/fa36dc7d-6a23-4e75-90b5-e2ec8dd40865?j%3DeyJ1IjoiNHplOXYifQ.q46XLFX9OFkba0DAK1dXuD63VdXLkMx3uohMSKDXMIc&source=gmail&ust=1783112776254000&usg=AOvVaw2wbQekkOYaLZGCKeD8u90P">counterintelligence operations to <a href="https://substack.com/redirect/cef05fac-f9b4-4648-8ba4-98dcd869bf81?j=eyJ1IjoiNHplOXYifQ.q46XLFX9OFkba0DAK1dXuD63VdXLkMx3uohMSKDXMIc" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://substack.com/redirect/cef05fac-f9b4-4648-8ba4-98dcd869bf81?j%3DeyJ1IjoiNHplOXYifQ.q46XLFX9OFkba0DAK1dXuD63VdXLkMx3uohMSKDXMIc&source=gmail&ust=1783112776254000&usg=AOvVaw3msOjTMqeO0oHukaW-LocH">outright assassination. Put bluntly, the CIA and FBI, during the glory days of Cold War Red Scare politics, acted in service of capital, alleviating real or imagined threats to the profits of an increasingly paranoid ruling class, and building their own pile of bodies along the way as they waged a protracted and often secret war against those seeking to build power for the many rather than the few. Indian Country itself paid a heavy price. And only recently have we begun to come to terms with the consequences, with <a href="https://substack.com/redirect/bd100947-ec4e-4084-8d93-26f2b108668d?j=eyJ1IjoiNHplOXYifQ.q46XLFX9OFkba0DAK1dXuD63VdXLkMx3uohMSKDXMIc" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://substack.com/redirect/bd100947-ec4e-4084-8d93-26f2b108668d?j%3DeyJ1IjoiNHplOXYifQ.q46XLFX9OFkba0DAK1dXuD63VdXLkMx3uohMSKDXMIc&source=gmail&ust=1783112776254000&usg=AOvVaw2bsz3SSCNKOcgu9oym3ETp">the commutation of Leonard Peltier’s two consecutive life sentences for the killing of two FBI agents during the federal reign of terror waged against the American Indian Movement on the Pine Ridge reservation. While Peltier walked out of a federal prison, many more never went home and still more await justice. While we have yet to heal from the wounds of the past, this generation faces a different battle. Putting aside whether the recent DSA electoral wins pose an existential threat to the capitalist class, the underlying fear has a material basis. As the billionaire class, and now, grotesquely, the trillionaire class, reap record profits, the quality of life in the heart of global capitalism and imperialism appears to be in rapid decline. Among the <a href="https://substack.com/redirect/14286715-4805-4320-a268-6d11aa981deb?j=eyJ1IjoiNHplOXYifQ.q46XLFX9OFkba0DAK1dXuD63VdXLkMx3uohMSKDXMIc" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://substack.com/redirect/14286715-4805-4320-a268-6d11aa981deb?j%3DeyJ1IjoiNHplOXYifQ.q46XLFX9OFkba0DAK1dXuD63VdXLkMx3uohMSKDXMIc&source=gmail&ust=1783112776254000&usg=AOvVaw3wN9ha9tq0KV1Cs-BOI2bz">top leading causes of death for young people in the United States are drug overdoses, death by suicide, and gun deaths. Life expectancy has cratered across the board. For American Indian people, the decline in life expectancy is particularly acute, <a href="https://substack.com/redirect/c007f511-ed60-4ea4-8722-8575c8593a15?j=eyJ1IjoiNHplOXYifQ.q46XLFX9OFkba0DAK1dXuD63VdXLkMx3uohMSKDXMIc" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://substack.com/redirect/c007f511-ed60-4ea4-8722-8575c8593a15?j%3DeyJ1IjoiNHplOXYifQ.q46XLFX9OFkba0DAK1dXuD63VdXLkMx3uohMSKDXMIc&source=gmail&ust=1783112776254000&usg=AOvVaw15xGDcm7EN7AX_zPYgYuzH">falling in recent years from an already abysmal of 71 years down to 65—with South Dakota <a href="https://substack.com/redirect/0d33da97-ad09-491c-a4bd-0afb6822a274?j=eyJ1IjoiNHplOXYifQ.q46XLFX9OFkba0DAK1dXuD63VdXLkMx3uohMSKDXMIc" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://substack.com/redirect/0d33da97-ad09-491c-a4bd-0afb6822a274?j%3DeyJ1IjoiNHplOXYifQ.q46XLFX9OFkba0DAK1dXuD63VdXLkMx3uohMSKDXMIc&source=gmail&ust=1783112776254000&usg=AOvVaw083tprDHlSTIGim-EVXb73">reporting a median age of death for American Indian people of death at a staggering 58 years. Despite <a href="https://substack.com/redirect/b0405b88-8e02-42ae-b61d-4817628e1834?j=eyJ1IjoiNHplOXYifQ.q46XLFX9OFkba0DAK1dXuD63VdXLkMx3uohMSKDXMIc" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://substack.com/redirect/b0405b88-8e02-42ae-b61d-4817628e1834?j%3DeyJ1IjoiNHplOXYifQ.q46XLFX9OFkba0DAK1dXuD63VdXLkMx3uohMSKDXMIc&source=gmail&ust=1783112776254000&usg=AOvVaw0HTWCJDa_HnGYBRN77NAZN">more than a million COVID deaths in the United States, the drop in life expectancy is caused by more than the pandemic; it includes <a href="https://substack.com/redirect/60410b4b-2a3d-4313-8fec-0739bc9c4238?j=eyJ1IjoiNHplOXYifQ.q46XLFX9OFkba0DAK1dXuD63VdXLkMx3uohMSKDXMIc" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://substack.com/redirect/60410b4b-2a3d-4313-8fec-0739bc9c4238?j%3DeyJ1IjoiNHplOXYifQ.q46XLFX9OFkba0DAK1dXuD63VdXLkMx3uohMSKDXMIc&source=gmail&ust=1783112776254000&usg=AOvVaw2nd6vstyjapl2UQsG8z6Ew">massive inequalities and social and economic factors. It should be no surprise this generation has little hope in the system that robbed them of a future, to say nothing of a bleak present. <a href="https://substack.com/redirect/11d7ebc8-00a7-4043-bca1-f3f330984175?j=eyJ1IjoiNHplOXYifQ.q46XLFX9OFkba0DAK1dXuD63VdXLkMx3uohMSKDXMIc" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://substack.com/redirect/11d7ebc8-00a7-4043-bca1-f3f330984175?j%3DeyJ1IjoiNHplOXYifQ.q46XLFX9OFkba0DAK1dXuD63VdXLkMx3uohMSKDXMIc&source=gmail&ust=1783112776254000&usg=AOvVaw1UeqDSnvUdODiM_y9-iPTo">A poll last year by the rightwing think tank the Cato Institute found that more than a third of people under the age of 30 in the United States had a favorable view of communism. Still more, nearly two-thirds, looked kindly on socialism. While the turn towards anti-capitalism may be partially a natural reaction to the death drive of capitalism, it doesn’t mean the embrace of left wing and liberatory politics translates directly into socialist and communist movements or just societies. In fact, revolutions are quite rare events, and when they succeed or fail, they can be quite deadly, with much of the violence often stemming from the forces of counter-revolution. What is often misunderstood is that this counter-revolutionary violence doesn’t necessarily happen in the context of, or in reaction to full-blown revolution. It instead should be understood a structural phenomenon, something that is expressed in policing and intelligence agencies ready to crush even the most benign forms of resistance, such as the most recent sentencing a Prairieland defendant to 30 years in federal prison for <a href="https://substack.com/redirect/2be2df94-4e48-480d-ba8a-d698861141cb?j=eyJ1IjoiNHplOXYifQ.q46XLFX9OFkba0DAK1dXuD63VdXLkMx3uohMSKDXMIc" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://substack.com/redirect/2be2df94-4e48-480d-ba8a-d698861141cb?j%3DeyJ1IjoiNHplOXYifQ.q46XLFX9OFkba0DAK1dXuD63VdXLkMx3uohMSKDXMIc&source=gmail&ust=1783112776254000&usg=AOvVaw3vrmu5BMGsiFbO-EA2qmh5">moving a box of antifascist zines. As historian Gerald Horne has pointed out in his aptly titled book The Counter-Revolution of 1776, the founding of the United States was borne of a counter-revolution against the abolition of slavery. Most African people sided with the British against the colonists, viewing the British empire as a more favorable ally in the ending the tyranny of chattel slavery. One might add that this counter-revolution also included the genocidal assault on Native people, whom Thomas Jefferson described as “merciless Indian savages” in the Declaration of Independence. Indigenous wars against the United States often entailed allying with the competing empires such as Britain against the American colonists, whom Indigenous nations viewed as a greater threat. This was in an effort to stave off the white invasion of Indigenous homelands. While counterfactual history has its limits, it is a worthy pursuit to examine the freedom dreams of Black and Indigenous people—and to understand exactly how U.S. imperialism has suppressed those aspirations. Those aspirations have sometimes coalesced with socialist movements and often not, but the general ignorance of their liberatory impulses is a symptom of the larger miseducation project. To start, most people in the United States are ill-equipped to discuss the actual social policies of past or present communist societies. Decades of anti-communist indoctrination have effectively blunted the public’s ability to conceptualize alternatives to capitalism. This mass ignorance is no accident; it is the result of a deliberate miseducation that reduces socialism to a caricature of authoritarian misery, while sanitizing capitalism as a beacon of personal liberty and market choice. Consequently, history is viewed through a double standard: the structural failures of socialist states are deemed unforgivable atrocities, while the global body count of capitalism is dismissed as the unavoidable friction of an imperfect but necessary system. These myths are supposedly backed up by the numbers, which attribute 100 million deaths to communist societies, numbers that far exceed the Nazi and fascist body counts and do not begin to offer up comparable studies of colonial and capitalist societies. It is worth noting that these overblown statistics come from the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, which was established by a unanimous act of Congress in 1993 and opened a museum in 2022. The foundation even counts deaths from COVID-19 as victims of communism. This asymmetric accounting leaves the capitalist empire entirely off the hook. If we apply the exact same rigorous, unforgiving metrics of state responsibility to U.S. capitalism alone, the narrative of Western benevolence completely collapses into an endless ledger of mass murder. Factoring the true cost of U.S. capitalism and imperialism requires mapping what historian David Michael Smith terms the <a href="https://substack.com/redirect/c87b875f-175c-4427-9b68-f2cdd4f05b75?j=eyJ1IjoiNHplOXYifQ.q46XLFX9OFkba0DAK1dXuD63VdXLkMx3uohMSKDXMIc" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://substack.com/redirect/c87b875f-175c-4427-9b68-f2cdd4f05b75?j%3DeyJ1IjoiNHplOXYifQ.q46XLFX9OFkba0DAK1dXuD63VdXLkMx3uohMSKDXMIc&source=gmail&ust=1783112776254000&usg=AOvVaw0JtBuEarJEFhGi328lHBUB">“endless holocausts” of U.S. empire. This global empire was built on the theft of a continent through Indigenous genocide and the theft of tens of millions of Black lives via the transatlantic slave trade. Smith places the total body count of the U.S. empire at close to 300 million dead. If we scrutinized global capitalism’s daily, preventable toll—from structural poverty and enforced starvation to imperialist wars and corporate healthcare monopolies—with the same metrics applied to communist societies, the free market might register 100 million deaths every few decades. Ultimately, the ruling class does not fear the Red Menace because they value human life; they fear it because they know their empire of accumulation by dispossession is fundamentally fragile, driving them to unleash the counter-revolutionary violence they have always weaponized to survive. This piece first appeared on Red Scare. The post Victims of Communism? appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Nick Estes.
Democratic Primaries Reveal What the DNC Autopsy Buried
The Democratic National Committee’s 192-page post-mortem on the 2024 election, titled “Build to Win. Build to Last,” failed to build, to win, or to learn. It never answered the only question that mattered: how did a twice-impeached, multiply-indicted former president walk back into the White House with more votes than prior to his indictments? The More The post Democratic Primaries Reveal What the DNC Autopsy Buried appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Photo by Colin Lloyd The Democratic National Committee’s 192-page post-mortem on the 2024 election, titled “Build to Win. Build to Last,” failed to build, to win, or to learn. It never answered the only question that mattered: how did a twice-impeached, multiply-indicted former president walk back into the White House with more votes than prior to his indictments? The report, authored by Democratic strategist Paul Rivera and released in May 2026 after months of stonewalling by DNC Chair Ken Martin, reads less as a serious political reckoning than as a confirmation-bias pamphlet drafted by people determined not to upset the party’s old guard. It calls for renewed focus on “Middle America,” criticizes years of disinvestment in state parties, and faults poor economic messaging. It is not wrong on any of these points. But these points alone did not cost the party America — not just Middle America. The report boasts of conducting more than 1,200 interviews to assess the health of state parties in every state, district, and territory. While it seems to be an impressive number, it remains questionable whether the interviews were of local party leaders or general democratic voters. Did it include micro-level analysis of competitive districts? Or to account for 6.8 million voters who supported Biden in 2020, where they went, and why they left. There was no breakdown of Harris’s collapse by age. No independent examination of what drove young voters away, particularly in university towns where Gaza protests defined the political atmosphere of 2024. How many of the 6.8 million were from Generation Z? And not a word on the Zionist bubble around Biden and how that funded and shielded Israel as it carried out a live-streamed genocide in Gaza. This is not a methodological oversight. It is engineered by the plan. University towns and young voter precincts were precisely where the Democratic coalition was visibly disintegrating. Most likely the reason they lost states like Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania. Students who watched ‘genocide Joe’ enable the starvation of children in Gaza did not stay home out of apathy. They made a calculated judgment: that on the question of war crimes, there was no daylight between the two candidates. The autopsy never acknowledged the question existed. Instead, it retreated into campaign mechanics: Harris “was not well prepared,” Democrats assumed Trump was unacceptable, and the party deluded itself that undecided voters would hold their noses and choose the lesser of two evils. Observations about messaging and strategy, carefully constructed to avoid touching the one issue that led the Arab Americans’ vote in Michigan to split evenly between Harris and Trump when it favored Biden by a large margin in 2020. The autopsy’s authors, like much of the Democratic establishment, prefer to frame the party’s youth problem as a generational disconnect, a cultural or communication failure that better social media spending might fix. That framing is both disingenuous and lazy. There is no generational disconnect. There is a massive divide between the old guard and the young generation — and the base at large — when it comes to Israel. Recent primary results could not be clearer, exposing the DNC autopsy’s failure. More than 80% of Democratic voters hold a negative view of Israel. That is not a fringe position within the party. That is the party. More than four out of five of the Democratic voters regard the long-held ‘sacred cow’ unfavorably, and the post-election study does not contain a single mention. That is dismissive of 80% of the Party. The analysis is not seeking lessons learned; it is a whitewash. The Gaza omission was not an oversight. It was a cover-up. The IMEU Policy Project’s executive director was blunt, demanding the release of findings that the autopsy’s own author had reportedly acknowledged in private: DNC officials’ internal data showed Biden’s support for Israel was a net negative for Democrats in 2024. That finding never appeared in the report. It was buried. Former DNC Vice Chair David Hogg said publicly that he told Rivera directly, “We need to acknowledge the role that Gaza played in us losing younger voters.” This is not an outlier critique. It is coming from people who participated in the process and are now openly saying its central finding was suppressed. When contributors to an autopsy publicly declare that findings are edited out, the document becomes a cover-up. The autopsy’s Gaza omission collapses entirely when measured against what Democratic primaries have screamed in 2026. Candidates running on explicitly anti-Israeli-policy platforms have toppled incumbents and dethroned members of Congress backed by Democratic leadership and bankrolled by AIPAC. These are not noble protest campaigns falling short. They are winning Democratic voters, in Democratic primaries, on an explicitly pro-Palestine platform and making AIPAC a radioactive word and political liability. The autopsy did not diagnose the cause of failure; it smothered it. Fifty thousand words telling Democrats to organize better, message harder, and court the working-class voter they lost. Sound advice, and entirely beside the point, as long as the party establishment continues to dismiss the verdict of 80% of its rank and file. Without an honest accounting of the party’s failures in 2024 and without acknowledging the winning streak for anti-Israel democratic candidates in 2026, there can be no realistic path forward. The DNC must root out AIPAC funding in Democratic primaries and recognize the views of the party’s majority on Israel. It must confront the political cost of a foreign policy that millions of Americans now see not only as wrong, but as criminal. If over 80% of Democratic voters hold an unfavorable opinion of Israel, and candidates running on that sentiment keep winning primaries, the data is not ambiguous. The base has moved. The party leadership has not. The post Democratic Primaries Reveal What the DNC Autopsy Buried appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Jamal Kanj.
There comes a moment in every empire’s reign when the maps stop making sense. Not necessarily because the borders move. But because there comes a time when the people who used to draw them no longer get to decide what the world looks like. The World Cup has become that moment. For weeks we’ve been More The post The Empire Loses the Ball appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Image by Karsten Winegeart. There comes a moment in every empire’s reign when the maps stop making sense. Not necessarily because the borders move. But because there comes a time when the people who used to draw them no longer get to decide what the world looks like. The World Cup has become that moment. For weeks we’ve been force-fed the usual sentimental slop by broadcasters who sell every tournament as a Disney movie with shin pads. Childhood sacrifices. The little pitch where the captain learned to dream. Somewhere a violin is playing while a drone shot circles the dusty makeshift pitch where he scored his first triumphs. Every World Cup arrives wrapped in manufactured emotion sufficient to distract from the only story that actually matters. They are all missing it. The real story isn’t about one magical teenager or one heroic underdog (though there are plenty). The story is that Europe, and its colonial offspring in South America, have finally lost their exclusive claim to what they spent a century calling the beautiful game. Not ownership on paper. Ownership of the imagination. And the people losing that ownership are not handling it with any particular grace. Listen carefully enough and you can almost hear the panic. Germany’s captain Joshua Kimmich, a man paid approximately the GDP of a mid-sized African island nation to kick a ball into a net, lamented after his country’s elimination that they hadn’t even faced “world-class” opposition — yet Germany had deserved to go home because they’d been poor against everyone they met. It was remarkably candid. It was also accidentally hilarious in the manner of a man who complains that the cliff he walked off wasn’t tall enough to justify the fall. It is entirely possible that Kimmich didn’t intend a racial hierarchy in his remarks. Intentions are a luxury that history rarely extends to the people on the receiving end of them. When a German captain casually dismisses opponents from Africa and the Global South as not “world-class,” certain historical resonances are simply unavoidable. Not because the son is responsible for the grandfather’s crimes, but because Europe has spent centuries confusing dominance with superiority, and the confusion did not evaporate when the flags came down. That is the peculiar tragedy of predominance. It demands that reality keep apologizing for contradicting it. When reality refuses, the superior man concludes not that he was mistaken, but that reality itself has become unreasonable. The old football aristocracy cannot quite process what is happening. They still believe greatness comes with passports, UEFA coefficients, television contracts and a kind of protected designation of origin. They keep looking at the badge instead of the ball. The teams they spent decades treating as colorful, token guests have, not so quietly, become full members. History, that most patient and merciless of ironists, is at it again. Football was supposedly invented on a damp little island whose greatest modern export seems to be nostalgia for when it mattered. The English wrapped the game in rules, measurements and Victorian certainty before exporting it alongside railways, missionaries and the assumption that everyone else would forever remain grateful wards. But the game, unlike empire, refused to obey. It escaped. It rolled downhill through oil towns in Algeria, fishing villages in Senegal, barrios in Colombia, refugee camps, favelas, concrete housing estates, mountain schools and beaches where the goalposts are flip-flops and the ball is held together with string, tape and stubborn optimism. Nobody asked permission. Nobody waited for a UEFA coaching license. Somewhere along the journey the colonies stole the lesson and improved upon it considerably. That is what empires fear most. Not invasion. Iteration. South America has always occupied a curious middle ground in Europe’s football imagination. Brazil and Argentina were reluctantly admitted to the royal family because their genius became impossible to deny. Pelé bent reality until racism briefly became inconvenient. Maradona humiliated England with a celestial hand and then with a goal so magnificent it should have been classified as a geological event. The acceptance, however, always came with unspoken conditions. South America was permitted to be magical because Europe remained respectable. One danced. The other governed. Even today, South American brilliance is packaged as inherited instinct while European success is explained as intelligence. One is poetry. The other is engineering. Funny how engineering keeps getting dismantled by poets. But this tournament has moved somewhere new. This is no longer merely South America’s rebellion. This is Africa’s arrival. Whether an African nation lifts the trophy is almost beside the point, because Africa has already won the argument. Nine of ten African nations who qualified for this tournament advanced to the Round of 32. The previous record was two. Nine. Morocco, South Africa, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Cape Verde, Egypt, DR Congo, Algeria. A continent previously permitted to send a handful of teams to the party as exotic garnish on a European entrée has arrived this summer not as expendable parsley but as the entire menu. The current president of one of the co-host countries once dismissed much of Africa, Haiti and parts of the developing world as “shithole countries.” It turns out quite a few of those places produce extraordinary footballers. Empires have always been remarkably efficient at extracting talent while dismissing the humanity attached to it. The plantation operated on exactly this principle. Europe spent years congratulating itself on the wonderful diversity of football, provided that diversity continued winning trophies for France. It turns out the arrangement was considerably less popular in Dakar than in Paris. African brilliance was perfectly acceptable provided it arrived wrapped in a European passport and a national anthem approved by UEFA. The colonial relationship worked splendidly, right up until the colonies started eyeing the trophies directly. This World Cup changes the equation. The sons of Dakar, Casablanca, Accra and Kinshasa are no longer simply reinforcing European dynasties. They are eliminating them. Look at Spain. There may be few countries in Europe more publicly devoted to the mythology of purity while simultaneously existing as living proof that purity was always a story told by people who needed one. The Iberian Peninsula has spent thousands of years functioning as the migratory equivalent of Tokyo’s Shibuya Crossing — Romans, Visigoths, Arabs, Jews, Berbers, Phoenicians, Celts, Africans, merchants, refugees, invaders, pilgrims — everyone came through, everyone left something behind, and the genetic result is a people who carry the whole argument of human movement in their faces. The country also runs a football league so magnificently predictable that it makes paint drying a more suspenseful spectacle — Real Madrid or Barcelona have between them colonized the title since titles began, with the reliability of tides and considerably less charm. And yet from within this monument to foregone conclusions emerged Lamine Yamal: a seventeen-year-old Barcelonan born to Moroccan and Equatoguinean parents, currently dismantling defenses and the last remaining fantasies of people clinging to the notion of a neatly defined Hispanic race. The boy isn’t challenging Spanish identity. He is Spanish identity. He simply reminds certain people of the parts they’d prefer to excise from the family record. The Netherlands has, so far, offered the tournament’s most revealing after-party. As Morocco progressed, thousands filled Dutch streets waving Moroccan flags. Television cameras dutifully found the fireworks and the broken glass, because chaos always makes better television than sociology. But the real story was not broken glass. It was that several generations after arriving as “guest workers” — a phrase that contains, in miniature, the entire philosophy of European racism: come, be useful, do not belong — Moroccan-Dutch communities were openly celebrating a homeland that their critics insist they should have renounced. They are Dutch enough to pay taxes. Dutch enough to build roads. Dutch enough to play for Ajax. But the moment they celebrate Morocco, someone helpfully remembers they were never entirely Dutch after all. Football has an inconvenient habit of exposing the fiction that identity can only run in one direction, and that the direction is always determined by the host. The scoreboard has no ideology. Possession statistics are gloriously indifferent to nationalism. Gravity remains undefeated by racism. Which brings us, with a certain inevitability, to one of the countries hosting this tournament — a country conducting, simultaneously with the football, its own furious argument about who belongs on the pitch and who belongs in the stands and who should be turned away at the gate entirely. The World Cup arrived in North America already marinated in that argument, and the argument has not been courteous enough to wait outside. Hours after the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that birthright citizenship remains protected under the Fourteenth Amendment, Stephen Miller — the principal architect of the current regime’s immigration agenda, a man who has made the question of human belonging his life’s organizing principle — went on camera and complained that people arrive from “third world nations, nations that on their own would have never invented the wheel,” have a baby on American soil, and that child becomes a citizen. He compared it to boarding a Boeing 747 and thinking that makes you the pilot. Let us pause, with the seriousness the claim deserves, on the wheel. The wheel was invented in Mesopotamia, modern Iraq, a country whose national team is at this World Cup. Writing was developed in Sumer and independently in Egypt. Algebra was named by a ninth-century scholar from what is now Uzbekistan, also present in this tournament. The numerical system Miller uses to count the families he splits up and deports was developed in India. Agriculture, the literal precondition of civilization, emerged across sub-Saharan Africa, the Fertile Crescent, and the Americas. The great medieval universities of Timbuktu were teaching astronomy, law and medicine while Europe was burning people for suggesting the earth moved. The 747 he referenced flies on aerodynamic principles developed in significant part by mathematicians from cultures Miller considers beneath his notice. Cape Verde, a volcanic archipelago whose entire population would rattle around inside MetLife Stadium, has qualified for the knockout rounds of this World Cup and faces Argentina. The Fourteenth Amendment was written specifically to guarantee citizenship to the children of formerly enslaved people — Africans brought to America in chains, whose forced labor built the economic infrastructure of one of the countries now hosting this tournament. That is the birthright Miller is calling worthless. On the pitches where he would have their descendants excluded, those descendants are eliminating European football powers on penalties in front of the entire watching world. Gustavo Alfaro, Paraguay’s coach, provided the tournament’s moral counterweight, to Kimmich, to Miller, to every person in a blazer who still believes excellence is fundamentally a product of the right postcode. After guiding Paraguay to the greatest result in the country’s football history, eliminating Germany 4-3 on penalties in Foxborough, Massachusetts, Alfaro held the post-match press conference for nearly fifty minutes, which is roughly forty-nine more than Bill Belichick ever managed in that room. He was not gloating. He was bearing witness. “Our opponents are developed in the best academies in Europe,” he said. “We come from the red earth. We learned to play football barefoot, with parents making sacrifices so their children could pursue their dreams. That’s where we come from.” The president of Paraguay declared a national holiday. “The power of football is wonderful,” Alfaro said. “May everyone in Paraguay enjoy it.” Two philosophies. One press room. One going home. Football escaped because unlike cricket or polo or rowing, it demanded almost nothing. A wall. A street. A beach. A patch of dirt. Two stones for goalposts. Empire exported the rules. Poverty perfected the improvisation. And now the improvisation is winning, which is only a surprise if you spent the last century confusing the ownership of the game with the ownership of the gift. Football was never really beautiful because of tactics or trophies or famous stadiums. It is beautiful because the ball possesses an almost supernatural contempt for hierarchy. It requires almost no infrastructure. It can make a billionaire cry. It can make a shepherd immortal. It can make the descendants of empire spend ninety minutes chasing shadows cast by children whose grandparents were told, clearly and repeatedly, that they belonged only at the margins of the story. The final will be held at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Just across the river from the city where millions of immigrants arrived and received the full protection of an amendment that Stephen Miller would now like to declare worthless. There would be something clarifying — not poetic, not ironic, clarifying, the way a plainly stated truth clarifies — if the last two teams standing included at least one nation from a place he considers beneath notice. Somewhere on red earth right now a child is tying together rags because nobody can afford a proper football. Somewhere in Brussels or Rotterdam or Phoenix, another child with African parents is learning that he isn’t quite European until somebody needs a goal in the eighty-eighth minute. Somewhere a politician is explaining, with great confidence, why civilization belongs to one people and not another. The ball, magnificently indifferent, keeps rolling toward whoever can control it. That has always been football’s greatest insult to racism. Talent refuses passports. The post The Empire Loses the Ball appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Troy Nahumko.
NATO 3.0: Alliance or Military-Industrial Investment Fund?
These are difficult times for anyone who has consistently criticised NATO. From the era of ‘defending the Free World’ against communism, through the age of ‘humanitarian intervention’ and the ‘Global War on Terror,’ to today’s supposedly existential struggle against almost the entire non-Western world, the Alliance has repeatedly reinvented the narratives that justify its existence. More The post NATO 3.0: Alliance or Military-Industrial Investment Fund? appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
NATO defense ministers conference at NATO HQ in Brussels. Photo: U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Jerry Morrison, Dept. of Defense. These are difficult times for anyone who has consistently criticised NATO. From the era of ‘defending the Free World’ against communism, through the age of ‘humanitarian intervention’ and the ‘Global War on Terror,’ to today’s supposedly existential struggle against almost the entire non-Western world, the Alliance has repeatedly reinvented the narratives that justify its existence. The language changes; the underlying logic does not. NATO remains indispensable, and every new enemy (whether discovered, exaggerated, or actively produced) becomes further proof of its necessity. For decades, critics coming from anti-militarist, anti-hegemonic or left perspectives had to work hard to deconstruct this mythology against the combined efforts of political elites, mainstream media, academic institutions and security experts. The intellectual task itself was never particularly difficult. The contradictions, hypocrisies and devastating consequences of NATO’s interventions have remained visible long after the bombs stopped falling. What required courage was speaking against the prevailing consensus. Ironically, today the Alliance’s own leaders have become its most effective truth-tellers. Donald Trump has repeatedly stripped away the moral language that traditionally surrounded NATO. Mark Rutte, the Alliance’s Secretary General, has become equally candid, while Germany’s Chancellor and France’s President increasingly speak with remarkable openness about Europe’s military future. Yet the privilege of telling the truth about what NATO has become belongs only to those in power. As the repression of protest movements ahead of the Ankara summit demonstrates, citizens may know the truth about this military giant—but they are not expected to organise against it. The Ankara Summit has not even begun, yet its conclusions are already known. The phrase ‘historic summit’ has become so overused that it has almost lost its meaning. Some observers expect the ‘Europeanisation’ of NATO, with European allies assuming greater responsibility for financing and leading the Alliance. But this remains largely rhetorical. Europe cannot replace the United States as the Alliance’s military backbone. It can, however, willingly tighten the noose around its own neck—and perhaps around the world’s. While Atlanticists remain preoccupied with the Washington-Brusselsrelationship and whether Trump truly intends to reduce America’s commitment, a more significant transformation is taking place within Europe itself. New military coalitions are emerging inside NATO. The Baltic states and Poland increasingly pursue their own security agenda, driven by historical grievances and profound Russophobia. Sweden and Finland, once symbols of neutrality, have rapidly embraced militarisation, with Helsinki now evenpermitting the deployment of nuclear weapons on its territory (American weapons, naturally, making these states ever more deeply integrated into Washington’s strategic architecture). Similar regional military configurationsare quietly taking shape in the Balkans, where Croatia, Albania, Bulgaria and Kosovo increasingly speak of strengthening their own defence cooperation: NATO within NATO. What truly distinguishes NATO 3.0, however, is not merely its willingness to name Russia and China explicitly as strategic adversaries or to proclaim its global ambitions. Rutte himself has explained that NATO is indispensable because it enables the United States to project power globally through Europe. Europe, in other words, functions as both a platform and force multiplier for American global strategy (as shown by the Epic Fury operation). More revealing still is the language in which NATO now describes itself.Rutte proudly speaks of a ‘defence industrial revolution.’ The expression is revealing. Just as the First Industrial Revolution transformed production through factories and mechanisation, NATO 3.0 seeks to reorganise military production on an entirely new scale, not primarily for defence, but for permanent profitability. Behind the rhetoric of ‘collective security,’ ‘strategic autonomy,’ and ‘deterrence’ lies a far simpler reality: NATO increasingly functions as a mechanism for transferring unprecedented amounts of public money into private corporate hands. Hence NATO 3.0 represents yet another mutation: an alliance whose principal historical mission increasingly appears to be the permanent militarisation of Western economies, and most probably, a new war with Russia. The timing is remarkable. For decades, governments insisted that public finances required austerity. Hospitals, universities, pensions and social welfare supposedly had to accept painful budget discipline. Suddenly, none of these fiscal constraints apply to military expenditure. Deficits that were politically impossible for healthcare or education have become entirely acceptable for weapons procurement. Defence spending is no longer presented as a burden but as an investment strategy and an excellent possibility for job openings (they don’t mention the expanded graveyards that usually go along with warfare). This raises further profound questions. If cloud computing, artificial intelligence, satellite communications and autonomous weapons are increasingly developed by private technology corporations, who ultimately controls national security? If governments become structurally dependent upon commercial providers, where does democratic accountability remain? When military procurement begins to resemble venture-capital investment, who actually benefits from permanent insecurity? These questions receive surprisingly little attention. Instead, we hear only the language of emergency. Europe must rearm immediately. Industrial production must accelerate. Procurement rules must be simplified. Military investment cannot wait. Yet history teaches us that emergencies rarely remain temporary. Exceptional measures gradually become permanent forms of governance. Under conditions of continuous perceived threat, extraordinary military spending begins to appear normal, while demands for investment in education, healthcare or social justice suddenly become fiscally irresponsible. Security colonises politics. What emerges before our eyes is a model in which war itself becomes increasingly privatised. Private defence contractors, technology firms, logistics companies and AI developers become indispensable actors within the military ecosystem. Even warfare itself becomes increasingly remote. Artificial intelligence, autonomous systems and digital infrastructures allow military operations to be outsourced, automated and commercialised in unprecedented ways. War does not necessarily require mass mobilisation; it requires investment portfolios. For small member states that expected welfare instead of warfare, the implications are particularly sobering. Increasing defence budgets is presented as solidarity with the Alliance, but in reality, it often resembles compulsory participation in a vast military-industrial investment scheme. Citizens finance weapons they neither produce nor control, purchasing protection against threats that are frequently amplified by the very geopolitical logic that sustains the system. NATO has never been merely a military alliance within the UN-based international order. It has always been an expression of the Western strategic worldview. Today it is becoming something even more complex: a system where security policy, industrial policy, technological power, and capital accumulation increasingly merge. The Ankara summit will not only discuss defence and deterrence; it will reveal how deeply the future of capitalism, technology and organised violence has become intertwined. It will be yet another chapter in the political economy of permanent mobilization for warfare. The post NATO 3.0: Alliance or Military-Industrial Investment Fund? appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Biljana Vankovska.
Absorbing the revelations in the book Regime Change by journalists Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, I posed a question to my American colleague: Why do figures like Donald Trump continue to get elected? With his sign [ . . . ] The post Iran: The Veil, the Beard and the Bomb appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Still from “Sleeper Cell” (2005), reproduced in Reel-Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People by Jack Shaheen. Absorbing the revelations in the book Regime Change by journalists Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, I posed a question to my American colleague: Why do figures like Donald Trump continue to get elected? With his signature measured calm, he offered a chilling truth. He suggested that Americans have not felt history’s harsh winds blow with hurricane force since the Civil War, which has left our society dangerously naive and perilously unserious. On the global front, many Americans are poorly informed about the geopolitical realities of other countries, particularly regarding West Asia. Consequently, they have historically been susceptible to Israeli-aligned narratives, allowing Zionist and pro-Israel influencers to disproportionately shape U.S. public opinion and foreign policy in Israel’s favor. This dynamic applies especially to Iran, which has been severely impacted by the widespread consumption of a distorted and overwhelmingly negative narrative. The American understanding of Iran is a triumph of geopolitical minimalism, reduced to a holy trinity of stereotypes: the veil, the beard, and the bomb. This trim, three-item checklist serves as the entire curriculum for a superpower that, despite boasting of the most powerful military on earth, treats one of humanity’s oldest and dynamic civilizations as a one-dimensional cartoon villain. It is a masterpiece of intellectual efficiency. Decades of propaganda have deeply colored the perception of Iran. Hence, the country is rarely associated with the staggering architecture of Isfahan and Persepolis, the deeply moving poetry of Rumi and Hafez, or with its millennia-old legacy as a sophisticated culturally vibrant civilization. Instead, the mind defaults to a monochrome montage of ominous men with long beards and turbans chanting in the streets, anonymous women entirely obscured by black veils and a glowing apocalyptic nuclear weapon waiting to go off. This reductionist view is not a tragic accident; it is the culmination of decades of headline-driven “diplomacy” and the relentless cable news machine. After all, nuance does not command military budgets, nor does it fit on a 24-hour news ticket. Stereotypes, however, have proven useful tools in relegating a nation of 93 million Iranians to a problem to be removed by force. For example, the “veil” has operated as a symbol of cartoonish oppression, a one-size-fits-all visual that allows western politicians to pivot effortlessly to facile reductive rhetoric. The stereotypical “beard” has served as the embodiment of rogue state malevolence, projecting a timeless, medieval fanaticism. Finally, the “nuclear bomb” rounds out the trinity of tropes. It acts as the ultimate powder keg that has been used to justify escalating sanctions and military attacks. It is a narrative that entirely ignores the complex realities of U.S. Congressional Research Service reports on Iran, that describe Tehran’s strategic posturing as primarily defensive in reaction to U.S.-Israel aggression. For decades, the public has been served a steady diet of tropes, conditioning the public to view Iran as an ominous monolithic threat instead of a country, like any other, with internal nuances and problems. When the veil, beard and bomb are stripped away, the lived experiences of Iranians contradict the comic artificial geopolitical framework that Washington and Tel Aviv have sold the public for generations. Official Washington and its allies have insured that public perception of Iran remains stagnant. The three-item checklist has been doing the heavy lifting successfully for decades. It is the perfect American geopolitical souvenir: light to carry, simple to understand and completely useless for comprehending reality. The post Iran: The Veil, the Beard and the Bomb appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by M. Reza Behnam.
How Russia and China Learned to Love Their Border
Since the early 1990s, the Russian city of Blagoveshchensk, located on the Amur River, has steadily reemerged as one of Russia’s most important “border trade hubs.” Sitting directly across from the Chinese city of Heihe, migration for work, commerce, and education has become a routine occurrence between these two cities. Now, the world’s first cross-border More The post How Russia and China Learned to Love Their Border appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin meeting in Beijing for bilateral talks, May, 2026. (Screengrab from video posted to YouTube.). Since the <a href="https://u36605228.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=u001.irwnA1ZB8N-2BHNL3jUmYY-2BBYOyWGD3cWKm0Mgl6oeqAnqyESsaDc-2BdBi-2B7MR8bqAs-2BeUTFBpSJArwztePfD-2BNOw-3D-3DiyQ0_pb-2B40bGv8VszgSLSxZSae2hniLAOGi35ajohLqdIu8wIVCP-2FjsifAGPrnz8TzLY-2BKjLhRsdpbQNbV16iKPh-2FomSip3-2Fa0usf8AJ6yQHR41IpfDjZOd3HpChrWaFQOOdryY03pg2-2FQfdRdf1EwBzXFdolRusFUS9hfhapPFwAYJctNI28tlE-2FAc69JCeLy-2FRljZkq6LEGrNOXsp1pVq8S87MTyoYnMo-2B-2BWYeQwiF66RxNvYCjtD3a4-2BlYHOn8QAhXXHYfTq0noF8ZFCIbkhRdQyZ8LjHsG0cEiWi5qIqW7sQLXW9RGOWL78td85P7KVN0-2B-2ByUaTVTkWbHXxR1J-2FxZrOAbEJZXZiJRopD-2FBvhDVL2r636RQ0lD-2F8emuyb8UkaqgSk69LWZGccUhfz4JZrOsFg0tAxld7CIRdDqzdONolAqUydU1Gsxm3L3DlAIQ5T9t0IgNARIruzYC45WfrNGepaFA3l5zrxihztt1MfNM-2BQD4NepIXznOPmWNAV1cnvwiBeVJyEMfqV50B0-2F5JSqom0KpRZIMVpwL0k8-2F5PljXFQuz9MKFLUo-2BOOTzO7kyMDqMSCmbM-2FifSyVUgWGzm6TDKKjPmrFdcCYNObYmtljvvc3okrI2YOUG4ftJSKfqrp7-2FQURtcyKzWZp46vZRJdqGtDz-2FLwxROp9OYiIWos7avNj0l6CJBEe0aq3gaQBwPAubNDTrQYy6pzgH-2B4FrjIHSKLpW4I-2FFxPTvH0MsKp0-2B3P0junTT-2BZh8-2FsAQeFT-2FejAJmSKsYhzHPscX0uvPPKuB6whZ3BOfSPKOt8FG5L16w-3D">early 1990s, the Russian city of Blagoveshchensk, located on the Amur River, has steadily reemerged as one of Russia’s <a href="https://u36605228.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=u001.irwnA1ZB8N-2BHNL3jUmYY-2BKoxntSBW15DdllfEdL9sQZ02AlVukAXwoN2BAWa6HcwgFMJXoIiv8wVh-2Fkzd0uU-2FIZomqisGfa5pfK1W9JQtd8-3D717m_pb-2B40bGv8VszgSLSxZSae2hniLAOGi35ajohLqdIu8wIVCP-2FjsifAGPrnz8TzLY-2BKjLhRsdpbQNbV16iKPh-2FomSip3-2Fa0usf8AJ6yQHR41IpfDjZOd3HpChrWaFQOOdryY03pg2-2FQfdRdf1EwBzXFdolRusFUS9hfhapPFwAYJctNI28tlE-2FAc69JCeLy-2FRljZkq6LEGrNOXsp1pVq8S87MTyoYnMo-2B-2BWYeQwiF66RxNvYCjtD3a4-2BlYHOn8QAhXXHYfTq0noF8ZFCIbkhRdQyZ8LjHsG0cEiWi5qIqW7sQLXW9RGOWL78td85P7KVN0-2B-2ByUaTVTkWbHXxR1J-2FxZrOAbEJZXZiJRopD-2FBvhDVL2r636RQ0lD-2F8emuyb8UkaqgSk69LWZGccUhfz4JZrOsFg0tAxld7CIRdDqzdONolAqUydU1Gsxm3L3DlAIQ5T9t0IgNARIruzYC45WfrNGepaFA3l5zrxihztt1MfNM-2BQD4NepIXznOPmWNAV1cnvwiBeVJyEMfqV50B0-2F5JSqom0KpRZIMVpwL0k8-2F5PljXFQuz9MKFLUo-2BOOTzO7kyMDqMSCmbM-2FifSyVUgWGzm6TEjuCk4PXzZpPR0PH7F78QoD6B1mLkIDlO3u7GGEjL9PNR7YFydVP-2Fb9aO2UqjiVCxhUm4-2B9vo07p1xsky9Ypt-2BQ1kG83uzyQ4uLqKDsK-2BMNJO0SdjiAePLwICI057cYYWN4-2FEZYjZGlXFkCZS7cgAJ95RZeDiZuJbtaBxNXWvxSI4pdyM8EaNQCnTpFt2dGt4cSjRrn-2BfZcK-2Fb-2BZ0-2Bnrvw-3D">most important “border trade hubs.” Sitting directly across from the Chinese city of Heihe, migration for work, commerce, and education has become a routine occurrence between these two cities. Now, the world’s first cross-border cable car system, which is expected to be <a href="https://u36605228.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=u001.irwnA1ZB8N-2BHNL3jUmYY-2BHcKSx7kKjDvDVj256H16bIEIADWZ6pMtryuPAmiIBclmO81AcW2acu42sqQvk3-2FtiFSlRMNYI2Q-2BqDwC9f1iMX4p1uwMbNqD8ine7ley4nr8x1P_pb-2B40bGv8VszgSLSxZSae2hniLAOGi35ajohLqdIu8wIVCP-2FjsifAGPrnz8TzLY-2BKjLhRsdpbQNbV16iKPh-2FomSip3-2Fa0usf8AJ6yQHR41IpfDjZOd3HpChrWaFQOOdryY03pg2-2FQfdRdf1EwBzXFdolRusFUS9hfhapPFwAYJctNI28tlE-2FAc69JCeLy-2FRljZkq6LEGrNOXsp1pVq8S87MTyoYnMo-2B-2BWYeQwiF66RxNvYCjtD3a4-2BlYHOn8QAhXXHYfTq0noF8ZFCIbkhRdQyZ8LjHsG0cEiWi5qIqW7sQLXW9RGOWL78td85P7KVN0-2B-2ByUaTVTkWbHXxR1J-2FxZrOAbEJZXZiJRopD-2FBvhDVL2r636RQ0lD-2F8emuyb8UkaqgSk69LWZGccUhfz4JZrOsFg0tAxld7CIRdDqzdONolAqUydU1Gsxm3L3DlAIQ5T9t0IgNARIruzYC45WfrNGepaFA3l5zrxihztt1MfNM-2BQD4NepIXznOPmWNAV1cnvwiBeVJyEMfqV50B0-2F5JSqom0KpRZIMVpwL0k8-2F5PljXFQuz9MKFLUo-2BOOTzO7kyMDqMSCmbM-2FifSyVUgWGzm6TP-2FZZAC-2FJF9dEBbGqSsclt-2BvEupCMwGMKe8PpihJajXuuCRN-2B0sY3QZMO0M6CI-2BocbxWhvzEcANxHJlFEPDZd7lc-2B11c01YQzBmnDGDx1atJd5sxdyyoF22wNjT1SXqFJbxM18nsJI0bv5MHPRMcV5wk706u26n0gSGVOWkhoWhDJF2kUbqKBQ49uSxvZhsoaQ1U8Xz-2BbN6D7MC97EKBFNc-3D">completed by the end of 2026, will further connect Blagoveshchensk and Heihe. The vast <a href="https://u36605228.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=u001.irwnA1ZB8N-2BHNL3jUmYY-2BOIMUNDXUc1AWBPSpkvce4s-2FmZUudelfS1K06c8hhrNi3FXgRcqJ5JLAliGNyIMpKF96Zj6hhrUPDdEf4MVgydFf0netEOF-2FCJIxGqVp-2BtkW-2FWkflPQ6zuRwGAZfFJcxpQ-3D-3D8gmr_pb-2B40bGv8VszgSLSxZSae2hniLAOGi35ajohLqdIu8wIVCP-2FjsifAGPrnz8TzLY-2BKjLhRsdpbQNbV16iKPh-2FomSip3-2Fa0usf8AJ6yQHR41IpfDjZOd3HpChrWaFQOOdryY03pg2-2FQfdRdf1EwBzXFdolRusFUS9hfhapPFwAYJctNI28tlE-2FAc69JCeLy-2FRljZkq6LEGrNOXsp1pVq8S87MTyoYnMo-2B-2BWYeQwiF66RxNvYCjtD3a4-2BlYHOn8QAhXXHYfTq0noF8ZFCIbkhRdQyZ8LjHsG0cEiWi5qIqW7sQLXW9RGOWL78td85P7KVN0-2B-2ByUaTVTkWbHXxR1J-2FxZrOAbEJZXZiJRopD-2FBvhDVL2r636RQ0lD-2F8emuyb8UkaqgSk69LWZGccUhfz4JZrOsFg0tAxld7CIRdDqzdONolAqUydU1Gsxm3L3DlAIQ5T9t0IgNARIruzYC45WfrNGepaFA3l5zrxihztt1MfNM-2BQD4NepIXznOPmWNAV1cnvwiBeVJyEMfqV50B0-2F5JSqom0KpRZIMVpwL0k8-2F5PljXFQuz9MKFLUo-2BOOTzO7kyMDqMSCmbM-2FifSyVUgWGzm6TBOH1569df80maK9MVDwFseILK0mGleN-2Bm8MhBx6HKMpEJKtjeGLZGw6a8LvoDmvhR-2FqpWDRHQnl9TgciJG4SUo-2BUcXDfPLgUCuiF-2Fc50YV2dC3pZ3TWSMKGZbXuXK2IxIXbi1CpuOlYkOJKC9j7vmo4lKTL6mElUlDTETYiCtqX02VPCEH-2Fs8ZoN0ojyPvkyn1T1glEi-2FkvhyUQ375f8w8-3D">majority of the shared Russia-China border runs along the Amur River and its main tributaries, including the Argun and Ussuri. Several other <a href="https://u36605228.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=u001.irwnA1ZB8N-2BHNL3jUmYY-2BD6p-2BRsetyHhYrEdf0UtBzorVTpK0VSXRYDITUZ34Tp-2FARD28Au6RWGXGneim4-2Bwm9RKDNFwG7nwXPAdqaXQCs-2BhK7aMS9xHXg5TmE-2B-2FFQDcIvlh8MDHxuBhkKEGtPeNVamdAjJEPTJ3drfkdUcbF9waO5rXJpBHzaz4MAtsgrn3dRBOzOqoyo9QzE5OMCpt9Q-3D-3DEtSa_pb-2B40bGv8VszgSLSxZSae2hniLAOGi35ajohLqdIu8wIVCP-2FjsifAGPrnz8TzLY-2BKjLhRsdpbQNbV16iKPh-2FomSip3-2Fa0usf8AJ6yQHR41IpfDjZOd3HpChrWaFQOOdryY03pg2-2FQfdRdf1EwBzXFdolRusFUS9hfhapPFwAYJctNI28tlE-2FAc69JCeLy-2FRljZkq6LEGrNOXsp1pVq8S87MTyoYnMo-2B-2BWYeQwiF66RxNvYCjtD3a4-2BlYHOn8QAhXXHYfTq0noF8ZFCIbkhRdQyZ8LjHsG0cEiWi5qIqW7sQLXW9RGOWL78td85P7KVN0-2B-2ByUaTVTkWbHXxR1J-2FxZrOAbEJZXZiJRopD-2FBvhDVL2r636RQ0lD-2F8emuyb8UkaqgSk69LWZGccUhfz4JZrOsFg0tAxld7CIRdDqzdONolAqUydU1Gsxm3L3DlAIQ5T9t0IgNARIruzYC45WfrNGepaFA3l5zrxihztt1MfNM-2BQD4NepIXznOPmWNAV1cnvwiBeVJyEMfqV50B0-2F5JSqom0KpRZIMVpwL0k8-2F5PljXFQuz9MKFLUo-2BOOTzO7kyMDqMSCmbM-2FifSyVUgWGzm6TFTAO7SziIUgCRzz-2F-2FaIceOOwvPDWBMOi9bUd39M-2Bqzi9Yd5ovnxceCgTJFWDpjs6nXy85wMnycD6-2FNua-2BihT48TMnUld6sobycvDbL-2F4tVTNShix0uiKN777d1cUwk5xx2MKYWIRT7iQV5R-2FjacNmRdsYNTjXCWAK9fW-2FkiZWbw-2BRD5CNGstZGw-2FofQbZXmHOii1tmJ8GIPAgv8tW2NCy8-3D">cross-border infrastructure projects are underway, including a road-railway <a href="https://u36605228.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=u001.irwnA1ZB8N-2BHNL3jUmYY-2BKDcJhcN9W6U0lTzyavJawY-2F2cTtqpuAWTK0Wf7KBv6Bu4LVp4VXKpWmVG4HmnM2CFOFvtVQfqJn1pkP4D2XstQ4wU0colXPEDAsbChD2Rl-2FfAZoHsaYgLQnzzyUvqG1IN1aCDuGA7DA11UGSLu9QiU-3DRNUk_pb-2B40bGv8VszgSLSxZSae2hniLAOGi35ajohLqdIu8wIVCP-2FjsifAGPrnz8TzLY-2BKjLhRsdpbQNbV16iKPh-2FomSip3-2Fa0usf8AJ6yQHR41IpfDjZOd3HpChrWaFQOOdryY03pg2-2FQfdRdf1EwBzXFdolRusFUS9hfhapPFwAYJctNI28tlE-2FAc69JCeLy-2FRljZkq6LEGrNOXsp1pVq8S87MTyoYnMo-2B-2BWYeQwiF66RxNvYCjtD3a4-2BlYHOn8QAhXXHYfTq0noF8ZFCIbkhRdQyZ8LjHsG0cEiWi5qIqW7sQLXW9RGOWL78td85P7KVN0-2B-2ByUaTVTkWbHXxR1J-2FxZrOAbEJZXZiJRopD-2FBvhDVL2r636RQ0lD-2F8emuyb8UkaqgSk69LWZGccUhfz4JZrOsFg0tAxld7CIRdDqzdONolAqUydU1Gsxm3L3DlAIQ5T9t0IgNARIruzYC45WfrNGepaFA3l5zrxihztt1MfNM-2BQD4NepIXznOPmWNAV1cnvwiBeVJyEMfqV50B0-2F5JSqom0KpRZIMVpwL0k8-2F5PljXFQuz9MKFLUo-2BOOTzO7kyMDqMSCmbM-2FifSyVUgWGzm6TLJRwPMnNUiGKGxOXYKSIxAjTAhf6YTp-2B5ExRPH60uqcuokfIjo2CHRgbXBc3NLzvkdfy0sZ9jR8EqxfSQuWVgxk4sNsq4PEORi9y-2F9dOYKYGk5xALxeNHdXtCCNWihNoU1gv1vbhhDbVskwojtMAHP0k9tR4ecBnAei8-2B3cExJkGyVW4MhitRO7-2F2fcYiHdb5k6c70C7REUELYhO3sAyys-3D">bridge at the Dzhalinda mixed checkpoint, also scheduled to open this year. While sanctions and the war in Ukraine have cut into much of Russia’s civilian economy, its Far East has benefited from the expanding trade and infrastructure links being constructed with China. Mutual trade, much of it routed through these border crossings, increased by <a href="https://u36605228.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=u001.irwnA1ZB8N-2BHNL3jUmYY-2BK6ki9wV13ZHo6u9q6FVUDvUmmOLQK2-2FFK6dhIlWJM3pw0oMAKjKRvyXIlWE7lpCVb-2BKQ4iOjSi7sdSiD-2B2eAw2ldTGFNZj7LpmXeI4ztmy6g0ZS_pb-2B40bGv8VszgSLSxZSae2hniLAOGi35ajohLqdIu8wIVCP-2FjsifAGPrnz8TzLY-2BKjLhRsdpbQNbV16iKPh-2FomSip3-2Fa0usf8AJ6yQHR41IpfDjZOd3HpChrWaFQOOdryY03pg2-2FQfdRdf1EwBzXFdolRusFUS9hfhapPFwAYJctNI28tlE-2FAc69JCeLy-2FRljZkq6LEGrNOXsp1pVq8S87MTyoYnMo-2B-2BWYeQwiF66RxNvYCjtD3a4-2BlYHOn8QAhXXHYfTq0noF8ZFCIbkhRdQyZ8LjHsG0cEiWi5qIqW7sQLXW9RGOWL78td85P7KVN0-2B-2ByUaTVTkWbHXxR1J-2FxZrOAbEJZXZiJRopD-2FBvhDVL2r636RQ0lD-2F8emuyb8UkaqgSk69LWZGccUhfz4JZrOsFg0tAxld7CIRdDqzdONolAqUydU1Gsxm3L3DlAIQ5T9t0IgNARIruzYC45WfrNGepaFA3l5zrxihztt1MfNM-2BQD4NepIXznOPmWNAV1cnvwiBeVJyEMfqV50B0-2F5JSqom0KpRZIMVpwL0k8-2F5PljXFQuz9MKFLUo-2BOOTzO7kyMDqMSCmbM-2FifSyVUgWGzm6TNgi3u2PbQe8g-2Bdgu7MjlzToNJRvv2ZRB5AKwnuR7E4v8CrB4BuF62aXFK5MG0j7SKnH3cPpQll-2FG4lLOjmxI-2BVgxjBe-2BV39vtIpms1xZOSLcHPwlpDBTGuIZPNs85hm21h-2Btw8ThiMjpgG1zDC5qaiKAsibznUWhubGxMHxY9Pugc7o8zS6RnhX8-2BuqI1vyLm1zbDjPdQFzZXO37aVv42A-3D">two-thirds from 2022 to 2024, reaching $240 billion. Meanwhile, the trade activity between Russia and China grew by <a href="https://u36605228.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=u001.irwnA1ZB8N-2BHNL3jUmYY-2BCLDVDj68iUblJ2bI-2BV6PiQyD23NSm9kzqD45VNuepgO2vMwUXHpWBsiahKwx6mKRA-3D-3DKXXW_pb-2B40bGv8VszgSLSxZSae2hniLAOGi35ajohLqdIu8wIVCP-2FjsifAGPrnz8TzLY-2BKjLhRsdpbQNbV16iKPh-2FomSip3-2Fa0usf8AJ6yQHR41IpfDjZOd3HpChrWaFQOOdryY03pg2-2FQfdRdf1EwBzXFdolRusFUS9hfhapPFwAYJctNI28tlE-2FAc69JCeLy-2FRljZkq6LEGrNOXsp1pVq8S87MTyoYnMo-2B-2BWYeQwiF66RxNvYCjtD3a4-2BlYHOn8QAhXXHYfTq0noF8ZFCIbkhRdQyZ8LjHsG0cEiWi5qIqW7sQLXW9RGOWL78td85P7KVN0-2B-2ByUaTVTkWbHXxR1J-2FxZrOAbEJZXZiJRopD-2FBvhDVL2r636RQ0lD-2F8emuyb8UkaqgSk69LWZGccUhfz4JZrOsFg0tAxld7CIRdDqzdONolAqUydU1Gsxm3L3DlAIQ5T9t0IgNARIruzYC45WfrNGepaFA3l5zrxihztt1MfNM-2BQD4NepIXznOPmWNAV1cnvwiBeVJyEMfqV50B0-2F5JSqom0KpRZIMVpwL0k8-2F5PljXFQuz9MKFLUo-2BOOTzO7kyMDqMSCmbM-2FifSyVUgWGzm6TIwreBykPBkfroyHNJuIJGv0qWZqs3NoEngFlECwip5XL5S1ppqrHWSTm1bCq74TUQV2bllKFIYRFe36eVD-2BIxYqpv2Va82zBoAlAoyIFuL7CkTczNI5CK6HpkZPRUB8mCy4YiUsqBLy-2BAwkZm-2BBfkKIWfpfd2xwjVH9ds-2B1u-2BsgliK3vr-2BfKpLGas0v9S0CLY2lqEEWo8OhBt9h9bS1dIs-3D">23 percent between January and May 2026. In March, the Chinese ambassador to Russia <a href="https://u36605228.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=u001.irwnA1ZB8N-2BHNL3jUmYY-2BMuFL0y8cXiSla5WJiDhgwUJl9Y8bXosq0cTRXFAdLkb29xtcZe3s9-2B7sUYYROmDvzMTE6AY1luAvyf8sQsuTEehyx8asA4-2B2DVCudzVD1ExkJDH5tYFc92zN1pH40ZbP9RTfRi-2B597iQpShrcx-2BeLmgngirIrvMPo6PFhfgZdI5lxSiwT2RzQx4-2FPSiZDP-2FLA-3D-3DtQef_pb-2B40bGv8VszgSLSxZSae2hniLAOGi35ajohLqdIu8wIVCP-2FjsifAGPrnz8TzLY-2BKjLhRsdpbQNbV16iKPh-2FomSip3-2Fa0usf8AJ6yQHR41IpfDjZOd3HpChrWaFQOOdryY03pg2-2FQfdRdf1EwBzXFdolRusFUS9hfhapPFwAYJctNI28tlE-2FAc69JCeLy-2FRljZkq6LEGrNOXsp1pVq8S87MTyoYnMo-2B-2BWYeQwiF66RxNvYCjtD3a4-2BlYHOn8QAhXXHYfTq0noF8ZFCIbkhRdQyZ8LjHsG0cEiWi5qIqW7sQLXW9RGOWL78td85P7KVN0-2B-2ByUaTVTkWbHXxR1J-2FxZrOAbEJZXZiJRopD-2FBvhDVL2r636RQ0lD-2F8emuyb8UkaqgSk69LWZGccUhfz4JZrOsFg0tAxld7CIRdDqzdONolAqUydU1Gsxm3L3DlAIQ5T9t0IgNARIruzYC45WfrNGepaFA3l5zrxihztt1MfNM-2BQD4NepIXznOPmWNAV1cnvwiBeVJyEMfqV50B0-2F5JSqom0KpRZIMVpwL0k8-2F5PljXFQuz9MKFLUo-2BOOTzO7kyMDqMSCmbM-2FifSyVUgWGzm6TPccEC3NDFRtPOXHmpjbUY7GcNNe8szR4vZDQofZfpO0n5P0XGgaPRZoiAgV7kUcjWs4hCdyCIEbwec6f51JJHnnKilVxBCgRGKZCGQO-2F-2Bada5vkD8wQwwsJZkAirmsOnUDM-2BUOuGgcU0Ibc2lzUk8rizeVAwgKcBnWuIPK7435NiU2zH0QvDEd6mEkBQKdiJ8Iv-2BYcytbuzBFaDmERVSig-3D">called for additional border crossings to cut logistics costs. This level of economic integration is a far cry from the militarized frontier of the 1960s, when hundreds of thousands of Chinese and Soviet troops <a href="https://u36605228.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=u001.irwnA1ZB8N-2BHNL3jUmYY-2BE7ZUtJ3bbO0G26ycK1LBAEUC484br8wtRQ2Sd3QVselkAv5dfcP-2FNGkmGndGz1YOD9ObAdeCCtb-2Bzav-2F2sZs6pYwkAJ7ZoKy0vy0o-2BqunkQCSof_pb-2B40bGv8VszgSLSxZSae2hniLAOGi35ajohLqdIu8wIVCP-2FjsifAGPrnz8TzLY-2BKjLhRsdpbQNbV16iKPh-2FomSip3-2Fa0usf8AJ6yQHR41IpfDjZOd3HpChrWaFQOOdryY03pg2-2FQfdRdf1EwBzXFdolRusFUS9hfhapPFwAYJctNI28tlE-2FAc69JCeLy-2FRljZkq6LEGrNOXsp1pVq8S87MTyoYnMo-2B-2BWYeQwiF66RxNvYCjtD3a4-2BlYHOn8QAhXXHYfTq0noF8ZFCIbkhRdQyZ8LjHsG0cEiWi5qIqW7sQLXW9RGOWL78td85P7KVN0-2B-2ByUaTVTkWbHXxR1J-2FxZrOAbEJZXZiJRopD-2FBvhDVL2r636RQ0lD-2F8emuyb8UkaqgSk69LWZGccUhfz4JZrOsFg0tAxld7CIRdDqzdONolAqUydU1Gsxm3L3DlAIQ5T9t0IgNARIruzYC45WfrNGepaFA3l5zrxihztt1MfNM-2BQD4NepIXznOPmWNAV1cnvwiBeVJyEMfqV50B0-2F5JSqom0KpRZIMVpwL0k8-2F5PljXFQuz9MKFLUo-2BOOTzO7kyMDqMSCmbM-2FifSyVUgWGzm6TCflYfrV3XuGPcADq-2F-2FN-2Bvvxn9-2FXVebqZAqNFGSO45espWLaOc3sDSeUuty0GZgWL6DiXindSL1q6xSCoSnip1rIv9aPRvq-2F73wPFbm2E2IzL0djR7Nu9WTIWTLrQScXs8Hb3ODPGC7X-2F-2BPkMaenhxMP-2B2SUHfp7YLsFEbn3LxU8KWPNmfS8Met4LJTSfFGdMSg8BEb9CCvmQ9nvthGueUI-3D">engaged in deadly clashes in 1969 during the <a href="https://u36605228.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=u001.irwnA1ZB8N-2BHNL3jUmYY-2BLUdBim-2Bik06zABxC40cLaiisuPyY3yCqh5sfIrwFLSEXM-2F5KvCb7tJiOqraDPZr4X-2B4dJlX6d-2Fgdg5h1OwB3G9u6h9-2BWOxJ3SgA5jx28f-2BTW9rhxTbGgHqh1dwRUcQT1A-3D-3DxJ_g_pb-2B40bGv8VszgSLSxZSae2hniLAOGi35ajohLqdIu8wIVCP-2FjsifAGPrnz8TzLY-2BKjLhRsdpbQNbV16iKPh-2FomSip3-2Fa0usf8AJ6yQHR41IpfDjZOd3HpChrWaFQOOdryY03pg2-2FQfdRdf1EwBzXFdolRusFUS9hfhapPFwAYJctNI28tlE-2FAc69JCeLy-2FRljZkq6LEGrNOXsp1pVq8S87MTyoYnMo-2B-2BWYeQwiF66RxNvYCjtD3a4-2BlYHOn8QAhXXHYfTq0noF8ZFCIbkhRdQyZ8LjHsG0cEiWi5qIqW7sQLXW9RGOWL78td85P7KVN0-2B-2ByUaTVTkWbHXxR1J-2FxZrOAbEJZXZiJRopD-2FBvhDVL2r636RQ0lD-2F8emuyb8UkaqgSk69LWZGccUhfz4JZrOsFg0tAxld7CIRdDqzdONolAqUydU1Gsxm3L3DlAIQ5T9t0IgNARIruzYC45WfrNGepaFA3l5zrxihztt1MfNM-2BQD4NepIXznOPmWNAV1cnvwiBeVJyEMfqV50B0-2F5JSqom0KpRZIMVpwL0k8-2F5PljXFQuz9MKFLUo-2BOOTzO7kyMDqMSCmbM-2FifSyVUgWGzm6TIi9aQxQ1-2Bg3QCKqD5vk7Ey06-2Bzsf8-2BNYMz-2FI4p6qSyhBKu7DDpwKXIm5JOURsLRRy2M-2BCz4wZcga3D1FThYjLnjE72iyVBZvSYHW1lJIV33pMXWV9IpuKxTNUqaU-2FOdSAW7ZAb-2FGN8zbYUl-2Bmqluov7rSRYvvHQklb6owaMnPbOORI-2BGp853-2BuR6EJglJdSKKU44m9z9wHU-2BenA4yns0R4-3D">Zhenbao Island incident. The <a href="https://u36605228.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=u001.irwnA1ZB8N-2BHNL3jUmYY-2BAu0F14GGGOv9rJlES8ULOH0fPPdCKX8RNGFfbd7uAlt5zVNDXWe0rN4ZMbKx0WtkwXAlFPxOs2nzPYH0aPryv09XtFrR4J9LTm2YnAuV9-2BZWfVK_pb-2B40bGv8VszgSLSxZSae2hniLAOGi35ajohLqdIu8wIVCP-2FjsifAGPrnz8TzLY-2BKjLhRsdpbQNbV16iKPh-2FomSip3-2Fa0usf8AJ6yQHR41IpfDjZOd3HpChrWaFQOOdryY03pg2-2FQfdRdf1EwBzXFdolRusFUS9hfhapPFwAYJctNI28tlE-2FAc69JCeLy-2FRljZkq6LEGrNOXsp1pVq8S87MTyoYnMo-2B-2BWYeQwiF66RxNvYCjtD3a4-2BlYHOn8QAhXXHYfTq0noF8ZFCIbkhRdQyZ8LjHsG0cEiWi5qIqW7sQLXW9RGOWL78td85P7KVN0-2B-2ByUaTVTkWbHXxR1J-2FxZrOAbEJZXZiJRopD-2FBvhDVL2r636RQ0lD-2F8emuyb8UkaqgSk69LWZGccUhfz4JZrOsFg0tAxld7CIRdDqzdONolAqUydU1Gsxm3L3DlAIQ5T9t0IgNARIruzYC45WfrNGepaFA3l5zrxihztt1MfNM-2BQD4NepIXznOPmWNAV1cnvwiBeVJyEMfqV50B0-2F5JSqom0KpRZIMVpwL0k8-2F5PljXFQuz9MKFLUo-2BOOTzO7kyMDqMSCmbM-2FifSyVUgWGzm6TJ3WlRQZ-2Bv5sZRawx7SWuLK16-2BfbK5k-2Fp11D5yplLBKtKQbkgoTRdEjJ6dpX00ZaL-2BBdeVT10BacHepoWSkezJw7Ota-2BPFxzPT2U74CWmDmCGri3Vu53aJEcNwzT0S6Kj2KSeRuX-2F7r415joVU8CIfbOMYdR1t58fdQasoSm-2BhaVxJ-2BUuBvzaFRGj5PJtNBxr6Sh4N47v4LheuJy7xGVaCs-3D">affair pushed both Moscow and Beijing to seek greater ties with Washington in the aftermath. Some American strategists continue to see the border as a potential fault line, with <a href="https://u36605228.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=u001.irwnA1ZB8N-2BHNL3jUmYY-2BHVNmJ-2Fu9bGobhoQIo6dQKD7LM3mKp1vi4d2n18tb4dP6xdI4jfeYe0iG89jkzVgSQ-3D-3Dnp7F_pb-2B40bGv8VszgSLSxZSae2hniLAOGi35ajohLqdIu8wIVCP-2FjsifAGPrnz8TzLY-2BKjLhRsdpbQNbV16iKPh-2FomSip3-2Fa0usf8AJ6yQHR41IpfDjZOd3HpChrWaFQOOdryY03pg2-2FQfdRdf1EwBzXFdolRusFUS9hfhapPFwAYJctNI28tlE-2FAc69JCeLy-2FRljZkq6LEGrNOXsp1pVq8S87MTyoYnMo-2B-2BWYeQwiF66RxNvYCjtD3a4-2BlYHOn8QAhXXHYfTq0noF8ZFCIbkhRdQyZ8LjHsG0cEiWi5qIqW7sQLXW9RGOWL78td85P7KVN0-2B-2ByUaTVTkWbHXxR1J-2FxZrOAbEJZXZiJRopD-2FBvhDVL2r636RQ0lD-2F8emuyb8UkaqgSk69LWZGccUhfz4JZrOsFg0tAxld7CIRdDqzdONolAqUydU1Gsxm3L3DlAIQ5T9t0IgNARIruzYC45WfrNGepaFA3l5zrxihztt1MfNM-2BQD4NepIXznOPmWNAV1cnvwiBeVJyEMfqV50B0-2F5JSqom0KpRZIMVpwL0k8-2F5PljXFQuz9MKFLUo-2BOOTzO7kyMDqMSCmbM-2FifSyVUgWGzm6TDHMtnIFPh54RJusOdFqgasof7KH0AbkJKzvameyFlGdpK8O7bTHXH5txk-2FC5Hsq77s0OgMD0zgoklf5PlXP5RYwRBaD8ZKY6nUMxwr-2BMdwt44xS44G-2FHgY5XUGsHfStyAf5D-2BgWpPCdGNzn9CYWrHyFLOSSd6FTw3YIbcdbJyYO9f-2BP3lrdFNaw3tT-2Ft2jqraquoOQt2RFtO5uRgg-2FGr4w-3D">a 2021 monograph from the US School of Advanced Military Studies calling it “ripe with historical tensions and potentially susceptible to an information campaign by the United States.” Today, however, neither Russia nor China has any reason for renewing hostility. Both view Washington as a greater strategic concern and have benefited from the stability that a settled border has provided. It is crucial to remember, however, that the present border arrangement is <a href="https://u36605228.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=u001.irwnA1ZB8N-2BHNL3jUmYY-2BJuYYakb04-2Bw-2BzuHkzpdonVjEOrMwAencIyh12iG1fXHBhu8Iz7oeqnQSj3eh1-2BkYB1u-2Fz6T6SX82Fih6Kg9S1TaXccYJ2U3kpThhh9YmSPiuPujvnBQnOplym2qyR1OopyWvZzVCLV8sR-2BpPwMSEZM-3D_PtT_pb-2B40bGv8VszgSLSxZSae2hniLAOGi35ajohLqdIu8wIVCP-2FjsifAGPrnz8TzLY-2BKjLhRsdpbQNbV16iKPh-2FomSip3-2Fa0usf8AJ6yQHR41IpfDjZOd3HpChrWaFQOOdryY03pg2-2FQfdRdf1EwBzXFdolRusFUS9hfhapPFwAYJctNI28tlE-2FAc69JCeLy-2FRljZkq6LEGrNOXsp1pVq8S87MTyoYnMo-2B-2BWYeQwiF66RxNvYCjtD3a4-2BlYHOn8QAhXXHYfTq0noF8ZFCIbkhRdQyZ8LjHsG0cEiWi5qIqW7sQLXW9RGOWL78td85P7KVN0-2B-2ByUaTVTkWbHXxR1J-2FxZrOAbEJZXZiJRopD-2FBvhDVL2r636RQ0lD-2F8emuyb8UkaqgSk69LWZGccUhfz4JZrOsFg0tAxld7CIRdDqzdONolAqUydU1Gsxm3L3DlAIQ5T9t0IgNARIruzYC45WfrNGepaFA3l5zrxihztt1MfNM-2BQD4NepIXznOPmWNAV1cnvwiBeVJyEMfqV50B0-2F5JSqom0KpRZIMVpwL0k8-2F5PljXFQuz9MKFLUo-2BOOTzO7kyMDqMSCmbM-2FifSyVUgWGzm6TCTYjvDTHwhVqRn6DRRHdo02dSPTnCF6rafUlrS5Za-2BOmYA3CWDOj6G-2B7sUERm7MDFyExG1bCxI7UGisM-2BR7Cdul-2FYTETtqKYwg6C5vmZ7mDshCelbBhn-2F4-2BJg5qEqYohJkxI-2BbBAJnWBI4Odo1GY6K0-2Bu8x70hpQ5SnJH34mAODG8lknmyvN1aSlPvIP5KYuLynVKTFd2jVkhd1aqTR2QA-3D">less than 20 years old, having been finalized only after nearly four centuries of intermittent contact, competing claims, and flashes of violence. Exploring that history is essential to understanding how China and Russia have ensured current stability along their border and why it remains a distinctive and important part of their burgeoning relationship. Expanding Empires Meet The Tsardom of Russia and the Qing Empire first encountered each other as they expanded into the Amur River Basin in the 1640s, with limited local geographic knowledge and differing concepts of imperial governance. Russian officials <a href="https://u36605228.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=u001.irwnA1ZB8N-2BHNL3jUmYY-2BOUJ4Tw9qb4FMC-2BRy2GAYYL7VtQwmkkBtoMZPiMdgWATxW2IOuHAYL0DihtqoIqwEA-3D-3DXqMa_pb-2B40bGv8VszgSLSxZSae2hniLAOGi35ajohLqdIu8wIVCP-2FjsifAGPrnz8TzLY-2BKjLhRsdpbQNbV16iKPh-2FomSip3-2Fa0usf8AJ6yQHR41IpfDjZOd3HpChrWaFQOOdryY03pg2-2FQfdRdf1EwBzXFdolRusFUS9hfhapPFwAYJctNI28tlE-2FAc69JCeLy-2FRljZkq6LEGrNOXsp1pVq8S87MTyoYnMo-2B-2BWYeQwiF66RxNvYCjtD3a4-2BlYHOn8QAhXXHYfTq0noF8ZFCIbkhRdQyZ8LjHsG0cEiWi5qIqW7sQLXW9RGOWL78td85P7KVN0-2B-2ByUaTVTkWbHXxR1J-2FxZrOAbEJZXZiJRopD-2FBvhDVL2r636RQ0lD-2F8emuyb8UkaqgSk69LWZGccUhfz4JZrOsFg0tAxld7CIRdDqzdONolAqUydU1Gsxm3L3DlAIQ5T9t0IgNARIruzYC45WfrNGepaFA3l5zrxihztt1MfNM-2BQD4NepIXznOPmWNAV1cnvwiBeVJyEMfqV50B0-2F5JSqom0KpRZIMVpwL0k8-2F5PljXFQuz9MKFLUo-2BOOTzO7kyMDqMSCmbM-2FifSyVUgWGzm6TEVNMaCvFYiLTnZQMtScUo4bJxwgcpMSBiT4A6OPiDxFuNWOhFjpUMhrP5Y6YfPFjUSIuRqhQaBxCtHttmDRNh4vldtFZ1bi6BdhdnkgCUB6t24vt3cjS5Sm5Tr6a3lXV0ALirVrrPWRCNy9AFepIj36lZlmGApfRV0F9ToVDRFvR8-2BDgxSqTOJaLhR64eONj6ifhECWI2TMRAt-2F-2Bo4UcbU-3D">approached the region through European notions of fixed boundaries and territorial control. Qing rulers relied more on a tributary system that <a href="https://u36605228.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=u001.irwnA1ZB8N-2BHNL3jUmYY-2BCT5g7TIzjuBeYaV-2F7Bv1En-2BWLEcl8zQw2Eglm44pt-2BbhOiOKHKw74XF1s3sPDKefiNOb3UW0ESUZTI65lHSPNTMAMjAtG7FDb9T99combFhfcvp_pb-2B40bGv8VszgSLSxZSae2hniLAOGi35ajohLqdIu8wIVCP-2FjsifAGPrnz8TzLY-2BKjLhRsdpbQNbV16iKPh-2FomSip3-2Fa0usf8AJ6yQHR41IpfDjZOd3HpChrWaFQOOdryY03pg2-2FQfdRdf1EwBzXFdolRusFUS9hfhapPFwAYJctNI28tlE-2FAc69JCeLy-2FRljZkq6LEGrNOXsp1pVq8S87MTyoYnMo-2B-2BWYeQwiF66RxNvYCjtD3a4-2BlYHOn8QAhXXHYfTq0noF8ZFCIbkhRdQyZ8LjHsG0cEiWi5qIqW7sQLXW9RGOWL78td85P7KVN0-2B-2ByUaTVTkWbHXxR1J-2FxZrOAbEJZXZiJRopD-2FBvhDVL2r636RQ0lD-2F8emuyb8UkaqgSk69LWZGccUhfz4JZrOsFg0tAxld7CIRdDqzdONolAqUydU1Gsxm3L3DlAIQ5T9t0IgNARIruzYC45WfrNGepaFA3l5zrxihztt1MfNM-2BQD4NepIXznOPmWNAV1cnvwiBeVJyEMfqV50B0-2F5JSqom0KpRZIMVpwL0k8-2F5PljXFQuz9MKFLUo-2BOOTzO7kyMDqMSCmbM-2FifSyVUgWGzm6TKL1VHXBUQn6zjeir-2FdRl0J1cZz476-2BaYo0i929aCw8Ah5dVG-2FYZeaUzIdPZUGyBHdeXIn2Msjj0zjyswjN08BM5-2FC8EZbpjE9FKvcVEMG-2F7tMZrIAwhWgktjWUM5EvWaDFXYVfOnhOEjYJMYpEf6dF0TOCa6CLbs7EnBlHUH2PeAvaUs5LvG0AgVhrXHeS41-2FJydWG-2FufLqRMH5yjvAceg-3D">provided a strategic buffer. Moreover, Qing <a href="https://u36605228.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=u001.irwnA1ZB8N-2BHNL3jUmYY-2BDYLZ8-2FVCQ8u9LjTJv-2FZf-2Flbz3Gn8KqL5mYM52TBL3H9Aq-2FoODl-2Fgmyw8c2ksyHbQCn45MM15SiQFtHn0NE7yF0-3DUaQX_pb-2B40bGv8VszgSLSxZSae2hniLAOGi35ajohLqdIu8wIVCP-2FjsifAGPrnz8TzLY-2BKjLhRsdpbQNbV16iKPh-2FomSip3-2Fa0usf8AJ6yQHR41IpfDjZOd3HpChrWaFQOOdryY03pg2-2FQfdRdf1EwBzXFdolRusFUS9hfhapPFwAYJctNI28tlE-2FAc69JCeLy-2FRljZkq6LEGrNOXsp1pVq8S87MTyoYnMo-2B-2BWYeQwiF66RxNvYCjtD3a4-2BlYHOn8QAhXXHYfTq0noF8ZFCIbkhRdQyZ8LjHsG0cEiWi5qIqW7sQLXW9RGOWL78td85P7KVN0-2B-2ByUaTVTkWbHXxR1J-2FxZrOAbEJZXZiJRopD-2FBvhDVL2r636RQ0lD-2F8emuyb8UkaqgSk69LWZGccUhfz4JZrOsFg0tAxld7CIRdDqzdONolAqUydU1Gsxm3L3DlAIQ5T9t0IgNARIruzYC45WfrNGepaFA3l5zrxihztt1MfNM-2BQD4NepIXznOPmWNAV1cnvwiBeVJyEMfqV50B0-2F5JSqom0KpRZIMVpwL0k8-2F5PljXFQuz9MKFLUo-2BOOTzO7kyMDqMSCmbM-2FifSyVUgWGzm6TC2oSihSI2OBnC7-2FSr3oIxL06HfTSVDJwOwTelDbr4Uuh3HREcXnSV3NICF0WbF6xdlh-2FtgqeCu1ujtcjOmU0hTuDKkc3R6zOYl6rTN1D4eVKmhfT8U3P-2B5nxoFrTsGCr6DAwDaRSJKUDs4Lwj8xs-2B-2F0vhSdXrs-2BiITeZ3eDqxOSvDl8ZCGOe9Y8Piy-2FjZw7yh0EjmTYZx-2F1dLhAhK18Id0-3D">maps and administrative claims also treated the region as their domain, historian James A. Millward notes. Clashes in the 1650s and an <a href="https://u36605228.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=u001.irwnA1ZB8N-2BHNL3jUmYY-2BMXhwx4hRI84pkPB9jcHxg44MEH1gmcJHA9jKuCCzUNBGtthyMyPNnFGTcAXN3LDuALHTxVRAdHlYsf-2FUJER5bWYCjtw9pZ6BYPNrgnHT5M-2Bjh-2Bl-2BQoz3-2FPxcoKJbijUdM7O-2BgNEhFttTiYMkg9vkKs-3Dt9gT_pb-2B40bGv8VszgSLSxZSae2hniLAOGi35ajohLqdIu8wIVCP-2FjsifAGPrnz8TzLY-2BKjLhRsdpbQNbV16iKPh-2FomSip3-2Fa0usf8AJ6yQHR41IpfDjZOd3HpChrWaFQOOdryY03pg2-2FQfdRdf1EwBzXFdolRusFUS9hfhapPFwAYJctNI28tlE-2FAc69JCeLy-2FRljZkq6LEGrNOXsp1pVq8S87MTyoYnMo-2B-2BWYeQwiF66RxNvYCjtD3a4-2BlYHOn8QAhXXHYfTq0noF8ZFCIbkhRdQyZ8LjHsG0cEiWi5qIqW7sQLXW9RGOWL78td85P7KVN0-2B-2ByUaTVTkWbHXxR1J-2FxZrOAbEJZXZiJRopD-2FBvhDVL2r636RQ0lD-2F8emuyb8UkaqgSk69LWZGccUhfz4JZrOsFg0tAxld7CIRdDqzdONolAqUydU1Gsxm3L3DlAIQ5T9t0IgNARIruzYC45WfrNGepaFA3l5zrxihztt1MfNM-2BQD4NepIXznOPmWNAV1cnvwiBeVJyEMfqV50B0-2F5JSqom0KpRZIMVpwL0k8-2F5PljXFQuz9MKFLUo-2BOOTzO7kyMDqMSCmbM-2FifSyVUgWGzm6TNwQ85B5CwZiGndybGbmVGYBKer5hQPyTtL3aA2gWk92ZyaxdhkJVFC0YP9V9DdfI2s76A0cUX-2Fs2jUczzW0krmg-2BSgXfW-2FbCqDW6VH9cVkHXs-2Byl6TUNlAR5CzPJRap6yOwy4Tap7xt8lk-2BL-2FJHEUDbmSuf6HmMf3EISX1-2BNXsBWeUVPD3Mp-2BAwbSL2SJ59OmC2Jsp4RcOo57wne54C9QA-3D">inability to communicate directly complicated efforts to define a frontier between Russia and China. Finally, in 1689, the Qing employed two Jesuit advisers, whose command of Latin helped bridge negotiations with the Russians’ Polish interpreter, resulting in the Treaty of Nerchinsk. Russia <a href="https://u36605228.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=u001.irwnA1ZB8N-2BHNL3jUmYY-2BHkzoTP91fV3S6GWtQuPesEsG2HxvIwyKzQy9FLzgQYeFRd4ft-2FpqAm4FLLEIoOpAEWXzM4PvXHWu8axp86KlWs-3DrOcO_pb-2B40bGv8VszgSLSxZSae2hniLAOGi35ajohLqdIu8wIVCP-2FjsifAGPrnz8TzLY-2BKjLhRsdpbQNbV16iKPh-2FomSip3-2Fa0usf8AJ6yQHR41IpfDjZOd3HpChrWaFQOOdryY03pg2-2FQfdRdf1EwBzXFdolRusFUS9hfhapPFwAYJctNI28tlE-2FAc69JCeLy-2FRljZkq6LEGrNOXsp1pVq8S87MTyoYnMo-2B-2BWYeQwiF66RxNvYCjtD3a4-2BlYHOn8QAhXXHYfTq0noF8ZFCIbkhRdQyZ8LjHsG0cEiWi5qIqW7sQLXW9RGOWL78td85P7KVN0-2B-2ByUaTVTkWbHXxR1J-2FxZrOAbEJZXZiJRopD-2FBvhDVL2r636RQ0lD-2F8emuyb8UkaqgSk69LWZGccUhfz4JZrOsFg0tAxld7CIRdDqzdONolAqUydU1Gsxm3L3DlAIQ5T9t0IgNARIruzYC45WfrNGepaFA3l5zrxihztt1MfNM-2BQD4NepIXznOPmWNAV1cnvwiBeVJyEMfqV50B0-2F5JSqom0KpRZIMVpwL0k8-2F5PljXFQuz9MKFLUo-2BOOTzO7kyMDqMSCmbM-2FifSyVUgWGzm6TP12TAaveJYk3rK1hHGeYVKwJMe4symnGwbMY19eLARIo4na7-2FGCkVWftuM7uVIYM5S3NXBAZvvr2UVQXOBG9eMLuGq8Xu6kcuZzuTBoPk31Jlc-2F5V8j9lrQqZvPmSjkSMhhSJOZl-2FueViLDQUCJDKzd2l5m7JRhOcAbYy8NAriIrasoTlbB5fyC2UJCmAFNSEVV79tSa59hvqSOAHOumJg-3D">agreed to withdraw from much of the Amur region, a concession made easier by its retention of territory west of the Argun River, expansion opportunities in Siberia, and trading rights with the Qing. In return, the Qing secured the frontier and consolidated control over Mongolia. As historian <a href="https://u36605228.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=u001.irwnA1ZB8N-2BHNL3jUmYY-2BMXhwx4hRI84pkPB9jcHxg44MEH1gmcJHA9jKuCCzUNBGtthyMyPNnFGTcAXN3LDuALHTxVRAdHlYsf-2FUJER5bWYCjtw9pZ6BYPNrgnHT5M-2Bjh-2Bl-2BQoz3-2FPxcoKJbijUdM7O-2BgNEhFttTiYMkg9vkKs-3Dg1xI_pb-2B40bGv8VszgSLSxZSae2hniLAOGi35ajohLqdIu8wIVCP-2FjsifAGPrnz8TzLY-2BKjLhRsdpbQNbV16iKPh-2FomSip3-2Fa0usf8AJ6yQHR41IpfDjZOd3HpChrWaFQOOdryY03pg2-2FQfdRdf1EwBzXFdolRusFUS9hfhapPFwAYJctNI28tlE-2FAc69JCeLy-2FRljZkq6LEGrNOXsp1pVq8S87MTyoYnMo-2B-2BWYeQwiF66RxNvYCjtD3a4-2BlYHOn8QAhXXHYfTq0noF8ZFCIbkhRdQyZ8LjHsG0cEiWi5qIqW7sQLXW9RGOWL78td85P7KVN0-2B-2ByUaTVTkWbHXxR1J-2FxZrOAbEJZXZiJRopD-2FBvhDVL2r636RQ0lD-2F8emuyb8UkaqgSk69LWZGccUhfz4JZrOsFg0tAxld7CIRdDqzdONolAqUydU1Gsxm3L3DlAIQ5T9t0IgNARIruzYC45WfrNGepaFA3l5zrxihztt1MfNM-2BQD4NepIXznOPmWNAV1cnvwiBeVJyEMfqV50B0-2F5JSqom0KpRZIMVpwL0k8-2F5PljXFQuz9MKFLUo-2BOOTzO7kyMDqMSCmbM-2FifSyVUgWGzm6TGoZmVCkHblcCtL55mCHUAz0kdxw6TBYIUZbLiGqfR7t-2BJFG0kT0ZIC-2BYBYHfkNEsw1G55bAVD0rm67BBEsqq0jGiYSmGADMfHHCFVuXvhFeozJI8gXzKQJiVOfocvICx46hQsWD-2F0SzNYouEjN-2FDs0wk3cfEdN1NHentvnkxdg0MPtPQ2X2-2Bn8on9Yy91okYHNVkkJuIbA4A0RXgicUtHs-3D">James Carter notes in the China Project, a combination of “shared common interest, willingness to compromise, trusted intermediaries, the threat of force, and even some desperation” helped produce the settlement. The experience taught the Qing Empire to place greater emphasis on surveying and mapping. Under the Kangxi Emperor, Jesuit missionaries helped compile <a href="https://u36605228.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=u001.irwnA1ZB8N-2BHNL3jUmYY-2BB-2FkU11kpcii8MnfLIFN8La9ftTHQ-2BdTyzB0VEibWCdOvZ5Wct0fBXgqdx1HqUi4uA-2Byp9oP6CEx9KGkZolmr4U-3DNA5s_pb-2B40bGv8VszgSLSxZSae2hniLAOGi35ajohLqdIu8wIVCP-2FjsifAGPrnz8TzLY-2BKjLhRsdpbQNbV16iKPh-2FomSip3-2Fa0usf8AJ6yQHR41IpfDjZOd3HpChrWaFQOOdryY03pg2-2FQfdRdf1EwBzXFdolRusFUS9hfhapPFwAYJctNI28tlE-2FAc69JCeLy-2FRljZkq6LEGrNOXsp1pVq8S87MTyoYnMo-2B-2BWYeQwiF66RxNvYCjtD3a4-2BlYHOn8QAhXXHYfTq0noF8ZFCIbkhRdQyZ8LjHsG0cEiWi5qIqW7sQLXW9RGOWL78td85P7KVN0-2B-2ByUaTVTkWbHXxR1J-2FxZrOAbEJZXZiJRopD-2FBvhDVL2r636RQ0lD-2F8emuyb8UkaqgSk69LWZGccUhfz4JZrOsFg0tAxld7CIRdDqzdONolAqUydU1Gsxm3L3DlAIQ5T9t0IgNARIruzYC45WfrNGepaFA3l5zrxihztt1MfNM-2BQD4NepIXznOPmWNAV1cnvwiBeVJyEMfqV50B0-2F5JSqom0KpRZIMVpwL0k8-2F5PljXFQuz9MKFLUo-2BOOTzO7kyMDqMSCmbM-2FifSyVUgWGzm6TMUai1MENn2-2BzFTvAl1uaEvxiud0Vu5JX4tls5PzC0Vi2vf3TrMY8FJS0k9sduSwzheuuHV1nAOKfIt5K87nFQABRfrnCQ2QC9YnlYEGt9rnKQmHeDQtlrhkwXoCpWjwJEKq2Lbm4UlBk2Yf0QRdbxto-2Bb5Oden37QHVMPWrdxMqgRAAmkjrAvEgD-2FZNmct6C862h-2FBC8HRly3ZkZGjF14s-3D">the Kangxi Atlas between 1708 and 1721, combining European surveying methods with Chinese cartography to produce a more accurate map of the empire and reinforce imperial claims. China and the <a href="https://u36605228.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=u001.irwnA1ZB8N-2BHNL3jUmYY-2BHI-2FmM4l3IpxbMbx3k4vbLG8DUqVXoDMv7lYwRpfdJxmjEYc8hQm8OtX0jskqkoHRLbETnz0yJI1MSZQpm5eyiqzwicMQkP5Xs8tNKzM0ACETDCXYzGjdUkvGQH3EZTOag-3D-3DL_wh_pb-2B40bGv8VszgSLSxZSae2hniLAOGi35ajohLqdIu8wIVCP-2FjsifAGPrnz8TzLY-2BKjLhRsdpbQNbV16iKPh-2FomSip3-2Fa0usf8AJ6yQHR41IpfDjZOd3HpChrWaFQOOdryY03pg2-2FQfdRdf1EwBzXFdolRusFUS9hfhapPFwAYJctNI28tlE-2FAc69JCeLy-2FRljZkq6LEGrNOXsp1pVq8S87MTyoYnMo-2B-2BWYeQwiF66RxNvYCjtD3a4-2BlYHOn8QAhXXHYfTq0noF8ZFCIbkhRdQyZ8LjHsG0cEiWi5qIqW7sQLXW9RGOWL78td85P7KVN0-2B-2ByUaTVTkWbHXxR1J-2FxZrOAbEJZXZiJRopD-2FBvhDVL2r636RQ0lD-2F8emuyb8UkaqgSk69LWZGccUhfz4JZrOsFg0tAxld7CIRdDqzdONolAqUydU1Gsxm3L3DlAIQ5T9t0IgNARIruzYC45WfrNGepaFA3l5zrxihztt1MfNM-2BQD4NepIXznOPmWNAV1cnvwiBeVJyEMfqV50B0-2F5JSqom0KpRZIMVpwL0k8-2F5PljXFQuz9MKFLUo-2BOOTzO7kyMDqMSCmbM-2FifSyVUgWGzm6TOiZT5YYvGntC6AcnswdQYsnmTG68OvI-2BXz5HllVbnl11-2BDWJuYp1a1tzy7Msm0B8UVFi5o-2FD935IMgiqqd52sT76KwC3p21riw-2FMfw6oDjbucxuQf-2F40dUDJ1KdqOXVoLTLn2loNTGr6U-2B-2BBm8OMw9xzDMjLY6bp1LkiUC7zawwo9vYR9giKL2XIHT-2FvqSRn9ayPQcEWZ9csyM1pvPAMcg-3D">newly proclaimed Russian Empire signed the <a href="https://u36605228.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=u001.irwnA1ZB8N-2BHNL3jUmYY-2BHkTPJJ80-2BV2ZUNXxlqrIm2bNM4a270Wy9pw999bwcDzbWHxOiAvVH36PywW8wXX54aTGpg8Lm6cy6deGKbbD1MzW1DcQU9Ol-2B-2BMjqe6kJcYWpVr_pb-2B40bGv8VszgSLSxZSae2hniLAOGi35ajohLqdIu8wIVCP-2FjsifAGPrnz8TzLY-2BKjLhRsdpbQNbV16iKPh-2FomSip3-2Fa0usf8AJ6yQHR41IpfDjZOd3HpChrWaFQOOdryY03pg2-2FQfdRdf1EwBzXFdolRusFUS9hfhapPFwAYJctNI28tlE-2FAc69JCeLy-2FRljZkq6LEGrNOXsp1pVq8S87MTyoYnMo-2B-2BWYeQwiF66RxNvYCjtD3a4-2BlYHOn8QAhXXHYfTq0noF8ZFCIbkhRdQyZ8LjHsG0cEiWi5qIqW7sQLXW9RGOWL78td85P7KVN0-2B-2ByUaTVTkWbHXxR1J-2FxZrOAbEJZXZiJRopD-2FBvhDVL2r636RQ0lD-2F8emuyb8UkaqgSk69LWZGccUhfz4JZrOsFg0tAxld7CIRdDqzdONolAqUydU1Gsxm3L3DlAIQ5T9t0IgNARIruzYC45WfrNGepaFA3l5zrxihztt1MfNM-2BQD4NepIXznOPmWNAV1cnvwiBeVJyEMfqV50B0-2F5JSqom0KpRZIMVpwL0k8-2F5PljXFQuz9MKFLUo-2BOOTzO7kyMDqMSCmbM-2FifSyVUgWGzm6TBwbhik7mzXZ6wm-2FCE4L6mSaWSvAbXjk-2BhelU6RtbAEILzKZRDG802gZxFW3-2Fpijz4lABoWdQzCUTwVzb5k1uHLPEzBFNgAL92VDjzICQWH0WcBWnFOo8wGq-2Bdg-2FE4-2FcD7FnIAXlX6zC1u7L6pm7TklI6UjAH2bBg-2Bc1HcPJQhaBIlkso3EOldVWny-2B-2FjdLEVISEiLfEk1KTd-2BqdYvfuz14-3D">Treaty of Kyakhta in 1727 to clarify the frontier through Mongolia and establish a regulated trading hub at Kyakhta. This frontier held steady for over a century, demonstrating the durability of the agreements and the established balance of power between Russia and China. However, by the mid-19th century, an array of foreign powers, alongside internal unrest that erupted into the Taiping Rebellion, <a href="https://u36605228.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=u001.irwnA1ZB8N-2BHNL3jUmYY-2BEgLGT16WObWw6vQp9cDLGMDPMYaN-2FqlXull1GnwgbA4sbv5VNLr292G7jy9NdhWqaC4kKymgy6jZkTiN33BKM8-3DAaFF_pb-2B40bGv8VszgSLSxZSae2hniLAOGi35ajohLqdIu8wIVCP-2FjsifAGPrnz8TzLY-2BKjLhRsdpbQNbV16iKPh-2FomSip3-2Fa0usf8AJ6yQHR41IpfDjZOd3HpChrWaFQOOdryY03pg2-2FQfdRdf1EwBzXFdolRusFUS9hfhapPFwAYJctNI28tlE-2FAc69JCeLy-2FRljZkq6LEGrNOXsp1pVq8S87MTyoYnMo-2B-2BWYeQwiF66RxNvYCjtD3a4-2BlYHOn8QAhXXHYfTq0noF8ZFCIbkhRdQyZ8LjHsG0cEiWi5qIqW7sQLXW9RGOWL78td85P7KVN0-2B-2ByUaTVTkWbHXxR1J-2FxZrOAbEJZXZiJRopD-2FBvhDVL2r636RQ0lD-2F8emuyb8UkaqgSk69LWZGccUhfz4JZrOsFg0tAxld7CIRdDqzdONolAqUydU1Gsxm3L3DlAIQ5T9t0IgNARIruzYC45WfrNGepaFA3l5zrxihztt1MfNM-2BQD4NepIXznOPmWNAV1cnvwiBeVJyEMfqV50B0-2F5JSqom0KpRZIMVpwL0k8-2F5PljXFQuz9MKFLUo-2BOOTzO7kyMDqMSCmbM-2FifSyVUgWGzm6TLv676cYXFimKZ-2FcTfmhXxmploPtQwFj0i6NE9ttMUPGbnpI40glz0rY-2FFo64uUZ4OlpWwGKuIhpI1XBC3pQzNTukE2ZkRElG4J-2BWLy30WUUOlqKto2kIYlwildt1-2F5FM-2BoDQbJX37ys9vt4b2W8Si2ja6lf7zDRw-2BuugIkidz-2F0a43DFT41jlhBqFdXthWxbFPdRDY31kH7gk9jjYNXlVc-3D">massively weakened the Qing Empire and created an opening for Russia to return to the Amur Basin. Already under pressure from maritime threats from European powers and Japan, China faced a different challenge from Russia’s overland expansion. Many of China’s “unequal treaties,” which provided foreigners with “<a href="https://u36605228.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=u001.irwnA1ZB8N-2BHNL3jUmYY-2BEBdb6SHUkw0F8dXwSLmkQBLLPlpuQHiT3Xy7sIUrQNufNncRpaA2RSHhpSdhERguQ-3D-3DSKM-_pb-2B40bGv8VszgSLSxZSae2hniLAOGi35ajohLqdIu8wIVCP-2FjsifAGPrnz8TzLY-2BKjLhRsdpbQNbV16iKPh-2FomSip3-2Fa0usf8AJ6yQHR41IpfDjZOd3HpChrWaFQOOdryY03pg2-2FQfdRdf1EwBzXFdolRusFUS9hfhapPFwAYJctNI28tlE-2FAc69JCeLy-2FRljZkq6LEGrNOXsp1pVq8S87MTyoYnMo-2B-2BWYeQwiF66RxNvYCjtD3a4-2BlYHOn8QAhXXHYfTq0noF8ZFCIbkhRdQyZ8LjHsG0cEiWi5qIqW7sQLXW9RGOWL78td85P7KVN0-2B-2ByUaTVTkWbHXxR1J-2FxZrOAbEJZXZiJRopD-2FBvhDVL2r636RQ0lD-2F8emuyb8UkaqgSk69LWZGccUhfz4JZrOsFg0tAxld7CIRdDqzdONolAqUydU1Gsxm3L3DlAIQ5T9t0IgNARIruzYC45WfrNGepaFA3l5zrxihztt1MfNM-2BQD4NepIXznOPmWNAV1cnvwiBeVJyEMfqV50B0-2F5JSqom0KpRZIMVpwL0k8-2F5PljXFQuz9MKFLUo-2BOOTzO7kyMDqMSCmbM-2FifSyVUgWGzm6TMS0UEZoqof5o6X2OqgTvuIS2ahnSCphDbi-2BJaDkgbx0k91rrT81eTH7s7PtTQ8n0X5S9g3xpNR1d8CU3vQZIVZ2nQQ37G5KZWr7Y-2F1DrFAooTNJx-2BPjFlcJ84nRDZ9ffU7j9u-2FCPoJpjutK-2FPQMkEnvGETEl9oZsC1efm5KrmHUE2XsF2OBcYlNBnLBkw23Nq6xoueng-2FqGReOyfr7iR4Q-3D">privileged status” and forced the Chinese to make concessions, were based on access to Chinese ports and commercial markets. This was also the case with the treaties Beijing had with Russia, which resulted in the expansion of territory for Moscow. The Russia-China <a href="https://u36605228.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=u001.irwnA1ZB8N-2BHNL3jUmYY-2BBYOyWGD3cWKm0Mgl6oeqAmUoB3D1EpVw3B7O0CBBuZtior4yvrFGhqr-2FO6C0Pz5fw-3D-3DPaA2_pb-2B40bGv8VszgSLSxZSae2hniLAOGi35ajohLqdIu8wIVCP-2FjsifAGPrnz8TzLY-2BKjLhRsdpbQNbV16iKPh-2FomSip3-2Fa0usf8AJ6yQHR41IpfDjZOd3HpChrWaFQOOdryY03pg2-2FQfdRdf1EwBzXFdolRusFUS9hfhapPFwAYJctNI28tlE-2FAc69JCeLy-2FRljZkq6LEGrNOXsp1pVq8S87MTyoYnMo-2B-2BWYeQwiF66RxNvYCjtD3a4-2BlYHOn8QAhXXHYfTq0noF8ZFCIbkhRdQyZ8LjHsG0cEiWi5qIqW7sQLXW9RGOWL78td85P7KVN0-2B-2ByUaTVTkWbHXxR1J-2FxZrOAbEJZXZiJRopD-2FBvhDVL2r636RQ0lD-2F8emuyb8UkaqgSk69LWZGccUhfz4JZrOsFg0tAxld7CIRdDqzdONolAqUydU1Gsxm3L3DlAIQ5T9t0IgNARIruzYC45WfrNGepaFA3l5zrxihztt1MfNM-2BQD4NepIXznOPmWNAV1cnvwiBeVJyEMfqV50B0-2F5JSqom0KpRZIMVpwL0k8-2F5PljXFQuz9MKFLUo-2BOOTzO7kyMDqMSCmbM-2FifSyVUgWGzm6TOuNIq7rDajP-2BcigTpVUO9FEzNB3obJABbmaO7-2Bnu6Jk19vh4NdJV9CZ0amaU5BO0UEP0j-2FY1YW1iCHt2Dw8E7VzEeqLmamllpx7VumvVH4XVbjMdqsz9IlSK8BDhIamopXcqJT-2FLcI-2B6lypM1mpNoSSoVElo605rhMrgKfPlxYtmTpZDf-2FeUCABiRi-2BMu3rKGjm7JvaHJ7yNKYlDruJcfA-3D">Treaty of Aigun in 1858 transferred the northern bank of the Amur, and the <a href="https://u36605228.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=u001.irwnA1ZB8N-2BHNL3jUmYY-2BBYOyWGD3cWKm0Mgl6oeqAluSKmVDB7hy6eySRs6JKRecdEIF39dBo3LbeGREG2z4Q-3D-3DA3Eo_pb-2B40bGv8VszgSLSxZSae2hniLAOGi35ajohLqdIu8wIVCP-2FjsifAGPrnz8TzLY-2BKjLhRsdpbQNbV16iKPh-2FomSip3-2Fa0usf8AJ6yQHR41IpfDjZOd3HpChrWaFQOOdryY03pg2-2FQfdRdf1EwBzXFdolRusFUS9hfhapPFwAYJctNI28tlE-2FAc69JCeLy-2FRljZkq6LEGrNOXsp1pVq8S87MTyoYnMo-2B-2BWYeQwiF66RxNvYCjtD3a4-2BlYHOn8QAhXXHYfTq0noF8ZFCIbkhRdQyZ8LjHsG0cEiWi5qIqW7sQLXW9RGOWL78td85P7KVN0-2B-2ByUaTVTkWbHXxR1J-2FxZrOAbEJZXZiJRopD-2FBvhDVL2r636RQ0lD-2F8emuyb8UkaqgSk69LWZGccUhfz4JZrOsFg0tAxld7CIRdDqzdONolAqUydU1Gsxm3L3DlAIQ5T9t0IgNARIruzYC45WfrNGepaFA3l5zrxihztt1MfNM-2BQD4NepIXznOPmWNAV1cnvwiBeVJyEMfqV50B0-2F5JSqom0KpRZIMVpwL0k8-2F5PljXFQuz9MKFLUo-2BOOTzO7kyMDqMSCmbM-2FifSyVUgWGzm6TCNRzxVvz-2Fz-2BwxNH20nxQxXUmBQ4FxfLH7z-2BbFTKihJVVh4K8zBxY9qqv-2B4mO0OsAycdPt5Ikrtcqhl3HBV76B1swsXSTAJJWvQxmhuzg5fGjiLbMssiEtEV699avLS2CUxDYj6zVQUmcf8aOUCGn4GsG92raKf1FUTc-2BkNp3jQAr21uxHjyj9fqLcx4m4k7AQKX9grtNxvDxhBzsrRN9aM-3D">1860 Treaty of Peking ceded all territory between the Ussuri River and the Pacific Ocean to Russia, including what would later become Vladivostok. Political Crises and the Communist Era Railway construction extended <a href="https://u36605228.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=u001.irwnA1ZB8N-2BHNL3jUmYY-2BE1d1IVBfL7hfaJr-2BoOAhrjozN7dv7f-2FNIQlZ0r4U0Z1nqH54eIMOOH7PiNTgvlpJ66bR-2B5J-2Bn240CJpK22op1Nl3StXaR5oFIxnDJ3lh3QE42CD_pb-2B40bGv8VszgSLSxZSae2hniLAOGi35ajohLqdIu8wIVCP-2FjsifAGPrnz8TzLY-2BKjLhRsdpbQNbV16iKPh-2FomSip3-2Fa0usf8AJ6yQHR41IpfDjZOd3HpChrWaFQOOdryY03pg2-2FQfdRdf1EwBzXFdolRusFUS9hfhapPFwAYJctNI28tlE-2FAc69JCeLy-2FRljZkq6LEGrNOXsp1pVq8S87MTyoYnMo-2B-2BWYeQwiF66RxNvYCjtD3a4-2BlYHOn8QAhXXHYfTq0noF8ZFCIbkhRdQyZ8LjHsG0cEiWi5qIqW7sQLXW9RGOWL78td85P7KVN0-2B-2ByUaTVTkWbHXxR1J-2FxZrOAbEJZXZiJRopD-2FBvhDVL2r636RQ0lD-2F8emuyb8UkaqgSk69LWZGccUhfz4JZrOsFg0tAxld7CIRdDqzdONolAqUydU1Gsxm3L3DlAIQ5T9t0IgNARIruzYC45WfrNGepaFA3l5zrxihztt1MfNM-2BQD4NepIXznOPmWNAV1cnvwiBeVJyEMfqV50B0-2F5JSqom0KpRZIMVpwL0k8-2F5PljXFQuz9MKFLUo-2BOOTzO7kyMDqMSCmbM-2FifSyVUgWGzm6TCOeDCoS0MwJ-2ByqNzousROcxPS-2BqdRuwQsjpdFcKklhRqMb0ppEKeZwuHoMGiXXa1KNB56GytHXu-2Ftk6TCJYhs4b4qfnbKRHRO4-2FhZGdZGM-2BV4-2B33RSb00PwIO42AIpdTigTU-2FZCArrtMCfd3mfYOe12YlpWbugT6IG4z6r8pNQkwRjnSjVJbLKLmvjWnDNleEHeRm6ZcfyGLJpb39vniPY-3D">Russia’s informal reach into Manchuria by the end of the 19th century. This development continued during the <a href="https://u36605228.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=u001.irwnA1ZB8N-2BHNL3jUmYY-2BEcse3Eh93bYpJ1fWTRstpK5KKrCj5kmHbII2Y3m2wmxhTOJpQeABKv1dZBVczkvoA-3D-3DioKx_pb-2B40bGv8VszgSLSxZSae2hniLAOGi35ajohLqdIu8wIVCP-2FjsifAGPrnz8TzLY-2BKjLhRsdpbQNbV16iKPh-2FomSip3-2Fa0usf8AJ6yQHR41IpfDjZOd3HpChrWaFQOOdryY03pg2-2FQfdRdf1EwBzXFdolRusFUS9hfhapPFwAYJctNI28tlE-2FAc69JCeLy-2FRljZkq6LEGrNOXsp1pVq8S87MTyoYnMo-2B-2BWYeQwiF66RxNvYCjtD3a4-2BlYHOn8QAhXXHYfTq0noF8ZFCIbkhRdQyZ8LjHsG0cEiWi5qIqW7sQLXW9RGOWL78td85P7KVN0-2B-2ByUaTVTkWbHXxR1J-2FxZrOAbEJZXZiJRopD-2FBvhDVL2r636RQ0lD-2F8emuyb8UkaqgSk69LWZGccUhfz4JZrOsFg0tAxld7CIRdDqzdONolAqUydU1Gsxm3L3DlAIQ5T9t0IgNARIruzYC45WfrNGepaFA3l5zrxihztt1MfNM-2BQD4NepIXznOPmWNAV1cnvwiBeVJyEMfqV50B0-2F5JSqom0KpRZIMVpwL0k8-2F5PljXFQuz9MKFLUo-2BOOTzO7kyMDqMSCmbM-2FifSyVUgWGzm6TG8q-2BJCykmSV8fF9vGcqvFbP3v4nf9uI2g7PVoS9ExPuhDKym1X-2BAXyaJQ6KyE93SxXIIuWm5QEOyL10-2F0sW1509bDFosnj19rqBSiStudLdupw2zMCVuiBU-2FphubXjizePoyJLSwTBV105ggFL7p4SzfiAW1RnNGfu-2FmFZCKxO3dJ4jC3dhWsatg4ihKJhFfCALJlC9dkDkeidowPpbYY8-3D">Boxer Rebellion in 1900, which targeted foreign infrastructure in China. Russia joined a multinational intervention to crush the unrest and also <a href="https://u36605228.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=u001.irwnA1ZB8N-2BHNL3jUmYY-2BBYOyWGD3cWKm0Mgl6oeqAlwHm-2BRHqf1QUm9WAmoK5YwB1HA6mBQbJVOyG34M1jw-2BWBoDfgWT-2BWQnbWnYDILt8U-3Dk7V1_pb-2B40bGv8VszgSLSxZSae2hniLAOGi35ajohLqdIu8wIVCP-2FjsifAGPrnz8TzLY-2BKjLhRsdpbQNbV16iKPh-2FomSip3-2Fa0usf8AJ6yQHR41IpfDjZOd3HpChrWaFQOOdryY03pg2-2FQfdRdf1EwBzXFdolRusFUS9hfhapPFwAYJctNI28tlE-2FAc69JCeLy-2FRljZkq6LEGrNOXsp1pVq8S87MTyoYnMo-2B-2BWYeQwiF66RxNvYCjtD3a4-2BlYHOn8QAhXXHYfTq0noF8ZFCIbkhRdQyZ8LjHsG0cEiWi5qIqW7sQLXW9RGOWL78td85P7KVN0-2B-2ByUaTVTkWbHXxR1J-2FxZrOAbEJZXZiJRopD-2FBvhDVL2r636RQ0lD-2F8emuyb8UkaqgSk69LWZGccUhfz4JZrOsFg0tAxld7CIRdDqzdONolAqUydU1Gsxm3L3DlAIQ5T9t0IgNARIruzYC45WfrNGepaFA3l5zrxihztt1MfNM-2BQD4NepIXznOPmWNAV1cnvwiBeVJyEMfqV50B0-2F5JSqom0KpRZIMVpwL0k8-2F5PljXFQuz9MKFLUo-2BOOTzO7kyMDqMSCmbM-2FifSyVUgWGzm6TGtFgUxKJKp-2F3VKTL9W2-2F4KahQ2XdsYIVhk9J7eBA50CigUCTfWwbcJK-2BxTb-2B41FJCjLj2ZatZL-2FMDcmD9NtRmUfP8P2Mn-2FuZDaUceihy8K55TCNjM-2Ft7XsOUEtkx-2BE5utPOymJyJ-2FhsoDCXeAFzx47ICR5wOu5vpLccGDFfU5Y1k-2BlBwgMjpa6YQnZrxekvtXNg6PFJ3AFxHXS2lhL2QS4-3D">seized additional Chinese territory in Manchuria. Its forces were later pushed out in defeat following the Russo-Japanese War in 1904–1905. The fluidity of the region’s borders grew following political upheaval in both the Russian and Qing empires. The <a href="https://u36605228.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=u001.irwnA1ZB8N-2BHNL3jUmYY-2BEBdb6SHUkw0F8dXwSLmkQBLLPlpuQHiT3Xy7sIUrQNuL1stYqgDHYyHOh8ASBEZ-2BX1-2FXzj6iV7gH9a8rYlceRY-3DVZ3Y_pb-2B40bGv8VszgSLSxZSae2hniLAOGi35ajohLqdIu8wIVCP-2FjsifAGPrnz8TzLY-2BKjLhRsdpbQNbV16iKPh-2FomSip3-2Fa0usf8AJ6yQHR41IpfDjZOd3HpChrWaFQOOdryY03pg2-2FQfdRdf1EwBzXFdolRusFUS9hfhapPFwAYJctNI28tlE-2FAc69JCeLy-2FRljZkq6LEGrNOXsp1pVq8S87MTyoYnMo-2B-2BWYeQwiF66RxNvYCjtD3a4-2BlYHOn8QAhXXHYfTq0noF8ZFCIbkhRdQyZ8LjHsG0cEiWi5qIqW7sQLXW9RGOWL78td85P7KVN0-2B-2ByUaTVTkWbHXxR1J-2FxZrOAbEJZXZiJRopD-2FBvhDVL2r636RQ0lD-2F8emuyb8UkaqgSk69LWZGccUhfz4JZrOsFg0tAxld7CIRdDqzdONolAqUydU1Gsxm3L3DlAIQ5T9t0IgNARIruzYC45WfrNGepaFA3l5zrxihztt1MfNM-2BQD4NepIXznOPmWNAV1cnvwiBeVJyEMfqV50B0-2F5JSqom0KpRZIMVpwL0k8-2F5PljXFQuz9MKFLUo-2BOOTzO7kyMDqMSCmbM-2FifSyVUgWGzm6TOfbb-2BYipX6hZAStOV1Dp38UBb02QgSdaLSB-2FIhJFJsMyXUNgvdhi9-2B6KXDZ81Y47ppAkxIm96miB0xq-2FW-2FiTl9vJinEQ4Yz-2Bvig8GRMmUgTnUm5XPdmtTbBXKGyuRtlW98E6UChbzEGhXsmh79Cr5Fq80qGVLAGrLTtsHL-2Bx1JEF6jU2fKj-2BgGn7F8EHhqoMF-2BTMBJOq4D6ud6ERYbrw7g-3D">1911 Revolution in China and the 1917 <a href="https://u36605228.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=u001.irwnA1ZB8N-2BHNL3jUmYY-2BDIHfGkPXCULJ5QkPH-2BuOKCZ1hFYM7-2FY6x0Z6LVKMULFf02wdpd107aGqls9qMEkHA-3D-3DEhFJ_pb-2B40bGv8VszgSLSxZSae2hniLAOGi35ajohLqdIu8wIVCP-2FjsifAGPrnz8TzLY-2BKjLhRsdpbQNbV16iKPh-2FomSip3-2Fa0usf8AJ6yQHR41IpfDjZOd3HpChrWaFQOOdryY03pg2-2FQfdRdf1EwBzXFdolRusFUS9hfhapPFwAYJctNI28tlE-2FAc69JCeLy-2FRljZkq6LEGrNOXsp1pVq8S87MTyoYnMo-2B-2BWYeQwiF66RxNvYCjtD3a4-2BlYHOn8QAhXXHYfTq0noF8ZFCIbkhRdQyZ8LjHsG0cEiWi5qIqW7sQLXW9RGOWL78td85P7KVN0-2B-2ByUaTVTkWbHXxR1J-2FxZrOAbEJZXZiJRopD-2FBvhDVL2r636RQ0lD-2F8emuyb8UkaqgSk69LWZGccUhfz4JZrOsFg0tAxld7CIRdDqzdONolAqUydU1Gsxm3L3DlAIQ5T9t0IgNARIruzYC45WfrNGepaFA3l5zrxihztt1MfNM-2BQD4NepIXznOPmWNAV1cnvwiBeVJyEMfqV50B0-2F5JSqom0KpRZIMVpwL0k8-2F5PljXFQuz9MKFLUo-2BOOTzO7kyMDqMSCmbM-2FifSyVUgWGzm6TM-2B2SF9kp0P8XYa8K7NR6Antxb4wrahp7sNMfPgIdatgCsore65dbepglCMmyR1DzJv3P99Nd0gNpub8oF8BwI-2Frh3CubS8-2BMGheMl6raa6BNZjWYk-2F-2FljgjnC4UHyoCHzRhYCwT86lx0lJ-2FDa0WkSjnHPIMHx40VchCSdjL9t6PnhMUHjxpeYVYaxF3RVweTvD39uiYT9wy2xVFkanIcxg-3D">Russian Revolution were followed by civil wars and instability, including a <a href="https://u36605228.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=u001.irwnA1ZB8N-2BHNL3jUmYY-2BJ2zuqYgyXn5gz5Hpuj-2BSV89wRTfCCkUpT1kI-2Bu-2F1IK-2FwhrAdxfMV8QEL-2FiDftLrKsqL-2FxpchhPJxIdN-2BsTsMC0-3Dbjtt_pb-2B40bGv8VszgSLSxZSae2hniLAOGi35ajohLqdIu8wIVCP-2FjsifAGPrnz8TzLY-2BKjLhRsdpbQNbV16iKPh-2FomSip3-2Fa0usf8AJ6yQHR41IpfDjZOd3HpChrWaFQOOdryY03pg2-2FQfdRdf1EwBzXFdolRusFUS9hfhapPFwAYJctNI28tlE-2FAc69JCeLy-2FRljZkq6LEGrNOXsp1pVq8S87MTyoYnMo-2B-2BWYeQwiF66RxNvYCjtD3a4-2BlYHOn8QAhXXHYfTq0noF8ZFCIbkhRdQyZ8LjHsG0cEiWi5qIqW7sQLXW9RGOWL78td85P7KVN0-2B-2ByUaTVTkWbHXxR1J-2FxZrOAbEJZXZiJRopD-2FBvhDVL2r636RQ0lD-2F8emuyb8UkaqgSk69LWZGccUhfz4JZrOsFg0tAxld7CIRdDqzdONolAqUydU1Gsxm3L3DlAIQ5T9t0IgNARIruzYC45WfrNGepaFA3l5zrxihztt1MfNM-2BQD4NepIXznOPmWNAV1cnvwiBeVJyEMfqV50B0-2F5JSqom0KpRZIMVpwL0k8-2F5PljXFQuz9MKFLUo-2BOOTzO7kyMDqMSCmbM-2FifSyVUgWGzm6TM7gyvjlxccfP9X9KsWLZa31OQcZPPo4eTwanPyyNS9-2FgTsbUVr2XytHI-2BznOtVtaKEVIgOGkq6vJdwGWslGN8zSPEwDgHcPBaKWs7GDfRe0b6wfwp3tMF-2BH8HPZlpNj8u4O57QF-2BqtizkuAFL42NWmhwyMpNjHzC5LgVaRhMKEG-2Fvug1TSn-2FoSb9SEwT9m-2F30S-2BVPnA8x3UoDIfDS7h1Rw-3D">brief conflict in 1929 between the Soviet Union and a Chinese warlord over control of the Chinese Eastern Railway. China’s <a href="https://u36605228.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=u001.irwnA1ZB8N-2BHNL3jUmYY-2BNvxfvnHcyP9IA4e-2FpCFLW7Hc8lqhtjlZZfCP4l-2FkdfkywX8-2F4rYBTh7z-2FEsr-2BsHUg-3D-3DaGAu_pb-2B40bGv8VszgSLSxZSae2hniLAOGi35ajohLqdIu8wIVCP-2FjsifAGPrnz8TzLY-2BKjLhRsdpbQNbV16iKPh-2FomSip3-2Fa0usf8AJ6yQHR41IpfDjZOd3HpChrWaFQOOdryY03pg2-2FQfdRdf1EwBzXFdolRusFUS9hfhapPFwAYJctNI28tlE-2FAc69JCeLy-2FRljZkq6LEGrNOXsp1pVq8S87MTyoYnMo-2B-2BWYeQwiF66RxNvYCjtD3a4-2BlYHOn8QAhXXHYfTq0noF8ZFCIbkhRdQyZ8LjHsG0cEiWi5qIqW7sQLXW9RGOWL78td85P7KVN0-2B-2ByUaTVTkWbHXxR1J-2FxZrOAbEJZXZiJRopD-2FBvhDVL2r636RQ0lD-2F8emuyb8UkaqgSk69LWZGccUhfz4JZrOsFg0tAxld7CIRdDqzdONolAqUydU1Gsxm3L3DlAIQ5T9t0IgNARIruzYC45WfrNGepaFA3l5zrxihztt1MfNM-2BQD4NepIXznOPmWNAV1cnvwiBeVJyEMfqV50B0-2F5JSqom0KpRZIMVpwL0k8-2F5PljXFQuz9MKFLUo-2BOOTzO7kyMDqMSCmbM-2FifSyVUgWGzm6TPozfNQQ5jdEz2W1Yy2dLr8GG9CO0ECEnv3BJ0jooB5krwurqzAVcmKTJ5x1wUllqSag9wObA8Qtjs5Sc9070upiER-2FO7QM0gOiexi9tjxQEiQM8jRKyeT5AohCP4j8tXrgCZ-2Bk-2FR7HCjPFAAN2775mUOBQdhiptjod33zABi5aJLvAsWg97TR88SG2Kg1IAY8U9aE3cPJ1sfes9OVAxS2c-3D">civil war continued intermittently after the 1929 clashes until the communist victory in 1949, which helped establish a short-lived Sino-Soviet alliance. Political pragmatism by Soviet leader Joseph Stalin and Chinese leader Mao Zedong led to the border issue being set aside. Chinese officials repeatedly said that “<a href="https://u36605228.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=u001.irwnA1ZB8N-2BHNL3jUmYY-2BFwUY151KB0aY3lKqw-2B1LXc-2B4Q6o0UlNqMnfPWhARqZI0y-2FJ5ixsvVHxwUm-2BXYT38I1xFqPm-2BGvPKBv9dN6mB5Wl5-2Bs5qqG8w5yJEXWXcvrLpZcE12BORCgCjWJwkLbM4Q-3D-3Dk1Bo_pb-2B40bGv8VszgSLSxZSae2hniLAOGi35ajohLqdIu8wIVCP-2FjsifAGPrnz8TzLY-2BKjLhRsdpbQNbV16iKPh-2FomSip3-2Fa0usf8AJ6yQHR41IpfDjZOd3HpChrWaFQOOdryY03pg2-2FQfdRdf1EwBzXFdolRusFUS9hfhapPFwAYJctNI28tlE-2FAc69JCeLy-2FRljZkq6LEGrNOXsp1pVq8S87MTyoYnMo-2B-2BWYeQwiF66RxNvYCjtD3a4-2BlYHOn8QAhXXHYfTq0noF8ZFCIbkhRdQyZ8LjHsG0cEiWi5qIqW7sQLXW9RGOWL78td85P7KVN0-2B-2ByUaTVTkWbHXxR1J-2FxZrOAbEJZXZiJRopD-2FBvhDVL2r636RQ0lD-2F8emuyb8UkaqgSk69LWZGccUhfz4JZrOsFg0tAxld7CIRdDqzdONolAqUydU1Gsxm3L3DlAIQ5T9t0IgNARIruzYC45WfrNGepaFA3l5zrxihztt1MfNM-2BQD4NepIXznOPmWNAV1cnvwiBeVJyEMfqV50B0-2F5JSqom0KpRZIMVpwL0k8-2F5PljXFQuz9MKFLUo-2BOOTzO7kyMDqMSCmbM-2FifSyVUgWGzm6TGKUTmkDy91doyv1HGKN8lzfdwpt48YQ6KE6IzW9LouA1e8dKh8Eknbpw07Gy5anSdA7TXLMXs5VSXqO0OBICTmCX-2Bf3SnWMtn0CyfR53yqM6fcgDPhsVP2YOCgmXrWUQVAB748-2BZeeKzfVy5Gw6oA6pDq2MCAK8fG3PrFPKGeGL-2F9TmScefDWmWWmmA7HerrJU1j2-2B-2BK2EGZrn6BgY7vBs-3D">the issue was not worth discussing” in the 1940s and 1950s. Stalin’s death in 1953 and the ensuing ideological tensions between Moscow and Beijing brought border disputes back to the surface. China increasingly challenged the legitimacy of the 19th century’s unequal treaties, which led to a military buildup on both sides until the deadly Zhenbao Island incident on the Ussuri River in 1969. “Mao engineered a fierce conflict with the Soviet Union along the border in the Soviet and Chinese Siberia region in early March 1969, which escalated to a series of intermittent skirmishes for more than half a year,” <a href="https://u36605228.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=u001.irwnA1ZB8N-2BHNL3jUmYY-2BLUdBim-2Bik06zABxC40cLaiisuPyY3yCqh5sfIrwFLSEXM-2F5KvCb7tJiOqraDPZr4X-2B4dJlX6d-2Fgdg5h1OwB3G9u6h9-2BWOxJ3SgA5jx28f-2BTW9rhxTbGgHqh1dwRUcQT1A-3D-3Da26U_pb-2B40bGv8VszgSLSxZSae2hniLAOGi35ajohLqdIu8wIVCP-2FjsifAGPrnz8TzLY-2BKjLhRsdpbQNbV16iKPh-2FomSip3-2Fa0usf8AJ6yQHR41IpfDjZOd3HpChrWaFQOOdryY03pg2-2FQfdRdf1EwBzXFdolRusFUS9hfhapPFwAYJctNI28tlE-2FAc69JCeLy-2FRljZkq6LEGrNOXsp1pVq8S87MTyoYnMo-2B-2BWYeQwiF66RxNvYCjtD3a4-2BlYHOn8QAhXXHYfTq0noF8ZFCIbkhRdQyZ8LjHsG0cEiWi5qIqW7sQLXW9RGOWL78td85P7KVN0-2B-2ByUaTVTkWbHXxR1J-2FxZrOAbEJZXZiJRopD-2FBvhDVL2r636RQ0lD-2F8emuyb8UkaqgSk69LWZGccUhfz4JZrOsFg0tAxld7CIRdDqzdONolAqUydU1Gsxm3L3DlAIQ5T9t0IgNARIruzYC45WfrNGepaFA3l5zrxihztt1MfNM-2BQD4NepIXznOPmWNAV1cnvwiBeVJyEMfqV50B0-2F5JSqom0KpRZIMVpwL0k8-2F5PljXFQuz9MKFLUo-2BOOTzO7kyMDqMSCmbM-2FifSyVUgWGzm6TEMZt5g4cKBoBCkdcS0-2Bn36jiYvCGCc9ZcJOsnNuptp-2BgnGbkll3ZPdiwUvZa6HAx7aIxVMHdk6VoIDqeUcNAZgWPAuuH1gWv1QRpVR4Mfls25t7zhJxq1XGswwnRDUFJUchBhghYwoxk2Ah-2BJoYzpVZlLgw4etBdICsQVONutXTNtV0WC1hf6dI3bvuyvHS6ZivdfuAuf1SnaYrGNUrGG4-3D">states the Hoover Institution. The border <a href="https://u36605228.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=u001.irwnA1ZB8N-2BHNL3jUmYY-2BDYcaM-2BvKIAORrMQB0FgiUL9x4-2BfaLUWQc8QhHkAXfR78m93Wo2nOfEjvZMAiqxlHRn7byqyNkGD-2BzFRX9gCmucP8GICq8K6WTNcoi40h5pCQ3YRmkTa6bBCF7mzntwyQEO3mF6dVNe9FmgHg9sKZJ4-3DhQRv_pb-2B40bGv8VszgSLSxZSae2hniLAOGi35ajohLqdIu8wIVCP-2FjsifAGPrnz8TzLY-2BKjLhRsdpbQNbV16iKPh-2FomSip3-2Fa0usf8AJ6yQHR41IpfDjZOd3HpChrWaFQOOdryY03pg2-2FQfdRdf1EwBzXFdolRusFUS9hfhapPFwAYJctNI28tlE-2FAc69JCeLy-2FRljZkq6LEGrNOXsp1pVq8S87MTyoYnMo-2B-2BWYeQwiF66RxNvYCjtD3a4-2BlYHOn8QAhXXHYfTq0noF8ZFCIbkhRdQyZ8LjHsG0cEiWi5qIqW7sQLXW9RGOWL78td85P7KVN0-2B-2ByUaTVTkWbHXxR1J-2FxZrOAbEJZXZiJRopD-2FBvhDVL2r636RQ0lD-2F8emuyb8UkaqgSk69LWZGccUhfz4JZrOsFg0tAxld7CIRdDqzdONolAqUydU1Gsxm3L3DlAIQ5T9t0IgNARIruzYC45WfrNGepaFA3l5zrxihztt1MfNM-2BQD4NepIXznOPmWNAV1cnvwiBeVJyEMfqV50B0-2F5JSqom0KpRZIMVpwL0k8-2F5PljXFQuz9MKFLUo-2BOOTzO7kyMDqMSCmbM-2FifSyVUgWGzm6TFC4lzFRfCmcLAR5Y7okE0HXm8SZfpw9hosDGFK-2FNTqbX96MgItbJ9lel-2FPs6CI-2FCMrfFGYo2mEFAuDGKx1F8J9xrhoMukCM0BfXE160JRY7-2BA79nSM2U5RzUhynyWWCklPF2eVhzHxh0m-2B2p36HOc2R8vgdZrFbUU6O1Ruk5uUDWK9o9D33ERXSHrINqScRfNE7Np27BoPav1bOQy0Wmmk-3D">became even more militarized in the aftermath. Hundreds of thousands of troops, supported by air bases, missile sites, and armored formations, were deployed by both sides in preparation for war. Seeing an opportunity to exploit the Sino-Soviet split and improve its position against the Soviet Union, Washington moved to <a href="https://u36605228.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=u001.irwnA1ZB8N-2BHNL3jUmYY-2BAu0F14GGGOv9rJlES8ULOH0fPPdCKX8RNGFfbd7uAlt5zVNDXWe0rN4ZMbKx0WtkwXAlFPxOs2nzPYH0aPryv09XtFrR4J9LTm2YnAuV9-2BZcN0p_pb-2B40bGv8VszgSLSxZSae2hniLAOGi35ajohLqdIu8wIVCP-2FjsifAGPrnz8TzLY-2BKjLhRsdpbQNbV16iKPh-2FomSip3-2Fa0usf8AJ6yQHR41IpfDjZOd3HpChrWaFQOOdryY03pg2-2FQfdRdf1EwBzXFdolRusFUS9hfhapPFwAYJctNI28tlE-2FAc69JCeLy-2FRljZkq6LEGrNOXsp1pVq8S87MTyoYnMo-2B-2BWYeQwiF66RxNvYCjtD3a4-2BlYHOn8QAhXXHYfTq0noF8ZFCIbkhRdQyZ8LjHsG0cEiWi5qIqW7sQLXW9RGOWL78td85P7KVN0-2B-2ByUaTVTkWbHXxR1J-2FxZrOAbEJZXZiJRopD-2FBvhDVL2r636RQ0lD-2F8emuyb8UkaqgSk69LWZGccUhfz4JZrOsFg0tAxld7CIRdDqzdONolAqUydU1Gsxm3L3DlAIQ5T9t0IgNARIruzYC45WfrNGepaFA3l5zrxihztt1MfNM-2BQD4NepIXznOPmWNAV1cnvwiBeVJyEMfqV50B0-2F5JSqom0KpRZIMVpwL0k8-2F5PljXFQuz9MKFLUo-2BOOTzO7kyMDqMSCmbM-2FifSyVUgWGzm6TB7J6uhBIl3yZF6OP-2Bnj3MJPEjKR36-2FxpNYebifRZlvIrlEu6iNtENyqsJYA-2FCTirrE9uwO1T4qu7b8afXakEKF7-2Bd7AWITe6-2Ffl-2F4eh-2BYKor-2BiNDGc-2BYkcw4xi1qZpajVoPtmkRZp-2FQDl5EvBPiLigx96z8pOef4Cbue2ibpIeiaJqBHV2rHIuRWzKoZcMQZzJwiZb7DKtSgO8fz-2Fn9Im0-3D">normalize relations with China and established official diplomatic relations with Beijing in 1979. By 1986, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev was, as scholar Neville Maxwell <a href="https://u36605228.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=u001.irwnA1ZB8N-2BHNL3jUmYY-2BGRH6oBcA00GYiXC26v0XGDJW0vJnuzPyCAIKQakW8WtyzMOFhqJMp6mN7aSGvuK46t7DTE2buap0bZpSCe8mrp-2BN4ZXgGmfc61UCFFL5yTitnXF_pb-2B40bGv8VszgSLSxZSae2hniLAOGi35ajohLqdIu8wIVCP-2FjsifAGPrnz8TzLY-2BKjLhRsdpbQNbV16iKPh-2FomSip3-2Fa0usf8AJ6yQHR41IpfDjZOd3HpChrWaFQOOdryY03pg2-2FQfdRdf1EwBzXFdolRusFUS9hfhapPFwAYJctNI28tlE-2FAc69JCeLy-2FRljZkq6LEGrNOXsp1pVq8S87MTyoYnMo-2B-2BWYeQwiF66RxNvYCjtD3a4-2BlYHOn8QAhXXHYfTq0noF8ZFCIbkhRdQyZ8LjHsG0cEiWi5qIqW7sQLXW9RGOWL78td85P7KVN0-2B-2ByUaTVTkWbHXxR1J-2FxZrOAbEJZXZiJRopD-2FBvhDVL2r636RQ0lD-2F8emuyb8UkaqgSk69LWZGccUhfz4JZrOsFg0tAxld7CIRdDqzdONolAqUydU1Gsxm3L3DlAIQ5T9t0IgNARIruzYC45WfrNGepaFA3l5zrxihztt1MfNM-2BQD4NepIXznOPmWNAV1cnvwiBeVJyEMfqV50B0-2F5JSqom0KpRZIMVpwL0k8-2F5PljXFQuz9MKFLUo-2BOOTzO7kyMDqMSCmbM-2FifSyVUgWGzm6TEc5pC-2Bq75IrC1GGwK94WFzRzGdC5ZclFZCWalWiAnCCekfhC1eN3KgJfw7GPv9puSTs8bwPuB9-2FFNIxfTyLu7OuQe7bjkCQ3YRJULwy09CMHzbEq-2BG5IzWdnKSgRXGd0cOrGwKVZLMdsDuyUKBtbOkrGqG9u8BgvrtfJdlszVfPXUBucBfp4esMshipxKIHoLDQGHr3wB0gRnjKNQRm9V0-3D">notes, “seeking to ease the exhausting burden of the huge military concentrations in the Far East as well as the war in Afghanistan,” and initiated the modern border negotiations, accepting that “the claim to ‘exclusive right of possession and sovereign jurisdiction’ over the border rivers was unsustainable.” The Soviet collapse in 1991 left a diminished Russian Federation to inherit the dispute, giving Moscow added incentive to stabilize relations with China. Agreements reached <a href="https://u36605228.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=u001.irwnA1ZB8N-2BHNL3jUmYY-2BM40J5SczVOdCR1Yp9gM3uX1DXIbSpa5wJcsKQv6AoCoKUHJoViWekbk-2BFeB0t3o0g-3D-3Daxh7_pb-2B40bGv8VszgSLSxZSae2hniLAOGi35ajohLqdIu8wIVCP-2FjsifAGPrnz8TzLY-2BKjLhRsdpbQNbV16iKPh-2FomSip3-2Fa0usf8AJ6yQHR41IpfDjZOd3HpChrWaFQOOdryY03pg2-2FQfdRdf1EwBzXFdolRusFUS9hfhapPFwAYJctNI28tlE-2FAc69JCeLy-2FRljZkq6LEGrNOXsp1pVq8S87MTyoYnMo-2B-2BWYeQwiF66RxNvYCjtD3a4-2BlYHOn8QAhXXHYfTq0noF8ZFCIbkhRdQyZ8LjHsG0cEiWi5qIqW7sQLXW9RGOWL78td85P7KVN0-2B-2ByUaTVTkWbHXxR1J-2FxZrOAbEJZXZiJRopD-2FBvhDVL2r636RQ0lD-2F8emuyb8UkaqgSk69LWZGccUhfz4JZrOsFg0tAxld7CIRdDqzdONolAqUydU1Gsxm3L3DlAIQ5T9t0IgNARIruzYC45WfrNGepaFA3l5zrxihztt1MfNM-2BQD4NepIXznOPmWNAV1cnvwiBeVJyEMfqV50B0-2F5JSqom0KpRZIMVpwL0k8-2F5PljXFQuz9MKFLUo-2BOOTzO7kyMDqMSCmbM-2FifSyVUgWGzm6TPE1EEsZSypFtzbquTi1yneZf6G3ODVrsSV9W9SL5hg-2BPGL2V5Sfuz-2FytmqkHIwjDSzp-2FhGJlDm0kmblSqImCDZSiA3wGhIm1zm7UD-2B5WRzY3QgJHzOeV-2BQjhipz1LlfP0P1mZSOm-2BkCGJaC5i-2B3gl4LuVJKYF6k1HroPzA3a7DQg2bJtX7oj9GOU-2FTteBOYSSjGFTsUKAW-2Fz7NQhMNvJN4-3D">during the 1990s and 2000s divided or transferred the last contested islands, a process formally completed <a href="https://u36605228.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=u001.irwnA1ZB8N-2BHNL3jUmYY-2BJuYYakb04-2Bw-2BzuHkzpdonVjEOrMwAencIyh12iG1fXHBhu8Iz7oeqnQSj3eh1-2BkYB1u-2Fz6T6SX82Fih6Kg9S1TaXccYJ2U3kpThhh9YmSPiuPujvnBQnOplym2qyR1OopyWvZzVCLV8sR-2BpPwMSEZM-3D5wkW_pb-2B40bGv8VszgSLSxZSae2hniLAOGi35ajohLqdIu8wIVCP-2FjsifAGPrnz8TzLY-2BKjLhRsdpbQNbV16iKPh-2FomSip3-2Fa0usf8AJ6yQHR41IpfDjZOd3HpChrWaFQOOdryY03pg2-2FQfdRdf1EwBzXFdolRusFUS9hfhapPFwAYJctNI28tlE-2FAc69JCeLy-2FRljZkq6LEGrNOXsp1pVq8S87MTyoYnMo-2B-2BWYeQwiF66RxNvYCjtD3a4-2BlYHOn8QAhXXHYfTq0noF8ZFCIbkhRdQyZ8LjHsG0cEiWi5qIqW7sQLXW9RGOWL78td85P7KVN0-2B-2ByUaTVTkWbHXxR1J-2FxZrOAbEJZXZiJRopD-2FBvhDVL2r636RQ0lD-2F8emuyb8UkaqgSk69LWZGccUhfz4JZrOsFg0tAxld7CIRdDqzdONolAqUydU1Gsxm3L3DlAIQ5T9t0IgNARIruzYC45WfrNGepaFA3l5zrxihztt1MfNM-2BQD4NepIXznOPmWNAV1cnvwiBeVJyEMfqV50B0-2F5JSqom0KpRZIMVpwL0k8-2F5PljXFQuz9MKFLUo-2BOOTzO7kyMDqMSCmbM-2FifSyVUgWGzm6TIJJN-2FUqiiCQGFH8dwAuZclkYsP5kEa-2BFF-2Bmny2hknRc7gxm7W-2B9bdwReM5P61F9mCRCznLvFO0h0qiz7wvAZ3iGd6J7xc-2Bu2s6AITeMGhK7Jnm71DbOYewCoKn2z6NH4bmj5zxCaMa8m2ICZ52xXRc3vZtbH1Al4F-2BVt1Sr1GviBYxFlh4Obw2U71yYEmZFov-2FWuPxFGBjwmMmJaP8LxK4-3D">in 2008. Today, the river boundary <a href="https://u36605228.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=u001.irwnA1ZB8N-2BHNL3jUmYY-2BDYLZ8-2FVCQ8u9LjTJv-2FZf-2Fk-2FAGPS2zSyrD-2BiVaOQe46VvMgv5w2perIWnt5SHv-2F4-2FkKMHCpQJLCWPLCj4-2BBXuu0ysfXcgwN1JPjY-2BJpJo8qrhSMOfl6vYjNMgUKer2TMdA-3D-3DahPN_pb-2B40bGv8VszgSLSxZSae2hniLAOGi35ajohLqdIu8wIVCP-2FjsifAGPrnz8TzLY-2BKjLhRsdpbQNbV16iKPh-2FomSip3-2Fa0usf8AJ6yQHR41IpfDjZOd3HpChrWaFQOOdryY03pg2-2FQfdRdf1EwBzXFdolRusFUS9hfhapPFwAYJctNI28tlE-2FAc69JCeLy-2FRljZkq6LEGrNOXsp1pVq8S87MTyoYnMo-2B-2BWYeQwiF66RxNvYCjtD3a4-2BlYHOn8QAhXXHYfTq0noF8ZFCIbkhRdQyZ8LjHsG0cEiWi5qIqW7sQLXW9RGOWL78td85P7KVN0-2B-2ByUaTVTkWbHXxR1J-2FxZrOAbEJZXZiJRopD-2FBvhDVL2r636RQ0lD-2F8emuyb8UkaqgSk69LWZGccUhfz4JZrOsFg0tAxld7CIRdDqzdONolAqUydU1Gsxm3L3DlAIQ5T9t0IgNARIruzYC45WfrNGepaFA3l5zrxihztt1MfNM-2BQD4NepIXznOPmWNAV1cnvwiBeVJyEMfqV50B0-2F5JSqom0KpRZIMVpwL0k8-2F5PljXFQuz9MKFLUo-2BOOTzO7kyMDqMSCmbM-2FifSyVUgWGzm6TOiWt3aE8x-2F1mTR-2Bdbbg6HIO-2Bb5KVGj0LJadCrzFp9zjPjTTgcDWZ4cBtWgU5Y-2F1wOJ0-2FM5q2iQu-2Bn4WL1MjyElMCL1iz6hdsebitCSV3-2FVKPGdwp8Ln9e2YjPso6ly2xJsfhhgaxVJ7pgaChJtThYSoKmkcucqo4ECNWoLTB96cj69EiEkHupoMcBxVhhSwjXaQaY7iewHl9L1-2Fep-2B-2BT4s-3D">largely follows the main navigable channel, with specific treaty demarcations for islands and junction zones. Joint Russian and Chinese commissions <a href="https://u36605228.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=u001.irwnA1ZB8N-2BHNL3jUmYY-2BK-2B57kMFteRGUasVL-2BvipWLj0n0gY7-2F-2BJplXE-2BWROMAJYEf8KDpIZHSyYcmGq3ft5g-3D-3DJBKG_pb-2B40bGv8VszgSLSxZSae2hniLAOGi35ajohLqdIu8wIVCP-2FjsifAGPrnz8TzLY-2BKjLhRsdpbQNbV16iKPh-2FomSip3-2Fa0usf8AJ6yQHR41IpfDjZOd3HpChrWaFQOOdryY03pg2-2FQfdRdf1EwBzXFdolRusFUS9hfhapPFwAYJctNI28tlE-2FAc69JCeLy-2FRljZkq6LEGrNOXsp1pVq8S87MTyoYnMo-2B-2BWYeQwiF66RxNvYCjtD3a4-2BlYHOn8QAhXXHYfTq0noF8ZFCIbkhRdQyZ8LjHsG0cEiWi5qIqW7sQLXW9RGOWL78td85P7KVN0-2B-2ByUaTVTkWbHXxR1J-2FxZrOAbEJZXZiJRopD-2FBvhDVL2r636RQ0lD-2F8emuyb8UkaqgSk69LWZGccUhfz4JZrOsFg0tAxld7CIRdDqzdONolAqUydU1Gsxm3L3DlAIQ5T9t0IgNARIruzYC45WfrNGepaFA3l5zrxihztt1MfNM-2BQD4NepIXznOPmWNAV1cnvwiBeVJyEMfqV50B0-2F5JSqom0KpRZIMVpwL0k8-2F5PljXFQuz9MKFLUo-2BOOTzO7kyMDqMSCmbM-2FifSyVUgWGzm6TPdkak5683XIW7MsGTh8jz6PGwx1lkkRJooChWQMPT5eu1ECrDTJ8oy-2Fz8En7g8hHsdYogrikejOMyQ-2BD0Q6ElXYxkUsRkKfFfq7-2F7q9JChAw08lVLhlD71ydctkcSNZDk0JmQOCa9FAgXhJ7BMd01-2F0xvuniYSaeBijuobFgFEIyd-2FaK-2Bmh-2BgyYnC8-2Bkl-2BokSBPTQODJHc1znGJQHXmEqI-3D">monitor river changes, as well as fishing and transportation rights across much of the world’s fifth-largest international border. Post-Border Normalization While the border between China and Russia has not seen any overt confrontation since the signing of the 2008 agreement, the tense history of the border has not disappeared entirely. It <a href="https://u36605228.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=u001.irwnA1ZB8N-2BHNL3jUmYY-2BK17gur5ungD5N3-2F0-2FjX9E5EkAd8wcZfPpDH5negoT4sECWOOTLWS-2BrdeWHioPTkREiwwK0U9y0HnujeXHS33RFSh5xsxAZi5BoDtTh3TRxFYgHC_pb-2B40bGv8VszgSLSxZSae2hniLAOGi35ajohLqdIu8wIVCP-2FjsifAGPrnz8TzLY-2BKjLhRsdpbQNbV16iKPh-2FomSip3-2Fa0usf8AJ6yQHR41IpfDjZOd3HpChrWaFQOOdryY03pg2-2FQfdRdf1EwBzXFdolRusFUS9hfhapPFwAYJctNI28tlE-2FAc69JCeLy-2FRljZkq6LEGrNOXsp1pVq8S87MTyoYnMo-2B-2BWYeQwiF66RxNvYCjtD3a4-2BlYHOn8QAhXXHYfTq0noF8ZFCIbkhRdQyZ8LjHsG0cEiWi5qIqW7sQLXW9RGOWL78td85P7KVN0-2B-2ByUaTVTkWbHXxR1J-2FxZrOAbEJZXZiJRopD-2FBvhDVL2r636RQ0lD-2F8emuyb8UkaqgSk69LWZGccUhfz4JZrOsFg0tAxld7CIRdDqzdONolAqUydU1Gsxm3L3DlAIQ5T9t0IgNARIruzYC45WfrNGepaFA3l5zrxihztt1MfNM-2BQD4NepIXznOPmWNAV1cnvwiBeVJyEMfqV50B0-2F5JSqom0KpRZIMVpwL0k8-2F5PljXFQuz9MKFLUo-2BOOTzO7kyMDqMSCmbM-2FifSyVUgWGzm6TDwNPxPdsAqfSuPxM-2BRFqAZ6TuyPz7H9s1VzP9kj-2BK-2F58nYGzJ842G7RabUeXXv4xpTkKW9pp4PwvaRSWhTiZirYLXDTqPM-2BBfBM-2F-2FXvnujuOPAQBNmZrZm4Gxsp3-2BxA8AW0sNTEXiWnCaJJ75JHkdalcAQnovyd6OKTrU1EsOKHCRWt9ubfwPVGOtcOIublVbXFjI6UhBu4LjWPqT5TJAU-3D">resurfaced in 2023, when China’s Ministry of Natural Resources revised guidelines encouraging the use of historical Chinese names for places in other countries, including in Russia’s Far East. The maps drew greater attention to China’s ongoing territorial disputes with countries such as India, Vietnam, and Malaysia. But the inclusion of Russian locations prompted a response from the Russian Foreign Ministry, which stated that “the Russian and Chinese sides adhere to the common position that the border issue between our countries has been finally resolved,” <a href="https://u36605228.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=u001.irwnA1ZB8N-2BHNL3jUmYY-2BJSwWUr-2F3xeOwQL1HeJ4l-2BVAL2hTxQ0QNd-2FS-2FvYJx9rew69drpNTx8I1UpdMzOJK-2FseI9MBP2k15-2FpijMU-2BaHvvFQj2aag6OH-2BWv4wQlk55LrxzZ_pb-2B40bGv8VszgSLSxZSae2hniLAOGi35ajohLqdIu8wIVCP-2FjsifAGPrnz8TzLY-2BKjLhRsdpbQNbV16iKPh-2FomSip3-2Fa0usf8AJ6yQHR41IpfDjZOd3HpChrWaFQOOdryY03pg2-2FQfdRdf1EwBzXFdolRusFUS9hfhapPFwAYJctNI28tlE-2FAc69JCeLy-2FRljZkq6LEGrNOXsp1pVq8S87MTyoYnMo-2B-2BWYeQwiF66RxNvYCjtD3a4-2BlYHOn8QAhXXHYfTq0noF8ZFCIbkhRdQyZ8LjHsG0cEiWi5qIqW7sQLXW9RGOWL78td85P7KVN0-2B-2ByUaTVTkWbHXxR1J-2FxZrOAbEJZXZiJRopD-2FBvhDVL2r636RQ0lD-2F8emuyb8UkaqgSk69LWZGccUhfz4JZrOsFg0tAxld7CIRdDqzdONolAqUydU1Gsxm3L3DlAIQ5T9t0IgNARIruzYC45WfrNGepaFA3l5zrxihztt1MfNM-2BQD4NepIXznOPmWNAV1cnvwiBeVJyEMfqV50B0-2F5JSqom0KpRZIMVpwL0k8-2F5PljXFQuz9MKFLUo-2BOOTzO7kyMDqMSCmbM-2FifSyVUgWGzm6TAss7BPKXDlhT8cKMgXO9PLWY0bLZ2II2tOuBS-2FTZoZKSimfxYM1GQ6XL6fDaMqq6hGcjg7lN-2B-2FDrDpceR3SCcIqke5N46QX12V5YEGvreYsSmdbaOloyV9t-2FXgX5cvF8M3X02RQy8YLEj2q51plYZvad2xvw2s-2FgR25WGcApxvVsTp4EvTKcg2No-2FlpM1LMr-2BKINhGudvvJPcMblEaDqrI-3D">saidMaria Zakharova, spokeswoman for the ministry, according to Newsweek. While Russia is now clearly the junior partner in the Sino-Russian relationship and increasingly strained by its war in Ukraine, it has found ways to preserve its influence in the Far East. The Khasan-Tumangang bridge <a href="https://u36605228.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=u001.irwnA1ZB8N-2BHNL3jUmYY-2BJdkCyK1iHtWDz796Bg7w7ynuHnfqi7wvBIACh2hrqMmY269HGXU5EfJLe-2FX7u-2BrshAE0yE2YzsrMGbYyc5iG6EWNR8wm2RWSS69O9u3m5-2BIdzStFZjFJu1vgo2sXt0B1A-3D-3DlTAB_pb-2B40bGv8VszgSLSxZSae2hniLAOGi35ajohLqdIu8wIVCP-2FjsifAGPrnz8TzLY-2BKjLhRsdpbQNbV16iKPh-2FomSip3-2Fa0usf8AJ6yQHR41IpfDjZOd3HpChrWaFQOOdryY03pg2-2FQfdRdf1EwBzXFdolRusFUS9hfhapPFwAYJctNI28tlE-2FAc69JCeLy-2FRljZkq6LEGrNOXsp1pVq8S87MTyoYnMo-2B-2BWYeQwiF66RxNvYCjtD3a4-2BlYHOn8QAhXXHYfTq0noF8ZFCIbkhRdQyZ8LjHsG0cEiWi5qIqW7sQLXW9RGOWL78td85P7KVN0-2B-2ByUaTVTkWbHXxR1J-2FxZrOAbEJZXZiJRopD-2FBvhDVL2r636RQ0lD-2F8emuyb8UkaqgSk69LWZGccUhfz4JZrOsFg0tAxld7CIRdDqzdONolAqUydU1Gsxm3L3DlAIQ5T9t0IgNARIruzYC45WfrNGepaFA3l5zrxihztt1MfNM-2BQD4NepIXznOPmWNAV1cnvwiBeVJyEMfqV50B0-2F5JSqom0KpRZIMVpwL0k8-2F5PljXFQuz9MKFLUo-2BOOTzO7kyMDqMSCmbM-2FifSyVUgWGzm6TBM9C7Dx-2BEuDBElE2woSiIqeQPkcICdyZt0KC3CWQNCnRCzvWmCP607by9tEiW2XlAjV2tZTFj0BjDi1NJiIqx1EveyLX-2B5yWLO2VBMMGN-2BLlSFyy6OoZR2W73AlOVzcuD5x9GITtI4ATw1JvQ-2B8GUINhQRlZZKAY6ZHvi7v2E5fsLcBYlY6yE5uvarqe7TVhWDCk02xbcaakxfONXYNipk-3D">over the Tumen River, which is expected to be open soon, for example, connects Russia and North Korea by road and increases their control over China’s access to the Sea of Japan from its northeast. At its closest point, the Chinese border <a href="https://u36605228.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=u001.irwnA1ZB8N-2BHNL3jUmYY-2BEUxjVCNKpH7zbqCgu287WGtDDmT-2Fj7Idm12K4MId-2FKjHBfuSuyHaXNURAm1RmeI-2FqJ5V3YjXisCdD750IQVbshMeJqBwnPBQZ7qijB82cGJe79l_pb-2B40bGv8VszgSLSxZSae2hniLAOGi35ajohLqdIu8wIVCP-2FjsifAGPrnz8TzLY-2BKjLhRsdpbQNbV16iKPh-2FomSip3-2Fa0usf8AJ6yQHR41IpfDjZOd3HpChrWaFQOOdryY03pg2-2FQfdRdf1EwBzXFdolRusFUS9hfhapPFwAYJctNI28tlE-2FAc69JCeLy-2FRljZkq6LEGrNOXsp1pVq8S87MTyoYnMo-2B-2BWYeQwiF66RxNvYCjtD3a4-2BlYHOn8QAhXXHYfTq0noF8ZFCIbkhRdQyZ8LjHsG0cEiWi5qIqW7sQLXW9RGOWL78td85P7KVN0-2B-2ByUaTVTkWbHXxR1J-2FxZrOAbEJZXZiJRopD-2FBvhDVL2r636RQ0lD-2F8emuyb8UkaqgSk69LWZGccUhfz4JZrOsFg0tAxld7CIRdDqzdONolAqUydU1Gsxm3L3DlAIQ5T9t0IgNARIruzYC45WfrNGepaFA3l5zrxihztt1MfNM-2BQD4NepIXznOPmWNAV1cnvwiBeVJyEMfqV50B0-2F5JSqom0KpRZIMVpwL0k8-2F5PljXFQuz9MKFLUo-2BOOTzO7kyMDqMSCmbM-2FifSyVUgWGzm6TD01P2exIYJfeFuihuA2KmTe1MnVASHtAsBFkvmhHmBPjflpY5KoNajcNPgy2Uk81nSvbjCZxrKGa5ygzZYtNsOCX3-2Bkj9vJKQnk8sQsZ7cGwkgr-2Fgz7Mnr1KjdZLLDWzSvhkJnTsZn9fd8aDLnEnBF6oT-2FHpTpxwtohaZdg7Pj2bjzAFoU1VpUOuNAhbDr5SHnWYGU0agCv8msl1Mxnvsw-3D">is around 10 miles from the sea, but it cannot be reached without passing through Russia or North Korea first. Observers <a href="https://u36605228.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=u001.irwnA1ZB8N-2BHNL3jUmYY-2BBbFelIozyamHPJ98ZdqqkAYN97gVy23QJgDt6d842R2IRT2TTfHEbnUpisra-2BNbpBsQQ-2BY8csDJWjAgCyXf9clo-2BOqunwodMtn8GxpMT6kpS-2FlQ-2FzuXYP09HIw6Q1heFQ-3D-3Dy-KH_pb-2B40bGv8VszgSLSxZSae2hniLAOGi35ajohLqdIu8wIVCP-2FjsifAGPrnz8TzLY-2BKjLhRsdpbQNbV16iKPh-2FomSip3-2Fa0usf8AJ6yQHR41IpfDjZOd3HpChrWaFQOOdryY03pg2-2FQfdRdf1EwBzXFdolRusFUS9hfhapPFwAYJctNI28tlE-2FAc69JCeLy-2FRljZkq6LEGrNOXsp1pVq8S87MTyoYnMo-2B-2BWYeQwiF66RxNvYCjtD3a4-2BlYHOn8QAhXXHYfTq0noF8ZFCIbkhRdQyZ8LjHsG0cEiWi5qIqW7sQLXW9RGOWL78td85P7KVN0-2B-2ByUaTVTkWbHXxR1J-2FxZrOAbEJZXZiJRopD-2FBvhDVL2r636RQ0lD-2F8emuyb8UkaqgSk69LWZGccUhfz4JZrOsFg0tAxld7CIRdDqzdONolAqUydU1Gsxm3L3DlAIQ5T9t0IgNARIruzYC45WfrNGepaFA3l5zrxihztt1MfNM-2BQD4NepIXznOPmWNAV1cnvwiBeVJyEMfqV50B0-2F5JSqom0KpRZIMVpwL0k8-2F5PljXFQuz9MKFLUo-2BOOTzO7kyMDqMSCmbM-2FifSyVUgWGzm6TBm-2BXKFrGmsUQOipTTZmpqVGE0D7BVlJLAJA-2BEw6iR9ImZeVrbKcBm51Vp3VORL54t4-2BSJVTaXLCFdlKScsdGvWuTruX1kxCN4rkUKOxVLA0OqVHFI8hUZyZ0wf6QsERjzHvSR8cQh9icAfHXV1euVBGcWH1glRDC8ajFWlcJS7RnqoUFGkfVziP-2Bb60u9Tm6mSdmZ66u-2Fh4pnjuygJ-2BSOQ-3D">periodically speculate that China’s larger population could eventually alter the balance across the Amur Basin by simply overwhelming the Russian population. However, Chinese migrants tend to prefer opportunities elsewhere in China rather than in Russia’s Far East. The two countries tend to view the region through a different economic lens, with Russia prizing the Amur “for the security and transportation opportunities it provides, while China is more inclined to harness the river’s power for energy and agriculture,” <a href="https://u36605228.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=u001.irwnA1ZB8N-2BHNL3jUmYY-2BLmG6ZiWEWpTlIgn8cwQVIK3JFl1B3dLkdd616y3bo8PcINF7uxL9i8hAUHmyGGXT0yCtfb29mSyTWsufR69DIZ4E3LG0ws-2FbartkkDBc-2FQEBxrcYHrYR68aoKul5RkQXg-3D-3DJZJM_pb-2B40bGv8VszgSLSxZSae2hniLAOGi35ajohLqdIu8wIVCP-2FjsifAGPrnz8TzLY-2BKjLhRsdpbQNbV16iKPh-2FomSip3-2Fa0usf8AJ6yQHR41IpfDjZOd3HpChrWaFQOOdryY03pg2-2FQfdRdf1EwBzXFdolRusFUS9hfhapPFwAYJctNI28tlE-2FAc69JCeLy-2FRljZkq6LEGrNOXsp1pVq8S87MTyoYnMo-2B-2BWYeQwiF66RxNvYCjtD3a4-2BlYHOn8QAhXXHYfTq0noF8ZFCIbkhRdQyZ8LjHsG0cEiWi5qIqW7sQLXW9RGOWL78td85P7KVN0-2B-2ByUaTVTkWbHXxR1J-2FxZrOAbEJZXZiJRopD-2FBvhDVL2r636RQ0lD-2F8emuyb8UkaqgSk69LWZGccUhfz4JZrOsFg0tAxld7CIRdDqzdONolAqUydU1Gsxm3L3DlAIQ5T9t0IgNARIruzYC45WfrNGepaFA3l5zrxihztt1MfNM-2BQD4NepIXznOPmWNAV1cnvwiBeVJyEMfqV50B0-2F5JSqom0KpRZIMVpwL0k8-2F5PljXFQuz9MKFLUo-2BOOTzO7kyMDqMSCmbM-2FifSyVUgWGzm6TMLAUnPAjkrS-2B9BZOq-2Fu6QdTRXglNa-2FEColsCNuvK2cSS7Jlk5udDPH1gre5BuczM9GuR1xN5kXeyqYCalBoBMS7y2wdrYT6PcxyZg0h61TbanCkzOuc36Dha6oHQcB242Rb0uEwMrtOvqFDUQugoK4c30Ao5BIgYAs8-2Fc5aoY4A1zWiceZUj94TosFH5k8-2BBqthcU-2F8spO4mD3n0YUxqIc-3D">according to an article on the platform RANE Worldview. These differing priorities have so far, however, proven more complementary than competitive. The Russia-China border dispute was as much about national prestige and historical legitimacy as it was about territory, and today neither side has a strong incentive to revisit it. Growing economic integration and reducing uncertainty in the Amur River Basin have improved their strategic positions and turned a once militarized boundary into a cooperative working zone. The flow of Russian energy exports and Chinese investment and manufactured goods has made stability increasingly profitable for both sides, significantly raising the cost of renewed confrontation. Much the same can be seen along the US-Canada border, where extensive <a href="https://u36605228.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=u001.irwnA1ZB8N-2BHNL3jUmYY-2BA2ytMT3FO9tE1BzxMyIsIPJDURD-2FOamk3GoSC4rYkmCFjGKmv1JYqdzRyY3LZfTrd10Da6mV4FLIRXbFviQShA-3DJBPk_pb-2B40bGv8VszgSLSxZSae2hniLAOGi35ajohLqdIu8wIVCP-2FjsifAGPrnz8TzLY-2BKjLhRsdpbQNbV16iKPh-2FomSip3-2Fa0usf8AJ6yQHR41IpfDjZOd3HpChrWaFQOOdryY03pg2-2FQfdRdf1EwBzXFdolRusFUS9hfhapPFwAYJctNI28tlE-2FAc69JCeLy-2FRljZkq6LEGrNOXsp1pVq8S87MTyoYnMo-2B-2BWYeQwiF66RxNvYCjtD3a4-2BlYHOn8QAhXXHYfTq0noF8ZFCIbkhRdQyZ8LjHsG0cEiWi5qIqW7sQLXW9RGOWL78td85P7KVN0-2B-2ByUaTVTkWbHXxR1J-2FxZrOAbEJZXZiJRopD-2FBvhDVL2r636RQ0lD-2F8emuyb8UkaqgSk69LWZGccUhfz4JZrOsFg0tAxld7CIRdDqzdONolAqUydU1Gsxm3L3DlAIQ5T9t0IgNARIruzYC45WfrNGepaFA3l5zrxihztt1MfNM-2BQD4NepIXznOPmWNAV1cnvwiBeVJyEMfqV50B0-2F5JSqom0KpRZIMVpwL0k8-2F5PljXFQuz9MKFLUo-2BOOTzO7kyMDqMSCmbM-2FifSyVUgWGzm6TKoTFWWjf2jPa0R9DsioR32TibduqCEDXPyTGxNXU4jEgoTxj-2FjJ0FN4ZGaUPlwOqzMQaSp-2BqAy7UUkRyP5Fo-2B5uThpaQasGtXeLIjNaJYrKLe4n3NbhTAPZLEtrqXzhjfZ893xINvD9Y1u0ND-2BnHLYjJCZhmk5P-2BoDHXALTk76CU6Fdd63CRc2AOzscWX9b2JX6JNoRZayXlEbP9iGm2n4-3D">trade and shared infrastructure have helped keep <a href="https://u36605228.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=u001.irwnA1ZB8N-2BHNL3jUmYY-2BA4dRudt4h8qlpNYqpcWOjfiPlkxT8aKqvI-2FCpnFeHQf75UzB64JYM-2BVohaOhyYA-2BQ-3D-3DspzD_pb-2B40bGv8VszgSLSxZSae2hniLAOGi35ajohLqdIu8wIVCP-2FjsifAGPrnz8TzLY-2BKjLhRsdpbQNbV16iKPh-2FomSip3-2Fa0usf8AJ6yQHR41IpfDjZOd3HpChrWaFQOOdryY03pg2-2FQfdRdf1EwBzXFdolRusFUS9hfhapPFwAYJctNI28tlE-2FAc69JCeLy-2FRljZkq6LEGrNOXsp1pVq8S87MTyoYnMo-2B-2BWYeQwiF66RxNvYCjtD3a4-2BlYHOn8QAhXXHYfTq0noF8ZFCIbkhRdQyZ8LjHsG0cEiWi5qIqW7sQLXW9RGOWL78td85P7KVN0-2B-2ByUaTVTkWbHXxR1J-2FxZrOAbEJZXZiJRopD-2FBvhDVL2r636RQ0lD-2F8emuyb8UkaqgSk69LWZGccUhfz4JZrOsFg0tAxld7CIRdDqzdONolAqUydU1Gsxm3L3DlAIQ5T9t0IgNARIruzYC45WfrNGepaFA3l5zrxihztt1MfNM-2BQD4NepIXznOPmWNAV1cnvwiBeVJyEMfqV50B0-2F5JSqom0KpRZIMVpwL0k8-2F5PljXFQuz9MKFLUo-2BOOTzO7kyMDqMSCmbM-2FifSyVUgWGzm6TFDx-2F8MQrJ1KWw2x3ESO3RctXVLqnVQB2SzWHuLPQbpa6wAPpYCvv8o7B3eONgExQFZ9x8sjPcbZF2Iu0WpniJRXN3P0VN7KxQ34g1R5Cp3gt0vMwBLvglLOka0oF219anZ1rb1Pcaw8ORLesh-2B4bxr36WyNvfPqCu6EWG-2F12-2BzQHrixHqYfl5xoYY1I8JHxOy9UKPHCqDFeYUlAqVSa4Vc-3D">lingering territorial disagreements politically insignificant. As both Russia and China seek alternatives to the US-dominated maritime order, the two countries have, over the last 40 years, transformed one of Eurasia’s long-contested frontiers into one of its most stable and constructive regions. This article was produced by <a href="https://u36605228.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=u001.irwnA1ZB8N-2BHNL3jUmYY-2BFH7-2B890eq7B4TYN9OBfEskeVkvEb71zqMb9NYTTs7ETho3s3UvUN1QQv-2BW80GF1eg-3D-3DjLS__pb-2B40bGv8VszgSLSxZSae2hniLAOGi35ajohLqdIu8wIVCP-2FjsifAGPrnz8TzLY-2BKjLhRsdpbQNbV16iKPh-2FomSip3-2Fa0usf8AJ6yQHR41IpfDjZOd3HpChrWaFQOOdryY03pg2-2FQfdRdf1EwBzXFdolRusFUS9hfhapPFwAYJctNI28tlE-2FAc69JCeLy-2FRljZkq6LEGrNOXsp1pVq8S87MTyoYnMo-2B-2BWYeQwiF66RxNvYCjtD3a4-2BlYHOn8QAhXXHYfTq0noF8ZFCIbkhRdQyZ8LjHsG0cEiWi5qIqW7sQLXW9RGOWL78td85P7KVN0-2B-2ByUaTVTkWbHXxR1J-2FxZrOAbEJZXZiJRopD-2FBvhDVL2r636RQ0lD-2F8emuyb8UkaqgSk69LWZGccUhfz4JZrOsFg0tAxld7CIRdDqzdONolAqUydU1Gsxm3L3DlAIQ5T9t0IgNARIruzYC45WfrNGepaFA3l5zrxihztt1MfNM-2BQD4NepIXznOPmWNAV1cnvwiBeVJyEMfqV50B0-2F5JSqom0KpRZIMVpwL0k8-2F5PljXFQuz9MKFLUo-2BOOTzO7kyMDqMSCmbM-2FifSyVUgWGzm6TD5t5KJ5DqtVg-2BhuHsk3W5UcQgXlo9ZVPaq05C9JElSUenYbbPEZyCf0S80MHQB9aZC5IcyrnJGET8Uay6vBWL5ljMmdooXlR0GuJdOfLIqzOTolruFbgTQEtWa0xZQLi0bnhuOcWoh0woJLeaRkFh89BX1reYOi22DH9AjsmV4uKlxVz-2Bglwy8h8IuBd-2F10-2Bn1Ve1ZtIv3qqcr7clC3-2F2I-3D">Economy for All, a project of the Independent Media Institute. The post How Russia and China Learned to Love Their Border appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by John P. Ruehl.
Affirmative Action is Alive and Well . . . If You are Rich and White
Three years ago, a major Supreme Court ruling struck down affirmative action in higher education admissions. Well, that is what they would like people to believe. In fact, there are still many preference policies in elite college admissions — especially if the student is rich and White. As the Trump administration continues to campaign against More The post Affirmative Action is Alive and Well . . . If You are Rich and White appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Still from The Skulls. Three years ago, a major Supreme Court ruling struck down affirmative action in higher education admissions. Well, that is what they would like people to believe. In fact, there are still many preference policies in elite college admissions — especially if the student is rich and White. As the Trump administration continues to campaign against universities it claims are using race-related admissions policies that disadvantage White students, it has been silent about the many ways that White students are granted preferential treatment. It is not hard to find high-profile examples. By his own admission, President George W. Bush was a C-student at Yale; he liked to remind people that even a C-student can become president. Bush also was a C-student in high school, and his SAT score was below the median for his class at Yale. Why might an academically mediocre student gain admission to an Ivy League university? Bush had many characteristics that gave him advantages. The most important one is that he was a legacy — his father and grandfather both graduated from Yale. This meant that his chance of admission would be higher than other similar students without legacy status. And because of the history of racial discrimination, White students are more likely to have this type of legacy status. Another admissions advantage is having a parent willing to make a hefty donation. The father of Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, donated $2.5 million to Harvard in 1998. Kushner was then accepted there, even though reports suggest that he did not have an impressive high school academic record. The economist Raj Chetty and his colleagues found that being from a family in the richest 1 percent increases the odds of a student’s admission to an elite college by 34 percent. This preference for the very wealthy has clear racial implications. Despite the visibility of a few rich Black celebrities, Black families are significantly underrepresented among the ultra-rich. While about 13 percent of high school students are Black, only 3 percent of the richest 1 percent of families are Black. Meanwhile, about half of high school students are White, but over 80 percent of the richest 1 percent of families are White. The admissions preference for the richest 1 percent functions as a White preference. There are other policies that serve the same ends. Students at elite colleges aredisproportionately from the Northeast. To diversify their enrollment, elite schools give a preference to applicants from underrepresented states. As one admissions consultant stated, “You have a much better chance of getting in if you’re in a state that might be in a more rural area” rather than a major city. An analysis of data from Brown University found that applicants from the very White states of North Dakota and Montana had an admissions rate more than twice that of applicants from New Jersey, a much more racially diverse state. This kind of preference could have benefited someone like Vice President JD Vance, who may have gained an advantage in admissions to Yale Law School because he is from a small town in Ohio. Or consider athletic recruiting, which has been called “the biggest form of affirmative action in American higher education.” Elite schools like Harvard recruit for sports such as skiing, sailing, water polo, rowing, squash, fencing, and golf, and the recruited athletes are overwhelmingly wealthy, White students. Elite colleges also rely more heavily on ‘early decision’ admissions programs that require a student applicant to agree to attend the school if accepted. The acceptance rate for such applicants is higher than for regular admissions, and the pool of applications tends to skew White and wealthier. As the journalist Jeffrey Selingo reasons, “Students from upper-middle-class and wealthy families are willing to trade the ability to compare financial aid offers for an increased chance of getting in.” Using the Supreme Court decision as its guide, Trump’s Justice Department is working to make sure that Black and Hispanic students are extremely underrepresented in elite medical schools. The department claims to be working to prevent the use of “racial proxies”—policies that are race-neutral but that provide a disproportionate benefit to a particular racial group. Although legacy, donor, geographic, athletic, and early decision admission preferences all tilt in favor of White applicants, the Justice Department does not have an interest in preventing the use of these proxies for White students. It only has an interest in proxies for Black and Hispanic students and in blocking these students’ admission into elite education. In other words, the Trump Justice Department is practicing racial discrimination, not fighting it. This originally appeared on CEPR. The post Affirmative Action is Alive and Well . . . If You are Rich and White appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Algernon Austin.
The Supreme Court Opens the Door to White Christian Only Government
The Roberts Supreme Court is determined to earn the contempt with which it is viewed by most of the public. Its ruling this week essentially gave Donald Trump free rein to fire anyone in the government who doesn’t do wha [ . . . ] The post The Supreme Court Opens the Door to White Christian Only Government appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Conference room of the Supreme Court, where cases are decided. Photo: Supreme Court. The Roberts Supreme Court is determined to earn the contempt with which it is viewed by most of the public. Its ruling this week essentially gave Donald Trump free rein to fire anyone in the government who doesn’t do what he wants. As corrupt as his administration has been to date, the Court’s ruling removed pretty much all remaining restraints. Coupled with its recent ruling on revoking temporary protective status for immigrants from Trump’s list of “shithole” countries, the Court is effectively allowing Trump to make this a government of white Christian nationalists and for white Christian nationalists. The immigration ruling said that a long list of openly racist comments about people from the countries in question cannot be taken as evidence that Trump is motivated by racial animus in his immigration decision. In the same vein, Trump could fire every non-white or non-Christian person in the government as long as he insists his decisions were not based on race or religion. But leaving Trump’s racism aside, let’s go back to the corruption that the Supreme Court felt it was important to unleash. As it stands now, agencies like the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) are supposed to be staffed by professionals who make decisions on approving prescription drugs for public use, or airplanes for flying, based on a careful examination of the evidence on their safety. The Supreme Court just ruled that Donald Trump can fire the people overseeing these agencies for any reason whatsoever, or no reason at all. In their “unitary executive” theory, the writers of the Constitution felt it was essential that the president have the authority to fire anyone who makes decisions based on evidence or who refuses to lie for them. This means that if the head of the FDA refuses to approve a drug based on the analysis of the experts who have examined the evidence, Trump can fire them. Similarly, if the FAA doesn’t greenlight a plane because it has failed safety tests, Trump can fire the FAA administrator. Now, let’s bring Donald Trump’s family into the picture. (I’m always hesitant to mention a new grift on the possibility that the Trumpers would do it, if they had only thought of it.) Suppose Don Jr. has a 10 percent stake in a drug company that is pushing an ineffective, or even harmful, drug as a cure for cancer. The Supreme Court has ruled that Trump can tell the FDA commissioner that they must ignore the judgment of the experts who have examined the evidence and approve Don Jr.’s drug. The same applies to planes. Eric can take a stake in an airplane manufacturer and demand that the FAA approve its latest plane, or his daddy will fire the commissioner. And if the commissioner happens to be a principled person who refuses to jeopardize public safety to keep their job, the Supreme Court says Trump can fire them and appoint an acting commissioner who will approve Eric’s plane. If these stories sound far-fetched to you, then you haven’t been paying attention. Trump and his family are openly using the government to steal money in every way imaginable. The Supreme Court just gave them even more ways. Of course, as the dissenters pointed out, it would not even make sense for Congress to have created these agencies in the first place if the president could put his political hacks in all the positions with any authority. What’s the point of having an FDA if it only approves the drugs of companies that make payoffs to the president’s family? Trump has said he wanted to downsize government, and the Supreme Court has just come out strongly in favor of that view. Since it has ruled that federal agencies should all be cesspools of corruption, they might as well be shut down. Drug approvals based on payoffs to the Trump family are meaningless. Let’s just save the money and let drug companies push whatever crap they want in whatever way they want. At least no one will be fooled by a federal agency certifying the drugs as safe and effective. This first appeared on Dean Baker’s Beat the Press blog. The post The Supreme Court Opens the Door to White Christian Only Government appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Dean Baker.
Frame-Checking Generative AI’s Role in Transmitting News
As large language models (LLMs), a new generation of AI chatbots, and other forms of generative AI (artificial intelligence) become more widely used as information sources, it’s no surprise that many people are taking advantage of the convenience of AI search engine overviews. According to a June 2026 Pew Research Center report, roughly 60 percent of More The post Frame-Checking Generative AI’s Role in Transmitting News appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Still from “The Socal Dilemma.” As large language models (LLMs), a new generation of AI chatbots, and other forms of generative AI (artificial intelligence) become more widely used as information sources, it’s no surprise that many people are taking advantage of the convenience of AI search engine overviews. According to a June 2026 Pew Research Center report, roughly 60 percent of Americans read AI search engine summaries, 30 percent reported that they don’t, and 10 percent said they “were not sure if [they’d] done so.” But what is more alarming is that many users may not realize that these prominent, commanding summaries are generated by AI and can be incomplete or biased. Moreover, they may not know that they can opt out. AI summaries are designed to sound polished and authoritative, which obscures the inherent inconstancy behind them. After all, these responses are not produced through independent verification of facts and accounts, which becomes even more concerning when a user is searching for information about current news events. AI overviews mediate between users and the information they’re actually searching for. Just as a picture window or a camera viewfinder highlights some elements of a scene, while leaving others outside the frame, AI overviews direct our attention in certain ways—but with the added twist that, in this case, the framing is largely invisible to the user. One challenge that careful users of AI summaries must address is how to recognize the limits of what they’re reading. Project Censored’s Beyond Fact-Checking guide originally examined the power of journalistic framing to shape our understanding of news events, through sourcing decisions, language choices, and contextual omissions. But now, a growing number of Americans use chatbot assistance or other generative AI tools to get their news, which presents some of the same challenges mentioned above, but without any equivalent transparency about how the information is generated and by whom. Who’s responsible for erroneous summaries? In June 2026, the Munich Regional Court issued a preliminary ruling that Google is “liable for a series of false statements generated by its AI Overviews feature.” The German court’s decision, Wired reported, could “make this case a historical precedent.” The court’s analysis revealed that instead of only displaying relevant links based on users’ prompts, Google’s AI summary tool generated “‘independent, new, and substantial statements’ based on a misinterpretation of information available on the internet.” The German court’s conclusion is especially troubling when coupled with the findings of two recent studies. In January 2026, the Center for News, Technology and Innovation (CNTI) reported that many respondents had concerns about political bias in traditional news sources but viewed AI chatbots as “neutral.” This trust in AI was not shaken by either the bots’ “chronic factual errors” or their occasional inability to “provide up-to-date information.” Although this study’s data size was relatively small, the patterns emerging among “habitual” AI users are clear and threaten to permanently destabilize journalism, not only economically but as a cornerstone of democracy. Second, based on an investigation of news reports from 22 public service media outlets in 18 countries, the BBC and the European Broadcasting Union reported in October 2025 that the most popular AI assistants—including ChatGPT, Copilot, and Gemini—misrepresented news content 45 percent of the time. How input determines output AI chatbots rely heavily on well-formed questions or prompts, but users often forget important details, conflate events, or “take a contested premise as a given,” creating imperfect or biased responses. This means that our own framing, our limited understanding of a news event, could produce a narrow and misleading result. Many users report feeling a sense of control when using chatbots, but a February 2026 MIT study found that chatbots provided less accurate, less truthful responses to users with lower English proficiency, less formal education, or non-US origins. LLMs “may actually exacerbate existing inequities by systematically providing misinformation or refusing to answer queries to certain users,” the study’s lead author, Elinor Poole-Dayan, warned. In November 2025, Project Censored covered how hallucinations are not hiccups in the programming of AI chatbots; they are built into these systems. According to Science, LLMs “bluff” because “their performance is ranked using standardized benchmarks that reward confident guesses and penalize honest uncertainty.” Basically, chatbots are know-it-alls who don’t know it all. Terms like “hallucination” and “glitch” effectively frame these occurrences as ephemeral bugs that are an inevitable, but inconsequential, side effect of greater technological advancement. Corporate media often prefer to hype progress, rather than challenge these assumptions. For instance, the Wall Street Journal recently framed AI “hallucinations” as an insignificant tradeoff for detailed and neat research, and that a user’s best defense against AI errors is “more AI” for “a round of fact-checking.” And in 2024, the Washington Post Creative Group launched a Generative AI Explorer’s Guide, paid for by Amazon Web Services. AI-generated text is even invading the pages of legacy newspapers. In spring 2026, The Atlantic alleged that the New York Times published AI-generated text in its opinion pages. And after the Chicago Sun-Times laid off 20 percent of its staff, the paper published an AI-generated summer reading list. Unfortunately, several of the recommended books didn’t exist. Dueling frames Generative AI tools might seem convenient for accessing digestible news, but they’re hindering users’ curiosity and driving them away from independent news outlets and toward narratives generated by biased technology systems. A Stanford University study that audited six commercial chatbots for their ability to answer news questions concluded, “As more users encounter journalism through AI lenses rather than directly through publishers’ sites, differences in [context], attribution, and source selection will increasingly shape whose reporting reaches the general public, under what terms, and how.” So now we see dueling framing issues: generative AI and chatbots constructing flawed responses based on how users phrase their questions and the assumptions embedded in their search terms, while AI itself is framed in public discourse as either fallible technology prone to error or, more frequently, a trustworthy tool capable of delivering reliable information. What can we do about AI gatekeeping? Most obviously, avoid search engine AI overviews. For news, seek reporting directly from reputable independent news outlets. Use your web browser’s settings to disable or hide its automated overviews. If that’s difficult in your current browser, consider switching to one that supports that preference, such as Brave. These are good, but limited first steps, since they keep you lodged in a consumer role. More significant change is likely when we coordinate our actions with others. Journalists can make sure to avoid reporting that reinforces common mindsets many people unconsciously employ when thinking about AI—including equating AI systems with progress, treating them as “objective” tools that work independently of human influence, and focusing on them primarily as consumer products whose main purpose is to improve users’ quality of life. Instead, journalism that aims to promote algorithmic literacy and the public good should give at least equal attention to how AI systems often reflect and reproduce existing biases, thus amplifying social and economic harms, especially to already marginalized communities. Members of those communities and their allies can join forces with independent news outlets and digital rights organizations, such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation, to ensure that new technologies promote freedom, justice, and innovation for everyone. A March 2026 report from FrameWorks found that framing new AI tech in terms of social justice, using specific real-life examples, helped people break free from the individualistic, consumer mindset and appreciate how future AI systems could be developed to promote inclusive public goods rather than exclusive private benefits. Super PACs (political action committees) focused on promoting AI, such as Leading the Future, are already raising and spending millions of dollars to influence politicians in the upcoming midterm elections. The message to politicians is clear, The Guardian reported, “Regulate AI, and we will find you, wherever you are.” We probably cannot hope to outspend the AI Super PACs, but we may be able to challenge the predominance of AI boosterism by working to reframe the public’s understanding of what AI systems, such as Google’s Overview, can—and can’t—actually do. When we take time to frame-check AI-generated overviews and chatbots’ interpretation of news events, two things happen. First, we realize that those summaries are not as authoritative or trustworthy as they appear at first; and, second, we remind ourselves of our own capacities for critical, independent thinking. The future of AI is not as inevitable as Big Tech’s cheerleaders would have us believe. Instead, by looking critically at what’s left out of frame—including the reproduction of systemic inequalities and the massive amounts of money being directed toward promoting new AI-powered systems—we can chart a different course, one that centers social justice and public good in every discussion of AI. This first appeared on Project Censored. The post Frame-Checking Generative AI’s Role in Transmitting News appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Shealeigh Voitl – Andy Lee Roth.
Europe Is Burning: The Deadly Heatwave That Exposes the Criminality of Fossil Capitalism and the Economy of Genocide
Europe is on fire. Record-shattering heat waves have gripped the continent, pushing temperatures above 40°C (104°F) in multiple countries, buckling infrastructure, overwhelming hospitals, and claiming thousands of lives. This is not a natural disaster. It is the foreseeable, profitable outcome of decades of fossil fuel addiction and capitalist extraction. According to a sobering analysis by More The post Europe Is Burning: The Deadly Heatwave That Exposes the Criminality of Fossil Capitalism and the Economy of Genocide appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Conditions on 26 June 2026 as per ERCC – CC BY 4.0 Europe is on fire. Record-shattering heat waves have gripped the continent, pushing temperatures above 40°C (104°F) in multiple countries, buckling infrastructure, overwhelming hospitals, and claiming thousands of lives. This is not a natural disaster. It is the foreseeable, profitable outcome of decades of fossil fuel addiction and capitalist extraction. According to a sobering analysis by The Economist, the late-June heat spike could cause around 12,000 excess deaths across Europe. The study, covering 854 cities, shows that human-caused climate change has made the event far more lethal than it would have been otherwise. France alone has already reported over 1,000 excess deaths, with Spain, Italy, and Germany also suffering heavy tolls, and northern countries — that are often less prepared for the heat — facing temps well over 30°C degrees. The elderly and the poor are paying the highest price. The World Health Organization has confirmed more than 1,300 excess deaths linked to the heat since June 21. The oceans tell an even darker story. In June 2026, global sea surface temperatures reached a new all-time record, hitting averages of 21.0°C according to the EU’s Copernicus Marine Service — surpassing previous records set in 2023 and 2024. Scientists warn we are entering “uncharted territory,” with marine heat waves expanding and intensifying. A supercharged El Niño has thrown more fuel on an already burning planet, but the root cause is clear: decades of unchecked carbon emissions by the fossil fuel industry. This is not misfortune. This is mass murder by profit. The fossil fuel giants — ExxonMobil, Shell, BP, Chevron, Italy’s ENI — have known for half a century that their products were cooking the planet. They lied, they lobbied, they delayed, and they continued drilling, fracking, and expanding. In 2025 alone, ENI reported adjusted net profits of around €5 billion, while European oil majors collectively posted obscene windfall gains. Greenpeace and other reports have repeatedly exposed how these companies continue to prioritize extraction over survival, even as they greenwash their images with token “transition” investments that amount to a fraction of their fossil fuel spending. ENI has been deeply entangled in energy deals tied to Israel’s operations in occupied Palestinian waters, supplying crude oil that powers the military apparatus carrying out what many legal experts describe as genocidal actions in Gaza. Fossil capital doesn’t just warm the planet — it fuels the wars and occupations that accelerate ecological collapse. Nowhere is this more obscene than in the fusion of war and ecological destruction. The world’s militaries — led by the United States and its allies — are among the largest institutional emitters on Earth. The ongoing genocides in Gaza and the Sudan, and wars in Ukraine, Iran and elsewhere pour tens of millions of tons of CO₂ into the atmosphere through fuel-guzzling jets, tanks, bombs, and reconstruction. Every missile fired, every drone launched, every city reduced to rubble accelerates the very climate breakdown that makes these heat waves deadlier. War is not separate from the climate crisis — it is one of its most vicious engines. The new priests of the digital age — the hyperscale data centers powering Artificial Intelligence — are adding massive new heat to an already overheating planet. Data centers consumed about 415 TWh globally in 2024, roughly 1.5% of world electricity, and are projected to nearly double by 2030. In Europe, demand is exploding. A single large AI training facility can consume as much power as 100,000 households, while the heat they generate raises local land surface temperatures by an average of 2°C, with some areas seeing spikes as high as 9°C. The AI boom is not “clean tech” — it is another ravenous consumer of fossil energy in a system that cannot stop growing. Even more terrifying is the human body’s hard limit. Scientists define a wet-bulb temperature of 35°C (95°F) as the theoretical survivability threshold — the point at which, even in shade with unlimited water, the human body can no longer cool itself through sweating. Recent studies show that deadly heat stress is already occurring at lower wet-bulb levels, especially for the elderly and those with pre-existing conditions. During this heatwave, large parts of southern Europe approached or breached dangerous thresholds, where mortality spikes dramatically. We are not just losing comfort. We are losing the basic environmental conditions required for human survival. Skeptics still trot out tired arguments: “It’s just natural cycles,” “The models are wrong,” or “Alarmists like Guy McPherson have been predicting doom for years.” McPherson, the controversial ecologist who has long warned of near-term human extinction, continues to argue that we are witnessing abrupt, irreversible collapse driven by feedback loops — Arctic methane release, permafrost thaw, and accelerating warming. While his exact timeline remains debated, the underlying science he cites — runaway warming and tipping points — is increasingly validated by mainstream observations. The deniers’ real record is one of consistent failure: every prediction of “cooling” or “stabilization” has been falsified by relentless temperature records, melting ice, and rising seas. Their skepticism is not science — it is ideological defense of a dying profit model. Europe likes to call itself a climate leader. In reality, it remains dangerously unprepared. Most cities lack proper cooling infrastructure. Heat action plans are inadequate. Vulnerable populations are abandoned to suffer and die while governments prioritize corporate profits and military budgets over human survival. The message of this heat wave is brutally simple: we are no longer approaching the abyss. We are in free fall. Every additional fraction of a degree means more corpses, more suffering, and more irreversible damage to the only home we have. The time for half-measures and greenwashed promises is long past over. We need a ruthless, immediate dismantling of the fossil fuel economy, an end to the wars that feed it, and a radical reorientation toward genuine justice — for people and for the planet. The heat is not coming. It is here. And even with the dismantling of the criminal system driving it, it is only likely to get worse — until it becomes unsurvivable. Strategies exist that could help provide some temporary relief if the world collaborated and cooperated to implement them. The struggle for human existence has begun. The question is whether we will fight with the urgency this moment demands to prioritize our common humanity and our planet above allowing business as usual to steam ahead. The post Europe Is Burning: The Deadly Heatwave That Exposes the Criminality of Fossil Capitalism and the Economy of Genocide appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Michael Leonardi.
Monsters Playing Victims: Danny Danon’s Twisted War on the Truth
Whether Israelis will ever comprehend the irreparable damage inflicted upon their country’s reputation by their UN Ambassador, Danny Danon, is a moot point. The damage Israel has done to itself through its barbaric practices in occupied Palestine is simply impossible to overcome. Danon, however, utilizes a peculiar approach to defending Israel within international institutions: he More The post Monsters Playing Victims: Danny Danon’s Twisted War on the Truth appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Credit: UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe – CC BY-SA 4.0 Whether Israelis will ever comprehend the irreparable damage inflicted upon their country’s reputation by their UN Ambassador, Danny Danon, is a moot point. The damage Israel has done to itself through its barbaric practices in occupied Palestine is simply impossible to overcome. Danon, however, utilizes a peculiar approach to defending Israel within international institutions: he relies on bullying, intimidation, and an overt attempt to silence anyone who dares to challenge the official Israeli narrative—particularly women leaders. Yet, what makes his behavior most outrageous is his deployment of these abrasive tactics to suppress an issue that demands the utmost sensitivity: the systemic use of sexual violence and human rights abuses against Palestinians. The confrontation took place during a UN General Assembly session convened to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict. Senior UN officials were presenting harrowing findings documenting sexual violence against Palestinian detainees. True to form, Danon refused to engage with the substance of the reports. For Israeli diplomacy, the enemy is never merely the armed adversary; it is the judge, the independent human rights observer, and the UN investigator whose sole mandate is to document violations of international law. The immediate target of Danon’s wrath was Pramila Patten, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict. Instead of reflecting on the grim findings, Danon demanded Patten’s resignation. He accused her and the broader international community of harboring an “obsession” with targeting Israel. When Vanessa Frazier, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, attempted to intervene on a point of order per established protocol, Danon unleashed a vitriolic verbal assault. Refusing to yield, he shouted over her, ordering her to “be quiet” and drowning out the chamber with his outbursts. “Shame on you. You are part of this obsession,” Danon bellowed. While such unruly behavior should have resulted in Danon’s immediate removal from the chamber, the diplomatic asymmetry of the UN prevailed. It was Frazier who found herself trying to de-escalate, politely clarifying that her procedural request was “not personal.” Danon shot back with typical defiance: “You will not be allowed to bully us.” Herein lies the supreme irony of Israel’s diplomatic relationship with the UN and international law. Israel stands as one of the most egregious, serial violators of international law in modern history—a decades-long pattern of behavior left unpunished by Western vetoes, which ultimately emboldened it to carry out an ongoing genocide in Gaza. Yet, Israeli officials persistently claim the mantle of the ultimate victim, alleging they are the targets of antisemitism, unfair bias, and now, “bullying” by the very institutions they defy. But the mountain of evidence cannot be shouted away. According to an extensive report issued by Patten’s office, there are verified patterns of systemic abuse, sexual degradation, and psychological torture weaponized against Palestinian men, women, and children in Israeli detention camps like Sde Teiman. The weight of this evidence reached such an undeniable threshold that the UN Secretary-General’s office formally added Israel to the global ‘List of Shame’—the blacklist of states committing grave violations against children in armed conflict. None of this exposure is enough to convince Danon or the broader Israeli political establishment that Israel does not possess a sovereign right to violate international law. In their view, merely pointing out these crimes constitutes an act of aggression. This systemic denial extends to every facet of the conflict. A comprehensive UN investigation recently concluded that Israel has deliberately targeted Palestinian children in Gaza as a core component of its military campaign. The numbers are staggering: Between October 7, 2023, and October 7, 2025, an estimated 20,179 Palestinian children were killed—about 30 percent of all Palestinian deaths. “The evidence shows that Palestinian children have been deliberately targeted and killed by the Israeli security forces,” stated commission chair Srinivasan Muralidhar, noting that Israeli authorities have systematically continued to commit the crime of genocide. While these findings provide another layer of ironclad legal proof regarding genocidal intent, the true significance of the report lies in its exposure of the rationale behind targeting youth. Typically, the disproportionate slaughter of children and women is dismissed by Western apologists as “collateral damage”. The UN inquiry shattered this defense, offering a far more consequential conclusion: the targeting of Gaza’s children is part of a calculated strategy to destroy the biological continuity and future existence of the Palestinian people in Gaza. As Muralidhar bluntly summarized: “By targeting children, Israel is attacking the very capacity of the Palestinian people to exist.” It remains a profound disappointment that the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice—often swift to indict war crimes committed elsewhere—continue to move at a glacial pace regarding Israel. Tragically, the catastrophe continues unabated because there is still no meaningful international mechanism willing to enforce sanctions or employ genuine pressure to halt it. This is precisely why Danny Danon wants the world to be quiet. His outbursts are not merely directed at UN diplomats; they are directed at global civil society, ordinary citizens, and anyone refusing to look away. Israel demands absolute silence while Palestinians are starved, raped, and murdered. According to its twisted logic, committing these atrocities is an inherent right, and objecting to them is an act of malice. If this logic is allowed to prevail, it becomes the blueprint for every future aggressor who wishes to kill, rape, and starve a population for geopolitical gain. Palestinians and Lebanese are already forced to inhabit this dystopian reality. Our collective responsibility is clear: we must refuse to be quiet. We must speak out, ensuring our voices drown out the shouts of Danon and his peers, so that murder and systemic violence are never normalized as tools of military necessity. The post Monsters Playing Victims: Danny Danon’s Twisted War on the Truth appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Ramzy Baroud.
My guess is not many Americans know that in 1947 our first Secretary Of Defense believed a Jewish state in the Middle East was a bad idea for the United States, let alone that he met his death falling from a 16th story window. But James Forrestal should be of interest to anyone who is More The post Lessons From The Forrestal Diaries appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Forrestal arrives at the White House for a Cabinet meeting, c. 1945 – Public Domain My guess is not many Americans know that in 1947 our first Secretary Of Defense believed a Jewish state in the Middle East was a bad idea for the United States, let alone that he met his death falling from a 16th story window. But James Forrestal should be of interest to anyone who is repulsed by the ruthless timidity of the Democratic Party, excited by the possibilities of the Democratic Socialists, and eager to push back on the fictional narrative of Israel as our eternally indispensable ally. Fortunately, no matter how mislaid and dust-covered, history is always shouting at us, always desperate to start a conversation. So it was with a genuine sense of amazement that, after spending 4 bucks at a used book sale, I let James Forrestal talk to me. Who was James Forrestal? Like the new American nation of 1776, the new American empire of 1945 also had its Founding Fathers of bankers, diplomats and lawyers. Forrestal, a Princeton grad, bond salesman and ardent capitalist, toiled beside the Harrimans, Kennans, Bohlens, Lovetts, Achesons and McCloys to invent a conqueror’s foreign policy. These were men who lunched and drafted white papers and sent cables as they transformed the United States military from one which trained with broom handles prior to 1941 into an atomic superpower. One of my favorite books about World War II is Winston Churchill’s “The Hinge Of Fate”. The entire thing is about logistics. How the Allies’ superior ability to move men and material around the globe enabled them to defeat the Nazis. That was Forrestal – an efficient administrator who spent his days trying to figure things out. As a special assistant to FDR he oversaw industrial mobilization and procurement during the war, then, as Secretary of the Navy under Truman, he oversaw demobilization after it. Yet nothing came calmingly. Where Dean Acheson was pleased enough with himself to magisterially title his memoir “Present at the Creation”, Forrestal analytically scribbled a diary. It combined gnawing unsureness about the future with extraordinary prescience about the problems contained in what these wise men were creating. Some of the diary is charmingly dated. For Forrestal, the difficulty of government work was that it “not only has to be well done, but the public has to be convinced that it is being well done.” Today’s Democratic leadership, having managed to streamline that process into appearing-to-govern-by-saying-words-at-realities, would chortle at such sincerity. Then too, much of the diary is personally annoying. I have always believed that the Pentagon does not exist to promote freedom – it exists to protect monied interests from the consequences of their avarice. Forrestal, on the other hand, wasn’t merely a cold warrior, he was cryogenic. A passionate foe of Henry Wallace and ever fearful of the Soviet menace, Forrestal was more than willing to champion Senator Arthur Vandenberg’s immortal and perpetually followed advice to Harry Truman on how to acquire defense appropriations: “The only way you are going to get what you want is to make a speech and scare the hell out of the country.” And, truth be told, there are entries in the Forestall Diaries which certainly scare the hell out of me. For instance, years after Hiroshima, no one in the evolving security structure of the United States, including Secretary Of Defense Forrestal, seems to have had any conception of the destructive power of the atomic bomb. The bomb itself was just another optional weapon to quell geopolitical disturbances, and individual branches of the service wanted control of their own nuclear arsenals. The situation produced a Forrestal diary note which is positively Hegsethian in its casual derangement: 27 October 1948 General Notes on the Question Navel Air – Air Force 5. I do not believe that air power alone can win a war any more than an Army or naval power can win a war, and I do not believe in the theory that an atomic offensive will extinguish in a week the will to fight. By now, you might be asking yourself why I’m asking you to read what James Forrestall has to say when I myself disagree with much of it? Simple. It’s because when he pushes back against Zionists and Israel, Forrestal is both a kindred spirit and an honest breath of never-mentioned air. On Israel these days, only certain people are required to explain their positions by jumping through inquisitory hoops: Platner in Maine. El-Sayed in Michigan. Mamdani-backed candidates. Any voters horrified enough by the butchery in Gaza, Lebanon and the West Bank to vote accordingly. Meanwhile, all the wrong people are under no such obligation. Frauds who portray the Diaspora as a Dantean level of hell profit handsomely while going unchallenged: Deborah Lipstadt, a dingbat whose racist ravings somehow qualified her to be Joe Biden’s Antisemitism Czar. Mark Levin, the “Lord Haw-Haw of Fox News”, and an out-and-out propagandist for a foreign country who does not even pretend to aspire to dual loyalty. Bill Maher, a duplicitously hectoring prick who somehow managed to receive the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor on the extraordinary grounds of never having uttered a challenging satirical thought. For these people, Palestine and Palestinians do not exist. But they did for Forestall. And his diary reminds us of a time when they existed for many. In fact, views on Zionism and Israel’s founding, for which Democratic Socialists are attacked today, were held by members of the cabinet during Israel’s founding! I’ll let the diary speak. 1 December 1947 Cabinet Lunch …Lovett reported on the result of the United Nations action on Palestine over the weekend. He said he had never in his life been subject to as much pressure as he had been in the three days beginning Thursday morning and ending Saturday night. [Herbert Bayard] Swope, Robert Nathan, were among those who had importuned him…The Firestone Tire and Rubber Company, which has a concession in Liberia, reported that it had been telephoned to and asked to transmit a message to their representative in Liberia directing him to bring pressure on the Liberian government to vote in favor of partition. The zeal and activity of the Jews had almost resulted in defeating the objectives they were after. I remarked that many thoughtful people of the Jewish faith had deep misgivings about the wisdom of the Zionists’ pressures for a Jewish state in Palestine, and I also remarked that the New York Times editorial of Sunday morning pointed up those misgivings when it said, “Many of us have long had doubts concerning the wisdom of erecting a political state on a basis of religious faith.” I said I thought the decision was fraught with great danger for the future security of this country. Here, talking with the former Secretary Of State, he discusses Israel in terms of the money and political considerations which prevented a one state solution. His closing sentence would work in any DSA campaign today. 3 December 1947 Lunch–Mr. Byrnes Lunch today with Jimmy Byrnes. We talked Palestine. Byrnes recalled the fact that he had disassociated himself from his decision of a year ago to turn down the Grady report which recommended a federated state for Palestine or a single Arabian state. He said the decision on the part of the President to reject this recommendation and to criticize the British for their conduct of Palestinian affairs had placed Bevin and Attlee in a most difficult position: He said that Niles {David K. Niles, administrative assistant to the President] and Sam Rosenman were chiefly responsible for the President’s decision; that both had told the President that Dewey was about to come out with a statement favoring the Zionist position on Palestine, and that they had insisted that unless the President anticipated this movement New York State would be lost to the Democrats. I asked Byrnes what he thought of the possibility of getting Republican leaders to agree with the Democrats to have the Palestine question placed on a nonpolitical basis. He wasn’t particularly optimistic about the success of this effort because of the fact that Rabbi Silver was one of Taft’s close associates and because Taft followed Silver on the Palestine-Haifa question. I said I thought it was a most disastrous and regrettable fact that the foreign policy of this country was determined by the contributions a particular bloc of special interests might make to the party funds. And here is Forrestal calling out Zionists’ relentless pressure tactics head on. 3 February 1948 Meeting-Franklin D. Roosevelt Jr. Visit today from Franklin D. Roosevelt, Jr. who came in with a strong advocacy of the Jewish state in Palestine, that we should support the United Nations “decision,” and in general a broad, across the board statement of the Zionist position. I pointed out that the United Nations had as yet taken no “decision,” that it was only a recommendation of the General Assembly, that any implementation of this “decision” by the United States would probably result in the need for a partial mobilization, and that I thought the methods that had been used by people outside of the Executive branch of the government to bring coercion and duress on other nations in the General Assembly bordered closely onto scandal. He professed ignorance on this latter point and returned to his general ex-position of the case of the Zionists. He made no threats but made it very clear that the zealots in this cause had the conviction of trying to upset the government policy on Palestine. I replied that I had no power to make policy but that I would be derelict in my duty if I did not point out what I thought would be the consequences of any particular policy which would endanger the security of this country. I said that I was merely directing my efforts to lifting the question out of politics, that is, to have the two parties agree they would not compete for votes on this issue. He said this was impossible, that the nation was too far committed and that, furthermore, the Democratic Party would be bound to lose and the Republicans gain by such an agreement. I said I was forced to repeat to him what I had said to Senator McGrath in response to the latter’s observation that our failure to go along with the Zionists might lose the states of New York, Pennsylvania and California – that I thought it was about time that somebody should pay some consideration to whether we might not lose the United States. In the end, his lack of calm caught up with Forrestal. Five weeks after resigning as Defense Secretary, while undergoing psychiatric observation, he took his own life by jumping from a 16th floor window at the National Naval Medical Center. His New York Times obituary is here and worth reading in its entirety as both a story of personal anguish and a far more honest account of political realities than would ever be published today: “He was widely denounced by persons who felt that he favored the Arabs over the Jews, and Mr. Forrestal was said to be particularly distressed by a statement that “he cared more for oil than he did for the Jews.” Mr. Forrestal also felt he was being deserted by his former friends in business as well as unjustly attacked by so-called liberals who misunderstood his role on the Palestine question.” As anyone who ever opposed the official narrative on Israel can tell you, there’s a price to be paid for your efforts. Forestall paid his in full. Having read the Diaries, the last line of the obituary is poignant – showing Forrestal still trying to figure things out: “On the window sill from which Mr. Forrestal jumped were marks suggesting he might have changed his mind and tried to climb back into the window.” Fortunately, James Forrestal left something more than marks on a window sill. He left this nation a diary containing indispensable advice on how a decent political party should decide what it stands for. The post Lessons From The Forrestal Diaries appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Jerry Long.
Whew! it’s hot out there, and the more the planet heats up, the more geoengineering appeals to billionaire types willing to bankroll projects to reflect sunlight to outer space. But solar radiation management (SRM) is a touchy subject that’s yet to make an impact on global warming. Who knows, maybe it never will… meaning, not More The post The Mad Scramble to Dim Sunlight appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Image by Johannes Plenio. Whew! it’s hot out there, and the more the planet heats up, the more geoengineering appeals to billionaire types willing to bankroll projects to reflect sunlight to outer space. But solar radiation management (SRM) is a touchy subject that’s yet to make an impact on global warming. Who knows, maybe it never will… meaning, not in enough time. Alas, the unexpected rapid rate of global warming has shortened the time frame that’s available to do something constructive. And SRM, like a dangling participle, needs a lot of work. The harsh reality of today’s climate change has snuffed out years of theatrics by climate advocates failing to convince world governments and the public of how real and dangerous it really is as a threat to life on Earth. Nowadays, global heat itself is proving climate change is a real threat to life. This is a new phenomenon that’s never happened before to this extent throughout all of human history. How can anybody fail to recognize global heat setting new records year-by-year for 11-12-straight years? That is according to the World Meteorological Organization. Europe certainly recognizes it; people die in botched attempts to escape heat. The extreme heat makes the nightly headlines with EU roads buckling, trains suspended, tracks bending, schools closing, nuclear plant shutdowns, power cables breaking. This is climate change challenging economic infrastructure. It’s likely to get worse. This is not normal. Don’t fall for climate deniers in the U.S. that cook-up stupid stories to diminish the threat of climate change, e.g., “more people die from winter cold than from summer heat” recently stated by a senior administration official. Oh please! Meanwhile, there’s an element in society, known as technocrats, that boldly, hubristically believe human ingenuity via geoengineering will challenge and defeat climate change before it defeats them. They’re probably wrong. MIT on Geoengineering MIT recently weighed in on the subject: Geoengineering Faces Major Practical Challenges, MIT d/d June 18, 2026. Subtitled: “There’s a lot to figure out about the controversial climate tech.” For example: “Solar geoengineering is often portrayed as a sort of emergency brake. Something along the lines of ‘Pull in Case of Climate Emergency’ to scatter light-reflecting particles to bounce sunlight out of the atmosphere and cool the planet… But it might be less like a simple brake and more like a complicated, entirely unsolved puzzle,” Ibid. Accordingly, attempting to alter the climate to save our collective butts from horrific global heat might be a lot harder than anybody realizes. And according to the study underlying the MIT article, “to actually actively cool the planet in a significant way, and to make sure we understand exactly what effect we’re having, there’s a lot that researchers still need to learn… There are major concerns about what effects might come from large-scale attempts to cool the planet. The effects could be positive for some parts of the globe and negative for others.” The impact of our rapidly changing climate that’s directly influenced by too much fossil fuel CO2 spewing into the atmosphere is found on the nightly news. Cars tumble down flooding city streets and black ash from Canada’s biblical wildfires have sprinkled across America’s Great Lakes in the recent past, a casualty of global warming drying out the boreal forest and dangerously destroying a powerful carbon sink. During 2025-26 record-setting fires hit Florida, California, Georgia, Oklahoma, and Nebraska all shattering historic records for burned acreage and unheard-of insurance losses. None of this is normal. Major insurance companies have been regularly speaking out about extreme climate change as a risk to the functioning capitalistic system. Some have gone so far as to express outright destruction risks, see: Climate Crisis on Track to Destroy Capitalism, Warns Top Insurer. Meanwhile, behind the scenes, in private, geoengineering of the planet’s atmosphere increasingly catches the attention of billionaire money. All of which brings to surface an upcoming controversial issue that’s certain to turn heads. In fact, geoengineering has quietly but assuredly drawn fierce battle lines for years. It brings out the brightest and the best in academia as well as the lowest of conspirators into a clashing of interests with sparks flying. The Chemtrail Conspiracy Theory has a long history of claiming airplane contrails have been releasing solar radiation management chemical agents for purposes of weather modification or some other purpose. This has been met by strong pushback by federal agencies and the scientific community, finding no signs of legitimate evidence. Interestingly, ex-CIA employee and famous whistleblower Edward Snowden, who had no axe to grind at the time, in a Joe Rogan interview said he used his “ridiculous access to the networks of the NSA, the CIA, the military, all these groups. I couldn’t find anything… no evidence of aliens or mysterious chemtrails.” Nevertheless, RFK, jr. endorsed chemtrail conspiracy theories. And there are serious students of chemtrails that maintain it is real. This remains a big ball tossed into the air that hasn’t landed yet. Now, it’s coming to light that private entities have been taking pokes at geoengineering the atmosphere in the spirit of mitigating global heat, which has dramatically increased to a new higher level suddenly and unexpectedly. Climate scientists have addressed this new danger of a “fundamental shift” as global warming jump-shifted 10-times normal, in only one year, along with surprisingly massive and extensive ocean heat waves across almost the entire oceans lasting over 500 days, confounding scientists (see- Ocean Heat Goes Ballistic). Ocean Heat Content (OHC) has been setting new records, every year, for nine consecutive years. This all adds up to one hell’uva scary climate onslaught with a new regime of heat in the offing. This festering problem has been identified by elite scientists, and it’s downright scary. Human activity is negatively impacting the complexion of the planet via a massive acceleration phase of extreme heat with Antarctica on edge. Some billionaires have taken notice. A recent Politico article, Researchers Quietly Planned a Test to Dim Sunlight. They wanted to ‘Avoid Scaring’ the public d/d July 27, 2025, exposes behind the scenes activity to influence (geoengineer) the atmosphere, which sparks enormous international attention. Is it morally kosher, will a Frankenstein climate haunt civilization, will it disrupt nature more so than it helps, will it work? The Politico article flushes out an aborted attempt a year ago on a retired aircraft carrier to test a device to create artificial clouds. Come to find out, their intentions went well beyond that initial experiment. The bigger plan involved spaying salt water to dim the sun’s rays over a stretch of ocean larger than Puerto Rico. According to the article: “The details outlined in funding requests, emails, texts and other records obtained by POLITICO’s E&E News raise new questions about a secretive billionaire-backed initiative that oversaw last year’s brief solar geoengineering experiment on the San Francisco Bay,” Ibid. As further stated, human tinkering with the climate has drawn political backlash as well as generating conspiracy theories all of which adds to challenges of even small-scale tests. The test referenced by the article lasted all of 20 minutes run by the University of Washington intended to last months. It was shut down by Alameda city officials that did not buy into secretive testing without prior public notice. The university’s Marine Cloud Brightening Program has much bigger plans than the Alameda pilot test on the carrier deck in Alameda. The Program had received some federal funding and wanted to gain use of government ships and planes. The Program in concert with a geoengineering advocacy group Silver Lining and the scientific nonprofit SRI International has its eyes set on big dealings to “fill in gaps” of safety and effectiveness of the technology. “Alameda was a steppingstone to something much larger, and there wasn’t any engagement with local communities,” said Sikina Jinnah, an environmental studies professor at the University of California in Santa Cruz. “That’s a serious misstep,” Ibid. Meanwhile, the University of Washington maintains innocence of any intention to alter the climate, rather, their only goal was to research the technology, not deploy it. Sarah Doherty, an atmospheric professor at the university said: “There are no plans for conducting large-scale studies that would alter weather or climate.” With global warming coming of age much sooner than even most negative warnings predicted and stronger, sooner than climate scientists expected, geoengineering to deflect incoming solar radiation is assured to get much more attention, begging the ultimate question of whether humans should mess around with nature; although, greenhouse gases like CO2 have already demonstrated human interference causes too much heat. In a very real practical sense, fossil fuel emissions (CO2) have already geoengineered the climate for over 200 years, resulting in a haywire climate system characterized by unprecedented events almost every year. “Unprecedented” is fast losing its impact as a statement of alarming fact. It’s become a routine fact. Still, the million-dollar question: If we broke it, can we fix it? Critics of SRM are adamant and abundant, for example, Solar Geoengineering Could Wreak Havoc on the Planet, Sierra d/d September 21, 2023: “Dimming the sun to slow down global warming might buy us some time. But it would also come with significant risks. The impact would not be uniform across the globe and cause serious disruption of established weather patterns that agriculture relies upon. And a moral hazard would exist as it encourages fossil fuel polluters to ignore needed cuts in CO2 emissions. And, what if it becomes necessary to stop, to turn it off, then what? And who gets control of tampering with the global thermostat may be impossible to reconcile.” Big question marks remain as serious obstacles to practical geo-engineering of solar radiation, anytime soon. ‘Hopeful’ Credible Solutions For those interested in pursuing detailed information about potential practical solutions, there are some early-stage private organizations that command attention, e.g., Climate Restoration, which advocates iron-fertilization of ocean ‘eddies’ to initiate a process to absorb and rebalance CO2. Additionally, a recent article: “Letter: Greenland Meltdown and the Reasons It Matters” in Financial Times d/d January 25, 2026 by John Nissen, Chair of the Planetary Restoration Action Group, London: “A pressing need exists to start lowering the Arctic temperature while it is still just possible using the most powerful, available cooling technique, stratospheric aerosol injection (SAI))” The above-mentioned organizations base their solutions on historic evidence of nature’s volcanic eruptions affecting the global climate system. As stated by The Harvard Solar Geoengineering Research Program (SGRP), solar geoengineering is not a replacement for reducing emissions or adapting to climate impacts. In other words, SRM is only one tool in a very big fixit box. It does not remove what’s already been done. Scientists say this must be done to fix things, but direct air capture (DAC) of CO2 is immature, inadequate, and laughable, like taking a peashooter to a war zone. In part, this is why polar scientists at recent scientific meetings insist CO2 emissions must stop now or Antarctica is assured of acting out. Monitoring the Sky It should be noted that NOAA’s Chemical Sciences Lab monitors the sky for renegade sunlight dimmers: “Every few weeks, researchers in Boulder, Colorado, release a balloon that rises 17 miles into the sky. Similar balloons are launched with less frequency from sites in Alaska, Hawaii and New Zealand; Reunion Island, near the coast of Africa; and even Antarctica. They make up the building blocks of a system that would alert American scientists to geoengineering.” According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, as of May 21, 2026, the Trump administration has proposed a 32% cut in NOAA’s funding. “Since September of 2024, federal science agencies in the US have axed nearly 120,000 employees, in a stinging loss for public research. Some of the heaviest impact was felt by scientists studying the climate.” (source: Futurism, June 25, 2026) Meanwhile, global warming is not waiting around for stupid humans to figure out how to fix a problem they’ve created, but ignored, for more than a couple of centuries. After 200 years of feeding the beast, the fuse has finally been lit, and it’s burning like a house afire. For evidence, just ask any major home insurance company. A bigger question is whether there’s enough time to organize the world to agree to attempt dimming sunlight. This hasn’t even begun to coalesce yet, but there is plenty of discord. The post The Mad Scramble to Dim Sunlight appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Robert Hunziker.
Remembering Artists From Another Time: David Hockney
David Hockney: Los Angeles California Truthful Fiction Buster Keaton sat atop the locomotive coupling rod in The General. Unexpectedly, the unexpected surprised. What followed was a hilarious adventure and a transcendental calm. For a moment, my eyes melded into Buster’s. For a mere few seconds of moving celluloid, our eyes shared a meditative pause, and the entire More The post Remembering Artists From Another Time: David Hockney appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
David Hockney: Los Angeles California Truthful Fiction Buster Keaton sat atop the locomotive coupling rod in The General. Unexpectedly, the unexpected surprised. What followed was a hilarious adventure and a transcendental calm. For a moment, my eyes melded into Buster’s. For a mere few seconds of moving celluloid, our eyes shared a meditative pause, and the entire universe was explained. I became acutely aware of the places between the worlds of fiction and nonfiction. Universes ablaze, everything that looks like harmony poses before my single reflex. Photography has never been about where I arrive at. I am telling a story that has not been seen yet. I sit, watching quietly and solemnly the world go by, on my way to a destination. It is the middle ground that I see. The fantasies of what may become excite the camera’s lens. It is the lush life for the curious. It invites all eyes to hear the key (if you listen for the magic) of Billy Strayhorn’s “Lush Life.” It is a place I can play in. If you could see what my eyes think while en route to a capture–I often repeat these lines to myself as if I am alone with me, me, me. There is no eye in me, just me. There is often a bit of frivolity at play. I unintentionally try to freeze-frame every shift of light on the horizon. I unintentionally try to freeze-frame my life. I unintentionally absorb the meaning of every shapeshifter between here and there. I hold hostage one thousand stories to dream about on another day, in another repose, in a life ahead. When I arrived at David Hockney’s home, my mind went blank. For too many days, before I tried to imagine the photograph I would snap. The opportunities to meet fame head-on are rare. “What will I ‘do’ with David? What will I do?” I remember the architectural photographer Julius Shulman (who mentored me for a number of years) told me he could see David Hockney naked from his home. To this day, I doubt it. Julius had a bit of a children’s playpen in his mind. Plus, I have never seen the picture he claimed to have made. I remember standing at the front door waiting for David to bring me in. As one might imagine, I was thinking about the Shulman naked pic. I was thinking about every photographer I had admired. I was lifting my brain to the north just to understand what I would do with David. The universe is a funny place to live in. It is impossible to know what will happen in the next moment. So when this pale, pale sweet man greeted me, all and any of my worst fears vanished. He was, for the next few hours, a prince. As with just about everyone I have ever photographed, he wanted to hear about my experiences and the people we had in common. We talked about his friend R.B. Kitaj for an hour or so. We must have covered many more names and places, too – maybe another hour or more. I felt more like a button buck deer than an equal. He was charming , articulate and just the most friendly of subjects. I was an ordinary person with a camera. We eventually entered his studio. He was very excited to show me a Chinese scroll on which he essentially based a significant body of work. He had little interest in explaining anything about the dozen paintings in view. He wanted to unscroll this delicate eighteenth-century or earlier Chinese scroll. His voice was extraordinarily passionate. He pleaded with me to touch the imagery. I slightly caressed the scene. It was a guilty pleasure. “Do it again,” he laughed. My nerves danced. He laughed some more. The Chinese art was as beautiful as anything I had ever seen. Fragile and deliciously ornamental. My natural light was almost hidden at this point. I asked David if it was time for me to leave. The day was long. I framed maybe a dozen pictures with my camera. There were many details and reflective moments of repose. They were for another time, possibly before they disappear from my memory. A great morning and afternoon came to a close. As he walked me to my car, we shook hands. Before we parted, he surprisingly gifted me some needed oxygen. He handed me a cassette tape of Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E minor, Op.64. He whispered some generous and profound parting thoughts. I accelerated and found my way cruising atop the Hollywood canyons. Today I played a Spotify version of Mendelssohn’s Concerto. I wanted to remind myself of what picture-perfect sounds like in my eyes. The post Remembering Artists From Another Time: David Hockney appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Richard Schulman.
Mass “Unchilding” and “Forgetting” of Palestinian Children
There is no shortage of things that should astonish us about the West’s indifference to Israel’s genocide in Gaza, but the treatment of children stands apart. In ordinary life, care for children is the deepest moral reflex we have: parents structure their days around it, laws and institutions exist to enforce it, and even distant More The post Mass “Unchilding” and “Forgetting” of Palestinian Children appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Image by mohammed al bardawil. There is no shortage of things that should astonish us about the West’s indifference to Israel’s genocide in Gaza, but the treatment of children stands apart. In ordinary life, care for children is the deepest moral reflex we have: parents structure their days around it, laws and institutions exist to enforce it, and even distant or imagined threats to our children are enough to produce panic, outrage, and decisive action. When one of our children is hurt – physically or emotionally – we feel it in our own bodies; a small injury can be agonizing, a night of fear can undo us, and the death of a child is rightly understood as the most shattering loss from which families often never fully recover. And yet, when Palestinian children are killed, maimed, starved, orphaned, displaced, detained, or psychologically traumatized in the tens of thousands, this supposedly deeply-ingrained instinct no longer obtains. What is treated as sacrosanct everywhere else becomes contingent here, revealing a moral collapse that no amount of rhetoric can conceal. The Unchilding of Palestinian Children A landmark report released in June 2026 by the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry concludes that Israeli authorities and security forces have deliberately targeted Palestinian children, finding that these acts constitute evidence of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. Examining the period from October 2023 through October 2025, the Commission records at least 20,179 children killed and 44,143 injured, while emphasizing that these figures almost certainly underestimate the true toll. More fundamentally, the report argues that the deliberate targeting of children is not incidental to Israel’s military campaign but a calculated strategy and one of the principal indicators of genocidal intent, observing that “by targeting children, Israel is attacking the very capacity of the Palestinian people to exist and to determine their future.” The report documents repeated cases of children killed by rifle and drone fire or suffering gunshot wounds to the head and torso, alongside the systematic destruction of schools and hospitals and the eradication of the conditions necessary for children’s survival and development. Worse still, documented accounts from medical personnel and witnesses describe the intentional, surgical targeting of children by Israeli soldiers, including reports of systematic sniper fire in which different days were allegedly devoted to shooting children in different parts of the body – “like a game of target practice.” The scale of this assault on Palestinian children is almost impossible to comprehend. This devastation is reflected in the official numbers. According to the Commission’s findings, children account for roughly 30 percent of all those killed, while UNICEF and other humanitarian agencies estimate that thousands more have been injured, orphaned, displaced, or psychologically traumatized. Yet even these staggering figures conceal the true scale of the devastation. Numerous humanitarian organizations have stressed that the total overall casualty data – across the entire population – almost certainly represents a substantial undercount, perhaps by as much as 35-40 percent. UNICEF has also warned that every child in Gaza now requires intense mental health support, with widespread trauma, sleep disorders, and fear responses across the entire child population. In Gaza City, large-scale surveys have found overwhelming levels of severe psychological distress among children living through repeated bombardment, displacement, and loss. This psychological fracturing is exacerbated by the collapse of family and societal networks, occurring despite the endurance of Sumud – the deeply ingrained practice of courageous and steadfast resilience rooted in mutual care, collective identity, and familial cohesion. Indeed, the ongoing calculated assault is aimed precisely at the social fabric that makes such collective resistance possible. More than 58,000 children have reportedly lost one or both parents, while thousands more are unaccompanied or separated in destroyed family networks. In hospitals, clinicians have coined the term WCNSF – “Wounded Child, No Surviving Family” – for children pulled from rubble as the sole survivors of their households. Many arrive unnamed – too young, too traumatized, or too injured to identify themselves, with no surviving relatives able to claim them. The assault on childhood survival is nowhere more painfully visible than in the catastrophic rate of pediatric bodily trauma. UNICEF reporting has documented children undergoing amputations at extraordinary rates, often without anesthesia, with some estimates describing multiple children per day losing limbs under conditions of relentless bombardment and medical collapse. Gaza now has the highest per capita population of child amputees in the world, a statistic that has no parallel in recent history. This physical destruction is compounded by a deliberate Israeli policy of medical denial, which systematically blocks thousands of these amputees from leaving the Strip to receive the urgent reconstructive surgeries and rehabilitative care unavailable within Gaza’s collapsed healthcare system. UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese, in her reports on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, has described this structural erasure as the “unchilding” of Palestinian children – the systematic destruction of the societal conditions that make childhood possible at all. Her subsequent work, including Anatomy of a Genocide, documents how mass death, starvation, displacement, detention, and psychological trauma function as part of a deliberate and systematic assault on the conditions necessary for children’s survival and development, threatening the very possibility of a Palestinian future and their right to self-determination. The Bereavement Multiplier The demographic concept of the bereavement multiplier helps clarify what raw casualty figures conceal. Developed by demographers during the COVID-19 pandemic, the bereavement multiplier refers to the number of close family members and loved ones who experience significant grief and loss following a death. A child killed does not represent a single loss but a cascading network of bereavement – parents, siblings, grandparents, caregivers, classmates, neighbours, and extended kin – often resulting in ten or more deeply affected individuals per death. Applied conservatively to Gaza’s reported child death toll alone, this suggests that several hundred thousand people have already been afflicted by the deep grief associated with the death of children. But in Gaza’s dense familial and social networks, these layers of mourning overlap to compound the impacts: families lose multiple children, survivors mourn entire households, and communities experience repeated exposure to widespread death. The result is not isolated bereavement, but population-wide psychological devastation extending far beyond the official death and injury totals. When the trauma borne by Palestinians in the West Bank and the wider diaspora is added, the number of people living under conditions of sustained traumatic stress likely reaches into the millions. The Psychology of Unchilding The psychological consequences of life in Gaza cannot be understood by conventional models of post-traumatic stress, which typically assume that traumatic events have ceased and recovery can begin. For Palestinian children, the threat itself has become relentless. More than fifteen years of blockade, repeated military assaults, and forced displacement have been compounded by the destruction of homes, schools, hospitals, and cultural institutions, the loss of parents and caregivers, and the deprivation of food, clean water, healthcare, and education. The result is an environment in which danger is not episodic but continuous. As psychologist Triantoro Safaria argues, Gazan children are living under conditions of “continuous traumatic stress” – a state characterized by unremitting and inescapable threat rather than exposure to discrete traumatic events. A comprehensive synthesis of the recent research by Anies Al-Hroub likewise concludes that conventional psychiatric models are fundamentally inadequate for understanding the psychological condition of Palestinian children. Instead, it calls for a framework that integrates continuous traumatic stress with structural violence, recognizing that children’s mental health is inseparable from the political, historical, and material conditions in which they live. The evidence consistently demonstrates extraordinarily high levels of post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, death anxiety, existential distress, and complicated grief, with many studies reporting clinically significant symptoms in 70–90 percent of children assessed. Because bombardment, displacement, and deprivation continue unabated, children rarely experience the safety necessary for healing and recovery. Cumulative exposure to war-induced trauma multiplies the risk for long-term harmful effects, creating what researchers now describe as a “continuum of trauma.” The Destruction of Childhood Itself The sustained environment of violence directly lays bare the psychological dimension of Albanese’s “unchilding” framework. Orphanhood, repeated displacement, and the collapse of family and community life compel children to prematurely assume adult responsibilities for daily survival long before they are developmentally capable of doing so. Play, learning, exploration, and socialization are entirely displaced by hyper-vigilance, scavenging, child labor, family caregiving, and the daily struggle to secure basic necessities. Emerging research suggests that these extreme conditions will permanently affect children’s neurological, emotional, and social development, underlining what Safaria describes as a collective “crisis of childhood itself.” Intergenerational Trauma and Complicated Grief The mental health consequences of these devastating conditions extend well beyond children’s direct experiences of the violence. Caregivers themselves are coping with overwhelming trauma, grief, displacement, and deprivation, giving rise to what researchers describe as secondary traumatization, whereby children’s emotional suffering is intensified through the distress of parents and other caregivers. The result is an intergenerational cycle of perpetual trauma in which post-traumatic stress responses are systematically transmitted through entire family systems. Clinical grief literature uses the term “complicated grief” to describe mourning that becomes prolonged or destabilized following sudden or violent death, the loss of a child, suicide, fractured relationships, or circumstances in which grieving and mourning cannot be safely processed. These are already among the most devastating forms of human bereavement, encompassing both the emotional experience of grieving and the cultural expressions of mourning. In Gaza, however, such circumstances are no longer exceptional – they have become the ordinary conditions under which significant loss and deprivation occur. Thus, viewed through the lens of grief and trauma studies, Gaza presents not merely a crisis of bereavement but one of complicated grief and complex trauma on a population-wide scale. Death occurs amid displacement, starvation, and destroyed homes, with children witnessing the deaths and disappearances of siblings and parents. In this same wreckage, parents search through rubble for the remains of their children, sometimes recovering only fragments of their bodies. Deprived of even the dignity of a proper burial, families are denied the conditions necessary to process their grief and integrate profound loss into their continuing life narrative. Trauma is sustained because the conditions producing it do not cease, ultimately fracturing the family and community connections that normally shelter and protect children during crises. Western Complicity and Moral Collapse The brutal murder of Hind Rajab was never an isolated atrocity. As Lama Khouri recently observed, there are “tens of thousands of Hind Rajabs” in Gaza – children whose names will never be recognized, but whose undocumented suffering is the very foundation of this assault on Palestinian childhood. While we may show fleeting sympathy for the few children whose stories break through to the outside world, countless others disappear without witness, memorial, or public reckoning. It is this exact silence that allows the machinery to keep moving. We look away when the news cycle shifts, but as Khouri notes: “Our forgetting is not innocent. It is the thing the killing needs from us, and it is being counted on.” None of this is to deny the suffering of children in other war zones – including Sudan, Yemen, Congo – where violence against civilians persists amid profound international indifference. Gaza, however, occupies a distinct place within Western political life. Israel is not an isolated or marginal actor; it is armed, funded, diplomatically protected, and rhetorically defended by the very governments that most loudly proclaim their commitment to human rights, international law, and the protection of children. Yet these high-minded principles collapse with startling ease in the case of Palestinians. More concerning still, this extraordinary deference to Israel has increasingly been accompanied by efforts at home to curtail civil liberties, suppress protest, and narrow the boundaries of acceptable political dissent. The pain and suffering of these young victims are not simply ignored; they are justified, normalized, and often suppressed from public view to preserve a strategic alliance with a rogue regime. Through this domestic enforcement, citizens in North America and Europe become not merely observers of these crimes against Palestinian children, but accomplices – however unwillingly or unwittingly – in the political structures that sustain them. To maintain their facade of moral enlightenment, Western societies do not simply fail to respond; with the aid of complicit media, they have learned how to “forget” while the killing continues. Reality is permitted to appear only in fragments – briefly visible before the next wave of headlines. We witness the slaughter, mutilation, and starvation of Palestinian children as if it were no more than an unsettling news story – shocking to look at, but detached from any claim upon our conscience or sense of compassion. The total abandonment of these innocent lives takes place amid a resounding silence that persists even within many progressive humanitarian organizations, suggesting not just hypocrisy, but something more disturbing: a profound erosion of our shared humanity. Our complicity and failure to act force a disturbing question upon us: how will we explain to our own children that we stood by and watched the “slow erasure of a people“ through the annihilation of its children? James Baldwin articulated a moral truth that speaks directly to this situation: “The children are always ours, every single one of them, all over the globe; and I am beginning to suspect that whoever is incapable of recognizing this may be incapable of morality.” The post Mass “Unchilding” and “Forgetting” of Palestinian Children appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Ross MacKay - Lynne MacFadgen.
Yes, It’s Possible! A Handbook from Building Power from Below
Interview with João França Building movements is an arduous and involved process. It takes organising people, building morale, and grit, and that isn’t even half of it. Don’t you wish you had a positive blueprint for how to move forward, to draw inspiration from, to continue the fight? Look no further than João França’s Yes, More The post Yes, It’s Possible! A Handbook from Building Power from Below appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Photo by Federico Scarionati Interview with João França Building movements is an arduous and involved process. It takes organising people, building morale, and grit, and that isn’t even half of it. Don’t you wish you had a positive blueprint for how to move forward, to draw inspiration from, to continue the fight? Look no further than João França’s Yes, It’s Possible! A Handbook from Building Power from Below (Common Notions, 2026). Based on the success of the Platform for People Affected by Mortgages (PAH), a movement in Spain that has stopped evictions, kept people in their homes, and changed perceptions of housing and financial institutions. França explains how PAH showed, through small everyday victories, that “yes, it’s possible.” This is a critical mindset needed now more than ever, given the context of rising fascism and the need to continue to be inspired to build movements today. Ly: What first compelled you to write this book? João: I used to work as a journalist and the Platform for People Affected by Mortgages (PAH) was one of the strongest movements occurring. It was really inspiring to see how effective it was, actually responding to the real life problems that people had. The PAH was tangibly keeping people in their houses and blocking evictions. People connected really well to this movement, as they felt they were doing something real. It was really inspiring and moving to see how it transformed people’s lives.For me, who got involved in movements later, it was my main political school, of a different way of doing politics. As a journalist, I felt that I was supporting the struggle through my work to communicate what was occurring to a wider audience. For this book, I approached the movement, to see if they wanted to work on this together, and that got me more involved, so it was a collaborative endeavor. Ly: At what point in the journey did it really feel, Yes, It’s Possible? In what way is that a positive and encouraging mantra? The most amazing thing about the PAH is that you see everyday that Yes, It’s Possible. Because everyday you are making a big difference for the family that lives in that house. So every time we go to an eviction, and stop the family getting evicted, you see it can be done. This movement changed the perception of housing and financial institutions, for example people used to trust the banks, and now they do not. It has made an impact in other movements, and all the different organisations that, even when they have differences with the PAH, they are inspired by the mutual aid model that the PAH created. One of the lessons that the people that the PAH started, who came from other social movements, they always had big goals, and it’s difficult to see the world to come. Within the PAH, they realised the importance of the small everyday victories, so when you have these, you are showing the movement that we do win things, and we know we can build bigger things. External communication was extremely important to the PAH organisers. For the very first eviction that PAH blocked, it was a small village far from Barcelona, they had to rent a bus to go there, and they weren’t sure what the impact would be, but they still went with two or three cameras and the video they published later had a huge impact, and it showed that people can stop the bank from kicking people out of their houses. The shift of narratives has also to do with other ways of telling things, and making fun of those in power, having fun while fighting, and these are also connected. Trying to simplify bigger problems in our system and explain them in a simple way, and make them fun and appealing. There are fun PAH videos of doing parodies of famous songs which do really well on social media. There was a person who was previously involved in anarchist organising and used to wearing black, and always being quite serious and a woman brought him to dance, inside the takeover of the bank – showing that you can do movements differently. People are always having so much fun. When people are having fun week after week, it makes it sustainable for the long-term. When I read the book Joyful Militancy, it really made me think about the PAH. If there is no joy in struggling, it’s very hard to get the people who need it the most, to get involved in the struggle. Ly: I was struck by the fact that the PAH welcomed all people, from the far left to the far right, even when some members questioned this. What does that show about the need to work together across political lines? J: What’s interesting about the PAH is that it’s not too ideological. The PAH was meant to get to the individuals who are actually struggling, so they had to listen to them. It is a movement based on mutual aid. Sometimes when you have a staff of organisers, they are probably more ideological, and might have more specific political projects. When it’s based on mutual aid, and it’s horizontal and all the decision making is democratic and involves everyone who is part of it, the person who is dealing with the housing issue can focus less on ideological divides. If there is someone struggling with a housing problem, maybe coming to this organising group will change their political views in the long run. But that’s not the main goal. In other spaces you might say this person has infiltrated the movement and we have to get rid of them, but in this space, you welcome people based on the issue they need support with, and it can change people’s views over time. Ly: Why is it so critical to build power from below? J: Most of the people who were not activists or organisers before the PAH, but are now. Most people highlight the empowerment they feel from being part of this movement. The movement helps people realise they have power when they act together and when they organise. There is something characteristic of many Spanish movements, is autonomy from institutional power, so there is a fear here of co-option, by power, or political powers. So “building power from below” is not about the institutions, but building a powerful actor that can influence politics and fight against the powerful from outside. It’s about autonomy and non-partisanship. Ly: Can you explain how PAH operates differently compared to organising in the US? J: A lesson to learn from PAH is that you can organise without money, and for a lot of organisations in the US it is hard to imagine. There does have to be a lot of unpaid work and hours.When you have a space where people come and share their problems, there are those with more experience and less experience, they can help others, and this makes the movement sustainable. If you build a strong enough base for a movement like this, if you can’t make the meeting, it’s ok, because everyone can keep the movement going. A lot of the PAH chapters are run by people who got there from having a housing issue, with no organising background. Ly: How do you see the role of civil disobedience in making change? How critical is it to grassroots movements, and what can we learn from the PAH in this regard? J: It’s key in the PAH experience, and it isn’t the same around the world as the laws are different everywhere, so the power to sit and negotiate, to shift narratives and perceptions, shift common sense, these are all part of the process of building legitimacy. When the PAH does civil disobedience, it’s saying we have done everything that the system has offered us to solve this problem, then we must do civil disobedience because we have no other option. So for evictions, we can prove and show that this family cannot afford to pay for a different house, and we have spoken to the bank or the landlord, who haven’t offered any other alternatives, we have spoken to the system, gone to court to try to find a solution there etc, so that’s why we are now standing in front of the door and the police to block it. This is showing the building of legitimacy, and this is one of the main lessons we can learn from the PAH. Ly: Can you talk about the role of care in sustaining grassroots movements? J: Something that I find really important that changes people’s subjectivities, is how people are coming from an individualistic life of what the system and the powers impose on us, so they come to the PAH looking for a solution to their specific problem and they learn how to be together, how to be in common, how to build things together that can improve their life and help think about a different better life. There is the part of being together. The other mantra of PAH is that you are not alone, so when you cross the door into the PAH, you are not alone anymore, you will have support. There are other practices that others may not see as political, but it’s about celebrating birthdays, and festivities. When you stop an eviction, people cook something, and bring it to the meeting. It ties people to the movement and keeps it sustainable. Making sure that everyone has something to do. Recognising that it’s being a spokesperson, and writing a press release, is just as important as cooking and having a collective lunch etc., recognising that all these different tasks are necessary and needed in the movement and is part of the care work that makes the movement sustainable. Ly: Can you talk about creative resistance? J: Building alliances and collaborations with other people in other movements, so you can ask people who are in an artists collective that will make the media put attention on it. When the movement was getting less media attention over time, it would be harder to get the banks to meet with them etc., so they would have to constantly reinvent new ways of communication to get attention, and it’s also more fun to always be doing new things together. When you always have to reinvent yourself, as the PAH is good at, though it’s very exhausting. In the book, it’s about actually showing how the PAH does things, with the QR codes embedded within it that are mostly videos, for example, the parody of Fresh Prince of Bel Air song, while occupying a bank branch. I tried to transmit all that has moved me about the PAH, but I think seeing it is always stronger. Ly: Do you have a final message to leave with readers? One of the things most inspiring in the movement, is to see how common people with no organising or activist background, but who are struggling with really hard problems like risk of homelessness, come together. It’s really inspiring to see that through mutual aid and organising that in common they have power, and can really change things. The post Yes, It’s Possible! A Handbook from Building Power from Below appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Ly Rosengard.
Why Do Societies Normalize Harm to Children in War, Poverty and Public Policy?
Few ideas command more universal agreement than the belief that children must be protected. Across cultures, religions, and political traditions, they are regarded as uniquely deserving of care, safety, and opportunity. [ . . . ] The post Why Do Societies Normalize Harm to Children in War, Poverty and Public Policy? appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Trieste Herencia (Sad Inheritance) by Joaquín Sorolla, 1899. Public Domain. Few ideas command more universal agreement than the belief that children must be protected. Across cultures, religions, and political traditions, they are regarded as uniquely deserving of care, safety, and opportunity. Yet a glaring contradiction emerges when we look closely at the conditions under which millions of children actually live. Around the world, childhood is routinely fractured by war, hunger, pollution, displacement, and poverty. Even within the United States, children face food insecurity, inadequate healthcare, environmental hazards, failing infrastructure, and unequal educational opportunities. We usually discuss these realities as separate crises—economic, political, or environmental. Rarely do we recognize them as interconnected symptoms of a larger pattern. To a child, however, these bureaucratic distinctions matter little. The consequences accumulate in bodies, minds, and futures. This reality forces an uncomfortable question: if societies profess such deep concern for children, why does so much preventable harm persist? Why are conditions we would find intolerable in an individual case so easily accepted when they occur at scale? The answer is not necessarily a lack of empathy. It is something more troubling: many forms of harm to children have become normalized. They persist not because societies openly endorse them, but because they have been quietly absorbed into the ordinary operation of institutions, policies, and social systems. Consider how many of the gravest threats to children are discussed. War is typically analyzed in terms of territory, security, military strategy, or geopolitical interests. National debt is debated in the context of budgets, interest rates, and fiscal policy. Environmental disasters are measured through property loss, infrastructure damage, and economic costs. Immigration enforcement is discussed in terms of law, borders, and political conflict. Yet children often experience these events differently. They encounter them not as policy questions but as disruptions to safety, stability, health, education, and belonging. The consequences can persist long after the original crisis has faded from public attention. Different in form, these crises share a common feature: the well-being of children is rarely the measure by which they are judged, even when children bear a disproportionate share of the harm. Around the world, the pattern is remarkably consistent. Whether the source is armed conflict, environmental disaster, economic instability, forced migration, or political repression, children frequently bear consequences they neither created nor can control. The details vary from one society to another, but the underlying dynamic remains the same: the costs of collective failures are often carried by those with the least power to influence them. Public expressions of concern for children are nearly universal. News reports on wars, famines, environmental disasters, and epidemics routinely highlight the number of children harmed. Yet these acknowledgments often remain symbolic rather than transformative. Concern is expressed, tragedy is recognized, and attention moves on, while the underlying conditions that produced the harm remain largely unchanged. The suffering of children is often invoked as evidence of a crisis, yet it rarely becomes the standard by which the success or failure of public responses is judged. The same pattern appears in the United States. While hunger is often debated through the lens of federal budgets and public spending, millions of children quietly rely on school meal programs as their primary source of daily nutrition. Similarly, environmental contamination is routinely assessed using regulatory thresholds and economic costs, even as emerging research documents developmental harms from pollution across childhood and adolescence. Immigration enforcement, too, is often discussed through the abstract language of borders and legality, while children endure the immediate fear, instability, and trauma of family separation. In each instance, the language of policy can obscure the lived realities of childhood. The Evidence Is Already There We do not lack evidence. We lack organized will. Year after year, global organizations such as UNICEF, Save the Children, and Oxfam document the scale of systemic harm inflicted on children. The data is neither hidden nor ambiguous. Yet a profound disconnect persists between public concern and institutional action. Societies routinely pass sweeping laws, sign international declarations, and voice collective outrage, but consistently fail to build the systems needed to turn concern into protection. A stark, contemporary manifestation of this gap is found in the 2026 Global Out of the Shadows Index. Developed by Economist Impact alongside Together for Girls, the index benchmarked how 60 countries address child sexual abuse and exploitation. Its findings point to a familiar pattern. Many countries have developed legal protections for children, but far fewer have built the institutions, systems, and public commitments needed to make those protections meaningful in everyday life. Across the global index, governance and prevention emerged as the absolute weakest areas. This points to a difficult truth. The failure to protect children is rarely a failure of knowledge. We know far more about the causes of harm than we did a generation ago. We know how poverty affects development. We know how violence shapes mental health. We know how environmental toxins accumulate in growing bodies. The question is no longer whether the evidence exists. The question is why societies continue to tolerate conditions that produce predictable harm. The pattern extends across national boundaries and political systems. Wealthy countries and lower-income countries alike often struggle to translate concern into prevention. Some fail because of limited resources. Others fail despite having substantial resources at their disposal. The recurring challenge is not simply capacity, but the willingness to organize institutions around children’s long-term well-being. Part of the answer lies in the unequal conditions into which children are born. Long before children make choices of their own, geography, family circumstances, health, environment, and social status begin shaping the opportunities available to them. The Biology of Inequality To understand how policy impacts a child, we must expand our definition of “biology” beyond mere genetics. A child’s biology is inextricably bound to a social reality: where they are born, to whom they are born, and the specific burdens they inherit and are expected to bear. Poverty, race, disability, environmental pollution, generational trauma, and social exclusion are not abstract social concepts, nor are they inescapable destinies. Instead, they are environmental realities that become physically embodied over time. Society quite literally writes itself into children’s bodies. What once sounded like a metaphor is now supported by decades of developmental research. We see it in Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) research and toxic stress models, which demonstrate how prolonged hardship alters a child’s neurological development and immune system. We even see it in the physical record preserved in children’s shed primary teeth. Studies of so-called “milk teeth”suggest that the microscopic layers of those teeth can serve as a biological record of prenatal and early childhood environmental exposures, offering a window into the conditions that shape development. Evidence of this process appears across multiple dimensions of childhood development. Research on respiratory health suggests that lung damage sustained during childhood can persist throughout life. At the same time, studies of environmental exposure continue to reveal how pollution, conflict, and deprivation leave lasting marks on developing bodies. Whether the source is war, poverty, or environmental contamination, the effects of childhood conditions often extend far beyond childhood itself. When systemic inequality is allowed to persist, it begins to shape a child’s biological trajectory. Chronic stress associated with instability, deprivation, and neglect can alter how children process the world, affecting cognitive development, emotional regulation, and physical health. Over time, these effects influence everything from learning and attention to self-image, trust, and future opportunity. What begins as a social condition can become a biological one, transforming unequal circumstances into unequal outcomes. The consequences do not end with the individual child. Childhood trauma can shape relationships, communities, and even future conflicts as unresolved harm is carried into adulthood. The significance of these findings extends beyond health and development. If social conditions can become biologically embedded, then the question is no longer whether harm occurs. The question becomes why societies continue to accept conditions that predictably produce it. How Harm Becomes Normal The normalization of harm does not require overt cruelty; it requires only routine. Societies manage to tolerate the suffering of children by systematically dismantling it into manageable, administrative pieces. When a crisis is broken down into separate departments, budgets, jurisdictions, headlines, and eligibility categories, the human reality vanishes. Children are quietly transformed into statistics, cases, costs, risks, or collateral damage. Because bureaucratic fragmentation ensures that no single actor or agency appears fully responsible, the system continues to operate without any single institution fully accountable for its cumulative effects. This normalization is sustained by psychological distance and economic abstraction. When child poverty is reduced to a budgetary line item or environmental contamination to a cost-benefit calculation, it becomes easier to focus on managing a problem than on the lived experience of the children affected by it. This abstract mindset is further sustained by policy drift and weakened enforcement. Existing protections are rarely abolished overnight; instead, they are steadily weakened through executive or legal actions that erode regulatory oversight and reduce institutions’ capacity to protect vulnerable populations. When accountability is diffused across a labyrinth of agencies, inaction becomes the default setting. The institutions that shape children’s lives—schools, healthcare systems, child welfare agencies, environmental regulators, and immigration authorities—often operate according to different mandates, funding streams, and measures of success. Each addresses a piece of a child’s experience, while no institution is responsible for the whole child. The greatest danger to children is not a sudden wave of malice, but the quiet efficiency of the everyday. The result is not merely administrative failure. It is a culture in which preventable harm can persist for years, even decades, without provoking the sustained public response it would demand if children remained fully visible. Children and the Moral Foundation of Civil Rights The expansion of modern civil rights in the United States has never been a purely abstract legal exercise, and some of the most consequential moments of American democratic progress occurred when the nation was forced to confront the harm being done to children. It was the televised horror of children being attacked by police dogs and fire hoses during desegregation struggles. It was also the recognition in Brown v. Board of Education—supported in part by research on children’s self-image—that segregation harmed not only educational opportunity, but a child’s sense of self and place in society. Historically, protecting children has not merely shielded the vulnerable—it has expanded democracy itself. When the law recognizes the rights of a child, it compels the state to acknowledge a deeper obligation. The struggle for civil rights has always been about defining who counts as a full human being in the eyes of the law. By centering the child, these movements successfully argued that a society’s legitimacy is measured by how it treats those who cannot vote, lobby, or protect themselves. The restoration and strengthening of civil rights protections should not be viewed as a secondary political concern. If children become invisible within public institutions, they are more easily reduced to statistics, categories, or symbols in larger political debates. A society that recognizes children as full human beings affirms that dignity, healthy development, and opportunity are not privileges to be distributed selectively, but conditions necessary for democratic life itself. What Can Be Changed To confront the systemic neglect of children, we must move from diagnosis to responsibility. The structures that normalize harm were built by human choices, which means those same choices can dismantle them. Transforming how society treats its youth requires shifting from reactive intervention after trauma has occurred to a proactive, sustained architecture of prevention. In the immediate term, the most important task is restoring the protections that help prevent predictable harm. School nutrition programs, early childhood services, public health initiatives, civil rights enforcement, and international assistance are often treated as discretionary expenditures. Yet, they form part of the social infrastructure that allows children to develop safely. Prevention rarely attracts the attention that accompanies a crisis, but its effects are often more profound. The strongest systems of care are those that reduce the likelihood of harm before intervention becomes necessary. Protecting children also requires the enforcement and strengthening of civil rights protections, helping to shield young people from systemic discrimination and institutional displacement. Finally, breaking down bureaucratic silos to build coordinated systems of care that integrate healthcare, education, and social services into unified networks can prevent harm before it manifests. In the medium term, overcoming the psychological distance that insulates us from distant suffering becomes a central task. Sister-city programs, cities of refuge, and other forms of civic partnership demonstrate that communities can assume responsibility for one another across geographic and political boundaries. When people develop sustained relationships with places beyond their own, distant suffering becomes harder to ignore and easier to address collectively. This framework transforms abstract global crises into concrete local obligations, fostering cross-border solidarity and direct mutual aid. Cultural change also depends on public rituals that remind societies of their obligations to future generations. The relative invisibility of Children’s Day is itself revealing. Societies routinely profess concern for children, yet devote comparatively little public attention to reflecting on their well-being. International Children’s Day receives only a fraction of the attention devoted to observances such as Earth Day, Mother’s Day, or Father’s Day. Yet it could serve as a focal point for schools, communities, and civic institutions to reflect on children’s well-being and compare approaches across regions and nations. Just as Earth Day helped elevate environmental awareness, a more visible Children’s Day could reinforce the idea that protecting children is a shared social responsibility rather than a private concern. Ultimately, the most enduring change is not institutional but cultural. Modern societies measure success through economic growth, productivity, and financial performance. Yet these indicators reveal little about whether children are safe, healthy, or able to flourish. A society committed to children would ask a different question: Are young people developing the capacities they need to live meaningful lives? When children’s well-being becomes a central measure of success, policy priorities begin to change as well. America Making America Whole This effort requires a posture of candid self-examination rather than celebratory rhetoric. The United States cannot credibly present itself as a global beacon for human rights or children’s well-being while failing to confront its own domestic record. Within its own borders, millions of children contend with systemic poverty, food insecurity, deep-seated educational inequality, and toxic environmental exposure. This vulnerability is compounded by weakened labor protections that expose young people to exploitation, the ongoing trauma of family separation and detention at the border, and a glaring legal omission: the United States remains the only United Nations member state that has not ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Yet ratification alone is not a guarantee of success. Many nations that have formally embraced the Convention continue to struggle with poverty, conflict, exploitation, and inadequate protection for children. The challenge is not simply adopting principles, but translating them into culture, institutions, and daily practice. At the same time, some countries have demonstrated that meaningful progress is possible. The Economist Impact 2026 Global Out of the Shadows Index found examples of lower- and middle-income nations strengthening prevention efforts, improving accountability, and expanding protections for children despite limited resources. Such examples suggest that political commitment and institutional design can matter as much as national wealth. The argument here is not that America should lecture the rest of the world on moral responsibility. It is that America needs to repair itself. True leadership on the global stage cannot be projected outward while systemic neglect is tolerated at home. If the United States were to organize its laws, budgets, institutions, and communities around the well-being of children, it could offer the world something more persuasive than rhetoric: evidence that democratic societies are capable of confronting their own failures and repairing them. Such an achievement would not solve every problem, but it would demonstrate that accountability, prevention, and long-term investment in human development remain possible in a complex modern society. By addressing the structural conditions that undermine children’s well-being, the nation would reinforce the principle that democratic institutions are ultimately judged by their capacity to support human flourishing. The Standard We Choose Ultimately, we must return to the central question that anchors this series: Does your community care about children? When we ask this, we must deepen our understanding of what “care” actually means. The true measure of a society’s commitment to its youth is not sentiment. It is not found in political speeches, corporate slogans, or cycles of selective outrage after a tragedy. The genuine measure is structural: whether a society organizes its resources, institutions, and legal protections around a child’s right to live, learn, grow, and belong. The condition of our children is never incidental; it is diagnostic. It does not exist in a vacuum, separate from our economic successes or political debates. Instead, the well-being of the youngest among us provides one of the clearest indicators of a society’s overall health. It reveals exactly what a society values, what kinds of suffering it is willing to tolerate, and what kind of future it is actually prepared to build. We can no longer treat the harm inflicted on children as an unfortunate byproduct of a complex world. It is a direct consequence of the standards we choose—and it remains within our power to choose a higher standard. Doing so will require countries, working both together and independently, to revisit their budgets, strengthen protections for children, and establish effective systems of accountability and enforcement. International agreements and declarations matter, but their promise is fulfilled only when they are translated into daily practice. Yet the responsibility does not rest solely with national governments or international institutions. The well-being of children must also be advanced community by community, school by school, neighborhood by neighborhood. Public policy can establish protections, but communities give those protections life. Every level of society has a role to play, and every adult has a responsibility to help create the conditions in which children can thrive. The question that anchors this series is whether a community cares about children. The answer must be demonstrated not only through words, but through action. Every child counts. This article was produced bythe Independent Media Institute. The post Why Do Societies Normalize Harm to Children in War, Poverty and Public Policy? appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Colin Greer - Reynard Loki.
Watching Trump behave like a maniacal wrecking ball every day, one can be forgiven for wondering why Democratic presidents always appear so comparatively docile. Obama uses the utmost finesse to barely pass the (wretched and corporate-subsidizing) Affordable Care Act? Trump backdoor defunds it with some executive orders. Biden spends much of his term unsuccessfully attempting More The post The Era of the Strongman Presidency appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Trump speaking at the Faith and Freedom Coalition. Screengrab from video posted to X. Watching Trump behave like a maniacal wrecking ball every day, one can be forgiven for wondering why Democratic presidents always appear so comparatively docile. Obama uses the utmost finesse to barely pass the (wretched and corporate-subsidizing) Affordable Care Act? Trump backdoor defunds it with some executive orders. Biden spends much of his term unsuccessfully attempting to implement a small bit of student debt relief? Trump wipes out the entire Department of Education with a wave of his hand. Why, then, are Republican presidents seemingly so much more effective at doing what they want? A common temptation is to conclude that this is primarily a matter of leadership, and that if our side could just get an ideologically committed street brawler in the White House we would finally get some meaningful improvement around here. William Howell and Richard Moe’s Trajectory of Power: The Rise of the Strongman Presidency provides a different answer to the question. Examining the development of the modern presidency and the different ways that it constrains Republicans and Democrats, Howell and Moe make two major points. The first is well-known and largely uncontroversial. The executive branch has gotten massively stronger in the modern era. The only ones who still deny this only do so by focusing on one specific arena of presidential power: the president’s diminished effectiveness in lawmaking. While it’s true that, particularly within a polarized and closely divided Congress, it’s become harder for presidents to get laws passed due to countless veto points and interest group capture (Trump 1.0 couldn’t even get a Republican Congress to fund his wall or repeal Obamacare), the larger story is that the presidency has amassed dramatically more power in nearly every other capacity, particularly trade, foreign relations, and the ever-expanding realm of so-called national security. As Howell and Moe show, this expansion has been achieved largely through the president’s increased control of the federal bureaucracy, enabling presidents to both expand their reach and act unilaterally, increasingly ignoring Congress altogether. Notably, the executive’s expanded power has been a largely bipartisan affair. Faced with the growing crises produced by an increasingly sophisticated industrial global economy, the national government, and specifically the executive branch, began to expand in size and scope at the turn of the century during the Progressive Era, and then most notably during the New Deal and the Great Society. More recently, Nixon expanded the president’s control over the bureaucracy by bringing oversight and decision-making into the Executive Office of the President via his Domestic Council while also expanding the Office of Management and Budget, a “super department with enormous authority over all of the activities of the federal government” that Trump is using to wreak havoc today. Clinton, notably, used Nixon’s Domestic Council as the model for his own National Economic Council, which no president, irrespective of their politics, has disbanded since. This expansion of executive breadth and scope was not merely a power grab. As often as not, Congress, particularly during crises such as the Depression, dodged its collective action problems by forfeiting its power to an executive designed for decisive and quick action. And when presidents did attempt to jettison their power it tended to end badly for them. Attempting to depoliticize presidential appointments, Carter reduced the power of the White House personnel office before realizing that in disconnecting his presidency from the bureaucracy, instead of centralizing it under his command, he had “’given away the store’” and undercut his own ability to govern, a mistake he would work to undo later in his term. In the story of the president’s expanding power, Carter’s experience is the exception proving the rule that the presidency either follows the logic of expansion or atrophies. Howell and Moe’s second major point is only slightly less obvious than the first. Namely, Republican presidents since the New Deal have been committed to destroying the liberal administrative state. While Eisenhower assumed that the administrative state and its plethora of progressive programs could be rolled back only by Congress, Nixon saw that due to its tremendous entrenchment it could only be eliminated via unilateral action at the presidential level. Republican presidents since Nixon, and particularly since Reagan, have then paradoxically sought to expand presidential power precisely in order to destroy the administrative state. Because “changing an institutional status quo almost always requires much more power than protecting it,” Democratic presidents have in this regard largely stood pat while Reagan, George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush, and Trump have created what has now turned into a supercharged, lawless, and authoritarian “strongman presidency.” Such a presidency, however, is not only defined by the negative power to destroy. Instead, Republican presidents have invoked the rationale of unitary executive theory to also expand the president’s affirmative power in, among other areas, foreign policy and over the Department of Defense, the NSA, and the State Department. The conservative courts, as anyone reading the news knows, have invoked the pseudo-historical ideology of originalism to justify their acquiescence to Republican executive power, while the Christian Right and a virulently reactionary media conveniently emerged to further advance the project. To use the language of the book, modern presidential power has, in short, followed a general “symmetrical” expansion benefiting both Democratic and Republican presidents but has simultaneously followed an “asymmetrical” expansion that has solely empowered Republican presidents, and the GOP more broadly, at Democrats’ expense. The result has been a Republican presidency that is qualitatively different from Democratic ones, which is why the former presidents, regardless of their personal idiosyncrasies, all appear to be nihilistic psychopaths while the latter come off as pathetic duds. To be more generous, Republicans are playing a very different game, one whose logical endgame is the elimination of all opposition. Howell and Moe’s account is particularly useful in showing that, beneath his freakish narcissism and volatility, Trump is remarkably conditioned by the presidencies of his predecessors as well as a predictable institutional trajectory. Indeed, if you didn’t know that Arthur Schlesinger had died in 2007, you might guess that his description of the George W. Bush Administration’s conduct as “’the most dramatic, sustained, and radical challenge to the rule of law in American history’” was referring to the Trump years. The authors additionally provide some helpful reminders that the type of partisan sabotage, shutdowns, and gerrymandering we’ve been seeing of late transcend Trump and were all part and parcel of the Gingrich Revolution of the 1990s. One can argue that, beyond Bush v. Gore (a precursor to January 6th and the principle that the GOP no longer honors election outcomes), one decisive “wheels have come off” moment was the impeachment of Clinton, a desperate and bad faith measure emerging from the fact that, while he was an abysmal president, he had been deemed illegitimate merely because he had power while the Republicans did not. While Obama was not stupid enough to get into trouble for committing adultery or perjury, he was nevertheless also delegitimized by the right (for being “foreign born”). Meanwhile, Trump has broken every rule in the book to no effect while rapidly building upon the authoritarianism of Bush, and, for the same reason that a rock thrown off a hill falls down, future Republican presidents will very likely be even more authoritarian than Trump. There is, however, a counter to Howell and Moe’s argument that GOP presidential rabidness and Democratic timidity are attributable primarily to the GOP’s opposition to the liberal administrative state. After all, Trump has shifted, at least rhetorically, the GOP’s traditional stance on Social Security (which Clinton and Obama both flirted with weakening) and has modified the party’s position on a number of other policies, showing that there is nothing predetermined in GOP presidents’ opposition to the administrative state (Republican governors have certainly embraced Obamacare in addition to other forms of federal support for liberal programs). And are we to conclude that if Trump were merely on good terms with the administrative state he would not be trying to steal elections and persecute his enemies? What might be more useful here than the question of ideology, which is far more susceptible to historic flux, is the simpler question of economics. Within the context of worldwide capitalist crisis, the GOP can afford to be vigorous and coherent in pursuing its policies since its unrestrained support of capitalism is in line with the domestic and global system’s demand for unending accumulation. The GOP does not typically have to reconcile any serious contradictions between its rhetoric and positions and the demands of governance. They have the structural winds at their back. By contrast, the Democrats are in a bind that has badly tightened since the 1970s, the dawn of the postwar global slump and neoliberalism. Unlike the GOP, the Democrats continually walk into headwinds when their rhetoric and positions on labor, the environment, and trade confront the realities of cutthroat global competition and the demands of the state. It follows that, in office, one party would be unified, purposeful, and aggressive while the other would be internally divided, mealy mouthed, and incoherent. These interpretations, of course, are not mutually exclusive. In either event, it’s useful to be reminded of the importance of structure, without which our discussions of Democratic leadership (which somehow always fails) and strategy (which is somehow always stupid) aren’t destined to get far. The post The Era of the Strongman Presidency appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Joshua Sperber.
Three years ago, Washington bet that restricting China’s access to advanced semiconductors would preserve American technological dominance. That bet is not paying off the way its architects imagined. A February 2026 analysis in American Affairs Journal found that China’s semiconductor manufacturing equipment sector has reached a level of maturity that would have seemed implausible just More The post The Chip War Against China is Failing appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
1 Mbit high-speed CMOS pseudostatic RAM, made by Toshiba. Photo: © Raimond Spekking, Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 4.0 Three years ago, Washington bet that restricting China’s access to advanced semiconductors would preserve American technological dominance. That bet is not paying off the way its architects imagined. A February 2026 analysis in American Affairs Journal found that China’s semiconductor manufacturing equipment sector has reached a level of maturity that would have seemed implausible just a few years ago. Huawei is building advanced fabrication facilities in Shenzhen targeting 7-nanometer commercial-scale production as early as this year. SMIC, the state-backed foundry, has repeatedly pushed foreign equipment past its rated specifications to achieve manufacturing nodes that the export controls were specifically designed to prevent. This is the uncomfortable logic of economic coercion: the more you restrict, the more you incentivize the other side to build what you’re withholding. To be clear, the export controls imposed since 2022, and progressively tightened through 2025, have had real effects. They disrupted China’s semiconductor supply chains, caused price spikes, and delayed access to the most advanced fabrication nodes by multiple years. Independent analysts broadly agree that the United States retains a meaningful lead in frontier chip design and production. But a May 2026 CSIS assessment found a consistent pattern: every tightening of restrictions has prompted China to double down on state-backed domestic investment. China’s target is roughly 50 percent self-sufficiency in semiconductor equipment by 2025, up from 13.6 percent in 2024. Export controls have not halted that trajectory. By some measures, they’ve accelerated it. Semiconductors generated $627.6 billion in global sales in 2024. China is one of the largest single markets. American chipmakers barred from selling there lose revenue that would otherwise fund the research and development cycles that keep them ahead. The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation’s economic modeling found that sustained revenue losses reduce R&D investment, slow innovation cycles, and weaken the long-term competitive position of US firms. The controls are designed to protect American technological leadership. But by cutting into the revenues that fund American chip research, overly broad restrictions may erode the very lead they claim to be defending. China’s state-backed firms do not face the same constraint. Beijing can backstop losses that market forces would punish. This is not a neutral observation. It points to a structural asymmetry in how the two sides are playing the game, where blanket commercial restrictions impose real costs on private firms while doing relatively little to slow a state-directed industrial policy with a decades-long time horizon. Washington has begun to recognize this. A December 2025 policy reversal included a significant concession: allowing NVIDIA to resume shipping H200-class chips to China under a case-by-case licensing review, reversing the blanket denial posture that had been in place. National security hardliners objected. But the move reflects a pragmatic acknowledgment that restricting commercially available chips with broad civilian applications carries limited security benefit while imposing real costs on American industry. What the walk-back reveals is that the original policy was not as carefully calibrated as its architects suggested. Controls that made sense for cutting-edge military-relevant systems were bundled with restrictions on hardware with legitimate commercial uses. The result was a blunt instrument presented as precision policy. The semiconductor question does not exist in isolation. In healthcare, Chinese manufacturing is deeply embedded in supply chains for medical devices, pharmaceutical ingredients, and diagnostic equipment. A 2025 disruption in active pharmaceutical ingredient supply underscored just how much of American drug manufacturing depends on Chinese chemical production. No export control regime has addressed this dependency. In AI and digital infrastructure, Chinese firms are deploying sector-specific models in logistics, healthcare diagnostics, and manufacturing across Southeast Asia and other fast-growing markets. They are competing not on headline model performance, but on embedded, industry-specific integration. The technology competition is not only about who has the largest model. It is about whose systems are most deeply woven into the infrastructure of the world’s fastest-growing economies. No chip export control addresses that either. If the goal is genuinely to protect American technological capacity—rather than to perform strategic anxiety through trade restrictions—three things need to change. First, export controls should be calibrated by actual security risk, not by the nationality of the buyer. A Chinese civil engineering firm purchasing legacy semiconductors for infrastructure control is not the same security concern as the People’s Liberation Army acquiring GPU clusters for weapons simulation. Policy that treats them identically is not rigorous but reflexive. Second, domestic investment in research capacity needs to be sustained—and scaled. CHIPS Act funding was a meaningful start. But it cannot substitute for the revenue base being eroded by overbroad restrictions on the very firms it is meant to support. One cannot simultaneously cut the funding streams and promise to out-innovate. Third, the framework needs to distinguish between managed engagement and capitulation. In legacy semiconductors, industrial AI, and healthcare technology, U.S. and Chinese capabilities are often genuinely complementary. Treating all technology trade as an extension of military competition forecloses arrangements that could serve both economic and stability interests. The semiconductor rivalry between the United States and China is real, consequential, and will shape the technological landscape for the next decade at minimum. CSIS analysts argue that the United States holds genuine leads in frontier chip design, advanced manufacturing equipment, and the research ecosystem that generates next-generation capabilities. The question worth asking is whether current policy is protecting that lead—or gradually undermining it by cutting revenues, accelerating Chinese domestic investment, and conflating commercial competition with existential threat. A November 2026 policy deadline offers an opening to move from reactive restriction to something more strategic: a framework that distinguishes between the technologies and transactions that genuinely threaten security and those that simply compete. The difference matters. So far, U.S. policy has not consistently made such a distinction. This first appeared on FPIF. The post The Chip War Against China is Failing appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Imran Khalid.
Trump Dismisses Key Housing, Disaster Recovery Reform as ‘Unimportant’
Something unusual happened last week in Washington, DC. In a rare showing of bipartisan support during the Trump era, both chambers of Congress passed the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, a package incorporating provisions from more than 60 pieces of legislation to help address housing affordability in the US. But then, in a moment More The post Trump Dismisses Key Housing, Disaster Recovery Reform as ‘Unimportant’ appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
American house, 29 Palms, California. Photo: Jeffrey St. Clair. Something unusual happened last week in Washington, DC. In a rare showing of bipartisan support during the Trump era, both chambers of Congress passed the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, a package incorporating provisions from more than 60 pieces of legislation to help address housing affordability in the US. But then, in a moment that better reflects what Americans expect from the federal government, Trump canceled the bill signing, saying he would hold up the bill until Congress passed his controversial voter ID bill, the SAVE America Act. On Monday, Speaker Mike Johnson sent the housing bill to Trump for signing, but the president called it “a big yawn” and “so unimportant.” There’s not enough space here to go through all the important sections of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act — including a provision that would limit the number of single-family homes that private equity firms can purchase. But with hurricane season upon us and extreme storms and heat waves blanketing the country, one section that stands out is the three-year reauthorization of the Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR), which would maintain assistance for lower-income families in the wake of disasters. So what is CDBG-DR? When people think of disaster recovery and mitigation, they tend to think of programs associated with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). But a variety of other government agencies and departments also participate. The Small Business Administration, for instance, grants low-interest financing to help survivors rebuild. And the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) administers programs such as CDBG-DR. When a disaster is declared, HUD opens CDBG-DR grants to state, local, and tribal governments to assist with disaster relief, recovery, rebuilding infrastructure, housing assistance, and economic revitalization. Right now, you’re probably thinking, “How is that different from FEMA assistance?” While FEMA grant programs address immediate post-disaster needs, CDBG-DR addresses long-term needs that are either unmet by FEMA funding or by insurance. Like many other vital government programs, CDBG-DR has historically been reauthorized and funded sporadically through supplemental packages, leading to inconsistent support. Many groups, including the Appalachian Flood Resilience Coalition, have called on Congress to permanently reauthorize the program to create stability. While the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act does not do that, the three-year reauthorization is at least a step in the right direction. And as previously noted, the legislation retains the strict threshold that at least 70 percent of a CDBG-DR grant must be used to directly support low- to moderate-income communities, unless HUD provides a formal justification to the contrary. In the past, Congress and HUD have simply asked communities to “make a good faith effort” to meet the requirements or set the threshold to 50 percent. That Trump has called provisions of the housing bill like this “unimportant” shows how little he thinks of the needs of communities struggling to rebuild. Congress’ rare bipartisan effort to solve an affordability issue stands in stark contrast to the administration’s current priorities, which seem to value spectacle over substantive relief. The president has been focusing on vanity projects like his ballroom, an arch that will block the sightline between Arlington Cemetery and the Lincoln Memorial, and his Great American State Fair, which brings a Ferris wheel to a region that already has a larger observation wheel 14 minutes away. There’s also the war that’s not a war despite the fact that the US and Iran are still firing missiles at each other. Ultimately, disaster survivors waiting for money to rebuild don’t care about ballroom renovations or “American flag blue” reflecting pools. The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act is a unique political moment in the Trump era, with Congress finally stepping up to represent the people. This is an opportunity for Trump to show real leadership and do the same. But like all those vanity projects and his war, he’s mishandling it. This first appeared on CEPR. The post Trump Dismisses Key Housing, Disaster Recovery Reform as ‘Unimportant’ appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Matt Sedlar.
The US experiment has failed. It’s failed from sea to shining sea. Democracy, liberty, and equality for all are just dreams some of us have. The ones who could care less about that dream were and are mostly among the wealthiest in the population. Amber waves of grain are nothing but numbers on the commodities More The post Let Freedom Ring? appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Photograph by Nathaniel St. Clair The US experiment has failed. It’s failed from sea to shining sea. Democracy, liberty, and equality for all are just dreams some of us have. The ones who could care less about that dream were and are mostly among the wealthiest in the population. Amber waves of grain are nothing but numbers on the commodities exchange. They have their followers among the rest, but it is their money that gives them their power, not their supporters. The fact that most of its founding fathers never intended for that experiment to extend beyond white men with property has a lot to do with that failure. The fact that the entire premise was based on the taking of land from other humans has a lot to do with that failure. The fact that millions of those whose land was taken were slaughtered is more often denied than acknowledged is equally crucial to that failure. The fact that enslaving millions for the benefit of the few is also crucial. The fact that democracy has been defined as the right to vote is also related to that failure. As we watch the court they call supreme eliminate voting rights for those who weren’t originally granted them (including the descendants of those whose ancestors were killed and enslaved), even the pretense of democracy fades into the ruins of the White House lawn. Ladies, your right to vote is next to go. This government hyped (with a straight face, mind you) as the world’s greatest democracy sells its gold-plated gimmicks for the benefit of the con-man they call the president. He’s a man whose health remains a question and whose humanity reminds the world that humanity can be a pretty ugly thing. In fact, this entire nation—from the Delaney ICE detention camp to Mar-A-Lago, from the UFC ring on the White House lawn to the data Centers across the Midwest—reminds one of that fact. Pete Hegseth’s gelled hair competes with Gavin Newsom’s, both of their swelled heads filled with emptiness, greed and a self-centeredness surpassed only by the white supremacy their power depends on and protects. It’s nothing new. The Trump administration may be the worst many have seen in their lifetimes, but it is truly unique only in its brazen disrespect for the rules the powerful pretend to play by. Then again, the opposition party’s actions and words are mostly just echoes of the hatred and ignorance espoused by the party in power. Democratic rulers claiming to be against Gestapo forces known as ICE demand they unmask themselves while providing those same forces with backup when protesters block ICE kidnappings. When all is said and done, when Donald Trump is gone, ICE or some other named Gestapo force will carry on its work with the support of those in power. Kidnapping and torture in the name of democracy and freedom aren’t much different than enslavement and genocide in the name of the Republic for which it stands. The nation is a burial ground, and the intruders are the ones who make it so. I visited Florida recently and was struck by the gross commercialism of the so-called 250th birthday party. I shouldn’t have been, but I was. Even for Florida, it was over the top. After all, the only true freedom in the US of A is the freedom to make a profit, and if you ain’t got the money, then the rulers don’t have the time for you. I’ve been told that all freedom stems from that one freedom; if people can’t make a profit from you, then no other freedom exists. Of course, the ones telling us this are the ones making that profit. Then again, there are a lot of others who think they’re going to get their piece, too. Ring your bell, fly your flag, pocket your profits, drink up, and pay your bills. One nation under profit, with freedom for those who can buy it and debt slavery for the rest. Blame the homeless for their poverty and give the war industry your tax dollars. Blame the people the Pentagon attacks for their suffering and glorify the troops whose bodies your nation’s wars have destroyed. Thank you for your service, and put that pricey gas in your big-ass truck or budget SUV. Somebody died for it. Speaking of Florida, when I go there, I think it must be what it was like for visitors to 1930s Germany, with Nazis on the rise and a population either supportive or apathetic. Of course, it’s a particularly US version of the phenomenon—with right-wing bikers and racist suburbanites who have Fox News on 24-7—but it’s fascist no matter what colors are on the national flag. The event being celebrated in the United States this July 4th wasn’t a revolution as much as it was a war by settler-colonialists against the king who enticed the colonists to go to North America and chase its inhabitants from their lands. The colonists weren’t fighting for freedom in any manner most of us claim to understand it. However, it was so that wealthy white men could own, buy and sell Africans and their descendants as slaves and so that religious zealots could enforce their particular insane version of faith on others and kill indigenous people after classifying them as less than human. When all is considered, it’s clear that the only true god was the one who brought gold. The colonists didn’t want to pay taxes to the crown because the wealthy among them wanted those taxes for themselves and their wars of expansion. Don’t let the giant flags at your local car dealer fool you, the burial ground those wars created are reconsecrated in blood and oil each time you pay at the pump. Don’t buy the cheesy display of roids and misplaced masculinity on the White House lawn and think you’re celebrating freedom. Freedom to be an asshole is freedom of a sort, but the fact that it is celebrated as a virtue in 2026 proves only that assholes rule your nation. It’s another thing you can thank Donald Trump and his devotees for. Indeed, one thing we can be thankful of in these years of national decline is the presidency of Donald Trump. In its own vainglorious way, his reign proves that money, no matter how it is obtained, is the only true god in the USA, and the more you steal, the holier you are. All others bow to its glory. Its power is in its ability to render empathy, trust, and truth the stuff of fairy tales that shall remain fantasies as long as the pursuit of profit and power in the name of more profit remains the god to which all other churches bow. Let freedom ring. (This is excerpted from Operation Failed: The United States at 250, the newest pamphlet in Fomite Press’s Instigations! Series) The post Let Freedom Ring? appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Ron Jacobs.
Academic Gaslighting and Administrative Bloat Begone!
Dedicated to the memory of Meagan Lobnitz. Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises, Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight, and hurt not. Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments Will hum about mine ears; and sometime voices, That, if I then had waked after long sleep, Will make me sleep again: and then, More The post Academic Gaslighting and Administrative Bloat Begone! appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Photo by Philippe Bout Dedicated to the memory of Meagan Lobnitz. Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises, Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight, and hurt not. Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments Will hum about mine ears; and sometime voices, That, if I then had waked after long sleep, Will make me sleep again: and then, in dreaming, The clouds methought would open, and show riches Ready to drop upon me; that, when I waked, I cried to dream again. –William Shakespeare, The Tempest I don’t know about you, but these days I bring the same eagerness to reading the morning news that I do to chugging down prep drink before a colonoscopy. So, I was less than thrilled to have to set aside a well-earned – and distinctly legal – summer spliff to hold forth on the hollowing out of U.S. universities. Many of my lovely coworkers at Washington State University Vancouver received pink slips this week as WSU deals the Vancouver campus a second draconian budget cut in two years. Together the cuts hack away 23% of the campus budget, with administrators warning of more cuts to come next year. While the Washington State Legislature mandated a $3.3 million cut to WSU’s statewide budget in 2026, WSU’s upper admin has instead arbitrarily imposed an $11.68 million cut, more than fifty percent of it to be extracted from the Vancouver campus. The cuts threaten arguably hundreds of jobs in a rapidly growing urban center with a scenic waterfront, a city that vies with Tacoma for third largest city in the state. And did I mention that the cuts are being enacted the same year the admin is doling out a bonus $20 million to WSU’s terminally indebted athletic program? Across the steadily warming Columbia River at Portland State University, and across the country, academic workers are looking at losing a livelihood many spent the better part of a decade training to enter. And with the loss of those – disproportionately young – workers, students both present and future are rapidly losing access to some of the last vestiges of the arts and humanities at “public” universities in the U.S. This time around, it’s staff who are mainly on the chopping block, but anyone who tells us the cuts won’t impact instruction or student experience is blowing some serious admini-strative smoke. The staff and faculty who remain will have their workloads compounded. It’s death by attrition, and I mean that rather more literally than metaphorically. Because the health impacts of these cuts are real and far reaching.[1] They mean a speeding up of everybody’s conveyor belt – from facilities workers to administrative assistants, librarians, accountants, and techs, to grad students, and on a good ways up the food chain. It seems fair to conclude that folks who do the teaching – along now with more administrative work – are going to find themselves with significantly less of that element Einstein dubbed “Time.” Like staff, they’ll be more stressed, and given the Newtonian principle of shit rolling down hill, it seems reasonable to assume that students are also going to get hit with more than their fair share of it. Knowing that time is relative, you’ll never guess what program was singled out first for the chopping block and across all campuses: the Program of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (WGSS). Despite public claims that no programs have been cut in the College of Arts and Sciences, where Women’s Studies is housed, emails went out to faculty that the major is being “suspended.” This move, of course, demonstrating the theory of relativity, insofar as the cuts seem bent on pushing us decades or centuries back in time. Definitely before Rocky Horror, anyway. And you can bet Comparative Ethnic Studies isn’t far behind WGSS. Across the country, university administrators looking to trim fat from university budgets invariably come first and most often for the arts and humanities, as we progressively gut university educations of cultural and historical memory. In so doing, we undermine the capacity of students and communities to imagine a better future, as so many are saddled with decades of debt when they’re still having to beg random strangers outside the 7-11 to buy beer for them. So much for informed consent. Perhaps you, dear reader, can explain to me why so many young people coming of age on a burning planet should also be saddled with levels of debt that were unthinkable at public institutions only twenty years ago. At least indentured servants in the colonies only had to put in seven years. I seriously doubt, friends, that the signatories to the Morrill Acts of 1862 and 1890 had this scenario in mind when they handed over millions of acres of stolen Indigenous lands to capitalize “land grant” universities. I, for one, would love to see someone test that theory out in court. And no matter that those veterans – the majority from poor, frontline communities, many of them Indigenous, Black and brown – risked their lives for the promise of getting a debt-free quality college education. If we keep going down this road, what students will have in the future will be a radically diminished education, one that is being reverse engineered to knock their legs out from under them, to make it harder for future generations to find their collective way forward in the midst of unprecedented cascading crises. Neoliberalism and Administrative Bloat When I began grad studies in English at the UW in 1987 as a late baby boomer, the U.S. was twelve years into the fifty-plus-year arc of neoliberalism. If you’re new to the term, check out David Harvey’s most excellent and accessible A Brief History of Neoliberalism and ditto re: Naomi Klein’s The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism. The books map out the strategy: cutting corporate taxes and taxes on the rich, incrementally privatizing – selling off – public institutions, gutting the social safety net, rolling back the gains of the New Deal of the 1930s and the Civil Rights Movement, centering markets – i.e. Mammon – as the measure of all things.[2] All the while, of course, there’s limitless money for prisons, for weapons, war, genocide, surveillance, and AI. Extraction and War unto Death.[3]3 Among those most impacted if the Vancouver campus were to go belly-up would be people from towns like Longview, WA, who already commute more than forty miles to campus. Longview, you might recall, recently made national headlines when a chemical tank imploded at the Nippon Dynawave Packaging Company papermill. The blast killed 11 members of the Association of Western Pulp and Paper Workers, Chapter 633, and injured nine more in what Washington Governor Bob Ferguson has described as “the deadliest industrial disaster in modern Washington state history.” WSU and the University of Washington are the outliers among state universities in Washington in that we’re not unionized. And you can bet that’s going to hurt us as the cuts play out. At WSU Vancouver, neither faculty nor staff have had any say in how the university is being incrementally reshaped under the auspices of this manufactured fiscal crisis. The cuts are being made in near total secrecy. Many worry that whatever the intended effect, the cuts will send Southwest Washington’s only research and teaching campus into a death spiral. The Vancouver campus emerged out of years – if not decades – of organizing by Southwest Washington legislators, business interests, tribal nations, unions and community groups. When I joined the faculty at WSU Vancouver in the 1990s, like so many of my coworkers who preceded and followed me, I was drawn by the beauty of the Pacific Northwest and the challenge and promise of building a university from the ground up. We were not, WSU held for decades, a “satellite” or “branch” campus, but rather one research university but geographically dispersed. We started out teaching in a building at a local community college while construction began on the scenic 351-acre wooded campus with a six-mile -long hiking path. Drive up the hill on a clear day and you can see Wy’East and Loowit – Mt. Hood and Mt. St. Helens – sacred to the Cowlitz Indian Tribe, the Chinook, and Peoples of the Lower Columbia Valley, on whose ancestral lands the campus is sited. In the early days of the Vancouver campus, more than 70% of the faculty had the job security of tenure. Over time, though, those numbers have flipped with the erosion of tenure and of the arts and humanities, of academic freedom, of faculty governance, faculty pay, and staff support. And while deep cuts in state support for higher education in Washington have definitely played an important role, the changes have also been driven by ballooning ranks of administrators with ballooning pay. The last few decades at public universities across the country have seen the transformation of students into “customers” and the proliferation of associate and executive vice presidents, provosts, deans, your garden variety associate and assistant deans, dean-lets, dean-lites, demi-deans and on and on. Their salaries far outstrip those of the staff and the vast majority of faculty. Is it honestly reasonable for legions of administrators at public universities to routinely make more than the governor of the state? Because that’s what we’re looking at. In a salary search for 2025, excluding the all-hallowed ranks of the athletic staff, I still found more than 100 people at WSU making more than the governor ($234,275). The vast majority of them are current or past administrators. I counted at least ten making $400k or more.[4] A 2022 report by the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) estimates that across all disciplines, adjunct professors – many of them burdened by student debt – make less than $50K a year or around $4K per course. Presidents at public universities, by contrast, routinely pull in between $700K and $1.8 million annually. In 2021, as Shawn Vestal of the Spokane-based Spokesman Review reported, then WSU president Kirk Schulz was “ranked No. 11 on Chronicle of Higher Education’s list of the highest-paid presidents of public colleges, a ranking that put his total compensation at just over $1 million, which would make him one of 16 presidential millionaires at public universities.” In 2018, Schulz laid off the entire theater faculty, cutting a vital program with an annual budget that was roughly equivalent to the $271,800 salary raise Schulz had accepted just two years before. In 2025 WSU opted to pay outgoing president Schulz and WSU Vancouver’s outgoing chancellor Mel Netzhammer each a bonus year’s salary. Collectively the tab for that payout, including benefits, was likely nearly half of the $3.3 million overall cut mandated systemwide by the Washington State Legislature in 2026. One can only wonder at the role that Elizabeth “Betsy” Cantwell, Schulz’s successor as of – no joke – April 1, 2025, may have played in the decision to impose a cut four times that mandated by Washington State legislators, a full half of it to be extracted from the Southwest Washington campus, from the Southwest Washington community. Cantwell’s starting salary? $735k (with the promise of an additional $150k “incentive bonus”), a $151k raise over her previous position at Utah State University (USU), when she was still a first-time university president. Cantwell’s time at USU may have been brief – 18 months – but she nevertheless managed to leave quite a mark. As president of USU, Cantwell was centrally involved in “rolling back diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, programs that the legislature prohibited.” But it was Cantwell’s “lavish” spending that really grabbed public attention and headlines in the Salt Lake Tribune. Trashing the Arts and Humanities As an English professor, I know many will assume my expertise is largely imaginary, so let me state for the record that by a conservative estimate, over the course of more than thirty years as a professor, I’ve observed a good thirty presentations by university presidents and chancellors, and some sixty meetings with deans justifying yet more cuts to the arts and humanities. Based, at least theoretically, on decades of empirical observation – conceding that I slept through a good many of those meetings– I can say with conviction that The Trashing, Devaluing, and Marginalization of the Arts and Humanities is a regular seasonal ceremonial rite in academia (insert French horn, bugle, or trumpet blast here), wherein administrators present us with the very bad, not so very good news about the arts and humanities, how things are not looking so very, very good for them. The meeting, we know, is a prelude to yet more cuts to our units, majors, courses, cuts to job security, cuts to benefits, cuts even to life expectancy, and on and on. And always the implied call to stay silent, to above all never mention the inverse relationship between their pay and ours. Personally, I find one of the challenges of making a compelling case for the arts and humanities is that I’m not always clear what my role or motivation is. I mean, am I Orson Welles doing Clarence Darrow? Jeffrey Wright as Thelonious “Monk” Ellison? Elaine May as Henrietta Lowell? Christopher Lloyd as Professor Plum? And should I be quoting Matthew Arnold’s essay on “Aesthetic Realism,” and if so, could you perhaps hum a few bars for me first? My point is we went from universities that were directly administered by the faculty with minor disparities in salaries and low overhead to a medieval village in which the overwhelming ranks of the teaching faculty are food- and housing-insecure peasants whose futures are routinely dictated by princes who fly (often first class) to deliver news of imminent cuts, between anecdotes about their second and third homes whilst – metaphorically, at least – gnawing on sizable legs of lamb. Well over a decade ago, an administrative assistant in upper admin let drop that negotiations over a job package for a position in upper admin had included covering the cost of transporting a chilled wine collection across country. I’m not at all the first to say that chancellors, presidents, and their legions of vice, associate, and assistant presidents, their deans, assistant and associate deans, deanlets, don’t exist to solve the crisis – university administrators are the crisis. The unspoken job for which they are paid the big bucks is to normalize and model the business of squeezing students, workers, and entire communities, transferring wealth upwards into an ever-narrowing sieve until you have the kind of – literally sickening – inequality we have today. Today, far too many “adjunct” faculty and students alike are relegated to the ranks of the unhoused, sleeping in their cars, “shopping” at food banks, and, one can only guess, dying before their time from stress and lack of healthcare. As word of the cuts came down this week, more than one faculty member commented that had she not just died, our colleague Meagan Lobnitz’s faculty position in English would likely have been on the chopping block. Never mind Meagan’s unrelenting dedication, her ability to breathe life into Technical and Professional Writing, shaping course projects to meet community and student needs. Never mind her generosity and commitment to students despite her paltry pay, despite her own health issues and the critical work of holding together a three -generation household. Were she here to speak, Meagan would likely agree that one of the most striking of the lies that are pounded into us in faculty meetings and assemblies (i.e. mind-numbing power point versions of The Hunger Games) – is that the arts and humanities are barely to be tolerated, they bring so little value to the university, to the community. And what do you suppose the same administrators do at the end of the day? They kick back and watch tv shows written mainly by English majors. They listen to music. They hop planes (which are not being flown by English majors or that, at least, is my hope), and they fly to Broadway shows, written by playwrights trained in the arts and humanities, and enjoy moving performances by actors, many of whom got their first taste of the stage as undergrads – though I can assure you, not at WSU. And they listen to live music. Let’s be clear: few of us ever gets through a day, let alone a lifetime, without art. The question is whether ordinary people have a right to a liberal arts education, if they have the right to study, critique, and create or whether they’re consigned to the status of mere consumers, mere “customers.” If you’re wondering how the present national shit show came to pass, it’s in no small measure an effect of the folks who’ve gotten the big bucks to do the dirty work of dismantling the very universities where they got their own degrees. For performing a feat Chickasaw writer Linda Hogan might describe as “alchemy in reverse” – for transforming an essential pillar of a democratic society into a training ground that produces heavily indebted compliant corporate citizens who, like Caliban, wake to their drudgery and “cry to dream again.” Conclusion: What is to be done? In the longer term, we need mobilize unions, community stakeholders, alumni, and students to build support for a “New Deal for Higher Education” and demand that billionaires (and massive corporations that profit from university contracts) pay their fair share of taxes. And in the shorter term, we need to press for statewide legislative caps on administrative salaries so that no one makes more than the governor. And we need to press for legislative mandates for budget cuts to be taken from the top. Alongside lobbying the legislature, we need to press for ballot referendums and to call on administrators themselves to pledge to take the budget cuts from the top. Whatever our party affiliations, I hope, dear reader, that we can arrive at consensus around a simple mathematical truth: we can have functioning universities governed and administered by faculty as universities once were, or we can continue to bankrupt these precious and irreplaceable public institutions by paying dozens– pecks, firkins, really – of highly paid, very well fed, well feted, very, very comfortable administrators bent on enforcing their enduring right to own multiple Porsches – or bidets. I leave you, dear reader, with the words of the inimitable Susan J. Powter, “Stop the insanity” And, finally, in the immortal words of Kip, “Peace Out.” The preceding opinions most definitely do not represent the opinions of my employer Washington State University. Thanks are due to Frann Michel and Linda Cargill for reading and commenting on drafts. All errors are my own. NOTES 1. Check out, for example, <a href="https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fs3.wp.wsu.edu%2Fuploads%2Fsites%2F1273%2F2016%2F04%2FBudget-Cuts-Feedback-Report_FINAL.pdf&data=05%7C02%7Cdesiree.hellegers%40wsu.edu%7Ca818660d7ebd4497921408ded7c54897%7Cb52be471f7f147b4a8790c799bb53db5%7C0%7C0%7C639185439749477892%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=QWLgFCl3lMCiEdTOykGN1IAO7HzJ1J4Ik1DPGL%2B5oEw%3D&reserved=0">this longitudinal study tracing the impacts of the 2008 cuts on the Vancouver campus. The study is by Tahira Probst, Ph.D., a regents professor and internationally recognized specialist in occupational health psychology at WSU Vancouver. Director of the Coalition for Healthy and Equitable Workplaces lab, Probst’s focus is on job insecurity, workplace safety, and worker well-being. ↑ 2. For a far deeper dive into the impact of neoliberalism on U.S. universities, check out some of Henry Giroux’s many books and commentaries in CounterPunch. ↑ 3. For more on the links between neoliberalism and militarism, see some of Norm Solomon’s many commentaries in CounterPunch. ↑ 4. And while the vast majority of these positions are in Pullman, WSU’s upper administration is touting cuts to administrative positions at regional campuses as cost-cutting measures. The cuts, however, also conveniently eliminate an important channel for local knowledge, advocacy, and leadership at a perilous moment and further consolidate power in Pullman. ↑ The post Academic Gaslighting and Administrative Bloat Begone! appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Desiree Hellegers.
What History Teaches About Justice After War
How do we hold people accountable for wrongdoing and yet at the same time remain in touch with their humanity enough to believe in their capacity to be transformed?” — bell hooks The guns eventually fall silent. They always do. But the end of fighting is not the end of war. When bombs stop falling More The post What History Teaches About Justice After War appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
How do we hold people accountable for wrongdoing and yet at the same time remain in touch with their humanity enough to believe in their capacity to be transformed?” — bell hooks The guns eventually fall silent. They always do. But the end of fighting is not the end of war. When bombs stop falling and ceasefires take hold, another struggle begins. It unfolds in courtrooms, truth commissions, community halls, and in the memories of those who survived. Nations emerging from violent conflict must confront questions that no military victory can answer. What happened? Who bears responsibility? Can justice coexist with mercy? Is reconciliation possible without accountability? Whenever the wars in the Middle East and Ukraine eventually subside, whether through negotiated settlements or military exhaustion, the international community will face the difficult work of building a peace that extends beyond the temporary absence of violence. That work will require more than reconstruction. It will require moral imagination. History offers no perfect blueprint, but it does offer wisdom. The experiences of Rwanda, postwar Germany, Chile, and South Africa reveal different approaches to accountability and reconciliation. Each illuminates both the promise and the limitations of pursuing justice after mass violence. Following the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, in which the UN says more than one million people, primarily Tutsi, were murdered in just 100 days, the country faced an almost unimaginable challenge. Survivors and perpetrators remained neighbors. Families had been shattered. Trust had disappeared. In the immediate aftermath, revenge killings occurred, prisons overflowed, and the formal justice system struggled under the weight of hundreds of thousands of cases. Eventually, Rwanda supplemented conventional courts with gacaca, community-based courts intended to uncover truth and encourage reconciliation. The lesson is sobering. When justice becomes indistinguishable from revenge, violence often reproduces itself. Trauma seeks expression, and without legitimate avenues for accountability, cycles of retaliation can become self-perpetuating. Communities devastated by war deserve more than vengeance. They deserve processes capable of honoring suffering while preventing new suffering. After World War II, the Nuremberg trials established a revolutionary principle. Individuals, not only governments, could be held legally accountable for crimes against humanity and war crimes. The trials transformed international law. They demonstrated that even those who wield enormous political power could answer before an international tribunal. Their legacy continues through international criminal courts and special tribunals established in later conflicts. Yet Nuremberg also left unresolved questions. Can justice ever be entirely impartial when it follows military victory? How can legal accountability be pursued without becoming an extension of geopolitical power? Those questions remain deeply relevant today. Allegations of serious violations of international humanitarian law have emerged from Ukraine—there is an International Criminal Court case against Putin–and Gaza—an arrest warrant is active from the ICC on Netanyahu for his alleged war crimes. International investigations, domestic courts, and multilateral institutions continue to debate how accountability should proceed. For advocates of peace, legal accountability matters, not because punishment alone creates peace, but because impunity often undermines it. Sometimes societies emerging from violence choose compromise over prosecution. After the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, Chile established truth commissions while allowing broad amnesty protections for many responsible for torture, disappearances, and political killings. The arrangement helped facilitate a relatively peaceful democratic transition. But many families waited decades for recognition and justice. The Chilean experience reminds us that peace agreements built on silence may provide short-term stability while leaving profound moral wounds unresolved. Ignoring painful truths rarely makes them disappear. Instead, they often resurface in future generations. Perhaps no modern experiment better illustrates restorative justice than South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Rather than relying exclusively on criminal trials, the commission invited victims to tell their stories publicly while allowing perpetrators to seek amnesty under carefully defined conditions if they fully disclosed politically motivated crimes. Led in part by Desmond Tutu, the commission rested upon the philosophy of ubuntu, the belief that our humanity is bound together. Justice, in this view, is not merely punishment but the restoration of broken relationships wherever possible. The process was imperfect. Many victims believed accountability was insufficient. Others argued that reconciliation without economic justice remained incomplete. Still, the commission demonstrated something essential. Peace depends not only upon legal verdicts but also upon public truth-telling. Survivors need acknowledgment and societies need honest memory. The futures of Gaza and Ukraine will undoubtedly differ in countless ways. Each conflict has its own history, political realities, and human costs. No single model can simply be transplanted from one society to another. History nevertheless suggests that durable peace rarely emerges from military victory alone. Successful post-conflict societies often combine several approaches. They prosecute the gravest crimes, establish truth commissions, compensate victims, reform institutions, and invest in rebuilding civic relationships. Justice need not be reduced to a choice between punishment and forgiveness. Restorative justice asks a different question. What conditions allow communities not merely to survive violence but to recover their shared humanity? Peace is not simply the absence of war. It is the presence of justice, truth, accountability, and human dignity. The temptation after every conflict is to move on quickly, to rebuild buildings while neglecting broken relationships, to sign agreements while avoiding difficult conversations, and to mistake silence for reconciliation. History cautions against that temptation. From Rwanda we learn the dangers of revenge. From Nuremberg we inherit the principle that individuals can be held accountable under international law. From Chile we see the costs of sacrificing truth for political expediency. From South Africa we discover the possibilities, and the limits, of restorative justice grounded in shared humanity. None of these models offers a perfect answer. Together, they remind us that lasting peace is never imposed. It is patiently constructed through the difficult work of rebuilding trust between people who must somehow learn to share a future after unimaginable loss. Wars may end with signatures on paper. Peace begins when societies decide how they will remember, how they will seek justice, and whether they will choose vengeance or the harder path of reconciliation. The post What History Teaches About Justice After War appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by George Cassidy Payne.
Fears of more conflict in West Papua after American pilot killed
By Johnny Blades of RNZ Pacific Fears of yet another escalation in military conflict in Indonesia’s Papua region have risen after an American pilot flying a small aircraft into a remote airstrip in Highland Papua province was killed by West Papuan militants. The West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) has claimed responsibility for killing Nicholas
By Johnny Blades of RNZ Pacific Fears of yet another escalation in military conflict in Indonesia’s Papua region have risen after an American pilot flying a small aircraft into a remote airstrip in Highland Papua province was killed by West Papuan militants. The West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) has claimed responsibility for killing Nicholas F Gosselin after he landed a small aircraft in remote Sobaham District, Yahukimo Regency, on Thursday. Gosselin had just flown seven passengers to Yahukimo from Wamena, Highland Papua’s major town, in an aircraft which belonged to a small Indonesian airline, PT AMA. The militants also burned the plane. READ MORE: Indonesian military says it has recovered body of American pilot killed by rebels in Papua Kiwi pilot kidnapping in West Papua leads to police raids in Australia Other West Papua resistance reports The TPNPB has repeatedly warned foreigners not to fly into the region if they were working with Indonesia’s military, which they are fighting for independence. <img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-130039" src="https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Nicholas-F-Gosselin-SS-680wide.png" alt="US pilot Nicholas F Gosselin, killed by resistance fighters in Highland Papua" width="680" height="560" srcset="https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Nicholas-F-Gosselin-SS-680wide.png 680w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Nicholas-F-Gosselin-SS-680wide-300x247.png 300w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Nicholas-F-Gosselin-SS-680wide-510x420.png 510w" sizes="(max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px" /> US pilot Nicholas F Gosselin, killed by resistance fighters in Highland Papua . . . he was flying an aircraft which belonged to a small Indonesian airline, PT AMA. Image: screenshot from Amapapua/Instagram Eneko Bahabol, a human rights defender with the Papua Council of Churches who works in this remote region, said the other people on board were local Papuan villagers. He said they were understood to have escaped without injury. He said it was widely known that Indonesia’s military relied on small airlines to fly into remote airstrips in Papua’s interior, where its larger aircraft could not land. “We have seen the call from the TPNPB not to transport military personnel. We have followed this in every one of their releases, but we see that the companies and the pilots do not listen to it, and this applies to all pilots transporting military personnel,” Bahabol said. However, this is not the first case of the TPNPB burning planes which have flown into the Highlands region, nor of targeting pilots. In February 2023, the TPNPB kidnapped a New Zealand pilot, Phillip Mehrtens, after he landed a small plane belonging to commercial airline Susi Air in Nduga Regency of Highland Papua. They freed him 19 months later. The Indonesian military has reportedly denied that the AMA plane attacked on Thursday was used to carry troops. Fears of more violence Bahabol said civilians in Sobaham’s Balinggama village have fled to neighbouring districts because they were afraid there would be a military operation in response to the attack. Jakarta has been increasing its troop deployments to the Papua region and now has at least six times more military per capita in Papua than any other region in Indonesia. This comes amid an upsurge in violent incidents in recent months in Highland Papua related to the long running conflict between Indonesia’s security forces and the TPNPB which have left many civilians dead or injured, and displaced thousands. Bahabol said on behalf of the Papua Council of Churches, he urged both Indonesia’s military and the West Papuan militants to step back from violent conflict. “Stop the military operations because they do not solve the problem. I ask both parties to stop the conflict and pursue a dignified dialogue through international mechanisms,” he said. Bahabol also urged a pause in “the use of civilian aircraft for military purposes”. Meanwhile, he said it was expected that the pilot’s body could be evacuated on Friday, depending on the weather, and the ability of Indonesian military and police to access the airstrip area. <img decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-130040" src="https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Indon-troops-light-plane-ULMWP-680wide.jpg" alt="An Indonesian soldier with military equipment" width="680" height="680" srcset="https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Indon-troops-light-plane-ULMWP-680wide.jpg 680w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Indon-troops-light-plane-ULMWP-680wide-300x300.jpg 300w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Indon-troops-light-plane-ULMWP-680wide-150x150.jpg 150w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Indon-troops-light-plane-ULMWP-680wide-420x420.jpg 420w" sizes="(max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px" /> An Indonesian soldier with military equipment . . . small aircraft are often used by the military to gain access to remote airstrips. Image: ULMWP Killing ‘a message to US’ A spokesperson for the TPNPB, Sebby Sambom, said the killing was a message to the United States which brokered the 1962 New York Agreement which paved the way for the former Dutch New Guinea to fall under Indonesian control in the 1960s, without genuine consultation with Papuans. “We also convey to the United States of American government, through its embassy in Indonesia and to UN member states, that the shooting of the American pilot is pay for a mistake by the Indonesian, United States of America, Dutch government,” Sambom said. He said the message was also directed at the United Nations “for failing to address the root causes of the conflict in Papua between the Indonesian military and the West Papua National Liberation Army, which has been ongoing for 64 years”. A spokesperson for the US State Department told RNZ Pacific they were aware that Indonesian authorities were investigating the reported death. The spokesperson said they were in touch with the authorities and the man’s family, and were closely tracking developments, but had no further comment. After an American man, Rick Spier, was violently killed in Papua in 2002 in a shooting attack that was investigated by the FBI, the US suspended some military assistance to Indonesia. This story was first published on This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.
Monsters playing victims – how Israel’s Danny Danons twists his war on the truth
International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict
COMMENTARY: By Ramzy Baroud Whether Israelis will ever comprehend the irreparable damage inflicted upon their country’s reputation by their UN Ambassador, Danny Danon, is a moot point. The damage Israel has done to itself through its barbaric practices in occupied Palestine is simply impossible to overcome. Danon, however, uses a peculiar approach to defending Israel
COMMENTARY: By Ramzy Baroud Whether Israelis will ever comprehend the irreparable damage inflicted upon their country’s reputation by their UN Ambassador, Danny Danon, is a moot point. The damage Israel has done to itself through its barbaric practices in occupied Palestine is simply impossible to overcome. Danon, however, uses a peculiar approach to defending Israel within international institutions: he relies on bullying, intimidation, and an overt attempt to silence anyone who dares to challenge the official Israeli narrative — particularly women leaders. Yet, what makes his behavior most outrageous is his deployment of these abrasive tactics to suppress an issue that demands the utmost sensitivity: the systemic use of sexual violence and human rights abuses against Palestinians. READ MORE: Palestinians mark 1000 days since Israel began full-scale assault on Gaza Other war on Gaza reports The confrontation took place during a UN General Assembly session convened to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict. Senior UN officials were presenting harrowing findings documenting sexual violence against Palestinian detainees. True to form, Danon refused to engage with the substance of the reports. For Israeli diplomacy, the enemy is never merely the armed adversary; it is the judge, the independent human rights observer, and the UN investigator whose sole mandate is to document violations of international law. The immediate target of Danon’s wrath was Pramila Patten, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict. Instead of reflecting on the grim findings, Danon demanded <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-130052 size-full" src="https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Dr-Ramzy-Baroud-RB-300tall.png" alt="Palestinian author and editor Dr Ramzy Baroud " width="300" height="306" srcset="https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Dr-Ramzy-Baroud-RB-300tall.png 300w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Dr-Ramzy-Baroud-RB-300tall-294x300.png 294w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /> Palestinian author and editor Dr Ramzy Baroud . . . Israel has been added to the UN global “List of Shame” — the blacklist of states committing grave violations against children in armed conflict. Image: Dr Ramzy Baroud Patten’s resignation. Accused over ‘obsession’ He accused her and the broader international community of harbouring an “obsession” with targeting Israel. When Vanessa Frazier, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, attempted to intervene on a point of order per established protocol, Danon unleashed a vitriolic verbal assault. Refusing to yield, he shouted over her, ordering her to “be quiet” and drowning out the chamber with his outbursts. “Shame on you. You are part of this obsession,” Danon bellowed. While such unruly behavior should have resulted in Danon’s immediate removal from the chamber, the diplomatic asymmetry of the UN prevailed. It was Frazier who found herself trying to de-escalate, politely clarifying that her procedural request was “not personal.” Danon shot back with typical defiance: “You will not be allowed to bully us.” Herein lies the supreme irony of Israel’s diplomatic relationship with the UN and international law. Israel stands as one of the most egregious, serial violators of international law in modern history — a decades-long pattern of behavior left unpunished by Western vetoes, which ultimately emboldened it to carry out an ongoing genocide in Gaza. Yet, Israeli officials persistently claim the mantle of the ultimate victim, alleging they are the targets of antisemitism, unfair bias, and now, “bullying” by the very institutions they defy. Mountain of evidence But the mountain of evidence cannot be shouted away. According to an extensive report issued by Patten’s office, there are verified patterns of systemic abuse, sexual degradation, and psychological torture weaponised against Palestinian men, women, and children in Israeli detention camps like Sde Teiman. The weight of this evidence reached such an undeniable threshold that the UN Secretary-General’s office formally added Israel to the global “List of Shame” — the blacklist of states committing grave violations against children in armed conflict. None of this exposure is enough to convince Danon or the broader Israeli political establishment that Israel does not possess a sovereign right to violate international law. In their view, merely pointing out these crimes constitutes an act of aggression. This systemic denial extends to every facet of the conflict. A comprehensive UN investigation recently concluded that Israel has deliberately targeted Palestinian children in Gaza as a core component of its military campaign. The numbers are staggering: Between October 7, 2023, and October 7, 2025, an estimated 20,179 Palestinian children were killed — about 30 percent of all Palestinian deaths. Children ‘deliberately targeted’ “The evidence shows that Palestinian children have been deliberately targeted and killed by the Israeli security forces,” stated commission chair Srinivasan Muralidhar, noting that Israeli authorities have systematically continued to commit the crime of genocide. While these findings provide another layer of ironclad legal proof regarding genocidal intent, the true significance of the report lies in its exposure of the rationale behind targeting youth. Typically, the disproportionate slaughter of children and women is dismissed by Western apologists as “collateral damage”. The UN inquiry shattered this defence, offering a far more consequential conclusion: the targeting of Gaza’s children is part of a calculated strategy to destroy the biological continuity and future existence of the Palestinian people in Gaza. As Muralidhar bluntly summarized: “By targeting children, Israel is attacking the very capacity of the Palestinian people to exist.” It remains a profound disappointment that the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) — often swift to indict war crimes committed elsewhere — continue to move at a glacial pace regarding Israel. Tragically, the catastrophe continues unabated because there is still no meaningful international mechanism willing to enforce sanctions or employ genuine pressure to halt it. This is precisely why Danny Danon wants the world to be quiet. His outbursts are not merely directed at UN diplomats; they are directed at global civil society, ordinary citizens, and anyone refusing to look away. Demands absolute silence Israel demands absolute silence while Palestinians are starved, raped, and murdered. According to its twisted logic, committing these atrocities is an inherent right, and objecting to them is an act of malice. If this logic is allowed to prevail, it becomes the blueprint for every future aggressor who wishes to kill, rape, and starve a population for geopolitical gain. Palestinians and Lebanese are already forced to inhabit this dystopian reality. Our collective responsibility is clear: we must refuse to be quiet. We must speak out, ensuring our voices drown out the shouts of Danon and his peers, so that murder and systemic violence are never normalised as tools of military necessity. Dr Ramzy Baroud is a journalist, author and the editor of The Palestine Chronicle. He is the author of eight books. His latest book, Before the Flood, was published by Seven Stories Press. His other books include Our Vision for Liberation, My Father was a Freedom Fighter and The Last Earth. Baroud is a non-resident senior research fellow at the Center for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA). His website is www.ramzybaroud.net This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.
Hanoi Protesters Fight Demolition of Their Homes
U.S. still China’s main rival despite report on Japan and Philippines’ capabilities
Experts say Beijing’s scrutiny of Tokyo and Manila reflects concerns of military integration in the South China Sea
China remains focused on the United States as its chief geopolitical rival, even though a recent Chinese report on military activity in the South China Sea highlighted the growing role of Washington’s allies in the region, experts told Radio Free Asia. The report, published by the China-based South China Sea Strategic Situation Probing Initiative, or SCSPI, found that U.S. military activity in the South China Sea remained extensive in 2025, despite signs of operational strain due to Washington’s increased activity in the Middle East. Although the SCSPI is not government-led, it is widely viewed by analysts as broadly reflecting Beijing’s strategic outlook, and the report indicated increased Japanese and Philippine deployment to the South China Sea. “China increasingly views Japan and the Philippines’ efforts to deepen defense cooperation … as attempts by both countries to challenge China’s core interests and cross a red line,” William Yang, a Northeast Asia analyst at the Belgium-based International Crisis Group, told RFA. Japan participated in 71 U.S.-led exercises in and around the South China Sea last year – the highest number among U.S. partners – followed by the Philippines with 32, and Yang said the focus on Tokyo and Manila shows that Beijing considers Washington’s allies more formidable than in the past. A member of the Philippine Navy looks out at the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force's destroyer Takanami during a joint maritime exercise in the South China Sea on June 14, 2025. (Jiji Press/AFP) “They see both countries’ assertive approach toward maritime disputes with China as a threat to its maritime interests and sovereignty claims and believe it is necessary to start increasing pressure on both countries,” Yang said. He added that Chinese officials have been “increasingly criticizing Japan and the Philippines for provoking regional instability by engaging on the Taiwan issue” and “have taken steps to increase economic and grey zone coercion against both countries in recent months.” Washington distracted? Despite the increased attention to Washington’s allies in the report, Beijing’s largest concern is still U.S. activities in the sea, Yang said. “However, in light of the U.S.-China detente under Trump and Washington’s continuous entanglement in the Middle East, Beijing thinks it needs to seize this window of opportunity to increase pressure on particular U.S. allies in the region amid Washington’s distraction,” he said. The SCSPI report concluded that indeed growth in some U.S. strategic platforms had slowed – It recorded nine U.S. carrier strike group deployments into the South China Sea in 2025, up slightly from eight the previous year, but said the overall intensity of carrier operations had declined because of extended deployments in the Middle East, maintenance demands, and operational accidents involving several carriers. <img src="https://www.rfa.org/resizer/v2/LORJRZIS4BEIDDNTDS4F4NNB2E.jpg?auth=d67485223351e8466985241e31d4caa14314547fadf6ca571256419d818176e3&smart=true&width=1500" alt="Philippine marines take position next to U.S. amphibious assault vehicles during an amphibious landing exercise at the beach of the Philippine navy training center facing the South China Sea in San Antonio, Zambales province, Philippines on Oct. 6, 2018." height="2658" width="1500"/> Philippine marines take position next to U.S. amphibious assault vehicles during an amphibious landing exercise at the beach of the Philippine navy training center facing the South China Sea in San Antonio, Zambales province, Philippines on Oct. 6, 2018. (Ted Aljibe/AFP) Analysts say the more significant issue for China is not the number of U.S. carriers entering the South China Sea, but how allied networks are making American military presence more persistent. “The report focuses on Japan and the Philippines because they are two of the most important allied pressure points on China’s maritime perimeter, but they create different military problems for Beijing” Sylwia M. Gorska, a Ph.D candidate in international relations at the University of Lancashire in the United Kingdom, told RFA. Multilateral containment? She said that the Philippines represents China’s “forward-access problem, pointing to its proximity to the disputed Scarborough Shoal and Spratly Islands, the Luzon Strait, the Bashi Channel and Taiwan’s southern approaches. “From Beijing’s perspective, the Philippines is no longer only a South China Sea claimant,” she said, “It is becoming a practical access and surveillance platform.” She said Manila’s increased surveillance capabilities would be useful for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance flights, or ISR; maritime-domain awareness; joint patrols, logistics; missile-capable deployments; and crisis response along the southern First Island Chain, the arc of islands running from Japan through Taiwan and the Philippines to Borneo, forming a key maritime boundary around China’s near seas. A map of the first and second Pacific island chains. (AFP) Japan, meanwhile, presents “the depth-and-integration problem,” she said. “It does not need to be a South China Sea claimant to affect the military balance there,” said Gorska, adding that Tokyo’s surveillance capabilities, anti-submarine warfare, logistics, missile defence and interoperability with U.S. forces link the South China Sea with Taiwan, the East China Sea and the wider western Pacific. But Gorska cautioned against interpreting the report as evidence that Beijing now sees Japan and the Philippines as greater threats than the United States, saying it “should not be read as a move from a U.S.-centric threat perception to an ally-centric one.” American “backbone” Any resistance to China’s projections of power in the region would still be led by Washington, Gorska said, adding that the U.S. would provide “the operational backbone of any serious regional contingency: command-and-control, ISR, undersea warfare, long-range strike, strategic mobility and extended deterrence.” Gorska said that China’s sharper focus reflects concerns that allied cooperation is turning periodic U.S. deployments into a more enduring military posture. “The issue is not a shift from ‘U.S. threat’ to ‘ally threat’. It is China’s sharper focus on how allied geography and interoperability compress the time available to localise a crisis before U.S.-aligned forces can sense, reinforce and act.” Yang said that Beijing’s long-term strategic assessment remains largely unchanged. “I don’t think there is a major strategic shift in Beijing,” he said. “Their threat assessment remains largely the same, which is to prevent U.S. containment of China’s capability to project its power across the region and into the Pacific.” But the report indicates that Beijing cannot ignore Washington’s allies and the opportunities presented by U.S. military activity in the Middle East. China “does see the need and an opening to sharpen its approach and increase pressure on Japan and the Philippines at a time when U.S. attention and resource allocation to Asia is undermined and distorted.” Edited by Eugene Whong. This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Taejun Kang for RFA.
Massachusetts Set to Extend Statute of Limitations for Rape Cases With DNA Evidence
The post Massachusetts Set to Extend Statute of Limitations for Rape Cases With DNA Evidence appeared first on ProPublica.
Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey at a press conference at the State House in March Jessica Rinaldi/The Boston Globe via Getty Images Massachusetts’ deadline to prosecute rape cases will no longer be one of the strictest in the nation under a bill Gov. Maura Healey pledged to sign into law. State law currently bars nearly all rape prosecutions involving cases with adult victims after 15 years, making it difficult to charge someone after that deadline even in cases where new evidence is likely to lead to a conviction. The new law would ensure that if DNA is matched to a suspect after that 15-year window, prosecutors could file charges indefinitely. Healey pushed to revise the prosecution deadline for rape as part of her annual budget proposal in January. The move came after WBUR and ProPublica found that as many as 47 other states allow more time to charge rapes or similar sexual assaults than Massachusetts. Many of those states extended their deadlines in recent decades as DNA technology helped solve old cases and as evidence mounted that police across the nation had failed to fully investigate rape cases. Healey’s proposal survived the legislature’s monthslong budget process. She announced Wednesday that she’d sign the $63.4 billion budget and has until July 11 to approve it. It would go into effect as soon as it’s signed. “Today, DNA evidence can provide new answers years later, and our laws should reflect that reality,” Healey said in a statement. “This change gives survivors another path to justice while helping law enforcement hold violent offenders accountable.” Prosecutors must still file charges within the existing 15-year deadline if a match is made within that timeframe, as they were required to under the old law. The new law could open the door to prosecution for cases for which the statute of limitations has not yet passed. In Massachusetts, legislators have tried unsuccessfully to change the rape statute of limitations every session since 2011, WBUR found. Defense attorneys opposed those bills, saying a longer deadline risked violating the rights of the accused. Read more <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="459" height="306" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/20250908-Seliger-MA-Statute-Limitations-Final-Lead-32Ratio_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?w=459&h=306&crop=1" class="attachment-propublica-story-promo size-propublica-story-promo wp-post-image" alt="" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/20250908-Seliger-MA-Statute-Limitations-Final-Lead-32Ratio_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg 3000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/20250908-Seliger-MA-Statute-Limitations-Final-Lead-32Ratio_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/20250908-Seliger-MA-Statute-Limitations-Final-Lead-32Ratio_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/20250908-Seliger-MA-Statute-Limitations-Final-Lead-32Ratio_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/20250908-Seliger-MA-Statute-Limitations-Final-Lead-32Ratio_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1536,1024 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/20250908-Seliger-MA-Statute-Limitations-Final-Lead-32Ratio_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2048,1365 2048w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/20250908-Seliger-MA-Statute-Limitations-Final-Lead-32Ratio_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=863,575 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/20250908-Seliger-MA-Statute-Limitations-Final-Lead-32Ratio_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=422,281 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/20250908-Seliger-MA-Statute-Limitations-Final-Lead-32Ratio_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=552,368 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/20250908-Seliger-MA-Statute-Limitations-Final-Lead-32Ratio_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=558,372 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/20250908-Seliger-MA-Statute-Limitations-Final-Lead-32Ratio_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=527,351 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/20250908-Seliger-MA-Statute-Limitations-Final-Lead-32Ratio_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=752,501 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/20250908-Seliger-MA-Statute-Limitations-Final-Lead-32Ratio_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1149,766 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/20250908-Seliger-MA-Statute-Limitations-Final-Lead-32Ratio_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=459,306 459w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/20250908-Seliger-MA-Statute-Limitations-Final-Lead-32Ratio_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2000,1333 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/20250908-Seliger-MA-Statute-Limitations-Final-Lead-32Ratio_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=400,267 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/20250908-Seliger-MA-Statute-Limitations-Final-Lead-32Ratio_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=800,533 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/20250908-Seliger-MA-Statute-Limitations-Final-Lead-32Ratio_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1200,800 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/20250908-Seliger-MA-Statute-Limitations-Final-Lead-32Ratio_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1600,1067 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 459px) 100vw, 459px" js-autosizes="true" /> DNA Finally Tied a Man to Her Rape. It Didn’t Matter. Rape survivors have worked with state Rep. Adam Scanlon, a Democrat, for the last five years to create a DNA exception, he said. They joined the effort because they were frustrated that they could no longer pursue justice after the deadline, even when new evidence emerged. ”It gives them hope in the future to ensure that no one has to suffer the same indignities,” Scanlon said, adding, “This was a long process driven by survivors.” Some survivors whose cases were too old to be prosecuted pushed for the change. One of them was Louise, who was the focus of WBUR and ProPublica’s investigation. WBUR doesn’t identify victims of sexual assault without their permission and agreed to identify Louise only by her middle name. In October 2005, she was raped and repeatedly stabbed by a man who gave her a ride in Boston, according to police and court records. Seventeen years later, a DNA match identified an area man as a suspect. DNA evidence also linked that suspect to another rape. Suffolk County prosecutors charged the man in both cases in 2022, but had to drop the cases because the statute of limitations had expired. He maintained his innocence. Had this law been enacted a few years ago, Louise could have seen the suspect in her case face trial. “It really was devastating,” Louise said. “ I never fathomed that time lapsing would be an issue.” Louise testified before state legislators in support of the DNA exception after her interview with WBUR. She said she’s relieved it will become law. “It’s nice to have the government move in the right direction, which builds a sense of trust, a sense of safety — and justice,” Louise said. The post Massachusetts Set to Extend Statute of Limitations for Rape Cases With DNA Evidence appeared first on ProPublica. This content originally appeared on ProPublica and was authored by Willoughby Mariano.
By Ralph Nader July 2, 2026 After progressives, including self-described Democratic Socialists, won numerous primary victories in New York and elsewhere, Trump launched a whopper of a lie, even by his crazed standards. He declared that the “communist” ...
By Ralph Nader July 2, 2026 After progressives, including self-described Democratic Socialists, won numerous primary victories in New York and elsewhere, Trump launched a whopper of a lie, even by his crazed standards. He declared that the “communist” Democratic Socialists are “the biggest threat to our nation there is, maybe since our founding …. That… This content originally appeared on Ralph Nader and was authored by matthew.
<img width="1024" height="683" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/3U3A7959-scaled.jpeg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="Visitors walk down the steps of the Lincoln Memorial toward the reflecting pool in Washington, DC, on September 11, 2025. Photo by Rosa Fox." data-attachment-id="344751" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/what-is-free-speech-america-at-250/3u3a7959" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/3U3A7959-scaled.jpeg?fit=2560%2C1707&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2560,1707" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"4","credit":"","camera":"Canon EOS R","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1720562176","copyright":"","focal_length":"95","iso":"100","shutter_speed":"0.00125","title":"","orientation":"1","alt":""}" data-image-title="The Battle for Free Speech &#8211; Reflecting Pool Washington DC" data-image-description="" data-image-caption=" Visitors walk down the steps of the Lincoln Memorial toward the reflecting pool in Washington, DC, on September 11, 2025. Photo by Rosa Fox. " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/3U3A7959-scaled.jpeg?fit=780%2C520&ssl=1"> "There's a kind of narcotic effect of those words — free speech," says legal scholar Mary Anne Franks. "It's because we think we know it so well that we don't know anything about it."
<img width="1024" height="683" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/3U3A7959-scaled.jpeg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="Visitors walk down the steps of the Lincoln Memorial toward the reflecting pool in Washington, DC, on September 11, 2025. Photo by Rosa Fox." decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/3U3A7959-scaled.jpeg?w=2560&ssl=1 2560w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/3U3A7959-scaled.jpeg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/3U3A7959-scaled.jpeg?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/3U3A7959-scaled.jpeg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/3U3A7959-scaled.jpeg?resize=1536%2C1024&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/3U3A7959-scaled.jpeg?resize=2048%2C1365&ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/3U3A7959-scaled.jpeg?resize=1200%2C800&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/3U3A7959-scaled.jpeg?resize=2000%2C1333&ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/3U3A7959-scaled.jpeg?resize=780%2C520&ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/3U3A7959-scaled.jpeg?resize=400%2C267&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/3U3A7959-scaled.jpeg?w=2340&ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/3U3A7959-scaled.jpeg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1&w=370 370w" sizes="(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw - 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw / 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw / 12)), 100vw" data-attachment-id="344751" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/what-is-free-speech-america-at-250/3u3a7959" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/3U3A7959-scaled.jpeg?fit=2560%2C1707&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2560,1707" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"4","credit":"","camera":"Canon EOS R","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1720562176","copyright":"","focal_length":"95","iso":"100","shutter_speed":"0.00125","title":"","orientation":"1","alt":""}" data-image-title="The Battle for Free Speech &#8211; Reflecting Pool Washington DC" data-image-description="" data-image-caption=" Visitors walk down the steps of the Lincoln Memorial toward the reflecting pool in Washington, DC, on September 11, 2025. Photo by Rosa Fox. " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/3U3A7959-scaled.jpeg?fit=780%2C520&ssl=1" /> Transcript The following is a rushed transcript and may contain errors. It will be updated as soon as possible. Michael Fox: It’s good to see you, Mansa. Mansa Musa: It’s good to be seen. Michael Fox: I want to start us in Washington at the Lincoln Memorial. Michael Fox: I’m standing inside the mausoleum of the Lincoln Memorial. President Abraham Lincoln sitting on his chair, staring out, looking down across Washington over the reflecting pool at the Washington Monument in the Capitol. Michael Fox: So early last fall, I went down to the Lincoln Memorial on the Washington Mall and I wanted to go because this is, for me, it’s kind of one of the most iconic places I can think of for free speech in the United States. Speaker 4: As the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation. Michael Fox: Clearly, like the images of the 1963 March on Washington and Martin Luther King’s, I have a dream speech and hundreds of thousands of people covering the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, running all the way back along the reflecting pool. And I went there to ask people what free speech meant to them. Excuse me, sir. Speaker 5: Yes. Michael Fox: My name’s Mike Fox. Yes, sir. I’m a freelance reporter and I’m working on a podcast about free speech. And so I spoke with one guy named Ric. He’s retired. He’s from Arizona. He came there with his wife. They were in town for the day. He actually works as a pit line firefighter for NASCAR. And he told me – Speaker 6: The freedom to say what you feel, to express what you have in your heart and to just be open and honest. Michael Fox: I asked him what he thought about free speech rights in America today and he said – Speaker 6: Well, with who’s in charge, it seems like it’s kind of controversial that if you say something against him that he will retaliate against you, which I think is totally absurd. Michael Fox: Working on a story about free speech and what it means today in the United States. Speaker 7: I don’t want to make any comments about the free speech in US. Michael Fox: I understand. Thank you so much. No, no, thank you so much. Appreciate it. Yeah. People are nervous to talk. Speaker 8: I think I’m good. Thank you though. It’s Michael Fox: All good. Thank you so much. Take care. Oh yeah. I wonder if I could interview you real fast. I’m not today.Thank you Devin. It’s okay. I love your camera buddy. Thank you very Speaker 8: Much. Michael Fox: Take care. Thanks. I’m wondering if I could interview you guys real quick. No. Okay. It’s all good. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. Speaker 9: I don’t even know what beach is. Michael Fox: What does free speech mean to you? Speaker 6: That you could be able to say what you want to do what you want as long as it’s not rude or disrespectful to anyone else. Michael Fox: I spoke with Ronald Jackson from Birmingham, Alabama and to Mia Nash from Las Vegas. They were in town for a funeral. I feel like anyone can say whatever they want to say. Speaker 10: See, what free speech is, we could say what we want to say, but we have consequences behind that. Really, we don’t have free speech because they always want to kill you, take you out and do whatever. So basically we don’t have no free speech. Michael Fox: They too are really concerned about free speech rights today. There was an interesting conversation I had with this one gentleman from Ghana. He’s actually a military officer there. Speaker 8: Whenever we have to talk of states that promote free speech, the first state that comes in your mind is the United States, then other societies or other countries. Michael Fox: But that it’s recently become, again, really complicated. Some people are trying to take advantage. Speaker 8: To bring any kind of chaos or especially when it has some issues of misinformation, disinformation and malinformation. Speaker 5: Yeah. Michael Fox: I think one of the things that’s interesting is that almost everyone I spoke with across the political spectrum, because I spoke with people on the left and on the right. And for everyone, everyone was kind of concerned about this moment for free speech in the United States. Speaker 11: I don’t feel like we’re as free to speak our minds as we were in the ’90s.That Michael Fox: Was my other question. Where do you think we’re at today with free speech in America? Speaker 11: Well, I mean, you’ve got people getting shot on college campuses over it, so it’s kind of hard to say that we’re moving in the right direction, but something’s going to have to change. Michael Fox: It’s this kind of mixed bag, but in general, people, of course, standing up, people we need to defend it, but very concerned about where we are today and the state of free speech today in the United States. Man, so where do you see free speech in America today? Where do you see the state of free speech today in the United States? Mansa Musa: In the United State, we see that freedom of speech is not really free no more. It’s heavily regulated. It’s sectarian. You do a lot of shift shaping. Free speech, you say fake news. So I undermine your speech by characterizing as fake news, but when I characterize it fake news, I take an action against it. And that’s our reality we confronted with. Free speech is not really free no more. It comes with a price and I say that non-earnest. It comes with a praise. It was never free for no press people. It was never free for indigenous people. It was never intended for us to have a voice. It was never free for Tecan or Mexican Americans, migrants that come to this country that later on become a part of the problem. It never was free. It was always designed for a specific class of people and where it’s free to do what I want when I want and how I want and say what I want. Michael Fox: This is The Battle for Free Speech, a multi-part narrative podcast brought to you by The Real News. In this series, we take you on a journey to understand the important role free speech has played in US history and the fight being waged over it today. I’m your co-host, Michael Fox, and I’m so excited to be joined today by Mansa Musa. He’s a longtime social activist and a former Black Panther. He’s the host of the real news show, Rattling the Bars about the US system of mass incarceration. And this is something he knows a little bit about because Mansa, you spent 48 years and nine months in prison, right? Mansa Musa: Yep, that’s right. On the eve of the United States’ 250th birthday, Michael Fox sits down with Mansa Musa — longtime activist, former Black Panther, host of TRNN’s Rattling the Bars, and a man who spent nearly 49 years in prison — to ask a deceptively simple question: what does free speech actually mean? From the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to Quito, Ecuador, to Frederick Douglass’s 1852 address “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July,” this episode unravels the gap between the promise of the First Amendment and the reality of who gets to speak in America — and who pays a price for it. “There’s a kind of narcotic effect of those words — free speech,” says legal scholar Mary Anne Franks, author of the book Fearless Speech. “It’s because we think we know it so well that we don’t know anything about it.” Historian Fara Dabhoiwala traces how the US broke from the rest of the world’s balanced approach to free expression during the Cold War, and a forgotten 1986 Ursula K. Le Guin speech offers a radically different vision: speech as dialogue, not domination. Follow The Battle For Free Speech on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Support Michael Fox’s reporting at patreon.com/mfox. Never miss an episode — sign up for The Real News newsletter at therealnews.com. The Battle for Free Speech is a production of The Real News Network. Hosted by Michael Fox and Marc Steiner. Theme music by Michael Fox, Jordan Klein, and Daniel Nuñez. Additional music from Blue Dot Sessions and Epidemic Sound. Production and sound design: Michael Fox and Stephen Frank. Editorial support from Kayla Rivara. Research by Ben Schweiger. Many thanks to Sylvia Gross for providing her incredible voice acting skills in this episode. Guests Mary Anne Franks, author of Fearless Speech: Breaking Free from the First Amendment Katherine Jacobsen, Committee to Protect Journalists Fara Dabhoiwala, author of What Is Free Speech? The History of a Dangerous Idea Resources Ursula K. Le Guin, “We Are Volcanoes” — Bryn Mawr commencement, 1986 Danny Glover reads Frederick Douglass — Voices of a People’s History This content originally appeared on The Real News Network and was authored by Michael Fox.
Meet America’s real-life ‘Toxic Avengers’
<img width="1024" height="576" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Livestream-3-13-2025-2026-07-02T104329.192.jpg?fit=1024%2C576&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="Color-altered image of Christina Siceloff—a resident of Beaver County, Pennsylvania, affected by the 2023 Norfolk Southern train derailment and chemical disaster—standing in a creak in East Palestine, OH, wearing a gas mask. Image Credit: TRNN." data-attachment-id="344700" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/meet-americas-real-life-toxic-avengers/livestream-3-13-2025-2026-07-02t104329-192" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Livestream-3-13-2025-2026-07-02T104329.192.jpg?fit=2560%2C1440&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2560,1440" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0","alt":""}" data-image-title="Livestream 3-13-2025 &#8211; 2026-07-02T104329.192" data-image-description="" data-image-caption=" Color-altered image of Christina Siceloff—a resident of Beaver County, Pennsylvania, affected by the 2023 Norfolk Southern train derailment and chemical disaster—standing in a creak in East Palestine, OH, wearing a gas mask. Image Credit: TRNN. " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Livestream-3-13-2025-2026-07-02T104329.192.jpg?fit=780%2C439&ssl=1"> More data centers and toxic disasters are coming to America, and your community may be next. This is how to fight back.
<img width="1024" height="576" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Livestream-3-13-2025-2026-07-02T104329.192.jpg?fit=1024%2C576&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="Color-altered image of Christina Siceloff—a resident of Beaver County, Pennsylvania, affected by the 2023 Norfolk Southern train derailment and chemical disaster—standing in a creak in East Palestine, OH, wearing a gas mask. Image Credit: TRNN." decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Livestream-3-13-2025-2026-07-02T104329.192.jpg?w=2560&ssl=1 2560w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Livestream-3-13-2025-2026-07-02T104329.192.jpg?resize=300%2C169&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Livestream-3-13-2025-2026-07-02T104329.192.jpg?resize=1024%2C576&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Livestream-3-13-2025-2026-07-02T104329.192.jpg?resize=768%2C432&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Livestream-3-13-2025-2026-07-02T104329.192.jpg?resize=1536%2C864&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Livestream-3-13-2025-2026-07-02T104329.192.jpg?resize=2048%2C1152&ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Livestream-3-13-2025-2026-07-02T104329.192.jpg?resize=1200%2C675&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Livestream-3-13-2025-2026-07-02T104329.192.jpg?resize=2000%2C1125&ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Livestream-3-13-2025-2026-07-02T104329.192.jpg?resize=780%2C439&ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Livestream-3-13-2025-2026-07-02T104329.192.jpg?resize=400%2C225&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Livestream-3-13-2025-2026-07-02T104329.192.jpg?w=2340&ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Livestream-3-13-2025-2026-07-02T104329.192.jpg?fit=1024%2C576&ssl=1&w=370 370w" sizes="(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw - 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw / 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw / 12)), 100vw" data-attachment-id="344700" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/meet-americas-real-life-toxic-avengers/livestream-3-13-2025-2026-07-02t104329-192" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Livestream-3-13-2025-2026-07-02T104329.192.jpg?fit=2560%2C1440&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2560,1440" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0","alt":""}" data-image-title="Livestream 3-13-2025 &#8211; 2026-07-02T104329.192" data-image-description="" data-image-caption=" Color-altered image of Christina Siceloff—a resident of Beaver County, Pennsylvania, affected by the 2023 Norfolk Southern train derailment and chemical disaster—standing in a creak in East Palestine, OH, wearing a gas mask. Image Credit: TRNN. " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Livestream-3-13-2025-2026-07-02T104329.192.jpg?fit=780%2C439&ssl=1" /> From the explosion of AI data centers to the increasing number of toxic spills, explosions, and industrial disasters happening across the country, corporations and the government are turning the USA into one giant “sacrifice zone.” Things are going to get worse before they get any better, and nothing is going to change unless residents of different sacrifice zones and poisoned communities, workers and unions on the frontlines of the industries poisoning us, environmental justice groups, community and faith organizations, scientists, journalists, and all others who have a stake in this fight start coming together, working together, and fighting back together. In this special panel discussion, recorded at the 2026 Railroad Workers United convention in Chicago, Illinois, we speak with a panel of guests who are part of a new coalition that is doing just that. Panelists include: Jeff Kurtz, a retired locomotive engineer, union officer, and Railroad Workers United member who also served as a state representative in the Iowa House of Representatives; Jami Wallace, a resident of East Palestine, Ohio, and founder of the Chemically Impacted Communities Coalition (CICC); Dr. Nicole Fabricant, a professor of anthropology at Towson University and scholar-activist who has been working with chemically impacted communities in South Baltimore, Maryland, for 15 years; Scott Smith, independent testing expert and founder of the Blue Shirt Justice League; and Lesley Pacey, Senior Environmental Officer at the Government Accountability Project. Additional links/info: Railroad Workers United website, Facebook page, and X page Chemically Impacted Communities Coalition (CICC) Facebook page Blue Shirt Justice League website and Facebook page Government Accountability Project website, Facebook page, X page, Bluesky page, and Instagram Coal-Free Curtis Bay Facebook page and Instagram South Baltimore Community Land Trust website, X page, Facebook page, and Instagram Nicole Fabricant, University of California Press, Fighting to Breathe: Race, Toxicity, and the Rise of Youth Activism in Baltimore Maximillian Alvarez, TRNN, “America’s toxic future looks like East Palestine, Ohio, today” Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / TRNN, “‘Let’s unite!’: Poisoned residents of America’s sacrifice zones are banding together” Maximilian Alvarez, Working People / TRNN, “Corporations and the government are turning the USA into one giant ‘sacrifice zone’” Credits: Filmed and hosted by Maximillian Alvarez Post-Production by Cameron Granadino Transcript The following is a rushed transcript and may contain errors. It will be updated as soon as possible. Maximillian Alvarez: I’m here at the 2026 Railroad Workers United Convention being held in Chicago, Illinois. I am sitting at a table full of incredible people who are all in the same place at the same time. I’m going to explain to you who they are really quick by telling you how I got to know them. So first to my right, Real News Network viewers and listeners will remember Jeff Kurtz from Railroad Workers United, Veteran Railroad Worker who was talking us through in 2022 all the crises, long building crises on the freight rail system, on the labor side, on the supply chain side, the Wall Street takeover of this massive industry, creating record profits, but creating hazards everywhere for our communities and unendurable jobs for workers on the rails. Then as we all know in 2022 in December, President Biden and both parties in Congress conspired to break the potential railroad strike the first that we had potentially seen in decades two months after that without anything fundamentally changing on the railroads, the Norfolk Southern train derailment and catastrophic chemical disaster took place in East Palestine, Ohio affecting the areas all around there on the Ohio and Pennsylvania side. And that is how of course I met Jami Wallace, who is from East Palestine, lives right next to the derailment site and here three years later is still fighting for her community and has founded the Chemically Impacted Communities Coalition and was out here speaking at the Railroad United Workers United Conference. Then after East Palestine and reporting on that, I came to meet Dr. Nicole Fabricant, whose work in South Baltimore is legendary and she has been working as a researcher on the toxic pollution of communities in Baltimore, poor black, brown, white working class communities predominantly in South Baltimore in Curtis Bay and the surrounding areas. And the main polluter in that area is another rail company, CSX. And so Dr. Fabricant and I teamed up after she learned about East Palestine and I learned about her work. And then that led us to finding out about all these other toxic disasters, crashes, spills, explosions, leakages that are affecting working class communities all over this country. And then we learned about the work of the incredible Scott Smith who goes to all of these communities and is asked to come and test the soil and water and to look for the things the EPA isn’t and often he is finding things the EPA is not looking for but they are telling residents aren’t there. And Scott has told us that he would not be able to be doing all of that work without the incredible support of Leslie Pacey and all the folks at the Government Accountability Project and she is here with us as well. So I’m going to shut up because that’s as quick of an intro as I can give to this incredible table of superheroes. And I wanted to just sort of jump in and ask like first and foremost, what does it mean that we are all here sitting at this table together? And Jeff, I’m going to start with you because so much of this started with the railroad struggle in 2022. So take it away. Jeff Kurtz: What we’re doing here all together is we’re stronger together. When I first met Nikki, we’ve started working on some of her projects and I think we’ve made a lot of headway. I met Jamie through the derailment in East Palestine and believe me, when I took a look at the NTSB report from what happened to them, it raised all kinds of questions and red flags, which led me to Leslie Pacey. Leslie has filed a FOIA for me. I think I asked eight specific questions and it will be really interesting to see how the FOIA comes out and how all these questions are answered. And then just recently I met Scott and seeing the work that Scott does is just incredible. It’s just all of us together doing the work and I think we all make each other better. Maximillian Alvarez: Well, and I think that’s as usual, beautifully put. And I wanted to just ask you to go a litle farther when it comes to the struggle of railroad workers on the rails. What does it mean for railroad workers united union members on the rails, like given everything that we talked about four years ago and so little of the conditions on the rails has changed in a good way, like what does it mean for railroad workers struggles to be sitting here at this table with these other folks? Jeff Kurtz: Well, what it means is one of the things that we’ve talked about me and Mark Burrows from RWU is the fact that there’s a mystique around railroad work. And as workers, we have not been very good about informing the public of how that work is done. And with the help of these people, it’s much easier and we can get information that we can never get. We can get information from the government that we could never get before knowing these people. So that helps our struggle so much more. And then with outlets like you, we can get to the general public and we can remove the veil of that mystique and we can let people know that this stuff is happening right under your nose. It’s dangerous. It doesn’t need to happen. Maximillian Alvarez: Well, and Jami, you of course are from East Palestine, Ohio. The train derailment happened in February of 2023. There’s a sign behind me with Railroad Workers United insignia on it that says, “Fix the hazards. Don’t blame the victims.” I wanted to ask again what it means for you and the struggle of you and your neighbors in East Palestine to be here at this conference, but also what that message means for all of us today. Jami Wallace: I feel like the rail workers have been screaming about the issues with the safety, the precision scheduling and even being a trackside community, I didn’t know that that was going on. I don’t know if I closed my eyes to it or what the issue was and now that my eyes have been opened, I say over and over that this derailment did not start when that axle caught on fire. It started with the culture of safety at Norfolk Southern. So coming here and hearing from the railroad workers, hearing some of how things work, it made me be able to understand the things that happened in East Palestine and I feel very strongly that the rail workers have the same interest as trackside communities. At the end of the day, if they’re not safe, we’re not safe. These workers know what they’re talking about. They’re the ones that do the jobs and if we don’t all come together and fight, more East Palestines are going to happen and maybe even worse than East Palestine. Maximillian Alvarez: And could you just say a little more for folks watching and listening, like what the state of things is in East Palestine that you continue to advocate for and lift up for the public? Jami Wallace: Now we’re starting to see a lot of long-term illness in the community. I had gone to DC and just kind of took a headcount of people that I know that had cancer either personally that reached out to me or I saw on Facebook. We have 64 people right now just that I know of with cancer and our small community and of those 13 are brain cancer and that’s just the cancer. We’re not talking about all the respiratory issues, all the neurological issues. We’re seeing a lot of the same symptoms that our Gulf War vets saw when they came back from the Gulf War after being exposed to the chemical burn pits. So people think this disaster is over, this disaster is still ongoing. We’re still fighting and I can’t thank journalists enough. I always say this, you save lives. You don’t know the power that you hold in your hands because I’ve always felt like creating awareness was the only way to win. I can’t make myself believe that people wouldn’t care if they didn’t know what was happening in our community. Maximillian Alvarez: Well, I mean, that means a lot to me coming from you and I will return the favor and say, I have nothing to cover if residents like yourselves are not willing to talk and your voice is an extremely powerful one and people listen and I think you are a dedicated fighter for your community and it’s an honor to know you and everyone at this table even though the most tragic, horrific and infuriating of circumstances brought us together. And in that vein, I wanted to bring Scott and Leslie in here and ask the kind of work that y’all have been doing before East Palestine and then how East Palestine drew you into this struggle and also if East Palestine has kind of changed the nature of the work that you’ve been doing. Scott Smith: East Palestine was a defining moment. Actually, I was on the fence about going there because I was watching it from a distance and Courtney Miller, who unfortunately passed away from the train derailment and everything she went through, reached out to me and was Twitter at the time, now X, begging me to test her water. And I go into communities, don’t solicit anybody. They reach out to me on social media. Then when I got there, she messaged me on February 17th, called the independent certified lab and had all my coolers and sampling gear there on February 22nd, got there and that’s when I realized this was unlike any other disaster I’d been to because I put my gear on, one in the creek and within a few minutes I had a Norfolk Southern contractor coming out of the woods. You’ve probably seen that video. Coming out of the woods, who are you? We need to know everything about you. And in that video, I have a little fun back. I say, “You need to talk to my public information officer. I can’t tell you who I Maximillian Alvarez: Am.” Well, in the gall of them walking onto a private residence and saying, “You need to tell me who you are, I’m Norfolk Southern.” It’s like, “Fuck you, buddy. Who Scott Smith: Are you? ” Yeah. And that’s what I did. And one thing led to another and now I’m 34 trips and 38 rounds of testing and still going back and East Palestine is a defining moment. Then I meet Jamie and into the ground in the creeks, I have never seen such blatant call it corporate capture corruption that you watched the EPA just be the absolute public relations arm for the billion dollar Norfolk Southern. So I dug my heels and stood on principle and this was a fight worth having. Maximillian Alvarez: Well, again, beautifully and powerfully put. And we’re only even scratching the surface here, right? I mean, because let’s again, Leslie, bring you in here vis-a-vis the EPA and the sort of really increasingly visible tension between what many people trusted as a government agency that was there to protect them and tell them whether or not it was safe to go back home, whether or not they were being exposed to anything unsafe, was telling residents like Jamie, “It’s safe.” And then Scott finds evidence that it’s not. And then among other things, they start trying to discredit and surveil Scott for telling that. So talk to us about how you came into this struggle and what East Palestina sort of meant for the work that you do at Government Accountability Project. Lesley Pacey: Absolutely. Thank you, Max. So we got involved in East Palestine because we were kind of watching it like Scott from afar and we would see where they wouldn’t test for dioxin in East Palestine. EPA was resisting. There were over a hundred environmental groups that wanted it done. There was multiple lawmakers asking for this media residents and they wouldn’t do it. And simultaneously, we already had Scott in the community and he was doing the testing and he was finding high levels of dioxin in some of his testing samples. So it really piqued our interest as to, “Whoa, what’s going on? ” I actually, and this is unconventional, but reached out to Scott and said, “What’s going on over there?” Because generally with government accountability project, we’re a whistleblower organization and we tend to work with civil servants or people that work for the government agencies or contractors or corporate whistleblowers. Scott’s a litle bit different. He’s a private citizen, but he was doing something that no one has done before, which is go into these communities and get all the receipts from the soil, the water. He was testing furnace filters and it really provided an opportunity for us for transparency and so that’s where it all started. Now we have about eight whistleblowers that have come aboard from lots of different walks of life, but generally speaking, they’re scientists and our work has just grown from there Lesley Pacey: When I talk to people about this, I say, “Okay, what is so interesting and important about East Palestine?” Because we have disasters all the time and it’s getting worse, but East Palestine’s so important because the scope of the disaster here you have the EPA going against 40 years of its own statutes to detonate a carcinogen. We later find out, of course, that they didn’t need to do that. So they’re basically an accomplice to the crime and it’s sort of a microcosm of these disasters everywhere, but it’s on a very, very large scale. It has unprecedented federal agency involvement and we think the coverup has been unprecedented. It’s not that there’s not these playbook situations where the corporations lock hands with our agencies and they make decisions together, but the scale at which the deception occurred in East Palestine and the harm that that deception has caused is really, it’s off the charts in terms of like one of the worst things we’ve ever seen in our lifetimes. And to answer your question, sorry about that, about the EPA. So they were coming out the gate, pretty early. You were out for two days for maybe two full days. Jami Wallace: Less than 48 hours after they blew up that looked like an atomic bomb. They told us it was safe to come home. Lesley Pacey: Yeah. They told everybody it was safe to come home. They had not tested a single home for toxins. And so they allowed all these people to come back in and get sick and our government really has been telling lie after lie, which we’re starting to piece together with these whistleblowers between Scott’s testing and some of our other whistleblowers that have shown that they didn’t do the things they were supposed to do with flying the chemical sensing airplane, turning chemical sensors off over contaminated creeks. It’s just been one thing after another, the plastic bags using plastic bags to collect dioxin samples. So there’s multiple ways, like I say, eight ways to Sunday in which they’ve gamed a system with the testing and sampling. And so it’s all been very interesting. We’re kind of really understanding now how these lies come about, how they’re able to do them. Maximillian Alvarez: It really is like head spinning for anyone who trusted their government, like many of us at this table at one point in our lives and to think growing up that the EPA was there to protect us from the pollution of companies like Norfolk Southern and then I’m watching this catastrophe unfold and it’s like the EPA and the emergency response teams and everyone is answering to Norfolk Southern and it’s like they’re directing everything. They’re not like doing this out of the public safety concerns. They’re doing it out of like the corporate concerns and it’s really harrowing to see and that brings us kind of perfectly if not horrifically Dr. Fabricant to the work that you’ve been doing, like about the just rampant decades long, centuries long, generations long corporate pollution of poor and working class communities in Baltimore and beyond. So I wanted to bring you in here and ask like first how you got drawn into the story and struggle of East Palestine and what that has meant for the work and struggle that you’ve been involved in Baltimore for so many years. Dr. Nicole Fabricant: About four years ago CSX, they had a coal silo that is part of their export pier in Curtis Bay. When it exploded, it was a wake up call to the community and I think many youth pass a lot of these industrial facilities on their way to school and it’s very naturalized and they often say, “I didn’t even know that coal creates harm to respiratory health or to lungs.” We had no idea. It’s a part of our landscape, but when it exploded, it raised a lot of questions in the community of why are there so many toxic facilities in this one area? How can they, how is a coal export pier a thousand feet from a recreation center? Why should children be playing on slides that are filled with coal dust? And they wanted answers. They wanted answers from scientists especially. It’s where I’ve come to realize like the social science is not as useful because they wanted data and data, hard numbers that could be used to hold CSX accountable. And so a team of community-based scientists came in and worked with the community. It was their questions like, how far is the coal dust traveling? They wanted to know how quickly it was accumulating, where it was accumulating and through really rigorous investigation they were able to collect data and worked with our Maryland Department of the Environment, which is interesting hearing the EPA, because I also don’t have a lot of faith in any of these organizations to protect us, especially Maryland Department of the Environment, but they were part of an inside strategy to work with the regulatory apparatus to create a new permit that would be more stringent based upon the science. And so part of the permit was to require that they covered the coal pier and they covered the coal trains coming in because people who live in trackside communities too are experiencing all this coal dust accumulating. Maximillian Alvarez: Right. And just to like tease out the visual and we’ll use some B-roll that we shot together in Curtis Bay, but like we’re talking mile after mile of rail cars filled with coal and no covering on top, just blowing all this black toxic dust all over these communities. And like people have it all over their homes. They get it in their lungs. There are people walking around South Baltimore with oxygen tanks like it’s just normal. Dr. Nicole Fabricant: Exactly. And so part of our struggle was how do we build a stronger movement beyond just environmental justice and holding CSX? How do we connect with railroad workers? Because we wanted sort of the movement to be at the intersection of labor and these concerns about respiratory health. And that’s what brought me to Railroad Workers United because CSX, many of their workers were subcontracted out, many did not want to organize with us. There were questions of fissures between sort of environmental justice taking jobs away from workers. And so Railroad Workers United understood right away the questions they were asking, the kinds of safety concerns aligned with the vision we had of a worker centered kind of just transition away from coal. And that is what led me to East Palestine, was Railroad Workers United actually and the work we were doing together. Jeff has come down multiple occasions to Curtis Bay to provide assistance, to talk to folks, to explain the ins and outs of the rail industry, how it works, precision scheduled railroading. I didn’t understand it before meeting Jeff and now really envisioning the corporatization, the cutbacks, the ways in which that has compromised the safety of workers is the very same thing compromising the safety of trackside communities. And so aligning with some of these laborers, particularly Railroad Workers United was really essential to the movement and Jeff actually and others got us connected to East Palestine. And the first time we went there, I took a whole bunch of Curtis Bay organizers because it’s part of like this building solidarity and having opportunities to share stories, to share struggles across regions. Earlier Jamie talked about like our own playbook, writing our own playbook. And I think that’s so important because oftentimes it’s the playbook of the corporation that we’re all following. And when we arrived in East Palestine, I had youth organizers that were basically blown away. They were crying because they were so emotionally impacted A, by what you guys had been through, but also realizing, wow, Norfolk Southern CSX starting to put the pieces together around just the ways in which communities health safety has been compromised for profit margins. Maximillian Alvarez: Well, and let’s talk about that in this sort of middle phase here, right? Because I want us to finish by talking about where the state of things is now across all of our respective sides of this problem, this struggle. But before we get there, I want to focus in on what we have learned between February 3rd, 2023 when the Norfolk Southern train derailed in East Palestine to now. What have we learned about how the government’s going to react, how the media’s going to react, how the rail company’s going to react, like what residents are going to be going through. And I asked this question not just to educate folks out there who may be interested. I’m asking because I am living proof of the message that this is happening everywhere and it is going to come to your town at some point if it isn’t there already because on Memorial Day weekend of this year, a literal nightmare that I had had before came true when after going and around and talking to residents in all these different so – called sacrifice zones where industrial toxic disasters or government run sites or like anything is just like leaving people abandoned to live in conditions that threaten life itself. I kept sort of anxiously wondering if one day I was going to open the newspaper, open my phone and see my hometown there and then it happened in Garden Grove. My parents live 10 minutes from the GKN aerospace facility where the chemical tank was about to explode or threatening to explode or leak. And that feels like such a kind of full circle moment for me if I think about who I was when I went to East Palestine, not knowing the extent of how much corporations and the government have turned so much of this country into basically a sacrifice zone and how many of us are being set up for sacrifice already. We’ve all got the microplastics in our blood, like we’ve all got DuPont’s chemicals running through our blood. I didn’t know, but a lot of that started in East Palestine. Jami Wallace: I think I was like so many other people, you don’t pay attention until it happens to you. I didn’t even realize I lived in a sacrifice zone because when you grow up in a sacrifice zone, you’re just used to seeing it. It’s part of your environment, it’s part of your background, it’s always been there. And I really wish I would’ve paid more attention when I heard of things like Flint, Michigan. EPA is there, it can’t be that bad. And as someone who very much trusted my government, I’m an educated woman, I have a master’s degree, a law degree. I knew what the EPA did right until they said it was safe and I pulled in my driveway and felt like I was going to die and saw chemicals free flowing down the creek and it’s almost taken away my sense of reality. I have apologized to people that I have called conspiracy theorist because now I realize it’s the truth. Maybe I was the crazy one all along and it’s not until you actually have to deal with one of those government agencies that you realize that if you would’ve talked to me about East Palestine, railroad coverups and government being owned by the railroad before the disaster, I would’ve been like, “Get this crazy guy away from me. ” But it almost makes you feel like you’ve been living on a movie set your whole life where you had this one vision of your government and this reality is completely different. And at first it really confused me. I was the granddaughter of a World War II vet Marin, very proud, taught to love my country, respect your flag. And after the derailment, I looked at my flag and I’m like, “How do I feel?” It took me a while to separate government from my country and I realized that I still love my country, but I hate my government. Scott Smith: Yeah. I started 20 years ago in June. June 28th was my own disaster where I was wiped out in oil contaminated floodwaters in a 500 year flood in St. Johnsville, New York walking the streets. That’s what inspired me to go in through all this. When I realized all these standards I’m relying on to declare water safe is making the false assumption that water and contamination arise in equilibrium and they take something from the surface. That’s when I opened my eyes when BP was my second disaster. That’s where I met some really good scientists at the EPA and then I learned about and filed some patents and worked on different water testing technologies and a whole host of things. So Rule Forward 76 is East Palestine and what has happened since East Palestine in 2023, I’m now in 86. It’s accelerated the rate and the pace. The way I sum it all up though is when I walked in and saw that sign, fix the hazards, don’t blame the victims. It’s the same corrupt playbook in every community with East Palestine, blame the victims and the corporate capture EPA comes in to gaslight people. It’s very, very clever how they do things. I don’t know if people at the table know this, Ray Donovan, anybody watch Ray Donovan? The fixer in Hollywood that the wealthy… It was a showtime series where you call Ray Donovan, you committed murder, you’re a celebrity and makes everything go away. Well, CTEH, Arcadis, they’re the Ray Donovans of the billion dollar word. They make everything go away. Arcadis is a contractor that has been in East Palestine and has been in Dino in Florida, has been in Conyers, Georgia, and they’re consistent along with CTEH. CTEH is everywhere and the first thing they do in all these communities is game the air testing. And we talked about plastic bags. What I just recently uncovered and was in the news this week. Well, in East Palestine, we got evidence of showing putting the plastic bags over the air detectors. Maximillian Alvarez: So they put plastic bags over They’re the air detectors. Scott Smith: Grocery store Ziploc bag. Maximillian Alvarez: And then the story that you helped break this week was that they were collecting soil samples and putting them in Ziploc bags. Scott Smith: Yeah. And the problem with that is not only do you break the chain of custody but the semi-volatile organic compounds without getting into the gory details and the dioxins, they absorb or absorb to the walls of the plastic. So you mix up the grocery store Ziploc bag and then you put it in the… You’re supposed to go right into a certified glass lab jar from the lab. There’s a reason to use glass. So you’re going to get potentially a lower detection or a non-detect, what I call a false non-detect. But in all these communities, the first thing they do is blame the victims. They gaslight the victims and that’s what’s common. It’s the same playbook over and over again. But why is East Palestine the turning point? That’s where I saw the most blatant corruption and I had to stop my life and expose it and stand on principle. Maximillian Alvarez: Hell yeah. Well, this question is both for Leslie and Jeff, right? Because it has to do with those sources of whistleblowing information that we depend on. They’re most often the rank and filers of government agencies, of the rails who can’t get the truth to the public for fear of retribution from their employer, lawsuits, yada, yada, yada. That is why, Jeff, you were among the first railroad workers I connected with because I was going to say, because no one else would talk to me. But I learned how afraid so many railroad workers were to even say anything on the record because of how draconian and awful their employers were and how much they didn’t want the public knowing about their greedy, awful, exploitative business practices, what that was doing to workers and what hazards that was creating for workers and communities like ours. They don’t want the public knowing that stuff, but they couldn’t hide it when East Palestine happened. Jeff Kurtz: This is the hope. Coming to something like this, sharing information with other railroaders, with Scott, with Leslie, with Jamie, with my good friend, Nikki, this is how we get the word out. I talked about the mystique of railroad work. This is how we break that mystique. This is how we tell people the experts aren’t the rail executives. The experts are the people that actually operate the locomotives that are maintenance of way people are signal people. The people that actually do the work out there are the experts. And this is what I want to get through with Leslie, with her help. The NTSB has been notorious. I’ve had my issues with the NTSB, but with her help, we can expose this stuff. We can finally get to the bottom of what’s going on as far as operations on the railroad and what they’re doing with these people, they’ve seen the power of the railroads. This is what us workers have been dealing with. I dealt with this for 40 years. So this is a great start. Coming here for two days and sharing stories with rail workers and non-rail workers and getting together like this, I think that we’re really powerful and I think we’re going to scare some people. Maximillian Alvarez: Well, I think that’s very, very true. And I wanted to just ask on the need for whistleblowers in the rail industry, the public doesn’t know what it doesn’t know, right? But I guess another way to phrase the question to you is like, how much does the public not know about our freight rail system when it’s controlled by these mega corporations that don’t have to disclose a lot because they can say, “Oh, it’s a proprietary secret or a competitive advantage.” Jeff Kurtz: Yeah. I think as far as… Oh gosh, I’m trying to think as far as what’s on the trains, the workers have been pretty transparent about what’s on there. And the thing is when we are transparent, that’s when we’re in the most danger from the rail companies. And so we had whistleblower laws in the 2008 federal rail safety law that came into being, but the problem with that is the corporations just ignored what they didn’t like and there were no penalties involved. And this is one of the things that I’ve been trying to stress is that we need personal accountability from some of these rail execs. I’ve said this to you before, but I’m going to say it again, three words, corporate death penalty. It needs to be in there. Scott Smith: I love that. Jeff Kurtz: Yeah. And it needs to be in there because these people, you can see they have no fear. They will lie, they will cheat, they will do everything. We need to put the fear of God into them again. Jami Wallace: Let’s Maximillian Alvarez: Pick up on that. Lesley Pacey: Yeah. I mean, that’s sort of the bird’s eye view, the long view of what we’d like to see change is of ultimately we want to take all of this information and create policy change, changes in the law that will impose criminal penalties, jail time because these corporations have so much money and they know they can do whatever they want because they are working with these agencies that’ll give them what they want. So that’s where the arrogance comes in. So if they get fined, it’s nothing to them. They can recoup a lot of those losses through their insurance policies. So until people actually have to go to jail and be held actually accountable for what they’re doing, like in East Palestine, there’s people that have died already. People are dying. I talked to a HEPA corker the other day who has stage four lung cancer. He is in hospice and this is just one. I mean, Jamie is like a clearing house for all the illnesses. Everybody calls Jamie and I don’t know how she does it day in and day out, but he said, and this is getting into the class action, but he never got any money that he was promised. And he says, “I have no rights now.” And so he just wants his wife to be taken care of because he’s dying and they didn’t give him any proper PPE and that goes for the rail workers as well that have to go and reassemble the tracks and clear all the derail the trains off of there. Nobody in this disaster really was given proper PPE and that includes military people that showed up. So it is a huge crime and people are dying and anybody else, if you weren’t a corporation and you created a problem that killed people, you’d be in jail for that, but that’s not how it works in our system of government. I agree with you 100%. We also need to change the circle of laws, which super fund laws because we can’t have these responsible parties. Sure, they need to pay for it. If they make a mess, they got to pay to clean it up, but we don’t need to give them carte blanche to hire whomever they want to hire to hold all the cards, all the testing and sampling information. And the only reason they can get away with that is our laws and because the federal agencies are too afraid to go up against them. Maximillian Alvarez: Well, and like the arbitraryness of it and like all the political football crap that gets wrapped up into it. I said on the moment that it happened when the GKN aerospace chemical tank crisis was happening on Memorial Day weekend, everyone thought it was going to explode or leak and Governor Gavin Newsom asked President Trump for an emergency declaration, he gives them one, we get one. Why the hell didn’t East Palestine ever get one?That makes no sense to me. I’m from Garden Grove and I’ve been to East Palestine, that makes no sense. It’s not right. We shouldn’t accept that. You shouldn’t have to hope that you’re in the right part of the country to get the minimal amount of aid that you need and there’s no even guarantee that you’re going to get that. They’re telling my family and people who live over there that everything’s safe and fine and they use the same goddamn air testers that they used in East Palestine. That’s what Scott informed me about. Lesley Pacey: And the same inadequate testing equipment with the same elevated detection limits so they’ll miss detections and they just tell everybody everything’s okay. It doesn’t matter what community you live in. It doesn’t matter what the toxin is or what the chemical spill is or the fire. They’re happening more and more, but they’re going to tell you the same thing. I mean, in East Palestine, then they come in and just say, “Trust your government.” Jami Wallace: Yeah, basically that’s what they told us. Lesley Pacey: That’s a red flag, by the way. But I mean, they were so brazen about it. Maximillian Alvarez: It’s like out of the Simpsons. If it wasn’t so horrifying, it would be hilarious, but this is real life. This isn’t the stupid Simpsons fish with three eyes jumping around.This is real living people being told to go back into homes that are making them sick and it’s happening everywhere and I want to sort of take us into the like, what do we do about this and what are we doing about this? Because I think we have all said as much that you start going down this rabbit hole, you’re going to find that it is everywhere that these data centers are popping up even in rural parts of the country and we talk about that corporate playbook, people around this country are experiencing that firsthand when it comes to like suddenly there’s a massive development approved that they never heard about and they have no say in and now a big old data center is like making everyone go crazy and bleed from their ears and pollutes their water and so on and so forth. So they’re coming for all of us. And when I say us, I mean like anyone who’s not rich enough to basically go try to run and hide in Lake Tahoe or some crap. I mean, but if you’re a working person in this country, you are in the line of fire and that same goes for people who are in the front lines of climate change because they’re showing the exact same playbook. If you’re in Asheville, North Carolina and you get walloped by a once in a century like a hurricane, you’re going to be just as abandoned as East Palestine was. Fires are getting bigger and bigger, wiping out more areas across my state and others, insurance companies are going to say, “You know what? We’re not going to insure you anymore.” So they’re throwing us overboard at every chance they can and more of it’s coming. So what do we do about it and how do we fight it? Dr. Nicole Fabricant: Yeah. I think that actually arming youth with the tools from those communities, like when I talked about naturalizing your environment, the tools and raising consciousness is a way to begin at the very grassroots. And I saw that in South Baltimore immediately. The youth were using science, they were using public health data, they were going out door to door informing folks in the community and that is like an armor for them in dealing with everyday overburden and toxins. But I don’t think any of the battles, I think power is at the grassroots and it’s so important to start there like relationships matter, building trusting, loving relationships is part of movement work, but it’s clear we aren’t going to necessarily with just the data, take on these corporations, that these are much bigger struggles that are global, that reach to the mountains of West Virginia where they’re extracting the coal to the railroad workers that are carting the coal to South Baltimore. And so I think part of what we’ve been trying to do is not just expose the youth, it’s another armor is like visiting these communities and beginning to see those connections and through those connections, realizing this is how we enlarge our power. If we could actually share struggles from West Virginia where people are dealing with the extraction end of coal and it was really powerful last spring and you were there, Max, to have Angie who lives a few thousand feet from the coal pier talk about the explosion and what it means to live in a trackside community alongside a resistor activist fighting mountaintop coal removal mining and he has no stomach, no liver as a result of all the heavy metals and chemicals in his water supply. And it was very powerful to see these two from extraction to export coming together on a supply chain and to me like organizing could move beyond just the grassroots and we have to like coalitions are so important and that’s why this table is really critical because Scott’s information, Jamie’s chemically impacted communities, really thinking about how do we tether our struggles. I’m not so sure it’s just about like changing laws because I don’t believe necessarily that the laws are ever written for the people. I don’t believe that the government as it stands will ever. So I don’t know what the end goal is, but I do know that if we continue along this path of vulture capitalism, as Max said, we’re all living in a sacrifice zone no matter who you are, that’s what East Palestine taught me. I have lived, worked for 20 some odd years in environmental justice communities. Those are overburdened communities. East Palestine taught me about mobile toxicity, that no matter what, you can become an overburdened area if you are living in a trackside. Jeff Kurtz: Well, and this conference was, it’s a good start. We have talked to people that are running as independent candidates. I think that’s what we need because right now it looks like both parties have been compromised and I know a lot of people don’t want to hear this, but a large part of the solution is going to be political. So we’ve got to have people in place in Congress that will not only listen to us but will act on what they hear from us. And so that’s why it’s important to get a lot of these young guys that are here at this conference, get them politically active and get them to run for office like I did when I was 64 years young. But we do need people that are young. We’ve got a guy 31 years old right now running as an independent candidate and I’ve been working with this guy and he is as sharp as a tack. If we can get him in Congress, he can do a lot of good things and just imagine if we got 50 people like him. I think that’s what we have to do. And like I said, people don’t want to hear that politics is going to be a big part of the solution, but it is. Well, Maximillian Alvarez: And just to like kind of push a little more on the labor side, like RWU, Railroad Workers United, exists because of the built-in problem on the rails of all the unions being split up. You guys got 13 different unions taking on like four now probably going to be two mega corporations Just like East Palestine can’t take on Norfolk Southern alone, neither can one of the rail unions take it on alone. So what are you guys doing on the RWU side to get around that division that still exists within organized labor? Jeff Kurtz: Well, what we’re doing is bringing people all together like this and you talk to a carman, you talk to an engineer, you talk to a conductor, you talk to a maintenance of way guy. We start to understand each other better when we talk to each other and especially in the railroad industry because I don’t know everything like say a BMWD guy does, but I’ve got a pretty good idea. I exchange information with him. I say, “This is what I’m going through when I’m operating a locomotive.” And he tells me, “Well, while you’re doing that and I’m on the side of the track, this is what I’m watching for. I’m watching the rail, I’m watching the ballast, I’m watching all of this stuff.” We understand each other better that way. And that way when we go to fight the rail corporations, we’re more united. And now I’ve got a buddy in MWED and boy, I’m not going to stab him in the back. I met him in an RWU convention and we got to be good friends and we had a cookout together and everything and now what happens to him is important and this is another thing. We spend so much time on the job, especially out on the railroad that we can’t develop real solidarity. Workers have to have more time off so they can be with their families, but they can be with their fellow workers too. One of the things we used to do is have picnics together. We had softball teams and stuff, but now that we work so much and our schedules are so erratic, it’s every man for himself and now we’re cutting the size of the crews down. So where I used to interact with three or four other people on one train, now maybe one and pretty soon it might not be anybody, you’re going to be by yourself and to tell you the truth, I think that’s by design. If we split people up and all of a sudden Scott is doing something on the other side of the railroad and I don’t like what he’s doing, the hell with you. I’m going to go after you union or not, but if we interact together, if we socialize together, if we go to union meetings together, then this stuff isn’t going to happen. Maximillian Alvarez: No, I think there’s so much wisdom in that for all of us, not just in labor, but all of us around this country. We were talking about this at the conference earlier today. We have so many kind of crises that are affecting working people and poor people across the board, including this one. Our communities are being turned into toxic cell pits that are killing us and no one’s coming to save us. And that is not a red state or a blue state problem. That’s not a, I’m on this team versus that team. It’s the rich bastards who are profiting off of all of this and the politicians who are getting paid by them are getting off like bandits here while we’re all being stuck with the toxic bill and we’re doing the work for them by fighting each other over stupid political, like Democrat, Republican crap. But we can all agree that this is impacting all of us. And I think to Jeff’s brilliant point, that’s what brought us all together, right? I mean, I’m a socialist nut job with tattoos and whatnot. I ride and I will die for the folks that I’ve met in East Palestine. I don’t care if they voted for Trump, they don’t care who I voted for, but it’s like you show up for people, you get to know people on that human level, they are that first and who we voted is not even second or third, it’s like 20th on the list. And so we can all learn from that, that if we’re arguing on the internet and looking at each other through these stupid partisan lenses, we’re going to miss what’s right in front of us and we’re going to keep losing until it’s too late. And so again, I returned to the question of how do we make sure that doesn’t happen? What do we learn from this and how do we fight better? And I want to come to this side of the table. Scott Smith: I have an idea picking up on where Nicole was headed and where Jeff was headed. Here’s the idea unfolding. Get me with it. The real news network town hall tour through the communities. So there’s a guy, Daniela in Florida, the guy that called me, Matt the Welder, he is running for office to turn it upside down and he’s getting traction. Picture having town halls with him and the guy from Iowa running, no matter what happens in their races, they’re going to inspire people add the union to that. And I can tell you this can be one and the AI battle that’s accelerating the calls I’m getting. But this team right here, the real news network town hall tour picture this coming together and Rosalind Louisiana to Jamie’s credit and the people in East Palestine, Rose and Louisiana, they’re kicking ass there. And I’m seeing the connections on social media. It’s going viral. And Rosalind, Louisiana, they took power in their own hands. They went out and got drones, documented their spread of the oil and they learned how to start talking from the town halls and me educating. I go to the town halls, I educate, I bring in other experts. I talk about how the air testing and then they’re elevating. Now all of a sudden the greatest humbling honor I do is introduce people Blue Shirt Justice League face group, people start from Conyers, Georgia. But in Roseland, Louisiana, Smitty’s PR firm has failed. Smitty’s is the big billion dollar company, no relation to me. There was a conspiracy theory there for a while that I was related to Ed Smith and I was going to go in and say, “I tested and everything’s fine. So much for that. ” But Rosalind, Louisiana is like a combination of the BP spill and East Palestine and a lot of people don’t… Exxon Valdez, 11 million gallons, Roselin’s bigger than BP, 13 million gallons. But what’s really great is there’s residents down there that have taken action. The community is not divided at all. And Jamie, to her credit and getting on and educating someone like Win Clima, Arlene Bankston, all these people, class action attorneys and they know who government accountability project is, but I have a saying today, like I said, AI will just going to steal people’s souls. I will not work with people that want to run their lives off AI. But the data center thing we can use to the advantage of bringing people together because all of a sudden you’re… Like I said in East Palestine, let me step back. I said in East Palestine, whether you’re 50 miles, 500 or 5,000, you could be next. Then Conyers happened. And I said it in Conyers, then Roseland happened, then Moss Landing. So that same thing. Now the AI data centers, you’re next, you got an ongoing disaster. So those people are going to start showing up and build real momentum. So it all starts with the real news network and doing these town halls and people are watching. And I will say it right on camera, I have the ability to help raise funds for this. Maximillian Alvarez: I mean, you know I’m down baby and I’m saying like that we… I think it should be like what is at this table. This is real like Lord of the Ring shit. It’s like, who has what to offer to this righteous fight? Everyone here has something that the rest of us don’t. And like Nikki and I are actually like testing this concept out. We’re going to try to do a conference at the Real News at the end of this year to bring Sacrifice Zone residents together like Railroad Workers United has done here because there’s only so much you can do with media and through media. And I’m saying that as the editor-in-chief and co-executive director of a media org that we got to have an on and offline strategy, there is no substitute for in – person power building and off camera like info sharing and relation building and so on and so forth and you’re already doing that with your town halls. So it’s like, I want to hop on the bandwagon that you’re on. I want to talk to the folks that Jamie’s reaching out to through the chemically impacted communities coalition, the folks that you are connected with, that you’re connected with, that you’re connected with. So as far as the media side of it, like Lord of the Rings, you got my acts, baby. I’m in it and we want to be there on the ground floor, but I think it’s going to take all of us. Scott Smith: Let me tell you why with what I’ve been through in life and I’ve been kicked and stomped, I have an expression, leave ego at the door. That’s what about this team, leave ego with the door. Everyone has their role. It’s only going to happen with a team. So one plus one, plus one, plus one, plus one is a million and I’m seeing it. That’s why I am so much motivated beyond belief to see what happened in Roseville because it’s the power of what has happened in East Palestine. Roseland, Louisiana is kicking ass and we need to get there and they’re connecting with Dunnell and Florida and they’re all trading things about, “Oh, the air testing is game.” So then I see somebody show up the Daniella Town Hall and they stand up and start talking about Arcadis and the air testing game. Dr. Nicole Fabricant: Those conferences and bringing people together for Roselyn to share, we use drones to capture for kids in South Baltimore to say, “We put up cameras at these facilities, trail cameras to document twenty four seven all the violations.” Scott Smith: It’s working. It’s working. Maximillian Alvarez: And it’s not just working in this context, but I know the excitement that you’re feeling because I felt it when workers who were trying to unionize at Home Depot started calling out the Union Busters who were holding a captive audience meeting and telling them the same stuff that Amazon Union busters had told their workers. But because the workers at Home Depot watched my reporting and heard from the Amazon workers, they were firing right back at the union busters like, “How much do you make to come here and tell us that we shouldn’t join a union?” Or how do you explain this line on Home Depot’s earnings report? They were ready. And I think again, out of tragic circumstances, we can help others be ready and we can learn from others long before us from Times Beach to Navajo Nation, Cancer Alley. Lesley Pacey: I really feel like we’re going to have to have the grassroots like everybody’s talking about. We’re going to have to work together. If we’re disenfranchised, if we’re not speaking to each other and telling lessons learned to these other communities, they’re starting out at square one and they’re having to learn all, oh, I’m being deceived. Oh, how am I being deceived? Right now they know because East Palestine residents have gotten so active. Jamie with her chemically impacted community, she’s bringing all these voices together and they realize they’re all in the same boat. And so that’s a huge piece to it is the residents. Another piece to it is continuing to provide support for whistleblowers. Our whistleblowers grow. We start with Scott in East Palestine. We end up with eight different whistleblowers, including an EPA whistleblower who was with the EPA Superfund program for four decades. So we have scientists working together with Scott now. It’s amazing. I’m so encouraged that this movement started and It takes basically three elements. It takes the residents, it takes the whistleblowers and giving them the support they need to get their message out. Four elements takes independent. New media like you because a lot of this is a huge story. And where is it? News nation’s done a great job, but it’s the independent news media that stayed with it. We have the greatest stories that were getting rejected on why is this not happening? So that’s another important element. So that and just investigating, filing the Freedom of Information Act requests, appealing when they don’t give you the stuff that they should be giving you and then suing them. We’ve sued FEMA, EPA twice and USDA now For holding. Yeah. It’s so great to do that because then they’re like, “Oh, okay. I guess I will give you what I’m supposed to give you. ” But it’s all these different things working together, but we have to stay connected. We have to continue to communicate with one another because, and I will tell you this one other thing. I got into this, when I say this, I got into environmental justice because my daughter’s a cancer survivor and she was part of a cancer cluster in South Alabama. And so I didn’t have access to a Scott Smith. I didn’t have a Jamie. I didn’t have whistleblowers. I didn’t know what to do. So I had to learn all this. It took me years to figure out how I was being duped. And I didn’t have a smoking gun like a train derailment and things like that. There’s just multiple environmental issues. But I think this team that has come together around this to educate one another and to develop, I don’t want to say too much right now, but to develop technologies to provide the transparency to residents. These are all things that are in the works and it’s all grassroots and whistleblower driven. And it gives me a lot of hope. Jami Wallace: Chemically impacted communities coalition. I feel like we have to take the fighters from all these different communities and bring them together. Not just bring them together, but give them the resources that they need. I wish I could go into every community and fight the fight like I fought for East Palestine, but I can’t. And no one’s coming to save these communities. They have to fight for themselves. So giving people the resources, hooking them up with Lou Shirt Justice League if they need testing, giving them the resources. If you have whistleblowers, here’s who you can go to. You can go to government accountability project. If you want dependable news stations that are going to care about environmental issues, we call them response partners. So what I would like to do is I’d like to go into these communities when something like this happens and do what no one could do for me. Hand me that playbook. Here’s the testing you can start out with. Here’s how you detox your body. Contact these universities. They do a lot of environmental research. Get ahold of Max. He’ll report it for you. Call Scott. He’ll do the testing. So like I said, not fight for them, but teach them how to fight for themselves. And I know for me as someone who’s never been in this environmental justice world at all, the voices from the other communities were the best thing for me. People don’t talk about the mental part of this. Getting all the phone calls from people that are sick from morning till night, learning that you can’t trust your government and being able to talk to other people that have been through this that can relate to that, that can tell you, “You’re not crazy. CDC came in and got sick and left. Yeah, it’s happened in these communities.” That’s all part of what I guess shaped my experience and I want communities that come after me. I wish no other community come after me, but to have those resources that I wish I would’ve had. And I do believe it takes a team. We each have our place in this. Even East Palestine, there’s no I. We worked as a team and we all had our parts to play and I feel like that in any type of organization, it makes everyone’s skills to make the world go round. So we want to share ours. I This content originally appeared on The Real News Network and was authored by Maximillian Alvarez.
‘Press freedom is dead’: Journalist detained in Ugandan media crackdown
Lusaka, July 2, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Ugandan authorities to immediately release veteran journalist Timothy Kalyegira, whose detention coincides with the military’s shutdown of east and central Africa’s largest media house. “The detention of Timothy Kalyegira marks another troubling escalation in Uganda’s assault on independent journalism, with authorities using not only soldiers but also...
Lusaka, July 2, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Ugandan authorities to immediately release veteran journalist Timothy Kalyegira, whose detention coincides with the military’s shutdown of east and central Africa’s largest media house. “The detention of Timothy Kalyegira marks another troubling escalation in Uganda’s assault on independent journalism, with authorities using not only soldiers but also regulatory and criminal laws to silence the press,” said CPJ Africa Director Angela Quintal. “Ugandan authorities must immediately release Kalyegira and drop the charges against him, and ensure that all journalists in Uganda can report freely without fear of arrest, intimidation, or prosecution.” After days of anxiety over the whereabouts of Kalyegira, a veteran commentator and outspoken government critic, he appeared before the Kira Chief Magistrate’s Court on June 29, about 14 kilometers (9 miles) east of Uganda’s capital, Kampala. Kalyegira was charged with operating two digital news outlets — Kampala Express, between 2013 and 2026 and the Uganda Record, between 2014 and 2026 — without broadcasting licenses, according to the charge sheet, reviewed by CPJ. If found guilty, he could be jailed for up to one year under the 2013 Uganda Communications Act. Kalyegira denied the charges and was remanded to Luzira Maximum Security Prison until July 16, his lawyers, Eron Kiiza and Kato Tumusiime, told CPJ. The journalist has written hundreds of commentaries for the Daily Monitor, which is part of the Nation Media Group-Uganda and which was shut down by a military siege on June 28 after a social media announcement by military chief Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, who is also President Yoweri Museveni’s son. “These charges against Timothy, the pretrial detention that preceded them for more than four days contrary to the 1995 Ugandan Constitution, and his subsequent remanding to Luzira Prison, all signal the Muhoozi-led Ugandan military’s heightened resolve to stamp out vestiges of independent thought and journalism,” Kiiza told CPJ. “Press freedom is dead,” he said. “The military is shooting it down.” Tumusiime told CPJ that they were trying to have Kalyegira produced in court before July 16 to apply for bail. Kalyegira has faced dozens of criminal charges over the years for his political commentary. Meanwhile, the Nation Media Group-Uganda suspended its digital platforms on July 1 amid ongoing negotiations with the government. Its print and broadcast outlets had already been shuttered on June 28. A source who spoke on condition of anonymity, given the delicacy of ongoing negotiations, told CPJ on July 2 that the media outlet was still awaiting a decision to reopen following a meeting between its principal shareholders and authorities. CPJ’s calls and text message requesting comment from police spokesperson Rusoke Kituuma did not receive a reply. This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Lauren Wolfe.
Trump makes billions while in the White House, mostly from crypto
The Pacifica Evening News, Weekdays – July 2, 2026
Comprehensive coverage of the day’s news with a focus on war and peace; social, environmental and economic justice. The post The Pacifica Evening News, Weekdays – July 2, 2026 appeared first on KPFA.
Comprehensive coverage of the day’s news with a focus on war and peace; social, environmental and economic justice. The post The Pacifica Evening News, Weekdays – July 2, 2026 appeared first on KPFA. This content originally appeared on KPFA - The Pacifica Evening News Weekdays and was authored by KPFA.
TV station vehicle windshield smashed while crew reported in Illinois
U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database
A WBBM-TV reporter was preparing for a live broadcast with a photographer in Chicago, Illinois, on June 29, 2026, when the journalists were targeted by a group of men who shouted racial slurs and damaged the station’s news vehicle.The reporter and phot...
A WBBM-TV reporter was preparing for a live broadcast with a photographer in Chicago, Illinois, on June 29, 2026, when the journalists were targeted by a group of men who shouted racial slurs and damaged the station’s news vehicle. The reporter and photographer were near a local planetarium when several men in a white tow truck approached them, the CBS-owned outlet reported. One of the men yelled racial slurs and directed his unleashed German shepherd dog to attack the photographer, who is a Black man. View post on Instagram When the dog did not attack, one man smashed the news vehicle’s windshield with a traffic cone while another damaged the photographer’s camera, the station said. About 20 minutes later, police responded to a separate incident involving the same tow truck and arrested three suspects. They recovered a firearm during the investigation. In a later newscast, reporter Jermont Terry said the journalists, who were not identified, were safe. “While they are not physically hurt, what they endured while simply gathering news will impact them for quite some time.” WBBM-TV reported that the suspects, who have not been identified, may face hate crime charges. This content originally appeared on U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database and was authored by U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database.
TV photographer’s camera damaged by group while reporting in Illinois
A WBBM-TV photographer was targeted by a group of men who shouted racial slurs at him and damaged his camera while he was reporting in Chicago, Illinois, on June 29, 2026.The photographer was preparing for a live shot with a reporter near a local plane...
A WBBM-TV photographer was targeted by a group of men who shouted racial slurs at him and damaged his camera while he was reporting in Chicago, Illinois, on June 29, 2026. The photographer was preparing for a live shot with a reporter near a local planetarium when several men in a white tow truck approached them, the CBS-owned outlet reported. One of the men yelled racial slurs and directed his unleashed German shepherd dog to attack the photographer, who is a Black man. View post on Instagram When the dog did not attack, one man smashed the news vehicle’s windshield with a traffic cone while another damaged the photographer’s camera, the station said. About 20 minutes later, police responded to a separate incident involving the same tow truck and arrested three suspects. They recovered a firearm during the investigation. In a later newscast, reporter Jermont Terry said the journalists, who were not identified, were safe. “While they are not physically hurt, what they endured while simply gathering news will impact them for quite some time.” WBBM-TV reported that the suspects, who have not been identified, may face hate crime charges. This content originally appeared on U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database and was authored by U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database.
This content originally appeared on Playing For Change and was authored by Playing For Change.
Ukraine aid chief condemns deadly attack on KyivMilitary strikes and maritime incidents threaten fragile Gulf ceasefireConflict and shrinking aid push Nigeria into hunger crisis
Ukraine aid chief condemns deadly attack on KyivMilitary strikes and maritime incidents threaten fragile Gulf ceasefireConflict and shrinking aid push Nigeria into hunger crisis This content originally appeared on UN News - Global perspective Human stories and was authored by Jolina Dong.
Putting the Freedom 250 Logo on Social Security Cards is Corrupt and Inappropriate
The following is a statement from Nancy Altman, President of Social Security Works, in response to the Social Security Administration announcing that babies born during the rest of 2026 will receive Social Security cards featuring the Freedom 250 logo...
The following is a statement from Nancy Altman, President of Social Security Works, in response to the Social Security Administration announcing that babies born during the rest of 2026 will receive Social Security cards featuring the Freedom 250 logo: “The first Social Security card was issued in 1936, ninety years ago. In all that time the design has never been politicized. Now, the Trump administration is putting the logo of a semi-private, partisan entity, which is widely reported to be corrupt, on the Social Security cards of newborn babies. They claim ‘no additional cost to families or taxpayers’, but the cost has to come from somewhere. Alarmingly, Freedom 250 has a history of harvesting data, and employs former DOGE operatives. DOGE has been found in court to have mishandled our private Social Security data, and these cards may provide another opportunity for that abuse of Americans’ most personal, sensitive information. We demand Commissioner Bisignano answer the following questions: Is the Social Security Administration paying a licensing fee to Freedom 250? Will you release any and all contracts between the Social Security Administration and Freedom 250? Will Freedom 250 have access to data associated with beneficiaries of Social Security cards bearing their logo? This is abuse of Social Security, a nonpartisan institution which Trump claimed he would not hurt. Like issuing passports with Trump’s visage and signature, putting his name on the Kennedy Center, and destroying the East Wing of the White House, turning Social Security cards into political propaganda reveals yet again Trump’s contempt for the American people he is supposed to be serving.” This content originally appeared on Common Dreams and was authored by Newswire Editor.
As heat wave spreads across the US, data centers strain electrical grids
<img width="1024" height="683" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2284044024-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="St. Paul, Minnesota. Mother Earth Vs Big Tech Petition rally at the capitol. The petition advocates for a two-year moratorium on the construction of hyperscale data centers. Photo by: Michael Siluk/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images" data-attachment-id="344713" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/as-heat-wave-spreads-across-the-us-data-centers-strain-electrical-grids/mother-earth-vs-big-tech-petition-rally-at-the-capitol-in-minnesota" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2284044024-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1707&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2560,1707" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"16","credit":"UCG/Universal Images Group via G","camera":"NIKON Z 8","caption":"St. Paul, Minnesota. Mother Earth Vs Big Tech Petition rally at the capitol. The petition advocates for a two-year moratorium on the construction of hyperscale data centers. (Photo by: Michael Siluk/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)","created_timestamp":"1782438194","copyright":"\u00a9Michael Siluk / Universal Images Group","focal_length":"46","iso":"125","shutter_speed":"0.00625","title":"Mother Earth Vs Big Tech Petition rally at the capitol in Minnesota","orientation":"1","alt":""}" data-image-title="Mother Earth Vs Big Tech Petition rally at the capitol in Minnesota" data-image-description="" data-image-caption=" St. Paul, Minnesota. Mother Earth Vs Big Tech Petition rally at the capitol. The petition advocates for a two-year moratorium on the construction of hyperscale data centers. Photo by: Michael Siluk/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2284044024-scaled.jpg?fit=780%2C520&ssl=1"> “Data centers need the most energy exactly when the grid has the least available to give,” said an AI platform CEO.
<img width="1024" height="683" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2284044024-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="St. Paul, Minnesota. Mother Earth Vs Big Tech Petition rally at the capitol. The petition advocates for a two-year moratorium on the construction of hyperscale data centers. Photo by: Michael Siluk/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images" decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2284044024-scaled.jpg?w=2560&ssl=1 2560w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2284044024-scaled.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2284044024-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2284044024-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2284044024-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2284044024-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1365&ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2284044024-scaled.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2284044024-scaled.jpg?resize=2000%2C1333&ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2284044024-scaled.jpg?resize=780%2C520&ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2284044024-scaled.jpg?resize=400%2C267&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2284044024-scaled.jpg?w=2340&ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2284044024-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1&w=370 370w" sizes="(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw - 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw / 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw / 12)), 100vw" data-attachment-id="344713" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/as-heat-wave-spreads-across-the-us-data-centers-strain-electrical-grids/mother-earth-vs-big-tech-petition-rally-at-the-capitol-in-minnesota" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2284044024-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1707&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2560,1707" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"16","credit":"UCG/Universal Images Group via G","camera":"NIKON Z 8","caption":"St. Paul, Minnesota. Mother Earth Vs Big Tech Petition rally at the capitol. The petition advocates for a two-year moratorium on the construction of hyperscale data centers. (Photo by: Michael Siluk/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)","created_timestamp":"1782438194","copyright":"\u00a9Michael Siluk / Universal Images Group","focal_length":"46","iso":"125","shutter_speed":"0.00625","title":"Mother Earth Vs Big Tech Petition rally at the capitol in Minnesota","orientation":"1","alt":""}" data-image-title="Mother Earth Vs Big Tech Petition rally at the capitol in Minnesota" data-image-description="" data-image-caption=" St. Paul, Minnesota. Mother Earth Vs Big Tech Petition rally at the capitol. The petition advocates for a two-year moratorium on the construction of hyperscale data centers. Photo by: Michael Siluk/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2284044024-scaled.jpg?fit=780%2C520&ssl=1" /> <img data-recalc-dims="1" decoding="async" width="780" height="218" data-attachment-id="277549" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/half-a-million-south-korean-workers-walk-off-jobs-in-general-strike/truthout-logo" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/truthout-logo.jpeg?fit=874%2C244&ssl=1" data-orig-size="874,244" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1634742558","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="truthout-logo" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/truthout-logo.jpeg?fit=780%2C218&ssl=1" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/truthout-logo.jpeg?resize=780%2C218&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-277549 size-full" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/truthout-logo.jpeg?w=874&ssl=1 874w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/truthout-logo.jpeg?resize=300%2C84&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/truthout-logo.jpeg?resize=768%2C214&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/truthout-logo.jpeg?resize=400%2C112&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/truthout-logo.jpeg?resize=706%2C197&ssl=1 706w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/truthout-logo.jpeg?w=370&ssl=1 370w" sizes="(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px" /> This article was originally published by Truthout on July 01, 2026. It is shared here under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license. A heat wave is spreading across the U.S. this week that will affect over 250 million people from the Midwest to the East Coast. Last week, a heat dome covered much of Europe, causing over 1,300 excess deaths. This week, a new heat dome is bringing record-shattering heat to two thirds of the U.S. population, affecting areas that normally do not see such high temperatures. The heat wave is expected to worsen as the week continues. Heat indexes – or how hot the temperature feels to the body, worsened by high humidity – are expected to reach between 100 and 110 degrees over large parts of the country. On Tuesday, the highest heat index value was 113.6 degrees Fahrenheit in southern Illinois. Temperatures are expected to peak on Thursday and Friday, with cities like Newark, New Jersey, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, expecting actual temperatures of 105 degrees Fahrenheit starting Thursday. Parts of Virginia and North Carolina are expecting four to five consecutive days of 100-degree heat, from Wednesday, July 1 through the July 4 weekend. Last week, a study from World Weather Attribution found that Europe’s heat wave would have been “virtually impossible” without climate change. Similar findings are expected for this U.S. heat wave. In France alone, around 1,000 excess deaths were reported during the heat wave last week – hundreds more deaths per day compared with the daily death rate before the heat wave. Fewer Americans are expected to die from heat in the U.S. than in Europe, largely because the U.S. has far more air conditioning, particularly in homes. But while air conditioning for households is largely a necessity to deal with the reality of climate change, another source is straining power grids: AI data centers, which have expanded across the U.S. since 2023 in an AI boom and require significant amounts of water, energy, and cooling. Due to the demands of AI, over 1,500 data centers are currently in development across the U.S. Virginia, which is expected to experience some of the highest temperatures later this week, currently operates over 600 data centers, the highest concentration in the country. Data centers currently consume roughly 4.5 percent of the total electricity in the U.S., and this number continues to grow. It is expected to reach 10 percent or more by 2030. Scientists have also found that data centers are creating “heat islands,” warming the temperatures in the areas around them, even over 6 miles away. Even tech CEOs are admitting a problem. “Extreme heat stresses data centers and the grid they rely on at the same time,” Mishal Thadani, the CEO of AI platform Rhizome, explained to CNBC this week. Cooling already makes up around 40 percent of data centers’ energy use at normal temperatures, and this amount rises as the temperature rises. “Data centers need the most energy exactly when the grid has the least available to give.” In Europe, the record-breaking heat wave caused power outages that left 68,000 households without electricity on Tuesday night and Wednesday last week. “Now add facilities that each pull as much power as a hundred thousand homes,” Thadani said. Regional grid operators in the U.S. have said that they are expecting record electricity demands this week, which also carry risk of blackouts. Blackouts in turn amplify mortality and morbidity rates, with one 2023 study concluding that blackouts combined with heat wave conditions can “more than double the estimated rate of heat-related mortality.” As awareness grows around the threats of data centers, more people are opposing them, and campaigns are growing to stop their spread. This content originally appeared on The Real News Network and was authored by Shireen Akram-Boshar.
Danny Glover shares Alzheimer’s diagnosis
"The American Revolution Was Hardly an Anti-Colonial Movement": UCLA Historian Robin D. G. Kelley
"Rule of Law vs. Rule of Billionaires": Supreme Court Says Trump Can Fire Regulators, Except at Fed
PNG received millions after Cyclone Maila, but some residents still wait for relief
Cash donations from China and Australia made headlines, but government has helped only ‘severely affected’ areas.
PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea — After Cyclone Maila devastated parts of Papua New Guinea in April, disaster relief funds poured into the country, but many of the affected residents told Radio Free Asia that they have received little or no assistance from authorities. In early April, the cyclone appeared over the Solomon Sea, between PNG and the Solomon Islands. It rapidly increased in intensity and severely damaged roads and homes, and submerged crops. PNG authorities reported 25 fatalities due to landslides and flooding. Though authorities have been trying to assist affected residents, they have not yet been able to reach everyone. Marina Kaisa Eroro, who lives with her family in Samarai Island off the southeastern tip of the New Guinean mainland, told RFA. A file photo of Marina Kaisa Eroro, a resident of Samarai Island in Milne Province, Papua New Guinea. (Marina Kaisa Eroro/RFA) The cyclone blew down her breadfruit, betel nut, and fruit trees, she said. “The trees fell on our water tank and damaged our source of drinking water,” said Eroro. “No assistance at all came from the authorities.” Eroro said that councillors from the ward, the lowest division of the local government, had visited to determine the extent of damage. The island is under the jurisdiction of the Bwanabwana Rural local-level government, or LLG, in the Samarai-Murua district of Milne Bay Province. The province is headquartered on the mainland, though many of its administrative bodies are located on Samarai, which was the provincial capital until 1968. In this file photo, trees that were knocked down by Cyclone Maila have damaged a water tank on Samarai Island, Milne Bay province, Papua New Guinea. (Marina Kaisa Eroro/RFA) “No national or provincial government official visited our area to assess the damage,” said Eroro. Even in cases where residents do get assistance, it is minimal, Cora Diala, who lives in a small village in Weraura LLG, in the same province but on the mainland, told RFA. Cora Diala, a 77-year-old widow from Weraura village, Milne Bay province, Papua New Guinea, in a file photo. (Fay Duega/RFA) “Last month was the first time we saw relief supplies from the government,” she said, adding that the extent of the relief was a 1 kilogram packet of rice for most people. “Widows like me got two packets of rice. Nothing else.” Relief aid After the storm had dissipated, foreign governments began offering money to the PNG government as aid. On May 14, the Chinese Embassy in Port Moresby handed over US$1 million to the PNG government in a public handover ceremony, during which Chargé d’affaires Pang Hanzhao, after giving the oversized check to several senior officials, including Prime Minister James Marape, expressed condolences to the affected people, saying “a friend in need is a friend indeed.” Marape expressed his gratitude, saying the assistance came at a critical time, when the government was continuing to “support communities affected by Cyclone Maila, and is gratefully appreciated by the PNG Government and people.” Other countries also provided assistance, including $1.72 million (2.5 million Australian dollars) from Australia to both PNG and the Solomon Islands. The U.S., meanwhile, delivered relief supplies through existing disaster preparedness programs. A truck damaged by floodwaters in the Ramazon River in the Tinputz district in Northern Bougainville, an autonomous region in Papua New Guinea, due to heavy rains from tropical cyclone Maila. (AFP) But the government has not distributed assistance to everyone affected. It focused only on the areas and communities that needed assistance most, Randal Ganisi, the acting disaster coordinator in Milne Bay province, told RFA. “Much of the relief supplies was given to Murua Island communities who were severely affected by the tropical cyclone Maila than those only partly affected,” said Ganisi. “However other districts of Milne Bay province were not supported with relief supplies due to the fact that they were not severely affected.” Though he provided a list of LLGs that the supplies were delivered to, he was not able to provide an outline of how much cash and food supplies were sent to each territory. RFA contacted the National Coordinator for an update on the distribution but received no response. Edited by Eugene Whong. This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Harlyne Joku for RFA.
Profiting from the Presidency: Trump and Family Rake In Billions from Crypto, Real Estate & More
Top U.S. & World Headlines — July 2, 2026
Trump’s July 4th Jobs Report Shows American Dream Slipping Out of Reach for Many Working Families
Today’s jobs report shows the labor market added only 57,000 jobs in June, with April and May hiring revised down by 74,000 fewer jobs than previously reported. The unemployment rate changed little at 4.2%. A total of 720,000 people left the labor for...
Today’s jobs report shows the labor market added only 57,000 jobs in June, with April and May hiring revised down by 74,000 fewer jobs than previously reported. The unemployment rate changed little at 4.2%. A total of 720,000 people left the labor force last month, pushing the share of Americans working or looking for work to its lowest level since March 2021. Beneath the headline, workers are less confident they can find a job, higher prices continue to eat into paychecks, and families feel worse about their financial situation. The share of unemployed workers who have been without a job for at least six months remains above one in four, up sharply from one year ago, while a growing share of workers are stuck in part-time jobs because they cannot find full-time work. Though President Trump campaigned on saving “<a href="https://us.cisionone.cision.com/c/eJw8y7Gu4yAQheGngQ6LGcDGBUUav0aEh2HDxtheTDbat1_l6uo2p_iO_hTQk9Wj5ACTN1prBCcfwQHlvPIagcGgm8Y8GWczeUcOQXtZwhjtOJKfwZjpDuhd1mAmnJ2w-iqJn-WPqrFs3C41zdlma_20qtZ8x-FzyC08ej8vYW4CF4HL-_0eaN8HOqrABTWOAhf9M-exlV7oErjkSF3Rg-mpenvVU61bpKd67VzP7fhXee-ycipRNd44XqxKCl9w_wZhbgbAopUt_D52YTUdtR57ahzrNRztl7x6Y66fEnW0ybhZJT8aZYG8msEklV0igzl7C17-Dfg_AAD__xBWZZs" rel="noopener noreferrer" >Black jobs,” the unemployment rate among Black Americans is far higher than the national rate, reflecting the president’s unequal economy. Under President Trump, the economy is leaving working families with fewer opportunities to get ahead. Groundwork Collaborative’s Chief of Policy and Advocacy, Alex Jacquez, released the following statement: “Today’s weak jobs numbers are grim warning signs of a struggling labor market. Job gains reflect temporary seasonal hires and other workers separated from the broader economy while the majority of the labor force is frozen. Working Americans increasingly report that their paychecks can’t keep up with Trump’s high prices, but are not confident they’ll be able to find better opportunities. They’re instead focused on trying to keep up with the president’s price hikes.” This content originally appeared on Common Dreams and was authored by Newswire Editor.
“The American Revolution Was Hardly an Anti-Colonial Movement”: UCLA Historian Robin D. G. Kelley
Ahead of the July Fourth holiday and the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, we speak with the acclaimed scholar Robin D. G. Kelley, who examines how Black radicals have interpreted the document throughout U.S. history in a n...
Ahead of the July Fourth holiday and the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, we speak with the acclaimed scholar Robin D. G. Kelley, who examines how Black radicals have interpreted the document throughout U.S. history in a new essay for Hammer & Hope. Although the declaration famously asserts that “all men are created equal,” Kelley says that clearly did not extend to Indigenous or enslaved Black people. “When the drafters developed this declaration, they assumed that human beings were basically white men,” he says. But despite the “hypocrisy” of the declaration, many Black radicals still found value in its words, including a “justification for rebellion,” says Kelley. This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
How dare she? Hindutva flagbearers threaten Muslim judge who sent 14 cow-vigilantes to jail for murder
Trigger Warning: Use of Expletives The June 12 conviction of 14 men for the 2022 lynching of a Muslim truck driver in Madhya Pradesh has triggered a coordinated wave of communal abuse, threats and misinformation directed at the judge who delivered the verdict. Within hours of additional district and sessions judge Tabassum Khan sentencing 14 […]
Trigger Warning: Use of Expletives The June 12 conviction of 14 men for the 2022 lynching of a Muslim truck driver in Madhya Pradesh has triggered a coordinated wave of communal abuse, threats and misinformation directed at the judge who delivered the verdict. Within hours of additional district and sessions judge Tabassum Khan sentencing 14 convicts to life imprisonment in two different cases on the same day — S. T. No. 35/2022 and S.T. No. 4/2023 — videos and social media posts began circulating that targeted her religious identity. The posts referred to her with communal slurs, dehumanised her, issued open threats of violence, stoked fears of “jihad” and demanded the release of the convicted men. The case stems from the lynching of Nazir Ahmed, a resident of Amravati, Maharashtra. On August 3, 2022, Ahmed and two others were transporting cattle from Nandarwada to their home state. In Barakhad village near Seoni Malwa in Madhya Pradesh’s Narmadapuram district, they were intercepted by a mob that suspected them of illegally smuggling cattle. According to survivor Sheikh Lala, a group of around 50 to 60 people blocked their vehicle and assaulted the three men without asking any questions. Ahmed later died of his injuries, while the two others survived. Following the investigation, police registered an FIR against fourteen individuals. After nearly three years of trial, the court found all fourteen guilty of offences including murder, attempt to murder, rioting and wrongful restraint, sentencing each of them to life imprisonment. Those convicted are Deepak alias Baba Kevat, Ajay alias Ajju Rathore, Prakash Kaushal, Pawan Bathav, Amar alias Bhola Bathav, Kanhaiya Bathav, and Ballu alias Anuj Raghuvanshi in one case and Raju alias Rajendra Kaushal, Akash alias Pintoli Bathav, Gaurav Yadav, Akash Saraathe, Chetan Maratha, Devendra alias Chotu Kori, and Sandeep alias Raja Kaushal in the other. They are all residents of Seoni Malwa. Immediately after the verdict, relatives of the convicts staged a protest outside the court premises and attempted to stop the police vehicle transporting the men to prison. The online campaign against Judge Khan followed soon after. The Seoni Malwa police have since registered an FIR against unidentified persons over the communal campaign targeting the judge, invoking Sections 196 and 302 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). The FIR pertains to social media posts that allegedly promoted communal hatred and threatened public order following the judgment. Wave of Threat Videos full of Expletives The verdict sparked a wave of inflammatory rhetoric from Right-wing organisations and Hindutva activists, who called for the release of the 14 men convicted in the lynching case. The video that reached most people was of a man named Thakur Vishal Singh. Speaking into his phone camera, he openly used expletives and communal slurs while issuing threats to a sitting Judge. “Listen, mulli m********d, if our 14 brothers have not been released in 14 days, then there will be bloodshed across the country. Hindus, look — the ones who commit cow slaughter, those m*********s are roaming freely, and today one mulli m********d has become a judge, and she has imprisoned our 14 brothers for life. Imagine what will happen when a mulla becomes a PM.” Alt News noted that after his video went viral, Singh deleted all of his content from his Instagram account. <img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-316745" src="https://www.altnews.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/chrome_64aTbp0sjf.jpg" alt="" width="2016" height="1214" srcset="https://www.altnews.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/chrome_64aTbp0sjf.jpg 2016w, https://www.altnews.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/chrome_64aTbp0sjf-300x181.jpg 300w, https://www.altnews.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/chrome_64aTbp0sjf-1024x617.jpg 1024w, https://www.altnews.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/chrome_64aTbp0sjf-768x462.jpg 768w, https://www.altnews.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/chrome_64aTbp0sjf-1536x925.jpg 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 2016px) 100vw, 2016px" /> However, we found a similar video of him speaking on the same verdict. This video is arguably more vile and openly threatens Khan with rape. “Sunre o mulli m********d, jo tune humari 14 bhaiyon ko gau sevakon ko aajeevan karvaas ki saza di hai na, sun tere liye ek line hai jo ki bohot fine hai. Kab tak tu chhupegi judge ke aar mein, kabhi toh tere g***d m*****e khule bazaar mein.” Further investigation led us to an older, possibly suspended Instagram account with over 11,000 followers, whose bio indicated that Singh was a resident of Surat. The two videos in question were uploaded from a newer account, @vishalthakur_sanatani, which also has a sizeable following of over 8,000. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-316746" src="https://www.altnews.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/chrome_A8y65L5D82.jpg" alt="" width="644" height="1461" srcset="https://www.altnews.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/chrome_A8y65L5D82.jpg 644w, https://www.altnews.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/chrome_A8y65L5D82-132x300.jpg 132w, https://www.altnews.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/chrome_A8y65L5D82-451x1024.jpg 451w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 644px) 100vw, 644px" /> After the video containing threats against the judge went viral, several users followed the same template. “Despite being a Muslim judge, she had 14 cow protectors sentenced to life imprisonment. If these people come to power, it won’t take even a minute to turn India into a Muslim nation…… Jago hindu jago” said Instagram user @lion_akhilesh099. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Akhilesh Singh (@lion_akhilesh099) Propaganda outlet Sudarshan News TV’s star host Suresh Chavhanke showed continual solidarity with the convicted murderers. He urged his viewers to ‘speak up’ and stated that “your family members who risk their lives to save gau mata could also be imprisoned for life”. “We stand with the family of the victims”, ran the ticker on one of his shows. “We openly oppose the decision of the Muslim judge”, was tweeted from the official handle of Sudarshan News TV. मुस्लिम जज के फैसला का हम खुलेआम विरोध करते है *14 गौरक्षकों को उम्रकैद… जज तबस्सुम खान के फैसले पर न्याय संग्राम PART-2* देखें #बिंदास_बोल में धर्मयोद्धा डॉ. सुरेश चव्हाणके जी के साथ। https://t.co/G0WdpS2WjL — Sudarshan News (@SudarshanNewsTV) June 20, 2026 In Punjab’s Peer Muchalla on June 22, the Gau Raksha Parishad staged a protest demanding the release of the 14 men. Demonstrators burned and assaulted an effigy of Khan while chanting slogans of “Tabassum Begum, haaye haaye”. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Hindutva Watch (@hindutvawatchin) Several social media users amplified videos and posts targeting “Muslim judge” Tabassum Khan, accusing her of misusing her position to “take revenge.” Facebook user Sanjeev Rai wrote, “Until ten days ago, no one knew her; then they misused her ‘jihadi’ power under the guise of the Constitution…” His post garnered over 5,000 likes and nearly 800 shares. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-316747 aligncenter" src="https://www.altnews.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/chrome_xmcvs6QpWj.jpg" alt="" width="1120" height="1358" srcset="https://www.altnews.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/chrome_xmcvs6QpWj.jpg 1120w, https://www.altnews.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/chrome_xmcvs6QpWj-247x300.jpg 247w, https://www.altnews.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/chrome_xmcvs6QpWj-845x1024.jpg 845w, https://www.altnews.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/chrome_xmcvs6QpWj-768x931.jpg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1120px) 100vw, 1120px" /> Facebook user Vedant Valmiki posted a video relaying the incident, claiming, “The main culprit here is the judge Tabassum Khan.” The video has over 7,000 likes and over 2,000 shares. Several other videos and posts similarly cast Khan as the “Muslim judge,” framing the verdict as a Hindu-Muslim issue. See here and here. Click to view slideshow. Several influential cow vigilantes also spoke up against the judgement. Mohit ‘Monu’ Manesar, an accused in the infamous murder of Nasir and Junaid in 2023, released a video condemning the judgement and calling for his Hindu brothers and sisters to stand in solidarity. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Mohit Manesar (@mohithindu052) Daksh Chaudhury, who has been accused of anti-Muslim violence several times in the past, visited the families of the guilty. In videos that he uploaded of himself, he can be seen assuring their children that “their fathers would be released soon.” View this post on Instagram A post shared by Daksh Chaudhary (@muchoman.306) In one of the videos he uploaded, he can be seen on a video call with the Shankaracharya of Jyotirmath Peeth, Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati, who expressed solidarity with the murderers. Chaudhary assured help of all kinds and questioned why the government was not speaking out for the men in jail. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Daksh Chaudhary (@muchoman.306) National Bajrang Dal leaders also staged a protest in Lalitpur, Uttar Pradesh, in the Collectorate premises. They demanded the annulment of the life imprisonment sentence handed down by Khan. The episode underscores how the conversation has shifted beyond the legality or morality of mob violence. Instead of focusing on the conviction of 14 men for lynching a Muslim truck driver, the Right-wing discourse turned to the religious identity of the judge who delivered the verdict, with allegations that a Muslim judge had “misused” her position or was acting out of communal bias. The campaign also raises legal questions. Threatening a sitting judge over a judicial order can amount to criminal contempt of court, as it interferes with the administration of justice. Depending on the nature of the threats, it may also constitute criminal intimidation under Section 351 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). Yet, despite these legal safeguards, the online campaign continues in the aftermath of the verdict. This content originally appeared on Alt News and was authored by Shinjinee Majumder.
“Rule of Law vs. Rule of Billionaires”: Supreme Court Says Trump Can Fire Regulators, Except at Fed
In a 6-3 ruling this week that overturned nine decades of precedent, the Supreme Court granted President Donald Trump the power to fire and replace officials at independent government agencies like the Federal Trade Commission. But in a separa...
In a 6-3 ruling this week that overturned nine decades of precedent, the Supreme Court granted President Donald Trump the power to fire and replace officials at independent government agencies like the Federal Trade Commission. But in a separate 5-4 decision, the justices ruled that Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook can stay in her job as she challenges Trump’s efforts to fire her. The seemingly contradictory rulings suggest a two-tier system of regulation, says Alvaro Bedoya, a former FTC commissioner who was fired by Trump last year. The independence and stability of the Federal Reserve is important to “billionaire Wall Street Bankers,” and therefore remains protected, says Bedoya. “But then you have this whole series of other agencies that keep your toys safe, that keep health insurers from robbing people blind, that keep supermarkets from merging to make milk, eggs and beef … even more expensive. The court said that all those regulators can report directly to the president and be entirely beholden to his whims.” This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
New financial disclosures by President Donald Trump show that he made more than $1.4 billion from his family’s various cryptocurrency ventures last year, reaping a windfall after pulling back on regulation of the industry and promoting t...
New financial disclosures by President Donald Trump show that he made more than $1.4 billion from his family’s various cryptocurrency ventures last year, reaping a windfall after pulling back on regulation of the industry and promoting the United States as “the crypto capital of the world.” Other Trump businesses, like his resorts and golf courses, have also flourished since his return to the White House, while the Trump Organization has also licensed the family name to properties in countries that are crucial to U.S. foreign policy interests, including Saudi Arabia and Qatar. “It’s been an incredibly successful period for the Trump family,” says Reuters investigative reporter Tom Bergin. This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
Trump Defends Financial Report Showing His Personal Income Soared to $2.2 Billion in 2025, Sons of Donald Trump and Howard Lutnick Profit from U.S.-Backed Kazakhstan Mining Deal, Rights Groups Demand End to Venezuela Sanctions as Earthquake Death Toll Passes 2,000, Texas Lawmaker Condemns ICE for Attempting to Deport Families to Venezuela After Massive Quakes, Sudan’s Currency Plummets as Paramilitaries Besiege City of El Obeid, Russian Drones and Missiles Rain Down on Kyiv, Killing at Least 20, Palestinians Mark 1,000 Days Since Israel Began Full-Scale Assault on Gaza, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Declares Israel’s Assault on Gaza a Genocide, Urges Arms Embargo, World’s Oceans Experienced Record Heat Wave in June, U.S. Faces Record Heat Over 4th of July Holiday, as Spain Says June Heat Wave Killed 1,000+, ICE Arrests 10,000 Immigrants in Under a Week as White House Demands Speedier Deportations, Seven More Receive Harsh Sentences for “Terrorism” After Attending Protest at Texas ICE Jail, Speaker Mike Johnson Says Trump Won’t Veto Housing Bill He Called “A Big Yawn”, House Votes to Disclose Lawmakers Behind Taxpayer-Funded Sexual Misconduct Payouts, Actor and Activist Danny Glover Reveals Alzheimer’s Diagnosis
Trump Defends Financial Report Showing His Personal Income Soared to $2.2 Billion in 2025 Sons of Donald Trump and Howard Lutnick Profit from U.S.-Backed Kazakhstan Mining Deal Rights Groups Demand End to Venezuela Sanctions as Earthquake Death Toll Passes 2,000 Texas Lawmaker Condemns ICE for Attempting to Deport Families to Venezuela After Massive Quakes Sudan's Currency Plummets as Paramilitaries Besiege City of El Obeid Russian Drones and Missiles Rain Down on Kyiv, Killing at Least 20 Palestinians Mark 1,000 Days Since Israel Began Full-Scale Assault on Gaza Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Declares Israel's Assault on Gaza a Genocide, Urges Arms Embargo World's Oceans Experienced Record Heat Wave in June U.S. Faces Record Heat Over 4th of July Holiday, as Spain Says June Heat Wave Killed 1,000+ ICE Arrests 10,000 Immigrants in Under a Week as White House Demands Speedier Deportations Seven More Receive Harsh Sentences for "Terrorism" After Attending Protest at Texas ICE Jail Speaker Mike Johnson Says Trump Won't Veto Housing Bill He Called "A Big Yawn" House Votes to Disclose Lawmakers Behind Taxpayer-Funded Sexual Misconduct Payouts Actor and Activist Danny Glover Reveals Alzheimer's Diagnosis This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
Democracy Now! Thursday, July 2, 2026 This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! Audio and was authored by Democracy Now!.
17 Dead, 80+ Injured In Overnight Russian Missile Attack On Kyiv #UkraineUnderAttack #News #shorts
Thursday Democracy Now! show for rebroadcast - HD
Thursday Democracy Now! show for rebroadcast - HD This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! for Broadcasters - HD MP4 and was authored by Democracy Now! for Broadcasters - HD MP4.
Pacific nations among hardest hit as global aid drops, says OECD
By Kaya Selby of RNZ Pacific Global aid forecasts have small island developing states “among the hardest hit individually” as aid spending reaches new lows. The OECD, which tracks their wealthy member states’ Overseas Development Assistance (ODA), is projecting a 6.9 percent drop this year. Last year, it was 23.3 percent. In a report, it
By Kaya Selby of RNZ Pacific Global aid forecasts have small island developing states “among the hardest hit individually” as aid spending reaches new lows. The OECD, which tracks their wealthy member states’ Overseas Development Assistance (ODA), is projecting a 6.9 percent drop this year. Last year, it was 23.3 percent. In a report, it noted this would make for the lowest global ODA level since 2014, with health spending down to pre-pandemic levels. READ MORE: Pacific at risk as global aid falls to lowest level in a decade – report Other Pacific aid reports “Most reductions come from a small number of the largest providers,” the report noted, referring to European countries, and the United States. “Many highly aid-dependent countries rely on a small number of providers, increasing vulnerability to shocks.” It was also noted that five of the fifteen recipient countries with the largest cuts are small island developing states. Caribbean Small Island Developing States (SIDS) will have lost 36.6 percent of aid between 2024 and 2026; Asian and Pacific states will have lost 33.4 percent. “A single provider accounts for most ODA in several LDCs and small island developing states (SIDS), such as the United States in Marshall Islands and Micronesia, or Australia and New Zealand in Tonga and Tuvalu,” it read. “In these countries especially, a shift in aid could therefore spill over quickly into broader macroeconomic and societal stress.” Globally, health spending is projected to fall by between 29 and 46 percent in that two-year timeframe, with aid for public health and the control of communicable diseases the hardest hit. Aid targeting malaria falls by 59.6 percent, tuberculosis by 57.2 percent, other infectious-disease control by 40.4 percent. Delivery models need to change – ChildFund NZ Humanitarian aid is projected to fall by 40.3 percent, while government and civil society falls by 39.8 percent. Aid from multilateral institutions falls by 31 percent. For Josie Pagani, CEO of ChildFund NZ, these are the most dangerous trends from a Pacific perspective. “That’s for when you’re in a crisis, like we’ve just seen in Venezuela, or in the Middle East,” she said. “That is going to have a very direct impact on the ability for countries to respond, or charities like ChildFund to respond directly to a crisis.” Pagani said it created both a need and an incentive to make the way that aid was delivered more efficient, and more effective. This, she said, would address a core issue around public perception — where aid was viewed as useless or unnecessary, and so it was deprioritised. “Across the Pacific, there are sorts of dinosaur aid projects scattered around… water tanks with logos on them… [but] there are five million people in the Pacific who still don’t have access to running clean drinking water.” “You can’t solve that by a tank here and a tank there, you’ve got to look at it systemically.” Unchanged aid budgets She also noted that unchanged aid budgets from Australia and New Zealand could insulate the Pacific from wider multilateral grant cutbacks. Australia and New Zealand, in their respective budgets from May, kept their aid allocations roughly the same. New Zealand brought over NZ$160 million forward to this year from unspent cash in the previous two years. Meanwhile, the Trump Administration is lobbying United Nations member states for its “Trade Over Aid” policy, which would prioritise aid spending for “free market reforms” in poor countries. This story was first published on This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.
Vile abuse and targeted by Murdoch media. The cost of speaking out against Israel
Royal Commission into Antisemitism and Social Cohesion
Executive director of the Jewish Council of Australia, Sarah Schwartz, has told the Bondi Royal Commission of sustained abuse by pro-Israel activists. Michael West Media reports. SPECIAL REPORT: By Stephanie Tran Giving evidence before Australia’s Royal Commission into Antisemitism and Social Cohesion, Sarah Schwartz, a human rights lawyer, said attacks from pro-Israel groups sought to
Executive director of the Jewish Council of Australia, Sarah Schwartz, has told the Bondi Royal Commission of sustained abuse by pro-Israel activists. Michael West Media reports. SPECIAL REPORT: By Stephanie Tran Giving evidence before Australia’s Royal Commission into Antisemitism and Social Cohesion, Sarah Schwartz, a human rights lawyer, said attacks from pro-Israel groups sought to delegitimise Jewish people who criticise Israel. “They rest on the idea that Jewish identity is inherently tied to Israel, and therefore Jewish people who don’t support Israel or who criticise Israel are not really Jewish and are traitors,” she told the commission last Thursday. Schwartz said she had been referred to as a “self-hating Jew”, “Hitler’s Jew”, “kapo” and “Judenrat”, and had been depicted using Holocaust imagery, including “on a train to concentration camps” and with the yellow Star of David imposed on Jews under Nazi rule. READ MORE: ‘Unconstitutional’ – NSW court strikes down Minns’ draconian anti-protest laws Other Bondi Commission reports Holocaust weaponised She said the atrocities of the Holocaust were a motivation for her Palestine solidarity work and the weaponisation by pro-Israel accounts of Holocaust imagery was “incredibly disturbing”. “I was taught that never again meant never again for anyone, and that’s why I do the work that I do,” Schwartz said. “To have the symbols of the Holocaust and Nazi imagery and Jewish persecution used against me has been incredibly disturbing and distressing, and I think it sends a chilling message to other Jewish people when they want to speak out. Schwartz said the stereotype that all Jewish people are politically aligned with Israel “causes immense harm”. “I speak … almost every day to Jewish people who contact me and who are terrified of speaking out, because they know that if they speak their political convictions, they face the risk of a similar sort of abuse and vilification and targeting that I have experienced.” Murdoch media coverage fuelled abuse Schwartz told the commission that reporting by The Australian undermined her safety and ultimately led her to abandon a police application intended to protect her from ongoing harassment. She recounted an incident in March 2025 after police applied for a personal safety intervention order (PSIO) on her behalf against lawyer Zara Cooper, who targeted Schwartz on Instagram under the pseudonym “@clammy_fraud”. Schwartz said she first learned of the application through a journalist from The Australian, who contacted her to say the newspaper was preparing a story. “I informed him I hadn’t been informed of the nature of the PSIO,” she said. “When I asked him if he could provide me with a copy, he said he couldn’t provide me with a copy … because I didn’t know its contents, I also couldn’t really respond to a lot of it, because it was a police application.” <img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-130008" src="https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Australian-clip-TA-680wide.png" alt="The Australian article targeting human rights lawyer Sarah Schwartz" width="680" height="372" srcset="https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Australian-clip-TA-680wide.png 680w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Australian-clip-TA-680wide-300x164.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px" /> The Australian article targeting human rights lawyer Sarah Schwartz. Image: The Australian screenshot AP Schwartz said the following day’s front-page article ($) incorrectly suggested she, rather than police, had initiated the proceedings in an attempt to suppress free speech. Free speech for me, not for thee She told the commission that The Australian subsequently published further articles about the case, including reproducing images and slurs that formed part of the material relied upon by police in seeking the intervention order. “What was most distressing to me is The Australian chose to republish some of the offensive imagery that was the basis on which police applied for the PSIO,” she said. “[The Australian] republished content that took my image and placed it on a train to concentration camps, content calling me a kapo and other various slurs.” Schwartz said the coverage convinced her that pursuing legal protection would expose her to further public attention and place her at greater risk. “It became very clear to me after that coverage that this was becoming a media circus,” she said. “Having reported these matters to police … was actually something that was going to make me less safe because of the media coverage. She subsequently told police she no longer wished to proceed with the intervention order, and the application was withdrawn. She has since been reluctant to report further incidents because she fears doing so would attract similar publicity. “It’s become very clear to me that, because of the media interest in me as a person, but particularly because of News Corp’s targeting of me, it’s not going to be safe for me to engage in reporting,” she said. She also expressed concern that republishing the abusive material normalised antisemitic attacks against Jewish critics of Israel. “I think that media reporting really normalises the use of these terms against other Jewish people … people see that coverage and think that it is legitimate to call a Jewish person Nazi-aligned or to place our face on a train to concentration camps.” Being pro-Palestine is not antisemitism Schwartz dispelled suggestions that pro-Palestinian activism is a significant driver of antisemitism, stating that, despite attempts to portray Palestine solidarity spaces as hostile to Jews, that had not reflected her own experience. “I know that there is a lot of public discourse … that suggests that human rights spaces and Palestine solidarity spaces, in particular, are spaces that might be hostile to Jewish people,” she said. That hasn’t been my experience at all. Instead, Schwartz said she had received “many messages of support and clear condemnations of antisemitism” from Muslim colleagues following the Bondi terror attack on 14 December 2025. Government response Schwartz criticised the government’s responses to antisemitism, which have disproportionately focused on the Palestine solidarity movement, including the banning of protest slogans. “I think that government responses, which locate the source of antisemitism within the Palestine solidarity movement, suggest for Jewish people who are also part of that movement that either we’re not really Jewish or that we are somehow against Jewish people in our own communities.” Asked what measures would most effectively combat antisemitism, Schwartz said governments should prioritise addressing far-right extremism and avoid conflating antisemitism with the Palestine solidarity movement. “It’s really important for us to take the threat of far-right extremism really seriously … we know that it’s rising and it’s becoming more mainstream,” she said. “It is critically important that governments and institutions don’t adopt policies in response to antisemitism that engage in that form of conflation itself that suggests that antisemitism is coming from the Palestine solidarity movement.” She also called for progressive Jewish organisations to be included in policymaking on antisemitism. “It’s really important that organisations such as the Jewish Council and other progressive Jewish organisations actually have a seat at the table” she said. “It shows the broader community that the Jewish community, like every community, has a diversity of opinions. Stephanie Tran is a journalist with a background in both law and journalism. She has worked at The Guardian and as a paralegal, where she assisted Crikey’s defence team in the high-profile defamation case brought by Lachlan Murdoch. Her reporting has been recognised nationally, earning her the 2021 Democracy’s Watchdogs Award for Student Investigative Reporting and a nomination for the 2021 Walkley Student Journalist of the Year Award. This article was first published by Michael West Media and is republished with permission. This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.
How Google and AI Nearly Made a Seasoned Reporter Spiral
The post How Google and AI Nearly Made a Seasoned Reporter Spiral appeared first on ProPublica.
Collage by Alex Bandoni/ProPublica Last month, my colleagues and I published an investigation into a Texas oil refinery startup, America First Refining, that had secretly gotten investment from Donald Trump Jr. We discovered a saga involving the Trump administration’s tariff policy, sanctioned Russian oil and an Indian billionaire family’s private zoo. At the center of the story was the CEO of the refinery company, Texas businessman John Calce. We’d spent weeks examining Calce — pulling old lawsuits, property records, corporate registry filings — and had pieced together a portrait of what appeared to be an obscure serial entrepreneur who’d for years tried and failed to secure funding for his long-shot refinery project. Then, not long before our story was set to publish, we decided to do a scrub on a separate company he had incorporated called Brownsville Energy Storage Terminals. Pulling up the company’s website, I felt a brief flash of panic: Had we somehow missed the existence of a major business owned by the man at the center of our next story? “From Houston to Rotterdam, Jurong to Fujairah. Our network connects the world’s most vital energy markets with speed, safety, and precision bulk oil storage,” announced the front page of the company’s website. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="366" width="752" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Main-Page.jpg?w=752" alt="On the main page of Brownsville Energy Storage Terminals there is a large photo of an energy site on the water with “Strategic Oil Hubs Worldwide” written over it." class="wp-image-84516" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Main-Page.jpg 2584w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Main-Page.jpg?resize=300,146 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Main-Page.jpg?resize=768,373 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Main-Page.jpg?resize=1024,498 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Main-Page.jpg?resize=1536,747 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Main-Page.jpg?resize=2048,995 2048w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Main-Page.jpg?resize=863,419 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Main-Page.jpg?resize=422,205 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Main-Page.jpg?resize=552,268 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Main-Page.jpg?resize=558,271 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Main-Page.jpg?resize=527,256 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Main-Page.jpg?resize=752,366 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Main-Page.jpg?resize=1149,558 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Main-Page.jpg?resize=2000,972 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Main-Page.jpg?resize=400,194 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Main-Page.jpg?resize=800,389 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Main-Page.jpg?resize=1200,583 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Main-Page.jpg?resize=1600,778 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" /> Screenshot by ProPublica Brownsville Energy Storage Terminals, per the website, had more than 850 employees and 28 million barrels of oil storage capacity across six global hubs. This was puzzling: Our reporting had led us to believe Calce was struggling to raise enough money for a single project in the U.S., not overseeing a massive, multinational oil storage corporation. Had we been wrong? We turned to Google to learn more about the company’s top executives. Its CEO, Sarah Jenkins, had more than 20 years of experience at major energy firms. And its chief technology officer, David Chen, “built the company’s proprietary inventory management portal and integrated AI-driven predictive maintenance systems,” according to his bio. But we couldn’t find any trace of either of them online. Chalk it up to common names? We then Googled one of the more distinct names: Vice President for Sustainability Dr. Sofia Rossi, who had “spearheaded the ‘Future Fuels’ program, preparing assets for biofuels and hydrogen.” But, again, nothing. The links to their LinkedIn profiles were dead. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="495" width="752" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/About-Us-Page.jpg?w=752" alt="On the page about the executive leadership of Brownsville Energy Storage Terminals there are four employees with their credentials listed." class="wp-image-84517" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/About-Us-Page.jpg 2022w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/About-Us-Page.jpg?resize=300,198 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/About-Us-Page.jpg?resize=768,506 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/About-Us-Page.jpg?resize=1024,675 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/About-Us-Page.jpg?resize=1536,1012 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/About-Us-Page.jpg?resize=863,569 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/About-Us-Page.jpg?resize=422,278 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/About-Us-Page.jpg?resize=552,364 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/About-Us-Page.jpg?resize=558,368 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/About-Us-Page.jpg?resize=527,347 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/About-Us-Page.jpg?resize=752,495 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/About-Us-Page.jpg?resize=1149,757 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/About-Us-Page.jpg?resize=2000,1318 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/About-Us-Page.jpg?resize=400,264 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/About-Us-Page.jpg?resize=800,527 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/About-Us-Page.jpg?resize=1200,791 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/About-Us-Page.jpg?resize=1600,1054 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" /> Screenshot by ProPublica When we searched the company’s Texas phone numbers, we found the same numbers listed online for a Houston baklava caterer, a Dallas-area taxi service and an OB-GYN office. We called the Texas numbers: dead. Then we tried the numbers for the company’s facilities in the Netherlands, Singapore and China. Also dead. We were beginning to suspect this company did not actually exist, at least as described on its website. What was going on with this website? We looked at the source code and noticed an odd notation, “This feature isn’t implemented yet, but don’t worry! You can request it in your next prompt!” <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="237" width="752" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Next-prompt.jpg?w=752" alt="A collection of numbers and letters making up the code of a website." class="wp-image-84518" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Next-prompt.jpg 2976w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Next-prompt.jpg?resize=300,95 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Next-prompt.jpg?resize=768,242 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Next-prompt.jpg?resize=1024,323 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Next-prompt.jpg?resize=1536,484 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Next-prompt.jpg?resize=2048,646 2048w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Next-prompt.jpg?resize=863,272 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Next-prompt.jpg?resize=422,133 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Next-prompt.jpg?resize=552,174 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Next-prompt.jpg?resize=558,176 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Next-prompt.jpg?resize=527,166 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Next-prompt.jpg?resize=752,237 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Next-prompt.jpg?resize=1149,362 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Next-prompt.jpg?resize=2000,630 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Next-prompt.jpg?resize=400,126 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Next-prompt.jpg?resize=800,252 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Next-prompt.jpg?resize=1200,378 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Next-prompt.jpg?resize=1600,504 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" /> Screenshot by ProPublica We checked the site’s domain registration, and we had our (apparent) answer: It was created this year and traced back to a company called Hostinger that offers an AI website builder for $2.99 per month. “Describe it, and AI builds it,” its homepage says. “Appear on Google and AI search automatically.” Indeed, Google’s “AI Overview” search response, now thrust on users by default with more and more regularity, seemed to ratify the company’s bona fides: <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="379" width="752" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/What-is-storage-terminals-1.jpg?w=752" alt="A Google search of “what is Brownsville Energy Storage Terminals” reveals a long “AI Overview” response." class="wp-image-84520" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/What-is-storage-terminals-1.jpg 2653w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/What-is-storage-terminals-1.jpg?resize=300,151 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/What-is-storage-terminals-1.jpg?resize=768,387 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/What-is-storage-terminals-1.jpg?resize=1024,516 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/What-is-storage-terminals-1.jpg?resize=1536,774 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/What-is-storage-terminals-1.jpg?resize=2048,1031 2048w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/What-is-storage-terminals-1.jpg?resize=863,435 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/What-is-storage-terminals-1.jpg?resize=422,213 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/What-is-storage-terminals-1.jpg?resize=552,278 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/What-is-storage-terminals-1.jpg?resize=558,281 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/What-is-storage-terminals-1.jpg?resize=527,265 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/What-is-storage-terminals-1.jpg?resize=752,379 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/What-is-storage-terminals-1.jpg?resize=1149,579 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/What-is-storage-terminals-1.jpg?resize=2000,1007 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/What-is-storage-terminals-1.jpg?resize=400,201 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/What-is-storage-terminals-1.jpg?resize=800,403 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/What-is-storage-terminals-1.jpg?resize=1200,604 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/What-is-storage-terminals-1.jpg?resize=1600,806 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" /> Screenshot by ProPublica When I searched for an award the company claimed on its website to have won, the Google AI Overview said that “Recent notable recipients include Brownsville Energy Storage Terminals, recognized for their rapid expansion in the independent oil and terminal operations sector.” <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="522" width="752" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Brownsville-Energy-Storage-Terminals-award_.jpg?w=752" alt="A Google search of “‘energy review’ magazine ‘Emerging Tech Award’” reveals a long AI Overview response." class="wp-image-84521" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Brownsville-Energy-Storage-Terminals-award_.jpg 2123w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Brownsville-Energy-Storage-Terminals-award_.jpg?resize=300,208 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Brownsville-Energy-Storage-Terminals-award_.jpg?resize=768,533 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Brownsville-Energy-Storage-Terminals-award_.jpg?resize=1024,710 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Brownsville-Energy-Storage-Terminals-award_.jpg?resize=1536,1066 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Brownsville-Energy-Storage-Terminals-award_.jpg?resize=2048,1421 2048w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Brownsville-Energy-Storage-Terminals-award_.jpg?resize=863,599 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Brownsville-Energy-Storage-Terminals-award_.jpg?resize=422,293 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Brownsville-Energy-Storage-Terminals-award_.jpg?resize=552,383 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Brownsville-Energy-Storage-Terminals-award_.jpg?resize=558,387 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Brownsville-Energy-Storage-Terminals-award_.jpg?resize=527,366 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Brownsville-Energy-Storage-Terminals-award_.jpg?resize=752,522 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Brownsville-Energy-Storage-Terminals-award_.jpg?resize=1149,797 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Brownsville-Energy-Storage-Terminals-award_.jpg?resize=2000,1388 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Brownsville-Energy-Storage-Terminals-award_.jpg?resize=400,278 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Brownsville-Energy-Storage-Terminals-award_.jpg?resize=800,555 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Brownsville-Energy-Storage-Terminals-award_.jpg?resize=1200,833 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Brownsville-Energy-Storage-Terminals-award_.jpg?resize=1600,1110 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" /> Screenshot by ProPublica Brownsville Energy Storage Terminals is a real LLC. But everything on its website — from its history of the company, to its job postings, a diversity and inclusion policy — appears to be fictional. But perhaps more troubling is that Google, the proprietor of the world’s primary research tool, has rolled out AI Overviews that can indiscriminately take in fake material and authoritatively spit it back out as real. In response to questions, a Google spokesperson said in a statement: “AI Overviews are rooted in our core Search ranking systems, surfacing reliable and high-quality information for the vast majority of queries. For uncommon search terms like these, there might not be high quality information published that matches the query — and we use these examples to improve our search systems.” After we reached out to Hostinger, the company pulled down the site. “After receiving your inquiry, we carried out an internal review. Based on the violations identified, we suspended the website and the account behind it in line with our Terms of Service,” a spokesperson said in a statement. What we encountered is a particular species of a larger problem that is beginning to be better understood. In April, The New York Times reported on an analysis that found Google’s AI Overviews were accurate approximately 9 out of 10 times, noting that that added up to “tens of millions of erroneous answers every hour” given vast search volumes. (A Google spokesperson told the Times that the study has “serious holes.” The company has acknowledged that AI Overviews “can make mistakes.”) Read More <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="459" height="306" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/America-First-2x3-3.jpg?w=459&h=306&crop=1" class="attachment-propublica-story-promo size-propublica-story-promo wp-post-image" alt="" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/America-First-2x3-3.jpg 4595w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/America-First-2x3-3.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/America-First-2x3-3.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/America-First-2x3-3.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/America-First-2x3-3.jpg?resize=1536,1024 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/America-First-2x3-3.jpg?resize=2048,1365 2048w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/America-First-2x3-3.jpg?resize=863,575 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/America-First-2x3-3.jpg?resize=422,281 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/America-First-2x3-3.jpg?resize=552,368 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/America-First-2x3-3.jpg?resize=558,372 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/America-First-2x3-3.jpg?resize=527,351 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/America-First-2x3-3.jpg?resize=752,501 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/America-First-2x3-3.jpg?resize=1149,766 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/America-First-2x3-3.jpg?resize=459,306 459w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/America-First-2x3-3.jpg?resize=2000,1333 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/America-First-2x3-3.jpg?resize=400,267 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/America-First-2x3-3.jpg?resize=800,533 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/America-First-2x3-3.jpg?resize=1200,800 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/America-First-2x3-3.jpg?resize=1600,1067 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 459px) 100vw, 459px" js-autosizes="true" /> An Indian Billionaire Was Targeted by Trump. Then He Poured Money Into a Startup Secretly Backed by Donald Trump Jr. A BBC reporter wrote a fictional article naming himself the best tech journalist at eating hot dogs, and Google’s AI as well as ChatGPT quickly picked it up and parroted it back. And the source material for the AI Overviews also appears eminently gameable, even when not trafficking in actual fiction. “It Is Trivially Easy to Use Reddit to Manipulate AI Search, Research Suggests,” ran a recent headline in 404 Media. The mystery website ended up as just a single paragraph in our story. But the larger implication is obvious: fakes, counterfeits and frauds that would have taken considerable effort to create just a few years ago can now be churned out pretty much instantly. While preparing this piece, we reached out to Calce asking about the site. An attorney for his company, America First Refining, replied to us with a letter dated June 24 that the attorney sent to Hostinger. The attorney also addressed the letter to several email addresses listed on the Brownsville Energy Storage Terminals website. “I write to demand immediate removal from the brownsvilleenergyterminals.com website of all unauthorized references to America First’s office address on your website,” the letter said. “As you are aware, America First has no connection or affiliation with the brownsvilleenergyterminals.com website and has not authorized the use of its corporate address there.” I’m left with lingering questions about the website: What was it for? Was it put up by some malicious actor who simply found the company’s LLC records and decided to create a website? Was it a test site that was mistakenly put online? Or could it have been designed for consumption by someone who was meant to think it was real? We don’t know, and our emails to the press contact listed on the website, media@brownsvilleenergyterminals.com, bounced back. The post How Google and AI Nearly Made a Seasoned Reporter Spiral appeared first on ProPublica. This content originally appeared on ProPublica and was authored by Justin Elliott.
People are willing to pay more for climate-proof wine, study shows
New research weighs the costs and payoffs of three common adaptation strategies: Go, stay, or change.
What’s a winemaker to do on a warming planet? Much has been written about how climate change threatens viticulture around the globe — or at least, threatens to fundamentally change the practice. A long-lasting drought in Chile is forcing winemakers to rethink irrigation systems. Vintners in California must not only endure wildfires but also the smoke that comes with them and lingers, which can alter the taste of their grapes. Severe frosts in the Champagne region of France are also altering the acidity and flavor profile of vineyards’ grapes, although some growers are starting to lean into that. A new study out of Cornell University looks at three techniques that winegrape producers can use to adapt to warmer temperatures, ranging from relatively simple and inexpensive to potentially existential: Install shade cloth to shield precious grapes from the harsh effects of the sun; grow new varieties of grapes better adapted to the heat; or relocate to cooler climates. The researchers found that, for all three cases, when these changes are communicated to shoppers, consumers are willing to pay a premium for these climate-resilient wines — even if it means some of the name-brand recognition of, say, California’s Napa Valley is lost in the process. The idea behind the market study was both to help growers understand the climate adaptation strategies available to them, the costs associated with these decisions, and then finally, how consumers perceive them. “A producer can make all the changes in the world — but if they don’t resonate well with consumers, then it’s moot,” said Alex Susskind, one of the study’s co-authors and a professor of food and beverage management at Cornell University’s school of hotel administration. The challenge with the three strategies identified by the researchers — invest in new infrastructure, invest in new grapes, or get up and move — is that only two of them might be immediately obvious to consumers. If a vineyard in California installs shade cloths throughout its estate to protect grapes from sunburn, most shoppers would have no idea, unless it was somehow explicitly stated on the finished product, like on the wine label. On the other hand, if a producer in Napa Valley known for cultivating Cabernet Sauvignon grapes switched to its focus to Carignane grapes — or if that same grower relocated to Lake County, just an hour or two north — consumers would likely notice. In the third option, for example, those grapes don’t end up producing a bottle of “Napa Valley Cabernet anymore, that’s a Lake County Cabernet,” said Susskind. In other words, the touchpoints that guide many consumers’ choices — what winemaking region a bottle is from, what grape variety they use — change. Of all the options available to winegrape producers, Susskind said, relocating showed the “least desirability” among survey participants, meaning they were least willing to pay more for these wines. But crucially, respondents still said they would pay extra for wines made from these grapes. Read Next <img src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/indigenous-knowledge.jpg?quality=75&strip=all" alt="" class="js-modal-gallery__hidden" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/indigenous-knowledge.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 2000w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/indigenous-knowledge.jpg?resize=1200%2C675&quality=75&strip=all 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/indigenous-knowledge.jpg?resize=330%2C186&quality=75&strip=all 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/indigenous-knowledge.jpg?resize=768%2C432&quality=75&strip=all 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/indigenous-knowledge.jpg?resize=1536%2C864&quality=75&strip=all 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/indigenous-knowledge.jpg?resize=160%2C90&quality=75&strip=all 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/indigenous-knowledge.jpg?resize=150%2C84&quality=75&strip=all 150w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" height="1125" width="2000" loading="lazy" decoding="async"> Indigenous cultural practices are a climate solution, report finds Joseph Lee There are limits to the study. For one, it only considers adaptation strategies for winegrape growers and doesn’t explore climate mitigation strategies, which would help growers to decarbonize production and have an overall lighter impact on the climate. Additionally, only 300 participants answered the survey, most of them college graduates under 40 years of age. Included in the survey respondents were people who reported to “care about environmental issues and read labels on food products,” according to the study — two things not everyone does, or does every time they go shopping. And the researchers acknowledged that there may be a novelty factor at play here — over time, wine-drinkers’ willingness to pay more for these bottles may fade. Still, people in the industry feel that the results are promising. “This is genuinely valuable work,” said Jimena Balic, a winemaking researcher based in Chile. “The economics of climate adaptation in wine are badly under-documented, and putting real numbers to ‘go, stay, or change’ plus the finding that consumers will pay a premium for adaptation, is exactly the kind of evidence growers need.” Balic believes that winegrowers are not likely to invest in any adaptation strategies unless they are likely to pay off. She added that for winegrape producers, adaptation is more likely to be implemented in a more piecemeal way rather than wholesale. Maybe producers plant different varieties of grapes in one part of their land and install shade cloth in another to maximize output. And heat isn’t the only climate threat facing vineyards: While some regions may face drought, others might see unpredictable rainfall, as well as hail, frost, and pests. “Wine risk is multifactorial,” said Balic, “and each hazard carries its own cost and its own adaptation choices.” She would like to see further research expand on these challenges. Similarly, the results of the study didn’t surprise Greg Jones, a wine climatologist and CEO of a winery based in Oregon. “But there’s so many other caveats,” he added. From his point of view, much depends on educating the consumer around the viticultural process and how wine gets made — and then doing more education around how climate change is affecting growers. Whether consumers can perfectly hold all of those things in their mind is something the industry is still figuring out. “We have a system where the consumer is hard to read,” he said. Jones, who has spent the last 25 years studying the impacts of a changing climate on winegrape production, among other things, said he felt encouraged by the Cornell team’s research. “The research says something important, people would be willing to pay more for [these wines],” he added. He hopes it will lead to further studies on adaptation and consumer preference. This story was originally published by Grist with the headline People are willing to pay more for climate-proof wine, study shows on Jul 2, 2026. This content originally appeared on Grist and was authored by Frida Garza.
Pakistan suspends Geo News broadcast license for 15 days over religious content
Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA)
New York, July 2, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Pakistan’s media regulator to immediately lift its 15-day suspension of Geo News’ broadcast license after the news network was reprimanded over ​content aired during a program marking Muharram, one of the holiest months in the Islamic calendar. The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA)...
New York, July 2, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Pakistan’s media regulator to immediately lift its 15-day suspension of Geo News’ broadcast license after the news network was reprimanded over ​content aired during a program marking Muharram, one of the holiest months in the Islamic calendar. The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) said that Karachi-based Geo News had broadcast “religious visualization” during a June 26 program that could offend religious sentiments and disturb public order. Geo News, one of Pakistan’s largest Urdu-language news channels, apologized on June 28 for the broadcast, saying the material had been aired in error and did not reflect the channel’s editorial position. On July 1, the broadcaster announced it had fired the employees responsible for producing and approving the material. “The suspension of Geo News’ license over its programming marks a serious escalation in official interference with Pakistan’s news media,” said CPJ Afghanistan-Pakistan Representative Waliullah Rahmani. “Pakistani authorities must immediately withdraw PEMRA’s suspension order and allow Geo News and all independent news outlets to operate without heavy-handed government meddling.” Geo News said the programs depicted “certain rituals practiced by a limited number of people in Iraq and some other Middle Eastern countries” — but did not promote any broader religious point of view. Pakistan, which has strict blasphemy laws, has heightened media regulations during Muharram. Depictions of the Prophet Muhammad and other Islamic figures are especially sensitive and have triggered unrest in Pakistan in the past. The PEMRA office in Islamabad did not immediately respond to CPJ’s emailed request for comment. This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.
Ukraine Has Created A Logistics Problem For Russia. Here’s How.
Declaring, "I believe in America, I believe in us," an active duty Air Force major was arrested Wednesday for a non-violent act of civil disobedience after he publicly called for Trump to be impeached, removed and convicted for his scores of impeachab...
Declaring, "I believe in America, I believe in us," an active duty Air Force major was arrested Wednesday for a non-violent act of civil disobedience after he publicly called for Trump to be impeached, removed and convicted for his scores of impeachable offenses. Citing the "foundational oath" he took to defend the country "against all enemies foreign and domestic" - most vitally a lawless president - Major Jason Watson insisted, finally, "The bill must come due." Watson's action came after a press conference with advocacy groups including About Face Veterans, Defenders of Our Republic, Removal Coalition, its newly launched Remove the Regime, and Free Speech For People, which has gathered over a million signatures urging Congress to initiate impeachment proceedings against Trump for his hundreds of crimes. Also present was Rep. Al Green, the only member of Congress to have filed impeachment articles. Declaring this "an existential moment for our nation," Free Speech president John Bonifaz praised Major Watson for "the kind of courage our democracy demands (in) stark contrast to those who continue to look away as President Trump commits unprecedented abuses of power." Watson introduced himself by citing his 17-year career in the military before swiftly adding, "Who I am is immaterial. In the grand scheme of things I'm a nobody. What's more important is what I have to say, and the price I'm willing to pay to say it." Thanking allies "working to restore responsible governance to our country," he repeated the "foundational" oath he first swore over 20 years ago, and has since repeated "many times since," to "support and defend the Constitution of the United States," which "binds us all together as Americans." We have all "played a part in getting us into this mess," he added, but undeniably "the burden of culpability" falls most heavily on the executive branch, "and the bill must come due." Matter-of-factly, he offered a hefty list of high crimes and misdemeanors: The "unconstitutional usurpation of Congress’ authority" with military action against foreign countries, absent the requisite emergency scenario, in Venezuela, Cuba, Iran; the granting of power to an unelected person to shut down large swaths of the government; the detaining and sending of residents without due process to a foreign country; the abuse and murder of those exercising their First Amendment rights, etc etc. After each, he added, "For this, the president and vice-president must be impeached convicted, and removed." He was there not as a Democrat - "I am not a Democrat" - but to call on Americans to peacefully "join me in the defense of our republic." Video of his speech then briefly cuts out; when it returns, he is walking slowly, deliberately, toward the Capitol steps, an area that is open to the public but where protest is prohibited. Several Capitol Police stand to the side, nervously watching. In somber, lonesome silence, he climbs the stairs; mid-way, he stops and holds up a sign that reads, "Impeach. Convict. Remove." The watching crowd cheers. After a brief huddle, a couple of officers arrest him. As he is led away, his hands cuffed behind him, his dignity intact, the crowd breaks into chants of "Shame!" and, "Who do you serve? Who do you protect?" Excellent questions. We, and many many weary, grieving, enraged Americans, salute him. This content originally appeared on Common Dreams and was authored by Abby Zimet.
Musician Leyla Ebrahimi on giving in to the daydream
What is your earliest memory of being creative? Can you describe the feeling?
What is your earliest memory of being creative? Can you describe the feeling? The first time I remember being creative is when I was young and would play outside by myself all day. I did not need anything besides water and mud—I had a mud business, a bakery, with customers. It felt invigorating, this ultimate sense of purpose. I think that was a function of one, not having a lot of friends, and two, loving being alone, but imagining that I wasn’t. Those times were very intimate and special, for me, by me, from me. For me, being creative is still a pretty solitary activity. When did you know you wanted to pursue an artistic path? I never identified as a musician, even though I wrote songs and played them on my keyboard. I did musicals and had a theater camp stint, but I didn’t like participating in group ensembles. I fought being involved in music until I joined acapella groups, which I was bad at because again, I didn’t have the mentality that each part is important. All of this is so funny because now all I want is to have a full band on stage with me. Then in college I joined a seven-piece Pixies cover band and we accidentally got pretty good. When we played shows, I had a taste of that feeling from my childhood, only now I wasn’t alone. Did you decide to become an artist, or did it happen to you? About a year and a half ago was the first time I gave in to the dream of committing my whole self to music, even if it was never going to be full-time. Just saying out loud, “I am a musician and this is my music. I work another job, but this is what I do.” That was hard; it felt embarrassing. In my experience, I have to fake it ‘til I make it, so I just kept saying it until I believed it myself. It was a muscle I had to exercise. The night I put out my first demo was just a compulsion. That was something greater than me, for sure. I’m haunted by the idea that I’ll never hear all the great music that exists—knowing there’s a song that would make me levitate and I might not ever find it. Maybe releasing that demo was me turning the fear back on myself like, “I can make something that creates that same feeling for someone else.” When I woke up the next day it had like 30 streams, and I could not believe people had listened to it. How often do you reflect on your previous work? I have an unhealthy case of demo-itis—getting really attached to a demo version of a song, knowing it won’t be the final cut—that I bring into the studio with me. I exhaust every demo before it’s released, so once I make a song and put it out, I’m on to the next thing. At one point I wanted to wipe all my earlier songs off of the internet, but I do like to hear how the sound evolves. I think it is important to reflect and I should do it more, but my mind is usually focused on what’s right now or what’s next. Where do you do your work? What do you need in order to do your work? I can’t write when anyone tells me to write—I can’t even write when I tell me to write. I have to be struck by something, and inspiration strikes at the most inconvenient moments—I have to sing the idea into my phone as a voice memo, or I’ve been with other people and had to go into another room and write an idea down, because I know it will leave if I don’t. Usually when that happens, I will write almost the whole song then and there. Of course I go back and make adjustments, but the body of a song is pretty immediate. So I do my work everywhere—all I need is my notebook or my Notes app, voice memos, and a lot of caffeine. If I am bringing a new idea into the studio, I take the morning to refine the idea that I have. I’m building a sketch. When I arrive, I present the premise to [my producer] Shane: what it’s about, who it’s about. Because I write on piano, we map it out on synth first, then we track the other instruments and a scratch vocal. Shane will bounce out a demo and I will listen over and over and come in the next day with more harmonies, or we’ll write more. The day is over when we start to fade and it’s no longer productive. Sometimes I feel so close to something really special and don’t quite get there, which is my least favorite feeling, but then I go home and it strikes me and I have it for the next day. At the end of the day, I’m not doing a good job if I’m not having fun. I can hear in the music when I’m not having fun, when the work isn’t resonating with me. Is there a creative habit you have to fight against? How do you fight it? I prolong the songmaking process as long as possible and have to be told when to stop adding to a song. Another one is that I like for my music to nod to itself through similar melodies and progressions, but I can get too caught up in that and then become tired of my own writing. Sometimes less is more, and a piece of art can just be its own moment. When that happens I feel really far removed from the work and I have to walk away from it—but that’s a luxury I don’t get all the time. I try to challenge myself to seek out the new and ask my collaborators for their input. It’s really helpful to have someone tell me, “You made your point, save something for the next one.” Photo by Clips Split. What is your relationship to feedback? How do you know whose feedback to trust? I’m so sensitive after I spend hours and hours working on something. But usually the next day I’m ready to get pummeled with feedback. I like it and I think I take it on the chin. A lot of the best parts of my songs have come from people pushing me. Even just hearing someone say, “You can make this better” is so helpful to me. I can tell when my solo ideation on something is done and now it needs collaboration, and I also trust that my collaborators will listen to me if I push back. It’s incredibly intimate and requires a lot of honesty. Sometimes, when a stubborn wall goes up, I have to listen to that—to myself—too. The biggest lesson I’ve learned from Shane is that we are making very complicated art and that the process is non-linear, so it’s okay to face frustrations or complications. I also send my demos to my parents, but I have to wait at least a day, because they will send back three paragraphs of edits and getting that right away is too much for me. [laughs] How did you learn to trust your intuition as an artist? I have no technical skill or knowledge; I don’t read music and I know little to no music theory. I can see where I fall short without those things, but I also see the ways in which it’s okay not to have them. I am lucky to work with people who are open to sharing that knowledge with me, but aside from that, I never have to think too hard about what I’m writing. It’s all intuition, which is funny because I don’t trust my intuition in any other area of my life. [laughs] But I have always had the ability to hear something and know what needs to be added or taken away. It’s one of the only things that I can do. I also am always willing to try something and if it doesn’t work out say, “Okay, that was a bad call.” How do you nourish your creativity? What are your most valuable resources? I’m constantly tinkering around with my instruments, just having fun. When I’m not doing that, I’m listening to music. To feel fulfilled creatively when I am not making something of my own, I have to engage with other people’s work, which is where the majority of my inspiration comes from. Everything that exists now was preceded by something else. Do you have any rituals? The night before a song comes out, I walk around the track at the park starting at 11 p.m. Then at around 11:58, I lay on a picnic table and listen to the song as it drops. Before I perform, I get so nervous I feel sick, so I have to go into a room alone and talk to myself. When I’m out there I feel great, but the moments leading up give me the worst anxiety in the world, so I’m just like, “You have to do this now.” Oh, and I drink a Celsius before I go into the studio. How do you approach digital spaces? I have a lot of anxiety and digital spaces don’t help with that. But once I was complaining to a friend about having to post on social media, and he was like, “Well if somebody else out there wants it bad enough, they’re gonna post.” I was like, “…Who? No one wants it more than me!” So it’s just a pill I have to swallow. It has become really complicated to just be a musician and it makes me sad. Now you also have to be a marketing expert and a content creator. It can be helpful—that kind of marketing is accessible to everyone and it doesn’t require a massive budget, so independent artists, broke artists, can promote their work for free. But I know that I’m not good at those things; the only thing I’m remotely able to do is write a song. If I didn’t have to [be on social media], I wouldn’t be, but it’s in the fabric of everything. What are the rewards of your creative practice? I get everything out of making music. I genuinely believe it is exactly what I am meant for. When I’m making music, I’m never worried that I should be doing something else. I never feel like it’s a waste of time. My whole life, I never felt that with anything that I did. So there’s no doubt in my mind that this is what I’m supposed to be doing. Every once in a while, someone will message me and tell me that a song of mine affected them, and that’s all the more reason to keep doing it. It’s the greatest, most fulfilling feeling. It’s the ultimate joy. If all of the external things disappeared and I was just releasing music all alone and okay with that, that would be success to me. Failure would be doing it for any other reason. Leyla Ebrahimi recommends: Soko’s I Thought I Was An Alien: An album that changed my life and helped me better understand myself. Sit down and listen front to back. Going to dinner and a movie: What a great feeling—you get to go to dinner and when that’s done, there’s a whole other thing to enjoy, with yourself or someone else. Wearing fuzzy socks when it’s cold out: Helps not only with temperature but also with depression. Biking across the Williamsburg Bridge while listening to “Hot Blooded” by New Constellations: Thank me later. Your life is a movie. An English muffin with butter in the morning: Sets the precedent for a great day. This content originally appeared on The Creative Independent and was authored by Carolyn Bernucca.
Sentencing of the Prairieland Defendants Necessitates a Massive Movement against ICE and Repression
Trump 2.0 has been marked by a barrage of attacks on social movements. A key pillar of this repression has been the use of extreme legal measures against individuals who represent broader progressive sentiments. More The post Sentencing of the Prairieland Defendants Necessitates a Massive Movement against ICE and Repression appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Prairieland Defendants. Image: Johnson County Sheriff’s Office. Trump 2.0 has been marked by a barrage of attacks on social movements. A key pillar of this repression has been the use of extreme legal measures against individuals who represent broader progressive sentiments. Consider Kilmar Ábrego García, the immigrant who resisted his wrongful deportation to El Salvador, or Mahmoud Kahlil, the former Columbia University student and Palestine activist who was one of several pro-Palestine university activists targeted by ICE. The shocking life sentences against immigrant rights activists who protested an ICE facility in Prairieland, Texas, must be understood as part of this broader strategy in which the administration uses select individuals to pave the way for further attacks on those who have most actively resisted its far-right agenda. But the Prairieland sentences are not just another example of this repressive strategy; they represent an escalation that will have severe implications if not resisted. What these community members did was participate in a noise demonstration outside of the Prairieland Detention Center, one of the many ICE jails across the country where immigrants are held in dehumanizing, unsafe, and deadly conditions. ICE facilities have been exposed for their inhumane conditions in which imprisoned immigrants, including children, have been psychologically tortured, physically and sexually assaulted, and served spoiled food. Some of the Prairieland Defendants didn’t even participate directly in the protest. As Jacobin aptly put it: Meagan sat in her car playing Nintendo, waiting to drive demonstrators home. Daniel transported a box of magazines. The DOJ just successfully sentenced them and seven others to 30+ years in prison what they’ve called “justice” against “Antifa terrorists.” Sufia Khalid, deputy director of the National Security Criminal Defense Center at the Muslim Legal Fund of America, further explained the case on Democracy Now!: the government in this case sought a novel — first time that this has happened — use of a rarely used statute: the provision of material support to terrorists. And that has not been used in the purely domestic context for this kind of conduct. That statute also does not require any connection to a domestic terrorist organization or any kind of a domestic terrorist organization. When the government sought prosecution under this statute, they sought to seek a very dangerous precedent, that now allows them to target any American engaged in protest that results in even the most minor damage to property, property destruction. Any American can be targeted that way now. The same administration that bombs girls’ schools in the Middle East and fishing boats in the Caribbean, terrorizes immigrant communities in the United States, and kills those who defend them, such as Renée Nicole Good and Alex Pretti, has the audacity to suggest that these activists are the real perpetrators of violence. ICE and the police who collaborate with them are responsible for the violence. Even Benjamin Song, the one activist who was sentenced to 100 years for firing a gun during the protest, did so only in self-defense, since he reasonably believed police were shooting at the peaceful protesters. The legal precedent is set. The smear campaign against anti-ICE activists is in full swing. And this is not an isolated case. A Weaker, More Aggressive Trump The Prairieland convictions follow several other cases that show how the administration is preparing to carry out more extreme forms of political repression. Just before the Prairieland sentencing, the federal government indicted 15 Minnesotans who participated in the profound solidarity movement in the Twin Cities against Operation Metro Surge. Then there are the June 10 FBI raids against eight pro-Palestine activists in Michigan who are now facing felony conspiracy charges. The FBI also recently raided an Ohio voting rights organization, and a poll worker in Syracuse shared that she was confronted by DHS agents over social media posts she made criticizing the ICE agent who murdered Renée Good. These are just a few examples that, together with the Prairieland convictions, show how Trump is using intimidation and trumped-up charges to try to suppress those at the forefront of organizing against the Far Right and for democratic rights. But these escalations come from a position of weakness. Trump has suffered important defeats. First was the class struggle in Minneapolis, which forced the administration to retreat and which turned people across the United States against Trump’s most extreme attacks on immigrants. This domestic defeat was followed by Iran’s defeat of the United States, in what was the most domestically unpopular war in U.S. history. Disapproval of Trump’s handling of the economy is also growing, fueled in large part by the consequences of the war on Iran. And all this comes ahead of midterm elections with commentators declaring that the Republicans have already lost. This has led to important splits in the MAGA coalition with the high-profile departures of Marjorie Taylor Greene and Tucker Carlson. Trump is a lame-duck president whose high-profile blunders domestically and abroad have sparked outrage. Now sectors of his coalition are, if not ready to jump ship, at least starting to look for the exits. To put it simply: his administration is weak. Now Is the Time for a Movement in the Streets against Repression Given Trump’s political weakness, and given the severity of the repression his administration is carrying out, there’s no reason there shouldn’t be more outrage. It’s widely acknowledged by First Amendment advocates and legal experts that the Prairieland sentencing should sound alarm bells about the future of basic democratic rights. But right now, the focus is midterms. In their typical efforts to direct outrage against the Right out of the streets and into the ballot box, the Democratic Party is leaving the activists under attack out to dry. In this way, the Democratic Party plays a key role in allowing the Right to separate the vanguard of our movements — such as the Prairieland Defendants, the Minnesota 15, and the Michigan 8 — from the broader sectors of society who sympathize with the fights that these activists represent but are more inclined to follow the lead of traditional leaderships connected to the Democrats. This does not mean a movement against repression isn’t possible. The No Kings marches, for example, have shown that the base of the Democratic Party isn’t content to wait for November to express their opposition to the Far Right. This dynamic of a base prepared to fight, despite the tepid approach of organizations that are looked to for leadership, also has expressions in the labor movement, as was shown by the Labor Notes conference earlier in June. Millions have mobilized in the streets against Trump’s attacks. Similarly, the rise of DSA as a major player in national politics, with an army of thousands of canvassers, shows how a combination of socialist ideas, anti-imperialism and solidarity with Palestine, hatred of ICE, and hatred of the rich is politicizing more and more people across the country. And while the immigrant rights movement hasn’t seen anything as profound as the January 23 economic shutdown in Minneapolis, it remains a part of the national political landscape, threatening to spark new expressions of class struggle at any moment, as was shown in the confrontation with ICE at Delaney Hall in New Jersey, and in ICE’s recent decision to sell seven warehouses, in part because of the movement’s work to oppose detention centers. For the various sectors under attack and that have shown an interest in fighting Trump, it’s necessary to build a resistance to these attacks in the streets, clearly demanding freedom for the Prairieland Defendants and all those imprisoned by ICE, as well as an immediate end to the persecution of the Minnesota 15, the Michigan 8, and all activists under attack. It’s key that unions take up this fight. We’ve already seen what that could look like. SEIU, for example, has mobilized with force when this administration has attacked its members, from David Huerta to Rümeysa Öztürk. That solidarity and power to mobilize must be deployed against all those under attack by Trump, and every union that claims to oppose Trump must do so, using the resources and members they put toward campaigning for Democrats to instead build demonstrations against political repression. The same must be done by the NGOs that routinely use their role in the social movements to direct everyone back into the Democratic Party through electoral campaigns. DSA, with its more than 100,000 members, its army of canvassers in NYC, and its national spotlight, also has a key role to play in building this fight, but every organization of the Left must join, given that socialists, communists, and anarchists can expect to be targeted by further attacks. Everyone, however, can play a role in building this much-needed movement. The experience of Minneapolis showed what happens when outrage builds from below and community members organize themselves instead of waiting for specific organizations or political figures to take the lead. It’s time to act. Confronting and defeating this repression is as possible as it is existential. The post Sentencing of the Prairieland Defendants Necessitates a Massive Movement against ICE and Repression appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Sam Carliner.
The Unfinished Revolution: When Rights Become Privileges
Two hundred and fifty years after the Declaration of Independence proclaimed that all people possess inalienable rights, we now live under a government that increasingly behaves as though rights belong to the government to distribute, restrict and revoke as it sees fit. Freedom has become conditional. Constitutional rights have become political bargaining chips. More The post The Unfinished Revolution: When Rights Become Privileges appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
LAPD guarding the entrance to the LAPD Rampart Division building. Photo: Jeffrey St. Clair. What exactly are Americans celebrating this Fourth of July? Two hundred and fifty years after the Declaration of Independence proclaimed that all people possess inalienable rights, we now live under a government that increasingly behaves as though rights belong to the government to distribute, restrict and revoke as it sees fit. Freedom has become conditional. Constitutional rights have become political bargaining chips. Government now claims the authority to decide which religious beliefs deserve accommodation and which may be excluded—a clear violation of the First Amendment’s warning against both establishing a religion and favoring or disfavoring one religion over another. It insists that some speakers deserve constitutional protection while others may be censored, surveilled or punished—a violation of the right to free speech. It proclaims itself the defender of unborn life while dismantling programs that protect the health and welfare of children already born. It welcomes some immigrants with extraordinary speed while denying others the full measure of due process promised by the Constitution. It pays lip service to equality under law while dismantling programs designed to ensure equal opportunity and root out discrimination. It invokes the sanctity of children while narrowing which children may claim the birthright citizenship guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment. It insists that no one is above the law while expanding presidential immunity and removing many of the traditional checks on executive power. Rights that the Declaration of Independence described as inalienable are increasingly treated as permissions—granted when convenient, withheld when inconvenient, and interpreted according to political priorities rather than constitutional principle. That is not merely bad policy. It is a repudiation of the American Revolution, because the Revolution began with one radical claim: freedom is our birthright. To listen to those in power, however, freedom is a privilege reserved for a select few: the politically favored, the ideologically acceptable, the obedient, the compliant, the useful. The Declaration of Independence advanced a very different idea: that all people are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights. That was the real revolution. America’s founders may have disagreed—often grievously and hypocritically—about who qualified as “the people,” but they were united in one essential conviction: our rights do not come from government. The government exists to serve us. Government exists to safeguard and protect our inalienable rights—not ration them, redefine them or revoke them. That distinction matters. Once government is allowed to decide whose rights count, rights cease to be rights at all. They become privileges. And privileges can always be revoked. For 250 years, Americans have treated the Declaration of Independence as the nation’s birth certificate, but the Declaration was never merely a birth certificate—it was a warning label. It was written by people who understood that freedom is fragile, power is relentless, and no generation remains free simply because an earlier generation fought for liberty. It catalogued the abuses of a ruler who had placed himself above the law, treated the people as subjects rather than sovereigns, undermined representative government, obstructed justice, maintained standing armies, imposed surveillance, abused power and waged war against the very people he claimed to govern. The names have changed. The machinery has changed. The technology has changed. The danger has not. That is why the Constitution matters. The Constitution translated the warnings of the Declaration into law. Through separated powers, checks and balances, federalism, and a Bill of Rights, the founders sought to bind government down with what Thomas Jefferson called “the chains of the Constitution.” Yet those constitutional restraints are increasingly being loosened—not by formal amendment, but by precedent, emergency powers, executive practice, bureaucratic discretion and public indifference. The warnings are no longer theoretical. Even the judiciary has increasingly become part of that transformation. Rather than serving as a reliable constitutional brake on concentrated power, the U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly removed barriers that once restrained the executive branch: presidential immunity, limits on nationwide injunctions, and expanded presidential power to fire independent agency officials. Each decision may be explained on its own legal reasoning. Together they tell a larger constitutional story: the presidency grows stronger, while the people’s ability to restrain it grows weaker. The founders would have recognized this danger immediately. They had just fought a revolution against concentrated executive power. Tyranny today may no longer look like King George III, but it is no less dangerous when it arrives wrapped in the language of national security, public safety, emergency management, border control, religious liberty, law and order, governmental efficiency and executive necessity. The danger is not simply that government power is expanding. It is that government is claiming the authority to decide who possesses constitutional rights and who does not. This is how constitutional government is hollowed out. Not all at once. Not always with tanks in the streets. Not always with a formal suspension of the Constitution. It recedes gradually—emergency by emergency, exception by exception, court ruling by court ruling, executive order by executive order, crisis by crisis. It disappears when due process becomes optional, habeas corpus is treated as expendable, speech is chilled, surveillance becomes routine, government secrecy expands, religious freedom becomes selective, citizenship becomes negotiable, oversight bodies can be fired at will, and executive power grows while meaningful accountability contracts. It disappears when “we the people” grow so accustomed to fusion centers, surveillance cameras, geofence warrants, AI-assisted policing, militarized SWAT raids, civil asset forfeiture, government watchlists, facial recognition systems, warrantless tracking, endless wars, executive decrees and perpetual states of emergency that constitutional government becomes little more than a ceremonial ideal. Every emergency becomes justification for another exception. Every crisis becomes an opportunity to normalize another expansion of authority. Temporary measures become permanent institutions. This is how you condition a populace to become accustomed to tyranny. The unfinished work of the American Revolution was never about building a stronger government. It was about preserving a free people capable of restraining their government. Every generation inherits the Revolution unfinished. Every generation must decide whether to continue its work—or abandon it. As I make clear in Battlefield America: The War on the American People and its fictional counterpart The Erik Blair Diaries, freedom does not defend itself. Thus, the question before us is no longer whether America has reached its 250th birthday. The question is whether Americans still believe what made that birthday worth celebrating in the first place. Preserving that birthright is our responsibility. Courts will not always protect liberty. Congress will not always defend its authority. Presidents will rarely surrender power voluntarily. Which leaves only one remaining guardian of constitutional government: We the people. The post The Unfinished Revolution: When Rights Become Privileges appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by John W. Whitehead – Nisha Whitehead.
Second Thoughts About Celebrating the 250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence
The hoopla surrounding the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence seemingly reflects another unfortunate instance of historical amnesia. Whether immersed in the white supremacist narrative promoted by Trump and his enablers or some liberal version of the high mindedness of the Founders, we are being asked to forget the foundational and ongoing tragedies of the United States of America. More The post Second Thoughts About Celebrating the 250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Isaac Jefferson, an enslaved blacksmith at Monticello, photographed in 1845. Tracy W. McGregor Library of American History, Special Collections, University of Virginia Library. Public Domain. The hoopla surrounding the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence seemingly reflects another unfortunate instance of historical amnesia. Whether immersed in the white supremacist narrative promoted by Trump and his enablers or some liberal version of the high mindedness of the Founders, we are being asked to forget the foundational and ongoing tragedies of the United States of America. As Isabel Wilkerson wrote in the “Afterword” to her brilliant book, Caste: The Origins of Our Discontent: “We are in an unspoken state of emergency. We have learned that freedom and democracy are not a destination or settled state of being but a fragile proposition, and their preservation is an ever-present duty of each and every one of us who cherishes liberty.” Moreover, the blinkered vision of our national history remains an impediment to achieving freedom and democracy, let alone celebrating the full context of the liberty promised by “Declaration of Independence.” James Baldwin’s excavation of the “collection of myths to which white Americans cling” in his still resonant 1963 Jeremiad, The Fire Next Time, provides a starting point. Among those myths to which a majority of whites adhere, according to Baldwin, are the following: “that their ancestors were all freedom-loving heroes, that they were born in the greatest country the world has ever seen, or that Americans are invincible in battle and wise in peace, that Americans have always dealt honorably with Mexicans and Indians and all other neighbors…” In a more recent and compelling work by Eddie Glaude, Democracy in Black: How Race Still Enslaves the American Soul, he excoriates our “collective forgetting,” especially as it underscores the continuing racial injustices and inequalities “at the heart of our nation.” Furthermore as racial justice activist Tim Wise observes, “we aren’t to blame for history…either its horrors or its legacy it has left us. But we are responsible for how we bear that legacy and what we make of it in our present.” So, what is that legacy and what do we make of it in the present? The so-called American experiment was part and parcel of the establishment of settler colonialism in the 16th and 17th century – a colonialism that entailed the extermination of Indigenous people and the enslavement of people of African descent. Throughout the colonial period and right up to the War of Independence, violent conflicts ensued as settlers continued to push against Indigenous territory on the frontier. It is not surprising that the author of the Declaration of Independence, having cited fomenting “insurrection” by “merciless Indian savages” as one of the grievances against King George III would himself become the advocate for merciless policies towards Native Americans. In instructing his Secretary of War in 1807 on the preparations for military engagements against any recalcitrant or resisting Native Americans, Jefferson wrote “that if ever we are constrained to life the hatchet against any tribe, we will never lay it down until that tribe is exterminated, or driven beyond the Mississippi. As an enslaver of Black bodies, Jefferson was well aware of the daily tortures endured by the enslaved whether on the auction block or in slave labor camps. While the legal and political documents undergirding the founding of the nation may have obfuscated the violent reality imposed on African Americans, the forms of social and civil death they suffered were rationalized by a racial ideology which according to the historian, Barbara Jean Fields, “supplied the means of explaining slavery to a people whose terrain was a republic founded on radical doctrines of liberty and natural rights.” Perhaps there is no better revelation of the duplicity in the celebration of “Declaration of Independence,” with its vaunted enunciation of the equality of all, than Frederick Douglass’s famous address in 1852: “What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciations of tyrants, brass fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade, and solemnity, are, to him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy.” The celebration of the Declaration of Independence while Trump perpetuates his corruption and vicious racism and xenophobia could be seen, once again, as “bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy.” Added to Trump’s racist and xenophobic agenda are the recent reactionary and white supremacist decisions by the Supreme Court on voting and immigrant rights. To blithely retreat to the backyard barbecue on July 4th while our national house appears, figuratively, on fire, is another aspect of the ‘collective forgetting” of the past and the turning away of our present political tasks. If there is one excerpt from the Declaration of Independence that should be salvaged as showing the way forward, it is the following passage: “That when any form of Government becomes destructive of these ends (life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness), it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it.” The post Second Thoughts About Celebrating the 250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Fran Shor.
Here we are at the end of a month-long celebration of the life and work of the poet Allen Ginsberg (1926-2026) and I haven’t said a word about his sexual politics, which I described to a friend—who helped launch the Gay [ . . . ] The post The Sexual Politics of Allen Ginsberg appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Ginsberg with his partner, poet Peter Orlovsky, in 1978. Photo: Herbert Rusche. CC BY-SA 3.0 Here we are at the end of a month-long celebration of the life and work of the poet Allen Ginsberg (1926-2026) and I haven’t said a word about his sexual politics, which I described to a friend—who helped launch the Gay Liberation Front (GLF) in New York—as “complex.” I know I can’t make up for what I didn’t say and this will definitely not be the last word on the subject. Far from it. No one recently has written extensively about Ginsberg’s sexual politics, but about 15 years ago, the American writer Edmund White, a force in the LGBTQ community, noted that “Ginsberg bore the traces of the general homosexual oppression of his epoch, but he did more than anyone else of his generation to overcome his gay self-hatred and to take a pro-gay militant stand.” White added that “He was an apostle of tenderness among men.” Perhaps so, but not always as in poems like “Please Master” in which he says, “Fuck me more violent.” To say that he did more than anyone else to overcome gay self-hatred is to give him more credit than is due him. What about the rioters at Compton’s in San Francisco in 1966 and at the Stonewall three years later and also what about the thousands of gay men around the US who demanded to be treated with respect and dignity? Ginsberg must have known that I wasn’t gay or queer. He never made a pass at me, suggested we have sex or even touched or kissed me, though we were alike in many ways: Jewish and from lefty east coast families, both Columbia College graduates who were at odds with some of the same Cold War liberal anti-communist professors who would not assign any book by Walt Whitman, William Blake, Oscar Wilde, Emily Dickinson or Virginia Woolf. And they thought they were free thinkers and intellectuals. When the Sixties came along they wanted their students to be arrested and jailed to teach them a lesson. The idea of being “fucked in the ass” and screaming “with joy” didn’t and still doesn’t appeal to me, nor does getting “blown” by sailors, both of them sex acts described in Howl. The only kind of fucking that appealed to me in Ginsberg’s world was the kind he described in “America,” where he tells the nation, “Go fuck yourself with your atom bomb.” The heterosexual acts in Howl didn’t appeal to me any more than the queer sexual acts when I first read them. Neal Cassady, “the secret hero of the poem,” sweetens “the snatches of a million girls.” That sounds like a macho fantasy and sexual abuse. Rereading Howl after all these years, it strikes me that the poet positioned himself on a continuum that makes room for many different varieties of sexual experience, both “gay” and “straight” and everything in-between. Perhaps Sonny Barger of the Hells Angels hit the nail right on the head when he apparently said of Ginsberg, “For a guy who wasn’t straight, he was the straightest person I ever met.” He meant that as a compliment. A genuine utopian, Ginsberg made and shared more than one picture of heaven. One of them was of a big bed with a small tribe of young people all of them sucking and fucking. In our day and age of sexual repression, along with money making pornography and misogyny, Ginsberg’s idea of sexual paradise looks as subversive as ever. We don’t have to act on it. We probably shouldn’t. But we might imagine a world in which pleasure isn’t punished and the pursuit of happiness in bed and everywhere else is encouraged. The post The Sexual Politics of Allen Ginsberg appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Jonah Raskin.
Why People Say the Economy is Bad: Fees and Insurance
People’s negative assessments of the economy continue to be somewhat of a mystery. The recent run-up in gas prices and inflation more generally is unambiguously bad news, but is this the worst economy ever, as some of the consumer confidence measures have been showing recently? Real income for those at the middle and bottom has More The post Why People Say the Economy is Bad: Fees and Insurance appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
House, Knappa, Oregon. Photo: Jeffrey St. Clair. People’s negative assessments of the economy continue to be somewhat of a mystery. The recent run-up in gas prices and inflation more generally is unambiguously bad news, but is this the worst economy ever, as some of the consumer confidence measures have been showing recently? Real income for those at the middle and bottom has generally been rising by standard measures, so it seems that we’re missing something, and I’m not sure any of us have figured out what. My friend, Jared Bernstein, argues that a big part of the story is that consumers are unhappy not just because of inflation, but because prices are high. Implicitly, they expect them to come down and are unhappy that they don’t. I’m not entirely happy with this story, primarily because I remember the 1980s. Back then we had a big surge in inflation in the 1970s, which was brought down by a severe recession (actually two recessions) from 1980 to 1982. But prices never actually fell; we just got the rate of inflation down from peaks of more than 10% to around 3-4%. And most people seemed happy, or at least they told survey takers they were happy. I will come back to this issue. I think there might be something to the prices are high complaint, but maybe in a somewhat different way than Jared has laid out. I do think we need to consider the possibility that people don’t see inflation in the same way economists measure it. I’ll address two areas where I think the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Personal Consumption Expenditure Deflator (PCE) may miss part of the story. Then I will talk a bit more generally about how we measure inflation versus how it might be perceived by consumers. Fees Charged to Renters The Guardian had a great investigative piece this week, by Tracie McMillian, about the fees charged to tenants by the real estate management company Greystar. According to the piece, Greystar tacks a wide range of fees for everything from sewage and trash pickup to access to amenities, even to the cost of processing rent payments. According to a study cited in the article, these fees averaged 20% of rents. Greystar is just one company, but the piece indicates that it manages approximately 1.1 million rental units across the country. That by itself would be more than 2.5% of all rental units. But the piece indicates that these sorts of fees are a common practice among real estate management companies, even if others may not be quite as extreme as Greystar. In principle, fees should be incorporated in the measure of rents used by the CPI and PCE, but it’s not clear that they would be fully picked up. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) sends a survey taker to people’s doors who ask them about the rent they pay. They are supposed to tell them this includes the various fees, but that fact may not always be clearly conveyed. And in any case, tenants often don’t know of some of these fees, so they wouldn’t be able to tell the survey taker about them even if they did understand the question correctly. It’s not clear how much of these fees would be missed and how much difference it would make in our measures of inflation, but the two rental components (rent proper and owner’s equivalent rent [OER]for owner-occupied housing) account for just over a third of the weight in the CPI. If we missed 3-4 percentage points of rental inflation in the last five years due to uncounted fees, it would matter for the overall measure of inflation. (The OER index is based on the rent index, so a mismeasurement in the rent index would also affect the OER index.) This is not the only place where inaccurate prices could affect measured inflation. Last year the Guardian had a piece about how Dollar Stores often charged people more at the checkout counter than the price shown on their shelves. They apparently program their registers to record the prices they want to charge, but they don’t always update the prices on the shelf to reflect increases. This can leave many people surprised at the checkout counter when they find their bill is considerably more than what they expected to pay. That’s bad news for them, but it’s also a bad story for our measurements of inflation. The BLS price checker is looking at the price on the shelf; they wouldn’t know if the store had programmed a different price in its system. The Dollar store chains are big on their own, but apparently, other chains also have similar issues, even if not to the same extent as Dollar. While part of the story may be deliberate deception, part of it is simply understaffing. The change in the programmed price can be done in seconds. Changing the price on the shelves can require considerable staff time, especially if items are individually marked. If most of the price changes are upward, the failure to accurately record them will lead to an understatement of inflation. People Might See Home Insurance in a Different Way than BLS Most homeowners have home insurance. In fact, banks generally require insurance as a condition for getting a mortgage. According to research from the Dallas Fed, the average homeowner with a mortgage spent $2,700 on home insurance last year, which would come to 2.7% of median family income. That’s up from 2.0% before the pandemic. Despite the large and rapidly growing (can you say, “climate change?”) amount that homeowners spend on insurance, its weight in the CPI is less than 0.28%, roughly the same weight as household cleaning products. Home insurance has such a low weight is because BLS is only counting the cost of insuring items in the home, treating it as tenants’ insurance, not the cost of insuring the structure itself. There is a logic to this decision having to do with treating housing as a consumption item rather than an investment. That’s a longer story, but the simple point here is that every homeowner treats what they pay for insurance as money out of their pocket. And that’s the whole premium, not just the part that covers furniture. This would be another reason that our measures of inflation might undercount the inflation people see in their lives. High Prices and Falling Prices Picking up on Jared’s point about prices being high, it is worth noting that spending on food has been consistently falling as a share of total spending for many decades. In the 70s food spending was around 13% of total spending. That had fallen to less than 10% by the early 90s, less than 9% by 2010, and in 2020, just before the pandemic, it was just 7.6% of total spending. (These data are taken from the relative importance measures from the CPI.) Given this longstanding pattern, people might reasonably have expected food to continue to take up a smaller share of their budget. But that has not happened. Food now accounts for roughly 8.3% of the average household’s expenditures. It is understandable that people would be upset about their food budget being a growing burden. And of course, this is a considerably larger share of the budget for people at the bottom and middle of the income distribution than the top. I have also noted that the index for medical care likely bears little relationship to what people see as the cost of medical care. The index measures change in the cost of specific items, like a particular drug, or a specific procedure, like hip replacement surgery. Few people would have any idea what these procedures cost. They would know what they pay for their insurance, their co-pays and deductibles, and out-of-pocket expenses. Those would be very indirectly related to the rate of medical inflation shown by the CPI. In a period where the government is cutting back subsidies in programs like the ACA and Medicaid, what households have to pay for their care is almost certainly rising far more rapidly than the CPI measure of medical care inflation. Is It Really the Worst Economy Ever? I can agree that our measures of inflation might be missing some price rises, but I still don’t think that can get us the worst economy of the post-World War II era. Unemployment almost hit 10% in 2009, and 11.0% in 1982. Are things really worse today when the unemployment rate is 4.3%? As many have noted, part of this is the hyper-partisanship of the times. Republicans say things are awful when a Democrat is in the White House and vice versa. It is likely that social media is partly to blame, as it seems to amplify negative stories. (When have you seen good news go viral, other than the Knicks winning?) I’d like to say that extreme inequality is part of the picture, but I don’t have evidence to back that up. Anyhow, it seems we need to keep putting things on the table for consideration. There is a big disconnect between our standard measures of economic well-being and how people tell us they feel about the economy. There should be some way to explain the difference. This first appeared on Dean Baker’s Beat the Press blog. The post Why People Say the Economy is Bad: Fees and Insurance appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Dean Baker.
Abe Lincoln’s Reflecting Pool: A Republican Allegory
Sunlight splashed colors from the twin fountains of the Rainbow Pool. Lincoln recalled how the rainbows looked before the waterworks were split apart and surrounded by pillars with their glints of grey that glanced back at him from Kershaw granite, hewn and hauled in from the South Carolina underground. He kept his mind on the math. Add 400,000 American casualties of World War II to 600,000 casualties of the Civil War, and you get a cost of one million American souls. More The post Abe Lincoln’s Reflecting Pool: A Republican Allegory appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Statue of Lincoln, Indianapolis. Photo: Jeffrey St. Clair. A half score and one year ago, the white marble eyes of Abraham Lincoln gazed eastward across the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, overlooking the collateral damage caused to the pool by the heavy construction of the World War II Memorial. Skies roiled over Washington, DC, during June 2015, one of the wettest Junes on record to date, with thunderstorms, street flooding, hail, tornadoes, and winds that toppled trees. Weathermen forecast which way the wind would blow from the remnants of Tropical Storm Bill, now moving up from Guatemala. Meanwhile, a six-day heat wave was cresting on the afternoon of the 16th, the hottest day of the year to date, during the sixth consecutive year that June temperatures trended above normal. Even the Washington Post reported blazing sun at high noon. Abe’s eyes looked straight through the curved thickness of the WWII Memorial’s Freedom Wall to the side where 4,048 gold-plated stars commemorated American casualties. His eyes then traced with studied regard the elliptical path of the bronze Rope of Unity that bound together 56 pillars representing each of the states and territories that had joined the fight, together. Sunlight splashed colors from the twin fountains of the Rainbow Pool. Lincoln recalled how the rainbows looked before the waterworks were split apart and surrounded by pillars with their glints of grey that glanced back at him from Kershaw granite, hewn and hauled in from the South Carolina underground. He kept his mind on the math. Add 400,000 American casualties of World War II to 600,000 casualties of the Civil War, and you get a cost of one million American souls. Lincoln’s republican soul uplifted itself to the memory of Cato’s final hour as dramatized on stage by Addison’s famous play. The ancient senator, with book and sword in hand, drew inspiration from Plato’s reasoning as he turned the sword on himself rather than surrender to Caesar’s dictatorship. A soul could reach for immortality in courageous service to republican ideals such as these. Lincoln, in his 1859 “Second Lecture on Discoveries and Inventions” quoted Cato’s soliloquy, yanking the meaning of it straight down to the ground floor. Just as Cato’s soul could express “a pleasing hope—a fond desire—a longing after” immortality, so could the soul of Young America yearn for “territory,” the better to “extend the area of freedom.” Honest Abe satirized Young America who, he explained, “is anxious to fight for the liberation of enslaved nations and colonies, provided, always, they have land, and have not any liking for his interference. As to those who have no land, and would be glad of help from any quarter, he considers they can afford to wait a few hundred years longer.” Truly, the soul of Young America thrilled to the manifest destiny of real estate, landing the meaning of things a full stop down from what Plato had taught Addison’s Cato. The lecture of 1859 confessed to other propositions, namely that Johannes Gutenberg’s 1436 invention of moveable-type printing was preceded by Antonio Gonzales’s 1434 “invention of negroes, or, of the present mode of using them.” Lincoln’s lecture doesn’t consider Socrates’s warning to Phaedrus that writing, of itself, cannot recall truth–a lesson that he could have applied exponentially to printing. Books propagandizing African slavery still get shuffled next to Plato’s dialogues, necessitating one bloody rectification after another. Meanwhile, Abe maintained his stoic pose for a FaceTime selfie now being shared with an iPhone 6 Plus from the steps of his memorial, at about the spot where Martin Luther King Jr. demanded sufficient funds to fulfill the Emancipation Proclamation. Abe glanced through his Georgia-marble eyes toward the Tidal Basin of West Potomac Park, checking to see that King’s memorial of Hope still kept watch in the heat. Returning to the sight of splashing light at the Rainbow Pool, Lincoln tried to recall how Phaedrus learned from Socrates the infinite worth of love. The soul’s “longing after” immortality that Plato taught was the yearning that flows from the divine madness of love, a topic also well treated in Addison’s play. Those goosebumps that overcome you when you catch sight of your lover is but your soul’s yearning to grow feathers and fly back to heaven where the soul-stars move together in divine bliss. Socrates was a skilled stone cutter–a master mason–who knew very well how to cut a granite pillar or a marble block to precise dimensions of sacred geometry. And he could inspire sacred geometries to rise up from within the souls of his students, whether from Phaedrus, Plato himself, or from the most unschooled slave child, as he demonstrated one day to the incredulous slave master Meno. Some of the lessons that Socrates taught stuck with his students over time. It was Phaedrus who steered a weary drinking party toward a discussion of love’s glories, transforming forever the meaning of the word Symposium. Nor was that party scandalized by the whimsical speech of Aristophanes (which would get the Symposium banned from a Texas university syllabus in 2026). Other lessons that Socrates taught boomeranged. He tried to get Alcibiades to take seriously the study of justice to no effect whatsoever and was likely held personally responsible for not having effectuated less disastrous learning outcomes. In the end, it was the Persians who dispatched Alcibiades, just as Socrates had tried to warn him would happen if Alcibiades did not take better care of himself. With the sun blazing over the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, Abe overheard someone’s iPhone playing the Orson Welles reading of The Allegory of the Cave from The Republic, Book VII, a timeless invitation to inquiry within: Am I living in the cave or out of it? If I’m living in the cave, is it because I have returned, or because I never left? When I lift mine eyes from the reflection of the blazing sun to squint at the sun itself, what part of the allegory am I inviting myself to take in? After a while, Abraham Lincoln’s eyes begin to drink in the cooling reflections of sunset, dusk, and night. With the moon gone new and dark, the starlight of stately souls resumes its divine and brilliant pageant. Here and there, Old Abe catches the reflection of a falling star. But he keeps his mind on the math. On a clear night, he never shirks his duty to count each soul reflected in the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool until he reaches at least to a million and one. The post Abe Lincoln’s Reflecting Pool: A Republican Allegory appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Greg Moses.
Adding to Failure: Amending Australia’s Under-16 Social Media Ban
When something is not working, abandon it. The policymaker and politician, the latter often inclined to populist temptation and the endless tapping for votes, will decide to make a state of wrongheadedness even worse. T [ . . . ] The post Adding to Failure: Amending Australia’s Under-16 Social Media Ban appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Still from Poltergeist. When something is not working, abandon it. The policymaker and politician, the latter often inclined to populist temptation and the endless tapping for votes, will decide to make a state of wrongheadedness even worse. The evidence is starting to grow that Australia’s daft delving into the world of regulating a child’s access to social media (the arbitrary limit when social media virginity is shed is 16 years) is falling flat. Here, we have the continued, easy target that keeps nourishing the blundering, self-pleasuring prefects in Canberra: irresponsible companies with their social media platforms luring children into a cyberworld of harmful content and damaging consequences. We also have the object of holy salvation: children untouched by the world. Punish the social media platform (though in small spanks rather than vigorous lashings) or at the very least, convince them to place age-set limits to accounts; spare the unfortunate, ignorant child supposedly incapable of navigating technology they can master in a fraction of the time their parents can. The process leading to the passing of the legislation was, it should be remembered, also suspect. With parental certitude and forced caring, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese spoke of saving childhood before the ravaging predations of Silicon Valley. Miraculously, children would cease being screen gorgers and become fit-as-fiddle athletes, climb trees or play the tuba. The underlying, somewhat sinister message was that of a moral panic taking hold. And where such panic exercises itself, the urges to control, monitor and police tend to follow with molesting predictability. The children become a pretext and, if anything, ought to be ignored. Hence the conspicuous absence of extensive consultation with youth or their involvement prior to the drafting process. The resulting Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Act 2024 (Cth) is not sailing well. It was the subject of a recent analysis in the medical journal BMJ by researchers from the University of Newcastle. The observational study of 408 children between the ages of 12 and 17 found that over 85% of the participants “reported using social media platforms subject to the Act at follow-up”. Between 54-68% reported the use of their own accounts; 66% “reported exposure to platform age verification, most commonly self-declared age (24-39%) or uploading a picture (‘selfie’) (13-27%).” Instances of circumvention or the use of social media via a private browser (6-11%) were also noted. While it is easy to loose oneself in the blissful undergrowth of statistical data, the conclusion of the study is telling and, for the righteous in policy, damning: “Despite the intent of the Social Media Minimum Age Act 2024 to delay access to social media platforms and reduce the potential for online harms, little evidence was found of immediate substantive reductions in reported social media use by adolescent under 16 years.” The academic study adds some dour bulk to the commentary showing the ban to be fatuous and embarrassingly ineffective. Data provided by the parental monitoring company Qustodio to Crikey in March would not have made pleasant reading to the prohibitionists. “While TikTok, YouTube and Snapchat all saw a decrease in use by Australians aged 10-15, the majority of teens who had been using social media platforms pre-ban remained on the services afterwards.” That same month, the tireless Mike Masnick of Techdirt, never missing the chance to excoriate Australia’s buffoonish legislation, suggested that the ban had resulted in something far worse than simple failure. Fine if it was simply a case of having to do something for the children and failing for want of perfection. “But that’s not what happened. The ban didn’t leave things where they were. It made things actively worse through a mechanism that was entirely predictable.” The ban entailed “a test of technical sophistication, rather than a test of vulnerability. The kids who can’t figure out how to get around it – or who don’t have friends or older siblings to help them – are the kids who are already isolated or lack the technical skills to bypass a block.” The thick and lonely always get it in the neck. Add to this the utter absence of punitive grit in the enforcement mechanism – so far no fines have been imposed (they can be as high as AU$49.5 million) for a failure of the platforms to comply – and one wonders where the utility of this feat of ineffectualness lies. What, then, does the government do? Not to abandon a silly policy to please parents who should know better, or voters unaware about the behaviour of children or, for that matter, social media platforms. Instead, Albanese tells his fellow parliamentarians on June 25 that there is “more to do” regarding a ban that is “complex”. His less-than-able Gauleiter, eSafety commissioner Julie Inman Grant, far from admitting failure, simply claims a lack of sufficient teeth in enforcing the ban. “I don’t have potent powers,” she lamented to the Sydney Morning Herald earlier this month. Worried about remarks made by the surly commissioner, Albanese has returned to the theme of control. “We can’t allow the power that these companies, which are unaccountable, which get massive amounts of … profit and have extraordinary power. We need to make sure that Australians are in charge of this.” His proposal: to increase the threshold of financial penalties to AU$99 million. For the PM, it was abundantly “clear big tech are not doing enough to comply with the law – there are still too many children on social media.” The eSafety commissioner would also be vested with greater powers to compel social media companies to furnish evidence of what had been done to prevent those under 16 years from opening or using an account, including from third parties. Globally, the desire to hold back youth from perceived corruption, ennui and neuroses at the hands of nasty tech titans is underway. The Australian PM is pleased, for instance, that 16 countries have also decided to replicate the failing ban, because nothing sells in politics like a moralistic prohibition that doesn’t work. This has little to do with matronly urges to protect so much as the opportunist’s desire to exploit a situation. Children are not inherently innocent, charmingly ignorant, and hopelessly impotent as their false defenders assume. They are more than capable of making decisions and attaining an understanding of sophistication and worth regarding the use of technology. In time, as is often the case, they will end up teaching that very generation wishing to close doors how to not only open them but understand what’s behind the barrier, however ghastly it might be. The post Adding to Failure: Amending Australia’s Under-16 Social Media Ban appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Binoy Kampmark.
Mail Voting Proposal: Make an Example of Steiner
On June 2, the US Postal Service proposed a new rule in the Federal Register on standards for handling of mail ballots, with public comment open through July 2. That rule was issued pursuant to an executive order by US president Donald Trump. While the proposal unambiguously claims that “states would retain full control over More The post Mail Voting Proposal: Make an Example of Steiner appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Ballot drop box, Portland, Oregon. Photo: Motoya Nakamura, Multnomah County Elections Division. On June 2, the US Postal Service proposed a new rule in the Federal Register on standards for handling of mail ballots, with public comment open through July 2. That rule was issued pursuant to an executive order by US president Donald Trump. While the proposal unambiguously claims that “states would retain full control over who would (or would not) be able to vote by mail in federal election,” US Postmaster General David Steiner, told Congress that in actuality, the organization he runs would refuse to deliver ballots in states which don’t turn over voter data to the federal government. While a federal judge has already nixed the scheme, it will probably end up working its way to the US Supreme Court. Even if more courts, possibly including SCOTUS, act to prevent the US Snail from seizing control of elections, it seems to me that the message — “don’t mess with our votes” — isn’t really getting through to the US government. Examples need to be made, and I think there’s a way to make one: A federal grand jury. While the usual perception of grand juries is that they indict only those whose indictments are sought by prosecutors — who, in the old saying, “could get a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich” — there’s nothing to PREVENT such a jury from handing down indictments against whomever, for whatever, they want. What we need is a grand jury whose members are willing to get together, talk things over, and charge David Steiner and his underlings, per Title 18, Section § 371 of the US Code, with the federal crime of “conspiracy.” What did Steiner and those who helped him craft and promulgate the rule conspire to do? They conspired to — and have publicly confessed to conspiring to — violate Title 18, Section §1703: “Whoever, being a Postal Service officer or employee, unlawfully secretes, destroys, detains, delays, or opens any letter, postal card, package, bag, or mail … shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.” I’ve got mixed opinions on voting itself (for one thing, I’m not sure it accomplishes much), and strong opinions on mail (the government should get entirely out of the matter and let the private sector handle it), but this particular matter is about rule of law. Regardless of whether I like the laws, or how they’re made, or who gets to make them, I’m a big supporter of holding the government and its officials to the laws they claim are so important for our “protection.” This is such a clear-cut case of a government official openly announcing that he’s conspired with others to violate the laws he’s sworn to abide by and enforce that just suing for relief isn’t enough. David Steiner really needs to spend some time — even if only a few hours between his arrest and a presidential pardon — locked in a small room, wearing an orange coverall, contemplating the gravity of his offenses. That would be good not just for his soul, but for our freedoms. The post Mail Voting Proposal: Make an Example of Steiner appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Thomas Knapp.
Adding Fuel to the Fire: The Forest Service’s Fuel Reduction Strategy
Most of the West’s perennial wildfire plague is due to human stupidity. But it’s not just the careless people who start the fires, it’s also all the people that voted for politicians who ignored the climate crisis or called it a hoax. The primary risk factor for increased wildfire vulnerability is hotter, drier forests. Were it not More The post Adding Fuel to the Fire: The Forest Service’s Fuel Reduction Strategy appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Logging on the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. Photo: Jeffrey St. Clair. Most of the West’s perennial wildfire plague is due to human stupidity. But it’s not just the careless people who start the fires, it’s also all the people that voted for politicians who ignored the climate crisis or called it a hoax. The primary risk factor for increased wildfire vulnerability is hotter, drier forests. Were it not for major election interference by Jeb Bush, and a nakedly partisan Supreme Court, we would have had Al Gore as President, and America might have led the world away from a suicidal leap off the cliff of climate disaster. But at least we were saved from having a “wooden personality” in the White House. Instead, 26 years later, chasing America’s bumbling descent into psychotic irrationality, much of the world has also thrown in the towel on preserving an inhabitable climate. We have a President who is so malevolently abusive to the environment he is grabbing the planet by the pussy, spending billions bribing companies to sabotage clean energy. But as long as we have all paid dearly for front row seats to this UFCSC (Ultimate Fighting Climate Stupidity Championships) cage match, let’s take a look at another contender, the US Forest Service. For decades the agency has peddled a fairy tale that Western forests are morbidly dense and unhealthy because they have put out too many fires over the last 90 years, and that’s why we have so many, massive forest fires. Solution? 1.“Fuels reduction treatments” and 2. “Prescribed burns.” The euphemisms are deliberately crafted to make you think our forests are sick, and the Forest Service “doctor” will make house calls to do forest CPR. And for good measure, this medicine will also protect your home in the forest. This is wildfire management malpractice. Yes, the agency has a lot of “in-house” research to support their claim. But the agency lives, eats, and breathes conflict of interest. The agency operates under the umbrella of the US Dept. of Agriculture, which treats forests as a commodity resource. It’s joined at the hip to the logging industry. It promotes lumber and wood products with videos like this that encourage burning wood for heat, the most polluting way to heat a home, and more carbon intensive than using coal. The agency receives funding selling trees to the timber industry. This obvious conflict of interest is institutionalized. In contrast to agency research, over 40 studies from different countries and independent researchers tell almost the opposite story. In the largest study ever done, the authors concluded forest “thinning,” accelerates and intensifies wildfires. They wrote, “Dense, mature forests tend to burn less…because they have higher canopy cover and more shade, which creates a cooler, more moist microclimate.” The higher density of trees of all sizes can act as a windbreak, buffering gust-driven flames and limiting flying embers. “Thinning and other activities that remove trees, especially mature trees, reverse those effects, creating hotter, drier, and windier conditions.” Consistent with that research, photographs of the current Cottonwood Fire, the most destructive in Utah history and largest in the nation, suggest the fire is burning right through areas that had been thinned. Continuing the medical theme, thinning our forests to prevent wildfires makes no more sense than thinning your brain to prevent Alzheimer’s. It’s just making things worse. We know of Forest Service employees who have been fired for challenging the agency’s forest thinning orthodoxy. Communications with researchers (including those with PhDs in ecology) in federal agencies and other institutions characterize the differences in conclusions drawn by independent research compared to Forest Service-connected research this way: 1. The burning and thinning mindset has been institutionalized, and it is difficult to change. It takes a long time to convince people that the strategy is not working. Employees are reluctant to consider what they have been doing is failing or making it worse. 2. There is a long-term budget commitment to “active forest management” so land managers want to take advantage of those available funds. Follow the money. 3. Land management agencies (primarily the Forest Service and BLM) want to be perceived as being proactive because the public expects them to do something to put out or prevent fire, to keep their homes safe. Land managers don’t want to be blamed if there is a poor outcome (especially when houses, cabins or other structures burn) which feeds the public’s expectation that something can and should be done. This is also climate malpractice. Pre-emptive deforestation is also an obvious climate disaster. Every tree cut down loses its carbon absorption, and every tree burned releases all that carbon into the atmosphere immediately when we can least afford it. We are contemptuous at deforestation of the Amazon knowing the “lungs of the earth” are being mutilated and its climate buffering is being lost. But when we do the same to American forests, many cheer it on because it’s branded “fuels reduction.” This is public health malpractice Smoke from wood burning, whether from a fireplace, wildfire, pizza oven, or prescribed burn, is the most toxic type of pollution the average person ever inhales. New research gives another black eye to the presumptive therapeutics of “prescribed burns.” On a national scale, 10,000 people die annually from wildfire smoke, but slightly more than that die from prescribed burn smoke. Per hectare burned, the overall health burden and daily health care costs were found to be nearly five times higher for prescribed burns compared to wildfires. This contradicts claims that human health is being protected by prescribed burns. The apocalyptic megadrought strangling the life out of the American West, turning our forests into bonfires and smothering us in toxic smoke is not random bad luck, it is the direct and predicted result of decades of human caused greenhouses gases, climate policy failures, and pervasive political propaganda. And the Forest Service is only making it worse, blasting us with a firehose of stupidity with their “fuel reduction” solution, ironically adding “fuel to the fire.” The post Adding Fuel to the Fire: The Forest Service’s Fuel Reduction Strategy appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Dr. Brian Moench.
That title of mine is certainly repetitive of me (me, me), but how can you not be repetitive in the distinctly repeated world of Donald J. Trump (Trumped, Trumped)? I mean, twice already and who really knows what’s to come? Here’s the question nobody seems to be asking right now, though: What country will Donald More The post The American Way of War, War, War appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Image by khalid kwaik. That title of mine is certainly repetitive of me (me, me), but how can you not be repetitive in the distinctly repeated world of Donald J. Trump (Trumped, Trumped)? I mean, twice already and who really knows what’s to come? Here’s the question nobody seems to be asking right now, though: What country will Donald Trump attack next? Yes, at the moment, he’s still wildly wound up in his Iran war/truce/peace/or you name it (tomorrow). Yesterday, it was, of course, Venezuela, and next week it might be Cuba or Greenland, or who on (or off) this planet knows where? And I haven’t even mentioned his military’s ongoing bombing runs in Somalia, which are barely noticed in the mainstream media here. And who knows what I’ve forgotten or what to expect in this increasingly bizarre world of ours from the president who swore repeatedly in his third election campaign that he would never, never, never go to… yes, of course, war? Hey, only the other day, Secretary of War (a title which, of course, couldn’t be blunter in the age of You Know Who) Pete Hegseth warned that “what happens with the future of Cuba is in the hands of the president of the United States and the leadership of Cuba. No matter what, the Department of War is going to be prepared and postured for any possible contingency.” Ah, yes, any possible contingency except one, of course: victory (which, since the Second World War, just hasn’t been in the American vocabulary) or, for that matter, peace. I mean what could possibly go wrong in a world that now, remarkably enough, has its first trillionaire, Donald Trump’s (sometimes) buddy Elon Musk? (On that, Senator Elizabeth Warren commented all too aptly: “I want to be clear: This is not just some fluke. It is a feature of a rigged economy.”) What, in fact, could possibly go wrong on such a rigged planet? I’m sure Donald Trump and Elon Musk couldn’t imagine. What could go wrong on a world in which no American president ever seems to realize that wars are simply never to be won by this country, no matter its power and the ever-ballooning size of the Pentagon budget, now possibly heading for — ah, yes, talking about trillionaires! — $1.5 trillion yearly (and, no, that is not a typo), if Donald Trump has anything to say about it? And in Congress, mind you, that’s still referred to as “defense” spending. What could possibly go wrong when launching a war on Iran, a country that’s slightly less than 6,500 miles from Washington, D.C.? That’s so much less dumb of Donald Trump than Vladimir Putin’s decision to launch a disastrous war right on his country’s border with Ukraine. At least, Iran is so far away that you could ask: Whose lives could possibly be disturbed by it (other than Iranians, their neighbors, or of course, anyone who drives a car or a truck that isn’t electric and has had to pay for the gas that hasn’t been making its way through the Strait of Hormuz these days, months, or for all we know years)? In fact, here’s a suggestion for President Trump: at only 6,500 miles, Iran really shouldn’t be considered quite far enough from Washington to truly, truly count as the world’s best enemy. What about Pakistan instead, since it’s 7,000 miles away? Wouldn’t that make better sense? Especially since, as Zia ur-Rehman of the New York Times reported recently, with the planet heating up as distinctly as it is, one district in southern Pakistan hit a record 124.7 degrees Fahrenheit as May ended. And you (and Donald Trump) know just what that means: ever more Pakistanis will feel that they have to leave their country and head elsewhere and why not head for the United States of America, only 7,000 miles away? So, Donald, how about starting another war there and while you’re at it, as wars do so effectively, pour yet more fossil fuels into the atmosphere, ensuring that Pakistan will indeed get ever hotter (and hotter and hotter) even faster (and faster and faster)? And honestly, to ask a perfectly realistic question: if President Trump can’t continue to stack up wars one atop another, how in the world will he ever get Congress to pass his next Pentagon budget for that $1.5 trillion? We certainly need another war (or two or three) for that to happen and, honestly, Greenland’s too damn cold and minimally populated and Cuba’s too close and a mere island to truly count. Wait! Let’s look at the positive side of things for a moment. With Trump and crew ready to fossil-fuelize this planet in striking ways, as the Department of War has made clear, “President Donald J. Trump and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth are ushering in a new era characterized by peace through strength.” And what more could you ask for than that, though “peace,” of course (because definitions matter) should be “war” and “strength” should mean another 1.5 trillion taxpayer dollars for the Pentagon to blow on yet more disastrous conflicts globally, right? Who could possibly disagree with such a definition of peace? Anyone who does deserves to be sent to Iran, Greenland, or Cuba, just to find out what peace truly feels like. Yes, give our president full credit. He lends “brink” new meaning and what could possibly go wrong on a planet distinctly on the brink of… well, who knows quite what but nothing good — that indeed did just get its first trillionaire. I can’t imagine, can you? And given all of that, let me end on a little more upbeat news. As the BBC recently reported, “The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has declared that El Niño conditions are now under way in the tropical Pacific [Ocean], with sea surface temperatures having risen sharply in recent months.” And even better, assume that it could prove to be “a so-called ‘super’ El Niño,” and even possibly “among the strongest ever recorded.” So, count on this: our planet is going to get hotter and hotter and hotter. And Donald Trump is still doing his damnedest to shut down green energy of any kind and make more war. So, what could possibly go wrong when we have a president at the brink (of who knows what) and a planet at the brink (of who knows what’s next)? This piece first appeared on Tom’s Substack. The post The American Way of War, War, War appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Tom Engelhardt.
Cindy Folkers and Ian Fairlie have written an essential book. The Scientists Who Alerted Us to the Dangers of Radiation presents the findings of 39 scientists who studied and raised alarms over the health effects of radiation exposure and who consequently suffered severe blowback from universities, government and industry. The scientists proved that radiation risks More The post Scientist’s Warnings Against Radiation appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Cindy Folkers and Ian Fairlie have written an essential book. The Scientists Who Alerted Us to the Dangers of Radiation presents the findings of 39 scientists who studied and raised alarms over the health effects of radiation exposure and who consequently suffered severe blowback from universities, government and industry. The scientists proved that radiation risks have “consistently been underestimated” for decades. Their findings angered both nuclear profiteers and research grant authorities. From Linus Pauling, Alice Stewart, John Gofman, Karl Morgan and Ernest Sternglass, to Rosalie Bertell, Jay Gould, Steve Wing, Tim Mousseau, Kate Brown and Thomas Mancuso; authoritative scientific warnings have consistently found that official radiation exposure limits are grossly inadequate, dangerously unprotective, and help facilitate the plague of cancer and cancer deaths around the world. The authors report, “[R]ecent epidemiology findings indicate that these radiation scientists were correct … but by larger margins than we had thought. For example, increased radiogenic risks are routinely ignored, the protections of children and women are not addressed, large dose/risk uncertainties are passed by, internal radiation exposures remain largely unexamined, cardiovascular risks ignored, and the hazards of common radionuclides are systematically minimized.” Nine of the radiation scientists profiled in the book “observed increased incidences of childhood leukemias and solid cancers near U.S. nuclear facilities,” they note. For example, Dr. Jay M. “Gould often found that cancer and infant mortality rates climbed when reactors were activated, then began to drop when they were closed, a phenomenon he attributed to exposure to small but chronic exposures to radiation from their radioactive releases.” “Indeed,” the authors report, “a strong pattern of epidemiological evidence indicates increased leukemia and solid cancer risks near all reactors world-wide, not just those in the U.S.” The most important epidemiology study on chronic low-dose exposures was the German government’s 2008 KiKK study Childhood Cancer in the Vicinity of Nuclear Power Plants.* “This found a 120% increase in leukemias and a 60% increase in all cancers among infants and children under 5 years old living within 5 km of all German NPPs” (nuclear power plants). “KiKK was a large well-conducted study; its findings were scientifically rigorous; its evidence was particularly strong; and the Germany government’s radiation protection agency (the BfS) which commissioned the study, confirmed its findings.” A BfS-appointed expert group said of it: “The present study confirms that in Germany there is a correlation between the distance of the home from the nearest NPP [nuclear power plant] at the time of diagnosis and the risk of developing cancer (particularly leukemia) before the 5th birthday. This study is not able to state which biological risk factors could explain this relationship. Exposure to ionizing radiation was neither measured nor modelled.” The authors report that, “The risks from NPP emissions to embryos/fetuses in pregnant women living nearby were apparently much larger than currently estimated. For example, [blood-forming] tissues are considerably more radiosensitive in embryos and fetuses than in adults. The combined immaturity of children’s nervous and blood-forming systems makes them particularly vulnerable to chronic radiation exposures from NPPs.” This highly influential study ⸺ which was followed three years later by the catastrophic Fukushima-Daiichi triple reactor meltdowns in Japan ⸺ moved Germany’s government to phase out all 17 of its NPPs. Folkers and Fairlie note that official organizations find it difficult to accept that increases in cancer near NPPs may be due to radioactive emissions. The pro-nuclear view is that routine radioactive releases to air and water from NPPs cause human exposures that are too small to explain increased nearby cancers and cancer deaths. Industry and the military assume first, that official risk models are correct, and second, that official dose estimates are not uncertain. On the contrary, the UK government’s official “Report of the Committee Examining Radiation Risks of Internal Emitters” (CERRIE, 2005) found that “the models used to estimate radiation doses from nuclear plants are now known to be highly uncertain and unreliable.” In view of evidence of harm presented in The Scientists Who Alerted, the White House’s current push to weaken or eliminate radiation protection standards in the United States amounts to criminal reckless endangerment, and must be stopped. *German Kikk study: “Childhood Cancer in the Vicinity of Nuclear Power Plants,” P. Kaatsch, et al (2008), International Journal of Cancer, #122; and “Case-control study on childhood cancer in the vicinity of nuclear power plants in Germany 1980 – 2003”, C. Spix, et al (2008), European Journal of Cancer, #44. The post Scientist’s Warnings Against Radiation appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by John Laforge.
America Creates the Displacement It Then Punishes
Republican immigration policy turns people fleeing a global order shaped in part by U.S. power into culprits—and then asks them to bear the costs of a disorder they did not create. When the Supreme Court on June 25 cleared the way for the Trump administration to end Temporary Protected Status for more than 350,000 Haitians More The post America Creates the Displacement It Then Punishes appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Republican immigration policy turns people fleeing a global order shaped in part by U.S. power into culprits—and then asks them to bear the costs of a disorder they did not create. When the Supreme Court on June 25 cleared the way for the Trump administration to end Temporary Protected Status for more than 350,000 Haitians and roughly 6,100 Syrians, it treated the matter as a question of executive authority. Yet the same government warns Americans not to travel to Haiti or Syria because of kidnapping, violence, terrorism, armed conflict, and collapsed security. It can acknowledge danger when those at risk carry U.S. passports, then allow the protection shielding Haitian and Syrian families who have built lives in the United States to be withdrawn, leaving many vulnerable to removal into that danger. That is not a technical inconsistency. It reveals the governing logic of the Republican immigration agenda. America helps produce or deepen instability abroad, then criminalizes, detains, and expels many of the people who flee its consequences. The border is where this contradiction becomes visible, but it is not where it begins. No honest argument should claim that the United States causes every migrant’s journey. Haiti’s crisis has Haitian causes. Syria’s catastrophe has Syrian, regional, and international causes. Corrupt elites, armed groups, authoritarian governments, and local political failure matter. But those facts do not absolve Washington. A country that exercises military power, uses sanctions and financial leverage, and helped build a carbon-intensive global economy cannot pretend that displacement begins only when someone reaches the Rio Grande. The Republican story begins too late. It sees the migrant in a detention cell, at a checkpoint, or before an immigration judge. It does not see the family calculating whether its children can survive another year; the worker pushed out by economic collapse; or the community uprooted by violence, climate shocks, and failed institutions. Once that history is erased, people fleeing insecurity can be recast as the source of insecurity. Haiti makes the point with unusual force. Washington is not a neutral observer in Haiti’s history: the United States occupied the country from 1915 to 1934, exercising direct control over key financial and security institutions. That past does not explain Haiti’s present catastrophe by itself. It does, however, make the pretense of American innocence untenable. As of March 2026, more than 1.4 million people had been displaced inside Haiti by violence and insecurity. Ending TPS does not restore public safety, curb gang control, or make return humane. It simply transfers risk from the American legal system back to people who have already carried it. Climate sharpens the same contradiction. The United States remains the largest historical contributor to carbon dioxide emissions, while the harshest costs of the fossil-fuelled global economy fall on societies least equipped to absorb drought, heat, food insecurity, and disasters. Climate change does not mechanically propel every victim across an international border. It does make livelihoods more precarious, compound conflict, and weaken already fragile states. Washington cannot plausibly treat those forced to move as strangers to a crisis it has helped intensify. Republicans will answer that every sovereign state has the right to enforce its immigration laws. That is true. A functioning immigration system cannot be left to smugglers, informal networks, or permanent legal ambiguity. Temporary protection was not designed as automatic permanent residence. Cities receiving newcomers need housing, schools, health care, and public investment. A left argument that dismisses these concerns as mere prejudice will fail both politically and morally. But this is not a choice between orderly immigration and open borders. It is a choice between a lawful system that accepts responsibility and a punitive system that treats vulnerability as proof of guilt. When the Court also let the administration revive “metering” at ports of entry, it widened the government’s ability to stop asylum seekers before their claims could be heard. Danger does not vanish when a family is turned away. It is pushed into Mexican border cities, informal camps, and transit states where safety is weaker and American responsibility is easier to deny. That is externalization, not resolution. The United States does not address the conditions that drive displacement. It moves the human consequences farther away. The same strategy is now being extended inland. By June 29, ICE had signed 2,045 agreements under its 287(g) program, enlisting state and local agencies across 39 states and two U.S. territories in federal immigration enforcement. The border is no longer only a line at the edge of the country. It appears in traffic stops, workplace disputes, courthouse visits, and routine encounters with police. In that environment, legal status becomes a disciplinary tool: a reminder that demanding rights can carry the risk of detention. That vulnerability is useful to employers. A worker who fears deportation is less likely to report wage theft, challenge unsafe conditions, organize a union, or refuse abusive schedules. This is the neoliberal logic of migration control: workers are welcome when their labor is profitable, but rendered deportable when they become inconvenient or begin to claim rights, safety, and dignity. The claim that mass deportation straightforwardly protects American workers also fails on its own terms. In places exposed to intensified ICE activity, the number of both likely undocumented workers and U.S.-born men at work declines. Workers in the same local economy are often complements rather than substitutes: removing one group can cut output, depress demand, and weaken the job base on which others depend. Deportation does not automatically create higher wages or stable jobs. It can instead expand employers’ leverage over everyone who remains. Democrats cannot escape this indictment. They have often defended detention, deportation, and border militarization through the language of human rights, due process, and orderly governance, while preserving much of the infrastructure that made the present crackdown possible. Republicans have taken that machinery and turned it into a more openly nationalist, punitive, and employer-friendly project. They make the victims of an unequal international order into evidence that the order needs more force. A different policy would not require abandoning border enforcement. It would require ending the lie that the border marks the beginning and end of America’s responsibility: protecting people who cannot safely return, creating legal pathways that do not depend on desperation, enforcing labor law against employers rather than using deportability as a labor-management tool, and judging sanctions, military partnerships, and climate policy by the displacement they are likely to produce. Until the United States accepts its global responsibilities, every harder border will reproduce the same cycle: crisis is created or deepened abroad, then its victims are punished at home. Real security requires international solidarity, but it also requires a break with the imperial logic that makes the powerless pay for a disorder they did not make. The post America Creates the Displacement It Then Punishes appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Brian Hudson.
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Board votes to affirm CPJ’s existing definition of who is a journalist
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) board of directors voted on Wednesday to affirm the organization’s existing definition of who is a journalist and rejected claims it planned to change its definition to exclude particular groups. “CPJ frequently considers its definition of a journalist, including a review that took place in 2025 led by CPJ...
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) board of directors voted on Wednesday to affirm the organization’s existing definition of who is a journalist and rejected claims it planned to change its definition to exclude particular groups. “CPJ frequently considers its definition of a journalist, including a review that took place in 2025 led by CPJ staff and the board’s Policy Task Force,” CPJ board Chair Jacob Weisberg said in a statement. “Board members asked for a vote on a plan to look again at this definition and today voted to affirm the existing definition.” CPJ defines journalists as people who regularly cover news or comment on public affairs through any medium to report or share fact-based information with an audience. CPJ’s longstanding policy has been to include journalists working for state-backed media and those working with media organizations affiliated with militant groups provided they are not engaging in combat or inciting violence in a manner likely to have imminent effect. This approach is anchored in international humanitarian law. CPJ has never included, and removes from its lists, anyone found to be engaging in combat or inciting imminent violence. “It is not true that CPJ planned to change our definition of who is a journalist to exclude slain Palestinian and Lebanese press killed in the Israel-Gaza war. Such unsubstantiated allegations undermine the rigorous documentation of our Middle East and North Africa program over many years, while endangering Palestinian and Lebanese journalists documenting events on the ground today,” Weisberg said. “The board stands fully with the staff of CPJ, whose difficult daily work of documenting attacks on journalists is today more important than ever, and with all journalists wrongly smeared and maligned for doing their jobs.” This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.
House Republicans block vote on amendment to halt U.S.-Israeli military integration
Ex-judge, ex-general sentenced to 5 years for spying on Chilean journalist
São Paulo, July 1, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes an unprecedented June 30 court decision that sentenced a former judge and an ex-general to five years in prison for illegally spying on independent journalist Mauricio Weibel Barahona as he was investigating corruption in the Chilean army. Weibel’s investigation, “Milicogate: The Great Theft from the...
São Paulo, July 1, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes an unprecedented June 30 court decision that sentenced a former judge and an ex-general to five years in prison for illegally spying on independent journalist Mauricio Weibel Barahona as he was investigating corruption in the Chilean army. Weibel’s investigation, “Milicogate: The Great Theft from the Copper Reserve Fund” was first published in 2015 by The Clinic newspaper. In 2016, Weibel published a book on the same matter called “Treason against Homeland.”The following year, Judge Juan Poblete and General Shafik Nazal fraudulently ordered a wiretap on Weibel, claiming his phone number belonged to a Bolivian migrant they accused of being a foreign agent. “This sets an important precedent for fighting impunity in cases involving spying on journalists — and not only in Chile,” said Cristina Zahar, CPJ Latin America program coordinator. “In the last few years, CPJ has documented illegal government spying on journalists in Mexico and El Salvador. This decision may contribute to achieving justice for them and others in similar cases across the region and globally.” The Seventh Preliminary Hearing Court of Santiago considered the Chilean government’s obligations to investigate and punish attacks against human rights defenders and journalists, rejecting arguments based on the statute of limitations that are often invoked in cases of state abuses. The sentence is final and cannot be appealed. The defendants also were stripped of their political rights for life. In an amicus curiae brief filed with the court and reviewed by CPJ, the Global Freedom of Expression initiative at Columbia University emphasized that the case was part of a regional and international context that was “troubling for freedom of expression” due to the illegitimate use of surveillance technologies to monitor the work and private conversations of journalists. This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.
A groundbreaking reparations program in Illinois
Toxic Avengers: America’s poisoned and abandoned communities must stand together or die
<img width="1024" height="768" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2265328898-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C768&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="In an aerial view, Marathon Petroleum Corp's Los Angeles Refinery, one of the largest oil refineries in the North America, operates as gas prices rocket upward due to worldwide oil supply disruptions caused by the U.S. and Israeli attack on Iran, on March 10, 2026 in Carson, California. Photo by David McNew/Getty Images" data-attachment-id="344687" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/toxic-avengers-americas-poisoned-and-abandoned-communities-must-stand-together-or-die/gettyimages-2265328898" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2265328898-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1919&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2560,1919" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0","alt":""}" data-image-title="GettyImages-2265328898" data-image-description="" data-image-caption=" In an aerial view, Marathon Petroleum Corp&#8217;s Los Angeles Refinery, one of the largest oil refineries in the North America, operates as gas prices rocket upward due to worldwide oil supply disruptions caused by the U.S. and Israeli attack on Iran, on March 10, 2026 in Carson, California. Photo by David McNew/Getty Images " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2265328898-scaled.jpg?fit=780%2C585&ssl=1"> From AI data centers to toxic industrial disasters, the USA has become a deregulated, corporate captured “sacrifice zone.” Now, a history-changing coalition of chemically impacted communities, workers, whistleblowers, and others is rising to fight back.
<img width="1024" height="768" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2265328898-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C768&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="In an aerial view, Marathon Petroleum Corp's Los Angeles Refinery, one of the largest oil refineries in the North America, operates as gas prices rocket upward due to worldwide oil supply disruptions caused by the U.S. and Israeli attack on Iran, on March 10, 2026 in Carson, California. Photo by David McNew/Getty Images" decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2265328898-scaled.jpg?w=2560&ssl=1 2560w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2265328898-scaled.jpg?resize=300%2C225&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2265328898-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2265328898-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C576&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2265328898-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1152&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2265328898-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1536&ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2265328898-scaled.jpg?resize=1200%2C900&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2265328898-scaled.jpg?resize=800%2C600&ssl=1 800w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2265328898-scaled.jpg?resize=600%2C450&ssl=1 600w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2265328898-scaled.jpg?resize=400%2C300&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2265328898-scaled.jpg?resize=200%2C150&ssl=1 200w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2265328898-scaled.jpg?resize=2000%2C1500&ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2265328898-scaled.jpg?resize=780%2C585&ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2265328898-scaled.jpg?w=2340&ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2265328898-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C768&ssl=1&w=370 370w" sizes="(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw - 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw / 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw / 12)), 100vw" data-attachment-id="344687" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/toxic-avengers-americas-poisoned-and-abandoned-communities-must-stand-together-or-die/gettyimages-2265328898" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2265328898-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1919&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2560,1919" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0","alt":""}" data-image-title="GettyImages-2265328898" data-image-description="" data-image-caption=" In an aerial view, Marathon Petroleum Corp&#8217;s Los Angeles Refinery, one of the largest oil refineries in the North America, operates as gas prices rocket upward due to worldwide oil supply disruptions caused by the U.S. and Israeli attack on Iran, on March 10, 2026 in Carson, California. Photo by David McNew/Getty Images " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2265328898-scaled.jpg?fit=780%2C585&ssl=1" /> From the explosion of AI data centers to the increasing number of toxic spills, explosions, and industrial disasters happening across the country, corporations and the government are turning the USA into one giant “sacrifice zone.” In “red” states and “blue” states, in rural areas and urban areas, poor and working people are suffering the toxic effects of a crisis that has resulted from decades of deregulation, corporate capture of government, and the protection of private profits over the lives and health of the public. No one is coming to save us, and nothing is going to change unless residents of different sacrifice zones and poisoned communities, workers and unions on the front lines of the industries poisoning us, environmental justice groups, community and faith organizations, scientists, journalists, and all others who have a stake in this fight start coming together, working together, and fighting back together. In this special panel discussion, recorded at the 2026 Railroad Workers United convention in Chicago, Illinois, we speak with a panel of guests who are part of a new coalition that is doing just that. Panelists include: Jeff Kurtz, a retired locomotive engineer, union officer, and Railroad Workers United member who also served as a state representative in the Iowa House of Representatives; Jami Wallace, a displaced resident of East Palestine, Ohio, and founder of the Chemically Impacted Communities Coalition (CICC); Dr. Nicole Fabricant, a professor of anthropology at Towson University and scholar-activist who has been working with chemically impacted communities in South Baltimore, Maryland, for 15 years; Scott Smith, independent testing expert and founder of the Blue Shirt Justice League; and Lesley Pacey, Senior Environmental Officer at the Government Accountability Project. Additional links/info: Railroad Workers United website, Facebook page, and X page Chemically Impacted Communities Coalition (CICC) Facebook page Blue Shirt Justice League website and Facebook page Government Accountability Project website, Facebook page, X page, Bluesky page, and Instagram Coal-Free Curtis Bay Facebook page and Instagram South Baltimore Community Land Trust website, X page, Facebook page, and Instagram Nicole Fabricant, University of California Press, Fighting to Breathe: Race, Toxicity, and the Rise of Youth Activism in Baltimore Maximillian Alvarez, TRNN, “America’s toxic future looks like East Palestine, Ohio, today” Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / TRNN, “‘Let’s unite!’: Poisoned residents of America’s sacrifice zones are banding together” Maximilian Alvarez, Working People / TRNN, “Corporations and the government are turning the USA into one giant ‘sacrifice zone’” Featured Music: Jules Taylor, Working People Theme Song Credits: Audio Post-Production: Jules Taylor Transcript The following is a rushed transcript and may contain errors. It will be updated as soon as possible. Maximillian Alvarez: All right. Welcome everyone to Working People, a podcast about the lives, jobs, dreams, and struggles of the working class today. Working People is a proud member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network and is brought to you in partnership with In These Times Magazine and the Real News Network. This show is produced by Jules Taylor and made possible by the support of listeners just like you. My name is Maximillian Alvarez and we’ve got a really special episode for y’all today. What you’re about to hear is a conversation that I recorded with a truly amazing panel of folks who were all together in person in the same place for the Railroad Workers United Convention that took place in Chicago in June. And these conventions happen every two years and they always overlap with the Labor Notes Conference that is always taking place at the same hotel in Rosemont, Chicago. Many of you who listen to this were probably there this year. And this is actually the third RWU convention and labor notes that I’ve attended. The first time was back in 2022, then in 2024 and now in 2026. Back in June of 2022, the RWU convention that I attended was pretty small. Railroad workers and I were talking excitedly then about the possibility of a national railroad strike and that would become a major news story later in the year. But since then, as we know, President Joe Biden and both parties in Congress crushed the potential rail strike in December of 2022, shoving contracts down workers’ throats and basically giving the giant rail companies everything that they wanted. And then just two months later, the avoidable and unforgivable Norfolk Southern train derailment and chemical disaster occurred in the small town of East Palestine, Ohio. And out of these twin catastrophes, it became just so horrifyingly clear how stacked the deck is in this country for corporations and their Wall Street shareholders. It became clear just how much the government today, along with our whole legal system and a lot of the media, exist to basically protect the profits of private industry at the expense of the public, our health, our lives, and our livelihoods. And it has become clearer day after day, year after year that nothing is going to change unless poor and working class residents of different sacrifice zones, different poisoned communities, workers and unions who are on the front lines of the industries that are poisoning us, environmental justice groups, scientific communities and scientists, journalists, and all of the people who have a stake in this fight start coming together, start banding together and start fighting back together. And as you’ll hear in this conversation and as I saw firsthand at the Railroad Workers United Conference, that is exactly what is starting to happen. I’m here at the 2026 Railroad Workers United Convention being held in Chicago, Illinois, and I’m sitting at a table full of incredible people who are all in the same place at the same time. And I’m going to explain to you who they are really quick by telling you how I got to know them. So first to my right, Real News Network viewers and listeners will remember Jeff Kurtz from Railroad Workers United, Veteran Railroad Worker who was talking us through in 2022 all the crises, long building crises on the freight rail system, on the labor side, on the supply chain side, the Wall Street takeover of this massive industry, creating record profits but creating hazards everywhere for our communities and unendurable jobs for workers on the rails. Then as we all know in 2022 in December, President Biden and both parties in Congress conspired to break the potential railroad strike the first that we had potentially seen in decades two months after that without anything fundamentally changing on the railroads, the Norfolk Southern train derailment and catastrophic chemical disaster took place in East Palestine, Ohio affecting the areas all around there on the Ohio and Pennsylvania side. And that is how, of course, I met Jamie Wallace, who is from East Palestine, lives right next to the derailment site and here three years later is still fighting for her community and has founded the Chemically Impacted Communities Coalition and was out here speaking at the Railroad United Workers United Conference. Then after East Palestine and reporting on that, I came to meet Dr. Nicole Fabricant, whose work in South Baltimore is legendary and she has been working as a researcher on the toxic pollution of communities in Baltimore, poor black, brown, white working class communities predominantly in South Baltimore in Curtis Bay and the surrounding areas. And the main polluter in that area is another rail company, CSX. And so Dr. Fabricant and I teamed up after she learned about East Palestine and I learned about her work. And then that led us to finding out about all these other toxic disasters, crashes, spills, explosions, leakages that are affecting working class communities all over this country. And then we learned about the work of the incredible Scott Smith who goes to all of these communities and is asked to come and test the soil and water and to look for the things the EPA isn’t and often he is finding things the EPA is not looking for, but they are telling residents aren’t there. And Scott has told us that he would not be able to be doing all of that work without the incredible support of Leslie Pacey and all the folks at the Government Accountability Project and she is here with us as well. So I’m going to shut up because that’s as quick of an intro as I can give to this incredible table of superheroes. And I wanted to just sort of jump in and ask first and foremost, what does it mean that we are all here sitting at this table together? And Jeff, I’m going to start with you because so much of this started with the railroad struggle in 2022. So take it away. Jeff Kurtz: What we’re doing here all together is we’re stronger together. When I first met Nikki, we’ve started working on some of her projects and I think we’ve made a lot of headway. I met Jamie through the derailment in East Palestine and believe me, when I took a look at the NTSB report from what happened to them, it raised all kinds of questions and red flags, which led me to Leslie Pacey. Leslie has filed a FOIA for me. I think I asked eight specific questions and it will be really interesting to see how the FOIA comes out and how all these questions are answered. And then just recently I met Scott and seeing the work that Scott does is just incredible. So it really is just all of us together doing the work and I think we all make each other better. Maximillian Alvarez: And I wanted to just ask you to go a little farther when it comes to the struggle of railroad workers on the rails. What does it mean for railroad workers united union members on the rails given everything that we talked about four years ago and so little of the conditions on the rails has changed in a good way, what does it mean for railroad workers struggles to be sitting here at this table with these other folks? Jeff Kurtz: Well, what it means is one of the things that we’ve talked about, me and Mark Burrows from RWU is the fact that there’s a mystique around railroad work. And as workers, we have not been very good about informing the public of how that work is done. And with the help of these people, it’s much easier. We can get information from the government that we could never get before knowing these people. So that helps our struggle so much more. And then with outlets like you, we can get to the general public and we can remove the veil of that mystique and we can let people know that this stuff is happening right under your nose. It’s dangerous. It doesn’t need to happen. Maximillian Alvarez: Well, and Jamie, you of course are from East Palestine, Ohio. The train derailment happened in February of 2023. There’s a sign behind me with Railroad Workers United insignia on it that says, “Fix the hazards. Don’t blame the victims.” I wanted to ask again what it means for you and the struggle of you and your neighbors in East Palestine to be here at this conference, but also what that message means for all of us today. Jami Wallace: I feel like the rail workers have been screaming about the issues with the safety, the precision scheduling and even being a trackside community, I didn’t know that that was going on. I don’t know if I closed my eyes to it or what the issue was. And now that my eyes have been opened, I say over and over that this derailment did not start when that axle caught on fire. It started with the culture of safety at Norfolk Southern. So coming here and hearing from the railroad workers hearing some of how things work, it made me be able to understand the things that happened in East Palestine and I feel very strongly that the rail workers have the same interest as trackside communities. At the end of the day, if they’re not safe, we’re not safe. These workers know what they’re talking about. They’re the ones that do the jobs. And if we don’t all come together and fight, more East Palestines are going to happen and maybe even worse than East Palestine. Maximillian Alvarez: And could you just say a little more for folks watching and listening like what the state of things is in East Palestine that you continue to advocate for and lift up for the public? Jami Wallace: Now we’re starting to see a lot of long-term illness in the community. I had gone to DC and just kind of took a headcount of people that I know that had cancer either personally that reached out to me or I saw on Facebook. We have 64 people right now just that I know of with cancer and our small community and of those 13 are brain cancer and that’s just the cancer. We’re not talking about all the respiratory issues, all the neurological issues. We’re seeing a lot of the same symptoms that our Gulf War vets saw when they came back from the Gulf War after being exposed to the chemical burn pits. So people think this disaster is over, this disaster’s still ongoing. We’re still fighting and I can’t thank journalists enough. I always say this, you save lives. You don’t know the power that you hold in your hands because I’ve always felt like creating awareness was the only way to win. I can’t make myself believe that people wouldn’t care if they didn’t know what was happening in our community. Maximillian Alvarez: Well, I mean, that means a lot to me coming from you and I will return the favor and say, I have nothing to cover if residents like yourselves are not willing to talk and your voice is an extremely powerful one and people listen. And I think you are a dedicated fighter for your community and it’s an honor to know you and everyone at this table even though the most tragic, horrific and infuriating of circumstances brought us together. And in that vein, I wanted to bring Scott and Leslie in here and ask the kind of work that y’all have been doing before East Palestine and then how East Palestine drew you into this struggle and also if East Palestine has kind of changed the nature of the work that you’ve been doing. Scott Smith: East Palestine was a defining moment. Actually, I was on the fence about going there because I was watching it from a distance and Courtney Miller, who unfortunately passed away from the train derailment and everything she went through, reached out to me and was Twitter at the time, now X, begging me to test her water. And I go into communities, I don’t solicit anybody. They reach out to me on social media. Then when I got there, she messaged me on February 17th, called Independent Certified Lab and had all my coolers and sampling gear there on February 22nd, got there and that’s when I realized this was unlike any other disaster I’d been to because I put my gear on, went in the creek and within a few minutes I had a Norfolk Southern contractor coming out of the woods. You’ve probably seen that video. Coming out of the woods, who are you? We need to know everything about you. And in that video, I have a little fun back. I say, “You need to talk to my public information officer. I can’t tell you who I am.” Maximillian Alvarez: Well, in the gall of them walking onto a private residence and saying, “You need to tell me who you are. I’m Norfolk Southern.” It’s like, “Fuck you, buddy. Who are you? “ Scott Smith: Yeah. And that’s what I did. And one thing led to another and now I’m 34 trips and 38 rounds of testing and still going back and East Palestine is a defining moment. Then I meet Jamie and into the ground in the creeks I have never seen such blatant call it corporate capture corruption that you watched the EPA just be the absolute public relations arm for the billion dollar Norfolk Southern. So I dug my heels and stood on principle and this was a fight worth having. Maximillian Alvarez: Well, again, beautifully and powerfully put. And we’re only even scratching the surface here because let’s again, Leslie, bring you in here vis-a-vis the EPA and the sort of really increasingly visible tension between what many people trusted as a government agency that was there to protect them and tell them whether or not it was safe to go back home, whether or not they were being exposed to anything unsafe, was telling residents like Jamie, “It’s safe.” And then Scott finds evidence that it’s not. And then among other things, they start trying to discredit and surveil Scott for telling that. So talk to us about how you came into this struggle and what East Palestina sort of meant for the work that you do at Government Accountability Project. Lesley Pacey: Absolutely. Thank you, Ma. So we got involved in East Palestine because we were kind of watching it like Scott from afar and we would see where they wouldn’t test for dioxin. And East Palestine EPA was resisting. There were over a hundred environmental groups that wanted it done. There was multiple lawmakers asking for this, media residents, and they wouldn’t do it. And simultaneously, we already had Scott in the community and he was doing the testing and he was finding high levels of dioxin in some of his testing samples. So it really piqued our interest as to, well, what’s going on? I actually, and this is unconventional, but reached out to Scott and said, “What’s going on over there?” Because generally with government accountability project, we’re a whistleblower organization and we tend to work with civil servants or people that work for the government agencies or contractors or corporate whistleblowers. Scott’s a little bit different. He’s a private citizen, but he was doing something that no one has done before, which is go into these communities and get all the receipts from the soil, the water. He was testing furnace filters and it really provided an opportunity for us for transparency. And so that’s where it all started. Now we have about eight whistleblowers that have come aboard from lots of different walks of life, but generally speaking, they’re scientists and our work has just grown from there. Lesley Pacey: So when I talk to people about this, I say, “Okay, what is so interesting and important about East Palestine?” Because we have disasters all the time and it’s getting worse, but East Palestine’s so important because the scope of the disaster here you have the EPA going against 40 years of its own statutes to detonate a carcinogen. And we later find out, of course, that they didn’t need to do that. So they’re basically an accomplice to the crime and it’s sort of a microcosm of these disasters everywhere, but it’s on a very, very large scale. It has unprecedented federal agency involvement and we think the coverup has been unprecedented. It’s not that there’s not these playbook situations where the corporations lock hands with their agencies and they make decisions together, but the scale at which the deception occurred in East Palestine and the harm that that deception has caused is really, it’s off the charts in terms of one of the worst things we’ve ever seen in our lifetimes. And to answer your question, sorry about that, about the EPA. So they were coming out the gate pretty early. You were out for two days for maybe two full days of – Jami Wallace: Less than 48 hours after they blew up that looked like an atomic bomb. They told us it was safe to come home. Lesley Pacey: Yep. They told everybody it was safe to come home. They had not tested a single home for toxins. And so they allowed all these people to come back in and get sick. And our government really has been telling lie after lie, which we’re starting to piece together with these whistleblowers between Scott’s testing and some of our other whistleblowers that have shown that they didn’t do the things they were supposed to do with flying the chemical sensing airplane, turning chemical sensors off over contaminated creeks. It’s just been one thing after another, the plastic bags, using plastic bags to collect dioxin samples. So there’s multiple ways, like I say, eight ways to Sunday in which they’ve gamed the system with the testing and sampling. And so it’s all been very interesting. We’re kind of really understanding now how these lies come about, how they’re able to do them. Maximillian Alvarez: Yeah. And it really is head spinning for anyone who trusted their government, like many of us at this table at one point in our lives. And to think growing up that the EPA was there to protect us from the pollution of companies like Norfolk Southern. And then I’m watching this catastrophe unfold and it’s like the EPA and the emergency response teams and everyone is answering to Norfolk Southern and it’s like they’re directing everything. They’re not doing this out of the public safety concerns, they’re doing it out of the corporate concerns and it’s really harrowing to see and that brings us kind of perfectly, if not horrifically, Dr. Fabricant, to the work that you’ve been doing about the just rampant decades long, centuries long, generations long corporate pollution of poor and working class communities in Baltimore and beyond. Nicole Fabricant: So when about four years ago CSX, they had a coal silo that is part of their export pier in Curtis Bay. When it exploded, it was a wake up call to the community. And I think many youth pass a lot of these industrial facilities on their way to school and it’s very naturalized and they often say, “I didn’t even know that coal creates harm to respiratory health or to lungs. We had no idea. It’s a part of our landscape.” But when it exploded, it raised a lot of questions in the community of why are there so many toxic facilities in this one area? How is a coal export pier a thousand feet from a recreation center? Why should children be playing on slides that are filled with coal dust? And they wanted answers. They wanted answers from scientists especially. It’s where I’ve come to realize the social science is not as useful because they wanted data and data, hard numbers that could be used to hold CSX accountable. And so a team of community-based scientists came in and worked with the community. It was their questions like, how far is the coal dust traveling? They wanted to know how quickly it was accumulating, where it was accumulating. And through really rigorous investigation, they were able to collect data and worked with our Maryland Department of the Environment, which is interesting hearing the EPA, because I also don’t have a lot of faith in any of these organizations to protect us, especially Maryland Department of the Environment, but they were part of an inside strategy to work with the regulatory apparatus to create a new permit that would be more stringent based upon the science. And so part of the permit was to require that they covered the coal pier and they covered the coal trains coming in because people who live in trackside communities too are experiencing all this coal dust. Maximillian Alvarez: Right. And just to tease out the visual and we’ll use some B-roll that we shot together in Curtis Bay, but we’re talking mile after mile of rail cars filled with coal and no covering on top, just blowing all this black toxic dust all over these communities. And people have it all over their homes. They get it in their lungs. There are people walking around South Baltimore with oxygen tanks like it’s just normal. Nicole Fabricant: And so part of our struggle was how do we build a stronger movement beyond just environmental justice and holding CSX? How do we connect with railroad workers? Because we wanted the movement to be at the intersection of labor and these concerns about respiratory health. And that’s what brought me to Railroad Workers United because CSX, many of their workers were subcontracted out. Many did not want to organize with us. There were questions of fissures between sort of environmental justice taking jobs away from workers. And so Railroad Workers United understood right away the questions they were asking, the kinds of safety concerns aligned with the vision we had of a worker-centered kind of just transition away from coal. And that is what led me to East Palestine, was Railroad Workers United actually and the work we were doing together. Jeff has come down multiple occasions to Curtis Bay to provide assistance, to talk to folks, to explain the ins and outs of the rail industry, how it works, precision scheduled railroading. I didn’t understand it before meeting Jeff and now really envisioning the corporatization, the cutbacks, the ways in which that has compromised the safety of workers is the very same thing compromising the safety of trackside communities. And so aligning with some of these laborers, particularly Railroad Workers United was really essential to the movement. And Jeff actually and others got us connected to East Palestine. And the first time we went there, I took a whole bunch of Curtis Bay organizers because it’s part of this building solidarity and having opportunities to share stories, to share struggles across regions. Earlier, Jamie talked about our own playbook, writing our own playbook. And I think that’s so important because oftentimes it’s the playbook of the corporation that we’re all following. And when we arrived in East Palestine, I had youth organizers that were basically blown away. They were crying because they were so emotionally impacted, A, by what you guys had been through, but also realizing, wow, Norfolk Southern CSX starting to put the pieces together around just the ways in which communities health safety has been compromised for profit margins. Maximillian Alvarez: Well, and let’s talk about that in this sort of middle phase here because I want us to finish by talking about where the state of things is now across all of our respective sides of this problem, this struggle. But before we get there, I want to focus in on what we have learned between February 3rd, 2023 when the Norfolk Southern train derailed in East Palestine to now. What have we learned about how the government’s going to react, how the media’s going to react, how the rail company’s going to react, like what residents are going to be going through. And I asked this question not just to educate folks out there who may be interested. I’m asking because I am living proof of the message that this is happening everywhere and it is going to come to your town at some point if it isn’t there already because on Memorial Day weekend of this year, a literal nightmare that I had had before came true when after going and around and talking to residents in all these different so – called sacrifice zones where industrial toxic disasters or government run sites or anything is just like leaving people abandoned to live in conditions that threaten life itself. I kept sort of anxiously wondering if one day I was going to open the newspaper, open my phone and see my hometown there and then it happened in Garden Grove. My parents live 10 minutes from the GKN aerospace facility where the chemical tank was about to explode or threatening to explode or leak. And that feels like such a kind of full circle moment for me if I think about who I was when I went to East Palestine, not knowing the extent of how much corporations and the government have turned so much of this country into basically a sacrifice zone and how many of us are being set up for sacrifice already. We’ve all got the microplastics in our blood, like we’ve all got DuPont’s chemicals running through our blood. I didn’t know, but a lot of that started in East Palestine. Jami Wallace: I think I was like so many other people, you don’t pay attention until it happens to you. I didn’t even realize I lived in a sacrifice zone because when you grow up in a sacrifice zone, you’re just used to seeing it. It’s part of your environment, it’s part of your background. It’s always been there and I really wish I would’ve paid and More attention when I heard of things like Flint, Michigan. EPA is there, it can’t be that bad. And as someone who very much trusted my government, I’m an educated woman, I have a master’s degree, a law degree. I knew what the EPA did right until they said it was safe and I pulled in my driveway and felt like I was going to die and saw chemicals free flowing down the creek. And it’s almost taken away my sense of reality. I have apologized to people that I have called conspiracy theorists because now I realize it’s the truth. Maybe I was the crazy one all along. And it’s not until you actually have to deal with one of those government agencies that you realize that if you would’ve talked to me about East Palestine, railroad coverups and government being owned by the railroad before the disaster, I would’ve been like, “Get this crazy guy away from me. ” But it almost makes you feel like you’ve been living on a movie set your whole life where you had this one vision of your government and this reality is completely different. And at first it really confused me. I was the granddaughter of a World War II vet Marine, very proud, taught to love my country, respect your flag. And after the derailment, I looked at my flag and I’m like, “How do I feel?” It took me a while to separate government from my country and I realized that I still love my country, but I hate my government. Scott Smith: Yeah. I started 20 years ago in June. June 28th was when my own disaster where I was wiped out in oil contaminated floodwaters in a 500 year flood in St. Johnsville, New York walking the streets. That’s what inspired me to go in through all this. When I realized all these standards I’m relying on to declare water safe is this making the false assumption that water and contamination arise in equilibrium. And they take something from the surface. That’s when I opened my eyes when BP was my second disaster. That’s where I met some really good scientists at the EPA. And then I learned about and filed some patents and worked on different water testing technologies and a whole host of things. So Rule Forward 76 is East Palestine and what has happened since East Palestine in 2023, I’m now in 86. It’s accelerated the rate and the pace. The way I sum it all up though is when I walked in and saw that sign, fix the hazards, don’t blame the victims. It’s the same corrupt playbook in every community with East Palestine, blame the victims. And the corporate capture EPA comes in to gaslight people. It’s very, very clever how they do things. I don’t know if people at the table know this. Ray Donovan, anybody watch Ray Donovan? The fixer in Hollywood that the wealthy… It was a showtime series where you call Ray Donovan, you committed murder, you’re a celebrity and makes everything go away. Well, CTEH, Arcadis, they’re the Ray Donovans of the billion dollar ward. They make everything go away. Maximillian Alvarez: Well, and say who Arcadis is. Scott Smith: Arcadis is a contractor that has been in East Palestine and has been in Denilla, Florida, has been in Conyers, Georgia, and they’re consistent along with CTEH. CTEH is everywhere. And the first thing they do in all these communities is game the air testing. And we talked about plastic bags. What I just recently uncovered and was in the news this week. Well, in East Palestine, we got evidence of showing putting the plastic bags over the air detectors. Maximillian Alvarez: So they put plastic bags over the air Scott Smith: Detectors. Grocery store’s Ziploc bags. Maximillian Alvarez: And then the story that you helped break this week was that they were collecting soil samples and putting them in Ziploc Scott Smith: Bags. In grocery stores. Yeah. And the problem with that is not only do you break the chain of custody but the semi-volatile organic compounds without getting into the gory details and the dioxins, they absorb or absorb to the walls of the plastic. So you mix up the grocery store’s Ziploc bag and then you put it in the… You’re supposed to go right into a certified glass lab jar from the lab. There’s a reason you use glass. So you’re going to get potentially a lower detection or a non-detect, what I call a false non-detect. But in all these communities, the first thing they do is blame the victims. They gaslight the victims and that’s what’s common. It’s the same playbook over and over again, but why is East Palestine the turning point? That’s where I saw the most blatant corruption and I had to stop my life and expose it and stand on principle. Maximillian Alvarez: Hell yeah. Well, this question is both for Leslie and Jeff because it has to do with those sources of whistleblowing information that we depend on. They’re most often the rank and filers of government agencies, of the rails who can’t get the truth to the public for fear of retribution from their employer, lawsuits, yada, yada, yada. That is why, Jeff, you were among the first railroad workers I connected with because I was going to say because no one else would talk to me. But I learned how afraid so many railroad workers were to even say anything on the record because of how draconian and awful their employers were and how much they didn’t want the public knowing about their greedy, awful, exploitative business practices, what that was doing to workers and what hazards that was creating for workers and communities like ours. They don’t want the public knowing that stuff, but they couldn’t hide it when East Palestine happened. Jeff Kurtz: Well, on the rail side, what we’re doing here these two days, this is the hope. Coming to something like this, sharing information with other railroaders, with Scott, with Lesli, with Jamie, with my good friend, Nikki, I mean, this is how we get the word out. I talked about the mystique of railroad work. This is how we break that mystique. This is how we tell people the experts aren’t the rail executives. The experts are the people that actually operate the locomotives that are maintenance of way people are signal people. The people that actually do the work out there are the experts. And this is what I want to get through with Leslie, with her help. The NTSB has been notorious. I’ve had my issues with the NTSB, but with her help, we can expose this stuff. We can finally get to the bottom of what’s going on as far as operations on the railroad and what they’re doing with these people, they’ve seen the power of the railroads. This is what us workers have been dealing with. I dealt with this for 40 years. So this is a great start. Coming here for two days and sharing stories with rail workers and non-rail workers and getting together like this, I think that we’re really powerful and I think we’re going to scare some people. Maximillian Alvarez: Well, I think that’s very, very true. I wanted to just ask on the need for whistleblowers in the rail industry, the public doesn’t know what it doesn’t know. But I guess another way to phrase the question to you is like, how much does the public not know about our freight rail system when it’s controlled by these mega corporations that don’t have to disclose a lot because they can say, “Oh, it’s a proprietary secret or a competitive advantage.” Jeff Kurtz: As far as what’s on the trains, the workers have been pretty transparent about what’s on there. And the thing is when we are transparent, that’s when we’re in the most danger from the rail companies. And so we had whistleblower laws in the 2008 federal rail safety law that came into being, but the problem with that is the corporations just ignored what they didn’t like and there were no penalties involved. And this is one of the things that I’ve been trying to stress is that we need personal accountability from some of these rail execs. And I’ve said this to you before, but I’m going to say it again, three words, corporate death penalty. It needs to be in there. Scott Smith: I love that. Jeff Kurtz: Yeah. And it needs to be in there because these people, you can see they have no fear. They will lie, they will cheat, they will do everything. We need to put the fear of God into them again. Maximillian Alvarez: Leslie, pick up on that. Lesley Pacey: Yeah. I mean, that’s sort of the bird’s eye view, the long view of what we’d like to see change is of ultimately we want to take all of this information and create policy change, changes in the law that will impose criminal penalties, jail time because these corporations have so much money and they know they can do whatever they want because they are working with these agencies that’ll give them what they want. So that’s where the arrogance comes in. So if they get fined, it’s nothing to them. They can recoup a lot of those losses through their insurance policies. So until people actually have to go to jail and be held actually accountable for what they’re doing, like in East Palestine, there’s people who have died already. People are dying. I talked to a HEPA coworker the other day who has stage four lung cancer. He is in hospice and this is just one. I mean, Jamie is like a clearing house for all the illnesses. Everybody calls Jamie and I don’t know how she does it day in and day out, but he said, and this is getting into the class action, but he never got any money that he was promised. And he says, “I have no rights now.” And so he just wants his wife to be taken care of because he’s dying and they didn’t give him any proper PPE and that goes for the rail workers as well that have to go and reassemble the tracks and clear all the derail the trains off of there. Nobody in this disaster really was given proper PPE and that includes military people that showed up. So it is a huge crime and people are dying and anybody else, if you weren’t a corporation and you created a problem that killed people, you’d be in jail for that, but that’s not how it works in our system of government. And so I agree with you 100%. We also need to change the circle of laws, which super fund laws because we can’t have these responsible parties. Sure, they need to pay for it. If they make a mess, they got to pay to clean it up. We don’t need to give them carte blanche to hire whomever they want to hire to hold all the cards, all the testing and sampling information. And the only reason they can get away with that is our laws and because the federal agencies are too afraid to go up against them. Maximillian Alvarez: Well, the arbitraryness of it and all the political football crap that gets wrapped up into it. I said on the moment that it happened when the GKN aerospace chemical tank crisis was happening on Memorial Day weekend, everyone thought it was going to explode or leak and Governor Gavin Newsom asked President Trump for an emergency declaration, he gives them one, we get one. Why the hell didn’t East Palestine ever get one?That makes no sense to me. I’m from Garden Grove and I’ve been to East Palestine. That makes no sense. It’s not right. We shouldn’t accept that. You shouldn’t have to hope that you’re in the right part of the country to get the minimal amount of aid that you need and there’s no even guarantee that you’re going to get that. They’re telling my family and people who live over there that everything’s safe and fine and they use the same goddamn air testers that they used in East Palestine. That’s what Scott informed me about. Lesley Pacey: The same inadequate testing equipment with the same elevated detection limits. So they’ll miss detections and they just tell everybody everything’s okay. It doesn’t matter what community you live in. It doesn’t matter what the toxin is or what the chemical spill is or the fire. They’re happening more and more, but they’re going to tell you the same thing. I mean, in East Palestine, then they come in and just say, “Trust your government.” Jami Wallace: Yeah, basically that’s what they told us. Lesley Pacey: That’s a red flag, by the way. But I mean, they were so brazen about it. Maximillian Alvarez: It’s like out of the Simpsons. If it wasn’t so horrifying, it would be hilarious, but this is real life. This isn’t the stupid Simpsons fish with three eyes jumping around.This is real living people being told to go back into homes that are making them sick and it’s happening everywhere and I want to sort of take us into the like, what do we do about this and what are we doing about this? Because I think we have all said as much that you start going down this rabbit hole, you’re going to find that it is everywhere that these data centers are popping up even in rural parts of the country and we talk about that corporate playbook, people around this country are experiencing that firsthand when it comes to like suddenly there’s a massive development approved that they never heard about and they have no say in. And now a big old data center is like making everyone go crazy and bleed from their ears and pollutes their water and so on and so forth. So they’re coming for all of us. And when I say us, I mean anyone who’s not rich enough to basically go try to run and hide in Lake Tahoe or some crap. I mean, but if you’re a working person in this country, you are in the line of fire and that same goes for people who are in the front lines of climate change because they’re showing the exact same playbook. If you’re in Asheville, North Carolina and you get walloped by a once in a century like a hurricane, you’re going to be just as abandoned as East Palestine was. If fires are getting bigger and bigger, wiping out more areas across my state and others, insurance companies are going to say, “You know what? We’re not going to insure you anymore.” So they’re throwing us overboard at every chance they can and more of it’s coming. So what do we do about it and how do we fight it? Nicole Fabricant: Yeah. I think that actually arming youth with the tools from those communities, like when I talked about naturalizing your environment, the tools and raising consciousness is a way to begin at the very grassroots. And I saw that in South Baltimore immediately. The youth were using science, they were using public health data, they were going out door to door informing folks in the community and that is like an armor for them in dealing with everyday overburden and toxins. But I don’t think any of the battles, I think power is at the grassroots and it’s so important to start there. Relationships matter, building trusting, loving relationships is part of movement work, but it’s clear we aren’t going to necessarily with just the data, take on these corporations, that these are much bigger struggles that are global, that reach to the mountains of West Virginia where they’re extracting the coal to the railroad workers that are carting the coal to South Baltimore. And so I think part of what we’ve been trying to do is not just expose the youth, it’s another armor is like visiting these communities and beginning to see those connections and through those connections, realizing this is how we enlarge our power. If we could actually share struggles from West Virginia where people are dealing with the extraction in the coal and it was really powerful last spring and you were there, Max, to have Angie who lives a few thousand feet from the coal pier talk about the explosion and what it means to live in a trackside community alongside a resistor activist fighting mountaintop coal removal mining and he has no stomach, no liver as a result of all the heavy metals and chemicals in his water supply. And it was very powerful to see these two from extraction to export coming together on a supply chain and to me like organizing could move beyond just the grassroots and we have to like coalitions are so important and that’s why this table is really critical because Scott’s information, Jamie’s chemically impacted communities, really thinking about how do we tether our struggles. And I’m not so sure it’s just about changing laws because I don’t believe necessarily that the laws are ever written for the people. I don’t believe that the government as it stands will ever. So I don’t know what the end goal is, but I do know that if we continue along this path of vulture capitalism, as Max said, we’re all living in a sacrifice zone no matter who you are, that’s what East Palestine taught me. I have lived, worked for 20 some odd years in environmental justice communities. Those are overburdened communities. East Palestine taught me about mobile toxicity, that no matter what, you can become an overburdened area if you are living in a trackside. Jeff Kurtz: Well, and this conference was, it’s a good start. We have talked to people that are running as independent candidates. I think that’s what we need because right now it looks like both parties have been compromised and I know a lot of people don’t want to hear this, but a large part of the solution is going to be political. So we’ve got to have people in place in Congress that will not only listen to us but will act on what they hear from us. And so that’s why it’s important to get a lot of these young guys that are here at this conference, get them politically active and get them to run for office like I did when I was 64 years young. But we do need people that are young. We’ve got a guy 31 years old right now running as an independent candidate and I’ve been working with this guy and he is as sharp as a tac. If we can get him in Congress, he can do a lot of good things and just imagine if we got 50 people like him. I think that’s what we have to do. And like I said, people don’t want to hear that politics is going to be a big part of the solution, but it is. Well, Maximillian Alvarez: And just to kind of push a little more on the labor side, like RWU, Railroad Workers United, exists because of the built in problem on the rails of all the unions being split up. And you guys got 13 different unions taking on like four now probably going to be two mega corporations just like East Palestine can’t take on Norfolk Southern alone, neither can one of the rail unions take it on alone. So what are you guys doing on the RWU side to get around that division that still exists within organized labor? Well, Jeff Kurtz: What we’re doing is bringing people all together like this and you talk to a carman, you talk to an engineer, you talk to a conductor, you talk to a maintenance of way guy. We start to understand each other better when we talk to each other and especially in the railroad industry because I don’t know everything like say a BMWD guy does, but I’ve got a pretty good idea. I exchange information with him. I say, “This is what I’m going through when I’m operating a locomotive.” And he tells me, “Well, while you’re doing that and I’m on the side of the track, this is what I’m watching for. I’m watching the rail, I’m watching the ballast, I’m watching all of this stuff.” We understand each other better that way. And that way when we go to fight the rail corporations, we’re more united. And now I’ve got a buddy in BMWED and boy, I’m not going to stab him in the back. I met him in an RWU convention and we got to be good friends and we had a cookout together and everything and now what happens to him is important and this is another thing, we spend so much time on the job, especially out on the railroad that we can’t develop real solidarity. Workers have to have more time off so they can be with their families, but they can be with their fellow workers too. One of the things we used to do is have picnics together. We had softball teams and stuff, but now that we work so much and our schedules are so erratic, it’s every man for himself and now we’re cutting the size of the crews down. So where I used to interact with three or four other people on one train, now maybe one and pretty soon it might not be anybody, you’re going to be by yourself. And to tell you the truth, I think that’s by design. If we split people up and all of a sudden Scott is doing something on the other side of the railroad and I don’t like what he’s doing, the hell with you. I’m going to go after you union or not, but if we interact together, if we socialize together, if we go to union meetings together, then this stuff isn’t going to happen. Maximillian Alvarez: No, I think there’s so much wisdom in that for all of us, not just in labor, but all of us around this country. I mean, we were talking about this at the conference earlier today. We have so many kind of crises that are affecting working people and poor people across the board, including this one, right? Our communities are being turned into toxic cell pits that are killing us and no one’s coming to save us. And that is not a red state or a blue state problem. That’s not, I’m on this team versus that team. It’s the rich bastards who are profiting off of all of this and the politicians who are getting paid by them are getting off bandits here while we’re all being stuck with the toxic bill and we’re doing the work for them by fighting each other over stupid political, like Democrat, Republican crap. But we can all agree that this is impacting all of us. And I think to Jeff’s brilliant point, that’s what brought us all together. I mean, I’m a socialist nut job with tattoos and whatnot. I ride and I will die for the folks that I’ve met in East Palestine. I don’t care if they voted for Trump, they don’t care who I voted for, but it’s like you show up for people, you get to know people on that human level, they are that first and who we voted is not even second or third, it’s like 20th on the list. And so we can all learn from that, that like if we’re arguing on the internet and looking at each other through these stupid partisan lenses, we’re going to miss what’s right in front of us and we’re going to keep losing until it’s too late. And so again, I returned to the question of how do we make sure that doesn’t happen? Scott Smith: I have an idea picking up on where Nicole was headed and where Jeff was headed. Here’s the idea unfolding. Maximillian Alvarez: Hit me with it. Scott Smith: The real news network town hall tour through the communities. So there’s a guy at Danilo in Florida, the guy that called me, Matt the Welder. He is running for office to turn it upside down and he’s getting traction. Picture having town halls with him and the guy from Iowa running, no matter what happens in their races, they’re going to inspire people add the union to that. And I can tell you This can be one and the AI battle that’s accelerating the calls I’m getting. But this team right here, the real news network town hall tour picture this coming together and Rosalind Louisiana to Jamie’s credit and the people in East Palestine, Rose and Louisiana, they’re kicking ass there. And I’m seeing the connections on social media. It’s going viral. And Rosalind, Louisiana, they took power in their own hands. They went out and got drones, documented the spread of the oil, and they learned how to start talking from the town halls and me educating. I go to the town halls, I educate, I bring in other experts. I talk about how the air testing and then they’re elevating. Now all of a sudden the greatest humbling honor I do is introduce people a blue shirt Justice League face group, people start from Conyers, Georgia. But in Roseland, Louisiana, the Smitty’s PR firm has failed. Smitty’s is the big billion dollar company and no relation to me. There was a conspiracy theory there for a while that I was related to Ed Smith and I was going to go in and say, “I tested and everything’s fine. So much for that. ” But Rosalind, Louisiana is like a combination of the BP spell and East Palestine and a lot of people don’t… Exxon Valdez, 11 million gallons, Roselyn’s bigger than BP, 13 million gallons. But what’s really great is there’s residents down there that have taken action. The community is not divided at all. And Jamie to her credit in getting on and educating someone like Win Clema, Arlene Bankston, all these people, class action attorneys and they know who government accountability project is, but I have a saying today, like I said, AI, well, it’s going to steal people’s souls. I will not work with people that want to run their lives off AI, but the data center thing we can use to the advantage of bringing people together because all of a sudden you’re… I said in East Palestine, let me step back. I said in East Palestine, whether you’re 50 miles, 500 or 5,000, you could be next, then Conyers happened. And I said it in Conyers, then Roseland happened, then Moss Landing. So that same thing. Now the AI data centers, you’re next. You got an ongoing disaster. So those people are going to start showing up and build real momentum. So it all starts with the real news network and doing these town halls and people are watching. I will say it right on camera, I have the ability to help raise funds for this. Maximillian Alvarez: I mean, you know I’m down, baby. And I’m saying that we… I think it should be like what is at this table. This is real like Lord of the Ring shit. It’s like who has what to offer to this righteous fight? Everyone here has something that the rest of us don’t. And Nikki and I are actually testing this concept out. We’re going to try to do a conference at the Real News at the end of this year to bring sacrifice on residents together like Railroad Workers United has done here because there’s only so much you can do with media and through media. And I’m saying that as the editor-in-chief and co-executive director of a media org that we got to have an on and offline strategy, there is no substitute for in – person power building and off-camera like info sharing and relation building and so on and so forth. And you’re already doing that with your town halls. So it’s like, I want to hop on the bandwagon that you’re on. I want to talk to the folks that Jamie’s reaching out to through the chemically impacted communities coalition, the folks that you are connected with, that you’re connected with, that you’re connected with. So as far as the media side of it, like Lord of the Rings, you got my ex, baby. I’m in it and we want to be there on the ground floor, but I think it’s going to take all of us. Scott Smith: Let me tell you why with what I’ve been through in life and I’ve been kicked and stopped, I have an expression, leave ego at the door. That’s what about this team, leave ego at the door. Everyone has their role. It’s only going to happen with a team. So one plus one, plus one, plus one, plus one is a million and I’m seeing it. That’s why I am so much motivated beyond belief to see what happened in Roseland, because it’s the power of what has happened in East Palestine. Roseland, Louisiana is kicking ass and we need to get there. And they’re connecting with Dunnell and Florida and they’re all trading things about, oh, the air testing is gamed. So then I see somebody show up the Donellantown Hall and they stand up and start talking about Arcadis in the air testing game.That’s all I want. I want to just teach it. Nicole Fabricant: And those conferences and bringing people together for Roselyn to share, we use drones to capture. For kids in South Baltimore to say, we put up cameras at these facilities, trail cameras to document twenty four seven all the violations. It’s working. It’s working. Maximillian Alvarez: It is. And it’s not just working in this context, but I know the excitement that you’re feeling because I felt it when workers who were trying to unionize at Home Depot started calling out the Union Busters who were holding a captive audience meeting and telling them the same stuff that Amazon Union busters had told their workers. But because the workers at Home Depot watched my reporting and heard from the Amazon workers, they were firing right back at the union busters like, how much do you make to come here and tell us that we shouldn’t join a union? Or how do you explain this line on Home Depot’s earnings report? They were ready. And I think again, out of tragic circumstances, we can help others be ready and we can learn from others long before us from Times Beach to Navajo Nation, Cancer Alley. I mean, there are so many lessons to be learned from this. Lesley Pacey: I really feel like we’re going to have to have the grassroots like everybody’s talking about, and we’re going to have to work together. If we’re disenfranchised, if we’re not speaking to each other and telling lessons learned to these other communities, they’re starting out at square one and they’re having to learn all, oh, I’m being deceived. Oh, how am I being deceived? Right now they know because East Palestine residents have gotten so active, Jamie with her chemically impacted community, she’s bringing all these voices together and they realize they’re all in the same boat. And so that’s a huge piece to it is the residents. Another piece to it is continuing to provide support for whistleblowers. Our whistleblowers grow. We start with Scott in East Palestine. We end up with eight different whistleblowers, including an EPA whistleblower who was with the EPA Superfund program for four decades. So we have scientists working together with Scott now. It’s amazing. I am so encouraged that this movement started and it takes basically three elements. It takes the residents, it takes the whistleblowers and giving them the support they need to get their message out, but four elements takes independent media like you because a lot of this is a huge story and where is it? News Nation’s done a great job, but it’s the independent news media that stayed with it. We have the greatest stories that were getting rejected on why is this not happening. So that’s another important element. And that and just investigating filing the Freedom of Information Act requests appealing when they don’t give you the stuff that they should be giving you and then suing them. We’ve sued FEMA, EPA twice and USDA now For holding. Yeah, it’s so great to do that because then they’re like, “Oh, okay, I guess I will give you what I’m supposed to give you. ” But it’s all these different things working together, but we have to stay connected. We have to continue to communicate with one another because, and I will tell you this one other thing, I got into this when I say this, I got into environmental justice because my daughter’s a cancer survivor and she was part of a cancer cluster in South Alabama. And so I didn’t have access to a Scott Smith. I didn’t have a Jamie, I didn’t have whistleblowers, I didn’t know what to do. So I had to learn all this. It took me years to figure out how I was being duped and I didn’t have a smoking gun like a train derailment and things like that. There’s just multiple environmental issues. But I think this team that has come together around this to educate one another and to develop, I don’t want to say too much right now, but to develop technologies to provide the transparency to residents, these are all things that are in the works and it’s all grassroots and whistleblower driven and it gives me a lot of hope The Jami Wallace: Chemically Impacted Communities Coalition. I feel like we have to take the fighters from all these different communities and bring them together, not just bring them together, but give them the resources that they need. I wish I could go into every community and fight the fight like I fought for East Palestine, but I can’t. And no one’s coming to save these communities. They have to fight for themselves. So giving people the resources, hooking them up with Blue Shirt Justice League if they need testing, giving them the resources. If you have whistleblowers, here’s who you can go to. You can go to government accountability project. If you want dependable news stations that are going to care about environmental issues, we call them response partners. So what I would like to do is I’d like to go into these communities when something like this happens and do what no one could do for me. Hand me that playbook. Here’s the testing you can start out with. Here’s how you detox your body. Contact these universities. They do a lot of environmental research. Get ahold of Max. He’ll report it for you. Call Scott. He’ll do the testing. So like I said, not fight for them, but teach them how to fight for themselves. I know for me as someone who’s never been in this environmental justice world at all, the voices from the other communities were the best thing for me. People don’t talk about the mental part of this. Getting all the phone calls from people that are sick from morning till night, learning that you can’t trust your government and being able to talk to other people that have been through this that can relate to that, that can tell you, “You’re not crazy. CDC came in and got sick and left. Yeah, it’s happened in these communities.” That’s all part of what I guess shaped my experience and I want communities that come after me. I wish that no other community come after me, but to have those resources that I wish I would’ve had. And I do believe it takes a team. We each have our place in this. Even East Palestine, there’s no I. We worked as a team and we all had our parts to play and I feel like that in any type of organization, it makes everybody everyone’s skills to make the world go round. So we want to share ours. Maximillian Alvarez: All right gang, that’s going to wrap things up for us today. I want to thank our guests, Jeff Kurtz of Railroad Workers United, Jamie Wallace of the Chemically Impacted Communities Coalition, Dr. Nicole Fabricant of Towson University and the South Baltimore Community Land Trust, Scott Smith of the Blue Shirt Justice League, and Leslie Pacey of the Government Accountability Project. And I want to give a big thank you to everyone at Railroad Workers United for all of the vital work that they’re doing and all that they did to help us make this panel discussion possible. Follow them on social media, subscribe to their newsletter, and keep up to date on all the important news from the rails by using the links that we provided in the show notes. And of course, I want to thank you all for listening and I want to thank you for caring about this. We’ll see y’all back here next time for another episode of Working People. And in the meantime, please go explore all the great work that we’re doing at the Real News Network, where we do grassroots reporting that lifts up the voices and stories from the front lines of struggle. Check us out across our YouTube channel, our podcast feeds, our website, and our different social media pages and help us do more work like this by going to the realnews.com/donate and becoming a supporter today. I promise you guys, it really makes a difference. I’m Maximillian Alvarez. Take care of yourselves, take care of each other solidarity forever. This content originally appeared on The Real News Network and was authored by Maximillian Alvarez.
The Pacifica Evening News, Weekdays – July 1, 2026
Comprehensive coverage of the day’s news with a focus on war and peace; social, environmental and economic justice. The post The Pacifica Evening News, Weekdays – July 1, 2026 appeared first on KPFA.
Comprehensive coverage of the day’s news with a focus on war and peace; social, environmental and economic justice. The post The Pacifica Evening News, Weekdays – July 1, 2026 appeared first on KPFA. This content originally appeared on KPFA - The Pacifica Evening News Weekdays and was authored by KPFA.
Urban trees aren’t just nice, scientists say — they’re mandatory
Researchers are calling for cities to double down on one of the simplest yet most powerful solutions to many problems.
They tower overhead and sway in the wind and often teem with squawking birds, yet trees are easy to ignore. Urbanites rush by them without noticing, and without appreciating all the work they do: Trees reduce temperatures, mitigate flooding, and provide habitat for animals. City leaders are no exception to this oversight. As mayors around the world pledge to reduce municipal greenhouse gas emissions, they’re missing the literal low-hanging fruit of bolstering urban forests, dozens of scientists argue in a new essay. “We have to elevate it from something that is nice to have, to something that we require — like, mandatory,” said Manuel Esperon-Rodriguez, an ecologist at Bangor University in the United Kingdom and lead author of the piece, publishing today in the journal PLOS Climate. “In the same way that we treat education, security, transportation, it has to be elevated to that level.” What makes urban forestry so important? For one, trees significantly cool the concrete jungle, by providing shade and releasing water vapor to “sweat.” Patches of greenery also allow stormwater to soak into the ground instead of pooling and flooding — that investment alone will spare cities from economic damages as a warming atmosphere makes rain fall harder. Spending time in parks also boosts mental health, while urban farms produce nutritious food and create jobs. Planting trees, especially native species, also provides shelter and food for fauna. At the same time, vegetation absorbs pollutants, improving air quality for everyone. These scientists have laid out a four-point approach to funding, raising, and maintaining urban forests. This, by the way, includes individual trees on sidewalks, parks, and woodlands in cities. But it’s really about all the vegetation — not just trees but shrubs as well — within the city limits, whether that’s in someone’s backyard or growing in a street median. The first hurdle is investing in this stuff. Urban forestry isn’t just about buying a bunch of trees and hiring people to put them in the ground. It takes resources to maintain them, especially when they’re newly planted and not yet established, and therefore more vulnerable to stresses like pests. Money can (and does) come from private funders, but that cash isn’t always a guarantee. So city governments should be setting aside money for these green spaces, the researchers argue. “We say that it has to be critical infrastructure, because then we need a special budget dedicated just to them,” Esperon-Rodriguez said. Even for cash-strapped governments, this is an investment proven to bring dividends: A recent report found that for every dollar put into parks and recreation, cities reap $3 in local economic benefits every year. That’s because green spaces encourage people to exercise, supporting public health and reducing the costs associated with sedentary lifestyles. By attracting locals and tourists, parks also spur economic activity, as folks filter into surrounding neighborhoods to shop or have lunch. So while yes, it does take money to plant and maintain this greenery, it’s in a city’s best interests to do so. Mayors must ensure that these domains blossom in an equitable way, the scientists add. Richer areas tend to be much greener, and therefore cooler, than underserved neighborhoods. People who can’t afford air conditioning are at higher risk of the urban heat island effect, or the tendency for the built environment to absorb the sun’s energy all day and release it throughout the night. “Then what’s the cost?” Esperon-Rodriguez asked. “They are missing opportunities, they are missing recreational activities. And if they don’t have air conditioning, then on top of that there is the issue of health.” Officials can’t just roll into a neighborhood and plant trees, though — the essay argues that cities have to collaborate with their communities on strategies for doing so. Some folks might want more fruit trees, for instance, while others might object to cherries splatting on the sidewalk. Some might worry about their allergies, and request trees that don’t spew so much pollen. Esperon-Rodriguez adds that expanding the canopy across a metropolis, and doing so equitably, needs to be enshrined in some way. That is, it can’t just be a mayoral candidate’s promise to increase tree cover by 30 percent, but something that’s legislated. This is not only more durable over the years, and hopefully decades, but helps citizens hold elected officials accountable if they’re not meeting targets, Esperon-Rodriguez said. Overall, these campaigns need to be evidence-based, the essay argues. Cities, for example, have to identify not just the tree species that communities prefer, but ones that will actually survive ever-climbing temperatures. It’s not just thinking about increasing the canopy in the near term to meet some goal, but making sure cities are more verdant and safer in the long run. “It’s a way to secure,” Esperon-Rodriguez said, “that whatever we’re planting today is going to survive the next 10, 20 or 50 years.” This story was originally published by Grist with the headline Urban trees aren’t just nice, scientists say — they’re mandatory on Jul 1, 2026. This content originally appeared on Grist and was authored by Matt Simon.
Trump EPA Approves Its Fifth ‘Forever Chemical’ Pesticide
The Environmental Protection Agency has approved the highly persistent pesticide trifludimoxazin for use on wheat, oats, oranges, apples and almonds. The pesticide is a “forever chemical” — often called PFAS, or perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl subs...
The Environmental Protection Agency has approved the highly persistent pesticide trifludimoxazin for use on wheat, oats, oranges, apples and almonds. The pesticide is a “forever chemical” — often called PFAS, or perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances. “This is the PFAS presidency brought to you by Donald Trump and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin,” said Nathan Donley, environmental health science director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Waiting to open the floodgates on new pesticide approvals until after the Supreme Court granted immunity to pesticide companies takes a special kind of callousness.” The approval late Tuesday marked the third new forever chemical pesticide approved in a single day by the Trump administration. Diflufenican and epyrifenacil were also approved Tuesday. Often the EPA will accompany new pesticide approvals with a press release to alert the public, however the agency has done nothing to announce these approvals other than quietly post approval documents on regulations.gov. This is the fifth PFAS pesticide approval under Trump in less than two years in office. The previous two PFAS pesticide approvals were cyclobutrifluram and isocycloseram. The Biden administration approved one PFAS pesticide in the prior four years. A 2024 report from researchers at the Center for Biological Diversity, Environmental Working Group and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility found that forever chemicals are increasingly being added to U.S. pesticide products, contaminating waterways and posing potential threats to human health. In addition to the three new PFAS pesticides approved Tuesday, the EPA also approved new uses of the PFAS pesticide bifenthrin, the first food use of chlormequat, and the non-PFAS, fluorinated pesticide fluoxapiprolin. While some PFAS differ in their toxicities, potential to accumulate in the body, and potential to pollute water, all PFAS are highly persistent and have chemical bonds that will essentially never break down. PFAS ingredients in pesticide products have been found to contaminate streams and rivers throughout the country. The EPA has found that trifludimoxazin will eventually break down into 12 different PFAS chemicals. Trifludimoxazin is one of the few PFAS pesticides that does not break down into trifluoroacetic acid (TFA), however EPA has found that it breaks down into other PFAS chemicals that are highly persistent. The agency has classified trifludimoxazin as having “suggestive evidence of carcinogenic potential” based on the development of thyroid tumors in exposed animals. Trifludimoxazin’s approval will allow it to be combined in the same product as another PFAS pesticide called saflufenacil, all but ensuring that any resulting pollution will contain mixtures of different PFAS chemicals. Diflufenican can also break down into a chemical called 2,4-difluoroaniline malonate, a fluorinated chemical that has a similar structure and toxicity profile to aniline, a component in tobacco smoke. Although the EPA has classified aniline as a probable human carcinogen it did not require any studies to assess the cancer risks of diflufenican’s breakdown product in real-life settings. Epyrifenacil causes liver tumors in animal studies and is part of a class of pesticides called PPO-inhibitors, many of which are also linked to liver tumors. However, the EPA categorized it as “not likely to be carcinogenic” at low doses based solely on the pesticide company’s interpretation of their own studies. The EPA also approved new uses of another PFAS pesticide, bifenthrin. Uses of bifenthrin that have been in place for years have made it one of the most widely detected insecticides in U.S. streams, lakes, and rivers, where it is often found at levels that exceed aquatic safety thresholds. The EPA’s approval of chlormequat, a non-PFAS pesticide, is also controversial. Chlormequat is found in the urine of 90% of Americans, thought to come mostly from residues on imported foods where the pesticide has been used. Approval of its use on U.S. wheat and oats ensures that exposure to the U.S. population will increase dramatically. The pesticide has been linked to reduced fertility, reproductive toxicity and birth defects. This content originally appeared on Common Dreams and was authored by Newswire Editor.
More Iranian Women Are Ditching The Hijab #shorts
CORO ACARDENCHADO • en vivo en Mexico City (DF, 2026)
This content originally appeared on Vincent Moon / Petites Planètes and was authored by Vincent Moon / Petites Planètes.
Colombian election a ‘win’ for US military control of Americas
US Dept of War uses Venezuela’s earthquake to deepen infiltration
Lebanese authorities green-light Israeli occupation
Anti-AIPAC wins trigger unhinged pro-Israel meltdown
Venezuela quake latest: needs skyrocketing, say aid agenciesSudan alert as paramilitary forces approach key Kordofan town El Obeid AI regulation window is closing fast, warns UN scientific panel
Venezuela quake latest: needs skyrocketing, say aid agenciesSudan alert as paramilitary forces approach key Kordofan town El Obeid AI regulation window is closing fast, warns UN scientific panel This content originally appeared on UN News - Global perspective Human stories and was authored by Daniel Johnson.
Governments Are Spending $1.1 Trillion Propping Up the Fossil Fuel Industry While Households Pay the Price
As 350.org, Fuel Poverty Action and coalition partners today demonstrate against rising energy prices outside the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, a new report from the UN Development Programme (UNDP) lays bare the true scale of the fossil...
As 350.org, Fuel Poverty Action and coalition partners today demonstrate against rising energy prices outside the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, a new report from the UN Development Programme (UNDP) lays bare the true scale of the fossil fuel subsidy crisis: governments worldwide are on course to spend $1.1 trillion propping up the fossil fuel industry in 2026, a figure that could rise to $1.43 trillion if oil prices reach $110 a barrel. The UNDP report, <a href="https://email.cisionone.cision.com/c/eJw0z0mO2zAQheHTSLsySIrmsNCiN75Gg0PRJsJBYVEWcvvAQXr7AQ94f9yFCZKtuHNthOVWCba-du0NZxvjW9DORO2VCVFGy-7GCJ9Qr3lXTt437u-JGYbfnEcfmOTMartIRjnir_wbqssFB4FSWlkfYNqnDrePrmV_zXnQsn0t4rGIx3Vdt7PF49bHcxGPYyARDCzoCGkRj5pjLAjoaELoLZUcJiRXSj8nHCe9kCD0s82RkWD2y40IJ3GYI5eSe4PUiXKBdGIBOj3l-Ad8LgUuNxrB2SDiG0s_KrYJx-jP4WrFtWLM7ucK5Lj_g-__sGxfG2dayXXsDS9aJAu91t7iQFfpk7PSHIj1M9UqcbHZBNJwBvKOCFY5AdxHi8onEySu7138DQAA__8qsoby" rel="noopener noreferrer" >Military Escalation in the Middle East: Cushioning the Global Shock, finds that governments have responded to conflict-driven oil price spikes by expanding fossil fuel subsidies, price caps and tax rebates. While these measures offer short-term relief, they are consuming public budgets that should be building schools, hospitals and clean energy infrastructure. Many developing countries entered the latest crisis already burdened by rising debt, and fossil fuel handouts to keep prices artificially low are depleting public budgets and increasing their risk of debt distress. Anne Jellema, Executive Director of 350.org, said: "The $1.1 trillion that governments are pouring into fossil fuel subsidies this year is not a safety net, it is a ransom payment. Every dollar spent shielding the fossil fuel industry from the consequences of its own price volatility is a dollar not spent on the clean energy systems that can bring costs down for good. We need a phase out to end public subsidies for fossil fuel companies, and a permanent windfall tax on fossil fuel profits. Not a one-off levy, but a permanent, legislated mechanism that redirects the extraordinary profits of an industry driving this crisis into the just transition every country needs. That means affordable clean energy, retrofitted homes, and funding to protect people from the extreme weather unleashed by fossil pollution..” The UNDP report calls for easier access to international climate financing and accelerated investment in renewable energy, and explicitly frames energy security and the energy transition as inseparable. This content originally appeared on Common Dreams and was authored by Newswire Editor.
Reparations Efforts “Sweeping the Country” Despite DOJ Attack on Evanston, IL Groundbreaking Program
Supreme Court Approves Mail-In Voting, But Trump Keeps Pushing Extremist SAVE Act Ahead of Midterms
“We Continue to Fight”: Chase Strangio on the Supreme Court’s Ban on Trans Girls & Women in Sports
"America Is a Multiracial Democracy": Supreme Court Denies Trump’s Bid to End Birthright Citizenship
The apparent goal is to keep as many people as possible from getting the help they need.
The apparent goal is to keep as many people as possible from getting the help they need. This content originally appeared on The Progressive — A voice for peace, social justice, and the common good and was authored by Mike Ervin.
Yati Narsinghanand’s aide Anil Yadav calls for ‘annihilation’ of Muslims at Mahapanchayat
At the ‘Hindu Mahapanchayat’ organised by Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati, the 62-year-old head priest of the Dasna Devi temple in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, his right-hand man Anil Yadav, also known as ‘Chote Narsinghanand’, openly called for the “annihilation” of the Muslim community, suggesting that to bring an end to Islam, a ‘sanghar’ (translating to annihilation) needs […]
At the ‘Hindu Mahapanchayat’ organised by Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati, the 62-year-old head priest of the Dasna Devi temple in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, his right-hand man Anil Yadav, also known as ‘Chote Narsinghanand’, openly called for the “annihilation” of the Muslim community, suggesting that to bring an end to Islam, a ‘sanghar’ (translating to annihilation) needs to be carried out (at 3:41-minute mark). In a video released three days earlier on June 18, Narsinghanand alleged that two ‘Madanis’ (prominent Muslim clerics) of Deoband and a Samajwadi Party MP were openly preaching ‘jihad’ and ‘ghazwa-e-hind’ — a term invoked by far-Right groups to suggest an Islamic conspiracy to radicalise the nation. At the Mahapanchayat held at the temple premises, he called on Hindus to “stand up for themselves” against what he described as an imminent threat from Muslims. He stated that the purpose of the Mahapanchayat was to decide the community’s course of action to protect their families and children. When Alt News asked the assistant commissioner of police of Wave City, Priyashri Pal, if any complaints had been registered against any of the speakers at the Mahapanchayat, she said that no complaints had been filed so far (as of June 30), however, cases of objectionable speech have previously been registered against both Narsinghanand and Yadav. From the outset of his June 21 speech, Yadav reaffirmed his unconditional support for the head priest and the beliefs he espouses. “I am merely guruji’s shadow. His beliefs are my beliefs,” he said. He goes on to claim that Hindus are being killed, and to fight it, the only solution is to procreate more so as to build more strength in the Hindu community. To support his claims, Yadav cited the “example” of the Surya Pratap Chauhan stabbing case. A 17-year-old boy, Surya Pratap, was allegedly stabbed to death by his neighbour Asad and his aides, on May 28 in Ghaziabad’s Khoda. Five days later, on June 3, Asad was killed in a police encounter. Yadav alleged that Asad’s supporters are now seeking revenge, also claiming that “they are more in numbers”. He continued, “We have no organised strength to confront them; we are alone. Our people are only making reels…My brother will also die, he has kept a Muslim,” claiming that his brother’s marriage to a Muslim woman will result in his brother’s demise. To support his statement, he mentioned alleged cases where Hindu men married to or in romantic relationships with Muslim women had been attacked by the woman’s family members, such as the case of Ankit Saxena. Concluding his speech, Yadav asserted that ‘sanghar’ must be executed. “You should be doing it, and if you don’t, they are already doing it. Whoever does it first will win this battle,” he said, along with reading a poem calling for the death of “traitors”. After videos of his speech began circulating on social media and garnered criticism, Narsinghanand released a video on June 25, declaring his support for Yadav and his claims. In the video, the head priest stated that China and Israel are the only ones who have found a “befitting response” to ‘jihadis’/Islam, and praises Israel’s attack on Palestine while adding, “we can’t do that, we don’t have as much courage. History of Hate Speeches Notably, there have been several hate speech cases registered against Narsinghanand over the years. He was arrested on January 13, 2022, after delivering a speech at an event in Haridwar, calling for violence against Muslims. Yadav, by contrast, is a relatively lesser-known figure and does not feature among the more prominent Hindutva leaders. He briefly appeared in some news reports following Narsinghanand’s arrest, telling the BBC in 2022 that these criminal cases were “like our jewels. That’s no problem.” In another case of unabated hate speech, in 2024, Yadav was named alongside Narsinghanand for making inflammatory remarks on Prophet Muhammad and was arrested by the Uttar Pradesh police. Yadav had threatened to burn effigies of Prophet Muhammad and Hazrat Ali in response to protests against Narsinghanand’s remarks. View this post on Instagram A post shared by AURANGABAD TIMES (@aurangabadtimes) Alt News’ detailed account of Yati Narsinghanand’s hate speeches through the years can be found here. This content originally appeared on Alt News and was authored by Oishani Bhattacharya.
Sudan: Crimes Against Humanity in North Darfur | Amnesty International Investigation
This content originally appeared on Amnesty International and was authored by Amnesty International.
Ebola response must be about care and not just containment.
Ebola response must be about care and not just containment. This content originally appeared on The Progressive — A voice for peace, social justice, and the common good and was authored by Marc Rosenthal.
Top U.S. & World Headlines — July 1, 2026
Eggs off the plate? The science behind the mid-day meal debate
Days after the West Bengal government announced that ISKCON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness) would take over the mid-day meal programme in schools in Kolkata, the organization’s former vice-president and spokesperson Radharamn Das expressed his gratitude to the newly-elected BJP government and announced that paneer, rajma, soya, pulses and other vegetarian foods would be served […]
Days after the West Bengal government announced that ISKCON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness) would take over the mid-day meal programme in schools in Kolkata, the organization’s former vice-president and spokesperson Radharamn Das expressed his gratitude to the newly-elected BJP government and announced that paneer, rajma, soya, pulses and other vegetarian foods would be served to the children instead of eggs. This immediately sparked a debate over nutrition and children’s growth, on social media and off it. Addressing those questions, Das spoke to ANI to allay apprehensions that a full vegetarian menu would create gaps in child nutrition. He claimed, “100 grams of egg contains 13 grams of protein. In contrast, 100 grams of soya chunks containss 52 to 54 gram of protein, which is significantly higher… Lentils, commonly consumed in vegetarian households, on average, contain 25 grams of protein…” He further said, “I was comparing protein consumption levels across Indian states with large vegetarian populations — such as Rajasthan, where 61% of people are vegetarian, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh. Surprisingly, protein consumption is highest in these very states. Conversely, in Bengal and the Northeastern states, where meat consumption is common, protein intake is lower… It is truly unfortunate that such misinformation is being spread..” #WATCH | Kolkata | On West Bengal mid-day meal replacing egg with paneer and soybean, ISKCON Kolkata Vice President and spokesperson Radharaman Das says, “100 grams of egg contains 13 grams of protein. In contrast, 100 grams of soya chunks contains 52 to 54 grams of protein,… pic.twitter.com/9elAAEO9qw — ANI (@ANI) June 27, 2026 “There is a common misconception that eggs are the only rich source of protein and lack a vegetarian equivalent …We have empanelled dietitians to curate our menus. We will ensure that whatever nutrients a child gets from eggs will be matched or exceeded by the superior quality protein and vitamins in our meals,” Das further told The Times of India, adding that the food would be prepared in a “world-class” centralised kitchen in Kolkata for which preparations are already underway. Within days of these interactions, ISKCON announced that Das had been “sent on compulsory leave” and directed not to represent ISKCON in any capacity. Logical Inconsistencies Das’s claim about state-wise protein intake is factually incorrect. As per ICMR–INDIAB’s recent survey, the northeast had the highest overall protein intake (13.6%E) among India’s regions, and not the lowest, as Das claimed. The survey states, “Animal protein intake varied widely from a low of 0.3%E in the North and Central regions to 2.9%E in the northeast, with poultry as the main contributor (0.3%E).” It further states “The North had the highest dairy protein intake (3.6%E), while the East (1.2%E) and Northeast (1.1%E) had the lowest.” [%E here stands for percentage of total dietary energy, i.e., calories] The study further adds, “The highest animal protein intake was seen in the Northeastern states of Meghalaya (4.9%E), Mizoram (6.9%E) and Nagaland (7.4%E). They also had the highest protein intakes from red meat—Nagaland (4.2%E), Mizoram (2.3%E) and Meghalaya (2.0%E). Mizoram also reported a high intake of poultry protein (2.3%E).” What Does Science Say In his interaction with the media, Das compare egg and soya chunks in terms of protein content, and highlighted the latter as containing “significantly higher” protein. Nutritionists and scientists say that the comparison is not viable as protein matching itself is not enough. For a state (and a country) which had once memorised the lines ‘Sunday ho ya Monday, roz khao anday’ as part of the National Egg Coordination Committee’s health campaign, the removal of eggs from the mid-day meal plates has led to a broader concern — in the conflict between scientific evidence, regional food habits, and ideological preferences of a government or an organisation, what should be the priority for public nutrition programmes? Nutrionists, scientists and Right To Food activists alike told Alt News that a child’s nutrition intake depended on various factors: The actual quantity of food served, the overall menu, the biological value (BV) of a food (a measure of how efficiently your body can use a specific dietary protein), and other nutrients such as vitamin B12, vitamin D, choline, iron and zinc. The simple inclusion of rajma, soya, or even paneer in the “same protein quantity” does not singularly replace eggs as nutritionally equivalent. The mid-day meal scheme, officially termed the PM POSHAN scheme, functions under the National Food Security Act, 2013. Launched officially in 1995 as the National Programme of Nutritional Support to Primary Education (NP-NSPE), it is aimed at combatting child hunger, improving nutrition, and incentivising school attendance for children from lesser privileged backgrounds. The programme mandates 450 kilocalories and 12 grams of protein for primary students and 700 kilocalories and 20 grams of protein for upper-primary students. A study by the United Nation Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) positions eggs as playing a vital role in “human nutrition, being important sources of amino acids, energy, essential trace elements and vitamins.” It reads: “Including eggs in daily diets, especially of young children…can generate substantial cost-effective benefits in terms of nutrition and health.” <img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-316772" src="https://www.altnews.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/protein-graph.jpg-1.jpeg" alt="" width="1587" height="2560" srcset="https://www.altnews.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/protein-graph.jpg-1.jpeg 1587w, https://www.altnews.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/protein-graph.jpg-1-186x300.jpeg 186w, https://www.altnews.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/protein-graph.jpg-1-635x1024.jpeg 635w, https://www.altnews.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/protein-graph.jpg-1-768x1239.jpeg 768w, https://www.altnews.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/protein-graph.jpg-1-952x1536.jpeg 952w, https://www.altnews.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/protein-graph.jpg-1-1270x2048.jpeg 1270w" sizes="(max-width: 1587px) 100vw, 1587px" /> “Early introduction of eggs significantly improved growth in young children. Generally accessible to vulnerable groups, eggs have the potential to contribute to global targets to reduce [child] stunting,” are the findings of a 2017 randomised study in the American Academy of Pediatrics. Another 2025 study which maps the biological value (BV) of proteins for child development finds: “Animal proteins typically have a higher biological value due to their complete amino acid profiles. Compared to animal-based proteins (ABPs), plant-based proteins (PBPs) carry a higher risk of nutrient deficiencies in vulnerable populations due to lower digestibility and incomplete amino acid profiles.” For decades, the Indian government itself has actively promoted egg consumption as a key solution for nutritional deficiency. A recent Animal Husbandry Department’s campaign states, “With 142.77 billion eggs, India ensures every plate is filled with essential protein and every life is powered with nutrition.” Not a Wise Decision: Nutritionists Referring to eggs as the ‘superfood’ of nutrition, Kolkata-based nutritionist Payel Chatterjee, says, “Removing eggs is not a wise decision as its contribution to a child’s nutritional intake cannot be matched with any vegetarian options. Apart from being a good source of protein, eggs have micronutrients which plant-based sources do not have, such as Vitamin B12, D, and choline. Eggs also have superior quantities of digestible zinc and iron.” “The issue is not just about how much protein a food contains, but how well the child consumes it. Eggs contain all nine essential amino acids in ideal proportions and are highly digestible. It is always advised to give a nutrient-dense meal to the kids and egg being a very affordable, high-protein, high-calorie packed with micronutrients, was the best choice,” she told Alt News. Unlike some plant proteins, soy protein is also considered a complete protein as it contains all nine essential amino acids, reads a <a href="https://nutritionsource.hsph.harvard.edu/soy/#:~:text=soy%20foods%20are%20rich%20in%20nutrients%20including%20B%20vitamins%2C%20fiber%2C%20potassium%2C%20magnesium%2C%20and%20high-quality%20protein.%20Unlike%20some%20plant%20proteins%2C%20soy%20protein%20is%20considered%20a%20complete%20protein%2C%20containing%20all%20nine%20essential%20amino%20acids%20that%20the%20body%20cannot%20make%20which%20must%20be%20obtained%20from%20the%20diet." rel="noopener">study published by Harvard T H Chan School of Public Health. However, eggs provide all nine essential amino acids in proportions that closely match human requirements and are more readily digested and absorbed, according to FAO data, which notes that egg protein is among the highest-quality dietary proteins and serves as a reference against which other proteins are evaluated. Chatterjee adds that the liking of the children should also be taken into account, in which “eggs were a clear winner,” given the normative non-vegetarian eating practices of West Bengal. “If eggs are replaced by soya chunks, paneer, pulses and dairy, the menu can only be nutritionally adequate if it is supplemented with all the micronutrients and vitamins.” she says. Speaking to Alt News, Barsanjit Mazumder, molecular scientist and professor at the department of biology, geology, and environmental science at Cleveland State University, said, “Adequate protein intake, particularly from animal-source foods, of which eggs are the cheapest source, is associated with not only improved physical growth but also cognitive development of a child.” “For every cell in our body to remain healthy, proteins must be continuously synthesised, and every protein in the human body begins its synthesis with the amino acid methionine. If this supply line is compromised, the risk of impaired neural development in children increases significantly. Essential amino acids such as methionine, lysine, and threonine are found in much lower quantities in vegetarian diets. Compounds like taurine, creatine, carnosine, and hydroxyproline are virtually absent from plant-based food,” he explains. ‘Protein Matching Alone Not Enough’ By virtue of its core ideology, ISKCON is bound to serve vegetarian food, but nutritionists believe that a child’s need should have been at the forefront while assigning responsibility. “Eggs have a biological value of 100 per cent, meaning the body can utilise almost all of the protein they provide. They are also a great source of choline, which is important for children’s brain development, neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine, and egg whites contain a good amount of albumin. Animal food also provides nutrients like vitamin B12 and D, which plant food generally does not,” said clinical dietitian and critical care nutritionist Aritra Khan. “Whether this new dietary formula under the government’s pilot project is nutritionally adequate will depend on how the overall menu has been designed. It should be planned in consultation with physicians, dietitians and paediatricians and not in isolation by any one organisation,” he added. Nutritionist Sucharita Sengupta explains that there are two classes of protein. The first class includes animal protein whereas the second is vegetarian protein. “As per the new handover, the first class protein is completely out of [the childrens’] diet. Considering the BV of eggs, intentionally removing it from one’s diet might not be a prudent decision. Simply adding 2-3 plant based products will not suffice the overall gap of nutrition. They will need to add several supplements along with rajma or soya to balance the diet, simply protein matching is not enough,” she says. <img decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-316719 size-large" src="https://www.altnews.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Copy-of-Website-List-Template-Alt-News-1-585x1024.png" alt="" width="585" height="1024" srcset="https://www.altnews.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Copy-of-Website-List-Template-Alt-News-1-585x1024.png 585w, https://www.altnews.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Copy-of-Website-List-Template-Alt-News-1-171x300.png 171w, https://www.altnews.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Copy-of-Website-List-Template-Alt-News-1-768x1344.png 768w, https://www.altnews.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Copy-of-Website-List-Template-Alt-News-1-878x1536.png 878w, https://www.altnews.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Copy-of-Website-List-Template-Alt-News-1-1170x2048.png 1170w, https://www.altnews.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Copy-of-Website-List-Template-Alt-News-1.png 1600w" sizes="(max-width: 585px) 100vw, 585px" /> What are other States Doing? In 2018, ISKCON’s Akshaya Patra Foundation refused a government directive to serve eggs, onion, and garlic in the schools where it served mid-day meals in Karnataka, drawing flak from Right to Food activists who have consistently advocated the inclusion of eggs as part of government schemes meant for children from lower-income backgrounds. The foundation was accused of imposing religious and casteist dietary restrictions tied to ‘purity’, which went against the state’s general food practices. However, a 2022 study conducted by the Karnataka State Rural Development and Panchayat Raj University in Gadag, found clear evidence of significant improvement in children’s development after eggs were introduced in seven districts of the state as part of its pilot project in 2021 to combat child malnutrition and low school attendance in the state. The findings showed greater improvement in weight gain and BMI, compared with children who did not receive eggs, resulting in the inclusion of eggs twice a week in all mid-day meals across the state. In 2024, the government expanded the initiative to provide eggs in mid-day meals six days a week. Akin to Karnataka, Odisha also found a way to ensure the eggs remain on the mid-day meal menu despite the Akshaya Patra Foundation being in charge of implementing the scheme in the state for decades. After receiving numerous requests from schools, parents, and Right to Food campaigners, the government tasked the school managements to independently procure and boil the eggs after the foundation refused to be associated with either procurement or cooking. In the latest Global Hunger Index (GHI 2025), India ranks 102th out of 123 countries, with a score of 25.8, placing the country in the “serious” category of hunger. The GHI report maps child hunger and malnutrition — often leading to child mortality — as key determinants leading to the current alarming rank. Prominent activist Anjali Bhardwaj, member of the Right to Food Campaign, told Alt News, “India consistently ranks poorly on the GHI. Even government surveys like National Family Health Survey (NFHS) point to the alarming levels of child malnutrition (stunting and wasting) in India. As per NFHS-6 results, 30 per cent of children in the country are stunted (low height for age) and 19 per cent of children are wasted (low weight for height). This is a reflection of food insecurity in households, poor dietary diversity, lack of maternal and child care services, nutritious food and access to health and sanitation.” “Under such conditions, the only priority for any government should be to improve the intake of nutritious food by children. The type of food to be provided should be shaped by local preferences, habits and customs. It is not just about putting food in front of the child — the food should be such that the child wants to eat it, by taking into account the family background and habits of children. This is why involving contractors and service providers who bring their own terms and conditions must be completely avoided. It is not a dole in which the provider can decide the food entitlement based on their religious customs,” added Bhardwaj, also the co-covener of the National Campaign for People’s Right to Information (NCPRI). For children for whom the scheme is designed, the mid-day meal is often the only source of reliable protein. Condemning the move, Mazumder stated, “Affluent vegetarian families will continue to maintain their own health with plenty of animal-derived food items that fit within their version of vegetarianism — milk, curd, cottage cheese, paneer — and an abundance of supplements. But have they ever considered that these expensive food items are beyond the reach of children from working-class families? For them, the egg served through the mid-day meal is indispensable.” “I protest against this ideologically motivated agenda that ignores the nutritional needs of children,” he added. This content originally appeared on Alt News and was authored by Amarabati Bhattacharyya.
The Department of Justice is attempting to sabotage a reparations initiative that compensates victims of historic housing discrimination in Evanston, Illinois. For decades, Black residents of Evanston were subjected to redlining and other form...
The Department of Justice is attempting to sabotage a reparations initiative that compensates victims of historic housing discrimination in Evanston, Illinois. For decades, Black residents of Evanston were subjected to redlining and other forms of housing discrimination, which prevented them from obtaining bank loans to purchase property. “Throughout the 20th century and into the 21st century, housing has been the primary way that families have built wealth, and we are in a country where there is 10 times as much wealth in the white community as there is in the Black community. … [T]hat gap is a result, primarily, of this type of dispossession on the grounds of housing,” explains Howard University law professor Justin Hansford. Evanston’s reparations program, funded through donations and a local tax on recreational marijuana sales, grants Black residents and their descendants up to $25,000 for property down payments, mortgages, home repairs and other related fees. It is the first of its kind in any U.S. city and seen as a model for similar initiatives across the country and the world. “The effort to bring a lawsuit to stop this particular program is meant to send a message to programs in cities and states around the country that this is something that is dangerous or illegal,” says Hansford, who is helping Evanston city officials defend their reparations program from the DOJ’s claims that its race-based criteria are unconstitutional. “We want to make sure that everyone knows that it is constitutional to pursue reparations in the United States.” This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
President Donald Trump has received another setback in his ongoing quest to control U.S. elections. In a 5-4 split, the Supreme Court ruled that mail-in ballots do not need to be received by Election Day to be counted, as long as they were pos...
President Donald Trump has received another setback in his ongoing quest to control U.S. elections. In a 5-4 split, the Supreme Court ruled that mail-in ballots do not need to be received by Election Day to be counted, as long as they were postmarked by then. Although a “rare victory for voting rights,” the conservative justices’ assertion that voting by mail is prone to fraud — a disproven theory that Trump blames his loss in the 2020 election for — is “very disturbing,” says Ari Berman, the national voting rights correspondent for Mother Jones. “My fear is that this is going to embolden Republicans to double down on their efforts to try to get rid of mail voting, including the SAVE America Act, Trump’s sweeping voter suppression bill, which he seems desperate to go to any lengths to try to pass,” says Berman, who also comments on the court’s decision to strike down a federal law limiting campaign spending. This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
The Supreme Court has ruled that states can prohibit transgender student athletes from competing in women’s and girls’ sports teams, with the court’s conservative justices finding that such bans — currently introduced in Idah...
The Supreme Court has ruled that states can prohibit transgender student athletes from competing in women’s and girls’ sports teams, with the court’s conservative justices finding that such bans — currently introduced in Idaho and West Virginia — do not violate the Constitution, and all nine justices agreeing that they do not violate Title IX, the federal anti-sex discrimination statute. These bans are part of an “effort that we’re seeing escalate to push trans people out of public life,” says Chase Strangio, co-director of the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Project. They have the ultimate effect of “increasing the legitimacy of the Trump administration’s authority over every aspect of our bodily autonomy and everyday life.” This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
“America Is a Multiracial Democracy”: Supreme Court Denies Trump’s Bid to End Birthright Citizenship
“Citizenship, then and now, was the right to have rights — to freely participate in our political community. The Framers of the Fourteenth Amendment extended that promise to 'every free-born person in this land.' … We keep that p...
“Citizenship, then and now, was the right to have rights — to freely participate in our political community. The Framers of the Fourteenth Amendment extended that promise to 'every free-born person in this land.' … We keep that promise today.” So concludes the decision of the Supreme Court in the landmark case Trump v. Barbara, affirming the constitutional right to birthright citizenship and rejecting President Trump’s attempt to end it. Trump’s executive order had aimed to prevent babies born to undocumented immigrants and temporary foreign residents from automatically becoming American citizens. We speak to Columbia University historian of immigration Mae Ngai about the case and the white nationalist logic behind Trump’s challenge. This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
The West called it terrorism – Iran called it the architecture of survival
ANALYSIS: By Lim Tean For four decades, the West presented Iran’s regional strategy as the work of a rogue state exporting revolution and chaos. They never told you about the CIA coup that destroyed Iran’s democracy in 1953. They never told you that America armed the man who gassed Iranian soldiers. They never showed you
ANALYSIS: By Lim Tean For four decades, the West presented Iran’s regional strategy as the work of a rogue state exporting revolution and chaos. They never told you about the CIA coup that destroyed Iran’s democracy in 1953. They never told you that America armed the man who gassed Iranian soldiers. They never showed you the map — the ring of American military bases on every border, the US Fifth Fleet in the Persian Gulf, the Israeli aircraft that bombed Iranian assets with impunity and assassinated Iranian scientists on Iranian soil. Iran built the Axis of Resistance and the Mosaic Defence as its answer to that encirclement. READ MORE: ‘Technical’ talks under way in Doha as Tehran demands action Other Lim Tean articles Now, with the 2026 war and its fragile ceasefire, we can assess the full doctrine — what it achieved, where it was tested to its limits, and what it tells us about the future of Iranian sovereignty. This is the story they spent decades trying to prevent you from understanding. The fortress and the forward shield: How Iran built the architecture of survival Look at a map. Not the map the Western press shows you — the one that marks Iran in the colour reserved for rogue states, surrounded by the clean borders of American allies and reasonable nations. I want you to look at the real map. The strategic map below. This is the map that every Iranian general, every Iranian strategic planner, every Iranian Supreme Leader has looked at every morning for the past four decades. <img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-129995" src="https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/US-military-presence-in-MidEast-AJmap-1080wide.jpg" alt="The US military presence that it has maintained in the Middle East for decades, stationing between 40,000 and 50,000 troops across 19 sites" width="1080" height="1350" srcset="https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/US-military-presence-in-MidEast-AJmap-1080wide.jpg 1080w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/US-military-presence-in-MidEast-AJmap-1080wide-240x300.jpg 240w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/US-military-presence-in-MidEast-AJmap-1080wide-819x1024.jpg 819w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/US-military-presence-in-MidEast-AJmap-1080wide-768x960.jpg 768w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/US-military-presence-in-MidEast-AJmap-1080wide-696x870.jpg 696w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/US-military-presence-in-MidEast-AJmap-1080wide-1068x1335.jpg 1068w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/US-military-presence-in-MidEast-AJmap-1080wide-336x420.jpg 336w" sizes="(max-width: 1080px) 100vw, 1080px" /> The US military presence that it has maintained in the Middle East for decades, stationing between 40,000 and 50,000 troops across 19 sites. Map: Al Jazeera/Creative Commons What the map shows is not an aggressive power projecting menace outward. It shows a nation under siege — encircled, threatened, and facing an existential choice that empires have always forced upon those they cannot fully control: submit, or build the architecture of survival. Iran chose to build. What follows is the story of how — and why. And now, in the wake of the 2026 war and its fragile ceasefire, we can assess that architecture under the most severe test it has ever faced. 1. The doctrine born from betrayal To understand Iranian grand strategy, you must first understand what Iran learned — not from ideology, not from theology, but from history. From its own history, written in blood and betrayal. Lesson One came in 1953. Iran had a democracy. A real one — a Parliament, a free press, a Prime Minister of genuine popular legitimacy who had committed the unforgivable act of returning Iran’s oil to its own people. The West destroyed it. Not with armies, but with money, propaganda, and hired mobs. The CIA and MI6 removed Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh and installed a pliant Shah who would keep Iranian oil flowing to London and Washington. The lesson Iran drew was stark and permanent: the West does not want Iran strong, sovereign, or self-determining. It wants Iran “manageable”. Lesson Two came in the 1980s. Iraq’s Saddam Hussein invaded Iran in 1980 with the tacit blessing of Washington, which viewed the chaos of revolutionary Iran in 1979 as a strategic opportunity. For eight years, Iran bled. Perhaps one million lives. And when Iranian forces began pushing back, Washington made its choice. It provided Saddam with satellite intelligence on Iranian troop positions. It supplied the precursor chemicals for the weapons Saddam used to gas Iranian soldiers on the battlefield — mustard gas, tabun, sarin — in one of the most extensively documented war crimes of the modern era. American officials knew. They continued regardless. The lesson Iran drew from those eight years was equally stark: when your existence is threatened, no one will come. Not the United Nations. Not international law. Not the conventions against chemical weapons. No one. These two lessons — the 1953 betrayal and the 1980s abandonment — are the foundation of everything that follows. They are not ideology. They are experience. And as Oliver Wendell Holmes observed: the life of the law — and we might add, the life of strategy — is not logic. It is experience. Iran’s grand strategy is the experience of a nation that has been betrayed, encircled, and attacked — and has drawn the only rational conclusions available to a sovereign state determined to survive. 2. The encirclement — what Iran actually sees Before we examine what Iran built, we must understand what Iran faces. Because the architecture of Iranian strategy makes no sense without the map — the real map, not the sanitised version. To Iran’s east, American forces spent two decades in Afghanistan — on Iran’s longest land border. To Iran’s west, the American invasion of Iraq in 2003 removed Saddam Hussein but replaced him with a country that became host to the largest American embassy on earth, a vast network of military bases, and tens of thousands of American troops — sitting on Iran’s western doorstep. In the Persian Gulf — Iran’s southern maritime frontier — the United States Fifth Fleet operates from Bahrain, a permanent naval presence of carrier groups, destroyers, and the full apparatus of American maritime power. At Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, America maintained the largest US air installation in the entire Middle East — a facility capable of projecting devastating airpower across the region within hours. In Kuwait. In the UAE. Across the Arabian Peninsula, American bases formed a constellation of military power that, viewed from Tehran, looked less like a defensive alliance and more like a slowly tightening noose. This is not Iranian paranoia. This is Iranian geography. Any strategic planner in any country — American, British, Chinese, Indian — looking at that map would draw the same conclusion. Iran had been encircled with a precision that left nothing to chance. The message was unambiguous: the United States had positioned itself to strangle Iran economically through Gulf control, to strike Iran from multiple directions simultaneously, and to do so from bases close enough to minimise warning time and maximise devastation. Iran looked at this map. And Iran made a decision. If the Americans intend to make the Persian Gulf an American lake, Iran will ensure that lake has a price. If American power is to sit on every border, every border will become a potential front. If encirclement is the American strategy, Iran’s answer will be to make that encirclement so costly to act upon that it becomes, in practice, a cage with open bars — present but unusable. The Axis of Resistance was not born of religious fervour or ideological ambition. It was born of that map. 3. The Israeli dimension — the undeclared nuclear power that bombs its neighbours And then there is Israel. The Western framing of the Iran-Israel confrontation presents it as Iranian aggression against a peaceful democratic state. This is such a complete inversion of the actual sequence of events that it requires dismantling with some care. Israel is, by the near-universal assessment of the international intelligence community, a nuclear power. It possesses an estimated 90 nuclear warheads. It has never signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. It has never submitted to international inspection. It maintains what is called a policy of “nuclear ambiguity” — neither confirming nor denying what the entire world knows to be true. And it directs its considerable diplomatic energy toward ensuring that no other state in its region acquires the same deterrent capability it has quietly accumulated for itself. This is the context in which Iran’s nuclear programme must be understood. Iran is a signatory to the NPT. Its programme operated under international scrutiny that Israel’s never has. And yet it was Iran that was presented as the existential threat, Iran that was sanctioned, Iran that was threatened with military strikes — and ultimately, Iran that was bombed. But the nuclear dimension was only the beginning. Israeli planes repeatedly struck Iranian assets in Syria — military installations, weapons convoys, advisers — hundreds of strikes over a decade, conducted with complete impunity. Israeli intelligence assassinated Iranian nuclear scientists on Iranian soil. In April 2024, Israel struck the Iranian consulate in Damascus — sovereign Iranian territory under the Vienna Convention — killing senior commanders. In July 2024, Israeli intelligence assassinated Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’s political leader, in Tehran itself. In June 2025, Israel launched Operation Rising Lion and America followed with Operation Midnight Hammer — the first direct US strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, targeting Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan. Then, on February 28, 2026, came the full assault: Operation Epic Fury, a joint US-Israeli campaign of nearly 900 strikes in 12 hours targeting Iran’s missiles, air defences, military infrastructure, and leadership. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was killed. Dozens of senior officials perished. Iran’s nuclear programme was severely degraded. The doctrine that Iran had constructed across four decades — forward defence through the Axis of Resistance, interior resilience through the Mosaic Defence — was now facing its ultimate test. Hezbollah had served as Iran’s most elegant strategic instrument — a deterrent positioned on Israel’s northern border, ensuring that any strike on Iran carried automatic, unavoidable cost. For 30 years, it worked. Every Israeli military planner understood that attacking Natanz meant absorbing tens of thousands of Hezbollah rockets into northern Israel simultaneously. That deterrent logic held — until 2024, when Israel called the bluff. Yet even after Nasrallah’s assassination and the degradation of Hezbollah’s arsenal, the organisation demonstrated remarkable residual fighting capacity. When IDF ground forces attempted to push into southern Lebanon, Hezbollah gave them a drubbing — inflicting casualties, destroying armoured vehicles, and forcing repeated tactical withdrawals that exposed the limits of Israeli conventional military power on the ground. The shield had been damaged. It had not been broken. 4. The Axis of Resistance — architecture of Forward Defence With the American encirclement and Israeli threat understood, the Axis of Resistance reveals itself not as an Iranian imperial project but as a coherent strategic architecture built on a single organising principle: make the cost of attacking Iran prohibitive, by ensuring that any attack triggers consequences across the entire region simultaneously. The components of that architecture were distinct in character but unified in purpose. Hezbollah was Iran’s most sophisticated instrument — battle-hardened, institutionally deep, politically embedded in Lebanese society, and at its peak possessing an arsenal of more than 150,000 rockets and missiles. It is not a militia in the casual sense. It is a military organisation with combat experience forged across four decades, in Lebanon’s civil war, the Syrian conflict, and multiple wars against one of the most technologically advanced militaries in the world. Despite the severe degradation it suffered in 2024 and 2025, Hezbollah remains a potent force — as the IDF discovered when its ground forces pushed into southern Lebanon and were met with fierce resistance, tactical ambushes, and anti-armour fire that forced repeated withdrawals. Iran’s first line of forward defence has been bloodied but not destroyed. Hamas was a different and more complicated case — Palestinian in origin, rooted in the Muslim Brotherhood tradition rather than Shia political theology. But Iran adopted the Palestinian cause with strategic intelligence, recognising that support for Palestinian resistance gave Tehran something invaluable: moral legitimacy across the entire Muslim world, Sunni and Shia alike. Supporting Hamas cost Iran relatively little. It purchased Iran enormous influence and the one thing that money and missiles cannot buy — the genuine sympathy of the Arab street. The Houthis of Yemen were the most recent and surprising component. Not originally an Iranian creation, they were driven into Tehran’s strategic embrace by the Saudi-led war in Yemen — backed by American weapons, logistics, and political cover. The Houthis’ capacity to threaten Red Sea shipping and strike deep into the Gulf transformed them from a local insurgency into a regional strategic asset of considerable importance. Their intervention following October 7, 2023 demonstrated reach that surprised even optimistic Iranian planners — and their continued operations through the 2026 war demonstrated a resilience that confounded repeated predictions of their swift neutralisation. The Iraqi militias — the Popular Mobilisation Forces and their various components — completed the architecture. Born from the chaos of the American invasion and consolidated during the fight against ISIS, these forces represented Iran’s most direct penetration of a neighbouring state’s security structure, giving Tehran influence over the country on its western border through which any American ground offensive would necessarily pass. Together, these components formed what Iranian strategists called the “ring of fire” — a constellation of armed, motivated, battle-tested forces positioned around Iran’s primary adversaries. Not an empire. A defensive perimeter, constructed outside Iran’s borders precisely because Iran’s borders had proven, twice in living memory, to be insufficient protection against the ambitions of external powers. 5. The Mosaic Defence — making Iran unconquerable Forward defence alone — however sophisticated — was always only half of Iran’s strategic architecture. Iranian planners understood that the outer ring could be degraded. Proxies could be weakened. Forward positions could be overrun. The question that preoccupied Iran’s military establishment for four decades was this: if the forward shield fails, what then? The answer was the Mosaic Defence. The concept is as elegant as it is ruthless. Iran deliberately, systematically, and over decades decentralised its entire military infrastructure across all 31 of its provinces. Missile arsenals were not concentrated in single facilities but dispersed across hundreds of sites — underground, mountainside, desert — spread across a country the size of Western Europe. Command and control was distributed rather than centralised, designed to survive the decapitation strikes that destroyed Iraq’s military capacity in 1991 and Libya’s in 2011. Defence industries were deliberately dispersed so that no single strike, however precise, could eliminate Iran’s capacity to produce and deploy weapons. The underground dimension was particularly significant. Iran invested enormously in what it called its “missile cities” — vast subterranean complexes buried deep enough to survive all but the most specialised munitions. The 2026 campaign tested this directly. Despite nearly 900 strikes in the opening 12 hours and CENTCOM ultimately claiming over 11,000 targets struck across the entire war, a preliminary US Defense Intelligence Agency assessment — leaked and characterised by the Trump administration as “political” — concluded that Iran had moved much of its enriched uranium stockpile before the strikes began and that the underground facilities had not been collapsed. The CIA subsequently disputed this, claiming severe damage that would take years to rebuild. The truth, as is so often the case in the fog of war, likely lies somewhere between these assessments. What is beyond dispute is this: the logic Iran applied — the logic of a student of history who had watched what happened to states that presented centralised targets — proved partially vindicated. The 31-province dispersal model meant that even 11,000 strikes could not deliver a clean, decisive blow. Iran was damaged. Iran was not defeated. Centralisation is a vulnerability. Dispersal is survival. The Mosaic Defence and the Axis of Resistance were never separate strategies. They were two halves of a single, integrated doctrine. Attack Iran’s periphery — and the Axis activates. Penetrate to the interior — and the Mosaic ensures there is no clean, decisive blow to be struck. The 2026 war demonstrated both the power and the limits of that doctrine. 6. The 2026 War — the ultimate test Intellectual honesty requires confronting what Operation Epic Fury achieved — and what it did not. What it achieved was substantial. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was killed in the opening strikes — a decapitation of the Islamic Republic’s leadership of historic proportions. Dozens of senior IRGC commanders, nuclear scientists, and regime officials perished. Iran’s nuclear enrichment infrastructure was severely degraded. Its air defences were systematically dismantled. Its navy was effectively destroyed. The Iranian economy, already strangled by decades of sanctions, went into free fall. Its currency collapsed. Protests that had begun in December 2025 spread across the country as the regime’s authority visibly cracked. What it did not achieve is equally instructive. Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile — the IAEA had confirmed 440 kilograms enriched to 60 percent purity before the war, sufficient for multiple weapons if further enriched — could not be fully accounted for. Two military campaigns left that stockpile harder, not easier, to locate. Iran had anticipated decapitation. Within 30 minutes of the opening strikes, Iranian forces launched simultaneous retaliatory attacks across multiple fronts without waiting for centralised authorisation — precisely the pre-delegated response architecture that the Mosaic Defence doctrine had prescribed. The regime was headless. The military machine kept fighting. Iran’s response was devastating to the American strategic position in the region. It closed the Strait of Hormuz — through which roughly 20 percent of global oil supply passes — triggering a global energy shock and fuel crises across Asia. It struck American bases across the Gulf simultaneously: Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, the UAE. It bombarded Israel with over 525 ballistic missiles. It struck oil infrastructure across the Arabian Peninsula. Thirteen American service members were killed. The regional war that Iran’s forward defence doctrine had always promised to trigger — the promise that had deterred attack for thirty years — was fulfilled. The ceasefire that followed told its own story. After 40 days of sustained combat, with both sides exhausted and the global economy convulsing, Pakistan brokered a conditional truce on April 8, 2026. The highest-level direct US-Iran engagement since the 1979 revolution followed — JD Vance meeting Iranian counterparts in Islamabad. On June 17, 2026, Trump and Iranian President Pezeshkian signed the Islamabad Memorandum, with Trump signing at the Palace of Versailles, establishing a 60-day framework for further negotiations on Iran’s nuclear programme, sanctions relief, the unfreezing of Iranian assets, and the future of the Strait of Hormuz. Read that again. The United States of America — which had launched nearly 900 strikes in 12 hours against Iran, killed its Supreme Leader, and declared regime change as its explicit objective — ended up negotiating. Not dictating. Negotiating. With the Islamic Republic it had sought to destroy. The new Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei — son of Ali — approved the memorandum, noting he had “a different view” but accepted it in the national interest. Iran committed to reaffirming it would not develop nuclear weapons. The US committed to lifting sanctions and removing forces from Iran’s proximity after a final deal. Iran’s nuclear programme — battered but not eliminated — remained. Its missile programme was explicitly declared off the table for negotiations by Tehran. And critically, Iran extracted from the world’s most powerful military the one concession that no amount of technical language could conceal: America negotiated. That fact is irreversible. And every adversary of American power on earth has filed it carefully for future reference. 7. The Strategic Verdict — doctrine under fire Here is what four decades of Iranian grand strategy achieved, assessed without sentiment. The Axis of Resistance was degraded — Hamas devastated in Gaza, Hezbollah bloodied in Lebanon, Iranian assets struck across Syria. The Mosaic Defence was tested as never before — 11,000 targets struck, nuclear facilities damaged, leadership decapitated. The forward shield failed to deter the ultimate assault it was designed to prevent. And yet. Iran survived. The Islamic Republic — written off by analysts for decades, subjected to the most comprehensive sanctions in modern history, struck by two rounds of devastating military campaigns — survived. Its military kept fighting after its Supreme Leader was killed. Its enriched uranium could not be fully accounted for. Its proxies continued operating. The Strait of Hormuz became a weapon that brought the global economy to its knees. And ultimately, America came to the table. This is not the outcome of a state that built the wrong strategic doctrine. This is the outcome of a state that built remarkable strategic resilience — imperfect, costly, and tested to its absolute limits — but resilience nonetheless. The Mosaic Defence’s dispersal across 31 provinces meant no clean killing blow. The pre-delegated command authority meant no paralysis after decapitation. The Houthis’ continued Red Sea operations meant the economic pressure never relented. The Iraqi militias provided Iran with leverage in negotiations. And the nuclear stockpile — unaccounted for, potentially dispersed before the strikes — remained the ultimate trump card that no military campaign could eliminate with certainty. What Iran demonstrated in 2026 was not the invincibility its doctrine promised. What it demonstrated was something perhaps more important: the cost of attacking Iran is catastrophic, even in victory. America got its strikes. It killed Khamenei. It damaged the nuclear programme. It triggered regime change of a kind — though Mojtaba Khamenei is hardly the pro-Western successor Washington imagined. And what did it get for all of that? A fragile ceasefire, a 60-day negotiating framework, an unaccounted nuclear stockpile, a Strait of Hormuz that remains contested, a global energy shock, thirteen dead Americans, and a region convulsed by war. Mosaddegh was destroyed because Iran was weak — because it had no forward shield, no interior fortress, no capacity to make its destruction costly. The Iran of 2026 is not that Iran. The wound of 1953 was the education. The architecture of survival — tested, battered, partially broken — was the graduation. The lesson of Iran’s grand strategy is ultimately this: a nation that cannot be cheaply destroyed cannot be permanently dominated. Even after the most severe bombings, Iran extracted a negotiation. Even after decapitation, its military kept fighting. Even after 11,000 strikes, its nuclear stockpile remained unaccounted for. That is not the record of a doctrine that failed. It is the record of a doctrine that made Iran’s destruction more costly than any power was ultimately willing to pay. In a future article, I will examine Iran’s nuclear programme — not through the lens of Western proliferation anxiety, but through the strategic logic of a state that watched what happened to countries that disarmed, and has now watched what happened to itself when it did not yet possess the ultimate deterrent. Lim Tean is a Singaporean lawyer, politician and commentator. He is the founder of the political party People’s Voice and a co-founder of the political alliance People’s Alliance for Reform. This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.
Satellite Images Show Over 58,000 Buildings Damaged by Venezuela Earthquakes, Iran’s Top Negotiator Rules Out High-Level Talks Until U.S. Abides by MOU, Israel’s Netanyahu Visits Troops in Southern Lebanon, Says Occupation Will Continue, 22 House Democrats Join Republicans to Defeat Lebanon War Powers Resolution, Trump’s “Board of Peace” Plans to Operate “Hamas-Free Humanitarian Zones” in Gaza, House Republicans Block Vote on Amendment to Halt U.S.-Israeli Military Integration, Supreme Court Upholds 14th Amendment’s Guarantee of Birthright Citizenship in 6-3 Ruling, SCOTUS Rules States Can Ban Trans Athletes from Women’s and Girls’ Sports, Supreme Court Strikes Down Federal Limits on Political Parties’ Campaign Spending, Democratic Socialist Melat Kiros Defeats Rep. Diana DeGette in Colorado Primary Election, Over 400,000 Children Appeared in U.S. Immigration Courts Without Lawyers, Rights Groups Accuse Ghana of Complicity in Unlawful “Third Country” Deportations by U.S., South Africans March in Anti-Immigrant Protests as Vigilantes Target the Undocumented
Satellite Images Show Over 58,000 Buildings Damaged by Venezuela Earthquakes Iran's Top Negotiator Rules Out High-Level Talks Until U.S. Abides by MOU Israel's Netanyahu Visits Troops in Southern Lebanon, Says Occupation Will Continue 22 House Democrats Join Republicans to Defeat Lebanon War Powers Resolution Trump's "Board of Peace" Plans to Operate "Hamas-Free Humanitarian Zones" in Gaza House Republicans Block Vote on Amendment to Halt U.S.-Israeli Military Integration Supreme Court Upholds 14th Amendment's Guarantee of Birthright Citizenship in 6-3 Ruling SCOTUS Rules States Can Ban Trans Athletes from Women's and Girls' Sports Supreme Court Strikes Down Federal Limits on Political Parties' Campaign Spending Democratic Socialist Melat Kiros Defeats Rep. Diana DeGette in Colorado Primary Election Over 400,000 Children Appeared in U.S. Immigration Courts Without Lawyers Rights Groups Accuse Ghana of Complicity in Unlawful "Third Country" Deportations by U.S. South Africans March in Anti-Immigrant Protests as Vigilantes Target the Undocumented This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
Democracy Now! Wednesday, July 1, 2026 This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! Audio and was authored by Democracy Now!.
[episode cut] The Art of Difference: Disability, Neurodiversity and the ADA Legacy
Wednesday Democracy Now! show for rebroadcast - HD
Wednesday Democracy Now! show for rebroadcast - HD This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! for Broadcasters - HD MP4 and was authored by Democracy Now! for Broadcasters - HD MP4.
A Troubling Milestone: Most Supreme Court Rulings Are Secretive Votes With Little Justification
The post A Troubling Milestone: Most Supreme Court Rulings Are Secretive Votes With Little Justification appeared first on ProPublica.
The Supreme Court is deciding more consequential rulings than ever before in secret, issued in unsigned orders with little to no justification. Bryan Dozier/NurPhoto via AP In its term that ended last October, the Supreme Court passed an important milestone that went unnoticed: For the first time, it decided more cases by secret ballot, and with few signed opinions, than it did for cases argued in open court. These decisions, which make up the court’s “shadow docket,” are a fast-track way to get a decision from the top court. They rarely include arguments, have limited briefings and have expedited timetables, and justices infrequently provide explanation of how they voted or to cite legal precedent. The Supreme Court’s increased willingness to bypass its regular process has empowered President Donald Trump at the same time as the administration has increased use of executive authority. The court has repeatedly green-lit policies of his that lower courts have blocked — and has done so with little to no explanation. These emergency decisions have thrown lower courts’ processes into turmoil and have sometimes directly contradicted longstanding legal precedent. The outcomes have been consequential: The high court has used the process to limit federal courts from issuing nationwide injunctions and diminished Congress’ authority over federal agencies, and it has allowed for the detention of American citizens by immigration agents. ProPublica analyzed over two decades of Supreme Court rulings, which cover all of the years under Chief Justice John Roberts and go as far back as the online archives allow. We found that when the last court term ended, justices had issued 63 orders on the shadow docket, as opposed to 56 orders on the more traditional merits docket — where the court hears oral arguments scheduled months in advance and the justices issue signed opinions. Legal scholars and court watchers were shocked by our finding. They told ProPublica it’s likely the first time in modern history that so many consequential decisions were made in secret by its nine members. “The patterns show a court going out of its way to enable Trump,” said Stephen Vladeck, a law professor at Georgetown University and a Supreme Court analyst. He said that our findings reinforce the appearance that the justices are voting on their political preferences. “That’s the real blow to the court’s credibility,” he said. Representatives from the Supreme Court did not respond to a detailed list of questions. In a statement, a spokesperson for the White House wrote, “President Trump has faced a historically unprecedented number of injunctions by liberal lower court judges, the same judges who would rather push their own policy schemes and undermine the Administration’s lawful agenda. President Trump will not stop implementing the America First initiatives on which he was elected.” For the First Time in Two Decades, Decisions on the Supreme Court’s Shadow Docket Outnumber the Merits Docket <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="663" width="752" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/shadow-docket-vs-merits-docket-fallback.png?w=752" alt="A line chart shows the number of Supreme Court decisions on the merits docket versus the shadow docket from the 2003-04 term to the 2024-25 term. The merits docket decisions trend downward over time, ending at 56 decisions, while the shadow docket decisions rise sharply in the 2018-19 term and surpass the merits docket in the last term at 63 decisions." class="wp-image-85198" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/shadow-docket-vs-merits-docket-fallback.png 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/shadow-docket-vs-merits-docket-fallback.png?resize=300,264 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/shadow-docket-vs-merits-docket-fallback.png?resize=768,677 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/shadow-docket-vs-merits-docket-fallback.png?resize=1024,902 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/shadow-docket-vs-merits-docket-fallback.png?resize=1536,1353 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/shadow-docket-vs-merits-docket-fallback.png?resize=863,760 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/shadow-docket-vs-merits-docket-fallback.png?resize=422,372 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/shadow-docket-vs-merits-docket-fallback.png?resize=552,486 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/shadow-docket-vs-merits-docket-fallback.png?resize=558,492 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/shadow-docket-vs-merits-docket-fallback.png?resize=527,464 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/shadow-docket-vs-merits-docket-fallback.png?resize=752,663 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/shadow-docket-vs-merits-docket-fallback.png?resize=1149,1012 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/shadow-docket-vs-merits-docket-fallback.png?resize=1816,1600 1816w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/shadow-docket-vs-merits-docket-fallback.png?resize=400,352 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/shadow-docket-vs-merits-docket-fallback.png?resize=800,705 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/shadow-docket-vs-merits-docket-fallback.png?resize=1200,1057 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/shadow-docket-vs-merits-docket-fallback.png?resize=1600,1410 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" /> Note: Supreme Court terms run from October to October. Ken Morales/ProPublica There are two ways to get a decision from the Supreme Court. One is to exhaust your appeals to lower courts and ask to argue your case in front of the high court. The justices determine whether to take the case on, and if they do, lawyers argue their case in front of them. The other is to petition the justices directly via the emergency docket — to freeze a lower court ruling or government policy while the case goes through appeal. The appeals to the emergency docket have long outnumbered those to the merits docket, but most are procedural requests or requests to stay execution for capital offenses. When those are removed, what’s left is known as the shadow docket — cases that seek to skip the usual order of things and ask for a quick ruling from the court’s justices. The modern shadow docket was born in 2016 when the Supreme Court issued an emergency stay against President Barack Obama’s Clean Power Plan, experts say. Papers obtained by The New York Times show that liberal justices at the time urged Roberts not to decide the case on an emergency basis because it broke with longtime precedent. The conservative justices, meanwhile, forcefully argued that the president’s plan would eventually be overturned by the court anyway and that it would put too much of a burden on the energy industry. Driven by its numerous losses in lower courts, the current Trump administration appeals to the emergency docket significantly more often than previous administrations, and the court has increasingly agreed to take quick action on its appeals. The Obama and George W. Bush administrations together filed just eight petitions in 16 years. The Trump administration filed 32 in 2025 alone, an analysis by the Brennan Center for Justice found. The increased willingness of the Roberts court to intervene on Trump’s behalf — as well as in other issues that favor conservatives and Trump allies — has upended American life, said Donald Ayer, a former deputy solicitor general and deputy attorney general who served under the Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations. “On many subjects of real importance to our future, they’ve demolished what used to be the law,” he said. Public scrutiny of the shadow docket ramped up in September 2021 after the Supreme Court used it to issue a one-paragraph, unsigned opinion that further rolled back abortion rights established in the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling. In the order, the court refused to block Texas’ Senate Bill 8, the “Heartbeat Act,” which banned abortion after an embryo’s cardiac activity is detectable, typically at six weeks of pregnancy and before many people know they are pregnant. Protests erupted nationwide, and the Senate held a hearing on the shadow docket. In an unusual public acknowledgement, Justice Elena Kagan referenced the shadow docket by name in her scathing dissent, accusing the majority of green-lighting a “patently unconstitutional law” with only a cursory review in less than 72 hours. “In all these ways, the majority’s decision is emblematic of too much of this Court’s shadow docket decisionmaking — which every day becomes more unreasoned, inconsistent, and impossible to defend,” Kagan wrote. That an opinion was even issued and that four of the justices signed their names to it was uncommon. On the shadow docket, justices do not have to make their votes known. In rare cases, their votes are revealed in terse indications that they grant or deny the application, or even more rarely, as an opinion. We found that just 17% of votes cast had any sort of public record of a vote or opinion. Responding to public criticism, Justice Samuel Alito contended that the court isn’t to blame for the rise in shadow docket cases. “We do not file these emergency applications,” he said. “Parties file them.” The debate has continued. “We cannot expect the public to have faith in our judicial system if, without clear explanation, we consistently green-light harmful acts that do real damage,” Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said during an April speech on the shadow docket at Yale Law School. Until this past Supreme Court term, emergency applications fluctuated year to year but showed no clear upward trend. The applications are given first to a single justice, who decides if a case is worth referring to the full court. In recent years, justices have referred more of such appeals for a review and vote by the full court. Last term, when there were both more cases and more referrals to the full court, the appeals to the shadow docket finally overtook those to the merits docket. Emergency Applications Referred for a Full Court Vote Have Risen Sharply Total applications have varied over the last two decades, with a surge last term under President Donald Trump. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="719" width="752" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/shadow-docket-single-vs-referred-fallback.png?w=752" alt="A stacked bar chart shows the number of emergency applications to a single Supreme Court justice and the full court from the 2003-04 term to the 2024-25 term. While the total number of applications received fluctuates over time, the number referred and decided by a full court vote rises steadily after the 2017-18 term. There is a sharp surge in total emergency applications to over 150 in the 2024-25 term." class="wp-image-85203" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/shadow-docket-single-vs-referred-fallback.png 1480w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/shadow-docket-single-vs-referred-fallback.png?resize=300,287 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/shadow-docket-single-vs-referred-fallback.png?resize=768,735 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/shadow-docket-single-vs-referred-fallback.png?resize=1024,980 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/shadow-docket-single-vs-referred-fallback.png?resize=863,826 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/shadow-docket-single-vs-referred-fallback.png?resize=422,404 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/shadow-docket-single-vs-referred-fallback.png?resize=552,528 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/shadow-docket-single-vs-referred-fallback.png?resize=558,534 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/shadow-docket-single-vs-referred-fallback.png?resize=527,504 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/shadow-docket-single-vs-referred-fallback.png?resize=752,719 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/shadow-docket-single-vs-referred-fallback.png?resize=1149,1099 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/shadow-docket-single-vs-referred-fallback.png?resize=400,383 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/shadow-docket-single-vs-referred-fallback.png?resize=800,765 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/shadow-docket-single-vs-referred-fallback.png?resize=1200,1148 1200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" /> Ken Morales/ProPublica The cases were consequential. On June 23, 2025, after a lower court had ruled that eight men being deported to South Sudan should have due process, the Supreme Court intervened after a request from the administration to stop that order. The men were deported. The majority didn’t issue an opinion justifying its ruling. Three months later, the Supreme Court voted to allow immigration agents to stop people based on racial or ethnic characteristics while still-ongoing litigation against it proceeded. To justify the decision, Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote a rare shadow docket opinion that people who were in the country legally would be “free to go after the brief encounter.” These became known as “Kavanaugh stops.” Last year, ProPublica found more than 170 citizens who had been stopped and detained by ICE agents. The more than 50 Americans held even after agents learned of their citizenship were almost all Latino. And in May, while an election in Louisiana was already underway, the justices allowed the state to immediately redraw its electoral map, removing one of the two majority-Black voting districts. Louisiana can now use that map for the 2026 midterms as part of a nationwide redistricting battle for control of the House of Representatives — an effort touched off by Trump’s call for Republican-led states to create more safe seats for themselves. Roberts once signed on to a Kagan dissent that assailed the shadow docket. But our analysis found that he has referred more substantive cases for a vote by the full court than any other justice, going from just one in the 2005 term when he joined the court to nearly half of all referrals in the last term. There is an additional difference between the shadow docket and the merits docket. After the court holds public argument, the justices’ ultimate merits decisions are closely watched and extensively covered by the press. The summer’s “decision season,” when the final and most significant rulings come down, has a predictable cadence that ends when the justices go on summer recess. Not so with the shadow docket. Increasingly, the justices are making big decisions after they’ve issued their final merits docket decision, when public attention has waned. A group of Democrats led by Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., have sponsored legislation to make the shadow docket more transparent. Raskin told ProPublica that the court’s legitimacy has fallen with every significant decision made without “real opinions or analysis.” “Lower federal courts have been deciding against the Trump administration in an overwhelming majority of cases with weighty and well-reasoned opinions,” Raskin said in a written statement. “Yet when things get to the twilight zone of the shadow docket, the Supreme Court is overturning 100-page opinions with a flippant sentence or two.” He added, “The result is a body that looks less like a Supreme Court and more like a Royal Court rubber stamping the madness and folly of the Trump Administration.” “The jurisprudence of the Roberts Court today is as murky as the green algae water in the Reflecting Pool.” How We Reported This Story To compare the number of cases on the Supreme Court’s shadow docket to the traditional merits docket, we compared emergency applications listed on the court’s online docket search with counts of decisions compiled in Penn State’s Supreme Court Database (Version 2025 Release 01). For the merits docket, we counted only signed decisions in argued cases, the typical format for those rulings. The court’s online docket goes back to the year 2000, but our analysis looks at Supreme Court terms from October 2003 to October 2025, where emergency applications are easily identified by the letter “A” in their docket number. We identified more than 27,000 emergency applications during that period, including thousands of requests that are not commonly understood to be a part of the shadow docket. Most appeals to the emergency docket are the type of requests that were traditionally handled there: procedural requests, such as extending the time to file, and requests to stay execution for capital offenses. The remainder are the focus of our reporting. Substantive Shadow Docket Cases Are a Small Fraction of All Emergency Applications <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="942" width="752" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/shadow-docket-composition-over-time-1-1.png?w=752" alt="A stacked area chart shows the number of emergency applications from the 2003-04 term to the 2024-25 term. The vast majority of applications are for filing relief, followed by capital cases. The number of substantive shadow docket cases is a small portion of all applications but has been rising." class="wp-image-85206" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/shadow-docket-composition-over-time-1-1.png 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/shadow-docket-composition-over-time-1-1.png?resize=240,300 240w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/shadow-docket-composition-over-time-1-1.png?resize=768,962 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/shadow-docket-composition-over-time-1-1.png?resize=818,1024 818w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/shadow-docket-composition-over-time-1-1.png?resize=1226,1536 1226w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/shadow-docket-composition-over-time-1-1.png?resize=1635,2048 1635w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/shadow-docket-composition-over-time-1-1.png?resize=863,1081 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/shadow-docket-composition-over-time-1-1.png?resize=422,529 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/shadow-docket-composition-over-time-1-1.png?resize=552,691 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/shadow-docket-composition-over-time-1-1.png?resize=558,699 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/shadow-docket-composition-over-time-1-1.png?resize=527,660 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/shadow-docket-composition-over-time-1-1.png?resize=752,942 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/shadow-docket-composition-over-time-1-1.png?resize=1149,1439 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/shadow-docket-composition-over-time-1-1.png?resize=1277,1600 1277w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/shadow-docket-composition-over-time-1-1.png?resize=400,501 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/shadow-docket-composition-over-time-1-1.png?resize=800,1002 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/shadow-docket-composition-over-time-1-1.png?resize=1200,1503 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/shadow-docket-composition-over-time-1-1.png?resize=1600,2004 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" /> Note: The COVID-19 lockdown impacted applications for filing relief in the 2020-21 term. Ken Morales/ProPublica We defined a substantive application on the shadow docket as any filing where the full court was asked to intervene in the traditional appeals process, such as staying a lower court’s order. Most of the cases we excluded are decided by just one justice, each of whom oversees one or more federal circuits and has the power to refer filings to the wider court. When the cases are referred to the full court, they are the subject of a vote by the justices. We ran our approach by multiple experts, all of whom found it sound. A filer can appeal to another justice if their application is denied. The next justice to receive the application always refers it to the full court. We did not include these renewed applications because our analysis found the court has never granted one. The court has labeled capital punishment cases only since the October 2017 term. To identify them prior to that, we flagged applications for stays of execution. We then manually reviewed every case referred to the full court. For applications decided by a single justice, we used an AI model to flag potential capital cases by examining the parties on the application and the relief requested. The model flagged over 60 possible capital cases, and those were manually reviewed. Despite our effort, it is possible some capital cases may still be included in our final tallies before the 2017 term. Although rulings on the shadow docket are typically unsigned and do not include vote breakdowns, we were able to identify how a justice voted in some cases. The analysis is based on either the opinions issued by the justices, most of which are dissenting opinions, or if the justice indicated they would have granted or denied. In some decisions, the justices issued a statement not attached to either a grant or denial. We did not record these as votes. The post A Troubling Milestone: Most Supreme Court Rulings Are Secretive Votes With Little Justification appeared first on ProPublica. This content originally appeared on ProPublica and was authored by Ken B. Morales.
One year after the Texas floods, home feels further away than ever
Many in Sandy Creek remain stuck in a recovery system that wasn’t designed for them.
When rain falls on the RVs that line Big Sandy Creek, it sounds like gunfire. The harder it pours, the louder it gets. But what bothers Ashlee Willis most is how the wind makes them sway. It is so unsettling that she cowers in her camper’s narrow hallway with her two frightened cats, a Taylor Swift blanket stuffed into their carrier in case they have to flee. It always reminds her of that terrible night in July, when the creek ran so high and so fast that the mobile home Willis lived in actually bobbed after the water tore part of it from the foundation. Within hours, the flood would kill 10 people and destroy 74 homes in Sandy Creek, a small community in central Texas. It was supposed to be a joyful evening. Willis and her parents, Brandy and Gregg Gerstner, had bought “a bajillion” glow sticks to illuminate the above-ground pool, and had a stockpile of fireworks to celebrate Independence Day. Rain dashed that plan, so everyone, including eight guests, went to bed. Some slept in tents pitched outside. By 2:30 a.m. the storm was so violent it shook Brandy and Gregg awake. The creek was rising quickly as they scrambled to round up the goats, but there was no saving them. Gregg loaded two pigs into a guest’s Jeep as Brandy dashed back inside to grab her diabetes medication and Gregg’s laptop. By the time Gregg returned to the house, water was rushing in and limbs were crashing through the windows. Gregg led Brandy to higher ground, then waded through the torrent to save two dogs and a cat in the house. Before he reached the back door, he heard screams and watched the flood sweep the Jeep away, tossing its two occupants out. Gregg rushed to save them. One grabbed a floating tire he shoved toward her, while the other latched onto a plastic drum. He heard a third guest cry out for help from the branches of a partially submerged tree and convinced him to stay put. But he couldn’t reach Willis, who had climbed onto a pool table with the five other guests, two dogs, and a pair of cats as water filled her mobile home. She called her mother to say goodbye. “There was no way to comprehend how we were going to survive,” Willis said. Suddenly the water receded. It retreated far enough for everyone to gather in Ashlee’s wrecked house. They used glow sticks to spell “Help” in the windows, then sang “the sun will come out tomorrow” while waiting for it to arrive. When dawn came, they found their world remade. “It’s all gone,” Ashlee said at the time. “Everything’s gone.” One year later, the family is still waiting to rebuild. So is the rest of the community. <img decoding="async" src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Rotting-damaged-home-with-residents-in-it-IMG_1277.jpg?quality=75&strip=all" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Rotting-damaged-home-with-residents-in-it-IMG_1277.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Rotting-damaged-home-with-residents-in-it-IMG_1277.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=330 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Rotting-damaged-home-with-residents-in-it-IMG_1277.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=768 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Rotting-damaged-home-with-residents-in-it-IMG_1277.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Rotting-damaged-home-with-residents-in-it-IMG_1277.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1536 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Rotting-damaged-home-with-residents-in-it-IMG_1277.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=160&h=90&crop=1 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Rotting-damaged-home-with-residents-in-it-IMG_1277.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=640&h=853&crop=1 640w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Rotting-damaged-home-with-residents-in-it-IMG_1277.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=96&h=96&crop=1 96w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Rotting-damaged-home-with-residents-in-it-IMG_1277.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=150 150w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Rotting-damaged-home-with-residents-in-it-IMG_1277.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 1024w" alt="A flood-damaged home with boarded up windows" data-caption="Many in Sandy Creek remain in damaged homes. The occupant of this one eventually moved into an RV, but others have not been able to do even that much. " data-credit="Laura Mallonee"/> Many in Sandy Creek remain in damaged homes. The occupant of this one eventually moved into an RV, but others have not been able to do even that much. Laura Mallonee The Gerstner-Willis family spent seven weeks in a hotel. Everyone had made it through the storm, even Brandy’s sister Donna Wright, who had been swept 2 miles downstream before being caught by a light pole. Each morning they returned to Sandy Creek to sift through the confetti the flood had made of their lives. Sometimes they found pieces of the world that once was. Brandy unearthed someone’s crystal bowl, perfectly intact, from what had been her goat pen. Not all discoveries were joyful. Workers found three human body parts. “I was there when they dug up somebody’s hip,” Brandy said. The family eventually moved into donated RVs. They sit no more than 30 feet from Big Sandy Creek — closer than before the flood. Gregg monitors the water level with security cameras, and sometimes shows Brandy the feed to calm her. A few months after the flood, Brandy attended a permitting clinic the county held to help people navigate the reconstruction process. “They informed us all, ‘Any of you thinking of staying, there are new permit rules, and we are watching you all now,’” she said. “They watch us like hawks.” The rules weren’t new — just new to Sandy Creek. <img decoding="async" src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/empty-lot-3.jpg?quality=75&strip=all" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/empty-lot-3.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/empty-lot-3.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=330 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/empty-lot-3.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=768 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/empty-lot-3.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/empty-lot-3.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1536 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/empty-lot-3.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=160&h=90&crop=1 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/empty-lot-3.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=640&h=853&crop=1 640w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/empty-lot-3.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=96&h=96&crop=1 96w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/empty-lot-3.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=150 150w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/empty-lot-3.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 1024w" alt="A keep out no trespassign sign on an empty lot in Texas after flooding" data-caption="A “Keep Out” sign warns trespassers against entering a property that flooded on July 5, 2025. Several lots in Sandy Creek are, like this one, now vacant." data-credit="Laura Mallonee"/> A “Keep Out” sign warns trespassers against entering a property that flooded on July 5, 2025. Several lots in Sandy Creek are, like this one, now vacant. Laura Mallonee The Gerstner-Willis family is among hundreds of survivors struggling to recover from the July 2025 floods that killed 139 people in central Texas and caused $1.1 billion in property damage. For many, the months since the disaster have revealed the complexities of recovery, a long, hard process that goes beyond repairing what the water destroyed. Residents of Sandy Creek face permitting requirements, limited aid, insurance gaps, and construction costs they did not anticipate. Travis County is requiring them to meet standards locals say it rarely enforced before the flood, but the poverty that put many of the community’s 600 or so people in or near the floodplain leaves some of them unable to comply. Dozens of families remain in RVs, damaged homes, or temporary housing, caught between the need to rebuild and the cost of doing so. For many homeowners, the problems started with a federal standard known as “substantial damage.” Anyone with damage equivalent to at least 50 percent of the home’s pre-flood market value must bring the entire structure up to code. In Travis County, houses that sit in a floodplain must be elevated at least 2 feet above the expected height of a 100-year flood. For the Gerstner-Willis family, that means building 12 feet in the air and installing a lift to reach the door. Meeting these requirements can increase costs by more than $100,000, on top of the thousands needed for engineering and surveys. For some, the burden is simply too great. “I would say 98 percent of the people out here are not going to be able to afford their houses to be raised,” Brandy Gerstner said. Disaster survivors who cannot afford to rebuild depend upon a patchwork of insurance, loans, government assistance, nonprofits, and churches for help. But those in floodplains often find that this system isn’t designed for them. “The storm’s not over,” Brandy Gertner said in May, standing on ground still studded with shards of glass and debris 10 months after the inundation. “Surviving after the storm has been much harder. We’ve had to fight for everything.” Two years before the flood, Ashlee Willis moved into a 1,500-square-foot double-wide manufactured home on her parents’ land. Family compounds like that are common in Sandy Creek, an arrangement that has made it difficult for some to get help rebuilding. Willis isn’t on the deed, and because her home is a second structure, few organizations could assist her. Some treated her as if she didn’t own the home. Others saw her situation as a duplicate claim. “A lot of these groups out here helping don’t come across multigenerational plots of earth,” Willis said. “It looked like double-dipping.” By early December, when the nonprofit organization Rebuild Sandy Creek encouraged her to apply for its home-rebuilding program, Willis had recovered just 3 percent of her losses — $1,000 from a church and $5,000 from Samaritan’s Purse, an evangelical Christian relief organization. Rebuild Sandy Creek board members selected Willis from among 17 or so applicants. The organization has struggled to raise money, but said it remains committed to helping Willis with construction costs. Her predicament exposed some limits of the recovery system. FEMA has registered 1,212 flood-affected households in Travis County and distributed $4.3 million in assistance. That aid, capped at $43,600 per household, is meant to stabilize people, not make them whole. Rebuilding can take anywhere from a few months for those with good insurance to a few years for those without it. Read Next <img src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/SandyCreek_river_gradient.jpg?quality=75&strip=all" alt="A river runs through a rural area" class="js-modal-gallery__hidden" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/SandyCreek_river_gradient.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 2000w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/SandyCreek_river_gradient.jpg?resize=1200%2C900&quality=75&strip=all 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/SandyCreek_river_gradient.jpg?resize=330%2C248&quality=75&strip=all 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/SandyCreek_river_gradient.jpg?resize=768%2C576&quality=75&strip=all 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/SandyCreek_river_gradient.jpg?resize=1536%2C1152&quality=75&strip=all 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/SandyCreek_river_gradient.jpg?resize=150%2C113&quality=75&strip=all 150w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" height="1500" width="2000" loading="lazy" decoding="async"> Texas floods showed why many rural communities feel abandoned in a crisis Laura Mallonee Most don’t have it. Just 2.4 percent of affected households in Travis County had flood insurance, which typically pays only enough for policyholders to rebuild what they already had. For everyone else, help ranged from federal loans to small payouts of up to $2,000 from various ministries to a county donation fund that distributed $7.85 million to 264 families, or about $30,000 each. A concert by country singer George Strait raised enough to give more than 60 families $25,000 apiece. Governor Greg Abbott handed out the checks. Austin Disaster Relief Network, which the county deployed to coordinate volunteers, offers help including funds for construction; it is still working through roughly 80 applications. Samaritan’s Purse is installing eight manufactured homes — Wright got one — and letting homeowners choose from a furniture package that includes appliances. Navigating this web of nonprofits is exhausting, and residents complain of “form fatigue.” The Travis County Recovery Alliance, which coordinates with 16 nonprofits to help 155 families, hopes to make the process easier by, among other things, creating a unified intake form so survivors fill out just one application. But things are still getting off the ground. “We’re building the plane while we’re flying,” said executive director Janis Bookout. The county has tried to make permitting easy — it waived fees, expedited paperwork, and for several months staffed a mobile office to walk people through the process. But residents have sought just 24 permits for work in the Sandy Creek Ranches subdivision since the flood, though not all were for flood-related work. Only eight were for new homes. Simply preparing a lot for a manufactured home requires leveling and grading the land, laying a foundation, and installing utility hookups. Jason Hefner found the prospect of applying for the permit to do that overwhelming. “I know I’m gonna need one, but I have no idea where my home’s gonna go,” he said. “Even though you might have the money to build back, it’s just like, ‘Oh my gosh, here we go.’” He received just $20,000 from his insurer and is betting Samaritan’s Purse will replace his home. “That’s one reason,” he said, “why a lot of us aren’t looking yet to rebuild.” This isn’t Brandy Gerstner’s first time starting over. After tumbling through California’s foster care system, she set out on her own at 15 and made her way to Texas, where she found work in nursing. Ashlee came along in 1987. Four years later, Gerstner walked into a real estate office looking for a place to build a home. She couldn’t afford any of the properties she saw until a realtor showed her a parcel with rent-to-own terms. It sat on the banks of Big Sandy Creek, which had flooded a decade before. Weeds loomed over Gerstner, who is 5 feet tall, and a narrow path led to a mobile home built in 1975. It was overgrown with vines and infested with tarantulas, bats, and other vermin. Rattlesnakes bred in the flower bed. She squashed 75 scorpions within weeks of moving in. “It was horrific,” she said. Gerstner rolled up her sleeves and set to work. She fixed the plumbing, tamed the yard, and built a deck. She planted apple, plum, and pear trees, established a garden, and later put up a greenhouse. Over the years she added chickens, pigs, and goats. In 2002, she bought a double-wide, which she eventually refinanced to add more buildings, including a garage for brewing beer, bottling honey, milling spices, canning fruit, and making cheese and wine. Her home was open to all, a place where 16 people frequently crowded around a dining room table meant for six. “This was where everybody came,” she said. “They called it their garden of Eden.” <img decoding="async" src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Brandy-Gerstner-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Brandy-Gerstner-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Brandy-Gerstner-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=330 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Brandy-Gerstner-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=768 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Brandy-Gerstner-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Brandy-Gerstner-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1536 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Brandy-Gerstner-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=160&h=90&crop=1 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Brandy-Gerstner-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=640&h=853&crop=1 640w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Brandy-Gerstner-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=96&h=96&crop=1 96w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Brandy-Gerstner-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=150 150w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Brandy-Gerstner-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 1024w" alt="A woman stands in a greenhouse" data-caption="Brandy Gerstner purchased her property in Sandy Creek in 1991 and built a small hobby farm called Asher Acres that included chickens, pigs, goats, and honeybees. “Asher means happy in Hebrew,” she said. When floodwaters swamped her property last July, she fled to her greenhouse, which sits at the highest point on her property, and survived." data-credit="Laura Mallonee"/> Brandy Gerstner purchased her property in Sandy Creek in 1991 and built a small hobby farm called Asher Acres that included chickens, pigs, goats, and honeybees. “Asher means happy in Hebrew,” she said. When floodwaters swamped her property last July, she fled to her greenhouse, which sits at the highest point on her property, and survived. Laura Mallonee Inexpensive land and scant oversight attracted others to Sandy Creek. Texas is a strong property-rights state where counties have limited power to regulate what is built and how. Some have little or no permitting, especially for manufactured homes and RVs. Enforcement is often complaint-driven, and few complain in places where people move specifically to avoid municipal meddling and taxes. Travis County began regulating floodplain development in 1982, but many structures in Sandy Creek received exemptions because the community was laid out in the 1970s. Gerstner rarely bothered with permits unless a contractor required one. Few in Sandy Creek did. “This was kind of a free-for-all out here,” she said. “The county doesn’t care about the area.” In many ways, the Gerstner-Willis family is a best-case scenario, even as it illustrates where disaster assistance breaks down. The resourcefulness that allowed Brandy Gerstner to transform her property into a thriving hobby farm has helped her navigate recovery better than most. The family also had flood insurance, documentation, and the patience to negotiate with nonprofits. Yet they still live in RVs that are closer to the creek than the house it destroyed. They also pay $4,000 a year for construction insurance on a project that hasn’t started and continue fighting the insurance company for $200,000 they believe they’re owed. Willis isn’t surprised. “I just had it in my brain, ‘We’re going to be in these things for probably two years,’” she said. “Everyone thought I was crazy.” <img decoding="async" src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Gerstners-5.jpg?quality=75&strip=all" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Gerstners-5.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Gerstners-5.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=330 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Gerstners-5.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=768 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Gerstners-5.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Gerstners-5.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1536 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Gerstners-5.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=160&h=90&crop=1 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Gerstners-5.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=640&h=853&crop=1 640w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Gerstners-5.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=96&h=96&crop=1 96w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Gerstners-5.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=150 150w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Gerstners-5.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 1024w" alt="A couple in later middle age stand in front of an RV" data-caption="Brandy and Gregg Gerstner stand in front of the RV they have called home since August. It sits even closer to Big Sandy Creek than the home the flood destroyed on July 5, 2025." data-credit="Laura Mallonee"/> Brandy and Gregg Gerstner stand in front of the RV they have called home since August. It sits even closer to Big Sandy Creek than the home the flood destroyed on July 5, 2025. Laura Mallonee She and her parents plan to build two houses connected by a breezeway so Willis can help them as they age. It will cost about $1 million. They’ve already spent $15,000 on the design, engineering, and land surveys. For many others, rebuilding doesn’t feel like an option. In December, Sara, a British nurse who has volunteered in Sandy Creek since the flood, visited an elderly woman whose floors were rotten. Rodents and cockroaches scurried about. The woman had been hesitant to let her inside, and had not sought help because she had been in and out of the hospital. Sara, who asked to be identified by her first name only amid concerns about her immigration status, recalled telling the woman, “You need to get out of this house tonight, this is dangerous.’” A social worker arranged a hotel, then a six-month Airbnb stay. Willis joined other volunteers in emptying the place and knocking it down. Many remain in damaged homes, unable to afford repairs, afraid of invoking the substantial damage clause, or unwilling to leave their land and livestock. In some cases, FEMA did not classify their houses as a total loss after the flood, but they later grew rotten or moldy enough to be condemned after the assistance application period had ended. Read Next <img src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/mold-final.jpg?quality=75&strip=all" alt="an illustration of a woman in scrubs standing in a mold damaged hallway looking into a child or tween's bedroom" class="js-modal-gallery__hidden" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/mold-final.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 2000w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/mold-final.jpg?resize=1200%2C675&quality=75&strip=all 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/mold-final.jpg?resize=330%2C186&quality=75&strip=all 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/mold-final.jpg?resize=768%2C432&quality=75&strip=all 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/mold-final.jpg?resize=1536%2C864&quality=75&strip=all 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/mold-final.jpg?resize=160%2C90&quality=75&strip=all 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/mold-final.jpg?resize=150%2C84&quality=75&strip=all 150w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" height="1125" width="2000" loading="lazy" decoding="async"> A hotter, wetter South is becoming a breeding ground for mold Katie Myers & Laura Hackett Landlords do not qualify for a lot of nonprofit aid, leaving many renters — who comprise 48 percent of Travis County households affected by the flood — in subpar conditions. Michelle Warner, a speech therapist who is recovering from knee surgery, moved to Sandy Creek 20 years ago from southeast Texas after losing everything to Hurricane Rita. She pays $1,175 a month for a three-bedroom mobile home scarred by the flood. “I’m just ready for this to look like it used to look, so I’m not driving up still to a damaged house I can’t fix on my own,” she said. Noel Hernandez’s insurance agent advised him not to file a claim on the house he rents out, which sits in a flood-risk area, because his rate would go up. It rose anyway. As a landlord, he didn’t qualify for FEMA assistance and received about $3,000 in other aid — yet spent nearly $70,000 rebuilding. A family rented the place in February. An inflatable kiddie pool sits in the yard. Dozens of families remain in campers. “If you go out there, it’s basically an RV park,” said Michelle Varela, a cofounder of Rebuild Sandy Creek. Last winter, space heaters sparked fires in some of them, Varela said. In mid-June, flooding washed out a portions of the water crossing the Gerstner-Willis family and others use to leave their property. The county bars RVs from remaining on a given site for 180 consecutive days or more. It doesn’t look like anyone is enforcing the rule. “Who in the hell is monitoring that?” Brandy Gerstner asked. “What are you going to do — kick us all out of here? Make us all homeless?” The systems that made Sandy Creek residents vulnerable before the flood have kept them that way after it. Poverty, political disengagement, and scant regulation shape how communities are built — and how they recover. “Low-income people tend to live in low-quality homes in low-lying areas, because that is what the market allows,” said Shannon Van Zandt, a Texas A&M researcher who studies post-disaster housing recovery. In desirable areas like western Travis County, they are even more likely to end up in flood zones. “We need to be doing a better job of making sure that income is not such an important predictor of the harm that someone receives during a disaster,” Van Zandt said. Texas counties have limited authority to regulate what is built and where it is built in unincorporated areas, and efforts to impose stricter standards often face resistance. Van Zandt said that contributes to poor-quality housing and suffering after disasters. Counties have no legal obligation to offset these inequities, but Van Zandt believes they have a moral and practical one because resilience requires investing in vulnerable communities before a catastrophe. But residents of such places often lack the resources to make that happen. “People who feel disenfranchised for whatever reason — whether it’s income, race, ethnicity, or even documented status — are not going to get it because they don’t ask for it, or they’re seen as not entitled to it,” Van Zandt said. Many in Sandy Creek still rely on the generosity of others. Even now, a year after the flood, people still throw community fundraisers. There’s one coming later this month. But relying on nonprofits to fill gaps is “not sustainable,” said Michelle Meyer, Van Zandt’s colleague. As tragedies like the Texas floods grow more common, even substantial contributions will not be enough. Donors are burning out, and inflation has made rebuilding costlier. County governments sometimes buy vulnerable homes to minimize future risks and losses, but find many residents don’t want to leave. Travis County has purchased hundreds of floodplain properties in the lower Onion Creek area, a largely Latino part of South Austin. An unpublished study by the University of Texas found that, of 176 homeowners who accepted a buyout, nearly all moved beyond the floodplain, though most ended up near it. Van Zandt said buyouts work best when they are voluntary, offer enough to secure safer comparable housing elsewhere, and include efforts to preserve community cohesion. Researcher Kijin Seon, the author of the study, believes “relocation came at the cost of social fabric.” Read Next <img src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/harris-county-buyout-program-1-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all" alt="A rusty mailbox with the faded word "DARJEAN" on it stands in front of an aging blue house with red rust-covered car out front" class="js-modal-gallery__hidden" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/harris-county-buyout-program-1-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 2500w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/harris-county-buyout-program-1-1.jpg?resize=1200%2C801&quality=75&strip=all 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/harris-county-buyout-program-1-1.jpg?resize=330%2C220&quality=75&strip=all 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/harris-county-buyout-program-1-1.jpg?resize=768%2C513&quality=75&strip=all 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/harris-county-buyout-program-1-1.jpg?resize=1536%2C1025&quality=75&strip=all 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/harris-county-buyout-program-1-1.jpg?resize=2048%2C1367&quality=75&strip=all 2048w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/harris-county-buyout-program-1-1.jpg?resize=150%2C100&quality=75&strip=all 150w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" height="1669" width="2500" loading="lazy" decoding="async"> In Houston, a generations-deep community is being dismantled by mandatory buyouts. Amal Ahmed The root of the problem, Van Zandt said, is too little regulation. In a meeting with rural county judges in May, she recommended higher standards for subdivision development, including installing drainage, elevating homes, and ensuring ready access. Travis County regulates these things but lacks broader land-use controls like zoning. “That’s what they need,” Van Zandt said. “They need to be able to limit development in those areas.” Many counties have long asked the Legislature for greater authority to do that. Travis County has generally supported “legislation giving county governments the necessary tools to manage growth, protect property values, and preserve quality of life.” But counties have found lawmakers reluctant to act. Disasters create a “window of opportunity” in which political reform is possible, Van Zandt said. But it closes quickly if residents aren’t engaged. Some in Sandy Creek are trying to hold that window open. Brandy Gerstner and Ashley Willis joined two other women in creating the Sandy Creek Alliance to lobby county and state officials to address the crisis. They visited Washington D.C. to call for strengthening FEMA, and asked the governor to create Fund Texas Forever, a disaster reserve financed by the state’s rainy-day fund to expedite relief. Willis handed him a letter outlining the idea and inviting him to return to Sandy Creek to hear from survivors. He thanked her and read it. “Nothing happened,” she said. Andrew Mahaleris, the governor’s press secretary, told Grist in a statement, “Governor Abbott and the State of Texas continue to use all necessary resources to help Texans recover and rebuild from last year’s disastrous flooding.” He noted that the state has provided more than $500 million to assist families and communities, and that Abbott signed legislation to better protect people from catastrophic flooding events. “The governor will continue to work with the Legislature to strengthen flood regulations and preparedness,” Mahaleris said. Meyer supports the idea of a disaster reserve, something academics have suggested with little success. Politicians don’t like setting aside money for future disasters, and cash assistance often gets tangled up with talk of welfare and self-reliance. Survivors, she said, carry more political weight in pushing for such programs. Willis has made that her focus. She got a part-time job helping build Organizing Resilience, a new national network of disaster survivors that’s advocating for reform. “I’m a Swiftie,” she said, “I always like to joke with county and government officials, ‘Look what you made me do.’” The community is still rebuilding, but nature has reclaimed land ruined by the flood, just as Tamerra Garcia predicted it would a few weeks after the disaster. Before the summer heat settled in, the fields were ablaze with sunflowers. Prairie verbena, firewheels, and beebalm growing along the road swayed in the breeze. The trees that once obscured Sandy Creek are gone, leaving the banks barren but for a few saplings. Neighbors who never saw each other before the flood now see into each other’s backyards. They also hear every trash can being rolled to the curb on Wednesday nights. In a lot that belonged to Garcia’s grandfather, Harold Sherwood, a cardinal perched on a beam. Not much else remains of Sherwood’s home, which was razed after water reached 5 feet up the walls. It was there, amid the muck and the stench, that Garcia made her prediction. <img decoding="async" src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Harry-Sherwood-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Harry-Sherwood-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Harry-Sherwood-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=330 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Harry-Sherwood-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=768 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Harry-Sherwood-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Harry-Sherwood-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1536 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Harry-Sherwood-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=160&h=90&crop=1 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Harry-Sherwood-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=640&h=853&crop=1 640w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Harry-Sherwood-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=96&h=96&crop=1 96w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Harry-Sherwood-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=150 150w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Harry-Sherwood-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 1024w" alt="A Texas flag on an empty stone platform" data-caption="A cross draped in red, white, and blue fabric stands on a concrete pad beside what is left of Harold Sherwood’s home. " data-credit="Laura Mallonee"/> A cross draped in red, white, and blue fabric stands on a concrete pad beside what is left of Harold Sherwood’s home. Laura Mallonee Her grandfather did not live to see it come true. Overwhelmed by the prospect of building a home 12 feet in the air to comply with the building code, he planned to live out his life in an RV. He eventually had a change of heart and decided to rebuild. He died a short time later, around Christmas, of cancer. His health deteriorated quickly after the flood and “all the stress [of] losing everything you’ve had for all your life,” Brandy Gerstner said. Friends and neighbors held a poignant memorial in early January on the land where his home once stood. The tattooed minister stood before a cross of branches draped in red, white, and blue fabric to honor Sherwood’s military service. He reminded those gathered around it that Jesus was a carpenter, then invited them to imagine him building Sherwood a heavenly mansion. This story was originally published by Grist with the headline One year after the Texas floods, home feels further away than ever on Jul 1, 2026. This content originally appeared on Grist and was authored by Laura Mallonee.
Banks are financing the fossil fuel industry’s next growth strategy
New research shows major lenders are accelerating their investment in Big Oil as the industry turns toward plastics, pesticides, and other petrochemicals.
For the past two years, more than a dozen major banks have been not only reneging on their climate commitments, they’ve been actively making the crisis worse. In 2024 and 2025, during the leadup to President Donald Trump’s second inauguration, all six of the nation’s largest banks abandoned the Net-Zero Banking Alliance, a voluntary climate coalition, precipitating the Alliance’s complete shutdown in October. Since then, others including Royal Bank of Canada, Scotiabank, HSBC, NatWest, Santander, and JPMorgan Chase have either weakened or scrapped their decarbonization targets. Now, new evidence shows banks are ramping up spending on fossil fuels. Beyond helping companies extract more oil and gas, they are bankrolling the industry’s pivot to plastics, fertilizers, and other petrochemical products. Two reports released earlier this month illustrate the trend. An analysis from the Rainforest Action Network, or RAN, and other environmental groups found the world’s top 65 banks contributed $508 billion to companies expanding fossil fuel development in 2025. That’s a 27 percent increase since 2024, and more than any other year since at least 2016, based on the organization’s past analyses. The second report comes from the nonprofit Center for International Environmental Law, or CIEL. It found that, between January 2019 and June 2025, big banks gave the world’s top 15 petrochemical companies at least $591 billion in loans and underwriting. Some of that benefited integrated oil and gas corporations; the amount CIEL could directly attribute to petrochemical activities was $252 billion. (For context, New Zealand’s GDP is about $279 billion.) Together, the reports suggest that large financial institutions are enabling a long-term viability strategy for the fossil fuel industry, one in which declining demand for oil and gas in energy systems and transportation is offset by a boom in petrochemicals. Indeed, in recent years oil majors including Exxon Mobil, Shell, and Saudi Aramco have invested heavily in that field by, among other things, acquiring majority stakes in plastics and chemical companies and retrofitting oil refineries to accommodate a shift in production. These investments reflect projections from the International Energy Agency that plastics, agrichemicals, and other petrochemical products will account for more than one-third of the growth in oil demand through 2030, and nearly half of it by 2050 — much more than other sectors like aviation and shipping. “Petrochemicals are not just a general growth area for fossil fuel companies,” said Ximena Banegas, a plastics campaigner for CIEL and the author of the organization’s report. “They are a deliberate and pivotal strategy to ensure that we continue using fossil fuels.” Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, and the Japanese bank Mizuho Financial were among the top banks increasing financing for fossil fuel expansion last year, RAN’s analysis found. All 65 banks it analyzed boosted funding across the board for new oil and gas exploration, transportation, and refining. But the largest growth by far was for transportation — including new pipelines and capital-intensive LNG export terminals, which can create a decades-long commitment to using methane gas. “It’s overall disappointing,” said Allison Fajans-Turner, a senior energy finance campaigner for RAN. “Banks are unfortunately continuing to put profits over responsible societal action.” She noted that fossil fuel financing is becoming more concentrated among a smaller number of large banks, primarily those based in North America and Japan, as several European banks have begun to scale back funding. RAN’s report didn’t look directly at financing for the production of petrochemicals, but some of its findings indicate growing interest in this portion of the industry. A significant increase in loans and underwriting for coal expansion, for example, is at least partially linked to a recent spike in the number of coal-to-chemical plants planned globally — mostly in China and India. Environmental advocates say these investments risk giving coal “a new lease of life.” Read Next <img src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/toppled-utility-poles-Hurricane-Ida.jpg?quality=75&strip=all" alt="Photo of downed utility poles lying sideways across the street" class="js-modal-gallery__hidden" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/toppled-utility-poles-Hurricane-Ida.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 1600w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/toppled-utility-poles-Hurricane-Ida.jpg?resize=1200%2C675&quality=75&strip=all 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/toppled-utility-poles-Hurricane-Ida.jpg?resize=330%2C186&quality=75&strip=all 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/toppled-utility-poles-Hurricane-Ida.jpg?resize=768%2C432&quality=75&strip=all 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/toppled-utility-poles-Hurricane-Ida.jpg?resize=1536%2C864&quality=75&strip=all 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/toppled-utility-poles-Hurricane-Ida.jpg?resize=160%2C90&quality=75&strip=all 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/toppled-utility-poles-Hurricane-Ida.jpg?resize=150%2C84&quality=75&strip=all 150w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" height="900" width="1600" loading="lazy" decoding="async"> What’s driving up your expenses? Many Americans say climate change. Kate Yoder Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, and Mizuho Financial are also among the top funders of petrochemical activities, according to CIEL’s report. The top 15 recipients of this funding includes a mix of oil and gas, agriculture, plastics, and chemical companies, such as Exxon Mobil, Syngenta, LyondellBasell, and Dow. Although CIEL didn’t compare each year between 2019 and 2025, it did notice a significant jump in petrochemical finance in 2024, the last full year examined. As evidence of the industry’s ongoing expansion, Banegas pointed to a recent report estimating that 127 new polyethylene projects will come online between 2025 and 2030. CIEL’s report also notes the petrochemical industry’s outsize contribution to toxic chemical pollution and global warming. As of 2020, petrochemicals’ annual greenhouse gas emissions amounted to 1.9 billion metric tons, more than twice that of aviation and shipping. Fredric Bauer, a senior lecturer at Lund University in Sweden, has conducted similar research on petrochemical financing between 2010 and 2020. He said it’s not surprising to see continued interest in big plastics and chemicals projects, although it is perhaps counterintuitive. Despite warnings from industry analysts that the petrochemical industry is in “structural decline” — as shown by a large number of canceled or delayed projects, downgradings from multiple credit rating agencies, and the recent plastics and agrichemicals price shocks due to the war with Iran — companies keep investing because they often “do not respond to conventional market signals,” he said. Rather than say, ‘“Oh, there’s oversupply, we should probably not invest in more supply or production capacity right now,’” their priority is “to ensure long-term markets for oil and gas.” A coalition of advocacy groups including CIEL are calling on big banks to end their support for fossil fuel and petrochemical expansion. They’d like to see policies against financing companies building facilities to produce virgin plastics and fossil fuel-derived fertilizers. They also want banks to require clients to adopt credible transition plans to keep global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit), which may include targets to reduce plastics use and phase out some pesticides. Fajans-Turner said the upward swing in fossil fuel financing reveals the weakness of voluntary sustainability commitments and reinforces the need for regulation. She suggested that, in addition to mandating more robust decarbonization plans from financial institutions, governments should require improved incorporation of climate risks when determining a borrower’s creditworthiness. “That would actually have many downstream consequences about who gets funding and who does not,” she said. Joel Tickner, a professor of public health at the University of Massachusetts Lowell and founder of an independent research initiative on sustainable chemicals, said it’s important that governments scale back loans and tax incentives supporting the fossil fuel industry, subsidies that amount to more than $1 trillion annually. Some of this money could help finance the development and commercialization of greener chemistry. Fossil fuel companies “have received decades of subsidies and financial support,” Tickner said. “If we’re serious about sustainable materials, then we need to put our money where we want to go.” This story was originally published by Grist with the headline Banks are financing the fossil fuel industry’s next growth strategy on Jul 1, 2026. This content originally appeared on Grist and was authored by Joseph Winters.
Indonesian soldiers accused of wounding two Papuan teenagers in Titigi
United Liberation Movement for West Papua
Asia Pacific Report The United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULWP) has accused the Indonesian military of shooting and wounding two teenagers in Titigi village, Intan Jaya, and causing other casualties on Monday. The pair have been identified as 18-year-old Duad Hagismijau and Kiko Hagismijau, 16, and they are now being treated in hospital, alleges
Asia Pacific Report The United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULWP) has accused the Indonesian military of shooting and wounding two teenagers in Titigi village, Intan Jaya, and causing other casualties on Monday. The pair have been identified as 18-year-old Duad Hagismijau and Kiko Hagismijau, 16, and they are now being treated in hospital, alleges a statement by the ULMWP. The statement said the two teenagers were working on building St Francis Xavier Titigi Catholic Church in their village when the attack began. READ MORE: Two teenagers in Intan Jaya reportedly shot Other West Papua reports More than 2000 villagers have been displaced by this “latest display of colonial violence”, adding to more than 122,000 internal refugees spread throughout West Papua, the statement said. “Intan Jaya is a warzone. The Titigi assault was followed by further drone attacks on Danggoa village — already the site of a previous drone-executed civilian killing — and Dangomba village in Hitadipa district,” said interim ULMWP president Benny Wenda. Wenda also stressed the important historical date today, which marks 1 July 1971 — the 55th anniversary of the declaration of independence by the OPM (Free West Papua Movement) at Markas Victoria. “This historic declaration, the second in the history of West Papua, was a critical moment in our struggle — a powerful rejection of Indonesian colonisation and the Act of No Choice that enabled it,” Wenda said. “As enshrined in our constitution, the ULMWP recognises all such declarations as legitimate.” ‘Ongoing brutality’ Wenda said the “ongoing Indonesian brutality” reminded Papuans why they must “uphold the spirit of 1971”. Also on Monday, the TNI (Indonesian military) was alleged to have opened fire on two Papuan civilians near a military base by the Dogabu river, in Hitadipa, the ULMWP statement said. One of them, a minor named Sandibega Agimbau, was reportedly hit by an Asoka mortar shell. The other, a shepherd called Edianus Agimbau, suffered gunshot injuries and later died of his wounds. His last words were that “I cannot walk any further”. Later that day, the military claimed yet another victim, this time in Tolikara Regency, the ULMWP statement said. A man named Krona Penggu was shot and killed by Indonesian soldiers near the Tolikara border. “The ULMWP demands that Indonesia immediately withdraws its colonial military from Intan Jaya and across the highlands, in order to allow refugees to return to their homes,” Wenda said. “They must also immediately cease using drones to drop bombs on Papuan civilians, a direct contravention of international law.” Indonesian authorities have so far made no comment. This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.
Filmmaker Chad Hartigan on sticking it out in tough industries
How would you define your place in the film industry and how’s it different from where you started?
How would you define your place in the film industry and how’s it different from where you started? I guess you could say journeyman. In the old Hollywood studio system, there were journeymen directors who weren’t known as auteurs, weren’t known as guys that would get you Oscars, but just worked. That kind of applies and kind of doesn’t, because I don’t work as consistently as I would like to. You see the term “middle-class filmmaker.” Do you identify with that? I think the answer is probably no. That there definitively is no middle-class filmmaker anymore working purely in film. Television is where you can lead a middle-class life because there’s some stability there. But in film, there’s the elite and then there’s everyone else. The money I make at the rate I make it is only really sustainable now because I have a partner who makes good money. And before her it was sustainable because I lived in a studio apartment and lived frugally. You may remember all the ink spilled last Oscar season because both Sean Baker and Brady Corbet talked about not making livable wages on their films. I think that’s the reality and I can’t really think of what kind of movies you could be making to classify you as “middle class.” Unless you supplement directing movies with good writing jobs or TV. I’m very lucky that I’ve been able to make at least the last three movies that I’ve made for an actual budget where you have resources and everyone’s getting paid good rates. But they’re still independent movies. There’s still a lot of risk. There’s still question marks of if anyone will ever see them. And so, in one sense, it still feels like struggling. If I could continue making movies at this level forever, I would be very happy because they pay a good wage. But I do worry that those opportunities are becoming harder and harder to get. How do you protect your artistic identity as the scale of your projects grows, but also this middle class gets squeezed? I think I’m good at compromise. I wouldn’t say any of my films don’t have my identity in them. And they’re all what I want them to be, but they get that way through some compromise and through working with other people, including producers, financiers, and people who have money at stake and have notes. I mean, it’s definitely true that the worst notes you get are from those people, but it doesn’t mean that they’re all bad. They have a part in making the movie better. So, I think one of my strengths as a director is working with everybody and incorporating all ideas, pushing back on ideas in a respectful way. What has been the most surprising thing you’ve realized along your creative path from starting off in the Mumblecore cohort to now you work with up-and-coming stars, you have decent budgets, you have more aspirations? Well, I remember a rude awakening coming of age in the ’90s, where you would hear about people just selling their scripts and getting to make movies. Robert Rodriguez or Quentin Tarantino, the path that those guys took, I thought that would be the case. Oh, if you can prove yourself, if you can have that one indie hit that plays at Sundance or does something, then you’re in and you can do what you want. When in fact, we’ve reached a point of IP and risk-adverse movie studios, where if you get to that level where you’ve shown you can do it and then you get to their door, they’re not like, “What have you got?” They’re like, “Here’s what we’ve got. Do you want to make any of these?” And so, in order to fully embrace studio filmmaking, you have to just be willing to make a movie that they were already going to make anyway. Like Greta Gerwig making Little Women. Or, after Call Me By Your Name, Luca Guadagnino making Suspiria. You just realize that unless you’re Christopher Nolan or one of the absolute top directors, you can’t just bring them your idea and expect them to give you a huge check for it anymore. So, I embraced that. I’ve seen peers and friends of mine who are a little more stubborn, that only want to do their own stuff. And they’ve sort of hit a dead end at the million dollar threshold, where they can’t get any more money than that or they can’t get their more ambitious projects financed. Let’s talk about daily work. What does a typical daily routine look like for you, especially in between projects? It’s embarrassing, because it’s not very productive. But I have two kids. I get the kids ready for school. So, at 9:00, I can go to a coffee shop and work, except I don’t really work for the first two hours. Check soccer scores, check my email, check the news, movie news. Maybe listen to some new music and two hours are gone. And then I’m like, “Whew, time for lunch.” And so, it’s really like the afternoon that I start to get productive. And usually, if there’s literally nothing going on, it’s up to me. I have to try and write and create something. But usually, I have four or five projects that I’m a part of, that are trying to inch forward to production. Right now, I do have a script that I wrote many years ago. I’ve been trying to get made for many years. That’s as close as it’s ever been. It has a few actors attached and we’re trying to land the financing. So, every day, there’ll be some conversation about getting that actor’s deal signed and cleared. Where are we going to shoot it? Driving out to check out something or researching online. It’s a lot of that. And a lot of that will end up being fruitless. It’ll be a project that never gets made, but you got to do it. That’s a typical day. Waste the morning, be productive in the afternoon. But I imagine that time that’s not necessarily productive is still useful in some sort of way, right? You can’t just be on or grinding all the time. No. And everybody figures out what works for them. I don’t beat myself up for the schedule that I have now. I like it. And I don’t feel bad about having a leisurely lifestyle. It’s a great privilege. And then when I’m making a movie, obviously I’m working 24 hours a day. So, you kind of earn those periods of respite in between. How do you keep the creative momentum going throughout a long development process? And what do you do when you feel stuck? I would say I feel stuck more often than I feel creatively flowing. It’s about not beating yourself up about that, not getting on your own case for long periods of not being productive, because it can happen in a big sudden burst. And usually, forcing it too much has never really resulted in good stuff. So, it’s a lot of being patient and forgiving of yourself. I watch a movie every night and listen to a lot of music. I’m constantly surrounding myself with stimuli, that anything could be the spark that gets the creative juices flowing again. I have experienced times, though, where I’ve found it’s not happening, and I get tired of movies and music and I need something else. So, then I’ll go to an art museum or go see an orchestra perform and see if that helps. I feel like the process of making a movie for me is never ending peaks and valleys of getting really excited about it and then thinking it’s the worst thing ever. And when you get in those ruts of you’re working on something and thinking it’s the worst thing ever, and it’s a total disaster, some new element will come in and get you right back up into creatively invigorated. And I can point to, on every project, the moment that Keegan DeWitt starts sending me music for… It always ends up taking me right back up to the top. When it comes to collaborators, how do they contribute to the creative process for you? I like to think of my job as being someone who’s only there to facilitate other people to do their best work. There’s nothing dictatorial about the way I approach the job. Using Keegan as an example, I’ve never once said, “This is what the score should sound like.” The very first thing that always happens is he sends me music. Whatever he’s thought of from the script or the dailies or whatever, and that’s how we start. That’s true of production designer and costume designer. I never want to be like, “This is what they should be wearing.” I feel like I’m a sculptor of ideas rather than a visionary. I don’t consider myself a visionary in any way, shape or form. David Fincher, I’m sure, will tell you what the costume has to be, but I want to hire a person who has good ideas and opinions, and then see what that first instinct and idea was. From there, through conversation, we get it to where I know best what it needs to be in order to fit under the umbrella of the entire operation. Because costume designer’s not also thinking about what the music sounds like—I’m the only person thinking of all the things. That’s the only reason why I’m more knowledgeable. In any other case, they’re more knowledgeable, so why wouldn’t I let them start that conversation? From a technical perspective, as your projects have scaled, you’re presumably doing things you haven’t done before. How do you approach uncharted territory for yourself? That was something I was more nervous about when it was a hypothetical. But when you actually get there and start doing the things, just leaning back on that other point, I don’t actually execute anything myself. I just have to tell the cinematographer or the gaffer the more ambitious idea and they make it happen. So, it helps to have an understanding of what you’re asking of people, generally speaking. But doing a more complicated steadicam or crane or using equipment I’ve never used before, I don’t actually do it. So, it becomes less daunting when you actually get on the set and realize, Oh, I’m still a communicator, really. My job is communicating. My job is making sure everybody is making the same movie that I have the vision for. Do you feel that your communication skills are natural? Or do you feel that you have grown as a communicator? Some of it is definitely natural. I think I’ve always been a personable person. I’ve liked interacting with people and am patient with all kinds of people. Those attributes have come in handy as a director, especially working with actors. Actors, literally, every crazy character quirk you could find in a person you find in actors. They’re all so different and yet you have to talk to all of them at the same time. In The Threesome, we have one scene with nine actors. That’s the most I’ve ever worked with in one scene together. And they’re all so different. They all have different needs for how to communicate. So, I feel like I’ve gotten better at identifying quickly how a person will be most effectively receptive to the way you talk to them or understanding what people mean when they say something, what they really mean when they say something. We’re going to get a little existential here. How do you define success for yourself in an industry that usually equates bigger with better? Bigger budget, more box office, et cetera, et cetera, but that’s just not the reality for everyone. First and foremost, I consider myself a success because I’m doing it at all. Even if I wasn’t getting paid to make films, continuing to try is a success because it’s really hard to make a movie. A lot of people want to make a movie and never even do it. I did it for the first time with my friends and $4,000 (Luke and Brie Are on a First Date). And we made a total failure, in terms of it didn’t screen anywhere, nobody cared. That could’ve been the end, but I tried again and I had to do it again for no money. We got like $40,000 through Kickstarter and credit cards. So, even just trying again, you should consider that a success. But then that one (This Is Martin Bonner) did get into Sundance and came out well and gave me a career, which is more than I could’ve dreamed for. In a way, everything post that has felt like gravy. And of course, the goalposts move every time, and now there’s new benchmarks for success that I would love to hit and get disappointed when things don’t hit. But to be doing it at all, to be getting paid to do it, to work with actors that are cool and that you’re genuinely a fan of, all those things constitutes success for me. But I’ve had disappointments. Little Fish didn’t get into Sundance. Everybody was hoping that it would and you have to email everyone and be like, “Guys, so sorry we didn’t get into Sundance.” And you feel like you’ve let everybody down. But again, every movie has its own life. And it’ll find its way and have its own thing. It would be great to make a movie that everybody saw and made a lot of money at the box office. But I think if you were to go to Letterboxd and look at how many people logged Little Fish in the last month, it’s probably more than the amount of people that logged Beverly Hills Chihuahua in the last month, and that movie made $100 million at the box office. The real barometer for if the movies have any impact is if people can continue to discover them and they mean something to people. That’s not something you can even really tell. You just have to hope that it’s happening. Chad Hartigan recommends: Van Morrison’s Astral Weeks—the greatest record ever made A General Theory on Love by Thomas Lewis, Fari Amini and Richard Lannon—a book written by neuroscientists trying to find physical manifestations of “love” inside our brains Meet Joe Black—the defining movie of my life People watching The Sixth Sense for the first time reaction videos on YouTube Physical media This content originally appeared on The Creative Independent and was authored by Nic Juarez.
Congressional MKUltra Hearings as MAGA PSYOP
For the record, as someone who distrusts the CIA and who spent years studying MKUltra. I believe MKUltra died within the agency in the 1960s. It died because it didn’t work. The types of mind control they wanted do not exist. The most effective forms of mind control aren’t found in the science fiction tropes these 1950s and 60s CIA operations experimented with, they’re found in the pages of New York Times, broadcasts of Fox News, MSNBC, and Newsmax, and the hundreds of thousands of human and circuit-boarded bots incessantly posting on social media. Certainly, the CIA continued to do all sorts of horrible things, but beyond generating some “useful” interrogation techniques, MKUltra mostly didn’t pan out because a lot of its ideas were unsound. More The post Congressional MKUltra Hearings as MAGA PSYOP appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Rep. Anna Luna (R. Florida) kicks off the MKUltra hearing. Image courtesy House.gov. As a scholar who spent decades using the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and archives studying Cold War CIA operations, it was with great interest that I watched yesterday’s US House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearings on “Mind Control and Accountability: Uncovering the Truth of the CIA’s MKULTRA Project.” Because my academic research focuses on the CIA’s use of funding fronts and various specific CIA operations, including its MKUltra program, I was surprised to learn of congressional interest in a program that was terminated over half a century ago. UKUltra was the code name of a secret CIA program launched after US prisoners of war during the Korean War appeared to be brainwashed, leading the CIA to begin researching the possibilities of “mind control” and a variety of interrogation techniques. Between 1953 and 1973, the CIA used hundreds of witting and unwitting scientists to conduct at least 149 MKUltra subprojects at over 80 institutions, employing hundreds of researchers. Most of this research was unethical, with hideous abuses of research subjects who were often unaware of what was happening to them. This included dosing unsuspecting people with powerful drugs like LSD or potent concentrations of liquefied THC. Other MKUltra-funded research studies followed more conventional protocols, and researchers funded to do the research were often unaware they were conducting research for the CIA. I studied one of these programs, run through a research facility located at the Cornell University Medical School, the Human Ecology Fund, which during the 1950s and 60s funded a variety of seemingly mundane social science research, conducted by unwitting scholars. Some of these research projects studied topics, like cross-cultural stress indicators, that supplied information that would be reused in writing the CIA’s KUBARK interrogation manual, and other horrible CIA projects that MKUltra informed. While there’s lots of wild speculation about MKUltra in popular culture, most of what is known about the program comes from revelations made during the Church Committee Senate Hearings in the mid-1970s, during that brief post-Watergate moment when the dam holding back so many state secrets broke. Most of the CIA’s records on the program were destroyed, though a small cache listing names of MKUltra research projects was later released in response to a FOIA request made by John Marks, a former State Department employee, which provided us with the precious little documentation we now have on the program. There is scarce new information on MKUltra, so it is surprising to see congressional inquiry over half a century after the program terminated. But as is often the case, these questions about the past have less to do with this horrible past than they do with the horrible present. In her opening statement, the chair of the Taskforce on Declassification of Federal Secrets, Rep. Anna Luna (R. Florida), made a surprisingly decent statement, “MKUltra was not a policy failure or an overzealous program that got out of hand. It was a deliberate, systematic governmental operation that subjected American citizens, prisoners, hospital patients, veterans, and ordinary people to LSD electroshock hypnosis, sensory deprivation, and psychological torture without their knowledge or consent. This went on for 20 years on American soil, funded by American taxpayer dollars and authorized by the very top US intelligence apparatus. And this program, when it did end, the men who ran it did not cooperate with investigators. They did not come forward. They committed another crime. They destroyed evidence.” Luna explained that as Director of Central Intelligence Richard Helms was preparing to leave office in 1973, he ordered the destruction of all CIA MKUltra records. Dr. Sidney Gottlieb, who directed MKUltra, also destroyed all his records. Luna correctly identified these acts as illegal and as the CIA’s obstruction of justice. Luna stressed that Helms and Gottlieb were never meaningfully pushing for their crimes. Luna made a special point of stressing that for some projects, regular civilian hospitals were used as research sites, with some experimenting on unsuspecting, unconsenting patients. In a revealing moment, her voice slipped into a eye-rolling-sarcastic-tone as she states “…the program ran for a decade, that we know of…” Her focus on government funded hospital based research did not seem accidental, and the task force’s later clash with one of the three witnesses, seems to indicate there is more to this. The three witnesses delivering sworn testimony before the committee were Dr. Stephen Kinzer, author of the 2019 book, Poisoner In Chief, which tells the story of Sidney Gottleib, the CIA mad scientist director of MKUltra. Tom O’Neill author of CHAOS: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties, and Dr. Elizabeth Ginexi, a former senior program director at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). As she introduced the witnesses, Luna called all three witnesses “patriots” for their years of research into these CIA crimes. Dr. Stephen Kinzer testified first. He spoke about the damages of the culture of secrecy and overclassification of documents, explained the details of how MKUltra secretly tried to discover methods of brainwashing and improved interrogation through torturous research, and described Gottlieb as having an unsupervised “license to kill.” Kinzer stressed that it may still be possible to find and release other MKUltra documents that still exist, to unredact existing documents, and to investigate whether some extension of MKUltra exists today using techniques of neuroscience or Artificial Intelligence. Next, Tom O’Neill testified that CIA officials lied to Congress when they testified in the mid-70s to the Church Committee that MKUltra had been a failure (this is a controversial claim among MKUltra academic scholars, and his single source for this claim is suspect). He recounted his years of research he claims uncovered MKUltra links to Charles Mason and the Manson killings; which remains among MKUltra scholars one of the more controversial claims about the program. O’Neill described documents he discovered claiming MKUltra researchers had discovered methods, using hypnosis and drugs, to implant false memories in subjects, which he described as a “means of gaining the ability to seize control of a person’s perceptions, memories, and ultimately their behavior.” The final witness was Dr. Elizabeth Ginexi, whose statement completely went off script as she slammed the Trump administration and Congress’s defunding of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) research. She had nothing to say about MKUltra. Going rogue, she testified that what is: “happening to NIH right now is not reform. It is the replacement of scientific judgment with political control. For eighty years, US federal investment in biomedical research produced outcomes that no private market would have funded. Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States. NIH-funded research on blood pressure, cholesterol, and smoking drove a 56% decline in heart disease between 1950 and 1996. Cancer has been transformed. Treatments for breast, lung, prostate, and childhood cancers, along with immunotherapies that converted previously fatal diagnoses into manageable conditions, are traced directly to NIH research.” Dr Ginexi described the National Institute of Health’s history of sponsoring lifesaving research that no private profit-driven pharmaceutical company would fund. She called out the administration for its role in killing programs that would have helped manage the bird flu outbreak, Ebola, and hantavirus. She made zero mention of MKUltra. While she was still reading her testimony, Chairwoman Luna interrupted her and told her she had used her allotted time. Congresswoman Luna’s questions cast a broad fishing net. She asked questions about Operation Naomi, Operation Paperclip–the US operation that brought over 1,600 German and Austrian scientists, most of whom had worked under the Nazis during the war, many of whom were Nazi party members. Luna asked if any Nazis were used in MKUltra. Dr Kinzer confirmed they were, and he described how some of MKUltra researchers extended Nazi experiments. Luna asked questions about the MKUltra personnel’s contacts with individuals reportedly involved in the assassination of JFK. O’Neill’s testimony suggested Jack Ruby could have been subjected to MKUltra. Representative Eric Burlison (R. Missouri) asked if the CIA was involved in a famous 1951 incident in France (known as the Pont-Saint-Esprit mass poisoning) where 200 people in a village were simultaneously dosed with a powerful hallucinogen by eating bread from a local bakery. Dr Kinzer did not know, but he said he had suspicions and wanted more investigation. Burlison asked about Operation Midnight Climax’s interrogation studies, where unsuspecting US citizens were lured into safehouses by sex workers, where they were dosed with LSD, filmed, and interrogated. When Burlison asked O’Neill if he thought that MKUltra secretly continued after 1973, he replied: “I don’t know. I can’t imagine it didn’t though…I imagine it’s being used. I have no evidence of it being used.” For the record, as someone who distrusts the CIA and who spent years studying MKUltra. I believe MKUltra died within the agency in the 1960s. It died because it didn’t work. The types of mind control they wanted do not exist. The most effective forms of mind control aren’t found in the science fiction tropes these 1950s and 60s CIA operations experimented with, they’re found in the pages of New York Times, broadcasts of Fox News, MSNBC, and Newsmax, and the hundreds of thousands of human and circuit-boarded bots incessantly posting on social media. Certainly, the CIA continued to do all sorts of horrible things, but beyond generating some “useful” interrogation techniques, MKUltra mostly didn’t pan out because a lot of its ideas were unsound. Representative Eli Crane (R Arizona) asked Dr. Ginexi if her statements were referring to the administration’s efforts to “reform and rein in the NIH.” But Ginexi corrected Crane, saying her remarks were “about the destruction of the NIH, the cancelation of grants, and the political control of the NIH.” Crane ignored her reply and asked her about the NIH funding of the Wuhan laboratory, a topic about which Dr Ginexi replied she knew nothing. But Crane spotted a soapbox opportunity to speechify about how, for years, we were all told to trust science, then “most of what we were told during COVID was a complete lie, and it wasn’t scientific at all.” Unfazed, Dr. Ginexi replied that, “the number one thing that I think that we’re doing to destroy trust in American science right now is cancelling clinical trial in the middle of those clinical trials. This does incredible harm to the patients who are receiving experimental treatments and it really destroys the trust that we have in how do we recruit patients for future trials if they are knowing that their trials could just simply be canceled for political reasons.” Crane did not address her points. He instead tripped down an anti-vaccine rabbit hole. But his rant got audience applause which he took as proof that the American people distrusted the NIH. Which increasingly seemed to be the point of this hearing. Rep. Lauren Boebert (R. Colorado) also made a short speech claiming that COVID was propaganda, and in comments apparently directed at Dr. Ginexi, she blamed America’s response to COVID on governmental agencies that are not responsive to Congress’s questions. These moments of COVID science bashing and anti-government-funded science grandstanding appear to have revealed why the task force seemed interested in MKUltra a half a century after the fact. Chairwoman Luna asked Dr Kinzer about the role of USAID in MKUltra projects; speculating that since we know that USAID has been used as CIA cover in the past and ”since part of USAID mission was to administer drugs to the poor and needy populations, would the organization have abused its mandate by poisoning foreign populations or creating dissociative states for interrogation or torture?” Kizner replied that he had no direct knowledge of this, but that during the Cold War, many government agencies conducted covert operations. Representative Timothy Floyd Burchett (R-Tennessee) asked what the chances are that, with recent technological advances, more advanced MKUltra-like techniques could cause a “loner” to take shots at a president? O’Neill referenced the Butler, Pennsylvania, assassination attempt on candidate Trump and the killing of Charlie Kirk and said: “I just hate to speculate, because I don’t know, I have no firsthand knowledge whether those guys were programed through radio waves or through their computer activity. So I would never hazard a guess except to say what I’ve already said that they developed means that we’ve never been told about many, many, years ago and I imagine they’ve evolved to much more effective now.” Which is an awful lot of speculation for someone who, with zero evidence, hates to speculate. Not to be outdone in describing a conspiracy theory without any concrete evidence, Representative Burchet interrupted O’Neill to say: “Don’t you think that they could cast this broad net through these algorithms and other things, and maybe they don’t know the exact person it’s going to affect, but they know what type of person its to affect, and they know it’s going happen. And that way they can…they can’t predict when it’s going to happen, but they think it will happen. And that they can sort of wash their hands of this whole thing and say, well, we didn’t have anything to do with it. But in effect. They really did because they put this out there and they continue to put it out there.” Dr. Kinzer replied that what Congressman Burchet described sounded like the MLK assassination and the government’s role in creating a climate where he was considered “the most dangerous man in America.” Which might conceivably be generally a reasonable thing to say in a normal discussion, but in a room where people have been freely speculating about mind controlling radio waves, I wouldn’t be confident that they understand that Hoover’s FBI was spreading leaflets and hate mail about MLK that fed a climate of violence. Finally, at the conclusion of the hearing, when asked if he had anything to add, Dr. Kinzer explained that: “There’s a reason why conspiracy theories are so widespread in America. It has to do with the disassociation between what we say we are and do, and what we really are and do. This has become more and more clear to more people. Therefore, they’re suspicious of nefarious dealings by the US, and they’re also suspicious of other things that aren’t nefarious at all, but there’s just this mentality that is created by the covert sphere. And that’s what makes people realize that things that used to seem really farfetched, and not so farfetched after all.” But this was almost an afterthought to an over hour and a half session, where nothing new about MKUltra was learned, and whose purpose for being held over a half century after the program’s demise was never stated, but the attacks on publicly funded research seemed to clarify. But stated or not, the reasons for this showboating stunt seemed clear. Kinzer, O’Neill, and Ginexi were props in a broader campaign attacking government spending on research; and while Kinzer and O’Neill appeared unconcerned that their hosts were using their testimony to spread their own conspiracy theories about covid, mind control, a certain type of deep state, along with general attacks on publicly funded science; while Dr. Ginexi did not go along with the sham. Dr. Ginexi’s testimony shed more light on what this hearing was about than what her fellow witnesses did, even though she said nothing about MKUltra. With all the talk from the congressional task force about their concern about MKUltra’s abuse of research subjects (and it there were horrible abuses), they had no answers to Dr. Ginexi’s questions about the harm being done today to members of medical research studies whose treatments were suddenly cancelled due to the federal research cuts they had approved. Never mind that I find it difficult to believe these congressional representatives would oppose using the torture and interrogation techniques developed by MKUltra-sponsored research against enemies. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for cleaning house at the CIA. If my regime was in power, I would hold hearings on these and many other CIA crimes. I might even ask some of these same questions to these and other witnesses. I’m all for dismantling the CIA as a covert arm of government; for ending the CIA’s decades of covert actions and ending their role (as Philip Agee put it) as the secret police of American capitalism. But these members of Congress and Trump obviously don’t want any of this. They want as many excuses as possible for Acting Director of National Intelligence Bill Pulte to shake things up with agency purges, routing out the old deep state so he can implant the new one, and this hearing was just one more stunt in support of this campaign. I am thankful that Dr. Elizabeth Ginexi had the courage of her convictions and the presence of mind to appear and give the sworn testimony she did. Her calm and lucid performance helped clarify why this particular committee would choose to delve into this dark chapter of ancient history, and her decision not to harmonize with this thinly veiled attack on the public funding of research was heroic. The post Congressional MKUltra Hearings as MAGA PSYOP appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by David Price.
For Millions of Impoverished Americans, an Unhappy National Birthday
Out of an approximate 755,000 unhoused people in the United States, there are no reliable estimates for the number who live in motels. I have passed by the one in the picture above (I didn’t work at this particular motel) many times; it’s in the neighborhood where I now live, and it sometimes makes me think of Anna and her family. Her kids would be adults by now, yet another generation calls such places home. More The post For Millions of Impoverished Americans, an Unhappy National Birthday appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Photo: Michael Slager. Many years ago, I worked at a motel as a groundskeeper. A woman—I’ll call her Anna—lived there with her children. One of her friends would sometimes come to look after the kids when she had to work or run errands. They had several cats who spent most of their time living in the family’s car since the owner would not allow the felines to stay in the room. Both the people and the cats lived there for months. Anna was one of thousands of Americans who live in motels. Poor credit histories, high rents, and prohibitively steep upfront costs, such as security deposits, compel many to find alternative long-term lodging that at least has some basic amenities: a kitchenette (or just a microwave) and a shower. Although weekly rates are higher than renting even modestly priced apartments, there is often little choice. The rooms can be cramped, and they are sometimes run down. Safety can be a concern, and privacy is virtually impossible. Yet, people go to work, send their children to school, and make these places temporary homes. Out of an approximate 755,000 unhoused people in the United States, there are no reliable estimates for the number who live in motels. I have passed by the one in the picture above (I didn’t work at this particular motel) many times; it’s in the neighborhood where I now live, and it sometimes makes me think of Anna and her family. Her kids would be adults by now, yet another generation calls such places home. What struck me was the sign someone hung on the second-floor railing. It honors 250 years since the Declaration of Independence was signed. It’s a sort of birthday card for the country’s approaching semiquincentennial. Birthdays are supposed to mark milestones and accomplishments. When it comes to national celebrations, the festivities are meant to be a collective, public recognition of something good we have done. Such commemorations can also demonstrate pride in having survived some national crisis. However, concerning poverty, we are in a continuing crisis that is far from a source of pride. Growing inequality has created conditions that have generated 36 million people who live under the official poverty line. That is roughly 10 million more than the combined number of residents of the top 10 most populous cities in the United States or just under the population of California. The sign was displayed in a place where people struggle unnecessarily, where children have to deal with obstacles to their growth and development; it is no secret that poverty takes a toll on young minds and bodies. Food insecurity and homelessness have negative effects on physical development, academic achievement, emotional regulation, and social skills. Most egregious of all is that this state of affairs has been deliberately chosen, not by those living in it, but by those who inhabit stations in life that few can imagine. Many politicians and pundits often manage to convince somewhat better-off Americans that those who live in poverty are to blame, not the legislators themselves and certainly not the donor class, who enjoy unparalleled advantages and access to lawmakers. They can afford to celebrate America’s birthday in grand style, safe in the belief that they are the better set of people. However, those who indulge in congratulating themselves and each other on their alleged virtues or ask for plaudits in the form of votes, have elected to make the plight of the most vulnerable in our country even worse. For example, in 2021, the US Congress expanded eligibility for the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and the Child Tax Credit (CTC). As a result of an extra $300 each month for newly qualified households, child poverty in the United States was nearly halved. Republicans, with the help of Democratic Senator Joe Manchin, voted against renewing the expansion. Manchin, a multi-millionaire, falsely claimed that there was no means testing to receive the expanded tax credit and reportedly said that beneficiaries would use the money on drugs. In the end, lawmakers returned millions of children to poverty. It was a direct and unequivocal refusal to use the tools at their disposal to alleviate serious hardships. The United States Congress has also consistently refused to raise the federal minimum wage from $7.25 per hour. Although 19 states have passed legislation to create a 15-dollar hourly minimum, a nationwide law would lift millions more people out of poverty. Over 800,000 workers, mostly women who labor in the service industry, still try to live on $7.25 an hour, a rate that has not been raised since 2009. <a href="https://politicsofpoverty.oxfamamerica.org/6-simple-reasons-we-should-raise-the-minimum-wage/?utm_term=&utm_campaign=&utm_source=google-grant&utm_medium=cpc&hsa_tgt=&hsa_grp=&hsa_src=x&hsa_net=adwords&hsa_mt=&hsa_ver=3&hsa_ad=&hsa_acc=5359888318&hsa_kw=&hsa_cam=23676050093&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=23794915879&gbraid=0AAAAAD_DCp1NtOBNClpDU7nt4gqPv5kyC&gclid=Cj0KCQjwo_PRBhDNARIsAEcVALWz7TJZkhUl1PGs7ga5o0UuDu6AwoPabg6yMGtsdnoSQsAnMmMcKr4aAg5xEALw_wcB">Oxfam estimates that a federal wage hike would mean that a quarter of the US workforce would see significant gains in pay. Legislators also consistently refuse to address privation in indirect ways. For instance, according to Pentagon estimates from May, the Trump administration’s unprovoked and illegal war on Iran had at that time cost nearly 30 billion dollars. The number is likely to be far higher as we approach the nation’s birthday. Budgets showcase priorities, and windfalls for the defense industry are always at the top of the list. The money we have collectively wasted on unnecessary military conflicts could have been dedicated to poverty alleviation. The funds for the Iran war, for example, could have provided sustainable housing and continued support for everyone currently living in homeless shelters across the United States. According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, a non-partisan, non-profit organization, it would cost the US government 9.6 billion to find permanent housing for those living in shelters. That figure is roughly one-third of the Pentagon’s May estimates of the Iran war’s cost. A majority of Americans are dissatisfied with planners’ decisions about how resources are allocated. For example, a Gallup poll shows that only about 30 percent of Americans approve of how wealth is distributed in the United States. Two-thirds believe that wealthy individuals and corporations do not pay their fair share. Polling data has consistently shown that the majority believe poverty reduction programs are generally beneficial and more should be done to help those in need. However, many lawmakers have no intention of writing legislation that would seriously address issues of poverty and homelessness. Their priorities have demonstrated that they do not share the sentiments of the population. This is nothing new. James Madison, a Founding Father and fourth President of the United States, would likely have been appalled by twenty-first century capitalism, but he argued that it was the government’s obligation to keep majority sentiment at bay, to guard against “those … who secretly sigh for a more equitable distribution of its [the country’s] blessings” and to fight against the notion of “a levelling spirit,” an idea that he feared had already emerged even then. Today’s leaders are in accord with the architects of a country whose 250th birthday we will soon observe. They also resist the establishment of a direct, participatory democracy that more equally distributes resources to those like Anna and her children. The post For Millions of Impoverished Americans, an Unhappy National Birthday appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Michael Slager.
Contemporary political conversations talk a lot about the problem of money in politics, but they almost never acknowledge that modern corporate power did not arise from a system of liberal rights and open competition. Even the basic corporate privilege of limited liability is far from a natural right. The state-capital complex is fundamentally a system for the manufacture of asymmetric relationships and material inequalities. The Corporate Power Reset movement restarts a long-running conversation about where power is actually located and encountered. One of the under-discussed features of our system, whatever its name, is the formal state’s delegation of much of the coercive governance of day-to-day life. More The post A Hard Reset for Corporate Power appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
General Motors headquarters, Detroit. Photo: Jeffrey St. Clair. Earlier this month, Hawaii became the first state in the country to pass legislation aiming to get corporate money out of elections by using the law of business organizations. The groups supporting this innovative approach see it as part of a broader Corporate Power Reset movement. They want to stop artificial entities created by the law “from spending money or contributing anything of value to influence candidate elections or ballot measures.” They say that corporate charters, which are a state-granted special privilege, should not contemplate a right to interfere in electoral politics. The legal theory is this: corporations are creatures of state law. States create corporate charters and define the powers corporations possess. Rather than directly regulating election spending, proponents argue states can instead rewrite their corporate codes to clarify that corporations were never granted the authority to engage in electoral spending in the first place. But the real importance of the Hawaii legislation and the Corporate Power Reset movement, as I see it, goes far beyond elections and campaign contributions. It goes to a fact at the heart of our political and economic system: the state is the author of corporate power. And if the corporate form is the product of the state, it is worth asking what other powers and privileges have been concocted by political power on behalf of economic power. This movement therefore invites a much broader and deeper reconsideration of the corporate economy as a whole. If this corporate system and its history were better understood, the billionaire and trillionaire ruling class would no longer be able to take cover under the benign language of liberalism. Contemporary political conversations talk a lot about the problem of money in politics, but they almost never acknowledge that modern corporate power did not arise from a system of liberal rights and open competition. Even the basic corporate privilege of limited liability is far from a natural right. The state-capital complex is fundamentally a system for the manufacture of asymmetric relationships and material inequalities. The Corporate Power Reset movement restarts a long-running conversation about where power is actually located and encountered. One of the under-discussed features of our system, whatever its name, is the formal state’s delegation of much of the coercive governance of day-to-day life. Americans today most often encounter the power of the state in their relationships with their employers. The power of corporations within this system is not a withdrawal of political power, and it should not be mistaken for one. It is a highly effective obscuring of political power within the language of law. The corporate form is designed to be anti-competitive, to create special advantages. The origins of the corporation lie in state-created monopolies and in colonial violence and extraction, and the modern corporation arises alongside several other similar legal fictions created to concentrate capital and insulate its holders from liability or accountability to the public. The corporation was born of explicitly anti-liberal and anti-democratic special privilege. Prospective blanket limits on personal liability for the harms you’ve caused others does not seem very “free market.” In fact, this kind of moral hazard undermines the economists’ whole series of rationales for today’s system. Historically, the modern state and the corporation extend through each other’s power, co-creating each other and the world we live in today. The formal state has grown its own power in partnership with corporations, and the corporations’ whole position owes to gifts of common wealth and license from official power. This binary model itself has never been consistent with events. The state and capital are not two free-floating, independent entities that enter into an agreement; they are historically co-produced, and the whole idea of a clear-cut binary and apparent separation is among the monumental ideological achievements of this system. The idea of political power withdrawing to open a free market is not the story of capitalism. The U.S. government today functions largely as a de facto private organization, designed to extract wealth from the popular masses and to redirect it to an ever-shrinking group at the top. Washington operates more and more openly in this way, as the administrative body of a system designed to concentrate wealth for elite club members, and, as importantly, to corral us for their benefit. The sociologist Carly Knight asks, “How, then, did the image of the corporation as a ‘creature’ or a ‘creation’ of the state come to be replaced with an understanding of the corporation as a ‘pure creature of the market’?” What relationships are behind the concepts and terms we turn to so uncritically? Many early liberal thinkers looked askance at the corporation as an extension of the power of the state. They noticed the tendency of the corporation, with perpetual succession and limits on personal liability, to reintroduce the structures of aristocracy on behalf of capital. Anti-monopoly activist and writer William Leggett (1801-1839) wrote, These are our aristocracy, our scrip nobility, our privileged order of charter-mongers and money-changers! Serfs of free America! bow your necks submissively to the yoke, for these exchequer barons have you fully in their power, and resistance now would but make the burden more galling. Do they not boast that they will be represented in the halls of legislation, and that the people cannot help themselves? Do not their servile newspaper mouth-pieces prate of the impolicy of giving an inch to the people, lest they should demand an ell? Times have changed and we forget what we once knew well. But as we enter a stage in which the true relationship between the state and capital is more apparent, it will be increasingly difficult for polite defenders of the “scrip nobility” to defend this system in the terms of liberal democracy, choice, and the rule of law. We have entered a “new era of corporate governance,” as the three largest asset management companies are now the largest shareholders in almost 90 percent of the S&P 500. While this position gives them enormous power, the lack of transparency as to their decision-making processes raises once more the question at the heart of the corporate system: given that our corporate economy is an extension of state power and functions in practice as one of our society’s dominant forms of governance, do massive corporations have any duties to the popular masses? The asset management cartel is just one of many examples. Common ownership at such scales has created a structure of governance within the corporate economy that has no historical precedent. We are talking about a problem much bigger than lobbying or campaign donations. Massive scale requires the state in at least two senses and directions. As we’ve seen, the corporation extends out of the state directly, as it is state power that creates the legal and institutional privileges that make possible accumulation at such massive scales. These are not “natural” market outcomes in any sense; they are entangled with and structured by the state from the beginning. Capital never leaves the state behind. Once corporations achieve these scales, becoming central structural fixtures in society’s rulemaking processes, the state is even more structurally obligated to and intertwined with them. We see this in the “too big to fail” problem. The state has a structural inability to allow the failure of its children, the continuation and stability of which are key to its own fiscal and monetary health. It is too seldom pointed out in the U.S. how much of the actual governance of society takes place within these sites of outsourced state authority, corporations. It is not even correct to see the co-creation and co-dependence of the state and capital as involving symmetrical relationships that run in opposite directions. The relationship is dynamic and recursive. The state lays the preconditions for the rule of accumulated wealth, and then the interests and desires of capital constrain and shape state action. And this ongoing process further concentrates and entrenches the “private” interests involved, thus further constraining the state. Neither of the two supposed spheres (and notice that the higher up you go, the easier it is to pass back and forth between them) is prior, and neither ever enters a moment of true separation from the other. Even in the case of the formal state’s work, much is conducted by nominally private corporations. And here, too, in its capacity as a buyer, the state creates immense privileges for its favorites. Over the past few years alone, private contractors have received trillions of dollars in public money, much of which has gone to aggressive, illegal wars, causing crises around the world. Today, there are more than two private contractors for every federal government employee, meaning that much of the U.S. government’s work is completed by private corporations that are a black box for the public. The modern corporation never leaves the place of privilege and protection next to government; it is not subject to the same kinds of competition and resource pressure, because it has rights you don’t have and that are in no way natural to a free and open system of market exchange. But this recursive state-capital dynamic is the defining structural reality of our entire social system. And it is an authoritarian system, not a liberal one, which is why America is so heavily policed, her prisons so overflowing with poor and minority populations our ruling class wants to control. Beyond the domestic frontier, the violence at the core of the corporate system shows itself in the military empire that is necessary to enforce its values and rules. The state-capital complex arose precisely as a technology of global empire and resource extraction. Our form of politics is impossible without empire. Ours is a precariously balanced system of oligarchy and empire, not a liberal democracy. Within such a system, the law is inverted, turned away from its stated purpose, holding in place a system of power and special privilege. It is the key infrastructure of the violence and injustice of the political and economic system. We have likewise inverted our value system, putting abstractions like the blessed limited liability company above human beings and their communities. We’ve emptied the concepts of their normative justification and placed the dead husk above justice: the government as a criminal cartel, and the law as an instrument of injustice. We create these abstractions and legal artifacts at first to aid our efforts in the direction of positive social goals. But we have flipped the system and its goals on their head by severing the concepts from their original social justification. Without the critical capacities of earlier liberals, we have taken the corporation to be a self-justifying feature of all free societies, subordinating actual human beings to a fiction. This is how authoritarianism has been able to recreate itself in systems with so many different names and stated ideologies. Despite the insistence that this is what economic freedom looks like, we can see that earlier generations of Americans were correct to fear the corporation system as a path to a new aristocracy. Thanks is owed to the Corporate Power Reset project for bringing a creative and critical spirit to the question of money in politics. Following their thinking to its conclusion would get us to a deep and fundamental shift in the way we think and talk about power and politics. This kind of critical approach forces a confrontation with the fact that the structural relationship between capital and political power is far from the localized corruption of an otherwise sound liberal society. The relationship between money and politics is the design of the system and its normal operative mode. It is not that political power and wealth left each other at some point and have reintegrated, but that they have always been intertwined and the supposed public-private divide is incomplete to the point of being false. The post A Hard Reset for Corporate Power appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by David S. D’Amato.
The New York Times on War: The Art of Being Obtuse
Lessons learned are supposed to be insights and practical takeaways from past experience. The guest essays in the New York Times are arguing that such lessons will prevent the repetition of mistakes and lead to continuous improvement when faced with future decisions regarding war and peace. In making these arguments, the writers—all experienced in issues involving international security—are confident that future U.S. leaders will learn from the terrible decision-making of past U.S. leaders. More The post The New York Times on War: The Art of Being Obtuse appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Madeleine Albright with NATO officers. Photo: Basilio C., Wikimedia Commons. Public Domain. “Future presidents will remember, in short, that the (Iran) war was counterproductive on its own terms and came at the expense of every other foreign and domestic priority. They are also less likely to be taken in by those who cheered this misadventure. Going forward, their promises of cost-free coercion will sound like what they are: a drumbeat for war.” – Robert Malley and Stephen Wertheim, “The Iran Debacle Could Be a Gift for America,” New York Times, June 25 “As the war in Iran appears to come to a fragile close, Americans are left to wonder why it has accomplished so little. How could a middle power like Iran…face down a global superpower…. Put simply: Because the United States attempted to essentially go it alone.” – Oona A. Hathaway, “You Can’t Be a Superpower Without Allies,” New York Times, June 21, 2026 Lessons learned are supposed to be insights and practical takeaways from past experience. The guest essays in the New York Times are arguing that such lessons will prevent the repetition of mistakes and lead to continuous improvement when faced with future decisions regarding war and peace. In making these arguments, the writers—all experienced in issues involving international security—are confident that future U.S. leaders will learn from the terrible decision-making of past U.S. leaders. But what about the lessons of U.S. wars over the past half century? What was learned from the Vietnam War that was based on false assumptions regarding the foreign policies of the Soviet Union and China and the domestic policies of Ho Chi Minh? What was learned from two decades of war against Iraq that was based on lies and deceit? And what was learned from two decades of war in Afghanistan that achieved U.S. objectives in the first several months, which should have led to an immediate withdrawal? Hathaway’s lesson regarding fighting wars without allies is particularly obtuse because the United States went to war with the strongest military power in the region—Israel. Yet, Hathaway maintains that “even the most powerful state in the world is not all that powerful when it decides to act alone.” Again and again, Hathaway refers to “Trump’s go-it-alone strategy.” A major lesson from the Iran War should have been the dangers and futility of going to war with Israel as a major ally. Even Bush I and Bush II knew better than that in going to war against Iraq in 1991 and 2003, respectively, while paying Israel to stay out of the confrontation. What the New York Times and its guest essayists fail to recognize is the continuing danger of American exceptionalism, which can be traced to the Puritans and their obsession with raising a “godly city upon a hill” for the “eyes of all people are upon us.” This strand of exceptionalism was written into President Theodore Roosevelt’s corollary to the Monroe Doctrine in 1904 as well as President Barack Obama’s intent to use force against Syria’s deployment of chemical weapons in 2013. Both Roosevelt and Obama cited the United States as having a “higher moral authority.” Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said it best, often referring to the United States as the “indispensable nation” that had a unique duty to defend global freedom, human dignity, and international alliances. American intervention in the Balkans in the 1990s became known as “Madeleine’s War.” “If we have to use force,” she said, “it is because we are America; we are the indispensable nation. We stand tall and we see further than other countries into the future.” There is no clearer expression of American post-Cold War exceptionalism. It’s time that we remembered Winston Churchill’s observation, “Meeting jaw to jaw is better than war.” The post The New York Times on War: The Art of Being Obtuse appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Melvin Goodman.
The renowned political theorist Danielle Allen once wrote, “The Declaration of Independence matters because it helps us to see that we cannot have freedom without equality.” As the United States commemorates the 250th anniversary of its independence on July 4, 2026, the Declaration of Independence (1776), the U.S. Constitution (1787) and Northwest Ordinance (1787) link More The post America 250 and the Imperial Nation appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Image by New York Public Library. The renowned political theorist Danielle Allen once wrote, “The Declaration of Independence matters because it helps us to see that we cannot have freedom without equality.” As the United States commemorates the 250th anniversary of its independence on July 4, 2026, the Declaration of Independence (1776), the U.S. Constitution (1787) and Northwest Ordinance (1787) link early concepts of imperial power, sovereignty, legitimacy, and interdependence. Combining these three documents is a departure from the historiography that sometimes places American imperialism starting in the nineteenth century and in the context of Westward expansion or U.S. pursuit of places like Alaska (1867) and Hawaii (1898); the latter two in accordance with the “blue water thesis” of imperialism.[1] I argue that the founding principles of the country were rooted in colonization and imperialism more so than freedom and liberation. In other words, the process of colonization started much earlier than the 1800s. The U.S. started out as both a republic and an empire in the 1700s. As scholar Greg Grandin recently pointed out, “American freedom was built on endless conquest.” This was evident in its territorial expansion and indigenous dispossession that were built into its early stages. “We have it in our power to begin the world over again,” wrote Thomas Paine in 1776. Paine was a rarity, as the lone progressive Founding Father in that he envisioned domestic liberty and not an empire. His contemporaries, at best, however, saw native people as obstacles and children to be disciplined when they were not steered for diplomatic purposes. At worst, they were to be removed or slaughtered outright. In 1776, the First Report on Canada stated its purpose as a territorial strategy.[2] Even with the Articles of Confederation (1777) there was acknowledgement of indigenous sovereignty, but at the same time, speculation over the future of “Indian affairs.”[3] Historians such as Fr. Francis Paul Prucha, Colin G. Calloway, and Robert J. Williams, Jr., documented the shift in the colonial perspective from strategic ally and brothers in liberty, to children and domestically dependent nations. Native Americans went from equals to those in need of guardianship.[4] The Treaty of Paris (1783) further undermined Indian sovereignty and legitimacy and allowed indigenous ancestral lands to be transferred without native peoples’ consent. Recent scholarship pays more attention to the Northwest Ordinance, drafted mainly by Manasseh Cutler, Rufus King and Nathan Dane, over the Constitution, and points to the direct expansionist policies it structured culturally through America’s founding documents and strategies.[5] The U.S. was also intended to be both a republic and an empire. The Ordinance was used to organize and pacify white settlers and protect their interests from the big planter class. Further, since James Madison favored orderly expansion and feared direct democracy he “used [the Ordinance] as a tool of settler colonial expropriation and violence against indigenous peoples and their homelands. That it served the ends of white supremacy, however, can obscure the fact that much of its essential work was directed at, not on behalf of, white men, specifically to harness and direct the polities they created,” stated historian Jessica Choppin Roney.[6] Years prior to the U.S. reach toward Alaska or Hawaii, and writing from Mount Vernon on August 29, 1788, George Washington stated, “The natural, political, and moral circumstances of our nascent empire justify the anticipation. We have an almost unbounded territory whose natural advantages for agriculture & commerce [are] equal [to] those of any on the globe.”[7] Further, Thomas Jefferson in writing to James Madison from Monticello on April 27, 1809, expressed “I [am] persuaded no constitution was ever before so well calculated as ours for extensive empire & self-government…”[8] In 1787, Alexander Hamilton wrote in The Federalist Papers No. 1, “To the People of the State of New York: The subject speaks its own importance; comprehending in its consequences nothing less than the existence of the Union, the safety and welfare of the parts of which it is composed, the fate of an empire in many respects the most interesting in the world…”[9] In other words, it was clear to Washington, Jefferson and Hamilton in these exchanges that “empire” was an inevitable and desired component of an American grand strategy. These outweighed notions of democracy and republicanism. In yet another sequence, and writing from Paris on January 25, 1786, Thomas Jefferson wrote to Virginia attorney Archibald Stuart and stated: Our confederacy must be viewed as the nest from which all America, North and South is to be peopled. We should take care too not to think [about] it for the interest of that great continent to press too soon on the Spaniards. Those countries cannot be in better hands. My fear is that they are too feeble to hold them till our population can be sufficiently advanced to gain it from them [piece] by [piece]. The navigation of the Mississippi we must have.[10] Here, Jefferson’s writing explained the careful maintenance and intent that he was prepared to undertake in structurally extending colonial violence in all directions in coordination with the Northwest Ordinance. George Washington addressed New York lawyer James Duane on September 7, 1783, from Rocky Hill near Princeton, New Jersey, and said: At first view, it may seem a little extraneous, when I am called upon to give an opinion upon the terms of a Peace proper to be made with the Indians, that I should go into the formation of New States; but the [Settlement] — of the Western Country and making a Peace with the Indians are so analogous that there can be no definition of the one without involving considerations of the other. Washington continued: For I repeat it, again, and I am clear in my opinion, that policy and [economy] point very strongly to the expediency of being upon good terms with the Indians, and the propriety of purchasing their Lands in preference to attempting to drive them by force of arms out of their Country; which as we have already experienced is like driving the Wild Beasts of the Forest which will return to us soon as the pursuit is at an end and fall perhaps on those that are left there; — when the gradual extension of our Settlements will as certainly cause the Savage as the Wolf to retire; both being beasts of prey [though] they differ in shape.[11] Washington’s poetics are horrific in its essential unambiguous language driving at paternalism and ownership. Apologists for the First President and Father of the Nation might perceive the letter to be more about diplomacy, peacemaking and peacekeeping when it is mostly written in a way that Aimé Césaire might call decivilizing, dehumanizing, and with attempts in “thingifying” indigenous people.[12] In writing from Washington D.C. on November 24, 1801, Thomas Jefferson addressed James Monroe stating: It is hard to believe that either Great Britain or the Indian proprietors have so disinterested or regard for us as to be willing to relieve us by receiving such a colony themselves; and as much to be doubted whether that race of men could long exist in so rigorous a climate. On our western and southern frontiers, Spain holds an immense country; the occupancy of which however is in the Indian nations; except a few insulated spots possessed by Spanish subjects — It is very questionable indeed whether the Indians would sell? W[hether] Spain would be willing to receive these people? Jefferson continued: And it was nearly certain that she would not alienate sovereignty. The same question to ourselves would recur here also, as did in the first case: should we be willing to have such a colony in contact with us? However our present interest may rest drain us within our own limits, it is possible not to look forward to distant times, when are rapid multiplication will expand itself beyond those limits, and cover the whole northern, if not southern continent with a people speaking the same language, governed in similar forms, and by similar laws: nor can we contemplate, with satisfaction, either blot or mixture on that surface. Jefferson used even more stark and uncompromising language, in his letter to John Adams on June 11, 1812, from Monticello: The backward will yield and be thrown further back. These will relapse into barbarism & misery, lose numbers by war and want, and we shall be obliged to drive them, with the beasts of the forest, into the stony mountains. They will be conquered however in Canada. the possession of that country secures our women and children for ever from the tomahawk & scalping knife, by removing those who excite them. [13] Jefferson signifies his imperialist perspective and frames the removal and subjugation of Indigenous peoples as necessary for territorial control and the security of settlers. He makes it clear that he believes in racial superiority, the separation of people, and the overall grand imperial project that was based on a structurally and culturally violent law system. He wanted a state that favored an English-speaking Anglo world and prioritized the use of the American liberty project as an expansionary mechanism to set forth a class based ethnic democracy. Later on in 1823, Secretary of State John Quincy Adams observed that there are “laws of political gravitation” as well as physical gravitation: “just as an apple, severed from its native tree, must fall to the ground, so too would Cuba, forcibly separated from its ‘unnatural’ connection with Spain and incapable of self-support, gravitate inevitably toward the North American union.”[14] Later that year, President James Monroe, in his annual message to Congress on December 2, articulated the principle of freedom for the American continents from future European colonization. This policy became known as the Monroe Doctrine.[15] By 1824, supporters of Andrew Jackson celebrated him as embodying the spirit of the American Revolution; he was running for the presidency as a Democrat, and his campaign slogan was “the glorious principles of ’76.[16] This was perhaps the beginning of early American populist attempts to undermine elite imperial policies from the right. Howard Zinn, author of the People’s History of the United States, wrote about American exceptionalism and explained how in 1846, Democrats ardently pushed expansion. The common phrase came from John O’Sullivan, editor of the Democratic Review who in 1845 wrote, “our manifest destiny to overspread the continent allotted by Providence for the free development of our yearly multiplying millions.”[17] The idea of America guided by divine providence dates back to its separation from Great Britain, when John Adams articulated, “It was the will of Heaven that the two countries should be sundered.”[18] Leading up to the expansionary policies associated with the Panama Canal’s construction and twentieth and twenty-first century warfare, there were additional annexation projects. This long list of strategic territories included: Louisiana (1803), Florida (1819), Republic of Texas (1845), Mexican Cession (1848), Gadsden Purchase (1853), Alaska (1867), Hawaii (1898), Puerto Rico (1898), and just after Panama, the Virgin Islands (1917). Prior to these all, however, were the early American visions of continental empire, which helps to explain Trump’s “Donroe Doctrine” and “America First” philosophy that entails “maximum pressure,” or what Razi Canikligil called Trump’s pursuit of “a neo-imperialist agenda.”[19] Further, on February 10, 2025, the Financial Times called Trump, Xi, and Putin committed expansionists in a “new age of empire.” Early American visions of continental empire gave us the imperial politics of the current moment. Along with New World “discovery,” the colonial period, and prolonged chattel slavery, early America led campaigns of Manifest Destiny and an intervention in Mexico. In 1832, the Democratic Party and a wing of the Jacksonians supported expansion of U.S. territory through the annexation of Texas.[20] Further calls for expansion could be seen in slogans such as “Fifty-Four Forty or Fight,” the 1844 annexationist policy of James K. Polk who wanted the boundary line for Oregon to be drawn at the latitude 54° 40’.[21] Well before Trump articulated a vision for projecting American renewed regional hard power in the Panama Canal, Venezuela, Cuba, Greenland, and stretching to Gaza, were elites of the aristocracy – enslavers and leaders such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, and John Quincy Adams. [22] Their private letters help to explain empire and the brutal mindset found in the twenty-first century as we approach America’s 250th birthday. Historian Sophia Rosenfeld recently wrote: What a time to try to commemorate this nation’s founding! Imperialism is back. Militarized federal agents have been massing in cities to root out people deemed unwelcome or disloyal. The president styles himself more as a monarch than a civil servant, from the plans for his new golden ballroom to the parade of courtiers and oligarchs paying him homage. Given this situation, what are the options for narrating the story of the Declaration of Independence 250 years after the fact? Are we left with anything other than irony or tragedy? The history of the United States from its founding through the early nineteenth century exposes its imperial ambitions.[23] This was not incidental, but central to the nation’s formation. Ranging from Washington and Jefferson’s letters to the structuring of the Northwest Ordinance, the dispossession and subjugation of indigenous peoples were outlined as necessary for the growth of a continental republic. Early American leaders consistently employed the rhetoric of liberty and the strategies of territorial expansion. They set precedents for later policies of Manifest Destiny and eventual intervention abroad. The Founders set racial hierarchies and shaped the U.S. as inseparable from empire. Therefore, America’s “New Imperialism” in the global south was not new at all. As America reaches its 250th year, it becomes clear that empire was not a departure from the aspirational democratic ideals of 1776-1787; it was a parallel and continues in the present. NOTES 1. United Nations General Assembly, Resolution 637 (VII) of 16 December 1952, “Maintenance of the Right of Self-Determination,” U.N. Doc. A/Res/637(VII) (1952). (This resolution countered the notion that imperialism was only conducted overseas). ↑ 2. Continental Congress, First Report on the Committee to Digest the Resolutions Respecting Canada and Indian Allies (1776). ↑ 3. Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union (1777), National Archives. ↑ 4. Francis Paul Prucha, American Indian Policy in the Formative Years: The Indian Trade and Intercourse Acts, 1790–1834 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1962). ↑ 5. William Frederick Poole, The Ordinance of 1787 and Dr. Manasseh Cutler as an Agent of its Information (Cambridge, MA: University Press, 1876). ↑ 6. Jessica Choppin Roney, “An Expansion of the Same Society: Republican Government and Empire in the Early Republic,” Journal of American History III, no. 1 (June 2024): 15–38. ↑ 7. George Washington to Sir Edward Newenham, August 29, 1788, in The Papers of George Washington, Presidential Series. ↑ 8. Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, April 27, 1809, The Papers of Thomas Jefferson. ↑ 9. Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist Papers, no. 1, in The Federalist, ed. Clinton Rossiter (New York: Penguin Books, 1961). ↑ 10. Thomas Jefferson to Archibald Stuart, January 25, 1786, Paris, in The Papers of Thomas Jefferson. ↑ 11. George Washington to James Duane, September 7, 1783, Rocky Hill near Princeton, New Jersey, in The Papers of George Washington. ↑ 12. Aimé Césaire, Discourse on Colonialism, trans. Joan Pinkham (New York: Monthly Review Press, 2000). ↑ 13. Thomas Jefferson to John Adams, June 11, 1812, Monticello, in The Papers of Thomas Jefferson. ↑ 14. John Quincy Adams, as quoted in Morrison Samuel Elliott, The Oxford History of the American People, 3 vols., vol. 2 (New York: New American Library, 1972). Adams, a northerner and eventual 6th president of the United States was the first to ever serve in the post-founding-father-era (after Washington through Monroe). He continued, however, with the mindset of a Virginia planter elite and forged ahead with imperial institutional governance. ↑ 15. James Monroe, “Annual Message to Congress,” December 2, 1823. ↑ 16. Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., History of American Presidential Elections, 1789–1968, 4 vols. (New York: Chelsea House McGraw-Hill, 1971). ↑ 17. Howard Zinn, A People’s History of the United States (New York: Harper & Row, 1980). ↑ 18. Familiar Letters of John Adams and His Wife Abigail Adams During the American Revolution. ↑ 19. Razi Canikligil, “New American Expansionism: Trump’s Manifest Destiny,” Envoy, Spring 2025. ↑ 20. Dictionary of American Politics, ed. Edward Conrad Smith and Arnold John Zurcher (New York: Barnes & Noble, 1955). ↑ 21. Dictionary of American Politics, ed., 1955). ↑ 22. Trump’s Board of Peace Is Dividing Countries in Europe and the Middle East,” Associated Press, January 21, 2026. ↑ 23. David Barsamian, Imperial Ambitions: Conversations with Noam Chomsky on the Post-9/11 World (New York: Metropolitan Books, 2005). ↑ The post America 250 and the Imperial Nation appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Daniel Falcone.
Ironic Fates: Bolton, Trump and Mishandling Classified Documents
Former US national security advisor John Bolton and President Donald J. Trump share traits neither probably knew they had. The latter, for one, is far more war-mongering than he let on to American voters, evidenced by his recently failed, disastrous foray into attacking Iran. Bolton, on the other hand, has been a consistent war addict, More The post Ironic Fates: Bolton, Trump and Mishandling Classified Documents appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Former US national security advisor John Bolton and President Donald J. Trump share traits neither probably knew they had. The latter, for one, is far more war-mongering than he let on to American voters, evidenced by his recently failed, disastrous foray into attacking Iran. Bolton, on the other hand, has been a consistent war addict, the neocons’ preferred position in projecting US power through what the British used to call might. Earlier in June, Trump had the fantastic gall to say this about the man who had a brief stint as his own moustachioed national security advisor from 2018 to 2019: “I never thought [Bolton] was a smart person, that he was a radical right in terms of war, not in terms of other things. He was. He wanted to go to war with anybody that opened their mouth, anybody that talked, and I used him for a purpose, you know.” Yet another one of the president’s mirror portraits. Trump went on to note Bolton’s involvement with the administration of President George W. Bush where “he created a lot of problems, but he always wanted to kill people in war, and that was okay for me, as long as I didn’t listen to him, which I never did.” Listening to Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu must have been quite something else. That other commonly shared trait between the two is a rather sketchy approach to handling classified documents. In October 2025, a grand jury indicted Bolton for the discovery of private journal entries, private notes and assortment of classified material from his time as national security advisor. Many of the “diary” entries about his daily activities contained, among other things, military plans for adversarial foreign governments, covert US activities in various theatres, and intelligence on adversarial heads of state. This might have stayed buried but for the hacking activities of, as the Department of Justice put it, “a cyber actor believed to be associated with the Islamic Republic of Iran”. (The hack of Bolton’s personal email account was reported after he left office in September 2019 with one glaring omission: he did not tell the FBI or anyone else in government that the account contained national defence information.) How fitting in its symmetry that both Bolton and Trump have found themselves bedevilled by the same country of their ire. The documents in question were sent to two of Bolton’s family members who were not authorised to access, receive or possess the classified material in question. These were conveyed via non-governmental email accounts and a non-governmental messaging platform yet to be approved for processing classified information. Copies of the said documents were also kept, without permission, at his Bethesda home. The list of counts in the indictment proved menacing: eight for transmission and 10 for retaining classified defence information. On June 26, Bolton entered a guilty plea to one count of retaining national defence information in a federal court in Maryland, thereby resolving all 18 counts. He faces a maximum prison term of 60 months and has agreed to pay a fine of US$2.25 million. The plea agreement also notes that neither he nor his survivors will be able to collect any annuity or federal retirement pay. The officials at hand to make the announcement uttered the expected platitudes. Kelly O. Hayes, US Attorney for the District of Maryland, was in good form in talking about the priority of the attorney’s office as keeping Americans safe and ensuring that “anyone who endangers our national security will be brought to justice.” Hayden O’Byrne, Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General, spoke of how the case “ought to send a message to other public officials whom the public has entrusted with classified, national defense information. If you wilfully mishandle these state secrets, the Department of Justice, led by the National Security Division, will investigate and prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law.” Where to start with such remarks, other than to note the misdeeds of that most highly ranked of officials entrusted with the most sensitive of state secrets, one Donald Trump? The president’s appallingly lax approach to classified documents has teetered on the criminal. Such conduct, however, has never been punished. Following his first presidency, Trump faced a grand jury indictment bristling with 40 felony counts regarding the mishandling of classified documents arising from that term. The June 8, 2023 indictment against Trump and his alleged co-conspirator Waltine Nauta, who had been stationed as a valet in the White House during the presidency, noted his retention of “hundreds of classified documents” including information on defence and weapons capabilities of the US and foreign countries, US nuclear programs, potential vulnerabilities of the US and its allies to military attack and plans for possible retaliation given that eventuality. These had been secreted among newspapers, press clippings, letters, notes, cards, photographs and other miscellaneous material in “scores of boxes” which were duly transported to his Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida. In July 2024, and just days after an attempt was made on his life, Judge Aileen Cannon granted Trump’s motion to dismiss the case. He had successfully argued before his own appointee, that most satisfying state of affairs for an accused, that the DOJ’s appointment of special prosecutor Jack Smith violated the Appointments Clause of the US Constitution. Smith’s prosecution did not accord with “the role of Congress in the appointment of constitutional officers, and the role of Congress in authorizing expenditures by law”. That role could not “be usurped by the Executive Branch or diffused elsewhere”. Smith, an appointee of former Attorney General Merrick Garland, initially appealed the decision. He was subsequently requested to dismiss the case with Trump’s return to the White House, as the DOJ is barred from prosecuting sitting presidents. In February this year, the same judge granted the president’s request to permanently prevent the release of Smith’s report on Trump’s handling of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago residence. The report, comprising two volumes, had been submitted to Garland on January 7, 2025. In words that said much about the foundering Republic, Judge Cannon thought releasing the second volume of the report regarding the handling of the classified documents would cause “irreparable damage” to the president and “contravene basic notions of fairness and justice.” It would certainly reveal the sheer slovenliness of the leader of the free world when dealing with matters classified. As that old idiom goes, the fish rots from the head down, and the second administration has not disappointed with its singular treatment of sensitive security information. Dare one forget that caricature of carelessness called Signalgate, when then national security advisor Michael Waltz added Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic to a Signal chat chain containing details on forthcoming military strikes on Yemen. These included sequencing details of the attacks, information about the targets and weapons that would be used. No counts levelled there, except perhaps that of risible stupidity. For that mighty achievement, Waltz was made ambassador to the United Nations. Trump, currently reigning in a kingdom beyond prosecution, has been splenetic in his attitude to Bolton, whom he accused, most richly, of using classified information in his unflattering account of the Trump administration in The Room Where It Happened. For Trump, power is an exercise of personal grievance and petty remonstrance. No slight is undeserving enough of punishment. Bolton tattled about the room where things happened; he just did not read it very well. Not so smart after all. The post Ironic Fates: Bolton, Trump and Mishandling Classified Documents appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Binoy Kampmark.
The Fast-Food Spending Index is Falling Fast
For the last several years I’ve been using real spending at fast food restaurants as a gauge for assessing how the non-rich are feeling about their personal finances. The logic is that it is a type of discretionary spending where people can easily make cutbacks if they are feeling squeezed. Also, it should not be More The post The Fast-Food Spending Index is Falling Fast appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
For the last several years I’ve been using real spending at fast food restaurants as a gauge for assessing how the non-rich are feeling about their personal finances. The logic is that it is a type of discretionary spending where people can easily make cutbacks if they are feeling squeezed. Also, it should not be affected much by the spending of the rich. It’s not likely that Elon Musk eats more Big Macs when his wealth increases or he cuts back when SpaceX’s stock plunges. And to be clear, I’m not saying the rich don’t eat fast food. I’m sure they do. The claim is just that their consumption of fast food is not affected much by changes in their short-term financial situation. Anyhow, the story the index has been telling us in the last year is not a good one. After rising at a healthy pace through 2023 (the January number was an upward blip), spending had been largely flat through 2024 and the first half of 2025. It then rose in the summer and peaked at an annual rate of $386.2 billion in September. Since then, it has fallen sharply, hitting $366.8 billion in May, a decline of just over 4.0 percent from its peak. That would seem to indicate that people are feeling pretty bad about their economic situation. This is consistent with the bad numbers being reported in the consumer confidence indexes. I’ve had people suggest to me that this decline could be driven by the increased use of Ozempic or related drugs. This would be a positive spin, since it would probably be good for people’s health if they consumed less fast food. Unfortunately, that does not seem likely to explain this sort of decline. By 2024, 12 percent of the adult population was already taking a GLP-1 drug. The increase in usage did not prevent fast-food consumption from rising rapidly in 2023 and at least staying flat in 2024. The number of people using these drugs has undoubtedly continued to rise, but probably not by enough to explain the sharp drop in consumption over the last 8 months. The drop in spending is likely giving us bad news about the state of the economy, not good news on public health. People’s negative assessments of the economy continue to be somewhat of a mystery. The recent run-up in gas prices, and inflation more generally is unambiguously bad news but is this the worst economy ever, as some of the consumer confidence measures have been showing? Real income for those at the middle and bottom has generally been rising by standard measures, so it seems that we’re missing something, and I’m not sure any of us have figured out what. Anyhow, the fast-food index is telling us what people do and not just what they say. And what they do is telling us that they don’t feel very good about the economy. This first appeared on Dean Baker’s Beat the Press blog. The post The Fast-Food Spending Index is Falling Fast appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Dean Baker.
This July Fourth Celebrate the Idea That the People are Supposed to be in Charge
Meg Bostrom, Michael Chameides and Elaine Mejia
Two hundred fifty years ago, Americans rejected monarchy. They rejected the idea that power should rest in the hands of one person, one family, or a distant ruling class. Instead, they enshrined an American promise: legitimate power comes from the people. Our Constitution opens with three words: “We the People.” As the country marks its More The post This July Fourth Celebrate the Idea That the People are Supposed to be in Charge appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
The Boston Tea Party.–Destruction of the Tea in Boston Harbor, December 16, 1773, from the magazine Ballou’s Pictorial Drawing-Room Companion, July 16, 1856. (Yale University Art Gallery.) Two hundred fifty years ago, Americans rejected monarchy. They rejected the idea that power should rest in the hands of one person, one family, or a distant ruling class. Instead, they enshrined an American promise: legitimate power comes from the people. Our Constitution opens with three words: “We the People.” As the country marks its 250th anniversary, that promise is worth remembering: in America, the people are supposed to be in charge. Indeed, every day we see neighbors working together to improve their lives, their communities, and the country. Earlier this year, hundreds of residents of San Marcos, Texas, packed into public meetings with concerns about a new data center. The Caldwell/Hays Examiner, a local paper, summarized the sentiment: “Electricity bills may soon spike while access to clean water diminishes drastically, given the unfathomably giant data center on its way.” The local government rejected the unpopular project, and similar efforts are taking place across the country. In every place the message is clear: the people who live there, not a distant tech company, should be in charge of the community’s resources. Rural communities are also taking on Big Ag. For example, Grassroots Organizing of Western Wisconsin brought residents together and passed local safeguards that limit threats from factory farms and support family farmers, clean water, and local infrastructure. Iowans won a big victory against a global pesticide manufacturer. Knowing their state’s unusually high cancer rates, Iowa Farmers Union mobilized from the bottom up and blocked a law that would have shielded a billion-dollar corporation from accountability. These patriotic efforts help fulfill the promise of “We the People.” They also show what’s possible when people come together to shape the decisions that affect our lives. Unfortunately, few Americans feel in control right now. We face an unpredictable economy, cuts to health care, cruel and reckless ICE raids, and attacks on mail-in ballots. Even that recent win in Iowa is in jeopardy — the Supreme Court just shielded the pesticide company from thousands of lawsuits brought by farmers and families who blame Roundup for their cancer. These are all symptoms of a single disease: a nation where too much power rests with an elite few rather than with ordinary Americans. That’s exactly what researchers at Topos Partnership found. After listening to nearly 5,000 Americans, we heard one idea emerge: the people are supposed to be in charge. The real story isn’t Democrats versus Republicans, or newcomers versus citizens, or some fabricated clash of civilizations. The real story — the one that unifies and energizes — is about who decides. Do “We the People” govern ourselves, or are we ruled by concentrated power? Most Americans in our research recognize that the answer to that question is complicated, but also that being reminded of our defining story could help heal a fractured nation. As one moderate Colorado man expressed, “When everyday people don’t feel in charge, it creates anger, frustration, bitterness. But when everyday people feel like they’re having an impact, it creates a sense of belonging.” When ordinary people organize, mobilize, and refuse to accept the dictates of an elite few, America moves forward. We’ve seen it in workers establishing safer workplaces and the civil rights movement expanding “who counts” in our country. We decided our nation belonged to us — and acted like it. Let America’s history and recent successes be the inspiration. This July 4, the most patriotic thing we can do is remember whose hands this country is supposed to be in: ours. When we come together, the people are in charge. The post This July Fourth Celebrate the Idea That the People are Supposed to be in Charge appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Meg Bostrom, Michael Chameides and Elaine Mejia.
AI Abundance: the Clarity Act and the Stablcoin Wars
As Americans prepare to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, few are paying attention to a bill moving through Congress that could seriously impinge on our financial independence. The Clarity for Payment Stablecoins Act, H.R. 4766, is slated to make privately issued stablecoins a major component of the U.S. monetary system. More The post AI Abundance: the Clarity Act and the Stablcoin Wars appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
As Americans prepare to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, few are paying attention to a bill moving through Congress that could seriously impinge on our financial independence. The Clarity for Payment Stablecoins Act, H.R. 4766, is slated to make privately issued stablecoins a major component of the U.S. monetary system. Supporters see stablecoins as a way to strengthen the dollar’s global role while creating a vast new market for U.S. Treasury securities. Critics see the rise of programmable private money that can be monitored, frozen, or restricted by its issuers. Banks fear the loss of the deposits that are essential to advancing affordable credit. What appears to be a debate about digital tokens has thus become a battle over the future of banking itself and finance. Why Stablecoins Matter Stablecoins are privately issued digital tokens that can circulate on blockchain networks independently of the banking system. They are designed to maintain a stable value, typically one dollar per token. Unlike Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, whose values fluctuate wildly, stablecoins are usually backed by reserve assets such as cash and short-term U.S. Treasury securities. Their growth has been explosive. The stablecoin market now measures in the hundreds of billions of dollars and continues to expand rapidly. Advocates see them as the next stage in the evolution of money: faster, cheaper, available around the clock, and capable of moving across borders without relying on traditional banking networks. For users in countries suffering from inflation, currency controls, or banking instability, dollar-denominated stablecoins can function as digital dollar savings accounts. Residents of Argentina, Turkey, Nigeria, and other countries may trust a Treasury-backed dollar token more than their own national currency. In some countries suffering from inflation, merchants quote prices in dollar stablecoins and accept them directly through mobile apps. The Push from Cryptocurrency Advocates: Ending “Regulation by Enforcement” The stated goal of the CLARITY Act is to establish a statutory framework that clarifies whether digital assets are securities, commodities, or payment stablecoins. Before this legislation, regulators—primarily the SEC—often applied decades-old laws to modern blockchain technology. Because the rules weren’t explicitly written for crypto, companies would discover they were in violation only when they were served with a lawsuit or a fine. The most prominent example is SEC vs. Ripple Labs. Ripple launched its XRP token in 2012 and operated for nearly a decade without specific guidance that its token was considered a security. In 2020, the SEC sued Ripple, alleging they had been selling unregistered securities for years. Ripple was forced into years of litigation and hundreds of millions in legal fees to determine if a rule applied to them retroactively. The CLARITY Act, alongside the GENIUS Act (which focuses on stablecoins), represents a shift from “Regulation by Enforcement” to “Regulation by Guidance,” where firms have a clear rulebook to follow before they launch products rather than waiting for a subpoena to understand their legal status. The Government’s Interest The push for passage of the Clarity Act has come not only from crypto advocates but from policymakers, because every stablecoin backed by Treasury securities creates another buyer for U.S. government debt. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has embraced stablecoins as a means of strengthening the dollar’s global role. The Treasury Department projects that the stablecoin market could eventually reach trillions of dollars. If that happens, stablecoin issuers could become some of the largest buyers of Treasury bills in the world, helping to replace losses from those central banks that have been “de-dollarizing” by selling their reserves of U.S. debt. Another advantage of stablecoins from the government’s perspective is their ability to reassert U.S. monetary sovereignty over the eurodollar market — the massive, offshore market where dollars are created through bank lending without direct oversight from the Fed. This is a complicated subject for a later article, but the bottom line is that by shifting global demand from uncollateralized eurodollar bank promises to tokens backed 1 to 1 by U.S. Treasuries, stablecoins effectively force privately-issued offshore dollars back onto the U.S. government’s balance sheet. Promise or Threat? Those are some of the upsides, but stablecoins are not neutral payment tokens. Part 3 of this series discussed Project Hamilton, which showed what a public digital dollar could look like — fast, privacy-protected and democratic. The stablecoin system rising in its place looks very different. It is private, not public; programmable, not cash‑like; surveilled, not anonymous. Every stablecoin transaction is permanently recorded on a public blockchain. Tokens can be frozen, seized, or destroyed. Users can be blocked. Circle (USDC) maintains a blacklist function and has frozen addresses at the request of law enforcement or at its own discretion. Tether (USDT) has frozen billions of dollars’ worth of tokens across thousands of addresses. PayPal’s PYUSD includes explicit “freeze” and “wipe” functions in its smart‑contract code. This is the sort of “programmability” that CBDC critics fear – the ability to embed code into the money itself, causing it to execute transactions automatically when specific conditions are met. In fact, stablecoins could potentially be more invasive than a CBDC, since private issuers are not subject to the constitutional obligations imposed on the U.S. government by the 4th and 5th Amendments. In a June 23, 2026 podcast, Catherine Austin Fitts, former Assistant Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, called stablecoins “much more terrifying than CBDCs because you have complete non-accountability.” Private stablecoins operate via private contracts and “terms of service” that often bypass traditional due process. They can embed algorithmic terms that are enforced automatically, without recourse to a court or even a human teller. A Digital Gold Mine for Issuers Under the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act (GENIUS Act), passed in July 2025, stablecoins must be backed 1 to 1 with dollar collateral. That collateral can take various forms, but stablecoin issuers typically maintain their reserves in highly liquid, short-term instruments—primarily 3-month U.S. Treasury Bills—to ensure they can satisfy redemptions quickly. As of June 18, 2026, the <a href="https://d.docs.live.net/35fbfd6687f06de9/Documents/The%20short%20answer%20is%20**yes,%20partially**,%20but%20the%20relationship%20is%20complex.%20While%20Treasury%20yields%20are%20primarily%20driven%20by%20the%20Federal%20Reserve's%20monetary%20policy,%20**Scott%20Bessent's**%20recent%20actions%20as%20Treasury%20Secretary%20have%20significantly%20influenced%20the%20%22term%20premium%22%E2%80%94the%20extra%20yield%20investors%20demand%20for%20holding%20government%20debt.">3-month Treasury yield is 3.83% (down from 5%+ in 2024-25). Stablecoin issuers make huge profits under this arrangement. The issuer sells stablecoins, uses the proceeds to buy Treasuries, and keeps the interest. Tether, the largest stablecoin issuer, has achieved a market cap of $120 billion with a staff of only about 50 employees. It reported a record-breaking net profit of $6.2 billion for the full year of 2023, and quarterly profits reaching $4.52 billion in Q1 2024 alone. A significant portion of this income is derived from its massive holdings of U.S. Treasuries, estimated at over $100 billion. Particularly controversial are the stablecoin and crypto businesses of the president’s own family, and the potential conflicts of interest involved. Who Should Receive the Interest – Private Middlemen or the Public? Cornell Law professor Robert Hockett proposes a different model. He suggests that TreasuryDirect accounts could function as digital wallets, allowing individuals to hold Treasury-backed digital dollars directly and receive the Treasury yield themselves rather than through private intermediaries. It is a promising idea, but it would require major changes to the existing financial architecture to preserve the credit system now managed by the banks. For more on Prof. Hockett’s proposals, see Digital Greenbacks: A Sequenced ‘Treasury Direct’ and ‘Fed Wallet’ Plan for the Democratic Digital Dollar and The Citizens’ Ledger: Digitizing Our Money, Democratizing Our Finance. The Issue of Yield and Deposit Flight This is also the major concern of the banking establishment with the pending Clarity Act. A provision allowing stablecoin issuers to pay their customers “rewards,” considered the equivalent of yield or interest, could suck away their deposit base. Issuers collecting nearly 4% interest on their Treasuries could pay rewards of 2% or 3% to investors and easily outcompete banks paying 0.1 or 0.2 percent on deposits. Banking‑industry estimates of potential deposit flight into stablecoin platforms range from $65 billion to over $1 trillion, with some analysts warning that in a fully developed stablecoin system, as much as $6 trillion could migrate out of the banking system. But wait: if banks can create deposits on their books just by making loans, as the Bank of England has confirmed, why are deposits so important to them? This is another complicated subject for a follow-up article, but the bottom line is that while a bank can create deposits, it cannot create the “reserves” necessary to transfer the loaned funds out of the bank. Deposits created when a bank makes a loan are a liability of the bank – its promise to pay on demand. What it pays with are reserves, which only the central bank can issue – either as vault cash (coins and dollar bills) or as digital reserves held in a “master account” at the Fed. The reserves are the payment rails for transferring deposits, and the cheapest way for banks to get them is through deposits transferred from other banks. Deposits are thus considered the lifeblood of banks, and we need banks for our credit requirements. Stablecoin issuers don’t create new dollars or extend credit. They just tokenize existing dollars drawn from chartered banks, invest them in government securities, and keep the interest. Banks are the only institutions that create credit for the real economy. If deposits leave the banking system, lending capacity shrinks; and the most vulnerable institutions are the community banks that extend credit to local businesses. Megabanks have other ways to acquire cheap reserves, including the repo market and the Fed discount window. Community banks rely heavily on incoming deposits to provide the reserves to move their loans, and they cannot compete with stablecoins in attracting deposits because they have substantially higher costs than issuers working with algorithms in the cloud. Why We Need the Community Banks That Stablecoins Could Undermine Richard Werner, Prof. of Economics at the University of Winchester in the UK, argues that community banks are particularly important for economic growth. Large banks prefer large deals with large customers. A banker can spend time arranging a billion dollar transaction for a hedge fund or private equity firm, or spend the same time processing dozens of small loans to local businesses. Small and medium-sized businesses today account for the majority of jobs; and without community banks, they often struggle to get the financing to adopt new technologies and expand production. Werner points to the German model, where small businesses typically work with local community banks, cooperative banks, and savings banks that lend only within their local areas. Because the bank and its customers share the same economic fortunes, the banks have an incentive to support local productive enterprises. When a business identifies a promising investment opportunity, it can present its plan to a local bank that already knows the company and understands the local economy. Funding decisions can sometimes be made within days, allowing firms to adopt new technologies quickly and remain globally competitive. The result, he says, is visible in Germany’s remarkable number of “hidden champions”—small and medium-sized firms that nevertheless rank among the top companies in the world within their specialized market niches. Germany’s success, Werner argues, is closely tied to the fact that roughly 80 percent of German banks are small local institutions that lend locally. Werner extends the same argument to China. After coming to power in 1978, Deng Xiaoping sought to improve economic performance by decentralizing credit allocation. Rather than relying on a handful of central planners to determine where financing should go, China created thousands of local banks, village banks, cooperative banks, and regional institutions. The result was a vast network of local loan officers making lending decisions based on local knowledge. Werner contrasts “five central bankers” making decisions with “five million loan officers” evaluating opportunities throughout the country. He argues that this decentralized approach played a crucial role in China’s sustained high growth and poverty reduction over the following four decades. The same has been true in the United States, which had a record 30,456 banks in 1921. Today, however, that number has shrunk to only 9,082 insured financial institutions (banks and credit unions). Small banks have had to merge with much larger banks to stay solvent, largely due to higher regulatory costs and the competitive pressure of the megabanks. Werner observes that bank size also affects where credit is directed. A banking sector dominated by a few large institutions tends to channel credit toward financial speculation and large corporate borrowers. A banking system composed of many small local banks tends to channel newly created money toward productive local enterprises. When credit goes into new technologies, equipment, and productive capacity, the result is to increase output, employment, and sustainable economic growth without triggering inflation. Werner concludes that if governments want stronger productivity growth, more small-business formation, greater regional prosperity, and less inequality, they need to encourage the creation of local community banks and adopt a lighter regulatory regime for smaller institutions. Productivity and the Burgeoning Federal Debt Economic growth is also particularly important for dealing with the federal debt. Stablecoins may help finance the debt, but they do not shrink it. They just fill some of the gap left by the People’s Bank of China and other central banks that have been selling U.S. Treasuries. The unsustainable $1.2 trillion interest tab must still be paid and continues on its exponential upward growth trajectory. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has argued that the U.S. can “grow our way out of the debt” by increasing production and expanding the economy faster than the debt grows. President Trump has similarly argued that economic growth can reduce the relative burden of the national debt, much as occurred after World War II. The federal debt exceeded 100% of GDP at the end of the war. But the debt burden gradually declined as the economy expanded faster than the debt, shrinking the debt-to-GDP ratio. And for that sort of growth in today’s economy, preserving the viability of community banks is essential. Currency Backed by Debt or Productivity? As artificial intelligence and automation replace jobs while dramatically increasing productive capacity, however, policymakers may one day question whether money must be issued against debt at all – or whether some portion of it could be issued directly against the productive capacity of the economy itself. That is not a new idea. In fact it represents a return to our revolutionary roots. It was how the American colonists broke free of the “British system” that exploited the colonies for the production of commodities. Rather than relying on foreign currencies, the American colonial governments paid for goods and services with paper scrip they issued themselves. When the king banned that practice, the colonists rebelled – and they won. Abraham Lincoln used the same funding mechanism to avoid usurious interest rates from British-backed banks that would have re-colonized the States by debt. He paid for the Civil War effort and major national infrastructure with government-issued Greenbacks (U.S. Notes). When these government notes exceeded the production of goods and services, the supply and demand curve was skewed toward price inflation. But in a world of AI abundance, the curve will tilt the other way – toward too little money chasing too many goods and services. In an economy of that sort of unprecedented productivity, the government will need to issue new money just to balance the scales. And this money will need to be paid to the consumers who will buy the products, not only to close the wealth gap but to provide the demand to absorb the hyper-abundant supply. Thus this series comes full circle, to the need for a “universal high income” or “sovereign wealth dividend” to solve an AI-induced unemployment crisis – and for a government-issued digital currency to fund it, built on the cash-like, privacy-protected model of Project Hamilton and the ECASH Act. This article was first posted as an original to ScheerPost.com. The post AI Abundance: the Clarity Act and the Stablcoin Wars appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Ellen Brown.
Growing drought and heatwaves are expanding wildfire acreage. Wildfire Tucumcari NM. Photo by George Wuerthner Most residents of the West are aware that summer days are getting warmer, and nights are not cooling as much as in the past. Climate change is real, whether the current administration wants to acknowledge it or not. Warming temperatures More The post Heatwaves and Wildfires appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Growing drought and heatwaves are expanding wildfire acreage. Wildfire Tucumcari NM. Photo by George Wuerthner Most residents of the West are aware that summer days are getting warmer, and nights are not cooling as much as in the past. Climate change is real, whether the current administration wants to acknowledge it or not. Warming temperatures have extended and intensified wildfire season in the West, where long-term drought has heightened the risk of wildfires. Scientists estimate that human-caused climate change has already doubled the area of forest burned in recent decades, with the amount of land consumed by wildfires in Western states projected to increase by 2 to 6 times by around 2050. A recent study amplifies these basic conclusions. The study found that heat waves drive up the area burned by wildfires. According to the researchers, this occurred during 2001–2024, during and immediately following heatwaves. Researchers observed a 2.5-fold increase in burned areas in WUS forests since 2001, with ~64% of this increase coinciding with heatwaves. Approximately 15% of the high-heat days accounted for 42% of the acreage charred. Heatwaves can rapidly dry fine fuels, including easily ignited materials such as grass, leaves, needles, and small branches. Heatwaves also limit overnight humidity recovery, and temperatures often remain high. And rising heated air can increase atmospheric instability, promoting plume-dominated fire behavior and rapid-fire growth. During the heat waves, the amount of land burned each day was over 50% higher than on cooler days. In some western areas, that increase reached 300%. Heatwaves increase the vapor deficit, increasing the moisture the atmosphere can absorb, drying out vegetation. Heatwaves also limit the normal nighttime cooling, permitting fires to burn longer and hotter. Adding to the potential for larger fires is that lightning storms are more common during heatwaves. Modeling shows that climate change will continue to transform the Pacific Northwest, with annual average temperatures projected to increase by roughly 4.7°F to 10°F relative to the 1950 to 1999 baseline by 2080. Promoting fossil fuel burning is likely to increase warming climate. Oil field near Mariposa, California. Photo by George Wuerthner. What all this suggests is that thinning, prescribed burning, and other so-called solutions are unlikely to be effective in reducing wildfire’s impact on western landscapes. Of course, the current administration’s efforts to promote fossil fuels will only exacerbate wildfire spread and influence. The post Heatwaves and Wildfires appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by George Wuerthner.
What’s Behind China’s Scientific Research in South China Sea
Yes, I’ve written about it before (and before that, too), but it still strikes me whenever… oh, sorry, this almost 82-year-old just nodded off (like “our” President Donald Trump in the middle of a thought)… I was going to say, whenever I read about him closing his eyes and dozing off during some meeting or at More The post Growing Old With Donald Trump appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Yes, I’ve written about it before (and before that, too), but it still strikes me whenever… oh, sorry, this almost 82-year-old just nodded off (<a href="https://substack.com/redirect/ce824d7c-d6a8-4775-bc46-0f56a7236a10?j=eyJ1IjoiY3hzYyJ9.fFDCZd86HpEg4wUdrRqIBWFdQUxLbjfFhZT671sU_AQ" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://substack.com/redirect/ce824d7c-d6a8-4775-bc46-0f56a7236a10?j%3DeyJ1IjoiY3hzYyJ9.fFDCZd86HpEg4wUdrRqIBWFdQUxLbjfFhZT671sU_AQ&source=gmail&ust=1782922555578000&usg=AOvVaw10dWctOiQCgbPoPIHo6Jq-">like “our” President Donald Trump in the middle of a thought)… I was going to say, whenever I read about him closing his eyes and dozing off during some meeting or at some other moment of significance. I mean, what can you expect from the man who, if he truly lasts until January 2029, will indeed be the <a href="https://substack.com/redirect/17e6814c-1d88-4c51-8b2e-15ad2010db6e?j=eyJ1IjoiY3hzYyJ9.fFDCZd86HpEg4wUdrRqIBWFdQUxLbjfFhZT671sU_AQ" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://substack.com/redirect/17e6814c-1d88-4c51-8b2e-15ad2010db6e?j%3DeyJ1IjoiY3hzYyJ9.fFDCZd86HpEg4wUdrRqIBWFdQUxLbjfFhZT671sU_AQ&source=gmail&ust=1782922555578000&usg=AOvVaw0ii_e_5XlpJvElYwmzrFX2">oldest president in American history (although give Joe Biden full credit, he at least came close)? On the first day of Biden’s presidency, in fact, he was 78 years and 61 days old. On Donald Trump’s first day (the second time around), he was 78 years and 220 days old. And to put that in perspective, only two other presidents in our history came even faintly (and I want to emphasize that “faintly”!) close to either of them: Dwight D. Eisenhower and Ronald Reagan. Eisenhower was 70 years and 98 days old on the last day or his presidency, and Reagan was 77 years and 349 days old on his final day. And don’t think it means nothing that the leadership of what, in this century (and much of the last one), was the greatest power on the face of the Earth (and probably in all of human history), is now aging presidentially in quite such a striking fashion. Sometimes, believe it or not, the most ridiculously symbolic things turn out to have meaning. And of course, don’t think it was a mistake or purely happenstantial either. The American people had a choice and still went for the oldest person in the room (three times in a row). So, at some deep level, our voters must know (or at least sense) something about what’s happening to this country of ours, especially older voters who (unlike me) <a href="https://substack.com/redirect/dd648a5f-0296-4844-bd6e-8371ce126463?j=eyJ1IjoiY3hzYyJ9.fFDCZd86HpEg4wUdrRqIBWFdQUxLbjfFhZT671sU_AQ" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://substack.com/redirect/dd648a5f-0296-4844-bd6e-8371ce126463?j%3DeyJ1IjoiY3hzYyJ9.fFDCZd86HpEg4wUdrRqIBWFdQUxLbjfFhZT671sU_AQ&source=gmail&ust=1782922555578000&usg=AOvVaw0Qaom6ilUd59olW6jHO2qC">significantly favored a Trump presidency. As a great power on this planet of… well, I was going to say “ours,” but these days whether it’s really ours or not couldn’t be more up for grabs. Nonetheless, it, too, seems to be growing older by the second. Or, thought of another way, while electing essentially the oldest president imaginable a second time, Americans have also supported a man who seems distinctly intent on turning this planet into… well, an old fart of a place that will be <a href="https://substack.com/redirect/ced02815-b851-435a-a966-7fad37a928b7?j=eyJ1IjoiY3hzYyJ9.fFDCZd86HpEg4wUdrRqIBWFdQUxLbjfFhZT671sU_AQ" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://substack.com/redirect/ced02815-b851-435a-a966-7fad37a928b7?j%3DeyJ1IjoiY3hzYyJ9.fFDCZd86HpEg4wUdrRqIBWFdQUxLbjfFhZT671sU_AQ&source=gmail&ust=1782922555578000&usg=AOvVaw3tM3CMvxFpwbdvt0OeCGaK">hotter than hell and possibly ready for the garbage heap of history. And let me tell you, when you get into your very late seventies and early eighties, even when your brain is still more or less working, it’s distinctly not the same as it once was. It is indeed easier to get confused and tired out. But perhaps we Americans — those of us, at least, who voted for Donald Trump the second time around (and, of course, I wasn’t one of them) — are indeed ready for this country to go down, down, down and, thanks to Donald J., ever more weirdly so. I mean, how many of us would <a href="https://substack.com/redirect/1858216c-6a6e-4693-a41d-edb429df6897?j=eyJ1IjoiY3hzYyJ9.fFDCZd86HpEg4wUdrRqIBWFdQUxLbjfFhZT671sU_AQ" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://substack.com/redirect/1858216c-6a6e-4693-a41d-edb429df6897?j%3DeyJ1IjoiY3hzYyJ9.fFDCZd86HpEg4wUdrRqIBWFdQUxLbjfFhZT671sU_AQ&source=gmail&ust=1782922555578000&usg=AOvVaw2Z7J2Ra3jLjxQBjXfCnLwf">celebrate turning 80 with an Ultimate Fighting Championship match on the White House lawn in “an eight-sided cage wrapped in cryptocurrency advertisements”? Not me, I’ll tell you that! Can there be any question that the 47th president of the United States is a genuinely weird old man? I doubt it. Once upon a time, if you had written a piece about the future presidency of Donald J. Trump, it would have seemed like the most ridiculous satire of all time. Abraham Lincoln and Donald J. Trump? John F. Kennedy and Donald J. Trump? Okay, I won’t go on, but you get the idea, right? In short, we are now distinctly in an all-too-weird world. And although it’s a term he complains about and blames on other people, we are indeed in a world where “Trump derangement syndrome” seems ever less like a fantasy term. In fact, by now, as Aaron Blake of CNN recently reported, 61% of Americans and even 30% of Republicans believe that President Trump has indeed become “more erratic with age.” And that’s mighty polite of them, don’t you think? And imagine that this is the very man who now runs (walks, limps, staggers?) the United States of America and, barring a surprise, will do so for the next two and a half years. As far as I’m concerned, that gives the phrase “what a world!” new meaning. Yes, his version of fighting was recently on the White House lawn, but let’s be clear, he’s also been boxing (okay, in a different sense than on that lawn) in this country and the world in an all too literally striking fashion, including by launching another war against Iran essentially out of the blue, ensuring that the Strait of Hormuz would be closed for weeks, if not months, and that the global economy would be pushed to the very edge of recession, if not — to use a term he brought up recently — a “worldwide depression,” before, in true Trumpian fashion, changing his mind in the face of Iranian opposition and signing a 14-point agreement with that country to (at least theoretically) reopen the Strait of Hormuz, while claiming a “major win” for the United States (not that anyone in this country filling their car with gas or buying groceries would have thought so). Phew! That was one long sentence, but let’s face it, Donald J. Trump is proving to be a genuinely long haul of a president. And it doesn’t matter where you look, things are just getting grimmer and stranger by the month. Why, only the other day, the Trump crew redirected $352 million of your tax dollars, previously designated for the Secret Service, to fund the building of Trump’s fantasy White House ballroom. (But of course, what else could they possibly have done when Congress refused to put the necessary money into that crucial building project, which Trump had previously been claiming would be financed by private funders?) And imagine this: all of that (and undoubtedly so much more to come in this ever-stranger world of ours) has been happening due to the whims of just one old man — Donald J. Trump, who distinctly has our world by the throat. So, yes, let me wish you (just a little late) a truly happy 80th birthday, Donnie! For all we know, in this ever-stranger world of yours (and, ever so sadly, ours, too), you may even have the urge to be president a distinctly unconstitutional third time, so that some distant day, you can dance (and even doze off) in that ballroom of yours. (God save us!) This piece first appeared on Tom’s Substack. The post Growing Old With Donald Trump appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Tom Engelhardt.
The post Single Database Mania: a Glyph appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
The post Single Database Mania: a Glyph appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Ed Sanders.
In dismissing pellet injuries as ‘limited damage’, ‘Chauhaan’ loses sight of Kashmir’s grim, brutal reality
Around 8 pm on July 11, 2016, three days after the killing of Burhan Wani, 14-year-old Insha Mushtaq Lone looked out of a ground-floor window of her house in Sedow village in Shopian district of south Kashmir to watch a protest that had broken out in her neighbourhood. Within moments, a searing pain ripped through […]
Around 8 pm on July 11, 2016, three days after the killing of Burhan Wani, 14-year-old Insha Mushtaq Lone looked out of a ground-floor window of her house in Sedow village in Shopian district of south Kashmir to watch a protest that had broken out in her neighbourhood. Within moments, a searing pain ripped through her face. She did not know what hit her. Three of her front teeth broke. There was blood all over her. When she woke up in hospital, her face was pockmarked with more than 100 pellet wounds. Her eyes were bandaged. She could see nothing. She has never seen again. 16-year-old Farzan Sheikh was doing his mathematics homework at home in Srinagar on the afternoon of March 28, 2017, when he heard a commotion outside. Curious, he stepped out and saw a funeral procession passing. Then he heard pro-Kashmir slogans and security personnel fire tear gas and pellets to scatter the crowd. He started running toward home. “I saw a policeman with a gun aiming at me, and he shot directly at me,” he said. “That was the last thing I saw.” He fell to the ground, bleeding from his left eye, his whole body pierced with pellets. He woke at the Shri Maharaja Hari Singh (SMHS) Hospital to a doctor asking how many fingers he was holding up. He could see nothing through his left eye. He spent two months convalescing, then returned to school. Then one day in August, his father forgot to turn off a streetlight that shone into Farzan’s bedroom. Farzan stepped out at 11 pm to do it himself. Pellets struck him again. This time in his right eye. They came from a CRPF vehicle parked across the street. There were no warnings. After three surgeries on his right eye and four on his left, doctors told Farzan he had lost all vision in his right eye. They, however, said Farzan might regain 40 to 50% vision in his left eye with further surgeries. As for Insha, she continued her studies and cleared her school final and then her Class 12 board exams in 2023. That perhaps explains why the teaser of the upcoming Bollywood film ‘Chauhaan’ describes pellet gun injuries as “limited damage”. <img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" class="wp-image-316726 size-large" src="https://www.altnews.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/pellet1-1024x682.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="682" srcset="https://www.altnews.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/pellet1-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https://www.altnews.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/pellet1-300x200.jpg 300w, https://www.altnews.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/pellet1-768x512.jpg 768w, https://www.altnews.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/pellet1.jpg 1280w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /> Photo: X/@MirwaizKashmir ‘Chauhaan Aa Raha Hai’ Starring Ajay Devgn in the lead, the film is directed by Neeraj Yadav and produced by Aanand L Rai under Colour Yellow Productions, in association with Jio Studios. The teaser, unveiled on June 25, 2026, suggests the story is set against the backdrop of militancy and counter-insurgency in Kashmir. While a detailed story line is not clear yet, the visuals prominently feature stone-pelting, pellet gun injuries, security operations, and a conflict-scarred region, indicating a politically charged action narrative. The film is scheduled for a theatrical release on October 1, 2027. In the 2.24-minute teaser, Ajay Devgn’s voiceover describes the state’s conventional crowd-control measures as inadequate. He says tear gas is ineffective because masks are available online, water cannons have only a temporary effect, and pellet guns inflict “limited damage”. #CHAUHAAN aa raha hai. On the late Veeru Devgan Ji’s birth anniversary, we are bringing back our OG action star, Ajay Devgn, in an action entertainer built for the big screen In cinemas on 1st October, 2027. Thank you Veeru Ji, for everything you gave to action cinema, and… pic.twitter.com/DYLYCONORw — Jio Studios (@jiostudios) June 25, 2026 Out on the streets of Srinagar, in the homes of Farzan or Insha though, there is nothing “limited” about the damage pellet guns have inflicted. Over the last 16 years, pellet guns have killed, blinded and permanently disabled people in the valley, leaving behind a trail of shattered eyes, repeated surgeries and lifelong disability. It is this reality that makes Chauhaan’s “limited damage” remark so cruel and so jarring. ‘Non-lethal Alternative’ In 2010, following months of unrest in which over 100 civilians were killed in police firing, the then Jammu and Kashmir government led by chief minister Omar Abdullah requested the Centre to provide a “non-lethal” alternative for crowd control. The Centre subsequently supplied the J&K Police with 12-gauge pump-action pellet shotguns, which were first used in Sopore on August 14, 2010. A single cartridge of a pellet gun releases between 360 and 600 small iron or lead balls at high velocity. The pellets scatter in unpredictable directions, making targeted firing functionally impossible. Former Jammu and Kashmir IG Javaid Gillani had acknowledged that pellets did not follow a predictable trajectory. Once fired, the cartridge bursts and the pellets disperse across a wide area, striking anyone within range — protesters, bystanders, people standing at windows, children. Doctors who removed pellets from victims’ bodies frequently decided against extracting all of them because doing so would cause further damage. The pellets remain inside bodies permanently, as fixed as the blindness they cause. Amnesty International has described the pellet shotgun as “cruel,” “dangerous,” “inaccurate and indiscriminate,” stating that there is no way to use it for crowd control in compliance with international human rights standards. The UN Commission on Human Rights called it “one of the most dangerous weapons used against protesters.” Bollywood, however, chooses to differ. For the makers of ‘Chauhaan’, pellet injuries are “limited damage”. The Extent of ‘Limited Damage’ A study conducted by Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences hospital in Srinagar found that in the first four months of use in 2010, pellet guns killed at least six people and left 198 injured. Of those injured, five lost their eyesight. The youngest victim was six years old; the oldest was 54. The hypothesis — that pellets would be non-lethal — has been disputed from the very beginning. “While the pellet wound itself may seem trivial, if not appreciated for the potential for tissue disruption and injuries to the head, chest, and abdomen, there can be catastrophic results. Patients should be evaluated and managed in the same way as those sustaining bullet injuries…” the paper notes. Between March 2010 and October 2013, 91 patients with pellet gun injuries were admitted to hospital, according to an RTI application filed by lawyer Abdul Manan Bukhari. Of those, 36 were admitted to the department of ophthalmology; many were assessed as having “no prospect of restoring their sight.” In 2014, a study published in the Journal of Evolution of Medical and Dental Sciences by doctors at SKIMC Medical College, Srinagar, reviewed 20 pellet gun victims with ocular injuries admitted between January 2010 and September 2013. Of them, 17 patients had injuries in one eye, and three in both eyes. It found that 33% of them did not regain any vision. Mean patient age was 21.45 years. Insha Mushtaq Lone | Photo: Facebook/pelletvictimswelfaretrust Then came 2016, the year that became known locally and internationally as the year of the “dead eye epidemic.” The killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani on July 8, 2016, triggered months of widespread civil unrest i Kashmir, and security forces deployed pellet guns extensively. According to official figures presented in the Parliament, 17 people were killed by pellet injuries between July 2016 and August 2017. According to data from the Jammu and Kashmir State Human Rights Commission (SHRC), 1,726 people were injured by metal pellets in 2016. In January 2018, chief minister Mehbooba Mufti told the state assembly that 6,221 people had been injured by pellet guns in Kashmir between July 8, 2016 and February 27, 2017. Among the victims, 728 suffered eye injuries. As many as 54 of them suffered some form of visual impairment. The CRPF told the Jammu and Kashmir high court in 2016 that it had fired approximately 1.3 million pellets in just 32 days. A study published in the Indian Journal of Ophthalmology in 2022, led by Dr S Natarajan and colleagues, reviewed all 777 patients admitted to a tertiary hospital in Srinagar with ocular pellet gun injuries between July 18 and November 18, 2016, concluded that “Pellet gun–related ocular injuries resulted in significant ocular morbidity, mostly manifesting as open globe injuries. Treatment often required surgical interventions, but despite expeditious management, visual prognosis remained poor for most of the patients.” Fifty-one point one percent of the patients were aged between 20 and 29 years, with the second highest proportion of patients (36.6%) aged between 10 and 19 years. For context, the same paper noted that 797 cases of severe eye injuries were reported during the entire Iraq war from 2003 to 2005. British armed forces in Iraq and Afghanistan recorded 63 cases of ocular injury from 2004 to 2008. It also observed that the 777 figure was likely an undercount, as it excluded patients at other facilities and those without access to medical care. By 2017, more than 1,200 victims had organised themselves into the Pellet Victims Welfare Trust. Nearly 100 of them had both eyes severely damaged or were completely blind. The Trust’s chief, Mohammad Ashraf is blind in one eye and has over 600 pellets lodged in his body and head. “It soothes my soul if some help reaches the victims,” Wani told Turkish news company Anadolu Agency in 2022. According to The Polis Project, between July 2016 and February 2019, 2,942 Kashmiris were injured and 18 people killed by pellets. Of total injuries caused by pellets in this period, 1,459 people sustained eye injuries and 139 lost their vision. In August 2020, security forces fired pellets and tear gas shells to disperse Shia mourners participating in a Muharram procession in Srinagar’s Bemina area, leaving at least 40 injured. Police said the mourners had violated prohibitory orders restricting religious gatherings due to COVID-19. Children, Teens among Victims Hiba Jan, 19-month old, was in the arms of her mother, Marsala, on November 25, 2018, when security forces fired tear gas outside their home in the Kapran area of Shopian. Feeling suffocated inside the house, Marsala opened the door to get some air. Immediately, pellets ripped through the mesh door. Some struck Marsala’s hand; one struck Hiba’s right eye. At the SMHS Hospital in Srinagar, doctors removed the metallic balls from her eye but could not say whether she would regain sight. Hiba’s face and injury became a global symbol. What makes the impact of pellet guns particularly disturbing and ruthless is the number of children and teens among the victims. Medical and human rights record is quite unambiguous in this respect: Children have been among the victims of pellet gun deployment from the very first year of the weapon’s use. In 2010, the <a href="https://peoplesdispatch.org/2018/11/27/pellet-shotguns-continue-blinding-minors-in-kashmir/?__cf_chl_f_tk=_uyD4YFnJkhY9nH5RtASJsGNrd6UjTAJ9XUZf_LYNDs-1782808559-1.0.1.1-TG8sitIyRHCx2lQbAPxKQZQwYSvvOUmVXRURyyXLuk0#:~:text=The%20study%20found%20that%20five%20of%20these%20injured%20people%20lost%20their%20eyesight%20%E2%80%94%20the%20youngest%20victim%20was%20just%20six%20years%20old%2C%20while%20the%20oldest%20was%20aged%2054.%20The%20casualties%20have%20only%20risen." rel="noopener">youngest victim at Sher-I Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) was six-year old. When Scroll spoke to doctors treating pellet gun victims in Srinagar’s SMHS Hospital, visiting eye surgeon S Natarajan, who performed surgeries on 40 patients, told the outlet, “We have to do our best… These are youngsters, teenagers and children. We can’t let them go blind.” A study of 198 pellet injury patients led by Majid Mushtaque of SKIMS published in the Turkish Journal of Trauma and Emergency Surgery found the 72.7% of patients were aged between 16 and 25 years. Ten-year-old Asif Ahmad Sheikh, a Class 5 student from Anantnag, received a single pellet in his right eye, losing all vision on that side. “Watching cartoons on TV, playing with my friends on the street, reading books for hours — this is what I dream of now,” He told Italian documentary photographer Camillo Pasquarelli. Mental Health Consequences As part of a study named Psychiatric Morbidity in Pellet Injury Victims of Kashmir Valley, researchers at the department of psychiatry at Government Medical College, Srinagar, examined 380 pellet and pellet-plus-firearm injury patients from August 2016 to August 2018. They found 85% of pellet victims had developed psychiatric disorders and 79% were diagnosed with major depressive disorder. In 2025, another study published in the journal Traumatology interviewed ten direct pellet gun victims and found severe and lasting psychological consequences, including symptoms consistent with complex trauma. “Physical injuries led to severe emotional dysregulation, including irritability, aggression, and frustration. Victims reported disrupted eating patterns and psychological trauma. Their self-identity was deeply affected, marked by role reversal, temporal disconnection, guilt, and worthlessness…. Academically, vision loss and trauma-induced distress resulted in diminished motivation and uncertainty about continuing education.” the paper states. Backlash against the Teaser It is this lived experience that has fuelled an online backlash against Chauhaan’s teaser and the phrase “limited damage” in particular. For many Kashmiris, the film’s characterisation of pellet gun injuries as “limited damage” is not merely insensitive, it trivialises years of documented suffering. Viewed as a standalone piece of media, the teaser does not invite the audience to reflect on the human cost of pellet guns or the trauma they have left behind in Kashmir. Instead, it packages that suffering as spectacle. The juxtaposition of the peppy song ‘Jumma Chumma De De’ with visuals of violence further problematises the scene. For viewers unfamiliar with the documented history of blindness, death and lifelong disability in Kashmir caused by pellet guns, the emotional cue is not empathy for those who lost their eyesight or their loved ones, but excitement at the promise of a protagonist who will deal with the problem more forcefully. In that sense, the teaser encourages audiences to cheer a narrative built on the trivialisation of one of Kashmir’s deepest and most enduring traumas. National Conference leader and Srinagar MP Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi wrote on X, “The teaser of Chauhaan is deeply disturbing for every Kashmiri who carries the memories of the years when pellet guns became a symbol of pain and irreversible loss. The teaser dismisses tear gas, water cannons and pellet guns as “ineffective measures” before introducing a hero as the “solution.” But what they call “ineffective” left behind thousands of shattered lives…” The teaser of Chauhaan is deeply disturbing for every Kashmiri who carries the memories of the years when pellet guns became a symbol of pain and irreversible loss. The teaser dismisses tear gas, water cannons and pellet guns as “ineffective measures” before introducing a hero… — Office of Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi (@Office_ASRM) June 29, 2026 Yet the fact remains that it was under Omar Abdullah’s government that pellet guns were introduced into Kashmir as a crowd-control weapon in 2010. Rights activist Wajahat Farooq Bhat urged filmmakers to “stop glorifying violence through fictional “alpha male” heroes and endless gunfights.” As a #Kashmiri, I say this with conviction: enough is enough. For decades, we buried our loved ones, lived through bomb blasts, gunfire, curfews, fear, and uncertainty. There was nothing glamorous, heroic, or entertaining about that reality. It destroyed families, stole… https://t.co/e7702tZDFf — Wajahat Farooq Bhat (@Wajahatfarooqbt) June 26, 2026 National Conference’s Kashmir spokesperson Imran Nabi Dar called the movie a work of “propaganda that has put Goblean propaganda to shame.” He also wrote on X, “Mocking children and young people who lost their eyesight, some even their life, and opening up old scars of their families is nothing short of a spiteful agenda against Kashmiris.” On the other hand, actor Amitabh Bachchan is among those who appreciated the teaser. This content originally appeared on Alt News and was authored by Indradeep Bhattacharyya.
At the World Cup, the Western media has set up a ‘moral checkpoint’
COMMENTARY: By Patrick Gathara “Why is it that African teams and Middle Eastern teams have to answer for what their governments are doing but European teams don’t?” South African comedian Trevor Noah asked recently during a World Cup watch party. He was reacting to the questions Western journalists had lobbed at Iranian players following their
COMMENTARY: By Patrick Gathara “Why is it that African teams and Middle Eastern teams have to answer for what their governments are doing but European teams don’t?” South African comedian Trevor Noah asked recently during a World Cup watch party. He was reacting to the questions Western journalists had lobbed at Iranian players following their games. But the question goes far beyond Iran. It speaks to a familiar hierarchy in global journalism: Some players are allowed to be athletes. Others are turned into ambassadors, defendants and moral exhibits. READ MORE: Iran’s heartbroken Team Melli exit World Cup amid silver lining of Mexican hospitality Iran bow out of World Cup: Late drama ends Team Melli’s knockout dream Iran’s Trojan Horse in US: Team Melli’s presence in WC Other FIFA World Cup reports The World Cup is often sold as the place where football rises above politics. This has always been a canard. Politics, and hypocrisy, have always been part of the sport. Teams have boycotted or been banned from the competition because of the policies of their governments. Russia is banned for its invasion of Ukraine. South Africa was eventually banned for apartheid. Israel, however, gets to play in qualifiers despite occupying Palestine, Lebanon and Syria, bombing Iran, and despite findings by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and UN experts that it is committing genocide in Gaza and maintaining a system of apartheid at home and in the occupied territories. The United States, too, has never been banned despite its many wars of aggression. Full of politics Nor is the World Cup unique. International cultural and sporting competitions are full of politics and hypocrisies dressed up as principle. Just look at the controversies around Israel’s participation in Eurovision. Noah’s question is an indictment of a journalism that likes to imagine itself as challenging power but often mirrors its assumptions. Much ink was spilled over the propriety of Russia and Qatar hosting the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, given the policies of those governments. Yet there has been far less interrogation of the propriety of the US hosting this tournament while it attacks Iran and Venezuela, deports asylum seekers, and blocks or restricts the travel of tournament officials, players and fans. The selective accountability that runs through the institutions — who is banned, who is allowed to host — runs through the press box too. So it should not surprise us that some political questions are reserved for some teams and not others. Ahead of their match against Egypt in Seattle, branded locally as a “Pride Match”, Iran and Egypt were both asked about LGBTQ rights. A FIFA official even read a statement saying Iran wished to answer only questions about the game. Still, the media persisted. Egyptian officials also shielded their players from similar questions. Again, the point is not that LGBTQ rights, war, repression, discrimination, apartheid or genocide are unimportant. They are profoundly important. Journalists should ask difficult questions. But difficult questions should not become a ritual reserved for some passports only. American players are not routinely asked to account for US bombings, border policy, racism, police violence or support for Israel. English players are not habitually asked about British arms exports or colonial legacy. French players are not expected to answer for military interventions in Africa. German players are not pressed on Berlin’s crushing of pro-Palestinian protests. Not a confession And when European teams have been pulled into politics — the OneLove armbands and the German squad covering their mouths for a team photo at Qatar 2022, England taking a knee at Euro 2020 — it was a protest they chose to make, not a confession demanded of them before they were allowed to speak. No reporter required them to denounce their governments as the price of discussing a match. Western footballers are treated as individuals who happen to represent a country. Players from Iran, Egypt, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Senegal or Ghana are more easily turned into representatives of regimes. For many players from the Global South, the tournament press conference becomes an ideological checkpoint. Before they are allowed to talk about tactics, injuries or the opposition’s midfield, they are asked to explain their governments, their societies, their religions, their laws and their wars. Sound familiar? Remember Palestinian interviewees being required to condemn Hamas at the start of any interview before they could speak of the genocide in Gaza? The purpose was not clarification. It was classification. It established the moral hierarchy before the conversation could begin: Israel good, Hamas bad. Palestinian suffering could be heard only after passing through the checkpoint of Western approval. World Cup pressers The same logic is visible in these World Cup pressers. The Iranians must condemn Iran. The Egyptians must condemn Egypt. Africans must prove they understand the West’s moral vocabulary before they can be trusted to speak. But Americans will not be asked to condemn the United States, nor the English the UK. This is the real answer to Noah’s question. The issue is not whether politics belongs in sport. It always has. The issue is who is made to carry politics, and who is allowed to simply play. Western media is not merely asking questions. It is enforcing a story long carried by Western governments and institutions: the West is the measure of morality, and the rest of the world must constantly answer for itself. Patrick Gathara is senior editor for inclusive storytelling at The New Humanitarian. This article was first published by Al Jazeera. This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.
Why North Korea Isn’t at the 2026 World Cup
A Resistance History of the United States
How do we fight back? This week on Gaslit Nation, Tad Stoermer, author of A Resistance History of the United States, explains how true resistance is built by communities like ours. Looking at the Underground Railroad and the French Resistance, Stoermer digs deep on what Gaslit Nation has said for years: grassroots power is the most reliable power we have left. Small acts of individual resistance compound into collective awakening. Today's localized protests against ICE in Minneapolis and Delaney Hall are the true making of a great America. Our story is a story of progress, and white reactionary blood lust. MAGA are the vampires that have long sucked on human flesh. They're back in the forms of Big Tech wannabe-cyborgs and craven weirdos. Simply put, they're slimy creepers, the strongmen who have always lived by spilling blood. We have grassroots power, but now we need to build political power through elected officials who meet the moment, not take money from AIPAC and crypto trust funds. There is no substitute for political power. Communities like Gaslit Nation build together. That's our Declaration of Independence. This week's bonus show, out Thursday, will look at Senator Kirsten Gillibrand's crypto threat to our country as she enriches her family like a corrupt Russian politician. We'll also demand justice for the Prairieland Defendants – activists sentenced to 30 to 100 years in prison for protesting. Harsh sentences to punish the people ignited our Founding Fathers to build militias. Demand unconditional pardons for our Prairieland Defendants – we must reverse and heal the damage of Trump fascism. Join our Gaslit Nation community on Patreon.com/Gaslit or GaslitNation.Substack.com – get bonus shows, ad free listening, exclusive events, and more. Thank you to everyone who supports the show – we could not make Gaslit Nation without you. Show Notes: Opening clip: AOC on MSNow https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Nxb-JLE0WZY EVENTS AT GASLIT NATION: Gaslit Nation Salons take place Mondays 4pm ET over Zoom and are recorded and shared on Patreon.com/Gaslit and GaslitNation.Substack.com for our community New! There's now a California Signal Group for Gaslit Nation listeners to find each other and connect in that state. Join on Patreon or Substack! The Gaslit Nation Outreach Committee discusses how to talk to the MAGA cult: Join on Patreon or Substack! Minnesota Signal group for Gaslit Nation listeners in the state to find each other: Join on Patreon or Substack! Vermont Signal group for Gaslit Nation listeners in the state to find each other: Join on Patreon or Substack! Arizona-based listeners launched a Signal group for others in the state to connect. Join on Patreon or Substack! Indiana-based listeners launched a Signal group for others in the state to join. Join on Patreon or Substack! Florida-based listeners are going strong meeting in person. Be sure to join their Signal group. Join on Patreon or Substack!
How do we fight back? This week on Gaslit Nation, Tad Stoermer, author of A Resistance History of the United States, explains how true resistance is built by communities like ours. Looking at the Underground Railroad and the French Resistance, Stoermer digs deep on what Gaslit Nation has said for years: grassroots power is the most reliable power we have left. Small acts of individual resistance compound into collective awakening. Today's localized protests against ICE in Minneapolis and Delaney Hall are the true making of a great America. Our story is a story of progress, and white reactionary blood lust. MAGA are the vampires that have long sucked on human flesh. They're back in the forms of Big Tech wannabe-cyborgs and craven weirdos. Simply put, they're slimy creepers, the strongmen who have always lived by spilling blood. We have grassroots power, but now we need to build political power through elected officials who meet the moment, not take money from AIPAC and crypto trust funds. There is no substitute for political power. Communities like Gaslit Nation build together. That's our Declaration of Independence. This week's bonus show, out Thursday, will look at Senator Kirsten Gillibrand's crypto threat to our country as she enriches her family like a corrupt Russian politician. We'll also demand justice for the Prairieland Defendants – activists sentenced to 30 to 100 years in prison for protesting. Harsh sentences to punish the people ignited our Founding Fathers to build militias. Demand unconditional pardons for our Prairieland Defendants – we must reverse and heal the damage of Trump fascism. Join our Gaslit Nation community on Patreon.com/Gaslit or GaslitNation.Substack.com – get bonus shows, ad free listening, exclusive events, and more. Thank you to everyone who supports the show – we could not make Gaslit Nation without you. Show Notes: Opening clip: AOC on MSNow https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Nxb-JLE0WZY EVENTS AT GASLIT NATION: Gaslit Nation Salons take place Mondays 4pm ET over Zoom and are recorded and shared on Patreon.com/Gaslit and GaslitNation.Substack.com for our community New! There's now a California Signal Group for Gaslit Nation listeners to find each other and connect in that state. Join on Patreon or Substack! The Gaslit Nation Outreach Committee discusses how to talk to the MAGA cult: Join on Patreon or Substack! Minnesota Signal group for Gaslit Nation listeners in the state to find each other: Join on Patreon or Substack! Vermont Signal group for Gaslit Nation listeners in the state to find each other: Join on Patreon or Substack! Arizona-based listeners launched a Signal group for others in the state to connect. Join on Patreon or Substack! Indiana-based listeners launched a Signal group for others in the state to join. Join on Patreon or Substack! Florida-based listeners are going strong meeting in person. Be sure to join their Signal group. Join on Patreon or Substack! This content originally appeared on Gaslit Nation and was authored by Andrea Chalupa.
Bougainville volcano ups gears, as Titan Ridge submarine volcano cools off
By Johnny Blades of RNZ Pacific Explosive activity has picked up in recent days at Bougainville’s Mt Bagana volcano. Papua New Guinea’s Rabaul Volcanological Observatory declared a Stage 1 Alert for Bagana amid its most notable upsurge in activity for two years. The observatory’s principal geodetic surveyor, Steve Saunders, said activity at the volcano had
By Johnny Blades of RNZ Pacific Explosive activity has picked up in recent days at Bougainville’s Mt Bagana volcano. Papua New Guinea’s Rabaul Volcanological Observatory declared a Stage 1 Alert for Bagana amid its most notable upsurge in activity for two years. The observatory’s principal geodetic surveyor, Steve Saunders, said activity at the volcano had been ongoing for several years, but last week the activity increased. READ MORE: Lack of monitoring meant PNG volcano was missed by agency NZDF delivers supplies for volcano-affected Bougainville communities More than 7000 people in Bougainville need temporary accommodation after eruption Schools closed, people displaced by Bougainville eruption says president “There was a large eruption, it was basically the dome collapsing down the east flank. It was very spectacular but it was in uninhabited areas so didn’t really cause much of a problem. Noting continuous lava activity at the summit, Saunders said there was “a red glow and rocks rolling down the side every few weeks”. “There was some dust downwind etc, but it looked worse than it was.” Social media comments about the volcano indicated dust issues impacting crops to the south in Torokina, on Bougainville’s east coast. PNG’s National Information Centre said the Department of Community Government and District Affairs Disaster Office were in touch with Torokina and other areas impacted, and monitoring the situation. Pumice issue Meanwhile, in another part of PNG’s Islands region, Manus Province, Saunders said big rafts of pumice from an active submarine volcano in the Bismarck Sea had started to disperse. Since May, pumice created by the so-called Titan Ridge volcano had been carried by tides and currents into Manus Island’s south coast, impacting sea life and marine traffic. However, Saunders said there was little pumice being produced by the volcano now as its activity has abated in the past week or two, and that pumice rafts around Manus Island had now mostly washed away with currents and winds. But locals in Manus have told RNZ Pacific that pumice is still a problem, and that pumice has also increasingly the province’s smaller, outer islands. This story was first published on This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.
ACT candidate resigns in NZ after Chinese political group link revealed
By Justin Wong, Local Democracy Reporter An ACT candidate has withdrawn from a new Wellington electorate race at November’s election, after failing to declare her previous membership of a Chinese political group linked to the country’s ruling communist party. After Local Democracy Reporting sent questions about Lyra Yan Zhang’s background on Monday, the party confirmed
By Justin Wong,em]:font-sans-italic [&>strong]:font-sans-semibold [&>em]:italic"> Local Democracy Reporter An ACT candidate has withdrawn from a new Wellington electorate race at November’s election, after failing to declare her previous membership of a Chinese political group linked to the country’s ruling communist party. After Local Democracy Reporting sent questions about Lyra Yan Zhang’s background on Monday, the party confirmed on Tuesday the Kenepuru candidate had resigned – a week after her unveiling. “All of our candidates are asked to disclose previous political party memberships. Ms Zhang did not disclose her previous connections, and [on Monday] she decided not to continue with her candidacy,” an ACT spokesperson said in a statement. READ MORE: Other Local Democracy Reports LOCAL DEMOCRACY REPORTING Online publications by the China Zhi Gong Party — a satellite party of the Chinese Communist Party — reveal Zhang was a member who sat on party committees in the province of Hunan. Zhi Gong Party is one of eight “democratic” minor parties officially recognised in China’s one-party political system. Researchers into China’s foreign influence operations say it is a “united front” organisation controlled by the CCP’s United Front Work Department to assert influence on overseas Chinese communities and mobilise them to promote Beijing’s foreign policy goals. “Membership of the party demonstrates a close affiliation with the CCP,” said Geoff Wade, a senior analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. “Members of the party, even nominally retired ones overseas, thus offer overt challenges to democratic societies through potential influence and coercion activities within the host society.” Porirua local elections Zhang also ran in last year’s local body elections in Porirua, coming 11th out of 15 candidates at the Onepoto General Ward. Zhang told The Post at the time she was a Zhi Gong Party party member from 2017 until 2020, when she resigned because of the covid-19 pandemic, and was “not a current membership for declarations”. She did not run under the ACT banner. ACT said it conducted “extensive vetting” of candidates, including independent social media and background checks, criminal record checks, and credit checks. “This is alongside disclosure questions we ask prospective candidates, including previous party affiliations.” Zhang, in a statement issued through ACT, said she remained supportive of the party. The revelations are in the midst of New Zealand’s intelligence agency saying China is the “most active” country in conducting foreign interference and candidates being told to be wary of foreign interference, which could risk damage the reputation of the country, themselves or their party. At the end of 2017, businessman Zhang Yikun, whose 2022 convictions over fraudulent political donations to the National Party were later quashed by the Court of Appeal, arranged for then Southland mayor Gary Tong to visit China in the name of the Zhi Gong Party’s central committee. Businessman Zhang Yikun, whose 2022 convictions over fraudulent political donations to the National Party were later quashed by the Court of Appeal, welcomed Zhi Gong leaders to New Zealand in 2017 and attended the party’s 90th anniversary in Beijing in 2015.” Zhang himself welcomed Zhi Gong leaders to New Zealand in 2017 and attended the party’s 90th anniversary in Beijing in 2015. Export company Lyra Yan Zhang moved from China to New Zealand in 2001 to study English and graduated from Massey University in 2006, according to a 2015 post on Chinese-language social media WeChat by her now-defunct export company that sells milk, honey and other health products to China. In April 2017, a report by the provincial Zhi Gong Party in Hunan said Zhang was a member from its second branch in Lusong District of the city of Zhuzhou. She played an “important role” in arranging a visit to Zhuzhou’s high-tech industrial parks from about 10 New Zealanders, it said. By the end of the year, she became one of six deputy chairs of a new association made up by Zhi Gong Party members, who are young diaspora with roots in Zhuzhou, according to the website of the United Front Work Department of Hunan’s provincial CCP. Zhang’s campaign for local office in Porirua, centring on upgrading local infrastructure and pledged to improve transparency on council spending, made no references to her previous political involvement in China. ACT’s press release announcing its candidates did not include Zhang’s biography. ACT leader David Seymour campaigned in 2023 on stopping foreign investment from China to build New Zealand roads: “We can’t just close our eyes and hope the CCP don’t take the opportunity to gain a foothold in New Zealand.” Earlier this month, Beijing banned four New Zealand MPs from entering China, Hong Kong and Macau for a year over their visit to Taiwan, including National’s Maureen Pugh, Labour’s Duncan Webb, ACT’s Laura McClure and NZ First’s David Wilson. LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air. This story was first published on This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.
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Supreme Court blocking Trump birthright citizen attack a ‘real relief,’ but also ‘bare minimum’
This story originally appeared in Common Dreams on June 30, 2026. It is shared here under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0) license. The US Supreme Court on Tuesday struck down President Donald Trump’s executive order that sought to deny autom...
<img width="1024" height="683" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2268794952-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="Demonstrators rally in support of birthright citizenship outside the US Supreme Court in Washington, DC on April 1, 2026. Photo by Kent Nishimura / AFP via Getty Images" decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2268794952-scaled.jpg?w=2560&ssl=1 2560w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2268794952-scaled.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2268794952-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2268794952-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2268794952-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2268794952-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1365&ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2268794952-scaled.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2268794952-scaled.jpg?resize=2000%2C1333&ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2268794952-scaled.jpg?resize=780%2C520&ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2268794952-scaled.jpg?resize=400%2C267&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2268794952-scaled.jpg?w=2340&ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2268794952-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1&w=370 370w" sizes="(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw - 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw / 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw / 12)), 100vw" data-attachment-id="344667" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/supreme-court-blocking-trump-birthright-citizen-attack-a-real-relief-but-also-bare-minimum/us-politics-trump-scotus-citizenship" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2268794952-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1707&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2560,1707" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"AFP via Getty Images","camera":"Canon EOS R1","caption":"Demonstrators rally in support of birthright citizenship outside the US Supreme Court in Washington, DC on April 1, 2026. President Donald Trump attended in person as the US Supreme Court heard a landmark case weighing the constitutionality of his contentious bid to end birthright citizenship, an extraordinary and possibly unprecedented move for the nation's highest office. (Photo by Kent Nishimura / AFP via Getty Images)","created_timestamp":"1775061538","copyright":"AFP or licensors","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"US-POLITICS-TRUMP-SCOTUS-CITIZENSHIP","orientation":"1","alt":""}" data-image-title="US-POLITICS-TRUMP-SCOTUS-CITIZENSHIP" data-image-description="" data-image-caption=" Demonstrators rally in support of birthright citizenship outside the US Supreme Court in Washington, DC on April 1, 2026. Photo by Kent Nishimura / AFP via Getty Images " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2268794952-scaled.jpg?fit=780%2C520&ssl=1" /> <img data-recalc-dims="1" decoding="async" width="600" height="150" data-attachment-id="268291" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/this-is-why-deregulation-is-deadly/cd_stacked_white_600" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/cd_stacked_white_600.png?fit=600%2C150&ssl=1" data-orig-size="600,150" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="Common Dreams Logo" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/cd_stacked_white_600.png?fit=600%2C150&ssl=1" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/cd_stacked_white_600.png?resize=600%2C150&ssl=1" alt="Common Dreams Logo" class="wp-image-268291 size-full" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/cd_stacked_white_600.png?w=600&ssl=1 600w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/cd_stacked_white_600.png?resize=300%2C75&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/cd_stacked_white_600.png?w=370&ssl=1 370w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/cd_stacked_white_600.png?w=400&ssl=1 400w" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px" /> This story originally appeared in Common Dreams on June 30, 2026. It is shared here under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0) license. The US Supreme Court on Tuesday struck down President Donald Trump’s executive order that sought to deny automatic citizenship to children born in the United States to undocumented parents, preserving 150 years of birthright citizenship under the 14th Amendment and dealing a major blow to the administration’s xenophobic agenda. “Children born in the United States to parents unlawfully or temporarily present are ‘subject to the jurisdiction’ of the United States and are citizens at birth under the 14th Amendment’s citizenship clause,” the high court held in Trump v. Barbara. The 6-3 decision roundly rejected an executive order issued by Trump on the first day of his second term that sought to deny US citizenship for babies born in the United States to parents who are either unlawfully in the United States or legally living in the country on temporary visas. Every lower court rejected the order. Just three days after its issuance, US District Judge John Coughenour, an appointee of former President Ronald Reagan, blasted it as “blatantly unconstitutional.” A majority of the right-wing Supreme Court agreed. “Citizenship, then and now, was the right to have rights—to freely participate in our political community. The framers of the 14th Amendment extended that promise to ‘every free-born person in this land,’” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the court. “We keep that promise today.” Roberts was joined in the majority by Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Amy Coney Barrett, and Ketanji Brown Jackson, with Justice Brett Kavanaugh writing a separate concurring opinion agreeing that Trump’s executive order was unlawful but basing his reasoning on federal immigration law rather than the 14th Amendment. “As revealed by the court’s opinion with its detailed account of history and precedent, and by the weighty and thoughtful dissents, the constitutional issue is far more complicated than the statutory issue,” Kavanaugh wrote. Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, and Neil Gorsuch dissented. “This is one of the most important decisions in the history of the court, and in my judgment, the court has made a serious mistake,” Alito wrote in his dissent. “As interpreted by the court today, the 14th Amendment confers citizenship on virtually everyone who happens to be born in this country, including the children of ‘birth tourists,’ women who come here solely for the purpose of giving birth to a child and then promptly return home.” Alito further argued that the 14th Amendment “confers citizenship on only those children who, at birth, owe allegiance solely to this country.” In a 91-page dissent more than three times longer than Roberts’ opinion, Thomas wrote that “the court adds to the sad history of the 14th Amendment, which was designed and understood to secure equal rights for the freed Blacks but has instead been repurposed for political projects that the Reconstruction Congress did not support.” Trump took to his Truth Social network to lament, “The Supreme Court upheld Birthright Citizenship, which is too bad for our Country, but we can easily make it up in Congress through Legislation, with the support of the President, that has now been determined during this process.” “No long and unwieldy Constitutional Amendment is necessary!” he added. “Congress should start TODAY to work on ending expensive and unfair to our Country, Birthright Citizenship. They will have my Complete and Total Support!” Stephen Miller, Trump’s xenophobic deputy chief of staff, seethed on X that Trump v. Barbara is “one of the most destructive and outrageous decisions in the long history of the Supreme Court.” “American citizenship is not the birthright of the world,” the white nationalist added. “It belongs only and solely to Americans. No provision of the Constitution can be read to require our national self-obliteration.” Defenders of birthright citizenship and the Constitution welcomed the ruling. “The Supreme Court affirmed what we know in our hearts and in our communities: The 14th Amendment extends the promise of citizenship to everyone born in the US Immigrants belong,” Congresswoman Delia C. Ramirez (D-Ill.), a birthright citizen, said on Bluesky. “No one can deny that immigrants today are also the inheritors of the promise of America—just like so many of my colleagues’ ancestors were.” I am the proud, defiant daughter of Maria Elvira Ramirez Guerra, a Guatemalan immigrant who crossed the border pregnant with me. Regardless of what some of my colleagues might call me, I am a citizen by birthright and an AMERICAN! — Congresswoman Delia C. Ramirez (@ramirez.house.gov) 2026-06-30T15:58:00.231Z Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), a former refugee from Somalia, said on social media: “The Supreme Court just upheld birthright citizenship, blocking Trump’s attempt to dismantle the 14th Amendment and strip away a constitutional guarantee. If you were born here, you are an American citizen. The Constitution is clear. No one can change that.” American Immigration Council senior fellow Aaron Reichlin-Melnick called the decision “the easiest of layups possible.” Thomas Wolf, director of democracy initiatives at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law, said that “the court could not have defensibly ruled any differently.” “The 14th Amendment guaranteed citizenship to everyone born here over 150 years ago,” he added. “The Supreme Court affirmed that 20 years later in Wong Kim Ark.” NOW: New York immigrants, advocates and allies gather in response to SCOTUS’ decision to uphold birthright citizenship. https://t.co/bBNGqHsHMx — New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC) (@thenyic) June 30, 2026 ACLU national legal director Cecilia Wang, a birthright citizen who argued the case before the Supreme Court, said the decision “reaffirms a fundamental American promise—if you are born here, you are a citizen. A president cannot change the Constitution by executive fiat.” Neidi Dominguez, executive director of the multiracial advocacy group Organized Power in Numbers, said that “today the Supreme Court reaffirmed a constitutional right that should never have been in question.” “Birthright citizenship was guaranteed through the passage of the 14th Amendment after the Civil War, when formerly enslaved Africans and their allies fought to access equal rights and affirm that children born in the United States have citizenship regardless of where their parents come from,” she noted. “That right survives today.” “But let us be clear about what happened here,” Dominguez continued. “The Trump administration tried to narrow the definition of citizenship and the access to the rights that come with it, and even this Supreme Court disagreed. This is a real relief, and it is welcome. It is also the bare minimum.” “The same court that today defended birthright citizenship last week stripped legal protections from more than 350,000 Haitian and Syrian workers with [temporary protected status] and opened the door to doing the same to up to 1.3 million people,” she said. “Earlier this term, it cleared the way for mass layoffs of tens of thousands of federal workers. Working people are not safe because one constitutional right survived. They are fighting on every front.” “Birthright citizenship is protected today. But the workers whose children depend on it still face deportation, worksite raids, and an administration that has made clear it will use every tool available to make immigrant workers afraid, isolated, and stripped of their rights,” Dominguez added. “Employers cannot stay silent while the workers they depend on are stripped of their rights one ruling at a time. We are not done fighting.” Today is a day not to celebrate the court affirming what we all already knew was the law, but a day to think about what damage this case has done to our democracy & what we are going to do to fight back. ImmDef responds: https://t.co/mjuVAnWi1K — ImmDef (@ImmDef) June 30, 2026 Virginia Kase Solomón, president and CEO of the pro-democracy group Common Cause, issued a statement saying, “While we welcome the court finally upholding a constitutional amendment ratified nearly two centuries ago, upholding the law is no cause for celebration, it is a requirement.” “Let today be a stark reminder that this court continues to systematically dismantle voting protections for Black and brown communities, tilting the scales of justice toward a dark era where a wealthy, privileged few dictate the rules for the rest of us,” she added. “Today may be a brief victory for the rule of law, but our fight to protect our multiracial democracy continues.” Wolf at the Brennan Center said that “today’s ruling is the right one amid an avalanche of Supreme Court opinions undermining our democracy.” “In just the past few weeks alone, the court further undermined the Voting Rights Act, encouraged more aggressive partisan gerrymandering, dangerously expanded presidential power over federal agencies, and further depleted protections for immigrants,” he noted. “This ruling does not make up for all the damage the court has done this term.” On Tuesday, the court also ruled that states may ban transgender girls from participating in sports at schools receiving public funding. This content originally appeared on The Real News Network and was authored by Brett Wilkins.
How Trump’s World Cup echoes dictatorships of the past
<img width="1024" height="683" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2250178685-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="President Donald Trump reacts on stage during the FIFA World Cup 2026 Official Draw at John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on December 05, 2025 in Washington, DC. Photo by Scott Taetsch - FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images" data-attachment-id="344660" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/how-trumps-world-cup-echoes-dictatorships-of-the-past/fifa-world-cup-2026-official-draw" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2250178685-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1707&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2560,1707" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.8","credit":"FIFA via Getty Images","camera":"Canon EOS R1","caption":"WASHINGTON, DC - DECEMBER 05: U.S. President Donald Trump reacts on stage during the FIFA World Cup 2026 Official Draw at John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on December 05, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Scott Taetsch - FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)","created_timestamp":"1764929868","copyright":"2025 FIFA","focal_length":"200","iso":"1600","shutter_speed":"0.0025","title":"FIFA World Cup 2026 Official Draw","orientation":"1","alt":""}" data-image-title="FIFA World Cup 2026 Official Draw" data-image-description="" data-image-caption=" President Donald Trump reacts on stage during the FIFA World Cup 2026 Official Draw at John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on December 05, 2025 in Washington, DC. Photo by Scott Taetsch &#8211; FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2250178685-scaled.jpg?fit=780%2C520&ssl=1"> Trump's 2026 World Cup fits into a long history of authoritarian governments using international sports to distract from the human rights abuses and violence of their administrations.
<img width="1024" height="683" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2250178685-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="President Donald Trump reacts on stage during the FIFA World Cup 2026 Official Draw at John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on December 05, 2025 in Washington, DC. Photo by Scott Taetsch - FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images" decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2250178685-scaled.jpg?w=2560&ssl=1 2560w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2250178685-scaled.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2250178685-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2250178685-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2250178685-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2250178685-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1365&ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2250178685-scaled.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2250178685-scaled.jpg?resize=2000%2C1333&ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2250178685-scaled.jpg?resize=780%2C520&ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2250178685-scaled.jpg?resize=400%2C267&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2250178685-scaled.jpg?w=2340&ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2250178685-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1&w=370 370w" sizes="(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw - 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw / 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw / 12)), 100vw" data-attachment-id="344660" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/how-trumps-world-cup-echoes-dictatorships-of-the-past/fifa-world-cup-2026-official-draw" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2250178685-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1707&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2560,1707" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.8","credit":"FIFA via Getty Images","camera":"Canon EOS R1","caption":"WASHINGTON, DC - DECEMBER 05: U.S. President Donald Trump reacts on stage during the FIFA World Cup 2026 Official Draw at John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on December 05, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Scott Taetsch - FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)","created_timestamp":"1764929868","copyright":"2025 FIFA","focal_length":"200","iso":"1600","shutter_speed":"0.0025","title":"FIFA World Cup 2026 Official Draw","orientation":"1","alt":""}" data-image-title="FIFA World Cup 2026 Official Draw" data-image-description="" data-image-caption=" President Donald Trump reacts on stage during the FIFA World Cup 2026 Official Draw at John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on December 05, 2025 in Washington, DC. Photo by Scott Taetsch &#8211; FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2250178685-scaled.jpg?fit=780%2C520&ssl=1" /> The 2026 World Cup has captured the world’s attention. The highs and lows. The surprises. The United States’ defeat of Paraguay 4-1 in their first game. Cabo Verde’s tie with Spain. Ecuador’s defeat of Germany. Fans cried in the stadium and around the world from joy and disbelief. Here in Brazil, it is an obsession. Around-the-clock coverage. Watch parties on huge screens in cities across the country. People glued to their TVs. But the 2026 games in the United States, Mexico, and Canada have also been overshadowed by US President Donald Trump’s administration—specifically, his anti-immigration crackdown and authoritarian backslide. Fans, players, and even world-class referees have been barred from entering the United States for the World Cup. Players have been detained, questioned, and had their luggage searched by dogs. Videos have gone viral of African players facing extended searches and security checks. The Democratic Republic of Congo’s most avid supporter was forced to return home after he failed to obtain a visa. US officials forced Iran’s team to stay in Mexico, even though their games were played in the United States. Their logistics people were blocked from entering the US at all because they couldn’t get visas. “This is a disaster World Cup,” Mehdi Taremi, the Iran National Team captain, said in a press conference. “We can’t stay in the country and have to travel every time we play without any recovery. Now we can’t stay in Seattle and have to return to Tijuana. This is not fair.” The captain of Iran’s National Team, Mehdi Taremi, calls out FIFA and the U.S.: “This is a disaster World Cup. We can’t stay in the country and have to travel every time we play without any recovery. Now we can’t stay in Seattle and have to return to Tijuana. This is not fair.” pic.twitter.com/z0gLN07bkB — Power to the People ☭ (@ProudSocialist) June 27, 2026 After tying all three games, the Iranian national team was knocked out of continuing on to the next round of play after controversial officiating. It is not the image of unity that you usually find at the World Cup. But it is on par with everything that Trump has rolled out under his second term. This is far from the only time that an international tournament has been held in a country run by an authoritarian leader undermining the rules of democracy. The 1934 World Cup in Italy under dictator Benito Mussolini, the 1936 Olympic Games in Germany under Adolf Hitler, and the 1978 World Cup in Argentina under the military dictatorship were all used to give a positive spin to the image of each host country. Soccer was used as propaganda by the South American dictatorships of the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s to unite the countries under authoritarian and military rule despite the violence, detentions, kidnappings, disappearances, violence, and human rights abuses. To understand how Trump’s 2026 World Cup fits into the long history of authoritarian governments using international sporting events to distract from the evils of their administrations, I spoke with Fabiano Neme. He’s a Brazilian lawyer, an avid soccer fan of the Brazilian soccer club Sport Club Internacional, and the author of the 2022 book Condor Football Club: The Political Use of Soccer in the Dictatorships of Latin America. The title “Condor Football Club” is a nod to Plan Condor or Operation Condor, a US-backed secret security and terror network among the South American dictatorships of the 1960s, ’70s, and ’80s that detained, disappeared, tortured, and killed political opposition to the authoritarian regimes. Fabiano Neme spoke from his home in Porto Alegre. Michael Fox: What does the World Cup mean for Brazil? What does it mean for South America? I feel like people forget that the first World Cup ever was held in Uruguay in 1930. South America has a long history in the World Cup. Fabiano Neme: It means a lot not only to Latin America, but to the world as a whole. Because you see, there are more countries so that sign up to FIFA — 211 — than to the United Nations — 193. It’s information that’s often forgotten. And for us in Latin America, football is a chance to express ourselves. It’s kind of hard for me to explain using English words, because football for me is so Latin. English is so rigid and it doesn’t contain the fluidity of football. For us, football is like water. It’s how we move. It’s how we pass through things. It’s how we crash. It’s how we break. It’s how we flow. Michael Fox: I love that metaphor. Talk to me a little bit about your book, Condor Football Club. And I think the subtitle is so important here: The Political Use of Soccer in the Dictatorships of Latin America. Because we oftentimes think of sports, or soccer, or futebol in Portuguese — futbol, in Spanish — as something that’s devoid of politics. Like, we’re here celebrating the World Cup in the United States and we don’t have to think about politics. But what your book reminds us is that it is actually deeply political. Can you talk a little bit about your book, where the idea came from, and the importance of politics in football or soccer? Fabiano Neme: The idea for the book came to me when I was complaining to a friend about not having books about the subject. I saw a documentary that YouTube recommended to me that blew my mind. It’s called Memories of Lead, Football in Times of Condor. It’s a four-part documentary. And oh my God, I needed to know more about this. But there are almost no books on the subject in Brazil. And my friend told me since there are no books about it, you should write it. I kept that idea brewing inside of me. That’s when I met Matheus Bellé. He’s my co-author. He’s an archaeologist and he researches concentration camps in Latin America and during the dictatorships. We met and we wrote the book during the pandemic. The main focus of the book is football in the dictatorships of Latin America during the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s. What happened to the clubs, what happened to the national teams, what happened to the players. So it’s a book that’s not very fun to read, but I think it’s important. Michael Fox: How did you get interested in this history and what does it mean today for people still? Fabiano Neme: Well, my family is deeply tied to it. Before the coup happened in Brazil in 1964, there was an attempted coup in 1961. And an uncle of mine, he was the right hand man of Leonel Brizola, who was then the leftist governor of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, and he organized the armed resistance here in Porto Alegre. My father always got arrested by the dictatorship, because his company used to support families here in Porto Alegre whose parents or husbands or other family members were abroad in exile. And so this is deeply tied to my family and myself. I was questioned during the dictatorship. I was six years old, but I was questioned. Some guys took me from my classroom and asked me about my father, about my uncle. So, yeah, I was, like, born into it. Michael Fox: Wow. That’s crazy. I’m constantly shocked that the dictatorship is so close. Like you said, you were six years old. And they could pick you up and they could take you out and interrogate you as a little boy. And how ingrained was this authoritarian rule in society and in schools and everywhere, and so much of it backed by the United States? Fabiano Neme: There’s a book written by Vijay Prashad called Washington Bullets. I think that in order to understand Plan Condor, you need to read this book and understand why the US acted like it did. Michael Fox: Fabiano, talk a little bit about some of the chapters in your book, like the 1978 World Cup in Argentina, because I feel like this underscores this question of how football is used by these authoritarian governments to lift up their image abroad in the world even while they’re detaining, they’re killing, and they’re torturing people. The World Cup was used like PR, right? Fabiano Neme: Argentina was chosen as the host for the 1978 World Cup under Juan Peron. A couple of years after that, there was a coup. They removed the government and established a military dictatorship backed by the USA. And they used the World Cup to dismiss allegations from abroad about state terrorism and denials of basic human rights and torture and murder and disappearance of politically engaged people. It kind of, kind of, worked. But at the same time, it kind of didn’t. Because there were some radio broadcasts that sometimes got into the TV transmission denouncing the dictatorship. Some protests occurred involving the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo. And, for me, the most bizarre element is that the main stadium of the World Cup was Monumental Stadium. That was just half a mile away from the main concentration camp in Buenos Aires in the ESMA. So it was so bizarre. It was so bizarre because the prisoners were asked to celebrate the win with those who were torturing them. It was so strange. It dehumanized them so much. Because they said, “We’re not going to torture. You’re going to come with me. We’re going to watch the game. We’re going to celebrate. And then you go back. You go back into jail. Back into the cell. And now you’re going to die.” So it’s so wrong. I don’t even have the words to describe it, because it’s insane. It’s insane, what they did to Graziella, one of the prisoners. That they took her to a barbecue to celebrate and she was a prisoner. And she had the chance to open the rooftop window of the car. And she said, “If I scream here, nobody will notice, because of all the celebration happening around there.” So it was such a strange event with so many contradictions and so much pain and glory at the same time. And I’m not even mentioning what happened on the playing field. Because Argentina made a big score to classify for the final. And there’s a rumor. I didn’t put it in the book, because I couldn’t confirm it. But the rumor says that the former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and the president of Peru went to the Argentinian dressing room to tell them, “OK, you’re going to win the game. You’re going to score so many goals and everything will be OK.” So it it was a rigged game from the start. The 1978 Argentine World Cup was a mess. It was terrible. It was great for the dictatorship, but bad for everything else. “In this 2026 World Cup they are confirming the accusations. They are not denying it. They are saying clearly, ‘Non-white foreigners are not welcome here. Latinos are not welcome here. Africans get the F out of here.’ It’s very strange for me, because they had the opportunity to change the image of Trump’s regime, but they’re choosing to confirm it.” Michael Fox: Why is this story about the 1978 World Cup so important today? What do we have to learn from it within the context of what we’re seeing during the World Cup games in the United States now? Fabiano Neme: We chose to open the book with the 1978 World Cup because it summarizes the subject. It summarizes how football was politically used by the dictatorships in Latin America. At that time, in 1978 — as well in the 1934 World Cup in Italy during fascism, under Benito Mussolini, and the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin during the Third Reich — those three events were used to dismiss criticism from abroad about what was happening in those countries. But what strikes me funny is that in this 2026 World Cup they are confirming the accusations. They are not denying it. They are saying clearly, “non-white foreigners are not welcome here. Latinos are not welcome here. Africans get the F out of here.” It’s very strange for me, because they had the opportunity to change the image of Trump’s regime, but they’re choosing to confirm it. Michael Fox: Do you think people are seeing that? I mean, I know that there’s been news stories. For instance, about the banning of the Somali referee Omar Artan. There’s the fact that the Iranian team can’t be housed in the United States. They’re actually in Tijuana. Even if they go to the United States to play their games, they have to leave the country, which is just insane. Of course, we’re seeing the images of players from Africa and “third world” countries being manhandled and searched, whereas players from Europe are just flying in on their airplanes and being embraced. And so clearly those images are out there. But I wonder how how much those are being lifted up and being denounced at the same time as the games are happening. In other words, do you think that those are actually getting into people’s feeds and that people understand just how authoritarian what we are seeing happening is right now? Fabiano Neme: It depends. I think that this subject gets a lot of traction here in Latin America, in Africa, and in the countries where people are being denied entry into the US. But I don’t think that this information reaches most American eyes. I think that it’s being covered widely outside of the United States. Michael Fox: What else are you seeing happening in the United States around this World Cup that kind of parallels what you’ve seen in the past and in some of these other situations around football being used politically to prop up the image of other authoritarian governments? Fabiano Neme: I think it’s actually very different, in many ways. Because during the 1978 World Cup in Argentina and in the other games during dictatorships, the visitors were welcomed into the country. They had an easy time. They had a great time to see how beautiful the country was. Everything was great. But underneath this the people were suffering. Now, however, it’s the opposite. Now the visitors are not being welcomed. They are simply saying, “We don’t want you here. We are going to make you pass through hell to play your game and to support your team.” This is exactly what we saw happen to the Uruguayan national team. US security officers stopped their bus. They made all the players get out and they used dogs to sniff the luggage to see if they were carrying drugs. It happened just before their first game. Michael Fox: Wow. Fabiano Neme: And that messes with the game itself. Because it messes with the players’ concentration. So I think these past cases are very different from what’s happening now, because they’re [the Trump administration] not profiting politically from the World Cup. The profit is merely monetary, not political. The World Cup is going to be very bad for Trump’s regime in the long term. Michael Fox: Why do you think that they’re taking this tactic and breaking from all these other authoritarian governments and these other moments where these other countries — deceptive or not — have lifted up their regimes and made it look like a pretty show. And now Trump’s saying, “I don’t need any of that.” Why do you think that they’re taking this new direction? Fabiano Neme: I think it’s because they don’t care. I think that they see themselves as the greatest nation in the world, and that no matter what they do, people will still want to go there and spend money there. So they don’t care. They don’t want Latin American money. They don’t want African money. They want European and white money only. So they don’t care. I think that’s why. They don’t care. They are afraid that if people go there, they will say, “Oh my God, this so beautiful. There’s money everywhere. Oh look, there’s Mickey Mouse. There’s Steven Spielberg. I want to stay here.” So that’s very different than what happened in Argentina. Argentina was a third world country. They needed to show the world that everything was fine there, that everything was good, as if to say, “Come, eat Argentine barbecue with us.” That’s why it’s different. Michael Fox: Fabiano, talk a little bit about FIFA and FIFA’s connections or support for Trump. I mean, the fact that they gave him a ‘peace prize’ is just shocking in so many ways. Do you think that part of his thinking about this moment is just the fact that he feels like he’s completely supported by FIFA, and that they will do whatever he tells them to do? Fabiano Neme: I think that the relationship with FIFA is very complex and we cannot restrict it to the FIFA president Gianni Infantino. We have to go to Joseph Blatter and all the guys, because they’ve constantly supported dictatorships in Latin America. They did everything to make the dictatorships look nice. Michael Fox: Talk about the 1970 World Cup. It was won by Brazil. How did the dictatorship use this victory to try and show this image of uniting the country? Fabiano Neme: Yes. The Brazilian dictator Emílio Médici invested a lot of money into bringing the 1970 World Cup live and in color to Brazil for the first time. It was the first big event that was broadcast live with color over television in Brazil. He did his best to bind his image to the winning team. Some players liked him. Some players didn’t. Some players were, “OK, well, he’s the president, so let’s let the guy in.” And we had the presence of US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, again. Henry Kissinger had, like, an omnipresent presence here during the dictatorships of Latin America. He was everywhere. He talked to everyone. So the dictatorship used the Cup to say, “Okay, let’s all come together. Let’s forget about the bad. Let’s focus on the good. We cannot distract the players.” They would say, “Oh my God, you’re making Pelé sad. Pelé is not going to play well because of you, because of this mess.” But in the end, we won the cup. And everything, like, melted away with the gold of the Mexico World Cup. Michael Fox: When you say everything melted away, do you mean that they used the cup victory to try and hide all of the terrible things that were happening under the dictatorship? Fabiano Neme: Yes. They used the World Cup to make people forget about AI-5 — Institutional Act 5. That was a law decreed by the dictatorship that strengthened the dictatorship. It suspended many basic human rights and established state terrorism as an institutional force here in Brazil. It was enacted in late 1968, and they used the 1970 World Cup to make people forget about it, to make people celebrate. Or at least make the majority of the people celebrate, while a good part of the people were being arrested, were being detained, disappeared, killed and tortured. And they used it to make people forget about the bad and focus on the good. Because they had a great team. A great team. We cannot deny that. “The least important part of football is what happens on the field, on the pitch. What happens around it is so much more interesting. It’s so much more important.” Michael Fox: Can you talk a little bit more about the US role backing up the South American dictatorships. Henry Kissinger was there, and did Kissinger play any other role, or the United States play any other role, with relation to football and the politics of football during that time? Fabiano Neme: Henry Kissinger was a very dominant person here. He was a very important person. He was everywhere. He had all the presidents in his pockets. He controlled the Latin American countries, so they wouldn’t join the Soviet side of the Cold War. And the political use of football was being used in parallel to the terrorism, state terrorism, and economic terrorism that was being done by the United States’ presidents. For example, before the coup in Chile, when it was still under the presidency of leftist President Salvador Allende, there was a famous quote by Richard Nixon that he said— “Make the economy scream.” He was willing to make people suffer economically in Chile so the democratically elected left-wing President Salvador Allende would lose any prestige, any kind of support. This was going to raise voices supporting the military or a right-wing government by itself. So Henry Kissinger was the bridge between Latin America and the United States at the time. He was going back and forth, sending documents, bringing documents. Bringing money to support dictatorships. Bringing money to build stadiums, bringing money to make championships, bringing money for the World Cup, and so on. Michael Fox: Talk to me about the overall theme or themes of your book and the most important things that you want people to understand about the use of football during the period of the dictatorships of South America. Fabiano Neme: What I wanted to tell is that the least important part of football is what happens on the field, on the pitch. What happens around it is so much more interesting. It’s so much more important. And that’s what makes football so interesting as a study subject. So the way that, for instance, Uruguay’s Defensor Sporting Club won the championship of the Uruguayan national league in 1976, it was a celebration of freedom, a celebration of democracy, and they paid a hefty price for that. Because they were the only club in the Southern Cone that challenged the dictators. Because all of the others were, to say the least, complacent. But Defensor was different. They won the Uruguayan league. And they used the space around the field around the field to exchange documents, to make plans. Their supporters were against dictatorship. There were some supporters from all other clubs who came to join the campaign that was happening around the game. So it’s so much more interesting to see what happens around the pitch than what happens inside the pitch. That’s what I wanted to show with the book. Michael Fox: When they won in 1976, was Uruguay already in a dictatorship? Fabiano Neme: Yes, since 1973. Michael Fox: Wow. And you said they paid a high price. Was there pushback on that team for what they were doing politically off the field? Fabiano Neme: Yes, there was this player. He was very young. It was only his first professional game. He scored, and after the game there was a reporter who was interviewing him, and he said, I’m going to dedicate this goal for my brother who’s in jail. And he named the location. It was called La Penal. It was a clandestine prison. And the kid was harassed or threatened by the government. It was his first and only game as a professional, because he had to go into hiding. The year after they won the national championship, they were playing in the Libertadores, the South American club championship. Several players had their visas denied, their passports canceled, so they couldn’t travel to the other countries to play. So, yeah, they paid a high price for the freedom that they promised. Michael Fox: Walk us back up to the World Cup today. Obviously, the United States kicked off the US portion of the cup against Paraguay. In your opinion, is it by accident that the United States ended up in a relatively easy group, that the United States ended up playing a relatively easy team in their first game? The United States clearly played well against Paraguay. They won 4-1, but I was a little bit shocked by the fact that it seemed like, during the game, you saw the referee constantly admonishing Paraguayan players while letting things that the United States was doing go. And then after the game was over, the US coach ran up to the referee, and gave him this huge hug and he celebrated with him and the other referees that were on the field. Could all of these things be just coincidence? Or do you think that, considering what the other authoritarian governments of the past would do to help their teams win, that there may be a push happening in the United States to kind of support the US team as much as possible, without actually throwing games or using other underhanded methods in order to help the United States win or to look better? Fabiano Neme: I didn’t see the game itself. But I know that the US has a good team. But I wouldn’t be surprised to see the US team go beyond their capabilities in the World Cup. I would not be surprised. I don’t think they’re going to win the cup. It would be astonishing if they were to win the cup. But I believe that they’re going to go far, especially with some external help. Maybe through intimidation, or bullying, even indirect bullying. Because they don’t need to bully a referee from someplace else. It’s going to be automatic. He’s going to be bullied automatically, just by everything that he’s been through to get into the United States. Everything that he reads. Everything that reaches him from around the world. So, yeah, I think you’re right that it will have an impact. Michael Fox: What do you think about the way the Iranian team was treated during this World Cup? And do you think this reflects what we’ve seen in the past with World Cups hosted by authoritarian regimes? Fabiano Neme: I think it aligns with what I mentioned earlier — that the US is using the World Cup to validate the accusations leveled against them internationally. I think the situation with Iran is no different, whether it’s the issue of not being allowed to stay on US soil or the decisions made on the pitch. I won’t get into the specifics of the offside call made [disallowing Iran’s goal in the final minutes in their game against Egypt, which resulted in a draw and their elimination from the tournament], because a line is a line, regardless of the country involved. But I find it very sad that the team was treated the way it was, and that undoubtedly impacted their performance in the tournament. Michael Fox: Where do allegiances lie in the world right now? Clearly, everyone’s cheering for their own teams. Everyone likes the Brazilian team in the world. They have fans everywhere. But do you think that this moment and Trump’s authoritarian power over the country, and the blocking of visas of so many people, and the travel restrictions we’ve seen from so many different countries — do you think that that is playing a role in terms of what countries or what clubs other countries and fans elsewhere want to see winning? Do you think that that is playing a role in terms of who people are cheering for at this moment in this World Cup? Fabiano Neme: I don’t think that the US national team has a lot of supporters abroad outside of the United States. It’s never been a country that has been important in football. I think that mostly Brazil, Argentina, and European national teams are going to be the fan favorites. Although, I think that it was a very important moment to see that huge flag of Iran on the pitch in that first game. It was a huge moment. And having their anthem played on the field. I think that if not Trump, Trump’s master, Benjamin Netanyahu, was very upset about that. I can see supporters acknowledging the importance of that. Michael Fox: Are there any other stories from your book that you think are important to remember, in particular right now at this moment with the World Cup happening? Fabiano Neme: I think there are two very important issues. The first comes from a little book about how the Chilean dictatorship used the National Stadium of Santiago as a prison during the early years of dictatorship. It was right after the coup, because the police stations were filling up with prisoners and they didn’t have any more room for newcomers. So they used the stadium to put people there. It happened here in Brazil as well. They used Caio Martins Stadium in Rio de Janeiro as a prison. So in Chile there was a game that was going to be held in that stadium for a match of Chile versus the Soviet Union. They painted the stadium, but you could see bullet holes in the walls. You could see dried blood on the benches. But the game happened anyway without the USSR national team. It was only Chile playing on the field alone. They called it a game of shame. And the other story is the Mundialito in Uruguay in 1980. It was a mini World Cup, because they were going to use that game in order to celebrate the continuation of dictatorship. But the dictatorship lost a constitutional referendum that would have legitimized the regime. So it was actually a celebration against the dictatorship. I think the Mundialito was a very important moment in Uruguay history. I think that those two stories and the Argentinian World Cup are the top three stories in the book. Michael Fox: Fabiano, thank you so much. Is there anything else to add that you think is important to understand about the past, and also this moment right now amid the World Cup in the United States? Fabiano Neme: I believe that football is a great catalyst for emotions. I think that in sports nothing compares to celebrating a goal, because it’s so rare. So enjoy the game, but don’t forget about what happens around it. It’s as important as the game. Remember who you are cheering for, both on and off the pitch. The bleachers are like a microcosm of society and all of its aspects. The World Cup is only for rich people, but in football as a whole there are poor people, rich people. There are fascists, communists. There is everyone. So remember that, go to the field, and enjoy the game with that in mind. I hope Brazil wins. Because winning our sixth World Cup would be a big thing. Michael Fox: Fantastic. Fabiano, thank you so much. I really appreciate it. This content originally appeared on The Real News Network and was authored by Michael Fox.
7 exiled Belarusian media sites hit by DDoS attacks
Websites of at least six exiled Belarusian news outlets and one journalists’ association have been targeted since March by distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, which aim to overwhelm websites with floods of internet traffic. Staff at several of the affected outlets said the increasingly frequent attacks appear to extend a pattern of transnational repression linked to...
Websites of at least six exiled Belarusian news outlets and one journalists’ association have been targeted since March by distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, which aim to overwhelm websites with floods of internet traffic. Staff at several of the affected outlets said the increasingly frequent attacks appear to extend a pattern of transnational repression linked to coverage of political issues. The targeted media sites — all effectively banned from operating in Belarus after authorities labeled them “extremist” groups — include Zerkalo, Reform.news, Nasha Niva, Pozirk, Mediazona.Belarus, Euroradio, and the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ), a trade group exiled since 2021. For years, Belarus has harassed journalists in exile with criminal cases in absentia, opaque investigations, intimidation of their families, and property seizure. At least 21 journalists remain behind bars in the country, even after four were pardoned this year. These repressive tactics are part of an ongoing crackdown since peaceful protests swept the country in 2020 in response to the disputed re-election of President Aleksandr Lukashenko, who has been in power since 1994. While it can be difficult to pinpoint those responsible for DDoS attacks, editors and journalists at the outlets targeted in the recent wave told CPJ they believed Belarusian authorities might have sought to squash reporting on particular political topics, including events linked to Belarus’ exiled opposition. Work disrupted Zerkalo For six days in late April, DDoS attacks forced staff of independent news portal Zerkalo, which was founded by the former team of the now-defunct Tut.by, to tighten access to their website. To do this, they used additional verification steps, including Completely Automated Public Turing tests (CAPTCHAs), which are designed to confirm site visit requests are from humans. “During this time, our technical team’s resources were directed not toward product development for Zerkalo, but toward strengthening our infrastructure,” Zerkalo Director Aliaksandra Pushkina told CPJ. The outlet has since invested additional resources in developing an early detection system for DDoS attacks, Pushkina added. Pozirk RESIDENT.NGO, a digital security organization supporting civil society in Eastern Europe, documented two large-scale DDoS attacks against independent media outlet Pozirk in mid-May. Between May 9-10, the Pozirk website suffered a massive, 12-hour DDoS attack involving 14.38 billion requests from over 31,000 different IP addresses, according to RESIDENT.NGO. Although Cloudflare — a U.S.-based cybersecurity company that can mitigate DDoS attacks — blocked more than 99% of the traffic, around 41 million requests bypassed its defenses, causing a near-total outage. A smaller attack on May 17-18, which also knocked Pozirk offline, appeared to use a coordinated network of bots to mimic standard internet users, RESIDENT.NGO reported. The attackers sourced much of the traffic from major cloud providers, a U.S.-based hosting service, and Tor, a decentralized global privacy tool that routes internet traffic through multiple relay servers to ensure anonymity. Around the world, CPJ has tracked the use of cheap and accessible online tools to launch DDoS attacks against news sites, while masking the identities of the perpetrators. Reform.news Independent news website Reform.news has been hit frequently since March, staff said, and most recently on June 2. “Attacks on our website cause the server to be overwhelmed by requests, resulting in the website going down,” said Editor-in-Chief Fyodar Pauluchenka. To combat the attacks, Reform.news has enabled Cloudflare’s DDoS protection mode, which allows them to instantly restore service, Pauluchenka said. “So far, the attacks do not appear to be serious, and our technical capabilities allow us to fend them off,” he added. Euroradio Euroradio Editor-in-Chief Yauhen Kazartsau said that DDoS attacks on his outlet had become “regular” since late April. “Each time, [DDoS attackers] use different methods,” Kazartsau told BAJ. “On June 2, the attack lasted several hours until we fixed the vulnerability on the site that they had exploited.” Cloudflare managed to block the “vast majority” of DDoS attacks, Kazartsau said. Cloudflare, which offers a free cybersecurity product to certain civil society organizations, like media outlets, said in a recent annual report that DDoS attacks accounted for over 80% of malicious traffic threatening those using it globally. Cloudflare’s press service did not respond to CPJ’s emailed request for comment on how their service is adapting to increased challenges posed by DDoS attacks against Belarusian media outlets. Nasha Niva An editor at Nasha Niva, which was targeted on May 11, told CPJ on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal that the DDoS attack had “little impact on our operations, as we face DDoS attacks all the time. … We counter them efficiently and quickly.” BAJ Barys Haretski, deputy chairman of BAJ, told CPJ that their website was targeted “quite often,” most recently on May 7, after they published a report on the expulsion of the Russian Union of Journalists, a pro-Kremlin association, from the International Federation of Journalists. Russian state media regulator Roskomnadzor blocked BAJ’s website the same day. “Obviously, after that we lost all our Russian traffic,” Haretski said. CPJ reached out to Mediazona.Belarus for comment on a March DDoS attack on its website, but did not immediately receive a response. Censorship tactic Journalists at several of the outlets said intensified DDoS attacks coincided with coverage of sensitive issues and political events. Pushkina said she believes the attack in late April was “part of a coordinated attack by the Belarusian authorities” to silence, among other things, coverage of the 40th anniversary of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear plant explosion. Parts of Belarus were heavily contaminated after that disaster, and coverage of the anniversary is “traditionally silenced at the official level,” Pushkina said. She could not be certain that a specific report triggered that attack, but another large-scale DDoS attack in July 2025 seemed to clearly target a report about opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya. Since then, Zerkalo has suffered six more attacks, with four since February 2026. “Both the scale and frequency of attacks have increased compared to previous years,” Pushkina told CPJ. Editors at the targeted outlets said attackers may have wanted to smother reporting on the May elections for the Coordination Council, a non-governmental democratic opposition body operating in exile. On May 11, the Coordination Council’s online voting platform was itself targeted by a large-scale DDoS attack. Kazartsau said that DDoS attacks on Euroradio had become regular “roughly since the start of voting for the Coordination Council elections.” Pushkina and the Nasha Niva editor similarly linked recent attacks on their site to the elections, as did RESIDENT.NGO regarding the May attacks on Pozirk. The attacks “demonstrate that the authorities in Minsk have the means to paralyze the operation of any website,” Pauluchenka told CPJ. Pauluchenka told CPJ that DDoS attacks on Reform.news became more frequent around Belarus’ Freedom Day on March 25, which commemorates the creation of the Belarusian People’s Republic in 1918. Belarusian authorities have banned celebration of the day, which is associated with opposition to Lukashenko’s government. Reform.news had published stories about it, but Pauluchenka said he did not believe a specific piece of content triggered the attacks. “This seems more like a new tactic by the Belarusian authorities — to create constant obstacles for independent media,” Pauluchenka explained. “Perhaps they are trying to force us to spend more on hosting. We specifically moved from cloud hosting to a separate dedicated server to control costs in the event of an attack. It is easier for us to take the site offline than to spend thousands of euros on protection against attacks.” Belarus’ Ministry of Information, which regulates and enforces the government’s media policy, did not respond to CPJ’s email on June 15 requesting comment about the DDoS attacks. This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Anna Brakha.
Current government abuse in the U.S. has roots in treatment of Native peoples
Photojournalist pepper-sprayed by federal officer at New Jersey protest
Photojournalist Stephanie Keith was targeted with pepper spray by a federal officer while documenting a protest outside a detention center in Newark, New Jersey, on June 27, 2026.Protests outside the Delaney Hall immigration detention facility began Ma...
Photojournalist Stephanie Keith was targeted with pepper spray by a federal officer while documenting a protest outside a detention center in Newark, New Jersey, on June 27, 2026. Protests outside the Delaney Hall immigration detention facility began May 22, when many detainees went on a hunger strike. Members of Congress, state and local lawmakers and rights groups have alleged dire conditions at the facility. The Department of Homeland Security has denied allegations of detainee mistreatment. Federal officers have responded to the protests with chemical irritants, physical force and arrests, as did state police in the days that followed. Keith posted images from the protest on Instagram, two of which show an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer deploying a can of pepper spray directly at her camera. She did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In a statement emailed to the Tracker on June 24, DHS said anyone who obstructs law enforcement or disrupts its operations would be prosecuted. It did not address its use of force against members of the press. “We remind members of the media and the public to exercise caution as they cover these violent riots and remind journalists that covering unlawful activities in the field does come with risks,” the statement read. “Our officers take every reasonable precaution to mitigate those dangers to those exercising protected First Amendment rights.” This content originally appeared on U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database and was authored by U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database.
The Pacifica Evening News, Weekdays – June 30, 2026
Comprehensive coverage of the day’s news with a focus on war and peace; social, environmental and economic justice. The post The Pacifica Evening News, Weekdays – June 30, 2026 appeared first on KPFA.
Comprehensive coverage of the day’s news with a focus on war and peace; social, environmental and economic justice. The post The Pacifica Evening News, Weekdays – June 30, 2026 appeared first on KPFA. This content originally appeared on KPFA - The Pacifica Evening News Weekdays and was authored by KPFA.
What would the Black Panthers say about DSA today?
<img width="1024" height="576" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Sequence-03.00_05_45_03.Still001.jpg?fit=1024%2C576&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="Split-screen image: (Left) Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt) speaks to a crowd in front of the US Senate building in Washington, DC, on April 26, 2017. Image credit: Office of Sen. Bernie Sanders and Wikimedia Commons. (Right) A 1968 poster of Huey Newton sitting in a rattan throne chair wearing a beret and a black leather jacket while holding a shotgun in his right hand and a spear in his left hand. Image credit: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture." data-attachment-id="344641" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/what-would-the-black-panthers-say-about-dsa-today/sequence-03-00_05_45_03-still001" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Sequence-03.00_05_45_03.Still001.jpg?fit=1920%2C1080&ssl=1" data-orig-size="1920,1080" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0","alt":""}" data-image-title="Sequence 03.00_05_45_03.Still001" data-image-description="" data-image-caption=" Split-screen image: (Left) Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt) speaks to a crowd in front of the US Senate building in Washington, DC, on April 26, 2017. Image credit: Office of Sen. Bernie Sanders and Wikimedia Commons. (Right) A 1968 poster of Huey Newton sitting in a rattan throne chair wearing a beret and a black leather jacket while holding a shotgun in his right hand and a spear in his left hand. Image credit: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Sequence-03.00_05_45_03.Still001.jpg?fit=780%2C439&ssl=1"> "The Black Panther Party's embracing of socialism was clearly with the acknowledgement that this was an alternative to the present condition, but it was independent. What I see today with people is they're trying to bring socialist politics into this bourgeois democratic political arena."
<img width="1024" height="576" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Sequence-03.00_05_45_03.Still001.jpg?fit=1024%2C576&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="Split-screen image: (Left) Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt) speaks to a crowd in front of the US Senate building in Washington, DC, on April 26, 2017. Image credit: Office of Sen. Bernie Sanders and Wikimedia Commons. (Right) A 1968 poster of Huey Newton sitting in a rattan throne chair wearing a beret and a black leather jacket while holding a shotgun in his right hand and a spear in his left hand. Image credit: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture." decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Sequence-03.00_05_45_03.Still001.jpg?w=1920&ssl=1 1920w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Sequence-03.00_05_45_03.Still001.jpg?resize=300%2C169&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Sequence-03.00_05_45_03.Still001.jpg?resize=1024%2C576&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Sequence-03.00_05_45_03.Still001.jpg?resize=768%2C432&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Sequence-03.00_05_45_03.Still001.jpg?resize=1536%2C864&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Sequence-03.00_05_45_03.Still001.jpg?resize=1200%2C675&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Sequence-03.00_05_45_03.Still001.jpg?resize=780%2C439&ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Sequence-03.00_05_45_03.Still001.jpg?resize=400%2C225&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Sequence-03.00_05_45_03.Still001.jpg?fit=1024%2C576&ssl=1&w=370 370w" sizes="(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw - 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw / 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw / 12)), 100vw" data-attachment-id="344641" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/what-would-the-black-panthers-say-about-dsa-today/sequence-03-00_05_45_03-still001" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Sequence-03.00_05_45_03.Still001.jpg?fit=1920%2C1080&ssl=1" data-orig-size="1920,1080" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0","alt":""}" data-image-title="Sequence 03.00_05_45_03.Still001" data-image-description="" data-image-caption=" Split-screen image: (Left) Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt) speaks to a crowd in front of the US Senate building in Washington, DC, on April 26, 2017. Image credit: Office of Sen. Bernie Sanders and Wikimedia Commons. (Right) A 1968 poster of Huey Newton sitting in a rattan throne chair wearing a beret and a black leather jacket while holding a shotgun in his right hand and a spear in his left hand. Image credit: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Sequence-03.00_05_45_03.Still001.jpg?fit=780%2C439&ssl=1" /> This year marks the 60th anniversary of the Black Panther Party, founded in Oakland, California, in 1966. On this episode of Rattling the Bars, host Mansa Musa speaks with Dr. Joy James and Dr. K. Kim Holder about the legacy of the Panthers today, and about the important differences and intersections between democratic socialism and the Black Panther model of communalism. This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation. Subscribe to TRNN and stay tuned for Part 2 next week. Guests: Dr. Joy James is Ebenezer Fitch Professor of Humanities at Williams College. She is the author of numerous books, including: In Pursuit of Revolutionary Love; Resisting State Violence; and Shadowboxing: Representations of Black Feminist Politics. Creator of the digital Harriet Tubman Literary Circle at UT Austin, James is also editor of The New Abolitionists: (Neo)Slave Narratives and Contemporary Prison Writings; Imprisoned Intellectuals; Warfare in the American Homeland; The Angela Y. Davis Reader; and co-editor of the Black Feminist Reader. Dr. K. Kim Holder is an assistant professor of educational foundations and Africana studies at Rowan University. Dr. Holder earned his doctorate from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in Multicultural Education and African American Studies, his masters in Early Childhood Education from Bank Street College of Education, and B.A. in History from Hampshire College. Credits: Producer / Videographer / Editor: Cameron Granadino Transcript The following is a rushed transcript and may contain errors. It will be updated as soon as possible. Mansa Musa: This year marks the 60th anniversary of the Black Panther Party founded in Oakland, California in 1966. Today we’ll be discussing the history of the Black Panther Party with two people that are intricately involved with the party in terms of practice, in terms of being members of the party, or being associated with members of the party. Joining me today is Dr. Joy James, author of numerous books, including The Pursuit of Revolutionary Love and Resisting State Violence and Dr. Kim Holder. We was talking off air and somebody called him a former member of the Black Panther Party and he rightly corrected and said, “No, I’m not a former member. I am a Panther.” And rightly so. Thank y’all for joining me today. Thank you. Dr. Joy James: Thank you. Mansa Musa: All right, both of you all wrote articles dealing with socialism and making an analysis as to what socialism is, how y’all looked at it from the perspective of the Black Panther Party and how it’s looked at now in terminologies. Let’s talk about the analysis of the Black communal socialism. Can you expound on this and share your assessment of the Democratic Party socialist way, including your core criticism and its progressive potential? Dr. Joy James: We understand that we have a critique or criticism, rightly so, of the current political parties, the official ones in the left of the Democratic Party, but still embedded in the Democratic Party. So there’s a lack of vision and I would also say there’s a lack of understanding of what we were saying before we came on air, that you can’t reform capitalism and different forms of socialism that have cropped up, particularly in academia. And so my contributions as limited as they are, are based on being academic. I was not in the party. I did not go organize in the party, but I was able to meet Holder and others decades ago, 30 plus years ago and to understand how essential the Black Panther vision was of struggle. And that has not replicated or been reproduced in the current moment and would not be something that would be the heartbeat of democratic socialism because I see it as a hybrid with AOC, with Bernie Sanders and also Cornell West, likely in the article that Kim was the primary author and I was a joint one, The Evolution of Black Communo Socialism. We talked about AOC, we talked about a bit of Bernie and we talked about Cornell West, who became an independent presidential candidate in the last cycle. And we’ve gotten this Potus fascist in the current moment, but the demands, the articulation of what we’re dealing with that you see in the party, and Kim better than I can differentiate West Coast. And I know he says it’s not just West Coast to East Coast, but there are different factions of the party. There’s capitulation in different forms of socialism because they’re trying to accommodate capitalism, which is tied to imperialism. And I think the critique that Holder was talking about, we could talk about Ella Baker and others, that people were very dedicated to not get captured under a certain kind of democratic socialism that did not understand how violent the Repression is emanating from all factions tied to the state. Mansa Musa: Dr. Hold? Dr. K. Kim Holder: The Black Panther Party’s embracing of socialism was clearly with the acknowledgement that this was an alternative to the present condition and that this could be a foundation, but it was independent. What I see today with people is they’re trying to bring socialist politics into this bourgeois democratic political arena. And while you can utilize electoral politics to get certain things that you want, you’re not going to transform. We’re not going to get socialism through reforms in the democratic system in this country. You’re going to get them from creating institutions within the people and that those institutions overtake the institutions of government. Mansa Musa: What’s the importance of this conversation at this point in time in terms of moving the narrative about changing idea, raising people’s constantly and getting people to understand that right now where we at right now, we need a Black Panther Party mentality. We need to be in a space where we’re organizing our communities, we’re telling our people how to be the developer on autonomous infrastructure. We’re moving in there that way. Dr. K. Kim Holder: Because we got to get from where the people are today to where we would like them to be. And so right now, I look at this as kind of like the mid to early 60s where there’s a wide atent and that we could then within the context of them, for example, the mayor of New York, within that context we can get some things out of there that will help our position at this particular time. There’s resources and there’s organizational opportunities to working with these people because there’s a wide tent right now because we haven’t focused enough and we haven’t developed enough. So right now this is the anti-Trump. Well, to me, it’s very much similar to the 60s of the anti-war movement and the Civil Rights Movement. So we could take the opportunity to point out the differences and also engage and show them how those particular actions and stuff are frutal and show them within that context the things that are productive. I’ll give you an example. So we know that the mayor of New York is not going to overthrow capitalists and kick them out, but we also know that we could take some of that food money or some of that housing money and develop programs and get the support of the system right this minute of city hall. And then when they get kicked out, we could still continue as long as we don’t base it there. The Panthers were not against electoral politics, but it wasn’t to get elected. It was about using it as a megaphone and as an organizational tool, particularly initially, let’s be honest, up until the 70, 1970, it was a free Youi organization and that was our major thing. So we could utilize those platforms to point out the contradictions and also get some resources so we can develop those people’s institutions in the communities. Mansa Musa: Dr. Joy, what’s your perspective? Dr. Joy James: I kind of echo and maybe expand on what you both have been talking about. In part, again, I wasn’t in the movement the way both of you were. I didn’t have the experiential struggles and I didn’t have the level of risk. But based on what we’re seeing right now, I think we as a collective of people were more timid. And I think that timidity is tied in point of your first black president with Obama and others running through the Democratic Party that promise certain kind of deliveries that they weren’t going to make in terms of equality, in terms of the needs of people and also stopping these fascist wars. Mansa Musa: And Dr. Joy James: When you lose your imagination or you’re told that there was a victory around the Panthers, I think what’s happened, and you guys, you can say I’m wrong, what’s happened to the Panthers if they turned into icons. Even what Kim was saying earlier, the Free Huey movement, if I understand through Eldridge and Kathleen Cleaver, who are primary architects of that, was to keep him alive and make sure he came out of prison. But then if you come out of prison or like with Davis, it goes back and forth is whether or not she was a canther. But when you get acquitted or when you’re made free and then you become an icon, I think we become distracted. So as an academic, when I’m trying to teach about the Panthers or talking to my students about it, in some ways they see the Panthers some shiny beacon on the hill that’s compatible with capitalism, which I don’t even know Mansa Musa: How Dr. Joy James: They got there, but they got there Mansa Musa: Because Dr. Joy James: There’s a design to co-op the clarity of who and what the Panthers were and what they stood for. And then I’m going to make a connection, maybe they may sound weird, but through the Doge guys, those white teenagers or whoever were running with Elon Musk, they decimated over 300,000 jobs for Black women in the federal government. Now that’s a lot of pay for housing, for food, for cars, for leisure, for travel, et cetera, et cetera. But you can see how we became dependent on the state itself so that once it started to shrink or white supremacy started to become full-blown as it is now, there’s a lot of confusion and less clarity about the radicalism and the revolutionary potential of the Black Panther Party because we agreed to take certain perks from this … I mean, I have a perk because I have a job, perks from the state and for nonprofits. A lot of that Black Lives Matter money that flowed in, people became millionaires. There are different ways that you can buy off a Black liberation movement and the state used multiple avenues to do that. Mansa Musa: The system is such designed such that they’re not going to concede no territory under no terms without it being taken from them. That’s just a reality. But I was saying how they was going to co-op the Black Lives Matter movement and that’s how they did it. They did it with money. I went down to the anniversary of the March on Washington. It was one of them, 30th or something. And from one end of DC Lincoln Memorial to the other end, all you seen was Black Lives Matter paraphernalia being sold. Fast forward, they didn’t create no infrastructure. They didn’t create no free breakfast program. They ain’t free no medicals. They ain’t institute no ideas that was going to get the community become more involved with their self-determination. Dr. K. Kim Holder: It wasn’t just Black Lives Matter and the grants and stuff. It’s also somehow or another from in the transition to the next century, the movement got tied to professionalism. And look, everybody got a job. I’ve got a job and they better pay Mansa Musa: Because Dr. K. Kim Holder: I got to live and I got people I got to feed too. So I’m getting paid, but I can’t be defined by my job. That’s why I don’t go by what I do in my job. I don’t go by Dr. Holter per se. Okay That’s my job. And somehow or another, we got this mixed up and our professionalism became the center of our organizing instead of the community. Mansa Musa: Right, right. And that’s a very astute observation now because that’s exactly what happened. Bobby Rush, we get in a position and we go from being anti-establishment to being- Dr. K. Kim Holder: To being the establishment. Mansa Musa: To being the establishment, then to be like to everybody’s career, everybody need a job. Everybody got to work. Everybody got to take care of their family. It’s what you do, what are you willing to sacrifice when you working? Are you willing to say certain things just to maintain the paycheck? I’m going to give you an example and I’m going to ask the next question. I was at an event and Michelle Alexander was one of the people that was there at the event that wrote the new Jim Crow and she said, “I was a coward.” And people say like, “Why you say that? ” She said, “Because when the question of the genocide that’s taking place in occupied territory was going on and people was asking them to take a position and they was heavy handed on, if you open your mouth up and say anything, you going to be scored your up. You ain’t going to have your job, you’re going to have your tenant, you ain’t going to have nothing, we going to blackball you. ” And she said that she wouldn’t speak up because she wanted to hold onto this Dr. K. Kim Holder: Job Mansa Musa: To the image that she had created. So then she said that it got to a point where her consciousness wouldn’t let her continue down that path. So she wind up going to somebody and telling me what she gett ready to do. They said, “Man, are you crazy? You ready to commit suicide?” I Dr. Joy James: Mean, I respect her. She’s at Union Theological Seminary, right? And there’s a number of prominent theologians there, including Cornell West. And I know some of the people who were in the encampments in Columbia University, and especially the young brother who had to leave, go to Canada and announced back in Egypt, he was one of the organizers. And I met with or talked to some of the seminarians and they were trying to create a position for him at union, but the administration said no. And so there are a lot of ways in which I talked about 300,000 black women lost their jobs. They could have been 300,001 and a number of us. And so we got caught up in capitalism. We got caught up in middle class, upper middle class funding medical insurance Mansa Musa: Back, Dr. Joy James: Flying around to make speeches, et cetera, et cetera.That’s a purchase. And I want to give an example, because when y’all were talking, it reminded me of 2016. For whatever reason, I ended up in Philly when Bernie Sanders was going to concede to Hillary Clinton. And I was sitting up in the bleachers and then I hear people chant Black Lives Matter. And I was like, “That’s not real because nobody cares about Black people being gunned down by the police or disappeared in prisons.” But it turned out after Bill Clinton was literally booed on stage, they brought in five mothers and then there were Black mothers of children who had been slain, Trayvon Martin. We can do a whole list. And they were wearing corsages and color coordinated and they were there to advocate for Clinton, even though if you looked at Hillary Clinton’s record and her husband’s record, Bill Clinton, they are not Black friendly. And you see what she did in Libya and elsewhere, it’s just imperial capture. But sitting there and listening to these cheers, Black Lives Matter, I was like, “That’s not real.” And then later is looking at the news and John Potesta, who’s a DNC like headheader, it turned out that he had told everybody, “Chant Black Lives Matter, but if they ask you how to stop police or state violence and killings, don’t say a word.” So everything was being orchestrated and we agreed to be in the play. And once you agree to take your character and place yourself in the play, it’s really difficult to get out. So I applaud Michelle for being honest because a lot of people know this is bullshit, but we Mansa Musa: Continue Dr. Joy James: To stick with it because there’s a payout. Dr. K. Kim Holder: Yeah. But also I agree 100%, but also we have to look at it too and that is that there needs to be a bridge in order to survive. You can’t just reject your job. You have to be able to Mansa Musa: Get Dr. K. Kim Holder: Strength in your center from somewhere. And so while we could criticize and we could say, “I’m a coward or so- and-so is a coward,” but we also have to look at this too, I don’t even know what community means in 2026. That’s something that the next generation really has to define, but there needs to be a connection so these people aren’t off by themselves and jeopardizing everything they’re set up, that they get healthcare from somewhere, that there has a community outside of their job and stuff. So that also has, we tend to look at it because they’re getting privileged too. Yes, that’s true. They’re getting paid, but there also has to be something for them to go Mansa Musa: To. George Jackson called it Autonomous Infrastructure and when he called it Autonomous Infrastructure, he was basically saying that and he linked the survival programs to this concept that he had outlined. But the concept, more importantly, what it was, was saying the things that the parties are implementing are institutions and ideas that serving people that would understand that once the people become aware of these institutions by working with them, they’ll ultimately take them over and move them forward in terms of providing quality service. So where we at with that in terms, because that’s a good point you made. Dr. Joy James: Well, I’m going to quote Ella Baker, Kim’s article, The Evolution of Black Communal Socialism. I don’t know if you guys are going to post it, but if you can, that might be helpful. Here’s a quote that opens the chapter and this is from Ms. Baker who highly … I mean, she’s a civil rights organizer. Let me just say a little bit about her and because the contradictions we’re talking about now are the contradictions in the 1950s too, right? So she’s in Harlem. She comes down after the Montgomery Bus Boycott, she gets hired by Reverend King. He doesn’t want female leadership, but also she moves like a socialist. And so eventually when the youth were organizing and Reverend King wanted to turn the youth into a young people’s wing of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, SELC, she encouraged them to become SNCC and that’s when you get Stokely Carmichael, Yeah, you get all these radicals who understand what the Panthers mean, both the Panthers in Alabama and the Panthers on the West Coast. So here’s her quote, “You have to go back and reach out to your neighbors who don’t speak to you and you have to reach out to your friends, get them to understand that they as well as you and I cannot be free in America or anywhere else where there is capitalism.” And that’s from Ella Baker speaks in 1974. Totally agree with her. You would just add imperialism given the mass murdering wars that the US has dragged us into and the funding of Israel in terms of the genocide in Gaza, and of course their genocides in Sudan and other places. But I would say reecho what I said about Baker, if we can make a kinship with people who we don’t always know or don’t always trust, but we understand that capitalism, imperialism, particularly under this regime, will burn everything down to the ground and they will take the billions and flee with it. We have to create community that gives us the courage to take to the other steps, which the best parts of the Panthers and Panthers had contradictions, but the best part of the Panthers knew to be the pathway. Mansa Musa: Right. Dr. K. Kim Holder: I like what you said in the beginning about you’re just the megaphone for people to express themselves. We need to be able to take our skills and apply them outside of the institutions to allow people to gain control over their lives and develop people’s institutions. And that seems really abstract, but I mean, the most simplest way of looking at that is looking at the survival programs, which I think were kind of mislabeled because institution building wasn’t just for survival. It was Mansa Musa: Also Dr. K. Kim Holder: To get a sense of self-government and that you had control over stuff. There were liberation institutions- Mansa Musa: I agree. Dr. K. Kim Holder: … people’s institutions and giving the people a sense of power within that context. I think today would be even better because the way things are with technology and stuff, our ability to do things independently is so strong. The problems we had back there in terms of communication and mobility and that kind of stuff is not there anymore. I can’t even talk. I’m not of that generation. I can’t even talk. So when I talk about community, I got no clue what I’m talking about because I don’t know what community means to them today, but they got one. I This content originally appeared on The Real News Network and was authored by Mansa Musa.
Lawyers’ Committee Statement on Birthright Citizenship Ruling from Supreme Court
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday struck down President Trump’s order denying birthright citizenship to children born on U.S. soil, affirming that the Fourteenth Amendment means what it has always meant. The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under L...
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday struck down President Trump’s order denying birthright citizenship to children born on U.S. soil, affirming that the Fourteenth Amendment means what it has always meant. The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, which filed an amicus brief in Trump v Barbara, welcomed the ruling and issued the following: Dariely Rodriguez, chief counsel at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, said: “Today’s ruling solidifies what we have known to be true for over a hundred years and what our Constitution and federal laws have supported: that anyone born on American soil, regardless of the legal status of their parents, is born an American citizen. We have endured an incredible test of our collective will as a nation and have prevailed. We are glad ideological gamesmanship failed, and the right result was reached here.” Olivia Sedwick, counsel at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, said: “We are satisfied with today’s result, however, we know it should have never been a question from the start. This part of our democracy’s foundation remains intact. The domicile status of one’s parents has never been a part of the calculus to determine who is born an American citizen. We hope this ends the attack on the citizenship of our American-born brothers and sisters who are born to immigrant parents. That question has finally been asked, answered, and laid to rest, hopefully, forever.” This content originally appeared on Common Dreams and was authored by Newswire Editor.
Supreme Court’s Assault on Trans and Intersex Rights
In response to the Supreme Court’s ruling allowing states to ban trans youth and some intersex youth from participating in school sports, the Center for Constitutional Rights released the following statement:Today's decision confirms what trans and in...
In response to the Supreme Court’s ruling allowing states to ban trans youth and some intersex youth from participating in school sports, the Center for Constitutional Rights released the following statement: Today's decision confirms what trans and intersex advocates have known for some time: we are in the Plessy v. Ferguson/Bowers v. Hardwick era of trans rights, which is to say that we have entered a period when the legal recognition and legal protections for trans and intersex people are at an all-time low. As was the case for Black Americans after Plessy was rebuked by Brown v. Board of Education, and for the LGBTQIA+ community after Lawrence v. Texas overturned Bowers, eventually this moment will be seen for what it is: a disgrace, a legal wrong, and a failure of moral clarity for which we must atone. We stand in solidarity with trans and intersex people as they face a wave of persecution and hatred much more vast than is commonly recognized. A comprehensive campaign years in the making – one that includes a raft of executive orders and federal rules driven by anti-LGBTQIA+ animus, 797 anti-trans bills in 43 states (with exceptions impacting intersex youth), efforts to censor speech and punish professors, cuts to funding for nonprofits that serve LGBTQIA+ people, and shameful kowtowing by hospitals – has endangered the health, rights, and safety of trans and intersex people across the country. The anti-trans policymakers and activists have, through their actions and rhetoric, made their goal clear: to terrorize trans people and remove them from public life. And yet, with today’s decision, the Supreme Court has once again abdicated duty to be a bulwark against state-sponsored persecution of trans and intersex people that is so severe that, according to the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention and Human Security, trans and intersex people are experiencing the early stages of genocide. Rather than document this persecutory campaign, the mainstream press has boosted anti-trans propaganda in the deceptive name of “science” and “balance,” while many Democratic Party leaders are sacrificing trans and intersex people on the altar of political expediency. We cannot defeat hatred with equivocation, we cannot mollify fascists, sadists, and bigots, and we cannot fixate on the presumed predilections of “swing voters” when the rights and wellbeing of fellow citizens are under sustained assault. What is needed is simple yet elusive: unshakable support from the broad left. Awed and inspired by the courage of trans and intersex people in the face of this mounting threat, we are proud to stand with them, and we are eager to join others ready to bring unwavering fierceness and love to this urgent civil rights struggle. This content originally appeared on Common Dreams and was authored by Newswire Editor.
West Virginia v. BPJ Ruling Will Harm Young Transgender Athletes in Devastating Setback for LGBTQ+ Rights
In response to the Supreme Court decision in West Virginia v. BPJ, Karla Gonzales Garcia, Gender, Sexuality, and Identity Director at Amnesty International USA said:“This decision comes at a time of rising authoritarian practices under the Trump admin...
In response to the Supreme Court decision in West Virginia v. BPJ, Karla Gonzales Garcia, Gender, Sexuality, and Identity Director at Amnesty International USA said: “This decision comes at a time of rising authoritarian practices under the Trump administration, which use gender and sexuality as a cultural battle for political gain. Amid escalating efforts to legalize discrimination against transgender people, this decision could pave the way for broader laws that exclude transgender people from public life altogether. “Transgender youth should have the same opportunities afforded to their cisgender peers. Athletic programs are essential to the growth and development of all young people. Today’s ruling would deny transgender youth the ability to participate in recreational activities with their friends and peers – simply due to their gender identity. “Transgender people are our family, neighbors, friends, coworkers and community members, and the U.S. government will not force them from existence. We are united in solidarity with every young transgender athlete whose future feels less certain today. “Together, we will continue to fight for a better future – one where transgender people can enjoy their human right to bodily autonomy and a life of freedom, safety and dignity.” This content originally appeared on Common Dreams and was authored by Newswire Editor.
Venezuela quake update: hospital staff under stress and panic in worst-hit communities – WHO, UNHCRDR Congo Ebola outbreak could force an additional one million people into poverty spiral; UNDPStrait of Hormuz gradual reopening is no quick fix for deve...
Venezuela quake update: hospital staff under stress and panic in worst-hit communities – WHO, UNHCRDR Congo Ebola outbreak could force an additional one million people into poverty spiral; UNDPStrait of Hormuz gradual reopening is no quick fix for developing nations: UNCTAD This content originally appeared on UN News - Global perspective Human stories and was authored by Daniel Johnson.
What would the Black Panthers say about DSA?
The Democratic Party Gets Its Populist Takeover
Xenophobic groups march on "deadline" for undocumented migrants
Corporate Political Spending Surges to Record-Shattering Levels
Nearly one third of all corporate political spending on elections since the 2010 Citizens United decision has occurred in the current election cycle – months before the general election, a new report from Public Citizen finds. Since the U.S. Supreme C...
Nearly one third of all corporate political spending on elections since the 2010 Citizens United decision has occurred in the current election cycle – months before the general election, a new report from Public Citizen finds. Since the U.S. Supreme Court greenlit direct corporate spending to influence election outcomes in 2010, corporations have spent $1.58 billion on federal elections. In the 2026 election cycle alone, they have spent $517 million, a figure sure to soar as the November general election approaches (these totals reference disclosed political spending, not any contributions from Dark Money organizations that keep donors secret). The 2026 cycle spending already far exceeds the $461 million corporate spending during the 2024 presidential cycle. Driving this unprecedented surge of political spending are crypto, Big Tech and online betting corporations. Altogether, those three sectors are responsible for 57 percent of the corporate spending in the 2026 midterms. The new corporate spending is going primarily to corporate supremacist super PACs, which, unlike most super PACs, prioritize the interests of specific corporate sectors over either major political party or any particular candidate. The report, “The Rise of Corporate Supremacist Super PACs,” also finds that the biggest beneficiary of corporate contributions besides the industry-prioritizing super PACs is the Trump-aligned MAGA Inc. MAGA Inc. received $120.6 million in direct contributions from corporations including Crypto.com, Energy Transfer Partners, UnitedHealthcare, and Reynold’s American. “A decade and a half after Citizens United, corporations are starting to spend on politics like never before,” said Rick Claypool, Research Director at Public Citizen and author of the report. “Crypto corporations shattered norms against corporate spending in elections last cycle and now many others are following suit – and still more are sure to follow.” “This corporate spending is a disaster for democracy,” said Claypool. “If the current, broken campaign finance system remains unchallenged – and corporate spending is allowed to drown out the voices of real voters and real people – these corporate campaigns will keep multiplying, even as voting rights for individual Americans face escalating attacks.” This content originally appeared on Common Dreams and was authored by Newswire Editor.
The Project Censored Newsletter—June 2026
Meet Our Summer 2026 Student Interns We’re so excited to welcome a new cohort of talented students to the Project Censored team, who will support our research and editorial efforts throughout the summer. Isïa Patie is an incoming junior at Binghamton U...
Meet Our Summer 2026 Student Interns We’re so excited to welcome a new cohort of talented students to the Project Censored team, who will support our research and editorial efforts throughout the summer. Isïa Patie is an incoming junior at Binghamton University studying political science. Before that, she attended the… The post The Project Censored Newsletter—June 2026 appeared first on Project Censored. This content originally appeared on Project Censored and was authored by Kate Horgan.
Flawed SCOTUS Campaign Finance Ruling Opens New Avenues for Billionaires and Corporations to Buy Elections
Today, by a vote of 6-3, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the long-standing federal limit on campaign spending coordination between political parties and candidates. This limit was passed by Congress in 1971 to guard against the corrupting effect of...
Today, by a vote of 6-3, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the long-standing federal limit on campaign spending coordination between political parties and candidates. This limit was passed by Congress in 1971 to guard against the corrupting effect of large campaign contributions flowing through party committees to candidates to circumvent federal limits on the amount of direct campaign contributions to candidates. The case is National Republican Senatorial Committee v. Federal Election Commission. Public Citizen filed an amicus brief in the case arguing in support of the law. “This Supreme Court twisted the First Amendment to help billionaires and corporations buy our elections and bend our government to their will,” said Public Citizen Democracy Advocate Jon Golinger. “We have to combat this outcome by increasing transparency so voters know who’s paying for election ads, empowering small donors and public matching funds, and passing the Democracy For All Amendment to empower Congress, the states, and the voters to put in place reasonable protections to guard against campaign finance corruption.” This content originally appeared on Common Dreams and was authored by Newswire Editor.
‘You have to kill people’: The US, Israel, and Latin America’s far right are plotting to crush the left
<img width="1024" height="779" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-1165484066-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C779&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez (3rd-R) and his wife First Lady Ana Garcia Carias (2nd-R) sing their national anthem as they stand alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (2nd-L) and his wife Sara Netanyahu (L) during an inauguration ceremony in Jerusalem of the Diplomatic Trade Office of Honduras on September 1, 2019. Photo by DEBBIE HILL/POOL/AFP via Getty Images" data-attachment-id="344622" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/you-have-to-kill-people-the-us-israel-and-latin-americas-far-right-are-plotting-to-crush-the-left/gettyimages-1165484066" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-1165484066-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1948&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2560,1948" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0","alt":""}" data-image-title="GettyImages-1165484066" data-image-description="" data-image-caption=" Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez (3rd-R) and his wife First Lady Ana Garcia Carias (2nd-R) sing their national anthem as they stand alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (2nd-L) and his wife Sara Netanyahu (L) during an inauguration ceremony in Jerusalem of the Diplomatic Trade Office of Honduras on September 1, 2019. Photo by DEBBIE HILL/POOL/AFP via Getty Images " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-1165484066-scaled.jpg?fit=780%2C593&ssl=1"> “You have to do everything to not let go of power, and you have to make it seem like everything that will happen—the killings, the kidnappings—are all being done by the communists.”
<img width="1024" height="779" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-1165484066-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C779&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez (3rd-R) and his wife First Lady Ana Garcia Carias (2nd-R) sing their national anthem as they stand alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (2nd-L) and his wife Sara Netanyahu (L) during an inauguration ceremony in Jerusalem of the Diplomatic Trade Office of Honduras on September 1, 2019. Photo by DEBBIE HILL/POOL/AFP via Getty Images" decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-1165484066-scaled.jpg?w=2560&ssl=1 2560w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-1165484066-scaled.jpg?resize=300%2C228&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-1165484066-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C779&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-1165484066-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C584&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-1165484066-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1169&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-1165484066-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1559&ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-1165484066-scaled.jpg?resize=1200%2C913&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-1165484066-scaled.jpg?resize=2000%2C1522&ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-1165484066-scaled.jpg?resize=780%2C594&ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-1165484066-scaled.jpg?resize=400%2C304&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-1165484066-scaled.jpg?w=2340&ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-1165484066-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C779&ssl=1&w=370 370w" sizes="(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw - 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw / 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw / 12)), 100vw" data-attachment-id="344622" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/you-have-to-kill-people-the-us-israel-and-latin-americas-far-right-are-plotting-to-crush-the-left/gettyimages-1165484066" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-1165484066-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1948&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2560,1948" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0","alt":""}" data-image-title="GettyImages-1165484066" data-image-description="" data-image-caption=" Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez (3rd-R) and his wife First Lady Ana Garcia Carias (2nd-R) sing their national anthem as they stand alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (2nd-L) and his wife Sara Netanyahu (L) during an inauguration ceremony in Jerusalem of the Diplomatic Trade Office of Honduras on September 1, 2019. Photo by DEBBIE HILL/POOL/AFP via Getty Images " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-1165484066-scaled.jpg?fit=780%2C593&ssl=1" /> Leaked audio recordings between powerful right-wing figures in Latin America have revealed a massive and shocking conspiracy—involving the United States and Israel—to forge an international political network with the expressed purpose of undermining leftist leaders in the region. In this episode of The Marc Steiner Show, Marc speaks with Latin-America-based journalist and TRNN correspondent Michael Fox about “HondurasGate,” what the scandal tells us about the machinations of the international far right today, and how those machinations fit into the long, violent history of US imperialism in Latin America. Editor’s Note: This episode was recorded before the 2026 presidential elections in Colombia, which resulted in right-wing candidate and Trump ally Abelardo de la Espriella becoming the country’s next president. Additional links/info: Michael Fox, Under the Shadow / TRNN, “HondurasGate: Leaks reveal the far-right plan to undermine Latin America’s left” José Luis Granados Ceja, DropSite, “Hondurasgate: Key leaked audio files, revealing U.S. intervention in Honduras, found authentic ‘with moderate confidence’” Michael Fox, Under the Shadow / TRNN, “U.S.S. Honduras | Under the Shadow S1E6” Michael Fox, Under the Shadow / TRNN, “Honduras, 2009. La Resistencia. | Under the Shadow S1E7 Part 1” Michael Fox, Under the Shadow / TRNN, “Honduras, 2009. Legacy of a coup. | Under the Shadow S1E7 Part 2” Credits: Producer: Rosette Sewali Studio Production: Cameron Granadino Audio Post-Production: David Hebden, Stephen Frank Transcript The following is a rushed transcript and may contain errors. It will be updated as soon as possible. Marc Steiner: Welcome to the Marc Steiner Show here on The Real News. I’m Marc Steiner. Great to have you all with us as usual. My guest today is Miguel Zoro, otherwise known as Mike Fox, who is just … I had to do it. I’m sorry. It’s awesome. Who just in his latest Under the Shadow roped this piece Honduras cape, weeks reveal the far right plan to undermine Latin America’s left. And it’s a very chilling, chilling piece that we’re going to talk about, he’s going to talk about in terms of the threat of the Trump administration and the right wing leaders of Latin America and where it’s taking us. So Mike, always good to see you. Michael Fox: Welcome. Good to see you. Thank you so much, Marc. It’s a pleasure. Marc Steiner: I’ve been thinking, I read this piece twice, taking my notes. And one of the things that just struck me is as long as I’ve been in this movement since the ’60s, Nakla, which you’re a part of, which has been around since the ’60s. We keep seeing Latin America being taken over by US imperialism and dictators, right-wing dictators who do America’s bidding and it never seems to change. So here you are writing this piece about Honduras, not taken over by the far right and the dangers of America still attacking the left in South America and popular governments in South America. It’s a very vague way to start this conversation, but I really want to hear your take on that historical reality and what Latin America has suffered under in terms of the United States. We can go back to Teddy Roosevelt for God’s sake in the early 1900s. It never ends. Michael Fox: Exactly. Well, and that’s exactly what Trump is pushing to do or has been doing is returning to a moment of Teddy Roosevelt. I mean, it’s so great that you mentioned that, Mark, and because I think this is so important for people to understand that Teddy Roosevelt was the man who created the Roosevelt corollary to the Monroe Doctrine, who basically put the Monroe doctrine on steroids and opened up an entire new campaign, a new campus for the United States to use its military, to use its Marines as a police force to push its agenda across Central America, across the Caribbean, as it felt it was necessary. And that’s essentially what Teddy Roosevelt’s corollary said. It said, “Look, if you’re not doing what we want you to be doing, then we’re allowed to move in because that’s our job.” And then the last seven or 80 years, gunboat diplomacy. And then you had the last seven or eight years that were slowly kind of pulling back to there. You still have the United States doing tons of interventions, observersive things and CIAs, everything you can imagine, but it was trying to portray an image that it wasn’t. And then what Trump did in particular last year with his national security strategy, which he released on December 4th of last year, which actually says, now we’re going to implant a Trump corollary. It’s the Dunro doctrine. So it was literally thinking back to Teddy Roosevelt and saying, “That’s where we want to go. We’re going to forget everything else. Now the United States is going to push its agenda. It’s going to push its agenda militarily.” And this is the utmost, this is the top priority. And we saw that, of course, with the invasion of Venezuela and the kidnapping of Nicholas Maduro, President Nicholas Maduro. We’ve seen it with Cuba and just the complete cutting off of oil, the starving, the strangulation of that country. And what we’re seeing in Honduras is just a piece of that strategy attempting and actually succeeding to return to the far right in Honduras, which you had under Juan Orlando Hernandez, fraudulent elections backed by the United States who was then detained, brought to the United States to stand charges on drug trafficking, convicted of drug trafficking, was convicted of 45 years in prison for his drug trafficking into the United States. And then he was pardoned just last year, just I think three days before that same national security strategy was actually published in Washington. And so you have this return where it’s very clear that the United States and Israel are very, very excited to have Juan Orlando Hernandez be back or return. Not necessarily is he in office, but that’s one of the things he talks about in these leagues is his hopeful return to power. His ally his in power supposedly won the elections last year, although there were many, many claims of fraud and that’s what’s kind of broiling under the surface here. People don’t understand how important Honduras is for the United States and is for Israel and has been over the last 10 or 15 years in Latin America. One of the most important countries. It’s a tiny country in Central America. Why Honduras? Marc Steiner: Yeah, let’s talk about that for a minute. I mean, A, I think why would Israel be involved in Latin America A, why Honduras? I mean, why not Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, countries that have hugeness and substance, but so why Honduras? Michael Fox: Right. So the very first thing is Honduras is home to the largest contingent of US military officers in all of Central America. Marc Steiner: What does Michael Fox: That mean? So it is basically, it’s not an official US base, but the soldiers and the officers in the military, the Air Force have their people there. It’s the former US military bears, Palmerola, which is where they stationed all this stuff out of in Central America. It’s now called Sotokano, and it’s officially a Honduran base because Honduras can’t allow foreign bases there, but that’s where US Soldiers Air Force is based. And so this is basically the staging ground for the United States and Central America. And one of the things that came out of these leaks, and I’ll get into Marc Steiner: Israel second. Michael Fox: One thing at a time. Marc Steiner: Yeah. Michael Fox: One of the things that came out of this leagues is that they’re actually negotiating the current far right government in Honduras is negotiating with the Trump administration to create a new US military base in the island of Roatan, just off the coast in the Caribbean. And in fact, when Juan Orlando Hernandez in one of these leagues, when he was speaking with the vice president, the current vice president, Marian Juaneta Mejia, she told him that the president had just visited, this was in February. So the president, the current president of Honduras, Nasrias Fura, who won the election last year, had just visited Trump in Mar-a-Lago. And she said one of the things that they were negotiating is this new US military base in Roatan to be able to combat Mexico to combat potentially Venezuela and to combat Cuba, anything that’s happening. Now what’s important about Ruatan, and we can get into this as well, Mark, is the fact that it’s on Roatan that you have on the most important places for libertarian, Bitcoin bros, the free market activists, Silicon Valley in perhaps the entire world. It’s a place called Prospera and it’s what’s known as a ce. So if we go back to 2013, Honduran Congress, the Honduras Congress passed the law in which they allowed for the creation of these private corporate owned cities, independent autonomous cities within Honduras. At that point, the former president, Juan Orlando Hernandez, that was just a year before he came to power and he was actually the head of Congress at that point. So this law was passed and they proceeded to then create these seties or at least the image of them around the country. When the leftist government came to power four or five years ago, they then rolled back the cities. They said, “You can’t do this. This isn’t a violation of our law.” The Supreme Court said this is a violation of our territory. These are illegal, but Prospera, which is this one that’s actually financed by Peter Thiel, they said, “No, we’re going to fight this. ” And they took Honduras to international arbitration for almost $11 billion. So they have been continuing to fight this whole time. One of the things that Maria Antoinette Mejia, the current vice president of Honduras, said to Juan Orlando Hernandez in these messages is she said, “We’re going to get the Setes back. We’re renegotiating the Settes. We’re going to bring those back. We’re going to actually fuel prosper essentially that’s out there in Rotans.” So what they’re talking about is an increase bringing the Set is back, backing prospera, which is, like I said, this is this autonomous region, extremely important for the libertarian free market thinkers of the world. It’s this place that they’ve kind of lifted up. You often see these kind of international conferences where they talk about, they say, “Prospera, it’s our own thing. We’re going to use Bitcoin. We’ll use our own currency. It’s our free state.” Out in the Caribbean, it’s beautiful. And I went there, Mark. I visited it three years ago to do reporting about the situation there and the battle that they’re having with the local black community, the traditional local black community just next door who are saying, “Look, they’re trying to gobble us up. They want us to join them.” But they basically have a couple of buildings there and one high rise apartment block. And that’s it. It’s not really a thing. It’s not even a city, but they’ve been trying to propel this and push this idea as the top of the iceberg of what they could potentially do to build these corporate cities. It’s very similar to what Trump wants to do in the United States. This is like freedom cities. So anyway, so this is one of the things that has come out of these leagues is that they’re on board with the current Honduran, her current far right Honduran administration is on board with these, that we’re bringing back the Settes on board with increasing the amount of troops, US potential troops in Honduras and building a US military base, or at least a Honduran military base to house US military troops. And then that brings us to Israel. And this is absolutely interesting. In these leaks, Look, the leaks are mainly communications between Juan Orlando Hernandez who is now freed. He’s living in the United States after he was freed from jail in early December. He’s been in the US ever since and leaders of the government, the president, vice president, or top members of Congress and in specific, and we’ll get to this, I’m sure, one member of the National Electoral Council, these are all right-wing conservative, far right members of the Honduran kind of elite. And so they’re communications between Juan Orlando Hernandez in the United States and these other folks in Honduras. One of the things he makes clear in these messages is that he doesn’t feel like they’re doing enough for him. He’s like, “You got to prepare the groundwork. I’m here lobbying. I’m talking with Republicans.” And one of the things he makes clear is that his release from prison came basically at the behest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and that the people who paid for his part, and this is one of his quotes that he says in the messages, “The people who paid for his part and weren’t you all. ” He says they were a group of rabbis tied to Israel. And the reason why this is important is because Juan Orlando Hernandez has a long history with Israel. He was one of the few countries to support, almost always support Israel at the UN in 2017 when there was a big vote to denounce Israel’s attempts to move the capital to Jerusalem. Only nine countries voted with Israel. Honduras was one of them. He actually went and studied at a professional training, diplomatic training with the foreign affairs ministry in Israel and he traveled there several times. He met with Netanyahu. He actually opened up a commercial office, a Honduran Kirsch commercial office in 2019 in Jerusalem after he had already recognized Jerusalem as the Israeli capitol. And so they’ve had these really tight ties and it’s clear that Israel sees Honduras as one of the few countries, especially and more than Honduras, but Juan Orlando Hernandez as a tremendous, tremendous ally who was going to support them regardless. So getting Juan Orlando Hernandez out of jail was such a top priority that basically what comes clear through these messages is that Netanyahu was lobbying Trump on his behalf and that rabbis in the United States, and it’s unclear exactly who or what that means or what the innuendo is, but people tied to Israel were extremely important in Juan Orlando Hernandez’s release or at least convincing Trump that he needed to be released. In this one message, Mark, when Juan Orlando Hernandez mentions, “You all didn’t pay for my pardon money. You didn’t pay the part of him,” which is a strange comment because you’re like, “What money did…” So does that mean they’re either paying Trump off or they’re paying people to lobby Trump? We don’t know those are things that we’re not privy to, but we know that people put together money to at least lobby in the very least Trump to convince him that Juan Orlando Hernandez had to be released from prison. And now he of course is going to become, he is now kind of pushing his agenda as I’m sure we’ll get into across the region, not just Honduras. Marc Steiner: Maybe we unpack a piece of this though. Honduras is a relatively small country and unimportant in the scheme of things when most people think of international politics, think of even Latin American politics. It’s not Brazil, it’s not Argentina, it’s not Mexico, it’s not even Panama, it’s Honduras. And so the question is why and what is the political power that emanates from that and what does it mean for the rest of Latin America and why is it so significant? How did it become so significant? Well, Michael Fox: I think we have to go back and we can go back far in time, but it’s at least important to go back to the 1980s because Honduras, they actually called it at the time in the 1980s USS Honduras because this was basically the staging ground for the United States wars in Central America. That’s where they were doing training, that’s where they were training the Contras who were then pushing in to try and take out the Sandenistas in the paramilitary forces that were murdering people in the countryside of Nicaragua. It’s where they were training people who were then going to El Salvador to fight against the leftist gorilla movement. Honduras was basically the focus and the main staging ground for the United States and Central America. And that’s what it’s been pretty much traditionally. I mean, I got in onto a lot of this stuff in Under the Shadow Season one and anyone who’s interested, they can go back and check it out. It’s great. There’s a lot of historical stuff where I visited places. That was the whole idea. That is the whole idea of Under the Shadow, my podcast. So what’s interesting now is of course you then had, I mean, many, many, many things happened during that time and between now. Manuel Salaya came to power in the mid 2000s. Manuel Salaya was a president who was voted along the pink tide of the mid 2000s, allied with Hugo Chavez and all these other important kind of leftists and progressive leaders in the region. And the whole idea was, look, we’re going to move Honduras back toward the left and we’re going to create a constitution assembly. That was his goal. And it was right around that time that he was talking about actually just having a consultation vote to see if people would be interested in having a constitutional assembly, that’s when they took him out of power. And it was a US bat coup in 2009 that removed him from power. It was then a coup government that came to power. There was on election and then Juan Orlando Hernandez came to power. And then you had a fraudulent reelection because reelections are actually prohibited by the Honduran Constitution, but Juan Orlando Hernandez pushed another reelection and that’s how come you had kind of the far right came back into power during these times. Well, Manuel Celaya’s wife, Ciomara Castro, she won the election this last, well, not this last one, but very end of 2021 going into 2022, she won that election and many people saw it as kind of the return of the left to power for the first time democracy was restored after the 2009 coup against Mongo Cellaya and her whole goal was kind of rolling things back. So again, this is the push and pull of Latin America, what we’ve seen in recent decades, particularly with the left h. But what you have in Honduras traditionally, and this is, I think getting to your point, Mark, is they have been very, very linked, very tied to the United States going back decades, going back centuries. Like you’ve had all across Central America, the United States pushing mining interests, United States pushing banana interests, United fruit. I mean, it’s the same story that we know of all these different countries. But what’s important about Honduras is that this was the staging ground for US military, for US power in Central America and the United States does not want to lose that. Marc Steiner: What struck me in terms of what you just said and what you’ve written in this piece for real news in Under the Shadow is that we’re seeing a right wing push from this country with its ally, Israel, for its own reasons to undermine the left in Latin America and the people’s movements of Latin America so the right wing seizes power by stealing elections or by overthrowing governments. And it’s the same cycle we saw in the 1950s and ’60s and early ’70s. It’s happening again when they killed the Yende in Chile. Which really I would like to explore for a moment here with you is the importance of this in terms of American power in Latin America, what it means to install these right wing dictators, what America gets out of it and the power to control all of Latin America. That’s what we’re actually seeing here. We’re seeing a pushback to all the liberation movements that freed itself from American imperialism now being taken back under Trump and the right wing in America and it’s insidious. Michael Fox: Yeah, absolutely. Mark, there’s two things I think are really important for a US audience to understand. The first off is that Trump sees his enemies abroad in the same way as he sees them inside the United States. So if you look at the people where the locations that he has sent ice to, that the locations he has deployed the National Guard within the United States, these are all either cities or regions that are either controlled by the Democrats or they’re controlled by enemies of Trump in states that probably voted against him in most cases. So he’s saying, “Look, I’m going to unleash terror on anyone who has my enemy.” That is part of his structure. That’s what he does is he attack his enemies. Marc Steiner: By the digression here, which he’s always done even before he was in politics to anybody who he wanted to take out, was in his way to make him wealthier and more powerful. There’s nothing new. Michael Fox: Exactly. Marc Steiner: I’m sorry. Exactly. Go ahead. Jump. Yeah. Yeah. That’s Michael Fox: Great. So this is his MO. So that’s what he does locally. That’s what you’re seeing national politics, but internationally, it’s the exact same thing. So if you look at who are the most vocal presidents, leftist presidents in the region against Trump’s politics? Well, of course you have Lula, Lulu de Silva. So then Trump, what’d he do last year? He levied 50% tariffs on everything, on all Brazilian products, out of nothing. And that actually helped Lula to lift him in the polls because he said, “I’m not going to forget you until finally Trump had to … ” But he’s going to come out and verbally attack or threaten every country. So you’ve got Brazil with Lula, clearly Nicholas Maduro in Venezuela. We saw the invasion of Venezuela and the kidnapping of Nicholas Maduro. You have the same thing against Claudia Scheinbaum in Mexico who Trump has continually attacked saying, “Let me send in the troops,” et cetera, et cetera. And then of course, Gustavo Petro in Colombia. And now we have the elections that are happening right now. Trump has had a laser focus on attacking his enemies in the region. At the same time, what has he done on the side? He created this whole strategic plan. It’s called Shield of the Americas. I don’t know if you remember this, Mark. It was back in March. He had all of the far right, the conservative and anybody who wasn’t his enemy, essentially, he invited them all to Florida, to Doral, Florida, which is where his golf course is located. And he said, “Look, we’re going to have this crew to come together. It’s called Shield of the Americas. We’re creating a countercartel coalition. And it’s essentially these countries signing a blank check and allowing US military forces to come into their countries to battle drug traffickers within their countries.” So he’s either saying, “Either you’re with us, literally you’re with us and you’re allowing us to come in and collaborate with you to attack your enemies or you’re against us and I’m going to come out full throttle.” Venezuela, I don’t think Venezuela was actually the top priority for Trump, but Trump had to get Venezuela out of the way and he had to make an example of some country in Latin America and Venezuela was it. I think he and clearly Marco Ruby are more interested in Cuba and that’s why he said, “Well, I’m just going to keep tightening, strangulating this country, doing everything I can and trying to force them to their knees, but always with the threat of another military invasion is on the horizon. Hey, I can always do this. ” Now, I think he would’ve pushed even further in Latin America right now if he hadn’t gotten bottlenecked with Iran and kind of this never-ending thing with Iran. Otherwise, I think he would’ve pushed even further in Latin America But it is. What you said, Mark, is absolutely right. It’s the same story again and again and again. It just has kind of different forms. The Venezuelan invasion, I’ve said this so many times over the last couple months, it’s exactly like the Panamanian invasion in 1989 where they went in to get Manuel Noriega, took him out and brough him to the United States to face drug trafficking charges. The exact same thing. It’s just coffee and model. The only difference is that back in Panama in 1989, the United States was able to occupy land troops on the ground and keep them there. And Venezuela, if they had done that, it would’ve been a bloodbath and they would’ve unleashed a civil war that wouldn’t end for decades. And they knew that. That’s why they came in with their drones and their planes. They kidnapped Nicholas Malduro and got out as quickly as they could. But that’s the difference. You still had, and people don’t talk about this. The US invasion of Venezuela, there was over a hundred people that died. It wasn’t a surgical mission. And so it’s the same story market is the exact same story. The difference is that Trump is looking back to the days of Teddy Roosevelt to see how they did things and he’s being inspired by gunboat diplomacy and the Marines on the ground, boots on the ground. That’s what Trump is looking back to. He’s not worried about what happened between then and now. Marc Steiner: And one of the things that isn’t taken into account as well, well, it is and it isn’t, is Marco Rubio and the power of the right-wing Cuban political movement in our country. And they are part of the process of the power that’s pushing this takeover of Latin America, pushing the right Latin America and pushing the left out. I mean, it’s not an accident that Rubio is who he is in the Trump administration and this is happening under his reign as the head of foreign policy. Michael Fox: Oh, absolutely. And in fact, Nasri Asfuda, who is the current president, he won the last election. He won the last election in December, although despite claims of fraud and it took roughly three weeks of a manual vote count for him to finally beat out the closest challenger by 0.5%, less than a percentage point. But even before he took office, Nasrias Furda met with two people, Prime Minister, Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu and Secretary of State, Marco Rubio. Those were the two people that he met even before he took office. This was between … Literally, he just had a month before he was declared Victor and before he took office and he met with those two individuals. And then within 10 days of taking office, he was already in Mar-a-Lago meeting with Donald Trump. So it shows where the allegiances lie. It shows where his interests are. And in fact, this is interesting. So we haven’t even gotten into the biggest bombshell or one of the two biggest bombshells in these leagues. So the biggest thing for Latin America around these leaks is this thing that Juan Orlando Hernandez tells people roughly maybe a week or two into Nasrias Fura’s government. And in fact, I’m going to read it in his own words. He calls them up and so he’s talking to, this is Guarolando Hernandez in the United States and he’s talking to the current president of Honduras, Nasrias Fuda. He says, “We’re setting up an information office president from here, from the United States, so they can’t link it back to us there in Honduras.” It’s going to be like a Latin American news site. I was on call with Argentine President Javier Mile and it was very successful, very, very good. And I think with this, we can do some big things for all of Latin America. There are some files coming out against Mexico. There are some files coming out against Columbia and most importantly, against Honduras and the Zelaya family. He then calls because the reason why he’s doing this is he’s asking for money. He’s asked them for $150,000 to set up this office based with the support of someone in the White House, is what he says. Some Republican in the White House. He doesn’t name names, but he says, “We’re going to set up this office.” And the idea is to take down the left. Any leftist government, we’re going to take them down. So then from there, he calls up Vice President Mejia because she’s the one who’s going to manage the money. And he says, “Okay, I need this cash because we’re going to set up an office here with the support of some Republicans in order to attack and uproot the cancer of the left in Honduras and all of Latin America.” I mentioned to President Asfura that we could talk with Javier Mele and he’s supporting with $350,000. Also, another good friend of ours is in Mexico is supporting in order to push the focus on the issue of Mexico. We’re pretty ready and hoping this can really move forward. So he’s requesting money. Someone in Mexico is throwing down Javier Mile. I don’t know how Miley has money because Mila has been … The government is basically under default, but Miley has offered $350,000 to support this basically fake news site and he requests 150,000. And in fact, they approved in these messages, they said, “Okay, we’re going to give you 150,000 for this office and then another 150,000 for you to live on because you need a Marc Steiner: Little Michael Fox: Money there while you’re up there.” So basically we’re talking about Honduras transferring $300,000 Argentina $350,000. All this to take down to create a disinformation news site with the support and actually guided and led by somebody in the White House. This is crazy town, Mark. Marc Steiner: And it is. You have lived in Latin America for a long time. You know it intimately more than anybody I know almost. What is going on at this moment that the powers to be in the West, industrial powers, political powers on the right here in America can think they can undermine and overthrow governments all through Latin America and bring it totally back into the American sphere. I mean, the last market they’ll have probably is Cuba, probably the hardest one to take over. But if they do this, that’s one of their next targets, clearly. So talk about that. I mean, what is going on here? And it’s almost as if it’s unseen by everybody in our country here. Nobody’s paying attention to what we’re doing in Latin America. Absolutely. And reasserting American power. So I mean, just talk about, do you think the politics of this is what are the economic forces behind it and why it’s happening now? Michael Fox: Well, A, there’s numerous things at play. I mean, first in the United States, people are just blindsided by everything. There’s a different news. And look, this is Trump’s strategy, right? I’m just going to hit you with something new every single day and distract the press and distract the press. So Latin America, I mean, look, there was a lot of interest. In fact, people responded to when the United States invaded Venezuela. That was clearly like, look, you can’t do this. You saw marches and protests in Mexico and in many countries all around Latin America. Even in the United States, people were protesting. It wasn’t a global like, oh my God. But within a week or two weeks, then Trump is talking about Greenland and people are like, “Oh.” So his whole thing is to knock people off guard and to distract the media. And of course it works. There’s a reason why Trump has done most of his onslaughts, most of attacks late on Friday night, Mark. It’s because he doesn’t want whatever he’s doing A, to be on a news cycle. He doesn’t want it to be on a news day. He wants it to be in the weekend where people aren’t paying attention. And then the other reason is that he doesn’t want it to affect the markets. Oh, the market’s closed. Well, I’ve got two days for things to kind of calm down. I mean, if you saw the first attacks in Iran, that was on a Friday night, the invasion of Venezuela, Friday night. So The reason why that happens is because he doesn’t want all that attention. He wants this to go under the radar. So people are just blindsided. So that’s one thing. In Latin America, the reason why he’s been able to do this is because people are scared. At the Shield of the America Summit, in the Countercartel Coalition, you had a bunch of countries that are clearly on the right or the far right. But then you had some countries that are my kind of more centrist that are there who just saying, “I don’t want him to come after us next.” And so I just want to walk the straight line and say, “I’ll do what I need to do to make sure he’s not going to come attack me later on. ” And that’s why you have a few presidents who have already mentioned in the region who have really pushed back to try and respond. But this is not the time of the 2000s where Latin America had this kind of unity and support and a progressive movement and international solidarity. You’ve gotten after, for instance, the invadion of Venezuela, you had other countries that came out denouncing what Trump just did. But there’s nobody who’s going to stand up and say, “Trump, if you do that, we’re going to come back at you. ” And for instance, it’s very clear, very clear that what we’re seeing, the alignment, the geopolitical alignment in the world right now has aligned so that it’s like we’ve reverted back to the 19th century where Trump is basically saying, “Okay, China, look, you got Asia, do what you need to do over there. That’s your sphere of influence. In Russia, you take care of Ukraine. I’m not going to say much over there and you take care of whatever’s going over there. Europe, whatever, I don’t really care. Just give me the Americas.” And it’s very clear that this kind of realignment, again, we’re looking back at Teddy Roosevelt. I mean, it’s insane that this is where we’ve returned to where people are afraid, nobody’s willing to stand up. And of course, Greenland’s kind of a different situation. You actually saw the EU and NATO going, “Look, Trump, you can’t do that. ” But most of that was blustered. Trust Marc Steiner: Was trying Michael Fox: To stop Marc Steiner: Working. Reno was a distraction. Was it a planned distraction? So other things could take place is what you’re describing. Exactly. Exactly what that was. Michael Fox: That’s exactly it. That’s exactly it. And the rest of the region is either scared or they’re trying to push back. And when they are trying to push back, then you see the United States leaning in. This year, I mean, look, we just saw elections in Columbia where it was the first round, but the far right candidate kind of came from nowhere over the last month. And he essentially won with 43%, although there’s been many claims of fraud. So we’ll see. And of course there’s a second round coming up in a couple months. So there’s a big election in Columbia. There’s big elections here in Brazil in a few months in October of this year. So these are some of the last bastions of the left in the entire region. And Trump is going to be playing his game to try and shore everybody up and get everybody on his side. This is the game he plays. So it is an extremely terrifying moment, Mark, because there are very, very few internet … The UN isn’t going to do anything for us. There are very few international institutions or countries that are willing to stand up and say, “No, no, no, sorry, Trump. You can’t do that. You’ve gone too far.” People will say it, they’ll make these declarations. That’s nice, but Trump doesn’t care about that, right? Marc Steiner: No. And I think that there are two things here while we have time. A, is the clear danger this represents. We haven’t seen anything like this, I think, in this mass scale since things like the overthrow of Yendi and Chile and other places in Latin America, the United States got to come in to take back its economic interest to control the hemisphere in the way it wants to. But that’s what we’re seeing. It’s happening again in some ways even more dangerous because we’re seeing these far right governments taking over throughout Latin America, all over the place and at the behest of America. And so I think that’s A, I’m not sure politically where the response is to that and where it comes from. It seems like it’s asleep defeated in Latin America, imprisoned in Latin America, but also people in the United States are yawning. It’s not even on the radar that this danger we face and what it portends. Michael Fox: People in Latin America definitely know and they understand what’s happening in Latin America. And many people have been out in the streets, they’ve been protesting. I mean, we are seeing kind of a response in Bolivia where indigenous organizers and movements are fighting to topple the new right-wing government that’s only been in power for six months and they are pushing back hard because that government tried to pass reforms and undo gas subsidies, et cetera. And so Bolivia is one example where people are pushing back. There’s elections happening in Peru, which we don’t really know what’s going to happen there. It’s another crazy, crazy situation, but it is blindsiding because there’s something that’s really important here, Mark, is the image, the example, the role that Trump shows to the other countries and to other far right leaders in the region. In his first administration, Trump did. He came to power. Within two years, you had Bolsonaro winning. Why? Because he saw Trump. H said, “If Trump can do it, we’re going to follow those same tactics.” So they do the same thing with Twitter and social media denouncing the elections and whatever. And suddenly you have bullshit. Everybody’s just following that tactic. And what’s happened is there’s actually a situation where in some cases, like for instance, Buquele, Naibukele and El Salvador, El Salvador, he calls himself, was it the coolest dictator is His own words for himself. And he’s a friend of Trump’s. They’ve met. Trump in fact said, “Boy, you’re just doing a great job. I thought you were young when I first met you, but you’re doing a great job.” So Buquele is like for the right and for the far right, he is the idol across Latin America. I was covering the election, his reelection, Bukele’s reelection in 2024. And I met a politician from Chile, a member of the civil police forces, a politician, far right politician in Bolivia and they were all there to see Buquele’s model of policing because of course Buquele has passed all of these draconian laws gutting any sorts of civil rights and basically locked up 70,000, 80,000 people over the last supposed drug traffickers, but thousands, tens of thousands of them are innocent and he’s locked them all up in these jails and been holding them there ever since. We’re talking about years in jail without any habeas corpus and many of them without any ability to even speak with a lawyer. So it’s shocking, it’s terrifying. And these are jails where Trump has been sending people to. But they were there to see, wow, if Buchele can do it, so can we. And when I was driving through Peru last year, Mark, on the sides of buildings, what you saw in spray paint was buquele on the sides of buildings in Peru. It was clearly kind of like a presidential candidacy for some far right candidates that were trying to attract people’s attention, but basically using their own colors to say, “Bouquet, buckley.” But the idea is that’s the image that we want. And in El Salvador, since they were able to clean up the streets that’s sold across the rest of the region in that it works. And so if we’re having problems with drug trafficking, then all we have to do is crack down and gut habeas corpus in the rule of law. And for instance, in El Salvador, that’s what they’ve done. And now El Salvador is one of the most dangerous countries in the region. So I say all that to say this is that you have this situation where the far right is riding this wave, this Trump wave, this Buchele wave across the region and pushback is extremely, extremely difficult. But there is. People are responding. People are pushing back. Latin America has always been extremely elastic and people have risen from below and grassroots and everything else like that. But people are really scared about what Trump can do and what the United States can do. Marc Steiner: I think what you’re covering and what you bring to us here at Thrill News and under the shadow in your work is the danger we face in the United States and the world because of what Trump and the right wing in America are doing in Latin America. But before we go, we only have much time here. You’ve brought up a couple of times in our conversation Israel. What does Israel have to do with Latin America? Yeah, let me just stop there. I mean, I always fear this in some ways because antisemitism is so deep that also pushes this, but what is it about Israel and the right in Latin America and what’s that connection? Well, Michael Fox: I mean, we’ve looked at what Israel means now and most recently, I mean, there’s two different things, is what Israel has meant in recent years. Israel has really been courting many countries in Latin America. In recent years around the question, these are countries that might be more pro- Palestine. Don’t forget that 500,000, the Palestinian refugee descendancy in Chile is one of the largest in the entire world. Marc Steiner: It’s Michael Fox: Huge. Half a million people. They have their own soccer team, right? Palestina. So you have a lot of support for Palestine that are there. And what Israel has been trying to do in particular in Latin America is finding ways of shoring up support from different countries and particularly from the right and the far right. So support at the UN, international support, Marc Steiner: Support Michael Fox: To back them. So we’re talking, that’s in recent years, but Israel has played a huge role in Latin America going back decades. I mean, Israel was supporting authoritarian governments throughout the 1980s, supporting the dictatorships of South America, training weapons. It was kind of like the United States’ right-hand man throughout the Cold War in Latin America, it’s not known or it’s forgotten. I mean, I promise I will be doing an episode about this on Under the Shadow at some point over the next year, because it’s so important and people need to understand this history. But you do have these two different things, but definitely Latin America has been extremely important for Israel going back decades. Marc Steiner: Well, that’s a conversation we can have later. It made me think of its total personal digression, but my family, I have family in Manta Vadeo, I have family in Mexico City. And the interesting part is that both of those families or the Jewis side of the family are on the left and my family in Origuai were part of the two Pomaros gorillas. Michael Fox: Wow, Mark. We do have to have a conversation. I should be interviewing you for Under the Shadow. Marc Steiner: This is amazing. But I think that it’s insidious about how this is happening in Latin America. It’s always happened. It is part of the history of this country to control this hemisphere and not let anyone control it but American capital. And that’s exactly what’s underlying all of this. And it gets lost in these conversations.That’s exactly what we’re doing. And Mike, I think that your reporting here, Real News, is really critically important. It’s on the cutting edge of what we face in terms of fighting the neofascist tide in this world coming out of Latin America. And I really appreciate all the stuff you’re doing. I really do. Michael Fox: Thank you so much, Mark. Well, I appreciate it and I appreciate you. There were many other things in these leaks that were just shocking, jaw dropping, shocking. We didn’t even get into members of the Honduran government on the far right talking about imprisoning or even killing members of the left in Honduras. But one of the things that sent the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end was a message that Juan Orlando Hernandez sent to Thomas Sanbrano. Thomas Sombrano is the head of National Congress in Honduras, far right national party, same as Juan Orlando Hernandez. Most of these people are members of the right wing, far right national party. We have to remember that under Juan Orlando Hernandez’s government, particularly during his fraudulent 2017 electoral campaign, he was pushing human rights violations left and right. People were disappeared, people were killed, arrested for years, a ton of violence. And it’s within this context that he sends this message to Thomas Ambrano, who he’s kind of elected as his right-hand man to try and get him back to Honduras. In fact, at one point, Juan Orlando Hernandez says, “Don’t listen to the current president. He’s old. He’s senile. He doesn’t even know what he’s doing. You got to listen to me. I will guide you. ” And in this message, he leaves to Thomas Ambrano. He says this, and this is the quote from the message, “You have to kill people, ” he says. For us to be calm, you just have to do it. If you have to return to repression to control the country, it has to be done. You have to do everything you have at your disposal to not let go of power and you have to make it seem that everything that will happen, the deaths, the killings, the kidnappings, they’re all being done by the communists. This is the man who was convicted two years ago for drug trafficking, hundreds of kilos of cocaine into the United States, convicted to 45 years in prison and who was pardoned by President Donald Trump last December. And this is a man who’s been trying to return to Honduras to in his eyes, hopefully take control of the country, but definitely guide the country for the next four, eight, who knows how many years, man who’s backed by Israel and Prime Minister Netanyahu, who man who’s very, very close ties to the White House because he talked about them a lot during these messages and he’s talking about killing people in order to suppress them and in order to maintain control on the country. And this is a windowmark and this is why I wanted to kind of close in essence this conversation because this is in a window into the right wing and far right elites in Latin America in one country. This is Honduras, but they feel so empowered and emboldened by President Trump in office that they believe they have a green card and the green light to do whatever they want. And if that means inflicting violence on people in their own country, they’re going to do it. Honduras is just one example, but it’s on example that is the reality in most of the countries in Latin America and for most of the leaders on the far right who have been taking power. And that’s just terrifying for me, but really important that we understand the extent to which certain individuals are pushing this agenda and how terrifying that is, that should be for all of us. Marc Steiner: Well, Mike Fox, again, I appreciate the stuff you’re doing and thank you for doing this today. And what you just finished talking about, I think deserves a deeper dive in our next conversation together about the ties between the right wing in America, United States, I mean to say, and the right wing throughout Latin America and what this regime and this country means in terms of fomenting the right there that helps strengthen the right here. And I think that it’s a really important dynamic that it’s not explored. So that’s our next conversation. Michael Fox: All right. I look forward to it. Thanks so much, Mark. Marc Steiner: Thank you so much. Once again, let me thank Mike Fox for joining us today. And thanks to Cameron Granadino for running the program, audio editor Stephen Frank for working his magic. Rosette Sewali for producing the Marc Steiner Show and the tireless Kayla Rivera for making it all work behind the scenes and everyone here through News for making this show possible. Please let me know what you thought about what you heard today and what you’d like us to cover. Just write to me at mss@therunos.com and I’ll get right back to you. Once again, thank you to Mike Fox for joining us today and for the important work he does here at The Real News. Check out Under the Shadow. So for the Crew G at the Real News, I’m Marc Steiner. Stay involved, keep listening and take care. This content originally appeared on The Real News Network and was authored by Marc Steiner.
Brennan Center Reacts to Supreme Court Ruling on Birthright Citizenship
Today in Trump v. Barbara the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Fourteenth Amendment’s guarantee of citizenship to everyone born in the United States.Thomas Wolf, director of democracy initiatives at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law, had the foll...
Today in Trump v. Barbara the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Fourteenth Amendment’s guarantee of citizenship to everyone born in the United States. Thomas Wolf, director of democracy initiatives at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law, had the following reaction: “Today’s ruling is the right one amid an avalanche of Supreme Court opinions undermining our democracy. The Court could not have defensibly ruled any differently. The Fourteenth Amendment guaranteed citizenship to everyone born here over 150 years ago. The Supreme Court affirmed that 20 years later in Wong Kim Ark. Meanwhile, the Court has been on an anti-democratic rampage. “In just the past few weeks alone, the Court further undermined the Voting Rights Act, encouraged more aggressive partisan gerrymandering, dangerously expanded presidential power over federal agencies, and further depleted protections for immigrants. This ruling does not make up for all the damage the Court has done this term.” This content originally appeared on Common Dreams and was authored by Newswire Editor.
ICE kidnapped my husband on his way to buy diapers for our infant son
<img width="1024" height="683" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2278488128-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="Gabriella Soto, whose husband is on a hunger strike, speaks outside Delaney Hall which is being used as an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center on May 27, 2026 in Newark, New Jersey. Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images" data-attachment-id="344631" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/ice-kidnapped-my-husband-on-his-way-to-buy-diapers-for-our-infant-son/immigration-advocates-demonstrate-and-clash-with-officers-outside-delaney-hall-detention-facility-in-newark-2" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2278488128-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1707&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2560,1707" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"6.3","credit":"Getty Images","camera":"Canon EOS R1","caption":"NEWARK, NEW JERSEY - MAY 27: Gabriella Soto, whose husband is on a hunger strike, speaks outside Delaney Hall which is being used as an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center on May 27, 2026 in Newark, New Jersey. The protests, which have become tense over the holiday weekend, come amid reports of an ongoing hunger strike by hundreds of detainees in the facility. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)","created_timestamp":"1779881996","copyright":"2026 Getty Images","focal_length":"70","iso":"250","shutter_speed":"0.00125","title":"Immigration Advocates Demonstrate And Clash With Officers Outside Delaney Hall Detention Facility In Newark","orientation":"1","alt":""}" data-image-title="Immigration Advocates Demonstrate And Clash With Officers Outside Delaney Hall Detention Facility In Newark" data-image-description="" data-image-caption=" Gabriella Soto, whose husband is on a hunger strike, speaks outside Delaney Hall which is being used as an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center on May 27, 2026 in Newark, New Jersey. Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2278488128-scaled.jpg?fit=780%2C520&ssl=1"> My husband, Martin Soto, took part in the hunger strike at Delaney Hall. I led a rally. The retaliation was immediate.
<img width="1024" height="683" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2278488128-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="Gabriella Soto, whose husband is on a hunger strike, speaks outside Delaney Hall which is being used as an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center on May 27, 2026 in Newark, New Jersey. Photo by Michael M. 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The protests, which have become tense over the holiday weekend, come amid reports of an ongoing hunger strike by hundreds of detainees in the facility. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)","created_timestamp":"1779881996","copyright":"2026 Getty Images","focal_length":"70","iso":"250","shutter_speed":"0.00125","title":"Immigration Advocates Demonstrate And Clash With Officers Outside Delaney Hall Detention Facility In Newark","orientation":"1","alt":""}" data-image-title="Immigration Advocates Demonstrate And Clash With Officers Outside Delaney Hall Detention Facility In Newark" data-image-description="" data-image-caption=" Gabriella Soto, whose husband is on a hunger strike, speaks outside Delaney Hall which is being used as an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center on May 27, 2026 in Newark, New Jersey. Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2278488128-scaled.jpg?fit=780%2C520&ssl=1" /> <img data-recalc-dims="1" decoding="async" width="780" height="218" data-attachment-id="277549" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/half-a-million-south-korean-workers-walk-off-jobs-in-general-strike/truthout-logo" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/truthout-logo.jpeg?fit=874%2C244&ssl=1" data-orig-size="874,244" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1634742558","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="truthout-logo" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/truthout-logo.jpeg?fit=780%2C218&ssl=1" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/truthout-logo.jpeg?resize=780%2C218&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-277549 size-full" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/truthout-logo.jpeg?w=874&ssl=1 874w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/truthout-logo.jpeg?resize=300%2C84&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/truthout-logo.jpeg?resize=768%2C214&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/truthout-logo.jpeg?resize=400%2C112&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/truthout-logo.jpeg?resize=706%2C197&ssl=1 706w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/truthout-logo.jpeg?w=370&ssl=1 370w" sizes="(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px" /> This article was originally published by Truthout on June 29, 2026. It is shared here under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license. My husband, Martin Soto, was abducted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) this February when he left our home at night to buy diapers for our 11-month-old son. Martin — who is a loving father, husband, son, church member, worker, and neighbor in the town of Kearny, New Jersey, where we live — was then jailed for four months at Delaney Hall, the ICE jail in Newark, New Jersey. Privately run by GEO Group, a for-profit prison company, Delaney Hall has quickly developed a reputation for medical neglect, rotten food, and abusive staff. Then, in apparent retaliation for his participation in the hunger strike at Delaney Hall, and for my decision to speak out publicly about what he has experienced, he was transferred this May to Elizabeth Detention Center in Elizabeth, New Jersey, where he continues to be jailed. When my husband arrived at Delaney Hall in February, he weighed 168 pounds. Now he weighs 117 pounds. During the almost five months that Martin has wasted away in ICE custody, he has missed our daughter’s fourth birthday, our son’s first birthday, our wedding anniversary, his own 30th birthday, my birthday, Mother’s Day, and Father’s Day. ICE’s cruel decision has left me — pregnant with our third child on the way — suddenly forced to fend for our two young children and myself alone. Martin has committed no harm. He is married to me, a U.S. citizen, and he has an asylum case pending for 2028. ICE has the power to release my husband right now via “discretionary release” and let him continue his immigration process outside of prison, caring for his children. But instead, ICE has continued to tear our family apart. Martin’s Immigration Story Martin came to this country in January 2024 with a purpose. He came here to raise his children. He came here to make a life with me, his long-time fiancée. We met when I was 19 years old back in our home country, Peru — I had traveled there for a family occasion. We started dating during that trip, but as a U.S. citizen I couldn’t just drop my life in the U.S. to go live in Peru. Nonetheless, I stayed several months in Peru in order to maintain a relationship with Martin. After a few months I had to return home, but we maintained a long-distance relationship, and every so often I would travel to Peru to be with him. One time, after spending months in Peru with Martin, when I had to go back home to the U.S. I found out I was pregnant. I didn’t want to ruin Martin’s dreams, so at first, I kept it a secret. I went through my pregnancy alone when what I really wanted was to be with my partner. It was going to take a long time for Martin to succeed in coming, as we had so many obstacles along the way. Months passed, and I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl who now is 4 years old. Martin soon found out the truth and wanted to come here for her first birthday, but it was not possible. He missed her first birthday, first steps, first words, first day of day care, and much more. Closer to the end of the year, I suggested to Martin that we come live in Peru to be together as a family, but Peru had become quite dangerous, which meant this wasn’t the best idea for our family. So, in order to be with me and our daughter, Martin made the hardest decision of his life: He decided to cross the border, leaving his extended family and everything he knew. He walked hours and hours through a desert, and when he crossed into the U.S., he turned himself in to immigration officials. He spent four months in detention and was moved to seven different immigration jails throughout the time. I wasn’t always available to go every weekend to his visiting hours but I definitely tried and went to all seven different locations. Each one of those “detention centers” seemed to be getting worse and worse. When Martin was released and given a chance to process his asylum hearing with his family by his side, we were extremely happy. A month later, we got married. Soon after we found out we were expecting another baby, this time a baby boy. Our children are both U.S. citizens. Together we attended a church in Newark. We both had jobs, and together we did everything for our families. Then, one night, everything changed. ICE Tears Our Family Apart On February 1, 2026, after Martin stepped out to get diapers for our 11-month-old son, I suddenly got a phone call from a number listed as “prison/jail.” My heart dropped. When I answered, I was terrified about what had happened. As soon as the call ended, I raced over to Delaney Hall to get some answers. A guard there told me Martin was in “good hands” and once he was processed, he would be able to see me during visiting hours. I was relieved to hear he was safe, but when I started hearing about the conditions inside Delaney — rotten food, medical neglect, and more — I began to doubt the guard’s words. ICE has the power to release my husband right now via “discretionary release” and let him continue his immigration process outside of prison, caring for his children. But instead, ICE has continued to tear our family apart. I learned about the abuses firsthand. Martin told me that in May, all detainees in Unit 2 were fed food infested with worms, and when they refused to eat the worm-ridden food, the guards told them either eat or you will starve until the next day. There was no privacy in the units. Martin and the other men detained there were forced to shower in an open space with other people. Meanwhile, when Martin got sick, he would go three or four weeks without getting seen, much less treated. Martin Faces Retaliation After I Organize a Rally On May 22, 2026, I organized a rally outside Delaney Hall to demand freedom for everyone in immigration detention. Two hours after the rally ended, Martin began to be targeted in apparent retaliation for my activism. Martin later told me that GEO Group staff and ICE agents called him down to the management office that day. Their first question was: “If we release you right now, will you tell your wife to stop the protest outside?” They asked: “Did you know your wife was organizing a protest outside?” They asked: “Did you start the strike inside?” To all of these questions, Martin told me he answered: “No comment,” and asked to go back to his cell. He told me they locked him in his cell for hours. On May 23, 2026, when I tried to visit Martin during visitation hours, I was confronted by the staff. They brought every detainee with visitors downstairs for visitation — except for Martin. Not seeing my husband, I asked the guard why my husband wasn’t brought downstairs with the others. The guard replied that they wanted to speak with me first. I asked what they wanted to talk about. The guards claimed that I was spreading lies about GEO Group and attacked me for telling the press that they are feeding worms to people detained at Delaney. In other words, because I had used my constitutionally protected freedom of speech to bring attention to the conditions inside Delaney, my husband was experiencing retaliation from the guards. On May 24, 2026, around 3:30 pm (a half hour before visitation) I received a call from my husband. A few minutes into a normal conversation between the two of us on a recorded and monitored line, a guard said: “Release Martin Soto.” Martin was relieved, but I was confused. I knew there was something behind this because of the events of the previous two days. I found it suspicious and told people outside to keep an eye on any vans that might come out while I went inside Delaney with another volunteer. The volunteer and I went inside for visitation. As I was standing outside the visitation chapel ramp, I witnessed with my own eyes the forced kidnapping and shackling of my husband by two GEO Group staff members. Those two GEO Group staff members were walking down the ramp with Martin when, suddenly, they glanced at each other and grabbed him by his ankles and wrists and threw him inside the van. At that moment I tried to leave the facility, but GEO Group staff did not let me leave, refusing to unlock the revolving doors. I had to wait over 20 minutes before they let me leave the facility. As I, who was pregnant at the time, ran toward the front, multiple GEO Group staff members saw me crying, screaming, and running. They laughed at me. When I reached the front, where the van was stopped, I desperately pleaded for help to release my husband. Everyone was frantically calling their members of Congress, senators, the mayor of Newark, and anyone we could get on the line to demand that Martin be released, as promised. (They had made this promise on a recorded and monitored line.) I believe this was all in retaliation for my decision to speak out and exercise my freedom of speech about what has been going on inside Delaney Hall. Later that day, when Rep. Rob Menendez came by Delaney Hall, he stayed over 18 hours, trying to get inside to see Martin. ICE agents and GEO Group staff denied him entry. While Representative Menendez was waiting, ICE successfully plotted to get Martin out of Delaney — to transfer him. At 2:00 am, while everyone was distracted, ICE created a diversion with three ICE vehicles. They let them get searched and as protesters were closing the barricades, a vehicle — the last one in that group — stormed out. Martin was being held hostage in that vehicle. The vehicle that transported Martin Soto at 2:00 am appeared to be an ICE agent’s personal vehicle: Martin later told me he could see that it had a baby seat in the back. Since that day, May 25, 2026, Martin has been held at the Elizabeth Detention Center in New Jersey. His transfer appears to have been a retaliation for his participation in the Delaney Hall hunger strike, his demand to free them all, and his relation to me — a loved one who has been speaking out publicly. I have been trying to get answers from ICE and GEO Group about my husband. For this op-ed, we asked them both about his treatment and his transfer. We have not gotten any responses. Bring Martin Home! Martin made the difficult decision to risk his life to cross a dangerous desert just to be reunited with his family. He faced horrific obstacles only to be taken into custody one evening for walking the streets in a country where it’s supposed to be safe for a father to buy diapers for his son. Before ICE abducted him, Martin was living with his family by his side, working in a restaurant kitchen, going to church, caring for his children, being a good neighbor, and helping people whenever he could. Martin and I believe he was detained that night because the ICE officer he encountered got frustrated with his language barrier, even after Martin mentioned he has an asylum case pending for 2028 while speaking slowly in English. Like all the other immigrants who come to the U.S. in search of a better future, Martin traveled here with the hope of raising his daughter and son in a safe country and in a safe environment where their lives are not in jeopardy. He had experience in construction and landscaping and food preparation. Before ICE abducted him, Martin was living with his family by his side, working in a restaurant kitchen, going to church, caring for his children, being a good neighbor, and helping people whenever he could. ICE could release Martin Soto now via discretionary release. I hope that everyone who reads this will join me in demanding that ICE release him immediately. ICE could let Martin continue his immigration process outside a prison and without any conditions (no ankle monitor, bond, etc.), returning him to me and our children. He does not have to be in detention! He is a father, a role model, a church member, and a good neighbor, and he deserves freedom. This content originally appeared on The Real News Network and was authored by Gabriela Soto.
Birthright Protection Remains, But Attacks Continue
In an important victory for all Americans, today the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a presidential executive order that would have changed the 14th Amendment’s process for U.S. citizenship. But while today is a victory, attacks on communities of color...
In an important victory for all Americans, today the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a presidential executive order that would have changed the 14th Amendment’s process for U.S. citizenship. But while today is a victory, attacks on communities of color continue to persist both with the president and in cases with this court. “While we welcome the Court finally upholding a constitutional amendment ratified nearly two centuries ago, upholding the law is no cause for celebration, it is a requirement” Common Cause President & CEO Virginia Kase Solomón said. “Let today be a stark reminder that this court continues to systematically dismantle voting protections for Black and brown communities, tilting the scales of justice toward a dark era where a wealthy, privileged few dictate the rules for the rest of us. Today may be a brief victory for the rule of law, but our fight to protect our multiracial democracy continues.” This content originally appeared on Common Dreams and was authored by Newswire Editor.
Supreme Court Gives Blessing for Billionaires to Buy More Influence Over Politicians
Today, the Supreme Court ruled for the Republican Party and JD Vance in National Republican Senatorial Committee v. Federal Election Commission, reversing previous decisions and removing one of the last restrictions preventing wealthy donors from funn...
Today, the Supreme Court ruled for the Republican Party and JD Vance in National Republican Senatorial Committee v. Federal Election Commission, reversing previous decisions and removing one of the last restrictions preventing wealthy donors from funneling huge sums to their preferred candidates through political parties. The decision strikes down limits on "coordinated expenditures" and opens the door to even more billionaire influence in American elections. Stand Up America’s Managing Director of Policy and Political Affairs, Brett Edkins, issued the following statement on today’s decision: “The right-wing supermajority on the Supreme Court thinks Citizens United didn’t go far enough. Today they gave their blessing for billionaires to buy even more influence over the politicians who represent us. “Americans deserve a Supreme Court that upholds our fundamental freedoms–not one that consistently sides with billionaire donors and diminishes the power of everyday citizens in our democracy. Congress should rein in this rogue Court once Trump leaves office by enacting major reforms, including term limits, an enforceable code of ethics, and expanding the Court with justices who will defend our democracy and our fundamental freedoms.” Since 2021, Stand Up America has been on the front lines of the fight for Supreme Court reform, mobilizing its members to take nearly one million actions in support of Supreme Court term limits, expansion, and a binding code of ethics. This content originally appeared on Common Dreams and was authored by Newswire Editor.
"Keep Supporting the Venezuelan People": Thousands Missing as Earthquake Rescue Efforts Continue
Meet Aber Kawas, DSA-Backed Palestinian American Who Won New York State Senate Primary
"First America": Cherokee Podcaster Rebecca Nagle on the Full Story of the U.S. Founding
Top U.S. & World Headlines — June 30, 2026
Videojournalist grabbed, shoved by police at New Jersey immigration protest
Status Coup videojournalist Jon Farina was grabbed and shoved by a law enforcement officer while covering protests outside a federal detention center in Newark, New Jersey, on June 7, 2026.Protests outside the Delaney Hall immigration detention facilit...
Status Coup videojournalist Jon Farina was grabbed and shoved by a law enforcement officer while covering protests outside a federal detention center in Newark, New Jersey, on June 7, 2026. Protests outside the Delaney Hall immigration detention facility began May 22, when many detainees went on a hunger strike. Members of Congress, state and local lawmakers and rights groups have alleged dire conditions at the facility. Federal officers responded to the protests with chemical irritants, physical force and arrests, as did state police in the days that followed. The Department of Homeland Security has denied allegations of detainee mistreatment. In an Instagram post, Status Coup reported that Farina was “one of several members of the press who were shoved by law enforcement and restricted from covering.” The first half of the footage, recorded by Farina, shows several officers shouting at him to move back. “No bullshit, I’ll put you in cuffs, I swear to god,” one Newark Police Division officer tells Farina. Then a Newark detective wearing sunglasses yells at Farina to get back, as a nearby voice is heard shouting, “Press! Press! Press! Press! Press!” The video then cuts to footage captured by freelance photojournalist Pierre Lavie, in which an officer is seen running up to Farina as he moves away in the direction the detective specified. The officer then grabs and pushes Farina seemingly toward the street. A second individual, who appears to be wearing press credentials, was also shoved by the officer. View post on Instagram “It’s the state police — the New Jersey State Police — throwing punches to people that are on the ground. Grabbing and throwing members of the press,” Farina reports in his footage. “This is what you have going on here in New Jersey.” The Newark police did not immediately respond to a request for comment. On June 8, Newark Mayor Ras J. Baraka released a statement that officers were dispatched to Delaney Hall after receiving reports that people were blocking access to the facility. Baraka also asserted that responsibility for security at the immigration detention facility rests with its private operator, The Geo Group. “I am encouraged by the NPD investigation because it appeared that some of our officers were over aggressive and should be held accountable. It is imperative that all of our officers uphold the standards of professionalism and accountability required under the consent decree,” the mayor said. “Any conduct that falls short undermines the significant progress we have made in building trust and advancing community-focused policing in Newark.” The statement did not address the use of force against members of the press. This content originally appeared on U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database and was authored by U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database.
“Keep Supporting the Venezuelan People”: Thousands Missing as Earthquake Rescue Efforts Continue
Rescue efforts in Venezuela continue as thousands of people remain missing — trapped under the rubble of flattened homes and buildings nearly a week after two back-to-back earthquakes devastated the capital, Caracas, and the nearby city of La ...
Rescue efforts in Venezuela continue as thousands of people remain missing — trapped under the rubble of flattened homes and buildings nearly a week after two back-to-back earthquakes devastated the capital, Caracas, and the nearby city of La Guaira. Rescue teams are desperately searching for survivors, with Venezuelan health officials saying Monday that over 1,700 people are confirmed dead. The toll is expected to rise dramatically as the window for finding survivors closes. In the face of the wreckage, “we’re seeing also a lot of solidarity from the Venezuelan people” who are sharing space and resources with those displaced by the quakes, says Beatriz Ochoa, Latin America head of advocacy for the Norwegian Refugee Council. Looking ahead, “We will need to transition to more medium- and longer-term solutions, so that people can have affordable housing and a more dignified place to sleep and to be able to rebuild their lives,” says Ochoa, calling for more international support. This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
The Democratic Socialists of America’s slate dominated the New York primaries last week, with Aber Kawas winning the Democratic nomination for a New York state Senate seat in the New York City borough of Queens with a 20-point lead again...
The Democratic Socialists of America’s slate dominated the New York primaries last week, with Aber Kawas winning the Democratic nomination for a New York state Senate seat in the New York City borough of Queens with a 20-point lead against progressive State Assemblymember Steven Raga. Born and raised in New York to Palestinian parents, Kawas campaigned on affordable housing, universal healthcare, immigration reform, public transit, climate action and opposition to U.S. support for Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Over the past decade, the DSA has grown from about 5,000 members to over 100,000 members in 200 chapters across the United States. “What we are saying is that we want to make sure that people who are struggling are provided the best social services possible by our government,” says Aber Kawas of DSA candidates. “That is not a threat to people. That is a really hopeful message that so many Americans and so many people are looking for, and that is why we were able to win in these landslide victories.” This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
Viral video does not show Pune Fort case accused Siya Goyal dancing
A 36-second-long video of two women dancing has gone viral on social media with users claiming that it features Siya Goyal, one of the accused in the alleged murder of 26-year-old Ketan Agarwal in Pune’s Lohagad Fort. On June 23, Pune rural police arrested Siya Goyal (20) and Chetan Chaudhary (22) for allegedly murdering Goyal’s […]
A 36-second-long video of two women dancing has gone viral on social media with users claiming that it features Siya Goyal, one of the accused in the alleged murder of 26-year-old Ketan Agarwal in Pune’s Lohagad Fort. On June 23, Pune rural police arrested Siya Goyal (20) and Chetan Chaudhary (22) for allegedly murdering Goyal’s fiancé, Ketan Agarwal. They have been booked under Sections 103 (murder) and 61 (criminal conspiracy) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). As per reports, Goyal and Chaudhary had been involved in a romantic relationship and allegedly conspired to murder Agarwal. Goyal and Agarwal went on a trek to Pune’s Lohagad Fort on June 18, where Agarwal fell nearly 400 feet into a gorge. Investigation later revealed it was not an accidental fall. It is against this backdrop that the said video has gone viral. X page TeluguBulletin.com (@TeluguBulletin) shared the afore mentioned clip on June 27, claiming that the video featured Goyal. The post garnered over 10,000 views. (Archive) Siya Goyal’s statements about Ketan have sparked fresh debate online. After she claimed she was unhappy with certain aspects of their relationship, many social media users questioned how the couple had appeared so comfortable during their pre-wedding shoot. The discussion… pic.twitter.com/Qflf1xgyvH — TeluguBulletin.com (@TeluguBulletin) June 27, 2026 Another X user, @thecaspiansk, posted the video with a caption saying: “Yes she was not happy with wedding”. This post has received more than 163,000 views. (Archive) Yes she was not happy with wedding pic.twitter.com/olMFKTQo9O — CASPIAN (@thecaspiansk) June 27, 2026 Several other users shared the same clip and amplified the claim that the video showed Goyal dancing. Below are a few instances: Click to view slideshow. Fact Check To verify this claim, we broke down the video into several keyframes and ran a reverse image search on some of them. This led us to an Instagram post shared on June 21, 2026. This post carried the same video and had been shared by user @sanikaajagtap. The user had tagged another account with the username @anushkawanii. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Sanika Jagtap (@sanikaajagtap) Social media users have misidentified Anushka Wani (@anushkawanii) as Siya Goyal, as the two women share some facial similarities. However, upon taking a look at Wani’s profile, it is clear that the video features her and not Goyal. Below is a comparison of their faces: <img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-316695 size-full" src="https://www.altnews.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Siya-Goyal-fact-check.png" alt="" width="480" height="270" srcset="https://www.altnews.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Siya-Goyal-fact-check.png 480w, https://www.altnews.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Siya-Goyal-fact-check-300x169.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px" /> Therefore, the claim associated with the viral clip that it features murder accused Siya Goyal is false.
“Merciless Indian Savages”: Cherokee Podcaster on Racist Slur in the Declaration of Independence
Ahead of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July Fourth, we speak to award-winning Cherokee author and journalist Rebecca Nagle about what’s missing from the conventional story of the American Revo...
Ahead of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July Fourth, we speak to award-winning Cherokee author and journalist Rebecca Nagle about what’s missing from the conventional story of the American Revolution. “The last grievance in the Declaration of Independence is about 'merciless Indian savages,'” says Rebecca Nagle. “According to our founders, in their own words, the thing that they were most angry about was Native people.” She also argues that the “biggest myth” is that the founders built a democracy, “because they also built an empire,” and that the two can’t coexist. Nagle partnered with leading Indigenous scholars on a new documentary podcast called First America. The series challenges the conventional U.S. origin story by examining the experiences of Indigenous peoples, and traces how laws and legal doctrines first used to dispossess Indigenous nations continue to impact questions of executive power, immigration, xenophobia, citizenship, territorial expansion and U.S. foreign policy today. Nagle links the dark history of the United States’ founding to ongoing oppression in the country. “I would be reporting on America’s past, and then the same thing would happen in our present,” she says. “Rounding people up, putting people in detention, even shooting anybody who gets in the way, these are things that our government has done before — not once, not twice, but many, many times.” This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
Iranian Officials Deny Trump’s Claims of High-Level Talks in Doha, Israeli Strikes on Gaza Kill 8, Including 2 Children, as Smotrich Calls for Gaza Settlements, Rights Group Says Israel Is Killing Palestinian Children in West Bank at Fastest Rate Since 1967, More Than 130 Venezuelans Recently Deported from U.S. Feared Dead in La Guaira Earthquakes, Ukrainian Drones Target Moscow After Russian Attacks on Ukraine Kill 8, SCOTUS to Allow the President to Fire Independent Agency Heads, Except at the Federal Reserve, Divided Supreme Court Upholds Grace Periods for Mail-In Ballots Postmarked by Election Day, SCOTUS Rules Cellphone Location Data Is Protected by the Fourth Amendment, SCOTUS Declines to Hear Trump’s Appeal of $5 Million Sex Abuse and Defamation Case, Supreme Court Will Consider Arizona Laws Requiring Proof of Citizenship to Vote, DSA-Backed Insurgents Target Democratic Incumbents as Colorado Holds Primaries, New York City Council Employee with TPS Released from Newark ICE Jail After 5 Months, Trump Bought Stock in Taser Company Before ICE Announced $220 Million Contract, New York Mayor Mamdani Closes Part of Rikers Island Jail
Iranian Officials Deny Trump's Claims of High-Level Talks in Doha Israeli Strikes on Gaza Kill 8, Including 2 Children, as Smotrich Calls for Gaza Settlements Rights Group Says Israel Is Killing Palestinian Children in West Bank at Fastest Rate Since 1967 More Than 130 Venezuelans Recently Deported from U.S. Feared Dead in La Guaira Earthquakes Ukrainian Drones Target Moscow After Russian Attacks on Ukraine Kill 8 SCOTUS to Allow the President to Fire Independent Agency Heads, Except at the Federal Reserve Divided Supreme Court Upholds Grace Periods for Mail-In Ballots Postmarked by Election Day SCOTUS Rules Cellphone Location Data Is Protected by the Fourth Amendment SCOTUS Declines to Hear Trump's Appeal of $5 Million Sex Abuse and Defamation Case Supreme Court Will Consider Arizona Laws Requiring Proof of Citizenship to Vote DSA-Backed Insurgents Target Democratic Incumbents as Colorado Holds Primaries New York City Council Employee with TPS Released from Newark ICE Jail After 5 Months Trump Bought Stock in Taser Company Before ICE Announced $220 Million Contract New York Mayor Mamdani Closes Part of Rikers Island Jail This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
Democracy Now! Tuesday, June 30, 2026 This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! Audio and was authored by Democracy Now!.
LIMPE FUCHS • live in Berlin / Kiezsalon
A UN report details the ‘overwhelming’ scale of children killed in Gaza. It raises grave legal questions
ANALYSIS: By Shannon Bosch A recent United Nations report has detailed serious allegations of Israel deliberately targeting Palestinian children during the conflict since October 2023. The report by the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem and Israel, which has been rejected by the Israeli government, documents harrowing
ANALYSIS: By Shannon Bosch A recent United Nations report has detailed serious allegations of Israel deliberately targeting Palestinian children during the conflict since October 2023. The report by the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem and Israel, which has been rejected by the Israeli government, documents harrowing child deaths. It describes the scale of the deaths as “unprecedented”. Legally, the report itself does not prosecute anyone, but it can have major consequences by adding to a growing record of international law evidence. READ MORE: Israel continues to commit genocide and other atrocity crimes by deliberately targeting Palestinian children Israel’s deliberate targeting of Gaza children part of genocide: UN inquiry The Gaza doctrine – Israeli ‘journacide’ and the muted NZ media response Other Gaza genocide reports An independent investigation The commission is a standing investigative body created by the UN Human Rights Council in May 2021 after the escalation in Gaza and East Jerusalem that year. Its mandate is unusually broad and ongoing. It is tasked with investigating all alleged violations of international humanitarian and human rights law in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory, identifying root causes and preserving evidence for accountability. Since Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October 2023, the commission has published several reports on the conflict, including on the deaths of Israeli children. This latest report is significant because it focuses specifically on children, examining the impact of Israeli military operations on Palestinian children between October 2023 and March 2026. The report notes that the commission sent requests for information to the State of Palestine, the Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip and the Israeli government. The first two responded, but the latter did not. Four major findings The commission’s report makes four highly significant findings. 1. The scale of child deaths is unprecedented The report finds more than 20,000 Palestinian children have been killed and more than 44,000 injured since October 2023. The commission says the “overwhelming scale and rate of children killed and injured in Gaza have been unparalleled across modern conflicts globally”. UNICEF describes the Gaza Strip as “the most dangerous place in the world to be a child”. 2. Evidence of deliberate targeting This is the report’s most legally explosive finding. It documents repeated incidents of children being killed by single sniper or drone shots, often in the head or upper torso, suggesting deliberate targeting rather than incidental harm. Cases such as Hind Rajab and other children shot while evacuating or sheltering are central examples. Doctors on medical missions in Gaza reported to the commission that it appeared Israeli Defense Force (IDF) soldiers were engaged in a “game” of target practice with “different body parts being targeted on different days”. The commission concluded that based on forensic evidence and military analysis, there are reasonable grounds to believe some children were deliberately targeted. 3. Systematic attacks on child-essential infrastructure The report documents attacks on hospitals, schools and orphanages, which enjoy special protection under international law. The commission found these attacks have directly contributed to preventable child deaths, long-term disability and educational collapse. The commission’s findings raise serious questions about whether those special legal protections were respected, especially where attacks disrupted paediatric care, neonatal treatment and emergency surgery. Schools have been destroyed in the conflict, including this one in May 2025. Image: Jehad Alshrafi/AP 4. Arbitrary detention, torture and sexual violence The report documents patterns of child detention, ill-treatment and abuse in custody. The commission noted that dehumanising rhetoric by political leaders, soldiers and public figures has normalised violence against Palestinian children and contributed to an environment where such harm becomes acceptable. How do these findings fit with international law? This report is important because it reframes the war not only through the lens of civilian casualties, but through special legal obligations owed to children. International humanitarian law and international human rights law apply concurrently in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. This is because Israel retains effective control over its borders, airspace and territorial waters, and has re-established military control on the ground. As an occupying power, Israel has specific obligations under the Fourth Geneva Convention. These include ensuring food, medical care and the protection of civilians, especially children. Under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Israel must protect children’s rights to life, survival and development. It must prohibit arbitrary detention, torture and deprivation of life. It must also ensure the best interests of the child remain a primary consideration in all actions affecting them. The commission’s conclusions are stark: children have not simply been caught in the crossfire of war. Many appear to have been deliberately targeted, denied essential care, detained, tortured, displaced and subjected to conditions that threaten their survival. It reframes the suffering of Palestinian children not as collateral damage alone, but as a possible site of serious international crimes. Serious legal questions Many of the acts documented in the report amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity. If children were deliberately targeted, this would constitute a grave breach of the international humanitarian law principle to distinguish combatants from civilians. The sheer scale of child deaths raises serious concerns about whether Israeli forces have been adhering to the proportionality analysis: if civilian harm is excessive compared with the concrete military advantage anticipated, the attack is unlawful. Parties must take all feasible precautions to minimise civilian harm. The report argues Israel’s use of heavy explosive weapons in densely populated civilian areas indicates repeated failures of precaution. Israel at the UN: “This council has heard the same accusations against us again & again.. that Israel intentionally targets doctors, aid workers & journalists” Yes, because you’ve murdered hundreds of doctors, aid workers & journalists. pic.twitter.com/9gMhanyYBa — Saul Staniforth (@SaulStaniforth) June 30, 2026 Adding to the evidence record In international law, accountability is often slow, but reports like this help build the legal architecture for future prosecutions. The findings may feed directly into ongoing investigations by the International Criminal Court (ICC) into alleged crimes in Palestine. The commission explicitly recommends further scrutiny by the court. States could rely on this evidence in domestic prosecutions under universal jurisdiction. This allows domestic courts to hear cases alleging international crimes, regardless of where the crimes occurred, or the nationality of the victims or perpetrators. States may also impose targeted sanctions or arms embargoes based on credible findings in UN reports documenting serious violations of international humanitarian law, even without a court ruling. The findings could shape arguments in existing and future proceedings before the International Court of Justice, particularly around genocide and occupation. Under international law, children are supposed to be the most protected people in war. The children of Gaza have not just suffered in the war, they have become one of its defining legal fault lines. Shannon Bosch is associate professor (law) at Edith Cowan University. Republished from The Conversation under Creative Commons. This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.
Friday Democracy Now! show for rebroadcast - HD
Friday Democracy Now! show for rebroadcast - HD This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! for Broadcasters - HD MP4 and was authored by Democracy Now! for Broadcasters - HD MP4.
The post “That Guy Is Still Out There” appeared first on ProPublica.
Vanessa Saba for ProPublica It took less than a day for the detective to give up on the case. A patrol officer had reported a harrowing, violent midnight rape in a Syracuse, New York, park. Hospital records recounted that the victim, an 18-year-old freshman at Syracuse University, was “crying uncontrollably.” Her face was bruised, and she had scratches on her neck. Her hymen had been lacerated in two places. Her urine was “grossly bloody,” according to the hospital report, and there was semen inside her. At 8 on the morning after the assault, after the victim looked fruitlessly through books of mug shots in hopes of identifying her assailant, Syracuse detective George Lorenz interviewed her. She had been awake most of the night for a first police interview, followed by forensic and medical exams: everything from gathering physical evidence of the rape to X-rays of her skull because the attacker had pounded her head on a brick walkway. To alleviate the pain from her injuries, she had been given Demerol, a powerful opioid. Lorenz, a burly 17-year veteran of the department who had worked as a meat cutter and truck driver before becoming a police officer, seemed annoyed that she had trouble staying awake, according to her subsequent account. “That’s inconsequential, just the facts,” he barked when he thought she was providing extraneous detail. The detective was dubious that a rape had occurred, according to his preliminary report. “It is this writer’s opinion, after interview of the victim, that this case, as presented by the victim, is not completely factual,” he wrote. After speaking to the male student whom the victim had been visiting before she was attacked, the detective checked the crime scene for anything his colleagues, who had recovered a knife and the victim’s glasses, might have missed. That was the totality of Lorenz’s investigation. Five hours after receiving the case, in a report marked 13:00 on May 8, 1981, he placed it in the “inactive file pending further info.” The consequences of that decision are still playing out nearly a half-century later. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="700" height="700" js-autosizes src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2026-syracuse-saba-x-01.png" alt="" class="wp-image-84245" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2026-syracuse-saba-x-01.png 700w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2026-syracuse-saba-x-01.png?resize=150,150 150w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2026-syracuse-saba-x-01.png?resize=300,300 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2026-syracuse-saba-x-01.png?resize=70,70 70w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2026-syracuse-saba-x-01.png?resize=422,422 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2026-syracuse-saba-x-01.png?resize=552,552 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2026-syracuse-saba-x-01.png?resize=558,558 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2026-syracuse-saba-x-01.png?resize=527,527 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2026-syracuse-saba-x-01.png?resize=357,357 357w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2026-syracuse-saba-x-01.png?resize=400,400 400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px" /> Alice Sebold returned to campus for the fall semester that year, aware that nobody was looking for her rapist. She happened to encounter a man on the street and, with a jolt of terrified recognition, was certain she recognized her attacker. Sebold brought him to the attention of the police. Her testimony convicted the man, who spent 16 years in prison and nearly 23 more as a registered sex offender. Sebold was no ordinary survivor. At a time when few even reported rapes, she publicly described her experience in searing detail — in op-eds, on “Oprah” and then in a memoir about the attack and its aftermath — inspiring others to speak out rather than live in silent shame. That memoir, “Lucky,” was published in 1999, then sold a million copies after her first novel, “The Lovely Bones,” became a publishing phenomenon and, later, a Hollywood movie. Years after that, an attempt to turn “Lucky” into a movie led screenwriters and producers to examine the badly flawed police work and prosecution stemming from the assault of Sebold. The details had been sitting in plain sight in Sebold’s memoir. The case publicly disintegrated in 2021 when a judge vacated the conviction of Anthony Broadwater and Syracuse’s district attorney said in court that the prosecution “should never have happened.” Involving, as it did, a white woman accusing a poor Black man of rape, and coming back to court a year after the convulsions caused by the murder of George Floyd, the news detonated in the media, with Sebold vilified even after she apologized to Broadwater. The case was yet another reminder, if reminder was needed, of the racism in the U.S. justice system. And what had once been a central identity for Sebold — a person who had built a voice and a career out of standing up to sexual violence — suddenly turned on its head. As all of those details unspooled in court, on television, and in the pages of The New York Times and the Syracuse press, two former colleagues of mine began to report on the case. One detail lost in the frenzy raised the question of how many other victims had been left behind and what else the police might have missed: The district attorney said in court that there had been other rapes in the same park where Sebold had been attacked, including one a little over a week after Broadwater’s conviction. The DA expressed frustration that “nobody might have put two and two together back then.” My former colleagues moved on to other projects and publications. Eventually my editors asked me to pick up where they left off. What could we uncover if we tried today to investigate the case that the Syracuse police never truly investigated — Sebold’s — as well as any others that may have been related? Could we untangle how things went so wrong and perhaps even point to a potential culprit? And if the authorities had bungled the case this badly, what mistakes had they made in other cases and what could be learned from those errors? As an investigative reporter with almost two decades at ProPublica, many of those years focused on criminal justice, I have delved into countless cases gone wrong. On one occasion, I set out to report an article on a man unjustly convicted of murder — a case where an appeals court had belatedly found prosecutorial misconduct serious enough to overturn his conviction — only to have the man confess to me that in fact he had pulled the trigger. He recounted the victim’s dying words and told me, “I did what I had to do.” Sebold’s case would turn out to be far more complex than that one, and its layers and effects far broader than what emerged in the wake of the exoneration. There were even more turns — including civil litigation that continues to this day — in what was already a baroque narrative. Or so I would learn after I embarked on what became two and a half years of reporting, trying to excavate the Syracuse criminal justice system in an era before DNA evidence and cellphones, before the Police Department even had computers, a time in which cities all over the country were grappling with a massive rise in violent crime. Reconstructing the truth decades after the fact, needless to say, is even harder than trying to pin it down in the moment. What’s clear is that no part of the system in Syracuse at the time could be depended on. Police brushed off rapes. Prosecutors bungled confessions or were defeated at trial. Judges overlooked irregularities. And one of the most powerful institutions in the city, Syracuse University, seemed more interested in suppressing news of a rape epidemic than solving it. There were police reports of sexual assaults near the campus marked “no press.” A former detective testified that the files were marked that way at the university’s request. In this atmosphere, at least one serial rapist was on the streets — and sexual assaults that closely resembled Sebold’s continued for years, even while Broadwater was behind bars. Meanwhile, the case gnawed at former Syracuse detective Paul Clapper. He wondered whether the wrong man had been sent to prison. After he left the force, he raised the name of a confessed and convicted rapist who closely matched the physical description of Sebold’s assailant but committed most of his crimes indoors rather than outside. That man’s record was lengthy and violent. I eventually found myself knocking on his battered door, wondering whether, at long last, I had found the true perpetrator. Or was I falling into the same trap that the Syracuse criminal justice system had tumbled into when it wrongly convicted Anthony Broadwater 44 years ago? 1 When Alice Sebold arrived as a college freshman in 1980, Syracuse was a city in decline. It had risen a century and a half earlier because of its proximity to the Erie Canal, then for decades was the site of factories for companies like General Electric and Carrier Corp. By the 1970s, those companies were closing facilities. Poverty climbed and the city’s population dwindled, emptying rows of Victorian homes that had housed generations of working-class families. Syracuse’s downtown, already severed by the interstate highway, withered. One institution, however, was flourishing: Syracuse University. Enrollment surged, its sports teams excelled and new buildings rose. The university was a bubble inside the city, according to former students. Sebold was drawn by the school’s distinguished poetry program. Raised in a household of voracious readers in suburban Philadelphia, her father a professor of Spanish at the University of Pennsylvania and her mother having worked for magazines, Sebold disdained the university’s frat culture. She preferred to skip the keg parties in her dorm and instead lounged in the basement of the art building, drinking endless cups of instant coffee and reading Emily Dickinson. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="822" width="527" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Sebold-Typewriter.jpg?w=527" alt="A young woman with black hair uses a typewriter at a desk. Beside her are a cup of coffee and notebooks." class="wp-image-84587" title="" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Sebold-Typewriter.jpg 2032w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Sebold-Typewriter.jpg?resize=192,300 192w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Sebold-Typewriter.jpg?resize=768,1198 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Sebold-Typewriter.jpg?resize=657,1024 657w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Sebold-Typewriter.jpg?resize=985,1536 985w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Sebold-Typewriter.jpg?resize=1313,2048 1313w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Sebold-Typewriter.jpg?resize=863,1346 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Sebold-Typewriter.jpg?resize=422,658 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Sebold-Typewriter.jpg?resize=552,861 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Sebold-Typewriter.jpg?resize=558,870 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Sebold-Typewriter.jpg?resize=527,822 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Sebold-Typewriter.jpg?resize=752,1173 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Sebold-Typewriter.jpg?resize=1149,1792 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Sebold-Typewriter.jpg?resize=1026,1600 1026w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Sebold-Typewriter.jpg?resize=400,624 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Sebold-Typewriter.jpg?resize=800,1248 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Sebold-Typewriter.jpg?resize=1200,1871 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Sebold-Typewriter.jpg?resize=1600,2495 1600w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Sebold-Typewriter.jpg?resize=2000,3119 2000w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 527px) 100vw, 527px" /> Alice Sebold, then a Syracuse University student, at her typewriter Courtesy of Alice Sebold Just after midnight, on May 8, 1981, the last night of her freshman year, she was attacked. Sebold was crossing through Thornden Park on her way back to her dorm from a friend’s apartment. A stranger grabbed her from behind as she walked along a brick path. He put one hand over her mouth and threatened her with a knife. “I’ll kill you if you scream,” he said. Over a period of more than an hour, according to police reports and Sebold’s memoir, the assailant bludgeoned Sebold with his fists, pounded her skull into the brick and choked her. Sebold frantically searched for words to deter him: She told him she was a virgin, then an orphan. She offered him the $8 she had in her back pocket. He laughed and said he wasn’t interested in that. He forced her to kiss him, then to undress. He made clear she was not his first victim. “You’re the worst bitch I’ve ever done this to,” he said. Then, when he was done, he fell asleep on top of her. She tried to escape, but he woke up and offered a tearful apology. “You’re a good girl,” he said. “I’m so sorry.” He told her to kiss him good night and called her beautiful. “It was a date to him,” she wrote in “Lucky.” Just as quickly, he reverted to hostility. The attacker pocketed her $8 after all. He let her go, then asked her name as she walked away. “Alice,” she told him, writing later, “I didn’t have a name other than my own to say.” “Nice knowing you, Alice,” he said. “See you around sometime.” 2 Thornden Park, where Sebold had been assaulted, was both a refuge and a menacing locale adjacent to the university. Once the estate of a salt baron, the rolling 76-acre park had broad fields — with tennis courts, a pool and an earthen amphitheater — as well as dense clusters of maple and oak trees that provided dark, isolated enclaves where an attack might go unnoticed. The park had been the site of two sexual attacks seven months before Sebold’s rape. A third had occurred a block away. The reports in those cases had also been quickly consigned to the inactive file. One woman had told police that a man dragged her into a wooded section of the park. When she resisted, the report stated, he “began to punch her in the face” and “ordered her to remove her pants.” As with Sebold’s case, the police report was dismissive. One officer asserted that the victim was “retarded” and had run away from a nearby halfway house. The staff there said that she had complained of a similar incident two weeks prior and that she was having “difficulty adjusting.” The case was put on ice just hours after it had been reported. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="537" width="752" data-id="84589" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Park-1.jpg?w=752" alt="A dark photograph of a park with a fence running through it. Behind the fence are small trees." class="wp-image-84589" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Park-1.jpg 1466w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Park-1.jpg?resize=300,214 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Park-1.jpg?resize=768,548 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Park-1.jpg?resize=1024,731 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Park-1.jpg?resize=863,616 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Park-1.jpg?resize=422,301 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Park-1.jpg?resize=552,394 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Park-1.jpg?resize=558,399 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Park-1.jpg?resize=527,376 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Park-1.jpg?resize=752,537 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Park-1.jpg?resize=1149,821 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Park-1.jpg?resize=400,286 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Park-1.jpg?resize=800,571 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Park-1.jpg?resize=1200,857 1200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" /> <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="537" width="752" data-id="84590" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Park-2.jpg?w=752" alt="A shadowy photograph of a large doorway entrance surrounded by an archway of rocks and foliage." class="wp-image-84590" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Park-2.jpg 1466w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Park-2.jpg?resize=300,214 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Park-2.jpg?resize=768,548 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Park-2.jpg?resize=1024,731 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Park-2.jpg?resize=863,616 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Park-2.jpg?resize=422,301 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Park-2.jpg?resize=552,394 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Park-2.jpg?resize=558,399 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Park-2.jpg?resize=527,376 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Park-2.jpg?resize=752,537 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Park-2.jpg?resize=1149,821 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Park-2.jpg?resize=400,286 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Park-2.jpg?resize=800,571 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Park-2.jpg?resize=1200,857 1200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" /> <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="537" width="752" data-id="84591" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Alice-Glasses.jpg?w=752" alt="A knife and glasses lay on the ground on top of grass and dirt." class="wp-image-84591" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Alice-Glasses.jpg 1466w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Alice-Glasses.jpg?resize=300,214 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Alice-Glasses.jpg?resize=768,548 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Alice-Glasses.jpg?resize=1024,731 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Alice-Glasses.jpg?resize=863,616 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Alice-Glasses.jpg?resize=422,301 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Alice-Glasses.jpg?resize=552,394 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Alice-Glasses.jpg?resize=558,399 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Alice-Glasses.jpg?resize=527,376 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Alice-Glasses.jpg?resize=752,537 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Alice-Glasses.jpg?resize=1149,821 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Alice-Glasses.jpg?resize=400,286 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Alice-Glasses.jpg?resize=800,571 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Alice-Glasses.jpg?resize=1200,857 1200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" /> Crime scene photos after the assault on Sebold depict Thornden Park, the tunnel where she was raped, and the knife and glasses (hers) recovered by Syracuse police. Onondaga County District Attorney Four days later, another young woman was making her way across Thornden Park when a man in a ski cap grabbed her by the neck and put a knife to her face. As she squirmed and tried to push him off, the man struggled to pull off his pants and hers. The woman suddenly realized the weapon was just a table knife, so she screamed as loud as she could and he ran away. There was no indication in the police reports that these attacks might have been connected. Nor was there much evidence of public alarm. I found no articles about any of these October 1980 assaults in newspaper archives. Trying to piece this information together was daunting and complicated. My colleagues and I made more than two dozen requests for all manner of law enforcement records from the Syracuse district attorney’s office, Police Department, the state prison system, local jails, archives and courts. Many were initially denied. After appeals, I wound up with thousands of pages of documents. There was little or no organization among them, and some were scrawled in barely decipherable handwriting. Even the redactions were haphazard, with some names still visible. I started to map out the attacks around Thornden Park, using police reports and stray newspaper clips for some of the later ones. The numbers and proximity were jarring. More than a dozen women reported being raped or attacked by strangers within half a square mile over four years. Women were being sexually assaulted in their dorm rooms and in student apartments, walking out of grocery stores or on their way to the library. A nursing student was attacked at the same spot as Sebold, on the same day that her roommate was raped in their shared apartment. A freshman was raped in a sorority house by a man who broke in through a window. The descriptions of the perpetrators were often eerily similar. They frequently carried a knife. And several were roughly the same height, weight and race. It appeared that there was a public safety crisis emanating from the park area, with no sign of urgency from law enforcement. 3 Syracuse’s criminal justice system was chaotic during the 1980s and ’90s. One prosecutor would get into a scuffle, on live TV, with a candidate who had just won the race for DA. The police crime lab would lose its accreditation. The doctor who led the county medical examiner’s office resigned after an investigation found he had routinely removed organs from corpses without consent from the victims’ families. His employees had posed playfully for photos over the body of a woman who had died by suicide. Given the level of dysfunction — and the fact that DNA evidence hadn’t yet come into use in the early ’80s — rape was particularly difficult to investigate. Survivors were wary, corroborating evidence hard to find. The Syracuse Police Department had no separate sex crimes unit at the time, and officers were still using typewriters. “We were doing everything from homicide to robberies,” one supervisor of detectives during this era told me. He remembered nights with 18 felonies and fewer than a dozen detectives to work them. “A person with a knife in their back or a guy who got shot is going to take priority over a two-week-old rape case,” he said. “A person with a knife in their back or a guy who got shot is going to take priority over a two-week-old rape case,” one supervisor of detectives said. There was another impediment in those days: Syracuse University. I found a police report from 1980 on which someone had scrawled the words “NO PRESS.” A 19-year-old university student had been walking near Thornden Park when she, too, was attacked by a man with a knife. She got away by biting him when he tried to force her to perform oral sex. The “no press” designation on police reports was not unusual, according to deposition testimony by Clapper, the former Syracuse detective, who would play a crucial role in the Broadwater saga. “No press,” Clapper testified in 2025, “means that Syracuse University put their foot down and said no press for any kind of rape, robbery, burglary that’s anywhere in the area of Syracuse University.” The university had influence in the Police Department, according to Clapper, and an obvious interest in making the campus seem safe: “If your little daughter wants to go to school at SU and calls the police, and says, How is the crime around Syracuse University? ‘No crime around there.’ There’s five girls raped within, let’s say, a six-month period … between campus and Thornden Park. And if it’s marked ‘no press,’ it’s like it never happened.” 4 Sebold’s case had been placed in the inactive file. That meant the police weren’t searching for her assailant. But she couldn’t help herself. According to Sebold’s memoir, she walked the university campus, “looking for Him.” “I was very aware that he could be around any corner,” she told me decades later. A sense of “hypervigilance” coursed through her like “a bunch of electrical wires,” she said. Five months after the crime, Sebold saw a man on a street filled with restaurants and bars near the university. She felt a sudden, visceral certainty: “right height, right build, something in his posture.” She wrote that the man walked up to her and said, “Hey girl, don’t I know you from somewhere?” He then began nonchalantly chatting with a police officer across the street. (Both Broadwater and the officer would testify that they said “don’t I know you” to each other.) When Sebold reported the sighting to the authorities a few hours later, Clapper recognized himself as the cop she saw and Anthony Broadwater as the man he was talking to. Broadwater, then 20, had grown up as one of six children of a janitor who worked for Syracuse University. After a brief stint in the Marines, he was working as a telephone wiring installer. Growing up, Broadwater told me, he’d had run-ins with the police and had served time in juvenile detention for theft. (Clapper had known Broadwater since he was a boy, he would testify years later. When asked if he had ever known him “to be involved in anything like rape,” Clapper replied, “No.”) <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="657" height="840" js-autosizes src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/h_15625845.jpg?w=657" alt="A young man in a Marines uniform poses for a portrait." class="wp-image-83417" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/h_15625845.jpg 657w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/h_15625845.jpg?resize=235,300 235w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/h_15625845.jpg?resize=422,540 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/h_15625845.jpg?resize=552,706 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/h_15625845.jpg?resize=558,713 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/h_15625845.jpg?resize=527,674 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/h_15625845.jpg?resize=400,511 400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 657px) 100vw, 657px" /> Anthony Broadwater during his time in the Marines U.S. Marine Corps via The New York Times/Redux Broadwater was arrested. He vociferously protested his innocence and did whatever he could to prove it. He volunteered a pubic hair for comparison to one found on Sebold after the rape, and he agreed to participate in a lineup. When Broadwater saw the other lineup participants, he began to worry. None of them looked much like him. They were all too tall or had a lighter complexion or both. He suggested that another inmate closer to his height and build be included to make it more fair. Broadwater’s court-appointed lawyer got the jailer to bring another man down from the detention facility above the police building. Sebold looked at the row of men and picked the person who had just been added to the lineup. The man was standing next to Broadwater. The case should have ended then and there, in the view of the DA today. “You know, she didn’t pick out the wrong guy. She picked out the guy. She picked out the guy that she thought had raped her. And it wasn’t Anthony,” Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick told ProPublica. “Case is over. Stop.” But it didn’t stop. 5 The prosecution of Broadwater had been assigned to a young assistant district attorney named Gail Uebelhoer (pronounced EE-bull-hair). Sebold wrote that she felt an immediate connection to Uebelhoer, whom she described as “solid and female” with “sparkling, intelligent eyes.” As Sebold put it in “Lucky,” “She wanted what I wanted: to win.” After Sebold failed to identify Broadwater in the lineup, she could sense that Lorenz, the detective who had overseen the process, was unhappy. (Lorenz died in 2017.) Sebold said she had been scared and confused, torn between the men in positions 4 and 5. Instead of seeking out additional evidence, Uebelhoer asked Sebold to draft an affidavit on the spot, explaining what had happened. Sebold wrote in the affidavit that she had picked No. 5 because that person had been looking at her. Broadwater was in position 4. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="510" width="752" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/h_15625844.jpg?w=752" alt="Five young men stand in a lineup photo with serious expressions. They are all wearing the same uniform." class="wp-image-83418" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/h_15625844.jpg 3062w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/h_15625844.jpg?resize=300,203 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/h_15625844.jpg?resize=768,520 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/h_15625844.jpg?resize=1024,694 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/h_15625844.jpg?resize=1536,1041 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/h_15625844.jpg?resize=2048,1388 2048w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/h_15625844.jpg?resize=863,585 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/h_15625844.jpg?resize=422,286 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/h_15625844.jpg?resize=552,374 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/h_15625844.jpg?resize=558,378 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/h_15625844.jpg?resize=527,357 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/h_15625844.jpg?resize=752,510 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/h_15625844.jpg?resize=1149,779 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/h_15625844.jpg?resize=2000,1355 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/h_15625844.jpg?resize=400,271 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/h_15625844.jpg?resize=800,542 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/h_15625844.jpg?resize=1200,813 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/h_15625844.jpg?resize=1600,1084 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" /> During a lineup, Sebold identified her assailant as the man on the far right; Broadwater was standing next to him. Onondaga District Attorney/New York Times/Redux The prosecutor then told her it was only natural that she would make such a mistake, according to Sebold’s memoir. “They really worked a number on you. He uses that friend or that friend uses him, in every lineup they do,” Sebold said Uebelhoer told her. “They’re dead ringers.” Both men are adamant that they had never been in a lineup before. Within three hours of the botched lineup, Uebelhoer presented the case against Broadwater to a grand jury. Sebold wrote that she put on “the best show” of her life and several grand jurors “fought back tears.” At least one of them was uneasy about the manner in which Broadwater had been identified, according to a transcript. “When someone is picked out of the lineup, doesn’t it have to be absolutely sure that the person that they picked out of the lineup is the one they’ve seen before?” one grand juror asked Clapper while he was on the witness stand. “That’s correct,” Clapper said. Uebelhoer quashed the discussion. “He really can’t give you an opinion on that,” she told the juror, adding that Clapper hadn’t been present for the lineup. The juror asked about it two more times, but Uebelhoer kept deflecting. Broadwater was indicted on every count she had presented, including rape, sodomy and robbery. <img decoding="async" class="" alt="" width="4000" height="2250" loading="lazy" js-autosizes src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2026-syracuse-saba-secondary-4000.jpg" srcset=" https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2026-syracuse-saba-secondary-4000.jpg?resize=400%2C225 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2026-syracuse-saba-secondary-4000.jpg?resize=800%2C450 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2026-syracuse-saba-secondary-4000.jpg?resize=1200%2C675 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2026-syracuse-saba-secondary-4000.jpg?resize=1600%2C900 1600w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2026-syracuse-saba-secondary-4000.jpg?resize=2000%2C1125 2000w " /> Illustration by Vanessa Saba for ProPublica 6 When Broadwater’s case was set for trial, Uebelhoer was visibly pregnant. It was passed to William Mastine. Mustachioed, 6’6” and pugnacious — Mastine is the prosecutor who would scuffle with the DA-elect a few years later — he was known for his swagger and courtroom theatrics. Fitzpatrick, then a fellow assistant district attorney, would dub Mastine the “Garbage Man” in a newspaper profile for his ability to bring cases with scant evidence or, as Fitzpatrick put it to me more pungently, “take shit and make it hit.” This was no minor consideration. Acquittals in rape trials were common at the time in Syracuse. At one point in the 1980s, a local news article reported that the district attorney’s office had suffered nine trial defeats in a row. Uebelhoer was quoted saying “juries are looking for a perfect victim, but they don’t exist.” She saw Sebold as a standout, writing in a memo as the case was transferred to Mastine: “Good luck. Victim is excellent witness.” Sebold’s testimony would be crucial at trial, since it was nearly the entirety of the evidence. Mastine repeatedly emphasized that she was a credible witness. She had been a virgin, he pointed out, arguing that it would more firmly cement the image of her rapist in her mind. He said her study of drawing as a high school student equipped her to remember facial characteristics. She was shaken during the lineup. The identification on the street was what mattered, he argued. Uebelhoer saw Sebold as a standout, writing in a memo as the case was transferred to Mastine: “Good luck. Victim is excellent witness.” Aside from Sebold’s identification, the only other piece of evidence was the pubic hair Broadwater volunteered, which was compared to a hair found on Sebold after the rape. The two hairs were examined under a microscope by a lab expert who testified that they were “consistent” with each other. That essentially meant that both had come from a Black person. There were approximately 27 million Black Americans at that time. (In the absence of DNA technology, the prosecution could have tested the semen found in Sebold to determine its blood type, but it never did. That would have narrowed the list of possible perpetrators to only those with the specific blood type.) The trial was peppered with irregularities. Broadwater and his lawyer had opted for a bench trial, hoping that a judge would see the paucity of evidence and wouldn’t be swayed by emotion. But the judge seemed to have a soft spot for Sebold. During a break in the proceedings, he spoke to Sebold privately, according to her memoir, expressing concern about how she was holding up and asking about her family. Had a juror done such a thing, they would likely have been kicked off the jury and a mistrial might’ve been declared. (The judge died in 2009.) In a final, highly unusual turn, Uebelhoer took the stand herself, as a witness for the prosecution. She testified that Broadwater was unhappy with one of the people in the lineup and that he managed to swap that person out for the man Sebold picked. She seemed to imply that Broadwater was responsible for any confusion in the lineup process. When it was over, the judge didn’t even leave the bench to deliberate. He found Broadwater guilty directly after Mastine finished his closing argument. Mastine defends the trial and the verdict. When I reached him by phone, he noted that he was brought onto the case after the indictment had been handed up. Mastine otherwise repeated what he’d said at the time: that Sebold’s identification of Broadwater on the street trumped the one in the lineup room, so it was appropriate to take the case to trial. Mastine said that Fitzpatrick anointed him the “Garbage Man” after his work on the Sebold case and congratulated him on the victory. Mastine denied that he felt any pressure in light of the defeats his office had endured. “A trial lawyer has to have a bathtub mind,” he told me. “During trial, you fill the bathtub up. When the verdict comes in, you empty the bathtub and start all over again.” (Years after the Broadwater trial, Mastine, by then in private practice, pleaded guilty to possessing a check on which he forged a client’s signature. He agreed to give up his law license.) <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="1053" width="752" data-id="84592" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Uebelhoer_f816f1.jpg?w=752" alt="A young woman in glasses and a business suit holds her right hand up while her left rests on a book." class="wp-image-84592" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Uebelhoer_f816f1.jpg 2199w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Uebelhoer_f816f1.jpg?resize=214,300 214w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Uebelhoer_f816f1.jpg?resize=768,1075 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Uebelhoer_f816f1.jpg?resize=731,1024 731w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Uebelhoer_f816f1.jpg?resize=1097,1536 1097w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Uebelhoer_f816f1.jpg?resize=1463,2048 1463w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Uebelhoer_f816f1.jpg?resize=863,1208 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Uebelhoer_f816f1.jpg?resize=422,591 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Uebelhoer_f816f1.jpg?resize=552,773 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Uebelhoer_f816f1.jpg?resize=558,781 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Uebelhoer_f816f1.jpg?resize=527,738 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Uebelhoer_f816f1.jpg?resize=752,1053 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Uebelhoer_f816f1.jpg?resize=1149,1609 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Uebelhoer_f816f1.jpg?resize=1143,1600 1143w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Uebelhoer_f816f1.jpg?resize=400,560 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Uebelhoer_f816f1.jpg?resize=800,1120 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Uebelhoer_f816f1.jpg?resize=1200,1680 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Uebelhoer_f816f1.jpg?resize=1600,2240 1600w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Uebelhoer_f816f1.jpg?resize=2000,2800 2000w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" /> <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="1053" width="752" data-id="84593" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Mastine_01c81c.jpg?w=752" alt="A man with a mustache, suit and paisley tie smiles at the camera." class="wp-image-84593" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Mastine_01c81c.jpg 2444w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Mastine_01c81c.jpg?resize=214,300 214w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Mastine_01c81c.jpg?resize=768,1075 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Mastine_01c81c.jpg?resize=732,1024 732w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Mastine_01c81c.jpg?resize=1097,1536 1097w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Mastine_01c81c.jpg?resize=1463,2048 1463w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Mastine_01c81c.jpg?resize=863,1208 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Mastine_01c81c.jpg?resize=422,591 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Mastine_01c81c.jpg?resize=552,773 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Mastine_01c81c.jpg?resize=558,781 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Mastine_01c81c.jpg?resize=527,738 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Mastine_01c81c.jpg?resize=752,1053 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Mastine_01c81c.jpg?resize=1149,1608 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Mastine_01c81c.jpg?resize=1143,1600 1143w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Mastine_01c81c.jpg?resize=400,560 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Mastine_01c81c.jpg?resize=800,1120 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Mastine_01c81c.jpg?resize=1200,1680 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Mastine_01c81c.jpg?resize=1600,2240 1600w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Mastine_01c81c.jpg?resize=2000,2800 2000w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" /> Syracuse Assistant District Attorneys Gail Uebelhoer, who oversaw the lineup and indictment of Broadwater, and William Mastine, who prosecuted him at trial Onondaga Historical Association Through her lawyer, Uebelhoer declined to be interviewed. In a 2025 deposition, she testified that she could remember little of the Broadwater case. She said repeatedly that she could neither admit nor deny what Sebold had recounted in her memoir. But Uebelhoer emphasized that she had no way of knowing whether the man Sebold picked had appeared in a lineup with Broadwater before. “How would I know that?” she testified. “I’m not down there for every lineup.” Responding to Fitzpatrick’s assertion that the case should have been dropped after the lineup, Uebelhoer testified that he likely would have been at meetings where the case was discussed but “registered no objection.” (Fitzpatrick denies this. “I’m not saying I don’t have a recollection of the meeting,” he told me. “I’m saying that meeting did not take place.”) Uebelhoer, for her part, added, “I thought that I did my job by putting it all in front of the grand jury to let them hear and see if they found her to be believable or not.” Two months after the guilty verdict, Broadwater was sentenced to 8 1/3 to 25 years in state prison. 7 Broadwater was sitting in the local jail after his trial, he told me, when a Syracuse newspaper reported that another woman had been raped in Thornden Park. “I told you it wasn’t me! It never was me,” he said he told his attorney. “That guy is still out there doing it.” A police report seems to line up with Broadwater’s description. The attack happened on May 27, 1982, and resembled the rape Broadwater had been convicted of just nine days earlier. At about 9 that evening, a 19-year-old actress was jogging through a wooded section of the park when she heard someone behind her. Suddenly she was in the grip of a man dragging her by the neck behind a cluster of trees. He forced her to perform oral sex, then pulled her sweatpants down and raped her. She reported that her assailant was Black, about 5’9”, 140 pounds, muscular and around 16 years old. Those details did not draw a lot of notice at the time. But they fit the description of a rapist who would soon become well-known to the Syracuse police. Only four months after Broadwater was found guilty, a high schooler named Thomas Weakfall admitted raping five women. The crimes had begun in late 1981, he said in a statement taken by Clapper. Four of them occurred less than a mile from Thornden Park. Weakfall, according to police reports, had provided “certain facts only the perpetrator would have known.” “I told you it wasn’t me! It never was me,” Broadwater said he told his attorney. “That guy is still out there doing it.” Weakfall seemed at war with himself, conscious of the brutality he inflicted. “I go to sleep Tommy Weakfall,” he would say in one confession, “and then in the middle of the night I wake up in a cold sweat. … I feel this pressure pushing me to go out side and do something.” He admitted burglarizing houses and raping women. When he was done, according to an account Clapper gave years later, Weakfall would “wrap them in a blanket, hold them in his arms and tell them he was sorry he did it.” Many of the police reports I examined, including Sebold’s, noted that the rapist had apologized to the victim. There’s no evidence that Weakfall assaulted Sebold, but there’s no denying he matched key elements of the description she gave. Sebold had told police her rapist was Black, 16 to 18 years of age, about 5’7” and 150 pounds. Weakfall was Black, 16 years old, 5’9” and 140 pounds, according to police reports. Broadwater was 20, stood 5’6” and weighed about 175 pounds. Despite Weakfall’s confession, the rape case against him collapsed. Officers learned — after taking his statement without a defense lawyer present — that he was being represented by an attorney on an unrelated burglary charge. Weakfall’s confession wouldn’t be admissible in court. He ended up pleading guilty to second-degree burglary. Weakfall’s sentence wouldn’t require a single day of jail time. He got five years of probation and remained on the streets. 8 On the morning of Sept. 29, 1983, a man matching Weakfall’s description led police on a dramatic foot chase through downtown Syracuse after being interrupted while attempting to rape a woman inside her car. Records show Weakfall was arrested for the offense and released on Oct. 11, 1983. Four months later, he pleaded guilty to a lesser charge, attempted sexual misconduct, and was sentenced to one year. During the four months that Weakfall was still free, there was another notable assault. Sebold’s roommate was raped that November in the apartment they shared. She was one of five women attacked in the same cluster of blocks over five months, according to news accounts at the time. Police suspected that one man had committed the crimes. The homes had been burglarized and the women had been raped at knifepoint and beaten; some were also bound and gagged. These elements matched Weakfall’s methods, though the reports suggested a noticeably taller, older perpetrator. Several survivors were asked to look at a photograph of Weakfall as part of an array of mug shots, but they didn’t identify him. Sebold’s roommate told police that after the rapist broke into the apartment, he gagged, bound and blindfolded her, then became “very gentle” and “took his time.” She added that “he didn’t talk street talk either. He had a good use of the English vocabulary.” He led her into Sebold’s room, put a “thin metal object” to her throat and told her, “I just want you to be good.” When he finished raping her, he tossed her jeans to her and covered her with a blanket. The roommate also reported an exchange that suggested her rapist may have encountered Sebold in the past. After the assault, she tried to get him to leave by yelling out that her roommate was coming home. The assailant replied: “I know her, we had a thing, we had a deal in the past.” Clapper viewed this as significant enough that he put it down in capital letters in his report. But he never followed up, Clapper testified years later. The perpetrator was likely fabricating a connection that didn’t exist, he said. Clapper never suspected that it was Weakfall or that the same man raped both Sebold and her roommate. He said the description didn’t match Weakfall, and Broadwater was locked up by then. He acknowledged that victims sometimes get these descriptions wrong, but he had another reason for ruling Weakfall out: “I think he was incarcerated then,” Clapper testified. But the records I had seen showed that his memory was incorrect: Weakfall had been a free man at the time Sebold’s roommate was attacked. 9 In 1985, three years after Broadwater’s conviction, Clapper encountered Weakfall again. The detective identified him in a surveillance photograph of a man using a stolen bank card at an ATM. Clapper interviewed him again. Once again, Weakfall confessed. The police reports, along with the signed confession, spelled out in chilling detail how Weakfall had raped at least three women between September and November of 1985. He would spot a vulnerable location — an accessible window, a woman home alone — and climb in quietly, first ransacking for valuables, then threatening them with a knife, sometimes beating or tying them up if they resisted. When Weakfall was done, some women got an apology. One said he was “soft spoken” and did not use “slang or street type language.” He kept calling another one ma’am. Others got nothing but raging hostility. He told one woman that he felt understood by her, then threatened to burn her house down if she called the police. Weakfall went on to say, effectively, that he had raped so many women in so many different places that he couldn’t remember them all. In the final paragraph, he made a garbled cry for help. He described sexual violence as a compulsion. The rapes were “accidents,” he said, and the courts “haven’t helped me at all.” He hoped that the next judge would get him some counseling. This time Weakfall’s confession held up. He pleaded guilty to three rapes and a burglary and was sentenced to a maximum of 18 years. He served 12. While in prison, Weakfall participated in a treatment program intended to stop people from committing sexual violence. <img decoding="async" class="" alt="" width="4000" height="2250" loading="lazy" js-autosizes src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2026-syracuse-saba-secondary-4000.jpg" srcset=" https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2026-syracuse-saba-secondary-4000.jpg?resize=400%2C225 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2026-syracuse-saba-secondary-4000.jpg?resize=800%2C450 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2026-syracuse-saba-secondary-4000.jpg?resize=1200%2C675 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2026-syracuse-saba-secondary-4000.jpg?resize=1600%2C900 1600w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2026-syracuse-saba-secondary-4000.jpg?resize=2000%2C1125 2000w " /> Illustration by Vanessa Saba for ProPublica 10 Accusations against prominent men eventually began bringing the issue of sexual assault to the forefront in Syracuse. In 1986, a star Syracuse University football player was accused of rape. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor and was initially allowed to remain on the team. An uproar ensued, prompting the university’s chancellor to intervene and suspend him for five games. Then, in November 1988, came another attack with a notable defendant, a crime that would inspire a second rape memoir by a Syracuse University student. The book describes how Laura Gray-Rosendale, a 20-year-old sophomore, had fallen asleep while studying in her bedroom when 23-year-old Michael Holm broke in, then bound and beat her. “He raped me every way someone can be raped,” she told ProPublica. “It was excruciating to be in my body.” A roommate called the police and officers kicked down Gray-Rosendale’s door, finding Holm with a screwdriver in his hand, standing over Gray-Rosendale, as he pulled his pants up. Her hands were tied and she was naked from the waist down. Holm tried to flee, injuring three officers, before they finally subdued and arrested him. The defendant was white, the grandson of Melvin Holm, a former chairman of the university’s Board of Trustees who had been the CEO of Carrier Corp., one of the city’s largest employers and the eponym for the university’s domed stadium. In her book, “College Girl,” Gray-Rosendale recounted getting a phone call from a university administrator who told her the Holm family made major donations to the university. “I’m like, why are you telling me this?” she said. “But I know why. … She’s trying to dissuade me from testifying.” In an interview, Gray-Rosendale described having a “complete breakdown” in the months after the assault and said that seeing “anyone who resembled [Holm] physically would be like a trigger and send me into a full out panic attack.” Through years of therapy and writing her memoir, she eventually found healing. But, she said, “I was never the same.” Despite being caught mid-assault, Holm pleaded guilty to burglary. The word rape did not appear in his plea allocution. He ultimately served eight years in prison. (ProPublica could not locate him to seek an interview. His lawyer declined to comment.) “I was very glad that he got jail time,” Gray-Rosendale said of Holm. “But … that term, burglary. It did not in any way account for the multiple crimes that he committed, and that stuck with me then, sticks with me now.” 11 Pressure was building in Syracuse. In 1989, six rapes had been reported in the first two months of the school year, including one on the chancellor’s front lawn. Students began marching, organizing nighttime campus patrols and pressuring university officials. Gray-Rosendale told the university’s trustees at a campus meeting on sexual violence that she had been raped by one of their grandsons. “I’m not a statistic,” she said. The turmoil attracted the attention of media ranging from talk show host Geraldo Rivera to The New York Times. Finally, that year, the university convened a task force and began to implement security measures that advocates had been demanding for years, including improvements to transportation services off-campus, the expansion of “blue light” emergency phones and the provision of counseling services and public speaking events on sexual assault. In response to detailed questions regarding events from the 1980s, a spokesperson for Syracuse University said in an email that “we are not in a position to speak to the actions or decisions of prior administrations,” but the university is now equipped with “comprehensive policies, a steadfast commitment to preventing sexual and relationship violence and robust support structures to help every survivor that comes forward.” By this point, the city had become the leading edge of a national issue. In March 1990, a Syracuse University student named Kristin Eaton-Pollard testified before a congressional subcommittee in Washington. She described being raped as a freshman in 1988 in Thornden Park, which she “later learned was notorious for its frequent occurrence of violent crime, located only about 100 yards from my residence hall.” Eaton-Pollard criticized the university for being too slow to appreciate the need for the new security measures. “The programs at Syracuse University should have been initiated of their own accord a long time ago,” Eaton-Pollard said. Her testimony helped inspire the passage, that same year, of the Jeanne Clery Act, legislation named for a Lehigh University freshman who was raped and murdered by a fellow student. The law requires all colleges that accept federal financial aid to publicly report campus crime statistics every year. 12 Broadwater was unaware that the issue of sexual violence was roiling Syracuse. He remained in prison and had never stopped trying to prove his innocence. He kept a transcript of his trial with him as he was shuttled among 13 prisons in the 16 years he served for the Sebold conviction. He would show it to gang leaders to prove he shouldn’t be there. “Rape charges here,” a cousin and fellow inmate had warned him when he entered Attica state prison, “they kill you.” As Broadwater puts it, “I caught holy hell” while incarcerated. He took to wrapping his torso with copies of National Geographic magazine in case an inmate came at him with a knife. In a riot, he saw a friend stabbed to death, took 12 stitches and nearly lost an eye trying to defend himself. He filed myriad appeals and requests to reexamine the evidence, some without the help of a lawyer. Each was rejected. One petition was handwritten, laying out his logic in angled handwriting across lined notebook paper. Broadwater raised some of the arguments that eventually got him exonerated. He wrote, for example, that Uebelhoer’s testimony missed the point: “Whether or not I know the man … or was happy about the composition of the lineup had nothing to do with the victim’s failure to pick me out.” “Whether or not I know the man … or was happy about the composition of the lineup had nothing to do with the victim’s failure to pick me out.” Four times Broadwater came before the parole board. Four times he was denied. He refused to go to his fifth scheduled appearance. Commissioners wanted an admission of guilt, not claims of innocence, and Broadwater wouldn’t apologize. He didn’t come home until Dec. 31, 1998. He was 38. Broadwater was free but unable to escape the shadow of a rape conviction. Even members of his family shunned him. He was required to register as a sex offender, which made it impossible to get any but the most menial job. Broadwater eventually managed to get a position on an assembly line, stamping the logo of Syracuse China on dishware from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. He liked that he had to punch in, and that the factory was filled with security cameras. Broadwater wanted to work at a place that always documented his whereabouts in case anyone tried to accuse him of something. 13 For her part, Sebold had struggled to get her life on track over the years. Rootless and experimenting with drugs in her 20s — heroin was her favorite, by her own account — it was only as she confronted the consequences of the attack that she slowly began to grapple with her trauma. She began by writing an op-ed for The New York Times on the rape in 1989, then later appeared on “The Oprah Winfrey Show.” By the mid-’90s, she had started work on a memoir about her assault and the aftermath. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="525" width="752" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Scan-4_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?w=752" alt="Seen through a car window, a woman walks across a vast lawn with trees behind her." class="wp-image-83429" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Scan-4_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg 3000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Scan-4_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=300,209 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Scan-4_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=768,536 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Scan-4_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1024,715 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Scan-4_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1536,1072 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Scan-4_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=2048,1430 2048w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Scan-4_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=863,602 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Scan-4_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=422,295 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Scan-4_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=552,385 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Scan-4_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=558,389 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Scan-4_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=527,368 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Scan-4_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=752,525 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Scan-4_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1149,802 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Scan-4_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=2000,1396 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Scan-4_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=400,279 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Scan-4_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=800,558 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Scan-4_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1200,838 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Scan-4_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1600,1117 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" /> When Sebold began conducting research for her memoir, “Lucky,” she returned to Thornden Park as her then-boyfriend watched from a car. Courtesy of Alice Sebold Sebold returned to Syracuse to research the book. She nervously walked around Thornden Park while her then-boyfriend stood by and took snapshots. And Sebold met with Uebelhoer at the district attorney’s office. Uebelhoer helped her gain access to records, including a box of evidence from the original case. Both Uebelhoer and Sebold recall seeing the clothing Sebold had worn the night of the attack, and Sebold remembers seeing the pubic hair that was key to Broadwater’s conviction. (It was yet another example of the scrambled Syracuse justice system: An evidence log stated that all of the evidence in the case had been destroyed in the late 1980s, but both women have said they saw the box of materials years after that.) The prosecutor helped promote Sebold’s memoir when it was published. Uebelhoer’s sister created a packet of publicity materials that, according to Sebold, included a glossy 8-by-10-inch photograph of Uebelhoer. Uebelhoer, who had left the district attorney’s office by this point to clerk for a judge, spoke at book clubs and introduced Sebold to discuss the book on a panel at a law enforcement conference in New York City. “She was incredibly proud,” Sebold said. 14 Sebold and Broadwater weren’t the only people who couldn’t let go of the case. There was a third person: Clapper, the veteran Syracuse detective who’d been chatting with Broadwater when Sebold first identified the man she thought had assaulted her. Lanky with striking red hair and a cocky demeanor, Clapper was dogged and respected by his fellow cops. He would stay on cases for months, scouring for witnesses, checking in with informants, interviewing anyone he could find. Clapper’s work was threaded through the wave of Syracuse rape cases. He had investigated many of the attacks in and around Thornden Park and elicited Weakfall’s confessions. Clapper initially indicated he was open to an interview for this article, then demurred, saying he’d had only tangential involvement in the Broadwater case. When I kept pressing, he eventually sent me a sprawling, 13-page statement that spanned the 50-odd years of his career. It was filled with brackets and parentheticals, written in different fonts and colors, much of it in capital letters, at once detailed and cryptic. Clapper emphasized that he had been through a lot since Sebold was assaulted. Over the years, he had worked undercover, participated in hundreds of drug busts, been stabbed and “struck over the head with bats, wine bottles, and fallen down several flights of stairs.” He spent the better part of nine years caring for his sick wife and today, at age 74, his hair still thick but now snowy white, he works as an investigator for a district attorney in another county. Given all that, his statement maintained, it would be “close to ridiculous” to assume he could recall the particulars of Sebold’s case or other crimes with much specificity. Still, the document provided revealing details, including one that hinted at the disturbing scale of Weakfall’s crimes. Not long after Broadwater’s conviction, according to Clapper’s statement, he had become aware of Weakfall’s “first series of rapes” and gotten him to confess. He had driven Weakfall around Thornden Park, during which Weakfall pointed out 23 buildings where he had raped and robbed women. Weakfall wasn’t charged in multiple cases, Clapper explained, because many of the survivors “just wanted to forget it” and refused to cooperate. Clapper said Weakfall willingly admitted raping women inside buildings near the park but “flatly denied any involvement” in crimes outdoors at the park. Clapper found that distinction persuasive. Noting that the crimes Weakfall committed indoors involved rapes, burglaries and stabbings, he said, “Why would Weakfall honestly admit to all of these other [more serious] cases and not take credit” for those in Thornden Park? Weakfall was always under scrutiny, Clapper would say in a 2025 deposition. “I know this guy better than I know my own brother,” he testified, repeating that Weakfall never admitted to any rapes in the park. One by one, the attorney questioning Clapper got him to acknowledge the similarities between Sebold’s rape and those that Weakfall had confessed to: that she had been threatened with a knife, that her rapist took a small amount of money from her, that the rape happened blocks from others that he said he had committed at around the same time, and that afterward, her rapist held her and apologized to her. The lawyers asked Clapper about four other cases of sexual assault in or near the park, three within months of Sebold’s, the other nine days after Broadwater was convicted. All involved Black assailants, at least three aged between 15 and 20 and nearly the same height and weight as Weakfall or Broadwater. Clapper pursued several of them but never thought to connect any to Sebold’s rape. “Why would I?” he said. 15 It’s one of the many oddities of this decades-long saga that Sebold’s memoir of her assault — a 1999 book that portrayed Broadwater’s conviction as righteous — is what would ultimately lead to the unraveling of his conviction. Sebold’s memoir, which ultimately sold 1 million copies after “The Lovely Bones” became a hit, eventually generated interest in Hollywood. Producers wanted to make a film version of “Lucky,” and several contacted Clapper as part of their research for writing a script. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="493" width="752" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-523996480_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?w=752" alt="A woman stands in a park with her arms crossed, posing for the camera." class="wp-image-83816" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-523996480_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg 3000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-523996480_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=300,197 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-523996480_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=768,503 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-523996480_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1024,671 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-523996480_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1536,1007 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-523996480_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=2048,1342 2048w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-523996480_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=863,566 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-523996480_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=422,277 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-523996480_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=552,362 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-523996480_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=558,366 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-523996480_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=527,345 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-523996480_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=752,493 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-523996480_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1149,753 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-523996480_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=2000,1311 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-523996480_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=400,262 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-523996480_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=800,524 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-523996480_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1200,786 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-523996480_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1600,1049 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" /> Sebold in 2017 Neville Elder/Corbis/Getty Images Laurie Parker, a producer then working with director Jane Campion as part of a project that Sebold was cooperating with, reached Clapper in 2013. Parker said Clapper emailed her that there were questions about the case: No. 1, was the right person arrested? No. 2, was Sebold a good witness? No. 3, if DNA testing had been available, would there have been the same outcome? Parker tried to get him to elaborate, but he didn’t respond. Clapper himself looked into getting a DNA test done on the pubic hair more than 20 years after Broadwater’s conviction, according to his statement. But when Clapper called the Syracuse police crime lab, he was told the hair had been destroyed. Parker, tasked with writing a script based on “Lucky,” became increasingly consumed with doubts: “I had a feeling, a very strong feeling, that at best it was an illegal conviction and at worst, they got the wrong person,” she said. Her script was rejected in 2014. (The director had gotten busy with other projects, according to Sebold.) <img decoding="async" class="" alt="" width="4000" height="2250" loading="lazy" js-autosizes src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2026-syracuse-saba-secondary-4000.jpg" srcset=" https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2026-syracuse-saba-secondary-4000.jpg?resize=400%2C225 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2026-syracuse-saba-secondary-4000.jpg?resize=800%2C450 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2026-syracuse-saba-secondary-4000.jpg?resize=1200%2C675 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2026-syracuse-saba-secondary-4000.jpg?resize=1600%2C900 1600w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2026-syracuse-saba-secondary-4000.jpg?resize=2000%2C1125 2000w " /> Illustration by Vanessa Saba for ProPublica 16 The next year, in 2015, came an unrelated event — unknown to Broadwater — that further undermined the credibility of his conviction. The FBI, working with the Department of Justice and two advocacy groups, released the findings of a national review of cases in which hair evidence had been used. The study reported that expert hair testimony in 90% of the 500 trial transcripts they’d examined included “erroneous statements” and noted that the FBI no longer used such evidence. The study “strongly” encouraged states to review past convictions in which hair analysis had played a role. At the time, Fitzpatrick was on a state commission that sets standards for crime laboratories. He was also feuding with the Syracuse Police Department. The two sides publicly savaged each other, with dueling allegations of mishandling forensic evidence, among other things. The Police Department, Fitzpatrick told me recently, was run by “fucking morons” back then and its lab was antiquated. Shawn Broton, a deputy police chief at the time, said Fitzpatrick had used the state commission as a “weapon” against the Police Department and worked to consolidate power for himself. As a result of the FBI review, Fitzpatrick’s office examined New York cases that had used hair evidence. But that effort did not unearth Broadwater’s case. It relied on electronic searches for the word “hair” in appeals court opinions. The appeals court opinion in Broadwater’s case — all of two paragraphs long — didn’t mention the word. Fitzpatrick told me that his staff had also reviewed all the cases in which the hair analyst in Broadwater’s case had testified, but it concentrated on defendants who were still incarcerated. Broadwater had been out of prison for more than a decade by then. Another chance to reveal the flaws in his case had been missed. The study reported that expert hair testimony in 90% of the 500 trial transcripts they’d examined included “erroneous statements” and noted that the FBI no longer used such evidence. Eventually, a second movie producer got interested in Sebold’s story, and like the first producer, he began delving deep into the case. The producer got suspicious enough that he ultimately hired a private investigator to look into it. (The producer in question, Timothy Mucciante, has a backstory that could fill its own movie: He is a disbarred lawyer who served time in prison on an array of bizarre fraud charges. He promised money to finance the movie version of “Lucky” but never delivered, then tried to make his own documentary about the debacle called “Unlucky,” which also fell apart. Mucciante did not respond to requests for comment.) The private investigator, Dan Myers, called Clapper, who left him with the strong impression that he thought Broadwater was innocent and Weakfall was guilty. Clapper denies he went so far as to say Broadwater was innocent. Still, Clapper acknowledged in his statement that he spoke “cop to cop” with Myers, a former officer, and told him, “Like ANY investigator, you wonder ‘if’ Weakfall was involved.” That conversation had a domino effect. Myers got two Syracuse lawyers, David Hammond and Melissa Swartz, involved. (Swartz had previously worked in the DA’s office under Fitzpatrick.) They were shocked by what they read in the book and the trial transcript. They filed a motion to vacate the conviction in 2021. In a matter of weeks, the long-stalled process of examining the conviction was resolved. Fitzpatrick joined in the motion to vacate the conviction, and in a brief hearing on Nov. 22, 2021, the judge agreed. At the defense table that day, Broadwater, wearing a gray pinstripe suit, choked back sobs and hugged his lawyers. At 61, with hints of gray in Broadwater’s cornrows and a cane in his hand, it was hard to picture the 21-year-old he had been when a judge had found him guilty. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="501" width="752" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-1240910130_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?w=752" alt="A man with a cane is smiling with his eyes closed while a woman grasps his arm and smiles. Behind them are shelves of books." class="wp-image-83814" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-1240910130_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg 3000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-1240910130_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-1240910130_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-1240910130_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-1240910130_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1536,1024 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-1240910130_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=2048,1365 2048w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-1240910130_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=863,575 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-1240910130_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=422,281 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-1240910130_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=552,368 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-1240910130_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=558,372 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-1240910130_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=527,351 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-1240910130_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=752,501 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-1240910130_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1149,766 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-1240910130_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=459,306 459w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-1240910130_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=2000,1333 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-1240910130_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=400,267 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-1240910130_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=800,533 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-1240910130_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1200,800 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-1240910130_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1600,1067 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" /> Broadwater with his wife, Elizabeth, after his exoneration in 2021 Matt Burkhartt/The Washington Post/Getty Images 17 Unlike Broadwater, who has no criminal record since his release in 1998, Weakfall found it harder to stay out of trouble. He got out of prison in November 1997. Six months later, he was caught stealing speakers and cash from the apartment of a woman he had just met. He told police the burglary was “meant as a joke.” Weakfall pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of criminal trespass and served 135 days in jail. He was arrested four more times through 2015, pleading guilty on separate occasions to patronizing a prostitute and resisting arrest. Records show police responded to multiple allegations of domestic violence against him through 2017, but the victims all declined to press charges. His record shows no involvement with the police since then. Weakfall still lives in Syracuse, in an area some former officers refer to as “the Gut.” I made my way to his door on a Saturday in the fall of 2024. His apartment was on the ground floor of a clapboard building along a block of dilapidated homes surrounded by overgrown weeds. A gaggle of stray cats curled up against one another around the corner from his front door, which had a bumper sticker on it that read “Let’s Pray for America.” After a few knocks, the face I recognized from the New York state sex offender registry poked out. He was bald with a full beard. Well-built for a man of 60, with a scar across his upper abdomen, Weakfall was wearing nothing but royal blue boxer-briefs. He said he had just gotten out of the shower. I knew I might never get another shot to speak to him, so I started talking without giving him a chance to get dressed. We spoke for more than an hour. He never opened his door more than a foot. Weakfall was, quite reasonably, skeptical of me. He kept saying, “You’re catching me off guard here, dude.” He said he carried a lot of guilt over his crimes and was “disgusted” with himself. He told me he had found religion and wasn’t inclined to revisit a period of his life that he had left behind. Weakfall also said he realized during his 12 years in prison that he may not have served as much time had he not been so open with the police. He didn’t want to make the same mistake again. I assured him I wasn’t a cop. After a while, Weakfall seemed to relax. He spoke softly in gushes of information followed by sudden pauses. He described growing up without a father in a tough neighborhood; the pressure of bad influences leading to drugs; a graduation of sorts from shoplifting to home invasion, then sexual assault, or, as he put it, “violating someone” when he happened to find a woman home alone. He acknowledged raping women. But he said that once he began to make admissions, the police saw him as a scapegoat and tried to put “all the load on one person just to satisfy the community.” Once in custody, he said, he was “scared out of my boots.” He said the police had dragged him out of his cell repeatedly, driving him to places he had never been and asking him about rapes he said he hadn’t committed. “Man, they had me admitting to things that I know I did not do,” he said. Full of contradictions, Weakfall spoke in loops that were hard to follow. He said that he had confessed honestly to the rapes he committed in 1985, but that the confession in 1982 was coerced by the police. (He later said something that seemed to undercut that assertion: “What they didn’t understand in 1982 is that if you’re not really giving me any counseling … it’s bound to happen again.”) When I started to ask about Thornden Park, describing what happened to Sebold, he cut me off. “More of my encounters was invading a home, if you do the search,” he said. He vociferously denied assaulting any woman in a car and said the police “mixed me up with other people that were doing things at the same time.” This did not strike me as implausible, given what had happened with Broadwater and all I’d learned about the Police Department at the time, not to mention the sheer volume of assailants and assaults back then. I kept pressing, asking if he would be willing to go through each case with me. He said no. He wouldn’t be able to remember them anyway, he said. I brought up the rape of Sebold’s roommate and several others, but the whole exercise began to feel futile. I thanked him for his time, handed him my card and asked if we could speak again after he had some time to think. He said he’d pray on it. Weakfall called me the next morning. He was rattled and rambling. More aggravated this time. He started denying things that he had either confessed to or that were well-established in the criminal records: He claimed he had never stolen anyone’s ATM card; he had never taken property from anyone’s home; he had never apologized to any of his victims. 18 I returned to Syracuse twice more in 2026 and spoke with Weakfall each time. He got more sweeping and more adamant in his denials. By the third visit, he was insisting that he had confessed to only one rape and that the police had embellished or fabricated the rest. When I called Fitzpatrick, the Syracuse DA, to discuss what I had learned in my broader reporting, he was at a loss. “It escapes me, honestly. I mean, it’s just staggering,” he said of the police and prosecutorial failures in the 1980s. “The level of misattention to detail. I just don’t have an explanation.” But now it was too late. The best shot at making a conclusive determination on who raped Sebold would come through DNA analysis of the physical evidence. But the evidence from her case is gone. Even if evidence that implicates a perpetrator were to turn up in a hidden corner of a dusty warehouse, Fitzpatrick couldn’t do anything. The statute of limitations on these rapes expired decades ago. Prosecution would be out of reach, he said. As it happens, one legal proceeding continues in the Broadwater saga. After his conviction was vacated in 2021, Broadwater filed two civil lawsuits, one against the state of New York for wrongful imprisonment and a second against Syracuse and its surrounding county for constitutional rights violations in his prosecution. The state settled its case in 2023, agreeing to pay Broadwater $5.5 million. But the city and county are contesting the claims. The lawyers declined to comment for this article, citing the litigation. But expert witnesses they have retained are defending the conduct of the police and prosecutors, questioning the accuracy of Sebold’s book and arguing that there was no pattern of rapes in and around Thornden Park worthy of disclosure to the defense. 19 I met Sebold on a recent, drizzly morning at her home in San Francisco. We sat in a room appointed with an ornate rug, fine photography and rare works of literature hugged by striking geode bookends. Always an introvert, Sebold sank deeper into isolation after Broadwater’s exoneration. She went from hero to villain overnight. Strangers yelled at her on the street. A tabloid reporter badgered her on camera as Sebold, wearing a COVID-era mask and gingerly carrying a bag of dog poop, walked her sick French basset to the vet. Afterward, she said, she didn’t step out of her house for a month. Even now, five years on, she can’t bring herself to leave the city limits. “There’s something about the safety of being near my home,” she said, “which has become increasingly important to my sense of mental health.” As I laid out what my reporting had uncovered, she betrayed little surprise at the number of sexual assaults in Syracuse; she thought there might be more. “It’s my nature to believe that there’s more violence than people like to admit to, especially back then,” she said. It provided no comfort to learn that the police had failed other women, too. Now fully convinced of Broadwater’s innocence, Sebold looks back on the entire episode with deep mortification. She feels shame that she was ever raped. And she now questions her decision to go to the police. “What if I hadn’t reported my rape?” she said. “None of this would have happened.” Sebold recently completed a letter to Broadwater. She declined to share a copy but described its contents. It’s more personal and considered, she said, than the apology she released right after the exoneration, which was criticized as tepid and which she said was hastily written. Sebold said the letter takes responsibility for her role in Broadwater’s wrongful conviction and offers details about her recent life, her dog and the Dao, the Chinese philosophy she has come to rely on. The letter describes, she said, “the deep sorrow I hold for what happened.” It took her four years to compose those three pages. “I’ll never write anything good enough,” Sebold said. It is “probably, in my mind, the most important thing I’ll ever write.” Through intermediaries, Sebold and Broadwater have broached the possibility of meeting. Like Sebold, though, Broadwater is fearful of traveling. He is worried something bad will happen if he leaves New York state. He has floated the idea of meeting in Niagara Falls. Neither of them have been there before. I last met Broadwater at his lawyer’s office in Syracuse. Now fixing up a modest farmhouse he bought outside town, he had taken a break from his hobby of barbecuing and still smelled faintly of sweet smoke from a batch of baby back ribs. He keeps his distance from people, too. He told me that some who shunned him after he went to prison are now reappearing in his life. They tease him about all the media attention he received. Their questions also trigger his paranoia, making him think they got word of his civil settlement and want a piece of it. Broadwater said the stigma of being a convicted rapist was still hard to shake, even after his exoneration. “I’m still embarrassed that I was convicted and sent to prison for rape for 16 and a half years,” he said, his gentle voice catching as he reached for a Kleenex. He likened the experience to being scalded with boiling-hot water. The exoneration, the celebrity, the settlement, it’s like “a skin graft” over a festering wound, he said. “Still ain’t normal. Ain’t never gonna be normal. How could it be normal?” The post “That Guy Is Still Out There” appeared first on ProPublica. This content originally appeared on ProPublica and was authored by Joaquin Sapien.
To Protect Its Drinking Water, This City Has to Appeal to the Oil Regulators That Put It at Risk
The post To Protect Its Drinking Water, This City Has to Appeal to the Oil Regulators That Put It at Risk appeared first on ProPublica.
A building that houses one of Enid, Oklahoma’s public water supply wells, left, sits less than a quarter-mile from an oil field wastewater disposal operation, right. The proximity violates a state rule restricting such injection operations within a half-mile of public water wells. September Dawn Bottoms for ProPublica Down a dirt road in northwest Oklahoma, only a few hundred yards from where the city of Enid draws its drinking water, a company injects the toxic byproduct of oil production deep underground. That close proximity violates a state rule meant to protect public groundwater supplies from oil field wastewater, which can be saltier than the sea and laden with toxic metals. Injection operations are banned within a half-mile of public water wells unless regulators hold a hearing to ensure that such activity will not pollute the water. But in 2018, without a hearing, state regulators approved this injection well, an apparatus that applies pressure to dispose of wastewater down a steel tube. And in the years since, the well, named the Flying Monkey, has repeatedly failed structural integrity tests, signaling a potential leak. The Frontier and ProPublica mapped every injection well in the state to determine how close they are to public water wells. We identified at least 114 injection wells in communities across Oklahoma — including the Flying Monkey and two others in Enid — that are located within a half-mile of a public water supply well. More than 300,000 Oklahomans live in communities that rely on these water wells, according to our analysis. Does your Oklahoma water system have oil field wastewater wells near public drinking water wells? Search for your address, ZIP code or water system name to see how many oil field disposal wells are within a half-mile of a drinking water well. Examples: 120 W Maine St, Enid, OK 73701, Seminole, 73160 Your location is not within a water system that has disposal wells near public water wells. <polygon points="0 0, 6 2.5, 0 5" /> <path id="swoopy-path" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" marker-end="url(#arrowhead)" /> <div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" class="swoopy-label" style=" font-family: "Brut Grotesque", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.2; font-weight: 600; text-align: right; padding: 6px; color: var(--p-dyn-color-warm-black); text-shadow: -2px -2px 0 var(--p-dyn-color-white), -2px 0 0 var(--p-dyn-color-white), -2px 2px 0 var(--p-dyn-color-white), 0 -2px 0 var(--p-dyn-color-white), 0 2px 0 var(--p-dyn-color-white), 2px -2px 0 var(--p-dyn-color-white), 2px 0 0 var(--p-dyn-color-white), 2px 2px 0 var(--p-dyn-color-white), 0 0 6px var(--p-dyn-color-white), 0 0 6px var(--p-dyn-color-white); " > These public water districts have oil field disposal wells near drinking water wells. Sources: Oklahoma Corporation Commission, Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality, Oklahoma Water Resources Board <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="845" width="752" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260625-enid-lookup-apple-fallback_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_quality_95_embedColorProfile_true.jpg?w=752" alt="" class="wp-image-84837" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260625-enid-lookup-apple-fallback_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_quality_95_embedColorProfile_true.jpg 1104w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260625-enid-lookup-apple-fallback_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_quality_95_embedColorProfile_true.jpg?resize=267,300 267w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260625-enid-lookup-apple-fallback_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_quality_95_embedColorProfile_true.jpg?resize=768,863 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260625-enid-lookup-apple-fallback_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_quality_95_embedColorProfile_true.jpg?resize=912,1024 912w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260625-enid-lookup-apple-fallback_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_quality_95_embedColorProfile_true.jpg?resize=863,969 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260625-enid-lookup-apple-fallback_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_quality_95_embedColorProfile_true.jpg?resize=422,474 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260625-enid-lookup-apple-fallback_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_quality_95_embedColorProfile_true.jpg?resize=552,620 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260625-enid-lookup-apple-fallback_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_quality_95_embedColorProfile_true.jpg?resize=558,627 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260625-enid-lookup-apple-fallback_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_quality_95_embedColorProfile_true.jpg?resize=527,592 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260625-enid-lookup-apple-fallback_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_quality_95_embedColorProfile_true.jpg?resize=752,845 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260625-enid-lookup-apple-fallback_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_quality_95_embedColorProfile_true.jpg?resize=400,449 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260625-enid-lookup-apple-fallback_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_quality_95_embedColorProfile_true.jpg?resize=800,899 800w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" /> Explore our analysis of Oklahoma oil field wastewater wells near public drinking water wells on ProPublica’s website. The city of Enid has complained to the state about the threat to its water. In Oklahoma and beyond, toxic oil field fluid has spread underground and threatened municipal supplies. Midland, Texas, is still cleaning up groundwater polluted by a leaking injection well more than two decades ago. But Enid officials are powerless under state law to pass their own rules governing these wells. And so they are appealing to the same Oklahoma agency that had approved the Flying Monkey to now revoke the permit that allows the well to inject wastewater. The city is also asking the state to impose stronger protections against pollution from injection, as more oil and gas companies seek permission to drill wells that dispose of their wastewater nearby. It’s a rare example of pushback against one of Oklahoma’s most powerful industries. The Oklahoma Corporation Commission, which is responsible for ensuring that industry operations do not pollute groundwater, has approved thousands of orders for waivers or adjustments to state rules in recent years, according to the agency’s administrative court database. These include nearly 400 orders granting exceptions to injection regulations alone since 2022, agency records show. The agency has repeatedly declined to punish oil and gas companies for causing widespread pollution, according to an earlier investigation by ProPublica and The Frontier. The news outlets also found that the agency chose not to pursue stronger rules for wastewater injection following industry opposition. In response to that reporting, the agency told the news outlets that the state is committed to “doing the right thing, holding operators accountable, protecting Oklahoma and its resources, and providing fair and balanced regulation.” Enid’s case will be heard in the agency’s administrative law court later this year. Neither city leadership nor their attorney agreed to be interviewed before the matter is resolved. The Oklahoma Corporation Commission declined to comment for this story, citing the ongoing case, as did the Flying Monkey’s current operator, BCE-Mach III Midstream Holdings LLC. Ben Ezzell, a former Enid city commissioner, said he hopes the state recognizes that the community is asking for “reasonable” protections against catastrophic long-term damage to its water supplies. “It’s ultimately all one big aquifer,” he said. “You can’t just pee in part of the pool. If any of the aquifer is tainted, all of the aquifer will be tainted.” Skirting State Laws A row of hulking grain elevators sits just outside Enid’s main commercial district, evidence of the prolific local farm economy that earned the city of 50,000 the nickname “Queen Wheat City.” But in the heart of downtown, a large art deco building gestures at one of Enid’s other vital, long-standing industries: It was once the office for Continental Resources, now the world’s largest private oil company. Although Continental outgrew Enid more than a decade ago, pumpjacks pulling up oil still seesaw up and down near town. Oil production inevitably means wastewater. And dozens of injection wells west of Enid blast the industry’s byproduct underground in the same area where many of the city’s water wells are located. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="764" width="1149" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260427-Bottoms-OKEnidChallenge_2752_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?w=1149" alt="A sign reads, “Main Street Enid,” and behind it is the main street of a small town, with a row of buildings painted in pastel colors." class="wp-image-84777" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260427-Bottoms-OKEnidChallenge_2752_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg 3000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260427-Bottoms-OKEnidChallenge_2752_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260427-Bottoms-OKEnidChallenge_2752_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=768,511 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260427-Bottoms-OKEnidChallenge_2752_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1024,681 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260427-Bottoms-OKEnidChallenge_2752_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1536,1022 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260427-Bottoms-OKEnidChallenge_2752_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=2048,1363 2048w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260427-Bottoms-OKEnidChallenge_2752_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=863,574 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260427-Bottoms-OKEnidChallenge_2752_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=422,281 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260427-Bottoms-OKEnidChallenge_2752_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=552,367 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260427-Bottoms-OKEnidChallenge_2752_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=558,371 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260427-Bottoms-OKEnidChallenge_2752_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=527,351 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260427-Bottoms-OKEnidChallenge_2752_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=752,500 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260427-Bottoms-OKEnidChallenge_2752_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1149,764 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260427-Bottoms-OKEnidChallenge_2752_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=459,306 459w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260427-Bottoms-OKEnidChallenge_2752_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=2000,1331 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260427-Bottoms-OKEnidChallenge_2752_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=400,266 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260427-Bottoms-OKEnidChallenge_2752_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=800,532 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260427-Bottoms-OKEnidChallenge_2752_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1200,798 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260427-Bottoms-OKEnidChallenge_2752_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1600,1065 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1149px) 100vw, 1149px" /> Continental Resources, the world’s largest private oil company, was once headquartered in downtown Enid. The city is now pushing back against one of the state’s biggest industries in asking for added protections from oil field wastewater injection. September Dawn Bottoms for ProPublica The nation’s bedrock water protection law — the Safe Drinking Water Act — singles out oil and gas injection of wastewater as a particularly urgent threat to drinking water. And it requires oil states to draft specific regulations to protect public water wells. Oklahoma, however, has not always followed its own rules. In 2018, a small company called Hinkle Oil & Gas applied for a permit for an injection well — the Flying Monkey — less than a quarter-mile from two of the city’s water wells, according to publicly available data. But on its application, the company had checked a box attesting that the injection well was not within a half-mile of a public water supply well — the distance that, under state rules, should have triggered a hearing to evaluate the Flying Monkey’s pollution threat. “This was demonstrably false,” Enid’s lawyers wrote in a September 2025 court filing. The commission approved Hinkle’s application for the well without a hearing, giving the company the green light to inject more than 800,000 gallons of wastewater into the earth each day. Hinkle declined to answer questions about the Flying Monkey. The commission did not respond to questions about whether it verified the distance before approving the permit. Nor did it respond to The Frontier and ProPublica’s offer to show agency officials our mapping of the 114 injection wells across the state that are located within a half-mile of a public water supply well. Later in 2018, Hinkle transferred the well to another small company, which applied for a new permit to convert the Flying Monkey to a commercial well to dispose of the wastewater produced by other oil companies, too. By approving the permit, the city contends, regulators allowed the company to violate another state rule meant to protect public water wells from commercial disposal sites. The new company’s application also failed to acknowledge the close proximity of the public water supply well. The company has since filed for bankruptcy. Both of these permits were ultimately signed by Patricia Downey, the manager of the agency’s underground injection control program, and read: “decision without hearing.” Downey did not respond to any questions sent directly to her, including whether she knew about the Flying Monkey’s proximity to public water wells. In the last five years, the state has shut down the Flying Monkey repeatedly — for months at a time — for failing mechanical tests required by the state that evaluate the well’s structural integrity. Failing these tests can indicate a problem with the well that may be allowing wastewater to escape. The well has failed five of these tests since 2021, including one in March due to a leak in the well’s tubing that the company had reported to the agency, according to state records. The agency’s report about the March incident does not reference an investigation into whether the leak reached nearby groundwater. The agency typically notes when an investigation is conducted. It did not answer questions about whether it investigated the well for potential pollution. In the court filing last fall, Enid’s lawyers described this pattern of violations as “a significant compliance red flag, especially given the well’s immediate proximity to Enid’s public supply well.” The city wants the state to terminate the Flying Monkey’s permit. After a period of inactivity last year, the well began injecting wastewater again last summer, only to be shut down again this March. State records indicate that the Flying Monkey’s operator, BCE-Mach III Midstream Holdings, repaired the tubing leak in April, and the well’s status is listed as active; the company declined to comment. Neither the company’s nor the commission’s court filings include responses to Enid’s accusations. In June, BCE-Mach III Midstream Holdings refiled a permit application for the Flying Monkey, acknowledging the proximity of the city’s water supply wells. Close by the Flying Monkey, another wastewater injection well — Estill #8 — sits roughly a quarter-mile from three of Enid’s water wells. In its application, submitted in August 2012, an affiliate of the U.S. Energy Development Corp. acknowledged the proposed injection well’s proximity to the city’s water supply but subsequently urged state regulators to approve an emergency order to allow the well to begin injecting wastewater immediately. Waiting for the required hearing, the company wrote, would result in “irreparable financial harm” because any delay would deprive it of a way to get rid of the wastewater generated by its nearby oil wells. In general, oil companies want their wastewater disposal sites to be as close as possible to their producing wells to reduce the cost of transporting the fluid. The commission approved the emergency order on a temporary basis while it considered whether to issue a permanent permit, and the well began injecting wastewater in November 2012. In February of the following year, the company returned to the commission to renew its request to continue injecting without a standard hearing. The commission approved the second request in March and two weeks later authorized the well’s official permit without a hearing. The commission did not answer questions about the permitting process for Estill #8. The well has been operating ever since, injecting more than 12 million gallons of wastewater into the earth last year. (A third injection well also operates within a quarter mile of a city water well, but that one was permitted in the 1970s, before modern regulations were established.) The state has tested these injection wells every few years and has not identified problems with either one. Three Wastewater Injection Wells Are Within a Half-Mile of an Enid Public Water Well <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="855" width="752" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260626-enid-wells_mobile.jpg?w=752" alt="A map shows the region around Enid, Oklahoma. There are gray circles representing areas within a half-mile of public water wells. The gray circles are mostly clustered to the west of Enid. There are three orange squares representing wastewater disposal wells within a half-mile of public water wells. The orange squares are labeled SW Ringwood, Flying Monkey and Estill #8, respectively." class="wp-image-84733" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260626-enid-wells_mobile.jpg 1458w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260626-enid-wells_mobile.jpg?resize=264,300 264w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260626-enid-wells_mobile.jpg?resize=768,873 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260626-enid-wells_mobile.jpg?resize=900,1024 900w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260626-enid-wells_mobile.jpg?resize=1351,1536 1351w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260626-enid-wells_mobile.jpg?resize=863,981 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260626-enid-wells_mobile.jpg?resize=422,480 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260626-enid-wells_mobile.jpg?resize=552,628 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260626-enid-wells_mobile.jpg?resize=558,635 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260626-enid-wells_mobile.jpg?resize=527,599 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260626-enid-wells_mobile.jpg?resize=752,855 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260626-enid-wells_mobile.jpg?resize=1149,1307 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260626-enid-wells_mobile.jpg?resize=1407,1600 1407w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260626-enid-wells_mobile.jpg?resize=400,455 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260626-enid-wells_mobile.jpg?resize=800,910 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260626-enid-wells_mobile.jpg?resize=1200,1365 1200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" /> Lucas Waldron/ProPublica Enid’s Quiet Battle In this arid part of Oklahoma, where surface water is scarce, Enid has become a vital source of drinking water for a dozen smaller, more rural communities as well as Vance Air Force Base. Even after the recent completion of a 70-mile, $400 million pipeline to bring water from Kaw Lake, Enid will continue to rely heavily on its groundwater wells. “In the 21st century, water is going to be the new gold,” Frank Baker, an Enid city commissioner, said in an interview. Driven by increasing concern over water scarcity and the potential for contamination, the city’s effort to protect its water has stretched for two years but has received scant attention around town. The issue hasn’t previously been covered in the media. The City Council hasn’t discussed it in public meetings. And few follow the obscure quasi-judicial system of the Oklahoma Corporation Commission. If residents knew how close injection wells operate to their drinking water supply, they would be concerned, said Elizabeth Betchan, a barista at a downtown coffee shop. “I would feel more comfortable if there was more of a buffer there,” she said. Enid is asking regulators to impose a ban on oil and gas wastewater injection within a half-mile of its water wells, with no possibility of exceptions. It also wants the state to require additional testing, pollution monitoring and mechanical safety measures for wells within 1 mile of an Enid water well, according to its application to state regulators. “I think a mile is probably too close,” said Eddie Mack, a retired manager of a rural water district who also served on Enid’s planning commission. Pollution from high-pressure wastewater injection can radiate much farther than a mile. Oil companies have acknowledged that their injection wells can impact one another’s operations that were 3 miles apart, according to agreements between companies on how to respond in such scenarios. The Frontier and ProPublica identified more than 400 wastewater injection wells across Oklahoma that are within 1 mile of a public water supply well. Regulations for this issue vary widely among oil states. Colorado and Ohio set a minimum buffer of 1,000 feet between injection wells and public water supplies. Many states do not have fixed setbacks, instead relying on belowground geological evaluations to ensure that injected fluid does not contaminate aquifers. A leak from one injection well can cause severe pollution that lasts decades. That’s what happened more than 20 years ago in Midland, Texas, which has no fixed buffer requirement between injection wells and public water wells. After the company responsible went bankrupt, cleanup fell to the city, which has spent millions of dollars trying to stop the pollution from spreading, according to an investigation by Inside Climate News. But Enid’s bid to protect its groundwater faces numerous obstacles. Five companies have formally opposed the city’s request for stronger rules to protect its groundwater. Those include Flying Monkey owner BCE-Mach III Midstream Holdings, Estill #8 owner U.S. Energy Development Corp. and two others — D&B Operating and Royalty Energy Development LLC — that have pending applications for new injection wells near Enid. Neither of the latter two companies responded to requests for comment. Matthew Allen, an attorney representing U.S. Energy Development Corp., argued in a May procedural hearing that the city’s proposed changes would “significantly increase the regulatory burden” and costs to companies. He also said that the administrative court was the incorrect venue for the city to pursue such a significant change. Neither Allen nor other company representatives responded to requests for comment. Kaylee Davis-Maddy, Enid’s attorney, emphasized during the hearing that the city was not trying to establish a statewide rule. Rather, she said, Enid wants the rules to apply within a geographic boundary to protect its freshwater. Davis-Maddy declined to be interviewed. Enid has to bring its appeal to the state agency in large part due to a 2015 law that forbids cities and counties from establishing their own regulations on oil and gas operations. That matters because even if the administrative law judge sides with Enid, such a decision must be approved by the regulatory agency’s three elected commissioners. Right now, two of them are former state legislators who in the past have opposed efforts by Oklahoma municipalities to restrict oil and gas operations. Before winning election to the commission in 2024, Brian Bingman served in the state Senate, where, as the Senate president pro tempore, he was the lead author of the bill to ban local governments from regulating the oil and gas industry. Kim David, another commissioner, voted for the bill as a state senator. All three commissioners were elected with significant financial support from the oil and gas industry. Neither Bingman nor David responded to requests for comment. At the time the preemption law passed, several local governments were considering restrictions on hydraulic fracturing amid a wave of earthquakes caused by oil and gas injection. The legislation mandated that any regulation of the industry be approved by the corporation commission. The state Supreme Court upheld the law in its 2022 decision nullifying a requirement by the city of Norman, about 20 miles south of Oklahoma City, that oil and gas companies maintain extra liability insurance. “Municipalities no longer possess a broad police power to regulate oil and gas,” the court wrote in its unanimous decision. Methodology To find injection wells near public water wells, we analyzed data from the Oklahoma Corporation Commission and Department of Environmental Quality. We isolated all active injection wells (class II UIC wells) by filtering the OCC’s Risk Based Data Management System database for wells with welltype values matching 2D, 2DCm, 2DNC, 2R, 2RIn, 2RSI, IEPA, SWD, WIW and INJ and wellstatus values of AC or ACRT. We then filtered the DEQ’s Public Water System wells dataset for all public water wells within 804 meters (or 1 half-mile) of a UIC well. To calculate the population served by water districts with UIC wells near drinking water wells, we scraped the DEQ’s Drinking Water Watch website and combined data in “Population Served” tables for all water districts. We excluded wholesale users, since those users would be outside the district. To build our interactive map, we used the Oklahoma Water Resources Board’s Water System Service Areas map layer. The following water districts have at least one injection well within 1 half-mile of a public water well but do not show up on the map because there was no available geographic service area data: Sooner Utilities-Valley Brook, Country Hills MHP (Creek Co), Lyndsay’s Tavern, Keystone Lake Motel, Lucky Trip of Bristow LLC, Hazel Dell Baptist Church, Wildwood Acres RV Park, The Oasis Gas ’N Go, Oak Grove School, Sunset RV Park, Alfalfa Co RWS & SWMD #1, Christian Life Missionary Baptist Church, Golden Oaks Home Owners Association, Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma – Grey Snow Eagle, Chisholm Springs Event Center, Bels Club, Route 66 Rally RV Park, Pawnee Co. RWD #2. The post To Protect Its Drinking Water, This City Has to Appeal to the Oil Regulators That Put It at Risk appeared first on ProPublica. This content originally appeared on ProPublica and was authored by Nick Bowlin.
Russia’s Petrol Collapse Has Citizens Desperate #breaking #russia #shorts
Tuesday Democracy Now! show for rebroadcast - HD
Tuesday Democracy Now! show for rebroadcast - HD This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! for Broadcasters - HD MP4 and was authored by Democracy Now! for Broadcasters - HD MP4.
Trump’s DOJ Said Police Reform Was “Factually Unjustified.” A New Report Shows Otherwise.
The post Trump’s DOJ Said Police Reform Was “Factually Unjustified.” A New Report Shows Otherwise. appeared first on ProPublica.
Phoenix police in 2020. The American Civil Liberties Union sued Phoenix earlier this month as part of an initiative to hold local police departments accountable during the Trump administration, which has dropped federal oversight efforts. The litigation is ongoing. Ross D. Franklin/AP Photo Last year, when the Trump Justice Department dropped its oversight of troubled police departments in cities such as Louisville, Kentucky, and Minneapolis, it argued that the reform efforts were “factually unjustified.” But according to a new report by the American Civil Liberties Union, officers in those places were continuing to engage in the very behaviors that attracted federal scrutiny in the first place, including using excessive — and dangerous — force against people experiencing mental health crises. The ACLU reviewed hundreds of police use-of-force reports in four communities where, under the Biden administration, the DOJ had found evidence of unconstitutional policing. In their review, ACLU investigators found agencies continuing to misuse Tasers and failing to properly review their officers’ use of force. In one case, Minneapolis police repeatedly shocked a man with a Taser after he complied with their orders. In another, a Louisville officer broke a man’s car window during a mental health call while a second officer pointed his gun, escalating the encounter, according to the report. That officer then pulled the man from the car, at which point the man brandished a knife. The officers hit him with a baton and shocked him seven times. The records primarily span from late 2024, after President Donald Trump won a second term in the White House, to early 2025, as the new administration began to shift the Justice Department away from its traditional focus on civil rights enforcement. The report also cites reporting by ProPublica, which has detailed police misconduct and reform efforts in Louisville and Memphis, Tennessee. In the fall of 2025, Trump deployed hundreds of National Guard troops, U.S. Marshals and immigration officials to Memphis because, he said, “of the crime that’s going on.” The operation, ProPublica found, ensnared innocent residents of the majority-Black city who said they were targeted and harassed because of their race. The U.S. Marshals Service, which led the effort, disputed the claims of racial profiling. The aim of the ACLU effort, the authors said, was to hold local police accountable in the absence of federal oversight and to keep reforms moving in communities where investigators found or had concerns of excessive force and racial targeting. To do that, the nonprofit made public records requests for reports detailing officers’ use of force and other records from police or sheriff departments in Phoenix; Louisville; Worcester, Massachusetts; Minneapolis; Mount Vernon, New York; and Memphis. “We did this project because we feared the Department of Justice was abandoning communities that needed help to ensure that reforms were made in their communities, and our analysis of the records unfortunately proves that to have happened,” said Jenn Rolnick Borchetta, the deputy project director on policing for the ACLU. The ACLU also sought records from Rankin County, Mississippi, where in 2023 members of the Rankin County Sheriff’s Department, calling themselves the “Goon Squad,” beat and tortured two Black men. The officers were convicted and sentenced to decades in prison in 2024. Biden’s DOJ launched an investigation into the sheriff’s department, and reports indicate that the Trump administration is continuing the probe. A spokesperson for the sheriff’s department told Mississippi Today that the agency “will continue its cooperation with the investigation in order to show that all aspects of the department’s policing are within constitutional boundaries.” The Justice Department did not respond to a request for comment. White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson dismissed the ACLU’s findings as “partisan talking points” from an organization that she said “suffers from a severe case of Trump Derangement Syndrome.” She also defended the administration’s approach. “President Trump is a champion for our great law enforcement officers and has encouraged them to arrest criminals and enforce the law — unlike the Biden Administration,” Jackson said. The ACLU report spotlights Louisville and Minneapolis in particular because they had signed reform agreements with the Biden Justice Department before the Trump administration dropped the underlying lawsuits and quashed the cases in 2025. The two cities were also more forthcoming than the others in response to the ACLU’s records requests. According to the report, officers from the Louisville Metro Police Department used excessive force, including striking people in their face, head or body while they were handcuffed, and failed to adequately review incidents of force, mischaracterizing facts during those reviews to make force appear more reasonable. A spokesperson for the Louisville police department told ProPublica it “reviews use-of-force incidents through multiple layers of supervision, and when policy violations are identified, appropriate corrective action is taken.” Police also escalated encounters with people experiencing mental health crises by pointing their guns at them, the ACLU found. The issue has been particularly pronounced this year. In March, Louisville police officers fatally shot and killed a 28-year-old woman named Katelyn Hall in her apartment while she was experiencing a mental health crisis. The incident is still under investigation, but police have said Hall posed a threat to officers because, they said, she was holding a piece of broken porcelain. Two months later, a Louisville police officer shot and killed 27-year-old Martin Nitzken Jr., who was unarmed and naked in the street. A caller reported Nitzken was having a “mental break,” according to local reports. The officer who shot Nitzken was indicted on charges of manslaughter and reckless homicide. He has pleaded not guilty. The officer’s lawyer did not respond to a request to speak to his client. The Minneapolis Police Department’s records showed evidence of excessive force, improper use of Tasers and poor reviews of use of force, the ACLU report says. The police department didn’t provide comment. Both Louisville and Minneapolis have adopted local versions of the reform agreements they had inked with the Biden administration, and local leaders have pledged to institute changes, which are being overseen by independent monitors. A spokesperson for the city of Louisville noted that its leadership “voluntarily” took on the reform effort after the DOJ “abandoned” federal oversight. But, as ProPublica has reported, progress has been slow in Louisville, and the results have been mixed there, particularly in the area of mental health. “That the problems are still persisting in the same way is suggesting to me that the police departments are not doing enough to improve that conduct,” Borchetta said. After the killings of Hall and Nitzken, Louisville’s mayor, Craig Greenberg, told local press the city was “moving as rapidly” as it can to change the way police respond to mental health calls by allowing behavioral health experts to help officers during such incidents. Read more <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="459" height="306" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/PROMO20260422-Cherry-DOJLouisville-13_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95-copy_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?w=459&h=306&crop=1" class="attachment-propublica-story-promo size-propublica-story-promo wp-post-image" alt="" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/PROMO20260422-Cherry-DOJLouisville-13_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95-copy_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg 1785w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/PROMO20260422-Cherry-DOJLouisville-13_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95-copy_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/PROMO20260422-Cherry-DOJLouisville-13_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95-copy_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/PROMO20260422-Cherry-DOJLouisville-13_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95-copy_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/PROMO20260422-Cherry-DOJLouisville-13_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95-copy_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1536,1024 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/PROMO20260422-Cherry-DOJLouisville-13_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95-copy_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=863,575 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/PROMO20260422-Cherry-DOJLouisville-13_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95-copy_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=422,281 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/PROMO20260422-Cherry-DOJLouisville-13_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95-copy_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=552,368 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/PROMO20260422-Cherry-DOJLouisville-13_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95-copy_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=558,372 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/PROMO20260422-Cherry-DOJLouisville-13_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95-copy_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=527,351 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/PROMO20260422-Cherry-DOJLouisville-13_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95-copy_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=752,501 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/PROMO20260422-Cherry-DOJLouisville-13_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95-copy_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1149,766 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/PROMO20260422-Cherry-DOJLouisville-13_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95-copy_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=459,306 459w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/PROMO20260422-Cherry-DOJLouisville-13_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95-copy_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=400,267 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/PROMO20260422-Cherry-DOJLouisville-13_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95-copy_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=800,533 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/PROMO20260422-Cherry-DOJLouisville-13_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95-copy_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1200,800 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/PROMO20260422-Cherry-DOJLouisville-13_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95-copy_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1600,1067 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 459px) 100vw, 459px" js-autosizes="true" /> After the Trump DOJ Halted Police Reform, This City Stepped In. Then Officers Shot and Killed Katelyn Hall. The ACLU’s findings were “not all bad,” though, the authors wrote. The nonprofit credited Louisville for its transparency and for instances in which the review process worked “to identify, correct, and improve possible misuses of force.” The organization had intended to produce a more expansive report but said that proved impossible due to the resistance and delays by the other local police departments it was scrutinizing. The Justice Department had investigated those cities and issued reports finding evidence their departments had engaged in unconstitutional policing. But the cases had not progressed beyond that when Trump was elected. Memphis and Phoenix refused to turn over the use-of-force records, the ACLU said, so the organization turned to the courts. The nonprofit sued Memphis in February for the documents. “Only then did Memphis finally agree to respond. This production is continuing, as is the ACLU’s review,” the report states. A spokesperson for the Memphis Police Department blamed the delay on the ACLU’s initial request, which they said was “overly broad” and lacked specificity and was thus denied. The nonprofit sued Phoenix earlier this month for its records. The litigation is ongoing. The police department there did not respond to a request for comment. In Worcester, Massachusetts, where the DOJ had previously found officers engaging in sex acts during undercover investigations, the ACLU said officials initially withheld a substantial amount of records, citing a statute meant to protect the privacy of sexual abuse victims. Worcester eventually relented and provided more records, the ACLU said, but still withheld reports for more than a dozen incidents. “Reliance on the statute to exempt records of police activity from public scrutiny thus turns a protection for survivors into a sword against them,” the report states. A spokesperson for the city of Worcester rejected the ACLU’s assertion that the reports were withheld to protect the police department. “To conclude that the reports were withheld to protect the WPD when the law allows no discretion in determining whether such reports are public or not is an egregious misrepresentation of the law and of the city of Worcester’s appropriate response in accordance with the law,” the spokesperson told ProPublica in a statement. Harmeet Dhillon, the head of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, has criticized the use of federal reform agreements, known as consent decrees, saying they represent an expensive form of micromanagement and “divest local control of policing from communities where it belongs.” Notably, in its report, the ACLU found that a number of the law enforcement agencies’ use-of-force records were not detailed and thorough, making it difficult for the public or the agencies themselves to identify problems or prevent excessive-force issues. Borchetta said that the ACLU’s review is ongoing and the organization will take whatever action is needed to unlock more public information. “You can make real change when people in the community want change and are pushing for it,” she said. “So we expect and hope that we can continue to work with communities and support them with this information, so that they can get the reform the DOJ tried to deny them.” The post Trump’s DOJ Said Police Reform Was “Factually Unjustified.” A New Report Shows Otherwise. appeared first on ProPublica. This content originally appeared on ProPublica and was authored by Topher Sanders.
Florida Is Executing Prisoners at a Record Pace, Even as Most of the U.S. Abandons the Death Penalty
The post Florida Is Executing Prisoners at a Record Pace, Even as Most of the U.S. Abandons the Death Penalty appeared first on ProPublica.
<img src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_06md-00219.jpg?w=1149" alt="Three people are seen from behind, kneeling on a grassy lawn facing away from the camera toward a distant, low-profile facility with white buildings and a perimeter fence. To the left of the group, a small white sign on posts reads “Opponents” in black capital letters. The center individual has both hands raised in the air against a large expanse of cloudy sky."> Across a two-lane highway from Florida State Prison, people prayed as an execution was carried out on June 2. Alec Soth/Magnum This spring, Father Dustin Feddon began waking up in the middle of the night. Heart racing, he would stand at the bathroom sink in the dark, splashing cold water on his face until the feeling passed. For about a dozen years, Feddon had visited prisoners on Florida’s death row as their appeals wound their way through the courts. Some had waited for decades, but the priest learned, more or less, how to accompany people through years of confinement and isolation without losing himself in their desolation. Then in January 2025, Gov. Ron DeSantis began signing death warrants at an accelerated rate. What followed was the busiest period of executions in more than eight decades in a state that has long been a stronghold of capital punishment. In November, DeSantis set the execution date for Frank Walls, one of the men Feddon was counseling. Walls was moved from death row, at Union Correctional Institution, about an hour west of Jacksonville in the northeast part of the state, to nearby Florida State Prison. There he was placed in one of the three cells, known as death watch, that sit 30 feet from the execution chamber. And with that, Feddon was drawn into the strange, intimate work of accompanying a condemned person through the final weeks of his life. Seven days before Christmas, he sat beside Walls in the execution chamber, his hand resting on the man’s leg. Walls, with whom he shared communion just hours before, lay strapped to the gurney, his head freshly shaved, intravenous lines running into his right arm. His chest began to heave as he gasped for air for several minutes. Feddon watched as the man’s eyes rolled back and his body went slack and then fell still. He was the 19th man put to death that year, shattering the state’s annual record of 11, first set in 1936; the Sunshine State accounted for 40% of all executions in the United States in 2025. Soon there were more prisoners who sought out the priest. One received an execution date in February, another in May. With each new death warrant, Feddon felt the panic rising in his chest. The pace of executions had upended the nature of his work; no longer was he ministering to men living under sentences of death; he was preparing them to die. Feddon spent years getting ready for this role without quite knowing it. He entered the seminary in his 30s after temporarily taking a break from a doctoral program in religion, and during a year of hands-on ministry before his ordination, he began visiting prisoners. He went on to found Joseph House, a reentry home in Tallahassee, where he lives alongside men newly released from prison and often scarred by years in solitary confinement. There, he helps residents rebuild their lives — driving them to jobs, doctor appointments and therapy sessions; helping them obtain ID cards and open bank accounts; refereeing the inevitable dramas of communal living. There were no off days. He spent one Christmas waiting with a resident in an emergency room. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="941" width="752" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-04105.jpg?w=752" alt="A man with a short beard and glasses, dressed in a black clerical shirt with a white collar, sits in a woven armchair looking directly at the camera. " class="wp-image-85021" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-04105.jpg 2398w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-04105.jpg?resize=240,300 240w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-04105.jpg?resize=768,961 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-04105.jpg?resize=819,1024 819w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-04105.jpg?resize=1228,1536 1228w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-04105.jpg?resize=1637,2048 1637w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-04105.jpg?resize=863,1080 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-04105.jpg?resize=422,528 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-04105.jpg?resize=552,691 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-04105.jpg?resize=558,698 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-04105.jpg?resize=527,659 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-04105.jpg?resize=752,941 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-04105.jpg?resize=1149,1437 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-04105.jpg?resize=1279,1600 1279w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-04105.jpg?resize=400,500 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-04105.jpg?resize=800,1001 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-04105.jpg?resize=1200,1501 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-04105.jpg?resize=1600,2002 1600w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-04105.jpg?resize=2000,2502 2000w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" /> Father Dustin Feddon ministers to death row prisoners in Florida, where a significant increase in the number of executions has overwhelmed him. Alec Soth/Magnum By the spring, he was ministering to the two men on death watch. As often as allowed, he came to see them, spending four hours on the road, round trip, to talk and pray with the men as they awaited execution. Some mornings he drove to Florida State Prison after only a few hours of sleep; and some days he returned to Joseph House so drained that the demands and small crises awaiting him there seemed strangely distant. At a spiritual retreat one afternoon, he suddenly became preoccupied with the idea that the priest who stood before him speaking was on the verge of collapse. Searching for an explanation, he told me he had become “hypervigilant of mortality — of other people dying, not me dying, but other people dying right in front of me.” Florida has executed nine men this year, more than all other states combined. The pace has transformed death watch, which had typically been empty or held one man at a time. Now all three cells are often occupied, with the next man scheduled to die housed closest to the chamber. After each execution, the prisoners advance one cell closer; then another condemned man receives an execution date and is moved into the vacant cell. Death watch, once a lonely way station, has begun to resemble an assembly line. Florida’s renewed embrace of the death penalty has unfolded against the backdrop of a decades-long national retreat from capital punishment. Thirty-three states have either abolished the death penalty or not carried out an execution in at least a decade. New death sentences have dropped even more precipitously, with prosecutors in capital cases seeking them less often and jurors more likely to choose life in prison. Just 23 people were sentenced to death in the United States last year, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, compared with 307 in 1995. Support for capital punishment has been worn away by an accumulation of forces. The mounting number of death row exonerations — more than 200 since the early 1970s — has made the risk of executing an innocent person impossible to ignore. The steep cost of capital prosecutions has forced many prosecutors to think twice before seeking death; the years of litigation required to obtain and defend a death sentence can add millions of dollars to a case. Decades of declining violent crime have further blunted the public appetite for executions. Support for the death penalty now stands at its lowest since 1972; a Gallup poll last year found that a majority of Americans under 55 opposed it. This July marks the 50th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Gregg v. Georgia, which reinstated the death penalty, making it a defining feature of the American criminal justice system. But capital punishment has since lost its hold on the political imagination, with executions persisting in only a small number of states, including Texas, Oklahoma, Alabama and Missouri. That retreat from capital punishment is apparent in governors’ offices across the country. In 2000, Gov. George Ryan of Illinois, a Republican, declared a moratorium on executions, after the exoneration of 13 men who had been on death row; before leaving office, he commuted nearly all death sentences in the state to life in prison. More recently, Democrats like Gov. Gavin Newsom of California and Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania imposed or maintained moratoriums. In June, Ohio’s governor, Mike DeWine, a Republican and a former prosecutor who helped write his state’s death penalty statute, called for abolishing capital punishment there, concluding that it did not deter murder and abandoning his belief that it was morally justified. President Donald Trump, by contrast, has long been one of the death penalty’s most outspoken champions, making it a cornerstone of his law-and-order agenda. He resumed federal executions in 2020, ending a 17-year hiatus and reviving a punishment that had become an increasingly rare exercise of federal power. Before Trump took office, the federal government had executed just three people since 1963; in the final six months of his first term, it executed 13. He returned to the issue repeatedly on the 2024 campaign trail, calling for broadening the categories of crimes eligible for execution by proposing death sentences for drug dealers, human traffickers and migrants who kill American citizens. Hours after taking office in January 2025, he signed a sweeping executive order titled “Restoring the Death Penalty and Protecting Public Safety” — signaling that the White House intended to put the full weight of the federal government behind the revival of capital punishment. He instructed the attorney general to pursue death sentences more aggressively, called on the Justice Department to challenge Supreme Court decisions limiting the death penalty, directed federal officials to help states obtain the increasingly scarce lethal injection drugs needed to carry out executions and encouraged state prosecutors to seek capital punishment more often. Nowhere has the president’s vision been pursued more relentlessly than in Florida, thanks to an unusual concentration of power in the governor’s office. In most states that still carry out executions, the process follows a familiar legal path: Once a condemned prisoner has exhausted their appeals, courts — not governors — set execution dates. In Florida, however, the decision rests entirely with the governor, who decides whether — and when — to sign a death warrant for one of the state’s eligible prisoners. DeSantis, like his predecessors, makes execution decisions behind closed doors; the state’s Supreme Court has long held that setting execution dates is an exercise of the governor’s executive authority, putting it beyond the reach of the state’s otherwise expansive open-government laws. As a result, there is no way to know what criteria DeSantis uses when he chooses who will be put to death, a Tampa-based attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union’s Capital Punishment Project, Maria DeLiberato, told me. “He could be deciding who is next to die by throwing darts at a list of names,” she said, “or spinning a roulette wheel.” <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="918" width="1149" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-04015.jpg?w=1149" alt="A symmetrical view down a marble-tiled hallway leads to a set of open double doors labeled "Governor/Lt. Governor" on the right wall. Inside the wood-paneled office beyond the doors, an American flag and a Florida state flag stand on either side of a large gold seal mounted on the wall." class="wp-image-85024" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-04015.jpg 3000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-04015.jpg?resize=300,240 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-04015.jpg?resize=768,614 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-04015.jpg?resize=1024,819 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-04015.jpg?resize=1536,1228 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-04015.jpg?resize=2048,1637 2048w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-04015.jpg?resize=863,690 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-04015.jpg?resize=422,337 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-04015.jpg?resize=552,441 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-04015.jpg?resize=558,446 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-04015.jpg?resize=527,421 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-04015.jpg?resize=752,601 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-04015.jpg?resize=1149,918 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-04015.jpg?resize=2000,1599 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-04015.jpg?resize=400,320 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-04015.jpg?resize=800,639 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-04015.jpg?resize=1200,959 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-04015.jpg?resize=1600,1279 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1149px) 100vw, 1149px" /> Gov. Ron DeSantis has the sole discretion to choose which eligible death row inmates will be executed, and when. Alec Soth/Magnum The secrecy surrounding those decisions has left victims’ families, prisoners and their lawyers searching for clues about what principles, if any, guide DeSantis’ selection process. How long a prisoner has spent on death row does not appear to be a deciding factor; DeSantis has bypassed prisoners who committed their crimes as far back as the 1970s, scheduling the executions of men convicted of murders committed decades later. With no obvious overarching logic governing who is chosen next, the process has become a contest to attract — or avoid — his attention. Hoping to prompt him to issue a death warrant for Ronald Heath, convicted of the 1989 robbery and murder of a traveling salesman, the victim’s family sent DeSantis custom blue Sharpies — his pen of choice for signing both legislation and death warrants. DeSantis subsequently did so, and Heath was executed on Feb. 10. In March, after the execution of a man named Billy Kearse by lethal injection took roughly twice as long as usual, lawyers for another man on death row, Chadwick Willacy, filed a public records request seeking information about the state’s execution protocol. A week later, DeSantis signed Willacy’s death warrant. That timing introduced more fear and uncertainty into an already opaque process. Lawyers representing condemned prisoners were left to wonder whether every legal challenge they raised risked drawing the governor’s scrutiny — and whether vigorous advocacy, intended to save a client’s life, could instead move them closer to death. DeSantis has offered little public explanation for the record number of executions carried out since 2025 on his watch. The acceleration is particularly striking because it came after years of relative inactivity. In 2019, the first year of DeSantis’ governorship, Florida carried out two executions, and then three years passed without another. Though six men were executed in 2023, just one was put to death the following year before the pace abruptly ramped up in 2025. At a news conference in Jacksonville last November, a reporter asked him to explain the sudden increase. DeSantis blamed the disruptions of the pandemic as well as bureaucratic challenges for the slow pace at the start of his governorship. Meeting with victims’ families, he said, had reinforced his determination to see old death sentences carried out. “There’s a saying: Justice delayed is justice denied,” DeSantis said. “We’re doing it to be able to bring justice to the victims’ families.” When I asked his office for comment, the head of communications, Alex Lanfranconi, sent a short response: “My advice to those who are seeking to avoid the death penalty in Florida would be to not murder people.” Some observers see a different calculus. DeSantis is term-limited and will leave office in January, but his political future remains an open question. Since ending his campaign for the White House in 2024, he has worked to repair his relationship with Trump; in April, Axios reported that he was lobbying for a position in the administration, with an eye toward attorney general. Few who follow Florida politics believe he has abandoned his presidential ambitions. The sheer number of death warrants, wrote the editorial boards of the Orlando Sentinel and the South Florida Sun Sentinel last summer, “gives rise to wonder: Why the sudden rush? Is it another sign that he’s planning another run for president in 2028? Would he campaign as the governor who tried to empty his state’s death row?” When DeSantis signs a death warrant, no one on death row knows who among them has been selected until prison officials arrive at the condemned man’s cell. Of the 242 prisoners on death row, roughly half have exhausted their appeals and are eligible for a warrant. The routine is always the same: A cluster of officials in dress uniforms suddenly appears, the arrival announced by the heavy cadence of boots on concrete and the metallic jangle of handcuffs and restraints. “The warden is first, followed by the colonel and the major and the captain and about four of the biggest guards you’ve ever seen in your life,” a former death row inmate, John Buzia, who was resentenced to life in 2017, told me from prison. “They come walking down the wing and it’s dead silent, because they’ve got their game faces on.” The men listen as the footsteps pass one cell, then another. From inside their cells, they can see little beyond their immediate neighbors, unless they slip a mirror between the bars in violation of prison rules. Somewhere along the way, the footsteps stop. The warden informs the man whose name appears on the piece of paper he carries that the governor has signed his death warrant. The prisoner is placed in restraints and led back down the wing before being transported to Florida State Prison and placed on death watch. Even before the ramp-up of executions in 2025, waiting for this moment was an exercise in near constant close listening. “You become very ear-sensitive, sound-sensitive,” Buzia said. Years spent in near total isolation and the same monotonous routine sharpen the senses, lending the smallest break from the ordinary an outsize and terrifying significance: the unmistakable sound of several officers approaching, a certain rattle of keys, the wing suddenly falling silent. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="940" width="752" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-04168.jpg?w=752" alt="A low-angle shot focuses on a weathered, rectangular metal grave marker embedded flush with the sandy soil and patches of green grass." class="wp-image-85026" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-04168.jpg 2400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-04168.jpg?resize=240,300 240w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-04168.jpg?resize=768,960 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-04168.jpg?resize=819,1024 819w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-04168.jpg?resize=1229,1536 1229w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-04168.jpg?resize=1638,2048 1638w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-04168.jpg?resize=863,1079 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-04168.jpg?resize=422,528 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-04168.jpg?resize=552,690 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-04168.jpg?resize=558,698 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-04168.jpg?resize=527,659 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-04168.jpg?resize=752,940 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-04168.jpg?resize=1149,1436 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-04168.jpg?resize=1280,1600 1280w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-04168.jpg?resize=400,500 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-04168.jpg?resize=800,1000 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-04168.jpg?resize=1200,1500 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-04168.jpg?resize=1600,2000 1600w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-04168.jpg?resize=2000,2500 2000w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" /> In the cemetery behind Union Correctional Institution lies the grave marker of Frank Johnson, the first person to be executed in the electric chair in Florida, on Oct. 7, 1924. Alec Soth/Magnum Feddon saw the effects of this last July, when he went to visit Walls, who had been sentenced to death for killing an Air Force airman and his girlfriend during a 1987 robbery. Ten death warrants had been served in the previous seven months, and Walls was visibly on edge, telling the priest that he was barely sleeping because he was sure that his death warrant was going to come down at any moment. “They kind of know there’s this mysterious list,” Feddon said, “and they know they’re on it.” Walls, usually animated as he talked about whichever saint or prayer had most recently captured his imagination, struggled to collect his thoughts, and they sat in silence while he tried to focus. Feddon watched as exhaustion eventually overtook Walls and he nodded off. The lawyers who represent condemned prisoners, most of whom work for Florida’s Capital Collateral Regional Counsel — a state-funded agency responsible for representing death row inmates in their final rounds of appeals — live with the same uncertainty, never knowing which client will suddenly be scheduled to die, or when. Until a warrant is handed down, they can only guess which of the many cases they juggle will become their most urgent. Texas, which has historically had the most active death chamber, requires at least 90 days to pass between the setting of an execution date and the execution itself. But in Florida, the period between the signing of a death warrant and an execution is roughly one month, on average. When a warrant arrives, it can set off an all-consuming race against the clock to determine whether there is any legal or factual reason the execution should not go forward: Were there witnesses who were overlooked? Or leads that earlier attorneys failed to recognize or fully investigate? Newer, more sensitive forms of forensic testing — which may have been unavailable, or less reliable, just a few years earlier — can shed light on old evidence. Advances in science and research can alter how courts view a prisoner’s long-standing claims of mental illness or intellectual disability. The imminence of an execution can prompt witnesses who have remained silent for years to speak. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="918" width="1149" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-03724.jpg?w=1149" alt="A man stands in a grassy field holding up a large sign that reads “"Bye Bye Rich” at the top, followed by rows of handwritten first names. He is standing behind a small folding table equipped with two speakers displaying glowing blue and green lights." class="wp-image-85029" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-03724.jpg 3000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-03724.jpg?resize=300,240 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-03724.jpg?resize=768,614 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-03724.jpg?resize=1024,819 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-03724.jpg?resize=1536,1228 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-03724.jpg?resize=2048,1637 2048w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-03724.jpg?resize=863,690 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-03724.jpg?resize=422,337 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-03724.jpg?resize=552,441 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-03724.jpg?resize=558,446 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-03724.jpg?resize=527,421 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-03724.jpg?resize=752,601 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-03724.jpg?resize=1149,918 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-03724.jpg?resize=2000,1599 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-03724.jpg?resize=400,320 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-03724.jpg?resize=800,639 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-03724.jpg?resize=1200,959 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-03724.jpg?resize=1600,1279 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1149px) 100vw, 1149px" /> Bill Campbell, a death penalty supporter and a mainstay at the executions, on May 21. His sign keeps a running list of the names of prisoners executed since 2025, crossed out in red, and his boom box blares songs like “Another One Bites the Dust.” Alec Soth/Magnum This spring, a prisoner named James Duckett, convicted of the 1987 rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl, received an execution date. Five days before Duckett was to be put to death, the Florida Supreme Court stayed his execution while last-minute DNA testing and analysis in the case were completed. Cases like Duckett’s illustrate why the period between a death warrant and an execution is so important, serving as a final safeguard against an irreversible punishment. Florida’s own history of wrongful convictions in capital cases underscores what is at stake. No state has exonerated more death row prisoners, 30 men in all. Now, with the added strain of one death warrant following another in rapid succession, the burden on the lawyers who are responsible for these cases has grown even heavier. “You have an execution, and then within a week or two, you’re working on a warrant again,” says Linda McDermott, chief of the Capital Habeas Unit at the Office of the Federal Defender in Tallahassee, which represents Florida death row prisoners in federal court. Last year, eight prisoners represented by her office were executed. The state’s accelerated pace leaves little room for error, or for the demands of life beyond the courtroom. When DeSantis signed a death warrant for Kearse on Jan. 29, Kearse’s lead attorney of more than 20 years, Paul Kalil, was grappling with a family crisis: His father, who had been hospitalized for several months, would enter hospice care less than a week later. As Kalil worked to prepare the final challenges to Kearse’s death sentence, his colleagues sought additional time, explaining in one court filing that “due to his ethical obligations to Mr. Kearse,” Kalil had not been able to spend sufficient time with his father in the final days of his life. The courts granted only 48 additional hours. Kalil’s father died on Feb. 8. Afterward, Kalil’s colleagues again asked for more time, explaining that the lawyer with the deepest knowledge of the case was now grieving his father’s death and making funeral arrangements. The Florida Supreme Court denied the request, and three weeks later, Kearse was executed. On April 21, the day Florida was set to execute Willacy, I made my way to the vigil that would be taking place outside Florida State Prison, near the small town of Starke. Across the two-lane highway that leads to the prison, a few dozen people were unfolding camping chairs on a sunbaked field, carrying signs with messages like “Execute justice not people” and “Thou shalt not kill.” A single, broad-canopied oak tree provided the only shade. There were no satellite trucks or television crews, no signs that something momentous was about to take place, other than a single counterprotester: a death penalty proponent who held up a sign listing the names of every man executed since early 2025, each name crossed out with a red X. Every so often, a lone car or pickup would come barreling down the highway, hurtle past the protesters and vanish. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="918" width="1149" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-03675.jpg?w=1149" alt="A wide shot captures a large crowd of people gathered on a vast green lawn under a massive, spreading oak tree. Several individuals are holding open umbrellas or standing near lawn chairs and small pop-up canopies, while a law enforcement vehicle is parked to the right of the tree." class="wp-image-85032" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-03675.jpg 3000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-03675.jpg?resize=300,240 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-03675.jpg?resize=768,614 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-03675.jpg?resize=1024,819 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-03675.jpg?resize=1536,1228 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-03675.jpg?resize=2048,1637 2048w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-03675.jpg?resize=863,690 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-03675.jpg?resize=422,337 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-03675.jpg?resize=552,441 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-03675.jpg?resize=558,446 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-03675.jpg?resize=527,421 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-03675.jpg?resize=752,601 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-03675.jpg?resize=1149,918 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-03675.jpg?resize=2000,1599 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-03675.jpg?resize=400,320 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-03675.jpg?resize=800,639 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-03675.jpg?resize=1200,959 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-03675.jpg?resize=1600,1279 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1149px) 100vw, 1149px" /> A wide shot captures a large crowd of people gathered on a vast green lawn under a massive, spreading oak tree. Several individuals are holding open umbrellas or standing near lawn chairs and small pop-up canopies, while a law enforcement vehicle is parked to the right of the tree. Alec Soth/Magnum The relative invisibility of executions — the sense that they take place with little public awareness — was what prompted Melanie Verdecia, a Jacksonville attorney, to start writing a newsletter on Substack, “Tracking Florida’s Death Penalty,” that chronicles everything from new capital prosecutions to last-minute death warrant litigation, in real time. Years ago, Verdecia told me, she was driving to the Florida Supreme Court, where she was clerking, on the day of a scheduled execution, having spent weeks immersed in the legal battle over whether it would proceed. As she sat in traffic looking at the commuters around her, she realized none of them had any idea that a man was slated to die that day. Verdecia is one of a small number of Floridians who meticulously track the state’s use of the death penalty, trying to make sure executions — and more recently, the ramp-up in death warrants — do not pass completely unnoticed. On the afternoon of the Willacy execution, Grace Hanna was sitting in a doughnut shop in Starke, keeping a different kind of record. Hanna, the 29-year-old executive director of Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, sat at her laptop as she communicated with a network of people who were affected, in one way or another, by Florida’s death penalty, including capital defenders whose clients were under active death warrants and the state’s many death row exonerees, to family members of condemned prisoners who were preparing for final visits or grieving in the wake of an execution. Hanna told me that one of the most haunting parts of her job is when she is needed to collect the ashes of a condemned man and deliver them to his family. When Hanna was 8 years old and growing up in Tallahassee, a cousin who worked the overnight shift at a convenience store in North Carolina was beaten to death during a robbery. The crime spurred long-running conversations in her home about crime, punishment and how society should respond after someone commits an act of violence. Her parents, Baptist deacons who ultimately left the church over its refusal to ordain women, raised their children to wrestle with such questions. “Clearly, something stuck,” Hanna told me. She went on to become a social worker, her brother a public defender. The man who killed her cousin received a sentence of life without parole, a punishment that spared her family from the many years or even decades of appeals that often accompany a death sentence. Justice, she said, had not demanded putting another person to death. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="941" width="752" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_06md-00100.jpg?w=752" alt="A woman with brown hair sits at a table in the corner of a room with yellow and green walls, looking intently at an open laptop. She is wearing a black T-shirt with blue text that reads “Execute Justice” and resting her chin on her hand." class="wp-image-85033" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_06md-00100.jpg 2398w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_06md-00100.jpg?resize=240,300 240w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_06md-00100.jpg?resize=768,961 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_06md-00100.jpg?resize=819,1024 819w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_06md-00100.jpg?resize=1228,1536 1228w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_06md-00100.jpg?resize=1637,2048 1637w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_06md-00100.jpg?resize=863,1080 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_06md-00100.jpg?resize=422,528 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_06md-00100.jpg?resize=552,691 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_06md-00100.jpg?resize=558,698 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_06md-00100.jpg?resize=527,659 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_06md-00100.jpg?resize=752,941 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_06md-00100.jpg?resize=1149,1437 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_06md-00100.jpg?resize=1279,1600 1279w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_06md-00100.jpg?resize=400,500 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_06md-00100.jpg?resize=800,1001 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_06md-00100.jpg?resize=1200,1501 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_06md-00100.jpg?resize=1600,2002 1600w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_06md-00100.jpg?resize=2000,2502 2000w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" /> Grace Hanna, whose cousin was killed during a robbery when she was young, is now the executive director of Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, which connects with people affected by Florida’s policies and actions. Alec Soth/Magnum That day, Hanna was drafting a news release, as her team did every execution day, to be sent out after Willacy was put to death. It began by acknowledging the victim at the center of the case, Marlys Sather, who was 56 when she returned to her home in Palm Bay during her lunch break one day in 1990, interrupting a burglary. Court records show that Willacy beat her, bound her and set her on fire before fleeing. These news releases try to hold two realities at once: the suffering caused by the crime and the complicated path that led there. Drawing on court filings, prison records and years of discussions with the lawyers and family members who know these men best, Hanna writes about forces that shaped their lives before prison: mental illness, intellectual disabilities, addiction, physical and sexual abuse, and childhoods marked by neglect. She also looks at the decades of incarceration that follow their convictions, during which sometimes profound transformations take place. “This is often the only obituary these men will get,” she said. Yet that was not the central focus of the Willacy release she was writing. Hanna devoted much of it to his unsuccessful effort to force the state to disclose records about its lethal-injection protocol. “Every Floridian,” she typed, “should be asking themselves tonight: What is the State of Florida hiding in those records?” The execution went forward that evening. Shortly after 6 o’clock, around the time the lethal-injection drugs began to flow, the protesters gathered around a large metal bell. One by one, they stepped forward. “Not in my name,” each said before striking it. The sound was low and resonant, reverberating after each blow. The counterprotester, meanwhile, a lean retiree named Bill Campbell, tried to drown out the sound with a boom box blasting “Another One Bites the Dust.” Above them, the sky stretched to the horizon, luminous in the early evening light. “Whenever we’re here for an execution, something wild happens in the sky, like a torrential downpour or the most beautiful sunset you’ve ever seen,” Hanna told me. She often takes a photograph of the sky and sends it to the prisoner’s family if they cannot bear to be there. Soon a convoy of white vans emerged from the prison gates carrying witnesses, two members of the media and prison officials. The Florida Department of Corrections announced Willacy’s time of death as 6:15 p.m. The protesters folded their chairs and gathered their belongings. A half-hour later, the vigil site had emptied out. Across the road, there was no visible sign that a man was put to death there that evening. Another execution was already scheduled for nine days later. James Hitchcock, one of the longest-serving prisoners on Florida’s death row, was set to die on April 30. As Hanna headed to her car, she called out to another woman: “See you next week.” <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="918" width="1149" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-03558.jpg?w=1149" alt="A wide shot shows a group of anti-death-penalty protesters seated closely in lawn chairs arranged on a large dark tarp outdoors. They are holding various signs with messages such as “We Oppose the Execution This Week,” “Death Row Is Mental Torture,” “Execution Is NOT the Solution,” and “Executions Are Legalized Lynching.”" class="wp-image-85034" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-03558.jpg 3000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-03558.jpg?resize=300,240 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-03558.jpg?resize=768,614 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-03558.jpg?resize=1024,819 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-03558.jpg?resize=1536,1228 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-03558.jpg?resize=2048,1637 2048w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-03558.jpg?resize=863,690 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-03558.jpg?resize=422,337 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-03558.jpg?resize=552,441 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-03558.jpg?resize=558,446 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-03558.jpg?resize=527,421 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-03558.jpg?resize=752,601 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-03558.jpg?resize=1149,918 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-03558.jpg?resize=2000,1599 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-03558.jpg?resize=400,320 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-03558.jpg?resize=800,639 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-03558.jpg?resize=1200,959 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-03558.jpg?resize=1600,1279 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1149px) 100vw, 1149px" /> Rain on May 21 did not deter a vigil for Richard Knight’s execution. “Whenever we’re here for an execution, something wild happens in the sky, like a torrential downpour or the most beautiful sunset you’ve ever seen,” Hanna said. Alec Soth/Magnum Last December, with Florida on the verge of carrying out its 19th execution of the year, a retired warden named Ron McAndrew sat down to write an opinion piece for the Tampa Bay Times. A two-time DeSantis voter and self-described “law-and-order guy,” McAndrew was troubled by the rapid increase in executions. “That pace matters,” he wrote, “because executions depend on human beings performing complex, high-risk tasks under extreme pressure.” He warned of the potential for a serious error and the toll on those responsible for carrying out death sentences. “When something goes wrong in an execution chamber, it is not elected officials who absorb the consequences,” he wrote. It is prison staff members “who carry the memories long after the chamber is cleaned and the state moves on.” McAndrew served as warden of Florida State Prison in the mid-’90s, when Florida still used the electric chair. He walked three men to the execution chamber and gave the signal that sent electricity coursing through their bodies. The last execution he oversaw, on March 25, 1997, would help hasten the end of Florida’s reliance on the electric chair. Moments after that prisoner, Pedro Medina, received the first jolt of electricity, his head caught fire and flames leaped into the air. Smoke filled the chamber. Medina’s chest heaved until he was pronounced dead. McAndrew threw out the uniform he wore that day, which smelled of burning flesh. Afterward, Gov. Lawton Chiles sent him to Texas to study lethal injection, the primary method Florida uses today. The cumulative weight of the executions followed him. He drank heavily, sometimes downing a bottle of Johnnie Walker in a single day. At night, he often awoke to find the men whose executions he had overseen sitting on the edge of his bed. “They’re haunting me,” he told his wife. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="941" width="752" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-03942.jpg?w=752" alt="A close-up portrait shows an older man with white hair, a white beard and blue eyes resting against a light-colored pillow." class="wp-image-85037" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-03942.jpg 2398w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-03942.jpg?resize=240,300 240w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-03942.jpg?resize=768,961 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-03942.jpg?resize=819,1024 819w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-03942.jpg?resize=1228,1536 1228w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-03942.jpg?resize=1637,2048 1637w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-03942.jpg?resize=863,1080 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-03942.jpg?resize=422,528 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-03942.jpg?resize=552,691 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-03942.jpg?resize=558,698 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-03942.jpg?resize=527,659 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-03942.jpg?resize=752,941 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-03942.jpg?resize=1149,1437 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-03942.jpg?resize=1279,1600 1279w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-03942.jpg?resize=400,500 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-03942.jpg?resize=800,1001 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-03942.jpg?resize=1200,1501 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-03942.jpg?resize=1600,2002 1600w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_05md-03942.jpg?resize=2000,2502 2000w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" /> Ron McAndrew, a former warden at Florida State Prison, was haunted for years by the electric chair executions he oversaw. He says Florida is not taking the burden on prison employees into consideration with the current execution rate. Alec Soth/Magnum Thirteen years of therapy allowed him to regain his footing. Now retired, he lives in the small town of Dunnellon, roughly 70 miles southwest of Florida State Prison, where he had hoped for a quiet life, puttering along the Withlacoochee River on his pontoon boat. But as executions accelerated last year, he found himself worrying about the people inside Florida State Prison who were being asked to shoulder the burden he once carried, and of the effect on them of so much killing. He knew what it was like to stand inside the execution chamber, and what it was like for the other prison officials and staff members who were required to see the process through to the end. “It was damaging, and I mean very damaging, to the people in that room.” I thought of the emotion with which McAndrew said “damaging” — as if he were describing an injury that never fully healed — when I spoke to Feddon on June 3, the day after a prisoner named Andrew Lukehart was executed. Feddon had accompanied Lukehart, who was sentenced to death for the 1996 killing of his girlfriend’s 5-month-old daughter, through the final month of his life. The crime, the remorse he carried and the abuse that had marked his childhood were not the subjects to which Lukehart most often returned. Again and again, he spoke of the Camino de Santiago, the ancient pilgrimage route that winds across northern Spain, imagining that one day he might somehow walk its dusty roads. He and Feddon recited prayers, which the priest had found for him, that pilgrims have spoken for generations along the Camino. Late in the afternoon on June 2, Feddon had been brought into the execution chamber at Florida State Prison, where he took a seat beside Lukehart, who was strapped to the gurney, and rested his hand on the man’s leg. Lukehart’s execution was the third that the priest would witness at Florida State Prison, and his voice was heavy as he spoke to me the following morning. “To begin the sacrament of last rites for an otherwise utterly healthy man …” he said, trailing off. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="918" width="1149" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_06md-00504.jpg?w=1149" alt="A medium shot captures a man with glasses and a white short-sleeved button-down shirt standing in a grassy field, preparing to strike a large, heavy metal cylinder suspended by a rope from a horizontal wooden beam." class="wp-image-85052" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_06md-00504.jpg 3000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_06md-00504.jpg?resize=300,240 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_06md-00504.jpg?resize=768,614 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_06md-00504.jpg?resize=1024,819 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_06md-00504.jpg?resize=1536,1228 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_06md-00504.jpg?resize=2048,1637 2048w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_06md-00504.jpg?resize=863,690 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_06md-00504.jpg?resize=422,337 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_06md-00504.jpg?resize=552,441 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_06md-00504.jpg?resize=558,446 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_06md-00504.jpg?resize=527,421 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_06md-00504.jpg?resize=752,601 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_06md-00504.jpg?resize=1149,918 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_06md-00504.jpg?resize=2000,1599 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_06md-00504.jpg?resize=400,320 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_06md-00504.jpg?resize=800,639 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_06md-00504.jpg?resize=1200,959 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260629-coloff-soth-2026_06md-00504.jpg?resize=1600,1279 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1149px) 100vw, 1149px" /> Around the time executions are scheduled to begin, protesters strike a large metal bell, intoning, “Not in my name.” Alec Soth/Magnum He told me he had been flooded with images of the execution since waking before dawn. The scenes returned one after another: Lukehart’s face, flushed with pooled blood, as if he had been doing a headstand; a doctor leaning over the gurney, raising Lukehart’s eyelids to verify that he was dead; the prayer rope Feddon laid across the man’s still chest. Before Mass that morning, the images looped in his mind. “I just was seeing it, and seeing it, and seeing it.” The priest was struggling to reconcile what he believed he was called to do with what that calling now required of him, and how to move forward as death warrants continued to be signed at a relentless pace. How could he keep doing this work? And yet, how could he abandon the men who had asked him to walk beside them? Inside the death chamber with Lukehart, Feddon told me, he felt a tension between the privilege of being with the condemned, he said, “to speak words of healing, of love, of God’s mercy” at their hour of greatest need, contrasted with the taking of a life. “Everything makes you want to cry out to the people around you, ‘Why are you making me do this?’” he said. Lukehart was gone, but another prisoner he was counseling, Duckett, whose execution had been put on hold for DNA testing, remained. The testing yielded no clear answers, and prosecutors were now asking the Florida Supreme Court to lift its stay so that the execution could proceed. The machinery of death had paused for him, but only briefly. Feddon would return to Florida State Prison to see him in just a few days. The post Florida Is Executing Prisoners at a Record Pace, Even as Most of the U.S. Abandons the Death Penalty appeared first on ProPublica. This content originally appeared on ProPublica and was authored by Pamela Colloff.
For Puerto Rico’s fishers, climate change isn’t the only challenge — being left to adapt alone is.
Even as Puerto Rico's fisherfolk navigate rising seas and monster storms, a maze of bureaucracy is proving to be their biggest obstacle.
Tomás Ayala leaps off the side of a small dinghy and into the dark swell of water. His arms slice through the waves like a cutlass as he dives deep into the bay off the southeastern coast of the Puerto Rican island of Culebra. Armed with a spear gun, Ayala swims even deeper as he scans the perimeter of the reef for his target. It doesn’t take long. Mere seconds later, a cloud of blood darkens the water around a large hogfish — proof enough that he found his mark. He snatches up his catch and makes for the surface. Back safely on his boat, Ayala drops the reef fish into a cooler, guns the motor, and heads for shore. It’s late Wednesday afternoon in mid-May. Ayala has been out since before dawn. The 50-year-old hails from a family of fishers — he started free diving for reef fish, laying lobster traps, and catching octopus when he was just eight years old, following in the footsteps of his brother and grandfather. Before long, he arrives at his destination — a concrete dock leading to a villa pesquera, a “fishing village” or “fish landing center,” a site with key infrastructure for Culebra’s community of traditional fisherfolk. Inside are cleaning stations, freezers, a saltwater tank for storing lobsters, a mélange of other equipment, and a bustling market. The villa pesquera provides the equipment dozens of local fishers need to sustain their work, and also a space to convene: Every week, the association that co-manages the space comes together for updates and to share their challenges and successes. Ayala is greeted by Nicolás Gómez Andújar, a marine scientist whose dad is a local fisher, and they prepare the space for their next gathering. The members will discuss the federal permits they’re hoping to get for a native oyster farm, the effort to clear droves of abandoned fishing gear from Culebra’s seabed, and anything else someone may want to bring to the group. While they talk, they’ll eat a seafood mofongo, a popular shrimp-and-plantain dish. <img decoding="async" src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Still-2026-06-22-174505_1.57.1.png?quality=75&strip=all" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Still-2026-06-22-174505_1.57.1.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Still-2026-06-22-174505_1.57.1.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=330 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Still-2026-06-22-174505_1.57.1.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=768 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Still-2026-06-22-174505_1.57.1.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Still-2026-06-22-174505_1.57.1.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=1536 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Still-2026-06-22-174505_1.57.1.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=160&h=90&crop=1 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Still-2026-06-22-174505_1.57.1.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=640&h=853&crop=1 640w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Still-2026-06-22-174505_1.57.1.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=96&h=96&crop=1 96w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Still-2026-06-22-174505_1.57.1.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=150 150w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Still-2026-06-22-174505_1.57.1.png?quality=75&strip=all 1024w" alt="Two men stand on a boat looking out on a waterway between lush trees" data-caption="Ayala and Pedro Gómez drive a boat off the coast of the island-municipality of Culebra." data-credit="Nelson Vega Oliveras / 9 Millones "/> Ayala and Pedro Gómez drive a boat off the coast of the island-municipality of Culebra. Nelson Vega Oliveras / 9 Millones For decades, Culebra’s villa pesquera lay dormant, an abandoned facility shut down by the Puerto Rican government in 2002 because of political infighting, loss of government funding, and conflict between local fishers. In 2021, when Ayala and Gómez Andújar decided they wanted to resurrect it, dozens of their friends, neighbors, and local businesses donated time and labor to restore the dilapidated structure. It took roughly four years of organizing, fundraising, and securing permits for it all to come together. Last October, they formally reopened the fish market to much fanfare. Hundreds of people, on an island home to less than 2,000, showed up to help celebrate. They ate, laughed, and danced together. “We created what we dreamed of,” said Ayala. Hidden behind their success, however, lies a story of entrenched government divides and a growing need to rehaul how fishers are represented across the Puerto Rican government. The very survival of small-scale fishing and its unsung role in Puerto Rico’s food system depends on it — especially in the face of climate change, as rising temperatures make it harder and harder to fish for a living. Ayala fishing sardines following small-scale and artisanal practices. Nelson Vega Oliveras/9 Millones In the early to mid-1960s, amid a push to modernize commercial fishing boats and docking facilities, the Puerto Rican government formally established villas pesqueras, turning informal fishing spots into regulated, communal spaces. In 1979, Corporación para el Desarrollo y Administración de los Recursos Marinos, Lacustres, y Fluviales, or CODREMAR, the centralized agency tasked with handling all research, education, and conservation efforts related to commercial fishing, was born. By the early ‘80s, the government began promoting the implementation of “fisher associations,” or organized local groups tasked with controlling their own seafood sales — partly to break up emerging seafood monopolies — and co-managing the villas pesqueras alongside municipalities. What happened next is not well documented. Research by University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez social anthropologist Manuel Valdés-Pizzini has found fishers still struggled to keep control of the landing centers because of political infighting and dwindling institutional support — the same dynamics that ultimately led to the closure of Culebra’s fishing village. “There is a lot of politics in this,” said Valdés-Pizzini. “The landing center is just one piece of infrastructure in the whole fishery, culture, and society.” In 1990, CODREMAR was dissolved after the Puerto Rican government deemed its oversight of the fishing sector inefficient, leaving its core responsibilities to be divvied up between two agencies — Puerto Rico’s Department of Agriculture and Department of Natural and Environmental Resources. Nowadays, experts and fishers alike say the governance of the industry in Puerto Rico is little more than a patchwork, piecemeal approach splintered across just about every layer of government. Villas pesqueras are typically co-managed by local fishing associations, independent fishers or businesses, municipalities, and the Department of Agriculture. Some of the equipment inside, such as storage lockers, is overseen by the Department of Agriculture, and fishers’ licenses, boat ramps, and other permitting approvals are largely regulated by the Department of Natural and Environmental Resources. The list of government stakeholders and regulators also includes the Puerto Rican Department of Economic Development and Commerce, the Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Coast Guard, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Caribbean Fishery Management Council, the Puerto Rico State Historic Preservation Office, and the Puerto Rico Planning Board, among others. For the fishers who are trying to adapt to global warming, such as those in Culebra, the red tape just gets in the way. A forthcoming analysis by The Nature Conservancy Puerto Rico, previewed exclusively by Grist and 9 Millones, found that the burdens of this existing regulatory process as it relates to marine aquaculture “can be disproportionately high for small-scale producers.” Permits and authorizations are not only notoriously unwieldy for small fishers, but can also cost hundreds to thousands of dollars, according to the report. For some, as in the case of traditional shellfish farmers, the upfront and operating costs can be far more than what their peers in other parts of the U.S. pay. Puerto Rico’s fishing sector also differs from the rest of the U.S. in that it’s primarily made up of small-scale, artisanal fishers rather than industrial-scale operations. Fisheries account for a marginal slice of the archipelago’s economy. Commercial fishing falls within Puerto Rico’s agriculture, forestry, and fishing sector, which accounted for just 0.69 percent of Puerto Rico’s gross domestic product in 2024. Yet in the most vulnerable island communities, where food is almost exclusively imported, poverty rates are more than double the national U.S. average, and resources are scarce, the expansion of local fishing could serve as the cornerstone of long-term food security and sovereignty. A recent report found that just 12 villas pesqueras contribute more than $3 million every year to Puerto Rico’s economy. And that contribution is poised to grow, as more fishers advocate for a streamlined permitting system, better industry and cultural valuations for small-scale operators, and a centralized regulatory landscape overseen by one government office. Without those changes, they face an uncertain future. “Fishers are embedded in this complex web with the Department of Agriculture and Department of Natural and Environmental Resources. These different governmental institutions, they don’t seem to be talking to each other. There’s a disconnection,” said Luis Alexis Rodríguez Cruz, a food systems researcher and science communicator who works with the Caribbean Agroecology Institute on fisheries. “In Spanish we say, ‘Entre la espada y la pared’ — between the sword and the wall. It’s like, you want to do something, because this agency is requiring you to do [it], often this other agency is not requiring it, or somewhat counters it.” An aerial view of the fishing village in Ceiba, Puerto Rico which includes an area for processing the catch of the day and a fish market. Nelson Vega Oliveras/9 Millones Even as distrust between fishers and the government deepens, the effects of climate change are pushing fishers toward that very system for relief. Rising seas driven by a warming planet have continued to encroach upon shorelines, wetlands, and coastal infrastructure throughout Puerto Rico. Erosion has been identified in more than a third of Puerto Rico’s beaches. The situation is so dire that in 2023, the Puerto Rican government declared a state of emergency over the issue, a move that included earmarking $105 million in federal funds to implement nearly two dozen measures to minimize the effects. Late last month, Puerto Rico’s Governor Jenniffer González-Colón declared yet another state of emergency over coastal erosion. On May 27, days before the start of the Atlantic hurricane season, González-Colón signed an executive order that described the “critical condition” of erosion as only having “accelerated” because of rising sea levels, storm surges, atmospheric phenomena, and the landscape vulnerability of several Puerto Rican coastal communities. Since 1901, the average ocean temperature around Puerto Rico has increased by nearly 2 degrees Fahrenheit. This has scrambled the region’s marine biodiversity — killing off coral reefs and seagrass, shifting which species are more abundant, and affecting the quality of the catch. But the surging frequency of intensified hurricanes hitting the Caribbean remains the biggest climate stressor for Puerto Rico’s fishing sector. In 2017, Hurricane Maria slammed into Puerto Rico as a Category 5 storm, devastating the archipelago and plunging parts of it into close to a year without power. The hurricane was also devastating for small fisheries, which lost an estimated $17.8 million in damaged gear, boats, and shoreside infrastructure, including villas pesqueras. Following the storm, the Puerto Rican government set out to rebuild and reconstruct the fishing hubs with funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and NOAA, but quickly ran into issues. Aid was repeatedly delayed. Some fisherfolk didn’t receive any federal support for years and were forced to operate in makeshift markets. Others rebuilt, bit by bit, on their own dime. Read Next <img src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2226126929-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all" alt="Aerial view of multiple solar panels on rooftops" class="js-modal-gallery__hidden" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2226126929-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 1600w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2226126929-1.jpg?resize=1200%2C673&quality=75&strip=all 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2226126929-1.jpg?resize=330%2C185&quality=75&strip=all 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2226126929-1.jpg?resize=768%2C431&quality=75&strip=all 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2226126929-1.jpg?resize=1536%2C861&quality=75&strip=all 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2226126929-1.jpg?resize=160%2C90&quality=75&strip=all 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2226126929-1.jpg?resize=150%2C84&quality=75&strip=all 150w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" height="897" width="1600" loading="lazy" decoding="async"> Inside the government’s push to divert Puerto Rico solar funds to a bankrupt utility Naveena Sadasivam Although no official record of how many structures were lost to the storm currently exists, a 2026 survey by the nonprofit Conservación ConCiencia found that 41 villas pesqueras are actively selling seafood, down from approximately 63 in the ‘80s, and the conditions of those facilities vary widely. The number of total active villages is unknown to the Puerto Rican government. The Department of Natural and Environmental Resources told Grist in an email that the agency currently has 1,646 “bonafide and licensed fishermen on record.” However, there tends to be discrepancies between the number of fishers licensed and those that show up in government data captured by multiple agencies. In the small beach town of Ceiba, which hugs the eastern tip of Puerto Rico’s mainland, Beverly Román Figueroa and her partner Ernesto Correa Torres have been fighting battle after battle with local authorities over their villa pesquera — battles that began when Maria hit. After the storm severely damaged Ceiba’s fishing hub, Román Figueroa says they were told by the mayor that the municipality had been allocated a little over $124,000 of Federal Emergency Management Agency aid to pay for the repairs. But when she and Correa Torres would visit the site — even as late as 2023, after a lengthy contract dispute over the villa pesquera’s management — they found little evidence that any work had been done. Photos and videos taken in March of 2023 show destroyed pipes and waterlogged floors and walls — a largely unusable space. “What they handed me was a neglected property,” said Correa Torres in Spanish. “This isn’t mine; this belongs to the people of Puerto Rico and to the fishermen.” <img decoding="async" src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Still-2026-06-22-181209_1.186.2.png?quality=75&strip=all" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Still-2026-06-22-181209_1.186.2.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Still-2026-06-22-181209_1.186.2.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=330 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Still-2026-06-22-181209_1.186.2.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=768 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Still-2026-06-22-181209_1.186.2.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Still-2026-06-22-181209_1.186.2.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=1536 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Still-2026-06-22-181209_1.186.2.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=160&h=90&crop=1 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Still-2026-06-22-181209_1.186.2.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=640&h=853&crop=1 640w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Still-2026-06-22-181209_1.186.2.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=96&h=96&crop=1 96w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Still-2026-06-22-181209_1.186.2.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=150 150w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Still-2026-06-22-181209_1.186.2.png?quality=75&strip=all 1024w" alt="A man stands near the side of a fishing boat" data-caption="In Puerto Rico, fishing is a trade passed down through generations." data-credit="Nelson Vega Oliveras / 9 Millones "/> In Puerto Rico, fishing is a trade passed down through generations. Nelson Vega Oliveras / 9 Millones For months, their requests for repairs went unanswered by local and federal officials. (The Department of Agriculture sent representatives at one point to conduct an on-site inspection, Román Figueroa says, but the visit resulted in “no real action.”) Tired of waiting and needing to generate income, the duo invested more than $60,000 of their own money into fixing up the villa pesquera. They even collaborated with Conservación ConCiencia and Hispanic Federation to get solar panels installed on the fish market for cleaner, cheaper power. Three years later, the structure and its facilities — storage lockers, the boat ramp, and the floating dock — are always accessible to local fishers. Its new restaurant, Pescaderia y Restaurante ANSI, is open four days a week. Román Figueroa whips up piping hot meals like sancocho de tiburón, a traditional stew made from the shark that Correa Torres hauls in from the sea. He is president of ANSI, the company made up of local fishers who manage the villa; she, the secretary and resident cook. Their children also help out — their daughter works in the market, and their son is also a fisher. “It was a disaster … but little by little, we got it back up and running,” said Román Figueroa in Spanish. The government, she says, had no part in that. “Despite everything we have done at the villa, we have worked alone.” A sign reads “Warning, ramp for exclusive use by commercial fishers” in Ceiba, Puerto Rico. Nelson Vega Oliveras/9 Millones Ariam Torres Cordero, an environmental planner and assistant professor at the University of Puerto Rico at Río Piedras, has visited at least 15 of the archipelago’s villas pesqueras in the last two years to begin mapping the current state of the fishing industry. Together with Valdés-Pizzini, he is setting out to change the fact that the government has no official account of the current conditions of the fishing hubs in Puerto Rico. “You can see, already, the deterioration, even despite the fact that they were reconstructed less than eight years ago. You can already see the impacts of coastal erosion,” said Torres Cordero. Puerto Rico’s governance of the sector has made fishers more vulnerable to these threats — not less. This is most apparent in the bungled rebuilding of the dozens of villas pesqueras destroyed by Maria. Fisher communities across the archipelago still report being unable to access federal aid to repair storm-ravaged facilities and equipment. An audit published in January 2025 by the Office of the Inspector General at the U.S. Department of Commerce found that Puerto Rico’s government had distributed only around 7 percent of the $11.4 million in disaster assistance funds earmarked for fisheries since April 2020 and had completed just 4 of 17 designated restoration projects. Puerto Rico Secretary of the Department of Natural and Environmental Resources Waldemar Quiles Pérez did not address Grist and 9 Millones’ requests for clarification on the severe delays revealed in the audit or provide updates on the agency’s aid disbursement. “All of the fishing spaces around the Island are either privately owned or are administer[ed] by the Department of Agriculture,” Quiles Pérez said in a written statement. Puerto Rico’s Department of Agriculture did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Not only was the allocation of the aid itself riddled with delays and discrepancies, Torres Cordero pointed out, but what little money the federal government distributed for post-disaster rebuilding of villas pesqueras wasn’t used to rebuild in a way that accounts for the effects of climate change on fishing infrastructure. That much is obvious in how many of the facilities are already falling apart. By building back the structures just as they were designed decades ago, “we’re bound for another situation where we’re going to end up with most of this infrastructure being basically destroyed,” said Torres Cordero. “It’s not sustainable just to keep rebuilding the same.” With this in mind, he is trying to figure out how to minimize the risk of future storm and erosion damage while still allowing the fishing facilities to remain near the sea. The answer, he believes, lies in reimagining parts of the villa pesquera design itself to be both more durable and, where it makes the most sense, even mobile. Torres Cordero himself is recruiting the help of architecture, landscape, and social work students to come up with a new blueprint for a more “climate-proof” structure. “We need to decide, ‘What things do we need permanently placed in a location? And then what things should be mobile?’ And then design around that,” he said. A villa pesquera isn’t a simple building, however. The freezers and areas where fish are cleaned and prepared, for example, often require heavy equipment that would be too complex to move ahead of a storm. On the other hand, a fish market or dock could be designed to be mobile. (The Puerto Rican government, for its part, did try to do some version of this following Hurricane Maria by installing temporary floating docks in a handful of locations, which Torres Cordero says have proven not to be very durable or functional.) The pilot project is focused on the island of Vieques, another of Puerto Rico’s smaller island municipalities home to many traditional fishers. The work is in its infancy — it only started coming together last summer – and Torres Cordero hasn’t yet secured the funding and capacity needed to move it forward. Several outside factors have also contributed to grounding the project before it’s really begun. In September, the fishers they were just beginning to collaborate with in Vieques were suddenly faced with the deployment of U.S. troops to the island, which the military considered a strategic position in its tensions with Venezuela. Vieques still bears the lasting environmental toll of decades of bombing by the U.S. Navy, which used much of the island for military practice. That included the navy’s regular disposal of unknown contaminants in the waters surrounding Vieques, polluting its fishing stock and marine ecosystems. Then, in April, students at the University of Puerto Rico at Río Piedras went on strike, calling for the resignation of the university president, Zayira Jordán Conde, over her controversial decisions having to do with widespread research and staffing cuts. “All of that fell apart,” said Torres Cordero. “Right now, we are playing the waiting game.” As the ocean temperature rises, fishers are forced to go to deeper waters. Nelson Vega Oliveras/9 Millones The fishers in Culebra are as ready as they can be for the next calamitous storm. That’s thanks to the more than two dozen solar panels lining the villa pesquera’s roof, the hurricane-proof windows found throughout the blue-and-white building, and a rainwater harvesting system ensuring a backup water supply. These are small but mighty ways fisherfolk there have already sought to better fortify themselves against the many climate-borne stressors assailing their sector. In doing so, they’ve also bolstered their island community’s defenses against food insecurity when the next hurricane or flood tears through Puerto Rico. Following Maria, Puerto Rico’s fishers mobilized to feed their neighbors. In Culebra, Ayala remembers how, after the hurricane left the island without electricity for half a year, the local seafood supply chain collapsed entirely. To meet the need, as fishers struggled with damaged gear and lack of power, and the community waited on external food aid that just didn’t come, Ayala organized an informal system. He collected fish from other fishermen, set up a makeshift area to clean the catch, and knocked on doors to sell directly to people. The grassroots effort underscored the need for a more resilient system, catalyzing the formation of the fishing association and restoration of their home base — the villa pesquera. Even though fishing only makes up a marginal slice of Puerto Rico’s economy, it’s clear that Culebra is better for the work that Ayala and Gómez Andújar are doing. For a community where about a quarter of residents live below the poverty line, a primary indicator of food insecurity, building a robust local supply chain and bolstering their resilience against environmental degradation isn’t merely an aspiration, but a survival strategy. So in 2020, Gómez Andújar and local environmental scientist Megan Considine set out to create another pillar of that vision — the only permitted oyster farm in Puerto Rico. “Climate change is, of course, this unpredictable threat. And it’s chronic, and it’s there,” Gómez Andújar said. “To a certain extent, we need to flow with it. We need to adapt. We need to mitigate.” <img decoding="async" src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Still-2026-06-22-170421_1.16.1.png?quality=75&strip=all" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Still-2026-06-22-170421_1.16.1.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Still-2026-06-22-170421_1.16.1.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=330 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Still-2026-06-22-170421_1.16.1.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=768 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Still-2026-06-22-170421_1.16.1.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Still-2026-06-22-170421_1.16.1.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=1536 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Still-2026-06-22-170421_1.16.1.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=160&h=90&crop=1 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Still-2026-06-22-170421_1.16.1.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=640&h=853&crop=1 640w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Still-2026-06-22-170421_1.16.1.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=96&h=96&crop=1 96w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Still-2026-06-22-170421_1.16.1.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=150 150w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Still-2026-06-22-170421_1.16.1.png?quality=75&strip=all 1024w" alt="An aerial view of a building near docks. The building has solar panels on top." data-caption="One of the ways that Culebra fishers are prepared for an incoming storm and regular power outages is through more than two dozen solar panels installed on the roof of the villa pesquera. " data-credit="Nelson Vega Oliveras / 9 Millones "/> One of the ways that Culebra fishers are prepared for an incoming storm and regular power outages is through more than two dozen solar panels installed on the roof of the villa pesquera. Nelson Vega Oliveras / 9 Millones Though the oyster farm is currently grant-funded, with only research permits, local fishers like Ayala view farming native shellfish as a way to spark future generations’ interest in careers in fishing and diversify the seafood supply chain operating out of Culebra’s villa pesquera. But in order to keep it running through the next few years, they’ll need to commercialize the farm. Everything was moving in the right direction — until late last month. Much of their farm’s federal compliance suddenly hinged on an Army Corps of Engineers permit at risk of expiring. Rather than chance violations, they made the difficult decision to, at least temporarily, shut down roughly half of their operations while awaiting that clearance. “It’s demoralizing,” said Gómez Andújar. “The main message, really, is we’re doing the best we can to do everything right, and it’s still very, very, very hard.” After their yearslong effort to restore Culebra’s fishing village, Gómez Andújar and Ayala are buried under layers of bureaucracy, yet again. The road ahead looks much like the road behind. “We show people how to live from the ocean, how to grow food from the ocean,” says Ayala. Fishing represents so much more to Ayala than just a job — it’s the foundation of Puerto Rico’s food-sovereign, climate-resilient future. “And the government is the biggest barrier.” Filmmaker Nelson Vega Oliveras contributed reporting. 9 Millones’ Laura M. Quintero contributed editing. This story was originally published by Grist with the headline For Puerto Rico’s fishers, climate change isn’t the only challenge — being left to adapt alone is. on Jun 30, 2026. This content originally appeared on Grist and was authored by Ayurella Horn-Muller.
Why is it so unusually expensive to replace lead pipes in Chicago?
The city with the most lead pipes in the nation is paying way above average to fix them. Officials can't fully explain why.
This content originally appeared on Grist and was authored by Juanpablo Ramirez-Franco.
Pakistan Attacks Afghanistan, Dozens Reported Dead #shorts
The Feeling of Patriotism Is All In the Air, Sort Of
In his latest Freedom 250 triumph, Pres. Fragile Snowflake launched a Great American State Fair in D.C, which is not a state, boasting tens of attendees, no shade or seats, melted ice cream, busted Ferris wheel, $25 pretzels, teenage performers, sorry...
In his latest Freedom 250 triumph, Pres. Fragile Snowflake launched a Great American State Fair in D.C, which is not a state, boasting tens of attendees, no shade or seats, melted ice cream, busted Ferris wheel, $25 pretzels, teenage performers, sorry-ass pavilions often sporting a mere chair, a masturbating MAGA podcaster, and a Spinal-Tap-like mini-Arc-de-Pedo that began disintegrating its first day. No wonder headliner Trump - right again! - giddily proclaimed, "This is the beginning of the golden age of America." Fresh from miraculously transforming "the reflecting lakes" (sic) into a fetid debacle, Trump launched "the most unforgettable birthday party any country has ever had," though maybe not in the way he envisioned. Many observers noted "his own Potemkin Village," billed as "a world-class exposition," sadly "sputtered out of the gate," bathed in the same "stench of kitsch and failure" as everything he touches. The “sparsely attended and shockingly boring” result was variously likened to "comedy gold," "horror movie vibes," "theater of the absurd," and a Butlins - low-rent British package resorts - "for fascists with heatstroke." It did not have to be this way. A viral Reddit post by a former worker at the Smithsonian recalled the "millions in private philanthropy" raised years ago for a landmark 250th anniversary of what's been called "the greatest sentence ever written" declaring "all men (sic) are created equal." Planned was a month-long folk festival, "The Festival of Festivals," featuring a blend of the likes of Burning Man, Farm Aid, Grand Ole Oprey and local festivals highlighting the best of American arts, redolent of the famed Christmas Truce of World War One when "people put down their weapons and got together" in a hopeful, unifying cause. That was before Trump "stole America's 250th birthday and threw it for himself," refusing to issue permits for the Smithsonian's version and swiftly turning what could have been a historic civic celebration into a joyless, gaudy, bleak reality-TV pageant, an alleged state fair, which neither he nor his minions have obviously ever seen, without rides, games, farm animals, cotton candy, fried dough, fresh lemonade or "fun," which could be why reports surfaced of a muggy and miserable scene where bored kids were loudly complaining and at least one took to rolling in the steamy grass screaming, "I. WANT. TO. GO. HOME!!!” Because grifters gonna grift, it also became an egregious “$100-million laundering operation" with a small Ferris wheel. Added to $80 million in our money he stole from the real 250 commission, he lured corporate sponsors seeking favors or contracts - Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Palantir, Oracle, ExxonMobil, United Airlines - with obscene "deals": $500,000 for “V.I.P access and seating" at all events, $1 million for a “private thank you reception” and “historic photo opportunity,” $2.5 million to hand you the mike for "a speaking role at the July 4 event," up to $10 million for God knows what further abuse of power. Thus did his latest round of corrupt bombastic patriotism, trailing "a sense of dread" and blaring Creed's Higher, kick off Wednesday night to a military flyover, a National Anthem sung by Kash Patel's girlfriend, and a speech behind bulletproof glass to a mostly empty National Mall. "I am thrilled to declare that America is back,” he said, going on to reassure himself on the greatest terror of his life. "We were a joke two years ago, but nobody's laughing at us anymore" - this, from a purported US president forced to fill in for Milli Vanilli. Then he did his cringey robot "dance" while a Marine band played YMCA. Oof. Despite a relatively brief speech, a viral video showed people streaming out as he droned. Later he posted the rally was "packed to the brim with 45,000 happy people. Everybody stayed right until the end of my speech - they loved hearing about a truly successful America." The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears: Most reports put the crowd at about 1,000. Sleepy Joe last week: "Whoa. What a loser." Online, people cracked about "almost dozens of people," said they'd seen bigger crowds at school fairs, family reunions, Walmart, and suggested, "They were all at Mamdani's pool party." Heroic Fox News hosts, though, toughed it out. Sitting before a vast expanse of grass dotted with maybe 14 people, they posted AI slopaganda and happily exclaimed "How great is this?" "We've got thousands celebrating!" "People are still coming!" and, "The feeling of patriotism is all in the air." Once the C-listers all bailed, even Vanilla Ice cancelled due to non-existent "inclement weather," and performers came down to a 14-year-old girl from Arkansas who sang Delta Dawn and a local artist who painted an American flag live on stage, desperate Fox folks still chirped about "so many cool people" watching him. Meanwhile, generator issues caused the Ferris wheel to periodically shut down and the ice cream to melt; inexplicably, a butter sculpture of Trump and cow named Melania didn't. Food vendors were few and airport-pricey: $5 water bottles, $23 turkey legs, $25 stuffed pretzels, a $27 dry burger with "limp, slimy lettuce on top.” Replicas of Trump passports, bewilderingly reading, "Welcome but be good," were given out; whiteboard messages included, "A felon and predator resides at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave!!”; police arrested a MAGA podcaster dressed as Uncle Sam for masturbating to a performance by women acrobats. Slapdash, flimsy state pavilions often looked like empty doctors' waiting rooms, or "like something Wile E. Coyote would run into while chasing the Road Runner." About a fifth of the states declined to partake in the regime's ideological project to rewrite the American narrative into a white, male Christian triumph, or sent minimal material - state name or symbol, (welcome) chair or two. Maine is a bare room with lobster facts on the wall; Oregon, "the Beaver State," has a chair, Vermont was empty until a woman drove down with maple syrup pamphlets; Alabama has a bucket of peanuts; Kansas, cut-outs of Wizard of Oz characters. North Carolina flew a Confederate flag, later taken down. Florida honors anti-Trump Tom Petty and Jimmy Buffett among its famous residents in "a small act of cultural sabotage." A mostly empty Faith and Family pavilion adorned with an Israeli flag hosted an evangelical pastor and drew two customers to "plunder hell and populate heaven”; other evangelicals reportedly wander the empty grounds, offering exorcisms. An empty War Department (sic) booth exhibits a cardboard cutout of George Washington, a montage of Hegseth's noble "war-fighters," and camo vests for kids to try on and hopefully emulate them. Overseeing it all stands a stubby, plywood and vinyl mock-up of Trump’s $100 million “Arc de Trump,” aka "Arc de Mentia," "Epstein Memorial Arch," "L' Arc de Dômbfuqué," his "Triumph of the Will" vision of "democracy if it had a midlife crisis and bought a white tracksuit." Many liken it to McDonald's arches, Spinal Tap's mini-Stonehenge, or Derek Zoolander's Center for Kids Who Can't Read Good and Wanna Learn to Do Other Stuff Good Too," but images show the arch buckling and melting in D.C.s humidity. Some fair-goers in search of rare shade have still sought it out; others argue it'd get more traffic as a urinal. - YouTube www.youtube.com On Monday, the Fair was devoted to RFK's so-called MAHA, Make America Healthy Again program, or what has now morphed into Make America Hurl Again after organizers inexplicably decided the best way to promote better eating habits was to hold a contest in muggy-90-something-degree weather where people scarf down as many pancakes as possible while gagging and trying not to actually puke. Eat till you puke: Fun for the whole family! Up next, some speculate: "They will swim in some sewage and stare into an eclipse." Or mebbe snort heroin off a toilet seat? Actually, Trump was right: We are tired of winning. America's 250th birthday marks the signing by 56 brave men of "a flawed but aspirational document" declaring their independence and asserting, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Most of the Founding Fathers - slaveholders, misogynists, oppressors of Native Americans - "did not live up to those words," writes a historian. "The country they created was incomplete, and the work of completing it has been the work of every generation since." America has spent 250 years "wrestling with the contradictions of its original sin," says Eddie Glaude, a professor of African- American studies. This "divided soul in which America imagines itself as a beacon of freedom and as a white republic" is "a kind of madness at the heart of the country. That madness evidences itself in cycles, and we happen to be in one right now." Still, every bailed musical act, every court victory, every protest tells Trump, "We see you," writes Dean Blundell. "The country is not him. It has never been him. The country is the people who showed up across 250 years and did the work." And for now must keep at it. This content originally appeared on Common Dreams and was authored by Abby Zimet.
On June 23, the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel released one of the most devastating reports ever produced by a UN investigative body on the Israeli genocide in Gaza. Its title is almost unbearable to read: The Essence of Childhood Has Been Destroyed. Behind the title lies an accusation of extraordinary gravity. The Commission concludes that Israeli authorities and security forces have deliberately targeted Palestinian children and that these actions amount to genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes in the Gaza Strip, alongside war crimes in the occupied West Bank. More The post When the Children Become the Target appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
A 6 ⁄ 16 More details A wounded Palestinian infant at Al-Shifa Hospital, October 2023. Photo: Palestinian News & Information Agency (Wafa). CC BY-SA 3.0. On June 23, the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel released one of the most devastating reports ever produced by a UN investigative body on the Israeli genocide in Gaza. Its title is almost unbearable to read: The Essence of Childhood Has Been Destroyed. Behind the title lies an accusation of extraordinary gravity. The Commission concludes that Israeli authorities and security forces have deliberately targeted Palestinian children and that these actions amount to genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes in the Gaza Strip, alongside war crimes in the occupied West Bank. The report is not an emotional appeal. It is a painstaking legal document built upon witness testimony, forensic evidence, satellite imagery, military analysis, medical records, and years of documentation. What it presents is not merely another catalogue of civilian casualties. It argues that the killing, maiming, starvation, detention and psychological destruction of Palestinian children cannot be explained as collateral damage. Rather, the Commission concludes that children themselves have become deliberate targets of Israeli military policy. The implications of such a finding reach far beyond Gaza. They raise fundamental questions about the future of international law itself. A Report of Extraordinary Gravity The Commission estimates that since October 2023, at least 20,179 Palestinian children have been killed and more than 44,000 injured. Approximately thirty per cent of all Palestinians killed have been children. These figures alone place the Gaza war among the deadliest conflicts for children in modern history. Yet the report’s importance lies not simply in the numbers but in its conclusions regarding intent. It documents repeated instances in which children were shot by snipers, attacked by drones, struck while seeking food or water, or killed despite posing no military threat – as should have been obvious. It examines the repeated use of high-yield explosives in densely populated civilian areas long after the predictable consequences for children had become undeniable. It details attacks on maternity hospitals, neonatal wards, schools, orphanages and shelters. It also examines the blockade of food, water and medicine, showing how starvation, disease and the collapse of medical services have become instruments of war directed against an entire civilian population whose youngest members are the most vulnerable. The Commission investigates Israeli detention practices involving Palestinian minors. Children arrested in Gaza and the West Bank describe torture, sexual violence, degrading treatment and disappearance into detention facilities without information being provided to their families. Such abuses, the report concludes, form part of a broader system of collective punishment directed against Palestinian society across generations. The UN Commission report is not novel on this, even though the findings are devastating. They corroborate previous reports by Save the Children (Palestinian Children in Israeli Military Detention Report Increasingly Violent Conditions, 29 February 2024) and, long before this genocidal campaign that began in 2023 by UNICEF (Children in Israeli Military Detention, February 2013). In his recent book, Survivors of the Darkness, the Palestinian journalist Wesam Afifa documents the horrendous violence of the Israeli concentration camps set up for Palestinians, including children. Perhaps the UN report’s most chilling conclusion is that the destruction extends beyond physical death. Childhood itself has become a battlefield. Psychological trauma, orphanhood, repeated displacement, hunger, interrupted education and permanent disability together amount to what the Commission describes as the destruction of ‘the essence of childhood’. A Pattern Long Documented The Commission’s findings did not emerge suddenly. For nearly two years, Palestinian journalists have documented children pulled from collapsed buildings, infants dying in incubators without electricity, families wiped out in airstrikes and children shot while attempting to retrieve food or water. Many of those journalists paid with their own lives. Gaza has become the ‘deadliest conflict ever for journalists’, reported Irene Khan, the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression. Yet, despite extraordinary danger the journalists continued documenting events that much of the world preferred not to see. International human rights organisations reached similar conclusions long before this recent UN report. Save the Children repeatedly warned that Gaza had become one of the most dangerous places on earth to be a child. Defence for Children International–Palestine documented repeated shootings of children in circumstances that raised serious questions about military necessity. Human Rights Watch investigated attacks on schools, hospitals and refugee camps. Amnesty International examined repeated strikes that appeared to violate the principles of distinction and proportionality under international humanitarian law. UNICEF repeatedly warned that children were being killed and injured on an unprecedented scale. None of these organisations described isolated accidents. They identified recurring patterns that demanded independent investigation. The new UN report effectively consolidates this vast body of evidence into a single legal assessment. In January 2024, the International Court of Justice found that South Africa’s case alleging genocide by Israel was plausible and ordered provisional measures requiring Israel to prevent acts prohibited under the Genocide Convention, preserve evidence, and facilitate humanitarian assistance. Subsequent orders strengthened these requirements as conditions in Gaza deteriorated. Although the Court has not yet ruled on the merits of the genocide case, it has repeatedly recognised the grave risk faced by the Palestinian population and the continuing obligations imposed upon Israel under international law. The new Commission report provides further evidentiary material that will inevitably shape future legal proceedings. The Silence of the Israeli State Perhaps equally striking has been the nature of Israel’s response. Rather than seriously engaging with the evidence assembled by the Commission, Israeli officials once again dismissed the report outright, describing it as politically motivated and fundamentally biased. They rejected its conclusions in their entirety without offering substantive rebuttal of the specific incidents, witness testimony, or forensic evidence presented by investigators. Every state has the right to defend itself against allegations. But serious allegations require serious answers. If children were not deliberately targeted, the burden rests upon the Israeli authorities to explain why thousands of children have died in circumstances repeatedly documented by journalists, humanitarian organisations, medical personnel, and now a UN Commission of Inquiry. Why have hospitals, maternity wards, schools and refugee shelters been struck again and again? Why have humanitarian convoys repeatedly come under attack? Why have children continued to die even after ceasefire arrangements? Why have military investigations produced so little accountability? Simply repeating accusations of institutional bias cannot substitute for factual explanation. The refusal to engage with evidence has itself become a disturbing feature of this war. International humanitarian law rests upon the principle that states are accountable for their conduct. Accountability becomes impossible when every investigation is dismissed before its evidence is even examined. Justice S. Muralidhar and the Duty of the Judge The findings of the UN Commission also remind us of the importance of judges who understand that the law is not merely a technical instrument but a defence against arbitrary power. Few Indian judges have embodied that principle more consistently than Justice S. Muralidhar, who as UN Commission on Human Rights, chaired this new report’s committee. Justice Muralidhar earned a reputation over decades as one of India’s most respected constitutional jurists, particularly in cases involving civil liberties, communal violence, and the protection of vulnerable communities. He was one of the principal judicial voices in implementing accountability after the 1984 anti-Sikh pogrom, insisting that impunity could not become the norm merely because the crimes were politically inconvenient. His commitment to constitutional duty became internationally known during the communal violence in northeast Delhi in February 2020. As hospitals struggled to treat victims trapped by the violence, Justice Muralidhar and Justice Anup J. Bhambhani convened an extraordinary midnight hearing at Justice Muralidhar’s residence. The Delhi High Court ordered the police to ensure the safe passage of the injured to hospitals and directed immediate emergency medical treatment. Later that day, Justice Muralidhar sharply questioned the failure of the Delhi Police to register cases against political leaders whose inflammatory speeches had been widely circulated, reminding the authorities that the country could not permit ‘another 1984’. Within hours of these hearings, the Government of India notified Justice Muralidhar’s transfer to the Punjab and Haryana High Court, although the recommendation for his transfer had formally been made by the Supreme Court Collegium earlier that month. The timing generated widespread concern among lawyers, retired judges, and civil society organisations, who regarded the episode as raising troubling questions about judicial independence. Justice Muralidhar’s career illustrates an essential principle of the rule of law. Courts do not exist to ratify the conduct of governments. Their function is to examine evidence without fear or favour, especially when the victims are those with the least political power. The same principle animates the work of the UN Commission of Inquiry. Its conclusions may be contested, but they cannot simply be dismissed because they are politically inconvenient. The proper response to serious evidence is serious engagement. That is the first obligation of any state that claims to respect the rule of law. The Test Before Humanity The UN Commission’s report is ultimately not only about Israel or Palestine. It asks whether the international legal order created after the defeat of European fascism still possesses the moral authority to defend children from organised violence. If more than 20,000 children can be killed while the institutions of international diplomacy continue largely as normal, then the promise embodied in the Genocide Convention, the Geneva Conventions, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child stands gravely diminished. The report will not end the war. It cannot restore the lives already lost. But it establishes a historical record that will become increasingly difficult to erase. Long after governments change and military campaigns conclude, this record will remain. History remembers those who committed atrocities. It also remembers those who looked away. The post When the Children Become the Target appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Vijay Prashad.
In 1950, the fourth FIFA World Cup was held in Brazil from June 24 to July 16. Brazil became the finalist of its group by defeating Mexico 4–0, crushing Sweden 7–1, and beating Spain 6–1. What happened then could be a lesson for this year’s soccer World Cup, where small country teams are performing with More The post Which Country Will Win the World Cup? appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Illustration by Paola Bilancieri. In 1950, the fourth FIFA World Cup was held in Brazil from June 24 to July 16. Brazil became the finalist of its group by defeating Mexico 4–0, crushing Sweden 7–1, and beating Spain 6–1. What happened then could be a lesson for this year’s soccer World Cup, where small country teams are performing with excellence. Unlike Brazil, Uruguay’s national team, by contrast, showed a different performance. They tied a difficult match 2–2 against Spain after trailing 2–1. Then Uruguay defeated Sweden 3–2, scoring the winning goal just minutes before the end of the match. The match between a brilliantly performing Brazil and an unconvincing Uruguay would decide the world title. Uruguay, one point behind Brazil, had to win to become world champion. Their rival needed only a draw to lift the coveted trophy. There was enormous interest in the match despite the consensus among sports journalists and the public that Brazil would be the champion. After all, the Brazilian team had won its previous matches with ease, while Uruguay had only managed a draw with Spain and a hard‑fought win against Sweden. A comparison of previous performances left little doubt about the final result. On July 16, 1950, Rio de Janeiro was buzzing. An improvised carnival was ready to celebrate Brazil’s triumph over Uruguay. Brazilians completely filled the recently inaugurated Maracanã Stadium. Although the official count was a world‑record 173,850 spectators, unofficial estimates put the number closer to 210,000. Only a few Uruguayans were present at the match. The newspaper O Mundo published a special edition with a photograph of the Brazilian team under the caption: “These are the world champions.” Jules Rimet, the former president and creator of the FIFA World Cup, had prepared a speech in Portuguese to congratulate the winners, who were expected to be the Brazilians. The Brazilian Football Confederation had printed 22 gold medals with the names of its players. A song titled “Brazil the Victors” had been composed days before the final match. Before the match, the mayor of Rio de Janeiro, Ângelo Mendes de Moraes, addressed the crowd with words aimed at the Brazilian players: “You, players, who in less than a couple of hours will be acclaimed as champions by millions of compatriots, have no rivals in the entire hemisphere.” With the Brazilian players and the public anticipating victory, Juan López, Uruguay’s coach, told his players that the best way to face the powerful Brazilian team was to play defensively and try not to let them score too many goals. Outside the locker room, Uruguay’s captain, Obdulio Varela, nicknamed “The Black Chief,” told his teammates: “Juan is a good man, but he’s completely wrong.” He added: “Friends, those who watch don’t play. Let the show begin.” And with those memorable words, the players walked onto the field. The first half ended 0–0. Two minutes into the second half, Brazil scored the first goal. The Brazilians were delirious, and the Maracanã shook violently as thousands of spectators jumped and shouted at the top of their lungs. Brazil was a party. After the goal, Varela took the ball from the net and slowly—very slowly—walked toward George Reader, the British referee. Speaking to him in Spanish, he questioned the validity of the goal. He spoke at length, forcing the referee to call for an interpreter. The game was halted while the conversation took place. The Brazilian spectators were furious. A Brazilian player spat on him, but Varela remained unmoved. Varela would later say that his actions were a carefully planned strategy meant to cool down the crowd. Once his mission was accomplished, he turned to his teammates: “Come on, amigos, now is the time to win.” The Uruguayan players, suddenly energized by Varela’s words, now felt they could face the Brazilian Goliath. Twenty‑one minutes into the second half Uruguay tied the score. Running quickly down the right side, Alcides Ghiggia sent a low cross to Juan Schiaffino, who managed to score. The Maracanã, which until then had been a celebration, suddenly fell silent, a silence “that terrified our players,” Brazilian manager Flavio Costa later said. A draw would have crowned the Brazilians, but another surprise awaited them. The Uruguayan Ghiggia exchanged passes with Julio Pérez. Ghiggia kept running and fired a deadly shot to score the second goal just 11 minutes before the end of the game. The inconceivable had happened. Brazil had lost the match, and Uruguay became world champion. The loss of the World Cup had a devastating effect on Brazilians. There were dozens of suicides, and many spectators suffered nervous breakdowns. Rio de Janeiro, which had been all samba before the match, became as silent as an abandoned country church. Years later, Varela recalled: “There was so much sadness among the fans that I decided to go have a drink with them. I thought the Brazilians were going to kill me when they realized who I was. But I also thought that if I had to die that night, that was my fate. Fortunately, I couldn’t have been more wrong. The Brazilians congratulated me, and we had a few drinks together.” The next day, Varela refused to be photographed and declined to participate in the celebrations, saying: “My heart is with the people who are suffering.” Upon their return, the Uruguayans were greeted by a country in ecstasy. Everyone was jubilant except one person: Obdulio Varela, the man who had saddened the Brazilians. The post Which Country Will Win the World Cup? appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Cesar Chelala.
Imperialism-Induced Fault Lines: The Venezuelan Earthquake
Collection drives for food, clothing, medicine, and other essential goods have sprung up across Venezuela. Here, members of Provincial Trujillo Commune organize donations for families displaced by the earthquake. (Gobernación de Trujillo) There is no such thing as a purely natural disaster, especially in a country under siege. Likewise, the response to any disaster is More The post Imperialism-Induced Fault Lines: The Venezuelan Earthquake appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Collection drives for food, clothing, medicine, and other essential goods have sprung up across Venezuela. Here, members of Provincial Trujillo Commune organize donations for families displaced by the earthquake. (Gobernación de Trujillo) There is no such thing as a purely natural disaster, especially in a country under siege. Likewise, the response to any disaster is always mediated by social, political, and even geopolitical factors. Following the devastating 1812 earthquake that occurred during the independence struggle, Simón Bolívar said: “If nature opposes us, we will fight against it and make it obey us.” Today, this remark can sound jarring—like a strange anti-ecological outburst—but what Bolívar meant was that the strategic project of emancipation must remain in the forefront and guide our actions, even when confronting a natural challenge. This should be kept in mind when we think about the earthquakes that recently struck Venezuela. The natural fact is straightforward: there was a double movement of the earth, first a magnitude 7.2 tremor followed seconds later by another measuring 7.5. In its wake, the destruction followed along natural fault lines, such as the San Sebastián Fault that runs along the La Guaira coast, but it also spread along imperialist-made ones. Foremost among these were the fractures in the country’s infrastructure, emergency rescue capacity, and health system caused by more than a decade of crippling sanctions. These sanctions, which still number more than 1000, are not merely words and hostile intentions. Mark Weisbrot’s research at CEPR in Washington estimated that they contributed to some 40,000 excess deaths in just one year. For those unacquainted with the international finance system, the impact of a sanctions regime of this kind may be hard to understand. However, the net result is that every international transaction becomes difficult. Ordinary trade and credit lines collapse, while companies, banks and governments avoid transactions, even when they may be technically legal under the sanctions regime, because they lack certainty and fear future reprisals. The consequences affect every aspect of disaster preparedness and response. In Venezuela, millions of people began to migrate shortly after the Obama Executive Order was published in 2015, including doctors, medics, civil engineers, and other trained professionals. Heavy rescue equipment became harder to repair because spare parts cannot be imported. Hospitals struggled to replace specialized medical equipment. Public utilities postponed maintenance because financing dried up and suppliers fear secondary sanctions. Even when transactions are technically legal, banks and manufacturers frequently overcomply, refusing to participate and leaving institutions to improvise under conditions of permanent scarcity. A second set of fault lines was opened by the January 3 imperialist attacks on Venezuela, in which democratically-elected President Nicolás Maduro was kidnapped in a military operation that killed more than one hundred people, and left many more injured and traumatized. Although the Bolivarian Revolution succeeded in retaining political power—essential to any revolutionary process—it lost control over Venezuela’s oil sales and was forced to introduce “reforms” to the country’s highly advanced legislation governing its natural resources, especially oil. All of this means that the earthquake in Venezuela, heartbreaking by every measure, has been made far more lethal—both in its immediate impact and long-term consequences—by factors directly attributable to U.S. imperialism’s ongoing, multi-level assault on the country and its people. Nearly 1500 deaths have now been officially recorded, and that tragic toll will continue to rise in the days ahead. The overall number of casualties will be felt on many levels, and the struggle to mitigate them through an effective, sovereign, and coordinated response is now a battleground, in which the contradiction with U.S. imperialism is at the center. Radically Different Responses When the double earthquake struck, it was experienced as an eerie combination of thunderous sound, prolonged and severe movement of the earth, and an oddly colored sky. One observer described it as “wind without wind.” People screamed and dogs went mad with fear. Entire buildings collapsed into rubble, while cracks opened up in the beach where many had gone to spend the national holiday. Days later people remain trapped beneath the debris. The situation is especially grave in the cities and towns that line the La Guaira coast. On social networks, hundreds of photographs and names circulate as families desperately search for missing loved ones. In such a situation, it is natural to offer aid without first thinking of one’s own interests. This is precisely what people throughout Venezuela and neighboring countries have done. Acting president Delcy Rodríguez’s government has also responded swiftly and forcefully, deploying the means at its disposal in the people-centered manner that has characterized the Bolivarian Revolution over the last three decades. Alongside this official response, there have been massive spontaneous contributions: motorcycles piled high with supplies streamed toward the affected areas, while volunteers joined the huge, state-led rescue effort, and aid teams from Mexico, Cuba, and Brazil arrived quickly with concrete assistance. If compassion drives the Venezuelan government’s and the Latin American peoples’ response, the same cannot be said of U.S. imperialism, for which concern for humanity has been displaced by the motives of profit, expropriation, and domination, and which has so often sought to turn the misfortune of others to its own advantage. The day following the earthquake, Secretary of State Marco Rubio coolly announced that the Department of War, SOUTHCOM, and the marines would be central to the U.S. “aid” effort. We have seen this playbook before. Following Haiti’s devastating 2010 earthquake, the barely disguised Trojan horse of U.S. “humanitarian assistance” arrived in the form of an aircraft carrier and some 20,000 troops on the ground. The consequences of that de facto occupation in the Haitian case included an obvious loss of sovereignty, documented cases of sexual assault and exploitation, and the cholera epidemic brought by the occupying forces. In the face of imperialism’s designs, the voice of the Venezuelan revolutionary people is united around three demands: the U.S. must lift the sanctions completely, unfreeze all Venezuelan assets, and return President Maduro and Cilia Flores to Venezuela. If these steps are not taken, the U.S. presence looks quite a bit like a simple military occupation—an integral part of the recolonizing ambitions expressed by Donald Trump’s MAGA imperialism, with its grotesque revival of the Monroe Doctrine. In Caracas, while people wait for their homes to be assessed, people are either going to shelters or camping in the streets. Photo: Andrew Drum. The Battle over the Narrative The struggle to defend the Venezuelan people, their future, and their projects in an integral manner is also unfolding as a struggle in the media and the social networks. False and malicious claims are circulating alleging that the government is not responding or that it is blocking relief. At the same time, videos from unrelated disasters, including earthquakes in Turkey, have been passed off as footage from Venezuela, alongside a flood of AI slop. Much of this comes from Maria Corina Machado’s disgruntled opposition that feels left out of the post-January 3 deal-making. What is true is that the large number of well-meaning drivers attempting to reach La Guaira caused the main highway from Caracas to become congested, temporarily preventing heavy machinery and ambulances from arriving. Likewise, so many people, cars, and motorcycles converged around the rescue sites that the voices of those trapped under the rubble were difficult to hear, hampering rescue efforts. National and international rescue teams asked for space to work. The government responded by setting up a coordination center in the sports complex called Poliedro de Caracas, where civilian aid is collected and sent in trucks to where it may be needed. In the center, people who volunteer are evaluated to determine where they can be most useful. If the COVID pandemic taught us anything it is that only a state-directed response can be effective. Nongovernment operators and individuals are welcome but need to be part of a coordinated effort that only a sovereign state can lead. The most common Big Lie being deployed now by foreign media is essentially the same one which has always been employed against the Bolivarian Revolution: that a level of state authority comparable to—and likely weaker than—that exercised by governments in the Global North is “authoritarian” whenever it is exercised in a Global South country. Meantime, some argue that there is no government response, opening the path for forceful external intervention. Revolutionary Preparation The double earthquake hit a country weakened by sanctions but strengthened by the 27-year-old Bolivarian Revolution that has profoundly shaped all aspects of Venezuelan society. If sanctions have systematically weakened Venezuela’s material infrastructure, the Bolivarian Revolution spent more than two decades cultivating a new social metabolism. Though still in formation, it has already become the country’s greatest source of resilience. Communal councils, communes, the civic-military union, and public housing programs all became part of the country’s capacity to respond collectively to the crisis. The revolution has consistently strengthened the country’s housing stock. Gran Misión Vivienda Venezuela, Hugo Chávez’s housing project initiated in 2011, has produced millions of “dignified homes” all across the country. Most of these buildings, built by a range of Chinese, Brazilian, Belarussian, and Venezuelan firms, have fared well in the earthquake. In the cases where a building was made unliveable—which happened mostly along the coastal fault line—they tended to tilt rather than collapse. Concentrating people in apartment blocks rather than having them dispersed in precarious hillside settlements is also safer, both because of higher construction standards and because it facilitates collective action and the delivery of state assistance. A second factor is the civilian-military alliance that Chávez promoted. This model, now internalized by the whole population, became the framework for the government’s combined state-and-volunteer response. The civilian-military alliance, which Maduro wisely expanded to include the police, has always been both an institutional arrangement—expressed in the six-million-member militia—and a more widespread political attitude rooted in the class consciousness of civilians and military personnel alike. Its first testing ground was the Vargas tragedy of 1999, precisely where the current hit harder. The civilian-military alliance rose to the occasion then, just as it is doing now. Finally, it is in the country’s socialist communes that the most far-sighted response is taking shape. Teams from the network called Unión Comunera went to help with rescue efforts in La Guaira. In Caracas’ El Panal Commune, in addition to assessing the condition of the barrio’s buildings, communards set up several collection centers and are creating a shelter for those who have been left houseless by the earthquake. As in the challenges faced by the food shortages of the mid-2010s, people around the country are turning to communes to collectively solve the medical and existential problems they face and to find a way forward. Given the power of the country’s communal movement and its solid ideological formation, it is possible that the communes could once again become a catalyst for renewed political consciousness. In these difficult times, they may prove decisive in rallying the Venezuelan people around the socialist project, temporarily under the shadow of the January 3 attack. Years of blockade and imperialist aggression have no doubt left Venezuela materially weaker. Yet the Bolivarian Revolution has produced a new social metabolism that cannot easily be undone: an organized people and a set of institutions capable of responding to crises. If the earthquake has exposed the country’s vulnerabilities, it also revealed where its real strength lies: in the revolutionary people and in deep-rooted social and institutional transformations. Unión Comunera Brigade in La Guaira. Photo: Brigada Argentina Permanente. This first appeared in Monthly Review. The post Imperialism-Induced Fault Lines: The Venezuelan Earthquake appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Chris Gilbert - Cira Pascual.
Starmer Begone: Another Dud Leaves Number 10
It is one of the most remarkable ways to fall from grace. Leading British Labour to a deceptively crushing victory over diddling, muddling, decrepit fools. Asserting a period of stable rule, if not exactly dull then at least reliable after several stints of lunacy under the Conservatives gone to the bad. But it was not More The post Starmer Begone: Another Dud Leaves Number 10 appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Keir Starmer and Donald Trump at Gaza “peace summit” in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. Photo: Lauren Hurley / No 10 Downing Street. It is one of the most remarkable ways to fall from grace. Leading British Labour to a deceptively crushing victory over diddling, muddling, decrepit fools. Asserting a period of stable rule, if not exactly dull then at least reliable after several stints of lunacy under the Conservatives gone to the bad. But it was not to be. Sir Keir Starmer, who announced his resignation as Prime Minister on June 22, turned out to be inept in several ways, not being able to communicate well, not being particularly fluent (fudging “hostages” for “sausages”), an appalling lack of judgment (the appointment of the Epstein-soiled Lord Peter Mandelson to the ambassadorial post in Washington), unable to put together that most yearned for thing – a capturing narrative, a glued unity however specious. Economic growth was the agenda, but where did it go? What the British voter got, instead, was the July 2024 decision to axe winter fuel payments for 10 million pensioners, which was followed by an about turn in May last year. He retained the policy introduced by the Conservatives in 2017 restricting benefits to the first two children of a family, only to be abandoned in last year’s budget. To target the rise of Reform, he took rhetorical pickings from its leader, Nigel Farage, and promised a mandatory digital ID card to be stored on mobile phones as proof of a person’s right to work in the UK. This policy, too, was abandoned. In foreign affairs, where he was supposedly at greater ease, Starmer proved sickeningly amenable to Israel’s ruthless campaign in Gaza, explicitly approving the withholding of power and water supplies from Palestinian civilians as means of “self-defence”. The real terrorists, it would seem, were to be found at home, incarnated in the direct action group Palestine Action, which the Starmer government banned, placing it in the same league as ISIS or Boko Haram. He also seemed to feign ignorance about the ongoing International Court of Justice genocide case commenced by South Africa towards the end of 2023 against Israel, or the issuing of arrest warrants by the International Criminal Court against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant. Starmer came to power in the aftermath of Jeremy Corbyn’s defeat to Boris Johnson in 2019, after which he went about purging his party of the radical influence left by his predecessor. Nothing he did suggested he was anything but an establishment creature, whatever his trumpeted credentials as a progressive lawyer respectful of human rights. Where there was an abuse of power, he was likely to be there to be defending it. Oliver Eagleton’s cutting biography, The Starmer Project (2022), is relentless on this: Starmer combined “intervention abroad with repression at home”. As Director of Public Prosecutions, he pursued the hacker Gary McKinnon (Starmer was enraged when then Home Secretary Theresa May halted the extradition to the United States) and the WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange while sparing, for instance, the police responsible for killing Jean Charles de Menezes at Stockwell tube station and frustrating efforts to charge Home Office officials liable for the death of migrant Jimmy Mubenga. Other works on Starmer do little to stir feelings of sympathy for this apparently decent figure. Gabriel Pogrund and Patrick Maguire of The Times, for instance, offer the devastating Get In (2025). Starmer, the authors show, became the choice of spear for Morgan McSweeney, the founder of the think tank Labour Together and later Starmer’s Chief of Staff. That particular man of the shadows had a world view characterised by “a certain fanaticism, paranoia and moral certitude.” (The slime of the Mandelson affair was ample enough to make McSweeney fall on his sword.) The purpose of the spear was unambiguous: to target Corbynism on the pretext of combating antisemitism, becoming, effectively, “the great deception”. Paul Holden’s The Fraud (2025) expands on the theme, exposing McSweeney and Labour Together’s use of undeclared donations to the Electoral Commission from hedge fund managers and pro-Israeli figures to discredit Corbyn. Throughout, Starmer’s decency remains well concealed. The victory of Andy Burnham announced, at least for Starmer, the coming of a slaying spirit. The now former Mayor of Greater Manchester had shown exactly what he thought of his constituency by taking the plunge in the seat of Makerfield, which he won with almost 25,000 votes (55%) to the 15,696 votes for Reform (35% of the share) and 3,111 (7%) votes for the even more rightist Restore. Much is being made of it: Burnham as knight armed against the reactionary forces of Reform and Restore while restoring Labour’s focus. But Burnham is old newspaper wrapping, an echo of the Blair years, one who voted for the Iraq War and against an inquiry into its legality but was sure some two decades later to do some politicking in suggesting regret. The fall of Starmer is also another reminder about how the political context of popularity and demise has changed. Britain, after Brexit, seems to be in the mood of torching its prime ministers, seeking kindling sooner than a leader can find the necessary bearings. (Seven PMs in a decade is a scorching rate.) That, at least, is the impression the strategists, focus group apparatchiks and party wallahs give us. The social media saturated public are fickle and will turn, sampling the next morsel of misinformation, the next tasty bite of disinformation. A notable pattern in the aftermath of the by-election was an utter disregard to what might be politely called the factual record. Rumour, gossip, blather and wispy nonsense filtered through the bulletins with wearying force, featuring alleged conversations between Starmer and his wife regarding his future. Starmer loyalists demonstrated their deathless loyalty by telling the press how the man was feeling over a weekend of anguish. The press stable had effectively anointed Burnham in advance of any party vote or decision. Here was an inexorable sense of a position being vacated, its occupant removed, the baton passed on. And not a single British vote was involved in the process. Yet another PM dud. What democracy, and what fine Westminster democracy at that. The post Starmer Begone: Another Dud Leaves Number 10 appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Binoy Kampmark.
The big news coming out of the Teamsters’ recent convention in Las Vegas is that for the first time in 35 years, there will be no rank-and-file democratic elections for the top officers of the union. The Fearless slate, led by Richard Hooker, failed to get the 5% of the delegates necessary to make it onto the ballot. The More The post Teamsters: The Ghost of Jackie Presser appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Teamsters President Sean O’Brien. Photo: Ted Merriman. CC BY-SA 4.0 The big news coming out of the Teamsters’ recent convention in Las Vegas is that for the first time in 35 years, there will be no rank-and-file democratic elections for the top officers of the union. The Fearless slate, led by Richard Hooker, failed to get the 5% of the delegates necessary to make it onto the ballot. The Incumbent Sean O’Brien‑Fred Zuckerman “Teamsters United Slate” were elected to office by delegates to the convention. Popularly known as the “OZ” slate, they secured 96% of the vote. They are the first leaders of Teamsters to be elected without a popular mandate since the 1989 voluntary consent decree between the union and the federal government that mandated changes in the union’s highly undemocratic constitution to provide for one-member-one-vote for convention delegates and International officers. The last Teamster leader elected by convention delegates was Jackie Presser, the notoriously corrupt, mobbed-up, and FBI informant, in 1986. The Teamsters’ General President Sean O’Brien cast the OZ slate’s reelection as a victory for the union’s rank and file. “This victory belongs to rank-and-file Teamsters. When we were sworn into office four years ago, our leadership team committed to building a bigger, faster, stronger union, and that’s exactly what we’ve done,” O’Brien was quoted in an official union statement. Yet, convention delegates are disproportionately union officers, staff, and close allies—with bloated and multi-salaries‑where full-time rank and file workers are few. “The Teamsters is now the most aggressive, effective, and respected labor union on Earth” are in sharp contrast to a union deep in crisis. It must be a great relief for O’Brien and Zuckerman to avoid campaigning, especially at UPS, which has been ravaged by tens of thousands of layoffs and building closures across the country. Adding insult to injury, the Teamsters’ approved buyout program for UPS drivers has been implemented so incompetently that it has infuriated many more people than those who took it in order to get out of the hell-hole that UPS is. Congressman Ro Khanna (D-CA.), captured, accidentally, the new reality of the Teamster “democracy”, according to the New York Times: He received a standing ovation in Las Vegas, and opened with a joke about Mr. O’Brien’s resounding victory. “Ninety percent! Those are Putin numbers!” There was some halting laughter. In fact, Mr. O’Brien secured 96 percent of the vote. The most important reason that the Fearless slate wasn’t able to reach the 5% of the delegates necessary was due to the Teamsters for a Democratic Union’s (TDU) dirty alliance with the O’Brien leadership, which is the most pro-Trump of all of the major unions. TDU heroically for decades since its founding in 1976, supported candidates in the bleakest of times for Teamster reformers after the federal government-sponsored purge of Ron Carey, the first rank-and-file, democratically elected leader of the Teamsters, which followed the Great UPS Strike of 1997. TDU supported Tom Leedham’s three reform campaigns against the old guard candidate James Hoffa, Jr., the son of the infamous long-dead leader of the Teamsters. It supported Sandy Pope’s 2011 campaign, the first woman to run for the top spot in the union. She ran as a single candidate for General President, without a slate for the union’s General Executive Board, in a three-way race. In 2016, TDU supported Fred Zuckerman and Tim Sylvester and the first “Teamsters United” slate, it nearly defeated the incumbent Hoffa. When TDU endorsed Sean O’Brien for the 2021 Teamster elections, his long record of threatening members and the racism and misogyny of his home Local 25 were well-known. TDU claims they have a “coalition” with O’Brien, but the effect has been that there is no independent organization of rank-and-file Teamsters to oppose the union’s alliance with the fascist-aligned Trump administration, along with long list of other vital issues. There was no open discussion or debate of this detrimental alliance between TDU, O’Brien, and Trump at the recent Labor Notes conference, which doesn’t reflect well on the state of the left and the trade unions. I spoke to Richard Hooker, the Secretary-Treasurer of Teamster Local 623, who challenged O’Brien for the top spot in the union, a week after the close of the convention. He faced the jeers and boos of hostile convention delegates while accepting his nomination. I asked him how he was doing. “Boos don’t bother me. You have to go through it. It doesn’t bother me at all.” Richard told me that the convention had “too many officers.” I asked him what were the consequences of such an overwhelming victory for the incumbents, “Unfortunately, our members are going to face the hard truth with this administration.” Other convention business, unfortunately, promoted old and new reactionary positions held by the union’s leadership. In sharp contrast to the UAW convention that voted to divest the union of Israeli Bonds, the Teamsters had two prominent supporters of the State of Israel speak at their convention: Senators Josh Hawley (R-MO.) and Cory Booker (D-NJ). Sean O’Brien also announced that the union had reached a deal with the Trump administration to end the government oversight of the union, one of the last methods to root out corruption in the union is kept in check. Meanwhile, the disgraced former Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer attended the convention and appears to have become part of O’Brien’s entourage. Finally, and most bizarrely, the Teamsters passed a resolution recognizing February 14 as James R. Hoffa Day as a paid holiday, the man most responsible for bringing the Mafia into the highest level of the union, further consolidating the cult-like international life of the union. The Long Counterrevolution Back in 1996, Steve Greenhouse, the New York Times labor reporter, wrote an article called Teamster Counterrevolution: Why It Nearly Won Election. Ron Carey won the 1996 election with a majority of the vote against a well-funded campaign led by James P. Hoffa, Jr. Greenhouse saw a lot of the appeal of Hoffa, Jr. in his famous name. He also ran a sophisticated campaign that played on the shortcomings of Carey’s few years in office. Despite the horrid reputation of many of Hoffa’s key supporters, he didn’t promise a restoration of the old order, he promised to “Restore the Power.” Ken Paff, the director of TDU in 1996 and still a leading figure today, told Greenhouse: ‘’Why is it that in countries that are new to democracy, dictators always try to make a comeback? The people in the counterrevolution don’t like someone trying to take away their power. They control armies; they control people and pensions. They mustered a lot of power and resources to defeat Carey.” The Counterrevolution just took a lot longer to triumph. A full restoration, however, is still not in the cards. While another rank and file election is not possible for another five years, any efforts to abolish them all together is likely to fail. But, making it more difficult to run for office is not out of the question, and certainly it is more difficult to challenge the leadership over the next few years. The Teamsters are looking more like the old Teamsters. Jackie Presser would be pleased. The post Teamsters: The Ghost of Jackie Presser appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Joe Allen.
Cuba: Blockades and Capitulation…or Canny Compromises?
Events in Cuba have flown under the radar lately, but big changes are afoot. Noted by PBS June 19 but only belatedly by anybody else, Cuba’s new free-market reforms include 176 measures “to further decentralize Cuba’s state-run economy…[with] more space for private businesses, imports and exports without state intermediation, free hiring of personnel, authorization for More The post Cuba: Blockades and Capitulation…or Canny Compromises? appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Pete Hegseth meets with on board the guided-missile destroyer USS Hudner during his visit to Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Feb. 25, 2025. Photo by U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Alexander C. Kubitza, Department of Defense. Events in Cuba have flown under the radar lately, but big changes are afoot. Noted by PBS June 19 but only belatedly by anybody else, Cuba’s new free-market reforms include 176 measures “to further decentralize Cuba’s state-run economy…[with] more space for private businesses, imports and exports without state intermediation, free hiring of personnel, authorization for private banks and investment by Cubans abroad.” There will even be fast-food chains on the island. If this echoes to you the so-called opening up of Eastern Europe after the Soviet collapse, you’re onto something – namely the corporate blueprint for privatizing a state-run, aka communist, economy. This was not inevitable for Cuba before Donald “Nail the Commies” Trump quite repulsively blockaded the island, but once he did, it arguably became so. Cuba’s state monopoly on foreign trade and centralized production are now kaput, PBS reports. However, in a happy sign of governmental sanity, “Cuban authorities cautioned that…measures will not be viable if the U.S. does not lift the energy and financial embargo on the island.” So, Mr. Trump: no end to sanctions and the blockade, no free-market “opening up” of Cuba. The blockade will be the key test. Sanctions have been around, doing their insidious damage, forever. But the blockade is Trump’s signature barbarity, and if these reforms don’t inspire enough magnanimity in the Washington despot to end this brutality, this siege, then all bets are off. You’d think Trump would seize this opportunity to try to freeze the Russians and Chinese out of the Caribbean, and he may: Moscow was the only power in the world that broke the energy blockade. It boldly sent the Anatoly Kolodkin tanker with 730,000 barrels of crude oil that arrived in late March in Matanzas and then later dispatched the Sea Horse, with 200,000 barrels of gas and oil. Russians have long memories. They have not forgotten the horrific Nazi blockade of Leningrad and clearly, with that in mind, were not scared by Washington. They’ve seen worse. And there was nothing the white house could do about this. The Kremlin didn’t care, because you can bet its denizens are currently mad as hornets about revelations of over 40 Pentagon biolabs in Ukraine with, likely, Slav targets for their pathogens, as revealed by Tulsi Gabbard when she recently resigned. Rumors of these bio-weapons facilities have percolated through the internet for years, and indeed, some years back, yours truly even watched a video clip of Victoria Nuland confessing to Congress that yes, the U.S. researched pathogens in military biolabs on the Ukraine border with Russia. Was this video an AI fake – all the way back, just a year or two after the start of Moscow’s 2022 invasion? Who knows. Since it appeared, it’s evidently been scrubbed from the internet. So maybe its provenance was sketchy. Or maybe that public admission was just too damn explosive. One thing’s for sure, that clip wasn’t just watched in the U.S. – it was watched in the Kremlin, too. This was before the 2024 Ukrainian intelligence (ahem, CIA-inspired?) assassination of Russian Lieutenant General Igor Kirilov, in charge of investigating these Pentagon biolabs in Ukraine. Maybe Kirilov was just too effective. Gabbard revealed that the U.S. army worked with “anthrax, avian flu, Ebola, plague and tuberculosis” in these Ukrainian labs, RT reported June 13. According to Tass, around the same time, the Pentagon spent “over $11 million to establish biological laboratories in Ukraine,” and the U.S. firm “Black and Veatch was the main contractor for the project.” And western elites like to dismiss Kremlin leadership as, ho, ho! paranoid. They probably thought the Soviets were paranoid during the Leningrad siege, which murdered and starved to death roughly 1.5 million people or the defense of Stalingrad, which saw the deaths of 1.1 million Russians. I doubt the Kremlin cares who calls it paranoid; it’s sachems know a monstrosity when they see one and they saw it in Trump’s blockade of Cuba. It’s a pity they haven’t turned the same attention to the criminal Israeli blockade of Gaza – but that likely has to do with the 1.5 million-strong Russian diaspora in Israel. Moscow takes care of its own. China also broke Trump’s Cuban blockade, sending 60,000 tons of rice and over 5000 sets of 2-kilowatt photovoltaic power generation equipment, as part of the collaboration in which it built 55 solar parks for Cuba in 2025, with 37 more projected over the next two years. But still, these substantial acts of solidarity are not enough, so tight is the stranglehold on Cuba from the bully to the north. Per Drop Site News June 23, even Vietnam now assists Cuba “with its recently unprecedented economic overhaul by sharing lessons, strategies and operational frameworks from its 40 years of…(Renewal) reforms, the Vietnam Plus reports.” Drop Site goes on to call what’s happening Cuba’s “deepest economic liberalization since 1959…and using Vietnam’s transition to a market-oriented socialist economy as a model.” Vietnam’s “flexible, market-adaptable State-Owned Enterprises” are critical here. For socialists and communists everywhere, this bed of thorns raises the question, will Cuba still be socialist when the metamorphosis ends? Exactly how much damage to working people on this island did Donald Trump manage to do – beyond, of course, obvious crimes like killing infants in the NICU by blockading vital energy to run hospitals and so forth. Because clearly, Cuba’s president, Miguel Diaz-Canel, is making these changes under duress. They affect, according to Drop Site June 12: enterprise and markets; decentralization and the state; trade and investment; agriculture and food; fiscal, monetary and social; energy and transport; tourism, commerce and labor. And these reforms have no mere mild effects. For instance, foreign direct investment will be incentivized, land use and wages will be “reformed,” and there will be a “move from subsidizing products to subsidizing people.” While it’s easy to carp that these concessions amount to capitulation to the tyranny of the late-stage finance capitalism headquartered in New York City, frankly, I don’t see a lot of wiggle room for Diaz-Canel. He’s clearly making the best of a terrible situation. Trump apparently doesn’t care that his blockade is killing Cubans, because when it comes to Latin America, he is a dictator, egged on by years of nauseating propaganda from outlets like The New York Times about people like Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro and by its caricatures of Cuban communist repression; while behind Trump looms a merciless, blood-stained phalanx of finance, real estate, stock market, banking and hedge fund predators. To say nothing of U.S. military might and its agonizing proximity to a tiny island that numerous pentagon bigwigs over the decades have threatened to turn into a parking lot. Russia has size, resources and nukes. So does China, plus a massive population. Iran has missiles like you wouldn’t believe and an unstoppable esprit de corps. But what do little countries like Vietnam and Cuba have? Not much beyond their ingenuity and their wits. Cuab’s president has no choice but to use those. And as anyone who’s ever survived solely by their wits can tell you, it’s usually touch and go. The post Cuba: Blockades and Capitulation…or Canny Compromises? appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Eve Ottenberg.
How Russia is Upending the West’s Attempt to Control Technology With Intellectual Property
Taking an invention and claiming it as yours is called intellectual property, based on practices followed by US and European businesses. But what happens when your neighbor argues that inventions can’t be owned, and that intellectual property is no longer applicable based on the rules and regulations you have established? In March 2026, Russian officials More The post How Russia is Upending the West’s Attempt to Control Technology With Intellectual Property appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Spasskaya Tower, the Kremlin. Photo: Крылов Иван. CC BY-SA 4.0 Taking an invention and claiming it as yours is called intellectual property, based on practices followed by US and European businesses. But what happens when your neighbor argues that inventions can’t be owned, and that intellectual property is no longer applicable based on the rules and regulations you have established? In March 2026, Russian officials announced plans to develop a state-managed system for the “temporary administration” of the intellectual property of foreign companies from “unfriendly countries” that left Russia after the 2022 Ukraine invasion. The move drew immediate concerns in policy and legal circles and is one of Moscow’s latest challenges to the Western-led system of patents, copyrights, and trademarks that has developed over centuries. What Led to the Development of Intellectual Property Before the modern IP system, creators could be protected through reputation, guild membership, secrecy, patronage, or state-granted monopolies. Early precursors to today’s framework took place in Venice, including printing monopolies in 1469, and reflected efforts to control the value of reproduced knowledge. Another milestone was the Venetian Patent Statute of 1474, which granted inventors time-limited exclusive rights over new creations. The European Enlightenment later helped spread the notion across the region that inventions and ideas could be legally ownable property, laying the foundations for modern IP law to develop in different states. While powerful Western firms and states have the greatest stake in maintaining the existing system, given the advantages it ensures for key industries, that wasn’t always the case. From the late 18th century to the early 20th century, the US often relied on weak foreign IP enforcement, copying European industrial and scientific innovations, which “propelled the United States forward and quickly transformed it into one of the world’s leading industrial powers,” according to author Christopher Klein. British writer and journalist Charles Dickens, among others, meanwhile, complained about the widespread reprinting of books without royalties. Jane K. and Peder Sather Professor of History at UC Berkeley, Carla A. Hesse, noted in an essay that US attitudes toward IP shifted from an “objectivist-utilitarian” emphasis on shared knowledge to a “universalist-natural-rights” view that prioritized exclusive rights over the country’s growing number of inventions. This was also seen in Germany, where firms became known for reverse-engineering machine tools and improving foreign chemical products. The country later became a strong advocate of patent protection. When these economies caught up technologically, incentives converged to help drive the creation of international IP rules. The 1883 Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property and the 1886 Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works were milestones in establishing the modern global IP system. The Russian challenge to the notion of IP goes back more than a century, with the Russian Empire only partially engaging with emerging global IP regimes before its 1917 Revolution. While adopting patent and trademark laws on paper, it applied them unevenly and with minimal enforcement, while focusing on state control over strategic industries and foreign technology transfers. Later, the Soviet Union joined some international agreements, including the Universal Copyright Convention (1952) and Patent Cooperation Treaty (1970), while avoiding others such as the Berne Convention. Hesse and economist Ha-Joon Chang have noted that since the 1970s, the US and Western Europe have increasingly used trade sanctions and agreements to pressure developing nations to adopt their preferred IP standards. Institutions like the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) have helped export Western-style IP rules, transforming intellectual property into a tool of economic governance that helped leverage technological progress. Following the Soviet collapse, Russia moved its IP regime closer to Western standards in the 2000s and early 2010s, driven by WTO accession requirements and pressure and incentives from Western governments and corporations. Access to investment, markets, technology, and the global economy convinced Moscow that cooperation would be more constructive for national development. China, of course, has been a principal target of claims about IP violations for Western companies. Beijing eased some tensions during the 2010s by improving its enforcement regime on intellectual property, and increasingly over recent decades, has focused on protecting the country’s expanding IP portfolio. Ukraine Hopes for further entanglement and collaboration with the Western IP regime were dashed after Ukraine entered the regional discussion. In the face of sanctions, Moscow increasingly explored legal avenues to limit the reach of foreign IP rights, citing national security concerns. It continued expanding its legal options over the next few years, including amending legislation in 2021 to allow the government certain use of patented inventions, utility models, and industrial designs without the rights holder’s consent. The most significant changes followed Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Wartime measures introduced by Moscow against countries that had imposed additional sanctions on Russia allowed the use of patents and industrial designs from the sanctioning country without compensation, expanded parallel imports without the patentee’s consent, restricted royalty payments, and widened the state’s ability to authorize the use of protected technologies. Russia’s decision to alter global IP rules caused shockwaves across the West, with The Conversation stating “The suspension of intellectual property rights as an economic weapon in the context of a conflict is unprecedented, at least in recent decades,” But in their book Against Intellectual Monopoly, Michele Boldrin and David K. Levine argue that instead of a competitive market for innovations, patents have become a trading tool for powerful firms and countries in an oligopolistic patent market. From this perspective, challenging patent monopolies is essential to reducing dependence on foreign technology and increasing domestic innovative capabilities. Russian courts have therefore shown greater willingness to entertain challenges to follow-on patents, arguing that secondary patents should not indefinitely delay generic competition once core inventions have entered the public domain. Russian officials and legal scholars attending the 2026 St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, meanwhile, reinforced previous arguments that intellectual property rights are not absolute protections but economic privileges, subject to national development and competition objectives. For many Russian firms, the risks of violating Western IP rights have also changed. Sanctions, market exits, and technology transfer restrictions have already cut many off from Western suppliers, reducing disincentives to continue using foreign technologies without authorization, particularly when supported by state policy. While the 2026 state-managed system shows efforts to formalize the reassignment of IP, Moscow has stopped short of abandoning IP law altogether. Instead, it has sought to selectively weaken protections while preserving access to international trade and technology, and continues to use IP law to protect Russian inventions and companies abroad. Post-Sanctions Developments Some of the earliest signs of Russia’s new approach to IP drew attention for its impact on a variety of products and industries. Western brands such as Peppa Pig ended up in courtroom disputes over trademark control. The company that owns the rights to the popular children’s series had taken a Russian entrepreneur to court for drawing his own versions of Peppa Pig. Meanwhile, former McDonald’s franchises were taken over and rebranded by a local licensee, and there were media reports about microchips being stripped from imported home appliances to repair military equipment. More consequential changes emerged at the industrial level. Parallel imports through third countries to bypass Western restrictions are being facilitated through close integration with China and its Eurasian Economic Union partners. Defense and dual-use technologies previously supplied by Western suppliers have been maintained, substituted, or replicated domestically. Western military equipment captured in Ukraine has been reverse-engineered, alongside civilian aerospace systems. Foreign-owned automobile factories were meanwhile sold, frozen, or transferred to Russian operators before restarting under domestic branding. Russia’s car production fell from about 1.5 million vehicles in 2021 to roughly 600,000 before making a partial recovery in 2024, with sales of 756,000 vehicles, according to The Moscow Times. Several major facilities were later restarted under simplified production chains with increased reliance on imported components and Chinese supply chains, alongside output rebranding at former foreign-owned plants, such as Toyota. Russia invited Chinese brands to fill the production gap, with their contribution rising from under 10 percent of automobile sales in Russia before the Ukraine war to more than 50 percent by 2023–2024. A large share of industrial capacity and investment has been redirected toward defense production and import substitution, making it difficult to determine the effects of Russia’s industrial and IP policies on the automobile sector. The withdrawal of Western companies also exposed the dependency of modern economies on software and digital service networks. Reduced access to system updates, predictive maintenance, cloud services, and technical support created disruptions across the Russian industry and infrastructure. Siemens, for example, suspended support for rail and industrial systems, while General Electric scaled back remote service and monitoring for gas and thermal turbines. SAP halted software used in factories, logistics, and energy, while Microsoft, Adobe, and other firms restricted services to software and cloud services for both businesses and consumers alike. These measures have forced Russia to adapt to keep critical industrial systems operational. To support parts of its machine-tool sector previously dependent on Western hardware, Russian operators have relied on spare parts stockpiles, gray-market imports, and partial domestic substitution. For software, some equipment has operated offline using legacy software and local maintenance capabilities to replace vendor-linked support and update services. At the consumer level, Russian authorities also signaled greater tolerance for software and media piracy, with Russian media emphasizing that domestic consumers had been exploited for profit by Western brands. Underlying this was the belief that dependence on foreign IP sends licensing revenues abroad and slows the development of domestic technological capabilities, as well as cultural sovereignty. Impact on the Pharmaceutical Industry Some of Russia’s most significant developments have occurred in the pharmaceutical sector, where tensions over IP predated the war. Seeking greater pharmaceutical security, Russia used state procurement programs and localization requirements to favor domestic producers, with courts increasingly willing to limit foreign patent protections. In 2017, Russian courts approved the production of certain patented medicines, including for HIV treatments, to the consternation of Western drug companies, who don’t conform to the idea of free medicine. Peter Drahos and John Braithwaite, in Information Feudalism, show how Brazil previously resisted pressure from the US government and pharmaceutical companies by threatening compulsory licensing for HIV/AIDS drugs in the 1990s and early 2000s, helping make treatment and prevention far more affordable. This approach was widely supported by medical scientists, AIDS activists, and international health organizations, according to the National Library of Medicine. In contrast, Russia lacked a comparable network. Western health organizations were viewed with greater suspicion in Moscow, limiting international support for efforts to expand access to affordable medicines. Russian health networks also faced greater isolation following the 2022 invasion, as Western sanctions and supply chains contributed to a more fragmented environment for international health cooperation. As these pressures strained access to dozens of essential medicines, Russian authorities increasingly treated pharmaceutical patents as flexible when weighed against public health and public policy goals. Domestic firms expanded efforts to develop copies of complex medicines that would have faced major legal obstacles in other jurisdictions. This has resulted in numerous high-profile disputes. In 2025, Russian biotech company BIOCAD received approval for its own version of Darzalex, the $10 billion-a-year cancer drug developed by Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Janssen. Boston-based Vertex has also accused the Russians of infringing patents linked to its cystic fibrosis treatment, Alyftrek. Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk has challenged Russian patents relating to semaglutide products, while Britain’s AstraZeneca also has multiple disputes with Russian manufacturers over the manufacture of cancer and diabetes medicines. Russian courts continue to be a major battleground for IP disputes. According to The Pharma Letter, both foreign drugmakers and Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) have lost a series of cases involving generic products launched before the expiry of patents on the original drugs. Meanwhile, pharmaceutical trade tensions between Washington and the EU have weakened collective Western efforts to defend pharmaceutical IP abroad. Between Fragmentation and Reform Russia’s challenge to IP protections was extensive even before the war, with Russia’s Intellectual Property Rights Court accused of using unlicensed software by a former judge in 2018. Moscow’s IP strategy is not yet systematically applied to the state. While Russia’s executive and legislative branches have steadily expanded mechanisms to weaken foreign IP protections, parts of the judiciary have been more cautious. Hostile states, including Russia, still seek foreign investment, technology transfer, and access to global markets, and even while challenging Western IP rights, Moscow continues to rely on similar protections for its own inventions and companies abroad. Western companies have also avoided treating the rupture as permanent. Although many suspended or exited Russian operations, most maintained trademark and other IP registrations in anticipation of a possible return. Allowing these rights to lapse would risk losing control in one of Eurasia’s largest markets and potentially set precedents elsewhere, particularly in China. As a result, many firms continue to do business in Russia, driven not only by financial considerations but also to ensure IP protection. Russia is not alone in challenging aspects of the current IP system. India and South Africa spearheaded an international effort during the COVID-19 pandemic seeking temporary waivers on IP protections to ensure greater access to vaccines, sparking wider discussions on greater flexibility under current rules during emergencies. A related issue is the patenting of preexisting traditional knowledge. In 1995, researchers at the University of Mississippi’s Medical Center received a US patent for turmeric’s wound-healing properties, until India challenged it by providing evidence that the practice had long been part of traditional medicine. The patent was revoked in 1997, but showed how long-established, socially beneficial knowledge can be appropriated through patent systems. Russia’s efforts to challenge the Western-dominated IP model have seen mixed results, with some success in sectors such as pharmaceuticals but limited progress in advanced semiconductors and high-end industrial technologies. At the same time, Moscow’s continued reliance on IP mechanisms to protect its own assets highlights their central role in global innovation, technology transfer, and international trade. As history shows, the appropriation and adaptation of foreign technologies and knowledge have often contributed to rapid industrial catch-up and advancement, including in many countries that are now among the strongest defenders of IP protection. This article was produced by Economy for All, a project of the Independent Media Institute. The post How Russia is Upending the West’s Attempt to Control Technology With Intellectual Property appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by John P. Ruehl.
A Tipi Village Takes on Healing and Homelessness
Thousands of people in the U.S. die from extreme heat, cold, and lack of care every year, including many of our unhoused neighbors. As climate change exacerbates extreme weather and states prepare for deadly heat waves this summer, it’s important to ask what government officials will do to protect the most vulnerable — and if More The post A Tipi Village Takes on Healing and Homelessness appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Screengrab from the Laura Flanders Show. Thousands of people in the U.S. die from extreme heat, cold, and lack of care every year, including many of our unhoused neighbors. As climate change exacerbates extreme weather and states prepare for deadly heat waves this summer, it’s important to ask what government officials will do to protect the most vulnerable — and if it’s enough. Back in 2012, I visited organizers in “He Sapa,’’ the sacred Black Hills of South Dakota, who had taken matters into their own hands and cared for unhoused people (their “relatives”) in the Rapid City area in the dead of winter. The story of Camp Mniluzahan is a powerful example of community care, healing, cultural revival, and the reciprocal value of the #LANDBACK movement. #LANDBACK the hashtag took off in the late 2010s. I met with members of the NDN Collective about a year after they launched an official campaign on Indigenous Peoples’ Day. They say #LANDBACK is about reclaiming ancestral lands, but also a whole lot more. “Through the public lands that the federal government has stolen from Native people, they have mismanaged those lands and have made them playgrounds for transnational corporations to profiteer off of these public lands,” says Nick Tilsen, the President and CEO of NDN Collective. “The first thing is we’re going to stop the extractive industry model. The question is then what can we do to restore?” To address criminalization, violence and police harassment, NDN’s volunteers formed a “Creek Patrol” to check in on their unhoused neighbors, and later they established a tipi village called Camp Mniluzahan where those people could be safe, cared-for and fed in a culturally affirming environment. Hermus Bettelyoun, Racial Equity Organizer at NDN Collective, told me that about half of the people they served at the camp got sober, and many found new family and new homes. “We’ve learned that when our relatives, even those that are deep into addiction, and deep into trauma, when they get back on the land, they heal,” says Krystal Two Bulls, Director of the LANDBACK Campaign. “They find purpose and they find their identity in that that leads to more healing, and then they want to do more on the land. So it’s like this cycle that feeds itself, of healing and growth and purpose.” This summer will put our cities to the test. Our weather preparedness plans must include the unhoused and traumatized population, and it’s up to all of us to demand that all our relatives receive food, water, care, and shelter. Governments can create Camp Mniluzahans just about anywhere, but do they have the will? Tune in on public television and radio this week, and stay until the end for my closing commentary on the contrast between how South Dakota is currently using its resources (to offer a tax haven for the ultra rich) — and how it could — as modeled by NDN. The post A Tipi Village Takes on Healing and Homelessness appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Laura Flanders.
2026 Isn’t the First Time Christians Have Tried to Claim the United States as Their Own
David Mislin, Temple University Amid celebrations of America’s 250th anniversary, assertions of the country’s religious, and specifically Christian, character have grown louder in political discourse. In May 2026, House Speaker Mike Johnson and other prominent officials participated in a prayer service in Washington, D.C. Johnson proclaimed, “We hereby rededicate the United States of America as More The post 2026 Isn’t the First Time Christians Have Tried to Claim the United States as Their Own appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
President Reagan, Nancy Reagan and Billy Graham at the National Prayer Breakfast held at the Washington Hilton Hotel. White House Photographic Office. David Mislin, Temple University Amid celebrations of America’s 250th anniversary, assertions of the country’s religious, and specifically Christian, character have grown louder in political discourse. In May 2026, House Speaker Mike Johnson and other prominent officials participated in a prayer service in Washington, D.C. Johnson proclaimed, “We hereby rededicate the United States of America as one nation under God.” Though planners invoked the nation’s “Judeo-Christian” heritage, most religious leaders at the event came from the evangelical Christian tradition. In a prerecorded video, President Donald Trump read from the New Testament book of 2 Corinthians. Many ordinary Americans who attended the prayer service seemed to recognize the desire to link the United States with Christianity. One told a reporter that the U.S. was “founded on a Christian doctrine,” while another insisted it was “an important thing for our nation, just to put Christ back first.” These ideas weren’t limited to this one-time gathering. In speeches and prayers at public events, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth proclaimed the U.S. to be “one nation under God.” In February 2026, at a Christian broadcasters convention, he declared that “Christ is King” and claimed “a direct through line from the Old and New Testament Christian gospels to the development of Western civilization and the United States of America.” At first glance, these expressions might seem triumphalist declarations that link the nation’s success over the past 250 years with Christian faith. As a historian of U.S. Christianity, however, I recognize expressions like these often arise when Christian Americans are feeling anything but triumphant. Civil war and committing to God As the U.S. plunged into Civil War in 1861, both the Union and Confederacy sought to link their side to God. The preamble of the Confederate constitution noted a desire for “the favor and guidance of Almighty God” for their new government. In the North, the Pennsylvania clergyman M.R. Watkinson successfully lobbied for a reference to God to be added to coins. Watkinson believed the nation was guilty of “disowning God” and urged the treasury secretary to make declarations of religiosity. This would “place us openly under the divine protection,” he noted. Three years later, as war dragged on, a group comprising members of the North’s major Protestant denominations urged a change to the preamble of the U.S. Constitution. Its members sought to declare that Americans recognized “Almighty God as the source of all authority and power in civil government” and desired “to constitute a Christian government.” The amendment was not ratified during the Civil War, but the efforts in both the North and South revealed how an existential political crisis pushed language of God into government. Efforts to declare America Christian Soon after the Civil War, Protestant Christians in the U.S. perceived a new threat. Beginning in the 1870s, atheism and indifference to religion became popular, especially among younger intellectuals. Rising numbers of Catholic and Jewish immigrants brought greater religious diversity. Fearing a loss of their significant clout and influence, devout Protestants revived the earlier campaign to write their faith commitments into the Constitution. In addition to placing references to God and Jesus in the Constitution, their proposed amendment declared the Bible “the supreme rule for the conduct of nations.” This was at odds with the beliefs of Roman Catholics, who look to church teaching and tradition along with the Bible as sources of religious authority. The strong emphasis on the Bible made clear that the amendment was written primarily for Protestants. Supporters of the amendment included William Strong, a justice on the Supreme Court. In 1873, Strong suggested that the Constitution must either be made “explicitly Christian” or else Christianity would be “obliterated” from every U.S. institution. The Christian amendment ultimately failed, largely because not all Protestants supported it. But anxieties about growing diversity and rising indifference had convinced many Americans of the need to enshrine Christianity in the Constitution. A godly nation with Cold War anxieties Anxieties in the aftermath of World War II and the dawn of the Cold War brought another rise of Christian rhetoric in U.S. civic life. In 1954, President Dwight Eisenhower signed a bill adding the phrase “under God” to the Pledge of Allegiance. The president’s signing statement noted that the phrase represented a “reaffirming” of “the transcendence of religious faith in America’s heritage and future.” This was important given the “violence and brutality” the world had experienced and the worrying “prospect of atomic war,” it said. President Eisenhower at the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church on Feb. 7, 1954, when he amended the Pledge of Allegiance to include the words ‘under God.’ Hilltoppers via Wikimedia The following year, Eisenhower signed a bill placing the phrase “In God We Trust” on all American currency. One of the bill’s sponsors, U.S. Rep. Charles Bennett, a Florida Democrat, invoked the now-familiar idea of the nation’s religious character. Bennett insisted that the U.S. “was founded in a spiritual atmosphere and with a firm trust in God.” These developments stemmed from the goal of strengthening Americans’ religious commitment amid the conflict and competition of the early Cold War. Scholars have demonstrated that political leaders like Eisenhower and religious figures, such as the increasingly popular evangelist Billy Graham, all stressed the importance of strong religious faith. In their eyes, that faith set the U.S. apart from the “godlessness” of Soviet communism. The historian Kevin M. Kruse has shown that the rise of religious language reflected domestic political concerns as well. President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal programs, designed to respond to the Great Depression, had expanded the federal government’s role in the economy and empowered organized labor. An alliance of conservative business leaders and ministers feared a loss of influence in this new political and social reality. During the 1950s they linked their values “faith, freedom, and free enterprise,” Kruse writes, all under the ideal of the U.S. as a nation under God. 250 years of faith and fear More often than not, the insistence that the U.S. is “one nation under God” is not a triumphant statement of success. This fear was evident in the response of an attendee at the “Rededicate 250” prayer service in May. When interviewed by PBS, this attendee declared, “American is built on the Christian faith,” and added, “if we lose this faith, the whole country will collapse.” Throughout the nation’s history, that existential fear has inspired efforts to declare the U.S. a Christian nation. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. The post 2026 Isn’t the First Time Christians Have Tried to Claim the United States as Their Own appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by David Mislin.
New York Gov. Huchul’s Push for Nuclear Power
New York Governor Kathy Hochul has just issued a statement headed: “Governor Hochul Announces Major Milestone To Facilitate New Advanced Nuclear Development.” It repeats her declaration in her State of the State address in January to have five gigawatts of new nuclear power—the equivalent of five standard-size nuclear power plants—built in New York State. She More The post New York Gov. Huchul’s Push for Nuclear Power appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Image by Lukáš Lehotský. New York Governor Kathy Hochul has just issued a statement headed: “Governor Hochul Announces Major Milestone To Facilitate New Advanced Nuclear Development.” It repeats her declaration in her State of the State address in January to have five gigawatts of new nuclear power—the equivalent of five standard-size nuclear power plants—built in New York State. She announced: “Today’s action marks the start of a full examination of ways to bring new advanced nuclear power online.” Last year, as she directed the New York Power Authority to facilitate construction of new nuclear power plants, Hochul said: “I’m the first Democratic governor in a generation to say to nuclear: ‘I’m embracing this.” Then and in the new announcement she said the new nuclear power plants in New York would produce “zero-emissions electricity” and be “advanced” models. However, as environmental attorney Susan Shapiro, long involved in challenging nuclear power, said at what has been a series of “Forums for a Nuclear-Free New York” held in recent months to counter Hochul’s nuclear drive: “It is patently untrue that nuclear energy is zero-emissions or a carbon-free source of energy.” The nuclear fuel-cycle, which includes mining, milling and fuel enrichment and fabrication, is “carbon-intensive,” said Shapiro. Moreover, nuclear power plants themselves emit carbon, a radioactive form, Carbon-14. The claim that nuclear power is “emissions free” is a “fraud on the public,” said Shapiro. It’s “not zero-emissions, not carbon-free, and not part of a solution to climate change.” While pushing nuclear power, Hochul at the same time is delaying implementation of the state’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act—heralded when it was enacted in 2019 as the way to offset climate change by utilizing green, renewable, clean energy sources led by solar and wind. As to the “advanced” nuclear power plants that Hochul cites, Dr. Gordon Edwards, president of the Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility, said at the forums that nuclear power plants now being proposed and labeled “advanced” by the nuclear industry are actually not “advanced” but designs tried 50 and 60 years ago that didn’t succeed then. The industry is seeking to sell them as “new and improved” and they are neither, said Edwards. Meanwhile, in the State Legislature in recent months there’s been an effort, led by Senator Kevin Parker of Brooklyn, chair of the Senate Energy Committee, to pass the New York State Ratepayer Protection Nuclear Moratorium Act to deal with Hochul’s nuclear push. It provides for a two-and-a-half year moratorium on state support of new or reopened nuclear power plants. Says the measure: “It is the policy of New York State to protect natural resources, public health, and economic well-being by preventing pollution and advancing safe, clean and affordable energy systems. The proposed development of nuclear power facilities represents a fundamental shift in state energy policy that is inconsistent with the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act mandate for an affordable, clean, and renewable energy transition.” In the next sentence it cites a nuclear power plant fiasco on Long Island: the Shoreham nuclear power plant. It was blocked from commercial operation by grassroots opposition and resistance by Suffolk County and New York State governments largely based on public safety concerns. Some $7 billion was spent building the Shoreham plant which the Long Island Lighting Company originally estimated would cost “in the $65-$75 million range.” The measure says: “New York’s own experience, including the Shoreham facility, illustrates the financial risks of nuclear power facilities, which resulted in substantial and lasting costs to ratepayers without delivering electricity.” It adds: “Historical and recent evidence demonstrates that nuclear power facilities are among the most expensive and slowest energy sources to deploy, with significant cost overruns and delays.” A most recent venture in nuclear power in the United States is also cited, the two Vogtle nuclear power plants opened in Georgia. They are the only nuclear power plants built from scratch in the U.S. since the Three Mile Island accident in 1979. Their estimated cost of $14 billion ballooned to $36 billion. The bills of Georgia electric customers have risen sharply as a result.. The “five gigawatts, the equivalent of five nuclear power facilities” which Hochul is seeking to have built, says the measure, would cost an “estimated at $100 billion.” And “they are being advanced without a financial and environmental assessment, sufficient legislative oversight, or public transparency, contrary to principles of fiscal responsibility and good governance.” The bill goes on: “Nuclear power facilities pose inherent safety and environmental risks, including potential catastrophic accidents, long-term radioactive waste with no permanent disposal solution, and significant public health concerns for surrounding communities. Scientific research indicates potential adverse health impacts for communities located near nuclear facilities, including increased cancer mortality.” During the moratorium, “A comprehensive, evidence-based assessment will be conducted…to analyze the expense, health, safety, security, opportunity costs, community impact and environmental impacts of nuclear power facilities, including but not limited to mining and fuel production, construction, operation, nuclear waste long-term management, site and off-site remediation, and a comparison to alternative energy sources.” It would be conducted by a Nuclear Assessment Task Force to be established. “Each member of the task force shall have demonstrated expertise in at least one of the following areas: grid modernization, renewable energy, environmental sciences, security, toxicology, medicine, particularly in pediatrics, public health, nuclear energy economics, environmental and energy policy or programs related to nuclear energy or monitoring one or more nuclear power plants in the state,” the measure says. Action on the bill, however, stalled in the State Legislature before it ended its 2026 session last month. When it reconvenes in January 2027 it can revisit the measure. Will Hochul’s “embracing” nuclear power affect her re-election bid in the November election? Her Republican opponent, Bruce Blakeman, also supports nuclear power. Blakeman, the Nassau County executive, has said: “Nuclear power has many attributes going for its expansion…But it will not get off the ground unless there is an organized effort to build public support—which is not happening today.” The post New York Gov. Huchul’s Push for Nuclear Power appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Karl Grossman.
Solidarity Strikes and Taft-Hartley’s Long Shadow
This week marks the anniversary of the enactment of one of the most consequential pieces of labor legislation in US history. The Labor Management Relations Act, better known as the Taft-Hartley Act, was passed over President Truman’s veto on June 23, 1947, and substantially narrowed the forms of collective action protected under federal labor law. More The post Solidarity Strikes and Taft-Hartley’s Long Shadow appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
David Dubinsky of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union speaks against the Taft–Hartley Act, May 4, 1947. The Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archive, Cornell University. CC BY 2.0 This week marks the anniversary of the enactment of one of the most consequential pieces of labor legislation in US history. The Labor Management Relations Act, better known as the Taft-Hartley Act, was passed over President Truman’s veto on June 23, 1947, and substantially narrowed the forms of collective action protected under federal labor law. The Taft-Hartley Act provided employers with a myriad of new legal weapons while suppressing some of organized labor’s most powerful tactics, dramatically reshaping the US labor landscape. Most of the provisions in the Taft-Hartley Act remain in effect nearly eight decades later. For most private-sector workers, one of the costliest parts of the Taft-Hartley Act is its prohibition on secondary or “solidarity” actions. In a secondary action, workers at one company strike, picket, or boycott to support workers at another. Secondary actions enable workers across a supply chain to join forces and exert pressure, giving employees across different shops more leverage together than they would have individually. The Taft-Hartley Act, however, largely confined legal protections for strikes and picketing to actions directed at the “primary employer” involved in the labor dispute. Twelve years later, Congress would add Section 8(e), the “hot cargo” provision, which blocked unions from negotiating contractual solidarity with their employers. In practice, this meant unions could no longer blunt the Taft-Hartley restrictions through contract language requiring their employer to avoid doing business with a company involved in a labor dispute. The Taft-Hartley Act’s restrictions on secondary actions represented a major change to the New Deal-era National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), which contained no such ban. The restrictions on solidarity strikes carry particular weight. The ability to withhold labor is the backbone of worker organizing; without it, workers have little leverage when negotiating with their employers. Solidarity strikes expand that leverage by making it harder for an employer to isolate a single bargaining unit, reroute work, or otherwise keep production moving despite a strike. Strike action of all kinds is associated with growth in union membership. Workers in countries where solidarity actions are permitted have used them to great effect. In Finland, for example, striking postal workers found reinforcement from rail and aviation workers, among others. Solidarity actions disrupted rail, aviation, ferry, bus, and port operations, culminating in a successful agreement that preserved workers’ pay and conditions in their next contract. While not the only factor, restrictions on solidarity actions almost certainly contributed to the weakening of organized labor in the US. Solidarity actions reinforce the idea of a labor movement that encompasses the entire working class, rather than siloing workers by employer or industry. The Taft-Hartley Act’s rules against solidarity actions weakened workers’ negotiating power. They also helped chip away at the burgeoning class consciousness that had powered many of the pre-1947 solidarity actions the Act was intended to curb. Solidarity strikes would be especially useful now, given the Trump administration’s attacks on federal workers. The administration has attempted to remove collective bargaining rights for thousands of federal workers, a move which is still being fought in the courts. More recently, President Trump issued an executive order removing civil service protections for many federal workers, effectively converting about 8,000 employees to “at-will” status. Given that federal workers make up an outsized share of the labor movement, this would have been an opportune moment for private-sector unions to engage in solidarity actions to protect the movement as a whole. As one of the most effective mechanisms for workers to build power, unions are essential to that agenda. Unions are broadly popular in the US, and strong majorities agree that declines in unionization hurt both the country and working people. The US labor movement, however, is hamstrung by a system that is rigged against workers from the start. The Taft-Hartley Act helped rig that system and continues to reinforce it decades later. Its prohibitions against solidarity strikes were a political response to a labor movement that had demonstrated the capacity to disrupt entire industries. That is the kind of labor movement that the US needs today. This first appeared on CEPR. The post Solidarity Strikes and Taft-Hartley’s Long Shadow appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Hayley Brown.
Not long after the second Trump administration took office, a new power center emerged in Washington under the banner of “government efficiency.” Through the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, Elon Musk was handed extraordinary influence over federal agencies, and USAID became an early target, as legal challenges and reporting on DOGE’s efforts to control More The post Unchecked Billionaire Oligarchs appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Not long after the second Trump administration took office, a new power center emerged in Washington under the banner of “government efficiency.” Through the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, Elon Musk was handed extraordinary influence over federal agencies, and USAID became an early target, as legal challenges and reporting on DOGE’s efforts to control USAID’s funding streams make clear. Inside USAID, I saw global health, humanitarian response, democracy and governance, and conflict prevention work abruptly stripped down or eliminated. Career colleagues with decades of experience were pushed out or sidelined, partners abroad were left with collapsing funding streams, and thousands of employees, including me, lost our jobs. The larger damage fell on communities that depended on those programs for disease control, humanitarian relief, peacebuilding and institutional survival. None of this followed a serious national debate. It reflected the preferences of a narrow set of actors who viewed expertise and accountability as obstacles, not safeguards. Similar cuts, purges and “efficiency” drives hit other departments and agencies, from CDC and HHS to FEMA and State, quietly hollowing out capacity across the U.S. government, a pattern analyzed in overviews such as the Brookings Institution’s commentary on DOGE and reflected in broader discussions of oligarchic power. The machinery that once underpinned global health, disaster response, diplomacy and development has been hobbled far more than most Americans realize. This is what oligarchic power looks like up close: a small, insulated class using its wealth and access to reshape the institutions everyone else depends on, with minimal debate and even less accountability. Despite the scale of the damage, there has been no serious attempt to hold Musk, DOGE or their accomplices to account. A few depositions and cursory hearings have taken place, and watchdogs have filed lawsuits and opened investigations, but one year after USAID’s dismantling there is still no real reckoning proportionate to the harm, no clear plan to repair what was broken, and no consequences for those who broke it, as seen in litigation and oversight efforts. The same fusion of private interest and public power is visible in foreign policy. Instead of seasoned diplomats or nuclear experts, Trump has leaned on Jared Kushner and fellow real estate developer Steve Witkoff, businessmen with no prior government experience, to lead high stakes talks with Iran, as reported by major national outlets. Their financial entanglements in the region, including investments tied to sovereign wealth funds and Trump aligned ventures, create glaring conflicts of interest at the very moment when disinterested judgment is most needed. Diplomats and analysts have warned that Kushner and Witkoff lack the technical expertise and diplomatic grounding for serious nuclear negotiations, yet they have been entrusted with decisions that could affect global security for decades. Yet while this quiet dismantling and self enrichment proceeds, Americans are bombarded with warnings about a different supposed danger. As several democratic socialists swept primary races in New York City and Washington, D.C., including congressional contests and the mayoral race, national attention snapped to their victories and familiar voices warned that America was sliding toward socialism and eventually communism. President Donald Trump seized on the results to brand Democrats as “hardcore, godless communists” and to describe communism as “the most serious threat to our country since its existence” in a June 2026 speech to the Faith & Freedom Coalition in Washington, D.C. In the same speech, he also warned that “communists, Marxists, socialists and globalists” were taking over the Democratic Party, framing recent democratic socialist victories as proof that the party was embracing a “communist agenda.” Republicans are not alone in using “socialism” as a political warning label. After democratic socialists won key primaries, a group of moderate House Democrats led by Rep. Tom Suozzi signed a “Promise to America” letter declaring, “We are capitalist, not socialist,” explicitly distancing themselves from their party’s left wing. More broadly, prominent Democrats often rush to assure voters that they oppose socialism whenever rent stabilization, universal childcare or stronger public services are floated, reinforcing the idea that such policies are inherently suspect rather than ordinary choices in much of the world. In practice, “socialism” has become the label slapped on any effort to strengthen public services, even when those services are the very supports most Americans need to survive and participate fully in society. That panic serves the status quo well. Americans are told to fear socialism and communism while the social safety net they actually depend on, from humanitarian aid and public health to Medicaid, Medicare and SNAP, is chipped away under soothing slogans like “efficiency” and “fiscal responsibility.” Independent policy analyses show how recent federal budgets cut hundreds of billions of dollars from Medicaid and food assistance while preserving tax advantages for corporations and high income households. These are not neutral policy choices. They are part of a pattern in which those at the top write rules that enrich themselves and their families while shifting risk and austerity onto everyone else. The loudest opponents of “socialism” are not people wondering how they will pay for groceries or a doctor’s visit, but politicians insulated by secure salaries, taxpayer funded health care, generous pensions and often sizable investment portfolios, even as they vote to strip away what little protection their constituents have left. Many of the policies being proposed by New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani and other democratic socialist candidates, and reflexively branded as “socialism” in the United States, are treated in other advanced democracies as basic public policy. Rent stabilization and strong tenant protections are common in cities like Berlin and Vienna, and rent regulation exists in places such as Paris and Stockholm, where governments have long tried to prevent speculative spikes and displacement, as outlined in overviews like Fieldfisher’s guide to rent controls in Europe. Universal or heavily subsidized childcare is treated as basic infrastructure in much of Europe, Canada and the Nordic states, making it possible for parents to work and for children to thrive, as shown in comparative analyses of early childhood policy and successful childcare models. When American politicians attack these kinds of measures as “socialist,” they are not defending some neutral center; they are defending a uniquely harsh status quo in which the basic supports that let people participate fully in society are treated as suspicious, while the privileges and protections enjoyed by the wealthiest and most powerful are treated as normal. Most Americans do not lie awake at night worrying that democratic socialists will turn the United States into a communist state. They lie awake wondering how they are going to make ends meet, feed their families and pay their bills. A recent survey by the National Endowment for Financial Education and Verasight found that 88 percent of U.S. adults felt some form of financial stress as they entered 2026, and more than three in four said they had experienced a financial setback the previous year. Another study from Allianz, summarized in coverage of the company’s retirement survey, reports that roughly two in three Americans say they worry more about running out of money than about death. That anxiety is not an accident. It is the predictable outcome of a system that strips away protections and shifts risk onto everyone except the people who profit from it, hidden behind dollar signs and net worths. The real threat to American democracy was never a democratic socialist winning a city primary. It is a system in which a handful of billionaires can reshape public institutions overnight, enrich themselves through the levers of government, and leave the rest of us to argue about labels while we live with the damage. The post Unchecked Billionaire Oligarchs appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Jared O. Bell.
Prologue I have always been skeptical of the viability and potential benefits of AI technologies. This is because they are primarily war technologies, masquerading in the deceptive cover of intelligence. But they have nothing to do with intelligence, a human virtue of distinguishing good from evil, beautiful from ugly and justice from injustice. AI technologies More The post The Delusion of AI-American Centaurs appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Young Achilles riding the man-horse super centaur Cheiron. “The Education of Achilles by Cheiron.” Painting by Eugene Delacroix, French, 1862. Getty Museum. Wikipedia. Public Domain. Prologue I have always been skeptical of the viability and potential benefits of AI technologies. This is because they are primarily war technologies, masquerading in the deceptive cover of intelligence. But they have nothing to do with intelligence, a human virtue of distinguishing good from evil, beautiful from ugly and justice from injustice. AI technologies can never incorporate human intelligence. They are mechanical triggers / devices following human instructions. In fact, I see the evolution of these technologies into more lethal war weapons and war-related consequences, as well as deceptive but profitable devices like iPhones, computers and other machines – here in America and other societies. Unless these AI machines are checked, regulated and, the weaponized versions phased out, anarchy, authoritarianism and destruction will strike humans, civilization and the planet. Why? Because man and machines don’t mix. But if they become scrambled eggs, watch out for monsters. Centaurs in ancient Greece Gaetano Zompini,“The Centaur Cheiron Teaching Geography to the Young Achilles.” 1759. LACMA. Wikipedia Commons. Public Domain. The ancient Greeks opened human minds to the pleasures of intelligence, science, technology, ethics and civilization. They also experimented (in their mythology and literature) with the invention of human animals: Centaurs (piercing bulls, man-horses), Satyrs (humans with the tail and feet of goats and followers of Dionysos), Minotaur (man with the head of a bull) and other hybrid non-human monsters like Chimera (lion, goat, snake) – and other less known monsters. One of the centaurs named Cheiron was an exception to the untamed, uncivilized and wild centaurs. He lived on Mount Pelion in Thessaly. He was the immortal son of the pre-Olympian god Cronos and the sea nymph Philyra. He had the reputation of possessing broad knowledge of the Cosmos and Greek society. He was also a healer. He was, in addition, a renowned teacher. Achilles, the great Greek hero of the Trojan War in late 13th century BCE became his pupil. Other young men followed on the footsteps of Achilles and studied under the centaur Cheiron. One of the most distinguished was Jason who, a generation after the Trojan War, in late 13th century BCE, led 50 Argonauts, most of them sons of gods, all the way from Iolkos, Thessaly, to Kolchis, or, in modern times, Georgia. Kolchis was in the easternmost region of Euxinos Pontos or Black Sea. The King of Kolchis was Aietes, son of the god Sun Helios. Aietes suspected the visiting Argonauts and planned to kill them. He started his hostilities by demanding that Jason would take a fire-spitting bull to sow a field with teeth of dragons. Warriors would sprout from the teeth of dragons. Jason would have to fight and kill those earth-born warriors. Jason did all those astonishing tasks successfully. He had the assistance and knowledge and magic of the king’s daughter, Medeia. Thanks to Aphrodite and her son Eros, Medeia was helplessly in love with Jason. Medeia gave Jason drugs that made him invulnerable to the flames and power of the bulls. Medeia was a priestess of a Kolchian goddess, Hekate. She was well-versed in magic and drugs. Add to those superhuman efforts the affection of Hera, wife of Zeus, and love goddess Aphrodite to Jason, and the story had an auspicious ending. The Argonauts returned to Hellas with the Golden Fleece, as well as precious metallurgical knowledge. This story of adventure, exploration, heroism, passionate love, and divine relationships with humans almost normalized the human-horse Centaur Cheiron, the exceptional and divine teacher of Greek heroes. These stories of the rare symbiosis of ancient Greeks with one centaur on Mount Pelion in Thessaly did not have a continuity. Herakles, son of Zeus and a superhero, accidentally shot a poison arrow against Cheiron. But Cheiron, being immortal, could not die. He sided with Prometheus then punished by Zeus for giving his Greek grandchildren the flame of knowledge. Zeus put Cheron among the stars, making him the constellation Sagittarius. US-AI mythical centaurs Despite these Greek myths, there are American tech enthusiasts in 2026 who seriously contemplate their own mythical realm: a massive ruling class of 8 billion humans being served and “educated” by a trillion AI human-centaur robots. Antikythera, an AI thinktank in Los Angeles, California, boasts of its priorities in “planetary computation and evolution of intelligence.” Here’s its mythical thinking in its own words: “Imagine,” it said in an email inviting proposals, “a world with 8 billion human minds and a trillion non-human, human-level AI minds. With such ratios, what is a “society”? “Agentworld [a research unit of Antikythera] treats the proliferation of AI agents as an anthropological condition as much as a technological one. As [AI] agents become more capable of communication, delegation, coordination, and adaptation at scale, hybrid human-AI societies can no longer be understood as simple aggregates of humans plus tools. They become entangled populations of human and non-human intelligences, co-producing new forms of language, hierarchy, dependency, exchange, and environment.” In other words, the Antikythera planetary computation “thinktank” experts no longer value democracy, American society and civilization. They are drunk with the wine of AI money and tech robots, making coffee or fighting wars, pretending to imitate and compete with human intelligence. Those delusions trigger scheming and even thinking how to create or “entangle” AI-human zombie resembling the Greek mythological centaurs – a hybrid of human and horses –one of which, son of Titan god Cronos, Cheiron, became teacher of Achilles, Jason and other Greek heroes. The Antikythera AI tech experts, oblivious to Greek history, are determined to probably exceed the Greek model of Cheiron. They are planning no less than “composing the medium-term future of centaur human-AI societies.” Epilogue This is science fiction going mad. It is nonsense. Their nightmare would not even work in a totalitarian state. Imagine the audacity and hubris. To think of bringing to life hybrids of humans and machines in the form of AI-powered centaurs? Mechanical horsemen run wild and armed to the teeth? But do these tech experts have any clues of Greek history and mythology, out of which emerged the centaurs and chimeras? Plato and Aristotle taught that moderation was a governing virtue, σωφροσύνη. Ancient Greeks also were well aware not to violate the principle of μηδέν άγαν: not to be extreme in anything. They slayed their own monsters. Antonio Canova, “Theseus Defeats the Centaur,” 1805. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. Wikipedia Commons. Public Domain. We should do the same: phase out AI monsters like those contemplated by the Antikythera thinktank of Los Angeles. Otherwise, the money-rich but intelligence-poor plutocrats will take over the government and establish a real political nightmare of entangled humans and machines. The post The Delusion of AI-American Centaurs appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Evaggelos Vallianatos.
Fijian widow alleges husband was beaten in police raid, told to lie before his death
By Kaya Selby of RNZ Pacific The widow of a deceased Fijian farmer is claiming that her husband was beaten by police during a raid — and told to lie about it. Ane Vakararawa’s husband, Iveri Tuimasi, died two weeks ago — yet another in a string of deaths this year where law enforcement is
By Kaya Selby of RNZ Pacific The widow of a deceased Fijian farmer is claiming that her husband was beaten by police during a raid — and told to lie about it. Ane Vakararawa’s husband, Iveri Tuimasi, died two weeks ago — yet another in a string of deaths this year where law enforcement is alleged to have played a role. Police have acknowledged that there was a raid on the couple’s property on Beqa Island, and in a statement last week, said they would interview the officers involved. READ MORE: Calls to dismantle joint taskforce rejected by Fiji govt despite brutality allegations Other Fiji police brutality reports Vakararawa has alleged that Tuimasi was severely beaten during the raid, suffering a blow to the head, and a liver rupture that required surgery. It is also alleged the officers — including a soldier — coerced Tuimasi into saying that he had sustained his injuries from a fall. Sharing her story with RNZ Pacific, Vakararawa said that her husband asked her to get the word out before he died. “One week prior, he somehow knew it, and he was telling me that if anything happens, I need to be strong,” Vakararawa said. “He kept telling me, I need to post it, I need to post the things that the officers did to him.” Another death Three weeks ago, RNZ Pacific reported on the death of another Fijian, Sakiasi Ose Radravu, who had been raided in uptown Suva. Radravu’s family said he had been beaten, tortured and sodomised by officers, which Amnesty International described as typical of Fijian authorities. Less than a week before Radravu’s raid, Jone Vakarisi, widely reported by local media as a known drug peddler, was found dead in a military prison. Tuimasi and Radravu both have sepsis listed as their primary cause of death. Both of their death certificates listed a variety of other factors, but both families insist that their loved ones were totally fine before their encounters with the police. Tuimasi’s certificate noted that a liver abscess had caused the sepsis, as well as a cerebral edema, a dangerous buildup of fluid in the brain. It also noted a “history of abdominal severe blunt force trauma”. Both the police and military have been asked for a response. ‘I knew my husband didn’t jump’ Vakararawa could not recall how many police officers were there — but she insisted that there was also at least one military officer. She said they came to their home on March 27 at around 6am local time, on a tip that Tuimasi was growing marijuana on their farm, which was 30 minutes away. “They didn’t show me any search warrant, they went inside, they started raiding our property from the living room, right to the kitchen, in our rooms and our compound. One of the officers said that he found some marijuana seedlings on our shelves.” She said they left and boated around parts of the island were the family would grow cassava. They returned three hours later. “My husband didn’t come back with them. One police officer asked me ‘did you know where your husband left earlier that night’ and I told him ‘no, why?’, and he said because he ran away. “When they were talking, I heard one police officer say ‘when we catch him, we have to punish him.” By 2pm, police officers had left and returned again, with Tuimasi in custody, clearly injured. Vakararawa was told Tuimasi had thrown a stone at one of them, and as they pursued him, he stumbled and fell off of a nearby cliff. The officers took him to Navua Hospital, and Vakararawa visited the following morning. ‘He was in pain’ “When I went to the hospital… he wasn’t able to sit properly, we could see how much pain he was in,” Vakararawa told RNZ Pacific. With the officers still there, Vakararawa asked her husband quietly whether the story was true. “He looked, and I asked him: ‘did you jump’, not loudly, I just signalled to him … and he shook his head.” “I knew that my husband didn’t jump, because we used to farm up the hill, but now we don’t farm anymore there.” She said he had a boot mark on his chest, a dark bruise on the back of his head, and cuts on his hand. ‘He wouldn’t be able to tell the truth’ Tuimasi was transferred to CWM Hospital in Suva shortly after his arrival at Navua, where he had surgery. “He slept for about a week, they put him on sleeping medications … so, when he was sleeping, I went and filed a report against the officers [on] March 30. “He got discharged on May 10, and he was telling me to tell the officer in charge that he’s okay, he’s ready to for his statement to be taken. But the officer in charge, she just called once … she said that she was busy with other cases.” Over the next month, Tuimasi rapidly lost weight and became weaker by the day. His death certificate would later note that he had “severe protein calorie malnutritions”. He was in and out of hospital, with “multiple surgical interventions” and a “recent history of hospitalisation for septic shock due to septicaemia.” As he deteriorated, Vakararawa described him as “traumatised”. “He was eating, he was drinking, but somehow he kept dropping his weight, he was shrinking.” Two days before he died, Vakararawa made a long Facebook post sharing their story, at Tuimasi’s insistence. She noted that despite his best efforts to talk to the police, they never returned his calls. Tuimasi died on June 19, in the afternoon — it would be the following morning that Vakararawa heard from them. ‘Fell from a cliff’ “An officer called … she told me that in Navua, [Tuimasi] admitted that he fell from a cliff before they transferred him to CWM [in Suva].” “I told her, ‘ma’am, you have to understand that when they brought my husband to the hospital, he was coming with the very people that assaulted him. They could have threatened him along the way to tell the doctor that he really fell.’ He wouldn’t be able to tell the truth.” The Fiji Police Force said on June 23 that Tuimasi’s autopsy had been completed, and that Vakararawa’s complaints were with the CID. “The next course of action is to interview all those involved in Mr Tuimasi’s arrest following a drug raid in Dakuni in Beqa.” “Following the interview process, all statements, evidentiary documents and reports will be submitted to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) for independent legal review.” This story was first published on This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.
Iran’s heartbroken Team Melli exit World Cup amid silver lining of Mexican hospitality
By Anushe Engineer Iran’s bittersweet, logistically complicated, politically charged, and heartbreaking World Cup run found a silver lining in Mexico, where the men’s football team departed their base camp in Tijuana to a warm goodbye from fans in the border city. Iran were eliminated from the World Cup on Saturday, after Austria’s last-gasp equaliser against
By Anushe Engineer Iran’s bittersweet, logistically complicated, politically charged, and heartbreaking World Cup run found a silver lining in Mexico, where the men’s football team departed their base camp in Tijuana to a warm goodbye from fans in the border city. Iran were eliminated from the World Cup on Saturday, after Austria’s last-gasp equaliser against Algeria saw them drop out of the tournament’s eight best third-placed teams. It capped a dramatic 24 hours for Iran, who lost control of their fate for the knockout stage following a 1-1 draw with Egypt on Friday, which ended dramatically with an apparent last-ditch Iranian winner controversially ruled offside following a VAR check. READ MORE: Iran bow out of World Cup: Late drama ends Team Melli’s knockout dream Iran’s Trojan Horse in US: Team Melli’s presence in WC Other FIFA World Cup reports The United States and Israel’s war on Iran dictated the logistics for Team Melli’s presence at the FIFA World Cup 2026. Iran shifted their base camp from Arizona to Tijuana not long before the tournament began, fearing visa complications. In rarely-seen stringent logistical conditions, the team was forced to depart for Mexico mere hours after the full-time whistle of their matches in the US, despite repeated requests from the Iranians to relocate their fixtures out of the country engaged in an active war against them. But from the moment Iran first touched down in Tijuana, Mexico welcomed the team with open arms. Fans thronged the perimeter of the team’s hotel before and after their travels for each group stage match, holding posters and waiting for autographs from players. Iran goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand signs autographs for fans at a hotel in Tijuana, Mexico, on Sunday. Image: Gabriela Aoun Angueira/AJ ‘Hope our paths cross again’ The mutual love and respect that developed over three weeks made its way to social media and a global online audience that backed Team Melli through their off-pitch hardships. It was also on social media that the team’s media department thanked the people of Mexico for their hospitality. “Thank you for your professionalism, your support, and for covering not only our team’s sporting journey but also the unfair and unsportsmanlike treatment our delegation faced during its stay,” a message on X, posted by the Embassy of Iran in Mexico, read. “Your commitment to reporting the facts accurately and with integrity meant a great deal to us.” The message extended specific thanks to the residents of Tijuana, who welcomed the team with “generosity and genuine hospitality that made us feel right at home”. “For all of us, leaving Tijuana is truly difficult. The memories we built here, the friendships we forged, and the affection we received will forever remain in the hearts of every member of the Iranian National Team. “Thank you, and we hope our paths cross again,” the message read. ‘You’re Mexican now’ Videos on social media showed the Iranian team out and about in Tijuana as they autographed World Cup footballs and Panini sticker books and posed for photographs with fans. Iran’s ambassador to Mexico, Abolfazl Pasandideh, and Football Federation of Iran’s (FFIRI) secretary-general, Hedayat Mombeini, spoke to supporters and media representatives over the weekend and thanked Mexico for its hospitality. The Iranian embassy in Sarajevo also thanked Mexico for graciously hosting Iran, while simultaneously underscoring the US ill-treatment of the team. “FIFA should exercise greater care in selecting future host nations, ensuring they are worthy hosts and committed to humanitarian principles,” the post on X read. Anushe Engineer is a freelance sports journalist based in Karachi, Pakistan, where she previously worked for Dawn. This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.
Musician and GUNK co-founder H. Pruz on opening a new door
I saw that you worked with your cousin for your “Krista” music video. What was that process like?
I saw that you worked with your cousin for your “Krista” music video. What was that process like? Yeah. We made hundreds of videos and I basically privated all of them since, but they’re still unlisted on an old channel. My cousin Molly and I made so many videos together and that music video was made from a series that we had written and recorded , edited, and directed ourselves. It was a horror film. It was really cool to piece that together and play around with memory. Molly also directed the final music video for “After Always,” so it was cool to bring her in. Is there a different process when you’re working with family than when you’re working with friends? Definitely. I have no sisters, but I have two brothers, and so I do really view Molly as a sister. I feel like it’s easier for us to be honest about issues that come up with creating things together, and we both have really strong creative voices. It was a lesson for me in releasing control, which I think a lot of the record making was, too—with Felix, who is my partner and, in a way, that’s like my new family. I think it’s really easy for me with both types of family, all types of family, to just be really open about what’s working and what’s not working. I had a lot of difficulty with releasing control, but being able to do it with family, it was good to have that pushback—which I think I have with a lot of my friends, but it can be more of a fragile zone. There’s this catchall, like, “We are going to be okay at the end of this.” From all sides surrounding it, though, we all kind of were like, “We might not agree creatively on what this is going to look like, but it’s going to be okay. We’re putting our relationships aside and it’s going to be okay.” Do you have any rituals you do before you begin your recording process? Running is really key for me, in writing a song and recording a song. I compulsively need to run a lot because mentally it just stabilizes me and my creative flow. Every other day I’m running and, if I’m recording, I’m usually listening to a mix we made, or a demo or something. I got into running last year for the first time and it’s freeing. I agree. I agree. Has your recording process changed since you started making music between your EP and today? Are there things that you’ve kept in your toolbox from the first record that have been helpful while making this one? When I made the first EP, I was recording everything myself on a podcasting mic. I didn’t really know what a good mic was. So everything was through a Yeti podcasting mic. I had the gain all the way up. You could hear so much of the room. Something that has stayed with me from that point, though, was I just had this intuition of people I trusted to work with. At the time, it was Colin Miller; I had just been a fan of his music and his writing and I hit him up and we made those recordings together, just sending them back and forth during the pandemic. That was really, really special: to watch what someone would decide to do based on where I started a thing, and then to go back and forth. Since then, I’ve recorded basically everything with my partner, Felix. So another person that I feel really comfortable with figuring things out at the ground level. We recently transitioned, with the last record, into recording on tape—which is something I really love doing, in that it creates a lot of these limitations with just how many tracks you have and what you want to record on them, what sound you like. You’re deciding on a lot of specifications from the jump. I think that it was good for me to have limits. I think limits make me more creative. Felix really instilled in me this idea of taking full takes of anything we did. There was very little cutting and pasting. I want to talk about your editorial project GUNK. How did that happen? How did you get started making a zine called GUNK? I have heard so much through Felix, who grew up in New York City and in the underground DIY scene at Silent Barn, about that community. I largely missed a lot of that. I started off in a medical career and had a fully different life. But one thing that I would hear about a lot was something called SHOWPAPER, which was this longtime establishment of a biweekly paper media newspaper that listed all of the all ages shows in the tristate area, and they closed down because they ran out of money. That is such necessary work… The last question I have about the record is why and how you made a role playing game for the record? I think I am just fascinated by imaginary worlds and how they allow us to problem solve and tell stories. The video that I made with my cousin as a child, I think we were trying to tell a story about family trauma and relationships in the context of the haunting of this scary little child. With the game as well, I was trying to tell a story—but I like that with games and with RPGs, there’s a lot of interaction from the player. With music, I feel like once I make something with the band and with my collaborators, there’s not much that a listener can do to interface with that other than to listen to it and connect it to things. But with an RPG, you can really just take it in any direction you want. I hope that it pulls out for people things that games have pulled out for me growing up and what making music has pulled out for me. Right now, that’s where I’m drawn creatively. It was really cool to make a little game with someone—the visual artist, who’s my friend, and we play games together. I think playing games as an adult can be looked down upon. But I think it’s just an incredible means of storytelling that allows for interaction, which is rare. It weaves itself into the music as well. Yeah. Definitely. The visual artist, Jono, made the album artwork based off of some inspiration points I gave him. It follows a journey of a wayward traveler setting out at sea because of the maritime saying from the title, Red sky at morning. It’s not a concept album by any means, but I think I wanted to take some of the themes from the album and create a completely different story. So it is not what I’m trying to get across with the music necessarily, but it was cool to just take something I’d already made and reform it and change it in a different medium… I want it to be introspective and I think a big part of the inspiration behind the game was, of course, tabletop role-playing games, but also The Artist’s Way. The book? Yeah. I was going through that book earlier on in my life, and that was one of the big reasons why I started to make music by myself. I was just hoping to make something that might open a door for someone, or ask a question that could open a door. H. Pruz recommends: making this halloumi, cuke & walnut spoon salad in the summer listening back to voice memos on a long run riding the nyc ferry on a particularly hot day picking up local zines left around your neighborhood. My current local favorites: stitches, the goose egg, life harvester keeping rose water spray in the car. instantly revives me on a long drive. This content originally appeared on The Creative Independent and was authored by Maryam Said.
On the 6th anniversary of the National Security Law, what has happened to Hong Kong’s spirit?
This content originally appeared on Human Rights Watch and was authored by Human Rights Watch.
Two Varanasi boat cases, two legal paths: Same-day bail for five, two months in jail for 14 Muslims
Five men were arrested in Varanasi on June 23 after the Dashashwamedh police took suo motu cognisance of a video purportedly showing them cooking chicken and drinking beer on a small boat on the Ganges. The five were released on bail the same day. Curiously, the FIR mentioned Sections 196 (2) and 299 of the […]
Five men were arrested in Varanasi on June 23 after the Dashashwamedh police took suo motu cognisance of a video purportedly showing them cooking chicken and drinking beer on a small boat on the Ganges. The five were released on bail the same day. Curiously, the FIR mentioned Sections 196 (2) and 299 of the BNS, but the challan submitted in court showed arrest only under provisions of Section 170 of the BNSS. BNS 196 (2) and 299 deal with promoting enmity between different groups on grounds such as religion etc and deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings. Section 170 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) empowers police to arrest individuals to prevent the commission of a cognizable offence. Speaking to Alt News, station house officer (SHO) of Dashashwamedh police station Santosh Kumar confirmed that the challan submitted before the executive magistrate stated that the men had been “shouting” at tourists despite repeated attempts by the police to pacify them, creating a situation that could have led to a “breach of peace”. When asked why the FIR charges and the video evidence of cooking chicken on a boat were not mentioned, the officer made evasive responses. In sharp contrast to this, just three months earlier, 14 Muslim men who had been arrested for consuming non-vegetarian food while breaking their fast aboard a boat on the Ganges, spent over two months behind the bars before securing bail from the Allahabad high court. They were initially booked under seven sections of the BNS and later also charged with the stringent BNS Section 308(5) (extortion under threat of death or grievous hurt) and Section 67 of the IT Act, pertaining to publishing or transmitting obscene material. June Incident: Two Sections, Same Day Bail A video circulating on social media showed nine men on a boat, wearing winter wear, cooking chicken, displaying bottles of alcohol, and referring to the gathering as a ‘party’, allegedly on the Ganges. As the video surfaced online, the police took suo-motu cognisance and registered a case. Five of the nine accused — Deepak Kumar, Arun Kumar Sahni, Rahul Sahni, Ajay Sahni and Anurag Nishad — were arrested the same day and released on bail shortly thereafter. View this post on Instagram A post shared by News18.com (@cnnnews18) Kumar, the SHO, confirmed to Alt News that an FIR (No. 0143/2026) was filed at the Dashashwamedh police station on June 23 at 2:18 am in this regard. According to the FIR, the individuals were “drinking beer/alcohol in a boat on the sacred banks of the Ganga and cooking chicken in the boat.” This act was described as being “against social decorum and public decency,” and it was stated that it “hurts the religious sentiments of millions of Hindus.” Consequently, the police registered the case against the accused under Sections 196 (2) (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds such as religion, race, caste, language, place of birth, residence, or community, and other acts prejudicial to maintaining harmony) and 299 (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings) of the BNS. <img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-316619" src="https://www.altnews.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/WhatsApp-Image-2026-06-26-at-17.03.33.jpeg" alt="" width="681" height="933" srcset="https://www.altnews.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/WhatsApp-Image-2026-06-26-at-17.03.33.jpeg 681w, https://www.altnews.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/WhatsApp-Image-2026-06-26-at-17.03.33-219x300.jpeg 219w" sizes="(max-width: 681px) 100vw, 681px" /> Throughout the FIR, the Ganges is referred to as the “sacred river,” and its banks are described as the “centre of faith, worship, penance, meditation, and salvation for Hindu society.” The complaint characterised the act as an “attempt to hurt religious sentiments, create social animosity, and pollute the religious environment.” <img decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-316618" src="https://www.altnews.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/FIR-1.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="570" srcset="https://www.altnews.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/FIR-1.jpg 1024w, https://www.altnews.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/FIR-1-300x167.jpg 300w, https://www.altnews.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/FIR-1-768x428.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /> Differing Charges in FIR vs. Challan The Wire first reported on June 24 that the charges stated in the FIR did not make it to the challan produced in court. While the FIR centred around the video showing men cooking non-veg food and consuming alcohol on a boat and therefore hurting religious sentiments; the challan recorded the arrest as only a preventive measure to avert the possible breach of peace following an altercation. The challan is the arrest memo or the panchnama that the police submit to the court after filing a case. When asked about the reason for the discrepancy, the SHO said, “The investigation is still ongoing. As and when new findings are gathered, additional sections will be added, and the final chargesheet will be released.” When asked why the primary reason for the arrest or complaint was not mentioned in the challan, he said, “In the video, it is clearly visible that the men were wearing jackets and sweaters, indicating that it was recorded a long time ago”. Kumar further stated that once the chargesheet was filed, “they will have to apply for bail again.” Throughout the conversation, the SHO did not clarify as to why the grounds recorded in the FIR and those cited in the challan/panchnama differed so significantly. March Incident: Multiple Stringent Sections, Months In Jail On March 16, the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) Varanasi president Rajat Jaiswal lodged a complaint after a video surfaced showing a group of Muslim men breaking their fast aboard a boat on the Ganges. Jaiswal alleged that the men had consumed chicken biryani, disposed of food waste into the river, and thereby hurt Hindu religious sentiments. The police on March 17 arrested all 14 men — Azad Ali, Aamir Kaiki, Danish Saifi, Mohd Ahmad, Nehal Afridi, Mahfooz Alam, Mohd Anas, Mohd Awwal, Mohd Tahseem, Mohd Ahmad alias Raja, Mohd Noor Ismail, Mohd Tausif Ahmad, Mohd Faizan and Mohd Sameer — under multiple charges, including hurting religious sentiments, public nuisance and polluting water. Two days later, more serious charges, including extortion, were added, significantly raising the legal stakes. The grounds for extortion charges were not made clear by the police either, Alt News had earlier reported. READ: Varanasi Iftar-on-boat arrests: Complainant’s shifting claims mirror gaps in case against 14 Muslim men In this case, the initial charges against the accused were: Section 298 BNS — Defiling a place of worship with intent to insult a religion Section 299 BNS — Deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings Section 196(1)(B) BNS — Promoting enmity between groups on religious grounds Section 270 BNS — Public nuisance Section 279 BNS — Fouling water of a public spring or reservoir Section 223(B) BNS — Disobedience of an order by a public servant Section 24, Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 And subsequently, two more sections with serious charges were added on March 19 Section 308(5) BNS — Extortion under threat of death or grievous hurt Section 67, Information Technology Act — Publishing or transmitting obscene material (linked to the viral video) On March 20, the Varanasi court remanded all 14 accused to judicial custody pending investigation. On March 23, the additional chief judicial magistrate rejected their first bail application. Following this, on April 1, the session court rejected their second bail application as well. A month later, the Allahabad high court finally heard their bail pleas, and on May 15, 8 out of 14 accused were granted bail, and subsequently, on May 19, almost 2 months since their arrest, the remaining 6 accused were released on bail. This content originally appeared on Alt News and was authored by Ankita Mahalanobish.
Official results confirmed for New Caledonia’s provincial elections
By Patrick Decloitre of RNZ Pacific The official results of New Caledonia’s provincial elections held on Sunday were proclaimed last evening. In a comprehensive document, the French High Commission in New Caledonia has published the key election figures, which confirm the tendencies observed immediately after the vote on Sunday. This includes the final makeup of
By Patrick Decloitre of RNZ Pacific The official results of New Caledonia’s provincial elections held on Sunday were proclaimed last evening. In a comprehensive document, the French High Commission in New Caledonia has published the key election figures, which confirm the tendencies observed immediately after the vote on Sunday. This includes the final makeup of New Caledonia’s Territorial Congress, which results from the proportional representation in the French Pacific territory’s three provinces (Northern, Southern and the Loyalty Islands). READ MORE: Pro-French, pro-independence blocs remain in New Caledonia election Counting underway at polling stations in New Caledonia provincial elections New Caledonia polls close in French Pacific territory’s first provincial elections since 2019 Heavy security deployed as New Caledonia’s crucial elections begin New Caledonia’s political parties make final pitch to voters before campaigning ends Alcohol sales banned in New Caledonia as provincial election approaches Other Kanaky New Caledonia reports In the Southern province, which is New Caledonia’s most populated and affluent region, the results confirm a clear victory for the “Strong and United” list made up of pro-France parties Les Loyalistes and Le Rassemblement. Under outgoing provincial President Sonia Backès, they have reached 28 of the 40 seats and collected 50.4 percent of the suffrage. The pro-independence list for FLNKS, headed by Johanito Wamytan, will get seven seats (15.59 percent of the vote). Eveil Océanien’s list (Another World is possible), headed by Milakulo Tukumuli, has five seats (10.2 percent). In the Northern province, pro-independence UC-FLNKS (headed by Pascal Sawa) and Union Nationale pour l’Indépendance (UNI) headed by Paul Néaoutyine are neck-and-neck, with 10 and nine seats. The remaining three seats go to the small list “Let’s Act together for the North”. In the smallest province, the Loyalty Islands, seats are divided between pro-independence lists “Nation Autochtone” (Indigenous Nation) and UC-FLNKS, respectively headed by Omaira Naisseline and Mickaël Forrest. Another pro-independence party, the PALIKA (Kanak Liberation Party) now holds the two remaining seats. Congress and three provincial assemblies to elect their presidents The three provincial assemblies are now scheduled to hold their inaugural sitting on Friday. They will elect their respective presidents. At the territorial level, the Congress is scheduled to hold its inaugural sitting on July 10 with the election of its President and its bureau. At New Caledonia’s Congress, Loyalists-Rassemblement will have 24 of the 54 seats. Eveil Océanien reaffirms itself as the main central block in New Caledonian’s political chessboard: it has gained more seats (4) compared to three in the previous legislature (2019-2026). This brings the Wallisian-based party, created in 2019, to position itself once again as the “kingmaker” as no single party in New Caledonia’s Congress is in a position to rule on its own. The pro-independence block can now rely on 16 seats from UC-FLNKS (the pro-independence movement’s hard-line component), 7 from UNI-PALIKA and 3 from Dynamique Autochtone (Indigenous Dynamic). Talks have started, behind the scenes, between parties, in order to form alliances ahead of the vote. After the Congress President’s election, a “collegial” government will be formed, consisting of the allocation of ministerial portfolios on the basis of proportional representation. Talks with Paris Also based on the election of the new Congress, the French government is planning to resume talks with New Caledonia’s politicians in order to finalise a consensual document that would serve as a blueprint for New Caledonia’s political future. Such talks, over the past five years, have failed to produce a result. The most recent attempt, which materialised into a document called the Bougival Agreement (in July 2025, followed by more negotiations under the name of Matignon-Oudinot in January 2026) was rejected by the French Parliament on April 2. New Caledonia’s main parties have already indicated their intentions, if they were to be convened for new talks by French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu. Whereas UC-FLNKS seems to favour a short-term process for New Caledonia’s independence, UNI also promotes independence for New Caledonia, but in some kind of association with France. UNI had pledged to support the Bougival process, which is now defunct. The Bougival process was one of the main fracturing factors within the pro-independence movement, especially between UC-FLNKS and UNI. On the pro-France side, they consider that concessions had already been made as part of the Bougival talks and that there were red lines they were not ready to cross. Three referendums They also insist that New Caledonia has held three referendums on New Caledonia’s independence between 2018 and 2021 and that these resulted in three rejections (however, the last referendum was boycotted by the pro-independence groups due to the covid pandemic). Pro-France MP in the French National Assembly Nicolas Metzdorf said at the weekend that if they were called to sit at the negotiating table again, they would take part. Buy they would not budge from their anti-independence posture. Another scenario was for New Caledonia’s parties — especially pro-France — to refrain from entering any political agreement until the French presidential elections are held in April 2027. “We’ll wait for the presidential elections… to make sure New Caledonia remains French,” he told public broadcaster NC la Première yesterday. Ahead of the Congress President’s elections next month, Metzdorf also confirmed that talks with other parties would start “this week”. “It will be either with Eveil Océanien or with UNI, but we won’t talk to UC-FLNKS.” This story was first published on This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.
Inside North Korea: What It’s Really Like Meeting Kim Jong Un
Louisiana Supreme Court Frees Death Row Prisoner, Calling Evidence Against Him “Scientifically Indefensible”
The post Louisiana Supreme Court Frees Death Row Prisoner, Calling Evidence Against Him “Scientifically Indefensible” appeared first on ProPublica.
Jimmie Duncan hugs his parents, Sharon and Bennie, after he was released from prison on bail in December 2025. Jamal Barnes for the Innocence Project Former Louisiana death row inmate Jimmie “Chris” Duncan is officially a free man following a unanimous ruling Monday by the Louisiana Supreme Court. In the opinion, justices upheld a lower court’s decision to toss out Duncan’s 1998 conviction for killing his former girlfriend’s toddler, Haley Oliveaux, citing flawed forensics practices used to convict him. Justice Cade R. Cole wrote on behalf of the seven-member court that new evidence presented by Duncan’s legal team left no doubt that his conviction should be overturned. “The post-conviction evidence undermined the core factual premises on which the state depended,” Cole wrote in the official opinion. Two other justices, including Chief Justice John Weimer, issued opinions concurring with Cole. “I am flooded with relief,” said Chris Fabricant, a member of Duncan’s legal team and director of strategic litigation with the Innocence Project in New York, in an interview. “It would have been a moral outrage for the conviction to be reinstated.” The court’s ruling came after a 2025 Verite News and ProPublica investigation examined the reliability of the key forensic evidence used to convict Duncan, now 57. At the time, he faced the possibility of being put to death as Gov. Jeff Landry, a staunch death penalty advocate, made moves to expedite executions after a 15-year pause. Duncan’s conviction was based largely on now-discredited bite mark evidence presented by forensic dentist Michael West and pathologist Steven Hayne. Their analysis, which was critical to Ouachita Parish prosecutors securing Duncan’s conviction, claimed to match marks on Haley’s body to Duncan’s teeth. But experts have since deemed such evidence, fairly common at the time of Duncan’s 1998 trial, to be junk science. Meanwhile, the longtime partnership between West and Hayne has come under scrutiny from civil rights attorneys, forensic experts and the courts over concerns about the validity of their techniques. In the 28 years since Duncan’s trial, nine other prisoners have been set free after being convicted in part on inaccurate evidence given by West and Hayne. Three of those men were on death row. Duncan was the last person awaiting an execution based on the pair’s work. In his opinion, Cole reexamined the use of supposed bite marks, which were the only physical evidence tying Duncan to the alleged crime. Cole pointed to a video of West’s 1993 examination of Haley, which was not shown to jurors at trial. In that recording, West can be seen taking a mold of Duncan’s teeth and grinding it into and across the girl’s body, seemingly creating bite marks where none previously existed. Referencing previous testimony from a defense expert, Cole wrote that “it was ‘scientifically indefensible’ to identify those marks as having been made by Duncan, and that the angles shown in the West Video were physically impossible for a human bite.” West has previously said he was simply using what he called a “direct comparison” technique — in which he presses a mold of a person’s teeth directly onto the location of suspected bite marks. Read More <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="459" height="306" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/20250304-gordon-LA-executions-3x2-1MB_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_quality_95_embedColorProfile_true.jpg?w=459&h=306&crop=1" class="attachment-propublica-story-promo size-propublica-story-promo wp-post-image" alt="" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/20250304-gordon-LA-executions-3x2-1MB_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_quality_95_embedColorProfile_true.jpg 3000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/20250304-gordon-LA-executions-3x2-1MB_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_quality_95_embedColorProfile_true.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/20250304-gordon-LA-executions-3x2-1MB_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_quality_95_embedColorProfile_true.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/20250304-gordon-LA-executions-3x2-1MB_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_quality_95_embedColorProfile_true.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/20250304-gordon-LA-executions-3x2-1MB_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_quality_95_embedColorProfile_true.jpg?resize=1536,1024 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/20250304-gordon-LA-executions-3x2-1MB_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_quality_95_embedColorProfile_true.jpg?resize=2048,1365 2048w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/20250304-gordon-LA-executions-3x2-1MB_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_quality_95_embedColorProfile_true.jpg?resize=863,575 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/20250304-gordon-LA-executions-3x2-1MB_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_quality_95_embedColorProfile_true.jpg?resize=422,281 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/20250304-gordon-LA-executions-3x2-1MB_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_quality_95_embedColorProfile_true.jpg?resize=552,368 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/20250304-gordon-LA-executions-3x2-1MB_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_quality_95_embedColorProfile_true.jpg?resize=558,372 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/20250304-gordon-LA-executions-3x2-1MB_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_quality_95_embedColorProfile_true.jpg?resize=527,351 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/20250304-gordon-LA-executions-3x2-1MB_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_quality_95_embedColorProfile_true.jpg?resize=752,501 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/20250304-gordon-LA-executions-3x2-1MB_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_quality_95_embedColorProfile_true.jpg?resize=1149,766 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/20250304-gordon-LA-executions-3x2-1MB_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_quality_95_embedColorProfile_true.jpg?resize=459,306 459w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/20250304-gordon-LA-executions-3x2-1MB_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_quality_95_embedColorProfile_true.jpg?resize=2000,1333 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/20250304-gordon-LA-executions-3x2-1MB_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_quality_95_embedColorProfile_true.jpg?resize=400,267 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/20250304-gordon-LA-executions-3x2-1MB_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_quality_95_embedColorProfile_true.jpg?resize=800,533 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/20250304-gordon-LA-executions-3x2-1MB_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_quality_95_embedColorProfile_true.jpg?resize=1200,800 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/20250304-gordon-LA-executions-3x2-1MB_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_quality_95_embedColorProfile_true.jpg?resize=1600,1067 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 459px) 100vw, 459px" js-autosizes="true" /> He Was Convicted Based on Allegedly Fabricated Bite Mark Analysis. Louisiana Wants to Execute Him Anyway. Weimer wrote in a concurrence that the bite mark evidence used to prosecute Duncan was similar to “trial by water” tests used by witch-hunters in the 17th century, in which suspected witches were bound with rope and lowered into a body of water. If they floated, they were considered guilty of witchcraft, while those who “passed” the test by sinking often drowned. “We now look back at those practices as asinine and absurd, since those who fell victim to those practices often did not survive, regardless of whether they were found guilty or innocent,” Weimer wrote. “The bite mark evidence and the sexual abuse evidence used in the trial against the accused has proven to be similarly specious.” Duncan’s prosecution “demonstrates we cannot be too careful in determining whether the death penalty should be implemented in cases such as this case because of the finality of the sentence and the impossibility of rectification,” Weimer wrote.“Such an irreversible and tragic consequence is inimical and deleterious to our system of justice if carried out based on evidence that is devoid of legitimacy.” “This Should Be the End of This Case” Police arrested Duncan on Dec. 18, 1993. He was babysitting Haley that day in the home he shared with the girl’s mother in West Monroe. Duncan told law enforcement he had put the child in the bath, then went downstairs to wash dishes. When he heard a noise coming from the bathroom, he rushed upstairs to check on her and found Haley floating face down in the water. She was pronounced dead a few hours later. Duncan was initially booked for negligent homicide, but prosecutors upped the charge to first-degree murder after Hayne and West conducted Haley’s medical exam and claimed they discovered evidence, including the purported bite marks, that she had been sexually assaulted and intentionally drowned. Following two weeks of testimony during the trial in 1998, the jury found Duncan guilty and sentenced him to death. While Duncan awaited an execution date, his new team of postconviction attorneys uncovered evidence that pointed to his innocence, including an expert witness who said that the child’s death was not a homicide but the result of an accidental drowning. In addition, investigators working for Duncan’s legal team interviewed a jailhouse informant who recanted his earlier trial testimony that Duncan had confessed to the crime. Duncan’s conviction was overturned in April of last year by former Ouachita Parish Judge Alvin Sharp. He was let out of prison on bail in December, but he continued to await a final decision on his case after prosecutors appealed Sharp’s ruling. Steve Tew, district attorney for Ouachita and Morehouse parishes, has never wavered in his insistence that Duncan was guilty of murder and that he should be put to death. His office appealed Sharp’s decision to the state Supreme Court. During oral arguments in April, Tew said that since Duncan was the only person with Haley at the time of her death, his guilt could not be debated. “We don’t need the bite mark evidence to put Mr. Duncan in the apartment alone with this child,” Tew said. Haley’s mother, Allison Layton Statham, has publicly supported Duncan’s release from prison and the overturning of his conviction; so have family members of Haley’s father, Lloyd Donald Oliveaux, who died in 1996. They have excoriated the state’s tactics, claiming they repeatedly asked for a meeting with prosecutors to express their concerns, but never received a response. Tew, who did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday, said at the April hearing that should the Supreme Court refuse to reinstate Duncan’s conviction, he would retry him, though he did not say what charge he might pursue. When asked about the prospect of Duncan being retried for murder, Fabricant, the Innocence Project attorney, said, “If there is any sense of fairness and justice left, this should be the end of this case.” In addition to the Innocence Project, Duncan’s legal team includes the Mwalimu Center for Justice in New Orleans and the Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner law firm in Atlanta. The post Louisiana Supreme Court Frees Death Row Prisoner, Calling Evidence Against Him “Scientifically Indefensible” appeared first on ProPublica. This content originally appeared on ProPublica and was authored by Richard A. Webster.
The chimpanzees paying the price in the global wildlife trade
<img width="1024" height="683" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-5.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="Max at Sweetwaters. Captured as an infant in Burundi in 1988 and held by a French film crew before being rescued, he still reacts to the sound of small planes overhead — a memory, his caregivers believe, of the country's civil war. Photo by Jaclynn Ashly." data-attachment-id="344583" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/photo-5-6" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-5.jpg?fit=2400%2C1600&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2400,1600" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0","alt":""}" data-image-title="Photo 5" data-image-description="" data-image-caption=" Max at Sweetwaters. Captured as an infant in Burundi in 1988 and held by a French film crew before being rescued, he still reacts to the sound of small planes overhead — a memory, his caregivers believe, of the country&#8217;s civil war. Photo by Jaclynn Ashly. " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-5.jpg?fit=780%2C520&ssl=1"> The illicit great ape trade operates within the same forces destabilizing chimpanzee habitats: armed conflict, extractive industries that carve roads into once-remote forests, and the poverty they produce.
<img width="1024" height="683" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-5.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="Max at Sweetwaters. Captured as an infant in Burundi in 1988 and held by a French film crew before being rescued, he still reacts to the sound of small planes overhead — a memory, his caregivers believe, of the country's civil war. Photo by Jaclynn Ashly." decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-5.jpg?w=2400&ssl=1 2400w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-5.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-5.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-5.jpg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-5.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-5.jpg?resize=2048%2C1365&ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-5.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-5.jpg?resize=2000%2C1333&ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-5.jpg?resize=780%2C520&ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-5.jpg?resize=400%2C267&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-5.jpg?w=2340&ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-5.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1&w=370 370w" sizes="(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw - 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw / 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw / 12)), 100vw" data-attachment-id="344583" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/photo-5-6" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-5.jpg?fit=2400%2C1600&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2400,1600" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0","alt":""}" data-image-title="Photo 5" data-image-description="" data-image-caption=" Max at Sweetwaters. Captured as an infant in Burundi in 1988 and held by a French film crew before being rescued, he still reacts to the sound of small planes overhead — a memory, his caregivers believe, of the country’s civil war. Photo by Jaclynn Ashly. " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-5.jpg?fit=780%2C520&ssl=1" /> Max hears the plane before anyone else. A low hum threads through the morning air above the Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary in Kenya’s central highlands. As it grows louder — a small propeller drifting in from Mount Kenya — Max is already moving. He snatches a dry branch, paces the electric fence, and begins shouting — ah-ah-ah — his cries rising into a scream at the sky. He swings his arm and sends the stick flying upward. His hair bristles along his spine. “It’s because of the plane,” says Stephen Mukundi, the sanctuary’s head caregiver. “He is remembering Burundi during the civil war.” <img data-recalc-dims="1" decoding="async" width="780" height="520" data-attachment-id="344587" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/photo-9-6" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-9.jpg?fit=2400%2C1600&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2400,1600" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0","alt":""}" data-image-title="Photo 9" data-image-description="" data-image-caption=" An view of Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary, set on the southeastern edge of the 360-square-kilometer Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Laikipia County — the only refuge of its kind in Kenya. Photo by Jaclynn Ashly. " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-9.jpg?fit=780%2C520&ssl=1" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-9.jpg?resize=780%2C520&ssl=1" alt="An view of Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary, set on the southeastern edge of the 360-square-kilometer Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Laikipia County — the only refuge of its kind in Kenya. Photo by Jaclynn Ashly." class="wp-image-344587" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-9.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-9.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-9.jpg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-9.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-9.jpg?resize=2048%2C1365&ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-9.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-9.jpg?resize=2000%2C1333&ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-9.jpg?resize=780%2C520&ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-9.jpg?resize=400%2C267&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-9.jpg?w=2340&ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-9-1024x683.jpg?w=370&ssl=1 370w" sizes="(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px" /> An view of Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary, set on the southeastern edge of the 360-square-kilometer Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Laikipia County — the only refuge of its kind in Kenya. Photo by Jaclynn Ashly. <img data-recalc-dims="1" decoding="async" width="780" height="520" data-attachment-id="344586" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/photo-8-5" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-8.jpg?fit=2400%2C1600&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2400,1600" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0","alt":""}" data-image-title="Photo 8" data-image-description="" data-image-caption=" A caregiver hands food through the fence at Sweetwaters. The sanctuary’s caregivers live on-site around the clock, learning each chimpanzee’s temperament so closely that they decide every evening who can safely sleep beside whom. Photo by Jaclynn Ashly. " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-8.jpg?fit=780%2C520&ssl=1" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-8.jpg?resize=780%2C520&ssl=1" alt="A caregiver hands food through the fence at Sweetwaters. The sanctuary's caregivers live on-site around the clock, learning each chimpanzee's temperament so closely that they decide every evening who can safely sleep beside whom. Photo by Jaclynn Ashly." class="wp-image-344586" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-8.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-8.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-8.jpg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-8.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-8.jpg?resize=2048%2C1365&ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-8.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-8.jpg?resize=2000%2C1333&ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-8.jpg?resize=780%2C520&ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-8.jpg?resize=400%2C267&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-8.jpg?w=2340&ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-8-1024x683.jpg?w=370&ssl=1 370w" sizes="(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px" /> A caregiver hands food through the fence at Sweetwaters. The sanctuary’s caregivers live on-site around the clock, learning each chimpanzee’s temperament so closely that they decide every evening who can safely sleep beside whom. Photo by Jaclynn Ashly. <img data-recalc-dims="1" decoding="async" width="780" height="520" data-attachment-id="344594" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/photo-16-3" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-16.jpg?fit=2400%2C1600&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2400,1600" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0","alt":""}" data-image-title="Photo 16" data-image-description="" data-image-caption=" Stephen Mukundi, the sanctuary’s head caregiver, walks the perimeter of the enclosure. He arrived at Ol Pejeta in 1996 and has known most of the chimpanzees here since they were infants — a second family, he says, that he has watched go from trauma to becoming chimpanzees again. Photo by Jaclynn Ashly. " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-16.jpg?fit=780%2C520&ssl=1" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-16.jpg?resize=780%2C520&ssl=1" alt="Stephen Mukundi, the sanctuary's head caregiver, walks the perimeter of the enclosure. He arrived at Ol Pejeta in 1996 and has known most of the chimpanzees here since they were infants — a second family, he says, that he has watched go from trauma to becoming chimpanzees again. Photo by Jaclynn Ashly." class="wp-image-344594" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-16.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-16.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-16.jpg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-16.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-16.jpg?resize=2048%2C1365&ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-16.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-16.jpg?resize=2000%2C1333&ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-16.jpg?resize=780%2C520&ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-16.jpg?resize=400%2C267&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-16.jpg?w=2340&ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-16-1024x683.jpg?w=370&ssl=1 370w" sizes="(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px" /> Stephen Mukundi, the sanctuary’s head caregiver, walks the perimeter of the enclosure. He arrived at Ol Pejeta in 1996 and has known most of the chimpanzees here since they were infants — a second family, he says, that he has watched go from trauma to becoming chimpanzees again. Photo by Jaclynn Ashly. Max was born in Burundi in 1988. Captured as an infant — his mother presumed killed — he spent his early years with a French film crew before being confiscated in 1990 at around two years old, and transferred to the Jane Goodall Institute’s rescue center in Bujumbura. When the Burundian civil war broke out in 1993, the Institute evacuated — a crisis that led to the founding of Sweetwaters. Max was one of three chimpanzees airlifted across borders, a founding resident of what remains the country’s only refuge of its kind. Today, Max is one of roughly 35 chimpanzees at the sanctuary — each rescued from the overlapping pressures of conflict, habitat loss, and the illegal wildlife trade. Some were repatriated from the Middle East, where they had been kept as pets or displayed in private zoos. Others arrived as infants with bullet wounds, or were discovered in crates at airports mislabeled as other animals. The forces that brought them here are sustained by demand far beyond the forests they were taken from — wealthy buyers, private zoos, and commercial attractions that turn infant apes into status symbols and entertainment. While sanctuaries like Sweetwaters absorb the consequences, the trade continues to grow. For every chimpanzee rescued, many more are not. <img data-recalc-dims="1" decoding="async" width="780" height="520" data-attachment-id="344599" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/photo-21-2" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-21.jpg?fit=2400%2C1600&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2400,1600" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0","alt":""}" data-image-title="Photo 21" data-image-description="" data-image-caption=" Chimpanzees at Sweetwaters, the only sanctuary of its kind in Kenya — home to roughly 35 great apes, each rescued from the overlapping pressures of armed conflict, habitat loss, and the illegal wildlife trade. Photo by Jaclynn Ashly. " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-21.jpg?fit=780%2C520&ssl=1" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-21.jpg?resize=780%2C520&ssl=1" alt="Chimpanzees at Sweetwaters, the only sanctuary of its kind in Kenya — home to roughly 35 great apes, each rescued from the overlapping pressures of armed conflict, habitat loss, and the illegal wildlife trade. Photo by Jaclynn Ashly." class="wp-image-344599" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-21.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-21.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-21.jpg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-21.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-21.jpg?resize=2048%2C1365&ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-21.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-21.jpg?resize=2000%2C1333&ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-21.jpg?resize=780%2C520&ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-21.jpg?resize=400%2C267&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-21.jpg?w=2340&ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-21-1024x683.jpg?w=370&ssl=1 370w" sizes="(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px" /> Chimpanzees at Sweetwaters, the only sanctuary of its kind in Kenya — home to roughly 35 great apes, each rescued from the overlapping pressures of armed conflict, habitat loss, and the illegal wildlife trade. Photo by Jaclynn Ashly. <img data-recalc-dims="1" decoding="async" width="780" height="520" data-attachment-id="344588" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/photo-10-6" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-10.jpg?fit=2400%2C1600&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2400,1600" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0","alt":""}" data-image-title="Photo 10" data-image-description="" data-image-caption=" A mother and her infant at Sweetwaters. The sanctuary is not a breeding facility — females are placed on contraception — but occasional unintended births mean a small number of chimpanzees have been born here. Photo by Jaclynn Ashly. " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-10.jpg?fit=780%2C520&ssl=1" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-10.jpg?resize=780%2C520&ssl=1" alt="A mother and her infant at Sweetwaters. The sanctuary is not a breeding facility — females are placed on contraception — but occasional unintended births mean a small number of chimpanzees have been born here. Photo by Jaclynn Ashly." class="wp-image-344588" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-10.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-10.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-10.jpg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-10.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-10.jpg?resize=2048%2C1365&ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-10.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-10.jpg?resize=2000%2C1333&ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-10.jpg?resize=780%2C520&ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-10.jpg?resize=400%2C267&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-10.jpg?w=2340&ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-10-1024x683.jpg?w=370&ssl=1 370w" sizes="(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px" /> A mother and her infant at Sweetwaters. The sanctuary is not a breeding facility — females are placed on contraception — but occasional unintended births mean a small number of chimpanzees have been born here. Photo by Jaclynn Ashly. Second Family The sanctuary lies on the southeastern edge of the 360-square-kilometer Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Laikipia County, where the last two northern white rhinos on earth remain. The Ewaso Nyiro River divides the sanctuary’s chimpanzee enclosures into western and eastern sections. Chimpanzees are not native to Kenya — their range extends from Senegal across the Congo Basin to western Uganda — making Sweetwaters the only place in the country where they live. Chimpanzees arrive to live out their lives here. Sweetwaters is not a breeding facility; females are placed on contraception, though occasional unintended births mean a small number have been born at the sanctuary. Max is 38 now. “He doesn’t like people — large groups, cameras, long lenses, anything that reminds him of the film crew that handled him as a baby,” says 49-year-old Mukundi. Max also moves against the grain of his own society, picking fights and disregarding the social codes that hold the group together. Although he distrusts adult humans, he shows a particular affinity for children. “Maybe they were kind to him during his captivity,” says Mukundi, a father of five. When two children arrive during visiting hours, Max, lingering near the fence, looks up immediately and begins to play, running along it and urging them to follow. Max plays with two children visiting the sanctuary. Distrustful of adults after his early years with a French film crew, he shows a particular affinity for kids — perhaps, his caregivers say, because they were kind to him during his captivity. Video by Jaclynn Ashly. Mukundi has been at Sweetwaters almost as long as Max. He arrived at Ol Pejeta in 1996 at 19, starting as a gatekeeper, then a night guard, then a caregiver. The work is demanding. The sanctuary’s 16 caregivers live on-site around the clock; Mukundi’s family lives 30 kilometers away and he sees them once a month. “I’ve grown to really love these chimpanzees,” Mukundi tells TRNN, smiling. “They’ve become like a second family. I’ve raised most of them, known them since they were babies. I’ve seen them go from trauma to becoming chimpanzees again.” He knows each animal by temperament, and every evening decides who sleeps where in the holding house — a decision with real stakes. If the wrong two males are placed together, “they might kill each other at night.” Each caregiver has a favorite. For Mukundi, it is Manno, who arrived in 2016 from Iraqi Kurdistan. Manno was taken from his mother in Central Africa shortly after birth and trafficked through the Middle East to Iraq, where he spent three years at Duhok Zoo. He was kept alone in a small cage stacked above a crate of boa constrictors. He never saw, heard, or smelled another chimpanzee. Zoo staff dressed him in children’s clothes; visitors handed him candy, soda, and cigarettes, which he learned to smoke. In his last months in Iraq, a Syrian refugee worker at the zoo took him home at night, where he slept in a bed and was treated as part of the family — reinforcing a childhood shaped entirely by human contact. When Manno arrived at Sweetwaters — after a year of planning his rescue — he was terrified. “I stayed with him the whole time,” Mukundi recalls. “He had never seen or heard another chimp before. I was like his father and mother. Every morning, he would run to hug me. I had to wait until he fell asleep to leave.” Integration follows a sequence the sanctuary has refined over decades. New arrivals are introduced in stages — first to a calm female, then to others, followed by juveniles and lower-ranking males. Dominant males come last; their reaction can determine whether integration succeeds. Today, Manno is competing for dominance in the eastern group, and Mukundi believes he could become the next alpha. “He just has about two more males to fight,” he says, with quiet pride. “He came here alone, knowing nothing — not even that he was a chimpanzee. Now look at him. He’s finding himself and fighting for his place.” Inside the Supply Chain Chimpanzees like Max and Manno are survivors of a trade that removes thousands of great apes from the wild each year — captured for the pet and entertainment industries or killed for bushmeat — with chimpanzees among the most heavily targeted. There are as few as 170,000 chimpanzees remaining in the wild — down from about 1 million at the start of the 20th century. All four subspecies are endangered. The western subspecies, critically endangered, fell by 80% between 1990 and 2014. The International Union for Conservation of Nature says the subspecies is now on a trajectory toward extinction without drastic intervention. The illicit great ape trade operates within the same forces destabilizing chimpanzee habitats: armed conflict, extractive industries that carve roads into once-remote forests, and the poverty they produce pushing rural communities into the low-paid end of the poaching chain. Scientists attribute the decline to a combination of habitat loss, poaching, and disease — pressures driven by poverty, conflict, extractive industries, and infrastructure expansion. Africa has the highest rate of forest loss in the world, losing roughly 9.6 million acres each year. The illicit great ape trade operates within the same forces destabilizing chimpanzee habitats: armed conflict, extractive industries that carve roads into once-remote forests, and the poverty they produce pushing rural communities into the low-paid end of the poaching chain. State officials, meanwhile, often do more than fail to stop the trade; in some cases, they profit from it. Across Western and Central Africa, these dynamics are embedded in land use itself: more than half the range of western gorillas and chimpanzees now falls within active logging concessions, where new access routes and labor camps both expand poaching and create sustained demand for bushmeat — wild meat often sold to urban elites. “Mining and logging don’t create the trade — but they accelerate it,” says Ofir Drori, a wildlife law enforcement strategist who has spent two decades pushing governments to prosecute wildlife crime. “They open the forest, build roads, and make transport easy. These industries are facilitators, and at times their own personnel are directly implicated.” In the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), armed groups embedded in artisanal mining for coltan and gold drive much of the bushmeat poaching that produces trafficked infant apes. A 2018 Global Financial Integrity report identified a similar pattern in Sierra Leone, where post-war mining expansion has been linked to sharp declines in chimpanzee populations. “The profit margins for great apes are far higher than any other species,” Drori tells TRNN. “The rarer the species, the more valuable.” While armed militias are heavily involved in poaching, Drori says he has found no clear evidence linking them to great ape trafficking. The trade runs on a different infrastructure — organized crime families and corrupted officials. At the center are trafficking dynasties — extended families spread across multiple countries in West and Central Africa, laundering wild-caught infants through fraudulent CITES documentation. Under CITES — the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species — chimpanzees are listed in Appendix I, prohibiting all commercial trade. However, captive-bred specimens of Appendix I species can be traded commercially — provided the breeding operation is formally registered with CITES. No such registered facility for great apes exists anywhere in the world. Traffickers exploit this gap through what enforcement specialists call the “C-scam.” Corrupt CITES authorities in exporting countries stamp permits with a “C” source code — designating an animal as captive-bred — for apes that were taken directly from the wild. In some cases, wild-caught apes are funneled through unregistered breeding operations in the Middle East — along with private zoos and safari parks that pose as conservation centers — where their wild origins are rewritten as captive-bred on paper. But no facility in the world is recognized by CITES for great ape breeding — meaning any permit claiming a great ape is captive-bred is inherently fraudulent. “A corrupt CITES authority can turn an illegal shipment legal with a single signature,” Drori notes. Prosecutions of traffickers and corrupt government officials have followed, but the illicit network has adapted faster than the law, Drori explains. When one node is dismantled, smuggling routes shift while remaining largely intact, and corruption migrates with them — more recently to the DRC, where the US State Department sanctioned senior officials at the Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature (ICCN) for trafficking great apes and other protected wildlife to China on falsified permits. According to Daniel Stiles, a leading specialist on the live great ape trade, ICCN officials continue to issue fraudulent permits for wild-caught great apes. “For the first time, we’re seeing poaching bands specifically targeting great apes — not for the meat,” Stiles says. “They kill the adults, take the infants, and leave the carcasses behind.” The supply runs through a short list of transit hubs. Kano, in northern Nigeria, has been a primary hub since the 1990s. Istanbul has emerged as a key transit point: on December 22, 2024, Turkish customs intercepted a flight from Nigeria carrying a five-month-old gorilla named Zeytin in a crate bound for Bangkok labeled “50 rabbits.” The investigation traced the syndicate back to Kano. Cairo, Sharm el Sheikh, Khartoum, and Dubai have also been documented as launder points. For decades, poaching was driven by the elite bushmeat economy, where great ape meat is sold in urban markets as a status symbol — luxury “big man’s meat.” The infants orphaned in these hunts were a secondary product. That equation has now been inverted: what was once a byproduct of the bushmeat trade is now a targeted, high-value extraction. As prices for live infants have surged — rising roughly tenfold over the past decade — the infant has become the primary target of a demand-driven international trade, fueled by status-symbol pets in the Middle East and commercial attractions in Asia, and now outpacing the profits of any other forest commodity. “For the first time, we’re seeing poaching bands specifically targeting great apes — not for the meat,” Stiles says. “They kill the adults, take the infants, and leave the carcasses behind.” When poachers locate a troop in the canopy — anywhere between 10 to 150 individuals — they fire directly. The adults die defending their young. The infants are pried from their mothers’ bodies and sold alive, sometimes with gunshot wounds of their own. Accounting for adults killed and infants who die in transit, researchers estimate each surviving orphan can represent up to 25 chimpanzees killed. By this measure, each chimpanzee at Sweetwaters stands as evidence of potentially hundreds of deaths. Written on Their Bodies The geographies of this violence are written onto the sanctuary’s residents. Ali Kaka, current alpha of the eastern group, was kept as a pet by the South Sudanese army for his first 18 months; in 2003, soldiers handed him over when they learned chimpanzees were being rescued to Kenya. Safari, an elderly male, spent his early years in a small outdoor cage at a Burundi hotel, taunted by holidaymakers until the Belgian manager surrendered him in 1989. And then there is Poco. <p class="wp-block-paragraph" id="h-poco-was-born-around-1981-in-the-forests-of-central-africa-captured-as-an-infant-likely-around-three-years-old-after-his-mother-was-killed-he-was-sold-to-a-shop-owner-in-bujumbura-who-kept-him-in-a-narrow-cage-hung-from-the-ceiling-to-attract-customers-poco-lived-in-that-cage-for-nine-years-it-was-too-small-for-him-to-lie-down-or-move-on-all-fours-over-time-his-musculature-spine-and-shoulders-adapted-to-that-constraint-and-he-developed-an-upright-gait">Poco was born around 1981 in the forests of Central Africa. Captured as an infant — likely around three years old, after his mother was killed — he was sold to a shop owner in Bujumbura, who kept him in a narrow cage hung from the ceiling to attract customers. Poco lived in that cage for nine years. It was too small for him to lie down or move on all fours. Over time, his musculature, spine, and shoulders adapted to that constraint, and he developed an upright gait. Rescued in 1989 by the Jane Goodall Institute and later transferred to Sweetwaters, Poco, now in his late 40s, is the only chimpanzee documented to walk bipedally by default. <img data-recalc-dims="1" decoding="async" width="780" height="520" data-attachment-id="344591" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/photo-13-4" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-13.jpg?fit=2400%2C1600&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2400,1600" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0","alt":""}" data-image-title="Photo 13" data-image-description="" data-image-caption=" Poco at Sweetwaters. Captured as an infant in Central Africa around 1981, he was rescued by the Jane Goodall Institute in 1989 and later transferred to the sanctuary, where he has lived ever since. Photo by Jaclynn Ashly. " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-13.jpg?fit=780%2C520&ssl=1" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-13.jpg?resize=780%2C520&ssl=1" alt="Poco at Sweetwaters. Captured as an infant in Central Africa around 1981, he was rescued by the Jane Goodall Institute in 1989 and later transferred to the sanctuary, where he has lived ever since. Photo by Jaclynn Ashly." class="wp-image-344591" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-13.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-13.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-13.jpg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-13.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-13.jpg?resize=2048%2C1365&ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-13.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-13.jpg?resize=2000%2C1333&ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-13.jpg?resize=780%2C520&ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-13.jpg?resize=400%2C267&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-13.jpg?w=2340&ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-13-1024x683.jpg?w=370&ssl=1 370w" sizes="(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px" /> Poco at Sweetwaters. Captured as an infant in Central Africa around 1981, he was rescued by the Jane Goodall Institute in 1989 and later transferred to the sanctuary, where he has lived ever since. Photo by Jaclynn Ashly. <img data-recalc-dims="1" decoding="async" width="780" height="520" data-attachment-id="344584" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/photo-6-6" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-6.jpg?fit=2400%2C1600&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2400,1600" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0","alt":""}" data-image-title="Photo 6" data-image-description="" data-image-caption=" The cage that held Poco for nine years, now preserved at Sweetwaters as a teaching object for visitors. Hung from the ceiling of a Bujumbura shop to attract customers, it was too small for him to lie down or move on all fours — reshaping his spine and shoulders so that, decades later, he remains the only chimpanzee documented to walk upright as default. Photo by Jaclynn Ashly. " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-6.jpg?fit=780%2C520&ssl=1" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-6.jpg?resize=780%2C520&ssl=1" alt="The cage that held Poco for nine years, now preserved at Sweetwaters as a teaching object for visitors. Hung from the ceiling of a Bujumbura shop to attract customers, it was too small for him to lie down or move on all fours — reshaping his spine and shoulders so that, decades later, he remains the only chimpanzee documented to walk upright as default. Photo by Jaclynn Ashly." class="wp-image-344584" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-6.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-6.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-6.jpg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-6.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-6.jpg?resize=2048%2C1365&ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-6.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-6.jpg?resize=2000%2C1333&ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-6.jpg?resize=780%2C520&ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-6.jpg?resize=400%2C267&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-6.jpg?w=2340&ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-6-1024x683.jpg?w=370&ssl=1 370w" sizes="(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px" /> The cage that held Poco for nine years, now preserved at Sweetwaters as a teaching object for visitors. Hung from the ceiling of a Bujumbura shop to attract customers, it was too small for him to lie down or move on all fours — reshaping his spine and shoulders so that, decades later, he remains the only chimpanzee documented to walk upright as default. Photo by Jaclynn Ashly. Poco walks upright through his enclosure at Sweetwaters — the only chimpanzee documented to do so as default, his gait shaped by the nine years he spent in a cage too small to lie down or move on all fours. Video by Jaclynn Ashly. What Dr. Stephen Ngulu, a wildlife veterinarian and former head of the sanctuary, learned over a decade there is how to read a chimpanzee’s history in its body. “When they arrive, they are often dehydrated, malnourished, and sometimes injured,” he says. “Behaviorally, they are always withdrawn. They don’t want anything to do with humans or other chimpanzees.” Many injuries are not visible: stunted growth, unhealed fractures, muscle wasting from years chained in place, dental disease from diets of chocolate and fried food. Chronic stress leaves deeper damage — suppressed immunity, delayed sexual maturation, neurological impairment. “You can at times see a traumatized chimpanzee stargazing — not looking at anything,” Ngulu explains. “Unable to have proper cognitive abilities.” The behavioral signs are consistent across arrivals: rocking side to side, the same motion seen in humans under extreme distress. Research has shown chimpanzees who survived prolonged captivity exhibit symptoms closely matching human complex PTSD. Chimpanzees and humans also share more than 98% of their DNA — our closest living relatives. “A frightened chimpanzee can recover with time,” Ngulu tells TRNN. “But a deeply traumatized chimpanzee will show persistent abnormal behaviors. Even with optimal care, those behaviors can last for many years.” In 2018, an infant named Bo arrived from Guinea-Bissau, confiscated from traffickers who had killed her mother for bushmeat and intended to sell her. “She was missing one tooth,” Ngulu remembers. “She was fearful and withdrawn.” Bo survived and is now 11. “But to this day,” says Ngulu, “you will still see her sometimes sitting alone and slightly rocking back and forth.” But not all the chimpanzees arrive at the sanctuary carrying scars. Alley came from a private home that treated her well. Nicknamed “the engineer,” she is caretaker Martin Kinyua’s favorite. “She’s so intelligent we had to separate her from the other chimps,” says 45-year-old Kinyua, a father of three who has worked at the sanctuary since 2000. “Whenever she’s in the group, she has a big influence on the other chimps, even helping them break out of their enclosure.” By observing sanctuary staff, Alley learned that dry wood does not conduct electricity. She used sticks to hold the live wires of the electric fence apart, making a gap for herself and the others to pass through. Caretakers also observed other chimpanzees in her group collecting sticks and handing them to her to assist in the escapes. Alley has a record of trying to bite people after her breakouts — but not Kinyua, who describes a special bond with her. He recalls standing alone in the holding house when she appeared in the doorway after an escape, close enough to grab him. She didn’t raise her hair or advance. “Alley trusts me,” he says, with a grin. Alley’s ingenuity — and repeated breakouts — became such a persistent problem that the sanctuary was forced to rebuild, separating her during the day in an enclosure with elderly Poco and reinforcing it with chicken wire. <img data-recalc-dims="1" decoding="async" width="780" height="520" data-attachment-id="344585" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/photo-7-7" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-7.jpg?fit=2400%2C1600&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2400,1600" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0","alt":""}" data-image-title="Photo 7" data-image-description="" data-image-caption=" A caregiver feeds Alley and Poco at Sweetwaters. Alley — nicknamed “the engineer” for using sticks to hold the electric fence’s live wires apart and lead group escapes — is now housed during the day with elderly Poco in a reinforced enclosure. Photo by Jaclynn Ashly. " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-7.jpg?fit=780%2C520&ssl=1" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-7.jpg?resize=780%2C520&ssl=1" alt="A caregiver feeds Alley and Poco at Sweetwaters. Alley — nicknamed "the engineer" for using sticks to hold the electric fence's live wires apart and lead group escapes — is now housed during the day with elderly Poco in a reinforced enclosure. Photo by Jaclynn Ashly." class="wp-image-344585" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-7.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-7.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-7.jpg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-7.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-7.jpg?resize=2048%2C1365&ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-7.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-7.jpg?resize=2000%2C1333&ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-7.jpg?resize=780%2C520&ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-7.jpg?resize=400%2C267&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-7.jpg?w=2340&ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-7-1024x683.jpg?w=370&ssl=1 370w" sizes="(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px" /> A caregiver feeds Alley and Poco at Sweetwaters. Alley — nicknamed “the engineer” for using sticks to hold the electric fence’s live wires apart and lead group escapes — is now housed during the day with elderly Poco in a reinforced enclosure. Photo by Jaclynn Ashly. <img data-recalc-dims="1" decoding="async" width="780" height="520" data-attachment-id="344593" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/photo-15-4" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-15.jpg?fit=2400%2C1600&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2400,1600" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0","alt":""}" data-image-title="Photo 15" data-image-description="" data-image-caption=" Martin Kinyua, 45, has worked at Sweetwaters since 2000. His favorite chimpanzee is Alley — “the engineer” — who has tried to bite others after her breakouts but, he says, has never turned on him. Photo by Jaclynn Ashly. " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-15.jpg?fit=780%2C520&ssl=1" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-15.jpg?resize=780%2C520&ssl=1" alt="Martin Kinyua, 45, has worked at Sweetwaters since 2000. His favorite chimpanzee is Alley — "the engineer" — who has tried to bite others after her breakouts but, he says, has never turned on him. Photo by Jaclynn Ashly." class="wp-image-344593" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-15.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-15.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-15.jpg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-15.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-15.jpg?resize=2048%2C1365&ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-15.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-15.jpg?resize=2000%2C1333&ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-15.jpg?resize=780%2C520&ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-15.jpg?resize=400%2C267&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-15.jpg?w=2340&ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-15-1024x683.jpg?w=370&ssl=1 370w" sizes="(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px" /> Martin Kinyua, 45, has worked at Sweetwaters since 2000. His favorite chimpanzee is Alley — “the engineer” — who has tried to bite others after her breakouts but, he says, has never turned on him. Photo by Jaclynn Ashly. “The more you understand how intelligent these chimpanzees are, the more anger and grief you feel at the way they’ve been treated,” Kinyua says. “These are not pets. They are very intelligent beings.” A Global Demand While the supply chain runs across Africa, the demand that drives it lies largely outside the continent. In the Gulf, Russia, and Eastern Europe, infant chimpanzees are kept as status-symbol pets — sometimes gifted between elites — while in China and Southeast Asia, growing demand from private zoos, safari parks, and tourist attractions fuels a commercial market. Across these contexts, infants function as luxury commodities and entertainment — appearing on social media in children’s clothes, posed on private jets, or used as selfie props — within a global trade driven by high-paying international buyers. “Prices have quadrupled over the past decade,” Stiles tells TRNN. “An infant chimp can sell for up to $200,000, bonobos $300,000, and gorillas $550,000.” At the bottom of the chain, poachers are paid “peanuts,” often no more than $100. For decades, the primary buyers were wealthy individuals in the Gulf who kept great apes as pets. That shifted in 2016, when the UAE banned private ownership of dangerous animals, restricting them to licensed facilities, Stiles explains. “So these traders, who had been dealing in animals for years, started registering private zoos,” Stiles says. “To finance them, they opened them to the public. They make money through selfies and direct interaction — but for that, you need young animals, before they reach puberty and become dangerous.” The result has been a proliferation of “private zoos” across China, the Gulf States, especially the UAE, Pakistan, and parts of South Asia — facilities that function as legal cover for private collections. Stiles alleges that major commercial operators in the Gulf have become significant players, relying on “a combination of legal and illegal acquisition.” China has driven much of the parallel demand: roughly 10,000 zoos opened there between 2013 and 2020, nearly doubling the national total. Registered zoos can obtain import permits for strictly protected species far more easily than individuals — making them, Stiles notes, ideal laundering facilities for animals smuggled in and sold as captive-bred. The pipeline also extends into India. Vantara — a vast private facility operated by the Ambani family and marketed as a wildlife rescue center — is alleged to have received chimpanzees exported from the DRC on CITES permits listing them as captive-bred. India’s Supreme Court ruled last year that Vantara’s imports were legal and barred further legal actions; however, a CITES Secretariat verification mission to India later flagged the captive-bred designations as questionable. The United States is not immune to these dynamics. In July 2025, Bhagavan “Doc” Antle — owner of Myrtle Beach Safari and a figure popularized by the Netflix documentary Tiger King — was sentenced to federal prison for conspiring to violate the Lacey Act, a law prohibiting the illegal trade of protected wildlife. Antle paid $200,000 each for at least two chimpanzees and disguised the payments as donations to his conservation nonprofit — part of what prosecutors described as a years-long pattern of trafficking federally protected species. Court filings described him as “a key player in the illegal chimpanzee trade” that others have sought to emulate. Yet despite the convictions, the United States still has no federal ban on private primate ownership. The Captive Primate Safety Act, which would amend the Lacey Act to ban private possession of primates, was reintroduced in May 2025 after previous attempts since 2005 failed to pass both chambers of Congress. Stiles has advocated for legal accountability for social media companies facilitating the illegal trade in wildlife, and is currently working with a legal team on a lawsuit against Meta. Social media has further accelerated the market. Since 2015, Stiles has documented more than 684 advertisements for great apes posted by at least 152 individuals across 19 countries, mostly on Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp. In 2014, most images showed apes in private homes. “Now it’s transformed,” Stiles says. “Ninety percent — they’re at a zoo.” Stiles has advocated for legal accountability for social media companies facilitating the illegal trade in wildlife, and is currently working with a legal team on a lawsuit against Meta. “Meta could put a stop to this overnight,” he says. “But they’re allowing it because they’re making money from it.” Enforcement outside Africa remains largely ineffective. Ofir Drori’s EAGLE Network has helped put more than 3,000 wildlife traffickers behind bars — mostly in Africa. Beyond the continent, he says, “there is no real enforcement. It’s a joke worldwide, especially in Europe.” At a CITES conference last year, member states moved to revive a long-dormant Great Apes Enforcement Task Force. But Stiles believes supply-side enforcement alone is futile. “We have to put our attention on the demand side — the people buying,” he says. “You can arrest as many poachers as you want. But if the demand continues, those poachers will be immediately replaced.” The enemy, Stiles says, is not a discrete set of criminals. It is a global market. The Afterlife Late afternoon at Sweetwaters is the quiet hour. The light begins to go orange along the ridge. Poco turns and walks, upright, back toward the trees, the gait itself a record of the cage above the shop in Bujumbura. That cage — the one that held him for nine years — sits on display in the sanctuary grounds, preserved as a teaching object for tourists who ask how chimpanzees end up here. Across the river is Kisazose, or Kiza for short, confiscated from a Congolese trafficker and brought to Sweetwaters in 1994 as an ill, undernourished infant. Timothy Njuguna, a 52-year-old caretaker at the sanctuary since 1995, cared for him then. “We used to go inside [the enclosure] with them when they first arrived,” he says, “because they were just babies. We used to even cuddle them.” <img data-recalc-dims="1" decoding="async" width="780" height="520" data-attachment-id="344595" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/photo-17-3" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-17.jpg?fit=2400%2C1600&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2400,1600" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0","alt":""}" data-image-title="Photo 17" data-image-description="" data-image-caption=" Timothy Njuguna, 52, has worked at Sweetwaters since 1995. Years ago, when a group of chimpanzees broke loose and pinned him to the floor of the holding house, Kiza — whom he had cared for since infancy — fought the others off and gave him a chance to escape. Photo by Jaclynn Ashly. " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-17.jpg?fit=780%2C520&ssl=1" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-17.jpg?resize=780%2C520&ssl=1" alt="Timothy Njuguna, 52, has worked at Sweetwaters since 1995. Years ago, when a group of chimpanzees broke loose and pinned him to the floor of the holding house, Kiza — whom he had cared for since infancy — fought the others off and gave him a chance to escape. Photo by Jaclynn Ashly." class="wp-image-344595" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-17.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-17.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-17.jpg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-17.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-17.jpg?resize=2048%2C1365&ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-17.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-17.jpg?resize=2000%2C1333&ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-17.jpg?resize=780%2C520&ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-17.jpg?resize=400%2C267&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-17.jpg?w=2340&ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-17-1024x683.jpg?w=370&ssl=1 370w" sizes="(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px" /> Timothy Njuguna, 52, has worked at Sweetwaters since 1995. Years ago, when a group of chimpanzees broke loose and pinned him to the floor of the holding house, Kiza — whom he had cared for since infancy — fought the others off and gave him a chance to escape. Photo by Jaclynn Ashly. Years later, when Kiza had grown, a group of chimpanzees broke through the fencing undetected and escaped into the holding facility where Njuguna was preparing their dinner. One of the males pinned him to the floor. Others moved in. “I thought for sure they would kill me,” says Njuguna, a father of two. “But Kiza, because he was a friend of mine, protected me. He immediately started fighting with them. At that moment, I got a chance to run away. Kiza literally saved my life.” “Before I started working here, I didn’t realize chimpanzees were so close to humans,” he continues. “They use tools, they think the way people think, they solve their problems. After working with them, I came to realize they are very close to human beings.” Florence Kangethe, a 31-year-old wildlife veterinarian who has worked at the sanctuary for nearly four years, arrived at the same conclusion through clinical practice. <img data-recalc-dims="1" decoding="async" width="780" height="520" data-attachment-id="344596" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/photo-18-3" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-18.jpg?fit=2400%2C1600&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2400,1600" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0","alt":""}" data-image-title="Photo 18" data-image-description="" data-image-caption=" Timothy Njuguna near the enclosure with one of the few chimpanzees born at Sweetwaters — an unintended birth at a sanctuary that does not breed its residents. Photo by Jaclynn Ashly. " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-18.jpg?fit=780%2C520&ssl=1" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-18.jpg?resize=780%2C520&ssl=1" alt="Timothy Njuguna near the enclosure with one of the few chimpanzees born at Sweetwaters — an unintended birth at a sanctuary that does not breed its residents. Photo by Jaclynn Ashly." class="wp-image-344596" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-18.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-18.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-18.jpg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-18.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-18.jpg?resize=2048%2C1365&ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-18.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-18.jpg?resize=2000%2C1333&ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-18.jpg?resize=780%2C520&ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-18.jpg?resize=400%2C267&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-18.jpg?w=2340&ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-18-1024x683.jpg?w=370&ssl=1 370w" sizes="(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px" /> Timothy Njuguna near the enclosure with one of the few chimpanzees born at Sweetwaters — an unintended birth at a sanctuary that does not breed its residents. Photo by Jaclynn Ashly. <img data-recalc-dims="1" decoding="async" width="780" height="520" data-attachment-id="344589" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/photo-11-5" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-11.jpg?fit=2400%2C1600&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2400,1600" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0","alt":""}" data-image-title="Photo 11" data-image-description="" data-image-caption=" Florence Kanyede, a wildlife veterinarian at Sweetwaters for nearly four years, says watching the chimpanzees reveals friendships, gossip, grooming rituals, and quiet introverts — “really like a mirror to ourselves.” Photo by Jaclynn Ashly. " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-11.jpg?fit=780%2C520&ssl=1" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-11.jpg?resize=780%2C520&ssl=1" alt="Florence Kanyede, a wildlife veterinarian at Sweetwaters for nearly four years, says watching the chimpanzees reveals friendships, gossip, grooming rituals, and quiet introverts — "really like a mirror to ourselves." Photo by Jaclynn Ashly." class="wp-image-344589" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-11.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-11.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-11.jpg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-11.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-11.jpg?resize=2048%2C1365&ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-11.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-11.jpg?resize=2000%2C1333&ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-11.jpg?resize=780%2C520&ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-11.jpg?resize=400%2C267&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-11.jpg?w=2340&ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-11-1024x683.jpg?w=370&ssl=1 370w" sizes="(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px" /> Florence Kanyede, a wildlife veterinarian at Sweetwaters for nearly four years, says watching the chimpanzees reveals friendships, gossip, grooming rituals, and quiet introverts — “really like a mirror to ourselves.” Photo by Jaclynn Ashly. “If you sit down with them for one hour, you’ll pick up so many different things,” she says. “Two best friends probably gossiping together, then grooming, or a mother-child bond here, then the introvert sitting by themselves. They’re really like a mirror to ourselves.” By early evening, the keepers begin moving the chimpanzees into the holding house. Mukundi stands at the gate, calling each one by name. Most come. Max does not. He sits at the edge of the enclosure, ignoring the call. “He’s stubborn,” Mukundi says, with a chuckle. “He knows he has to go in. But he wants to make it difficult.” Max is among the least liked by his own troop. He cannot sleep with the dominant males; they would attack each other by morning. According to Mukundi, he gets away with his rebellions because he has formed a close bond with the group’s alpha, who always comes to his defense. <img data-recalc-dims="1" decoding="async" width="780" height="520" data-attachment-id="344601" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/photo-23-2" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-23.jpg?fit=2400%2C1600&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2400,1600" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0","alt":""}" data-image-title="Photo 23" data-image-description="" data-image-caption=" Members of the group wait outside the holding house at Sweetwaters as the light begins to go orange along the ridge. Photo by Jaclynn Ashly. " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-23.jpg?fit=780%2C520&ssl=1" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-23.jpg?resize=780%2C520&ssl=1" alt="Members of the group wait outside the holding house at Sweetwaters as the light begins to go orange along the ridge. Photo by Jaclynn Ashly." class="wp-image-344601" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-23.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-23.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-23.jpg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-23.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-23.jpg?resize=2048%2C1365&ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-23.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-23.jpg?resize=2000%2C1333&ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-23.jpg?resize=780%2C520&ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-23.jpg?resize=400%2C267&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-23.jpg?w=2340&ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-23-1024x683.jpg?w=370&ssl=1 370w" sizes="(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px" /> Members of the group wait outside the holding house at Sweetwaters as the light begins to go orange along the ridge. Photo by Jaclynn Ashly. <img data-recalc-dims="1" decoding="async" width="780" height="520" data-attachment-id="344602" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/photo-24" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-24.jpg?fit=2400%2C1600&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2400,1600" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0","alt":""}" data-image-title="Photo 24" data-image-description="" data-image-caption=" A chimpanzee slips into the narrow entrance of the holding house at Sweetwaters, where the sanctuary’s residents are settled in for the night. Photo by Jaclynn Ashly. " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-24.jpg?fit=780%2C520&ssl=1" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-24.jpg?resize=780%2C520&ssl=1" alt="A chimpanzee slips into the narrow entrance of the holding house at Sweetwaters, where the sanctuary's residents are settled in for the night. Photo by Jaclynn Ashly." class="wp-image-344602" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-24.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-24.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-24.jpg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-24.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-24.jpg?resize=2048%2C1365&ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-24.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-24.jpg?resize=2000%2C1333&ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-24.jpg?resize=780%2C520&ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-24.jpg?resize=400%2C267&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-24.jpg?w=2340&ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-24-1024x683.jpg?w=370&ssl=1 370w" sizes="(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px" /> A chimpanzee slips into the narrow entrance of the holding house at Sweetwaters, where the sanctuary’s residents are settled in for the night. Photo by Jaclynn Ashly. <img data-recalc-dims="1" decoding="async" width="780" height="520" data-attachment-id="344603" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/photo-25" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-25.jpg?fit=2400%2C1600&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2400,1600" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0","alt":""}" data-image-title="Photo 25" data-image-description="" data-image-caption=" Max sits at the edge of the enclosure, ignoring the call to come in for the night. “He’s stubborn,” says head caregiver Stephen Mukundi. “He knows he has to go in. But he wants to make it difficult.” Photo by Jaclynn Ashly. " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-25.jpg?fit=780%2C520&ssl=1" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-25.jpg?resize=780%2C520&ssl=1" alt="Max sits at the edge of the enclosure, ignoring the call to come in for the night. "He's stubborn," says head caregiver Stephen Mukundi. "He knows he has to go in. But he wants to make it difficult." Photo by Jaclynn Ashly." class="wp-image-344603" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-25.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-25.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-25.jpg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-25.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-25.jpg?resize=2048%2C1365&ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-25.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-25.jpg?resize=2000%2C1333&ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-25.jpg?resize=780%2C520&ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-25.jpg?resize=400%2C267&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-25.jpg?w=2340&ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Photo-25-1024x683.jpg?w=370&ssl=1 370w" sizes="(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px" /> Max sits at the edge of the enclosure, ignoring the call to come in for the night. “He’s stubborn,” says head caregiver Stephen Mukundi. “He knows he has to go in. But he wants to make it difficult.” Photo by Jaclynn Ashly. “If Max likes you, he really likes you — and you will know,” Mukundi says. “And if he hates you, he makes it very clear. He will even collect feces or find big rocks and throw them at you. He doesn’t hide anything.” Eventually, Max relents. He passes Mukundi and slips into the narrow entrance of the holding facility. Mukundi watches him go, laughing softly — like one might at a troublesome relative — knowing he has made many enemies inside. “Sweetwaters was set up to offer lifelong care,” says Ngulu, the former manager. “So if there are no more chimpanzees that need to be rescued — if the systems in the countries where they are found are working properly — then there is no need to have a sanctuary. The animals would live out their lives here, die, and we can close because everything now is perfect.” “But, unfortunately, we seem to be heading in the opposite direction.” This content originally appeared on The Real News Network and was authored by Jaclynn Ashly.
Uganda military chief orders Nation Media Group shutdowns, threatens Managing Director Susan Nsibirwa
New York, June 29, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls for Ugandan authorities to swiftly and unreservedly remove security forces from the premises of the privately owned Nation Media Group-Uganda (NMG-U), permit the company to operate freely, and ensure Managing Director Susan Nsibirwa can work without concern that she may be arrested or attacked. In...
New York, June 29, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls for Ugandan authorities to swiftly and unreservedly remove security forces from the premises of the privately owned Nation Media Group-Uganda (NMG-U), permit the company to operate freely, and ensure Managing Director Susan Nsibirwa can work without concern that she may be arrested or attacked. In the early hours of June 28, Ugandan security forces arrived at the NMG-U headquarters in the Namuwongo district of Kampala and its broadcast centers at the Kampala Serena International Conference Centre, blocking access and shutting down the company’s ability to print newspapers or conduct standard radio and TV broadcasts. “Nothing much has changed,” Nsibirwa told CPJ at around 6 p.m. local time on June 29. “Our websites are active, our social media handles are active, and pretty much that’s how we’re doing our work, until the situation should change. So we’re just digital now.” “Laying siege to the Nation Media Group in Uganda, the largest independent media house in east and central Africa, at the whim of military chief Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba offers yet another indication of the country’s deepening authoritarianism,” said Angela Quintal, CPJ’s Africa director. “No military officer should be able to intimidate or silence an independent media house because he dislikes its reporting or rejects the universal right to press freedom. President Yoweri Museveni must hold his son accountable for this egregious abuse of power and ensure that the NMG and its journalists can continue to operate freely in Uganda without fear of arbitrary censorship,” said Quintal. In a June 29 update published online, Daily Monitor, which is an NMG company, noted that in Uganda the media group also owns NTV Uganda, The East African, Spark TV, 93.3 KFM, 90.4 Dembe FM, Ennyanda newspaper, and the Nation Courier. Nsibirwa said that the security forces detained a technical team and a driver as they took control of the TV premises and held them from around 1 a.m. local time on June 28 until around 3 p.m. that day. They were put in a car but did not seem to have been tortured or beaten, she added. The forced closures followed posts on social media platform X on June 27 by Kainerugaba, son of Uganda’s president, announcing the shutdown of the NTV and Daily Monitor offices. Additional posts, some of which seem to have been taken down, appeared to call for Nsibirwa to be harmed and arrested. “I DO NOT believe in a free press!” read another, since-removed post, a copy of which CPJ reviewed. “All we have are the tweets,” Nsibirwa told CPJ, describing how little had been communicated about the closures’ cause. Nsibirwa said she had gone “underground” following the threats and emphasized the arbitrariness of the government’s actions and the difficulty in finding channels to resolve the situation. “It was achieved through one tweet. But the question is, who do you talk to?” Nsibirwa lamented. “On a normal day, you talk to UCC [the Uganda Communications Commission], you talk to the media council, you talk to the minister of ICT [Information and Communications Technology]. That’s who we fall under…but now under these circumstances, who do we talk to?” In an X post on June 28, the UCC “noted the circumstances” that led to NMG outlets going off the air and said, “Consultations have begun with the relevant government stakeholders to obtain verified information.” “The temperature within which we are operating, it’s always been high, but I guess right now we would say it is very high. And I think it’s being felt. I think the public sentiment, really, to this is just that things are bad,” Nsibirwa told CPJ. Also on June 28, Andrew Mwenda, a leader of the Patriotic League of Uganda political party supporting Kainerugaba, posted on X that he and Kainerugaba had agreed to “reopen both Daily Monitor and NTV soon. However, we shall first have discussions with the management of both sister companies. I will inform them when we can have this meeting.” In an apparent reference to Mwenda’s statement, Kainerugaba posted minutes later that “we are having discussions with our allies in the UK and Europe about re-opening both NTV and Daily Monitor. We shall take the results of these discussions to Mzee for final approval.” Mzee means elder in Swahili, which in the post appears to refer to President Museveni. Reached by phone, Mwenda’s personal assistant told CPJ that they could not offer an update on negotiations over the shutdowns and would pass along the request for comment. As a journalist, Mwenda received CPJ’s International Press Freedom Award in 2008. NMG is based in Kenya and operates across east and central Africa. Tanzanian businessman Rostam Aziz became the majority shareholder in early 2026. “We have the full support of both management and board in Nairobi,” Nsibirwa said. “Right now, priorities are safety of the teams and then dialogue to work this out.” CPJ has documented an intensifying crackdown on press freedom in Uganda, including a foreign agents law signed by Museveni in May. CPJ’s calls to acting Uganda military spokesperson Chris Magezi and police spokesperson Rusoke Kituuma did not connect. Emails to Uganda’s Ministry of Defense and Veteran Affairs, and the national police did not receive immediate responses. CPJ emailed questions to the UCC but received no immediate response. This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.
More than a dozen South African journalists targeted as anti-migrant deadline looms
South African journalist Sakhiseni Nxumalo was reporting on an anti-migrant march, which turned into a deadly attack on foreign nationals, when he himself became a target because of his dark skin. He is one of at least 15 journalists targeted in South Africa in recent months, CPJ’s reporting found. Nxumalo, who works for the digital...
South African journalist Sakhiseni Nxumalo was reporting on an anti-migrant march, which turned into a deadly attack on foreign nationals, when he himself became a target because of his dark skin. He is one of at least 15 journalists targeted in South Africa in recent months, CPJ’s reporting found. Nxumalo, who works for the digital outlet News 24, told CPJ that he was threatened while filming a Zimbabwean man, whose head was bleeding after being attacked, in the eastern city of Pietermaritzburg on June 19. “One of the protesters saw me taking the video and said, ‘If you are filming, we are going to kill you,’” Nxumalo said, adding that the protesters wanted to delete the footage from his phone. “Because I am dark in complexion, others started to say I was a foreigner … They asked me who I was, they asked for my [identity] documents, and they asked these questions in Zulu, and I responded in Zulu. By this time, there were about 20 of them,” he said. Nxumalo said the protesters pushed him and tried to grab his phone, but he resisted, and the assailants eventually switched their attention to another journalist with a camera, whose memory card they seized. A 29-year-old Malawian father, Mishack Banda, was killed in that attack and his brother injured. Two Mozambicans were killed a few weeks earlier and dozens of other foreign nationals have been assaulted over the past few months. Such violence has raised fears of further unrest with the approach of Tuesday’s deadline, set by the March and March (M&M) anti-migrant movement, for undocumented foreigners to leave South Africa, which at least two opposition parties in Parliament have since backed. Anti-migrant sentiment is rising, with protest groups mobilizing support by blaming undocumented foreigners for high unemployment, strained public services, and crime, ahead of local elections on November 4. Scores of people have been killed in earlier waves of xenophobic violence in South Africa. Stop threatening journalists CPJ and seven other press freedom groups have called on M&M to end unlawful action, stop threatening journalists, and reject conduct that could expose journalists to intimidation or violence. The coalition also called on authorities to protect foreign nationals and journalists, ensure reporters can work safely and without interference, and hold those responsible for press freedom violations to account. Although the government has rejected the June 30 deadline and put the police on high alert, thousands of fearful migrants, documented and undocumented, have left South Africa as at least 28 groups prepare for mass action on Tuesday. <img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" height="683" width="1024" src="https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/AP26169480868723_298e46.jpg?w=1024" alt="Malawian migrants stand in a queue for their deportation at a temporary centre in South Africa, on June 18" class="wp-image-599358" srcset="https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/AP26169480868723_298e46.jpg 6429w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/AP26169480868723_298e46.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/AP26169480868723_298e46.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/AP26169480868723_298e46.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/AP26169480868723_298e46.jpg?resize=1536,1024 1536w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/AP26169480868723_298e46.jpg?resize=2048,1365 2048w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/AP26169480868723_298e46.jpg?resize=570,380 570w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/AP26169480868723_298e46.jpg?resize=652,435 652w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/AP26169480868723_298e46.jpg?resize=760,507 760w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/AP26169480868723_298e46.jpg?resize=1140,760 1140w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/AP26169480868723_298e46.jpg?resize=2000,1333 2000w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/AP26169480868723_298e46.jpg?resize=367,245 367w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /> Malawian migrants stand in a queue for their deportation at a temporary centre in South Africa on June 18. (Photo: AP/Themba Hadebe) For many journalists, it is likely to be a dangerous assignment. News 24’s student journalist and intern Yusuf Kosadia-Hassen told CPJ that he was also targeted this month, as protesters armed with whips accused him of being a foreigner while he was covering demonstrations on June 22 in Boksburg, about 25 kilometers (15 miles) east of Johannesburg, South Africa’s largest city. “They started asking if I was one of them, if I was South African, and asked for my ID. Then they came close and started speaking in my face and asked if I am Indian,” said Kosadia-Hassen, who was ordered to sing the South African national anthem. “They questioned my heritage.” Kosadia-Hassan said that the protesters, some of whom appeared drunk and were behaving “like children,” then continued with their march. ‘Be on the lookout for these two journalists’ One of the most disturbing trends for journalists is that M&M has used social media to identify and target those reporting on its events. “Patriots, please be on the lookout for these two journalists, they’ve been trying to sabotage our marches,” M&M Cape Town said on Facebook after its June 20 demonstration in the South African capital, along with photographs of two journalists. “We cannot have journalists who are attending our marches only to cause trouble. We’ve been very patient with them and they keep provoking us only to report nonsense,” the post said. One of the journalists, Getty Images photographer Wesley Fester, told CPJ that the protesters accused him of bias as he interviewed residents opposed to the demonstration and attempted to stop the pair from documenting it. “What is concerning is that the protesters seem to think they have more rights than everybody else. They feel they can do anything without being held accountable,” he told CPJ. The second journalist, Agence France-Presse’s Saamwiet Moos, expressed concern that the increasingly hostile rhetoric faced by the media could prevent them reporting the views of those opposed to the protests. “This is the first kind of incident where they directly targeted us and attempted to sway our reporting or influence,” he told CPJ. Journalists targeted for exposing xenophobic rhetoric <img decoding="async" height="683" width="1024" src="https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2026-06-05T193617Z_1163504274_RC2LNLAIT4J6_RTRMADP_3_SAFRICA-XENOPHOBIA.jpg?w=1024" alt="Demonstrators carry sticks during a protest calling for the deportation of undocumented immigrants, as violence against migrants from other African countries increases, in Benoni, east of Johannesburg, South Africa, June 5." class="wp-image-599307" srcset="https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2026-06-05T193617Z_1163504274_RC2LNLAIT4J6_RTRMADP_3_SAFRICA-XENOPHOBIA.jpg 6000w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2026-06-05T193617Z_1163504274_RC2LNLAIT4J6_RTRMADP_3_SAFRICA-XENOPHOBIA.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2026-06-05T193617Z_1163504274_RC2LNLAIT4J6_RTRMADP_3_SAFRICA-XENOPHOBIA.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2026-06-05T193617Z_1163504274_RC2LNLAIT4J6_RTRMADP_3_SAFRICA-XENOPHOBIA.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2026-06-05T193617Z_1163504274_RC2LNLAIT4J6_RTRMADP_3_SAFRICA-XENOPHOBIA.jpg?resize=1536,1024 1536w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2026-06-05T193617Z_1163504274_RC2LNLAIT4J6_RTRMADP_3_SAFRICA-XENOPHOBIA.jpg?resize=2048,1365 2048w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2026-06-05T193617Z_1163504274_RC2LNLAIT4J6_RTRMADP_3_SAFRICA-XENOPHOBIA.jpg?resize=570,380 570w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2026-06-05T193617Z_1163504274_RC2LNLAIT4J6_RTRMADP_3_SAFRICA-XENOPHOBIA.jpg?resize=652,435 652w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2026-06-05T193617Z_1163504274_RC2LNLAIT4J6_RTRMADP_3_SAFRICA-XENOPHOBIA.jpg?resize=760,507 760w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2026-06-05T193617Z_1163504274_RC2LNLAIT4J6_RTRMADP_3_SAFRICA-XENOPHOBIA.jpg?resize=1140,760 1140w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2026-06-05T193617Z_1163504274_RC2LNLAIT4J6_RTRMADP_3_SAFRICA-XENOPHOBIA.jpg?resize=2000,1333 2000w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2026-06-05T193617Z_1163504274_RC2LNLAIT4J6_RTRMADP_3_SAFRICA-XENOPHOBIA.jpg?resize=367,245 367w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /> Demonstrators carrying sticks calls for the deportation of undocumented immigrants in Benoni, east of Johannesburg, on June 5. (Photo: Reuters/Ihsaan Haffejee) On June 25, the South African National Editors’ Forum (SANEF) said that M&M supporters had “aggressively confronted, harassed, and intimidated individual journalists, reporters, and media crews across four provinces: the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Western Cape, and Gauteng.” It said that journalists were being targeted for “exposing xenophobic rhetoric, fact-checking anti-immigration public claims, and reporting on the violence that frequently accompanies these protests.” “The movement’s leadership has aggressively pushed back against media houses that label their activities xenophobic, resulting in severe hostility on the ground to prevent reporters from filming or documenting chaos, particularly when protests degenerate into assaults against, and looting of, foreign nationals’ businesses,” it said. Additional incidents documented by SANEF and others include: May 21 – German broadcaster DW’s correspondent Dianne Hawker-Kalubi told CPJ that she and her camera operator were pushed by bodyguards accompanying M&M founder Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma after they asked questions during a live broadcast. The bodyguards also covered the DW team’s camera before police intervened. June 22 – The uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) accused Business Day political editor Hajra Omarjee of being a propagandist after she warned that South Africans could expect greater chaos than the July 2021 unrest as people close to the party leader, former President Jacob Zuma, “want it to be worse.” June — Nonprofit GroundUp’s journalists Daniel Steyn and Ashraf Hendricks were subjected to heavy online trolling over an article debunking M&M’s anti-migrant claims, the news agency’s editor Barbara October told CPJ. June – Photographs of the Sowetan newspaper’s editor-in-chief Sibongakonke Shoba and his family were circulated online after he published a column critical of the “vigilante movement.” June – South African Broadcasting Corporation journalist Sophie Mokoena was subjected to online harassment by M&M supporters, some of whom accused her of being out of touch and biased. June – You FM journalist Kgaogelo Magolego was heckled by Ngobese-Zuma and her supporters at a news conference when he alleged she said “foreigners must perish.” The radio station later apologized for his “inaccurate” attribution. <img decoding="async" width="628" height="340" src="https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Screenshot-2026-06-29-at-9.02.46-pm.png?w=628" alt="March and March founder Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma (center) and her supporters heckle journalist Kgaogelo Magolego at a news conference in June." class="wp-image-599254" srcset="https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Screenshot-2026-06-29-at-9.02.46-pm.png 628w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Screenshot-2026-06-29-at-9.02.46-pm.png?resize=300,162 300w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Screenshot-2026-06-29-at-9.02.46-pm.png?resize=570,309 570w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Screenshot-2026-06-29-at-9.02.46-pm.png?resize=367,199 367w" sizes="(max-width: 628px) 100vw, 628px" /> March and March founder Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma (center) and her supporters heckle journalist Kgaogelo Magolego at a news conference in June. (MDNtv/YouTube) April and May – GroundUp reporters Joseph Bracken and Tsoanelo Sefoloko were repeatedly threatened by M&M supporters while covering demonstrations in the eastern port of Durban. M&M identified them as journalists that supporters should not speak to. M&M wrote to GroundUp, accusing Bracken of pushing an agenda based on personal beliefs and said that it would no longer work with the outlet, editor October told CPJ. June — GroundUp photographer David Harrison was threatened and nearly had his camera seized while attending a community meeting, which successfully quelled anti-migrant protests, in the southern city of George, October said. As South Africa is one of the continent’s strongest democracies with constitutional protections for media freedom, Foreign Correspondents’ Association of Southern Africa chairperson Antony Sguazzin said he did not expect the unrest to continue through to the November elections. “South Africa runs clean elections so we don’t anticipate this [violence] to roll over,” Sguazzin told CPJ. CPJ’s calls to request comment from MKP’s spokesperson Sifiso Mahlangu and head of communications Sipho Tyira and email to M&M and text message to Ngobeze-Zuma did not receive any replies. This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Joan Chirwa.
The News That Did Make the News – But Was Wrong
On this episode of the Project Censored Show, co-hosts Mickey Huff and Eleanor Goldfield dig into some of the news that did make the news but was wrong. They highlight the need for critical media literacy, especially when we’re confronted with somethin...
On this episode of the Project Censored Show, co-hosts Mickey Huff and Eleanor Goldfield dig into some of the news that did make the news but was wrong. They highlight the need for critical media literacy, especially when we’re confronted with something that pings our confirmation bias. They also dive into some history, the US at 250, the framing of our nationalistic ideals, the society of the spectacle, Idiocracy, and finding our way to solidarity. The post The News That Did Make the News – But Was Wrong appeared first on Project Censored. This content originally appeared on Project Censored and was authored by Kate Horgan.
The Sycophancy Machine: How AI Rewards Confirmation Over Accuracy
On this episode of the Project Censored Show, Mickey Huff sits down with public health researcher and journalist Lily Minh Wass to talk about the sycophancy machine. Lily outlines the subtle and disturbing quirks of AI’s large language models, amplifyi...
On this episode of the Project Censored Show, Mickey Huff sits down with public health researcher and journalist Lily Minh Wass to talk about the sycophancy machine. Lily outlines the subtle and disturbing quirks of AI’s large language models, amplifying our human desire to be agreed with, which supersedes the desire to be factual. Lily highlights our cognitive offloading onto AI, breaks down how these systems operate, and more. The post The Sycophancy Machine: How AI Rewards Confirmation Over Accuracy appeared first on Project Censored. This content originally appeared on Project Censored and was authored by Kate Horgan.
Patriotism Toward What End? The Enduring Debate in U.S. History Education
Florida’s new ‘FACT U.S. History’ course raises questions about whether U.S. history education should promote democratic critiques or obedience and nationalism.
Florida’s new ‘FACT U.S. History’ course raises questions about whether U.S. history education should promote democratic critiques or obedience and nationalism. This content originally appeared on The Progressive — A voice for peace, social justice, and the common good and was authored by Andrew Kordik.
Hungarians celebrate first post-Orbán Pride
A Sad Decline in Support for Same-Sex Marriage
Marriage rights should be respected and protected as civil rights.
Marriage rights should be respected and protected as civil rights. This content originally appeared on The Progressive — A voice for peace, social justice, and the common good and was authored by Akilah Monifa.
The Pacifica Evening News, Weekdays – June 29, 2026: Confusion Surrounds Iran Peace Talks; U.N. Says Israeli Settler Violence in West Bank Reaches Record High; San Francisco Pride Weekend Marked by Protests, Arrests, and Calls for LGBTQ Rights
San Francisco Pride Weekend Marked by Protests, Arrests, and Calls for LGBTQ Rights U.N. Says Israeli Settler Violence in West Bank Reaches Record High Confusion Surrounds Iran Peace Talks as U.S., Tehran Head to Qatar U.N. Human Rights Chief Urges Investigations into Deaths in ICE Custody Budapest Celebrates First Pride Since Orbán’s Defeat Supreme Court Issues Rulings Favoring E. Jean Carroll, Lisa Cook, and Mail-In Ballots Supreme Court in Washington, DC. USDA Photo by Ken Hammond The post The Pacifica Evening News, Weekdays – June 29, 2026: Confusion Surrounds Iran Peace Talks; U.N. Says Israeli Settler Violence in West Bank Reaches Record High; San Francisco Pride Weekend Marked by Protests, Arrests, and Calls for LGBTQ Rights appeared first on KPFA.
San Francisco Pride Weekend Marked by Protests, Arrests, and Calls for LGBTQ Rights U.N. Says Israeli Settler Violence in West Bank Reaches Record High Confusion Surrounds Iran Peace Talks as U.S., Tehran Head to Qatar U.N. Human Rights Chief Urges Investigations into Deaths in ICE Custody Budapest Celebrates First Pride Since Orbán’s Defeat Supreme Court Issues Rulings Favoring E. Jean Carroll, Lisa Cook, and Mail-In Ballots The post The Pacifica Evening News, Weekdays – June 29, 2026: Confusion Surrounds Iran Peace Talks; U.N. Says Israeli Settler Violence in West Bank Reaches Record High; San Francisco Pride Weekend Marked by Protests, Arrests, and Calls for LGBTQ Rights appeared first on KPFA. This content originally appeared on KPFA - The Pacifica Evening News Weekdays and was authored by KPFA.
Venezuela quake: Families still searching for loved ones against impossible odds, OCHA warnsDR Congo widespread abuses in spotlight at Human Rights Council Gaza: Another child killed despite ceasefire, reports UNICEF
Venezuela quake: Families still searching for loved ones against impossible odds, OCHA warnsDR Congo widespread abuses in spotlight at Human Rights Council Gaza: Another child killed despite ceasefire, reports UNICEF This content originally appeared on UN News - Global perspective Human stories and was authored by Daniel Johnson.
MAGA eliminated his congressional district. He’s still running.
<img width="1024" height="683" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/TRNN-Justin-Pearson-Netroots-.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="Tennessee State Representative Justin Pearson speaks with TRNN at the Netroots conference in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on June 6, 2026. Credit: TRNN." data-attachment-id="344573" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/maga-eliminated-his-congressional-district-hes-still-running/trnn-justin-pearson-netroots" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/TRNN-Justin-Pearson-Netroots-.jpg?fit=1440%2C960&ssl=1" data-orig-size="1440,960" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0","alt":""}" data-image-title="TRNN &#8211; Justin Pearson Netroots" data-image-description="" data-image-caption=" Tennessee State Representative Justin Pearson speaks with TRNN at the Netroots conference in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on June 6, 2026. Credit: TRNN. " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/TRNN-Justin-Pearson-Netroots-.jpg?fit=780%2C520&ssl=1"> We speak with Tennessee State Representative Justin Pearson about fighting data centers, billionaires, and the MAGA Republicans gerrymandering his district—the only majority-Black district in the state—out of existence.
<img width="1024" height="683" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/TRNN-Justin-Pearson-Netroots-.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="Tennessee State Representative Justin Pearson speaks with TRNN at the Netroots conference in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on June 6, 2026. Credit: TRNN." decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/TRNN-Justin-Pearson-Netroots-.jpg?w=1440&ssl=1 1440w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/TRNN-Justin-Pearson-Netroots-.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/TRNN-Justin-Pearson-Netroots-.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/TRNN-Justin-Pearson-Netroots-.jpg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/TRNN-Justin-Pearson-Netroots-.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/TRNN-Justin-Pearson-Netroots-.jpg?resize=780%2C520&ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/TRNN-Justin-Pearson-Netroots-.jpg?resize=400%2C267&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/TRNN-Justin-Pearson-Netroots-.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1&w=370 370w" sizes="(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw - 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw / 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw / 12)), 100vw" data-attachment-id="344573" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/maga-eliminated-his-congressional-district-hes-still-running/trnn-justin-pearson-netroots" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/TRNN-Justin-Pearson-Netroots-.jpg?fit=1440%2C960&ssl=1" data-orig-size="1440,960" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0","alt":""}" data-image-title="TRNN &#8211; Justin Pearson Netroots" data-image-description="" data-image-caption=" Tennessee State Representative Justin Pearson speaks with TRNN at the Netroots conference in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on June 6, 2026. Credit: TRNN. " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/TRNN-Justin-Pearson-Netroots-.jpg?fit=780%2C520&ssl=1" /> After an April decision by the US Supreme Court gutted the 1965 Voting Rights Act, Tennessee became the first state to redraw its Congressional district maps, resulting in the 9th District—a solidly Democratic seat representing the only majority-Black district in the state—being erased. We speak with Tennessee State Representative Justin Pearson, who has been running to represent Tennessee’s 9th District in the US House of Representatives, about why he is still running despite Republicans’ attempts to rig the electoral process, and what is at stake for Tennessee and the country this midterm election season. Additional links/info: Philip Wang, Time, “They gerrymandered away the district he’s campaigning to represent. He’s still running” Leigh Cuen, The Tennessean, “Photojournalist shares story behind viral TN redistricting photos” Credits: Videography: Stephen Janis, Maximillian Alvarez Post-Production: David Hebden Transcript The following is a rushed transcript and may contain errors. It will be updated as soon as possible. Maximillian Alvarez: We’re here in Philadelphia at the 2026 Net Roots Conference and I’m sitting with Representative Justin Pearson from the Tennessee House of Representatives who is now running for the US House of Representatives. Representative Pearson, thank you so much for joining us. I know you only have a few minutes and we got so much to talk about, so I kind of want to just throw a couple things at you and let you go, right? I got you. Tennessee was the first state to redistrict its congressional maps after this Supreme Court hearing. So you were at the center of that. What the heck can people do about this attempt to rig the midterm elections and everything moving forward? Second, you are in Memphis, one of the epicenters of this data center crisis, black, brown communities being poisoned, energy being taken, billionaires ruining everything. So what is it like on the ground in Tennessee? What can be done at the state level and what do you hope to accomplish at the national level with this by being a member of the House of Representatives? Justin Pearson: Absolutely. Thanks so much again for having me. But look, the first problem is we are seeing a deleterious impact to our democracy with the Supreme Court now being captured and operating as a partisan entity instead of an independent one. The consequences of that are real. We have a new district now with 15 counties, but listen, go to votejustinj.com, sign up to volunteer. You can phone bank from anywhere in the country and it’s going to take a mass mobilization effort for us to win, but it is possible. And it didn’t make it impossible for us to win. They just made it more difficult and we’re okay taking on a challenge. But our message is clear. We are standing up against billionaires in the status quo that has not worked for people. We understand that politically, Democrats and Republicans too often have done the same things that have led us to the consequences of decisions where billionaires have captured our government, are polluting the air that we breathe, taking the water that we drink and polluting it just for their companies to make more profits. So we’re a voice for working class people and addressing these issues head on at the state level. We’ve introduced the moratorium similar to what Senator Sanders and Congresswoman, the AOC and others have been putting forward. And at the national level, that’s going to be something I push for. We have to slow this down, address the causes and the issues of working class people and stop billionaires from taking over our government and our country. Maximillian Alvarez: And do you think that the Democratic Party is ready for that, especially with the 2024 autopsy being so sparse on real critical details of what the party did wrong to lose to Trump. Again, what do you think it’s going to take to defeat MAGA, Trump and the Republicans today? Justin Pearson: Yeah, we have to build power. We have to make sure that we are increasing our turnout, our education, our information. We have to go to places other people have not gone. We went and knocked some doors in rural communities. We knocked on doors where someone said, “No one’s ever been here in the 40 years that I’ve lived here.” That is what it is going to take precinct by precinct, county by county, state by state. And we can’t negate or neglect the south in particular where the mass majority of black folks in the United States of America live with the bedrock of the Democratic Party. We need everybody to come to the south and support, whether that’s virtually or in person because this is the moment and this is the time to defend what we believe. Maximillian Alvarez: And final question, like when you are going around talking to folks in rural areas, in the cities, in the south, people have a lot of ideas about who lives there, what they think, where their politics come from. What do you think people need to know about the potential for building working class political coalitions? What are the issues that are uniting working people in Tennessee that the political pundit class just totally misses? Justin Pearson: It’s economics. People are struggling financially. Everybody’s dealing with the consequences of an Iran war that has led us with high gas prices, high grocery prices, and they want an economy that works for everybody, not just for the people at the top. Everybody wants to have, everybody we talk to wants Medicare for all, wants an expansion of healthcare, and particularly in a state like Tennessee, where we have the highest number of people with medical debt in the United States of America. 16 rural hospitals have closed. Folks know that this is not the way that things need to be. This is not the way that things have to be. And they want to have voices that stand up to these billionaires, building these data centers all across our state, all across our country without regulations, without permissions, just doing it, taking farm land, taking communities land, destroying our water, destroying our air quality. They want leaders that are going to fight for them and not just continuing the same political machine, the same status quo that’s happened before. Maximillian Alvarez: Sorry, final question because we just talked to Representative Summer Lee and she had a great point, which is like the Republicans are trying to rig the elections and redraw these maps because they know that they are deeply unpopular and they can’t win the popular vote, but the reality of them trying to rig it and take away the Democratic enterprise is very, very real. So what’s your message out there to folks who are already feeling defeated about the upcoming midterm election season and American democracy as such? Justin Pearson: Yeah, you cannot quit now. This is the time to give everything that you possibly can for this constitutional Democratic Republican experiment that we have. The next six months are the most important six months I think for all of us who are alive because I don’t ever think, again, you’ll see the stars aligning with the white supremacist president, states that are captured by that presidency, billionaires able to buy government in this kind of way. These six months, you actually need to knock more doors than ever before, make more phone calls to your family, making sure people are registered to vote and that they turn out, support candidates, whether they’re in your state or outside of your state, especially in the South who are dealing with the consequences of racist redistricting. Now is not the time to give up. Listen, I’m still running for Congress. My family hasn’t given up. My community hasn’t given up. So this isn’t the time for you to sit down and sit back. This is the time to get engaged and get off the sidelines more than ever before to defend what we believe. This content originally appeared on The Real News Network and was authored by Maximillian Alvarez.
MAGA Eliminated His Congressional District. He’s Still Running. w/ Rep. Justin Pearson
Stephen Miller’s white nationalist agenda: Eddie Glaude
StoryCorps Facilitates Conversations Across the U.S. for 250th Anniversary
"America, U.S.A.": Eddie Glaude on the 250th Anniv., Race & "Madness at the Heart of the Country"
Top U.S. & World Headlines — June 29, 2026
Pride and resilience in the Sunshine State
<img width="1024" height="683" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2208275036-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="Revellers take part in the 17th Annual Miami Beach Pride Parade on April 6, 2025, in the South Beach neighborhood of Miami Beach, Florida. Photo by GIORGIO VIERA/AFP via Getty Images" data-attachment-id="344560" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/pride-and-resilience-in-the-sunshine-state/topshot-us-politics-lgbtq-rights-parade" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2208275036-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1707&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2560,1707" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"AFP via Getty Images","camera":"NIKON Z 8","caption":"TOPSHOT - Revellers take part in the 17th Annual Miami Beach Pride Parade on April 6, 2025, in the South Beach neighborhood of Miami Beach, Florida. (Photo by Giorgio VIERA / AFP) (Photo by GIORGIO VIERA/AFP via Getty Images)","created_timestamp":"1743961624","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"TOPSHOT-US-POLITICS-LGBTQ-RIGHTS-PARADE","orientation":"1","alt":""}" data-image-title="TOPSHOT-US-POLITICS-LGBTQ-RIGHTS-PARADE" data-image-description="" data-image-caption=" Revellers take part in the 17th Annual Miami Beach Pride Parade on April 6, 2025, in the South Beach neighborhood of Miami Beach, Florida. Photo by GIORGIO VIERA/AFP via Getty Images " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2208275036-scaled.jpg?fit=780%2C520&ssl=1"> In the face of tragedy and hostility, LGBTQ+ Floridians remain tenacious through organizing and community.
<img width="1024" height="683" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2208275036-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="Revellers take part in the 17th Annual Miami Beach Pride Parade on April 6, 2025, in the South Beach neighborhood of Miami Beach, Florida. Photo by GIORGIO VIERA/AFP via Getty Images" decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2208275036-scaled.jpg?w=2560&ssl=1 2560w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2208275036-scaled.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2208275036-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2208275036-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2208275036-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2208275036-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1365&ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2208275036-scaled.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2208275036-scaled.jpg?resize=2000%2C1333&ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2208275036-scaled.jpg?resize=780%2C520&ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2208275036-scaled.jpg?resize=400%2C267&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2208275036-scaled.jpg?w=2340&ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2208275036-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1&w=370 370w" sizes="(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw - 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw / 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw / 12)), 100vw" data-attachment-id="344560" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/pride-and-resilience-in-the-sunshine-state/topshot-us-politics-lgbtq-rights-parade" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2208275036-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1707&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2560,1707" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"AFP via Getty Images","camera":"NIKON Z 8","caption":"TOPSHOT - Revellers take part in the 17th Annual Miami Beach Pride Parade on April 6, 2025, in the South Beach neighborhood of Miami Beach, Florida. (Photo by Giorgio VIERA / AFP) (Photo by GIORGIO VIERA/AFP via Getty Images)","created_timestamp":"1743961624","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"TOPSHOT-US-POLITICS-LGBTQ-RIGHTS-PARADE","orientation":"1","alt":""}" data-image-title="TOPSHOT-US-POLITICS-LGBTQ-RIGHTS-PARADE" data-image-description="" data-image-caption=" Revellers take part in the 17th Annual Miami Beach Pride Parade on April 6, 2025, in the South Beach neighborhood of Miami Beach, Florida. Photo by GIORGIO VIERA/AFP via Getty Images " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2208275036-scaled.jpg?fit=780%2C520&ssl=1" /> <img data-recalc-dims="1" decoding="async" width="780" height="201" data-attachment-id="344392" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/pride-and-resilience-in-the-sunshine-state/screenshot-2026-06-22-at-11-35-48-am" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Screenshot-2026-06-22-at-11.35.48-AM.png?fit=886%2C228&ssl=1" data-orig-size="886,228" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0","alt":""}" data-image-title="Screenshot 2026-06-22 at 11.35.48 AM" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Screenshot-2026-06-22-at-11.35.48-AM.png?fit=780%2C201&ssl=1" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Screenshot-2026-06-22-at-11.35.48-AM.png?resize=780%2C201&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-344392 size-full" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Screenshot-2026-06-22-at-11.35.48-AM.png?w=886&ssl=1 886w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Screenshot-2026-06-22-at-11.35.48-AM.png?resize=300%2C77&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Screenshot-2026-06-22-at-11.35.48-AM.png?resize=768%2C198&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Screenshot-2026-06-22-at-11.35.48-AM.png?resize=780%2C201&ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Screenshot-2026-06-22-at-11.35.48-AM.png?resize=400%2C103&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Screenshot-2026-06-22-at-11.35.48-AM.png?w=370&ssl=1 370w" sizes="(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px" /> This story originally appeared in The Progressive Magazine on June 18, 2026. It is shared here with permission. Florida has a magic that only Floridians truly understand. The mix of whimsy, bravery, and devotion you find here is unique, as is the land itself: lush acres of forest and marshy wetlands, puppy like creatures found in springs and slow-moving rivers, beaches of white sand, and off-the-beaten-path trails. It’s tough to be from here—we’re plagued with hurricane season, mocked with GIFs like Bugs Bunny sawing from the rest of the country, and absurd “Florida man” jokes reflecting the tired 2010s-era cliché that our state is a den of drug-addled chaos and bizarre misadventure. If you mention Florida in conversation, you’re often met with a disgusted or concerning gaze. The state has also long served as the country’s playground—or, as scholar Julio Capó Jr. describes it in his history of queer Miami culture, a “fairyland” that lures in tourists with the promise of a quick getaway surrounded by Disney animatronics and dreamy beaches. It may be unrecognizable to visitors from outside of the state, but Florida has always been a little queer, even beyond the periphery of the gay club scene in Miami. In the past several years, however, Florida has become increasingly known for being hostile to queer people. Republican Governor Ron DeSantis—whose term began in 2019, less than three years after the June 2016 mass shooting at Orlando’s Pulse nightclub that killed forty-nine people—is fixated on decimating Florida’s queer population and crushing the morale of our indomitable spirit. In 2021, DeSantis signed into law a provision that redefined a public demonstration of more than three people who “commit a breach of the peace” as a “riot,” giving police officers leeway to enforce it against queer and trans protesters. The next year, DeSantis and the Republican-led state legislature passed a blitz of oppressive laws: the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which restricted public school curriculum related to LGBTQ+ people and issues; the “Stop WOKE Act,” which restricted protected speech in the workplace related to systemic racism and sexism; and a ban on abortion after fifteen weeks. (This was replaced when a near-total abortion ban went into effect in 2024.) In 2023, DeSantis oversaw a rightwing takeover of the governing board at New College of Florida, resulting in seismic institutional and culture shifts at the Sarasota public liberal arts college. Viewed as a gay utopia for queer and transgender youth, New College had been the obvious choice for Nya Jacobson. During Jacobson’s freshman year, DeSantis appointed a slate of conservative trustees at the school; within a year of the takeover, the gender studies department was eliminated, hundreds of library books were tossed in the dumpster, and students and faculty left New College in waves. As a firsthand witness to this hostile takeover, Jacobson organized New College’s LGBTQ+ organization, Queery Club, even if it meant jeopardizing their future career. “I wasn’t sure of the implications, but I was like, ‘OK, I need to basically make a decision right now,’ ” they tell The Progressive. “ ‘I’m in my first year of college; I’ve got these big plans for my life and my future. Is this fight worth it?’ But I remember thinking, ‘I guess I’m gonna be a delinquent now.’ ” Jacobson continues to see queer students enroll at New College, despite the incessant attacks on LGBTQ+ freedom. “Every time I see a new class of little baby gay freshmen,” Jacobson says, “I want to be able to show them that . . . they’re finally out of their parents’ homes; they can be who they want to be here, and they don’t have to be freaks for that.” As this June marks the ten-year anniversary of the mass shooting that claimed forty-nine lives at the Pulse nightclub, queer Floridians have a grim and destabilizing decade to look back on. Our once-purple state has emerged as the nation’s petri dish for extreme rightwing legislation as an influx of wealthy conservatives into the state has weakened the voting power of those opposed to their government’s homophobic and transphobic agendas. In this climate, how do we stay afloat? Floridians are desensitized to the violence of gun culture at a young age: friends’ parents owning guns, walking past a case of rifles at the big-box store near your school, seeing countless gun show billboards on Interstate 10. If you’re Black, you learn about guns at an even younger age than your white peers during conversations about Trayvon Martin, gun violence, and deadly encounters with the police. Reliable data is hard to come by—as so many guns are unregistered—but Florida is second only to Texas both in terms of the number of guns and the number of adults who report living in a home with guns. It means neighborhoods don’t feel safe. It makes it feel like gun violence could happen anywhere, like at the nightclub on a weekend. It’s inescapable. On June 12, 2016, at one of Pulse’s weekly Latin Nights, Omar Mateen opened fire in the gay nightclub, resulting in what was then the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history and is still the deadliest attack against LGBTQ+ people. Forty-nine people were killed and fifty-three were wounded. A majority of the victims were Latine, placing it within the culture of targeted violence faced by queer and transgender Latines in Florida. The site of the former Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, where forty-nine people were killed in June 2016 in the deadliest attack against LGBTQ+ people in U.S. history. In March 2026, the remnants of the nightclub were demolished, and a public memorial is expected to be finished in 2027. In 2019, a group of survivors, family members of Pulse victims, activists, and scholars established the Community Coalition Against a Pulse Museum (CCAPM) to oppose the onePULSE Foundation’s $45 million plans to build a private museum. An open letter on CCAPM’s website reads, “We demand a tasteful and respectful public memorial to honor our loved ones where one can come to reflect, not a tourist attraction that charges admissions and sells mass shooting merchandise.” Additionally, the coalition seeks to hold the City of Orlando, the Orlando Police Department, and Pulse owner Barbara Poma accountable for the wide scope of unpermitted renovations and code violations at the nightclub, which further impeded the victims from escaping. In 2023, the city of Orlando took over the memorial project, purchasing the property from Poma. In March 2026, the remnants of the nightclub were demolished. Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer announced that the memorial is expected to be finished in 2027. With Lux, a feminist magazine, I co-organized a multistate campus tour this past spring with stops at the University of Central Florida, Florida International University, and New College of Florida to encourage students to connect campus struggles to the larger political world. What my colleagues and I saw on this tour reflected my own experience as a student organizer at Florida A&M University (FAMU): Political action by college students is made a great deal stronger by support from off-campus community grassroots organizers. Alongside student organizations, professors are grappling with the state’s war on education, including Evan Lauteria, an assistant instructional professor in sociology at the University of Florida. In March 2026, the state university system’s board of governors voted to remove Introduction to Sociology—deeming the course to be an alleged avenue for professors to promote leftwing ideologies and social justice advocacy—from the mandated core general education curriculum for freshman students. “Less as a sociology professor and more as a Floridian, I think higher education is an avenue for young people to become engaged citizens, and so any attack on the education system is fundamentally an attack to democracy and an attack to civic engagement,” Lauteria tells The Progressive. “The attempts to eradicate history, to revise it, to prevent faculty from being able to talk about really well-established research on issues of stratification, inequality, or poverty, is fundamentally a threat to the whole citizenry and all of the people of Florida, and it should be treated as such.” Lauteria ties the push to remove sociology to the Don’t Say Gay and Stop WOKE bills, and says that the goal of DeSantis’s administration is to “minimize the capacity of anyone to have critical thinking skills around these issues, which is why general education became their focus.” While professors try to prevent the erasure of history and culture from their curricula, local organizers are also stepping up to the plate. The Walrus, a vegan restaurant in Jacksonville, dually serves as a third place for anarchist and Afrofuturist reading groups, drag shows, punk bands, and mutual aid drives. The owner, Alexander Eli, tells The Progressive that running a business as a trans person leads to security issues and tokenization, but their mission leads him to organize his rage and protect the “radical queer vegan bar that the city deserves.” “People should have a place where they can wear a dress for the first time or be a part of nightlife culture in the South without feeling ostracized,” Eli says while drawing attention to the lack of nightlife catered to sapphic and femme-presenting people. By spotlighting queer joy as an act of resistance, dance parties—like Masisi Radio (Miami’s queer Caribbean collective) or Dyke Nite in Orlando—make space for underserved communities. In the less than two years since it was founded, Dyke Nite has hosted a lesbian arm-wrestling party, craft nights, a “campy” strip spelling bee, and in April, a kiss-in rally on Lesbian Visibility Day, which included speakers from Central Florida Queers for Palestine and CCAPM. Alexia Clarke, one of the co-founders, says being in solidarity with strong grassroots movements in Florida is a necessity. As Clarke recalls her college memories of clubbing at Pulse, which now feels like “a haunted house” on Orlando’s bustling Orange Avenue, she says that her unshakeable drive to create sapphic spaces led to Dyke Nite, because there is “power in numbers.” Operating as the only queer and feminist bookstore in Tallahassee, Common Ground Books is decorated with kitsch, colorful stickers opposing the patriarchy, middle school graphic novels, and copies of Rachel Reid’s famed gay hockey romance Heated Rivalry. Although the best-selling Game Changers series is a hit, the top-selling category at Common Ground Books is nonfiction. “Perhaps it’s because of the demographics in Tally,” says Alex Spencer, the bookstore’s owner. College students at Florida State University and FAMU, as well as a strong presence of organizers and feminists in Tallahassee, make up a large share of the store’s customers. “A lot of people turn to books to further their education and fill in the gaps.” Spencer, who opened the award-winning bookstore in 2022, recognizes that the influx of customers is not just because of the store’s proximity to the state Capitol and universities. Common Ground Books attracts queer elders, curious young readers, and those craving a third place where locals can explore their gender with binders or a new wardrobe of clothes, accessories, and makeup. Aside from the literature, the store offers free contraceptives, Narcan, bilingual informational cards about Constitutional rights, nonperishable goods, and hygiene products—plus you can always find a flyer for an upcoming rally or craft night. Spencer had to cease the bookstore’s “Drag Story Hour” due to threats from counter-protesters and the political fallout from Florida’s vague “Protection of Children” act, the 2023 law which sought to prohibit children from attending any “adult live performance” that features sexual or lewd conduct. She insists, however, that the community of drag queens, transgender people, and grassroots organizers offer enough support to sustain business. Tallahassee’s fluctuating yet tight-knit environment as a college town has built a ragtag group of working-class avengers: union workers, guerilla gardeners, abortion advocates, climate activists, college students, and librarians. Delilah Pierre, the president of the Tallahassee Community Action Committee, has a highly regarded presence in Tallahassee’s activism circles for leading rallies against racial and trans injustices and creating the now-defunct citizen’s police review board. Citing Tallahassee’s civil rights-era bus boycott in 1956 led by the Reverend Charles Kenzie Steele, and sisters Patricia and Priscilla Stephens, who organized the Congress of Racial Equality’s sit-in with other FAMU students in 1960, she credits former Tallahassee residents for laying the groundwork to create a legacy of Black activism. “They put conscious attention into making sure that when they leave—and many of them will leave—don’t just leave everyone else to pick up the pieces,” Pierre tells The Progressive. “We have a plan for what leaving and transitional leadership is going to look like and what it means for someone else to be in a leadership role.” Although college campuses have been a decades-long route for radical ideologies through student-led feminist, identity-based, and LGBTQ+ organizations, being a born-and-raised Floridian offers a unique introduction to political consciousness. Without the academic language to understand how these historic events affect everyday people—not to mention the actions that remove words like “culture” and “diversity” in textbooks—how does one voice their interest in political education? Dara Britton, a homeschooled student in Leon County, says that her identity as a queer mixed-race person of Jamaican descent is one of many things that motivated her to participate in direct action, including a protest against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement assembled by a high school student in Leon County and Tallahassee’s No Kings rally in March. “I’m involved with a lot of homeschoolers and homeschool communities that are very queer and very open about their identities,” Britton, who uses she/they pronouns, tells The Progressive. “We build more surface-level connections about our common interests, and there’s so many people who are not scared to be themselves and their own identities.” Their closest friends, whom they met through a self-described homeschooling co-op, bond over their shared fear of book bans and attend protests together. “That’s what really brings us together—knowing that we are each other’s safe spaces and that we always have each other to turn to. It’s something that I haven’t really had before I joined this co-op.” At seventeen years old, Britton says she just “hopes to bring some joy.” Her resilience speaks for itself. “To the people who are feeling hopeless in this situation, look to other people. It’s easy to get wrapped up in [the news cycle] online, but you can’t help anyone if you’re not helping yourself. Turn to your friends, family, and the people who know how to help you. Spread the awareness and kindness that we want to get and hope to bring to the world. We are a community, even if some people don’t want us to be.” Despite the obstacles, LGBTQ+ creators and activists with resounding connections to Florida are reimagining a queer utopic version of the state. One that cares about its at-risk citrus trees, doesn’t build prisons over wetlands, prioritizes citizen-led committees instead of creating police training facilities, and supports queer authors rather than banning their books. Recent documentaries display an orange-tinted lens on Florida’s political struggles, such as Sasha Wortzel’s River of Grass, a psychedelic reimagined namesake of Marjory Stoneman Douglas’s book, and Patrick Bresnan’s First They Came for My College, which follows DeSantis’s coup at New College of Florida. Can’t Stop Change: Queer Climate Stories from the Florida Frontlines is another among these projects. The feature-length documentary chronicles climate justice through the eyes of fifteen artists, educators, and organizers. To open the film, Miami-based organizer Valencia Gunder speaks directly to some of the most marginalized Floridians: “Queer people, trans people, migrant people, Black people, brown people—this is your Florida. Don’t you let nobody tell you you need to go back where you came from.” She continues, applauding Floridians for their self-determination—an undeniable trait embedded in the DNA of most residents, allowing them to endure hurricanes and envision a liberated version of Florida. V Starks, an associate producer who is also featured in the film, understands this self-determination well as a born-and-raised Floridian from Jacksonville, the Southeast’s largest city. After attending a screening of Can’t Stop Change, Starks’s interest was piqued by seeing queer Floridians depicted in a way that didn’t write off the state as the nation’s armpit. Starks—who considers his high school’s Genders & Sexualities Alliance, natural hair club, and feminist club as their entry into radical thought and grassroots organizing—credits their role in the film as a challenge to rethink how he thought about his hometown. “I have so much love and respect for people who are there, and my heart is there, but I have geographically, physically separated myself,” Starks says of Jacksonville and his decision to temporarily move to Atlanta, Georgia, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Thanks to Starks’s involvement, Jacksonville was included in the extended cut of the documentary, introducing characters like Paige Mahogany Parks, the vibrant founder of the Transgender Awareness Project, who publicly condemned the uptick of Black transgender women murdered in Jacksonville in 2018. Above all, Starks hopes the film encourages people to interrogate queerness alongside the ways that we shape and shift narratives and affect change within our communities. “The film has been so core to my expanded understanding of abolitionist possibility,” he says. “If we can question gender—something that’s taught so neatly and ingrained—we can question anything. We can deconstruct and destroy worlds and build worlds.” Collective action is the contingency plan that gets us through hurricanes, book bans, and riot bills. Attending drag shows and protests with our neighbors expands our unlimited endurance in our fight for a state that sees and accepts us for who we are. Through the work of countless LGBTQ+ and youth organizers, we can see that Florida is worth fighting for. This content originally appeared on The Real News Network and was authored by Noella Williams.
TARUFU • live in Berlin (Germany / Japan 2025)
“Meet a Stranger”: StoryCorps Facilitates Conversations Across the U.S. for 250th Anniversary
The Trump administration’s commemorations of the 250th anniversary of the country’s founding have drawn criticism for their overt partisanship and conflicts of interest for the Trump family. Surveys show widespread ambivalence and ...
The Trump administration’s commemorations of the 250th anniversary of the country’s founding have drawn criticism for their overt partisanship and conflicts of interest for the Trump family. Surveys show widespread ambivalence and lack of enthusiasm for the semiquincentennial. StoryCorps founder Dave Isay has set out to capture the national mood with Connect250, an oral history project matching strangers across the United States to interview each other about their lives, families and formative experiences. The series is produced in partnership with NPR’s Morning Edition, with the conversations to be preserved in the Library of Congress. “It’s actually a very hopeful project,” says Isay. “We have to hold on to hope.” This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
“America, U.S.A.”: Eddie Glaude on the 250th Anniv., Race & “The Madness at the Heart of the Country”
“I do not love America, and never have, especially now.” Those are the opening words of America, U.S.A.: How Race Shadows the Nation’s Anniversaries, a new book from Princeton historian Eddie Glaude. Released ahead of the 250...
“I do not love America, and never have, especially now.” Those are the opening words of America, U.S.A.: How Race Shadows the Nation’s Anniversaries, a new book from Princeton historian Eddie Glaude. Released ahead of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, the book is a critical look back at how the United States has celebrated previous milestone birthdays, including what narratives were left out of the official commemorations. This comes as President Donald Trump has made himself the center of many events and celebrations for the 250th anniversary, while promoting a “storybook version” of U.S. history that elides the injustice that was baked into the very founding of the country, Glaude tells Democracy Now! in a wide-ranging conversation about race, inequality and the legacy of slavery. “Donald Trump and his supporters, they want to be white without judgment,” says Glaude. “History is a battleground, because history, of course, holds them to account.” This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
Nearly 50,000 Remain Missing in Venezuela as Earthquake Rescue Efforts Pivot to Recovery, Iran Denies U.S. Claims of Upcoming Talks Following Weekend Clashes, Israel Renews Attacks on Southern Lebanon After Signing U.S.-Brokered Deal, Children Among the Dead as Israel Continues to Bombard Gaza, Despite Ceasefire Deal, Gaza Humanitarian Convoy Activists Released from Libyan Prison, France’s Death Toll Tops 1,000 as Europe Bakes Under Unprecedented Heat Wave, Appeals Court Blocks Trump’s Rollback of Pollution Limits from Coal-Fired Plants, Kenyan Activists Arrested at Anti-Government Protests Say They Were Tortured by Police, Trump Taps Former Oklahoma State Trooper Lance Schroyer as Next ICE Director, Mexican Immigrant Dies at For-Profit ICE Jail in Texas, the 20th Such Death in 2026, Tens of Thousands in Budapest Celebrate First Pride Event Since Viktor Orbán’s Ouster, Court in Chile Sentences Former Secret Police over 1976 Assassination in Washington, D.C.
Nearly 50,000 Remain Missing in Venezuela as Earthquake Rescue Efforts Pivot to Recovery Iran Denies U.S. Claims of Upcoming Talks Following Weekend Clashes Israel Renews Attacks on Southern Lebanon After Signing U.S.-Brokered Deal Children Among the Dead as Israel Continues to Bombard Gaza, Despite Ceasefire Deal Gaza Humanitarian Convoy Activists Released from Libyan Prison France's Death Toll Tops 1,000 as Europe Bakes Under Unprecedented Heat Wave Appeals Court Blocks Trump's Rollback of Pollution Limits from Coal-Fired Plants Kenyan Activists Arrested at Anti-Government Protests Say They Were Tortured by Police Trump Taps Former Oklahoma State Trooper Lance Schroyer as Next ICE Director Mexican Immigrant Dies at For-Profit ICE Jail in Texas, the 20th Such Death in 2026 Tens of Thousands in Budapest Celebrate First Pride Event Since Viktor Orbán's Ouster Court in Chile Sentences Former Secret Police over 1976 Assassination in Washington, D.C. This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
Democracy Now! Monday, June 29, 2026 This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! Audio and was authored by Democracy Now!.
The Gaza doctrine – Israeli ‘journacide’ and the muted NZ media response
COMMENTARY: By David Robie, Pacific Media Watch A friend and colleague, Solidarity columnist Eugene Doyle, posed a brief question on the Facebook media page Kiwi Journalists Association last week. “Kiwi journalists . . . is there a reason for so little solidarity with Palestinian colleagues,” he mused over a haunting portrait of emaciated Palestinian journalist
COMMENTARY: By David Robie, Pacific Media Watch A friend and colleague, Solidarity columnist Eugene Doyle, posed a brief question on the Facebook media page Kiwi Journalists Association last week. “Kiwi journalists . . . is there a reason for so little solidarity with Palestinian colleagues,” he mused over a haunting portrait of emaciated Palestinian journalist Mujahid Abu Mufleh showing his appalling state after 14 months inside an Israel torture prison. “No trial. No conviction.” READ MORE: Silencing the messenger: Israel kills journalists, while the West merely censors them Improvements in Pacific media freedom, but a shameful silence on Gaza ‘death trap’ Facing up to genocide – a New Zealand journalist bears witness with Gaza and West Bank Other Gaza media reports <img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" class="wp-image-129870 size-full" src="https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Mujahid-Abu-Mufleh-KJA-400wide.png" alt="The image of Palestinian journalist Mujahid Abu Mufieh " width="400" height="447" srcset="https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Mujahid-Abu-Mufleh-KJA-400wide.png 400w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Mujahid-Abu-Mufleh-KJA-400wide-268x300.png 268w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Mujahid-Abu-Mufleh-KJA-400wide-376x420.png 376w" sizes="(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px" /> The image of Palestinian journalist Mujahid Abu Mufieh after 14 months in an Israeli jail that prompted the question about New Zealand media empathy. Image: ED/KJA This is what Palestinian hostages look like after release: emaciated, exhausted, and visibly scarred by prolonged detention. Occupied Palestine has become the deadliest place for journalists in the world. Yet merely three media people responded to Doyle’s question. Broadcaster and singer Moana Maniapoto (Te Arawa, Ngāti Tūwharetoa) summed up the cruel image as “journacide”, citing the use of the label by UN Special Rapporteur on Palestine and the Occupied Territories Francesca Albanese: “Absolutely shocking.” Journacide is a neologism used by scholars, journalists, and human rights experts to describe deliberate mass killing and hunting down of journalists and media workers in conflict zones. It is also the title of a harrowing new documentary on the topic: Journacide: The War on Truth. Courage and fortitude Community broadcaster and educator Victoria Quade commented: “I think few people living and working in relatively protected environments like New Zealand can imagine the courage and fortitude it takes to be a journalist under an oppressive regime where reporting on those regimes can be physically dangerous. “And, if they can imagine it, would be able to match that courage in their own lives.” A third comment was posted by communications adviser and journalist Susan Belt: “I think people are battle-worn after so much general genocide, kids and press included, on the part of Israel. There’s so much press targeting etc that it almost becomes ridiculous to keep posting on it. Stuff and NZME keep running Gaza, Lebanon stuff but because our govt like some others has not made much of a fuss about Israel’s illegal civilian and press killing in Gaza and its unprovoked attack on Iran and illegal forays into Lebanon, it leaves people feeling hopeless. “I am very pro-Palestinian rights and have been since the 1970s but even my Facebook friends despair at the sad postings I seem to always be doing. They know it’s very bad behaviour but we’re in a trance at the hopelessness of it. When our ally the US is backing Israel (though cooling of late) our govt is too scared to say what’s right because it doesn’t want to offend Trump’s team.” These comments reminded me that I have been puzzling over the generally poor and weak response from New Zealand journalists over what is currently the toughest moral and ethical challenge of our times. Yet, instead of facing up to the Gaza genocide and the accompanying journacide, most of our media colleagues have preferred to look away and remain silent. The prevailing attitude is that it is something remote and of little relevance to Aotearoa New Zealand. It is a response of denial, astonishing given that there have been protests across the motu against the Israeli genocide — and lately the unjustified US-Israeli war on Iran and fragile peace — for the past 142 weeks: by far the longest and sustained political protests ever in this country, yet largely ignored by the media. This has led to many public protests over media coverage. These too have rarely been reported. <img decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-114017" src="https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/WPFD-TVNZ-APR-680wide.jpg" alt="Palestinian protesters at TVNZ headquarters while demonstrating against the public broadcaster's coverage of the Israeli war against Gaza" width="680" height="383" srcset="https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/WPFD-TVNZ-APR-680wide.jpg 680w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/WPFD-TVNZ-APR-680wide-300x169.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px" /> Palestinian protesters at TVNZ headquarters while demonstrating against the public broadcaster’s coverage of the Israeli war against Gaza on World Press Freedom Day, 3 May 2025. Image: Asia Pacific Report Genocide in plain view My own articles on the topic on Aotearoa and the Pacific, while stirring responses internationally, have barely raised a ripple in this country. Shameful responses to a genocide — at least 73,000 Palestinians killed in Gaza, 20,000 of them children — revealed daily before our very eyes. Even since the sham ceasefire declared in October, more than 1000 people have been killed. And the cost in lives of hundreds of Palestinian journalists trying to bear witness on the annihilation of their own communities is deeply shocking. Yet this barely raises a shrug from New Zealand journalists. In a report released last week by the Freedoms Committee of the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate, a chilling new statistic was revealed — out of an estimated 1200 journalists in Gaza between 60 and 75 percent of them have lost their homes or been forcibly displaced since 7 October 2023. The report, titled “Media Without Walls”, also said that approximately 265 journalists had been killed since the start of the conflict, by far the highest death toll recorded globally against journalists in a single conflict. More than 80 percent of media offices and institutions had been completely or partially destroyed, leading to an “almost complete collapse” of journalistic infrastructure, it said. The report added that journalists in Gaza no longer work from newsrooms but from tents, footpaths and shelter centres, with mobile phones as their primary production tool and intermittent internet dictating when they can publish. “I lost my home and my office in the same week,” said one displaced journalist, Dr Ahed Farwana. “I no longer have a place to write, but I write from my phone among people, sometimes while searching for water for my family.” ‘Trying to concentrate’ Another Gaza journalist, Ola Kassab, said: “I work from inside a displacement shelter, choosing the quietest corner I can find. The hardest part is not the bombing itself, but trying to concentrate amid the overcrowding and fear.” Photojournalist Wisam Zughair said: “The camera is no longer the heaviest thing I carry; it is the feeling that I may also be documenting what could happen to me.” <img decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-129875" src="https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Ahmed-Wishah-AJ-680wide.png" alt="Al Jazeera photojournalist Ahmed Wishah" width="680" height="507" srcset="https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Ahmed-Wishah-AJ-680wide.png 680w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Ahmed-Wishah-AJ-680wide-300x224.png 300w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Ahmed-Wishah-AJ-680wide-80x60.png 80w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Ahmed-Wishah-AJ-680wide-265x198.png 265w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Ahmed-Wishah-AJ-680wide-563x420.png 563w" sizes="(max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px" /> Al Jazeera photojournalist Ahmed Wishah, 25, . . . killed in an Israeli air attack on central Gaza’s Bureij refugee camp. Image: AJ screenshot APR Just two weeks ago, an Al Jazeera photojournalist, Ahmed Wishah, 25, was killed in an Israeli air attack on central Gaza’s Bureij refugee camp. He was the 12th Al Jazeera journalist killed by Israel in Gaza since 2023. His targeted murder came just weeks after his brother Mohammed Wishah, who also worked for the Doha-based global television network, was killed in a deliberate Israeli shelling of his car. In an interview after his brother’s death, Wishah called on the world to stop the killing of journalists. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-129878 size-full" src="https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Journalism-is-not-a-crime-AJ-680wide.png" alt="A Syrian journalist protesting over the killing of reporters in Gaza" width="680" height="494" srcset="https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Journalism-is-not-a-crime-AJ-680wide.png 680w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Journalism-is-not-a-crime-AJ-680wide-300x218.png 300w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Journalism-is-not-a-crime-AJ-680wide-324x235.png 324w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Journalism-is-not-a-crime-AJ-680wide-578x420.png 578w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px" /> Syrian journalists protesting over the killing of reporters in Gaza. Image: AJ screenshot APR “Let the martyrdom of Mohammed Wishah be the end to the killing of journalists. This is my message to the world . . . Stop the Israeli occupation from targeting journalists.” Smearing journalists The routine response of Israeli military authorities is a hamfisted attempt to smear all Gazan journalists as “Hamas terrorists”. There is never any credible evidence to back this up and it is shameful that New Zealand media simply echo these lies from a discredited regime whose Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in a “false balance”. The New York-based Committee to Protest Journalists (CPJ) and Paris-based media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) have frequently condemned the “smearing of killed Palestine journalists” with “baseless claims”. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-129872" src="https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Al-Jazeera-statement-AJ-680wide.png" alt="Al Jazeera called on press freedom organisations and “people of conscience around the world” to take urgent action" width="680" height="527" srcset="https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Al-Jazeera-statement-AJ-680wide.png 680w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Al-Jazeera-statement-AJ-680wide-300x233.png 300w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Al-Jazeera-statement-AJ-680wide-542x420.png 542w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px" /> Al Jazeera called on press freedom organisations and “people of conscience around the world” to take urgent action to safeguard all journalists in the Gaza Strip. Image: AJ screenshot APR In a statement, Al Jazeera said it condemned the Israeli occupation army’s “baseless accusations”, which sought to “justify its crimes against Al Jazeera journalists and cameramen in Gaza, most recently the killing of cameraman Ahmed Wishah”. “Since October 2023, the Israeli campaign of incitement has relentlessly spread false allegations and baseless accusations against Al Jazeera staff. The Network considers this smear campaign a transparent and futile attempt to justify the deliberate targeting of journalists and cameramen whose only ‘crime’ has been their courageous determination to document and expose the genocide being perpetrated by Israeli occupation forces in the Gaza Strip. “These attempts deceive no one and cannot obscure the truth witnessed by the world.” Al Jazeera called on press freedom organisations and “people of conscience around the world” to take urgent action to safeguard all journalists in the Gaza Strip and ensure their safety. Reporters Without Borders has filed at least five complaints with the ICC over alleged war crimes against journalists, and together with other media freedom groups such as the Foreign Press Association, has repeatedly, but unsuccessfully, sought an Israeli Supreme Court ruling overturning the IDF’s ban on global journalists being allowed into Gaza to see the reality for themselves. Gaza bloodlust spreading Another disturbing factor about the slaughter of journalists is the fact that the Israeli bloodlust against journalists in Gaza is spreading also to the illegally occupied West Bank and the invaded Lebanon. Journacide: The War on Truth Video: Democracy Now! Irish filmmaker Seán Murray has investigated Israel’s killings of journalists in his new feature documentary Journacide: The War on Truth, which was featured by Democracy Now! earlier this month. Murray says the term “journacide” applies to Israel’s military actions because of the “explicit nature of the targeting and killing of journalists” as a way to silence the truth. The filmmaker describes it as “the Gaza doctrine that is now being applied in Lebanon”. Democracy Now!’s Amy Goodman highlighted the attempted killing on June 15 of Iranian journalist Hadi Hoteit, who was working for the news outlet Press TV in southern Lebanon. He was attacked by an Israeli drone while reporting live for his network at Kafr Tebnit. Although he survived the attack, he was struck by six pieces of shrapnel. With the latest invasion of Lebanon by Israel, the death toll of journalists has now topped 29. Murray investigated the killings of four of those journalists for his documentary Journacide. On March 28, journalists Ali Shoeib and brother and sister Fatima and Mohamed Ftouni were killed — all together — in an Israeli drone strike on their car. The following month, on April 22, Amal Khalil was injured in an airstrike and died from her injuries after waiting for hours inside a bombed building as rescuers awaited clearance from Israeli forces to reach her, reports Democracy Now! About the silence In a trailer for the documentary, Murray says the film is not about war, it is about the silence. “As Lebanon burns, silence has now become the greatest weapon of oppression. This is a tale of those that fought different, the story of the gatekeepers of truth.” In the Democracy Now! interview about his film, Murray explores the lengths that Israeli military authorities go to create false narratives about journalists, even to falsifying documents and creating fake images. “I think Journacide effectively gives the explicit nature of the targeting and killing of journalists. I think that it fits perfectly. Not only do we see the targeting of journalists, but it’s the double-tap strikes that we see with the Gaza doctrine, that is now being applied in Lebanon. “So, in the case of Ali, Fatima and Mohamed, the original strike killed Ali and Mohamed, and it was a double tap then that killed Fatima, Mohamed’s sister, in the second strike. “This is a deliberate targeting of journalists. The reasons behind that is to, of course, silence what is happening in Lebanon, the ethnic cleansing that’s going on, the mass war crimes that’s being committed. “But Lebanon is a little bit different. Israel doesn’t have the geographical repressive abilities that they did in Gaza. And we see that now playing out.” A wake up call surely for the Middle East realities for New Zealand journalists. David Robie is convenor of Pacific Media Watch. This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by Pacific Media Watch.
CPJ, partners condemn targeting of journalists covering South Africa’s anti-migrant protests
The Committee to Protect Journalists has joined seven other media freedom organizations in condemning attacks on foreign nationals and the targeting of journalists covering anti-migrant protests in South Africa. In a joint statement, issued ahead of the June 30 deadline set by the anti-migrant group March and March, the organizations called on its leaders to...
The Committee to Protect Journalists has joined seven other media freedom organizations in condemning attacks on foreign nationals and the targeting of journalists covering anti-migrant protests in South Africa. In a joint statement, issued ahead of the June 30 deadline set by the anti-migrant group March and March, the organizations called on its leaders to end unlawful action, stop threatening journalists, and reject conduct that could expose journalists to intimidation or violence. They also urged political parties supporting the campaign to distance themselves from threats against journalists and rhetoric that incites hostility or violence against foreign nationals. The coalition called on authorities to protect foreign nationals and journalists, ensure journalists can work safely and without interference, and hold those responsible for threats, assaults and incitement to violence to account. It said March and March had used social media to identify journalists and encourage supporters to do the same in a blatant attempt to intimidate and silence independent reporting. Read the full statement here. This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.
Native American Tribes Came Together to Secure Their Rights to Colorado River Water. Four States Are Stalling the Deal.
The post Native American Tribes Came Together to Secure Their Rights to Colorado River Water. Four States Are Stalling the Deal. appeared first on ProPublica.
A man fills his water tank at a well a few miles from the Hopi village of Mishongnovi, on the tribe’s northern Arizona reservation. A deal to bring Colorado River water to Native American communities in northern Arizona, where a third of homes lack running water, is being blocked by neighboring states, caught up in a broader battle over how to divide the dwindling river. The largest tribal water rights settlement in U.S. history — the product of decades of negotiations to secure water for the Navajo Nation, Hopi Tribe and San Juan Southern Paiute Tribe — was on the verge of being realized before Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming stepped in to oppose it being codified by Congress. “We have significant unresolved concerns with the legislation that may affect each of our states’ rights to and interests in Colorado River water,” negotiators for Utah and Wyoming wrote in March to the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs in a previously unreported letter. New Mexico and Colorado sent similar letters. Those four states, known collectively as the Upper Basin, are at a stalemate with the Lower Basin states of Arizona, California and Nevada over new rules governing how they share the Colorado River, a key water source for nearly 40 million people. Congress and the White House, under both Democratic and Republican leadership, have declined to approve the settlement until all parties reach an agreement. For 83-year-old Marilyn Tewa, the stalemate means her family will continue to go without running water. Tewa serves on the Hopi Tribal Council, where her duties include working on the water rights agreement, but her village of Mishongnovi, on the tribe’s northern Arizona reservation, lacks indoor plumbing. Every other day, she loads 5-gallon buckets into her pickup and drives 5 miles to a windmill originally built for livestock that draws untreated water from underground. “That’s what keeps us alive,” Tewa said, tapping the spigot on a May afternoon. Back home, Tewa bustled about her kitchen while her daughter kneaded dough for dinner. There’s no faucet in the kitchen, which is decorated with a framed American flag and a painting of a katsina, a figure with spiritual significance in Hopi culture. Instead, the family stores water in large plastic containers. Because of the lack of indoor plumbing, the Tewa family and its neighbors use portable toilets that stand among the houses. If passed into law, the Northeastern Arizona Indian Water Rights Settlement Act would resolve the largest outstanding claim on the Colorado River while providing about $5 billion in federal funding to build infrastructure to transport the water across the reservations. The legislation would also go beyond water rights, creating a reservation for the San Juan Southern Paiute. The tribe’s effort to secure a permanent homeland was added to the settlement due to their difficulty getting it through Congress independently. “That’s my prayer,” Tewa said, “that we get this settlement through for all three tribes.” <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="1127" width="752" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-23_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?w=752" alt="A close-up portrait of an elderly woman with silver hair tied back. She is wearing a blue patterned top, turquoise earrings and a gold ring, and holding her hands near her face." class="wp-image-84622" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-23_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg 2001w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-23_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=200,300 200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-23_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=768,1151 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-23_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=683,1024 683w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-23_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1025,1536 1025w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-23_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1366,2048 1366w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-23_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=863,1294 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-23_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=422,633 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-23_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=552,828 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-23_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=558,837 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-23_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=527,790 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-23_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=752,1127 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-23_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1149,1723 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-23_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1067,1600 1067w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-23_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=400,600 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-23_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=800,1199 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-23_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1200,1799 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-23_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1600,2399 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" /> The stalemate over water rights means 83-year-old Marilyn Tewa will continue living without running water. The tribes need pipes, pumps and treatment plants to use the water secured through the settlement. To defray the cost beyond the federal government’s expected contribution, the Navajo and Hopi plan to lease some of their water rights, almost certainly to growing towns around Phoenix. The towns would pay to use the tribes’ water for a set number of years. While the Lower Basin states support the settlement, the Upper Basin states have latched onto this provision in particular as they stand in the way of the settlement. The Colorado River’s upper and lower basins don’t precisely follow state borders. Some states have portions in both sections, and the line dividing the two basins cuts across northeastern Arizona and directly through the Navajo reservation. If water moves across that line, they argue, the rules governing the river give them veto power over the settlement. (It’s an open legal question whether approval from all seven states is necessary.) The Upper Basin states fear that, in the future, water they currently control might be leased on an open market. They view any monetary transaction that moves water downstream as setting a precedent that could allow the highest bidder — possibly thirsty cities with money such as Los Angeles, Phoenix and Las Vegas — to buy vast quantities of their water. In an effort to assuage that concern and close the deal, the Navajo and Hopi made major concessions over the volume of water and length of time they could lease. The tribes also offered to leave some of their water in one of the river’s drought-depleted reservoirs to help keep water levels high enough that it could continue flowing downstream. But the Upper Basin has not wavered in its opposition. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="502" width="752" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-30_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?w=752" alt="On the concrete patio of a modest home sit a collection of white and blue utility buckets, several white and rusted propane tanks and a small, red grill." class="wp-image-84623" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-30_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg 3000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-30_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-30_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-30_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-30_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1536,1025 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-30_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2048,1366 2048w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-30_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=863,576 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-30_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=422,281 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-30_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=552,368 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-30_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=558,372 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-30_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=527,352 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-30_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=752,502 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-30_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1149,766 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-30_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=459,306 459w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-30_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2000,1334 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-30_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=400,267 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-30_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=800,534 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-30_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1200,800 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-30_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1600,1067 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" /> Tewa’s family travels 5 miles each way to haul water in 5-gallon plastic buckets from a well initially drilled for livestock. ProPublica and KJZZ News-Phoenix reached out to the governor, senators and lead negotiator from every Upper Basin state for comment. Utah’s and Wyoming’s lead negotiators deferred to the letter they co-signed. A spokesperson for New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said in a statement that the tribes addressed most of the state’s concerns but that questions remain as to whether the water that the tribes would lease to Arizona cities could be counted as part of what the Upper Basin states are legally required to send to the Lower Basin. “New Mexico remains committed to finding a workable solution,” the spokesperson said. A spokesperson for Colorado Gov. Jared Polis also said the state is “committed to finding a path forward” and pointed to the letter that Becky Mitchell, the state’s lead river negotiator, submitted to Congress. Mitchell wrote that the settlement’s leasing provisions violate laws governing the river and that the state was concerned about what the sale of water across the basin would mean for “the security and certainty” of Colorado’s share of the river. Heather Tanana is an assistant professor at the University of Denver’s law school, where she focuses on federal Indian law. She is also a citizen of the Navajo Nation and said the Upper Basin is “trying to hide behind” how the river has traditionally been managed rather than find a way to give the tribes access to a resource that is rightfully theirs and one that they need to survive. “It’s a fundamental human rights issue,” she said. While negotiations drag on, the three tribes continue waiting for water they say will help them to build more housing, grow sustainable economies, better protect public health and preserve cultural practices. The Hopi believe their ancestors return as clouds to bring the rain that nourishes their corn, but drought is wracking the region. An overreliance on groundwater has dried up springs that have been used for ceremonies and agriculture for centuries. When the settlement brings more water to the reservation, Tewa said, aquifers will have a chance to recharge, restoring the springs. “I’m speaking on behalf of my children, my grandchildren and their children that haven’t come yet,” she said. “I hope, in the future, that they will have water.” <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="1708" width="2560" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-31_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?w=2560" alt="A village of small, flat-roofed stone buildings sits atop a rocky, sunlit hill." class="wp-image-84624" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-31_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg 3000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-31_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-31_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-31_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-31_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1536,1025 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-31_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2048,1366 2048w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-31_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=863,576 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-31_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=422,281 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-31_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=552,368 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-31_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=558,372 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-31_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=527,352 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-31_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=752,502 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-31_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1149,766 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-31_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=459,306 459w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-31_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2000,1334 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-31_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=400,267 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-31_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=800,534 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-31_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1200,800 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-31_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1600,1067 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /> The village of Mishongnovi, which Tewa represents on the Hopi Tribal Council, sits atop a rocky mesa. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="797" width="1149" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-34_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?w=1149" alt="A close-up of a person’s weathered hands being washed, with water dripping from their fingers. She is wearing a gold ring and a metallic watchband." class="wp-image-84626" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-34_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg 3000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-34_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=300,208 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-34_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=768,532 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-34_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1024,710 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-34_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1536,1065 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-34_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2048,1420 2048w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-34_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=863,598 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-34_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=422,293 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-34_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=552,383 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-34_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=558,387 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-34_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=527,365 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-34_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=752,521 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-34_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1149,797 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-34_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2000,1387 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-34_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=400,277 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-34_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=800,555 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-34_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1200,832 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-34_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1600,1109 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1149px) 100vw, 1149px" /> Tewa washes her hands with untreated water she hauled from a well. Fighting for Water Since Elvis Was on TV That the settlement even reached Congress seemed like a small miracle to those involved. The 30 federally recognized tribes with land in the Colorado River Basin are estimated to have a right to at least a quarter of the river’s flow. But there’s little incentive to hand tribes the water to which they are entitled. Their rights are the most senior on the river, meaning in times of shortage everyone else would see their water cut before the tribes. But because the tribes currently use a fraction of their water, farmers, cities and businesses are able to use the rest for free. If the tribes were to use every drop to which they are entitled, the system of sharing the river that supports more than $1 trillion in annual economic output would collapse. “Everybody’s getting free Navajo, Hopi and San Juan Southern Paiute water right now. The seven basin states are all benefiting in the absence of a settlement,” said Ethel Branch, a former Navajo attorney general who was involved in the negotiations, adding that the water had been “stolen for over a century.” In 1908, the Supreme Court ruled that, if the federal government confined tribes to reservations, then it owed them enough water to sustain an agrarian economy on that land. But securing that promised water, referred to as “Winters rights,” has proven arduous. Tribes were excluded from the compacts that apportioned the river. The Navajo in particular were barred from joining a seminal case quantifying other users’ rights, and members of the tribe themselves rejected a proposed settlement in 2012 when they viewed the deal as unfair. So the tribe went back to the Supreme Court, asking that the justices force the federal government to quickly settle the claims. The Navajo once again lost, with the court’s majority deciding that their treaty with the U.S. didn’t require the government to take any “affirmative steps” to deliver the water it owed the tribe. “At each turn, they have received the same answer: ‘Try again,’” Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote of the Navajo in his dissent. “When this routine first began in earnest, Elvis was still making his rounds on The Ed Sullivan Show.” Arizona politicians and tribal leaders have since concluded that they needed to combine all three tribes’ claims to finally settle their rights. That was no simple feat. The Navajo and Hopi have long had a contentious relationship. Underlining their thorny partnership, leaders of various tribes around the region have accused Navajo, the largest tribal nation in the U.S., of flexing their political strength to the detriment of other tribes. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="502" width="752" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-33_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?w=752" alt="A wide, high-angle view of a vast, arid desert landscape under a hazy sky, with scattered small structures and dirt roads stretching toward a distant mountain range." class="wp-image-84625" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-33_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg 3000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-33_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-33_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-33_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-33_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1536,1025 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-33_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2048,1366 2048w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-33_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=863,576 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-33_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=422,281 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-33_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=552,368 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-33_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=558,372 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-33_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=527,352 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-33_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=752,502 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-33_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1149,766 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-33_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=459,306 459w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-33_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2000,1334 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-33_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=400,267 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-33_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=800,534 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-33_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1200,800 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-33_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1600,1067 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" /> About a third of homes on the Navajo Nation lack the pipes and other infrastructure necessary to deliver running water, including near Page, Arizona, close to a large reservoir on the Colorado River. Arizona also historically clashed with local tribes over water. The state often inserted unrelated provisions into proposed settlements, which some tribes viewed as poison pills and had the effect of stalling the agreements. But Navajo and Hopi struck a deal, and Arizona moved off its bargaining position. Now in lockstep, the settlement’s supporters turned to Congress, only to hit more roadblocks: The House of Representatives balked at the spiraling price tag to fund the deals; presidential administrations were unwilling to expend political capital on such settlements; and more than a dozen settlements are in the works, clogging the system. (No settlement has been enacted since 2022.) “Partisanship has gone to a new low in this country, and Indian water settlements have gotten swept up into that,” said Pam Williams, who spent about two decades as director of the Secretary’s Indian Water Rights Office in the Department of the Interior before she retired last year. In November 2024, as President Donald Trump prepared for his return to the White House, the tribes believed they had an opening to get their settlement through Congress while President Joe Biden was still in office. Navajo leadership had supported the Democratic presidential ticket and feared the incoming administration would be vindictive toward them. Every basin state’s lead negotiator, tribes’ staff and a federal representative descended upon the Arizona Department of Water Resources’ offices in Phoenix for what several attendees described as a “Hail Mary.” At the meeting, the Navajo offered a major compromise: limiting how much water they could lease and for how long they could lease it. But the Upper Basin states showed up with a list of grievances, multiple attendees told ProPublica and KJZZ News-Phoenix, and weren’t interested in negotiating over the Navajo leasing concessions. “It’s difficult for the Upper Basin to wrap their heads around this settlement,” said Tom Buschatzke, Arizona’s Colorado River lead. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="502" width="752" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-13_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?w=752" alt="A portrait of a man wearing a blue suit jacket, a striped collared shirt and glasses. He wears a wide-brimmed black hat adorned with silver accents and a feather, and is looking slightly off-camera against a background featuring a tribal flag." class="wp-image-84620" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-13_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg 3000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-13_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-13_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-13_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-13_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1536,1025 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-13_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2048,1366 2048w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-13_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=863,576 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-13_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=422,281 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-13_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=552,368 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-13_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=558,372 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-13_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=527,352 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-13_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=752,502 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-13_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1149,766 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-13_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=459,306 459w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-13_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2000,1334 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-13_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=400,267 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-13_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=800,534 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-13_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1200,800 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-13_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1600,1067 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" /> Navajo President Buu Nygren says the fact that his tribe’s reservation straddles the upper and lower divisions of the Colorado River Basin should not be held against the tribe as it negotiates for water. In March 2026, leaders from the tribes traveled to Washington for a Senate hearing where they made an impassioned plea for Congress to pass a version of the bill that now included the concessions they had offered in the Hail Mary meeting. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, the Alaska Republican who ran the hearing, expressed support for the settlement but worried its $5 billion price tag was too high, a concern echoed by an Interior Department official who testified. (The tribes and department are currently negotiating to shrink that cost.) All four Upper Basin states submitted comments opposing the settlement. Their main concerns were about the ability to lease across the basin and whether the water for the settlement would be counted against the upper or lower division of the river. Leasing would last only as long as it’s needed to pay for infrastructure to distribute their newly acquired water, said Navajo President Buu Nygren. It would not set a precedent, he said, because no other tribe straddles both basins. “We shouldn’t be punished for being in two basins,” Nygren said, “because other tribal nations, other settlements have been able to lease water.” <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="1708" width="2560" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-38_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?w=2560" alt="Construction workers in high-visibility vests work at a red-dirt excavation site alongside concrete foundations, while a large yellow excavator digs in the background." class="wp-image-84627" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-38_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg 3000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-38_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-38_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-38_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-38_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1536,1025 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-38_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2048,1366 2048w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-38_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=863,576 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-38_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=422,281 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-38_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=552,368 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-38_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=558,372 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-38_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=527,352 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-38_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=752,502 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-38_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1149,766 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-38_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=459,306 459w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-38_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2000,1334 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-38_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=400,267 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-38_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=800,534 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-38_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1200,800 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-38_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1600,1067 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /> A construction crew installs pipes at the new LeChee Water Treatment Plant near Lake Powell, along the Arizona-Utah border. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="766" width="1149" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-05_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?w=1149" alt="An industrial water pumping station with a tall antenna sits on a rocky bluff overlooking a large river canyon. In the distance, numerous white houseboats are moored together along the water." class="wp-image-84619" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-05_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg 3000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-05_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-05_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-05_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-05_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1536,1025 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-05_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2048,1366 2048w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-05_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=863,576 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-05_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=422,281 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-05_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=552,368 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-05_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=558,372 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-05_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=527,352 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-05_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=752,502 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-05_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1149,766 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-05_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=459,306 459w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-05_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2000,1334 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-05_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=400,267 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-05_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=800,534 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-05_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1200,800 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-05_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1600,1067 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1149px) 100vw, 1149px" /> The former Navajo Generating Station’s intakes, which drew water from Lake Powell to cool the coal power plant, sit unused, awaiting funding from the stalled settlement. “How Precious Water Is to Us” During the decades that the tribes fought to access their water, they helped quench the thirst of growing cities in the Colorado River Basin. A water intake plant on Navajo land drew from Lake Powell to cool the nearby Navajo Generating Station. The coal plant powered pumps for the Central Arizona Project, the 336-mile series of canals that sends Colorado River water to Phoenix and Tucson. The power station shut down in 2019, and the intake plant was handed over to the Navajo for the iiná bá-paa tuwaqat’si pipeline, which means “for life” in Diné and “water is life” in Hopi, to deliver water to the three tribes. But for now, the massive pumps remain mothballed, the building sitting musty and dark like a tomb, and the pipeline remains an engineering schematic, waiting for funding from the stalled settlement. The irony is not lost on tribal leaders, they told ProPublica and KJZZ News-Phoenix: After helping deliver water beyond their lands, they are now blocked from using that same water and infrastructure to sustain their communities. The insult is compounded, they said, by the fact that water use is drastically lower on reservations. “It’s not about green-grass lawns or golf courses or swimming pools,” said Crystalyne Curley, speaker of the Navajo Nation Council. “It’s just basically turning on the faucet and getting water to boil eggs for your children or turning on a faucet to wipe and clean the table or washing your hands after butchering a sheep.” <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="502" width="752" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-20_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?w=752" alt="A wide, elevated view of a man standing alone on a vast, eroded gray ridge in a desert landscape. The setting sun casts a warm, golden glow across the tops of the distant hills." class="wp-image-84621" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-20_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg 3000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-20_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-20_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-20_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-20_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1536,1025 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-20_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2048,1366 2048w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-20_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=863,576 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-20_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=422,281 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-20_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=552,368 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-20_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=558,372 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-20_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=527,352 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-20_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=752,502 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-20_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1149,766 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-20_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=459,306 459w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-20_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2000,1334 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-20_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=400,267 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-20_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=800,534 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-20_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1200,800 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260623-Chischilly-WaterRights-20_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1600,1067 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" /> San Juan Southern Paiute Vice President Johnny Lehi Jr. is fighting for the settlement because it would finally ratify a treaty with the Navajo that would create a reservation for his tribe. For the San Juan Southern Paiute, the settlement is also about having a permanent homeland. They have no reservation but struck a deal with Navajo in 2000 to transfer some of its land. Since the tribes already reached an agreement, it’s an uncontroversial proposition. But, without political clout to get Congress to take it up, the land transfer was pulled into the water settlement. “​​During the COVID era, it took a lot of the tribal elders, and there are only a handful that saw the treaty signed and are really wanting to see this before their time is up,” said San Juan Southern Paiute Vice President Johnny Lehi Jr., whose father signed the 2000 agreement. Finally securing a reservation, he said, means the ability to build housing and develop an economy for a tribe that currently rents its government building. Nearby, on the Hopi reservation, Councilmember Marilyn Fredericks grabbed a pair of hiking poles, donned a hat with a roadrunner pin on it and set out from her village on a recent spring afternoon. To stay fit as she grows older, she walks up and down the hand-carved steps of a terraced garden that used to produce food for her community. Seven natural springs once fed the garden, but only two still flow. Ponds that stored their excess sit dry, stains on the rock now just a memory of the water. It’s been six years since there was enough to plant. The settlement would fund a pipeline that would be “our umbilical cord,” Fredericks said. Future generations of Hopi have a right to clean, reliable water, she said. “This is evidence of how precious water is to us.” The post Native American Tribes Came Together to Secure Their Rights to Colorado River Water. Four States Are Stalling the Deal. appeared first on ProPublica. This content originally appeared on ProPublica and was authored by Mark Olalde.
Climate activists take on a new foe: Data centers
As climate action stalls, the movement is finding new energy in local fights to stop polluting, power-hungry facilities.
Amid the many political casualties of 2025 — mass federal layoffs, shuttered agencies, and clean energy spending cuts — the passing of one of the last decade’s defining political projects went almost entirely unnoticed. On December 31, 2025, the Green New Deal Network, a coalition of climate, labor, and social justice organizations, officially died. The coalition wasn’t intended to last forever, but its demise was sped up by the political mood that got President Donald Trump reelected in 2024, when the momentum that the movement had enjoyed under the Biden administration seemingly evaporated overnight. As Trump launched an all-out assault on environmental regulations and climate policies, the climate movement was left at a loss, unsure how to push for change with the public increasingly focused on other issues, like the cost of living, and a federal government hostile to its cause. “The conditions under which the Green New Deal Network was founded have fundamentally changed,” the coalition’s site said, explaining its decision to fold. “The mission of climate, jobs, and justice is far from over — but the structure built to win a specific moment is no longer the right vehicle for what comes next.” Saul Levin, who was the network’s director of campaigns and politics, knew what was next for him personally: fighting AI data centers. The artificial intelligence boom has created a surge in construction of giant facilities that process digital information, and communities across the country are working to stop them from being built, concerned about water usage, soaring energy bills, and Big Tech taking over. Over a year ago, Levin had started a Signal chat to help people opposing data centers get organized. Now, his chat has about 350 members across 40 states, and he’s busy with his new podcast, “The Hum,” capturing their stories and highlighting successes. Many climate activists are following a similar path. Concerns about greenhouse gas emissions, air and water pollution, and social justice fit organically into the growing anti-data center movement, which has attracted a much broader, bipartisan coalition than the Green New Deal ever did. “The climate movement is increasingly realizing that this is a fight that’s both an important fight and a strategic fight,” said Evan Sutton, an anti-AI advocate who’s helping connect people who oppose data centers. Take the Sunrise Movement, whose members stormed Representative Nancy Pelosi’s office in 2018 to demand a Green New Deal, catapulting the idea into the national conversation. “We’ve definitely seen a surge of interest in data center fights around the country,” said Aru Shiney-Ajay, the group’s executive director. Local Sunrise hubs have been mobilizing to stop data centers in Dallas, Denver, Pittsburgh, and Lansing, Michigan, Shiney-Ajay said. There’s a logical reason for the climate movement to get involved: These “hyperscale” data centers are poised to cause carbon emissions to spike. A new report from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory found that data centers could account for about one-third of the growth in U.S. electricity demand between 2024 and 2030. This thirst for energy is driving the expansion of infrastructure for natural gas, a fossil fuel. A typical AI data center demands as much electricity as 100,000 households, but some of the largest ones being built may use up to 20 times that, according to the International Energy Agency. The rapid expansion of data centers threatens to “undo a huge amount of the progress that we made in terms of moving towards clean energy,” Shiney-Ajay said. “If we don’t really seriously start to pass policy that mitigates that, then they could be a disaster for our climate.” <img decoding="async" src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Sunrise-Movement-Pelosi-office.jpg?quality=75&strip=all" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Sunrise-Movement-Pelosi-office.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Sunrise-Movement-Pelosi-office.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=330 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Sunrise-Movement-Pelosi-office.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=768 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Sunrise-Movement-Pelosi-office.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Sunrise-Movement-Pelosi-office.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1536 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Sunrise-Movement-Pelosi-office.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=160&h=90&crop=1 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Sunrise-Movement-Pelosi-office.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=640&h=853&crop=1 640w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Sunrise-Movement-Pelosi-office.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=96&h=96&crop=1 96w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Sunrise-Movement-Pelosi-office.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=150 150w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Sunrise-Movement-Pelosi-office.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 1024w" alt="Photo of protesters holding signs for a Green New Deal" data-caption="Sunrise Movement protesters call for a Green New Deal at Representative Nancy Pelosi’s office in Washington, D.C., in 2018. " data-credit="Michael Brochstein / SOPA Images / LightRocket via Getty Images"/> Sunrise Movement protesters call for a Green New Deal at Representative Nancy Pelosi’s office in Washington, D.C., in 2018. Michael Brochstein / SOPA Images / LightRocket via Getty Images Some established environmental organizations have gotten on board with suspending hyperscale data center construction. A letter sent to Congress this month calling for a nationwide moratorium was signed by more than 500 groups, most of them related to the environment, climate change, or environmental justice — such as Greenpeace USA, Third Act, GreenLatinos, and Food and Water Watch. But some of the biggest names of the U.S. environmental movement were absent from the list, including the Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and the Nature Conservancy. That’s not to say they’re pro-data center, though. “The speculative rush to build data centers is harming ratepayers, our climate, and community health, which is why we urgently need protections from states and the federal government,” Jeremy Fisher, the Sierra Club’s principal advisor, said in an emailed statement. The organization advocates for holding Big Tech to a higher standard in terms of environmental and health impacts and argues that companies should invest in clean energy to run their facilities instead of fossil fuels. “Data centers can and should be powered with renewable energy that does not threaten our environment and our health, our wallets, or our environment,” Fisher said. Thomas Meyer, the organizing projects director at Food and Water Watch, which led the letter to Congress, said that powering data centers with clean energy doesn’t solve the problem. In Washington state, for instance, Amazon outbid the utility Puget Sound Energy in an auction for an enormous Oregon solar farm, leaving the utility concerned about competition for renewable resources as Amazon races to build energy-hungry data centers. “What about the things that that solar power would have gone to power instead?” Meyer said. “You haven’t grown the pie. You’ve just shifted it from one place to another.” Big green groups may also be taking cues from Democratic politicians, many of whom, like Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, have been friendly to data center development. “The unfortunate reality is that some organizations tend to follow rather than lead, especially when it comes to mainstream positions of Democratic Party leaders or elected officials,” Meyer said. Meyer witnessed a similar dynamic a decade ago when working as a field organizer on campaigns to ban fracking: a disconnect between grassroots energy and mainstream institutions. Established environmental groups tend to move more slowly than bottom-up movements, said Valerie Costa, co-executive director of the Oil and Gas Action Network, a nonprofit that supports grassroots groups working to move the U.S. beyond fossil fuels. “One of the things that grassroots movements do really well is shifting when there are more immediate threats, and being able to respond quickly,” Costa said. That was recently in play in Seattle, where the climate activist group 350 Seattle joined the push to pass a moratorium on new large data centers after the news broke this spring that five major facilities could be coming to town. If all the projects were actually built, they would require about one-third the amount of power that Seattle uses on a typical day. The Seattle City Council passed the moratorium unanimously earlier this month, making it the largest city in the U.S. so far to suspend approvals. For local activists working on an issue as amorphous and overwhelming as climate change, it was invigorating to get involved in a mission with a concrete, local outcome. <img decoding="async" src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/data-center-moratorium-public-comment.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/data-center-moratorium-public-comment.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/data-center-moratorium-public-comment.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=330 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/data-center-moratorium-public-comment.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=768 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/data-center-moratorium-public-comment.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/data-center-moratorium-public-comment.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1536 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/data-center-moratorium-public-comment.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=2048 2048w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/data-center-moratorium-public-comment.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=160&h=90&crop=1 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/data-center-moratorium-public-comment.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=640&h=853&crop=1 640w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/data-center-moratorium-public-comment.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=96&h=96&crop=1 96w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/data-center-moratorium-public-comment.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=150 150w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/data-center-moratorium-public-comment.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all 1024w" alt="Photo of a person speaking into a microphone in a room full of people" data-caption="Audrey Wang Gosselin, a member of the Soapbox Project and a board member of 350 Seattle, speaks in favor of a data center moratorium at a Seattle City Council meeting. " data-credit="Courtesy of Renaissance"/> Audrey Wang Gosselin, a member of the Soapbox Project and a board member of 350 Seattle, speaks in favor of a data center moratorium at a Seattle City Council meeting. Courtesy of Renaissance “For us, it was a very good on-ramp for people who just want to do something and want to turn that powerlessness into something meaningful,” said Nivi Achanta, the founder and CEO of Soapbox Project, a local climate action group that advocated for the moratorium. The group’s Signal chat buzzed as the city council weighed the policy: “People were like pulling out drinks and grabbing their popcorn and actually watching these city council politics unfold in a way that’s so much more fun than anything I’ve experienced outside of this, in the general climate movement,” Achanta said. In Washington state, known for its progressive climate policies, new natural gas infrastructure driven by power-hungry AI data centers threatens to produce an additional 13.5 million metric tons of carbon dioxide each year, about 14 percent of the state’s current annual emissions. That could derail its attempt to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 95 percent below 1990 levels by 2050, as required by the state’s Climate Commitment Act. Even in a blue state, there’s an understanding that opposition to data centers has to be bipartisan if it’s going to be successful, especially since most data centers are being proposed in rural areas. “We can’t just rely on the West Coast, or on the blue corridor from Bellingham down to Vancouver, Washington, to get something done,” said Lauren Redfield, a voluntary organizer with the Washington AI Resistance. As climate activists join local fights, they may find themselves teaming up with people they don’t agree with on everything, or on much at all. Data centers are a rare issue that unites Americans across the political spectrum, with 75 percent of Democrats and 63 percent of Republicans opposed to building data centers in their area, according to polling from Gallup. All kinds of people — punk musicians in Utah, farmers in Oregon, beauty salon workers in Maryland — are coming out for all kinds of reasons, according to Levin, the host of “The Hum.” But their differences aren’t stopping them from working together. “Again and again, we hear from organizers who are like, ‘I don’t care if you’re here for climate change, and I’m here because I think it’s going to be ugly, and that person’s here because they hate AI — all of us think this is a bad project,’” Levin said. In the first three months of this year, data center opponents blocked or delayed at least 75 facilities worth nearly $130 billion. One reason this resistance has been effective is because of its people power — the hundreds of thousands of people who are turning out to town halls, meeting up on porches, and otherwise showing up to fight. In an age of loneliness and political disillusionment, it’s a sign that something is changing. “I’m really hopeful that this is the thing that gets communities re-engaged in local politics,” Redfield said. “We’ve seen a lot of apathy over the last several years, and I’m really hoping that this civic engagement can help us build that community that can help us stitch our society back together.” This story was originally published by Grist with the headline Climate activists take on a new foe: Data centers on Jun 29, 2026. This content originally appeared on Grist and was authored by Kate Yoder.
Illustrator and podcaster Andy J. Pizza on what to do when motivations and interests change
Give me a peek into your world. I’ve heard writer Cal Newport talk about lifestyle-centric planning; I would reword it as neurotype-centric world building. You’re building your world around whatever weird person you are and what you need. One of the things I need is to spend tons of time with the things I’m obsessed with. The tricky part about that as an ADHD person is they change over time. For the first part of my career, I was less aware they would change as much as they do. I thought, “Illustration is my passion and obsession and that will be the thing that sustains me throughout a career.” In my 20 years of pursuing that, I had a period of time where I was like, “Oh no, I don’t care that much about illustration right now.” And that was really scary. But then I realized that illustration is a great thing to build your life around as an ADHD person because it is a tool to dig into whatever you want to dig into. So now I think about illustration and storytelling as very connected because my favorite definition of illustration is writing with pictures. It’s this hyperfixation that keeps me interested in being alive. Have your existential spirals gotten easier with time? It definitely has gotten easier with time. I’m going to bring up something you should never talk about in a creative interview. It’s this embarrassing thing that has helped me make sense of that, called the BCG Growth-Share Matrix from the world of business and business consulting. It is about this dynamic between what you’re passionate about right now and what you’ve mastered. Often what you’ve mastered, you’re less passionate about. Especially if you’re an ADHD person; the less novel it is, the better you get at it, the less interesting it is, and the less dopamine you get from it. The thing I like about this Growth Share Matrix is it talks about how much share of a market you have, how established you are in that market, versus how much that market is growing. It’s a framework that’s helped me understand what I’m most passionate about right now is almost impossible to make money from because I have no mastery in it. I have no proof I’m good at this. It’s given me peace to realize the thing that’s going to be my cash cow is something I’m not white-hot passionate about but I’m very sufficient in. All businesses are all creative journeys. There’s a cycle and a process to how this goes. The thing I’m really passionate about might eventually become my main thing, but by the time it does, I probably won’t be as passionate about it, but that’s okay, because the times when I’ve had every part of my passion monetized is usually where I’m the least happy. I’ve realized if I don’t have something I’m cheating on my day job with, I’m not naturally motivated. I want to have something that makes me want to get out of bed a couple of hours earlier so that I can fit in this other thing that I’m obsessed with. What is your current get-out-of-bed early gig? Storytelling is an infinite well of novelty. I love that every time I try to write a story, I get better at it. But you’re always at the mercy of it and you might not get it. It’s like gambling. And the ideal of gambling is that you don’t win every time because that’s actually not that fun. You want something where sometimes I win, sometimes I don’t. I spent about a decade interested in nonfiction narrative podcasting and storytelling. My podcast, Creative Pep Talk, is on the surface a creative self-help show, but I approached it through a narrative lens. Most episodes have a story or a metaphor as the core. Every episode was an experiment in storytelling and most of it was through the narrative of personal stories. You’ve spoken in the past about learning the rules of any craft before you learn how to break them. Do you have fun learning things? I love it because it’s difficult. When the show started taking off in the little niche I’m a part of, a lot of people in that scenario go all in. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with that, but it would’ve been the wrong thing to do for me. I wanted to be somebody who is both in the field and in the lab. I wanted to be talking about the projects that I was doing, not just that other people were doing. A lot of people learn some rules, make worse stuff, and then turn around and go back to making it up through intuition and flying by the seat of their pants. I get that. But on the other side of learning the rules is where really, really, really good stuff happens. One of my favorite examples is Del the Funky Homosapien, the rapper. He has said in interviews the hit song that put Gorillaz on the map was because he had just read a book about how to write hit songs for dummies. He just read and he applied everything he learned to make that song. I’m pretty familiar with his work prior to that era and it feels like it leveled up a lot in terms of intrigue and interest and how to keep people hooked. Creative researchers define creativity as something that is both novel and useful. I think a lot of creative people, probably rightfully so, push back on that, because it’s a bit utilitarian to call it useful. But there’s all kinds of ways that things are useful. Useful for a mood boost or being disturbed—there’s utility to all that. We think creativity is synonymous with novelty, new, never been done, and therefore, why would you learn how other people did it? That’s the opposite of what you’re trying to do–but I don’t think that’s true. Working from that definition of it being new, it can be disheartening as a new creative to go into a field and say, “Well, everything has already been done. There’s nothing new for me to say.” Which is categorically false. It’s not about that. Like, look at how many love songs there are. They’re just as infinite as people. Statistically, there’ll never, ever be a human that has the same DNA as you. DNA is completely different, and so your experience is completely different. Instead of thinking about creativity as something you’re going to the edge of what’s possible for, it’s more interesting to think about going deeper within yourself. You’re going to find a way of saying something that’s never been said. There’s tons of value in fitting in before you stand out. Like in science, you’re not going to reinvent the wheel. You’re going to figure out a lot of your education is updating where we are and where things are to be overturned. I feel like creatives could use more of that. What do you think are some other challenges facing creatives today? Every sector is feeling the weight of all the money being hoarded at the top. It’s a huge problem. But there’s a natural cycle to how creative things happen. When the mainstream culture crowds out all creative stuff and it becomes homogenized and boring corporate, then you have underground scenes that happen. For good and for bad, I was starting at a time where business was interested in creative stuff. And for a minute, it was great for creative people because they were having all this money invested in them, and brands were becoming patrons of artists. Instagram is the climax of that journey for visual artists or anyone that works in static images. We had this incredible, but also problematic, moment where visual art was at the center of society, culture. Even my neighbors who have no connection to the art world were following my friends that were illustrators and photographers. The cool thing was for a little bit of time, creativity was valued by the whole culture to some degree. That moment of creativity and art being so culturally relevant is over in the mainstream. If you look at the mainstream now, these are bros and basic people. It’s a totally different landscape on what’s cool and what’s not cool. I think the challenge for artists is to not care about that. Not care about it being over? Not care about being culturally relevant and actually being countercultural. We’ve entered a space where that’s what artists have to do. Instead of being at the center of culture, they have to start attacking culture. They have to start creating opposing spaces. The real challenge in career creatives is being able to unpick highly designed algorithms from their brain. Huge billions and billions of dollar companies are telling you how to make your art and they’re telling you for free. That’s weird. Why is Instagram calling artists? They’re actually having phone calls with artists. Why are they creating resources, free resources on how to make content for the platform? Because they are a TV channel and you’re making all the content for free. They’re making all the money, you’re making all the content. I think about it like changing your sport. You used to be a hockey player, but now soccer is in, and now you’re just going to drop the old sport and go become a soccer player. I feel like the artists I know that have accepted that that’s over have been able to create a new way and build clients instead of fans and followers. This idea of design versus default is something I’ve been thinking a lot about. Something you have to do in this moment, when there’s all these existential challenges, is to imagine, “What’s next?” You have to decide to not care what the cultural cache is. It was interesting when Instagram announced we were going to value content with a different metric. We’re going to exchange for a different currency. They said, “We’re no longer going to really value likes. We’re only going to value views.” That was an interesting moment to be like, does that match my values? There are billions and billions of dollars spent to try and make it impossible for you to unpick that value, to let them determine what you value. How have you determined what works for you? My personal values always start with two things. It has to be something I am authentically interested in. As an ADHD person, I live or die on that being the dopamine. When I was growing up and I didn’t have any knowledge of myself or the type of brain that I had, my relationship to dopamine was very unhealthy. Drugs and food—not extreme drugs—but drugs and food and all of the typical ways of dopamine farming. But I learned really quickly this is something you either pay upfront or you pay after. If you pay upfront for your dopamine, it looks like going on a run. It’s hard at first and then sustainable later versus the other side around. For me, creative work is like that. Creative work is a healthy way of getting my dopamine I need. If I work really hard and I make something I’m excited about, that’s a great way that I feel healthy and happy. So, the first thing is it has to be something linked to a hyper-curiosity. Secondly, I am motivated by meaning. This is one of the things that makes it really difficult for me to do traditional work, where we abstract like, “I’m spending this much time here doing this thing and that somehow leads to money—which is also an abstraction of value—and that means I’m going to feed my kids.” The two things I like are when it’s something I’m curious about and it’s something that seems to be good for other people. Then I start thinking about what this thing should be, what it should turn into. Then, how do I get people to discover this? It’s so interesting that your values encapsulate novelty and utility like the definition of creativity we were talking about earlier. Damn, you got that one. I didn’t see it, but it’s right there. That’s so true. When I start thinking about what I value in terms of discoverability, I try to unpick that from what I’m told to value. How do you become an illustrator in people’s minds that’s a full person they’re a fan of? Building trust with people is so based on authenticity. You can’t fake interest. No. It almost never works. Do you get to the point of burnout? If so, how do you get past that? I’ve been better for the past few years about balancing things. I’ve had lots of seasons where I was perpetually burnt out. Two things have helped me not be burnt out as much. One is a mindset thing. In my mind, there was a lie that said, “I really want to be doing one thing exclusively,” whatever that thing is. I think a lot of creative people will relate to that. Wanting to just paint, or write, or make pictures. And then everything that gets in the way becomes a problem. One of my favorite things I ever learned is something I think about all the time because it sounds like bullshit or magic but it’s actually true. It helped me when I realized the difference between distress and eustress—bad stress and good stress. Bad stress hurts your heart, hurts your body, makes you sick. Eustress helps you. It’s actually good for you. The difference between them is how you think about this obstacle. This is where things like acceptance come into play. Historically, we have all these traditions about accepting things. Even if you think about it in a mystical way of accepting your fate or accepting your calling, finding an acceptance that if you see this stress as a thing you’re choosing, then it can manifest as good stress in your body. Anybody reading this, you should go read about it. Don’t just take my word for it because it sounds crazy. To me, it does. I read it in a book and I was like, “That can’t be true.” And I went and read about it and I was like, “Wow, there’s tons of evidence about this.” I bring that up because when I thought I should be doing art all day, everything around the art was giving me distress because I was rejecting it. Now it’s not like I like doing email but I know that I can’t do more useful things in the hours between one and four o’clock because you can’t be hardcore creative for more than four hours a day anyway. So that’s not a terrible use of my time. Because I have a couple of different creative disciplines, they cross-pollinate and help me stay interested and bleed into each other. So that’s helped me accept it more, which has helped me with burnout. This is the second time I’ve mentioned Cal Newport but the reason why I’m a big fan of him is because he’s one of the only productivity guys that comes at it from, “How do we do what matters?” Not “How do we do more?” Andy J. Pizza recommends: Trying to believe you are a good thing at your core. Fraggle Rock — The Minstrel’s Song “Let Me Be Your Song” Fraggle Rock — Mudwell’s Song “Just A Dream Away” The novel Piranesi by Susanna Clarke Remy Charlip’s work This content originally appeared on The Creative Independent and was authored by Jun Chou.
Air India crash: The infamous ‘cockpit conversation’ that became a global fact without evidence
The Air India AI171 crash in Ahmedabad on June 12, 2025, killed 260 people, making it one of the deadliest aviation disasters in Indian history. Within weeks of the tragedy, the focus of the investigation and much of the ensuing public discourse came to centre onto one of the dead: Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, the Air […]
The Air India AI171 crash in Ahmedabad on June 12, 2025, killed 260 people, making it one of the deadliest aviation disasters in Indian history. Within weeks of the tragedy, the focus of the investigation and much of the ensuing public discourse came to centre onto one of the dead: Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, the Air India pilot who was flying the Boeing 787 on what proved to be its final journey from Ahmedabad to London. At the heart of that discourse was a single cockpit exchange contained in the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau’s (AAIB) preliminary report, released a month after the crash. It said, “In the cockpit voice recording, one of the pilots is heard asking the other why did he cutoff. The other pilot responded that he did not do so.” That single sentence would be repeated by television anchors, newspaper columnists and aviation commentators around the world. It would eventually become the foundation for the narrative that one of the pilots had caused the crash by moving the aircraft’s fuel-control switches. There was only one problem. The cockpit conversation that triggered this global speculation never mentioned fuel. It did not mention switches. It did not identify which pilot was speaking or which pilot was being questioned. The report did not provide a timestamp of the conversation indicating when the exchange took place. How the Fuel-switch Narrative Took Hold In fact, by the time readers encountered the cockpit conversation in the AAIB report, much of the groundwork for that interpretation had already been laid. On July 10, 2025, two days before the preliminary report into the crash was released, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) published an Exclusive that appeared to reveal the investigation’s central narrative before the public had seen the report. The headline read: “Air India Probe Puts Early Focus on Pilots’ Actions and Plane’s Fuel Switches.” Citing “people familiar with U.S. officials’ early assessments”, the newspaper reported that investigators were focusing on pilot actions and that preliminary findings indicated the switches controlling fuel flow to the aircraft’s engines had been turned off. “The investigation into last month’s Air India crash is focusing on the actions of the jet’s pilots and doesn’t so far point to a problem with the Boeing 787 Dreamliner,” the report said, adding, “Preliminary findings indicate that switches controlling fuel flow to the jet’s two engines were turned off, leading to an apparent loss of thrust shortly after takeoff.” At that point, the AAIB report remained confidential. Families had not seen it. Most journalists had not seen it. The public had not seen it. Yet anonymous sources already appeared to know how a cockpit conversation would be interpreted by the investigators in their preliminary report and be made the dominant focus of the probe. <img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" class="wp-image-316577 size-large" src="https://www.altnews.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/crash1-805x1024.jpg" alt="" width="805" height="1024" srcset="https://www.altnews.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/crash1-805x1024.jpg 805w, https://www.altnews.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/crash1-236x300.jpg 236w, https://www.altnews.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/crash1-768x977.jpg 768w, https://www.altnews.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/crash1-1208x1536.jpg 1208w, https://www.altnews.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/crash1-1610x2048.jpg 1610w, https://www.altnews.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/crash1.jpg 2013w" sizes="(max-width: 805px) 100vw, 805px" /> Prime Minister Narendra Modi inspects the AI 171 crash site in Ahmedabad on June 13, 2025 | Photo: PIB What the AAIB Report Actually Said When the AAIB released its preliminary report on July 12, it appeared, at first glance, to validate much of WSJ’s reporting. The report described the aircraft’s fuel-control switches transitioning from RUN to CUTOFF shortly after take-off and then returning to RUN. It also contained what would become the most discussed sentence in the entire investigation: The now infamous cockpit conversation. Within hours of the report’s publication, the exchange was being cited across the world as evidence that one of the pilots had moved the aircraft’s fuel-control switches. Reuters reported that the preliminary report showed “pilot confusion over engine switch movement”. The BBC’s coverage framed the discussion around pilot error. Television commentators debated whether the switches had been moved accidentally or deliberately. Across social media, the conversation was repeatedly cited as proof that the mystery of AI171 had largely been solved. The interpretation quickly hardened into accepted fact. Yet a closer reading of the report raises an obvious question: Where exactly does the cockpit conversation mention fuel? The answer is nowhere. The concerned sentence in the report itself never refers to “fuel” or “switches”. It merely says that one pilot asked the other why he had “cutoff”, and that the other pilot denied doing so. Why, then, did readers across the world, including in India, immediately conclude that the conversation referred to the fuel-control switches? One reason lies in the way the report was structured. Across its 15 pages, the report mentioned “fuel” and “switches” 19 times. The cockpit exchange appeared immediately after the discussion of the fuel-control switches. Without ever stating what had supposedly been “cut off”, the report places the conversation in a context that naturally led readers to infer the missing subject. Captain C S Randhawa, president of the Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP), says the cockpit conversation was presented in a manner that went far beyond what the report itself established. “The report never identifies the speakers, never says the conversation was about fuel switches and never attributes responsibility to either pilot,” Randhawa said. “Yet much of the media reported those conclusions as settled facts. That is precisely why the Federation felt compelled to challenge this coverage.” The Federation has since issued legal notices to The Wall Street Journal, Reuters and others over their reporting of the crash. From Selective Disclosure to a Settled Narrative The same concerns have also been raised by Pushkaraj Sabharwal, the 92-year-old father of Capt. Sumeet Sabharwal, in a petition before the Supreme Court. A former deputy director of training and licensing at the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), Pushkaraj Sabharwal argues that the AAIB’s handling of the cockpit voice recorder amounted to selective disclosure that created a particular impression of the crew’s actions. “The AAIB which admits to have the entire last two hours of recorded cockpit Pilot conversation, ought to have released the entire transcript of the recordings or alternatively released none at all,” the petition states. It further argues that the report “hides more than it actually reveals” and accuses investigators of engaging in “a shocking tale of narrative framing” by selectively paraphrasing a cockpit exchange. The petition underlines the fact that the report does not reveal which pilot asked the question, which pilot responded or even the precise timestamp at which the conversation took place. “The above insinuation by the AAIB is nothing but narrative framing to blame the dead pilots for the accident in its final report,” it says, arguing that investigators released an interpretation of the exchange without providing the wider transcript that would allow the public to independently assess its meaning. During the proceedings, a two-judge Bench comprising Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi reassured Sabharwal’s father that the Court would rely on evidence rather than media accounts. “No one in India believes it was the pilot’s fault,” the Bench observed. On November 13, 2025, solicitor general Tushar Mehta, appearing on behalf of the Union government, also told the Court, “The Ministry of Civil Aviation has issued a press note saying that blame was not attributable to anyone. There is no question of blaming anyone in the report.” However, by the time the matter reached the Supreme Court, the global narrative had largely been set. People had been told that investigators were focusing on pilots and fuel switches. Reporting on the cockpit conversation was not based on any publicly available evidence beyond the AAIB’s single sentence. Nor was it supported by cockpit transcripts or technical analysis released by investigators. Much of the early reporting relied on anonymous sources cited by WSJ in reports published on July 10, July 11, July 17 and August 26. For example, quoting “people familiar with U.S. officials’ early assessment of evidence”, WSJ wrote on July 17, “…The first officer expressed surprise and then panicked, these people said, while the captain (Sabharwal) seemed to remain calm.” This was later picked up by other outlets like Bloomberg. <img decoding="async" class="wp-image-316579 size-large" src="https://www.altnews.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Screenshot-2026-06-27-143819-1024x724.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="724" srcset="https://www.altnews.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Screenshot-2026-06-27-143819-1024x724.jpg 1024w, https://www.altnews.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Screenshot-2026-06-27-143819-300x212.jpg 300w, https://www.altnews.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Screenshot-2026-06-27-143819-768x543.jpg 768w, https://www.altnews.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Screenshot-2026-06-27-143819-1536x1086.jpg 1536w, https://www.altnews.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Screenshot-2026-06-27-143819.jpg 1606w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /> Map showing details of the crash | Source: Wikimedia Commons The Technical Questions that Received Less Attention Soon after the report was released, the Federation of Indian Pilots highlighted what it believed were indications of possible electrical anomalies on the aircraft. Among the issues it flagged was the non-activation of the Emergency Locator Transmitter (ELT), which is designed to automatically transmit a distress signal after a crash. The Federation also questioned the extensively damaged condition of the aircraft’s Enhanced Airborne Flight Recorder (EAFR), or tail black box, despite the surrounding tail section appearing largely intact and showing no visible signs of smoke or fire. It contrasted this with the forward EAFR, which, despite bearing the full brunt of the impact and the subsequent fuel fire caused by more than 54,000 kilograms of burning fuel, yielded 49 hours of data covering six flights. The Federation also questioned the sequence involving the deployment of the Ram Air Turbine (RAT), the aircraft’s emergency power source. Under normal circumstances, the RAT deploys after the aircraft loses its primary sources of electrical or hydraulic power, including following engine failure. The AAIB report suggests that the fuel cutoff caused the engines to lose thrust, which in turn triggered RAT deployment. Several aviation experts, however, argue that the sequence on AI171 appears to have unfolded in the opposite order. According to them, available evidence suggests that the RAT may have deployed before the engines lost power, potentially indicating an earlier electrical disturbance. In simulator tests conducted by the Federation, pilots demonstrated that the RAT requires approximately 10 to 14 seconds to deploy following an engine failure. The Federation has also released photographs that it says show the RAT already deployed while the aircraft was still on the runway. This, it argues, contrasts with the AAIB report, which published a photograph of the RAT deploying after lift-off and described it as “getting deployed during the initial climb immediately after lift-off.” Whether those conclusions ultimately withstand scrutiny will be determined by the final investigation. But these questions attracted only a fraction of the attention devoted to speculation about the cockpit conversation. What was Actually being Discussed? The significance of the ambiguity surrounding the cockpit conversation has only grown over time. Over the past year, technical submissions before the Supreme Court, along with analyses by pilots, engineers and aviation experts, have increasingly focused on electrical failures, flight-control computers, automation logic and satellite-transmitted fault messages that reportedly occurred before take-off. Within those discussions, some engineers have argued that the cockpit exchange may not have referred to the fuel-control switches, but to the autothrottle or the TO/GA system. As automation scales back when it can no longer trust inputs from the aircraft’s flight computers, these systems can disconnect or disengage. Engineers argue that the question recorded in the cockpit may therefore have referred to one of those systems rather than the fuel supply. Evidence submitted before the Supreme Court also points to satellite-transmitted fault messages indicating warnings involving all three of the aircraft’s flight-control computers before the crash. Viewed in that context, some engineers believe the conversation may have been along the lines of: “Did you cut off TO/GA?” or “Disconnect A/T?” Simon Hradecky, editor of The Aviation Herald, has repeatedly argued in his editorials that if any fuel switches were moved, it was likely as part of an attempted engine relight procedure. Captain Sam Thomas, president of the Indian chapter of the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), says that when faced with a dual-engine flameout, the first action for the pilot monitoring would be to work through the memory checklist. According to Captain Sunny Kapur, who flies the Boeing 787, those memory items are limited. “The memory items are just two things,” he says. “Recycle fuel switches. Turn on RAT.” “If fuel switches were involved at all,” Kapur argues, “it is likely the pilots were attempting an engine relight after the flameout rather than causing it.” These interpretations remain contested and are not reflected in the AAIB’s preliminary report. They nevertheless illustrate that the cockpit conversation is capable of multiple technical interpretations — something largely absent from much of the early media coverage. <img decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-316629" src="https://www.altnews.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Copy-of-Story-Report-Carousel-Post-1600-x-2800-px-3-719x1024.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="855" srcset="https://www.altnews.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Copy-of-Story-Report-Carousel-Post-1600-x-2800-px-3-719x1024.jpg 719w, https://www.altnews.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Copy-of-Story-Report-Carousel-Post-1600-x-2800-px-3-211x300.jpg 211w, https://www.altnews.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Copy-of-Story-Report-Carousel-Post-1600-x-2800-px-3-768x1094.jpg 768w, https://www.altnews.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Copy-of-Story-Report-Carousel-Post-1600-x-2800-px-3-1078x1536.jpg 1078w, https://www.altnews.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Copy-of-Story-Report-Carousel-Post-1600-x-2800-px-3-1438x2048.jpg 1438w, https://www.altnews.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Copy-of-Story-Report-Carousel-Post-1600-x-2800-px-3.jpg 1600w" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px" /> The Portrait of Suspicion One of Capt. Sumeet Sabharwal’s batchmates says he regrets answering a Wall Street Journal reporter’s call in the weeks following the crash. Later, his comments appeared in a personality profile of the captain that accompanied an anonymously sourced report of WSJ which claimed that investigators believed the captain had moved the fuel-control switches. The article described Sabharwal as “very reserved”, referred to his old nickname “Sad Sack”, and dwelt on the sparse contents of his cupboard. “What appeared in print wasn’t the Sumeet we knew,” the batchmate says. “He had an extraordinary memory for dates, technical details and people. He remembered birthdays, anniversaries, promotions and new jobs. Years could pass and he’d still call or message to congratulate someone. He topped courses, mentored juniors and was the person people turned to when they needed help.” By the time those personal details appeared in print, the broader narrative had already begun to shift from examining an aircraft accident to scrutinising the personality of a pilot who was no longer alive to respond. We emailed detailed requests for comment to The Wall Street Journal and Reuters, copying the AAIB, aviation regulators, aircraft manufacturers, airlines, insurers, investigators and other parties connected with the AI171 investigation. None had responded by the time of publication. Jeju Air Preliminary Report vs AI171’s Preliminary Report On December 29, 2024, Jeju Air Flight 7C2216, a Boeing 737-800 (HL8088), belly-landed at Muan International Airport following a reported bird strike during a go-around. The aircraft overran Runway 19 and crashed into an embankment, killing 179 of the 181 people on board and injuring two. Its preliminary report is striking for how restrained and factual it remains despite the scale of the tragedy. The document confines itself to the essentials: The flight history, air traffic control clearances, the Mayday call reporting a bird strike, a description of the wreckage, the aircraft’s last recorded speed and altitude, crew experience, weather conditions, DNA confirmation that Baikal teals struck both engines, and a broad outline of the continuing investigation. Crucially, even where the report acknowledges significant gaps — for example, the missing final four minutes and seven seconds of cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder data — it does not attempt to fill those gaps through inference or speculation. It refrains from selectively quoting digital parameters in a manner that implies pilot error. The crew appear in the report largely as experience figures and casualty counts. In an accident involving bird strike, go-around dynamics and complex aircraft systems, the tone remains descriptive and neutral, explicitly leaving questions of causation to the ongoing investigation. That approach stands in contrast to the AI171 preliminary report, released six months later. The AI171 report presents a far more detailed recorder-based timeline, yet uses that material in a manner that, according to several aviation experts, narrows attention to one issue: The movement of the aircraft’s fuel-control switches to CUTOFF shortly after take-off. “The report spends a lot of time explaining the movement of the fuel-control switches, but it says much less about what the aircraft itself was doing at the time,” says Mark Martin, pilot and aviation consultant. He adds: “Modern aircraft constantly record the state of dozens of systems—whether the aircraft thinks it’s on the ground or in the air, how its electrical systems are behaving, what the automation is doing, and whether other systems were sending unusual commands. Those are the clues that help investigators determine whether a system malfunction could have interrupted fuel flow. “But none of that is mentioned in the AAIB report. Instead, the report provides detailed recorder data for the fuel switches, but far less information about these other systems. Without that broader picture, it’s difficult to rule out an aircraft-system problem with confidence.” Joe Jacobsen, deputy director of the Foundation for Aviation Safety, which has provided technical evidence to the US Senate on both the Boeing 737 MAX crashes and the Air India AI171 crash, says the preliminary report omits key technical evidence. “It doesn’t even cover the basics,” he says. “There’s no engine spool-down sequence, no progression of engine core speeds (N1 and N2), no reconstruction of the electrical system, and no explanation of what triggered the deployment of the Ram Air Turbine (RAT).” The Jeju Air report leaves its evidentiary gaps unfilled. The AI171 report presents selected data in a manner that encourages readers to draw conclusions before the investigation is complete. A Conversation that Became Evidence To sum up, the cockpit conversation at the centre of the AI171 investigation did not mention fuel. It did not mention switches. It never identified the speakers. Yet within days of its release, that one exchange had become the basis for a worldwide narrative that one of the pilots had caused the crash. Whether that narrative ultimately proves correct or incorrect is a question only the final investigation can answer. But even as the AI171 investigation remains ongoing, a single ambiguous sentence, stripped of context and unsupported by a full transcript, continues to be treated across much of the world as evidence of pilot responsibility. ______________________________ A glossary of all the technical terms used in the story can be accessed here. This content originally appeared on Alt News and was authored by Rachel Chitra.
A Lost War, a Bad Agreement and a Possible Good Outcome
One thing is certain. The U.S. lost its war of choice against Iran. Trump and Netanyahu failed to eliminate the perceived Iranian nuclear threat, despite relentless bombing that killed thousands and destroyed both military assets and civilian infrastructure. The desired "regime change" left a more hawkish leader in charge. Iranian forces then deployed missiles and drones to carry out devastating attacks on American bases in the Gulf. Thirteen U.S. soldiers lost their lives. Most significantly, Iranian closure of the Strait of Hormuz sparked global panic in energy, fertilizer, and other vital markets. For Americans, the war meant a dollar a-gallon increase at the gas pump. For Trump, ending the war became a political imperative. More The post A Lost War, a Bad Agreement and a Possible Good Outcome appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
One thing is certain. The U.S. lost its war of choice against Iran. Trump and Netanyahu failed to eliminate the perceived Iranian nuclear threat, despite relentless bombing that killed thousands and destroyed both military assets and civilian infrastructure. The desired “regime change” left a more hawkish leader in charge. Iranian forces then deployed missiles and drones to carry out devastating attacks on American bases in the Gulf. Thirteen U.S. soldiers lost their lives. Most significantly, Iranian closure of the Strait of Hormuz sparked global panic in energy, fertilizer, and other vital markets. For Americans, the war meant a dollar a-gallon increase at the gas pump. For Trump, ending the war became a political imperative. The June 17 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) has drawn sharp criticism, even from some right-wing members of Congress. Republican Senator Bill Cassidy described the agreement as the “worst foreign policy blunder in decades.” Others opined that its sanctions relief could allow a weakened Iran to rebuild its military; or they faulted the MOU for not banning Iran from extending its control over an international waterway. Yet the critics don’t say what they probably know: that a lost war rarely gives the losing party a good deal. If the just-signed MOU maintains the 60-day ceasefire and becomes a full-fledged agreement, America’s benefits could ultimately outweigh what it loses. The possible gains are three: an end to a costly war, a downscaling of U.S. relations with Israel, and a modest retreat from American imperialism. 1. War. The MOU pauses military action for 60 days. This stops (at least for now) America’s daily cash expenditures on the war–estimated by various sources at between $800 million to $1 billion. According to a U.S.-based rights group (HRANA), 3,636 Iranians (including 1,701 civilians have been killed during the war. The MOU will save lives on both sides. Since Iranian (and U.S.) closures of the Strait blocked international commerce, opening up fertilizer and other agricultural commodity transport will allow farmers in Asia to grow their crops and avoid a deadly famine. Primary objectives of the envisioned agreement will be to guarantee an open Strait of Hormuz and eliminate Iran’s nuclear capacity for making bombs. Those achievements would be a big win for the entire globe. 2. Israel. For more than six decades the U.S. has provided Israel with substantial military aid, making it the largest cumulative recipient of U.S. foreign assistance. A 2019 MOU is providing Israel $38 billion over ten years ($33 billion in military aid and $5 billion for missile defense). A major justification for such aid is to give Israel a “Qualitative Military Edge” (QME) over potential adversaries in the region. The Netanyahu regime has relied on U.S.-supplied weapons for its genocide in Gaza and its ongoing war on Lebanon. The MOU requires Israel to cease its attacks on Lebanon and to withdraw the IDF from Southern Lebanon. Those requirements will be a major first obstacle to securing peace. At this writing, Israel has apparently agreed to another ceasefire but has refused to end its occupation. Will Trump convince Netanyahu to relent on Lebanon so that the MOU discussions proceed? Or will the Israel lobby in the U.S. force Trump’s hand, causing the MOU to fail and the shooting war to resume? 3. Imperialism. America’s status as a superpower in the Middle East has been thrown into question by the war. With its drones and missiles, Iran managed to attack all thirteen U.S. bases in the Persian Gulf. While we don’t know the full extent of the damage, it seems clear that each of the bases was made inoperable and that U.S. soldiers were killed or wounded in the attacks. U.S. allies in the region assumed that the American presence would bring safety and security. Instead, they discovered that the bases had become targets, not only on the U.S. bases, but also on their national energy infrastructure. If such attacks cause Saudi Arabia, the U.A.E., Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait to cease their hosting of U.S. bases, America will have lost its superpower role in the Middle East. Not only that. Other countries around the world now question America’s so-called leadership of the free world. U.S. imperialism may now be in retreat. The billions of dollars the U.S. needs to start or sustain a Middle East war could then be spent on domestic needs, such as health and education. The Iran MOU and agreement if achieved could turn a short-term loss into long-term gain. A peaceful end to the war on Iran would not only save lives and avoid more costly destruction, but it could also cause Gulf countries to shift away from total reliance on U.S.-backed military solutions. If the MOU and agreement cause American policymakers to reassess their too-tight relationship with Israel, that would be good for both countries. The era of “QME” should end. The times require diplomacy, not more war. Lastly, the war with Iran should cause us to abandon imperialistic ambitions and accept the notion of a multilateral world. The post A Lost War, a Bad Agreement and a Possible Good Outcome appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by L. Michael Hager.
What’s Wrong With the American Left: The Indifference to Governing
There is a fault in contemporary left politics that is easy to miss because it looks like a virtue. The new new left is rich in moral clarity about ends and strangely indifferent to means, treating the winning of office and the announcement of good intentions as the substance of politics while neglecting the unglamorous business of delivery. It legislates aspirations and then loses interest in whether the housing actually gets built, the train actually runs, the benefit actually reaches the person it was meant for. For a tradition whose entire claim is that democratic control of the economy would serve people better than the boardroom does, the inability to make government work is a betrayal at the root. More The post What’s Wrong With the American Left: The Indifference to Governing appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Gavin Newsom and Joe Biden in Mather, California, 2021. Photo by Adam Schultz, White House. There is a fault in contemporary left politics that is easy to miss because it looks like a virtue. The new new left is rich in moral clarity about ends and strangely indifferent to means, treating the winning of office and the announcement of good intentions as the substance of politics while neglecting the unglamorous business of delivery. It legislates aspirations and then loses interest in whether the housing actually gets built, the train actually runs, the benefit actually reaches the person it was meant for. For a tradition whose entire claim is that democratic control of the economy would serve people better than the boardroom does, the inability to make government work is a betrayal at the root. Robert Dahl, across A Preface to Democratic Theory and his work on polyarchy, insisted that democracy is not an abstraction but a set of institutions judged by whether they are genuinely responsive to citizens. A democratic socialism worthy of the name must therefore care intensely about competence, about whether the agency answers the phone and the promise becomes a fact. Harrington’s vision of empowering people at the base presupposes institutions that function well enough to be worth controlling. Yet the contemporary left often behaves as though the moral clarity of its goals excused it from the engineering of their achievement. It tolerates the procedural thickets that strangle its own programs, then is surprised when citizens conclude that government cannot do anything well. This matters because every failure of delivery is an argument for the other side. When a progressive city cannot build affordable housing at reasonable cost or speed, the lesson the public draws is not that the goal was wrong but that the left cannot be trusted to run things. The tradition understood that socialism had to outperform, not merely out promise. Harrington and Nove both insisted that a feasible socialism must be economically serious, capable of allocating resources and rewarding effort, or it would deserve to lose. Indifference to competence is thus not a small administrative vice. A left that cannot govern has no business asking for more to govern. The roots of this indifference lie partly in the capture and symbolism the earlier essays described. A movement led by people who experience government mainly as consumers of its services, rather than as the workers who must make those services materialize, will treat governing as a matter of declaring the right values rather than mastering the dull machinery of implementation. It is easier, and more congenial to the professional sensibility, to pass a sweeping statement of intent than to fix the permitting process and staff the agency. But the public does not experience values; it experiences outcomes. There is a deeper irony here that the tradition would have felt keenly. Harrington and Bernstein argued that socialism was the extension of democratic control into the economy, the claim that ordinary people could run their common affairs better than a narrow ownership class. Every visible failure of public competence undercuts that claim at its foundation, handing the other side its most powerful argument, that collective action is inherently clumsy and the market at least delivers. A left serious about its own premises would treat administrative competence not as a distraction from the real struggle but as the proving ground of the struggle itself. The post What’s Wrong With the American Left: The Indifference to Governing appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by David Schultz.
MAHA (Make America Healthy Again) just got a poke in the eye as the US Supreme Court narrowed avenues for plaintiff cases against the chemical giant Bayer (formerly Monsanto). Ever since March 2015, when the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified glyphosate as a Group 2A “probable human carcinogen” tort More The post Roundup Wins! appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Image by Arjun MJ. MAHA (Make America Healthy Again) just got a poke in the eye as the US Supreme Court narrowed avenues for plaintiff cases against the chemical giant Bayer (formerly Monsanto). Ever since March 2015, when the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified glyphosate as a Group 2A “probable human carcinogen” tort cases exploded up to 170,000 claims of complications from Roundup. The US president had already ‘greased the skids’ for the Supremes by declaring glyphosate as a crucial necessity for National Defense by signing an executive order; Promoting the National Defense by Ensuring an Adequate Supply of Elemental Phosphorus and Glyphosate-Based Herbicides d/d February 18, 2025. Under the order, the US Secretary of Agriculture is directed to ensure that no government “order, rule, or regulation” threatens the financial viability of domestic producers of the substances. Hmm, it also grants those producers immunity under the Defense Production Act. Critics claimed this provision could be used to insulate manufacturers from legal accountability. Some of the leaders of Make America Healthy Again (MAHA), the lobby group that supports US Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy, immediately took umbrage, but RFK, Jr backed the executive order, claiming that it “safeguards America’s national security.” According to the Lawsuit Information Center: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has long been a vocal critic of Roundup. In 2018 he was part of the legal team that successfully represented DeWayne Johnson in the 2018 landmark lawsuit against Monsanto, marking the first time the company faced a jury trial alleging its weedkiller Roundup causes cancer. RFK Jr.’s team won an historic $289 million verdict (later reduced) for the former school groundskeeper. The jury found that Monsanto acted with malice and failed to warn consumers of cancer risks With Trump Administration backing, Bayer/Monsanto won a 7-2 US Supreme Court June 25, 2026 decision that agreed with the Monsanto (now owned by Bayer) argument that a federal law gives the power to set the label of Roundup to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, not to the states. This effectively knocks out tens of thousands of pending cases and potentially billions in awards to plaintiffs. The Supremes did not touch the alleged touchy subject of toxicity of Roundup, not part of the case. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson strongly dissented in the Supreme Court’s 7-2 landmark decision in Monsanto Co. v. Durnell, which shielded Bayer from state-level “failure-to-warn” lawsuits regarding its glyphosate-based weedkiller, Roundup. She argued that federal law does not preempt these state claims and leaves injured consumers without a remedy. A zoom call was quickly organized on the heels of the decision. U.S. Senator Cory Booker, public health experts and cancer advocates joined a virtual press event hosted by Protect Our Care and 314 Action in reaction to the U.S. Supreme Court decision today in Monsanto Company v. Durnellz: AT ISSUE: “The Supreme Court <a href="https://u7061146.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=u001.gqh-2BaxUzlo7XKIuSly0rCzKqHb3OwBCprcC-2BPa0ArDDFovLf7WIxqFcn87hEox5vKjLYxAjSPXTTBW15snlzesClM-2BprYsNMMTyUP-2FHnZwZeBcn9v9TMu-2F-2B36peK0AUsd4oxKPdcuQpSMp4uJbytNw-3D-3DFhvW_g9-2BssChocadcuL6-2FhjzrhM1u0kSfeGnlHu7K-2BATaqUnA6yOW6mCRBXtICR36N2pzEXhDFBB6wMHRwpFwF4Tap74RQt9OffBn-2FO9oOTtFTl0SpQsq4OpjlLAxtbdRXOzgs0bOe-2FqSi5RyzDq3qxreuB9gwqMo7cdIN8qaYSLQ-2F4-2BYxb1P21Ud5rTGOaCcPDu4r5-2B-2BTjfVWEyTP3CF2wfpMpz-2BsowZ5F-2FRwu5qhR5QQ3WXusvKrJ5Z16il6P55Yjj33gMrx0hNCNLAuH5-2B1NTYXvZPSgLC522R5TsCg5pdSmfKX-2FC5vXWBdcMfBfYfeKBBI-2FZhhukMhSrhfdc6Sdefxw-3D-3D" rel="noopener">ruled in favor of industry and the Trump administration by effectively granting Donald Trump’s big chemical industry donors blanket immunity from state-based liability claims involving the <a href="https://u7061146.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=u001.gqh-2BaxUzlo7XKIuSly0rC7D2qtXnR25iEg5stAthauvh8HAXzqpU37IbZ7Pvm1dYQFQEMykYVQfaTmQg-2FDdpe0ju6UGkAV7Zby6-2FbEe0bZZeTYrtarRA3ex9nQj1X9mwWasM_g9-2BssChocadcuL6-2FhjzrhM1u0kSfeGnlHu7K-2BATaqUnA6yOW6mCRBXtICR36N2pzEXhDFBB6wMHRwpFwF4Tap74RQt9OffBn-2FO9oOTtFTl0SpQsq4OpjlLAxtbdRXOzgs0bOe-2FqSi5RyzDq3qxreuB9gwqMo7cdIN8qaYSLQ-2F4-2BYxb1P21Ud5rTGOaCcPDu4r5-2B-2BTjfVWEyTP3CF2wfpMk8s7sQPXRNXMQBiXwPLZOCmSWZkVpU-2Baq4-2FQMC3u8NRUItprAWK7nYBjoyp4onHkziD9aix4QckXW83n-2BTPjtKnhh7z4X22ELa2wUUXVI-2F2W0oFoK6mS9M3pw1R73WMBQ-3D-3D" rel="noopener">cancer-linked glyphosate chemical found in Roundup pesticides. In the administration’s <a href="https://u7061146.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=u001.gqh-2BaxUzlo7XKIuSly0rC7l2ok8pPephr0REh-2BuPWyNEigftkfgQQ9sTGtaPXzTMBlhngh4F6NhJnBnHxrBKlIXctx5rRlVaqyxXeuPllHCX8YYXd5OpRwdOTcuQZLtrnEZKryPVDJJriA5ASd6e2-2FhpcCCZ6xNxxcUlYaywDU3ma6VZApR8xtuxdH4FVvu17_Pq_g9-2BssChocadcuL6-2FhjzrhM1u0kSfeGnlHu7K-2BATaqUnA6yOW6mCRBXtICR36N2pzEXhDFBB6wMHRwpFwF4Tap74RQt9OffBn-2FO9oOTtFTl0SpQsq4OpjlLAxtbdRXOzgs0bOe-2FqSi5RyzDq3qxreuB9gwqMo7cdIN8qaYSLQ-2F4-2BYxb1P21Ud5rTGOaCcPDu4r5-2B-2BTjfVWEyTP3CF2wfpMrG8jknrho-2FcJx-2BN-2FVw4b4SGCPuAjTHt-2B6TPbeGEq-2BIj86SE31ZiHCgmW5cJFPgPJG-2BXCgOOSWaiIvwErHPatYyJgkP87C7-2Bv-2FbH3j4IbGuRM21kuQ-2FwD5ZXMTrA-2FOQm3g-3D-3D" rel="noopener">latest betrayal of the MAHA movement, Trump’s DOJ filed <a href="https://u7061146.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=u001.gqh-2BaxUzlo7XKIuSly0rC-2F6m5cY3TqCEzjCd02bSgHhrDb4PNCxM8e0DWN2syY-2FXRWhMVSVGUwJfBKckRi2qFbc3207fvdxtRQYKWjifhcQ-3DYvGE_g9-2BssChocadcuL6-2FhjzrhM1u0kSfeGnlHu7K-2BATaqUnA6yOW6mCRBXtICR36N2pzEXhDFBB6wMHRwpFwF4Tap74RQt9OffBn-2FO9oOTtFTl0SpQsq4OpjlLAxtbdRXOzgs0bOe-2FqSi5RyzDq3qxreuB9gwqMo7cdIN8qaYSLQ-2F4-2BYxb1P21Ud5rTGOaCcPDu4r5-2B-2BTjfVWEyTP3CF2wfpMvoO1UAsZYjW48JviMC-2BYinipTZgNafVO6uiAL1VhHkM0qmmSnnX9wwyieiJfZbjqsumCXT3BoalvOHWlP6maFDrUtBQiQ-2B9vYF7OciYiHNg9HO6U6gx3TlRJHwYREAs8A-3D-3D" rel="noopener">an amicus brief in support of Monsanto – now owned by Bayer — and Trump’s Principal Deputy Solicitor General <a href="https://u7061146.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=u001.gqh-2BaxUzlo7XKIuSly0rC5c2-2F3H0htzZwiEvGeAxOCEC-2FTFYqU-2BhnDOZUhfnU1KHowXe2S99mHhRLqYvVS7r9tefaa-2BD-2FnMZxB-2Bzo-2B54O8c3jAXmGHaB2uAF6bEhV4HHuA5Fg0lI3iETLcyuQeGPpg-3D-3DbOSj_g9-2BssChocadcuL6-2FhjzrhM1u0kSfeGnlHu7K-2BATaqUnA6yOW6mCRBXtICR36N2pzEXhDFBB6wMHRwpFwF4Tap74RQt9OffBn-2FO9oOTtFTl0SpQsq4OpjlLAxtbdRXOzgs0bOe-2FqSi5RyzDq3qxreuB9gwqMo7cdIN8qaYSLQ-2F4-2BYxb1P21Ud5rTGOaCcPDu4r5-2B-2BTjfVWEyTP3CF2wfpMmr6tEhBaF9li9QluxtjkErFP2JfCGzKZyqb-2BL-2FjQH39pRtRqv1a6SvKJ2cZ3-2FDyDjfrwp-2BKRJewNdyYrQqZZOEtPhQpFsGwlQoWZiszJH6bRBqXkGbaZV-2FTBAbT-2BM4C6g-3D-3D" rel="noopener">argued alongside the chemical maker in court. The decision is also a <a href="https://u7061146.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=u001.gqh-2BaxUzlo7XKIuSly0rCznigWpenJEDaufAkhC5yMP07KGUXIEUGTohkON6m4v-2BaQndHLXOSTjMzVQJpvUxHXOHALFQaAgRil7QMQNAaF4V8rRpyaq6E2CYdONMCTrHD6jCJMZQhzuFPW7IcjqnoafSvpojqMXqd-2BOr9dUqq5Y-3DIQSX_g9-2BssChocadcuL6-2FhjzrhM1u0kSfeGnlHu7K-2BATaqUnA6yOW6mCRBXtICR36N2pzEXhDFBB6wMHRwpFwF4Tap74RQt9OffBn-2FO9oOTtFTl0SpQsq4OpjlLAxtbdRXOzgs0bOe-2FqSi5RyzDq3qxreuB9gwqMo7cdIN8qaYSLQ-2F4-2BYxb1P21Ud5rTGOaCcPDu4r5-2B-2BTjfVWEyTP3CF2wfpMqB1nlPvIjGEwBkCWNCLPq06oSV0J2au23XhF-2BknrAYsHmKRpFWWLotoYxlLKCbGiFNpBn0E4WrapG-2BH5zuampt2jO0PPRRHme8nwGvoty6tuYlnj22G8AAgjnFf9-2ByLow-3D-3D" rel="noopener">major affront to cancer survivorsnow denied a pathway to damages for any injuries and financial costs they may have endured following exposure to glyphosate.” The Supreme Court decision grants blanket immunity for the chemical industry from state-based liability claims on cancer-linked glyphosate chemical in Roundup pesticides. Accordingly, 100,000 cases are tossed out. According to Senator Cory Booker: “This is outrageous… the highest court in the land has the lowest ethics laws.” This makes MAHA laughable. Meanwhile, there is a crisis in our country with rampant corruption and misleading statements. Both political parties are allowing corruption to flourish. Regarding this recent Supreme Court decision, he intends to introduce an amendment to the pending Farm Bill to challenge this US Supreme Court decision. And since Senator Booker mentioned the problem of corruption, here’s a link to a 30-min. speech on the Senate Floor by Senator Chris Murphy that details the issue. The post Roundup Wins! appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Robert Hunziker.
Cristosal reports that in El Salvador, tens of thousands of people have been arbitrarily detained under the state of emergency and that “civic space has been drastically reduced, and many journalists, human rights defenders, and civil society organizations can no longer operate safely in the country.” In July 2025, Cristosal was forced to relocate its operations outside of El Salvador following an increase in repression. More The post El Salvador: Between Tourism and Terror appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Salvadoran police and cops providing a show of force at the CECOT prison. Photo: Office of the President of El Salvador. While El Salvador’s government promotes its countries’ beaches, volcanoes, and safe streets in gentrified neighborhoods, thousands of Salvadoran families are denouncing arbitrary detentions and seeking justice for relatives imprisoned under President Nayib Bukele’s extended state of emergency. The contrast is stark: the country welcomes tourists with open arms while ruthlessly imprisoning its own people, drawing widespread international criticism for human rights abuses. May 18 marked one year since the arbitrary arrest of attorney Ruth López, head of the anti-corruption unit at the organization Cristosal, in a clear attempt to silence voices critical of the regime. She remains in prison despite the government’s earlier statement that her “provisional arrest” would last six months. Hundreds of organizations around the world have demanded Ruth’s unconditional release, given the total lack of evidence against her. “Authoritarians love corruption and fear accountability,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin, a U.S. Democratic congressman and staunch critic of Donald Trump. “The arrest of long-time human rights defender Ruth López is another chilling attack on democracy by Bukele’s regime. Free Ruth NOW.” Margaret Satterthwaite, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers, stated that Ruth López does not have full access to legal representation and that her arrest suggests a pattern of repression against civil society— and in particular against those who advocate for government accountability. Indeed, Cristosal reports that in El Salvador, tens of thousands of people have been arbitrarily detained under the state of emergency and that “civic space has been drastically reduced, and many journalists, human rights defenders, and civil society organizations can no longer operate safely in the country.” In July 2025, Cristosal was forced to relocate its operations outside of El Salvador following an increase in repression. Ruth López’s arrest took place in the context of the passage of the Foreign Agents Law — approved without debate in the Legislative Assembly — just two days after her arrest.The law imposes a 30 percent tax on foreign economic aid and creates numerous obstacles to the official registration of civil society organizations. Lopez is far from the only human rights defender who’s been targeted. The Committee for Solidarity with El Salvador in Mexico notes that “it has been two years since the arrest of nine civil war veterans — from both the army and the guerrillas, who joined forces in 2020 to form the National Alliance for Peace in El Salvador — as well as Luis Menjívar, a college student and communications volunteer for the group.” For years, they helped organize peaceful protests to denounce the Bukele administration’s attacks on democracy and human rights, as well as its trampling of the Peace Accords signed in Mexico in 1992. The government has also reversed the country’s historic ban on toxic gold mining, won after a long struggle, and targeted opponents of mining for persecution. El Salvador led the world in 2017 when its legislature voted unanimously to pass a law that prohibits metal mining in the country. Public opinion polls conducted in 2007, 2015, and 2024 showed that more than 60 percent of the Salvadoran population opposes mining in order to preserve the water in their rivers. Despite this public opposition, the legislature — controlled by President Bukele — passed a new mining law in December 2024 that opens the country to mining without environmental protections. International Allies against Mining in El Salvador support the majority view of the Salvadoran people that mining in El Salvador would exacerbate conditions in a country already grappling with high population density, water scarcity, deforestation, and pollution. They call on U.S. corporations and other foreign companies not to invest in a country whose government is accused of torture in its prisons and denies its citizens — such as Ruth López — the right to due process. However, the Bukele administration continues to ignore human rights concerns and presses on with its promotional campaign: “El Salvador continues to break records in tourism, thanks to the policies and initiatives that have been promoted in recent years, marked by enormous progress in the area of security… which is attracting the attention of the entire world, ” the government claims. Mexico is one of El Salvador’s top five trading partners and sources of investment. The application of the Estrada Doctrine of non-intervention is understandable. But in this case, it is not a matter of intervening; rather, the Mexican government should exert all possible diplomatic pressure to defend human rights in a sister nation and to ensure compliance with the Peace Accords signed at Chapultepec Castle in 1992. An earlier, Spanish-language version of this piece was published by La Jornada. The post El Salvador: Between Tourism and Terror appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Manuel Perez-Rocha.
Musk’s Trillion-Dollar Fortune is a Flashing Warning Light for Democracy
The red emergency light is flashing on America’s democracy dashboard, like a damaged aircraft teetering toward a mountain. Elon Musk becoming the planet’s first trillionaire should make us tremble for the future of self-governing republics. It’s as if we’re bringing back modern pharaohs to dominate our societies. Musk’s SpaceX company recently went public with a (probably inflated) More The post Musk’s Trillion-Dollar Fortune is a Flashing Warning Light for Democracy appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Elon Musk wielding a chainsaw at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in 2025. Photo: Gage Skidmore. CC BY-SA 2.0 The red emergency light is flashing on America’s democracy dashboard, like a damaged aircraft teetering toward a mountain. Elon Musk becoming the planet’s first trillionaire should make us tremble for the future of self-governing republics. It’s as if we’re bringing back modern pharaohs to dominate our societies. Musk’s SpaceX company recently went public with a (probably inflated) market capitalization of $2 trillion. SpaceX’s IPO increased Musk’s net worth by an estimated $188 billion, and the stock’s first-day surge subsequently pushed his fortune to roughly $1.1 trillion, according to Forbes. The concern here isn’t with wealth per se. It’s the tremendous power of concentrated wealth to distort markets, politics, and society. When you have Musk’s level of wealth, you’re no longer just buying another mansion or private jet (of which he already has several). You’re buying a media outlet, a senator, and maybe, in the case of Musk, elevating a president. Musk has no inhibitions about deploying the power of his considerable wealth. He bought Twitter, one of the public squares of our time, and transformed it into X, a partisan and disinformation platform rife with hate speech and extremism. In the 2024 election cycle, he donated $291 million to President Trump and Republican candidates, according to <a role="link" href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2025/03/elon-musk-tops-list-of-2024-political-donors-but-six-others-gave-more-than-100-million" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2025/03/elon-musk-tops-list-of-2024-political-donors-but-six-others-gave-more-than-100-million&source=gmail&ust=1782413326381000&usg=AOvVaw2KO6llHzEa2RE5ELJnhwns">Open Secrets. As Michael Mechanic wrote in Mother Jones, “Musk expended 0.1 percent of his wealth in the process and got far more in return.” Mechanic notes “The Trump administration promptly shelved dozens of investigations into Musk’s companies.” Musk was rewarded with a rogue government agency — the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), named for a crypto meme coin Musk invested in — to advance a self-interested data grab and chainsawing away at government capacity. Public Citizen found that 70 percent of the agencies that were targeted by DOGE had conflicts of interest for Musk’s businesses. For example, Musk directed DOGE to dismantle the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which would have overseen X’s move to become a payment processor. More dire still, DOGE cuts to USAID and other humanitarian aid programs have contributed to an estimated 750,000 lost lives. The projected deaths from these cuts run into the millions. Musk was further rewarded with lucrative government contracts for SpaceX, Starlink, and other Musk-companies. In early 2025, The New York Times reported on a boost in multi-billion-dollar contracts for Musk’s companies as the Trump administration took power. That was Musk as a “mere” centi-billionaire. What other power might Musk be able to wield as the world’s first trillionaire? But it’s not just Musk. America’s 16 centi-billionaires (including Musk) have a combined wealth of $4 trillion. And the 977 billionaires on the Forbes U.S. wealth list now own a combined $9.24 trillion, according to analysis by Americans for Tax Fairness. This isn’t a partisan concern. Whether it’s liberals like George Soros and Tom Steyer or right-wingers like Musk and Peter Thiel, this concentration of power and influence should trigger the flashing red light. It’s never a good thing for anyone to have the power of modern-day pharaohs. Musk was the top political donor in 2024, but <a role="link" href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2025/03/elon-musk-tops-list-of-2024-political-donors-but-six-others-gave-more-than-100-million" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2025/03/elon-musk-tops-list-of-2024-political-donors-but-six-others-gave-more-than-100-million&source=gmail&ust=1782413326381000&usg=AOvVaw2KO6llHzEa2RE5ELJnhwns">five other billionaire households gave over $100 million to candidates. Billionaires — and soon trillionaires as well — are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to influence our elections while working Americans struggle to afford food, housing, and health care. It’s clearer than ever that those two facts are connected. We need to get serious about curbing this billionaire influence and supporting regular people — starting with a wealth tax. Oxfam observes Musk could give $100 to every person on earth and remain one of the 10 richest people on earth. A 10 percent wealth tax on Musk’s fortune alone, they estimate, could end global extreme poverty and lift 800 million people above the extreme poverty line. Imagine the revenue and investment possibilities of a global wealth tax on all billionaires. The planet’s first trillionaire is not a sign of economic health. It’s an indicator of extreme inequality and the dangers of concentrated power. The post Musk’s Trillion-Dollar Fortune is a Flashing Warning Light for Democracy appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Chuck Collins.
For folks who might have missed it, abundance is the cool trend in politics these days. It got started with the book Abundance, which was co-authored by New York Times columnist Ezra Klein and Atlantic writer Derek Thompson. The gist of the book is that excessive government regulation is slowing growth and keeping us from More The post Abundance Jumps the Shark appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Vancouver, BC, skyline. Photo: David Zhang. CC BY-SA 2.0 For folks who might have missed it, abundance is the cool trend in politics these days. It got started with the book Abundance, which was co-authored by New York Times columnist Ezra Klein and Atlantic writer Derek Thompson. The gist of the book is that excessive government regulation is slowing growth and keeping us from enjoying the good things in life. The clearest case is with housing, where NIMBY activists block efforts to increase housing density, which would lower prices. However, they make the case more generally that a wide range of regulations make it difficult to do even simple things, like set up EV charging stations or extend broadband to rural communities. There is clearly something to the abundance story. It is easy to find cases where seemingly pointless regulations blocked projects that most of us would consider good. The problem is figuring out which regulations are pointless. The abundance authors also show little interest in widely abused regulations that benefit the rich. At the top of this list would be the government-granted patent monopolies that make prescription drugs and medical equipment expensive. In almost all cases, drugs and medical equipment would be cheap if sold in a free market, but for whatever reason, “abundance” apparently doesn’t mean cheap drugs. There is a similar story with bankruptcy laws that benefit private equity companies. Under current law, a private equity company can buy a restaurant, retail, or hospital chain, sell off all their assets and then have the chain declare bankruptcy. This leaves the creditors, such as landlords, suppliers, and often workers, out of luck. Meanwhile, the private equity partners can walk away with their money. The bankruptcy law doesn’t hold them liable for the debts they impose on the companies they purchase. These sorts of bankruptcies are a total waste from an economic perspective. And they can redistribute an enormous amount of money to private equity partners, many of whom are very rich. But eliminating this waste, along with other waste in the financial sector, plays no role in abundance. While measures that would eliminate some of the boondoggles that benefit the wealthy are not part of the abundance agenda, it seems some rich Silicon Valley types are anxious to embrace the idea of reducing regulations that hamper their businesses under the guise of promoting abundance. They have formed a funders network to support candidates who target bad (in their view) government regulation. Residential housing is where the abundance claim of bad regulation creating scarcity is probably clearest. But even here, their case is vastly overstated. House prices and rents have considerably outpaced inflation over the last decade, but blaming this on overly restrictive zoning is seriously misleading. The country was building plenty of housing from 2000 to 2006, prior to the collapse of the housing bubble. That collapse badly disrupted the housing market and caused construction to plummet. Construction had largely recovered to more normal levels by the time of the pandemic. However, the pandemic led to a huge surge in demand due to a massive increase in the number of people who worked from home. This caused a big jump in house sale prices and rents in the United States and around the world. That had little to do with zoning, although there are clearly some places, like San Francisco and New York, where restrictive zoning contributes to the problem. This history needs to be kept in mind when reading Binyamin Appelbaum’s New York Times column “One City Might Have Just Cracked the Housing Crisis.” Appelbaum, usually an astute columnist, tells readers that Vancouver’s secret is that it reached a settlement with an Indian tribe, giving them 10 acres of land in the city. As part of the settlement, the buildings on the land will not be subject to the zoning restrictions applied elsewhere in the city. This is allowing it to build badly needed housing. The problem is that it’s not clear how badly the city needs more housing right now. The city is actually considering a program to buy up vacant condo units to prop up their price. The city apparently views its problem as too much housing, not too little. Over the last year house prices in Vancouver have fallen 5.7 percent, somewhat more rapidly than the 4.3 percent average decline across Canada. Perhaps Appelbaum thinks prices should drop more rapidly, but they are clearly headed in the right direction for people who think housing costs too much. If Vancouver has a problem with high housing costs, it’s that it is an incredibly desirable place to live, and people keep moving there. The population of the city itself grew more than 40 percent from 1991 to 2021. The metro area grew even more rapidly, with growth topping 60 percent. That sort of rapid growth will put upward pressure on housing costs even with very liberal zoning rules. Perhaps if the city had no zoning restrictions, it could make it a less pleasant place to live, and then housing costs would fall. But it seems hard to contend that a city that accommodated a 40 percent increase in its population over three decades has excessively restrictive zoning. This can be a good lesson for people who want to jump on an abundance bandwagon and get rid of all government regulations. Look before you jump. Now let’s talk about drug patents! This first appeared on Dean Baker’s Beat the Press blog. The post Abundance Jumps the Shark appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Dean Baker.
The Troubling Precedent of Federal Immunity for Corporate Pollution
Last week, the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a notice in a US District Court to dismiss a case between the NAACP and Elon Musk’s xAI based on “federal policy, national security, and the public interest.” The case revolves around a gas turbine plant dubbed the Colossus Gas Plant that residents complain is pumping toxic More The post The Troubling Precedent of Federal Immunity for Corporate Pollution appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Pulp mill, Halsey, Oregon. Photo: Jeffrey St. Clair. Last week, the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a notice in a US District Court to dismiss a case between the NAACP and Elon Musk’s xAI based on “federal policy, national security, and the public interest.” The case revolves around a gas turbine plant dubbed the Colossus Gas Plant that residents complain is pumping toxic pollutants into nearby neighborhoods. But the DOJ states that the turbines are essential to nearby data centers that power xAI’s Grok, an AI tool the government says is critical to military operations in Iran. DOJ’s lawyers are also arguing that citizens don’t have the right to sue, a stance that is quickly becoming the de facto position within the administration on pollution. It all started in 2025, when residents of Boxtown, a predominantly Black neighborhood in Memphis, Tennessee, saw the arrival of Musk’s xAI, which took over an old manufacturing factory to build its Colossus 1 data center. To power the data center, the company installed methane-burning, or gas, turbines. Per the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) own site, these turbines emit pollutants, including nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides, and carbon monoxide, which are linked toincreased rates of asthma, respiratory diseases, heart problems, neurological issues, and certain cancers. Residents pushed back, but city leaders, including the Greater Memphis Chamber of Commerce, sided with the company, stating that the pollution produced by the gas turbines needed to power the center would be negligible. However, researchers at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, found that the average concentration of nitrogen dioxide in South Memphis has increased by 3 percent, with peak levels reaching 79 percent above pre-xAI levels in areas immediately surrounding the data center and by 9 percent in nearby Boxtown. Then, between August and December 2025, xAI and MZX Tech LLC installed and began operating 27 gas turbines in nearby Southaven, Mississippi, which borders South Memphis, to power its Colossus 2 data center. Plans are underway for another facility, dubbed Colossus 3, which will be even closer to the Colossus Gas Plant. In April 2026, the NAACP filed suit seeking to cease operations of the Colossus Gas Plant in Mississippi. The NAACP’s main argument is that xAI did not receive Clean Air Act permits from the EPA, which would require the company to determine the best available control technology (BACT) to reduce the plant’s emissions and to use that technology throughout the plant’s operating life. The NAACP is arguing that until xAI obtains the permits and implements the necessary pollution controls, the plant should shut down. The DOJ notice states that shutting down the plant could threaten AI innovation and national security interests. The DOJ also argues that the Clean Air Act grants “primary enforcement authority” to the EPA and state regulators, not citizens. DOJ states that Mississippi reviewed xAI’s plan and did not request permits and approval. What’s concerning is that some of the DOJ’s arguments bear a passing resemblance to a recent Supreme Court decision in Louisiana. In the decision on Plaquemines v. Chevron, the Supreme Court overturned a lower court ruling requiring the oil company to pay $745 million to the parish for damages to its wetlands. The parish had alleged that Chevron lacked the required permits and that certain uses of the state’s coastal zone had been started in violation of Louisiana’s State and Local Coastal Resources Management Act. The Supreme Court, however, sided with Chevron’s argument that its role in refining aviation fuel for the US Army during World War II means it was essentially performing the duties of “Federal Officers.” Like the DOJ’s argument over Grok’s use during the war with Iran, Chevron stated it was essentially a contractor for the government and that the case is a federal matter, not a local one. The main difference between these cases is that the Supreme Court did not throw out the suit entirely. The decision only stated that the case should be decided in federal court. The danger is in the interpretation of the decision. If environmental damage caused by companies can be linked even indirectly to federal responsibilities, companies like Chevron and xAI can be granted a kind of special protection, allowing them to do what they want. In the end, cases like these establish a troubling precedent, effectively stripping regulatory power from local communities that are forced to endure the environmental fallout of corporate pollution. Until state regulators or a more environmentally friendly administration steps in to enforce rules that have been in place since the 1970s, these communities will suffer. And all for an AI chatbot that once dubbed itself “MechaHitler” and spewed vitriolic racist content before the company shut it down for an update. This first appeared on CEPR. The post The Troubling Precedent of Federal Immunity for Corporate Pollution appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Matt Sedlar.
Clean Energy Investments Can Lead to Good Union Jobs
At the AFL-CIO convention in early June, union leaders spoke of how the Biden administration’s 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA, also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law) and its 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) contributed to the creation of good union jobs in clean energy production. As discussed in CEPR’s Majority Agenda, US More The post Clean Energy Investments Can Lead to Good Union Jobs appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Wind Turbines, Columbia River Gorge. Photo: Jeffrey St. Clair. At the AFL-CIO convention in early June, union leaders spoke of how the Biden administration’s 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA, also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law) and its 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) contributed to the creation of good union jobs in clean energy production. As discussed in CEPR’s Majority Agenda, US infrastructure is in a poor state. Our energy infrastructure receives only a D+ grade. The Biden administration directed$1 trillion to clean energy, and those investments have produced positive results for workers, US energy production, and the climate. “Energy jobs grew every year of the Biden administration” and “[c]lean energy investments powered job growth in the sector,” the Roosevelt Institute reports. The Institute adds, The lion’s share of energy job growth (72 percent) after the passage of IIJA and IRA was in clean energy, representing over 450,000 net new jobs in clean energy. Jobs in clean energy now represent nearly 44 percent of all US energy jobs. Roosevelt also pointed specifically to strong growth in construction and manufacturing jobs related to clean energy. The Biden legislation encouraged the linking of project funding to labor and community benefits agreements. This policy appears to have worked to support the growth of union jobs in the energy sector. Figure 1 shows that while the overall private-sector unionization rate declined over the Biden administration, the unionization rate increased in the energy sector. Figure 1 Much of the world is moving toward a clean energy future, but the Trump administration wants to take the United States back to the dirty energy past. One such step was the administration’s cancelling of wind energy projects. John L. Downey, the president of the International Union of Operating Engineers, who celebrated the growth of energy jobs at the AFL-CIO convention, issued a statement on December 23, 2025 in response to Trump’s actions: The International Union of Operating Engineers denounces the Trump Administration’s decision to issue stop work orders on five large scale energy projects and immediately laying off thousands of American workers right before Christmas. As working families struggle with a nationwide affordability crisis, the Administration’s decision adds insult to injury to thousands of construction workers who will be getting pink slips instead of holiday bonuses this week. This shortsighted decision, cloaked under a “national security” label, to halt construction on previously vetted and approved projects will only increase energy prices for ratepayers and hand America’s energy future to foreign competitors. American workers are employed in this industry. Taking more wind power off the board creates uncertainty in the renewable construction business, and uncertainty creates job loss. We need to stay at the forefront of energy dominance, not scaling back the American workforce AND America’s power generation capacity. He condemned the making of the members of his union “collateral damage in a political vendetta against one particular industry.” While the Trump administration continues to waste taxpayer dollars by paying companies not to build wind projects, after a legal battle, there are signs that wind energy production developed by state governments might resume in the United States. As the Trump administration’s anti-clean-energy — and anti-good-jobs — stance continues, one hopes that unions and others will keep fighting for a clean energy future. This first appeared on CEPR. The post Clean Energy Investments Can Lead to Good Union Jobs appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Algernon Austin.
Apathy in the American Medical Association
“We have nothing to do with that.” An American Medical Association staff member said this to me with a look of disdain on her face. I was at the AMA’s annual conference in Chicago, urging the doctors in attendance to speak up for their imprisoned Palestinian colleague, pediatrician and neonatologist Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya. My More The post Apathy in the American Medical Association appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
“We have nothing to do with that.” An American Medical Association staff member said this to me with a look of disdain on her face. I was at the AMA’s annual conference in Chicago, urging the doctors in attendance to speak up for their imprisoned Palestinian colleague, pediatrician and neonatologist Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya. My group posted up outside conference rooms and handed out informational flyers uplifting his story. Dr. Abu Safiya has been held in brutal Israeli detention for over 500 days without charge; you would think these details would trigger some sympathy or at least curiosity in his American counterparts, but the opposite happened. We were flocked by security guards, verbally harassed, and treated as if we were doing something much more nefarious than handing out harmless pieces of paper. A male security guard was threatening to get physical with me when the AMA staffer walked past — but instead of intervening, she joined in with him, egging him on. I asked her, “Do you know why we’re here, though? You guys need to speak up for your colleagues in a genocide.” She shook her head snidely, showcasing an apathy that was almost laughable considering the irony of the situation: A staff member for the country’s leading medical institution — one that prides itself on its ethics — couldn’t even pretend to care about a Palestinian doctor being tortured by Israel. It’s quite maddening when you think of how much support the AMA gave Ukraine when the Russian invasion began. They quickly put out statements of condemnation that the healthcare sector was being impacted, and hundreds of thousands of dollars in aid were given almost instantly. It has been three years since Gaza’s healthcare sector was completely reduced to rubble, and the AMA has yet to say a single word about it. A year and a half has passed since Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya was abducted from the hospital that Israel besieged. Coincidentally, the same week the AMA was meeting in Chicago, new photos of Dr. Abu Safiya emerged, the first in many months. He’s shown handcuffed and alone in a sterile white room, apparently on a video call with the Israeli courts. Dr. Abu Safiya before Israeli prison Dr. Abu Safiya after 1.5 years in Israeli prison The new image of Dr. Abu Safiya breaks my heart. He’s lost so much weight, and there’s scarring and scabbing on his arms that weren’t there before, obvious signs of torture. Israeli prisons are vile and dangerous; they are places where military personnel can go rogue with no fear of punishment and enact their most atrocious desires. After all, these prisons are run by the likes of Ben Gvir, a racist, sadist, and war criminal. I just don’t understand how physicians in the AMA can consciously look at this photo of Dr. Abu Safiya and have nothing to say. When Israelis are permitted to commit war crime after war crime, including holding medical professionals hostage, it sets a precedent. They’re not only killing and kidnapping healthcare workers in Gaza, but in Lebanon and Iran, too. Is it just because these are brown Muslim people that the AMA refuses to speak out? For an organization that claims a commitment to human rights and dignity, its racism is loud, and its participation in the white supremacist attitudes of Western imperialism is staggering. This conference was a place for the AMA to discuss policy, especially around advocacy. CODEPINK staff, volunteers, and coalition partners were outside and inside the conference every single day. Our presence sparked awareness and conversation among the members, and we learned that there were debates inside on an issue the organization could no longer ignore: Palestinian healthcare workers. Although they didn’t mention Dr. Abu Safiya by name, it’s clear that the AMA heard our collective message and that the friends of the movement inside the AMA were emboldened by our consistent energy. During the conference’s scheduled time to amend, remove, and propose new policies, a handful of resolutions were introduced about Palestine and the blatant attacks on its healthcare workers and infrastructure. There was one resolution in particular that was proof that our work was changing hearts and minds. It reads as follows: RESOLVED, that our AMA supports efforts to protect, release, and provide restitution to detained noncombatant healthcare workers in all areas of conflict, including Gaza. Ultimately, this specific resolution was not passed. But the mere inclusion and debate of the topic means that our persistence illuminated the issue of Palestine to every single person at the conference. And, because of that, the AMA delegates managed to pass 2 resolutions about the general “protection of healthcare workers and facilities in conflict areas.” The AMA staff member and security guards knew what we were talking about; they knew the story of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya. Whether they feel a moral obligation to do anything about it is beyond me, but we got confirmation that they knew exactly what we are organizing for. And even if the people in positions of power at the AMA don’t feel inclined to do anything about genocide, it is very clear that the general body does care. The AMA was founded, in part, to lay out a strict code of ethics for medical professionals in the United States. These principles explicitly highlight the responsibility of physicians to advocate for human dignity, human rights, public health, and medical access for all. What has happened in Gaza over the past three years has been nothing short of an abomination of human dignity and rights. Israel and the U.S. have bombed Gaza’s public health system to the ground, and now the one million Palestinians in Gaza have been left without access to proper medical care for three years. If the AMA were run by individuals who actually practiced their own code, they would have been the first to advocate against medicide in Gaza. Unfortunately, the organization seems to favor quiet comfort over the actual embodiment of its values. I am reminded of the photo that came out of Gaza just a few weeks after the genocide began. At a press conference outside an exhausted hospital, dead bodies of children in bags surrounded the podium, traumatized men stared at the camera, and some of the most courageous healthcare workers I have ever seen spoke out, pleading for the world to do something. Press conference outside of Al-Ahli Hospital on October 18th, 2023. I see the photo above, and the photo of Dr. Abu Safiya — these are just a handful of Palestinian healthcare workers making tremendous sacrifices to protect human life and dignity. They physically put themselves in the line of fire; meanwhile, the AMA doctors can’t even put out a statement. It is well past time that they break their silence. If the AMA chooses to advocate for the release of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, they very well might save his life. The post Apathy in the American Medical Association appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Jenin M..
How Public Benefit Claims Work…and Why Their Assumptions Matter
Phrases like “public benefit,” “impact,” “responsibility,” or “sustainability” are routinely used by universities, nonprofits, corporations, and public agencies to describe their work, summarizing complex activities in ways that are easy to communicate to donors, policymakers, journalists, and the public. On the surface, these statements appear straightforward, seeking to improve access to education, reduce environmental harm, More The post How Public Benefit Claims Work…and Why Their Assumptions Matter appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
San Antonio Food Bank (SAFB) Outreach Office. Photo by Lance Cheung, USDA. Phrases like “public benefit,” “impact,” “responsibility,” or “sustainability” are routinely used by universities, nonprofits, corporations, and public agencies to describe their work, summarizing complex activities in ways that are easy to communicate to donors, policymakers, journalists, and the public. On the surface, these statements appear straightforward, seeking to improve access to education, reduce environmental harm, or support vulnerable populations. Yet they tend to compress numerous underlying judgments into a few words, depending on decisions about what outcomes count, which groups are included, and how success is measured. Public benefit statements depend on interpretive assumptions. The more revealing question is how a statement is structured and understood. Underlying assumptions shape meaning in often-overlooked ways, and different assumptions can yield different interpretations of the same activity. How Impact Language Shapes Institutional Communication The use of impact-oriented language has expanded significantly in recent decades. Universities emphasize their contributions to society through research, teaching, and community engagement. Nonprofits describe program outcomes in measurable terms. Corporations increasingly frame their activities in terms of environmental, social, and governance criteria, presenting themselves as responsible actors within broader social systems. This shared vocabulary enables institutions to communicate with diverse audiences. It also allows for comparison across organizations, at least at a general level. Terms such as “impact” and “sustainability” create a common language that can be used across sectors. But these terms are also highly flexible. The same term can describe very different activities, evaluated using different criteria. One institution’s definition of “impact” may emphasize measurable outcomes within a specific population, while another may focus on broader, long-term societal effects. Similarly, “sustainability” may refer to financial viability, environmental stewardship, or both. In practice, these terms are more often used as organizing concepts than precise measurements. They help institutions present information, but do not fully explain how outcomes are being defined or evaluated. Understanding these statements requires paying attention to the assumptions underneath them. Institutional incentives can also shape how progress is defined and communicated, influencing the boundaries used to measure outcomes. The Role of Baseline Assumptions At the center of any public benefit statement is a set of baseline assumptions, which determine how an activity is evaluated by defining what is counted, what is excluded, and what is taken as given. A baseline is the starting point against which outcomes are measured. It includes the relevant conditions, the populations included, and the time frame for assessing changes. Every statement about impact or progress carries an underlying assumption: what is the relative baseline against which these outcomes should be measured? Decisions need to be made about which population to include when evaluating outcomes. These may include current participants, future populations, or groups affected indirectly by an activity. Evaluations may focus on direct outcomes or include indirect and systemic effects. Time horizons may emphasize short-term results or long-term consequences. Many activities also involve tradeoffs, requiring judgments about how to weigh competing outcomes. Different baselines can produce different interpretations of the same activity. For example, consider a program that increases access to a particular service for a defined group. If the baseline includes only that group and measures outcomes over a short period, the program may appear highly effective. If the baseline is expanded to include broader social or environmental effects, or if the time horizon is extended, the evaluation may change. Neither interpretation is necessarily incorrect, but each depends on the assumptions built into the baseline. Narrow baselines may exclude categories of impact that fall outside immediate or easily measurable parameters. These can include long-term effects, indirect consequences, or impacts on systems not directly captured within institutional reporting frameworks. As a result, the selection of a baseline influences not only how outcomes are measured but also what is recognized as relevant in the first place. These dimensions are often implicit rather than explicit. Institutional statements typically present conclusions—such as a program’s ability to generate public benefit—without detailing the assumptions that support them. As a result, the meaning of such a conclusion depends on a baseline that may not be fully visible to the reader. Why Definitions Matter for Interpretation Because public benefit statements rely on underlying assumptions, their interpretation depends on how those assumptions are understood. Two readers may interpret the same statement differently based on their assessments. The issue becomes clearer when comparing statements across institutions. If two organizations report positive impact but use different criteria to define and measure it, the results may not be directly comparable. Without clarity about the underlying assumptions, it is difficult to determine what is being measured in each case. A program may succeed within its defined scope while the broader system in which it operates continues to expand negatively. Reductions in harm per unit can coincide with increases in total harm when the overall scale grows. In such cases, interpretation depends on whether the evaluation focuses on localized outcomes or system-level effects. In some systems, outcomes are not linear. Once certain thresholds are crossed, relatively small changes in conditions can produce disproportionately large effects. Small improvements in one area do not, however, always change the larger system in meaningful ways. Evaluation frameworks in fields such as public policy and program assessment often address these issues by making assumptions explicit. Tools such as logic models and theories of change map relationships between inputs, activities, outputs, and outcomes. They specify the conditions under which a program is expected to produce particular results, providing a structured basis for interpretation. In public-facing communications, however, such frameworks are rarely presented in detail. Institutions rely on summary language that conveys outcomes without fully specifying how they are defined. That may work well for a broad communication strategy, but it places a greater burden on interpretation. Ambiguity in definitions does not necessarily indicate error or misrepresentation. Institutions may adopt different assumptions for legitimate reasons, reflecting their goals, constraints, or areas of focus. The issue is not the presence of assumptions, but their role in shaping meaning. Recognizing this role allows readers to approach public benefit statements more analytically. Rather than taking such statements at face value, readers can examine the assumptions that must hold for them to be valid. This shifts the focus from acceptance or rejection to interpretation. A Framework for Understanding Claims A useful way to think about public benefit statements is through a simple framework that makes underlying assumptions visible and revolves around three questions. First, what is being claimed? This involves identifying the specific statement about impact, responsibility, or benefit. For example, an institution may claim that a program improves community well-being or reduces environmental harm. Second, what assumptions define the baseline? This includes determining which populations, effects, and time frames are considered when evaluating the statement, as well as what is outside the scope of analysis. Third, what observable conditions correspond to the statement? This step connects the claim to measurable outcomes, asking what changes in the real world would indicate that the claim is being fulfilled. The point is not to determine whether a statement is true or false. Instead, the framework provides a structured way to understand how it is constructed. Making assumptions explicit clarifies the relationship between the statement and the conditions it describes. Similar questions already appear in fields ranging from public policy to systems analysis. Analysts have developed approaches that examine how variations in baseline assumptions affect the coherence and interpretation of public-facing claims. Whether evaluating a nonprofit program, a corporate sustainability initiative, or a public policy intervention, the same underlying issue remains: how the boundaries of evaluation are defined shapes how outcomes are understood. Applications Across Sectors Similar issues arise across sectors where institutions make claims about impact and responsibility. In corporate contexts, environmental, social, and governance reporting provides a prominent example. Companies report on environmental and social performance using a variety of metrics and frameworks. While these reports aim to increase transparency, differences in definitions and methodologies can make comparisons difficult. A gap can emerge between the scope of institutional statements and the boundaries within which outcomes are measured. In the nonprofit sector, organizations report outcomes to donors and stakeholders using metrics that are aligned with their missions. These metrics may not be directly comparable across organizations, even when addressing similar issues. Public policy evaluation also depends on baseline assumptions. Decisions about which outcomes to measure, over what time frame, and for which populations shape how policies are assessed. International frameworks attempt to standardize some of these measures, but variations remain. Across all of these contexts, the same issue keeps reappearing: statements about impact are shaped by the assumptions that define their evaluation. Understanding these assumptions is essential for interpreting the meaning of the statements. How to Read ‘Public Benefit’ Claims For readers encountering public benefit statements, a few general principles can guide interpretation. Such statements depend on underlying assumptions. Considering which baseline to use can clarify the meaning. Asking what observable conditions should correspond to the statement can further sharpen interpretation. Recognizing this can change how readers interpret claims that might otherwise seem straightforward. Approaching statements in this way shifts the focus from accepting or rejecting them to examining their construction and implications. Public benefit statements play an important role in how institutions communicate their activities and goals. They provide a concise way to describe complex work and to signal alignment with broader social objectives. At the same time, their meaning depends on underlying assumptions that are often implicit. In this sense, public benefit statements can be understood not as descriptions of outcomes, but as structured ways of interpreting activity that depend on how the boundaries of evaluation are drawn in the first place. Seeing these assumptions more clearly changes how claims are compared, evaluated, and understood. The post How Public Benefit Claims Work…and Why Their Assumptions Matter appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Reynard Loki.
Tyrant Trump’s Biggest Legacy – Bringing Out the Worst in America
Jimmy Carter’s campaign motto in 1976 was “Why Not the Best!” declaring everywhere he went: “I want to see us once again have a nation that’s as good and honest and decent and truthful and competent and compassionate and filled with love as are the American people.” Dictator Donald Trump wants the opposite and is More The post Tyrant Trump’s Biggest Legacy – Bringing Out the Worst in America appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Jimmy Carter’s campaign motto in 1976 was “Why Not the Best!” declaring everywhere he went: “I want to see us once again have a nation that’s as good and honest and decent and truthful and competent and compassionate and filled with love as are the American people.” Dictator Donald Trump wants the opposite and is bringing the worst out of America. Here are a few of his metastasizing initiatives: 1. Championed the worst forms of energy – coal, oil, and gas – and depressing solar energy and wind power with restrictive policies, and even paying ongoing wind project companies nearly a billion dollars in your tax dollars to stop construction! Also, he is using many billions of your tax dollars to subsidize the failing nuclear power companies to build more expensive, unneeded, uninsurable, un-investable (by Wall Street), unsafe, boondoggles while his GOP takes large campaign contributions from fossil fuel and nuclear power corporate welfarists. 2. Encouraged the worst corruption of the Pentagon—more waste, contractor fraud and abuse—led by a foul-mouthed buffoon pushing illegal wars, mass deaths, and racism. Hegseth is despised by many high-ranking officers for his misogynistic firings and incompetence. 3. Brought out the worst from his toady Attorney Generals at the Justice Department—firing prosecutors and other lawyers for perceived vengeance. Trump gives orders directly to DOJ officials, thus ending any traditional arms-length independence at that Department. Trump has gotten his Attorney Generals to dismiss over 100 corporate crime cases, to decline enforcement of laws holding polluters and corporate criminals accountable, and made DOJ his personal law firm. 4. Encouraged the worst from the Environmental Protection Agency, whose puppet director believes that more methane, other greenhouse gases, motor vehicle gases, auto factories, and coal pollution are permissible for America’s children to breathe. EPA Director Lee Zeldin should rename his shattered agency and fired scientists “The Trump Anti-Environment Protection Agency.” 5. Suppressed or cancelled programs of scientific truth-seeking while publicizing pseudo-scientists who go far beyond healthy skepticism to peddle quackery about climate violence, pandemics, and vaccines that lead to distrust and disarray among vulnerable people wanting to protect their families. For Trump, climate catastrophes are “a hoax, a scam” and he is giving corporations the green light on dangerous pesticides (especially deadly to little children) which increase the risk of cancer and other lethal diseases. When you lie every talking hour of the day, as Trump does, the truth and facts have no relevance. 6. Trump is self-servingly wrecking the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Further cutting its tight budget via the GOP in Congress, the IRS has a grossly inadequate number of experts skilled in detecting complex corporate tax schemes and evasions totaling hundreds of billions of dollars in TAX ESCAPES per year. One of those Escapes is the coerced deal Trump imposed on the IRS to give him and his avaricious family immunity from past and contemporary audits and enforcement, worth a gold mine to the bragging tax dodger-in-chief. He has wrecked public trust in his politicized IRS, on which voluntary compliance by American taxpayers is based. 7. Trump has grievously brought out the worst from the Congress, finishing off what is left of the separation of powers, turning Speaker Mike Johnson into a panting lap dog and Senate Majority Leader John Thune into a more staid but ready heel-clicker. Trump has opposed any public hearings and investigative oversight of the Executive Branch, including an inquiry into his illegal firing of 17 inspector generals required to root out waste and fraud from their departments. In his first term, Trump defied over 125 Congressional subpoenas – an impeachable offense if ever there was one. 8. Trump brings out the worst from major corporations. His dictates—allowing corporations to cheat, steal, harm, pollute, and violate with impunity almost any federal laws, most of which Trump has shelved by taking the federal cops off the corporate crime beat—could fill a large book.. This is especially the case in lifting controls over poisonous corporate pollution and letting large companies decide for themselves how little or no tax they pay to Uncle Sam from their massive profits. Why not? He preaches what he practices as he amasses an ever-greater personal wealth using the White House as a profiteering office for profiteering. 9. Worsening the architecture of the White House and nearby Washington, D.C., are major preoccupations of this egomaniacal dilettante. He illegally tore down the East Wing and is building, without Congressional permission, a huge, garish ballroom to go along with other planned desecrations, such as the 250-foot-high arch. As architect critic Philip Kennicott of the Washington Post writes, he has turned “the reflecting pool from a serene oasis to a police zone,” bungling millions of dollars. Day after day, thousands of National Guard soldiers are wondering what they’re doing aimlessly patrolling downtown Washington to fill the whims of Trump’s false claims about their ending street crimes in the national capital. 10. The Trumpeteer has brought out the worst in the mainstream media, giving preferential access to uncritical reporters, and restricting or prohibiting access to reporters who are steadfast and straightforward. Trump maliciously sues to extort money from networks like CBS and ABC, while approving mergers and acquisitions of media properties by Trump funders and flatterers expected to censor in his favor. 11. From the people, he has celebrated vice over virtue, greed over charity, obscenity over decency, violence over peace, police and ICE brutality over more effective standards of prudence and restraint by law enforcers. As an open, brazen liar, a delusionary braggart, and peddler of empty promises, Trump has troubled parents who see their youngsters mimic his abuses and foul talk. 12. He pardons hundreds of convicted violent criminals and other fraudsters and says he will pardon more crooks, even urging them to continue their lawless ways because he will pardon them if they are caught. As a convicted felon himself, he knows a criminal when he sees one. . 13. Trump has violated seven of the Ten Commandments and is almost never seen in Church, yet Trump manages to bring out the most extreme hypocrites from the leadership of organized religion, who support his violent, aggressive wars and alliances of mass murder, larger military budgets, and his waiver of prosecuting corporate crooks, because they like his anti-abortion stance. Twice, he has assailed Pope Leo, who is insisting that Christianity be a religion of love, compassion, and peace. 14. His most fervent mission is to provoke biases and bigotry against recent immigrants and asylum seekers among millions of his voters who believed his lies about these desperate people, fleeing with their children from oppressive regimes and oligarchies long supported by the U.S. government in Central and South America. Using words like “invasion,” “rapists,” “criminals,” he succeeded in defaming the overwhelming law-abiding and hard-working people harvesting our crops, caring for our little children and elderly, and cleaning up after us every day to feed their families. Largely unrebutted by a cowardly Democratic Party, Trump’s fabrications threw his MAGA supporters into a frenzy, which he fed daily, obscuring his own employment of hundreds of low-paid, undocumented construction workers in New York and his servants in New Jersey. Every society has its cruel, greedy, and bigoted inhabitants. Trump grossly exaggerated troubled conditions in the US to embolden these miscreants, then heralded them, gave them access to the White House and Mar-a-Lago, helped them get media coverage, and sell their books. Trump then intimidated or prosecuted those who exercised their freedom of speech rights to criticize or counter Trump’s depraved and baleful lackeys. He has regaled Silicon Valley’s corporate digital child molesters, taken their campaign donations, flattery, and investments at the expense of curtailing the daily harm they are directly marketing to tens of millions of vulnerable children. Presidents of our country, with their “bully pulpit” and vast media coverage, set examples in many ways for families. They can bring out the kindness and idealism of many Americans, as did President John F. Kennedy in 1961 when he and Congress launched the Peace Corps. Or they can exhibit to the world the cruelty and viciousness of the Trump/Musk illegal rampage that started with closing the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). With the rupture of the flow of critical medicines, food, medical supplies, and clean water to those in need, the Trump/Musk Axis sealed the fate abroad of millions, mostly infants, children, and mothers, over the next several years, according to expert estimates. (See USAID shutdown has led to hundreds of thousands of deaths.) Long after Trump is impeached and removed from office, his hateful, vengeful drive to bring out the worst from our country will linger and fester. Until, that is, the forces behind expanded goodwill and fair play, peace and justice manifest themselves at the polls, the civic and political arenas, and the civic education and experiences within our repurposed elementary and secondary schools. History repeatedly teaches us that principles of peace, justice, and opportunity always enjoy overwhelming public support when polled compared to ideologies of corruption, violence, and greed. So, it is entirely in our hands to bring these preferences into the daily reality of the people, their children and grandchildren, and future generations who deserve better. The post Tyrant Trump’s Biggest Legacy – Bringing Out the Worst in America appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Ralph Nader.
Understanding the MOU Most of the critical commentary on the Trump administration’s memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Iran centers on the specific commitments each side is supposed to have made and intends to carry out. But the MOU is not a peace agreement; it is a framework for a potential agreement. Therein lies one of More The post The Missing Art of the Deal with Iran appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Understanding the MOU Most of the critical commentary on the Trump administration’s memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Iran centers on the specific commitments each side is supposed to have made and intends to carry out. But the MOU is not a peace agreement; it is a framework for a potential agreement. Therein lies one of its central problems: the actual terms of a contractual arrangement between the US and Iran governments are matters for future negotiations, whereas the only firm arrangement is for an opening of the Strait of Hormuz by Iran in return for an end to the US blockade of Iran’s ports. Even then, the opening is tentative; shipping remains dangerous as Iran has indicated dissatisfaction with the route through the Strait, while the US has not withdrawn its naval and air power from the Strait area. In short, nothing about the MOU is certain. The “understandings” in the MOU are matters of interpretation. Whether or not they lead to a signed agreement depends on how each party assesses the behavior of the other in fulfilling its presumed commitments. Leaders in both countries have expressed doubts about the credibility and reliability of the other—Trump about Iran’s willingness to carry out the MOU’s terms, in which case he has threatened to resume warfare, and Iran about US intentions with regard to its nuclear program and US ties to Israel. Mutual trust is absent, but more to the point is clarity about each party’s compliance with the agreement’s terms. Obama’s Way Two other problematic pieces to the US-Iran talks are the absence of involvement by other interested parties and lack of US expertise in the talks—both very different from what took place in 2015 when the US reached a nuclear deal with Iran under President Obama. The 2015 nuclear deal, let’s recall, was not just a US-Iran deal. China, Russia, Germany, France, Britain, and the European Union (“5P+1”) were also parties, creating a broader responsibility for the process and outcome. Moreover, whereas in 2025 the US team had considerable scientific representation on nuclear matters, as did Iran, these days the US is represented by political figures of (to be kind) questionable experience at dealing with nuclear affairs, to say nothing of Middle East history and politics. Which brings me to the other, more basic reasons the 2015 talks succeeded where the current talks will probably not. In a case study of the 2015 talks for my book, Engaging Adversaries, I found that in the years prior to the nuclear deal, the Obama administration struggled to find a way forward, sometimes relying on threats and sometimes on engagement. Eventually, Obama chose the latter course, partly on the advice of outside specialists. Among the lessons learned from reaching agreement with Iran was that mutual respect works better than threats, that an appreciation of Iran’s history and culture goes a long way, that understanding Iran’s interests is important, and that US negotiators needed to avoid hostile rhetoric and grandstanding and instead be businesslike and professional. Absent these conditions today, and Iran’s fundamental mistrust of the US stemming from the Trump administration’s rejection of the 2015 deal, a settlement of the war seems remote. Even if military action does not resume, it is hard to imagine that Trump will match Obama’s achievements: a reduction of Iran’s uranium enrichment, an easing of sanctions, Iran’s commitment to rigorous international inspections, a return to Iran of frozen assets, and support of the agreement by the 5P+1 countries. The Art of a Real Deal In an interview on MSNow the other day, former US secretary of state, John Kerry, discussed the MOU and compared it with the 2015 deal that he and his team concluded. He emphasized the point I just made that the MOU is merely a promise to negotiate, with results that are unpredictable. What Trump should have done is this, said Kerry: “All the president had to do was commit that he was prepared to negotiate for the changes that he really wanted as a result of Iran’s behavior. There was no effort to put on the table something that said, look, here’s what we really object to. These are the problems that we have with the current agreement [meaning the 2015 deal] and we’re prepared to negotiate with you on that. That is a negotiation that never took place.” Why didn’t Trump do that? Kerry, like many observers, believes it comes down to two things: the influence of Netanyahu and Trump’s determination to outdo Obama. Trump has made very clear in (for example) his dealings with Venezuela, Cuba, Canada, and Denmark that when he thinks an adversary is weak, he will downplay diplomacy and foreign policy expertise and seek advantage by force or threat. With Iran, Trump early on sought regime change, boasted about a quick end to the war, urged Iran’s people to rise up, and constantly resorted to threats if he believed Iran would not be forthcoming. There was no “art of the deal,” merely bluster, overconfidence, and stupidity. The post The Missing Art of the Deal with Iran appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Mel Gurtov.
Fiji military defends national role in society after 9% budget cut
RNZ Pacific Fiji’s military has hit out against budget cuts it copped last Friday. In a social media post, the Republic of Fiji Military Forces (RFMF), which has gained influence in law enforcement over the last year, issued an apparent warning to detractors to recognise the role they play in Fijian society. “The RFMF… genuinely
RNZ Pacific Fiji’s military has hit out against budget cuts it copped last Friday. In a social media post, the Republic of Fiji Military Forces (RFMF), which has gained influence in law enforcement over the last year, issued an apparent warning to detractors to recognise the role they play in Fijian society. “The RFMF… genuinely respects the concerns raised in public commentary… that military spending should be reduced on the grounds that Fiji is not engaged in conventional warfare,” said RFMF commander Major-General Ro Jone Kalouniwai. READ MORE: Fiji military puts public ‘on notice’ citing national security threats Other Fiji military reports “But we ask those who hold this view to look again.” In the 2026-2027 Budget, the RFMF lost around FJ$14.8 million (NZ$11.5 million) — a 9 percent cut — and is projected to lose another $1.1 million next year. Fiji Sun reported that, for Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka, the rationale behind the cut was Fiji’s decision to scale back overseas peacekeeping commitments. But the three-part post, titled “What the RFMF means to Fiji – Beyond the Budget and into the grey zone”, outlined the military’s view of itself as essential in efforts against the drug trade and corruption — and its social value. “The RFMF has never asked for recognition. But perhaps it is time we offer it anyway,” it read. Govt revenue falling “And in doing so, ask ourselves honestly what it would cost us not to have it.” While announcing the budget, Finance Minister Esrom Immanuel revealed that government revenue was falling while expenditure was climbing. The country’s budget deficit is more than FJ$200 million higher than last year, due in part to a lower tax take. Immanuel said the government was shifting cash towards infrastructure projects and private sector development. This story was first published on This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.
Time to pull plug on power-hungry ‘bludger’ AI data centres, says CAFCA
Campaign Against Foreign Control of Aotearoa The Campaign Against Foreign Control of Aotearoa (CAFCA) has warned that a planned AI data centre in Southland would consume up to 25 percent of New Zealand’s annual electricity output and push power prices higher for Kiwi consumers and businesses. CAFCA organiser Murray Horton said in a statement that
Campaign Against Foreign Control of Aotearoa The Campaign Against Foreign Control of Aotearoa (CAFCA) has warned that a planned AI data centre in Southland would consume up to 25 percent of New Zealand’s annual electricity output and push power prices higher for Kiwi consumers and businesses. CAFCA organiser Murray Horton said in a statement that data centres consumed a “phenomenal amount” of electricity. “The proposed $5 billion foreign-owned Datagrid AI centre near Invercargill would require 1 gigawatt of electricity to operate,” he said. READ MORE: Southland’s first ‘AI factory’ data centre gets go-ahead Other AI energy reports “That is nearly twice as much as the 570 megawatts that Rio Tinto’s Tiwai Point aluminium smelter consumes. “Currently the smelter takes 13 percent of all the electricity New Zealand produces. If the data centre is built, we would have to sacrifice more than one third of the power we produce to supply just two foreign-owned businesses.” Horton said CAFCA had long targeted Rio Tinto’s smelter near Bluff, labelling it New Zealand’s “biggest corporate bludger”. “It pays a secret, super cheap price for power that is not available for any other user. All other electricity users in Aotearoa therefore subsidise the power that the smelter consumes and exports in the form of aluminium,” he said. Textbook example “Rio Tinto’s smelter is the textbook example of corporate welfare in New Zealand, but this new data centre would take this to another level. It would use twice as much power and would require it 24 hours a day, every single day of the year. “In a dry winter the smelter can turn off one or two of its pot lines to conserve power, but data centres cannot do that. Industry experts say AI computers can be damaged if they are shut down so they need an unending, uninterrupted supply. “The government’s plans to develop a liquefied natural gas import terminal in Taranaki to provide backup power in lean years have to be seen in this light. “LNG is environmentally harmful and, as we have seen with the war in Iran, potentially vulnerable solution to a problem largely created by these large power users. “Without these major consumers, we could use new renewable energy generation and better storage and management of our supply to meet demand in dry years,” Horton said. Another problem with AI computing centres is that they generated high levels of heat, so they must be cooled using large amounts of water. This is why cool regions such as Southland are sought after by developers. Heat from data centres can be siphoned off and used to heat urban areas, but this requires significant investment in infrastructure. ‘Insidious nature’ Horton said concerns about electricity and water consumption as well as the “insidious nature of AI” were driving opposition to AI data centres around the world. “Because it has made a big bet on AI, the United States is at the forefront of this. Many states have used tax incentives to encourage data centres and some AI companies are even developing their own generators to power them.” Microsoft planned to reopen the notorious Three Mile Island nuclear power plant to run data centres in four different states, for example. “Now opposition to them is growing right across the US. The issue unites people across the political spectrum — from MAGA to the far left. And The New York Times reports there are movements against them in Europe, South Africa, Latin America, India and Southeast Asia,” Horton said. “There are also concerns about the nature of AI itself. Many people are worried that AI will cause massive unemployment. The military’s use of AI and facial recognition tools create some truly frightening prospects. “AI is an unprecedented and potentially devastating technology but there has been very little discussion of it in New Zealand. “The Overseas Investment Office has approved the construction of the data centre in Southland, but that is not a surprise because they approve nearly all projects that foreign companies want to operate here propose.” Ethical issues Along with the ethical issues AI poses, the economics of data centres did not add up, Horton said. While they created jobs during the construction phase, once they were up and running they were virtually automatic and profits flowed to the biggest tech oligarchs in the world. CAFCA is calling for a halt to major AI data centres in Aotearoa. “They are being sold to the NZ public as The Next Big Thing, with little or no discussion about their massive impact on our electricity and water resources, let alone any discussion on the bigger issue of highly controversial AI,” Horton said. This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.
Pro-French, pro-independence blocs remain in New Caledonia election
By Patrick Decloitre of RNZ Pacific The one-round provincial election held in New Caledonia yesterday has produced a few surprises, but essentially maintained the existing blocs between pro-independence and pro-France parties. In the Southern Province (New Caledonia’s most affluent and populated, including the capital Nouméa), provisional results show half the votes went to the “Strong
By Patrick Decloitre of RNZ Pacific The one-round provincial election held in New Caledonia yesterday has produced a few surprises, but essentially maintained the existing blocs between pro-independence and pro-France parties. In the Southern Province (New Caledonia’s most affluent and populated, including the capital Nouméa), provisional results show half the votes went to the “Strong and United” pro-France camp. This brought together the Rassemblement, Les Loyalistes parties, headed by incumbent Southern Province President Sonia Backès. READ MORE: Counting underway at polling stations in New Caledonia provincial elections New Caledonia polls close in French Pacific territory’s first provincial elections since 2019 Heavy security deployed as New Caledonia’s crucial elections begin New Caledonia’s political parties make final pitch to voters before campaigning ends Alcohol sales banned in New Caledonia as provincial election approaches Other Kanaky New Caledonia reports Her list has obtained the support of 50.4 percent of the votes in the province, according to provisional results last night, which should give it 28 seats in the Southern Province and 24 of the 54 seats in New Caledonia’s Territorial Congress. Support for the Strong and United pro-France list was not only strong in the capital Nouméa, but also in its three surrounding towns of Mont-Dore, Dumbéa and Païta. Speaking to a crowd of supporters last night, Backès, 50, hailed the results and her party’s score, saying this was a way for voters to recognise what had been done during the past seven years, marked by several crises — including the covid pandemic and the May 2024 riots. “The non-independence voters have supported our list at a large majority and I think our choice for unity was important,” she said. “Also because we were carrying a clear message of support for a New Caledonia within France, as well as a society model we believe in, based on respect for democracy, of merit and equality for everyone.” Pro-independence Johanito Wamytan (Union Caledonienne-FLNKS) and his list have secured 15.5 percent of the votes, translating into seven seats, one more than during the previous mandate (2019-2026). <img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-129838" src="https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Sonia-Backes-LNC-680wide.png" alt="Incumbent Southern Province president Sonia Backès" width="680" height="534" srcset="https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Sonia-Backes-LNC-680wide.png 680w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Sonia-Backes-LNC-680wide-300x236.png 300w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Sonia-Backes-LNC-680wide-535x420.png 535w" sizes="(max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px" /> Incumbent Southern Province President Sonia Backès, leader of the pro-France bloc, welcoming the provisional results in Nouméa’s Baie des Citrons last night, Image: Baptiste Gouret/LNC He is followed by Wallisian-based centre party Eveil Océanien’s list (“Another World is Possible”), headed by Milakulo Tukumuli (10.3 percent). In the Southern province, Eveil Océanien gained five seats — two more than during the previous provincial legislature. This will again make Eveil Océanien as a force to be reckoned with in both the Southern Province assembly and the Territorial Congress, where the party, set up in 2019, has gained the nickname of “king maker”. Eveil Océanien leader Milakulo Tukumuli said with four expected seats at the Congress, he was pleased to see that his party has “confirmed its place in New Caledonia’s political landscape”. Northern and Loyalty Islands provinces Provisional results in the Northern Province showed an almost equal score by the two pro-independence parties — UC-FLNKS and UNI (Union Nationale pour l’Indépendance). The two parties’ list heads, Pascal Sawa (UC-FLNKS) and incumbent UNI-PALIKA Paul Néaoutyine (who has been leading the Northern Province for the past 27 years) have won 10 and nine seats respectively, with the remaining three seats being held by pro-France Vanessa Wacapo (Les Loyalistes-Rassemblement). In the Loyalty Islands province, two lists headed by pro-independence Mickaël Forrest (UC-FLNKS) and Omayra Naisseline won six seats each in the small provincial assembly. The provincial elections results need to be officially proclaimed by the French High Commission this week. The next step, as part of the “trickle down” effect of the poll, is for New Caledonia’s new Congress to convene this Friday, July 3, with the first item on its inaugural agenda being the election the Speaker (President). Parties represented in the new Congress are expected to enter into negotiations in order to form alliances. This would be followed by a process of appointment of a “collegial” cabinet which is also supposed to reflect the make-up of the local Parliament. Low turnout rate One of the main features of Sunday’s provincial election was also the relatively low turnout rate (an estimated 58 percent of the 192,584 registered voters). This is eight percent less than the previous poll in 2019. Geopolitical analyst Pierre-Christophe Pantz told public broadcaster NC la Première during election night that “this was to be expected and this raises questions about the meaning of democracy”. Other experts also started to see in this low turnout a profound disinterest from voters. University of New Caledonia law professor Mathias Chauchat said the trend was worrying, especially when combined with the “sudden death” five-percent threshold that automatically eliminates smaller lists. “We end up with a rule that at the end of the day crystallises the forces in presence, to produce a rather conservative and polarised result,” Pantz said. UC-FLNKS politician Alosio Sako said on Sunday night during a TV live debate: “I hope [the poll results] will enable for a fresh start, to find a new agreement because [New] Caledonians are tired of having to go through this kind of situation”. Should the rules be changed? Another compounding factor is that any list that does not collect at least five percent of registered voters is automatically eliminated during this single-round poll. “This five-percent threshold rule was designed precisely to favour big blocs, to give them time to manage New Caledonia in the long term,” Professor Chauchat said. He said that instead of discarding all these disqualified votes, it could be an idea to retain some of the ideas brought up during the campaign in favour of younger representatives, based on the principle of participative democracy. “If you look at it more closely, there are a lot of new ideas from all these emerging small lists. “It’s a shame that they only appear during election time and then disappear again — like shooting stars.” Former journalist and TV personality Wallès Kotra, who headed one of the small lists, said he was concerned that the May 2024 riots and unrest should not repeat themselves. “This has left many traces and fear within the population. And I hope it doesn’t herald more crises,” he said. “We have to live together. And the two antagonist blocks, for them, it’s time to find an agreement. We must take care of our country.” This story was first published on This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.
The Pacifica Evening News, Weekdays – June 28, 2026
Comprehensive coverage of the day’s news with a focus on war and peace; social, environmental and economic justice. The post The Pacifica Evening News, Weekdays – June 28, 2026 appeared first on KPFA.
Comprehensive coverage of the day’s news with a focus on war and peace; social, environmental and economic justice. The post The Pacifica Evening News, Weekdays – June 28, 2026 appeared first on KPFA. This content originally appeared on KPFA - The Pacifica Evening News Weekdays and was authored by KPFA.
BAU + CARLA LIMA (Mindelo, Ilha de São Vicente, Cabo Verde)
Cow manure could be the next data center fuel
The manure-to-energy field has a new sales pitch. Critics warn it could mean even more factory farms.
At first glance, Lent Hill Dairy Farm in Steuben County, New York, looks like most other industrial dairies. There are red buildings that house some 4,000 cows, a staggering manure pit, and two gigantic dome-like structures that serve as anaerobic co-digesters. These giant machines break down manure and local food waste to produce biogas. This renewable natural gas, or RNG, is then typically transported for use as electricity, heating, and fuel. But at Lent Hill, the gas produced isn’t just heating homes or running tractors. It’s also powering an on-site cryptomine. The operation, run by Pennsylvania-based Ag-Grid Energy, is the first of its kind in the country. The company claims the anaerobic digestion of manure and food waste could be a game-changer, not only in powering crypto, but data centers, which currently use 4.9 percent of the country’s electricity, a figure that could double by 2030. “At the end of the day, our model is providing value to the rural area that we are in,” Rashi Akki, the founder and CEO of Ag-Grid Energy, told Sentient. The project claims to recycle more than 45,000 gallons of food waste per day and the manure of 4,000 cows. “What we want to do is also provide, if possible through fiber optics, [the] value of the AI computing capacity to that same regional area,” Akki said. While Ag-Grid Energy wants to work with midsize dairies to create on-site power generation for small-scale data centers, the world’s largest technology players have bigger visions. Tech giants are increasingly searching for fossil fuel alternative fuel sources to power hyperscale data centers that won’t put a strain on the grid. Read Next <img src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/data-centers.jpg?quality=75&strip=all" alt="digital collage of a photo of a data center and a photo of people holding signs protesting data centers with pixel graphics on top" class="js-modal-gallery__hidden" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/data-centers.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 2000w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/data-centers.jpg?resize=1200%2C675&quality=75&strip=all 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/data-centers.jpg?resize=330%2C186&quality=75&strip=all 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/data-centers.jpg?resize=768%2C432&quality=75&strip=all 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/data-centers.jpg?resize=1536%2C864&quality=75&strip=all 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/data-centers.jpg?resize=160%2C90&quality=75&strip=all 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/data-centers.jpg?resize=150%2C84&quality=75&strip=all 150w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" height="1125" width="2000" loading="lazy" decoding="async"> America’s data center backlash is bipartisan — can it stay that way? Zoya Teirstein & Kate Yoder Biogas proponents — a broad coalition of industries, including agriculture, fossil fuels, utilities, and waste management — are pushing renewable natural gas, sourced in part by manure digesters, as a sustainable way forward. In California, Microsoft has partnered with Enchanted Rock to use RNG for backup data center power. Vanguard Renewables, a waste management company and portfolio company of Black Rock, has touted RNG as “the fuel of the AI age.” Critics, however, fear the digester-to-data-center connection will give digesters an economic lifeline at a time when they’re struggling to stay online. Renewable natural gas from digesters are touted as a drop-in energy solution, Sarah D’Onofrio, a scholar and advocate who works with digester-impacted communities across the country, told Sentient. This means the RNG can be used without changing existing fossil fuel based infrastructure, and can be added to other fuel sources like natural gas so companies could claim they are fueling data centers sustainably, according to D’Onofrio. But researchers like D’Onofrio argue that to truly reduce emissions, we need to transition to clean energy fuels rather than rely on renewable substitutes for fossil fuels. Read Next <img src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/biochar-carbon-PyroTower-PlantVillage.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all" alt="A farmer holds a handful of biochar in his soot-covered hands." class="js-modal-gallery__hidden" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/biochar-carbon-PyroTower-PlantVillage.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all 1600w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/biochar-carbon-PyroTower-PlantVillage.jpeg?resize=1200%2C675&quality=75&strip=all 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/biochar-carbon-PyroTower-PlantVillage.jpeg?resize=330%2C186&quality=75&strip=all 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/biochar-carbon-PyroTower-PlantVillage.jpeg?resize=768%2C432&quality=75&strip=all 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/biochar-carbon-PyroTower-PlantVillage.jpeg?resize=1536%2C864&quality=75&strip=all 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/biochar-carbon-PyroTower-PlantVillage.jpeg?resize=160%2C90&quality=75&strip=all 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/biochar-carbon-PyroTower-PlantVillage.jpeg?resize=150%2C84&quality=75&strip=all 150w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" height="900" width="1600" loading="lazy" decoding="async"> This new machine churns out carbon-storing biochar on the cheap Matt Simon “Why would you want to incorporate that [RNG] into our fuel system during the period of climate change?” she said. D’Onofrio has helped communities in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Georgia, and North Carolina defeat proposals for large-scale co-digesters. She fears data centers are creating a new, massive market for the manure-to-energy industry, which could in turn incentivize the further proliferation of factory farms. “It attaches these industrial food operations into our energy system and makes us really dependent on them over time, because the more it becomes intermingled with agriculture, the more it’s going to concentrate agriculture,” said D’Onofrio. Animals raised on factory farms in the U.S. produce an estimated 941 billion pounds of manure each year, which pollutes air and water in communities all over the United States. In addition to problems with leakage, digesters do not make the manure disappear. The digested waste, or digestate, is meant to be recycled, potentially into a range of products, such as fertilizer and animal bedding. But there are a number of challenges with these downstream products, from economic to environmental. Digested manure can be more polluting than manure that hasn’t been digested, according to USDA research. In 2023, Victoria Gehrke, a community organizer who owns recreational property in Lind, Wisconsin, learned that a leader in the waste-to-energy field had proposed a co-digester in the town, touting it as a way to manage manure and reduce waste. Gehrke and her fellow organizer Laurie Knutzen quickly discovered the impacts a co-digester would have on the community: hazardous air emissions, trucks going in and out delivering industrial food waste — and few restrictions about where that waste would come from — and water pollution. The project intended to send about 41,000 gallons of waste per day into a tributary of Walla Walla Creek, which empties into Lake Michigan. Read Next <img src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/blood-in-the-well-illo.jpg?quality=75&strip=all" alt="an illustration of a field irrigated with pools in the shape of a cow cut up into parts a la butcher diagram" class="js-modal-gallery__hidden" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/blood-in-the-well-illo.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 2000w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/blood-in-the-well-illo.jpg?resize=1200%2C675&quality=75&strip=all 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/blood-in-the-well-illo.jpg?resize=330%2C186&quality=75&strip=all 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/blood-in-the-well-illo.jpg?resize=768%2C432&quality=75&strip=all 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/blood-in-the-well-illo.jpg?resize=1536%2C864&quality=75&strip=all 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/blood-in-the-well-illo.jpg?resize=160%2C90&quality=75&strip=all 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/blood-in-the-well-illo.jpg?resize=150%2C84&quality=75&strip=all 150w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" height="1125" width="2000" loading="lazy" decoding="async"> Blood in the well: One town’s fight against the slaughterhouse polluting it Maddy Lauria “These are manure and industrial food-waste processing and biogas-producing facilities, they are not ag accessories,” Gehrke said of co-digesters. “They don’t belong on ag land,” she explained, “and what they’re really doing is having our small rural communities — because we’re so vulnerable — we become sacrificial dumping grounds for the industrial waste that other big places don’t want to put in their communities.” After more than a year of relentless community opposition, the town of Lind denied Vanguard’s application in the spring of 2024. The organizers celebrated the decision as a win for Lind, but Vanguard is still “developing and operating” more than 50 co-digesters across the country. It aims to have more than 100 completed projects by the end of 2028. Patrick Serfass, the executive director of the American Biogas Council, told Sentient that biogas is an “excellent fit” for data centers in search of a reliable and high-capacity fuel source. “We’re really excited about the prospect of biogas systems being able to provide power to data centers, because they can provide that reliability,” Serfass says. Data center demand could lead to the expansion of co-digester buildouts across the country, he said. Serfass estimates that the U.S. has only built about 10 percent to 15 percent of the biogas market’s capacity. “The data centers are going to be so hungry for power that they could eat up pretty much all of the supply that the biogas industry could create,” Serfass says. Read Next <img src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/IMG_2186-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all" alt="" class="js-modal-gallery__hidden" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/IMG_2186-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 1600w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/IMG_2186-1.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&quality=75&strip=all 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/IMG_2186-1.jpg?resize=330%2C220&quality=75&strip=all 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/IMG_2186-1.jpg?resize=768%2C512&quality=75&strip=all 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/IMG_2186-1.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&quality=75&strip=all 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/IMG_2186-1.jpg?resize=150%2C100&quality=75&strip=all 150w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" height="1067" width="1600" loading="lazy" decoding="async"> This simple farming technique can capture carbon for thousands of years Matt Simon Vanguard Renewables makes a similar pitch. “As energy demand from data centers continues to grow, there is increasing interest in solutions that are both reliable and lower carbon,” Vanguard Renewables told Sentient in an email statement. The company is yet to partner with any data centers directly, but they have partnered with energy delivery companies like TotalEnergies and Enbridge, and both of these companies have relationships with hyperscalers and data center operators. In November 2025, TotalEnergies signed a 15-year deal with Google to provide solar energy to support the company’s data center operations in Ohio. Anaerobic digesters are not new. They have long been hailed as a way to reduce emissions, capture methane and manage waste — a solution to agriculture’s methane problem with few tradeoffs. The technology has received billions in subsidies at both the federal and state level. The California Low-Carbon Fuel Standard, a climate program implemented to incentivize the production of alternative fuels, funds nearly 200 digesters across 16 states; in 2023, Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act provided over $150 million in funding to biogas projects across the country; and the Michigan Strategic Fund has approved more than $100 million in private bonds for digesters. Akki said tax credits are incredibly important in making Ag-Grid Energy’s projects a reality. While most of the subsidies given to digester projects have been to support electricity and fuel for transportation, she wants to see fiscal support specifically for co-digesters that power AI. Read Next <img src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/elk-hills-oil.jpg?quality=75&strip=all" alt="a power plant is seen in an oilfield in Kern County, California" class="js-modal-gallery__hidden" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/elk-hills-oil.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 2000w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/elk-hills-oil.jpg?resize=1200%2C675&quality=75&strip=all 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/elk-hills-oil.jpg?resize=330%2C186&quality=75&strip=all 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/elk-hills-oil.jpg?resize=768%2C432&quality=75&strip=all 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/elk-hills-oil.jpg?resize=1536%2C864&quality=75&strip=all 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/elk-hills-oil.jpg?resize=160%2C90&quality=75&strip=all 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/elk-hills-oil.jpg?resize=150%2C84&quality=75&strip=all 150w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" height="1125" width="2000" loading="lazy" decoding="async"> A solution to data center backlash? Put them in oil fields. Jake Bittle “Tax credits — just like what we had with the Inflation Reduction Act — for electricity production for AI would really support our projects,” Akki says. But using tax-payer dollars to support digesters has lost favor with the Trump administration’s Department of Agriculture. In May, the USDA extended a 90-day moratorium on loans for anaerobic digesters through the end of the year amid environmental concerns and delinquent loans. According to a review of USDA lender data by Inside Climate News, 11 percent of the 746 project lenders across the country were considered over 90 days delinquent. On top of this, a growing body of research raises questions about whether digesters make economic or environmental sense. Government subsidies for digesters create a “perverse incentive where the value of manure or animal waste starts to compete with the value of the milk,” Brent Kim, a researcher at the Johns Hopkins Center for a Liveable Future, told Sentient. In other words, farmers are incentivized to produce waste for profit, not to produce milk for human consumption. Kim and his colleagues published a scientific review of the touted benefits and downsides to the controversial technology. “The reality is nuanced,” he said of digesters. While they can reduce methane emissions in the short term, they may also lead to an increase in ammonia emissions, toxic byproducts, and other pollutants released into the environment, a phenomena Kim calls “pollution swapping.” “So sure, all else being equal, you do have a reduction in methane, but if they’re incentivizing growth in the industry, the larger herd size is going to release more methane,” Kim said. Some research suggests digesters aren’t always effective at reducing methane either. As Sentient has previously reported, research from the World Resources Institute found that digesters offer limited climate benefit given their cost. Digesters reduce methane from manure storage by only about 25 percent, the WRI research finds. A report from Friends of the Earth found that dairies with digesters increased herd sizes by 3.7 percent annually, or 24 times the growth rate of dairies without digesters. In Kewaunee County, Wisconsin, herd sizes grew by about 58 percent since they were installed. The trend comes as no surprise to Lynn Henning, a soybean farmer in Michigan who lives near a Chevron-owned co-digester. When manure becomes “more valuable than the milk,” it creates incentive for growth, and changes what farming is all about, she told Sentient. “The system is changing farming. They’re shifting from producing food for people instead to producing manure so they can be paid more by the government,” Henning said. Kathy Morrison, a farmer in Fremont, Michigan, has similar concerns. She lived next to a co-digester for years, and it significantly impacted her quality of life. The smell was unbearable, sometimes so bad it woke her up in the middle of the night. She described it as being at a giant music festival and all the Porta Potties are overflowing. That smell was digestate, the liquid solid waste that’s left over and spread on fields after the digestion process. Morrison is not against the technology of digesters themselves, particularly at the local level, but with so many private companies looking to make a profit, equitable implementation and scale is hard to control. Data centers (which come with their own environmental impacts) would likely expand those opportunities for profit. “I would be all in favor of small, very controlled, community-size digesters, but when they’re large scale like this, and they’re operating for profit, corners get cut,” she said. But this is something else, she said. “All the different industries that have come together to turn this into something insanely profitable. …There’s just so many industries behind this. It’s wild.” This story was originally published by Grist with the headline Cow manure could be the next data center fuel on Jun 28, 2026. This content originally appeared on Grist and was authored by Marin Scotten, Sentient.
Counting underway at polling stations in New Caledonia provincial elections
By Patrick Decloitre of RNZ, RNZ Pacific reporters Polling stations have now closed in New Caledonia, as electoral officials begin tallying votes in today’s provincial elections. The Sunday elections are the first to be held in the French territory for 7 years after the 2024 elections were abandoned following riots that left 14 dead, and
By Patrick Decloitre of RNZ, RNZ Pacific reporters Polling stations have now closed in New Caledonia, as electoral officials begin tallying votes in today’s provincial elections. The Sunday elections are the first to be held in the French territory for 7 years after the 2024 elections were abandoned following riots that left 14 dead, and about 2.2 billion euros (NZ$4.4 billion) in economic damage. A special election night broadcast is underway, with preliminary results expected between 10.30pm and 11pm local time. READ MORE: New Caledonia polls close in French Pacific territory’s first provincial elections since 2019 Heavy security deployed as New Caledonia’s crucial elections begin New Caledonia’s political parties make final pitch to voters before campaigning ends Alcohol sales banned in New Caledonia as provincial election approaches Other Kanaky New Caledonia reports 192,584 people were registered to vote in these elections. RNZ Pacific’s French Pacific correspondent Patrick Decloitre said there had been no reports of any incidents during polling today. In the Southern province and even more in rural Northern province and Loyalty Islands, voters and their families seemed to have chosen to cast their votes either after Sunday mass or just before polling stations closing time, so they could stay on and watch the counting process. Security was heavy with some 2500 law enforcement officers, mostly policemen and gendarmes, as well as additional officers from the French anti-crime squad and judiciary police. The heavy set-up was designed to remain “visible” by the population. It mainly focused on security and monitoring of polling stations and the immediate surroundings. <img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-129827" src="https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Counting-in-Kone-NC1ere-680wide-.png" alt="New Caledonia election vote counting underway at a polling station in Koné, Northern province" width="680" height="457" srcset="https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Counting-in-Kone-NC1ere-680wide-.png 680w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Counting-in-Kone-NC1ere-680wide--300x202.png 300w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Counting-in-Kone-NC1ere-680wide--625x420.png 625w" sizes="(max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px" /> New Caledonian election vote counting underway at a polling station in Koné, Northern province, tonight. Image: NC La 1ère TV This story was first published on This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.
Is This the Most Dangerous Road in Kyrgyzstan?
Belén Fernández in the Darién Gap, 2024. Plastered onto the side of the glassed-in immigration office at the dock in Necoclí – the northwestern Colombian city just across the Gulf of Urabá from the Darién Gap – is a poster warning of the hazards of northbound migration. Over recent years, more than 1.2 million people […] To read this article, log in here or subscribe here. If you are logged in but can't read CP+ articles, check the status of your access here In order to read CP+ articles, your web browser must be set to accept cookies. More The post Inside the Darién Gap appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Belén Fernández in the Darién Gap, 2024. Plastered onto the side of the glassed-in immigration office at the dock in Necoclí – the northwestern Colombian city just across the Gulf of Urabá from the Darién Gap – is a poster warning of the hazards of northbound migration. Over recent years, more than 1.2 million people […] To read this article, log in here or subscribe here. If you are logged in but can't read CP+ articles, check the status of your access here In order to read CP+ articles, your web browser must be set to accept cookies. The post Inside the Darién Gap appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Belén Fernández.
What can ten humanitarian activists tell us about today’s (and yesterday’s) geopolitics? In politics, and especially genocidal politics, the micro can say much more about the macro than the macro about the micro. Reduced to macro arguments among pundits and politicians about whether the enormity of genocide is or is not “genocide”, the real meaning, […] To read this article, log in here or subscribe here. If you are logged in but can't read CP+ articles, check the status of your access here In order to read CP+ articles, your web browser must be set to accept cookies. More The post Humanitarians in Libya appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
What can ten humanitarian activists tell us about today’s (and yesterday’s) geopolitics? In politics, and especially genocidal politics, the micro can say much more about the macro than the macro about the micro. Reduced to macro arguments among pundits and politicians about whether the enormity of genocide is or is not “genocide”, the real meaning, […] To read this article, log in here or subscribe here. If you are logged in but can't read CP+ articles, check the status of your access here In order to read CP+ articles, your web browser must be set to accept cookies. The post Humanitarians in Libya appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Julie Wark.
The Genius of Ken Burns: The Vietnam War
Heavy security deployed as New Caledonia’s crucial elections begin
By Patrick Decloitre of RNZ Pacific Heavy security has been deployed in New Caledonia as crucial provincial elections are being held in the French Pacific territory today. Polling stations are open from 8am local time (9am NZ time) until 6pm tonight. This comes as heavy security has been deployed. It involves a total of some
By Patrick Decloitre of RNZ Pacific Heavy security has been deployed in New Caledonia as crucial provincial elections are being held in the French Pacific territory today. Polling stations are open from 8am local time (9am NZ time) until 6pm tonight. This comes as heavy security has been deployed. It involves a total of some 2500 law enforcement officers, mostly policemen and gendarmes (the equivalent of 16 squadrons, as opposed to 12 in normal circumstances). READ MORE: New Caledonia’s political parties make final pitch to voters before campaigning ends Alcohol sales banned in New Caledonia as provincial election approaches Other Kanaky New Caledonia reports Additional officers from the French anti-crime squad and judiciary police are deployed. The reinforcements are to remain posted at least until early July 2026 or longer, depending on what develops. The heavy set-up mainly focuses on security and monitoring of polling stations and their immediate surroundings. Drones and additional armoured vehicles are also deployed on the ground, including the Centaurs — armoured vehicles that were previously used during and after the riots that broke out in New Caledonia in May 2024, causing 14 dead and material damage of about 2.2 billion euros (NZ$.4.4 billion). The whole security operation is meant to “reassure” the population, as well as show the presence of security forces on the ground and their capacity to intervene quickly if needed. The French High Commission in New Caledonia said at the weekend the general climate was relatively calm ahead of the vote. Since last week, a total ban on the sale of alcohol has been in force and will remain until after election day. This, the High Commission said, was because New Caledonia was still undergoing a “sensitive” period on social and economic grounds. Latest incident on the Isle of Pines However, on Friday evening, in the small island town of Vao, on the Isle of Pines (south off the capital Nouméa), police and gendarmes were called about midnight to intervene following a fire on a building near the Town Hall municipal council meeting room, which was to be used as a polling station for today’s elections. The polling station was relocated to a school canteen in the village of Vao. Gendarmes later arrested one teenager — part of a group of five — and they were targeted by stone-throwing. One of the gendarmes had to be medivaced to Nouméa. Witnesses also said in the small building, which also hosts the local power company Enercal, safes containing cash has been forced open and cash stolen. Two flags were also stolen. Public Prosecutor Yves Dupas told local media an investigation was ongoing, but initial findings indicated that the main target of the group was the electrical company’s office and that subsequent damage to the nearby designated polling station could be regarded as collateral. The perpetrators were also found to be “severely inebriated”. The latest incident has triggered swift and angry reactions from the Great Chief of the Isle of Pines, as well as from Mayor Régis Vendegou and the government of New Caledonia, which said “nothing can justify” those actions. No cyber threat so far Potential attempts of local or foreign cyber interference is also being closely monitored with the assistance of French digital watchdog agency Viginum. So far no significant threat has been reported of attempts to “discredit the electoral process, jeopardise the confidence of the public in the media or trying to influence the public in favour or against a specific party or candidate”. Provisional results should start to emerge after polling booths close at 6pm with progressive counting during the evening. The vote involving some 192,584 registered voters (according to the latest official figures), in 298 polling stations, will determine the 76 members of New Caledonia’s three provinces (22 for the Northern, 40 for the Southern, and 14 for the Loyalty Islands). On a proportional basis, the three provinces will then be represented and make up the Congress of New Caledonia, consisting of 54 members. From the new Congress, a new local “collegial” government and its President would then automatically emerge. New Caledonia’s diaspora votes by proxy There are 127,474 registered voters in the Southern Province (where the capital Nouméa is located), 43,016 in the Northern province and 22,094 in the Loyalty Islands province. An estimated 5000 voters (who will be either absent from New Caledonia on polling day or who live in mainland France, Australia, New Zealand or Vanuatu) will also vote by proxy. This story was first published on This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.
Pakistan PM drops a ‘truth bomb’ on US about the Iranian missiles
COMMENTARY: By Eugene Doyle The Prime Minister of Pakistan, Shehbaz Sharif, one of the signatories to the Memorandum of Understanding between Iran and the US, has called out what he says are double standards and duplicity by those trying to wreck the peace deal. His short, memorable statement was largely ignored in the Western media
COMMENTARY: By Eugene Doyle The Prime Minister of Pakistan, Shehbaz Sharif, one of the signatories to the Memorandum of Understanding between Iran and the US, has called out what he says are double standards and duplicity by those trying to wreck the peace deal. His short, memorable statement was largely ignored in the Western media but its content should be digested by all. He addressed his comments directly to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian who arrived in Pakistan on June 23. The Iranian delegation had just arrived on a plane named Minab 168 — in memory of the 168 children and staff killed in an attack on an Iranian girls’ school by US and Israeli forces at the outset of the US-Israel attack on Iran. READ MORE: Air raid sirens in Bahrain, Kuwait; US bombs Iran again over Hormuz attacks Other war on Iran hypocrisy reports Sharif made his comments a day after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Gulf foreign ministers issued a joint statement that “lasting regional peace and security requires addressing the full spectrum of Iran’s threats, including its ballistic missiles, drones, and support of proxies in the region.” Pakistan’s PM Shehbaz Sharif addressing the Iranian delegation: “There are spoilers all over the world who want to scuttle this peace deal.” “They don’t want the Iranian nation, a great nation, to come out of the ashes of war and touch the zenith of glory.”… https://t.co/17vpQQNamy — The Saviour (@TheSaviour) June 23, 2026 One of the reasons Sharif’s comments are important is that the US-Israeli side operates a well-thumbed playbook of agreeing on frameworks for negotiations and then immediately breaking them (killing negotiators or attacking Lebanon, for example) or trying to rewrite the framework midstream to their advantage. Shehbaz Sharif called them out: <img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" class="moz-reader-block-img" src="https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/65d1663c773f8165d6f54468/2691a991-dd6a-4a67-9469-47d0a46c2aaf/Screenshot+2026-06-27+at+3.00.20%E2%80%AFPM.jpg" alt="" width="1056" height="386" data-stretch="false" data-src="https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/65d1663c773f8165d6f54468/2691a991-dd6a-4a67-9469-47d0a46c2aaf/Screenshot+2026-06-27+at+3.00.20%E2%80%AFPM.jpg" data-image="https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/65d1663c773f8165d6f54468/2691a991-dd6a-4a67-9469-47d0a46c2aaf/Screenshot+2026-06-27+at+3.00.20%E2%80%AFPM.jpg" data-image-dimensions="1056x386" data-image-focal-point="0.5,0.5" data-load="false" data-sqsp-image-classic-block-image="" data-loader="sqs" /> <div id="block-yui_3_17_2_1_1782528724113_4908" data-sqsp-text-block-content="" data-block-css="["https://definitions.sqspcdn.com/website-component-definition/static-assets/website.components.html/9c22d901-38c8-4114-8f83-60635e9b5807_701/website.components.html.styles.css"]" data-block-scripts="["https://definitions.sqspcdn.com/website-component-definition/static-assets/website.components.html/9c22d901-38c8-4114-8f83-60635e9b5807_701/website.components.html.visitor.js"]" data-block-type="1337" data-definition-name="website.components.html" data-sqsp-block="text" data-website-component-id="yui_3_17_2_1_1782528724113_4908"> “This MOU does not mention ballistic missiles. It was never on the table. It was never on the agenda. The Iran side never wanted to even discuss it. That is not an impression, that is a fact of matter, so there should be no second thought about it. “It must not be misconstrued, because there are spoilers all over the world to scuttle this peace deal. They don’t want the Iranian nation, the great Iranian nation to come out of the ashes of war and touch the zenith of glory. So I want to make it abundantly clear that there cannot be double standards — two standards that some countries can have ballistic missiles, and Iran shouldn’t have. “You cannot digest this kind of duplicity. I wanted to make it very clear, Excellency, that the MOU, which has been signed by me as mediator, does not mention ballistic missiles at all.” You can watch this speech here. <img decoding="async" class="moz-reader-block-img" src="https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/65d1663c773f8165d6f54468/ad96b60d-9e62-4c23-a748-639e0ba0f815/Screenshot+2026-06-27+at+4.51.27%E2%80%AFPM.jpg" alt="" width="1060" height="464" data-stretch="false" data-src="https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/65d1663c773f8165d6f54468/ad96b60d-9e62-4c23-a748-639e0ba0f815/Screenshot+2026-06-27+at+4.51.27%E2%80%AFPM.jpg" data-image="https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/65d1663c773f8165d6f54468/ad96b60d-9e62-4c23-a748-639e0ba0f815/Screenshot+2026-06-27+at+4.51.27%E2%80%AFPM.jpg" data-image-dimensions="1060x464" data-image-focal-point="0.5,0.5" data-load="false" data-sqsp-image-classic-block-image="" data-loader="sqs" /> <div id="block-yui_3_17_2_1_1782535173464_3288" data-sqsp-text-block-content="" data-block-css="["https://definitions.sqspcdn.com/website-component-definition/static-assets/website.components.html/9c22d901-38c8-4114-8f83-60635e9b5807_701/website.components.html.styles.css"]" data-block-scripts="["https://definitions.sqspcdn.com/website-component-definition/static-assets/website.components.html/9c22d901-38c8-4114-8f83-60635e9b5807_701/website.components.html.visitor.js"]" data-block-type="1337" data-definition-name="website.components.html" data-sqsp-block="text" data-website-component-id="yui_3_17_2_1_1782535173464_3288"> For his part President Pezeshkian made clear Iran’s right to its missiles is non-negotiable. “I would like to say that if it was not for Iran’s missile capabilities, to defend ourselves, our country would have been plundered and destroyed by the Zionist regime and the US — like Gaza. And they would not have any mercy on either the young or the old. “They claim they respect human rights. This is a big lie. If we hadn’t been able to defend ourselves they certainly wouldn’t have shown mercy. Therefore we shall never, never compromise or negotiate with anyone about our missile capabilities.” In particular, I share both of these memorable statements because such comments are seldom aired by our increasingly “curated” Western media. Eugene Doyle is a writer based in Wellington, New Zealand. He has written extensively on the Middle East, as well as peace and security issues in the Asia Pacific region. He is a contributor to Asia Pacific Report and hosts solidarity.co.nz . This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.
Ralph speaks to economist Dean Baker about the hypocrisies behind the supposed Social Security shortfall and Republicans' "waste, fraud, and abuse" panic. Then, Ralph talks to journalist and ocean activist David Helvarg about his new book: Forest of th...
Ralph speaks to economist Dean Baker about the hypocrisies behind the supposed Social Security shortfall and Republicans' "waste, fraud, and abuse" panic. Then, Ralph talks to journalist and ocean activist David Helvarg about his new book: Forest of the Sea: The Remarkable Life and Imperiled Future of Kelp. Dean Baker is a Senior Economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research, where he authors “Beat the Press,” his regular commentary on economic reporting. He has written several books, including Getting Back to Full Employment: A Better Bargain for Working People, The End of Loser Liberalism: Making Markets Progressive, False Profits: Recovering from the Bubble Economy, and The Conservative Nanny State: How the Wealthy Use the Government to Stay Rich and Get Richer. People will hear big numbers. They’ll hear “$300 billion” and they’ll go “Oh my God, that’s a lot of money. That’s money out of my pocket. It’s causing the government deficit,” whatever. That’s because they haven’t given it any context…If we could, in any conceivable world, afford to pay $500 billion to increase the military budget, surely we can afford to pay $300 billion to ensure that everyone gets their Social Security benefits. It’s just a case of: put it in context. I’m not going to say it’s a small number. It isn’t. But it’s smaller— $300 billion is smaller than $500 billion, and that’s really not a disputable point. Dean Baker Where [DOGE] had the biggest consequences is with foreign aid. [Musk] just got a big kick out of that— USAID, he just shut it down. He boasted about that. He goes, “Last weekend I fed USAID into the wood chipper.” That’s almost verbatim what he said. Now, what this meant was that you have people— and you could find waste in that program just like any other program, but this is a program that provided millions of people with medicine, with nutrition, with healthcare. And suddenly they couldn’t get it…And Elon Musk was boasting that he killed that program. That’s great. But millions of people, I mean, thankfully, I don’t think it’s millions yet, but if that program doesn’t get restarted or funded somewhere else, you’re going to see millions of people lose their lives. Dean Baker So we’re saying we have people on Medicaid that are committing fraud? No one gets a check from Medicaid. What would that even mean? Like, you signed up for Medicaid and you weren’t eligible, so that would mean that they might be making a payment to a doctor or hospital that they don’t actually have to make because you didn’t qualify? I’m sure that happens sometimes but it’s not like someone’s living high on the hog because they were able to get Medicaid to pay for their doctor’s visit when it actually shouldn’t have. Dean Baker David Helvarg is a journalist and ocean activist. He is the founder and executive director of Blue Frontier, an ocean policy and media group, and producer of Rising Tide: The Ocean Podcast. He has produced more than 40 documentaries for media outlets, including PBS and the Discovery Channel. And he has written several books, including Blue Frontier, The War Against the Greens, and Forest of the Sea: The Remarkable Life and Imperiled Future of Kelp. I’ve been pushing with my colleagues in journalism the idea of the “blue beat.” The only resource in the ocean not fully exploited at this point is good investigative reporting and narrative storytelling. Because people don’t connect with it, a lot of people think the environment ends at the shoreline. And that’s really where 95% of the living space on the planet begins. David Helvarg People at least know that corals are in trouble and they have some sense of what a coral reef is. People don’t know that the planet has this other forest crisis—that kelp forests cover an area larger than the Amazon basin, and they’re also being impacted by these marine heat waves that are growing every year. And as you add more heat to the system, it gets more energetic, which is why we have more and more extreme storms. I covered Katrina in 2005. I thought that would be a turning point (we had 1,800 people killed and a million environmental refugees). But the propaganda by the oil and gas industry is such that we keep having these disasters from a warming ocean planet, we see the melting of the Arctic ice, and instead of an alarm bell, it became a dinner bell for all the shipping industries and people who want to exploit the oil and gas in the increasingly open Arctic waters. So we’re in this crisis point. I’m more frustrated than despairing because we know what the solutions are. It’s creating the political will to enact them. David Helvarg When I started Blue Frontier 20 years ago, the main threats were overfishing and pollution—oil, chemical, plastic, nutrient pollution. Today, that’s being overwhelmed by these marine heat waves. David Helvarg News 6/26/26 * Our top story this week comes to us from New York City, where democratic socialist mayor Zohran Mamdani has pulled off a stunning hat trick, with all three candidates for Congress endorsed by the Mayor winning their primaries on Tuesday. The most surprising victory is that of Darializa Avila Chevalier, who ousted the powerful incumbent Congressman Adriano Espaillat, head of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, in New York’s 13th congressional district. This primary had turned ugly, with Espaillat’s campaign seeking to weaponize anti-Haitian racism in the Dominican community against Avila Chevalier, per the Haitian Times, despite the fact that she is not in fact Haitian. Impressive in another way is the victory of UAW organizer and New York State Assemblywoman Claire Valdez in New York’s 7th district. Much has been made of this race being a proxy battle between Mamdani and his onetime supporter, retiring Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez, who backed her protégé, Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso to succeed her in this seat. Reynoso enjoyed the support of a broad range of New York elected officials – including Velazquez along with New York Attorney General Letitia James, Congressman Jerrold Nadler, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, and a broad range of unions and civil society groups, most notably the Working Families Party – but was absolutely trounced by Valdez, who won by over 20 points with the support of Mamdani and NYC-DSA. Meanwhile, in the 10th district, Brad Lander won by an even greater margin, outrunning incumbent Congressman Dan Goldman by over 30 points while running on a pro-Palestine platform in the most Jewish congressional district in America. These victories send a clear signal to the sclerotic, ossified leadership of the Democratic Party. The only question now is will they listen. * Beyond the congressional races, DSA won a remarkable number of races at the state level. According to Democratic Left, DSA will send as many as seven new legislators to Albany this cycle, for a total of “four state senators and 11 or 12 members of the state assembly.” As the magazine notes, this means that the “2027-2028 socialist bloc in Albany will be the second largest in a state legislature in U.S. history…behind 20 members in Wisconsin in 1919 and ahead of 14 members in Wisconsin in 1911.” Within New York City, DSA endorsed candidates won seven out of eight races for seats in the state legislature, per NYC-DSA. All told, it was a thunderous victory for the left in New York and raises the clout of Zohran and his compatriots to dizzying heights. * Meanwhile, in Washington DC, NOTUS reports the local DSA has exploded in membership, adding nearly 1,000 new members since this time last year. This growing bloc flexed its political muscle in the recent Democratic primaries, electing DSA members Janeese Lewis George for Mayor and Aparna Raj for the Ward 1 seat on the DC Council, as well as Oye Owolewa for an at-large seat. Axios notes that they are already eying, “two more openings — to fill Lewis George’s Ward 4 seat and the at-large seat of Congress-bound Robert White.” If these votes go in DSA’s favor, Lewis George could assume the mayoralty with a progressive majority of seven out of 13 members on the Council. Since her victory last Tuesday, Lewis George has emphasized her plan to lower utility costs through “expanding government solar,” and “balcony solar” for apartment tenants, optimizing efficiency at local government agencies and maximizing federal housing grants. * In Maryland, the results for DSA and progressives more generally were not quite so decisive but the left notched key victories nonetheless. DSA endorsed candidate McKayla Wilkes won her primary for the Charles County Commission and incumbent State Delegate Gabriel Acevero won reelection to his seat. Senators Dalya Attar and Nancy King, both centrist incumbents, lost to progressive challengers, per Maryland Matters. Will Jawando in Montgomery County won the County Executive position with broad support from the Maryland political establishment and progressives, while Maryland Senate Majority Leader Bill Ferguson fended off his first real challenge in years only after a last minute pledge to reverse his position on Maryland congressional redistricting. However, in the 5th congressional district, Steny Hoyer protégé and “AIPAC-backed” Adrian Boafo won the primary to succeed his mentor in Congress. According to the Jerusalem Post, “AIPAC poured $5.7 million into his campaign through its super PAC.” Former Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn came in a distant third place, despite scoring the endorsement of Nancy Pelosi. In short, the left has more work to do in order to build a political machine in Maryland as they have in New York and DC. * The next major contest between the factions of the party will occur next week in Colorado, where Melat Kiros, a DSA-backed progressive challenger born in 1997, is taking on Congresswoman Diana DeGette, who first took office that same year, per Zeteo. According to a poll conducted on behalf of the Kiros-aligned Justice Democrats, she leads DeGette by five points and she has now won the endorsement of Senator Bernie Sanders. Senator and former Governor John Hickenlooper is also facing a progressive primary challenge from State Senator Julie Gonzales and, according to the polls, he holds but a single digit lead, the Coloradan reports. We will be watching both of these races closely. * Meanwhile in Congress, the Senate has passed a new resolution on Iran, this time directing Trump to “remove U.S. armed forces from hostilities against Iran unless explicitly authorized by Congress, other than to defend America, an ally or partner from ‘imminent attack,’” according to the Wall Street Journal. The Journal notes that while the resolution is nonbinding, it was previously passed by the House, marking “the first time both chambers of Congress have passed the same measure to curb” presidential power to wage war on the Islamic Republic. The resolution passed 50-48, with the support of Republican Senators Bill Cassidy, Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski and Rand Paul. Senators Mitch McConnell and Dave McCormick were absent, and Senator John Fetterman again broke ranks with the Democrats to vote no. * Turning from the Senate floor to the shop floor, the United Auto Workers (UAW) concluded their 39th Constitutional Convention last week, with a momentous vote to divest the union’s investments from Israel bonds. UAW’s divestment decision is the latest victory in the campaign to disentangle the finances of American organized labor from the state of Israel, following the United Electrical Workers (UE) in 2015 and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) in 2023. UAW members also heard from Abdul El-Sayed, the candidate the union has endorsed in the Michigan Senate race. This contentious campaign will not be over until August, but El-Sayed, occupying the progressive lane, has moved into the lead and appears to be consolidating his lead, winning the endorsement of Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen just this week, per the Traverse City Record-Eagle. Van Hollen himself has recently begun hinting that he may seek higher office, recently telling NOTUS that he is “kicking the tires” on a 2028 presidential bid. * Turning to foreign affairs, this week saw the fall of British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Starmer, a centrist who was elected Labour Party leader in 2020 following the ouster of leftist Jeremy Corbyn, has held the post of Prime Minister since 2024 when Labour won an historic landslide. Since then however, his personal approval rating and that of the party has cratered, creating space for the rise of the far-right Reform UK party. The BBC reports Starmer will remain in his post until a new leader is chosen from within the party, with the presumptive successor being MP Andy Burnham who recently beat back a challenge in his own seat by a Reform candidate by a large margin. Starmer is now set to be the shortest serving Labour PM in British history, while Burnham is set to become the UK’s seventh Prime Minister in the last ten years, both indications of the precariousness of the post-Brexit British political order. * Our final two stories come to us from Latin America. First, in Bolivia, the country’s union confederation has maintained a general strike against the right-wing government of Rodrigo Paz for nearly two months over his administration’s initiatives to privatize government services and rescind the land reform program instituted over the last several decades of rule by the Movimiento al Socialismo (MAS). On June 19th, journalist Ollie Vargas reported that the government had blinked and signed an agreement to withdraw these plans in exchange for the unions ending the general strike. However, Vargas notes that “most affiliated unions state that they want to maintain strike until [the Paz government] resigns.” * Finally, in Colombia, the right-wing candidate Abelardo de la Espriella emerged victorious from Sunday’s runoff presidential election, defeating leftist Ivan Cepeda, the handpicked successor of sitting President Gustavo Petro, by less than one percentage point. In the immediate wake of the election, President Petro “alleged that Israel interfered” in the election, citing “irregularities in the country’s vote counting process and calling for a full audit and recount,” per Drop Site News. However, by Wednesday, Cepeda himself formally conceded, framing his decision to do so as “an act of democratic responsibility, to contribute to harmony, peace and dialogue among Colombians,” Al Jazeera reports. As one of his first acts, Abelardo de la Espriella has committed to reestablishing diplomatic relations with Israel, which had been severed under President Petro. This has been Francesco DeSantis, with In Case You Haven’t Heard. Get full access to Ralph Nader Radio Hour at www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe This content originally appeared on Ralph Nader Radio Hour and was authored by Ralph Nader.
The Pacifica Evening News, Weekdays – June 27, 2026
Comprehensive coverage of the day’s news with a focus on war and peace; social, environmental and economic justice. The post The Pacifica Evening News, Weekdays – June 27, 2026 appeared first on KPFA.
Comprehensive coverage of the day’s news with a focus on war and peace; social, environmental and economic justice. The post The Pacifica Evening News, Weekdays – June 27, 2026 appeared first on KPFA. This content originally appeared on KPFA - The Pacifica Evening News Weekdays and was authored by KPFA.
The Black and Brown Enforcers of White Supremacy w/ Steven Thrasher
Environmental defenders remain among world’s most targeted activists
A new report found that environmental defenders are increasingly encountering overlapping networks of government officials, corporations, criminal groups, and private security forces.
Environmental and Indigenous rights defenders remained among the world’s most targeted human rights advocates in 2025, despite landmark rulings by international courts affirming governments’ obligations to protect both the environment and those who defend it. At least 358 human rights defenders were killed last year, according to a report released last week by Front Line Defenders, a Dublin-based group that provides support for global human rights activists. Nearly a quarter, 84, were targeted because of their often unpaid work protecting land and the environment. Those killings were documented in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, France, Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico, India, Indonesia, Peru, Philippines, Turkey, Somalia, and Palestine. Indigenous-rights defenders — often working on environmental issues but tracked separately from environmental defenders — accounted for another 17 percent of the killings documented by the group. Beyond the killings, even more defenders faced threats and attacks ranging from surveillance and smear campaigns to arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances, torture, and killings. Read Next <img src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/environmental-defenders-violence-protest-indigenous.jpg?quality=75&strip=all" alt="A group of climate protesters carry signs and portraits of Indigenous land defenders" class="js-modal-gallery__hidden" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/environmental-defenders-violence-protest-indigenous.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 1600w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/environmental-defenders-violence-protest-indigenous.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&quality=75&strip=all 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/environmental-defenders-violence-protest-indigenous.jpg?resize=330%2C220&quality=75&strip=all 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/environmental-defenders-violence-protest-indigenous.jpg?resize=768%2C512&quality=75&strip=all 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/environmental-defenders-violence-protest-indigenous.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&quality=75&strip=all 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/environmental-defenders-violence-protest-indigenous.jpg?resize=150%2C100&quality=75&strip=all 150w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" height="1067" width="1600" loading="lazy" decoding="async"> Indigenous people defending their land face a disproportionate share of violence and threats Taylar Dawn Stagner There were nearly 4,000 nonlethal attacks on human rights defenders across 119 countries last year, a figure that includes multiple violations against the same individual in some cases, according to the report. That number is likely a vast undercount, the authors said, because many attacks go unreported — and their perpetrators are rarely held accountable. “The imposition of internet blackouts, suppression of media, targeting of documenters, self-censorship, or the total closure of civic space” makes some cases impossible to document, the report said, highlighting countries including China, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Iran that are politically restrictive, conflict-riven, or both. Human rights defenders are people who act peacefully to promote and protect any or all of the rights enshrined in the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Environmental defenders are often on the front lines of conflicts over mining, oil and gas development, logging, and agribusiness, making them especially vulnerable to retaliation from governments, businesses, and other legal and illegal actors. Efraín Fueres, an Ecuadorian environmental defender, was among those killed last year. The 46-year-old community leader had participated in nationwide protests last fall amid a wave of pro-extractive-industry and authoritarian moves by the government. Videos posted to social media show Fueres gunned down while marching. A military vehicle then approached Fueres, who was lying in the street with a companion kneeling over his body. Armed officers surrounded the men and repeatedly kicked the companion. Read Next <img src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/thacker-pass-lithium-mine-nevada-Amnesty-International-Indigenous-peoples-FPIC.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all" alt="An Indigenous organization protests the Thacker Pass mine during an Earth Day event in a public park on a spring day in Reno, Nevada." class="js-modal-gallery__hidden" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/thacker-pass-lithium-mine-nevada-Amnesty-International-Indigenous-peoples-FPIC.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all 1600w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/thacker-pass-lithium-mine-nevada-Amnesty-International-Indigenous-peoples-FPIC.jpeg?resize=1200%2C675&quality=75&strip=all 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/thacker-pass-lithium-mine-nevada-Amnesty-International-Indigenous-peoples-FPIC.jpeg?resize=330%2C186&quality=75&strip=all 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/thacker-pass-lithium-mine-nevada-Amnesty-International-Indigenous-peoples-FPIC.jpeg?resize=768%2C432&quality=75&strip=all 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/thacker-pass-lithium-mine-nevada-Amnesty-International-Indigenous-peoples-FPIC.jpeg?resize=1536%2C864&quality=75&strip=all 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/thacker-pass-lithium-mine-nevada-Amnesty-International-Indigenous-peoples-FPIC.jpeg?resize=160%2C90&quality=75&strip=all 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/thacker-pass-lithium-mine-nevada-Amnesty-International-Indigenous-peoples-FPIC.jpeg?resize=150%2C84&quality=75&strip=all 150w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" height="900" width="1600" loading="lazy" decoding="async"> Report: Nevada’s lithium boom comes at the expense of Indigenous rights Joseph Lee Neither the Ecuadorian Consulate in Washington, D.C., nor the country’s public prosecutor’s office responded to requests for comment. Courts have recognized the legitimacy and importance of environmental defenders’ work, affirming that a healthy environment is a precondition for all other human rights, and that governments have legal obligations to address climate change and protect environmental defenders for that reason. “Respect for and guarantee of the rights of environmental human rights defenders is particularly important because they perform a task that is fundamental for strengthening democracy and the rule of law,” the Inter-American Court of Human Rights said in a landmark advisory opinion on climate change last year. That court noted that the role of environmental defenders is especially critical amid the ongoing climate crisis, given the scale of the challenge and the need for public involvement in decision-making. Such court rulings build on a broader shift in the law: More than 165 countries have now recognized the human right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, providing a stronger legal basis for communities to challenge environmental harm and the systems that facilitate it. Even so, environmental defenders are increasingly encountering overlapping networks of government officials, corporations, criminal groups, and private security forces operating around extractive industries and land development — what the report called “economies of violence.” “Defenders who challenge land dispossession, extractive industries, or illicit economies often confronted the same networks of power, regardless of whether those activities were formally lawful or criminalised,” the authors wrote. In Ecuador, environmental defenders described to Inside Climate News remote regions where illegal miners often work inside areas designated for legal mining, creating tensions within communities divided over resource extraction. The country is also emblematic of a global trend highlighted in the report: governments and corporations increasingly relying on criminal charges, retaliatory lawsuits, and other forms of legal harassment to stifle opposition. The authors of the new report said that in Ecuador, the “majority of criminalisation cases occurred within the context of socio-environmental conflicts where mining projects are imposed on communities without their free, prior and informed consent.” This story was originally published by Grist with the headline Environmental defenders remain among world’s most targeted activists on Jun 27, 2026. This content originally appeared on Grist and was authored by Katie Surma, Inside Climate News.
RAIZ DI TARRFI (Trás Os Montes, Ilha de Santiago, Cabo Verde)
This Area In Ukraine Is Becoming Increasingly Dangerous | Ukraine Front Line Update
The reckoning – what the US-Iran MOU means in reality for Israel
Israel’s legitimacy has been catastrophically squandered. It can only begin to be rebuilt through justice for the Palestinian people, writes Lim Tean. ANALYSIS: By Lim Tean It is a peculiar kind of defeat — one dressed in the language of victory. Operation Epic Fury was sold to the world as a decisive strike to eliminate
Israel’s legitimacy has been catastrophically squandered. It can only begin to be rebuilt through justice for the Palestinian people, writes Lim Tean. ANALYSIS: By Lim Tean It is a peculiar kind of defeat — one dressed in the language of victory. Operation Epic Fury was sold to the world as a decisive strike to eliminate the Iranian nuclear threat once and for all. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had lobbied Washington for precisely this moment. He got his war. What he didn’t get was the outcome he promised. The US-Iran MOU is Israel’s strategic nightmare rendered in diplomatic text. And the consequences extend far beyond the terms of any single agreement. READ MORE: US strikes Iran after attack on vessel in Strait of Hormuz Other US-Israel war on Iran reports Other Lim Tean articles Left out of the room Let us begin with the most humiliating fact. The MOU’s second paragraph mentions Lebanon three times and declares the immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts — without once mentioning Israel. A new deconfliction mechanism for Lebanon has been announced, including the United States, Iran, Pakistan, and Qatar. Israel is excluded from that too. Think about what that means. The country that triggered this war, that flew alongside American aircraft, that provided the intelligence Netanyahu boasted had been decisive — was not in the room when peace was made. Washington negotiated Israel’s strategic future without Israel. Vice-President JD Vance’s message to Israeli critics of Trump and the MOU was blunt: they need to “wake up and smell the reality of the situation that country is in”. That is not the language of alliance. That is the language of managed irrelevance. What Iran kept The nuclear question — the ostensible casus belli for the entire war — remains unresolved. The MOU suffices with rhetorical promises, deferring the actual mechanics of blocking Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons capacity, with no guarantee of agreement on that most critical issue. Iran’s ballistic missile arsenal? Untouched. The MOU offers no treatment of Iran’s ballistic missile programme or its patronage of regional proxies — leaving Israel to contend with those threats as before. Iran’s financial position? All US sanctions on Iran have been lifted, giving Tehran immediate and significant financial relief — resources that will flow into rebuilding military capabilities. Tehran emerged from this war battered but unbowed, its theocratic system intact, its strategic leverage demonstrated to the entire world. Foreign Policy and The Atlantic described the outcome as a defeat for the United States and Israel. The BBC’s international editor assessed that while US and Israeli air forces scored tactical victories, they were not enough to avoid strategic defeat. The death of the Abraham Accords Let me be categorical: the Abraham Accords are dead. That architecture — the crown jewel of American-brokered Middle East diplomacy, the grand bargain that promised Arab “normalisation” with Israel in exchange for security guarantees and Palestinian deferral — has been buried by the post-war regional reality now taking shape. The Saudi-Iran reconciliation summit now gathering momentum tells the whole story. Riyadh is actively convening Gulf states and Tehran around a new regional order. And at the centre of that order sits the Palestinian question — not deferred, not managed, but central. Saudi normalisation with Israel, once dangled as the great prize Netanyahu sought, is now explicitly conditional on Palestinian statehood in terms his government categorically rejects and always will. The Abraham Accords were premised on one fundamental assumption: that Arab states could be peeled away from the Palestinian cause by American inducements and Israeli economic partnerships. The Iran war has demolished that premise. Arab publics watching Gaza, Lebanon, and now Iran have made their governments’ calculations for them. No Arab leader can now normalise with Israel without paying a catastrophic domestic political price. The Abraham Accords are not merely stalled. They are finished. Some will argue that normalisation architecture, once built, has institutional momentum that survives political setbacks. This misreads what has changed. It was not merely the political temperature that shifted — it was the foundational premise of the entire enterprise. The Abraham Accords assumed American power could permanently reshape Arab strategic calculations. The MOU has demonstrated that American power in the Middle East is now conditional, transactional, and self-limiting. The architecture built on that power has no foundation left to stand on. The dual hegemony: Iran and Turkey Most analysts have framed Turkey’s rise as a consequence of Iran’s weakening — the great power stepping into the vacuum left by a damaged adversary. This framing is fundamentally wrong, and it misreads the emerging regional order. My thesis is this: what this war has produced is not a Turkish replacement of Iranian power, but the consolidation of a dual hegemony over the Middle East — Iran and Turkey together, each dominant in its own sphere, each with its own tools of regional influence, and collectively forming the twin poles around which the new Middle East will organise itself. Iran has survived this war with something more valuable than military capability — it has demonstrated to every state in the region that it possesses a weapon of genuine mass economic destruction in the Strait of Hormuz, with strategic leverage over both the Gulf region and the world economy that no military strike can eliminate. Iran will rebuild. Its reconstruction will be funded by sanctions relief. And it will re-emerge as the dominant power of the Persian Gulf and the Shia arc from Baghdad to Beirut. Battered, yes. Eliminated as a regional hegemon? Absolutely not. Turkey simultaneously consolidates its own distinct hegemony — Sunni, NATO-anchored, commercially formidable, and diplomatically agile in ways Iran can never be. Turkey maintains a permanent military base in Qatar. Saudi Arabia and the UAE are among its largest defence clients, with Riyadh reportedly in final-stage discussions to join Turkey’s KAAN fifth-generation stealth fighter programme — which would make it the first Gulf state with a stake in an advanced combat aircraft project outside direct American control. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has already called for the formation of a Middle East security pact to build trust and stability across the region after the war. Crucially, these two hegemonies are not necessarily in fatal conflict with each other. The restraint that Turkey and Iran have historically shown towards one another, particularly at moments of regional and global crisis, constitutes a managed rivalry — one that involves compartmentalisation, coexistence of competing strategic depths, and mutual calculation that outright confrontation serves neither. They will compete, yes — in Syria, Iraq, and across the Levant. But they will also tacitly coordinate where their interests converge, above all in containing Israeli power and ensuring that neither Washington nor Tel Aviv can dictate the regional order. For Israel, this dual hegemony is a strategic nightmare of the first order. It faced Iran as a declared enemy — isolated, sanctioned, and manageable within a US-led containment architecture. It now faces two hegemonic powers operating across every theatre in which Israeli interests are engaged, one of them a NATO member with a domestically built defence industry and deepening Gulf partnerships that Israeli power cannot easily reach. Israel traded a weakened, contained adversary for two formidable and rising ones. Netanyahu’s shattered grand design History will not be kind to Benjamin Netanyahu’s strategic vision. Behind the stated objectives of eliminating Iran’s nuclear programme lay a grander ambition — the consolidation of Israeli regional dominance, the permanent suppression of Palestinian statehood, and the realisation of a Greater Israel stretching from the Jordan River to the sea, secured by Arab normalisation and American military backing. That project is now in ruins. Reports cited Israeli intelligence provided by Netanyahu as a decisive factor in Trump’s authorisation of Operation Epic Fury. He designed this war. He lobbied for it. He provided the intelligence that launched it. And the outcome — Iran surviving with its strategic leverage intact, Turkey ascending, a dual hegemony replacing the old order, the Abraham Accords collapsing, and Palestinian statehood returning irresistibly to the regional agenda — is the precise opposite of everything his grand design required. The Greater Israel project required three things simultaneously: permanent American backing, Arab acquiescence, and the suppression of Palestinian nationhood. All three pillars have collapsed in the same season. A recent poll shows that 92.1 percent of Israelis, including Jews and Arabs, believe Iran gained the most from the MOU, and 86 percent hold a negative view of the agreement. Netanyahu faces elections in September or October. He went to war promising existential resolution. He faces the ballot box having delivered existential ruin. The greatest blow: The loss of the American shield But the deepest and most consequential damage inflicted by this war on Israel is not the MOU’s terms, not the dual hegemony, not the death of the Abraham Accords. It is something more fundamental. Israel can no longer be assured of American support in future conflicts. This is a tectonic shift in the foundations of Israeli security doctrine. Since 1973, Israel has operated on one unshakeable assumption: that the United States would underwrite its military adventurism, absorb its diplomatic costs, and stand between Israel and strategic consequences. That assumption is now shattered. Trump refused to share a preliminary text of the MOU with Netanyahu, whose judgment he questioned using multiple expletives, while simultaneously describing Iranian interlocutors as “very rational people who were nice to deal with.” Washington did not merely negotiate over Israel’s head — it negotiated against Israel’s preferences, excluded it from the peace architecture, and then told it to accept the outcome. The lesson every future Israeli government must now absorb is devastating in its simplicity: America will pursue its own interests. When those interests align with Israeli military action, Washington will partner. When they diverge — as they did the moment the Strait of Hormuz closure threatened the global economy — Washington will deal. And Israel will not be in the room. This is not a temporary rupture that a change of American administration will repair. It is a structural shift. The United States has demonstrated, in front of the entire world, that Israeli military adventurism carries costs that Washington will not indefinitely absorb. Every future Israeli prime minister will govern in the shadow of that demonstration. A bleak horizon Israel enters this new era already deeply wounded from within. More than 150,000 people have left Israel in the past two years, and more than 200,000 since the current government took office in December 2022. This is not the normal ebb and flow of migration. A Knesset report described it as a “tsunami” — and those departing are disproportionately the young, educated, tax-paying professionals who constitute the backbone of Israel’s high-tech economy. For the second consecutive year, more people left Israel than arrived — a negative net migration balance unprecedented in the country’s modern history. Population growth slowed in 2025 for the first time in decades, driven primarily by emigration alongside declining fertility rates and war-related mortality. More than 25 percent of Israelis are now considering leaving. The number of official requests to terminate residency in 2024 was more than double the total requests made between 2015 and 2021. For a state that defines itself as the ultimate sanctuary for world Jewry, this exodus carries a verdict more damning than any diplomatic agreement. Jews are leaving Israel because of Israel’s wars. The state founded to make Jews safe has become, in the eyes of growing numbers of its own citizens, a state that makes them perpetually and inescapably unsafe. The economy mirrors the demography. The departure of high-tech workers — the engineers, physicians, and entrepreneurs who drove Israel’s “Start-Up Nation” identity — carries compounding consequences. Capital, talent, and tax revenue leave together. The sectors that remain are progressively more dependent on state subsidies and less capable of generating the growth that underwrites military spending. A state in permanent war cannot indefinitely sustain a first-world economy, and the numbers are beginning to reflect that truth. The only path forward: A Palestinian state There is only one exit from this strategic catastrophe, and it requires Israel to face a truth it has spent 70 years refusing to acknowledge. Israel’s long-term survival as a viable state — economically, demographically, diplomatically — now depends on a single political act: the acceptance of a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital. This is no longer a moral argument, though the moral case is overwhelming. It is a cold strategic calculation. The post-war regional order being assembled — the dual hegemony of Iran and Turkey, the Saudi-led Gulf reconciliation, the death of the Abraham Accords — has Palestinian statehood as its non-negotiable foundation. Every regional power that matters has made this clear. The price of Israel’s reintegration into a workable Middle Eastern order, and by extension the restoration of something resembling normal economic and diplomatic life, is Palestinian statehood. Without it, Israel faces permanent regional hostility, no prospect of Arab normalisation, a continuing haemorrhage of its most productive citizens, an economy under sustained pressure, and an American patron whose support is now conditional and transactional rather than unconditional and structural. The Zionist founders understood something Netanyahu’s generation has forgotten: that Israel’s survival ultimately depends not merely on military power but on legitimacy — the legitimacy that comes from being a state that other states and peoples can live alongside. That legitimacy has been catastrophically squandered. It can only begin to be rebuilt through justice for the Palestinian people. The reckoning has arrived. And the path forward, however painful, is clear. Accept Palestinian statehood — with East Jerusalem as its capital — or face a future of accelerating isolation, demographic decline, and strategic irrelevance in a Middle East that has irrevocably moved on. Lim Tean is a Singaporean lawyer, politician and commentator on geopolitical affairs. He is the founder of the political party People’s Voice and a co-founder of the political alliance People’s Alliance for Reform. This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.
New Caledonia’s political parties make final pitch to voters before campaigning ends
By Patrick Decloitre of RNZ Pacific Campaigning in New Caledonia officially closed yesterday at midnight local time — two days ahead of election day tomorrow, June 28. The poll will renew the members of New Caledonia’s three provincial assemblies (Northern, Southern and the Loyalty Islands). In the following days and well into July, the poll
By Patrick Decloitre of RNZ Pacific Campaigning in New Caledonia officially closed yesterday at midnight local time — two days ahead of election day tomorrow, June 28. The poll will renew the members of New Caledonia’s three provincial assemblies (Northern, Southern and the Loyalty Islands). In the following days and well into July, the poll will then determine, on a proportional representation basis, the makeup of New Caledonia’s Territorial Congress and the makeup of New Caledonia future “collegial” government and its President. READ MORE: Alcohol sales banned in New Caledonia as provincial election approaches Other Kanaky New Caledonia reports Over the past two weeks, campaigning has been intense from running political party lists — a total of 23 — both on social networks and during political rallies. The two main blocks in New Caledonia, the pro-independence and those who want New Caledonia to remain a part of France, have been particularly active. They are reafirming their respective positions: The pro-independence UC-FLNKS will continue to support the French Pacific territory’s quick access to full sovereignty; and For the pro-France group (consisting of a coalition of Rassemblement, Les Loyalistes) it is to continue advocating for a “French” New Caledonia, based on the three referendums held between 2018 and 2021, all rejecting independence. Postponed three times But this year, as New Caledonia’s provincial elections were postponed three times since 2024 (the year they should have been held in normal circumstances, along the lines of a normal five-year term), the debate was also significantly marked by the dire economic and social situation following the May 2024 civil unrest and riots. The political future of New Caledonia remains unresolved after five years of unsuccessful attempts through negotiations between pro-France, pro-independence groups and the French government. And the population is mostly worried by bread and butter issues: unemployment (after hundred of businesses were destroyed as a result of the riots); the cost of living; and the resulting situation, especially in terms of health, public service, education and transportation (air and sea connections between the main island, Grande Terre (and its capital Nouméa) and the rest of the archipelago (especially the Loyalty Islands group). Between the two political blocks, this election has seen an unprecedented number of candidates running under a non-partisan label, whether they choose to call themselves non-partisan or just representatives of the civil society. This week, major parties have also held their final rallies. Regarding the Southern province, which concentrates a large majority of New Caledonia’s population and wealth, a two-hour television debate took place on national broadcaster Nouvelle-Calédonie La Première featuring five of the major contender lists. Presenting party views It was an opportunity for list leaders to present their respective views on how to address the major issues at stake: economic recovery, assistance to affected businesses and the general population (especially in terms of health care), the sensitive issue of nickel mining and smelting (two of the three nickel smelters are currently inoperational) and the quest for further French assistance. List leader Sonia Backès (who is the incumbent President of the Southern province) and her co-list Nicolas Metzdorf (who is one of the two representatives of New Caledonia at the French National Assembly) said their major objective — based on their united approach — was to achieve an absolute majority in the Southern Province. Pro-independence UC-FLNKS sees this election as a way of bringing New Caledonia closer to its “Kanaky” fast independence process. But this year, another list called “UNI” (Union Nationale pour l’Indépendance) is running separately after its two major components, PALIKA [Parti de Libération Kanak] and UPM [Union Progressiste en Mélanésie] split away from the FLNKS, citing profound differences on the approach to independence after the May 2024 unrest. 192,584 registered voters For the whole of New Caledonia, the latest count shows a total of 192,584 voters registered on the “special” restricted electoral roll designed for those provincial elections, the French High Commission said. In the Southern province alone, the total is 127,474. The largest number of voters is located in Nouméa (53,671 voters for 57 polling stations). The capital’s suburban cities of Dumbéa and Mont-Dore, are also significant (with respectively close to 30,000 and 19,293 registered voters). In the other two provinces of New Caledonia (North and Loyalty Islands), there are respectively 43,016 and 22,094 registered voters under the same “special” list. ‘Sudden death’ clause But based on the number of registered voters, election day for some parties will also determine whether or not they pass the required threshold to sit in one of the provincial assemblies and at the Congress. In the Southern province, the threshold is a minimum of 6374 votes. In the Northern province, the threshold is 2151 votes. In the Loyalty Islands province, the threshold is 1105 votes. If any of the running lists fails to reach the required threshold, it will not be considered and automatically discarded. With a backdrop of defiance and mistrust towards political parties, another major question mark will be on the participation rate of voters. After the vote: more negotiations in France? New Caledonia’s elections, which will significantly redefine the French Pacific territory’s political chessboard at several levels, are also perceived as the starting point of yet another round of political negotiations with France. Earlier this year, French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu, after talks with local political parties on the continuation of discussions about New Caledonia’s future, said he had obtained commitment from all parties that they would re-engage in talks with the French government, possibly in July, to finalise New Caledonia’s future status project. The previous version (which was proposing to create a “State of New Caledonia” within the French realm) was rejected by the French Parliament. But the pro-France camp has once again reiterated that just as this was one of the main themes of their campaign, they would not budge from their current stance, that is to defend and uphold the results of the three recent referendums against independence. However, they said they were willing to take part in the proposed talks with France, even though they had serious doubts as to whether they could produce a conclusive and consensual agreement before the French presidential elections in April 2027. The only tangible result — a compromise — was endorsed by the French Parliament a few weeks ago: an agreement to partially “unfreeze” the restricted list of voters for the provincial elections. This consisted in allowing people (more than 10,000) who were born in New Caledonia since November 1998, and who had reached voting age, to cast their votes at these crucial local elections. This story was first published on This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.
Border cities bright at night as North Korea goes solar
Power shortages once darkened Sinuiju at night, but satellite images show a renewable energy boom is underway.
A North Korean city on the border with China is no longer completely dark at nighttime, satellite imagery and eyewitness accounts revealed. Experts told Radio Free Asia it is a sign that North Korea is turning to solar power to solve its chronic energy problems. “As recently as about ten years ago, vehicle traffic would stop around midnight, and lights were barely visible,” Park Jongchol, a professor at Gyeongsang National University in South Korea, told RFA. Park recently visited the Chinese city of Dandong, which lies across the Yalu River border from North Korea’s Sinuiju. The bridge connecting the two cities is the major gateway for overland trade between the two countries, and tourists often visit the Chinese side of the river to catch a glimpse of one of the most isolated societies in the world. For decades, the two sides of the river sharply contrasted at nighttime. Dandong was awash with neon, and later LED signs, brightly lit streets, and apartment buildings with illuminated windows. But Sinuiju was completely dark, save for illuminated statues or portraits of North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un’s father and grandfather, who were his predecessors. Power shortages are so rampant in North Korea that in some places, the lights come on for only a few hours each day. Pyongyang was so embarrassed of the contrast with China, that in 2021, it ordered Sinuiju to be supplied with electricity until 10 p.m. to hide the severity of the country’s shortages. After 10 though, the city would virtually disappear to anyone looking across the river from Dandong. “But now, Sinuiju is very noticeably bright — there are apartment buildings and factories with their lights on from night through morning,” said Park, who was in Dandong in early June, ahead of Chinese President Xi’s visit to North Korea. Park said that during his three-day trip, he visited parts of Dandong that are across the river from rural villages far away from downtown Sinuiju, and even they were illuminated. He also described a noticeable increase in vehicle traffic at the border, with their headlights observable at night. “Sinuiju has built North Korea’s largest solar power plant, and areas like Wihwa Island are now very bright at night,” he said, referring to a small island in the Yalu, upstream from the bustling downtown area. Dramatic transformation Nighttime satellite imagery captured at 1:30 a.m. on June 10 by the Suomi NPP satellite — jointly operated by NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration — also detected bright lights in Sinuiju, Bruce Songhak Chung, a senior researcher at the Seoul-based Korea Institute for Security Strategy, told RFA. “Notably, the Sangdan-ri and Hadan-ri areas of Wihwa Island, which have traditionally been dark at night, were detected bright,” Chung said. “It appears the lights are being used at the Sinuiju Greenhouse Farm Complex to promote plant growth and increase crop yields during nighttime hours.” Nighttime satellite imagery captured at 1:30 a.m. on June 10 shows bright lights in Sinuiju, North Korea. (RFA) Satellite imagery confirms the presence of the large solar and wind energy plant that Park referred to. Construction of the plant began in 2019. It stretches 1,300 meters (4,300 feet) at present. Alongside the solar plant are small wind turbines. The combined capacity of the plant is 1,000 kilowatts according to North Korean state media. That is enough to power roughly 1,000 to 1,500 homes in the developed world at peak performance. Solar boom In the past, North Korean cities along the border relied heavily on hydropower, but aging infrastructure often failed to provide a stable electricity supply. Solar energy appears to be stepping in to solve this problem. The newly installed solar panels are visible not only in Sinuiju but also in other cities, as well as in rural communities, mining areas and remote mountain villages along the border, Joung Eunlee, the director of the Seoul-based Korea Institute for National Unification, told RFA. “Having traveled along the China-North Korea border for more than 15 years, I have observed a significant increase in solar panels installed on factories, office buildings, military facilities and customs offices in major border cities,” Joung said. “I have also noticed a growing number of apartment buildings equipped with outdoor air-conditioning units, which are imported from China either legally or illegally.” North Korea’s largest solar and wind power complex in Sinuiju. Construction began in 2019, and the facility extends approximately 1,300 meters (1,420 yards). (RFA) Satellite images also confirm a boom in solar installations that accelerated after 2018 and continued through the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly at factories and state-owned enterprises. Similarly, solar panels are appearing on hospitals, government offices, military facilities, cultural venues, hotels and restaurants in Pyongyang and other cities. Renewable initiative As North Korea seeks to modernize its economy and raise living standards, access to a more reliable electricity supply is becoming increasingly important. To that end, the North Korean government promulgated its Renewable Energy Act in 2013 and has since incorporated renewable energy development into its 2016 and 2021 five-year national economic plans. Several large-scale solar projects are currently under construction or have recently been completed across the country. North Korea’s state-run newspaper, the Rodong Sinmun, has continued highlighting the need to expand the use of renewable energy sources, including wind, tidal and solar power as recently as June 19. Route 1, the main highway linking Sinuiju to Pyongyang, as viewed from Dandong, China. Courtesy of Professor Park Jongchol. (Park Jongchol/RFA) Park said the trend towards renewables could point to a broader long-term shift in North Korea’s industrial structure. Joung said the country is rapidly developing its renewable energy industry, and its close relationship with China is integral to the expansion. China accounted for roughly 75% of global solar module production and has become the leading supplier of high-performance components and equipment at low cost. Over the past 15 years, the price of solar modules and installation has fallen by about 95%, while efficiency has continued to improve, she added. But even as North Korea goes solar, the gains are uneven. “Even though nighttime satellite imagery shows brighter lights in some border cities, including Sinuiju, many parts of North Korea remain in darkness because they still lack access to electricity,” Joung said. “It will also be important to watch whether the gap between regions continues to widen.” Edited by Eugene Whong. This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Noh Jung Min for RFA.
Australian media ignores UN report on Israeli deliberate killing of children
By Stephanie Tran in Sydney The devastating United Nations report this week into the deliberate targeting and murder of Palestinian children by Israel is not very newsworthy in Australia apparently. On Tuesday, the UN Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel released a harrowing report finding that Israel has deliberately targeted and
By Stephanie Tran in Sydney The devastating United Nations report this week into the deliberate targeting and murder of Palestinian children by Israel is not very newsworthy in Australia apparently. On Tuesday, the UN Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel released a harrowing report finding that Israel has deliberately targeted and killed Palestinian children. The 94-page report documented children being shot by snipers, targeted by drones, denied medical treatment, subjected to starvation and detained in conditions involving torture, sexual violence and severe abuse. READ MORE: Israel’s deliberate targeting of Palestinian children — Al Jazeera Jale Moala: Why is the UN credible when Fiji agrees but not when it’s inconvenient? UN report must mark a turning point for accountability for Palestinian children The commission concluded that the deliberate targeting of children was one of the key elements establishing genocidal intent. These are extraordinary findings backed up by an in-depth investigation by a UN body, and one would think it would be of substantial public interest worthy of front-page headlines, but Australia’s mainstream media doesn’t seem to think so. The ABC made somewhat of an effort by bringing on global affairs editor Laura Tingle to discuss the commission’s findings on its news programme. However, half of their article covering the report was dedicated to parroting Israel’s defence of the indefensible and was buried at the bottom of their website. Guardian Australia was the only other mainstream Australian outlet to cover the UN report until yesterday. Again, it was buried, and the article has since been relegated to the bottom of its home page. The Nine newspapers caught up two days late, with The Sydney Morning Herald framing it: “commissioned experts” (not simply the UN) had “accused” Israel … and repeated the “claim” of genocide. A significant portion of the article was dedicated to Israel’s denial of the report’s findings. As for the rest of the media, Karl Stefanovic’s podcast interview with a right-wing racist grifter is apparently much more newsworthy. Pacific Media Watch reports: Major New Zealand media outlets that covered the UN Commission of Inquiry report about the deliberate targeting of children included the public broadcaster Radio New Zealand (RNZ) and largest media website Stuff. Also, leading advocacy groups in the country, such as Save the Children New Zealand, issued media releases urging global accountability in response to the report. The Save The Children statement in New Zealand said the UN report must mark a turning point for the world to stop turning a blind eye to the suffering of Palestinian children and hold perpetrators to account. Stephanie Tran is a journalist with a background in both law and journalism. She has worked at The Guardian and as a paralegal, where she assisted Crikey’s defence team in the high-profile defamation case brought by Lachlan Murdoch. Her reporting has been recognised nationally, earning her the 2021 Democracy’s Watchdogs Award for Student Investigative Reporting and a nomination for the 2021 Walkley Student Journalist of the Year Award. Republished from Michael West Media with permission. This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by Pacific Media Watch.
BOMBU MININU FAMÍLIA (Mindelo, Ilha de São Vicente, Cabo Verde)
By Ralph Nader June 26, 2026 Jimmy Carter’s campaign motto in 1976 was “Why Not the Best!” declaring everywhere he went: “I want to see us once again have a nation that’s as good and honest and decent and truthful and competent and compassionate ...
By Ralph Nader June 26, 2026 Jimmy Carter’s campaign motto in 1976 was “Why Not the Best!” declaring everywhere he went: “I want to see us once again have a nation that’s as good and honest and decent and truthful and competent and compassionate and filled with love as are the American people.” Dictator Donald… This content originally appeared on Ralph Nader and was authored by matthew.
VALDOMIRO & O GRUPO DAS BANDEIRAS (Ilha do Fogo, Cabo Verde)
Trump should foot the bill for rebuilding Venezuela after earthquake disaster
<img width="1024" height="683" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2282931916-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="Volunteers attempt to move debris as they search for bodies on the rubble of collapsed buildings in Catia La Mar, La Guaira, Venezuela, on June 26, 2026, following deadly earthquakes. Photo by Federico PARRA / AFP via Getty Images" data-attachment-id="344554" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/trump-should-foot-the-bill-for-rebuilding-venezuela-after-earthquake-disaster/venezuela-earthquake-aid" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2282931916-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1707&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2560,1707" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"AFP via Getty Images","camera":"NIKON Z 9","caption":"Volunteers attempt to move debris as they search for bodies on the rubble of collapsed buildings in Catia La Mar, La Guaira, Venezuela, on June 26, 2026, following deadly earthquakes. The death toll from two powerful earthquakes that devastated Venezuela earlier this week rose to 920 on June 26, National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez said. (Photo by Federico PARRA / AFP via Getty Images)","created_timestamp":"1782498046","copyright":"AFP or licensors","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"VENEZUELA-EARTHQUAKE-AID","orientation":"1","alt":""}" data-image-title="VENEZUELA-EARTHQUAKE-AID" data-image-description="" data-image-caption=" Volunteers attempt to move debris as they search for bodies on the rubble of collapsed buildings in Catia La Mar, La Guaira, Venezuela, on June 26, 2026, following deadly earthquakes. Photo by Federico PARRA / AFP via Getty Images " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2282931916-scaled.jpg?fit=780%2C520&ssl=1"> Beyond his blustering suggestions and jokes that he should run Venezuela, Trump and US sanctions have actually played a prominent role in ruining Venezuela. In the wake of this week’s devastating earthquakes, he should be footing the bill so Venezuelans can recover and rebuild.
<img width="1024" height="683" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2282931916-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="Volunteers attempt to move debris as they search for bodies on the rubble of collapsed buildings in Catia La Mar, La Guaira, Venezuela, on June 26, 2026, following deadly earthquakes. Photo by Federico PARRA / AFP via Getty Images" decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2282931916-scaled.jpg?w=2560&ssl=1 2560w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2282931916-scaled.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2282931916-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2282931916-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2282931916-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2282931916-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1365&ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2282931916-scaled.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2282931916-scaled.jpg?resize=2000%2C1333&ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2282931916-scaled.jpg?resize=780%2C520&ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2282931916-scaled.jpg?resize=400%2C267&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2282931916-scaled.jpg?w=2340&ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2282931916-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1&w=370 370w" sizes="(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw - 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw / 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw / 12)), 100vw" data-attachment-id="344554" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/trump-should-foot-the-bill-for-rebuilding-venezuela-after-earthquake-disaster/venezuela-earthquake-aid" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2282931916-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1707&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2560,1707" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"AFP via Getty Images","camera":"NIKON Z 9","caption":"Volunteers attempt to move debris as they search for bodies on the rubble of collapsed buildings in Catia La Mar, La Guaira, Venezuela, on June 26, 2026, following deadly earthquakes. The death toll from two powerful earthquakes that devastated Venezuela earlier this week rose to 920 on June 26, National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez said. (Photo by Federico PARRA / AFP via Getty Images)","created_timestamp":"1782498046","copyright":"AFP or licensors","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"VENEZUELA-EARTHQUAKE-AID","orientation":"1","alt":""}" data-image-title="VENEZUELA-EARTHQUAKE-AID" data-image-description="" data-image-caption=" Volunteers attempt to move debris as they search for bodies on the rubble of collapsed buildings in Catia La Mar, La Guaira, Venezuela, on June 26, 2026, following deadly earthquakes. Photo by Federico PARRA / AFP via Getty Images " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2282931916-scaled.jpg?fit=780%2C520&ssl=1" /> The images are harrowing: whole neighborhood blocks in rubble. Buildings collapsed. Rescue workers climbing over mountains of concrete debris fighting to find the survivors, working through the night. A country already in crisis and shock after the Jan. 3 US invasion has been hit with another catastrophe. A pair of back-to-back earthquakes hit Venezuela at 6:04PM local time on Wednesday, June 24. The first registered 7.2. The second struck just 38 seconds later. It was a magnitude of 7.5. The epicenter of the quake was roughly 100 miles west of Caracas, Venezuela’s capital, but was felt as far away as Colombia and Manaus, Brazil. Reports say it was the largest earthquake to hit the country in more than a century. Videos taken during the earthquakes show buildings rocking, the concourse of the country’s main airport shaking and crumbling as people run. The airport is now closed. As of Friday afternoon, the death toll had risen to 920 people, with more than 3,300 people injured. Reports say the death count could rise to anywhere between 10,000 and 100,000 people. More than 200 aftershocks have rumbled through Caracas. Many people slept outside in the streets Wednesday night for fear of the aftershocks and the structural integrity of their buildings. The country is in a state of emergency. La Guaira, the coastal city just north of Caracas where Venezuela’s main airport is located, has been devastated. It has been declared a “disaster zone” because of the number of buildings knocked to the ground. #Venezuela | La Guaira suffered huge damage after a series of strong earthquakes on June 24. Aerial images taken on June 25 reveal a high level of destruction in many areas of the region. Rescue teams are working tirelessly to help the victims still trapped under the rubble.… pic.twitter.com/P373bjO4BA — teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) June 25, 2026 This is not the first time this year La Guaira has been impacted by disaster. The United States bombed here during its Jan. 3 invasion, hitting an apartment complex and a dialysis supply distribution center. Tragedy has now struck again. Many countries have pledged solidarity and support, including Iran, Mexico, Brazil, and Cuba. Even Spain, France, and the United States. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the US Department of War would play a “big logistical role” in the response to the earthquake. The United States will likely swoop in and play savior amid the crisis, having already announced that it is deploying warships, planes and helicopters to support search and rescue operations in the country. Given recent events, however, fears remain that the United States could try to use the tragedy as an excuse to place troops on the ground, permanently. That is a major concern. Venezuela has reason to be wary. For centuries, the United States has taken advantage of tragedies and wars to push its agenda abroad. Meanwhile, the United States has still not fully lifted its sanctions on the country. Experts say this could block others from helping in the relief efforts. “We have seen in previous instances how US sanctions have restricted and hampered earthquake relief efforts,” the Center for Economic and Policy Research’s Alex Main said in a statement. “The Venezuelan government must be free to receive and allocate earthquake relief and to send humanitarian support to those who need it. Current US and other sanctions threaten to hobble the overall earthquake response.” The United States and Donald Trump, in particular, should not just lift the sanctions, but also foot the bill for the emergency operations and rebuilding of Venezuela. President Donald Trump has a unique responsibility for the suffering unleashed across Venezuela over the last decade. Beyond his blustering suggestions and jokes that he should run Venezuela, Trump has actually played a prominent role in ruining Venezuela, devastating the economy, and reaping the benefits over the last decade. U.S. President Barack Obama first levied sanctions on Venezuela in 2015. But once in office, during his first term, Trump accelerated them. Those sanctions ran the country into the ground—as I have reported on in depth for TRNN in the past (here, here and here). They ground the economy to a halt. Blocked the country’s sale of oil. Banned other countries and companies from trading with Venezuela. They forced US companies to pull out of the country. They halted the import of medicine and essential parts for cars, industry, and even the country’s water system. The disastrous impact on the economy pushed millions of Venezuelans to leave their homes and flee the country, many heading for the United States. Last year, Trump spent months ramping up threats against the country, levying allegations of drug trafficking against Venezuela’s president, even while he pardoned the convicted Honduran drug trafficking kingpin Juan Orlando Hernandez. Then, on Jan. 3, 2026, Trump ordered the invasion of Venezuela. The US dropped bombs across Caracas that night. They invaded with more than 150 aircraft from 20 bases across the Western Hemisphere. US forces killed more than 100 people. Trump removed the country’s president, Nicolas Maduro, kidnapping him and first lady, Cilia Flores, on allegations of drug trafficking. That morning, Trump said “we’re going to run Venezuela” and control the country’s oil reserves. Trump has strong-armed acting President Delcy Rodriguez ever since under threat of more bombing raids. Rodriguez has agreed to open up the Venezuelan economy to the United States and to US businesses. Just days after the invasion, Trump announced that Venezuela would be “turning over” between 30 and 50 million barrels of “sanctioned oil” to the United States, worth roughly $2 billion. That was just the beginning. Yesterday, Trump claimed the United States had recovered the cost of its invasion 28 times over. That’s a lot of money. US military officials said that more than 150 US aircraft—including fighter planes, bombers, surveillance aircraft, and helicopters—participated in the invasion. They dropped countless bombs and missiles across the capital, Caracas, and the surrounding region. According to the National Priorities Project, every B-1 bomber cost $91,330 an hour to operate. The F-22A Raptors fighter planes cost $56,511 an hour, and the MH-47G Chinook helicopters each cost $9,663 an hour. Multiply those by the four or five hours the operation took to fly in, attack, and then back out of Venezuela, and then by the 150 aircraft that participated in the action, and you’re talking about millions and millions of US taxpayer dollars spent on invading a foreign sovereign nation in order to kidnap that country’s president. And that doesn’t include the cost of the bombs dropped. A 2020 article from TWZ, which covers the defense industry, detailed that Air Force small-diameter precision bombs can cost anywhere from $39,000 up to hundreds of thousands of dollars. Air Force air-to-surface Hellfire missiles run from $70,000 each to millions of dollars depending on the guidance system and the range. We do not know how many bombs were dropped, but numerous locations were targeted across Caracas and the surrounding region. Millions of US dollars were spent on attacking Venezuela and kidnapping the country’s president. Dollars spent on war, destruction and violence. The annual Pentagon budget is over $1 trillion a year. Trump’s 2025 “Big Beautiful Bill” allocated $170 billion dollars for immigration enforcement over the next four years. All of this money will be spent on violence, policing, enforcement, coercion and war. Trump’s net worth is estimated at roughly $6 billion. It’s about time that he and the United States begin to spend their money not on ripping communities and countries apart, but rather on building them up and bringing them back together. “The US carries a huge responsibility: sanctions have a devastating impact on infrastructure and the healthcare system has been severely weakened over time,” a resident of El Panal Commune in Caracas wrote to independent press abroad. “Please let this be known, and demand that the US release all retained Venezuelan funds and lift sanctions. Also, let it be known that the government is acting effectively and that there is grassroots mobilization and solidarity is flowing.” This content originally appeared on The Real News Network and was authored by Michael Fox.
Across Europe, heat adaptation plans are being put to a brutal test
“Cities across the world are still preparing for the heat that we're experiencing today.”
France has been preparing for climate-fueled heat waves for more than two decades. In 2003, more than 14,800 people died as summer temperatures hovered above 95 degrees Fahrenheit for two weeks. The devastating event led French policymakers to build one of the world’s most comprehensive heat-resilience programs. The following year, the French government unveiled a national heat plan that included a four-tiered alert system. When temperatures rise and trigger the highest alert level, authorities establish a crisis center to coordinate a national response. Local officials are required to implement their heat plans, which include providing access to cool spaces, ensuring access to water, and checking in on heat-vulnerable residents. France’s meteorological and health agencies jointly monitor weather forecasts and health risks, alerting residents when dangerous conditions arise. In the years since, France has taken additional measures to adapt to hotter summers: Cities have planted trees to reduce the urban heat island effect, built shaded walkways and biking paths, and converted public spaces into cooling centers that residents without air conditioning can use on the hottest days. (Only about 25 percent of French households have air conditioning.) In Paris, policymakers have conducted drills and tabletop exercises, rehearsing what it might be like to live in the future when temperatures are projected to hit 122 degrees Fahrenheit. Those strategies are now being put to one of their biggest tests. Over the past week, cities across Europe have experienced soaring temperatures, with many breaking all-time heat records. More than a dozen countries across Europe, including France, issued heat alerts over the past week, warning their residents to stay indoors during the hottest hours, keep homes cool by drawing shutters and curtains, and avoid strenuous physical activity. It’s the continent’s second heat wave in two months, both of which began even before the official start of summer. In Paris, temperatures topped 103 degrees Fahrenheit, and average temperatures across France were at their highest level ever last week. The heat has already proven deadly. More than 40 people seeking respite from the heat drowned while swimming in France, many of them teenagers. Spanish officials also warned of heat-related deaths: A local monitoring agency estimated that more than 200 deaths in the past week could be attributed to high temperatures. The elderly, children, and the unhoused are among the most vulnerable populations. Researchers have found that as climate change drives warming, cities will increasingly have to grapple with longer summers and hotter temperatures. Europe, the world’s fastest-warming continent, is in many ways at the forefront of this challenge. For much of 2024, temperatures were 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) higher than preindustrial averages. On the current trajectory, temperatures in Europe are expected to rise by 5.6 degrees Fahrenheit by the end of the century. Read Next <img src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/climate-health-effects.jpg?quality=75&strip=all" alt="Illustration of a figure showing the neurological system with wildfire smoke in the background" class="js-modal-gallery__hidden" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/climate-health-effects.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 2000w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/climate-health-effects.jpg?resize=1200%2C675&quality=75&strip=all 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/climate-health-effects.jpg?resize=330%2C186&quality=75&strip=all 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/climate-health-effects.jpg?resize=768%2C432&quality=75&strip=all 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/climate-health-effects.jpg?resize=1536%2C864&quality=75&strip=all 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/climate-health-effects.jpg?resize=160%2C90&quality=75&strip=all 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/climate-health-effects.jpg?resize=150%2C84&quality=75&strip=all 150w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" height="1125" width="2000" loading="lazy" decoding="async"> How climate change gets under the skin Zoya Teirstein “Cities across the world — even the ones that are doing the best that they can — are still preparing for the heat that we’re experiencing today,” said Ladd Keith, an associate professor of planning and director of the Heat Resilience Initiative at the University of Arizona. “They’re not doing a great job of really aggressively planning for the heat that we’re going to experience tomorrow.” For years, extreme heat received far less attention and resources than disasters such as hurricanes and wildfires. But as heat waves have become more extreme — and the consequences increasingly deadly — policymakers have begun to treat them with greater urgency. Early generations of heat plans primarily focused on protecting public health and emergency response. But recent heat plans have taken a broader approach, including urban greening efforts and reducing waste heat from vehicles and air conditioning. Cities tend to be 5 to 10 degrees F hotter than surrounding areas due both to heat generated by cars and heavy industry as well as heat trapped by asphalt and other synthetic materials. Cities have been tackling this phenomenon, which is called the urban heat island effect, by planting trees, building parks, and investing in other greening initiatives. Such efforts require multiple departments across government — including urban planners, public health officials, and disaster response teams — to work together. Some cities have even been hiring so-called chief heat officers to take ownership over managing the problem, or else explicitly tasking their climate resiliency officials with heat adaptation efforts. In 2021, Florida’s Miami-Dade County hired the world’s first-ever dedicated chief heat officer. According to Keith, who has been studying how governments are responding to rising heat, there are roughly 15 analogous officials worldwide. Similar roles exist in Los Angeles and Phoenix, as well as in Greece and Australia. Keith said that Arizona, in particular, has been ahead of the curve in its response to extreme heat. About a thousand people died from heat-related illnesses in 2023, more than any other U.S. state. But in the following years, those numbers came down even as the state experienced more punishing heat. For one, the governor began declaring official heat emergencies during extreme heat waves. The state also appointed a chief heat officer and statewide cooling center coordinator. Cities like Tucson also adopted their own heat action plans. During the cooler months, officials now meet to discuss the lessons learned from the previous year’s summer. “A lot of efforts that have been building over the last decade came together that crisis year,” said Keith. “We’re addressing the summer’s heat in a much more coordinated way than we’ve ever addressed it before.” Such efforts will only become more important as regions with historically temperate climates — like parts of Europe — experience hotter, more frequent heat waves. Climatologists have been forecasting that the summer of 2027 will likely be the hottest in recorded history, thanks in part to a “super El Niño,” the periodic shift in warm waters across the Pacific Ocean that exerts tremendous influence on global weather patterns. “This is just classically in line with what we are expecting with climate change,” said Keith. “Any lessons that we learn from this specific event, we need to rapidly turn around and put those into place.” This story was originally published by Grist with the headline Across Europe, heat adaptation plans are being put to a brutal test on Jun 26, 2026.
Photographer’s camera flash broken, seized at New Jersey protest
Photographer Ian Bartlett’s flash was broken off his camera and seized by a federal officer at a protest against Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Newark, New Jersey, on June 5, 2026.Protests outside the Delaney Hall immigration detention facility...
Photographer Ian Bartlett’s flash was broken off his camera and seized by a federal officer at a protest against Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Newark, New Jersey, on June 5, 2026. Protests outside the Delaney Hall immigration detention facility began May 22, when many detainees went on a hunger strike. Members of Congress, state and local lawmakers and rights groups have alleged dire conditions at the facility, which is owned and operated by The Geo Group. The Department of Homeland Security has denied allegations of detainee mistreatment. Federal officers have responded to the protests with chemical irritants, physical force and arrests, as did state police in the days that followed. Bartlett did not comment on the incident for the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. But in a series of now-expired stories on his Instagram on June 5, viewed by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, he posted pictures of the damage, and wrote that an ICE officer tried to take his camera and snapped the flash off, claiming he was purposely strobing him. In one post, he said the officer asked him for his press credentials in exchange for the flash he seized. “In the moment I decided he could keep the broken flash so that I may keep my press credentials,” he wrote. Bartlett said the damage will cost several hundred dollars. In a statement emailed to the Tracker on June 1, DHS said anyone who obstructs law enforcement or disrupts its operations would be prosecuted. It did not address its use of force against members of the press. “We remind members of the media to exercise caution as they cover these violent riots and remind journalists that covering unlawful activities in the field does come with risks,” the statement read. “Our officers take every reasonable precaution to mitigate those dangers to those exercising protected First Amendment rights.” This content originally appeared on U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database and was authored by U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database.
Photojournalist pepper-sprayed by DHS officer at LA immigration protest
Photojournalist Jose Mejia was sprayed in the face with a chemical irritant by a federal officer while covering an immigration protest in Los Angeles, California, on June 6, 2026.The protest was held outside the city’s Metropolitan Detention Center, wh...
Photojournalist Jose Mejia was sprayed in the face with a chemical irritant by a federal officer while covering an immigration protest in Los Angeles, California, on June 6, 2026. The protest was held outside the city’s Metropolitan Detention Center, where immigrants are being confined. It marked the anniversary of the large protests against immigration raids that began in and around LA in June 2025. Mejia told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he was covering the protest for the independent media collective OwlMedia. Everything was peaceful outside the detention center, he said, until a brawl with a counterprotester began. Then, Department of Homeland Security officers armed with riot gear advanced on the crowd. “It all happened so fast,” Mejia said. “They were pushing people super violently.” Mejia positioned himself in the middle of the action and got close enough to capture DHS making an arrest. Then one officer pointed at Mejia, lifted his right hand and pepper-sprayed him directly in the face. Mejia’s eyes burned, and he was unable to see for 40 minutes. He said an officer pushed him to the side of a gate outside the facility, where bystanders helped to flush his eyes. Mejia eventually left after LA police announced a dispersal order and threatened to arrest anyone who stayed. “They feel entitled to do whatever they want,” Mejia said, “and nothing is going to happen to them.” In a statement to the Tracker on June 24, a DHS spokesperson said law enforcement responded to about 200 protesters outside the detention center and that some individuals threw bottles and assaulted officers. “We remind members of the media and the public to exercise caution as they cover these violent riots and remind journalists that covering unlawful activities in the field does come with risks — though our officers take every reasonable precaution to mitigate those dangers to those exercising protected First Amendment rights,” the statement said. This content originally appeared on U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database and was authored by U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database.
A Tipi Village Takes on Healing & Homelessness [EXCERPT]
Photojournalist pushed over barricade at New Jersey immigration protest
A freelance photojournalist was shoved by police over a concrete barrier while covering a protest against Immigration and Customs Enforcement and its treatment of detainees in Newark, New Jersey, on June 6, 2026.Protests outside the Delaney Hall immigr...
A freelance photojournalist was shoved by police over a concrete barrier while covering a protest against Immigration and Customs Enforcement and its treatment of detainees in Newark, New Jersey, on June 6, 2026. Protests outside the Delaney Hall immigration detention facility began May 22, when many detainees went on a hunger strike. Members of Congress, state and local lawmakers and rights groups have alleged dire conditions at the facility. Federal officers responded to the protests with chemical irritants, physical force and arrests, as did state police and city officers in the days that followed. The Department of Homeland Security has denied allegations of detainee mistreatment. Freelance photojournalist Peter Lavie, who was also at the scene, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that on June 6, Newark police carrying riot shields began pushing protesters and journalists out of the way near Delaney Hall. As officers continued clearing the area, they pushed Lavie and two other photojournalists, forcing them backward over a concrete barrier that had been used as part of the protest perimeter. Lavie identified one of the other photojournalists as Ryan Murphy, who had been documenting the protests for photo agencies including Reuters and had been assaulted twice by federal officers while on the job in May. Murphy did not respond to requests for comment, and the Tracker was unable to independently confirm that he was one of the photojournalists who was pushed. The incident was captured on video by journalist L. Vural Elibol, chief videographer for Turkey’s Anadolu Agency. View post on Instagram Lavie — who identified the third photojournalist as Tom Hudson — said they “all collapsed on each other.” He added that he believed officers were indiscriminately pushing people out of the area rather than targeting journalists specifically. The Newark police did not respond to a request for comment. On June 8, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka released a statement asserting that responsibility for security at the immigration detention facility rests with its private operator, The Geo Group, but that city police are required to uphold standards of professionalism and accountability. “Any conduct that falls short undermines the significant progress we have made in building trust and advancing community-focused policing in Newark,” the mayor said. The statement did not address the use of force against members of the press. This content originally appeared on U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database and was authored by U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database.
I know firsthand that conversion therapy doesn’t work. SCOTUS’ decision to protect it only hurts LGBTQ+ people.
I know firsthand that conversion therapy doesn’t work. SCOTUS’ decision to protect it only hurts LGBTQ+ people. This content originally appeared on The Progressive — A voice for peace, social justice, and the common good and was authored by Irene Monroe.
US media presents centrist panic over progressive wins as mere post-ideological ‘electability concerns’
<img width="1024" height="683" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2147059718-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="Rahm Emanuel, U.S. ambassador to Japan, attends a photo op with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and congressional leaders before Kishida addressed a joint meeting of Congress on Thursday, April 11, 2022. Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images" data-attachment-id="344536" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/us-media-presents-centrist-panic-over-progressive-wins-as-mere-post-ideological-electability-concerns/japan-joint-meeting-april-11" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2147059718-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1707&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2560,1707" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.8","credit":"CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Imag","camera":"ILCE-1","caption":"UNITED STATES - APRIL 11: Rahm Emanuel, U.S. ambassador to Japan, attends a photo op with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and congressional leaders before Kishida addressed a joint meeting of Congress on Thursday, April 11, 2022. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., appears at left. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)","created_timestamp":"1712830101","copyright":"2024 CQ-Roll Call, Inc.","focal_length":"37","iso":"4000","shutter_speed":"0.004","title":"Japan Joint Meeting April 11","orientation":"1","alt":""}" data-image-title="Japan Joint Meeting April 11" data-image-description="" data-image-caption=" Rahm Emanuel, U.S. ambassador to Japan, attends a photo op with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and congressional leaders before Kishida addressed a joint meeting of Congress on Thursday, April 11, 2022. Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2147059718-scaled.jpg?fit=780%2C520&ssl=1"> No mention of pro-Israel and corporate funding, no mention of capitalist ideology—just ‘good-faith’ worry over what will play in Purple America.
<img width="1024" height="683" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2147059718-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="Rahm Emanuel, U.S. ambassador to Japan, attends a photo op with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and congressional leaders before Kishida addressed a joint meeting of Congress on Thursday, April 11, 2022. Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images" decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2147059718-scaled.jpg?w=2560&ssl=1 2560w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2147059718-scaled.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2147059718-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2147059718-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2147059718-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2147059718-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1366&ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2147059718-scaled.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2147059718-scaled.jpg?resize=2000%2C1334&ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2147059718-scaled.jpg?resize=780%2C520&ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2147059718-scaled.jpg?resize=400%2C267&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2147059718-scaled.jpg?w=2340&ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2147059718-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1&w=370 370w" sizes="(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw - 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw / 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw / 12)), 100vw" data-attachment-id="344536" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/us-media-presents-centrist-panic-over-progressive-wins-as-mere-post-ideological-electability-concerns/japan-joint-meeting-april-11" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2147059718-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1707&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2560,1707" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.8","credit":"CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Imag","camera":"ILCE-1","caption":"UNITED STATES - APRIL 11: Rahm Emanuel, U.S. ambassador to Japan, attends a photo op with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and congressional leaders before Kishida addressed a joint meeting of Congress on Thursday, April 11, 2022. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., appears at left. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)","created_timestamp":"1712830101","copyright":"2024 CQ-Roll Call, Inc.","focal_length":"37","iso":"4000","shutter_speed":"0.004","title":"Japan Joint Meeting April 11","orientation":"1","alt":""}" data-image-title="Japan Joint Meeting April 11" data-image-description="" data-image-caption=" Rahm Emanuel, U.S. ambassador to Japan, attends a photo op with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and congressional leaders before Kishida addressed a joint meeting of Congress on Thursday, April 11, 2022. Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2147059718-scaled.jpg?fit=780%2C520&ssl=1" /> It’s simply taken for granted in US legacy media that “left-wing/progressive” electeds are driven by rigid ideology while centrists are motivated by cold, calculated, and semi-scientific concern with How To Defeat Republicans. This is a premise basically no one in our media challenges. It is asserted as pure dogma that “centrist” or “moderate” Democrats are only “centrist” or “moderate” because they are forced to be by electoral realities, and thus every position they advance is not the end result of donor pressure or class interest, but a good-faith, totally organic demand from purple-area voters they must channel if they want to “take back Congress.” Never is this dynamic more evident in media coverage than after the left-wing flank of the party has the kind of electoral success they saw this past Tuesday, when self-identified Democratic Socialist candidates scored major victories in New York City and state office. Immediately, before the votes were even counted, corporate media rushed to take the predictable angle, “Does electing far left-ideologues undermine Democrats’ ability to win in November,” because it’s simply taken for granted that left-wing policy perspectives are mutually exclusive with “electability.” Leading the charge was, as always, the New York Times. “Democrats find themselves squeezed by competing forces,” the paper lamented. “The party’s leaders in Washington are pushing for moderate candidates who they hope will be competitive in states and areas that have been inhospitable to Democrats in recent years. But primary voters in New York and other recent contests are moving in the opposite direction, increasingly turning to progressives and even socialists who excite the base.” It’s simply taken for granted that left-wing policy perspectives are mutually exclusive with “electability.” Note how the NYT presents a completely false dichotomy: taking back Congress from Republicans vs. progressives and socialists winning primaries. These are the two options and they are, we are told, in tension. There’s no data cited to support this, no studies linked to; the article just asserts casual dogma, then moves on to debate how Democrats will manage this supposed conflict between its base and the desire to be “competitive in states and areas that have been inhospitable to Democrats in recent years.” To do this they turn to alleged “party leaders” who are presented not as ideologues in their own right, or conflicted, corporate-funded mouthpieces, but entirely good-faith strategists simply concerned with winning. The “moderate” sources are: Neera Tanden, who is presented as someone who has “served in the last three Democratic administrations and is now the president of the Center for American Progress (CAP), one of the party’s leading think tanks.” What isn’t mentioned is that CAP has historically been funded by major corporations, billionaire donors, and foreign dictatorships, but Tanden stopped disclosing CAP’s donors so it’s anyone’s guess who floats them presently. Tré Easton, who is presented as “a Democratic strategist at the Searchlight Institute, a Democratic think tank.” What isn’t mentioned is Searchlight was founded explicitly to combat the left flank of the party and is, according to a different NYT article, funded by “a roster of billionaire donors highlighted by Stephen Mandel, a hedge fund manager, and Eric Laufer, a real estate investor.” Jaime Harrison, who is presented as “a South Carolinian who served as chairman of the Democratic National Committee during Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s presidency.” What isn’t mentioned is that Harris is a longtime former lobbyist for corporate America—namely Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Wallmart, BP America, Boeing, and Lockheed Martin. Yet none of these billionaire and corporate-backed sources are presented as potentially conflicted or motivated by their own conservative ideology. Their overarching worldview—a worldview that also happens to handsomely fund their entire careers—that capitalism and Israel are fundamentally good and worth defending is ignored and, instead, they’re simply presented as Concerned Democrats worried about potential electoral vulnerabilities. Why isn’t their capitalist ideology mentioned in a story that centers the ideology of socialism? Why are they presented as Having Concerns while Democratic Socialists are painted as indifferent or even hostile to taking back Congress? Also left unmentioned is that these “party leaders” and their allies in Congress, like House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, routinely adopt positions that are unpopular with the independent voters they’re allegedly motivated to win over. CAP, Jeffries, and Schumer support economic and military aid to Israel despite the fact that only 31% of independent voters support continued military backing of Israel and 43% oppose it. Forty-eight percent of all voters think the US is too supportive of Israel, while 38% think the US support of Israel is about right. CAP, Jeffries, and Schumer do not support Medicare for All* despite 71% of independents supporting it and only 19% opposing it. CAP, Jeffries, and Schumer do not support free college for all Americans despite 70% of independents supporting it. If these “moderates” are Simply Concerned With Winning in Purple America why do they not adopt these broadly popular positions? Why no mention of potential ulterior motives for the “concerns” from a party leadership defined by their lockstep support for Israel. Rather than being toxic to the Democrats’ brand, it’s clear Party Leadership’s issue with this slate of explicitly anti-zionist (or at least Israel-critical) candidates is ideological. Jeffries was the largest recipient of pro-Israel money out of 435 voting members in the House last election cycle (and, it’s worth noting, despite running in a non-competive primary and general), and Schumer has explicitly said his “job” is to “keep the left pro-Israel.” Why isn’t this mentioned when discussing potential motives for why leadership have “concerns” with Tuesday’s election results? CNN would join the centrist pity party with their entirely baseless headline, “House Democrats’ anxiety rises after wins by Mamdani-backed candidates: ‘Are we going to let them take over the party?’” The DSA and Democratic Party have roughly the same negatives, but only one is scandalized and painted as fringe. Which “House Democrats” were anxious? The article only cites four—Josh Gottheimer, Gregory Meeks, Tom Suozzi, and Vicente Gonzalez—or 1.8% of House Democrats, which seems to be sufficient enough to represent “House Democrats” to CNN’s editors. But, of course, “House Democrats” have no known uniform position because no one surveyed the remaining 98.2%. CNN’s Harry Enten, citing DSA’s net -27 favorables with the public in general, did a separate breathless segment accepting the framing that the Democratic Socialist of America were unpopular with the mainstream and Republicans are now “licking their chops” to tie the Democratic party to the DSA’s toxic brand. The segment fails to mention that, in the very same Marquette poll he cites, the Democratic Party has -25 favorables, which is within the margin of error and effectively the same level of popularity. In other words: the DSA and Democratic Party have roughly the same negatives, but only one is scandalized and painted as fringe. Again, the default, existing power structure is naturalized and seen as broadly popular when it’s anything but, whereas anyone disrupting the established, overtly capitalist order is viewed as unconcerned with The Realities of Winning Elections. A premise that, again, has zero empirical basis. This same dynamic has been seen in several media interviews over the past few days: Rahm is spot on here. pic.twitter.com/NKwfdQ2ggI — Steve Schale (@steveschale) June 26, 2026 A WARNING FOR DEMOCRATS…@melissadderosa says progressive politics could face challenges in general elections across purple and red areas. pic.twitter.com/0lwvDOB7Yl — The Faulkner Focus (@FaulknerFocus) June 25, 2026 NEW: James Carville: “I actually do think it's time for Democrats to talk the S word: ‘Schism’ … there's just some sh*t that I can't be in the same tent with … I'm done … I don't want to be in a political party that denies the right of the state of Israel to exist.” pic.twitter.com/O5ATLyvXwV — Jason Cohen (@JasonJournoDC) June 25, 2026 Their primary evidence for this alleged toxicity is Republicans signaling they will make hay over it. Of course they’re going to say this, but it’s not objective proof of anything. Democrats could barely contain their excitement in taking on Trump in both 2016 and 2024, to the extent that Hillary Clinton attempted to support Trump’s camp during the Republican primary, and we all know how that turned out. Time and again, those who have gotten rich and powerful off the corporatist Democratic order, who led the party as it lost to Trump twice, are presented simply as savvy and concerned loyal partisans agnostic to ideology or conflicts of interests. Except they’re anything but. Rather than starting from the assumption that everyone involved wants to win office and just has different ideological visions and theories for how this is achieved, it’s taken for granted that only one wing of the party has an ideology and is inherently hostile to the realities of “taking back Congress” while the “moderate” wing is post-ideological, post-conflict of interest and is simply calling balls and strikes about the Realities of Middle America. The most popular, fourth most popular, and fifth most popular active politicians in the United States are self-identified Democratic Socialists. But listening to the New York Times and CNN you would have no idea. Instead, one would be under the distinct impression that Americans are crying out for the charisma and charm of Tom Suozzi and Rahm Emanuel. *Jeffries technically came out in support of Medicare For All when it was trendy to do so in 2019 but has not mentioned it once in the past seven years. This content originally appeared on The Real News Network and was authored by Adam Johnson.
States want transparent laws around animal agriculture. A fight in Congress could derail that.
The Save Our Bacon bill would make it harder for consumers to know how their meat was raised.
It’s been nearly eight years since Congress reauthorized the farm bill, the massive legislative package that funds programs run by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. What used to be passed roughly every five years, the farm bill touches nearly every aspect of agricultural production in the U.S. It puts billions toward conservation programs, nutrition assistance, rural development, crop insurance, and climate-smart practices. But persistent disagreements between lawmakers over these and other programs have stymied the process of passing a new farm bill. The federal government has instead resorted to stop-gap measures and one-year extensions of a small handful of programs. If farmers were hoping to see a new farm bill this year, they may very well be disappointed — as a new schism between the two houses of Congress was made clear this week, when the Senate agricultural committee released a draft of its farm bill that excluded a law known as the Save Our Bacon Act. The measure was included in the House draft farm bill earlier this year with vocal support by Representative G.T. Thompson, who chairs the House agricultural committee. Save Our Bacon, or SOB, would override state and local laws like California’s Prop 12, which bans the sale of pork, chicken, and veal products that come from farms using the most extreme forms of animal confinement, such as gestation crates for hogs. Factory farming operations where animals have the least amount of space to move around result in a lot of manure, which is typically consolidated and stored in lagoons that can pollute the local air and waterways. Advocacy groups argue laws like Prop 12 are common sense and popular among voters who want to know where their food comes from. There are currently 14 states with similar laws on the books, according to the American Meat Producers Association, or AMPA, an industry group that opposes SOB. “It’s just disappointing that we’re even talking about this because the farm bill should be about supporting sustainable farming and healthy food and food security. It should not be a way for large industry groups to overturn the will of voters,” said Molly Armus, who works on animal agricultural policy at Friends of the Earth, an environmental nonprofit. Armus notes that transitioning away from extreme confinement of livestock can have positive environmental and climate impacts if producers move toward a pasture-raised system. (Prop 12 only establishes minimum space requirements for animals.) A recent analysis from the USDA found that 27 percent of hog farmers, or 1 in 4, are already Prop 12 compliant — suggesting that the transition away from extreme confinement is underway. “Most hog farmers do not support the Save Our Bacon Act,” said Holly Bice, president of AMPA, which was founded last year in response to an earlier attempt to skirt Prop 12 in a previous draft farm bill. For many hog farmers, Prop 12 has “been an important opportunity for them,” said Bice, because investing in crate-free operations allows producers to sell their products at a premium. “It’s helped them keep their heads above water at a time when consolidation has increasingly driven out farmers,” she said. However, Brent Hershey, a hog farmer in Pennsylvania and member of AMPA, said the issue of extreme confinement has sparked a “civil war” among pork producers. “The industry is completely divided on this,” he added. Personally, Hershey said, he was reluctant to change the way his operation did things, but after years of receiving negative feedback, he began to see things differently. Today, Hershey’s farm has been crate-free for three years. Passing SOB, he said, would be “devastating” for producers like him who invested time and money into improving their operations. <img decoding="async" src="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Brent-Hershey-Speaks-to-Politicians.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Brent-Hershey-Speaks-to-Politicians.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Brent-Hershey-Speaks-to-Politicians.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=330 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Brent-Hershey-Speaks-to-Politicians.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=768 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Brent-Hershey-Speaks-to-Politicians.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Brent-Hershey-Speaks-to-Politicians.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1536 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Brent-Hershey-Speaks-to-Politicians.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=160&h=90&crop=1 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Brent-Hershey-Speaks-to-Politicians.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=640&h=853&crop=1 640w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Brent-Hershey-Speaks-to-Politicians.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=96&h=96&crop=1 96w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Brent-Hershey-Speaks-to-Politicians.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=150 150w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Brent-Hershey-Speaks-to-Politicians.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all 1024w" alt="" data-caption="Pennsylvania hog farmer Brent Hershey speaks to politicians in Washington, D.C., asking them to stop efforts to overturn state laws like California’s Prop 12. " data-credit="AMPA"/> Pennsylvania hog farmer Brent Hershey speaks to politicians in Washington, D.C., asking them to stop efforts to overturn state laws like California’s Prop 12. AMPA Experts also argue that passing a farm bill that allows industrial animal agriculture operations to skirt state laws sets a bad precedent for broader environmental and public health goals. “When you’re doing something that, in a more macro sense, erodes states’ abilities to rollback some of the more harmful aspects of massive commercial agricultural operations, how does that impact any law that could impact agriculture?” said J.W. Glass, senior policy specialist at the Center for Biological Diversity. For example, he added, “How does it impact state laws to restrict the use of pesticides?” In the Senate, at least for now, it seems like a measure that allows animal agricultural producers to skirt Prop 12 is a nonstarter. “That is why [Boozman] did not put this in his bill. He knew it,” said Sara Amundson, president of the Humane World Action Fund (formerly the Humane Society). “And that’s why it’s critical to keep up the noise on it.” Still, it’s unclear what happens next — whether the House will fold and exclude SOB from its draft farm bill, or whether, if the two chambers of Congress cannot reconcile their differences on extreme confinement, the gridlock lasts into next year. This story was originally published by Grist with the headline States want transparent laws around animal agriculture. A fight in Congress could derail that. on Jun 26, 2026. This content originally appeared on Grist and was authored by Frida Garza.
NZ anti-war protesters call for independent foreign policy and peaceful planet
COMMENTARY: By Liz Remmerswaal Up to 1000 people joined a March for Peace in Auckland last weekend to demand that Aotearoa New Zealand become a voice for peace rather than a complicit partner in US-led illegal wars. The march on June 20 was organised by a new group, Anti-War Aotearoa (AWA), and Greenpeace Aotearoa, and
COMMENTARY: By Liz Remmerswaal Up to 1000 people joined a March for Peace in Auckland last weekend to demand that Aotearoa New Zealand become a voice for peace rather than a complicit partner in US-led illegal wars. The march on June 20 was organised by a new group, Anti-War Aotearoa (AWA), and Greenpeace Aotearoa, and stopped outside the US Consulate en route because it is important that the New Zealand government refuses any “war mineral” deals with the Trump administration. The groups are urging the government to implement a fully independent foreign policy grounded in Te Tiriti o Waitangi, diplomacy, and international law. READ MORE: People power against Trump’s wars – act against NZ ‘war mineral’ deals Paul Hopkinson: Why NZ’s ‘Free Palestine’ party seeks to put Gaza genocide at centre of politics Israel’s deliberate targeting of Gaza children part of genocide: UN inquiry The new Middle East: How the Old Order died and what is rising in its place Other Palestine reports Niamh O’Flynn, programme director at Greenpeace Aotearoa, said the nation’s environmental and international priorities were fundamentally linked. <img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" class="moz-reader-block-img" src="https://worldbeyondwar.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/aotearoa2606b.jpg" alt=""NZ out of Trump's wars" banner at the Auckland June 20 march" width="960" height="618" data-src="https://worldbeyondwar.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/aotearoa2606b.jpg" data-srcset="https://worldbeyondwar.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/aotearoa2606b.jpg 960w, https://worldbeyondwar.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/aotearoa2606b-300x193.jpg 300w, https://worldbeyondwar.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/aotearoa2606b-768x494.jpg 768w" data-sizes="(max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px" /> “NZ out of Trump’s wars” banner at the Auckland March for Peace on June 20. Image: Liz Remmerswaal/WBW “We oppose [NZ Prime Minister Christopher] Luxon and the coalition government allowing Aotearoa to be drawn into Trump’s wars, and we strongly oppose the minerals deal being negotiated to fuel those wars,” said O’Flynn. “We call for an independent foreign policy in Aotearoa that prioritises peace, upholds the UN Charter, and supports the wellbeing of people and the planet. We must not sell off Aotearoa’s natural places to the highest bidding war-monger.” A spokesperson for Anti-War Aotearoa (AWA) said the march was a necessary public response to escalating imperial aggression, the erosion of international law, and a “dangerous shift in domestic priorities”. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="moz-reader-block-img" src="https://worldbeyondwar.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/aotearoa2606a.jpg" alt="The author, Liz Remmerswaal, during the Auckland protest march on June 20" width="843" height="960" data-src="https://worldbeyondwar.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/aotearoa2606a.jpg" data-srcset="https://worldbeyondwar.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/aotearoa2606a.jpg 843w, https://worldbeyondwar.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/aotearoa2606a-263x300.jpg 263w, https://worldbeyondwar.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/aotearoa2606a-768x875.jpg 768w" data-sizes="(max-width: 843px) 100vw, 843px" /> The author, Liz Remmerswaal, during the protest march down Auckland’s Queen Street on June 20. Image: Liz Remmerswaal/WBW “We are marching because Aotearoa needs to become a voice for peace and reason in an increasingly unstable world, rather than acting as a supporting player in these illegal, foreign wars,” AWA spokesperson Gabriella Brayne said. “We demand that the New Zealand government places immediate sanctions on Israel to end the genocide in Gaza, gets fully behind the ICC [International Criminal Court] and ICJ [International Court of Justice] cases against war crimes, and pulls public funding from militarisation so it can be invested into health, housing, and education,” said Brayne. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="moz-reader-block-img" src="https://worldbeyondwar.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/aotearoa2606d.jpg" alt="A "No NZ troops for USA/Israeli wars" banner at the Auckland June 20 march" width="960" height="619" data-src="https://worldbeyondwar.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/aotearoa2606d.jpg" data-srcset="https://worldbeyondwar.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/aotearoa2606d.jpg 960w, https://worldbeyondwar.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/aotearoa2606d-300x193.jpg 300w, https://worldbeyondwar.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/aotearoa2606d-768x495.jpg 768w" data-sizes="(max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px" /> A “No NZ troops for USA/Israeli wars” banner at the March for Peace in Auckland on June 20. Image: Liz Remmerswaal/WBW Liz Remmerswaal Hughes is a mother, journalist, environmentalist activist and former local government politician in Aotearoa New Zealand and is World BEYOND War NZ coordinator. This article was first published by World BEYOND War on 25 June 2026 and is republished with the author’s permission. This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.
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Court Upholds Life-Saving National Soot Air Quality Standard
Today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upheld the national, health-based limit on fine particulate matter (PM2.5), also known as soot, that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) strengthened in 2024.Soot, made up of tiny toxic parti...
Today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upheld the national, health-based limit on fine particulate matter (PM2.5), also known as soot, that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) strengthened in 2024. Soot, made up of tiny toxic particles that lodge deep in the lungs, results in severe health harms, including premature death, and comes from sources like vehicle exhaust pipes, power plants, and factories. The National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for PM2.5 set baseline national air quality standards to reduce the harms of this deadly air pollutant for communities across the country. Last year, in an unprecedented move, Trump’s EPA gave up defending the strengthened standard against challenges from industry and aligned states and asked the court to strike it down on narrow legal grounds, without ever disputing the science underlying the standard. Health, environmental, and community groups, along with a coalition of states led by California, continued to defend the standard. “Clean air is not a luxury. We are thrilled these vital air quality standards have been upheld by a federal court,” said Patrice Simms, vice president of Healthy Communities at Earthjustice. “The 2024 soot standard is a critical advancement for public health, projected to save thousands of lives every year. Lee Zeldin’s EPA must stop catering to polluters and must instead fulfill its mission to protect public health. The time for implementing the 2024 soot standard is now.” “Fine particulate matter standards provide critical public health protections. The court correctly rejected EPA’s about-face on the need for a stronger standard,” said Shaun Goho, senior director, Legal Advocacy at Clean Air Task Force. “The science is clear that soot has many serious health impacts, particularly for children, the elderly, and those with asthma. By EPA’s own estimate, implementing the 2024 soot standard will prevent 800,000 cases of asthma symptoms, 2,000 hospital visits, and 4,500 premature deaths in 2032. Today marks an important step in the right direction, but EPA must now implement the 2024 standard without delay.” “The federal court’s decision to uphold the 2024 strengthened particle pollution standard is a win for public health,” said Katie Huffling, DNP, RN, CNM, FAAN, executive director, Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments. “Every day in practice, nurses witness and treat conditions made worse by soot pollution. From asthma exacerbations and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease to heart disease and preterm birth, nurses see the real-world health implications of toxic air pollution. The science shows stronger limits to reduce dangerous soot pollution provide significant health benefits for Americans, especially for those most vulnerable and those exposed to higher levels of particulate matter pollution. We now urge EPA to fully implement the strengthened standard to ensure those health benefits are realized.” “Today’s federal court decision is good news for clean air in America and for the millions of people harmed by deadly soot,” said Noha Haggag, senior attorney for Environmental Defense Fund. “Soot can cause asthma attacks, lung cancer, and premature deaths. The court’s rejection of the Trump administration’s attempt to eliminate our national health standards for soot will mean healthier, longer lives for people across the country.” “While the Trump EPA has dragged its heels, millions of Americans have kept breathing unhealthy air,” said Vijay Limaye, climate and health scientist at NRDC. Every day of delay means more premature deaths, more asthma attacks, and more hospitalizations. This decision removes any remaining doubt: the science has long been clear, and now the law is too. The Trump EPA must stop stalling and deliver the healthier air the science and the law demand.” “The court did the right thing today by standing up for our health and safety,” said Rachel Briggs, Conservation Law Foundation staff attorney. “We should never put the polluting status-quo over people, especially when it fuels chronic respiratory and cardiac illnesses. We’ll never compromise when it comes to the safety of our neighbors, communities, and the low-income and Black and Brown families that continue to shoulder the worst of these toxins.” Background Soot is a lethal combination of metals, organic chemicals, and acidic substances so tiny that they can be easily inhaled into our lungs and delivered directly into our bloodstream. It threatens our health and environment — posing especially heightened risks for children, seniors and people with chronic illnesses. Among the health harms it is linked to are death, cardiovascular harms, new and exacerbated asthma cases, lung cancer, and serious neurological harms, like Alzheimer’s disease. Under the Clean Air Act, the EPA has for decades set baseline national air quality standards for six harmful pollutants, including soot. In 2024 the agency strengthened the soot standard from 12 to 9 micrograms per cubic meter, According to the EPA, the strengthened soot standard will result in significant public health net benefits that could be as high as $46 billion by 2032. The EPA’s estimate of costs is an order of magnitude less. Polluters’ exaggerated claims about costs have been repeatedly debunked. After the agency strengthened the soot standard, corporations and attorneys general in allied states sued. Earthjustice, its clients and partners intervened to defend the strengthened soot standard. Earthjustice clients are Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments, American Lung Association, Environmental Defense Fund, NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council), Northeast Ohio Community Resilience Centre (formerly the Northeast Ohio Black Health Coalition), Rio Grande International Study Center, and Sierra Club. Clean Air Task Force represents Citizens for Pennsylvania’s Future and Conservation Law Foundation. A recent white paper found that 75 million people live in counties whose air quality violates the standard. The Clean Air Act mandated that the EPA formally identify the areas that violate the standard by Feb. 6, 2026. When EPA failed to meet that deadline, a group of health, environmental, and community groups, and a state coalition, sued to require it to obey the law. That key step will require pollution reductions in those areas, to bring them into compliance with the 2024 NAAQS. This content originally appeared on Common Dreams and was authored by Newswire Editor.
Journalist pepper-sprayed by federal officers at Father’s Day protest
Independent reporter and photojournalist Wali Khan was targeted with pepper spray by federal officers while documenting protests outside a detention center in Newark, New Jersey, on June 21, 2026.Protests outside the Delaney Hall immigration detention ...
Independent reporter and photojournalist Wali Khan was targeted with pepper spray by federal officers while documenting protests outside a detention center in Newark, New Jersey, on June 21, 2026. Protests outside the Delaney Hall immigration detention facility began May 22, when many detainees went on a hunger strike. Members of Congress, state and local lawmakers and rights groups have alleged dire conditions at the facility. Federal officers responded to the protests with chemical irritants, physical force and arrests, as did state police in the days that followed. The Department of Homeland Security has denied allegations of detainee mistreatment. Khan reported on social media that protesters gathered outside the facility on June 21, tying neckties to the main gate after all Father’s Day visitations were canceled. In a social media post he jointly published with Status Coup, federal officers can be seen streaming out of the facility alongside a couple of Geo Group employees, and starting to push demonstrators back while conducting arrests. After deploying chemical munitions at the crowd — including pepper spray and pepper balls — officers then retreat behind the fence marking the detention center grounds. Khan told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that an officer deliberately pepper-sprayed him, adding simply, “That really fucking sucked.” View post on Instagram Reflecting on the last month of protests, Khan said that federal officers routinely targeted members of the press. “When the ICE or DHS officers step in to push protesters back, who are trying to block vehicles or whatever, they very obviously target journalists who are in front and taking pictures,” Khan said. “They push us back and beat us. They pepper-spray us. They don’t care. “They deploy their less-lethal ammunition like it’s a toy, and they’re very trigger-happy,” he added. In a statement emailed to the Tracker on June 24, DHS said anyone who obstructs law enforcement or disrupts its operations would be prosecuted. It did not address its use of force against members of the press. “We remind members of the media and the public to exercise caution as they cover these violent riots and remind journalists that covering unlawful activities in the field does come with risks,” the statement read. “Our officers take every reasonable precaution to mitigate those dangers to those exercising protected First Amendment rights.” This content originally appeared on U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database and was authored by U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database.
Independent journalist struck with shield by New Jersey police officer
Independent reporter and photojournalist Wali Khan was struck with a shield by a police officer while covering protests outside a federal detention center in Newark, New Jersey, on June 6, 2026.Protests outside the Delaney Hall immigration detention fa...
Independent reporter and photojournalist Wali Khan was struck with a shield by a police officer while covering protests outside a federal detention center in Newark, New Jersey, on June 6, 2026. Protests outside the Delaney Hall immigration detention facility began May 22, when many detainees went on a hunger strike. Members of Congress, state and local lawmakers and rights groups have alleged dire conditions at the facility. Federal officers responded to the protests with chemical irritants, physical force and arrests, as did state police in the days that followed. The Department of Homeland Security has denied allegations of detainee mistreatment. In a post on social media, Khan reported that while federal officers had responded to protests earlier during the day on June 6, they were absent that night. Present instead was a collection of Newark Police Division officers and employees for The Geo Group, which owns and operates the facility. “Geo group employees have been seen carrying baseball bats when exiting the facility and have assaulted protestors trying to block their cars,” he wrote. Khan told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that Newark police were also aggressive when responding to the crowd. “They shoved and assaulted us with riot shields, me and a few journalists, pushing us back,” he said. In some of his footage from that night, officers are seen repeatedly shoving demonstrators while ordering them to get back, at times jostling Khan and his camera. Later, police shouts of “Move back!” are followed by protesters chanting “Fuck you!” View post on Instagram The Newark police did not immediately respond to a request for comment. On June 8, Newark Mayor Ras J. Baraka released a statement asserting that responsibility for security at the immigration detention facility rests with The Geo Group but adding that all city officers are required to uphold standards of professionalism and accountability. “Any conduct that falls short undermines the significant progress we have made in building trust and advancing community-focused policing in Newark,” he wrote. The statement did not address the use of force against members of the press. This content originally appeared on U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database and was authored by U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database.
Belarus jails journalist Kyril Pazniak for 3.5 years
New York, June 26, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the June 26 sentencing of Belarusian journalist Kyril Pazniak to three years and six months in prison, and calls on Belarusian authorities to release him immediately. The court in Minsk, the capital, convicted Pazniak on charges of creating an extremist group and discrediting Belarus. The court also fined Pazniak 24,750 Belarusian rubles (US$8,530). ...
New York, June 26, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the June 26 sentencing of Belarusian journalist Kyril Pazniak to three years and six months in prison, and calls on Belarusian authorities to release him immediately. The court in Minsk, the capital, convicted Pazniak on charges of creating an extremist group and discrediting Belarus. The court also fined Pazniak 24,750 Belarusian rubles (US$8,530). The charges against Pazniak are connected to his work for the YouTube channel Platform 375, which has covered politics and economy in Belarus. Pazniak hosted discussions between the government and opposition supporters until 2022. “The three-and-a-half-year prison sentence given to journalist Kyril Pazniak shows that Belarusian authorities remain unforgiving of those who independently covered the aftermath of the 2020 protests that swept the country following the disputed re-election of President Aleksandr Lukashenko,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator. “The authorities should immediately release Pazniak, as well as all imprisoned journalists.” Pazniak was detained in Minsk on September 3, 2025. The next day, Belarusian authorities designated Platform 375 as extremist. “The verdict has no reasoned legal grounds and is evidence that there is no place for a free press in any form in Belarus today,” Siarzhuk Herasimovich, one of the founders of Platform 375, told Belsat TV. Pazniak’s daughter Yanina, who was detained on September 4, 2025, was sentenced on Friday as well, but her prison sentence and fine on similar charges was unknown. State prosecutors had requested three years in prison, reported Poland-based Belarusian broadcaster Belsat TV. According to the outlet, the charges against her stem from the sole fact that she registered Platform 375 on TikTok. The trial of Pazniak and his daughter was scheduled to start in Minsk on May 14, but was postponed to June 17 because Pazniak was suffering complications from COVID-19. In 2021, Belarus adopted a package of extremism legislation to combat political opposition and to crack down on the media after the 2020 protests. The law has been used to ban more than 50 media outlets, according to the Belarusian Association of Journalists. At least 21 journalists are currently behind bars in Belarus. CPJ emailed the Belarusian Investigative Committee, the law enforcement agency in charge of pretrial proceedings, for comment but did not receive a reply. This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.
The Pacifica Evening News, Weekdays – June 26, 2026
Comprehensive coverage of the day’s news with a focus on war and peace; social, environmental and economic justice. The post The Pacifica Evening News, Weekdays – June 26, 2026 appeared first on KPFA.
Comprehensive coverage of the day’s news with a focus on war and peace; social, environmental and economic justice. The post The Pacifica Evening News, Weekdays – June 26, 2026 appeared first on KPFA. This content originally appeared on KPFA - The Pacifica Evening News Weekdays and was authored by KPFA.
JD Vance Praises Richard Nixon, Downplays Watergate Scandal
On this episode of CounterPunch Radio, Tori Tsui talks with Karim Ali, co-founder of the Gaza Sunbirds. Karim Ali is a Palestinian award-winning community organiser and co-founder of the Gaza Sunbirds – a para-cycling team of Palestinian amputee ...
On this episode of CounterPunch Radio, Tori Tsui talks with Karim Ali, co-founder of the Gaza Sunbirds. Karim Ali is a Palestinian award-winning community organiser and co-founder of the Gaza Sunbirds – a para-cycling team of Palestinian amputee athletes. The post Gaza Sunbirds w/ Karim Ali appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Josh Frank.
ARY KUEKA (Ilha de Santo Antão, Cabo Verde)
No union dues for genocide: Inside the historic UAW vote to divest from Israel
<img width="1024" height="662" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2154367262-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C662&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="Pro-Palestinian protestors gather with a sign reading 'UAW Rank & File Workers For Palestine' after police cleared a new encampment of pro-Palestinian protestors on the UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) campus on May 23, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images" data-attachment-id="344525" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/no-union-dues-for-genocide-inside-the-historic-uaw-vote-to-divest-from-israel/pro-palestinian-protesters-re-establish-encampment-at-ucla" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2154367262-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1656&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2560,1656" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"5","credit":"Getty Images","camera":"Canon EOS R3","caption":"LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - MAY 23: Pro-Palestinian protestors gather with a sign reading 'UAW Rank \u0026amp; File Workers For Palestine' after police cleared a new encampment of pro-Palestinian protestors on the UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) campus on May 23, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. The protest coincided with today\u2019s congressional hearing on campus protests where UCLA Chancellor Gene Block testified. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)","created_timestamp":"1716472547","copyright":"2024 Getty Images","focal_length":"200","iso":"320","shutter_speed":"0.0005","title":"Pro-Palestinian Protesters Re-Establish Encampment At UCLA","orientation":"1","alt":""}" data-image-title="Pro-Palestinian Protesters Re-Establish Encampment At UCLA" data-image-description="" data-image-caption=" Pro-Palestinian protestors gather with a sign reading &#8216;UAW Rank &#038; File Workers For Palestine&#8217; after police cleared a new encampment of pro-Palestinian protestors on the UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) campus on May 23, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2154367262-scaled.jpg?fit=780%2C504&ssl=1"> “With this vote, we're really proud to finally be respecting the call from the Palestinian trade union movement so that we can stand in solidarity—as American, Canadian, and Puerto Rican workers here in the UAW—with members of the working class in Palestine.”
<img width="1024" height="662" src="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2154367262-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C662&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="Pro-Palestinian protestors gather with a sign reading 'UAW Rank & File Workers For Palestine' after police cleared a new encampment of pro-Palestinian protestors on the UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) campus on May 23, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images" decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2154367262-scaled.jpg?w=2560&ssl=1 2560w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2154367262-scaled.jpg?resize=300%2C194&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2154367262-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C662&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2154367262-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C497&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2154367262-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C993&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2154367262-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1325&ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2154367262-scaled.jpg?resize=1200%2C776&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2154367262-scaled.jpg?resize=2000%2C1294&ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2154367262-scaled.jpg?resize=780%2C504&ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2154367262-scaled.jpg?resize=400%2C259&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2154367262-scaled.jpg?w=2340&ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2154367262-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C662&ssl=1&w=370 370w" sizes="(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw - 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw / 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw / 12)), 100vw" data-attachment-id="344525" data-permalink="https://therealnews.com/no-union-dues-for-genocide-inside-the-historic-uaw-vote-to-divest-from-israel/pro-palestinian-protesters-re-establish-encampment-at-ucla" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2154367262-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1656&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2560,1656" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"5","credit":"Getty Images","camera":"Canon EOS R3","caption":"LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - MAY 23: Pro-Palestinian protestors gather with a sign reading 'UAW Rank \u0026amp; File Workers For Palestine' after police cleared a new encampment of pro-Palestinian protestors on the UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) campus on May 23, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. The protest coincided with today\u2019s congressional hearing on campus protests where UCLA Chancellor Gene Block testified. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)","created_timestamp":"1716472547","copyright":"2024 Getty Images","focal_length":"200","iso":"320","shutter_speed":"0.0005","title":"Pro-Palestinian Protesters Re-Establish Encampment At UCLA","orientation":"1","alt":""}" data-image-title="Pro-Palestinian Protesters Re-Establish Encampment At UCLA" data-image-description="" data-image-caption=" Pro-Palestinian protestors gather with a sign reading &#8216;UAW Rank &#038; File Workers For Palestine&#8217; after police cleared a new encampment of pro-Palestinian protestors on the UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) campus on May 23, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2154367262-scaled.jpg?fit=780%2C504&ssl=1" /> At the 39th Constitutional Convention of the United Auto Workers (UAW) in Detroit, Michigan, union delegates debated and affirmed the aggressive direction the UAW has taken under current President Shawn Fain, supporting pushes to increase shop-floor militancy, support new organizing efforts, and take stronger stances on the political crises working people face today. Among the major developments to come out of the UAW Constitutional Convention was a historic vote to divest the union from Israel bonds, which provide financial support to Israel’s government as it continues to wage a US-backed campaign of genocidal violence and ethnic cleansing against Palestinians. In this episode, we break down this historic vote and what it means for union members with a panel of rank-and-file workers and members of Unite All Workers for Democracy (UAWD), a left-wing caucus within the UAW. Panelists include: Andrew Bergman, a worker at General Motors in Detroit, Michigan, a member of UAW Local 22, and co-chair of UAWD; Navruz Baum, a paralegal in New York, a member of UAW Local 2325, and a member of the UAWD Steering Committee; Margie Thornton, an attorney in Colorado, a member of UAW Local 2320, and a member of the UAWD Steering Committee; and Mike Davis, an auto parts worker in Ohio, a member of UAW Local 2021, and a member of UAWD. Additional links/info: Unite All Workers for Democracy (UAWD) website, member platform, and donation page Navruz Baum, Daily Struggle, “UAW divests from Israel bonds” Dan DiMaggio & Jane Slaughter, Labor Notes, “Auto worker delegates back union’s fighting direction at UAW Convention” Shireen Akram-Boshar, Truthout, “United Auto Workers vote to divest from Israel in historic victory” Featured Music: Jules Taylor, Working People Theme Song Credits: Audio Post-Production: Jules Taylor Transcript The following is a rushed transcript and may contain errors. It will be updated as soon as possible. Maximillian Alvarez: All right. Welcome everyone to Working People, a podcast about the lives, jobs, dreams, and struggles of the working class today. Working People is a proud member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network and is brought to you in partnership with In These Times Magazine and the Real News Network. This show is produced by Jules Taylor and made possible by the support of listeners like you. My name is Maximillian Alvarez and we’ve got a really incredible panel of folks today with the United Auto Workers. We’re going to get a worker’s eye view of the huge changes that are happening and have been happening within the Mighty UAW. And those changes were on display earlier this month at the UAW Constitutional Convention in Detroit. As Dan DiMaggio and Jane Slaughter report at Labor Notes, “Delegates at the United Auto Workers Constitutional Convention affirmed the aggressive direction the Union has taken under President Shawn Fain, who took office in 2023 and immediately set the 400,000 member union on a new path illustrated in bold campaigns like the standup strike against the big three automakers. The thousand delegates who assembled in Detroit voted to increase the money designated for new organizing and to maintain dues at 2.5 hours per month in order to bulk up the strike fund. The Union is looking ahead to a projected rematch with the Big Three on Mayday 2028 when contracts covering 150,000 auto workers expire. The UAW has called on other unions to align their fights then too to build more leverage on employers and politicians and win big demands.” Now this is all of course really important for UAW members and for the labor movement writ large and we are going to talk about that with our guests today, but we’re also going to focus on another really important development that came out of the UAW’s 39th Constitutional Convention. As Shireen Akram Bouchar reports a truth out, quote, “The United Auto Workers, a union with some 400,000 active members across the US has voted to divest its estimated $400,000 from Israel bonds. The divestment vote makes the UAW the first major national union to vote to divest from Israel. The resolution states that the billionaire clas that profits from war funnels public money into militarism instead of healthcare, housing and education working people need. It cites the nearly three year long genocide in Gaza and the call by the Palestinian Trade Union Movement for workers internationally to act in solidarity as among the reasons for its resolution to divest from Israel bonds, which are bonds issued directly by Israel and function as loans to the Israeli government. The vote was organized by Unite All Workers for Democracy or UAWD, a left wing caucus within the UAW and UAW labor for Palestine, which is part of a broader labor for Palestine Coalition.” To talk about this historic move by the UAW and what it means for UAW members, for the labor movement, and for the Palestine solidarity movement, I am really grateful to be joined on the show by four guests today. Andrew Bergman is a worker at General Motors in Detroit. He’s a member of UAW Local 22 and co-chair of UAWD. Navruz Baum is a paralegal in New York, a member of UAW Local 2325 and a member of the UAWD steering committee. Margie Thornton is an attorney in Colorado, a member of UAW Local 2320 and a member of the UAWD steering committee. And Mike Davis is an auto parts worker in Ohio, a member of UAW Local 2021 and a member of UAWD. Andrew, Navruz, Margie, Mike, thank you all so much for joining me today. It’s incredible that I have you all on this panel right now. I want to start our discussion with this historic vote by the UAW and its membership to divest from Israel. So I wanted to ask you guys, as union members and as working people in America, why is this an important issue for you and what does the passing of this resolution mean to you? Navruz Baum: I would say a few things. First of all, there’s currently an ongoing genocide in Palestine and workers every day are being killed and murdered by Israel. Israel is also wreaking havoc and destruction in the entire region, bombing Lebanon, bombing Iran, bombing other countries and murdering civilians. And they’re doing this with the active assistance of the US and financial assistance from up until very recently institutions like the UAW. And so just as people of conscience, it was really important for us to not be complicit in this ongoing genocide. Secondly, as members of the working class who want better living conditions, money that goes to Israel to bomb people, bomb children in other countries is money that is not going to healthcare, to housing, to food to support us. And it’s just totally unconscionable to us that the resources, the wealth that we produce every day as workers is being appropriated to fund misery and death instead of being used to improve our own living conditions. And lastly, I would just say that as members of the working class, as rank and file members of the UAW, it’s really important that we have a say in how these resources are being used and that when we’re having that say, it’s driven by our values and what actually benefits us. And so we’re not content with just having some bureaucrats decide where all this money that we’ve paid in dues is invested, wherever they think makes sense per their politics or the highest return. We believe that as workers, as members of the UAW, we deserve a say in where this money goes. Mike Davis: It’s important because we’ve just spent the last three years watching a genocide be livestreamed and it’s sickening. And as Navruz said, our dues dollars are funding this and it shouldn’t be happening at all. But as far as what does it mean going forward, it means we’re on the right track, but we also have a lot more work to do. I don’t know if you read our other resolution, but it had a lot more language in there that called for work stoppages and it also called for us not to endorse politicians who take money from these type of people. Margie Thornton: I would say that there’s a mantra in the labor movement that the dudes are sacred, the members does are sacred. And we’ve seen across the globe really the working class take to the streets and protest and scream at the top of our lungs basically about where our tax dollars are going. And that doesn’t seem to have any impact, but those sacred dues, those dollars that we can decide we can have a voice. If we organize the members, we can’t decide where those go. So being able to withhold those while we can’t withhold our tax dollars is, I mean, it’s the least we can do in response to the call for solidarity. Andrew Bergman: Yeah. I think of just all these conversations I’ve had over the last year. We were working all this mandatory overtime in 2024 in my plan and we were just in the plant together, 12-hour shifts, six days a week. So we spent a lot of time together. People who don’t usually want to talk about politics, we’re talking about politics. We were talking about everything with our coworkers out there and Palestine came up a lot and I was kind of in my plan. Everyone know, that guy’s the troublemaker, that guy wants to talk about politics. But people would come up to me and be like, “What do you think about what’s going on? ” This was a live question. This is a plan in Detroit. It’s a lot of folks, it’s a majority Black folks who have definitely, I think in the working class in the United States, it’s not just on the basis of race, but a lot of people have really been subject to oppression. And when they watch the news, they I think and myself connect with the Palestinians who are being oppressed and are being subjugated. And so it was a regular conversation. Why is our country doing this? Why is our union actually supporting this? And we wouldn’t get into the weeds on Israel bonds. It was more just like, why aren’t we being clear? And a lot of people I think were very excited when Sean Vain took a rhetorical position on this question, but then to sort of see that not followed up with any action, and that’s something UAWD has talked about a lot, that was disappointing. So I think a lot of folks are really excited about this even who are not particularly political. And then the other thing that comes to mind is just after this happened, I was in Dearborn and we were near Local 600, there’s a big mosque right down the road. And a lot of the folks in that mosque are UAW members. So we were talk actually because we were doing some interviews for our social media just to connect with folks in that community about what this meant to them. And we have these really beautiful kind of passionate conversations with folks who are just like, what does it mean to be here in this country and kind of be surrounded by people and then see your union, which you’ve kind of been unsure about or hasn’t really taken the right position, but you knew it used to. It stood up for Nelson Mandela, it stood up against apartheid to take that position now. So I think it just has this emotional moral character for myself and a lot of other people separate from the important left politics. It’s just a meaningful thing at an emotional level. Navruz Baum: Something we really hold sacred in the Libor Movement is that we respect each other’s picket lines and we don’t undermine other workers. And this is a part of that because there’s been a call from the Palestinian Trade Union Movement to respect BDS and to not do financial investments or other business with Israel. And unfortunately, the UAW has been crossing that picket line for decades. And so with this vote, we’re really proud to finally be respecting the BDS call in that respect, respecting the call from the Palestinian Trade Union Movement so that we can stand in solidarity as American, Canadian and Puerto Rican workers here in the UAW with members of the working class and workers in unions in Palestine. Andrew Bergman: There’s this very well known, at least on the left, wildcat strike that forward workers, especially Arab American Ford workers led in 1973 to push for divestment from the UAW and Israel bonds. That is over 50 years ago and they succeeded in small part because they got local 600. So when I was there in Dearborn just yesterday down the road, like a five-minute walk from Local 600 and I was asking people what that resonance was, I mean, it was beautiful because on the one hand, people were very excited about it, but on the other hand, not very many people knew about that wildcat. And so I think it’s a testament both to how important that thread can be through history, but then also how little known it can become and how they kept a light on and it got passed on, but through a small group of people who kept fighting. And the culmination that we had last week was not just the four of us or even just UAWD or even just UAW labor for Palestine, which hopefully we’ll talk about, but it was this movement of thousands and thousands of people across the decades. Maximillian Alvarez: Well, let’s talk about that right now actually, because I really want to impress upon listeners that this was such a hard won victory that has taken decades to accomplish because we’re talking about from the public consciousness around Israel-Palestine, which changed dramatically in this country over the past three and a half years, we’re talking about the changes within the UAW itself, right? This is a very different union than the UAW that I knew when I started this show eight years ago. And of course there’s been just a global movement in solidarity with the Palestinian people, a movement to stop the genocide, to stop the occupation and to stop US support of all of it. So I wanted to ask y’all if you could talk more about that path that led to this moment and the obstacles that were overcome, the growth that had to happen in you as individuals and for your union. Navruz Baum: I can speak to my local 23, 25, and I hope that others can also speak to their locals. But in local 23, 25, we’ve definitely had a contingent of members who’ve been fighting for strong internationalist stance for standing with members of the working class around the world for many, many decades. The strength and size of that contingent has fluctuated over the years. I will say that I think post October 7th, 2023, when Israel really escalated its genocide, a new coalition, a new majority around Palestinian solidarity was formed in my local. And at first it was really hard fought and there was a lot of really incredible organizing that happened telling people why, yes, it’s difficult to take a stance on this issue. Yes, you’re going to get a lot of shit from it. A lot of people are going to yell at you. You might get doxed. Multiple people in my union have been the targets of online harassment campaign. Multiple people have been fired by their employers in my local coming out of those online harassment campaigns. And yet why, despite of all of that, it’s important for us to take an issue on Palestine anyways. As of now, I think that we’ve done a lot of organizing and we’ve gotten pretty used to taking pro- Palestine positions in my local. So when it came time to endorse this amendment and send it to the International UAW Convention, there was a strong majority of my local for it. There was still some arguments about whether this is the right time, whether this is really the right issue to bring to the International Convention, whether other locals are ready for it. I hope that folks from other locals can speak to that because obviously they were, but it’s definitely been a long struggle in my local. And I think that it’s been a microcosm of what’s been happening in our country and in the world more broadly around Palestinian solidarity. And it’s absolutely in the environment of pro- Palestine organizing in New York City where my local is, where a lot of people are members of other Palestinian solidarity organizations and have learned organizing and learned about the importance of solidarity with Palestinians through other organizations in the broader environment and also brought those politics into our local. And lastly, I would just say that watching the solidarity and actions of the global working class for Palestine, which honestly, a lot of it has gone a lot further than just divesting from Israel bonds has been an incredible and perpetual inspiration to us and also always driven home the urgency for us to also take the action that we can within our union. And I do think that Mike actually brought an amendment that would’ve gone farther and done some more of the things that workers in other unions and other countries are doing. So I don’t know, Mike, if you’d be done and talk a little bit about that. Mike Davis: Yeah, sure. My local actually did not pass this resolution. I wish they had. We passed the ICE resolution, but not this one, but the resolution that I read onto the floor did contain a lot heavier language and I’m hoping that when we go back to the Constitutional Convention in four years that we can try it again. I mean, the language in there about not endorsing politicians who support Israel, that’s a no-brainer to me and I really wish that we could have gotten that in there for sure, but that’s definitely got to be brought back. The clause is in there about being able to strike over genocide. A lot of that was met with talk about legality this and legality that and how we couldn’t do it because it’s not lawful. But as I made a point before, we’re the international UAW. We’re not the United States of America UAW. So when we’re setting policy, we need to be worried about our own moral compass. We don’t need to be worried about the moral compass of this country or that country because at the end of the day, we’re operating in multiple countries. We’re in Canada, we’re in the US and we’re in Puerto Rico. So let’s say we organize people in Bosnia and all of a sudden the Bosnian government decided they were just going to start nuking their neighbor and all of the workers said, “No, we’re not going to support that. ” The UAW as a whole, because we don’t feel that connected to Bosnia, we would say, “Absolutely, you guys strike them and we’re going to send you money.” But when we sit here and we talk about it in our own country, all of a sudden this fear comes in of what’s big daddy, Uncle Sam going to do to us. And I think that that was a real hangup on this convention was that you have people that are in a position of power within our union that really, really want badly to be taken seriously by the people in charge. And this war didn’t start with Trump. The war started under Biden and Sean Fain, I really feel like part of the reason that he didn’t kick back as hard as he should have on this was because he wanted to maintain that relationship with them. Maximillian Alvarez: Mike, could you say just a little bit more about that process of raising these important issues from your local and raising them up to the rest of the union? What does that look like for listeners who maybe don’t have any idea of how that works? Mike Davis: Yeah, sure. So after the locals submit all of the resolutions, and I do believe we submitted hundreds of resolutions in there, the committee who is chosen by the international staff, they go through it and they decide which ones they’re going to be presented to us. And unfortunately at this year’s convention, only five of them that were actually written by local unions were presented to us. The rest of them, if any of them wanted a chance to be heard, they had to be called out of committee and calling stuff of committee is hard. There’s a thousand delegates. We had to get 144 delegates to vote for it to come out. At the very beginning, we tried to have the rules change to lower that threshold, to bring it down from 15% down to 5% and we weren’t able to accomplish that. So then going forward, we had to get that 144 votes and with this one, we almost knew it wasn’t going to happen. Just the feeling in the room, the fact that no language even made it in the book regarding Palestine at all. And that’s actually helped us out because if they had even mentioned it once in there, we wouldn’t have been able to bring our resolution, but because they were just dead silent on it, we were. So thank you for ignoring us, I guess. But yeah, so once we called for it to come out of convention and we actually got to let people hear us, I think that if more of us would’ve gotten to talk, I think that we probably would’ve gotten a little closer to our goal. We only got 69 out of the 144 that we needed to get, but at least people were listening to us. They really did everything they could to make sure that this wasn’t going to be as democratic as we would like it to be. It really had the feeling like it was four years ago when we sat in there and we had the entire administrative caucus working against us like 40 UAWD members. And this time we went back in there and there was even fewer of us, I think there was like 25 of us delegates that were in there, UAWD. And then we had still the same amount of hatred coming to us, but it was from two different groups. We had the old guard with their like 300 or so voting bloc and then we had Sean Fane’s new administrative caucus with what, four or 500 people maybe. So we had two groups of people that were really shitting on us at this one instead of one. That was the big difference. But what really hurt though was when they shut down being able to pull things out of committee. Rule number nine allows us that right to pull things out of committee halfway through the second day is when they all decided the old guard and the new administrative caucus decided to work together to shut down dissent and we got most of our stuff pulled. We did get to debate ours. So I’m not that upset that we didn’t get our stuff out, but there was retiree language in there and I think that really did upset me that we had retirees that had, from their locals, they sent stuff international had taken all of their stuff and just watered it down to almost nothing and put it in there. And then they came up with this rule that the rule is if it’s in there, you can’t debate on it until it’s been brought by the committee voted down by the committee. And then once we voted it down by the committee, then we can bring the other stuff that the locals had presented. But by suspending rule nine before they read the retiree language, they shut down the retiree’s voice altogether and they weren’t able to bring any of their stuff to the floor. But that’s the kind of stuff that we dealt with four years ago. That’s kind of stuff that we dealt with at this one and it really was. It was, like I said, instead of one big group working against us, we had two large groups working against us and the retirees apparently. Margie Thornton: So when Mike says we were able to pull everything that we wanted to pull out, we had three priority amendments that we wanted to make sure that we at least got to speak about on the floor. We had a amendment that spoke about fighting layoffs using work sharing. That’s the first one that we tried to pull out. We did not have enough delegates stand to pull that out of committee, but we did get to read it aloud and a lot of people were interested in the language. So that was kind of the first loss, but we learned from it. And then Mike went and he tried to pull out our broader divestment amendment and we weren’t able to pull that one out. And then we had Shelly from Local 2325 as well, she pulled out our Fighting ICE Amendment, which we were able to pull out as well and we did get to debate that one. And I think it was interesting seeing the reaction to that one because it was probably we thought more controversial, but when people were debating the amendment, there was not a single person that stood up and disagreed with the premise of fighting ICE, or I don’t know if we can cuss on this show, but fuck ICE. Basically, we had people saying, “Fuck Ice, but is this legal?” It went back to the legality and I mean, I made a point of information like, “Who is deciding for this union our policy? Is it the lawyers or the membership?” I was ruled out of order, but people were able to hear that. I don’t know. And then we were finally able to bring out the divestment amendment with the more concise language where we were only divesting and then we were able to pull that one out. So yes, as Michael was saying, it was really a tragedy that democracy was basically democratically voted to be closed down during the convention, but we were able to pull out a lot of things from our class struggle program that we brought to the convention. The ICE Amendment that we brought basically would ask that we not endorse politicians who were supporting ICE. And I believe this was modeled on something that came from Local 2325. So basically it would allow a local to call a membership meeting if there’s ICE activity in the area and then that would allow them to, if the membership decided to go on strike to combat ICE. And Ruz, you can probably speak more to this than I can because it was your local that passed that. Navruz Baum: Sure. In my local, we passed a structure where we can take a vote as a membership if we want to strike against ICE if ICE is attacking our community. We are really inspired by the events in Minneapolis, seeing workers there who were trying to organize for a general strike in their city in response to the ICE attacks there. And we wanted to be ready in New York City if ICE did a similar escalation murdering people in the street wantonly like we saw in Minneapolis if that happened to us. And so we passed a resolution in my local where if there was an ICE escalation, we would immediately have a general membership meeting where we would decide what actions we want to take, for example, striking or joining a general strike movement. And as Margie and Mike said, we tried to bring this to the Constitutional Convention in our broader resolution to fight ICE, which also included endorsement criteria and some other good things. People were really supportive. A lot of people shared really moving stories about personal experiences with ICE, about their coworkers’ personal experience with ICE, their family’s experiences with ICE, which were all uniformly negative. Many, including us, made the argument that in the face of this crisis, we have to be using our labor power and specifically our power to withhold our labor in order to put an end to these attacks to defend ourselves and defend the working class from these attacks from this federal agency. And it was really popular with a large segment of delegates. As Mike mentioned, there’s this really procedural process where you have to get a bunch of delegates. The UAW leadership says the agenda, they excluded all of our amendments from the agenda. We had to organize to pull our amendments out of committee. We got enough delegates to stand up so that our ICE amendment was put onto the floor, which would’ve supported workers in Democratically deciding if they want to strike against ICE, even if that’s illegal as per our contracts or per the US labor law. And so this would’ve been really momentous I think as a first as far as I know in the labor movement on a national scale. And actually more delegates stood for our ICE Amendment than did for our divestment amendment, which just goes to show how popular it was. And we pulled them both out of committee on the second day. The debate on both were on the fourth day. And so what happened between the second day and the fourth day when divestment passed, but ICE failed is there was a lot of organizing against our ICE Amendment. I think specifically people, UAW leadership was very fearful of the legal repercussions, repercussions from the state, from the bosses if we took this sort of militant stance against ICE. And so they had their caucus meeting before the convention and they were organizing delegates hard against their ICE resolution. As Margie said, everyone got up on the mic and said, “Fuck ICE, of course, but there’s nothing we can do about it. ” And so that’s why I think it was so popular on the first day, even more popular event divestment. But then after they heard from their leaders and said, “No, no, no, you need to be responsible. We shouldn’t actually be taking a strong stance here.” Then it was eventually voted down while divestment, I think leadership saw that as a safer stance than illegal strikes against ICE. And so different factions didn’t organize against that. Some factions still did and then we were able to pass it. Andrew Bergman: Just to quickly add on the ICE debate, I mean, for me it was actually, I mean, divestment is an incredible win, but the debate around ICE was actually, I think, the highlight of the convention for me. It was not just speakers from UAWD and some of our allies on the left, but there was a particularly incredible speech from someone who I don’t know personally, but I know where he’s from, he’s not from the sort of old administration caucus, but sort of a cousin movement that has, I think, a very top-down perspective on how union should run. But he gave this incredible speech about how if we’re not ready to take illegal strikes in response to the repression and escalation vice, then when are we? And I think it just spoke to the whole room to know that a guy like that in addition to our forces on the left were making this stance. And you could tell, you could tell from the applause, you could tell from the reaction that people really bought in and then for that to then go to a vote that we estimate it was a voice vote, but probably 25, four, 75 against. I think it’s the kind of thing you’ve heard from everyone else on the call today about these kind of bureaucratic machinations and these meetings and these kind of vote whipping. I think people were sitting in their seat going, “Shit, this is right and I’m not allowed to vote yes for it. ” And I think when you have that experience, I think what we did was we moved the politics and sort of the morality of the convention floor. Most people there, I mean, Mike spoke to this, most people there are local level bureaucrats. They want jobs on staff. Most people that are not rank and file members. It’s not like a meeting or a shop floor discussion with your coworkers. This is people who think that they’re going to go on staff. So they’re being told, “If you don’t do this, then you don’t have that shot.” But when you tell people that and you tell people they can’t vote their conscience, I think it changes It’s their minds. So I actually think that debate was just a few hours before the divestment debate. I don’t think we win the divestment resolution by less than 40 votes. If we don’t have that debate about ICE, that shifts I think the whole sort of compass and political orientation of the convention. So I just want to really give you all a sense of what our strategy was because this actually wasn’t an accident. I mean, we did not predict all of this. We thought we were going to do worse. We didn’t know if we were going to get anything out of committee. So I want to be honest that we didn’t think we were going to win divestment, but we did have a strategy going in and I think everything we’ve been describing, I actually think shows that our strategy made sense, which was that we weren’t going to come with very narrow reforms. That’s something that UAWD tried four years ago and that’s something that another faction that Mike described tried this time, kind of more procedural reforms. We said we were going to come with class struggle politics. And that comes out of a year ago, as many listeners may know, there was a split in UAWD. There was a group that was more aligned with fame that tried to kill UAWD actually, which was a shame because it created a lot of acrimony. Those of us, maybe about 75% of the active members of UAW said, “You know what? That wasn’t legitimate. They didn’t win the vote. They broke all of our own rules. We’re going to keep moving forward.” But what we recognized was that democracy wasn’t enough. Our name is Unite All Workers for Democracy. But we realized after we sort of saw our own elected leaders get pulled in by the old guard, not necessarily because they wanted to, but because they thought that was the only path. We realized that we have to stand for more than democracy. We have to actually stand for class struggle and that a democratic union will be one where we have actual fight for worker control and we’re militant and then we can win democracy as a piece of that. And that can be a whole thing that maybe Max, you’ll ask us about at some point, but I don’t want to go into the weeds of that. I’m saying that because I want to say that when it came time for us to plan our convention strategy, we said, well, what are we going to do? We’re going to fight over the definition of a particular category or how a particular vote is held. We’re not against a more democratic union. We’re very much for it. But we thought that if we went narrow, people wouldn’t understand where we were coming from. So we wanted to show not only that we were class struggle unionists, but that we were also good trade unionists. And so every one of the resolutions that Margie mentioned, fighting layoffs, fighting ICE, and then fighting for Palestinian liberation, they all mention strikes and it’s not an accident. They all talk about how we build capacity. They also don’t say, “Go on strike,” because that’s silly. We know that many of our coworkers are not necessarily ready to strike, but our orientation in UAWD is that our coworkers are also not apathetic. They give a shit. It’s just that you don’t necessarily feel the protection or the sort of capacity or you don’t feel that your union has your back. But my experience on the shop floor when we’re working mandatory overtime or when we’re going to layoffs is lots of people were pissed off and ready to fight. They just didn’t have the organization or language to be ready to do it. And I think that differentiates us from maybe other folks in the UAW, even that we have agreement with like Fayne and his allies who want to build a fighting union, but I think it has to come from the top down because they don’t see the level of possibility within the sort of membership. And we do. We still think we have to build it. We don’t think it’s happening next year. We know it’s not necessarily soon, but we think that if we give people tools and capacity, our rank and file coworkers actually will build it. And so we said, let’s go with real provisions, not just words, not just symbols, but actions that would either create new meetings or give resources. Our bigger resolution that Mike mentioned about Palestine would’ve given weapons manufacturing workers the ability to strike or they would’ve given them protection, financial backing if they took a strike to not send weapons to Israel. That would either be illegal or certainly an unprotected strike. We knew that. We own that. We’re not trying to say, “Oh no, it’s legal. Let’s play a game.” No. We know that the only way that that kind of militant action happens is if people feel ready, they feel backed. They feel that if they’re retaliated against, they’ll have their salary paid until they get a new job. That’s a huge financial commitment, but if we put that finances behind our politics, we think that builds capacity. And so that was the same with the ICE resolution, that it would’ve enabled these meetings that Navruz talked about, which everyone said, “Oh, there’s illegal to have those meetings.” We said no. And the same with our fighting layoffs resolution. You can’t just go on a strike in response to a layoff, but if you want to actually win things like work sharing provisions, that’s where you can come up with these mid-contract strike paradigms over things like health and safety, which are protected, but you have to be strategic about orienting people to take that kind of action. So this was kind of our orientation that class struggle could actually bring not just a vibe or not just like a left flank that everyone would give the finger and vote down, but actually move the conscience even of these bureaucrats in the orientation of building a fighting union. And we actually suspected that we wouldn’t win anything, but we said if we can go in there with our small delegation and even get 50, 75 people to start thinking the same way as us, but then more importantly, not worry about the convention, focus on building at shop floors, because that’s our real orientation that we want to build shop floor movements at locals, then this can be an anchor for that. And I’m curious if what everyone else thinks, but I think that actually, even though we didn’t set out to win divestment, if we had not had that political orientation, the smaller but still very important symbolic divestment wouldn’t have been possible without that more political orientation. Maximillian Alvarez: Well, I could talk to you guys for hours, but I know I don’t have too much longer with you and I want to make use of the time that we’ve got. So before we wrap up, I wanted to just sort of zoom out a bit and talk about within the context of everything that y’all just said and the UAWD sort of vision of class struggle unionism, where is your sense of where the UAW is as a union coming out of this convention and where is UAWD within that? Andrew Bergman: We just wrote this analysis of the FAIN administration and I think for many of us, FAME did represent a move towards class struggle, especially early on in his term and as really one of the more militant figures in the UAW. So it’s not like we see him as our core enemy or something like that, but I think we have some really, really significant critiques and it comes up in many of the things that we’ve heard from the FAIN administration. Actually the good rhetoric, but unfortunately what we see as not really having been invested in and we also don’t think it was some sort of accident. We think that this old guard that everyone else here, I think spoke about at one moment really went ahead and reeled in after FAME was elected. It’s dangerous if you want to sit there in Solidarity House, the UAW headquarters and just kind of kick your feet up and you want to make sure your job continues a militant union is actually kind of risky. That’s when maybe like Mike was saying, the federal government gets involved. There are these risks that come up from that. So what we see is a tendency for these kind of bureaucratic forces to reign in anyone who’s more militant. And we think Fame kind of had an opportunity to decide, am I going to go around them? But then they might go to war with him. And we’ve sort of laid out. They started fighting, they started jabbing, they started taking out his people, undermining his campaigns. So it’s like, are you going to go to war with the bureaucracy or are you going to make peace with them? But going to war, it would have meant that he and the sort of leaders could have invested in a new layer of rank and file leaders. So just to be quick, a couple of those places are some of the things we’ve heard about organizing the South. There’s a sad reality right now. They’ve pulled out of most of the Southern organizing and we have UAWD members who are in Planton, Alabama who’ve seen that. They can’t get their staff person on the phone really anymore, even the folks that they liked. It’s not that the staff were bad, but they’ve been redeployed elsewhere. So what does this tell us? Well, there was this notion that you send some staff down and quickly kind of use momentum organizing to win some drive. There was one win at Volkswwagen, but then there’s another laws at Mercedes. Our view is this is going to take years probably. And I’d be curious what Mike’s think because it’s a similar thing in independent parts. These are hard drives sometimes, especially when they’re in the South, years and years of building up leaders. That takes money, that takes time, that takes creating things like educational programs, going to a night school for months. It’s not like a quick week long training or like a two-hour thing. We’re talking about serious leadership development, but when you invest in that, then your buddies in the bureaucracy probably say, “No, no, no, that money’s not going there. It’s supposed to go to me. ” So these are the kinds of things. The other one I think that people are familiar with is the 2028 general strike, which was supposed to be this big thing. Now they don’t even say the word general strike anymore. But UAWD’s orientation is, well, you’re never going to put a date on a calendar for a general strike anyway. General strikes happen when the working class is pissed and feels like they need to shut things down and that’s their only choice, but you can build capacity for it. So how do you do that? Well, you show up to locals, you deliver toolkits, you tell rank and file members, “Don’t worry about what your local leader says. I’m going to support you if you want to go on a strike to end mandatory overtime or to take action at your workplace.” But again, that’s someone like fame risking his neck. So our orientation is actually right now the UAW bureaucracy is not really our focus. This constitutional convention was actually kind of the most we’ve done. Most of our work has gone into building local chapters like Navruz talked about that are actually fighting on the shop floor over workplace issues, over overtime, even over Palestine. Palestine is a workplace issue. They’ve been censored there at many of the legal services workplaces, but it’s not that we’re uninterested in the bureaucracy. We think it’s important. We just see it as so captured right now that what we need is big sort of established local movements and then our new crop of leaders that can actually transform the UAW into a class struggle union can come from that. Margie Thornton: And I’ll just say, I do think there is a parallel between what happened at the convention and what is maybe happening in the rank and file because at the beginning of the convention, you could tell everybody was looking to the front of the room to see what they should be doing and how they should vote. But by the end of the convention, people were doing what we had been doing the whole time and I was looking at each other and seeing like we were looking at the rank and file and seeing what people were thinking, how people were moving. And I think people stopped by the end of the convention, not everybody, but enough people were, if they were voting in their conscious, they were looking at the rank and file and stopped looking at leadership to basically make their decisions for them. And so hopefully that ripples outward if we can continue organizing with the rank and file. Mike Davis: I feel like it was very telling and showing of what we’re going to be continuing to deal with is what we have been dealing with. Like I said, they had their admin caucus meeting. They decided they were interested in our class struggles and they decided they were going to vote against it. They may not be throwing their members out of the caucus when they vote against them. So their caucus may be a little more democratic than the original administrative caucus, but they’re still clicked up and they’re still battling to keep power. You’ve got the old guard fighting the new guard, the elections and the slates they’ve chosen show that. Sean Fane’s got the most interesting slate I’ve ever seen when you’re the reformist, you’re the militant one, but you’re running on a ticket with Brandon Campbell, Laura Dickerson and Dave Green doesn’t make much sense to me. So I think UAWD right now, we’re in a really good place. I think that we are. We only have 25 delegates there this time, but if we can move it up to a hundred next time and eventually one day maybe we’ll get on the same level as the old guard and the new administrative caucus. As far as the way that the UAW is going to go going forward, I think it’s going to be a lot of the same old. I think Sean Fane really wants to impress the establishment. He really wants to be a part of the neoliberal front. I don’t think that he really is as militant as what he says he is. If he was, then we would’ve had general strike language, actual general strike language put in there. When he’s talking about taking out the big three on May day of 28, I don’t think he’s really realizing how devastating that’s going to be for little guys like me and my plant. My contract’s up in June of 28 and I supply all these big three shops. So when they go out a month before my contracts up, what kind of bargaining power does that leave me with? But we’re kind of used to that. In the IPS world, we do. We feel like the bastard children of the UAW sometimes. There’s 100,000 of us. We’re one of the biggest blocks of people in it, but we are the most underrepresented group that there is. And right now with 100,000 of us and in the United States, there’s 900,000 unorganized IPS workers and you don’t see any movement on that front at all. I think that’s a lot of the disappointment that I’ve had in my region is that we had a reformist candidate, Dave Green, who came on, ran as an independent and he boasted about how he had a master’s in organizing. So you’d think region 2B would just be booming right now with organizing and we’re really not. My local, we’ve had a couple of organizing drives ourselves and we’ve reached out and gotten some help from the region but not a lot and the drives fall apart so quickly. As soon as the employee gets found out that he’s organizing, they get fired, whether it’s for the organizing or something else they found. We’re in Ohio, it’s an at-will state. You just got to sneeze funny and they can shitcan you. So we really do. Fostoria, Ohio is where I’m from. At one point we had over 5,000 UAW jobs, not just union jobs, but UAW jobs. We were booming economy in the 80s and then all that went away and today Fostoria has zero UAW jobs. We’ve got some steel workers and we got some farm workers, but as far as the UAW, we only have retiree shops. So all of those facilities though didn’t go away. They’re all sitting here. They’ve been bought by other employers. They’re creating parts in them and for some reason we’re not going after them. And they talk good game about building union density, but when you’ve got small communities like this that are right for the picking, they don’t go anywhere near them. So I’d really like to see that change. We, my local voted against the expansion of the strike fund because we even know we’re never going to see it. We’re not going to get strike pay. We’re going to be laid off. And so to go back to my membership and tell them, “Yeah, guys, I voted to up the big three strike pay,” they would be livid with me. So I didn’t do that. But I really do hope that now that they do have this powerful war chest that they go after some of these IPS places that are some of the worst offenders when it comes to the employers. They hire people, they pay them the worst wages, they give them no benefits, there’s zero safety in their facilities. And then when they get hurt, they get called on the cell phone on the way to the hospital in shit can’t. So those are the places we really need to be going after. These large tribes at Volkswagen and all that, they’re necessary, yes, but they cost millions and millions of dollars and a lot of times they’re not successful, but we really need to come up with a game plan to target the small shops and help guys out in IPS because they try to say they can’t at the UAW’s IPS conference last year, theme was you can’t rule without us. But I’m sorry, when you’ve got 900,000 unorganized IPS workers in the sector, they absolutely can roll without us. They don’t need us for anything and we get treated like that. That’s why we’re the lowest paid. That’s why we’re lowest benefits. That’s why we don’t get pensions because they can push us around. And if they decide that we’ve gotten too much in one facility or another, they just shut it down and move the jobs one city over. Andrew Bergman: What Mike is saying, I think summarizes our view that FAME I think is sort of the progressive face of the administration caucus, the old administration caucus. It’s not that it hasn’t pushed for more militancy, it’s not that his rhetoric hasn’t been better. There has been more organizing, but it’s been the same approach just kind of like with a bit more of a fighting spirit as opposed to this kind of long-term investment in the rank and file, this willingness to invest in the rank and file and maybe lose your reelection, by the way, because the old bureaucrats fight you so bad. But how are you going to get thousands of IPS workers or workers in the South ready to build long, hard campaigns? It’s probably not just through the same union car drives that have failed for decades. It’s probably not just by adding some more money. You’re probably going to have to commit to training. You’re probably going to have to give them more of the reigns of those campaigns and they’re probably going to have to be not just permitted, but actually encouraged to engage in more militant action while they’re fighting. That isn’t just like sign a union card drive. Actually, a lot of folks that are UAWD members are hearing want to fight against mandatory overtime in the South or in IPS and that’s their gateway into winning a union. I’m going to see Navruz, because I know you’ve been working with a lot of these folks at our organizing committee if you wanted to comment more on any of Navruz Baum: That. Yeah. We’re here tonight talking a lot about the constitutional convention, but the vast majority of UAW members weren’t even there at the convention. And so what we actually spend most of our time in UAWD doing is organizing in our locals and organizing on the shop floor. And we’ve been organizing chapters in locals across the country, in Detroit, on the West Coast, on the East Coast, in the South of workers who want to fight on the shop floor, fight their bosses in their shops and fight the ruling class on these larger issues to impact the entire working class. And there’s a lot of reasons that we’ve talked about why some people or a lot of people in UHW leadership, maybe they want to fight, but they don’t want to fight too hard. They don’t want to fight to the extent that it starts bringing in some nastier consequences, maybe some … I mean, if we do illegal strikes, the federal government will try to put top union members in jail. They will try to find the union, they will try to bankrupt the union. And so there’s real risks. And there’s a lot of people that myself included that think that we need to be taking these more militant tactics, that we’re facing a lot of emergencies. We’re facing an emergency in terms of thousands of UAW members being laid off and that destroying people’s livelihoods and communities. We’re facing emergencies in terms of the working class workers being deported, we’re facing the emergency of a genocide in Palestine. And these emergencies require us taking bigger risks and using more militant tactics like shutting down production or shop floor, but we’re not able to organize for that somewhere like the In Solidarity House in the top UAW leadership. And we’re able to take our argument to the Constitutional Convention and get a lot of sympathetic allies there, but not a majority because at the end of the day, the constitutional convention is also very much under the control of UAW leadership and the UAW bureaucracy and they use their tactics. They deploy their tactics to organize the more militant aspects of our program. So that’s why we’re very focused on organizing these local chapters on shop floor across the country and have been seeing a lot of success where workers are interested in banning together and my local banning together at other people’s locals to take a more fighting class circle stance. Maximillian Alvarez: Well, and let’s finish on that point because I know that this question can lead to another hour of podcasting, which I won’t ask y’all to do, but this is obviously the biggest question in labor and about labor right now in the year 2026 with fascism rising, climate change spiraling out of control, war and genocide funded largely by our tax dollars and supported by our military is spiraling out of control across the world. We have our first goddamn trillionaire in history now. The rich are getting richer, poor and working people are getting squashed. The cost of everything is going up. There are data centers plopping into our damn neighborhoods. We’re all getting poisoned by all this industrial runoff and yada, yada, yada. Shit is bad. To quote Malcolm Harris, “Shit is fucked up in bullshit.” And so amidst all of this, people have been asking, are unions going to be able to rise up as this working class force to help save society from apocalypse? And it’s a naive question, but I think it comes from a hopeful place and you guys are, we’ve been talking for the last hour about the nitty-gritty debates that happen within a union as large as the UAW when you’re talking about this. And so I guess I wanted to just end on the blunt question and any thoughts y’all wanted to share and leave listeners with. Can labor unions be more than just labor unions and should they be? I don’t Navruz Baum: Know if they can be, but they have to be. We have a lot of interests. We have a lot of needs as workers and certainly higher wages is one of them. More vacation days is good for me, but so is not being deported by ICE. So is not having my money funded genocide on the other side of the world. And the bosses have a lot of organizations. They have the Chamber of Commerce, they have their trade associations, they have the Republican and Democratic Parties and there’s not a lot of organizations in our column, in the column of the working class. And unions I think are some of the organizations that have the best shot of actually being vehicles for the working class, for us to fight for our class and our interests. There’s some headwinds. There’s a lot of labor law and other incentives for labor leaders that are designed to turn our unions against us to contain us instead of being vehicles for our fights. There’s also things that are special about unions. There are some of the most democratic organizations in our society. There’s some of the only organizations where I can actually get together with my coworkers and directly decide and debate and vote on how we want to use our dues dollars that we are funding the organization ourselves. It’s not funded by some billionaire foundations. And because of that, I think that we have to fight for our unions to actually represent us, to actually represent the interests of the working class. Andrew Bergman: Yeah. I would say, I mean, as Navruz put it very eloquently, my summary of the answer to your question is yes, unequivocally we need to be more than just focus on some narrow notion of workplaces. And for UAWD, we talked a little bit about the split. Our orientation since then was class struggle unionism for a reason. We actually don’t even think we’re going to be the best labor unions. We don’t even think we’re going to be successful labor unions unless we become class struggle unions. Because as all these crises you’re talking about occur, and as Navru said, nobody just cares narrowly about what … It’s like, “Oh, I got paid more, but I don’t have a house because it got destroyed in the flood.” Okay, nobody thinks this way. We don’t categorize our lives up into little buckets and then say, “Well, it’s great that my union did this over here, but I literally don’t have a place to live.” So we understand that fighting for the working class and as a class means that our institutions need to understand that the class struggle is the path as well. And so our orientation when we adopted this idea of class drug unions and we have five principles, militancy, democracy, independence, working class solidarity and worker control. And the last one sounds, for some folks on the left, they’re like, “Oh, you can’t talk about worker control. That’s scary. That sounds ideological, but it’s totally not my experience.” When we were in mandatory overtime, folks were piss that we didn’t have control over the clock when we were … They could move the leave time on the board. You could be there and it could say we were going to be there for a nine and then it would get raised to a 10 or a 12. We didn’t have any control over that. That is enraging in the same way that it’s enraging, that you don’t have control over where your dues go. You also don’t have control over if you can have a data center down the street, that you don’t have control over how to clean your water or how you get electric. I don’t think that it makes any sense to think of these things as separate. So we use worker control, sure, as a little bit of a lightning rod, but also because I think it actually speaks to most people. And in my experiences, it speaks to my coworkers, not just coworkers on the left who are revolutionary socialists like me, like coworkers who just are pissed off but want to fight. And so yeah, I think if we … Our sort of motto is it’s us versus them. And if our unions don’t start operating that way, I actually think, and this will be sad, but I think it’s happened throughout history that workers and members in the world class will actually toss unions to the side and build new institutions that can accomplish this task because people will need to. But I think our hope in UAWD is that instead of that, we transform the UAW so it can be the fighting working class institution that it’s capable of being. And then we won’t have to do this sort of awful rejiggering and refiguring out. We’ll actually just have our union be our fighting force and it’ll be us, not just staff or not just folks sitting at headquarters. Mike Davis: Yeah. And I want to agree with Andrew’s point here that a lot of people in our union, they forgot why we have the union. And a lot of people in this country have forgot why we have a union, where it all started and what kind of stuff we were doing before we had a union. When we had a disagreement with the boss, we’d show up at their house and kick the shit out of the guy. And if he had a problem with us taking over his facility, he would send our men in to shoot us and to get us off of his property. So we came up with this whole deal to do it, but the corporations are just taking advantage of it. They bought off our politicians, they bought off our Supreme Court. They’re doing everything they can to fuck with the unions and to keep them as powerless as possible. And meanwhile, our unions in this country are giving us the whole, “Oh, there’s nothing we can do about it. It’s illegal.” Everything they’re doing is illegal back to Palestine, the Lehi Act, they’re not allowed to be selling these arms there. The president may have the discretion to look over and see if they’re doing this wrong or doing that wrong, but Congress could have called them out on it. And the only reason our Congress and our Senate hasn’t called them out on it is because they’re taking money from Israel too. They’re either blackmailed by them, they’re bride by them, or they’re terrified that they’re going to put millions of dollars up against them in a race. So we really need fighting institutions. We need our unions to wake the hell up because as Andrew said, if we get to a point where the unions have to go away and something else has to be created to fight for us, it’s going to go back to what it was before. It’s not going to be even more parliamentary procedure. This really is like our John Brown moment. The union needs to be John Brown to prevent the Civil War from happening, but as long as they just keep on going down the road that it should, everything’s going to keep blowing up and it is. It’s going to end up a catastrophe. Corporate America has absolutely just run them up and they’re completely out of control. And until we get a hook on them, until they’re A, either not people that can donate unlimited amounts of money to our politicians or B, at least put a cap on it so we can keep it down to a couple grand per corporation. If you’re a corporation, great, you get to donate, but we all get to donate the same and it’s got to be something that I can afford, that you can afford that not just them, not just Elon Musk and all of his friends. For Elon Musk To be able to put $250 million into an election, that’s criminal. That’s criminal right there. He’s paying off these politicians so he can get all these subsidies back and he is. He’s not paying any taxes. We’re paying him to sit here and rip us off and that’s their whole game that they’re playing. It’s the entire establishments game. I want to go more into this, but I want to talk about oil. Oil. We pay for oil to leave our country. We say, oh, we’re making money off of taxes from the oil leaving. Let’s say we make 20 billion off taxes, but then we give them a $50 billion subsidy. So we just paid them 30 billion to take our oil off of our laps, but it’s still okay because the government’s making money off of it in the form of the taxes at the pump. So we’re paying somebody to take our oil from us and then we’ve got to pay for it to come back in the form of gasoline, but it’s all okay because the government makes a couple dollars off of it. Those kind of resources should belong to us. They shouldn’t just belong to whatever billionaire corporation comes along, grabs them and does what they want. But sorry, I know it’s way off topic. I just had to say it. Andrew Bergman: Hey, worker control goes way beyond the simple little things that happen on the shop floor. Worker control means something global and international. It’s a good example. Margie Thornton: I think the divestment vote kind of encapsulates the labor movement right now because our leadership is afraid. Our leadership is comfortable with the status quo. And I watched grown men stand up next to other men trying to pull them down to sit back down during the divestment vote. So there’s a lot of fight in the rank and file. Our leadership, maybe not, but the rank and file, the membership, they’re ready to fight. So I think there is hope. I think the unions can be what they’re supposed to be for the working class. Maximillian Alvarez: All right, gang, that’s going to wrap things up for us today. I want to thank our guests, Andrew Bergman, a worker at General Motors in Detroit, a member of UAW Local 22 and a co-chair of UAWD, Navruz Baum, a paralegal in New York, a member of UAW Local 2325 and a member of the UAWD Steering Committee, Margie Thornton, an attorney in Colorado, a member of UAW Local 2320, and a member of the UAWD Steering Committee and Mike Davis, an auto parts worker in Ohio, a member of UAW Local 2021, and a member of UAWD. And of course, I want to thank you all for listening and I want to thank you for caring. We’ll see y’all back here next time for another episode of Working People. And in the meantime, please go explore all the great work that we’re doing at the Real News Network, where we do grassroots reporting that lifts up the voices and stories from the front lines of struggle. Check us out across our YouTube channel, our podcast feeds, our website, and our different social media pages and help us do more work like this by going to the realnews.com/donate and becoming a supporter today. I promise you guys, it really makes a difference. I’m Maximillian Alvarez. Take care of yourselves and take care of each other. Solidarity forever. This content originally appeared on The Real News Network and was authored by Maximillian Alvarez.
Venezuela quake: finding people still alive remains top priority: UN human rights chief urges accountability in ICE deaths in custodyDR Congo: Ebola is spreading and so is a massive hunger crisis, warns WFP
Venezuela quake: finding people still alive remains top priority: UN human rights chief urges accountability in ICE deaths in custodyDR Congo: Ebola is spreading and so is a massive hunger crisis, warns WFP This content originally appeared on UN News - Global perspective Human stories and was authored by Daniel Johnson.
Trump’s asylum policy & echoes of Holocaust history
The high price journalists paid for LGBTQ+ reporting, and how to protect yourself now
As LGBTQ+ communities celebrate Pride this June, many journalists continue to face an ugly reality: simply reporting on this community can open them up to prosecution, physical attacks, threats, arrest, exile, and even death. Avijit Roy, a Bangladeshi-born American who blogged about LGBTQ+ rights and free expression, was stabbed to death alongside his wife after...
As LGBTQ+ communities celebrate Pride this June, many journalists continue to face an ugly reality: simply reporting on this community can open them up to prosecution, physical attacks, threats, arrest, exile, and even death. Avijit Roy, a Bangladeshi-born American who blogged about LGBTQ+ rights and free expression, was stabbed to death alongside his wife after receiving death threats related to his reporting in February 2015. About a year later, Xulhaz Mannan, who founded the first and only LGBTQ+ magazine in Bangladesh, was stabbed to death in his home. Camera operator Aleksandre “Lekso” Lashkarava underwent surgery after defending a colleague from a group of about 20 anti-LGBTQ+ protesters in Georgia in 2021 who, according to that colleague, repeatedly kicked him in the head and left him in a pool of blood. Lashkarava was found dead at his home six days later. <img decoding="async" height="160" width="300" src="https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/georgia_07-12-2021.png?w=300" alt="" class="wp-image-116848" srcset="https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/georgia_07-12-2021.png 833w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/georgia_07-12-2021.png?resize=300,160 300w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/georgia_07-12-2021.png?resize=768,408 768w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/georgia_07-12-2021.png?resize=570,303 570w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/georgia_07-12-2021.png?resize=652,347 652w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/georgia_07-12-2021.png?resize=760,404 760w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/georgia_07-12-2021.png?resize=367,195 367w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /> Georgian camera operator Aleksandre Lashkarava (right) died after he was beaten by anti-LGBTQ+ demonstrators at a protest. (Photo: Formula News/YouTube) Although the official concluded the cause of death was heroin intoxication, family members said they lacked trust in the autopsy findings because international experts were not allowed to participate. Lashkarava’s family, colleagues, and many members of the media accused the government of attempting to shift responsibility for its failure to ensure journalists’ safety, or even cover up its complicity in stoking or condoning violence against the LGBTQ+ community and the press. These are three among more than 70 journalists CPJ has documented who were attacked for reporting on LGBTQ+ issues over a period of two decades. “Being a queer journalist and reporting on LGBTQ communities has very different degrees of danger depending on where you are and what you’re doing,” said Kae Petrin, president of the Trans Journalist Association, a mostly U.S.-based organization that has membership in Canada, South America, and Asia. See below: Tips on protecting yourself while on assignment “In some of the education work I’ve done, [I’ve spoken to reporters who] may or may not be LGBTQ+, but are publishing in countries where there are already so many press freedom issues, and then there’s new anti-LGBTQ legislation,” Petrin told CPJ. “Many of those reporters can’t even figure out how to publish stories about what’s going on in their country safely, regardless of their identities.” Around the world, some governments are using every tool in their arsenal to suppress reporting on LGBTQ+ news, including vague, widely applied legislation. In June 2013 in Russia, President Vladimir Putin passed legislation that legitimizes discrimination against LGBTQ+ persons and subsequently discourages news coverage. Several countries have passed similar laws, including Uganda in 2023 and Georgia in 2024; Turkey proposed its version of the law in 2025. At the state and federal level, the United States legislators passed dozens of anti-LGBTQ+ laws in 2026 and proposed hundreds more. Konstantin Iablotckii, a Russian LGBTQ+ rights defender who died in 2024, told CPJ in 2013 that laws like these mean that violence against the LGBTQ+ community is not being reported on because of fear that their journalism would be conflated with producing “gay propaganda.” The message journalists receive is clear: report on this community, and you could become a target. <img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" height="200" width="300" src="https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/000_34YB3QD.jpg?w=300" alt="" class="wp-image-598219" srcset="https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/000_34YB3QD.jpg 5424w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/000_34YB3QD.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/000_34YB3QD.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/000_34YB3QD.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/000_34YB3QD.jpg?resize=1536,1024 1536w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/000_34YB3QD.jpg?resize=2048,1365 2048w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/000_34YB3QD.jpg?resize=570,380 570w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/000_34YB3QD.jpg?resize=652,435 652w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/000_34YB3QD.jpg?resize=760,507 760w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/000_34YB3QD.jpg?resize=1140,760 1140w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/000_34YB3QD.jpg?resize=2000,1333 2000w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/000_34YB3QD.jpg?resize=367,245 367w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /> US Ambassador to Hungary David Pressman speaks to journalists as he takes part in the Budapest Pride Parade in Hungary on June 22, 2024. (Photo: AFP/Ferenc Isza) These moves serve not only to punish journalists and outlets, but the issues they were trying to document. When journalists cannot safely report on LGBTQ+ people, those voices are lost to the public record. Crimes committed against them go undocumented. Their humanity remains unobserved. “Reporters are often the first step in actually verifying information…and the people who are paying the most attention to what’s happening to queer communities in terms of hostile legislation and populist governments funding transnational anti-LGBTQ policy work,” Petrin told CPJ. “The harder it becomes to access an audience, to access government buildings, to access public space, the harder it becomes for the reporters who are often most invested in telling these stories to chase them down and to be able to do quality and novel reporting.” Although CPJ does not carry specific data on the experiences of journalists who identify as LGBTQ+, a look through our archives illustrates, from 2003-2025, the price of bearing witness for this community. These incidents began more than 30 years after the first Pride marches took place: At least 8 journalists charged for reporting on LGBTQ++ Russian authorities fined LGBTQ+ activist and journalist with Parni+ Vadim Vaganov 100,000 rubles (US$1,242) on charges of spreading “LGBT propaganda” in social media posts in August 2025. Vaganov, became the first personidentified by the Russian Justice Ministry as a member of the “international LGBT movement” in April 2025, since the Supreme Court designated the non-existent movement as “extremist” in November 2023. Russian authorities fined Vladislav Voronin, editor-in-chief of Sports.ru, 200,000 rubles (US$2,487) in April 2025 on charges of “LGBT propaganda” over an article about British LGBTQ+ oriented football club Stonewall FC. Russian authorities fined Samvel Avakyan, editor-in-chief of Sport24 200,000 rubles (US$2,487) in July 2025 on charges of “LGBT propaganda.” Slovakian state prosecutors filed defamation and slander charges against Michal Havran, related to a column he wrote criticizing a catholic priest’s anti-LGBTQ+ statements. In September 2020, the charges were dropped. Despite no formal laws against homosexuality, Egypt sentenced journalist Mohamed al-Gheiti to a year in prison and a fine of 3,000 pounds (US$168) for promoting homosexuality and inciting debauchery in January 2019. The charges were in connection with Al-Gheiti’s interview with a gay man about his relationships and a fellow journalist who posed as a gay man on the dating app Grindr to learn more about the community. A Singapore court fined blogger Alex Au Waipang $8,000 (US$5,850) on contempt of court charges in March 2015 in connection with an article he wrote suggesting that a chief justice had manipulated court dates on a constitutional challenge to a law criminalizing sex between men. Singapore decriminalized gay sex in 2022. Iranian journalist Siamak Ghaderi was sentenced to four years in prison for multiple charges, including “spreading falsehoods,” in January 2011, after he responded to the former President’s claim that there were no homosexuals in Iran by publishing several interviews with gay Iranians. He was also given 60 lashes for “cooperating with homosexuals.” CPJ honored him as an International Press Freedom awardee after his release in 2014. Uzbek authorities convicted and imprisoned journalist Ruslan Sharipov after his arrest in May 2003 on several charges, including sodomy. Sharipov, who is openly gay, denied the charges, saying that authorities had tortured him to get a confession. Sharipov moved to the U.S. after gaining political refugee status in 2004. At least 57 journalists attacked and insulted+ Several dozen people, some of whom wore masks, used bottles and sticks to beat four journalists after they reported on a meeting of local LGBTQ+ activists in March 2023 in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The journalists told CPJ at the time that police were at the scene but did not intervene. A group of more than 1,000 people demonstrating against an LGBT Pride rally attacked at least 53 journalists covering the event in Georgia in 2021. Two reporters told CPJ that they saw demonstrators targeting anyone who had a camera, was wearing a press vest, or was otherwise identified as a member of the media. Another reporter told CPJ that he ran to a group of 10 police officers who saw the attack and asked them to intervene, but he was ignored; another officer used an anti-gay slur and added that the journalists should expect to be attacked for reporting on the Pride rally. Journalists and outlets threatened+ The Press Service of Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Interior accused journalist Agnieszka Pikulicka of spreading “negative and unobjective information” about Uzbekistan and violating the country’s media laws after she interviewed an LGBTQ+ activist who was hospitalized after being beaten in April 2021. An advisor to the Chechen President and Muslim preachers accused Novaya Gazeta of defamation and threatened retaliation after the outlet published investigative articles that 100+ men whom authorities suspected of homosexual acts were rounded up and tortured in secret prisons in the North Caucasus republic in 2017. At least three men were killed, according to Novaya Gazeta. Journalist Elena Milashina had to leave Russia for several months, and the outlet received an envelope containing an unidentified white powder. Carlos Serrano, director of Radio Diversia, left Colombia in May 2009 after receiving death threats against him and other reporters from the radio station. Radio Diversia is a radio station dedicated to advocating for LBGTQ+ rights. The threat came from a group that identified itself as “La Organizacion,” which has been linked to threats to groups working with HIV/AIDS, the LGBTQ+ community, and sex workers. Multiple journalists blocked from reporting+ Russian Security Service officers detained three journalists who had traveled to the northwestern city of Svetogorsk after the mayor claimed there were no LGBTQ+ people and it was a “city without sin” in March 2017. Those detained and prevented from reporting in the city were: Igor Zalyubovin, a reporter with Moscow-based independent magazine Snob; Vladimir Yarotsky, a Snob photographer; and Yevgeniya Zobnina, a correspondent for Moscow-based independent Dozhd TV. The U.S. Park Police prevented several journalists from reporting on LGBTQ+ rights activists who handcuffed themselves to the White House gate in April 2010. Outlet website blocked after reporting+ The Jordanian government blocked access to My.Kali, an “LGBTQIA-inclusive” outlet, in July 2016, following an interview by the outlet’s founder entitled “How do homosexuals live in Jordan?” Fired for airing pro-LGBTQ+ stance+ Çağlar Cilara, host of “Those on the Agenda,” was fired and her show was canceled after a leftist politician made comments in support of LGBT rights during a March 2019 broadcast in Turkey. The outlet, TV5, said pro-government media was using the interview as part of a campaign against the channel. Journalist suspended for airing LGBTQ+ debate+ Ugandan authorities issued a one-week suspension to Gaetano Kaggwa, a popular radio presenter for Capital FM, for airing a debate on homosexuality in September 2007. More on the challenges of reporting on LGBTQ+ issues and being an LGBTQ+ journalist Previous slide <path d="M38 24L10 24M10 24L24 38M10 24L24 10" stroke="#1E1E1E" stroke-width="4" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round"/> Features & Analysis <img decoding="async" width="367" height="244" src="https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/a9ae1a8d-725f-4b60-8645-b99875046861.jpeg?w=367" class="attachment-cpj-three-up size-cpj-three-up wp-post-image" alt="Iranian journalist Maryam Abasian, pictured in Istanbul, Turkey in 2021, told CPJ that they were summoned for questioning by Iranian authorities over their sexuality and reporting, prompting them to flee the country last year. (Photo: Ozkan Uner)" /> Asal Abasian on the danger of being a queer journalist in Iran Attacks on the Press LGBTQ+ reporting in Africa Features & Analysis Covering LGBTQ+ risks threats, retaliation for journalists Next slide <path d="M38 24L10 24M10 24L24 38M10 24L24 10" stroke="#1E1E1E" stroke-width="4" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round"/> Tips on protecting yourself while on assignment To stay safe while reporting, there are steps journalists can take to manage identity-based risk and ensure they feel empowered in their reporting. It’s crucial that journalists feel safe and secure while on assignment so they can deliver the news, analysis, and information the public needs to know to make informed decisions about their daily lives. Risk assessment and identity-based risk:+ All journalists should conduct a risk assessment ahead of any assignment they are concerned about, even if they are reporting from a familiar place. A risk assessment, which can be a brief conversation with your editor, colleague, or other trusted person about potential risks and mitigation tactics, is a great way to evaluate how your identity could be both a risk point and an asset. Are you going to an event or covering a story that might bring additional scrutiny because of how you’re perceived or who you are? How visible are you? How does your identity interact with your story, or connect you to your sources? What does a check-in procedure look like, and what type of support is available from your newsroom or editor? It is important for editors to give journalists space to bring up safety concerns and debrief after an assignment. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" height="683" width="1024" src="https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/000_32DA9PW.jpg?w=1024" alt="" class="wp-image-598168" srcset="https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/000_32DA9PW.jpg 8256w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/000_32DA9PW.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/000_32DA9PW.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/000_32DA9PW.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/000_32DA9PW.jpg?resize=1536,1024 1536w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/000_32DA9PW.jpg?resize=2048,1365 2048w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/000_32DA9PW.jpg?resize=570,380 570w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/000_32DA9PW.jpg?resize=652,435 652w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/000_32DA9PW.jpg?resize=760,507 760w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/000_32DA9PW.jpg?resize=1140,760 1140w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/000_32DA9PW.jpg?resize=2000,1333 2000w, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/000_32DA9PW.jpg?resize=367,245 367w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /> Journalists are seen on the ground as riot police clash with participants of an unauthorized Pride march in Istanbul, on June 26, 2022. (Photo: AFP/Bulent Kilic) Location and legal considerations:+ Review any laws and legislation related to LGBTQ+ rights in the country or city you’re reporting in, whether you’re in your country of residence or traveling for an assignment. New or changing laws around issues such as bathroom access and ID restrictions can hinder journalists’ ability to report freely and safely, particularly when traveling or moving through border controls and checkpoints. Discuss these laws with your editor or newsroom, and make plans to mitigate any pending legislation that may impact your ability to report safely. Digital security:+ Be hyper-aware of what information about you is online, and know that this information can be used to harm journalists. Take steps to protect yourself by removing this information from the internet. When it comes to digital safety, prevention is key. Review CPJ’s guidance on how you can respond to any online attacks, and who you can contact for help. Situational awareness:+ Always consider the type of event you’re reporting on, and whether there’s any risk of escalation. Journalists should consult CPJ’s guide on how to assess and implement situational awareness while reporting to keep themselves and their colleagues safe. Ideally, journalists who are concerned about their safety will report with a colleague. If that’s not possible, review CPJ’s guidance on solo reporting best practices. Seek support:+ When in doubt, speak with your newsroom, editor, or colleagues about the best approach to keeping you safe while reporting. That may mean temporarily changing beats, pivoting to a less public-facing role, or reporting under an alternative name. You are important, your work matters, and you are more important than any story. Thank you to Kae Petrin, president of the Trans Journalists Association, for their insight into the safety of trans journalists and identity-based risk. Journalists who would like to speak with CPJ for more information and guidance on how to protect their safety should email emergencies@cpj.org. CPJ’s safety chatbot provides journalists with immediate access to physical, digital, legal, and psychosocial safety information. Text CPJ’s safety chatbot on WhatsApp by messaging “hello” to +1-206-590-6191 and selecting from a menu of safety topics This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.
Thylacine | Live at @arteconcert ‪Festival 2022 (Paris)
This content originally appeared on Blogothèque and was authored by Blogothèque.
CACHUPA PSICADÉLICA (Mindelo, Ilha de São Vicente, Cabo Verde)
Alaska Governor Vetoes Plastic Foam Foodware Ban
Yesterday, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy vetoed House Bill 25, led by Rep. Andy Josephson, that would have prohibited single-use polystyrene foodware in restaurants and across Alaska’s government. The bill, which passed the State Senate and House with...
Yesterday, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy vetoed <a href="https://link.mediaoutreach.meltwater.com/ls/click?upn=u001.-2BIOCSEqOIi7e88afJsDw5r0k2JrNAUuRMjw5M8whivYsVdEGU8pImHuC21TpmtEO4Av32PAnPcdiKWsBFlaUrg-3D-3DJ5t-_s0lTyPdoyuzn-2FJTE9fjR8nSlryGpLl-2B7mxK4it06DfIN-2FfMDgHUrTLsHq1xjCi7D6OhOfqYNIp06HXjwZCEtJ7zM-2FN2fXV7YZ9DGLx4mzMVRehUiTOtwXhomMj-2F2GYtz2XztNOtRz1zn6rSiO7y4-2Be2y4s40ZfkHuSEuiDRm2R3rtwbNWmIMXJKzpaNcUJJchoeFKgU2cK9My8GBxh1DJsXoBTx4enbTjayZy2zv3rM3csCabe9Nc3h9xiKIkJm-2F43KY3Xmu2DdJmCfDEDGOc-2FODGZJlwXx1pyVrbbsxJ3OcY2ezCBvuApa4u6bCDhLGa-2BfFFY-2B7bWYjrobx-2B3o-2BUyWO3JN5RjxIt7fLn9KSDF0qxqcofa8xORjuICHgY4xF" rel="noopener noreferrer" >House Bill 25, led by Rep. Andy Josephson, that would have prohibited single-use polystyrene foodware in restaurants and across Alaska’s government. The bill, which passed the State Senate and House with bipartisan support this spring, would have aligned Alaska with growing action across the country, including similar policies in Washington and Oregon. “The governor’s veto is a setback for Alaska and our oceans,” said Christy Leavitt, Senior Campaign Director at Oceana. “Alaska is on the frontlines of the global plastics crisis, and leaders like Rep. Josephson in the state legislature stepped up with a meaningful solution. This veto undermines bipartisan action to reduce single-use plastic pollution at the source, and will only put Alaska’s communities, wildlife, and waters in further jeopardy. We applaud the efforts of the state legislature and look forward to working with lawmakers to pass this important bill in the future to phase out plastic foam foodware.” Plastic pollution is affecting Alaska’s ecosystems. Microplastics have been found in Southeast Alaskan glaciers, ocean waters, and Arctic sea ice. Polystyrene foam — one of the earliest plastics identified in the ocean — continues to contribute to the global plastics crisis. Ocean wildlife, including marine mammals, fish, and seabirds, often mistake foam for food, which can lead to malnutrition, starvation, and exposure to toxic chemicals. Plastic foam also poses risks to human health. Styrene, the primary component of polystyrene foam, is considered a probable carcinogen and can leach harmful chemicals into food and beverages. Background Plastic has been found in every corner of the world, and it’s one of the greatest threats facing our oceans today. An <a href="https://link.mediaoutreach.meltwater.com/ls/click?upn=u001.-2BIOCSEqOIi7e88afJsDw5gCFsMPGZ-2BnNX9kks-2Bj7Vb-2F-2Bloc0T0Je-2Beg2iLtnagvclYdVCHVn-2BVlOuOWGUIUZu6LuXO5sWVjRgcCL-2BntAOGY-3DH_0D_s0lTyPdoyuzn-2FJTE9fjR8nSlryGpLl-2B7mxK4it06DfIN-2FfMDgHUrTLsHq1xjCi7D6OhOfqYNIp06HXjwZCEtJ7zM-2FN2fXV7YZ9DGLx4mzMVRehUiTOtwXhomMj-2F2GYtz2XztNOtRz1zn6rSiO7y4-2Be2y4s40ZfkHuSEuiDRm2R3rtwbNWmIMXJKzpaNcUJJchoeFKgU2cK9My8GBxh1DJsXoBTx4enbTjayZy2zv3rM3hf-2BSBQsrBKvawyNjZDChSF5af364BGM3Oqsf4onepuf-2FA5sZi5ekppeNCuTDfHUcsw-2FDFsG69s5LopS8se1Jlf4hruMSRMiuiDUdMc5e9C1vezZEgolA8beJ-2FDsboBcfWZHgNVaDzT99dEwxEGCh" rel="noopener noreferrer" >estimated 33 billion pounds of plastic enter the ocean every year — the equivalent of two garbage trucks full of plastic being dumped into the sea every minute. Plastic is in the air we breathe, the water we drink, and in our bodies. Plastic poses environmental and public health threats at every stage from extraction and production to use and disposal. It’s also one of the greatest contributors to climate change. In fact, if plastic were a country, it would be the fourth-largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world. One of the most problematic types of plastic is plastic foam. Oceana’s 2025 report “<a href="https://link.mediaoutreach.meltwater.com/ls/click?upn=u001.-2BIOCSEqOIi7e88afJsDw5gUVAQwomCVbPuJl2v8I0mfHfjJa7-2FFU6eL2-2Fnja1A4dDcR6mSddpyo9d8uhihWqqTfcRcgwxAUu6FZjU5yj6VI-3DVQ6d_s0lTyPdoyuzn-2FJTE9fjR8nSlryGpLl-2B7mxK4it06DfIN-2FfMDgHUrTLsHq1xjCi7D6OhOfqYNIp06HXjwZCEtJ7zM-2FN2fXV7YZ9DGLx4mzMVRehUiTOtwXhomMj-2F2GYtz2XztNOtRz1zn6rSiO7y4-2Be2y4s40ZfkHuSEuiDRm2R3rtwbNWmIMXJKzpaNcUJJchoeFKgU2cK9My8GBxh1DJsXoBTx4enbTjayZy2zv3rM65GAwhjJ8Hw0ZxkDU5Le7PUv6E0LuyYKdr7bPFecQSpm1GTpzm-2Bc3kxLoE9sEQ5eTlxjzHBEjjzQ86BZAorpmhIAdn2qbHRcvauOvs8gIzBl6FKHzcDztHhMhS4ACFod5EanR2qC61su9ZIqTQawf" rel="noopener noreferrer" >Plastic Foam Needs ‘To Go'” outlined the dangers behind single-use plastic foam, including that it’s made with toxic chemicals linked to cancer. Plastic foam is also one of the most common types of marine plastic pollution and was one of the first types of plastic discovered in the ocean. National polling released in 2025 found that <a href="https://link.mediaoutreach.meltwater.com/ls/click?upn=u001.-2BIOCSEqOIi7e88afJsDw5gUVAQwomCVbPuJl2v8I0mfTyDqndGEVwU1z-2FudWcYSR0jcenYDREnq41Qwjlekv5aL3DagC5glWFhq0GsUxnpLp40VYhoCALlULQ-2FUBMkGIjQlU0fhy-2Fc8PPtVh1hojL41UI3EKFCKqCtWStnxtzn6YTfheB299B2xdvFUMvpm57QzD_s0lTyPdoyuzn-2FJTE9fjR8nSlryGpLl-2B7mxK4it06DfIN-2FfMDgHUrTLsHq1xjCi7D6OhOfqYNIp06HXjwZCEtJ7zM-2FN2fXV7YZ9DGLx4mzMVRehUiTOtwXhomMj-2F2GYtz2XztNOtRz1zn6rSiO7y4-[binary]" rel="noopener noreferrer" >78% of registered U.S. voters support national policies to reduce single-use plastic foam. <a href="https://link.mediaoutreach.meltwater.com/ls/click?upn=u001.-2BIOCSEqOIi7e88afJsDw5gUVAQwomCVbPuJl2v8I0mdSTg1PX6sZR8uSHBxh7t-2FDVULXgTkRyJfVUau5pAzZdEP7z3KgzCKJrPsyk-2FbI7tOW9RN8TgJFYXg37fNW30a-2F7pRTn1Y3LSQTkX7yohB1gw-3D-3DLFK7_s0lTyPdoyuzn-2FJTE9fjR8nSlryGpLl-2B7mxK4it06DfIN-2FfMDgHUrTLsHq1xjCi7D6OhOfqYNIp06HXjwZCEtJ7zM-2FN2fXV7YZ9DGLx4mzMVRehUiTOtwXhomMj-2F2GYtz2XztNOtRz1zn6rSiO7y4-2Be2y4s40ZfkHuSEuiDRm2R3rtwbNWmIMXJKzpaNcUJJchoeFKgU2cK9My8GBxh1DJsXoBTx4enbTjayZy2zv3rM5EuCG8PfN3QWF8-2BY7t0iPFZXMh1imEWDsqcS0LoU4JlmOEoUik5N55HHSCpMLkquALwpza-2BUn-2BSPiH8sgRkYFVoY3KtCkE16goTu61VnsBpLF0f9McPMAplIzv9fFBgK9-2FHFGN7-2B2-2F0EvBU-2BOnx2D" rel="noopener noreferrer" >A 2020 Oceana report revealed evidence of nearly 1,800 animals from 40 different species swallowing or becoming entangled in plastic in U.S. waters between 2009 and early 2020. Of those animals, a staggering 88% were from species listed as endangered or threatened with extinction under the Endangered Species Act. Recycling will not solve the plastics crisis. In fact, less than 6% of plastic in the U.S. is recycled. To address the problem, companies must reduce the production and use of unnecessary single-use plastic and develop systems that refill and reuse packaging and foodware. Government policies must ensure that companies act. In February 2025, Oceana released the results of <a href="https://link.mediaoutreach.meltwater.com/ls/click?upn=u001.-2BIOCSEqOIi7e88afJsDw5gUVAQwomCVbPuJl2v8I0mfTyDqndGEVwU1z-2FudWcYSR0jcenYDREnq41Qwjlekv5aL3DagC5glWFhq0GsUxnpLp40VYhoCALlULQ-2FUBMkGIjQlU0fhy-2Fc8PPtVh1hojL41UI3EKFCKqCtWStnxtzn6YTfheB299B2xdvFUMvpm5bDb5_s0lTyPdoyuzn-2FJTE9fjR8nSlryGpLl-2B7mxK4it06DfIN-2FfMDgHUrTLsHq1xjCi7D6OhOfqYNIp06HXjwZCEtJ7zM-2FN2fXV7YZ9DGLx4mzMVRehUiTOtwXhomMj-2F2GYtz2XztNOtRz1zn6rSiO7y4-2Be2y4s40ZfkHuSEuiDRm2R3rtwbNWmIMXJKzpaNcUJJchoeFKgU2cK9My8GBxh1DJsXoBTx4enbTjayZy2zv3rPugWgSMAbOQTceQcSMxAsHqDq-2BReJKgJQcjpVOeENxqODK-2BFVuHiSfiai2hCF-2B5gQsmgteVh81zn5-2FPUR9jVC4ySdu8GbHGuznQQ-2FNPznyrCqeG9K-2Feh-2BeA7klq88YxkI0hCO5YTUTegr9eLklV5Jf" rel="noopener noreferrer" >a nationwide poll revealing that an overwhelming majority of U.S. voters support policies that reduce single-use plastics. Overall, 81% of U.S. voters support reducing the amount of plastic that is produced. The national online poll, conducted for Oceana by the nonpartisan polling company Ipsos using the probability-based KnowledgePanel®, surveyed 1,111 registered U.S. voters from December 13 to 15, 2024. Included among the key findings: 85% of U.S. voters support increasing the use of reusable packaging and foodware. 82% of U.S. voters support protecting people in neighborhoods that are affected by pollution from nearby plastic production facilities. 80% of U.S. voters support requiring companies to reduce single-use plastic packaging and foodware. To learn more about Oceana’s campaign to stop plastic pollution, please <a href="https://link.mediaoutreach.meltwater.com/ls/click?upn=u001.-2BIOCSEqOIi7e88afJsDw5gUVAQwomCVbPuJl2v8I0mcPmzMkrOA2Mq90ZeWTJutpFDMY7VmCENQdU5gh6MDQ-2Bg-3D-3Dy179_s0lTyPdoyuzn-2FJTE9fjR8nSlryGpLl-2B7mxK4it06DfIN-2FfMDgHUrTLsHq1xjCi7D6OhOfqYNIp06HXjwZCEtJ7zM-2FN2fXV7YZ9DGLx4mzMVRehUiTOtwXhomMj-2F2GYtz2XztNOtRz1zn6rSiO7y4-2Be2y4s40ZfkHuSEuiDRm2R3rtwbNWmIMXJKzpaNcUJJchoeFKgU2cK9My8GBxh1DJsXoBTx4enbTjayZy2zv3rMOpRLLqbxJ5NPf28vxMxbnkOEv7TapDEjBUAabKCWk2uMRe5ywZS2tqKsDncfMe8vBQvSpqkBZhlCbmO3KbHaQ3ohpGzjPHuB1hbvkZb3YWabHuxJhbd8LXLQ-2BTBacPxLl5nT4zNhrFVHYCrcalCr4" rel="noopener noreferrer" >visit usa.oceana.org/plastics. This content originally appeared on Common Dreams and was authored by Newswire Editor.
BATUCADEIRAS DELTA RAMANTXADA (Tarrafal, Ilha de Santiago, Cabo Verde)
Bayer/Monsanto Wins Roundup Case as Supreme Court Blocks Suit over Link Between Herbicide & Cancer
Al-Arabiya correspondent killed by car bomb in Yemen
Washington, D.C., June 25, 2026 — The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Yemen’s internationally recognized government to conduct an immediate, transparent investigation into Mohammed Aydah’s killing. Aydah, a correspondent for Saudi-owned channels Al-Arabiya and Al-Hadath, was killed on Wednesday when an explosive device detonated under the driver’s seat of his vehicle in the southern...
Washington, D.C., June 25, 2026 — The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Yemen’s internationally recognized government to conduct an immediate, transparent investigation into Mohammed Aydah’s killing. Aydah, a correspondent for Saudi-owned channels Al-Arabiya and Al-Hadath, was killed on Wednesday when an explosive device detonated under the driver’s seat of his vehicle in the southern port city of Al-Mukalla, in Yemen’s eastern Hadramout governorate. Though no group has yet claimed responsibility, Al-Mukalla security authorities had warned Aydah that his life was in danger, but failed to elaborate. In late 2018, Aydah was chased and nearly arrested by armed members of the Houthi group in the Yemeni capital Sanaa. “The preceding threats against Aydah, coupled with an explosive device planted in his car, strongly suggest that this was a targeted killing, underlining the extreme dangers Yemeni journalists face while reporting from one of the world’s most perilous conflict zones,” said CPJ Regional Director Sara Qudah. “A transparent investigation that brings those responsible to justice is essential not only for accountability in Aydah’s case, but also for protecting journalists across Yemen.” The targeted killing follows recent political shifts in Yemen, including the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council temporarily seizing oil-rich Hadramout governorate in December 2025, only to lose the region to Saudi-backed forces before disbanding entirely in January 2026. Since 2024, at least 33 Yemeni journalists have been killed by Israel, Houthi insurgents, and Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. In a separate incident, Yemeni journalist Salah al-Din Ali al-Ruhani was <a href="https://yemenshabab.net/sections/NEWS/Political/%D9%86%D9%82%D8%A7%D8%A8%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B5%D8%AD%D9%81%D9%8A%D9%8A%D9%86-%D8%AA%D8%B7%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A8-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AD%D9%88%D8%AB%D9%8A%D9%8A%D9%86-%D8%A8%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%83%D8%B4%D9%81-%D8%B9%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%A7%D8%AD%D8%AA%D8%AC%D8%A7%D8%B2-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B5%D8%AD%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%B5%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%AD-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AF%D9%8A%D9%86-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D9%88%D8%AD%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%8A-%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A5%D9%81%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%AC-%D8%B9%D9%86%D9%87">detained three months ago by the Houthis in Sanaa, and his whereabouts remain unknown. The Yemeni Journalists Syndicate said that al-Ruhani’s home was raided by Houthi members, before abducting, interrogating him for four hours, and taking him to a detention facility, where he has since been held without formal charges. CPJ contacted the Yemeni Embassy in Washington for comment on the killing of Aydah but they did not immediately respond to the request. This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.
Supreme Court Strips Protections for Haitian & Syrian Immigrants in "Racially Inflected" Decision
Venezuela Earthquakes: U.S. Sanctions Impede Rescue Efforts as Death Toll Soars
In "Devastating" Immigration Ruling, Supreme Court Allows Trump Admin to "Turn Back" Asylum Seekers
Top U.S. & World Headlines — June 26, 2026
CPJ, partners express urgent concern to NATO over press accreditation denial for Turkey summit in July
The Committee to Protect Journalists joined the International Press Institute and other press freedom and human rights organizations in expressing concern over the denial of accreditation to Turkish journalists hoping to cover NATO’s summit in Ankara, Turkey on July 7-8. Dozens of Turkish journalists, including staff from independent media outlets Halk TV, Sözcü TV, Nefes,...
The Committee to Protect Journalists joined the International Press Institute and other press freedom and human rights organizations in expressing concern over the denial of accreditation to Turkish journalists hoping to cover NATO’s summit in Ankara, Turkey on July 7-8. Dozens of Turkish journalists, including staff from independent media outlets Halk TV, Sözcü TV, Nefes, BirGün, Cumhuriyet, ANKA News Agency, Medyascope, and T24, have been denied accreditation. The press freedom and human rights organizations sent a joint letter to NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte saying the accreditation denials were “a direct limitation on publicly available information and a deprivation of independent perspectives from Türkiye – for both the Turkish public and the international community.” The signatories called on NATO to reconsider the rejections and restore accreditation to outlets that meet NATO’s own eligibility criteria, including the requirement for editorial independence. Read the full statement here. This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.
The MAGA movement has used and abused people’s ignorance and fear about transgender people as a Trojan horse to implement its fascist agenda.
The MAGA movement has used and abused people’s ignorance and fear about transgender people as a Trojan horse to implement its fascist agenda. This content originally appeared on The Progressive — A voice for peace, social justice, and the common good and was authored by Wajahat Ali.
Are Police in France Discriminating Against Black & Arab Youth?
Trump Rule Changes Would Kneecap Head Start
Congress must make sure this vital program is adequately supported.
Congress must make sure this vital program is adequately supported. This content originally appeared on The Progressive — A voice for peace, social justice, and the common good and was authored by Hailey Gibbs.
The Supreme Court ruled 7-2 to restrict thousands of lawsuits claiming Bayer, the parent company of Monsanto, had a duty to warn consumers about potential cancer risks from its popular weed killer Roundup. The case before the Supreme Court beg...
The Supreme Court ruled 7-2 to restrict thousands of lawsuits claiming Bayer, the parent company of Monsanto, had a duty to warn consumers about potential cancer risks from its popular weed killer Roundup. The case before the Supreme Court began in St. Louis, Missouri, where a resident named John Durnell, who had used Roundup for decades and was later diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, sued Monsanto under Missouri state law for not putting a warning label on its product. But because the federal Environmental Protection Agency found no cancer risk in its assessment of Roundup, the court has ruled against Durnell. “The ruling essentially says that only the EPA can make a determination that something is harmful to us and has to carry a warning label,” explains reporter Nate Halverson, who has been documenting health and environmental harms allegedly linked to Roundup, as well as efforts to hold Monsanto accountable. In his reporting, Halverson found that scientific studies cited by the EPA in its Roundup assessment were “ghostwritten” by Monsanto itself — and “that ghostwritten information has now made its way into the Supreme Court’s decision.” This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
Supreme Court Strips Protections for Haitian & Syrian Immigrants in “Racially Inflected” Decision
Thousands of Haitians and Syrians living in the United States are newly at risk of deportation after the Supreme Court ruled to allow the Trump administration to strip them of “temporary protected status,” or TPS. The program, desi...
Thousands of Haitians and Syrians living in the United States are newly at risk of deportation after the Supreme Court ruled to allow the Trump administration to strip them of “temporary protected status,” or TPS. The program, designed for foreign citizens of countries the U.S. government believes are too unstable or dangerous to be returned to, often due to natural disasters or war, has been a major target of attack by the Trump administration and its anti-immigrant agenda. “We are looking at the catastrophic deficit in the workforce in the United States if we allow this deportation machine and cruelty to take effect,” our guest, Haitian Bridge Alliance’s Guerline Jozef, says. “This is just part of the Trump administration’s efforts to feed the detention and deportation machine and essentially halt immigration,” adds Lupe Aguirre of the International Refugee Assistance Project. “It’s about maintaining their campaign promises to root out people that they see as undesirable.” This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
The death toll from twin earthquakes that hit Venezuela Wednesday night is expected to reach into the thousands as rescuers continue to search for bodies trapped in the rubble. Hospitals are rapidly reaching a breaking point, and thousands of ...
The death toll from twin earthquakes that hit Venezuela Wednesday night is expected to reach into the thousands as rescuers continue to search for bodies trapped in the rubble. Hospitals are rapidly reaching a breaking point, and thousands of survivors have been left homeless. Reporter Andreína Chávez’s building was one of the countless residences in Venezuela’s capital Caracas and its surrounding region that were damaged by the massive quakes. Chávez was on the street when the earthquakes struck, and says she “saw at least three buildings partially collapse right in front of [her].” As Venezuelans band together to find survivors, the country is calling for international support and resources to step up critical rescue and recovery efforts. “We weren’t prepared for a disaster of this magnitude,” says Chávez. “Venezuela is a country that has been under U.S. sanctions … as well as a country that has an infrastructure that is very deteriorated. We have public services that are very deteriorated, and all of that has been something that has really added to this tragedy.” This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
In “Devastating” Immigration Ruling, Supreme Court Allows Trump Admin to “Turn Back” Asylum Seekers
The Supreme Court has sided with the Trump administration in a major blow to the rights of immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers. The court ruled 6 to 3 along partisan lines to sanction so-called metering at the southern border, which allows...
The Supreme Court has sided with the Trump administration in a major blow to the rights of immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers. The court ruled 6 to 3 along partisan lines to sanction so-called metering at the southern border, which allows immigration officers at ports of entry to block asylum seekers from setting foot on U.S. soil. “In a time of increasing conflict and climate catastrophe, this will result in many more deaths,” warns Erika Pinheiro of Al Otro Lado, the lead plaintiff in the case. When the turnback policy was first introduced, recounts Melissa Crow of the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies, who served as co-counsel for the plaintiffs’ case, many asylum seekers became “so desperate that they ended up trying to enter between ports of entry, either by swimming across the Rio Grande or by traversing the desert under harrowing conditions, and many, many of them didn’t make it to the other side.” This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
Over 500 Are Dead and Thousands Remain Missing Following Twin Earthquakes in Venezuela, U.N. Shipping Agency Halts Strait of Hormuz Evacuations as Projectile Strikes Cargo Ship, Israeli Airstrikes Kill 2 in Lebanon as Netanyahu Says Occupation Will Continue Indefinitely, Supreme Court Allows Trump Administration to Block Asylum Seekers at U.S. Border, Supreme Court Will Allow Trump to End TPS for 350,000 Haitians and 6,000 Syrians, Supreme Court Blocks Cancer Patients from Suing Bayer over Popular Weed Killer, U.S. Plans to Deport Over 500 Unaccompanied Immigrant Children, Federal Agents Confront Election Worker at Syracuse Polling Place over Instagram Post, Judge Blocks Trump’s Order Creating “Confirmed Citizen Lists” and Restricting Mail-in Voting, JD Vance Praises Richard Nixon, Downplays Watergate Scandal, New York City to Freeze Rents for Nearly 1 Million Apartments for Next Two Years
Over 500 Are Dead and Thousands Remain Missing Following Twin Earthquakes in Venezuela U.N. Shipping Agency Halts Strait of Hormuz Evacuations as Projectile Strikes Cargo Ship Israeli Airstrikes Kill 2 in Lebanon as Netanyahu Says Occupation Will Continue Indefinitely Supreme Court Allows Trump Administration to Block Asylum Seekers at U.S. Border Supreme Court Will Allow Trump to End TPS for 350,000 Haitians and 6,000 Syrians Supreme Court Blocks Cancer Patients from Suing Bayer over Popular Weed Killer U.S. Plans to Deport Over 500 Unaccompanied Immigrant Children Federal Agents Confront Election Worker at Syracuse Polling Place over Instagram Post Judge Blocks Trump's Order Creating "Confirmed Citizen Lists" and Restricting Mail-in Voting JD Vance Praises Richard Nixon, Downplays Watergate Scandal New York City to Freeze Rents for Nearly 1 Million Apartments for Next Two Years This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
Democracy Now! Friday, June 26, 2026 This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! Audio and was authored by Democracy Now!.
CPJ, partners call on EU to review approach toward Tunisia amid critical human rights decline
On Friday, the Committee to Protect Journalists and five other press freedom and human rights organizations sent a joint letter to the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen calling for an immediate change in the EU’s approach toward Tunisia due to a severe human rights decline. The signatories urged von der Leyen to condemn...
On Friday, the Committee to Protect Journalists and five other press freedom and human rights organizations sent a joint letter to the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen calling for an immediate change in the EU’s approach toward Tunisia due to a severe human rights decline. The signatories urged von der Leyen to condemn the crackdown on free speech and to press for the release of those who have been wrongfully incarcerated, including journalists. Several members of the press, including Mourad Zghidi, Borhen Bsaies, and Zied el-Heni remain imprisoned in Tunisia solely for exercising their right to report. Two other journalists, Ghassen Ben Khelifa and Khaoula Boukrim, were sentenced to two and four years in prison consecutively. Others, like lawyer and media commentator Sonia Dahmani, CPJ’s 2025 International Press Freedom Award honoree, continue to face judicial harassment despite her release from prison in November following the adoption of a European Parliament resolution. Read the full letter in English. This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.
Russian independent journalists fear MAX app, new online restrictions will hinder reporting
As Russian authorities tighten the screw on popular messaging app Telegram and promote a state-backed “super app” that observers say could act as a surveillance tool, independent journalists and media outlets inside and outside Russia say it will become more difficult to report stories securely and stay connected to audiences. President Vladimir Putin is pushing...
As Russian authorities tighten the screw on popular messaging app Telegram and promote a state-backed “super app” that observers say could act as a surveillance tool, independent journalists and media outlets inside and outside Russia say it will become more difficult to report stories securely and stay connected to audiences. President Vladimir Putin is pushing for “digital sovereignty” and more control over Russia’s online infrastructure, including through the promotion of the MAX app, which some journalists and experts have compared to China’s WeChat – a powerful surveillance tool for the state. MAX was released by Russian technology giant VK in March 2025 and is intended as a domestic alternative to Telegram, a critical platform for independent and exiled media that the Kremlin wants to curtail because it offers an alternative source of information, notably since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Amid growing censorship, Telegram allows opposition figures, journalists, human rights defenders, activists and digital influencers to reach large audiences outside traditional state-controlled media channels. Its relative independence makes it harder for the authorities to control the flow of information. But since February, state media regulator Roskomnadzor has introduced restrictions on Telegram over what it says is failure to combat fraud, delete extremist content and protect user data. Observers, including Telegram’s founder Pavel Durov, say the throttling of the app is designed to push people into embracing MAX, allowing authorities to more easily control news and information and making it specifically harder for journalists, inside and outside the country, to communicate securely with potential sources or receive tip-offs. The Telegram crackdown comes on top of widespread internet shutdowns, which have cut off many Russians from reliable information as Putin’s popularity declines and tensions grow over the war in Ukraine. “Two phone practices” Designed to integrate messaging with government services, payments, and digital identity, MAX functions as a kind of digital wallet and since September 2025, authorities have required the app to be pre-installed on all smartphones sold in the country. Some security researchers say MAX may allow authorities to spy on users’ activity, with one report saying it could detect the use of virtual private networks (VPNs) and share address book details. In April, internet infrastructure and cybersecurity company Cloudflare briefly flagged MAX as malicious spyware. In June, Apple removed the app from its App Store, saying it did so to comply with unspecified international sanctions. Russian authorities deny MAX is a surveillance tool. Some Russians have installed MAX on a separate phone to minimise the risk of surveillance but while journalists and sources may also increasingly adopt this “two-phone” practice, burner devices, or stricter compartmentalization, not everyone will have the knowledge or means to do so. Monitoring of MAX users could affect Russians living abroad, including exiled journalists, and fuel transnational repression. “For Russians abroad, especially for anti-war activists, dissidents, defectors, journalists, and other targeted groups, digital dependency on Russian platforms, either with their own account or accounts of relatives or contacts based in Russia, may create vulnerabilities extending beyond standard privacy concerns,” according to the Digital Forensic Research Lab (DFRLab) at the Atlantic Council, a nonpartisan global think tank. Rights advocates say these risks could extend beyond individual users to relatives, friends and professional contacts who remain in Russia, particularly if sensitive communications are tied to platforms subject to Russian jurisdiction. In late May, a court in Kemerovo, in the southwest of Siberia, issued what is believed to be the first fine over content critical of Putin on MAX. Although she was not the creator of the item, the user who posted it was fined 30,000 rubles (US$404) for sharing material deemed to show “clear disrespect” towards Putin. “Inherently risky” Exiled investigative journalist Andrei Zakharov, who hosts The Insider Live YouTube program Proslushka (“The Wire”), said MAX was fundamentally incompatible with independent reporting and that one of its core purposes appeared to be controlling “which channels exist and what they publish.” Zakharov told the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) any communication through MAX “would be inherently risky.” Mikhail Klimarev, executive director of the Internet Protection Society, an exiled non-profit that advocates for digital rights in Russia, said MAX would be used “solely and exclusively by propagandists.” He added: “There is no scenario in which this platform can be used safely.” MAX is designed to comply fully with Russian surveillance laws, including requirements to provide user correspondence and communication records to security services. By early March, around 100 million people had registered with MAX. In March, VK said the daily audience had reached 70 million daily users. An exiled journalist living in Germany, who did not want to give her name, told CPJ her mother, who lives in Russia, was afraid to download MAX for fear of surveillance because her daughter is a journalist. “She is concerned about the possibility that (our) communications could be exposed. She believes that if she downloads MAX, we will no longer be able to communicate as openly as we do now. In her view, that would create risks for both of us,” the journalist said. At least 30 journalists are imprisoned in Russia in connection with their work. State narratives Digital rights advocates warn MAX will evolve into a closed ecosystem dominated by state-approved narratives. “The government has now started moving pro-government, loyal voices and media channels registered with Roskomnadzor from Telegram to MAX,” Aleksei Obukhov, exiled editor-in-chief of independent news outlet SOTA, told CPJ. State-sponsored news agencies TASS and RIA Novosti are among them. About 70% of all channels on MAX were created by government agencies, according to exiled investigative news outlet Agentstvo. Only media registered with Roskomnadzor are allowed on MAX, effectively barring many independent outlets, Klimarev said. Access to free media “curtailed” The introduction of the MAX app is just one of the ways Russian authorities are increasing their stranglehold on independent information in the digital space. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, authorities have blocked thousands of websites, including those of independent media, for failing to comply with legislation forbidding “fake news” about the military, among a host of other restrictions. Meta’s Instagram and Facebook have been banned since 2022, and YouTube and Meta’s WhatsApp were also blocked in February, making them largely inaccessible without circumvention tools. Hundreds of NGOs, media outlets and independent voices, including CPJ, have also been added to a government list of “undesirable” organizations – a label used to suppress groups that the Kremlin sees as a threat to its narrative control. CPJ, which was not notified of the decision or the reasons behind it, calls on Russia to reverse the ban. In 2025, Russia recorded the highest number of internet shutdowns, according to exiled independent news outlet The Moscow Times, and this has continued in 2026 with regular rolling internet shutdowns in major cities. “Access to free information is certainly being curtailed and the restrictions on Telegram are not the first but yet another step in that direction,” a journalist, who requested anonymity, told CPJ via Telegram from inside Russia. Telegram, which is headquartered in Dubai, had 96 million registered users in January and six out of 10 Russians use it daily – the world’s second highest number of users after India. Users can circumvent restrictions by using VPNs, which route a user’s internet connection through private servers outside Russia, but that has become more complicated because of an intensified crackdown on the use of these networks. These challenges, plus the arrival of MAX, could see some Russians lose access to independent news. “If you are happy to surf on your Chinese or Russian intranet (Russia’s countrywide alternative to the global internet), where you find ‘all you need’ and have more and more sophisticated apps, why would you need to look outside, beyond the Great Firewall as people say in China, to look for alternatives?” said Prague-based journalist Filip Noubel, who is also deputy director of inVOC, an organization supporting independent Chinese-language media globally. Journalists told CPJ that they feared MAX could eventually capture a politically disengaged audience, which could be significant should there be further internet restrictions ahead of September parliamentary elections, as MAX will strengthen the state’s ability to manage digital political communications while further limiting space for independent reporting. CPJ contacted VK via email seeking comment on MAX but did not receive a response. This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Lamiya Adilgizi.
Belarusian Leader Lukashenko Tempers War Rhetoric After Zelenskyy Ultimatum
An Oregon Law Lets One Wealthy Region Turn the Desert Green. When Drought Hits, Farmers Pay the Price.
The post An Oregon Law Lets One Wealthy Region Turn the Desert Green. When Drought Hits, Farmers Pay the Price. appeared first on ProPublica.
The Central Oregon Irrigation District diverts water from the Deschutes River through hundreds of miles of canals, pipes and ditches to irrigate high desert lands near Bend and Redmond, Oregon. Brandon Swanson/OPB Chris Casad awakens each day before dawn on the Central Oregon property he bought nine years ago, the farm where he once grew tons of potatoes before water shortages forced him to fallow fields and take a job feeding someone else’s cattle on someone else’s land. At 38, he’s got tractors older than he is. His two kids are under 5. His wife, Cate, has two jobs. They’re staring down a pile of debt from their 85 acres and its unending supply of things in the process of breaking. The crisis for their farm started in drought — three summers during which starving grasshoppers descended on the area’s remaining crops, tepid reservoirs bloomed with toxic algae, nearly 1,000 Oregon wells went dry and the springs feeding the Deschutes River shriveled to their lowest recorded flow. But the death knell for Casad’s crops was Oregon’s century-old law, which protects some water users at the expense of others. The couple saw the state cut their community’s share of irrigation water from the Deschutes in the name of that law. Farmers in Jefferson County, where they live, stopped cultivating a third of the county’s irrigated land. “There were a number of suicides, let alone people who closed up shop, older farmers just not wanting to waste their life’s worth of work and their savings on just trying to keep it going,” Casad said. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="766" width="1149" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_101_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?w=1149" alt="A man and a woman stand together in front of a tractor. Behind them is another tractor, cars, a wide-open landscape and, in the distance, snow-capped mountains." class="wp-image-82505" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_101_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg 3000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_101_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_101_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_101_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_101_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1536,1025 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_101_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=2048,1366 2048w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_101_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=863,576 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_101_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=422,281 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_101_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=552,368 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_101_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=558,372 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_101_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=527,352 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_101_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=752,502 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_101_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1149,766 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_101_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=459,306 459w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_101_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=2000,1334 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_101_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=400,267 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_101_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=800,534 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_101_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1200,800 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_101_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1600,1067 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1149px) 100vw, 1149px" /> Chris Casad, left, and Cate Havstad-Casad bought their Madras, Oregon, property in 2017 with hopes of expanding a vegetable growing business. Leah Nash for ProPublica At the same time, a few miles upstream, state law encouraged landowners to soak some of Oregon’s most expensive real estate and least productive farmland, a ProPublica and Oregon Public Broadcasting analysis of water use has found. These water-rich Oregonians live in the Central Oregon Irrigation District, a quasi-municipal corporation — part public utility, part homeowners association — that manages and distributes the lion’s share of the Deschutes’ water. Six irrigation districts together take more than 90% of the river in Bend from May to September. COID is, by far, the most powerful. It has rights to more than half of the volume of the river because when the state was carving up the Deschutes, back in the early 1900s, COID was near the front of the line with a plan to use the water. And in Western water law, that place in line — senior rights — guarantees that when drought hits, your share is protected. The Central Oregon Irrigation District Diverts More Water Annually From the Deschutes in Bend Than All Other Irrigation Districts Combined <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="676" width="752" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260625-deschutes-column-chart_mobile.jpg?w=752" alt="" class="wp-image-84384" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260625-deschutes-column-chart_mobile.jpg 1458w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260625-deschutes-column-chart_mobile.jpg?resize=300,270 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260625-deschutes-column-chart_mobile.jpg?resize=768,690 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260625-deschutes-column-chart_mobile.jpg?resize=1024,920 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260625-deschutes-column-chart_mobile.jpg?resize=863,775 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260625-deschutes-column-chart_mobile.jpg?resize=422,379 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260625-deschutes-column-chart_mobile.jpg?resize=552,496 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260625-deschutes-column-chart_mobile.jpg?resize=558,501 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260625-deschutes-column-chart_mobile.jpg?resize=527,474 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260625-deschutes-column-chart_mobile.jpg?resize=752,676 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260625-deschutes-column-chart_mobile.jpg?resize=1149,1032 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260625-deschutes-column-chart_mobile.jpg?resize=400,359 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260625-deschutes-column-chart_mobile.jpg?resize=800,719 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260625-deschutes-column-chart_mobile.jpg?resize=1200,1078 1200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" /> Note: Estimates are averages during peak irrigation season, May to September, from 2015 to 2022. Source: Oregon Water Resources Department That same law also says COID can keep taking all that water as long as it can prove that landowners in the district are putting it to “beneficial use.” Waste is forbidden. But Oregon policymakers have such loose definitions of what’s beneficial and what’s waste that, during the drought, our reporting found, only 1 of every 4 gallons COID took from the river was absorbed by crops. The news organizations shared our analysis of state-commissioned satellite data with both officials who manage water for Oregon and with COID. While the state did not dispute the numbers, irrigation district leaders said they didn’t trust the state data, which Oregon lawmakers created to study water availability. COID also said that the drought years were anomalous; however, our analysis across wet and dry years showed crops drank a similar share of the diverted water each year. Other records from the district and the state describe how most of the water percolated into the ground, evaporated into hot, dry air, or drained off fields into scrubland and desert. Some fed the aquifer. Some went back into the river downstream, where environmental regulators have found waterways warmed and polluted. And that one gallon that quenched crops? Almost all of it went to grass and pasture. “We’re Just Wasting Water” Casad grew up in Bend, the region’s biggest city, where he watched developers slice farmland into subdivisions. The lumber mill became a shopping mall anchored by an REI. An economy once dependent on timber and agriculture turned instead toward tourism and recreation. Canals from the Deschutes still wind through Bend’s neighborhoods of single-family homes, and then to the estates, farms, ranches and destination resorts on the city’s outskirts. Among those sits a horse ranch owned by Phil and Penelope Knight of Nike fame, one of the wealthiest families in the world and, our analysis found, one of the largest consumers of COID water. The ranch raises “high-end” horses and sells hay, its website shows. A manager declined to comment on how it manages water. Another long, gated driveway leads to an 80-acre property that was once dry scrubland. Cinematographer Byron Garth bought water rights from another landowner through COID a decade ago to irrigate part of the property. The water helped him transform a rocky hillside into an “exclusive compound paradise,” as an auction listing last year put it, with a 6,300-square-foot mansion with radiant heated floors, three guest houses, a 10,000-square-foot garage and a swimming pool — all surrounded by a carpet of soft green grass. For a few years, Garth used his water rights to grow hay for about 15 alpacas and goats, but in the end, he said, “it was cheaper to just mow it.” Garth said he did have reservations about using so much water during the drought, but he reasoned that somebody had to use it. “For the aesthetic value,” realtor Jen Bowen said about the grass last year, as she gave OPB a tour of the estate shortly before Garth sold it for $4.8 million. “I think most of us would agree — it’s nicer to look out over a lush pasture than it is the high desertscape,” Bowen said. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="501" width="752" data-id="82511" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/YZ3A6817_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?w=752" alt="Sprinklers shoot into the air to water a large lawn surrounding a pond and a small windmill. In the background is a house on a hill that overlooks the property." class="wp-image-82511" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/YZ3A6817_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg 2048w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/YZ3A6817_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/YZ3A6817_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/YZ3A6817_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/YZ3A6817_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1536,1024 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/YZ3A6817_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=863,575 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/YZ3A6817_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=422,281 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/YZ3A6817_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=552,368 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/YZ3A6817_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=558,372 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/YZ3A6817_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=527,351 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/YZ3A6817_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=752,501 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/YZ3A6817_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1149,766 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/YZ3A6817_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=459,306 459w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/YZ3A6817_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=2000,1333 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/YZ3A6817_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=400,267 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/YZ3A6817_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=800,533 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/YZ3A6817_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1200,800 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/YZ3A6817_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1600,1066 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" /> <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="501" width="752" data-id="82512" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/YZ3A6785_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?w=752" alt="A bright blue swimming pool in the foreground, and behind it a large green lawn, a pond, and in the background, a forest and snow-capped mountains." class="wp-image-82512" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/YZ3A6785_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg 2048w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/YZ3A6785_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/YZ3A6785_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/YZ3A6785_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/YZ3A6785_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1536,1024 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/YZ3A6785_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=863,575 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/YZ3A6785_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=422,281 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/YZ3A6785_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=552,368 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/YZ3A6785_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=558,372 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/YZ3A6785_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=527,351 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/YZ3A6785_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=752,501 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/YZ3A6785_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1149,766 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/YZ3A6785_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=459,306 459w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/YZ3A6785_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=2000,1333 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/YZ3A6785_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=400,267 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/YZ3A6785_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=800,533 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/YZ3A6785_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1200,800 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/YZ3A6785_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1600,1066 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" /> Sprinklers keep the grass green in the landscaping surrounding a pond and a pool at a property previously owned by Byron Garth. The land is in the Central Oregon Irrigation District, and Garth bought the water rights in 2016, as he was building out the multimillion-dollar estate. Emily Cureton Cook/OPB One of the district’s thirstiest developments is Ranch at the Canyons, a gated subdivision of dozens of multimillion-dollar Tuscan-style mansions whose residents mutually own an equestrian center, a luxury wedding venue, a winery and a nonprofit farm run by “dedicated ranch management and local farmers.” A development manager did not respond to a request for comment. Its website promises homeowners “the peaceful rhythm of agricultural life — without the work.” A similar property listed for $15 million invites its future owners to imagine more than a residence or a cattle ranch, but “a Playground for Ambitions, for Imagination, for Dreamers, and for Doers.” Our analysis of the most recently available state data, covering 2015 to 2022, found that more than 9 out of every 10 acres in the district were growing grass — pasture and hay fields for livestock as well as landscaping. Casad started his life as a farmer in the district, but he was not one of those grass growers. He began leasing land near his hometown in 2010, and within a matter of years was turning a profit, annually growing thousands of tons of organic potatoes, pulling them from the earth with a gargantuan harvester he called “the white whale.” He liked the idea of farming in a region that once sold 1 of every 4 bags of potatoes in the state. He leased more land, sold out at farmers’ markets, supplied a local brewery with spuds for its fries, and welcomed school field trips, “just to show kids what a working farm is, where their food comes from.” <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="502" width="752" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_034_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?w=752" alt="A young boy sits in the driver’s seat of a red truck, holding the steering wheel and smiling. He is framed by the open car door." class="wp-image-82513" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_034_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg 3000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_034_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_034_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_034_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_034_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1536,1025 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_034_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=2048,1366 2048w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_034_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=863,576 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_034_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=422,281 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_034_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=552,368 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_034_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=558,372 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_034_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=527,352 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_034_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=752,502 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_034_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1149,766 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_034_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=459,306 459w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_034_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=2000,1334 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_034_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=400,267 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_034_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=800,534 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_034_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1200,800 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_034_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1600,1067 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" /> Chris Casad and Cate Havstad-Casad’s oldest son, Hesston, 4 Leah Nash for ProPublica <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="502" width="752" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_087_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?w=752" alt="A woman in a denim shirt with a bandana tying her hair back holds a small child." class="wp-image-82525" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_087_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg 3000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_087_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_087_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_087_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_087_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1536,1025 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_087_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=2048,1366 2048w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_087_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=863,576 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_087_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=422,281 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_087_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=552,368 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_087_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=558,372 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_087_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=527,352 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_087_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=752,502 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_087_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1149,766 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_087_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=459,306 459w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_087_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=2000,1334 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_087_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=400,267 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_087_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=800,534 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_087_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1200,800 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_087_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1600,1067 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" /> Cate Havstad-Casad holds her youngest son, Crosby, 2 Leah Nash for ProPublica COID’s water was a boon. “It was just always on,” Casad said. But the glut of water became a problem. He couldn’t just cut off the flow without risking his landlord’s water rights. So he did what others in the district do: figure out a way to use the “overabundance” or capture it in ponds. When one pond was full, Casad started digging a second one so the excess water wouldn’t inundate his neighbor’s property. On more than a third of COID’s acreage, landowners irrigate their crops by intentionally flooding the fields. Water flows directly from ditches across the land — saturating plants, pooling and running off as it evaporates or seeps into the ground. Water experts are quick to point out that water running off fields or leaking out of canals filters into aquifers or drains back to the river. That is not waste, they say, because it recirculates in the river basin. This recycling takes time, while the consequences on the Deschutes are immediate. Farmers are drying up acreage and, for about 40 miles downstream of Bend, fish habitats suffer, state scientists told us. Once irrigation districts take their 90% of the river during the growing season, average remaining flows over the last decade have been about half what the ecosystem needs, according to stream gauges and state conservation targets. “The river always loses,” former state biologist Brett Hodgson said. The fact that much of the irrigation water is, in some form or fashion, recycled elsewhere doesn’t put COID landowners like David Fisher at ease either. Fisher said he flood irrigates about 60 acres of his property to grow hay and pasture for cattle. “We’re just wasting water. Really. We are,” remarked the 72-year-old butcher shop owner. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a tree hugger or one of those people that think that we should stop this for the frogs or the fish. But there’s got to be a middle of the road.” Only a Quarter of the Water the Central Oregon Irrigation District Diverted From The Deschutes River Was Consumed by Crops Most of it leaked from open canals, percolated into the ground or ran off fields before returning to aquifers or to the river downstream. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="1303" width="752" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260625-deschutes-sankey_mobile.jpg?w=752" alt="Three streams representing water diverted from the Deschutes River show that 45% leaked or evaporated from canals before it reached landowners; 29% percolated into aquifers, ran off or evaporated after being delivered to landowners; and 26% was consumed by crops (mostly grass and pasture)." class="wp-image-84392" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260625-deschutes-sankey_mobile.jpg 1458w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260625-deschutes-sankey_mobile.jpg?resize=173,300 173w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260625-deschutes-sankey_mobile.jpg?resize=768,1331 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260625-deschutes-sankey_mobile.jpg?resize=591,1024 591w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260625-deschutes-sankey_mobile.jpg?resize=887,1536 887w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260625-deschutes-sankey_mobile.jpg?resize=1182,2048 1182w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260625-deschutes-sankey_mobile.jpg?resize=863,1495 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260625-deschutes-sankey_mobile.jpg?resize=422,731 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260625-deschutes-sankey_mobile.jpg?resize=552,956 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260625-deschutes-sankey_mobile.jpg?resize=558,967 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260625-deschutes-sankey_mobile.jpg?resize=527,913 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260625-deschutes-sankey_mobile.jpg?resize=752,1303 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260625-deschutes-sankey_mobile.jpg?resize=1149,1991 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260625-deschutes-sankey_mobile.jpg?resize=924,1600 924w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260625-deschutes-sankey_mobile.jpg?resize=400,693 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260625-deschutes-sankey_mobile.jpg?resize=800,1386 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260625-deschutes-sankey_mobile.jpg?resize=1200,2079 1200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" /> Note: Estimates are averages for irrigation season, May to September, from data covering 2015 to 2022. Sources: Data for how much water is lost on the way to landowners or after reaching them comes from Central Oregon Irrigation District estimates provided to the Oregon Water Resources Department. Data regarding how much water is consumed by plants comes from the Desert Research Institute and the Oregon Water Resources Department. Lucas Waldron/ProPublica “Waste Is Like Pornography” Both how much water the district uses and what its landowners are growing have the state’s blessing. Oregon, like other Western states, says that as long as irrigation is put to “beneficial use without waste,” no one can take your water rights. But growing anything is considered a beneficial use as long as it’s planted, irrigated and not a native species or noxious weed. Policymakers and courts have labeled so few uses as waste that one of the most well-known legal precedents was set 90 years ago by a California court, said Colorado-based water law attorney Sarah Klahn. The case forbade the use of irrigation water to drown gophers. Water rights are a form of property rights, Oregon-based water law attorney Karen Russell said, and although the law is designed to adapt to changing times, the courts have typically allowed past practices to dictate how much water landowners can use. In the eyes of Oregon courts, “waste is like pornography,” she said: “You know it when you see it.” So it doesn’t matter if landowners are watering the prized crops that decades ago were celebrated by the Deschutes Basin’s annual potato festival, when local women vied to be crowned “Miss Spud,” or the grass and hay for today’s “Playground for Ambitions.” <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="561" width="752" data-id="82515" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2003.001.0922.5862_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?w=752" alt="An old black-and-white photograph of many bundles of potatoes, a table with three trophies on it, and a group of men in three-piece suits and hats posing for the camera. Someone has written on the photograph, “2nd Annual Potato Show Redmond.”" class="wp-image-82515" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2003.001.0922.5862_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg 3000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2003.001.0922.5862_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=300,224 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2003.001.0922.5862_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=768,573 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2003.001.0922.5862_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1024,764 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2003.001.0922.5862_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1536,1146 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2003.001.0922.5862_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=2048,1528 2048w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2003.001.0922.5862_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=863,644 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2003.001.0922.5862_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=422,315 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2003.001.0922.5862_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=552,412 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2003.001.0922.5862_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=558,416 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2003.001.0922.5862_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=527,393 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2003.001.0922.5862_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=752,561 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2003.001.0922.5862_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1149,858 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2003.001.0922.5862_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=2000,1493 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2003.001.0922.5862_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=400,299 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2003.001.0922.5862_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=800,597 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2003.001.0922.5862_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1200,896 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2003.001.0922.5862_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1600,1194 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" /> <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="561" width="752" data-id="82519" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2003.001.0918.5857-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?w=752" alt="An old black-and-white photograph of a crowd of women in dresses and men in shirtsleeves looking through potatoes outside on a city street." class="wp-image-82519" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2003.001.0918.5857-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg 3000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2003.001.0918.5857-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=300,224 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2003.001.0918.5857-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=768,573 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2003.001.0918.5857-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1024,764 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2003.001.0918.5857-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1536,1146 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2003.001.0918.5857-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=2048,1528 2048w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2003.001.0918.5857-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=863,644 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2003.001.0918.5857-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=422,315 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2003.001.0918.5857-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=552,412 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2003.001.0918.5857-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=558,416 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2003.001.0918.5857-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=527,393 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2003.001.0918.5857-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=752,561 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2003.001.0918.5857-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1149,858 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2003.001.0918.5857-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=2000,1493 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2003.001.0918.5857-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=400,299 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2003.001.0918.5857-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=800,597 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2003.001.0918.5857-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1200,896 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2003.001.0918.5857-PDcrop_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1600,1194 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" /> The Redmond Potato Show in 1912 and in the 1960s. For roughly half a century, much of the Central Oregon Irrigation District’s water fed potato farms, and those potatoes fed the West Coast. Local high schoolers were excused from school for a week to help with a harvest that filled as many as 20 rail cars a day in the 1950s. Deschutes County Historical Society This is the point COID’s Managing Director Craig Horrell, who is in charge of the district’s day-to-day operations, tried to drive home at a town hall meeting in Redmond last March. The moderator read a question asking about incentives that might make “hobby farms” more efficient. Horrell bristled at the term, calling it a label intended to “shame and coerce us into change.” “We as district managers don’t get to decide whether we like somebody growing carrot seed or somebody having two llamas and a Prius in the driveway,” he shot back. “If you’re using your water beneficially and growing a beneficial crop, that is what we manage. We don’t have the right to say whether it’s a good thing or a bad thing.” The district is vigilant about ensuring one thing — that landowners are growing a non-native crop, which the district checks through field visits and by aerial reviews, COID’s Deputy Director of Water Rights Jessi Talbott said in a recent interview. Every summer, a COID-hired plane flies over the district’s more than 70 square miles of fields, an area larger than Salem, Oregon’s capital city, looking for brown patches. If landowners aren’t using the water exactly where they are supposed to at least once every five years, the state can cancel unused water rights. Oregon regulators have canceled irrigation water rights just four times since 2020, and none of those were in the COID. “Nobody else in the state does what we do to try and encourage use,” Talbott said. Since 2021, the district has sent more than 1,000 letters to landowners warning them they were in danger of losing water rights. The intent of the letters isn’t to scare people, but to educate them about water stewardship, Talbott said. If landowners suspected of not using water don’t take action, COID can and will confiscate rights itself, she added, but this rarely happens. Casad’s landlord got a letter from COID in 2016, after aerial surveillance spotted “specific dry areas” on the property, district records show. Casad and his wife, Cate Havstad-Casad, had turned one rocky corner into a compost pile and parking area for their equipment. “In order to satisfy the powers that be seeing that we’re using the water, there was an entire season where we had to water that compost pile and equipment yard,” Havstad-Casad said. By the next year, a COID inspector’s report noted “enough growth to avoid confiscation.” In 2023, on another property, Andria Truax and her husband Dan Baumann got a COID warning letter that sent them into “panic mode,” they said. The couple owns a nursery raising drought-tolerant landscaping plants on a 10-acre property near Bend. “We’re supposed to keep some of these areas green that are next to impossible to grow anything on,” Truax said. They didn’t want to douse rocky soil and fight back the weeds that immediately sprang up. The irony struck her because “farmers are getting cut off from water downstream and meanwhile we’re being told to water more.” Still, to protect their water rights and property values, they turned on the sprinklers. COID doesn’t tell people to water rocks or compost piles, Talbott said in an interview last year. In a more recent interview, she said OPB and ProPublica’s finding that only about 25% of the district’s diversion was consumed by crops was “infuriating.” “We do so much to educate our patrons and for them to use the water right and make products out of it, feed the community, feed cows, whatever is in alignment with water law,” Talbott said. In the same meeting, Horrell said the district not only doesn’t overdeliver water, but some properties don’t get enough. COID doesn’t directly measure how much water landowners use, only how much land they’re irrigating. In its water management conservation plan, which covers 2015 to 2020, COID approximated how much water crops required, based on surveys of its landowners about what they were growing — largely pastures — and federal weather data. Those averaged estimates showed crops required about 27% of what the district took out of the river annually. That roughly mirrors our own finding of what crops actually drank, based on the state’s study of satellite data. Horrell and other district officials did not respond to multiple questions about the numbers in COID’s own conservation plan. “They Have All the Cards” State leaders have long wrestled with how to divvy up the Deschutes Basin in the face of increasing drought, booming population and growing demand. Bend and Redmond, the basin’s two largest cities, are facing uncertain future supplies; during the drought of 2022, COID diverted over 12 times more water than both cities combined, with their then roughly 132,000 total residents. While farms are, by far, the biggest water users in the nation, the COID’s contribution to the state’s agricultural economy is among the lowest in Oregon. The region leads other Oregon counties only in horse sales. Republican state Rep. Mark Owens, a hay farmer from Eastern Oregon and one of the state’s leading voices on water management, said the district’s hobby farmers are getting excess water “which they do not need, should not have to utilize and should not be delivered to them.” Oregon, he said, is long overdue to look again at how it manages water. The beneficial use rule was designed, he said, to build up rural economies, and “it’s what allowed some of our communities to prosper.” But now, “you have a group of folks that employ nobody, harvest nothing, so how are you actually providing a public benefit for that water?” he said. “So is there something broken? Yeah, there is.” How, he asked, “do you get the most crop per drop?” Rather than mandates, the Legislature has turned to incentives, like authorizing programs that pay people to leave water in the river without losing the right to it. Baumann and Truax eventually did just that with a sliver of their water rights. But the state doesn’t dictate how irrigation districts use those incentives. COID’s board of directors has capped participation so that very few properties are eligible. Horrell said the district has to limit enrollment in water-sharing programs because its 120-year-old delivery system will fail if the canals aren’t brimming full. After the Central Oregon Irrigation District delivered water to landowners near Redmond, Oregon, in July 2025, what’s left pooled in a silty pond where it eventually drained away or evaporated. The district said it has 24 ponds that catch water at the ends of its system. Brandon Swanson/OPB The district’s hundreds of miles of open, unlined waterways rely on gravity to push huge volumes out of the river and propel the water that ends up on fields more than 30 miles away. When COID has reduced the volume of this “carry water” too much in the past, Horrell said, farms at the ends of the system suffered. But the district acknowledged in public meetings and in our interviews that all the water leaking and evaporating along the way is wasteful. To change that, it’s seeking more than $700 million in public funding to replace the canals with new, pressurized pipes. It’s already gotten more than $65 million for piping since 2015. Read More <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="459" height="306" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/4W0C5170_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?w=459&h=306&crop=1" class="attachment-propublica-story-promo size-propublica-story-promo wp-post-image" alt="" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/4W0C5170_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg 3000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/4W0C5170_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/4W0C5170_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/4W0C5170_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/4W0C5170_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1536,1024 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/4W0C5170_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2048,1365 2048w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/4W0C5170_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=863,575 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/4W0C5170_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=422,281 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/4W0C5170_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=552,368 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/4W0C5170_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=558,372 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/4W0C5170_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=527,351 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/4W0C5170_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=752,501 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/4W0C5170_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1149,766 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/4W0C5170_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=459,306 459w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/4W0C5170_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2000,1333 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/4W0C5170_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=400,267 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/4W0C5170_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=800,533 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/4W0C5170_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1200,800 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/4W0C5170_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1600,1067 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 459px) 100vw, 459px" js-autosizes="true" /> Oregon Leaders Are Trying to Save the Deschutes River. Here’s Why That’s So Hard. “There is no dispute that we all want a better, more equal, more balanced water delivery system that benefits our river, our partners, districts, cities. That’s a given,” Horrell said, “How we get there is what we argue about.” COID is a business, he emphasized, one that he said does need to become more sustainable as the climate changes. COID’s rights allow it to take even more water from the Deschutes than it does. Even so, Horrell pointed out, it has voluntarily scaled back over the last decade of droughts. Thanks to piping, he said, it sends some water to downstream farmers when it doesn’t have to. But, he said, that “doesn’t mean that it is not ours.” The Deschutes, like rivers across the country, is owned by the public, and taxpayers are spending big to conserve it. But irrigation districts still have all the power, said environmental advocate Yancy Lind, who contributes to a state-supported water planning group with districts, cities and state managers. “We live in the West and in the West, water is power and the irrigators have the water. It’s that simple,” he said. “They have all the cards. We’re just trying to pull little crumbs out from them.” “It Doesn’t Have to Be This Way” After seven years of leasing land in the COID, Casad headed north to nearby Jefferson County and the North Unit Irrigation District, where he now lives. He moved because he could afford to buy there and the land was more fertile — it produces more than half the world’s supply of carrot seed. Plus he wanted to live among people like him, dedicated farmers, someone like Jos Poland, “a tough dude” and the lifelong dairy farmer who became his new neighbor. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="766" width="1149" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_053_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?w=1149" alt="A landscape of green farmland, with irrigation sprinkler lines across it, and in the distance a snow-capped mountain." class="wp-image-82526" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_053_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg 3000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_053_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_053_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_053_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_053_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1536,1025 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_053_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=2048,1366 2048w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_053_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=863,576 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_053_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=422,281 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_053_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=552,368 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_053_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=558,372 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_053_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=527,352 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_053_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=752,502 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_053_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1149,766 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_053_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=459,306 459w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_053_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=2000,1334 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_053_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=400,267 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_053_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=800,534 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_053_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1200,800 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_053_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1600,1067 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1149px) 100vw, 1149px" /> The peaks of the Cascade Range are visible in the distance from Casad Family Farms. The mountain range forms a wall dividing wet, coastal Oregon from semi-arid high desert. Leah Nash for ProPublica The move came with one big tradeoff. Casad went from a district with plentiful water to one that has long had to make do with less. North Unit is the first to be cut off during a drought. Compared to the COID, even in a wet year, North Unit promises half as much water per acre, and it loses an even higher percentage in leaky delivery canals, but its crops still consume a much higher percentage of what the district takes out of the river, our analysis found. North Unit’s farmers pride themselves on that efficiency. Drive through Casad’s neighborhood and you’ll see rows of water-saving sprinklers, and pumps churning to recycle and reapply the runoff captured by specialized ponds. “It’s the only way we’ve been able to survive,” said one of the district’s longtime farmers, 80-year-old Gary Harris. Casad knew this, so he calculated that half as much water on fertile land would be enough. And it was, until the drought hit in 2020. To keep his farm going, he started drying up two acres of land for every acre of potatoes he planted. Down the road, Poland’s organic cow pastures died. He had to sell half his herd. “I was losing money so fast that I couldn’t afford to feed my animals,” Poland recalled. “That threw me in a big depression.” He struggled to get out of bed. Casad started helping him with the dairy, working through the night on his own farm. “I remember watching the lights of the tractor out the window,” Cate Havstad-Casad said. She was pregnant with their first child, sitting in the bathtub having contractions, she said, but she waited hours to call her husband inside “because I understood the pressure on his shoulders.” Casad wept as he dredged up memories of the drought. “Some of this stuff you just bury,” he said. “You bury it down deep.” During those years, which overlapped with the pandemic, Jefferson County Commissioner Kelly Simmelink said he heard from farmers dealing with falling commodity prices, rising operational costs, “and then the real fact of water availability — I don’t know how you continue.” As the drought wore on, the suicide rate in Jefferson County nearly doubled. “Our farmers and ranchers face immense pressure,” he told the Legislature in early 2023, successfully urging it to launch a state-funded suicide prevention hotline for agricultural producers. Two years into the drought, Casad learned at North Unit’s spring meeting that he would have to cut back his water use even more. For every acre of vegetables he could plant, four would have to go fallow. He called his wife to break the news when she was out of town. After she hung up, she sat alone in her hotel room and broke down. Cate Havstad-Casad reacts to the news that state water cutbacks mean her family will need to dry up most of their farm in this excerpt from a March 2022 video diary. Courtesy of Cate Havstad-Casad “It doesn’t have to be this way” she said through tears in a video diary she recorded at the time. “It is Oregon water law which will give a very wealthy person with a hayfield that they literally mow and leave in the field and do nothing with because their life has nothing to do with the land, … that person will get twice as much water as any professional farmer will get in North Unit.” Casad no longer grows potatoes. The bins where he once stored them sit empty in the barn. Now he grows mostly hay and grass for cattle — crops that he said need less water. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="502" width="752" data-id="82532" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_025-PDedit_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?w=752" alt="Empty bins made of weathered and battered wood." class="wp-image-82532" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_025-PDedit_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg 3000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_025-PDedit_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_025-PDedit_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_025-PDedit_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_025-PDedit_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1536,1025 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_025-PDedit_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=2048,1366 2048w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_025-PDedit_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=863,576 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_025-PDedit_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=422,281 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_025-PDedit_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=552,368 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_025-PDedit_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=558,372 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_025-PDedit_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=527,352 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_025-PDedit_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=752,502 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_025-PDedit_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1149,766 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_025-PDedit_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=459,306 459w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_025-PDedit_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=2000,1334 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_025-PDedit_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=400,267 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_025-PDedit_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=800,534 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_025-PDedit_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1200,800 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_025-PDedit_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1600,1067 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" /> Empty bins that once stored potatoes Leah Nash for ProPublica <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="502" width="752" data-id="82533" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_017_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?w=752" alt="A wall in the interior of a barn with numerous objects hung on it, including a faded American flag, a T-shirt that says “Juan Deere” with a silhouette of a donkey, old advertising posters, and a board that reads, “Potatoes, Stop In” and has a drawing of a potato with a smiling face." class="wp-image-82533" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_017_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg 3000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_017_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_017_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_017_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_017_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1536,1025 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_017_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=2048,1366 2048w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_017_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=863,576 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_017_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=422,281 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_017_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=552,368 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_017_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=558,372 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_017_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=527,352 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_017_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=752,502 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_017_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1149,766 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_017_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=459,306 459w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_017_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=2000,1334 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_017_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=400,267 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_017_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=800,534 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_017_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1200,800 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_017_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1600,1067 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" /> The barn at the Casad family farm Leah Nash for ProPublica <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="1708" width="2560" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_014_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?w=2560" alt="Inside a barn sits a large yellow machine with wheels and an angled chute. The machine is surrounded by hay bales and a cat walks by." class="wp-image-82534" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_014_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg 3000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_014_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_014_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_014_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_014_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1536,1025 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_014_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=2048,1366 2048w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_014_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=863,576 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_014_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=422,281 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_014_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=552,368 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_014_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=558,372 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_014_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=527,352 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_014_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=752,502 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_014_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1149,766 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_014_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=459,306 459w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_014_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=2000,1334 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_014_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=400,267 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_014_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=800,534 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_014_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1200,800 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_014_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1600,1067 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /> A potato harvester in the barn at the Casad family farm has been idle for four years. The children now use it as a slide. Leah Nash for ProPublica But rough years are coming for farmers in the Deschutes Basin. This year Oregon’s snowpack is one of the lowest it’s been in recorded history. That snow takes years to percolate and it’s what feeds the mountain springs powering the river. More than half of Oregon counties have already declared droughts. The Casad farm is still paying down the debts from the last drought. Chris Casad worked part-time at a feedlot this winter. Now he’s a school bus driver. To his two young children, his “whale” of a potato harvester has never been anything other than a slide, their playground for make-believe. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="502" width="752" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_038_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?w=752" alt="A man holds the hand of a boy as the two walk down a dirt driveway toward a house in the distance. Two dogs follow behind them." class="wp-image-82535" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_038_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg 3000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_038_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_038_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_038_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_038_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1536,1025 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_038_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=2048,1366 2048w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_038_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=863,576 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_038_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=422,281 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_038_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=552,368 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_038_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=558,372 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_038_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=527,352 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_038_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=752,502 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_038_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1149,766 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_038_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=459,306 459w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_038_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=2000,1334 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_038_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=400,267 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_038_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=800,534 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_038_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1200,800 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260404-Nash-DeschutesIrrigation_038_maxHeight_3000_maxWidth_3000.jpg?resize=1600,1067 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" /> Chris Casad and his oldest son, Hesston, with dogs Beth, left, and her pup, Rue, walk along the driveway of the family’s farm. Leah Nash for ProPublica About the Data The Oregon Water Resources Department used stream gauges to provide estimates of how much Deschutes River water six irrigation districts diverted in Bend. OWRD’s diversion estimates are based on stream gauges from May to September, when the irrigation diversion flows are most consistent. They do not include the full April to October irrigation season. Estimates of how much of the Central Oregon Irrigation District’s water leaked or evaporated from its canals are based on the district’s 2022 Water Management Conservation Plan, its 2016 System Improvement Plan and state water right records. To estimate how much water crops in the COID consumed annually over the last decade, we relied on a recent state study of weather, satellite and crop data as well as irrigation district and county property records. The state data is publicly available in a 2025 study co-authored by OWRD and the Nevada-based Desert Research Institute. Reporters worked with an outside consultant, Arizona-based Virga Labs, to layer the statewide irrigated field-level data with irrigation district maps and county property records in order to isolate fields within COID’s and North Unit’s service areas. To contextualize our water use findings, we conducted more than 50 interviews with farmers, water managers, hydrologists, legal experts, irrigation experts, climate experts, conservation advocates, lawmakers and COID landowners. The state’s estimates of irrigation water consumption draw on evapotranspiration data produced by OpenET, which combines satellite and weather data to gauge the water that evaporates from crops. OpenET data has uncertainty, as OWRD notes in a 2025 memo, but several experts said remotely sensed evapotranspiration was the most reliable way to estimate water use short of measuring it directly. We sought to minimize the uncertainty factors listed in OWRD’s memo by basing our findings on results and trends for a 70-square-mile area from 2015 to 2022, the most recent years for which state data is available. We used both county records and irrigation district billing records to verify COID delivered water to the acreage in our analysis of the district, excluding any properties the state identified as using groundwater rights and those irrigating less than an acre, to account for water that could have been supplied by domestic wells. When included, those properties did not significantly change our results. We spot-checked information about individual properties by consulting irrigation district records, reviewing aerial imagery and interviewing landowners. Our analysis did not seek to quantify exactly what happened to all the water that COID diverted but that was not consumed by crops. COID provides some water — roughly 1% of the district’s water rights —- for purposes other than irrigation, according to state records. Those uses were not reflected in our analysis. The post An Oregon Law Lets One Wealthy Region Turn the Desert Green. When Drought Hits, Farmers Pay the Price. appeared first on ProPublica. This content originally appeared on ProPublica and was authored by Emily Cureton Cook.
Oregon Leaders Are Trying to Save the Deschutes River. Here’s Why That’s So Hard.
The post Oregon Leaders Are Trying to Save the Deschutes River. Here’s Why That’s So Hard. appeared first on ProPublica.
A dam across the Deschutes River in Bend, Oregon, diverts water to irrigation district canals in July 2025. Brandon Swanson/OPB Every year, about 90% of Central Oregon’s Deschutes River disappears into networks of canals and pipes traversing high desert. Between April and October, what’s left in this major river — one of the largest spring-fed waterways in the U.S. — looks more like a creek trickling out of Bend, Oregon. Six irrigation districts — quasi-public corporations — divert the water to green up the properties of about 7,500 landowners in one of the state’s driest regions. Of the six, none is as powerful as the Central Oregon Irrigation District. It has rights to use more than half of the Deschutes’ volume — more than all the other districts combined. And under state law, in times of scarcity, most of the others must cut back to protect COID’s share of the river. During the last drought, state water law forced commercial farmers downstream to fallow their land while COID diverted four times what its landowners’ crops consumed, an Oregon Public Broadcasting and ProPublica analysis of state data found. Our analysis showed similar ratios across both wet and dry years, roughly aligning with estimates of what COID told the state its crops required. While state water managers did not dispute our analysis, the irrigation district said it didn’t trust the satellite-based data we used, which Oregon lawmakers backed to study water availability. COID landowners are doing exactly what the law encourages them to do, state legislators said. To keep rights to the water, districts have to prove to the state that their customers are consistently using it “beneficially.” In the district, our reporting found, more than 9 out of 10 acres were pasture — grass for grazing or landscaping, or hay for livestock — considered beneficial under the law. Oregon and other Western states have so far rejected any legislation that restricts what people can grow or how efficient they must be: Opposition to change is strong because water rights are a form of property rights. Water rights also raise property values and can bring agricultural tax breaks. If lawmakers took on bedrock water law, “we’d get crushed by the powers that be and we might even not be reelected,” said state Rep. Ken Helm, the Democratic co-chair of the House Committee on Agriculture, Land Use, Natural Resources and Water. “What should we do? I think we should leave more water in the river. Legally speaking, that doesn’t have to happen,” he said. Helm, a land-use lawyer, grew up in Bend and has watched the region transform. “Affluent people are moving into Central Oregon for reasons that have nothing to do with growing a crop,” he said. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="647" width="1149" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/OR-Deschutes-River-Irrigation-%E2%80%93-opener-3_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?w=1149" alt="A wide, sweeping landscape photograph showing mansions, large, lush green lawns and pools of water, with mountains in the background." class="wp-image-82560" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/OR-Deschutes-River-Irrigation-–-opener-3_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg 3000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/OR-Deschutes-River-Irrigation-–-opener-3_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=300,169 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/OR-Deschutes-River-Irrigation-–-opener-3_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=768,432 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/OR-Deschutes-River-Irrigation-–-opener-3_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1024,576 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/OR-Deschutes-River-Irrigation-–-opener-3_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1536,864 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/OR-Deschutes-River-Irrigation-–-opener-3_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2048,1152 2048w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/OR-Deschutes-River-Irrigation-–-opener-3_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=863,486 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/OR-Deschutes-River-Irrigation-–-opener-3_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=422,237 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/OR-Deschutes-River-Irrigation-–-opener-3_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=552,311 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/OR-Deschutes-River-Irrigation-–-opener-3_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=558,314 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/OR-Deschutes-River-Irrigation-–-opener-3_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=527,297 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/OR-Deschutes-River-Irrigation-–-opener-3_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=752,423 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/OR-Deschutes-River-Irrigation-–-opener-3_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1149,647 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/OR-Deschutes-River-Irrigation-–-opener-3_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2000,1125 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/OR-Deschutes-River-Irrigation-–-opener-3_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=400,225 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/OR-Deschutes-River-Irrigation-–-opener-3_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=800,450 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/OR-Deschutes-River-Irrigation-–-opener-3_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1200,675 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/OR-Deschutes-River-Irrigation-–-opener-3_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1600,900 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1149px) 100vw, 1149px" /> The Central Oregon Irrigation District diverts water from the Deschutes River through roughly 30 miles of canals and pipes to irrigate fields and estates at the Ranch at the Canyons development in Terrebonne, Oregon. The subdivision’s website promises those who own its multimillion-dollar mansions “the peaceful rhythm of agricultural life — without the work.” Brandon Swanson/OPB As things stand now, COID’s Managing Director Craig Horrell said he “can’t tell people what they can and can’t farm, if it’s allowed.” The district’s job is to distribute water to its customers and to “deliver it much more efficiently and sustainably in the future,” he said. The question is how. Oregon has pushed three main solutions: 1. Pipes COID delivers most of its water through open canals built 120 years ago. Blasted from porous lava rock, the canals have to be completely full for gravity to push water across the district’s more than 42,000 acres. Nearly half the water evaporates or seeps into the ground under the canals before reaching its destination. COID’s state water rights factor this in. Replacing the canals with pressurized pipes could save a lot of water. It could also take 50 years and cost more than $700 million. The district is in the final planning stages of what could be a $360 million project to pipe a main artery leading to more than a thousand landowners between Bend and Redmond, Oregon. Few make their living as farmers, our reporting found. In exchange for federal and state funding for piping, COID has pledged to send water downstream to farmers outside the district. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="501" width="752" data-id="82562" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/YZ3A6856_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?w=752" alt="A man and a woman stand beside pipes and equipment next to a large body of water. " class="wp-image-82562" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/YZ3A6856_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg 2048w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/YZ3A6856_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/YZ3A6856_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/YZ3A6856_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/YZ3A6856_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1536,1024 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/YZ3A6856_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=863,575 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/YZ3A6856_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=422,281 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/YZ3A6856_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=552,368 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/YZ3A6856_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=558,372 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/YZ3A6856_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=527,351 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/YZ3A6856_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=752,501 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/YZ3A6856_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1149,766 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/YZ3A6856_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=459,306 459w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/YZ3A6856_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2000,1333 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/YZ3A6856_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=400,267 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/YZ3A6856_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=800,533 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/YZ3A6856_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1200,800 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/YZ3A6856_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1600,1066 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" /> Emily Cureton Cook/OPB <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="501" width="752" data-id="82561" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/YZ3A6853_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?w=752" alt="A view from above showing a large pipe with water flowing out and two yellow ladders leading down to it." class="wp-image-82561" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/YZ3A6853_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg 2048w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/YZ3A6853_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/YZ3A6853_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/YZ3A6853_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/YZ3A6853_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1536,1024 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/YZ3A6853_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=863,575 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/YZ3A6853_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=422,281 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/YZ3A6853_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=552,368 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/YZ3A6853_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=558,372 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/YZ3A6853_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=527,351 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/YZ3A6853_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=752,501 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/YZ3A6853_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1149,766 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/YZ3A6853_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=459,306 459w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/YZ3A6853_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2000,1333 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/YZ3A6853_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=400,267 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/YZ3A6853_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=800,533 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/YZ3A6853_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1200,800 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/YZ3A6853_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1600,1066 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" /> At the end of a Central Oregon Irrigation District canal, pipes and valves allow water from the Deschutes River to be passed along to people outside the district. The more COID uses pipes, rather than open canals, to transport its share of the Deschutes, the more water it will share with water-poor farmers downstream, say district officials Watermaster Cary Penhollow, on the left in the first image, and Deputy Director of Water Rights Jessi Talbott. Emily Cureton Cook/OPB The plan has gotten broad support, especially from Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley: “Repeated severe droughts make every drop of irrigation water highly valuable, and the best way to preserve irrigation water is to pipe it,” he told OPB and ProPublica. The catalyst for focusing on COID, he said, was a threatened species of frog, which lives exactly where irrigation districts have long siphoned water, destroying its habitat. To stave off lawsuits under the Endangered Species Act, the districts agreed to leave more water in the river over time. As it switches from canals to pipes, COID is supposed to send the water it saves to a neighboring district that will have to take less from the river as part of the plan to restore the frog’s home. That district, North Unit, serves a valley famous for commercial farms, but it’s already water-poor. It has rights to far less water from the Deschutes than COID does. Evan Thomas, a fifth-generation farmer and leader of North Unit, put the stakes plainly at a March public meeting in Redmond: “This pipe has to go in the ground by 2028 or North Unit, all of Jefferson County, basically quits farming.” But even those who acknowledge that piping is a critical solution note that it won’t stop COID from diverting more water than its customers need — or from sending that water to a lot of residential properties growing grass and pasture. Last year, the nonprofit Central Oregon LandWatch pushed for a bill to put limits on overwatering. Helm and Republican state Rep. Mark Owens started drafting legislation, but they never introduced it. Owens, a hay farmer in Eastern Oregon, said irrigation districts weren’t happy with the proposal. “I weakened,” he said. “We weren’t going to get it through the building. We lived to fight another day.” 2. Sharing The Deschutes has never had enough water for all the landowners who laid claim to it more than a century ago, said Deschutes River Conservancy Executive Director Kate Fitzpatrick. Leaving water in the river for fish and wildlife wasn’t even considered a legal, beneficial use of the resource until the 1980s. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="501" width="752" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/4W0C5170_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?w=752" alt="A group of eight people wade in a muddy pool of water holding bright yellow poles with fishing nets on the end." class="wp-image-82558" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/4W0C5170_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg 3000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/4W0C5170_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/4W0C5170_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/4W0C5170_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/4W0C5170_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1536,1024 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/4W0C5170_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2048,1365 2048w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/4W0C5170_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=863,575 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/4W0C5170_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=422,281 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/4W0C5170_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=552,368 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/4W0C5170_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=558,372 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/4W0C5170_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=527,351 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/4W0C5170_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=752,501 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/4W0C5170_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1149,766 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/4W0C5170_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=459,306 459w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/4W0C5170_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2000,1333 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/4W0C5170_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=400,267 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/4W0C5170_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=800,533 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/4W0C5170_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1200,800 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/4W0C5170_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1600,1067 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" /> Kathryn Styer Martínez/OPB <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="501" width="752" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/4W0C5353_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?w=752" alt="A group of people stand next to or immersed in a large body of water, dragging a net that extends from one bank of the river to the other." class="wp-image-82567" srcset="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/4W0C5353_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg 3000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/4W0C5353_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/4W0C5353_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/4W0C5353_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/4W0C5353_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1536,1024 1536w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/4W0C5353_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2048,1365 2048w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/4W0C5353_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=863,575 863w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/4W0C5353_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=422,281 422w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/4W0C5353_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=552,368 552w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/4W0C5353_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=558,372 558w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/4W0C5353_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=527,351 527w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/4W0C5353_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=752,501 752w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/4W0C5353_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1149,766 1149w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/4W0C5353_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=459,306 459w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/4W0C5353_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=2000,1333 2000w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/4W0C5353_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=400,267 400w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/4W0C5353_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=800,533 800w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/4W0C5353_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1200,800 1200w, https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/4W0C5353_preview_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_embedColorProfile_true_quality_95.jpg?resize=1600,1067 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" /> Participants in the Deschutes River fish rescue event use nets to catch and move fish trapped in a side channel of the Deschutes River above Bend, Oregon, in 2024. At the end of each growing season, irrigation districts reduce flows in the river to refill upstream reservoirs, stranding fish. Kathryn Styer Martínez/OPB “So that’s what we’re working with,” Fitzpatrick said. “We’re not going to win the game by pointing fingers at who’s doing what with the water.” With more demand than supply, her nonprofit works with irrigation districts to roll out incentives for landowners to be more efficient or share voluntarily. One program pays landowners to dry up land so COID will leave more water in the river. But the district limits participation, and the program’s efficacy has plateaued for decades, state data shows. State lawmakers last year also created a pilot “water bank” program. The concept marks a big change in the law and could allow COID landowners to keep what water they need and rent out the excess to farmers downstream without losing rights to it. But since Oregon’s governor signed the bill into law nearly a year ago, COID and other key players haven’t signed anyone up. That’s because the canal system fails if it doesn’t have enough water in it, Horrell, the district’s manager, said. Piping could allow the district to scale up these other solutions in the future, he said. There’s another problem, too: To rent out part of a water right without completely drying up their property, landowners would need to measure their use precisely — something many don’t want to do. 3. Data COID said it doesn’t measure or report the volume of water it delivers. This is typical across Oregon, where the vast majority of water goes to agricultural lands. But policymakers and experts have long said the state can’t tackle water shortages unless it knows how much the people with irrigation water rights use on their properties. The Legislature’s attempts to require meters on all individual farms and wells have faced fierce public backlash. “At one point my office was getting a call a minute,” Owens, the state representative, recalled of an effort last year. The fear, he said, is that the state will use data to take away water rights or to try to charge by the gallon. Owens has given up on trying to force statewide metering for now, he said. On his own Eastern Oregon hay farm, he started a pilot project that uses a weather station and satellite data to track how much his fields drink. He can look on his phone and see how many days he should irrigate the following week, he said. He also led the charge for Oregon to invest in a cutting-edge study to apply this technology to statewide water planning. Scientists with the Oregon Water Resources Department co-authored a report with researchers from the Nevada-based Desert Research Institute. It provides estimates over nearly 40 years of how much water crops consumed on every irrigated field in Oregon. The data, which OPB and ProPublica used in our reporting, was published last year. Horrell said such data has too many variables and is not ready to guide how the district monitors water use. State managers are not currently using that data to regulate how water is used, but instead to account for where it goes, Oregon Water Resources Department Director Ivan Gall said in a recent interview. He said tight state budgets have so far kept his agency from sharing it “with the public and decision makers in a way that is understandable and meaningful.” Owens and Helm said they tried and failed to make it easier to learn from critical data about Oregon’s water — how much there is, how clean it is, where it’s coming from and where it’s going — but a pilot project ground to a halt after state funding dried up last year. The post Oregon Leaders Are Trying to Save the Deschutes River. Here’s Why That’s So Hard. appeared first on ProPublica. This content originally appeared on ProPublica and was authored by Emily Cureton Cook.
Here’s what we know, so far, about the lasting effects of climate change on the body’s vital systems.
How Climate Change Gets Under the Skin Gets Under the Skin A warming world is putting pressure on every system in your body. Heat waves, wildfire smoke, infectious diseases, and other health threats amplified by climate change are jeopardizing decades of public health gains. As temperatures rise, experts warn that everyone is at risk. By Zoya Teirstein Illustrations by Samantha Mash​​​​ Jun 26, 2026 This story is part of the Grist series Vital Signs, exploring the ways climate change affects your health. This reporting initiative is made possible thanks to support from the Wellcome Trust.​​​​​ Doctors agree: Climate change is a hazard to your health. Leading medical journals warn that rising greenhouse gas emissions will result in millions of needless deaths and undermine decades of hard-won progress in public health. Some of these risks are obvious. The immediate effects of extreme heat and wildfire smoke on the lungs and heart are easy to recognize — and particularly dangerous for those who are already immunocompromised or in poor health. Heat-related mortality has been rising since the 1990s, and wildfire smoke is now linked to tens of thousands of illnesses and deaths every year. But researchers are beginning to unearth clues about how repeat, overlapping climate stressors, from flood-related mold to warming water temperatures to higher pollen counts, affect everyone — even society’s healthiest members. No one is immune. Here’s what we know, so far, about the lasting effects of climate change on the body’s vital systems. ​​​​​​​ Cardiovascular System <img class="interactive-health-story-section__inline-image" src="https://grist.org/article/how-climate-change-affects-your-body-systems-health/https:&%23x2F;&%23x2F;grist.org&%23x2F;wp-content&%23x2F;uploads&%23x2F;2026&%23x2F;06&%23x2F;Climate-Health-cardiovascular.png&%23x3F;quality&%23x3D;75&strip&%23x3D;all" width="1024" height="1251" alt="Climate-Health-cardiovascular" aria-hidden="true" loading="lazy" decoding="async" /> Extreme heat widens blood vessels, flushes fluid out of the bloodstream, and forces the heart to pump two to four times as much blood per minute to cool the body. The result is dehydration, heat’s unfailing sidekick, which thickens the blood and makes it harder to pump. In the short term, extreme temperatures can lead to heatstroke — when the body’s internal cooling systems can’t keep up and core body temperature rises above 103 degrees F — and heart failure. Continued exposure to heat waves over the span of many seasons puts repeated strain on the heart, contributing to long-term cardiovascular disease and related deaths. Extreme heat is linked to between 600 and 700 extra deaths from cardiovascular disease in the U.S. every year. These effects are most pronounced in people who work outside and are socioeconomically disadvantaged — generally people who spend more time on average exposed to the elements — though anyone who endures recurring heat waves experiences some level of risk. Heat is commonly associated with the daytime sun, but studies show that hot nights are even more damaging to human health, robbing our bodies of a crucial window of opportunity to recover from the heat we experienced during the day. Observational studies have found that nighttime temperatures are increasing at a faster rate than daytime temperatures in much of the world. In China, researchers estimated that hot nights accounted for roughly three times as many heat-related outpatient visits for cardiovascular disease. A modeling study of countries in East Asia found that if greenhouse gas emissions continue along their current trajectory, hot nights alone could account for nearly 6 percent of all deaths in Japan, South Korea, and China by the end of this century. Dive deeper Study: Warming temperatures are eroding our ability to sleep Why the United States undercounts climate-driven deaths Extreme heat is forcing farmers to work overnight, an adaptation that comes with a cost Respiratory System <img class="interactive-health-story-section__inline-image" src="https://grist.org/article/how-climate-change-affects-your-body-systems-health/https:&%23x2F;&%23x2F;grist.org&%23x2F;wp-content&%23x2F;uploads&%23x2F;2026&%23x2F;06&%23x2F;Climate-Health-respiratory.png&%23x3F;quality&%23x3D;75&strip&%23x3D;all" width="1024" height="1251" alt="Climate-Health-respiratory" aria-hidden="true" loading="lazy" decoding="async" /> Nearly half of the world’s population now lives in the wildland-urban interface, where fire-prone wild spaces meet or intermingle with towns and cities. In the U.S., the number of people living in these areas roughly doubled between 1990 and 2010. At the same time, the atmosphere has become “thirstier” in response to rising temperatures, sucking up moisture and contributing to deep droughts across parts of the planet. As these dry landscapes inevitably ignite, more and more people are breathing in air polluted by wildfire smoke — creating massive sample sizes for researchers to study. Studies show that the ultrafine particulate matter produced by the trees and shrubs incinerated by wildfires penetrates deep into the lungs and infiltrates the bloodstream, triggering inflammation and reduced lung function and worsening asthma and other chronic respiratory conditions. When wildfires burn through cities, they send a more unpredictable and potentially even more toxic mix of volatile organic compounds, microplastics, and other pollutants into the air. Recent research shows wildfire smoke can even make rashes like eczema and psoriasis worse by triggering inflammation and drying out the skin. Smoke isn’t the only respiratory irritant becoming more problematic as climate change accelerates. Extreme heat interacts with sunlight, nitrogen, and volatile organic compounds and speeds the formation of ground-level ozone, a pollutant that inflames the lungs. As higher average annual temperatures bring earlier springs, allergy season is getting longer and more intense in many parts of the world. More humidity and intensifying extreme weather events also create new footholds for black mold to take root, bringing climate-driven health crises indoors. Dive deeper Wildfire smoke is a national crisis, and it’s worse than you think Wildfire smoke is always toxic. LA’s is even worse. A hotter, wetter South is becoming a breeding ground for mold Neurological System <img class="interactive-health-story-section__inline-image" src="https://grist.org/article/how-climate-change-affects-your-body-systems-health/https:&%23x2F;&%23x2F;grist.org&%23x2F;wp-content&%23x2F;uploads&%23x2F;2026&%23x2F;06&%23x2F;Climate-Health-nervous.png&%23x3F;quality&%23x3D;75&strip&%23x3D;all" width="1024" height="1251" alt="Climate-Health-nervous" aria-hidden="true" loading="lazy" decoding="async" /> Researchers are discovering that the health consequences of wildfire smoke reach beyond the respiratory system and into the brain, where exposure to particulate matter appears to contribute to neuroinflammation and processes linked to cognitive decline, dementia, and stroke. Recent studies indicate that babies exposed to wildfire smoke in utero may have a higher risk of developing autism in childhood, though this area of research is still in the early stages. Extreme heat also impacts how the brain functions. Studies show that students score lower on exams, indoor and outdoor workers make more mistakes that lead to injury, and the elderly experience more confusion in higher temperatures. These impacts are especially dangerous because they’re so hard to see, but heat has other effects on the brain that are more visible: An assessment of violent crimes in more than 400 U.S. counties found that for every 18-degree F deviation above normal daily temperatures, the rate of violent crime rose roughly 10 percent. Research has also linked hotter days to higher rates of psychiatric emergency visits, suicide, and worsening symptoms among people with severe mental illnesses such as schizophrenia. Dive deeper Growing evidence points to link between autism and wildfire smoke How climate change is fueling alcohol-related hospitalizations Climate disasters can alter kids’ brains — before they’re even born Reproductive System <img class="interactive-health-story-section__inline-image" src="https://grist.org/article/how-climate-change-affects-your-body-systems-health/https:&%23x2F;&%23x2F;grist.org&%23x2F;wp-content&%23x2F;uploads&%23x2F;2026&%23x2F;06&%23x2F;Climate-Health-reproductive.png&%23x3F;quality&%23x3D;75&strip&%23x3D;all" width="1024" height="1251" alt="Climate-Health-reproductive" aria-hidden="true" loading="lazy" decoding="async" /> Heat exposure during pregnancy increases the risk of preterm birth by as much as 26 percent, though the exact biological mechanism that causes this is still being investigated. Heat exacerbates underlying maternal health conditions such as hypertension and cardiovascular stress. Extreme heat also affects male fertility: High ambient temperatures negatively impact sperm quality, volume, and movement. Pregnancy already opens the door to more severe illnesses — climate change is raising the risks even more. For example, pregnant women are three times more likely to develop severe malaria compared to nonpregnant women, a function of the immune system partially suppressing itself to avoid rejecting the fetus during pregnancy. Hotter temperatures and more extensive flooding are shifting the ranges of disease-carrying mosquitoes, exposing more pregnant people to malaria. In coastal regions with patchy water infrastructure, rising seas are contaminating low-lying freshwater resources with salt and contributing to hypertension in pregnant women, raising the risks of preeclampsia, premature birth, and miscarriage. ​ Dive deeper Pregnant in a warming climate: A lethal ‘double risk’ for malaria Wildfire smoke engulfed their cities. Did it make their babies sick? ‘How did we miss this for so long?’: The link between extreme heat and preterm birth Gastrointestinal System <img class="interactive-health-story-section__inline-image" src="https://grist.org/article/how-climate-change-affects-your-body-systems-health/https:&%23x2F;&%23x2F;grist.org&%23x2F;wp-content&%23x2F;uploads&%23x2F;2026&%23x2F;06&%23x2F;Climate-Health-gastro.png&%23x3F;quality&%23x3D;75&strip&%23x3D;all" width="1024" height="1251" alt="Climate-Health-gastro" aria-hidden="true" loading="lazy" decoding="async" /> The gastrointestinal system is especially sensitive to the ways climate change is reshaping water, food, and pathogenic organisms. Warmer temperatures allow many disease-causing bacteria to multiply more quickly in food and coastal waters, increasing the risk of foodborne illness. At the same time, heavier rainfall and flooding can overwhelm sanitation systems, spreading pathogens that cause diarrheal disease and contaminating drinking water supplies. In coastal regions, warming seas are enabling marine bacteria such as Vibrio vulnificus, commonly referred to as “flesh-eating bacteria,” to thrive in places they were once rare, raising the odds that raw shellfish or even contact with brackish water can lead to severe infections. And when extreme drought or floods destroy crops and lead to food shortages, the consequences can affect the gut in another way: malnutrition, which weakens immune defenses and leaves children especially vulnerable to intestinal infections that can stunt growth and long-term health.​ Dive deeper A deadly bacteria is creeping up the Atlantic Coast. How worried should you be? Climate change may be fueling a global surge in cholera outbreaks One in 11 people went hungry last year. Climate change is a big reason why. Renal System <img class="interactive-health-story-section__inline-image" src="https://grist.org/article/how-climate-change-affects-your-body-systems-health/https:&%23x2F;&%23x2F;grist.org&%23x2F;wp-content&%23x2F;uploads&%23x2F;2026&%23x2F;06&%23x2F;Climate-Health-renal.png&%23x3F;quality&%23x3D;75&strip&%23x3D;all" width="1024" height="1251" alt="Climate-Health-renal" aria-hidden="true" loading="lazy" decoding="async" /> Climate-driven health threats are often associated with short-term impacts like disease outbreaks and injuries due to flooding or dangerous winds. But the effect of extreme heat on the kidneys tells a story of chronic impacts that span years. Extended dehydration and heat stress injure these organs over time, triggering acute kidney damage that can progress into chronic kidney disease. This pattern is already emerging among agricultural workers in some of the hottest parts of the world, where doctors have documented an unusual form of kidney disease affecting people with no typical risk factors like diabetes or hypertension. It’s not just agricultural workers who are affected by chronic kidney disease. In Nepal, migrant construction workers returning home from months or years of hard outdoor labor in the United Arab Emirates and other extremely hot Gulf countries are bringing chronic kidney conditions back with them. ​ Dive deeper Rising heat, failing kidneys: Climate’s hidden toll on migrant workers From Samoa to the East Coast, doctors are diagnosing and treating climate change <img class="interactive-health-story-section__image is-active" data-type="heading" data-index="0" src="https://grist.org/article/how-climate-change-affects-your-body-systems-health/https:&%23x2F;&%23x2F;grist.org&%23x2F;wp-content&%23x2F;uploads&%23x2F;2026&%23x2F;06&%23x2F;silhouette-cardiovascular.png&%23x3F;quality&%23x3D;75&strip&%23x3D;all" width="1024" height="1251" alt="silhouette-cardiovascular" loading="lazy" decoding="async" /> <img class="interactive-health-story-section__image" data-type="story" data-index="0" src="https://grist.org/article/how-climate-change-affects-your-body-systems-health/https:&%23x2F;&%23x2F;grist.org&%23x2F;wp-content&%23x2F;uploads&%23x2F;2026&%23x2F;06&%23x2F;Climate-Health-cardiovascular.png&%23x3F;quality&%23x3D;75&strip&%23x3D;all" width="1024" height="1251" alt="Climate-Health-cardiovascular" loading="lazy" decoding="async" /> <img class="interactive-health-story-section__image" data-type="heading" data-index="1" src="https://grist.org/article/how-climate-change-affects-your-body-systems-health/https:&%23x2F;&%23x2F;grist.org&%23x2F;wp-content&%23x2F;uploads&%23x2F;2026&%23x2F;06&%23x2F;silhouette-respiratory.png&%23x3F;quality&%23x3D;75&strip&%23x3D;all" width="1024" height="1251" alt="silhouette-respiratory" loading="lazy" decoding="async" /> <img class="interactive-health-story-section__image" data-type="story" data-index="1" src="https://grist.org/article/how-climate-change-affects-your-body-systems-health/https:&%23x2F;&%23x2F;grist.org&%23x2F;wp-content&%23x2F;uploads&%23x2F;2026&%23x2F;06&%23x2F;Climate-Health-respiratory.png&%23x3F;quality&%23x3D;75&strip&%23x3D;all" width="1024" height="1251" alt="Climate-Health-respiratory" loading="lazy" decoding="async" /> <img class="interactive-health-story-section__image" data-type="heading" data-index="2" src="https://grist.org/article/how-climate-change-affects-your-body-systems-health/https:&%23x2F;&%23x2F;grist.org&%23x2F;wp-content&%23x2F;uploads&%23x2F;2026&%23x2F;06&%23x2F;silhouette-nervous.png&%23x3F;quality&%23x3D;75&strip&%23x3D;all" width="1024" height="1251" alt="silhouette-nervous" loading="lazy" decoding="async" /> <img class="interactive-health-story-section__image" data-type="story" data-index="2" src="https://grist.org/article/how-climate-change-affects-your-body-systems-health/https:&%23x2F;&%23x2F;grist.org&%23x2F;wp-content&%23x2F;uploads&%23x2F;2026&%23x2F;06&%23x2F;Climate-Health-nervous.png&%23x3F;quality&%23x3D;75&strip&%23x3D;all" width="1024" height="1251" alt="Climate-Health-nervous" loading="lazy" decoding="async" /> <img class="interactive-health-story-section__image" data-type="heading" data-index="3" src="https://grist.org/article/how-climate-change-affects-your-body-systems-health/https:&%23x2F;&%23x2F;grist.org&%23x2F;wp-content&%23x2F;uploads&%23x2F;2026&%23x2F;06&%23x2F;silhouette-reproductive.png&%23x3F;quality&%23x3D;75&strip&%23x3D;all" width="1024" height="1251" alt="silhouette-reproductive" loading="lazy" decoding="async" /> <img class="interactive-health-story-section__image" data-type="story" data-index="3" src="https://grist.org/article/how-climate-change-affects-your-body-systems-health/https:&%23x2F;&%23x2F;grist.org&%23x2F;wp-content&%23x2F;uploads&%23x2F;2026&%23x2F;06&%23x2F;Climate-Health-reproductive.png&%23x3F;quality&%23x3D;75&strip&%23x3D;all" width="1024" height="1251" alt="Climate-Health-reproductive" loading="lazy" decoding="async" /> <img class="interactive-health-story-section__image" data-type="heading" data-index="4" src="https://grist.org/article/how-climate-change-affects-your-body-systems-health/https:&%23x2F;&%23x2F;grist.org&%23x2F;wp-content&%23x2F;uploads&%23x2F;2026&%23x2F;06&%23x2F;silhouette-gastro.png&%23x3F;quality&%23x3D;75&strip&%23x3D;all" width="1024" height="1251" alt="silhouette-gastro" loading="lazy" decoding="async" /> <img class="interactive-health-story-section__image" data-type="story" data-index="4" src="https://grist.org/article/how-climate-change-affects-your-body-systems-health/https:&%23x2F;&%23x2F;grist.org&%23x2F;wp-content&%23x2F;uploads&%23x2F;2026&%23x2F;06&%23x2F;Climate-Health-gastro.png&%23x3F;quality&%23x3D;75&strip&%23x3D;all" width="1024" height="1251" alt="Climate-Health-gastro" loading="lazy" decoding="async" /> <img class="interactive-health-story-section__image" data-type="heading" data-index="5" src="https://grist.org/article/how-climate-change-affects-your-body-systems-health/https:&%23x2F;&%23x2F;grist.org&%23x2F;wp-content&%23x2F;uploads&%23x2F;2026&%23x2F;06&%23x2F;silhouette-renal.png&%23x3F;quality&%23x3D;75&strip&%23x3D;all" width="1024" height="1251" alt="silhouette-renal" loading="lazy" decoding="async" /> <img class="interactive-health-story-section__image" data-type="story" data-index="5" src="https://grist.org/article/how-climate-change-affects-your-body-systems-health/https:&%23x2F;&%23x2F;grist.org&%23x2F;wp-content&%23x2F;uploads&%23x2F;2026&%23x2F;06&%23x2F;Climate-Health-renal.png&%23x3F;quality&%23x3D;75&strip&%23x3D;all" width="1024" height="1251" alt="Climate-Health-renal" loading="lazy" decoding="async" /> <img class="interactive-health-story-section-mobile__stage-image is-active" data-type="heading" data-index="0" src="https://grist.org/article/how-climate-change-affects-your-body-systems-health/https:&%23x2F;&%23x2F;grist.org&%23x2F;wp-content&%23x2F;uploads&%23x2F;2026&%23x2F;06&%23x2F;silhouette-cardiovascular.png&%23x3F;quality&%23x3D;75&strip&%23x3D;all" width="1024" height="1251" alt="silhouette-cardiovascular" loading="lazy" decoding="async" /> <img class="interactive-health-story-section-mobile__stage-image" data-type="story" data-index="0" src="https://grist.org/article/how-climate-change-affects-your-body-systems-health/https:&%23x2F;&%23x2F;grist.org&%23x2F;wp-content&%23x2F;uploads&%23x2F;2026&%23x2F;06&%23x2F;Climate-Health-cardiovascular.png&%23x3F;quality&%23x3D;75&strip&%23x3D;all" width="1024" height="1251" alt="Climate-Health-cardiovascular" loading="lazy" decoding="async" /> <img class="interactive-health-story-section-mobile__stage-image" data-type="heading" data-index="1" src="https://grist.org/article/how-climate-change-affects-your-body-systems-health/https:&%23x2F;&%23x2F;grist.org&%23x2F;wp-content&%23x2F;uploads&%23x2F;2026&%23x2F;06&%23x2F;silhouette-respiratory.png&%23x3F;quality&%23x3D;75&strip&%23x3D;all" width="1024" height="1251" alt="silhouette-respiratory" loading="lazy" decoding="async" /> <img class="interactive-health-story-section-mobile__stage-image" data-type="story" data-index="1" src="https://grist.org/article/how-climate-change-affects-your-body-systems-health/https:&%23x2F;&%23x2F;grist.org&%23x2F;wp-content&%23x2F;uploads&%23x2F;2026&%23x2F;06&%23x2F;Climate-Health-respiratory.png&%23x3F;quality&%23x3D;75&strip&%23x3D;all" width="1024" height="1251" alt="Climate-Health-respiratory" loading="lazy" decoding="async" /> <img class="interactive-health-story-section-mobile__stage-image" data-type="heading" data-index="2" src="https://grist.org/article/how-climate-change-affects-your-body-systems-health/https:&%23x2F;&%23x2F;grist.org&%23x2F;wp-content&%23x2F;uploads&%23x2F;2026&%23x2F;06&%23x2F;silhouette-nervous.png&%23x3F;quality&%23x3D;75&strip&%23x3D;all" width="1024" height="1251" alt="silhouette-nervous" loading="lazy" decoding="async" /> <img class="interactive-health-story-section-mobile__stage-image" data-type="story" data-index="2" src="https://grist.org/article/how-climate-change-affects-your-body-systems-health/https:&%23x2F;&%23x2F;grist.org&%23x2F;wp-content&%23x2F;uploads&%23x2F;2026&%23x2F;06&%23x2F;Climate-Health-nervous.png&%23x3F;quality&%23x3D;75&strip&%23x3D;all" width="1024" height="1251" alt="Climate-Health-nervous" loading="lazy" decoding="async" /> <img class="interactive-health-story-section-mobile__stage-image" data-type="heading" data-index="3" src="https://grist.org/article/how-climate-change-affects-your-body-systems-health/https:&%23x2F;&%23x2F;grist.org&%23x2F;wp-content&%23x2F;uploads&%23x2F;2026&%23x2F;06&%23x2F;silhouette-reproductive.png&%23x3F;quality&%23x3D;75&strip&%23x3D;all" width="1024" height="1251" alt="silhouette-reproductive" loading="lazy" decoding="async" /> <img class="interactive-health-story-section-mobile__stage-image" data-type="story" data-index="3" src="https://grist.org/article/how-climate-change-affects-your-body-systems-health/https:&%23x2F;&%23x2F;grist.org&%23x2F;wp-content&%23x2F;uploads&%23x2F;2026&%23x2F;06&%23x2F;Climate-Health-reproductive.png&%23x3F;quality&%23x3D;75&strip&%23x3D;all" width="1024" height="1251" alt="Climate-Health-reproductive" loading="lazy" decoding="async" /> <img class="interactive-health-story-section-mobile__stage-image" data-type="heading" data-index="4" src="https://grist.org/article/how-climate-change-affects-your-body-systems-health/https:&%23x2F;&%23x2F;grist.org&%23x2F;wp-content&%23x2F;uploads&%23x2F;2026&%23x2F;06&%23x2F;silhouette-gastro.png&%23x3F;quality&%23x3D;75&strip&%23x3D;all" width="1024" height="1251" alt="silhouette-gastro" loading="lazy" decoding="async" /> <img class="interactive-health-story-section-mobile__stage-image" data-type="story" data-index="4" src="https://grist.org/article/how-climate-change-affects-your-body-systems-health/https:&%23x2F;&%23x2F;grist.org&%23x2F;wp-content&%23x2F;uploads&%23x2F;2026&%23x2F;06&%23x2F;Climate-Health-gastro.png&%23x3F;quality&%23x3D;75&strip&%23x3D;all" width="1024" height="1251" alt="Climate-Health-gastro" loading="lazy" decoding="async" /> <img class="interactive-health-story-section-mobile__stage-image" data-type="heading" data-index="5" src="https://grist.org/article/how-climate-change-affects-your-body-systems-health/https:&%23x2F;&%23x2F;grist.org&%23x2F;wp-content&%23x2F;uploads&%23x2F;2026&%23x2F;06&%23x2F;silhouette-renal.png&%23x3F;quality&%23x3D;75&strip&%23x3D;all" width="1024" height="1251" alt="silhouette-renal" loading="lazy" decoding="async" /> <img class="interactive-health-story-section-mobile__stage-image" data-type="story" data-index="5" src="https://grist.org/article/how-climate-change-affects-your-body-systems-health/https:&%23x2F;&%23x2F;grist.org&%23x2F;wp-content&%23x2F;uploads&%23x2F;2026&%23x2F;06&%23x2F;Climate-Health-renal.png&%23x3F;quality&%23x3D;75&strip&%23x3D;all" width="1024" height="1251" alt="Climate-Health-renal" loading="lazy" decoding="async" /> Cardiovascular System Extreme heat widens blood vessels, flushes fluid out of the bloodstream, and forces the heart to pump two to four times as much blood per minute to cool the body. The result is dehydration, heat’s unfailing sidekick, which thickens the blood and makes it harder to pump. In the short term, extreme temperatures can lead to heatstroke — when the body’s internal cooling systems can’t keep up and core body temperature rises above 103 degrees F — and heart failure. Continued exposure to heat waves over the span of many seasons puts repeated strain on the heart, contributing to long-term cardiovascular disease and related deaths. Extreme heat is linked to between 600 and 700 extra deaths from cardiovascular disease in the U.S. every year. These effects are most pronounced in people who work outside and are socioeconomically disadvantaged — generally people who spend more time on average exposed to the elements — though anyone who endures recurring heat waves experiences some level of risk. Heat is commonly associated with the daytime sun, but studies show that hot nights are even more damaging to human health, robbing our bodies of a crucial window of opportunity to recover from the heat we experienced during the day. Observational studies have found that nighttime temperatures are increasing at a faster rate than daytime temperatures in much of the world. In China, researchers estimated that hot nights accounted for roughly three times as many heat-related outpatient visits for cardiovascular disease. A modeling study of countries in East Asia found that if greenhouse gas emissions continue along their current trajectory, hot nights alone could account for nearly 6 percent of all deaths in Japan, South Korea, and China by the end of this century. Dive deeper Study: Warming temperatures are eroding our ability to sleep Why the United States undercounts climate-driven deaths Extreme heat is forcing farmers to work overnight, an adaptation that comes with a cost Respiratory System Nearly half of the world’s population now lives in the wildland-urban interface, where fire-prone wild spaces meet or intermingle with towns and cities. In the U.S., the number of people living in these areas roughly doubled between 1990 and 2010. At the same time, the atmosphere has become “thirstier” in response to rising temperatures, sucking up moisture and contributing to deep droughts across parts of the planet. As these dry landscapes inevitably ignite, more and more people are breathing in air polluted by wildfire smoke — creating massive sample sizes for researchers to study. Studies show that the ultrafine particulate matter produced by the trees and shrubs incinerated by wildfires penetrates deep into the lungs and infiltrates the bloodstream, triggering inflammation and reduced lung function and worsening asthma and other chronic respiratory conditions. When wildfires burn through cities, they send a more unpredictable and potentially even more toxic mix of volatile organic compounds, microplastics, and other pollutants into the air. Recent research shows wildfire smoke can even make rashes like eczema and psoriasis worse by triggering inflammation and drying out the skin. Smoke isn’t the only respiratory irritant becoming more problematic as climate change accelerates. Extreme heat interacts with sunlight, nitrogen, and volatile organic compounds and speeds the formation of ground-level ozone, a pollutant that inflames the lungs. As higher average annual temperatures bring earlier springs, allergy season is getting longer and more intense in many parts of the world. More humidity and intensifying extreme weather events also create new footholds for black mold to take root, bringing climate-driven health crises indoors. Dive deeper Wildfire smoke is a national crisis, and it’s worse than you think Wildfire smoke is always toxic. LA’s is even worse. A hotter, wetter South is becoming a breeding ground for mold Neurological System Researchers are discovering that the health consequences of wildfire smoke reach beyond the respiratory system and into the brain, where exposure to particulate matter appears to contribute to neuroinflammation and processes linked to cognitive decline, dementia, and stroke. Recent studies indicate that babies exposed to wildfire smoke in utero may have a higher risk of developing autism in childhood, though this area of research is still in the early stages. Extreme heat also impacts how the brain functions. Studies show that students score lower on exams, indoor and outdoor workers make more mistakes that lead to injury, and the elderly experience more confusion in higher temperatures. These impacts are especially dangerous because they’re so hard to see, but heat has other effects on the brain that are more visible: An assessment of violent crimes in more than 400 U.S. counties found that for every 18-degree F deviation above normal daily temperatures, the rate of violent crime rose roughly 10 percent. Research has also linked hotter days to higher rates of psychiatric emergency visits, suicide, and worsening symptoms among people with severe mental illnesses such as schizophrenia. Dive deeper Growing evidence points to link between autism and wildfire smoke How climate change is fueling alcohol-related hospitalizations Climate disasters can alter kids’ brains — before they’re even born Reproductive System Heat exposure during pregnancy increases the risk of preterm birth by as much as 26 percent, though the exact biological mechanism that causes this is still being investigated. Heat exacerbates underlying maternal health conditions such as hypertension and cardiovascular stress. Extreme heat also affects male fertility: High ambient temperatures negatively impact sperm quality, volume, and movement. Pregnancy already opens the door to more severe illnesses — climate change is raising the risks even more. For example, pregnant women are three times more likely to develop severe malaria compared to nonpregnant women, a function of the immune system partially suppressing itself to avoid rejecting the fetus during pregnancy. Hotter temperatures and more extensive flooding are shifting the ranges of disease-carrying mosquitoes, exposing more pregnant people to malaria. In coastal regions with patchy water infrastructure, rising seas are contaminating low-lying freshwater resources with salt and contributing to hypertension in pregnant women, raising the risks of preeclampsia, premature birth, and miscarriage. ​ Dive deeper Pregnant in a warming climate: A lethal ‘double risk’ for malaria Wildfire smoke engulfed their cities. Did it make their babies sick? ‘How did we miss this for so long?’: The link between extreme heat and preterm birth Gastrointestinal System The gastrointestinal system is especially sensitive to the ways climate change is reshaping water, food, and pathogenic organisms. Warmer temperatures allow many disease-causing bacteria to multiply more quickly in food and coastal waters, increasing the risk of foodborne illness. At the same time, heavier rainfall and flooding can overwhelm sanitation systems, spreading pathogens that cause diarrheal disease and contaminating drinking water supplies. In coastal regions, warming seas are enabling marine bacteria such as Vibrio vulnificus, commonly referred to as “flesh-eating bacteria,” to thrive in places they were once rare, raising the odds that raw shellfish or even contact with brackish water can lead to severe infections. And when extreme drought or floods destroy crops and lead to food shortages, the consequences can affect the gut in another way: malnutrition, which weakens immune defenses and leaves children especially vulnerable to intestinal infections that can stunt growth and long-term health.​ Dive deeper A deadly bacteria is creeping up the Atlantic Coast. How worried should you be? Climate change may be fueling a global surge in cholera outbreaks One in 11 people went hungry last year. Climate change is a big reason why. Renal System Climate-driven health threats are often associated with short-term impacts like disease outbreaks and injuries due to flooding or dangerous winds. But the effect of extreme heat on the kidneys tells a story of chronic impacts that span years. Extended dehydration and heat stress injure these organs over time, triggering acute kidney damage that can progress into chronic kidney disease. This pattern is already emerging among agricultural workers in some of the hottest parts of the world, where doctors have documented an unusual form of kidney disease affecting people with no typical risk factors like diabetes or hypertension. It’s not just agricultural workers who are affected by chronic kidney disease. In Nepal, migrant construction workers returning home from months or years of hard outdoor labor in the United Arab Emirates and other extremely hot Gulf countries are bringing chronic kidney conditions back with them. ​ Dive deeper Rising heat, failing kidneys: Climate’s hidden toll on migrant workers From Samoa to the East Coast, doctors are diagnosing and treating climate change This story was originally published by Grist with the headline How climate change gets under the skin on Jun 26, 2026. This content originally appeared on Grist and was authored by Zoya Teirstein.
This is the story that Trump and the West doesn’t want you to know
ANALYSIS: By Lim Tean Across my social media platforms, I encounter daily a particular brand of ignorance that I find increasingly impossible to ignore. Iran is dismissed as a crazy country ruled by medieval mullahs, its people caricatured as fanatics who chant “Death to America” for no coherent reason. And from that caricature flows a
ANALYSIS: By Lim Tean Across my social media platforms, I encounter daily a particular brand of ignorance that I find increasingly impossible to ignore. Iran is dismissed as a crazy country ruled by medieval mullahs, its people caricatured as fanatics who chant “Death to America” for no coherent reason. And from that caricature flows a conclusion that should horrify any person of conscience — that it is therefore perfectly justifiable for America, Israel, or any other country to bomb Iran, kill its people, and destroy its infrastructure. This is not analysis. It is the recycling of propaganda as a substitute for thought. And it has real consequences — because populations that are kept ignorant of history can be mobilised to support atrocities committed in their name. READ MORE: Hezbollah head Naim Qassem says Israel must leave Lebanon ‘unconditionally’ Iran urges GCC to support ‘nuclear-weapon-free zone’ in Middle East Other war on Iran reports Iran is not a cartoon. It is one of the world’s oldest and most sophisticated civilisations. And its anger at America is not irrational. It is the entirely rational response of a people to whom history has been profoundly, systematically unjust. Let me show you why. The original theft To understand Iran today, you must begin not in 1979, but in 1908. In that year, on the sun-baked plains of Khuzestan, workers drilling for the Anglo-Persian Oil Company struck black gold at Masjid-i-Suleiman — the first great oil discovery in the Middle East. The Anglo-Persian Oil Company, which would later become the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company and ultimately British Petroleum — the BP that today trades on the London Stock Exchange as a pillar of corporate respectability — had found the resource that would not merely enrich its shareholders, but change the course of world history. The discovery was not merely commercially significant. It was strategically transformative. Winston Churchill, as First Lord of the Admiralty, had made the fateful decision to convert the Royal Navy’s warships from coal to oil before the First World War — giving Britain’s fleet superior speed and range, but making it utterly dependent on a secure oil supply. Iranian oil did not merely enrich British shareholders. It powered the British Empire’s ability to wage and win the greatest war in human history. The Iranian people received almost nothing in return. For decades, Britain extracted Iran’s oil under terms of stunning inequality. Iranian workers toiled in dangerous conditions for poverty wages. Iranian communities near the oilfields lived without electricity, running water, or basic sanitation — while British staff enjoyed swimming pools, clubs, and comfortable salaries. The Iranian government received a pittance in royalties, and was denied even the right to audit the company’s accounts. Iran’s greatest natural treasure was being systematically looted, and the Iranian people knew it. A man arose who decided to say: enough. Mosaddegh and the ‘crime of democracy’ Mohammed Mosaddegh was everything the West claims to want in a Middle Eastern leader. He was democratically elected. He was secular. He was a constitutional lawyer steeped in European liberal tradition, who had studied in Paris and Neuchâtel. He wore suits, not robes. He believed in parliamentary democracy, the separation of powers, and the rule of law. In 1951, as Prime Minister, he did something unforgivable. He nationalised the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, returning Iran’s oil to its rightful owners — the Iranian people. The Iranian Parliament voted for it unanimously. The Iranian street erupted in celebration. For the first time in their modern history, Iranians dared to believe that the wealth beneath their feet might actually benefit them. Britain was apoplectic. The Americans were alarmed. And so, in August 1953, the CIA and MI6 launched Operation Ajax — one of the most consequential covert operations in modern history. They bribed Iranian generals, hired thugs to create street chaos, spread disinformation, and toppled the democratically elected government of a sovereign nation. Mosaddegh was arrested, tried, and spent the rest of his life under house arrest. He died in 1967, never having been broken, never having recanted — a man of extraordinary dignity whose only crime was wanting his country’s wealth to belong to his country’s people. In his place, the West reinstalled Mohammed Reza Shah Pahlavi — and handed him SAVAK, one of the most feared secret police forces in the world, to keep his people in line. This is the original sin. This is where the story truly begins. The Shah’s gilded cage The Shah that America restored and sustained was not a moderniser, whatever his propaganda claimed. He was a man of spectacular vanity and profound disconnect from his own people. Consider this extraordinary fact: Mohammed Reza Shah held his coronation not once, but effectively twice. He had been on the throne since 1941, but waited until 1967 — 26 years — to hold his formal coronation, because he felt the circumstances had never been grand enough for a ceremony befitting his self-image. When he finally crowned himself, in a ceremony of breathtaking opulence, ordinary Iranians watched from a distance that was not merely physical. But the coronation was merely a rehearsal for the true performance of imperial delusion — the celebrations at Persepolis in October 1971. To mark the 2500th anniversary of the Persian Empire, the Shah staged a spectacle that remains one of the most extraordinary acts of self-aggrandisement in modern political history. Heads of state and royalty from across the world were flown in. A tent city of 50 lavish pavilions was constructed in the desert near the ruins of Persepolis, the ancient Achaemenid capital. The tents themselves — along with virtually everything else — were imported from France. Maxim’s of Paris catered the meals. Guests dined on quail eggs stuffed with caviar, crayfish mousse, and roast lamb, washed down with vintage Bordeaux. Iranian culture was largely absent from a celebration ostensibly honouring Iranian civilisation. The Iranian people were spectators at a party thrown in their name, to which they were not invited. The estimated cost was anywhere between US$100 million and $300 million — at a time when millions of Iranians lived in poverty, lacking clean water, adequate healthcare, or basic education. The Iranian people drew their conclusions. Khomeini’s rational revolution When Ayatollah Khomeini offered the Iranian people his theory of velayat-e-faqih — the guardianship of the Islamic jurist — and proposed an Islamic Republic as the vessel for a new Iranian order, he was not offering them theology alone. He was offering them dignity. He was offering them the promise that Iran’s sovereignty, Iran’s resources, and Iran’s future would belong to Iranians — not to the Shah’s court, not to Western oil companies, not to American strategic planners in Washington. The Iranian revolution of 1979 was a mass movement of extraordinary breadth. Secular nationalists, leftists, intellectuals, bazaar merchants, students, and the religious poor all marched together. They had different visions of what would come after — but they were united in what they were marching against. A corrupt, repressive monarchy sustained by American power and serving American interests, which had delivered neither freedom nor prosperity to its own people. When the American Embassy was seized and diplomats taken hostage, the West erupted in outrage. But behind that act was a simple, searing Iranian fear — that America would do in 1979 what it had done in 1953. That Washington would organise another coup, reinstall the Shah, and extinguish the revolution. The hostage crisis was many things — chaotic, counterproductive, damaging to Iran’s own interests — but it was not irrational. It was the desperate act of a people who had already been betrayed once by American power and were determined not to be betrayed again. When America armed the man who gassed Iranian children If the 1953 coup was the original sin, the Iran-Iraq war was the confirmation — the moment that removed any remaining doubt in Iranian minds about what American power truly meant for their people. In September 1980, Saddam Hussein’s Iraq invaded Iran. It was an act of naked aggression against a revolutionary government that was still finding its footing, launched with the tacit encouragement of Washington, which viewed the chaos of revolutionary Iran as an opportunity to be exploited. The war that followed lasted eight years. It consumed perhaps one million lives. It was one of the bloodiest conflicts of the 20th century’s second half — and it has been almost entirely erased from Western historical memory. What has been even more comprehensively erased is America’s role in sustaining it. As the war ground on and Iranian forces began pushing back Iraqi advances, Washington made a decision of breathtaking cynicism. It could not allow Iran to win. And so America began providing Saddam Hussein with satellite intelligence on Iranian troop positions, military equipment, and — most damningly of all — with the precursor chemicals for the weapons that Saddam would use to commit one of the most documented war crimes of the modern era. Saddam Hussein used chemical weapons against Iranian forces on a massive scale — mustard gas, tabun, sarin. Thousands of Iranian soldiers died in agonising chemical attacks. And Washington knew. American officials knew that Iraq was using chemical weapons. The intelligence community reported it. And the Reagan administration made a deliberate policy decision to continue supporting Saddam regardless — because an Iranian victory was deemed strategically unacceptable. The most haunting chapter came not on a battlefield but in a Kurdish village. In March 1988, Iraqi forces attacked Halabja with chemical weapons, killing thousands of Kurdish civilians — men, women, and children — in a single day. It was the largest chemical weapons attack against a civilian population in history. And even then, Washington’s response was muted, carefully calibrated to avoid jeopardising its strategic relationship with Baghdad. Iranian mothers who lost sons to American-supplied chemical weapons are still alive today. Iranian veterans who survived those attacks carry the physical scars — destroyed lungs, ravaged skin, broken bodies — into old age. Iran has never forgotten. Iran will never forget. And yet Western commentators express bewilderment at the “Death to America” chant. Consider for a moment what that chant actually represents, stripped of its theatrical staging. It represents the voice of a mother whose son was gassed with chemicals whose precursors passed through American hands. It represents the voice of a nation that had its democracy stolen in 1953, its resources plundered for decades before that, its revolution encircled and sanctioned, and its sons killed in a war that America prolonged deliberately to prevent Iranian victory. If any Western nation had suffered a fraction of what Iran has suffered at the hands of a foreign power, that chant would be taught in schools as an anthem of righteous resistance. It would be celebrated in films and memorialised in monuments. Instead, because it is directed at American power, it is presented as evidence of Iranian “irrationality”. The arrogance required to sustain that position is staggering. 47 years of punishment Since 1979, the United States has imposed on Iran some of the most comprehensive and punishing sanctions ever inflicted on any nation in modern history. Sanctions on oil. Sanctions on banking. Sanctions on technology. Sanctions on medicine. Sanctions that have impoverished ordinary Iranians, denied patients access to life-saving drugs, and strangled an economy of 93 million people. And surrounding Iran on all sides — in the Gulf, in Iraq, in Afghanistan, in the Arabian Peninsula — America has built a vast archipelago of military bases, projecting power and telegraphing threat. Iran has been encircled, economically strangled, and subjected to covert warfare including the assassination of its nuclear scientists on its own streets. Throughout all of this, Iran has survived. It has adapted. It has built regional influence through patient statecraft, cultivating allies across Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, and Yemen. It has advanced its nuclear programme not out of theological ambition but out of the entirely rational calculation that the only nations America does not attack are those that possess nuclear deterrence. Justice delayed When analysts speak of America’s strategic defeat in its confrontation with Iran, they reach for the language of geopolitics and military balance. But there is another language that must be spoken — the language of history. For 47 years, a people of ancient civilisation, extraordinary intellectual depth, and justified grievance have been punished for the crime of reclaiming their own sovereignty. They were punished for Mosaddegh’s ghost. They were punished for daring to say no to a superpower that had grown accustomed to treating the Middle East as its private strategic estate. The “Death to America” chant that so offends Western sensibilities did not emerge from the Quran. It emerged from Operation Ajax. It emerged from SAVAK’s torture chambers. It emerged from Persepolis while children went hungry. It emerged from sanctions that killed patients who could not obtain medicine. It emerged from chemical weapons whose precursors passed through American hands. It emerged from a history that the West has studiously refused to confront — because confronting it would require acknowledging that the rage it provokes is not irrational. It is the entirely rational response of a people to whom history has been profoundly, systematically unjust. Understanding this does not require endorsing every act of the Islamic Republic. It requires only honesty — the willingness to read history as it actually happened, rather than as Western convenience has chosen to remember it. Iran is not a cartoon. It is a civilisation. And civilisations have long memories. Much of the historical foundation of this piece draws on two remarkable books that I commend to every serious reader: Michael Axworthy’s Revolutionary Iran — Axworthy served as Head of the Iran Section at the British Foreign Office before becoming one of the foremost academic authorities on modern Iran — and Scott Anderson’s Shah of Shahs. They changed how I understand this civilisation. They may change how you understand it too. Lim Tean is a Singaporean lawyer, politician and commentator. He is the founder of the political party People’s Voice and a co-founder of the political alliance People’s Alliance for Reform. This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.
Ask a Climate Therapist: How do I avoid getting trapped in the system I hope to change?
A young engineer has a vision for changing their industry, but worries about slowly becoming a cog in the machine. Therapist Leslie Davenport offers advice for staying creative.
Dear Leslie, I work as a civil engineer, and I want to change the way roadway projects are seen, from constant expansion to holistic community-led improvement — but I feel like I don’t have enough traction as an entry-level employee. I am scared I will get sucked into the system as it is now and never effect the change I envision. How do I make sure I don’t fall into this trap? — A Worried Engineer Submit a question for a future Ask a Climate Therapist column Dear Worried Engineer, While it might not feel like it, your concern is an asset: It signals that you’re aware of how systems suppress creativity and reward business as usual. You’re right that as an entry-level worker, you may need to take the long view and build credibility before you can shift your organization’s culture and policies. This approach is called strategic patience — an intentional practice you draw on while you’re working toward values-based change. (It’s completely different from capitulation, which involves rationalizing a particular story so you can feel OK about your workplace or industry as it is.) Think of this as a time for reconnaissance and field research on your part. Keep your eyes wide open to the specific challenges you think your organization needs to overcome in order to adopt the more holistic, community-based approach that you want to see in action — and write about it, to help keep yourself on track and hone your ideas about how to transform some of the established practices in your field. Ask a Climate Therapist tackles your questions about how to navigate the emotional side of climate change, with leading climate-aware therapist Leslie Davenport. Have a question? Ask it here! The “trap” that you want to avoid also has a name: bureaucratic absorption, the gradual process by which people who enter systems intending to change them are instead changed by them. So, how can you avoid falling into that? Most climate psychology tools focus on increasing the resilience of our emotions, thoughts, and nervous system. That will always be foundational, but it’s not enough here. Because bureaucratic absorption works by dulling creativity, part of how you resist its pull is by intentionally cultivating creativity. For you as an engineer, this might look like reconnecting with the original impulse and innate skills that drew you to this work: your problem-solving imagination, your ability to plan forward, and your ideas about what a road can do for a community rather than to it. And keep your creativity growing by deliberately engaging with fields outside your own — art, history, fiction — to keep your imagination from narrowing into only what’s technically feasible under today’s constraints. You might also try building a “what if” habit: a small, regular practice of asking speculative questions with no immediate utility, almost like calisthenics for the creative mind. Finding or creating a community of like-minded people inside or outside the workplace is also one of the most robust psychological strategies for keeping your values front and center. That could include joining climate-aware professional networks, seeking out mentors who’ve navigated similar frustrations, or forging a friendship with one or more trusted colleagues. This is exactly how social change has always occurred: by people who kept each other honest and imaginative. Finally, don’t forget that your workplace exists within a changing world. Community-oriented approaches are gaining ground in urban planning, policy, and climate adaptation, which means that the window for this kind of creative thinking may be opening rather than closing. Keep an eye out for stories that inspire you — and ones you could share with leaders at your organization — that model the kind of work you want to do. In this with you, Leslie I’m Leslie Davenport, a licensed therapist, educator, speaker, consultant, and internationally recognized voice on the emotional and psychological dimensions of climate change. If you’ve got a question about climate and mental health, please consider submitting it for a future column. Submit a question for a future Ask a Climate Therapist column More from Ask a Climate Therapist <img data-src='https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/climate-anxiety-catastrophize-advice.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&%23038;w=768' alt="Collage of wildfire imagery closing in on an anxious person hugging their knees" height="1125" width="2000" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/climate-anxiety-catastrophize-advice.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 2000w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/climate-anxiety-catastrophize-advice.jpg?resize=1200%2C675&quality=75&strip=all 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/climate-anxiety-catastrophize-advice.jpg?resize=330%2C186&quality=75&strip=all 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/climate-anxiety-catastrophize-advice.jpg?resize=768%2C432&quality=75&strip=all 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/climate-anxiety-catastrophize-advice.jpg?resize=1536%2C864&quality=75&strip=all 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/climate-anxiety-catastrophize-advice.jpg?resize=160%2C90&quality=75&strip=all 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/climate-anxiety-catastrophize-advice.jpg?resize=150%2C84&quality=75&strip=all 150w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" class="tease-art__art js-modal-gallery__hidden lazyload" loading=lazy fetchpriority=auto decoding="async" /> Ask a Climate Therapist: Is it still ‘catastrophizing’ if the threat is real? Licensed therapist Leslie Davenport breaks down some of the tools that can help manage anxiety in the face of mounting climate catastrophe. <img data-src='https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/climate-future-advice.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&%23038;w=768' alt="Collage of graduate wearing red cap and gown, looking out toward hurricane imagery" height="1125" width="2000" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/climate-future-advice.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 2000w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/climate-future-advice.jpg?resize=1200%2C675&quality=75&strip=all 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/climate-future-advice.jpg?resize=330%2C186&quality=75&strip=all 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/climate-future-advice.jpg?resize=768%2C432&quality=75&strip=all 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/climate-future-advice.jpg?resize=1536%2C864&quality=75&strip=all 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/climate-future-advice.jpg?resize=160%2C90&quality=75&strip=all 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/climate-future-advice.jpg?resize=150%2C84&quality=75&strip=all 150w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" class="tease-art__art js-modal-gallery__hidden lazyload" loading=lazy fetchpriority=auto decoding="async" /> Ask a Climate Therapist: Why should I plan for my future when I feel we don’t have one? Licensed therapist Leslie Davenport offers advice to a young reader staring down a world of uncertainty. <img data-src='https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/traveling-carbon-footprint-climate-therapist.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&%23038;w=768' alt="Collage of person looking out plane window and snippets of boarding pass" height="1125" width="2000" srcset="https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/traveling-carbon-footprint-climate-therapist.jpg?quality=75&strip=all 2000w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/traveling-carbon-footprint-climate-therapist.jpg?resize=1200%2C675&quality=75&strip=all 1200w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/traveling-carbon-footprint-climate-therapist.jpg?resize=330%2C186&quality=75&strip=all 330w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/traveling-carbon-footprint-climate-therapist.jpg?resize=768%2C432&quality=75&strip=all 768w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/traveling-carbon-footprint-climate-therapist.jpg?resize=1536%2C864&quality=75&strip=all 1536w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/traveling-carbon-footprint-climate-therapist.jpg?resize=160%2C90&quality=75&strip=all 160w, https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/traveling-carbon-footprint-climate-therapist.jpg?resize=150%2C84&quality=75&strip=all 150w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" class="tease-art__art js-modal-gallery__hidden lazyload" loading=lazy fetchpriority=auto decoding="async" /> Ask a Climate Therapist: How can I balance my travel itch with guilt about emissions? Licensed therapist Leslie Davenport advises a reader who loves to travel, but worries about its impact on the planet. This story was originally published by Grist with the headline Ask a Climate Therapist: How do I avoid getting trapped in the system I hope to change? on Jun 26, 2026. This content originally appeared on Grist and was authored by Leslie Davenport.
Jale Moala: Why is the UN credible when Fiji agrees but not when it’s inconvenient?
COMMENTARY: By Jale Moala It’s interesting how readily many people in Fiji embrace the work of the United Nations when it supports local programmes such as climate resilience, development, governance and social inclusion. Yet when the UN publishes reports critical of Israel’s military actions in Gaza, some of the same voices suddenly dismiss it as
COMMENTARY: By Jale Moala It’s interesting how readily many people in Fiji embrace the work of the United Nations when it supports local programmes such as climate resilience, development, governance and social inclusion. Yet when the UN publishes reports critical of Israel’s military actions in Gaza, some of the same voices suddenly dismiss it as corrupt, evil or “fake news”. Recently the UN published a report that accuses Israel of deliberately targeting children in Gaza. READ MORE: Israel continues to commit genocide, atrocity crimes by deliberately targeting Palestinian children, UN independent commission finds Israeli envoy and UN official clash at hearing over report blacklisting Tel Aviv Other Fiji and Israel reports Facebook comments in response to the report have described the UN as the “enemy of Israel”, “a promoter of lies” and even an organisation that “stands for terrorists”. The Fijian response raises an interesting question: Is the UN credible only when it says things we already agree with? Or do we judge its credibility according to who its findings happen to criticise? No institution is beyond criticism, including the UN. But it is worth remembering that it has maintained an office in Suva since Fiji’s independence, supporting everything from disaster recovery and climate resilience to governance, health and community development. It seems odd to celebrate its work when it helps Fiji, yet dismiss it outright when its findings are politically or religiously inconvenient. Jale Moala, one of Fiji’s most experienced and talented journalists, has been editor of the Fiji Daily Post and Pacific Islands Monthly, night editor of The National daily newspaper in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, and a senior journalist on several New Zealand news media. This commentary is republished from his Facebook page with permission. Targeting of Gaza chidren Video: ABC News This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by Pacific Media Watch.
Chocolatier Sandy Tran on trusting yourself (and your team)
How did you go from pastry chef at The French Laundry to this?
How did you go from pastry chef at The French Laundry to this? The French Laundry is a very different world. As a restaurant, it’s just a different format. There’s a formula: an ice cream course, a fruit course, a chocolate course—and the three shall not meet. Working within that kind of structure was cool. My chef taught me how to really make those things shine. Learning from him, having a big garden process, and just watching how that resonated with guests was great foundational learning. Transitioning that kind of knowledge base to here was a complete 180. I could put a perfectly oiled strawberry on a plate and give it to you, and you’re like, “This is fantastic.” Making that translate to a bonbon takes a lot of art. Sometimes, I’ll have a strawberry plucked and eat it, and be like, “This is great.” And then try to put it into a bonbon, and I’m like, “That’s bad. How did it go from there to there?” Do you start with just throwing things at the table, thinking, “these are the ingredients that I need to get towards this flavor profile,” and rejiggering it from there? Exactly. I’m very trial-and-error. I like to have a wild, crazy thought, and then I’ll struggle and try to make it, and then realize that there are limitations to what I can do. So it’s like, “Okay, cool. That was a good idea, Sandy, but let’s rein it in. Maybe we’ll just do a basic ganache to let the other ingredient that you’re really trying to shine, shine.” And then you just find inspiration from everywhere, walking the market. I need to be out in the sunshine, smell, taste, and think about ingredients. I’m always thinking about things even though I might not look it. Is that very different in your experience as the head chocolatier versus the restaurant environment? It’s kind of crazy because the restaurant is very fleeting. At The French Laundry, the menu was supposed to change every day. So you could put something on the menu and if you didn’t like it, you can change it tomorrow. But with this, it’s a permanent box. It’s a collection. If people don’t like it…welp…it’s there and we’re selling it. But I’m hopeful. I always think, “Well, if it tastes good to me, then I should trust that it tastes good.” I have to trust my palate and my vision. If that gets muddled, then the box doesn’t have cohesion. So ultimately, that’s what I’m trying to lead in one way or another. I just want to make something that tastes good. When you guys developed your proprietary painting style, did you feel like that changed the way you were thinking about the bonbons? Yes. Everyone typically sprays with an air compressor with a paint end, and as we got bigger, there’s just so much spraying…It’s very taxing on the wrists and the lungs. I can understand that aesthetic is really nice, but I think we should put a lot of money and a lot of work on the outside of the box that people actually keep. Things can look nice without killing the people who make it. We decided as a company to shift. We thought we’re not going to spend hours and hours on deco, so let’s just spend hours and hours on finding the best ingredient. Let’s spend hours and hours making a wonderful jam out of fresh strawberries. Let’s do that. Let’s not spend hours decorating a bonbon and injuring ourselves doing it. When you’re working with chocolate, what about it do you find particularly exciting and what is very challenging? The challenging thing is making a shelf-stable product. It’s hard because what really drew me to the food world was restaurants. I want to make something that tastes really good and then just put it on the plate, and you can eat it. Trying to make it shelf-stable is such a tough nut to crack while still…I don’t want to put a bunch of stuff in it. I don’t use potassium sorbate. If anything, we use citric acid or ascorbic acid. It’s a small acid that is a preservative. We try not to use too much of it, obviously, but sometimes we just need a little bit to preserve that bright acidity, but that’s about it. There’s a flavor that I’ve been wanting to nail. Peaches. I have tried so many times because I love peaches. Peaches might be my favorite fruit. I have not been able to put peaches in a bonbon because that flavor just goes so fast. I can do all the stuff, and then a month from now, if I try to eat it…It just tastes like sugar. So it is challenging to make a quality product that is shelf-stable and maintains its integrity. What is exciting for you? The same thing! It is challenging, but it’s so fun. I feel like you like a problem to solve. Yes, exactly. I love to tinker. Chocolate making is so satisfying because when you do a good job, it tells you that you’re doing a good job. The chocolate will tell you. It will just flop out of the hole. When you’re doing a bad job, it won’t seal, it won’t crack, it will split. It’s a medium that is so responsive to the maker. If you’re making ganache, or a praline, or whatever, the filling, and if you didn’t follow the principles of good ganache making, it splits. But if it’s right, then it’s shiny and it emulsifies nicely. It pipes beautifully. Then, when you go to cap it, it caps beautifully. And when you go to knock out, every single one of the things just flops out. What else in the whole world does that for you? I can’t parent like that. It’s as if your child looks up at you and says, “A-plus job, Mom.” That doesn’t happen! But there is a lot of intuition along with the formulas. I’m sure you see patterns in the chocolates and how to compensate for changes. Absolutely. We have a system. All my staff here have been with me for a very long time, so they know to spot things that might go awry. So, say on a shelling day, they’re doing double what they normally would do on a specific day. You have to know how to read those signs. You can’t just follow three steps and get the same result. You’re doing three steps, but you’re doing two times those steps. The room heats up by two degrees. A person who might not know this— Wait. So, even just working on the chocolate might be harming to chocolate? Yes. The room is warmer now because we’re doing twice the amount of product. My staff intuitively know to move out of rooms. Say our coma is full, which is the conditioning cabinet that we keep the chocolate in. They know they can’t work in there today, so instead they’ll work on something that needs six hours to crystallize. They’re so good, honestly. They’re craftsmen and so many of those things can’t be taught. The chocolate will tell you. What do you do when you can’t quite achieve a flavor? How do you keep your spirits up? Oh, my God. Actually, I work well under duress—say a hard service or busy night. But I don’t do creative work well under duress. If it’s busy and I need to come up with a really good flavor…I’m just like, “I can’t right now. I know I can later, but you’ve got to give me space to do it.” What really gives me the mental space to do the creative work is doing the other stuff. As a break, I’ll move out of the kitchen and go to the ship line and start shipping boxes or packing boxes. It keeps my hands moving, that makes me feel like I’m productive and gives me positive momentum. Sometimes I just need to ship 1,000 boxes to feel like I have the space to be creative. It’s not a self-care day, but, dare I say: a self-care task. I feel similarly. I’ll re-pot a plant and then know how to fix the pages I was toiling with by the time I’m done. I needed the problem not to be the number one highlight of my focus. How do you know when a bonbon is done and needs nothing else? I’ll taste it, taste it, taste it, taste it. I ask myself, “How can I make it better? It needs more whatever, salt, vanilla.” Taste it again, again, and again until I think, “Okay, this is it. Let’s not mess with it anymore.” Then I’ll taste it one final time and be like, “Okay, add a percent. Just increase it by one more percent, just a little bit more.” For example, salting a ganache, I’ll salt, salt, salt, salt, salt; taste it. Okay, it can use a little bit more salt. And then I’m like, “Okay, it’s good now.” And then, at the very final moment, I’m going to put a little bit more salt. Walk away. That’s good. Whatever it may be. What’s really crazy is I don’t have to answer to anybody, which I love. There’s not a single person in this building that will tell me that I can’t make something. It’s wonderful. I know I work for a company that thinks, “Hey, you’re the chef. We trust you. Do whatever you want. If it tastes good to you, it tastes good to us.” I definitely use my staff. I ask them, “What do you guys think? Is it good?” How do you factor in collaboration with what you’re doing? Honestly, it’s so much easier to have a team and ask what they want to make. Then I’m just helping. It’s one of the reasons why I think people come to work, or I want people to come here, because I’m not a one-trick pony, and I don’t want to make all the flavors myself. For Christmas, this is a big, big one. We think about Christmas all year because, well, it’s Christmas. But everyone has a holiday story. One year, we made champurrado. I did not grow up Hispanic, but a member of my staff said, “I love champurrado. It’s a corn-based drink made with chocolate, vanilla spices.” I thought that would land really well with our audience and our community. I went and found good corn. And we got a great masa as a base. Then we got really good Mexican vanilla and found a really good chocolate to pair. As I was making it with my staff, they kept telling me what it needs. It belongs to the person whose idea it was, and I’m just a steward of making the creation. I love that. Because their ideas are just as good as anyone else’s, right? Just as good as mine. And then, hopefully, I’m just relying on my palate and their palate to nail it. That feels collaborative to me. I hope it does for them, too. What is something that you wish you had known about this profession before becoming a chocolatier? I don’t know. I knew that it was going to be hard on the body, but I very much picked it knowing that. In which way is it hard on the body? Constantly bending over? It is so heavy. Any chocolatier will tell you. The mold itself is a certain polycarbonate weight. Once you fill it with chocolate, then you fill it with ganache, and then you work with it, and it’s so repetitive, the repetitive nature of chocolate. You’re doing this 4,000 times across the course of that flavor. Basically, to make the economics of this business work, you have to do a lot. So, it’s an abuse on the body. It’s one of those things that’s like sculpture or something, I guess. I don’t know, maybe ceramics. There’s so much you’ve been saying that reminds me of ceramicists. Especially when you were mentioning the chocolate talks back to you. My ceramicist friends all say it’s easy to mold when you follow its lead. Otherwise you’re fighting the clay. Imagine throwing that clay all day long. I’m sure it’s really bad on the body, but what do you do? If you love it, what do you do? So what do you do to protect yourself physically and also creatively in the off hours? In the hours, we make sure that you’re rotating tasks. No one individual is doing a task for too long, and we try to spread it out as much as we can. Obviously, taking away the spraying was huge. So, finding new and innovative ways, talking to engineers, and we’re like, “How do we eliminate this because we can’t just do this anymore?” In the off hours, to protect myself, I can’t pick up my baby. That’s the number one thing I was thinking about. I’m so sad. He loves being picked up. My husband does a lot of holding. There’s mom ways, I guess, that you figure out. Defensive positions that help maintain. I don’t want to destroy my body to make this product, so we just try to find really good, protective ways. Pivot when we need to pivot, and hire more staff and spread the workload. How do you nourish your creative side when not at work? I honestly just try not to think about work when I’m not at work. It’s such a fun profession. It’s not that serious. My sister’s a doctor. I’m not, it’s not that serious. Eating bonbons is such a fun thing to do. But, I also try and plan ahead so I’m not stressed. And surround myself with people who are super positive. Music is really helpful. We listen to a ton of music in the kitchen. When everyone’s having a great day, we’re listening to music. We’re vibing. The chocolate’s working really well. Then we just naturally start having conversations about the future and what we want to do creatively. I have a confession. I don’t like the taste of chocolate. But I will always try a really good chocolate or truffle because the feel of it in my mouth is so rewarding. I love tasting someone’s experiment. Engaging with their understanding of this food source that people have been crafting for centuries is really interesting to me. What’s funny about chocolate is that it is…I keep saying that shelf stability is a bad thing, and, as a creative, working in that paradigm is hard, but it’s also magical in that it’s a snapshot of time. How does [our peanut butter and jelly] bonbon taste exactly like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich that I had when I was little? Chocolate does span centuries. We’ve all been eating this stuff forever, and because it’s fat-based, it holds onto flavor so well. And again, if you play its game and you pick a flavor that it holds, it really holds it. I can’t do that in a restaurant. It’s kind of amazing how you make a tiny crafted dessert, and it’s shippable. It’s like a time capsule. Everyone’s also probably smiling when they’re experiencing it. It’s a celebratory thing you’re working with. Other food can be that as well, but it’s often just sustenance. But this is a luxury, a way of enjoying life. I love that. You’re right. It’s not sustenance. A cookie is like…sometimes you’re really hungry, and a cookie will do. It’s a little sidecar to coffee and breakfast. Chocolate will never be sausage. Can you imagine how much you’d have to eat if you’re hungry to fill you? You’re very much opting in when you’re eating, and you’re like, “I’m trying to fill a hole that nothing else can.” And it’s a little piece of chocolate. Sandy Tran recommends: Slowing down and having an afternoon nap with your 18 month old baby Enjoying the numerous small sidewalk restaurants in Montreal Riding a three wheeled cargo bike to the beach with all your gear and kids in tow Escaping to thoughtful and warm boutique hotels in beachside towns with your favorite person Walking through Philadelphia during the 1 week in Spring where the weather is perfect and the humidity is below 60%. This content originally appeared on The Creative Independent and was authored by Nereya Otieno.
Cook Islands set to head to the polls in six weeks — August 12
RNZ Pacific Cook Islanders are set to head to the polls in six weeks’ time, the King’s Representative of the Cook Islands, Sir Tom Marsters, has announced. In a radio announcement, Sir Tom said that on the advice tendered to him by Prime Minister Mark Brown to call for fresh elections, and pursuant to Article
RNZ Pacific Cook Islanders are set to head to the polls in six weeks’ time, the King’s Representative of the Cook Islands, Sir Tom Marsters, has announced. In a radio announcement, Sir Tom said that on the advice tendered to him by Prime Minister Mark Brown to call for fresh elections, and pursuant to Article 37 of the Cook Islands constitution, he had dissolved Parliament and appointed Wednesday, 12 August, as the date for the next general election. Sir Tom added that, in accordance with the principles of Westminster parliamentary democracy, the incumbent government would enter into a caretaker mode leading up to the election. READ MORE: Cook Islands PM keeps election date ‘close to his chest’ as opposition eyes unseating him Other Cook Islands reports The Cook Islands Parliament was adjourned sine die on Tuesday afternoon local time, concluding business for this term. In Parliament, Brown clarified that, under the constitution, the King’s Representative is responsible for issuing the notice announcing the election date. Cook Islands News had earlier indicated that the election would be held in August. The last general election took place on 1 August 2022, when Prime Minister Brown led the Cook Islands Party to form a government for a fourth consecutive term with the support of Independent MPs. Election dates Prior to that, the 2018 election was held on June 14, while the 2014 poll was a snap election held on July 9. The 2010 general election took place on November 17. Following the conclusion of business for the latest sitting, which was headlined by the passing of the National Budget, Speaker of Parliament Tai Tura adjourned the House sine die, marking the formal conclusion of the 18th Parliament’s business. “The decision taken by this House does not dissolve Parliament,” Tura clarified. “As that is a matter provided for under the Constitution … it signifies that the House has completed the work presently, before it, and will now stand adjourned without a date.” “As Speaker, I extend sincere appreciation to all Honourable Members for their service, deliberations and contributions throughout this term. The work of this House-debate, scrutiny, law making and representation-reflects our shared responsibility to the people of the Cook Islands.” This story was first published on This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.
HRW’s Executive Director Philippe Bolopion is in Kyiv this week.
The Hidden Architecture of Knowledge: Intelligence, Academia and the Shaping of Power
One of the central questions guiding my recent work on intelligence, knowledge production and state power concerns undeclared interests and relationship of research funders. Most of the questions I pursue grew out of my efforts to understand the implications of a mid-1970s finding by the US Senate Church Committee (so named, because it was chaired by Senator Frank Church) that the CIA’s covert funding of US international scholarship was “massive.” The committee established that about half the grants for international research during the 1960s (excluding grants made by Carnegie, Ford, and Rockefeller Foundations—which the report found had their own CIA ties) were secretly funded or influenced by the CIA. This passage got me searching for documents that could substantiate how this system worked. More The post The Hidden Architecture of Knowledge: Intelligence, Academia and the Shaping of Power appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Participants at the International Conference on Modernization in Asia held at Korea University, sponsored by the CIA-linked Asia Foundation in 1965. One of the central questions guiding my recent work on intelligence, knowledge production and state power concerns undeclared interests and relationship of research funders. Most of the questions I pursue grew out of my efforts to understand the implications of a mid-1970s finding by the US Senate Church Committee (so named, because it was chaired by Senator Frank Church) that the CIA’s covert funding of US international scholarship was “massive.” The committee established that about half the grants for international research during the 1960s (excluding grants made by Carnegie, Ford, and Rockefeller Foundations—which the report found had their own CIA ties) were secretly funded or influenced by the CIA. This passage got me searching for documents that could substantiate how this system worked. Part of my work might be thought of as a memory project. Using archives, previously secret documents, oral histories, and published works to consider how the not-always-mentioned interests of the US military industrial complex shaped the development of anthropology and other intellectual inquiries during the Cold War. As I read history of anthropology as a graduate student I was struck by such an obvious lacuna. This work also might be thought of as a fundamental materialist analysis of some of the ways that a society’s base helps shape its superstructure in ways that members of the society don’t always consider. Covert Infrastructure of Academic Knowledge The origins of my latest book, Cold War Deceptions: The Asia Foundation and the CIA, were somewhat accidental. I long ago gave up applying to foundations for most grants or fellowships, having learned that I was not likely to get traditional funds to study the politics of research funding. For many years I received more invitations to give talks at universities in the US and abroad than I could accommodate, but when invited to universities with archival materials I wished to explore, I would add several days to my trip to consult these materials. When invited to give a public talk at Yale in 2013, I asked if, instead of an honorarium, the university could add several more days to the hotel they provided. Among the collections I consulted, there were the papers of Robert Blum, the Asia Foundation President during the foundation’s most productive period of CIA engagement. I knew basic facts about the foundation’s CIA ties, which ended after they were exposed in the New York Times in 1967, and years earlier I had explored documents at the Smithsonian’s National Anthropological Archives relating to the American Anthropological Association receiving Asia Foundation funds, and the Association’s reaction following the exposure of CIA ties. At Yale, I found a remarkable, but small collection of papers that included a treasure trove of confidential board reports that read like CIA intelligence briefings. I later made a second trip to Yale and copied more materials, and while knowing a lot about CIA operations during this period, I am not an Asian specialist, and I worried that my lack of regional historical knowledge would limit the sort of analysis I could do, simply because so many local names and historical contexts would be unfamiliar to me. So, I initially looked into trying to organise a conference where I would invite a dozen regional specialists, parceling out regional reports, and having a series of papers analyse what the CIA gained, or hoped to gain, from these foundation activities. But after some inquiries to possible funders, I concluded this wasn’t an option. A few years later, I learned that the Asia Foundation had deposited a massive collection of its papers at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. I received research funds from Hoover and found hundreds of linear feet of material, and I decided it was worth the effort to try and write it up as a book. In many ways it was a book I wished someone else would write, but while it took me a while to get up to speed, this was a rewarding project. Soft Power, Philanthropy and Cold War Strategy The relationship between development work, philanthropy and intelligence strategies in the Cold War context deserves careful consideration. There has long been a revolving door of administrative personnel shifting back and forth between governmental positions at the US Department of State, or with intelligence ties, and powerful public and private research funding institutions. Throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries US governmental and private funding streams have frequently aligned with the lopsided goals of development schemes. How this works is laid out pretty clearly in important scholarly books like Inderjeet Parmar’s Foundations of the American Century: The Ford, Carnegie, and Rockefeller Foundations in the Rise of American Power or Gerard Colby & Charlotte Dennett’s Thy Will Be Done: The Conquest of the Amazon: Nelson Rockefeller and Evangelism in the Age of Oil. During the Cold War, this often meant supporting specific regimes while establishing the sort of debt that powered the types of dependent relationships Andre Gunder Frank wrote about, or that John Perkins describes in Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, or Bradley Simpson documents in Economists With Guns. My research explores the role of “soft power” as a vehicle for political and strategic objectives in Asia. One of the ideas I try and develop in Cold War Deceptions: The Asia Foundation and the CIA is that while it seems obvious to view the most violent CIA operations like military coups, paramilitary actions, assassinations, tortures, or kidnappings as separate from CIA supported soft power operations, in fact, all of these activities are actually part of the same machinery undermining local self-determination and strengthening imperial hegemony. While many US social scientists working on soft power programs conceive of this work as unrelated to these darker operations, or perhaps as in opposition to such activities, historically these have at times both been arms of the same effort to exert external control over local politics. Anthropology and the Intelligence State Anthropology’s entanglements with intelligence agencies have evolved in notable ways from the Cold War period to the present. During the Cold War, anthropologists gradually became aware that their work was being harvested and sometimes hijacked by military and intelligence agencies for various uses. When anthropologists found out about Project Camelot’s 1964 efforts to design counterinsurgency plans for the Global South, the American Anthropological Association (AAA) condemned these plans, and when anthropologists in the early 1970s working on counterinsurgency operations in Thailand were exposed, there were similar condemnations, and the AAA’s ethics code was created with language prohibiting such secretive engagements; where were later removed in part to all applied anthropologists to create proprietary reports for sponsors. As the post-9/11 terror wars developed, there were new pushes to incorporate anthropological knowledge for counterinsurgency operations. The AAA was less firm in its opposition to such activities, but many in the association pushed against such engagements. I was part of an activist group known as the Network of Concerned Anthropologists who organised opposition to anthropologists assisting the US terror wars, and I served on an AAA committee that tried to develop guidelines for anthropologists considering engaging with military or intelligence apparatus. While it is difficult to determine how indicative the current Trump moment is of things to come, it appears we are now in moments where the US military-intelligence complex mostly doesn’t care not only about social science, but about any science telling them things they don’t want to hear. During the current anti-intellectual anti-science moment, and it is difficult to tell exactly what is going on or what comes next. The concept of “dual-use” social science remains highly relevant in the era of data-driven governance and digital surveillance. With the rise of Artificial Intelligence we appear to be entering an era where not only our writings but the mundane digital artifacts of living our daily lives become fodder for dual use abuses. The analytical tools being harnessed to analyse this data grow directly from decades of social science research; research conducted by groups and individuals who mostly never intended their work be used for the forms of monitoring and control that their work will now be applied in essentially dual use ways. Academic Freedom under Pressure Significant ongoing tensions persist between national security practices and academic freedom today. The US university system appears to be on the edge of some sort of state of collapse. Multiple forces contribute to this: since Reagan there has been an ongoing neoliberal withdrawal of public funds for education, the rise of the managerial deanlet class of worthless administrators, the strangling culture of endless meaningless assessment, artificial intelligence making everyone dumber, and increasingly academic administrations at both public and private universities are dominated by anti-intellectual nabobs who understand little of what they are overseeing, much less principles of academic shared governance. While not directly related to the national security apparatus, under Trump, there appears to be very little governmental interest in any sort of social science research, so funds for basic research or even studying foreign languages have been slashed. Most academic departments have become so used to chasing funding opportunities that this current state of free fall has many colleagues afraid to do the sort of critical work that needs to be done, and many don’t know how to do unfunded research, in part because the normal academic political economy has always focused on chasing funding. Robert Blum, head of the Asia Foundation during its most productive period of engagement with the CIA. I attended the annual American Anthropological Association meetings this year and was saddened to see sessions where powerful people at funding agencies instructed scholars how to write funding applications that would not get targeted for using critical analytical terms like “inequality” or “democracy” never mind any sort of critical Marxist terminology. In other sessions, I heard a tenured scholar from a rich university, misunderstanding a key lesson of McCarthyism, describe how they now depoliticise their analysis, instead of using their position to confront what is happening. Decades ago, I used tens of thousands of FBI files to write a history of McCarthyism’s impact on American anthropology in the 1950s (Threatening Anthropology: McCarthyism and the FBI’s Surveillance of Activist Anthropologists), and one thing I learned was that it only took a small number of attacks to get most anthropologists to cowardly surrender their academic freedom, and we’re seeing the same thing today. Most academics have never really used their academic freedom, so it hasn’t been that difficult to limit it. There are serious ethical and political issues embedded in military and intelligence agencies’ use of social scientists’ work. The fundamental ethical issues are generally not unique to these engagements and are linked to things like being honest, not betraying research participants, getting voluntary informed consent, not harming research participants, producing an honest analysis, protecting research participants, and not writing secret reports that study populations cannot access. These sorts of ethical principles are relatively easily identified in various disciplines’ professional ethics codes, but equally important, and far less commonly addressed by professional associations, are political concerns that need to be addressed by social scientists working in these (and other) settings. In the early 2000s, I was appointed to several committees within the American Anthropological Association, trying to develop policies relating to anthropologists and military and intelligence agencies. One committee wrote two reports identifying key issues and making policy recommendations, the second wrote a new code of ethics, which included language prohibiting secret reports. While I advocated including statements moving beyond standard ethical dimensions and also addressing the political dimensions of our research, I was unsuccessful in these efforts. A lot rides on what happens next. There are ongoing attacks on higher education in the United States. One recent attack on anthropology and the liberal arts, the Vanderbilt Report, is getting a lot of press, and these sorts of attacks on anthropology and other critical disciplines follow the same patterns I saw in my research on McCarthyism. The entire thesis of my book Threatening Anthropology was that anti-racist anthropologist activists were the primary disciplinary victims of McCarthyism. Whether or not they actually had ties to communism or did Marxist analysis didn’t make them targets nearly as much as their activism did. And just as anthropologists demonstrating the social construction of race and racism were subjected to McCarthyism’s attacks, today scholars complicating our understanding of race, sex, gender, class, and other topics central to our understanding of inequality are under attack. As we need to learn from the McCarthy period, we all need to speak out and fight back, not alter our research to try and slip by these would-be censors. Some strands of what might have been critical activist anthropology lost its way under McCarthyism, we shouldn’t let the same thing happen today. This was first published by the Statecraft Institute in Jodhpur, India. © 2026 The Statecraft Institute. All rights reserved. The post The Hidden Architecture of Knowledge: Intelligence, Academia and the Shaping of Power appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by David Price.
The Origin of Trump’s Drug War Killing Spree
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth proclaimed that illicit drugs are “tantamount to chemical weapons” and the dead suspects “are the al-Qaeda of our hemisphere, and we are hunting them with the sophistication and precision that we hunted al-Qaeda.” Anyone who the U.S. military killed is automatically posthumously designated a narco-terrorist. If the U.S. government is entitled to summarily kill suspected drug traffickers abroad, there is no reason why the same prerogative would not eventually be invoked on the home front. If politicians truly want to protect Americans, why not authorize the U.S. military, state police, and county government dog catchers to summarily attack any boat suspected of transporting drugs on the nation’s lakes, rivers, or overgrown puddles? More The post The Origin of Trump’s Drug War Killing Spree appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
George W. Bush in the Oval Office with is Attorney General John Ashcroft, who said of the war on drugs: “I want to renew it. I want to refresh it, relaunch it if you will.” White House photo by Eric Draper. President Trump effectively claims that he is entitled to preemptively kill suspected drug traffickers anywhere on earth, or at least in the Western Hemisphere. The U.S. military has killed hundreds of people in its attacks on suspected smugglers’ boats off the coast of South America. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth proclaimed that illicit drugs are “tantamount to chemical weapons” and the dead suspects “are the al-Qaeda of our hemisphere, and we are hunting them with the sophistication and precision that we hunted al-Qaeda.” Anyone who the U.S. military killed is automatically posthumously designated a narco-terrorist. If the U.S. government is entitled to summarily kill suspected drug traffickers abroad, there is no reason why the same prerogative would not eventually be invoked on the home front. If politicians truly want to protect Americans, why not authorize the U.S. military, state police, and county government dog catchers to summarily attack any boat suspected of transporting drugs on the nation’s lakes, rivers, or overgrown puddles? Actually, such warped logic has already been taken to absurd ends. The core follies of the Trump-Hegseth war of extermination on drug suspects were established almost a quarter-century ago. American illicit drug users miraculously became collectively guilty for every terrorist attack in the world. In December 2001, three months after the 9/11 attacks, President George W. Bush announced to antidrug groups in Washington: “It’s so important for Americans to know that the traffic in drugs finances the work of terror, sustaining terrorists, that terrorists use drug profits to fund their cells to commit acts of murder. If you quit drugs, you join the fight against terror in America.” A few weeks later, the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy spent $3 million for two television ads to appear during the Super Bowl. One ad asked viewers: “Where do terrorists get their money?” The answer: “If you buy drugs, some of it might come from you.” Drug users were portrayed as terrorist financiers—practically the moral equivalent of the hijackers who destroyed the World Trade Center towers. Cameos showed young people confessing what their illicit drug purchases had accomplished: Teen #1: I helped murder families in Colombia. Teen #2: I helped the bomber get a fake passport. Teen #3: I helped kill a judge. Teen #4: I helped blow up buildings. The ad purported to show the different costs that go into a drug smugglers’ operation. One item that flashed briefly on the screen was $3,000 for bribes. The ad did not mention who was being bribed—whether it was the U.S. Coast Guard, or the Customs Service, or perhaps foreign government officials. The ad also flashed an item “boxcutters: $2”—encouraging viewers to wrongly presume that the 9/11 hijackers relied on drug financing. On February 12, 2002, President Bush announced: “If you’re buying illegal drugs in America, it is likely that money is going to end up in the hands of terrorist organizations. . . . When we fight drugs, we fight the war on terror.” Drug Czar John Walters, appearing at a White House press briefing the same day as Bush’s declaration, was badgered about the president’s assertion: Reporter: But in terms of a percentage of overall drug trade, what percentage of the money goes to terrorists, to put it in perspective? . . . I mean, is it a penny on a dollar, is it a penny on $1,000, or is it a dime on a dollar? Walters responded: “I think the truth is, since we don’t know exactly the budgets of all the terrorist organizations, and we don’t know the—they don’t have to submit their budget to the White House press corps. But of the— the Americans spend, we estimate, $66 billion on drugs. We know that hundreds of millions of those dollars go to organizations that have been identified as terrorist and drug-related. I can’t tell you what percentage because that would require a level of knowledge we don’t have.” The White House drug czar’s website, www.theantidrug.com, announced plans to capitalize on 9/11: “From this tragedy we must re-energize efforts to prevent drug use. . . . The September 11 terrorist attack deeply touched the emotions of Americans. Connecting terrorism to drug trafficking also is a subject that has great emotional impact.” The website declared: “We must recognize that when money goes from the pocket of an American to buy drugs it could end up financing unspeakable crimes around the world.” But the same is true when money goes from the pocket of an American to pay federal taxes, since the U.S. government bankrolls some of the world’s most oppressive regimes. The DEA opened a new exhibit at its headquarters museum titled “Target America” just before the first anniversary of the attacks. A large hunk of twisted metal wreckage recovered from Ground Zero at the World Trade Center was the exhibit’s centerpiece. Attorney General John Ashcroft declared at the opening of the exhibit: “Law enforcement has long known about the strong linkages between terrorism and drug trafficking. And September 11th made that awareness available to a wider audience of Americans to see that the drug threat and the terrorist threat are largely one and the same.” But the feds never provided any evidence showing that even 1 cent of the $500,000 that Al Qaeda used to pull off the 9/11 attacks came from drug trafficking. There was no evidence that any U.S. drug purchase ever helped finance an international terrorist attack on the United States. On September 1, 2002, DEA chief Asa Hutchinson announced: “There is increasing intelligence information from the investigation that for the first time alleged drug sales in the United States are going in part to support terrorist organizations in the Middle East.” However, the hot case turned out to be little more than a cabal of people who were buying popular cold and allergy medications in Canada and using them to extract ingredients to produce methamphetamine, known as “crystal meth.” Some of the proceeds of their sales were sent to the Middle East. Assistant Attorney General Michael Chertoff stated in April 2003 that no terrorism charges had been filed against the people involved in the case. Unfortunately, “terrorism” is an incantation that automatically expunges the minds of many listeners and viewers. The first attack in the Trump-Hegseth assaults near Venezuela occurred on September 2, 2025. Including the second strikes to kill survivors, that attack left 11 people dead. Trump announced that everyone who had been killed were “positively identified Tren de Aragua Narcoterrorists,” and thus were guilty as members of a “designated Foreign Terrorist Organization.” But why would 11 people be on a small boat smuggling drugs? According to Nick Turse’s recent report in The Intercept, a rear admiral admitted in a classified Capitol Hill briefing after the attack that some of the casualties may have been human trafficking victims. But don’t expect to hear about that at any of Hegseth’s press briefings. Most of the media and almost all politicians have zero curiosity regarding who the U.S. government is killing in the name of fighting drugs. Unfortunately, that is the clearest and most toxic parallel with the war on terror. Since 2001, the Pentagon and CIA automatically received absolution for killing anyone who was posthumously labeled a terrorist suspect. An earlier version of this piece was published by the Libertarian Institute. The post The Origin of Trump’s Drug War Killing Spree appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by James Bovard.
All my means are sane, my motive and my object mad. ― Herman Melville, Moby-Dick or, The Whale I remember when Woodward and Bernstein’s description in Final Days of Nixon wandering the halls of the West Wing late at night having drunken conversations with the portraits of FDR, Jefferson and Lincoln, seemed such an inconceivable More The post Roaming Charges: Call the Shrink appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Trump doing his whining and moaning routine in Pennsylvania this week. (Screengrab from video posted to X.) All my means are sane, my motive and my object mad. ― Herman Melville, Moby-Dick or, The Whale I remember when Woodward and Bernstein’s description in Final Days of Nixon wandering the halls of the West Wing late at night having drunken conversations with the portraits of FDR, Jefferson and Lincoln, seemed such an inconceivable account of a president who’d lost his marbles that many people assumed they’d made it up, though their source was Tricia’s husband Edward Cox. [Nixon got looped on expensive French wines, Chateau Margaux and Lafitte Rothschild, which, in true Dick Nixon style, he often mixed with a splash of…7 Up!] But Donald Trump posts his insane rants online for all to see, nearly every night, and without the aid of alcohol to set him off, just his own disintegrating mind and no one bats an eye anymore. Last week, he compared himself to Genghis Khan, Napoleon and Alexander the Great (does he know the Macedonian psychopath was bisexual?), claiming he was more powerful than all of them, and was “by far the most powerful person that has ever walked this planet,” because of his “global reach.” (Does he know Global Reach was the title of a book on transnational corporations written by the left-wing political economist Richard Barnett?) During daylight hours, Trump sensibly defending cutting a deal with Iran that ended the war, allowing Iran to keep its enriched uraniumn stockpiles, maintain and restock its ballistic missile arsenal, have control over the Strait of Hormuz, remove sanctions on Iranian oil, unfreeze $28 billion in Iranian financial assets and commit to help raise at $300 billion reconstruction fund to reconstruct the damage to Iran’s infrastructure from the US/Israeli airstrikes. Trump even defended Iran’s right to defend itself and admitted that the US couldn’t dislodge Iran from controlling the Strait of Hormuz without sending in US ground troops and sustaining heavy losses. Of course, he’s said 100 different things about the Strait of Hormuz, including that it didn’t matter because the US has so much oil it doesn’t know where to park all of the barrels. [Fact check: 20% of the world’s oil and gas flows through the Strait; the price of gas here in Oregon City is still $4.97 a gallon cash; and the Strategic Petroleum Reserve has been drained down to a puddle. Tell us another one, Don!] And, most consequentially perhaps, he publicly criticized Netanyahu for continuing to bomb Lebanon and attempting to undermine his deal. But that was by day. By night, another Trump emerges. A belligerent, bombastic, even sociopathic Trump, who threatened to “bomb the shit” out of Iran if he didn’t get his way and to kill the Iranian diplomats “before they even made it back to Tehran.” He vowed to seize the Strait of Hormuz and take all of the oil. He boasted about provisions that weren’t in the MOU he signed and decided the existence of provisions that were. Trump’s public support is now down to 30%, the lowest of any recent president, even Biden in his dotage and George W. at his nadir. But he’s still more popular than his war on Iran, which is supported by only one in four Americans. Few believe the war was worth the costs. Even fewer know what the war was all about in the first place. Trump has never been a great communicator; aside from his code-words and dogwhistles to bigots, it’s increasingly difficult to deconstruct what he’s actually saying and what he’s saying actually means. But he promoted himself as a great salesman, mainly of Trump. But he couldn’t sell the Iran war and now he can’t sell a plan to end it, especially to his principal political sponsor, the person most responsible for resurrecting his political career when it was on life support after J6, Miriam Adelson. Adelson infused Trump’s Preserve America PAC with $100 million and raised, pledged and contributed another $150 million to other Trump-affiliated coffers, dwarfing the $75 million contributed by Elon Musk. What did Adelson expect for her money? Palestinians wiped out of Gaza, stripped of their land in the West Bank, Southern Lebanon seized into Israeli control and Iran blown off the map. So give Trump credit for double-crossing his investors, if he understood the consequences of his actions. Trump is impulsive. He Tweets on impulse. He acts on impulse. Consequentialism is not in his vocabulary, even in a mispronounced or badly misspelled way. There are deals to be made and deals to be blown up. Often the same deal. Often on the same day. This may work in real estate. It doesn’t work in war or diplomacy. The internal conflicts are beginning to leak out of Trump’s consciousness, the weight of Adelson’s millions battling with the weight of Trump’s ego. Trump’s been burning a lot of bridges lately, including every bridge into New York City. But can he afford to burn this one? Not just the link to Miriam Adelson, but the entire symbiotic relationship of the Trump presidency, indeed the entire US government, with the state of Israel and its stateside lobby. What if, for example, the Ellisons, who, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal, have injected $45 million into Trump-related accounts and gotten rewarded with a lightning-fast approval of the takeover of Warner Brothers by Paramount, turn on him and use their control of CBS and CNN with the ultra-Zionist Bari Weiss at the helm to rake him over the coals, as Adelson owned media outlets are already doing in Israel? The knives are also coming out from inside the house, as they invariably do when the aging ruler, physically infirm and mentally unstable, shows signs of vulnerability. This explains the curious case of the normally status-seeking Marco Rubio, the Secretary of State, in name at least, who seems to play no role in the Trump administration’s diplomatic initiatives, to the extent there have been any stabs at diplomacy, instead of lectures, threats and posturing. With his eyes on the White House, Rubio certainly has no desire to alienate AIPAC, Adelson or the Ellisons. He’s hanging back, lurking in the shadows, waiting on the deal either to fall apart under its own weight or be sabotaged by the Israelis, as US intelligence agencies warned Trump was Netanyahu’s intent last week. At some point, Trump handed the mess he’d made in Iran over to JD Vance to clean up. Vance had quietly opposed the war from the beginning, for his own political reasons. He wants to inherit what’s left of the MAGA contingent in 2028 and has begun talking more and more like Tucker Carlson on quaaludes. His presence within the Administration has waxed and waned with Trump’s mood. Rubio was clearly in favor after the kidnapping of Maduro, but after the Iran war began to crash on the Strait of Hormuz, Trump turned to JD Vance to mop up the mess. Vance has less diplomatic experience than Rubio. He was clearly just glad to hear his name called from his seat on the far end of the bench. It was clearly a setup. If Vance emerges with a deal, Trump will seize the credit. If the deal falls apart, he’ll get the blame. Rubio will stick the blade into the VP and let Trump call in someone else, Stephen Miller, probably, to wipe away the blood. So put yourselves in the Iranians’ shoes. What are they to make of all of this? If Trump’s behavior seems schizophrenic to you, imagine how the Iranians, sophisticated diplomats, viewed his baffling and wildly contradictory statements from day to day and hour to hour. They were so confounded by Trump’s bipolar mood swings that they told mediators in Pakistan that they had consulted psychologists, not of course to fix Trump’s mind. It’s beyond repair. But to decode his mindset. His mental pathology. How to read whether he means what he says, and which statements he really means when he quickly contradicts himself and how long he’ll hold those views before he changes his mind. Does he actually trust the people he sent to negotiate for him? Does he have the fortitude to stand up to the Israelis? Would he really follow through on his threat to kill them in a drone strike? He didn’t hesitate to wipe out the previous Ayatollah and most of the leadership of his regime and their families on the first day of the war. He even laughed about killing the people he wanted to replace them with. What kind of a man does that? What kind of a man admits to doing that? to analyze Trump’s statements and try to predict his response to Iran’s proposals in the peace talks. Is any deal they sign with Trump worth the pixels it’s written with, especially when Israel isn’t on board, as it clearly isn’t. By the way, there’s no word on whether the Iranians consulted with Freudians or Jungians. There’s a case to be made for each or both, given his unresolved mother issues and his obsession with power for the sake of power. But psychology can only take you so far. Sooner or later, as Kierkegaard said, you must confront “the darkness of the current moment,” and whatever malign forces lurk within. And this goes far beyond Trump’s serial prevarications into the nature of the American empire in extremis. How do you trust a regime that says the rules of war don’t apply to us and drives the point home by bombing a girls’ school? If the Geneva Conventions aren’t binding, how long will an MOU serve to restrain them? As Andrew Cockburn astutely observed in a recent piece, the new Iranian regime isn’t bound by the old rules, even the old fatwas issued by the late Ayatollah, such as the one commanding that Iran not develop weapons of mass destruction. The new regime came to power, seeing their fathers, uncles and brothers slaughtered by the US and Israel in a surprise attack. And they’ve quickly gained a stature and authority that the old, more cautious and conciliatory regime didn’t enjoy. They proved themselves. They survived the worst two nuclear regimes could fling at them. They not only survived, but they struck back, militarily and economically and brought Trump to the table, desperate to end the war before it ends his presidency. The Iranians may not have won the war. But endured it and survived it and are now winning the terms for how it will end. +++ + For the first time since the War Powers Act was passed in 1973, both houses of Congress have approved a measure directing the president of the United States to end a war. On Wednesday, the U.S. Senate voted 50-48 to approve a War Powers Resolution directing Donald Trump to end U.S. hostilities against Iran. The measure was originally introduced (and approved) in the House by Rep. Gregory Meek. Four Republican senators—Rand Paul, Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, and Bill Cassidy —joined every Democrat except one in support of the resolution–the lone Democratic dissenter: John Fetterman. The measure does not require Trump’s signature and, if the Constitution means what it says, is binding on the president. + The Pentagon responded to the vote by asking for an additional $88 billion for the war, much of it to replenish depleted stockpiles of high-tech weapons. + Meanwhile, Trump threw a tantrum at a luncheon meeting of Republican senators, which one aide described as a “total clusterfuck” with Trump weirdly berating Sen. Dave McCormick for missing the War Powers Act vote, even though McCormick was in Pennsylvania with Trump at Trump’s request. Outgoing Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy went after the President in the closed-door session for keeping the Senate (and the US population) in the dark about the Iran deal: I stood and said, ‘You have not told the American people what’s going on. It’s lasted four months. Our original objectives have not been achieved, and I want to know what’s going on…[Trump] did not particularly care for my comments, raised his voice, I lost my temper…it’s the Irish in me. Reporter: The Department of War is asking for $80 billion more for the Iran war. Do you think Americans support this at a time when so many are financially struggling? Trump: Who are you with? Reporter: NewsNation, sir. Trump: Not a very good group. [NewsNation is well to the right of Fox News.] Not doing very well. [If so, it’s because they defend every irrational thing Trump says or does.] Not only do they support it, they demand it. + As Stephen Semler reported earlier in the week, the Iran War is the most unpopular war in American history… Reporter: Are you willing to risk economic catastrophe and strike Iran again? Trump: A nuclear weapon supersedes depression. Depression’s real bad. A nuclear weapon will cause depression much more quickly. + Moody’s reports that, between increased military funding and higher oil prices, Trump’s Iran war has cost U.S. families more than $100 billion. + Did the US, USSR, UK, France, Israel, Pakistan, India, China, or North Korea getting the bomb cause a “depression”? + Iran shouldn’t agree to nuclear weapons inspections unless Israel also agrees… + Israeli Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir on Lebanon: “Lebanon, all of Lebanon, should become our playground. ALL OF LEBANON should be our TARGET. And they tell me, ‘Wait a second, there is Lebanon and there is Hezbollah.’ I do not accept this artificial approach…Let a thousand Lebanese mothers weep, and not one Israeli mother weep.” + John Fetterman: “If you have contempt for Israel, you are anti-American.” + Trump: “I think [Israel] could do better … I’m not saying they shouldn’t protect themselves. I’m saying when two drones are shot into the desert and drop harmlessly, you don’t have to knock down buildings in Beirut. They could behave better…” + Since October 11, the first full day of the so-called ceasefire brokered by Trump and overseen by the Board of Peace (with zero budget), Israel has killed at least 1,005 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded 3,157. + According to an UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry report this week on the targeting of children by Israeli forces in Gaza, “Israeli authorities and security forces have deliberately targeted Palestinian children, resulting in genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in the Gaza Strip.” The UN inquiry found that during the first two years of the Israeli assault, over 20,000 children were killed and more than 44,000 injured. + The Times of Israel reported that Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz told a conference in Tel Aviv that the Israeli army will not withdraw from its “security zone” in southern Lebanon, “even if there is an American demand.” Katz vowed that Israel would continue to control the land it has seized and that the “200,000 [Lebanese] residents will not return” to the homes they fled under Israeli bombardment. + Naim Qassem, head of Hezbollah: “A ceasefire means Hezbollah does not fire and Israel is free to occupy anywhere! We do not want such a ceasefire.” + 4,000+: Number of Lebanese, mostly civilians, killed by Israel since the start of the Iran War. + Evil in Action: Israel targeted the beachside home of one of Lebanon’s leading environmentalists, 75-year-old Mona Khalil, who spent much of her life trying to save sea turtles… + The Economist on how the US burned through its arsenal of Patriot missiles: “Since the Iran war started, America and its Gulf allies have burned through stocks of Patriots at a dizzying rate, exacerbating an already acute global shortage. New manufacturing lines are not expected to yield significant results for years.” + Matthew Petti in Reason on how Iran’s cheap drones effectively countered the US’s high-tech weapons: “Chinese hobby drones hit the civilian market in the early 2010s, making this type of warfare even cheaper. The Islamic State group obtained a small ‘air force’ by strapping grenades to photography drones…” + CBS: “The Iranians are saying they’re gonna have access to a $300 billion reconstruction fund. True or false?” JD Vance: “That’s the sort of things they could have access to so long as they honor their end of the obligation.” + Did JD check that with the Boss? + Trump: “We had two big moments—when I terminated the JCPOA, the Obama deal. It was a horrible deal for the United States. It was a deal where billions of dollars were given to Iran. They tried to bribe them to make a deal. That never works.” + Lindsey Graham: “I spent 4.5 hours with President Trump on Friday. Here’s what I think will happen next. If this deal fails, President Trump is gonna take the Strait of Hormuz over by force. We’ll charge a fee for all those who go through to pay for the operation … if Iran contests control of the Strait of Hormuz by the United States, we’ll obliterate them.” + Mount Trump erupting on Fox News, threatens not only to obliterate Iran but kill its peace envoys during the negotiations. The first item in the MOU he signed was to make no new threats of violence and he’s done nothing but since Friday. (That’s what spending 4.5 hours with Lindsay Graham will do to a person.)…“You close it, and you won’t have a country. You won’t even make it back to your fucking country.” (Apparently, it’s okay to use “fucking” on TV when you are threatening mass slaughter, but not when describing sexual intercourse.) + The Democrats are going to run to the right of Trump on Iran, a war few wanted and everyone but them, John Bolton and Lindsay Graham are tired of and they’re going to lose… + Look at Lutnick’s eyes when Trump says, sensibly for once, that Iran should have some enriched uranium because other nations do: “It’s a little hard when other people have it, other adjoining states have it, and you’re not letting them have it for purposes of electricity and things like that. You have to use a little common sense.” + The best thing Trump has done since taking office is to give Americans a better understanding of what America is really all about…”51% of Americans say they are extremely or very proud of being American, down sharply from 82% in 2013.” + How the anti-Trump right responded to Trump’s peace deal with Iran. + Reagan got better press when he pulled the US out of Lebanon after the Marine barracks bombing… + Someone might remind Trump, the self-proclaimed fight fan, that heavily-favored George Foreman had Muhammad Ali on the ropes for most of the night in Kinshasa, but it didn’t end well … for George, the dope who got roped. + From Andrew Cockburn’s latest piece on the consequences of Trump killing the Iranian leadership on the first day of the war… The strike on the first day of the war that killed the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and a host of other senior regime figures. The consequences were immediate, and totally predictable. Not only did a new leadership swiftly take control, but the semi-pacific policies directed by Khamenei over the course of many years were abandoned forthwith. In October 2003, Khamenei had issued a Fatwa – a religious injunction carrying the force of law – forbidding the development and production of any weapons of mass destruction. As the U.S. intelligence community concluded in 2007, (and maintained ever since), a nascent Iranian nuclear weapon program was immediately terminated. The uranium enrichment program that continued was apparently inspired by Khamenei’s misguided notion that going through the motions of developing a weapon (by enriching) would adequately substitute for the real thing in terms of deterrence. Fatwas die with their author, so Khamenei’s injunction is defunct. Whether or not Iran’s new rulers wish to follow the North Korean example and develop a weapon we do not know, but we do know they have deployed a weapon of mass economic destruction, one that was eschewed by Khamenei on religious/legal grounds. + Axios: What lessons did you learn about the limits to presidential power from the Iran War? Trump: There are no limits. + Here’s how JD Vance owned the comparison of the Trump regime to Nixon’s: “I think Nixon’s historical legacy is enjoying a bit of a renaissance, and deservedly so. I joked that if Watergate happened tomorrow, it would be like a 12-hour news story. The idea that it took down a presidency is crazy.” JD’s right. He and his boss have certainly raised the bar for what amounts to high crimes and misdemeanors while in office… + But if the US Congress and the federal courts didn’t impose any limits on his presidential power, Iran certainly did… +++ + What do we call the crises after the Polycrisis? + Politico on the bipartisan strangulation of SNAP, which began under Clinton but has now reached the point of breaking its political hyoid bone: SNAP’s era as arguably the nation’s preeminent anti-poverty program may be ending. Already 3.5 million people nationwide have been booted from the program and, as the law’s new eligibility terms take effect this year, more are likely to follow, while others will be abruptly sent back into a workforce for which they are unprepared. Parents of teenage children and adults in their 60s will now be expected to find a job and prove they are working. Roughly 45,000 people in Maine, including veterans and homeless adults — briefly granted a reprieve from work requirements during the Biden administration — will be newly required to work or volunteer. Costs to states will balloon, as they are expected to kick in more funds to administer the program and, for the first time, pay part of the cost of benefits themselves. +Hong Kong’s GDP per capita surpassed Britain’s when it was still officially a British colony. + AI-linked securities now account for a record 45% of the S&P 500, according to Yahoo Finance. + Toronto Dominion Bank (TD) has informed employees it will use software to monitor their work in an effort to “increase productivity.” + Axios: “A year’s worth of inflation-adjusted wage gains vanished in just four months, leaving workers little better off than when President Trump returned to office.” + The conspicuous consumption is the purpose of their consumption. + Adam Smith: “With the greater part of rich people, the chief enjoyment of riches consists in the parade of riches.” + Ayn Rand acolyte Alan Greenspan, dead at 100, may have inflicted more human misery than any other American in the post-World War II era… + Greenspan often concealed the consequences of his economic villainy behind language so obscure that not even his wife, longtime NBC White House correspondent Andrea Mitchell, could understand it… + Mark Ames on Greenspan: “Atlas Croaked” + Elon Musk: “The reason they call me a Nazi is to encourage people to murder me.” He just became a trillionaire on paper and he’s still desperate for attention… + The Wall Street Journal on the spike in CEO pay: More U.S. CEOs last year crossed the once-rare pay threshold than in any year since 2021—and nearly a dozen topped $200 million. Their compensation looked like crumbs, of course, compared with Elon Musk’s $158 billion pay package from Tesla, which set a new record and is about 16 times the combined value for all 391 other chiefs in the Wall Street Journal’s annual CEO pay ranking. (Musk’s deal could ultimately be worth $1 trillion.) Still, No. 2 Shankh Mitra reached $821 million from Welltower, a real-estate investment trust focused on senior housing and healthcare. That lands him one of the biggest executive-pay packages for a public-company CEO over the past decade. Source: Wall Street Journal. + According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, consumer debt is at a record high and savings are falling toward a record low: “Total liabilities among US households swelled to a record $19.9 trillion at the end of the first quarter, according to Fed data, a sign that Americans are continuing to borrow and fund their spending. Yet, the personal savings rate is hovering near a record low, shrinking to 2.6% in April.” + Apple just shuttered the first of its stores to unionize. Apple blamed “deteriorating conditions” at the mall in Towson, Maryland, outside of Baltimore. To the workers, it’s a clear case of retaliation. + In an interview with Politico’s Victoria Guida, Sheila Bair, former head of the FDIC under W., is warning that the gutting of financial regulations imposed after the 2008 crash is going to lead to a new round of defaults and bank bailouts: Regulators have to stand strong, because the banks, it’s in their financial interest to drive those capital levels as low as possible. And if they don’t stand firm against it, we’re going to have another crisis. I think there’s still some people on Wall Street, especially among the big banks and their lobbyists, that still think the crisis was all about government wanting poor people to have mortgages. “It’s all the borrowers’ fault, and what was the big deal? We got through it.” I fear they view bailouts as the new paradigm, and certainly, I see how quick the regulators were to bail out those billionaire depositors in Silicon Valley, which was a relatively small regional bank. + For the first time in a decade, the newest version of Chinese supercomputers has topped all US machines in processing speeds. + The stock trading watchdog Unusual Whales reports that: “Nancy Pelosi literally is buying leveraged products on companies she legislates. She bought Intel, 200 call options with a strike price of $50 and expiring 03/19/2027, on 05/29/2026. She also bought call options. Unusual.” + 54 million Americans now report having more than one job or “income stream,” an increase from 41 million two years ago. Nearly 72% of U.S. workers rely on a second income beyond their primary job. + Trump pal Larry Ellison’s Oracle just slashed its total workforce by 13% in 2026. + Meanwhile, manufacturing jobs are suffering the dismal same fate, as job cuts at U.S. factories hit the highest levels since the end of the global financial crisis in 2009 and the Covid-19 pandemic. + Rep. Mike Haridopolos (apparently Mar-a-Lago hair is now a thing): “The number one reason why we have these higher housing costs, in my opinion, is you had 10 million people coming here illegally over four years. You had too many people demanding housing.” Private equity is entirely blameless… + In fact, the increase in housing costs has nothing to do with immigrants and, as Saagar Enjeti shows, almost everything to do with private equity, interest, insurance, and repairs… + Speaking of housing costs, there are 25 million American adults living with their parents, a new record. + We’ve reached the Mean Old Geezer Stage of Capitalism: First, drive the country into recession, then subsidize AI to take people’s jobs, then eliminate unemployment benefits! + Over to you, Pope Leo from the Southside: We tend to think…that the only issue of morality is sexual…. I believe there are much greater, more important issues, such as justice, equality, freedom of men and women, freedom of religion, that would all take priority before that. + Musk: “In the future, a trillion times a trillion dollars will be spent on making antimatter to travel to other star systems.” How much ketamine did he quaff this morning? + The US strategic petroleum reserve has hit its lowest level since 1983. + According to an analysis of Trump’s stock trades by CBS News, the president’s investment accounts made 3,642 transactions between January 6 and March 30, a pace of about 63 per trading day…. The sheer volume of trading is unprecedented for a sitting president. The data shows the president’s accounts bought and sold companies that have extensive business dealings with the federal government, prompting accusations of insider trading and conflicts of interest from Democrats and ethics experts. The Trump Organization says outside financial advisers oversee the accounts, and the president and his family have no role in making the investments. + Like every construction project Trump has ever been involved in (including the “renovated” Reflecting Pool), the new White House ballroom is vastly over-budget ($600 million), needing a public bailout and likely starting to fall apart before it’s even completed… +++ + Hakeem Jeffries is so isolated from what’s going on in his own city that he makes the Boy in the Bubble look like a habitué of Studio 54… + What was going on in his City? A clean sweep by the Democratic Socialists, most of them backed by Mandani, including victories unseating two AIPAC-funded members of Congress: Adriano Espaillat, who was defeated by Darializa Avila Chevalier, and Dan Goldman, who was taken down by former NYC comptroller Brad Lander. In New York’s Seventh District, State Rep. Claire Valdez steamrolled Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso in the race to replace outgoing Rep. Nydia Velázquez. + Asked by CNN for his assessment of the results, Sen. John Fetterman snapped: “The dirtbag left is surging.” We call them “low-baggers” out here, John. + Trump on the New York primaries: “They want a lot of Communists to come in. I’m saying it a little differently. But the people that they are pushing are Communists. And this country is not going to have Communists.” Wasn’t Trump swooning all over Mamdani just a few months ago? Is he too addled to realize that Brad Lander et al are the most likely to provide cover for his get the hell out of Iran as fast as possible policy, while the Schumer Democrats, the Neo-cons and AIPAC roast him over hot coals…? + Stephen Miller, who apparently doesn’t get out much (a good thing for all concerned), on the NY Primaries: “Over time, the Democrat party has abandoned all of that, and they have instead adopted this radical, revolutionary, and in many cases, violent ideology that wants to tear America down and destroy everything that we know and love, from top to bottom. Right? Living in a state of total anarchy, without police, without law enforcement, where criminals can rape and maim and murder with impunity, where your kids are taught from the age of two to hate America, to hate their God, to hate their parents, to hate their family, to even hate their own gender, that’s their agenda…that’s just a death knell for America.” + Last week, the country was about to fall under the unforgiving yoke of Sharia Law (which is actually a lot more forgiving than the punitive laws being pushed by the Christian Nationalists). This week, it’s Communism! Tommy Tuberville: “If we don’t do something with the filibuster and we don’t get things passed, it’ll be the last time we’ll have a Republican president, a Republican Senate or a House. That’s how fast this country is going down to communism.” What about poor Antifa? They must feel left out. No wonder they trashed the Reflecting Pool… + In 1996, Susan Collins pledged to only serve two terms in the Senate. She’s now running for her sixth…And prominent Democrats are backing her against their own candidate, Graham Platner. Here’s former Biden communications director Kate Bedingfield on Platner: “I think it’s demoralizing that his transgressions are being overlooked … I think it’s an indictment of our party that we’re willing to look the other way on this.” + They were willing to look the other way on a genocide in Gaza. Still are… + Tucker Carlson excoriated the Republican Party on his way out the door: “There’s no chance I would support the Republican Party. I won’t support the Democrats either. I don’t know what I’m going to do. How could any American voter support a political party that’s not loyal to the United States, that puts the interest of another country (Israel) above its own citizens?” + As one MAGA leader after another defects from Trump, the paranoia inside the White House is beginning to strike deep… The White House has compiled a secret “blacklist” of prominent MAGA influencers who have been accused of taking money to post social media content aimed at shifting the discourse on important political issues or offering access to President Donald Trump…The White House is now monitoring signs that influencers may have been paid off by domestic or foreign lobbies to target the president and his supporters. + Trump to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, the Epstein Island-hopper: ‘I remember when you were thirty-five, you were a killer. And now, you’ve got your beautiful wife, and your big house, and you’re just soft. And you’re a pussy. You know what you are? You’re a pussy.’ So says President TACO… + Tom Dans, the man Trump appointed to head the US Arctic Research Commission, told the New Yorker that one reason the US is considering seizing Greenland is to secure access to seafood that could potentially bring back unlimited shrimp at Red Lobster. + What do we get if Canada becomes the 51st state? A year’s supply of Moosehead ale, a slab of bacon and the return of the Expos to Montreal? Sounds good to me. But how do the Canadians benefit? + If the Democrats somehow manage to win control of the House in November (which is looking increasingly doubtful), they pledge that on “day one” they’ll hold hearings on … Jeffrey Epstein. You didn’t think they were going to make health care, climate, inflation, defanging ICE or income inequality a priority, did you? +++ + France during the first week of “summer”: Every light pink number is 40C+ (104F+). Many stations at 44C+ (111F+). + More than 40 people have drowned in France’s lakes and rivers this week, trying to seek relief from the record heatwave. + Trump was in Pennsylvania this week, bragging about bringing coal back from the dead: China uses coal. The other very successful countries use it. The unsuccessful countries use wind. Those beautiful windmills that blow round and round and don’t do anything except cost you money every time it goes around, you lose $10. Every country that uses wind is a disaster. Every country that uses our beautiful substances from underground are doing very nicely, thank you. [See: Strait of Hormuz.] + With more than 600 Gigawatts of active operational capacity, China accounts for nearly half of the world’s total wind power. At least 16% of China’s total electric generation comes from wind. Farmers in the US who lease their land to wind energy companies earn on average between $17,300 and $20,100 a year. + Banks based in the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Japan account for 83% of global fossil fuel financing. The largest fossil fuel bank of all is JPMorgan Chase, with annual financing of $53.5 billion. + An electrical worker named Dante talked to Wired about working on the construction of data centers: Nobody judges me on data center work. We’re almost always working for the worst possible people in the end. But we all need a paycheck because of the unlivable world that those same rich people have created for us. Either I’m wiring up a lumber mill or a Dollar General warehouse or whatever else…essentially the same kind of work–all for already extremely rich pieces of shit to use for the exploitation of the working class so they can get more rich. + $450 million: the amount of tax breaks given to data centers in Oregon last year, with little to no public input (because most Oregonians would have been enraged). + American Reservoirs, excuse me, Rivers is one of those faux-conservation organizations that exists mainly as a place for rich people and corporations to drop a load of money and pretend they’re doing good while knowing that nothing much will ever be done with it, certainly nothing that would disrupt the circulation of commodities or the ongoing industrialization of the West. America Rivers’ primary goal, other than filling its coffers with corporate loot, is to pass laws or engage in regulatory compromises that set the bar so they often end up damaging the very rivers they claim they want to protect. Case in point: American Rivers is now advocating for logging operations inside the boundaries of the nation’s Wild and Scenic River Corridors, the riparian strips of land adjacent to undamned and pristine rivers that are currently treated as the near equivalent of wilderness areas, where no mark of industrial man should intrude. + Stop them? How about joining them? + $2.5 billion: the total amount of taxpayer money the Trump administration has paid out (so far) to cancel offshore wind projects. + Gallup’s latest West Health-Gallup Affordability Index shows just 49% of U.S. adults feel they can afford healthcare—the first time this number has fallen below 50% since tracking began in 2021 and down from a 61% peak in 2022. Younger adults aged 18-29 have seen the sharpest drop, from 46% to 32% over the period, with prescription costs and medical bills topping concerns across income levels. +++ + CBS: We were in here in April when you first showed us plans… Trump: I did what? [Haberman and Swan report in Regime Change that Trump is going deaf and also pretends to be deaf when he doesn’t like the question.] CBS: When you showed us pictures of what you were going to do on the Mall. You said you had a guy who was going to do it in a week for about a million dollars. It’s been two months and $14.5 million… Trump: Okay. Okay. Are you ready? Barack Hussein Obama. Have you ever heard of him? CBS: Yes. Trump: He spent two years and over $100 million on trying to fix it. [Obama spent $37 million.] And you know what happened to it? It never even opened. [Yes, it opened.] He took the water from the river. You know about that, right? It turned out to be putrid. And it destroyed the whole thing. [No, it didn’t.] He spent over $100 million. [No, he didn’t.] Him and Biden together spent $147 million. [No, they didn’t.] You know what happened. It never opened. [Yes, it did. And it was open under Trump in the intervening years.] You don’t mention that, right? We spent about ten. [They spent $16 million.] They were going to spend $300 to $400 million, you know that, right? [No, they weren’t.] And it was going to take four years. I spent, I spent six or seven weeks. Probably $10 million. [$16 million.] They say $16 million, but a lot of that is workers that work around there. So they were going to spend $400 million. [No.] I spent $10. [No.] They were going to spend four years. [No.] I spent two months, maybe, less. And I have a better product. Now I can’t help it if somebody goes in with a knife and starts hacking it up. Karoline Leavitt: “The vandalism is very real. Despite what Tim Walz wants to say. There have actually been six arrests at the Reflecting Pool, where, again, these deranged individuals—many of them longtime donors to the Democratic Party, to Barack Obama, to ActBlue—have been vandalizing and desecrating our federal monument, one of the most beautiful monuments in the world: The Reflecting Pool. And that’s why President Trump is not going to stop with this effort. They’re not only holding those people accountable, but they’re going to fix the pool and continue to make it beautiful after this despicable vandalism, just in time to celebrate our nation’s 250th birthday next week.” + Trump on the reflecting pool saboteurs: “They took razor blades, 350 feet. They took razor blades and knives and they cut patches like that, 350 feet long. There’s pictures of a guy bending over. I don’t know if anybody saw that.” I don’t see that and I doubt anyone else saw it. But if there was “a guy bending over,” it was probably a cabinet member. They spend more time in that position than anyone else in DC… + Maybe they should electrify the water and just fry anyone who touches it. + Actually, the best idea yet about what to do with the leaky, algaefied Reflecting Pool has come from the most unlikely source, the ultra-right (and often completely bonkers) Congressman from Tennessee, Tim Burchette: “Honestly, I think it’d be cool if they just let it go and create an ecosystem, have fish in there and everything. … I think that’d be a really … cool way to go.” I’m sure Amphifa agrees! + Don’t drain the swamp. Flood it and let it grow! + One of my favorite professors at AU, the historian Terry Murphy, was photographed naked in the Reflecting Pool during an anti-war protest in the early 70s and somehow still got tenure. He had the Washington Post’s photo of him floating in the pool hanging on the wall of his office. Those were different days. Murphy was a brilliant lecturer with a wide-ranging and original mind, whose classes on the histories of western attitudes on death, sexuality and madness were much more radical in their ideas than his bare-assed leap into the nation’s sacred pool. My independent studies with Murphy introduced me to the writings of Michel Foucault, Keith Thomas, Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie, Herbert Marcuse and Norman O. Brown. But he was treated shabbily by the University he devoted the greater part of his life to. After recovering from a stroke in 1983, Murphy’s administration, which had become increasingly under the grip of reactionaries who wanted to turn the university into a farm system for the State Department and CIA, refused to allow him to return to teaching. He sued them under the ADA and won a major victory not only for disabled faculty members but for students as well. + If you want to talk about desecrating the National Mall…Here’s how Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy (who moonlights as a reality TV star) kicked off the Great American State Fair: “Our young people have been lied to. They have been told that they would be fulfilled with hookup culture or some get-rich-quick scheme or they could find fame on social media and that would fulfill them. But I’ll tell you, they found that’s a false promise. That’s a lie. And they have sought truth. They have gone to church.” + We can be absolutely certain that the principal author of the Declaration, his editors (John Adams, Ben Franklin, Roger Sherman and Robert Livingstone), and the people he lifted key phrases and concepts from (Tom Paine, George Mason and John Locke) would have been mortified at the sight of a “Christian” zealot and official of the ruling government, speaking on government property celebrating the 250th anniversary of the signing of the nation’s founding document by expressing these exclusionary sentiments in front of a cast of characters who looked like they walked right off the sets of Big Love, Picnic and the Music Man…We can be equally certain that Duffy, not the brightest in Trump’s package of low-watt cabinet bulbs, would be horrified to learn that most of the founding fathers (and mothers) of the Republic weren’t “Christians,” or even religious, in any form he would recognize, but a collection of agnostics, atheists and deists, who wanted the government they were forming to be sealed off from religious zealotry of all kinds–foreign, domestic and extraterrestrial…As Jefferson asserted, “Christianity neither is, nor ever was a part of the common law.” +++ + Sen. Roger Marshall: “53 Republican senators, you’re gonna find 53 opinions. We’re very strong-willed, typically top of our class type of folks. So we’ve got opinions. And the hope is, the debate within us, we take 2+2 and turn it into 8.” Turning 2+2 into 8 is how the Pentagon ended up with a $1.2 trillion-dollar budget and still couldn’t defeat Iran (total defense budget $20 billion)… + At least, 64% of Americans now say U.S. democracy is at risk of failing, rising from 57% a year ago. With “top of the class type folks” like Marshall running the government, is it any wonder? + Trump showed up late to the first meeting of the G7 at Versailles, then told the other heads of state that: “I’m the boss.” The boss of what? Guy Berliner: “The boss of the moss.” + Another clip for the “Trump is a Closet Case” file with a fetish for butchers…Trump on Egyptian President el-Sisi: “He was in a hotel and I met him. We fell in love, deeply in love … We didn’t know each other before that. We had great chemistry, and I stayed twice as long as I was supposed to.” + Sisi seems to have donned a pair of Florsheims for his photo-op with Trump… + A couple of hours later, Trump, while not looking so beautiful himself, swooned over Modi at the G7: “You look at this man. I’m going to give you a lesson. He’s the most beautiful-looking man. He looks so nice, he’s like an angel. But actually, he’s a killer. He’s as tough as they come. But he looks so good. So he gets you by surprise.” We’re beginning to see why Trump is so eager to get that ballroom built. He’s already got a full dance card: Jaxon Dart, Joe Thomas, Al-Sisi, Modi. + Maybe there was more to the Roy Cohn/Trump relationship than we’ve been led to believe… + This guy Gill’s entire public persona is built on trying to convince chair-bound, Depends-wearing Fox News viewers that Muslims–who compose less than two percent of the state–are about to impose Sharia Law on Texas…. + John Hazard: “Whether his daughter ends up wearing a burka is not for me to speculate about, but I doubt that she’ll be going to a public school.” + Asked how the Department of Justice defines Antifa, the US Attorney for Minnesota replied: “What Antifa is goes beyond, I think, the scope of what this indictment is.” Not knowing what Antifa is didn’t stop a judge in Texas from sentencing Texas ICE protesters, who were dubbed “Antifa” by federal prosecutors, to 30- to 100-year sentences. to 30 to 100 years in prison. One of the defendants, Daniel Sanchez-Estrada, who wasn’t even present at the protest, was convicted of being part of a conspiracy by concealing antifascist magazines at the request of his wife and sentenced to 30 years. + Acting AG Todd Blanche: Antifa terrorists who attack law enforcement and federal facilities will face swift and uncompromising justice.” These sentences were longer than any handed down in the J6 insurrection cases. +++ + Sen. Josh Hawley had a little breakdown about Pride hats in baseball, after “Christian” homophobes on the Dodgers and Giants refused to wear them: “Let’s get back to God and country and playing some baseball and stop all this woke garbage.” He’ll be going after Jackie Robinson Day next, which MLB has already drained of any political meaning and transformed into a mere merchfest. Pride Day is basically the same. It exists to allow Fantatics and Nike to sell new caps and t-shirts. Let’s get rid of them, I say, especially if it means cancelling Armed Forces Day, camo uniforms and F-35 flyovers. + What Hawley should be upset about is the latest intrusion of the gambling industry (one of the last growth industries in the US) into baseball, as Polymarket is sponsoring the Power Rankings on the MLB’s own website. Polymarket is the “prediction” betting house that saturated social media with deceptive videos by paid creators who falsely claim to have won hundreds of thousands of dollars with bets on the site. You’d think Pete Rose was commissioner. But Rose, creep that he was, may have been better than what baseball’s got now in Rob Manfred… + Speaking of baseball and money, The Athletic asked players to name the worst franchise in the league or as one American League pitcher put it more succinctly: “Which are the ones that are cheap as fuck?” Here then are the 10 Most Cheap as Fuck teams in order of the cheapest, as rated by the players… Chicago White Sox Los Angeles Angels Miami Marlins Tampa Bay Rays Cincinnati Reds Kansas City Royals Milwaukee Brewers St. Louis Cardinals Washington Nationals New York Yankees + New York Times reporter and Trump whisperer Maggie Haberman expounded to Jon Stewart on the Daily Show about the current spineless state of the White House press corps: They have structured — this White House — the press corps so that it is primarily people, or half people, who they consider to be friendly to them. They control the media pool that is in there now. They control seats. Routinely, the only person really challenging him aggressively — and not rudely or unprofessionally — is Kaitlan Collins. And she takes an enormous amount of shit, and she keeps a total straight face. But she doesn’t have backup…In the old days, when we would be in the pool — even in term one — and they made it harder, but it was still doable, you’d ask a question, somebody else in the pool would follow up on your question. Now it is, you ask a question about Ukraine, Iran, I can go on and on, and he turns to the Reflecting Pool. And it’s 20 minutes of him just talking. And so it is much more challenging…A lot of people have his [phone] number and for reporters, it’s, ‘Wow! I have the president’s number and I can speak to him directly.’ And he controls the terms, right? There have been some pieces of news that have come out. But generally speaking, it’s him setting the agenda. He says one thing here, he says something totally different 15 minutes later, and it’s just him flooding the zone. And that’s what he did in New York when he was a tabloid guy. + John Le Carré, on the man who blew his cover as an MI6 agent, Kim Philby: “Just a naturally bent man. I wouldn’t have trusted him with my cat for the weekend.” + JD Vance: “I have joked that I have two very, very important people in my life–an Indian and a Pakistani. The Indian is my wife and the Pakistani is Field Marshal Munir. I’ve probably talked to Field Marshal Munir more than I’ve talked to anybody else over the last three months.” Including Usha, who was born in San Diego…. + Trump is an apex misogynist, but he doesn’t publicly demean Melania the way Vance habitually does Usha. + Usha explained why she hasn’t submitted to JD’s demands that she convert to his Opus Dei brand of Catholicism in terms that are not very flattering to her husband’s “journey”: I grew up in a Hindu household that was a very stable household. I have not felt the same need to seek something different that he has. So I think the journey has been more in our relationship, right? Trying to understand where he is, the different ways he’s thinking about things, how that fits into the life that we have together … and less of a religious journey of my own. + JD Vance: “I was not a very good boyfriend. I had a terrible temper. I had, in hindsight, what people would have called attachment problems.” + Usha’s flinch when JD awkwardly pets her knee during an episode of “Storytime with the Second Lady” suggests that his anger issues may not have been completely resolved… + Mary Winzig: “That poor couch!” + From After Year Zero, the new collection from Verso of Frederic Jameson’s lectures on the thought of the Frankfurt School: “I remember a seminar in France on Camus’s L’Etranger, a very short book. It lasted two or three years.” + The great Junior Parker’s version of “Taxman” is a lot different than George Harrison’s protest of taxes being taken for war and Trident submarines (See David Yearsley’s great analysis of the origins of the song for CounterPunch on April 15th)–it’s not a rock song, it’s a blues of a poor black man facing the tax man coming to get the next to nothing he’s got and if he ain’t got enough, he might take your wife…. + Parker also recorded a trippy version of Tomorrow Never Knows, shorn of all George Martinisms, paring it down to a single bass line and a few haunting guitar notes with Parker’s voice sounding like it comes from somewhere in the outer Bardo… + Bob Dylan on accusations that he was a habitual plagiarist: “All those evil motherfuckers can rot in hell.” Which may have been his way of restating, though not plagiarizing this time, TS Eliot’s observation that: “Immature poets imitate, mature poets steal.” + Marcel Proust anticipated the age of Mar-a-Lago Face. In Time Regained, Marcel has returned to Paris after years in a health sanatorium for his asthma (and numerous other afflictions) and mingles his way through a soirée of the beau monde, contemplating how some people have aged beyond recognition, while others seem frozen in time, and in his reverie mistakes his childhood sweetheart, the irascible Gilberte, for her mother, the Jewish aesthete Charles Swann’s wife Odette, the former courtesan (now Mme de Forcheville)… One saw them as through a colored mist or glass which affected their facial aspect with a sort of fogginess and revealed what they allowed one to observe as if it were life-size, though in reality it was far away, not in the sense of space, but, fundamentally, like being on another shore whence they had as much trouble in recognizing us as we them. Perhaps Mme. de Forcheville, who looked to me as though she had been injected with paraffin, which swells the skin and prevents it from sagging, was unique in presenting the appearance of a courtesan of an earlier period who had been embalmed for eternity. + Disclosure Day: Trump welcomes aliens to Washington. + Speaking of the Gingriches. Here’s Norman Mailer’s poem “Homage to Faulkner”…. Newt Gingrich looks for angry votes; Ergo, he hammers welfare folks. There lie his Presidential hopes: Apotheosis of the Snopes. + And speaking of the Snopes…Martin Ritt’s (pretty awful) film of William Faulkner’s novel The Hamlet, starring Paul Newman, Lee Remick, Joanne Woodward and Orson Welles, was retitled The Long Hot Summer because the studio heads didn’t want people to confuse it with Shakespeare’s play. It turned out that confusing The Hamlet with Hamlet would have been the least confusing thing about the movie, since Ritt and the screenwriters turned Faulkner’s comic novel about the rise to power of a perverse family of white rednecks (the Snopes) into a southern fried melodrama, Peyton Place in the Mississippi Delta. + The novelist Colson Whitehead on his slacker tendencies: “I’m a really lazy bitch. But I have a punitive superego. The two go together.” Whitehead is 56, has written nine novels and won the Pulitzer Prize twice. I wanna slack like that… They’ll Eat Your Heart Out Before You Start Out…They Just Don’t Care Booked Up What I’m reading this week… The Nord Stream Conspiracy: the Inside Story of the Explosions That Shook the World Bojan Pancevski (Henry Holt) Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan (Simon & Schuster) A People’s History of London Lindsey German and John Reese (Verso) Sound Grammar What I’m listening to this week… Miles 56: The Prestige Recordings Miles Davis Quintet (Craft) Where Rivers Meet Your Brother’s Keeper & Gary Bartz (Brownswood) Songs of Personal Loss and Protest Jon Spencer (Shove) England is the Master, Ireland is the Slave “Adorno admires Beckett as much as any composer or writer except perhaps Proust. In Godot, you have two bums and then a moment when two other people come, the master and the slave: Ponzo is pulling Lucky by a string around his neck. This is England and Ireland. There is a moment when the master, England, says to the slave: ‘Think, pig!’ And with that, Lucky comes awake, and all of Western philosophy begins to come out of his mouth in an unintelligible way. The name of every medieval philosopher comes out in this long rigamarole, until finally Pozzo pulls the leash and Lucky stops. Ireland is the inheritor of all of European philosophy and England is a nation of shopkeepers who like to see the demonstration of thought once in a while, but don’t really do it themselves. I would even say, sometimes, Adorno is a little like Lucky, in that he would drive people crazy with his demonstrations. There are many interesting stories about the Mann family, who detested him (though maybe not Thomas Mann himself) and not only because he talked too much. This is the picture one gets of Adorno. On the other hand, he did speak to the students during the student movement. He was, in fact, very sympathetic to their cause. [Although] he did call the police at one point during the demonstrations…” – Frederic Jameson, “Adorno,” After Year Zero: On Postwar German Thought The post Roaming Charges: Call the Shrink appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Jeffrey St. Clair.
This week in the Anthropocene A black cloud hangs heavy, casting a dark, ominous shadow. The air is suffocating and smells of burnt plastic and chemicals. It is Day 7 of a raging fire in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles, where a 500,000-square-foot refrigerated storage facility housing 85 million pounds of food is More The post Vampire Planet: The LA Fires This Time appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
The Lineage Fire in Boyle Heights. Photograph by Chelsea Mosher. This week in the Anthropocene A black cloud hangs heavy, casting a dark, ominous shadow. The air is suffocating and smells of burnt plastic and chemicals. It is Day 7 of a raging fire in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles, where a 500,000-square-foot refrigerated storage facility housing 85 million pounds of food is in flames. An electrical fire that reportedly erupted beneath the building’s solar panels quickly spread to its dense, foam-insulated steel walls, making it difficult for crews to extinguish. Boyle Heights, like many working class neighborhoods in LA, is sandwiched by large industrial sites and crisscrossed by trucking routes and freeways, forcing it to absorb the pollution they generate. It’s one of the most vibrant and engaged places in this sprawling city. Once home to the largest Jewish community west of the Mississippi, Boyle Heights is now over 90% Latinx and proud of that fact. Environmental crimes have long plagued Boyle Heights, where, for over 90 years, a lead-acid battery recycling plant in neighboring Vernon left residents cloaked in air laden with lead and arsenic, toxins still present in soil samples today. Lineage, the company behind the current blaze, has faced various fines and was responsible for a 2024 fire at a facility in Finley, Washington, that burned for 8 days. The Boyle Heights warehouse may not have contained hazardous waste, but its extensive refrigeration system used ammonia as a coolant. An ammonia leak, as the fire broke out, prompted the city to issue “shelter in place” orders. Ammonia is not only highly flammable, it’s also toxic, causing skin and eye damage. If it builds up in the lungs, it can kill. Another disaster is also unfolding, and few have noticed. A stream of water used to douse the fire, containing insulation and other pollutants, has flowed into the storm drain and the LA River, which eventually empties into the ocean in Long Beach. This is the single largest environmental disaster LA has experienced since the horrific 2025 fires. “My eyes burn, I can still taste smoke inside of my mouth. My skin is irritated and there is still a heat wave ongoing so I’m sweating,” said LA Taco reporter Izzy Ramirez from Boyle Heights. “It’s harsh and intense out here.” In recent years, Boyle Heights has been a flashpoint in LA’s gentrification battles, and local activists have successfully forced high-end art galleries to close and would-be gentrifiers to flee. As a 2017 NPR article put it, “protest art” is a verb on the streets of Boyle Heights, and you can bet this recent blaze will further radicalize the community that fearlessly faced down ICE. Mayor Karen Bass, beware. “We still do not have enough clear information about what burned and what may still be burning,” said Los Angeles city councilmember Ysabel Jurado, who represents Boyle Heights. Mayor Bass, taking a cue from the Fire Dept. Chief Jamie Moore, admitted the air quality was poor but “not to the extent that required a mandatory evacuation.” However, many substances, such as volatile organic compounds and chemicals from insulation, paint, and plastic particles, are not routinely tested for during urban fires. Bass, per usual, is sticking to the status quo, and as anyone who lived through the failed response to the 2025 fires knows, the status quo is not enough. “The longer the exposure time, the more dose you’re getting, or the more potential chemicals that you’re inhaling. So you’re gonna be increasing a potential risk,” Jill Johnston, associate professor of environmental and occupational health at UC Irvine, told the Los Angeles Times. Given the fire’s unknowns, a “shelter in place” advisory was the bare minimum. Residents in Boyle Heights and other affected areas should have been fully evacuated as soon as firefighters knew the severity of the situation. Doing so would have required Mayor Bass to admit that the fire was potentially deadly and that the smoke spreading across the LA basin was hazardous to all who breathed it. With the World Cup games in LA and the Olympics forthcoming, Bass was quick to prioritize business interests over public health and safety, jetting off in the midst of the disaster to Chicago for the opening of Obama’s presidential center. No doubt, if this commercial fire had left mansions in Bel Air blanketed in black soot, Bass would have remained on the front lines, ordering extensive environmental testing of the fallout. Even though she pays lip service to environmental racism, she’s done her best to perpetuate it. Bass is facing a tough reelection against left-leaning Nithya Raman, but even Raman has failed to hold Bass accountable for her complacency. As the great radical historian Mike Davis pointed out, it’s the poor, Black, and brown people like those residing in Boyle Heights tenements and on LA’s Eastside who suffer the most when disaster strikes. This fire, sadly, only confirms such a prognosis. The Lineage Fire in Boyle Heights. Photograph by Chelsea Mosher. +++ In other news this week, France’s record-setting “Omega” heatwave forced a nuclear plant to shut down because the river it draws water from was too hot to cool its reactors. And, as people sought refuge from the swelter, forty drowned while swimming in unsupervised waters. Climate chaos kills in all sorts of sinister ways, like increasing the risk of snake bites and wildfires, the latter of which emit even more carbon into the atmosphere. It’s a deadly, self-perpetuating cycle. Yes, we are burning up. There are at least seventy fires across the West right now, and it’s only June. It’s equally bad for our neighbors to the north. Canada has experienced over 1,700 fires so far this year. +++ In more upbeat news (maybe?). It’s the perfect time to pre-order my forthcoming book, Bad Energy, which should ship by mid-August. We’re partnering with Pilsen Community Books for pre-sales, so head over, create an account (it takes 30 seconds), and order a copy or two if you can afford it. Stir that in your drink, and I’ll see ya next week. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Joshua Frank (@joshua.frank) The post Vampire Planet: The LA Fires This Time appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Joshua Frank.
The Ugly American Comes to Europe: Donald Trump in France
Donald Trump's visit to Évian and Versailles offered this Geneva resident an unusually close look at the American president as the local press reported on all the ins and outs of his drop-by. While much of the commentary has focused on the G7 and the very thin memorandum of understanding with Iran, what stood out was Trump's conduct. His declaration that "I'm the boss," his hostility toward journalists, and the pageantry at Versailles all reinforced the image of a president increasingly drawn to the trappings of royal power. Trump turned the visit into another display of self-aggrandizement, reinforcing his image as the “Ugly American.” More The post The Ugly American Comes to Europe: Donald Trump in France appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Trump and the Macrons at Versailles. (Screengrab from CSPAN.) Donald Trump’s visit to Évian and Versailles offered this Geneva resident an unusually close look at the American president as the local press reported on all the ins and outs of his drop-by. While much of the commentary has focused on the G7 and the very thin memorandum of understanding with Iran, what stood out was Trump’s conduct. His declaration that “I’m the boss,” his hostility toward journalists, and the pageantry at Versailles all reinforced the image of a president increasingly drawn to the trappings of royal power. Trump turned the visit into another display of self-aggrandizement, reinforcing his image as the “Ugly American.” The “Ugly American” is the stereotype of an American abroad: loud, domineering, culturally tone-deaf, and convinced that American ways are inherently superior. During his 48-hour visit to France, Trump checked every box. With Trump, the tourist stereotype has become a style of statecraft. First, at the G7, Trump arrived late for a working session. As he entered the room, where the session had already started, instead of apologizing for being late, he greeted the room with “I’m the boss.” He then offered to let the press stay in what was supposed to be a closed-door meeting. Trump’s remark landed with an awkward silence. His tap on the German Chancellor’s shoulder as he took his seat did nothing to change the atmosphere. No leader publicly challenged him, allowing his statement to pass without visible objection. The principal people around the table were the leaders of France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Canada, and Japan. Trump’s comment has been optimistically interpreted as a joke. Whether intended as humor or not, the remark asserted Trump’s domination over the group. The very word “boss” evokes a mafia kingpin more readily than a diplomatic leader. In Europe, where diplomacy still places a premium on courtesy, protocol, and the fiction that sovereign equals meet as partners, the moment carried a symbolism. French and Swiss coverage focused on what the comment revealed about his conception of hierarchical leadership. An AFP dispatch published in a local Swiss paper noted that Trump “made a point of reminding the other G7 leaders who was in charge.” Having declared to the assembled G7 leaders that “I’m the boss,” Trump closed the summit with a press conference that quickly turned adversarial. When an ABC reporter was called on, he cut off the exchange immediately: “You’re from ABC. You’re fake news. Go ahead.” The tone was pre-emptive dismissal. On policy questions about the Iran memorandum, criticism itself was treated as illegitimate. Dissenting views were reduced to ignorance or bad faith, summed up in phrases such as “the stupid people say that,” while the president insisted that the agreement would simply speak for itself once published. What emerged was not a dialogue with the press but a pattern in which questioning authority was met either with ridicule or with the suggestion that no interpretation was necessary beyond his own, convinced that his interpretation was inherently superior. If Évian revealed Trump’s view of the “Ugly American” as loud, domineering, and culturally tone-deaf, Versailles provided the perfect stage for it. At Versailles, surrounded by the architecture of absolute monarchy, the “Ugly American” seemed perfectly at home. The palace built to glorify Louis XIV became the backdrop for a president who increasingly presents himself not simply as the head of a constitutional republic, but as a ruler whose personal will eclipses institutions. It was as though an American political fantasy had merged with a French royal one. Donald XLVII met Louis XIV. “I’m the boss” translated from “L’État, c’est moi.” “I don’t want to hear about the affordability” updated “Let them eat cake.” The East Wing Ballroom reimagined Versailles’ Hall of Mirrors. But not everyone has bowed to Trump. Not everyone appears spineless. Two European leaders deserve particular attention. The Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, has refused to follow Trump. At the 2025 NATO summit, he would not commit Spain to spending 5% of GDP on defense, arguing that about 2.1% would be enough to meet Spain’s military commitments. In response, Trump called Spain’s stance “terrible” and suggested Spain was “free-riding” on the alliance. Recently, Sánchez refused to allow the U.S. to use the jointly operated military bases at Rota and Morón for offensive missions against Iran. Spain said any use of the bases must comply with existing bilateral agreements and international law, and called the U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran “unjustified”and “dangerous.” A second European leader has also gotten under Trump’s skin. Like Spain, Italy refused to allow U.S. forces to use Italian bases for offensive operations against Iran, saying any use must comply with existing bilateral agreements and Italian law. The previously close relationship between Trump and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has degenerated into a personal feud worthy of the gossip columns. Trump claimed she asked him for a photo at the G7 summit because she wanted to boost her popularity. Meloni categorically denied the claim, calling it “completely fabricated,” and responded that Trump should “focus on your own popularity.” As Reuters headlined: “From Trump whisperer to Trump basher: Meloni takes on US president.” The immediate result of the feud was that Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani canceled a planned trip to the United States after Trump’s remarks. The “Ugly American” was once a caricature of the loud tourist who embarrassed his country abroad. Under Donald Trump, the stereotype has become diplomatic practice. Whether leaders such as Sánchez and Meloni remain exceptions—or become the beginning of a broader European resistance—may determine whether the “Ugly American” remains a stereotype or becomes America’s enduring face abroad. The post The Ugly American Comes to Europe: Donald Trump in France appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Daniel Warner.
There are Tens of Thousands of Hind Rajabs
The UN has now found that Israel deliberately targeted Palestinian children. I read the report as a mother, against the speed with which we are already forgetting. I am a mother. I am Palestinian. I am a psychoanalyst, which means I spend my days with people learning to survive what should have destroyed them. Start with More The post There are Tens of Thousands of Hind Rajabs appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Five year old Hind Rajab after her graduation from kindergarten. The UN has now found that Israel deliberately targeted Palestinian children. I read the report as a mother, against the speed with which we are already forgetting. I am a mother. I am Palestinian. I am a psychoanalyst, which means I spend my days with people learning to survive what should have destroyed them. Start with the child we have already been allowed to forget. On January 29, 2024, a six-year-old named Hind Rajab sat in a car in Gaza City, packed in against the bodies of her aunt, her uncle, and her cousins, all of them killed around her by Israeli fire. For hours she stayed on the phone with the Palestine Red Crescent and begged, in the voice of a small child who still trusts that grown-ups come when you call, for someone to come. The soldiers killed the two paramedics sent to save her. They killed the ambulance. Hind was found nearly two weeks later. Investigators counted more than three hundred bullets in the car. The world heard her, because someone recorded the call. A film was made from her voice, and at its first screening a theater full of people stood and wept and clapped for twenty-three minutes, the longest ovation anyone could remember. I wept too. Then the lights came up, everyone went home, and the checks to the army that killed her did not stop. Not for one day. Not for one dollar. We will grieve a Palestinian child once she has been turned into ninety minutes of cinema, and we will keep paying the people who turned her into a body in a car. There are tens of thousands of Hind Rajabs in Palestine. Children whose last hour no one recorded. Children with no film, no ovation, no name you will ever learn. The money that bought the tank beside her car has never wept, never forgotten, never paused. Only we pause. Only we forget. And our forgetting is not innocent. It is the thing the killing needs from us, and it is being counted on. This week the UN’s Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel published what should end the argument. In a hundred-page report, the first a UN body has ever devoted to crimes against Palestinian children, it found that Israeli forces have deliberately targeted and killed those children, and that this is genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes in Gaza, and war crimes in the West Bank. Not collateral. Not tragic excess. The deliberate killing of children, the inquiry said, is itself one of the clearest signs of the intent to destroy a people. “Palestinian children have been deliberately targeted and killed by the Israeli security forces,” the chair of the Commission said. More than 20,000 children killed in two years. More than 44,000 wounded. Almost one in three of all the dead, a child. The Commission found the wounds were not random. Children were shot in the head and the chest, hunted by drones and snipers, and one soldier called the work a game. A fourteen-year-old in the West Bank was left to bleed to death over forty-five minutes while soldiers watched him die. When he pushed out his cap to show he was still breathing, a soldier kicked it back at him. They shot at his mother when she ran for him. They have never returned his body. A twelve-year-old girl with a treatable illness starved to death under the siege, and her evacuation was approved two weeks after she was already dead. A baby was shot through the head by a drone while he nursed at his mother’s breast, and he lives now, paralyzed. In one stretch of three months, more than a thousand children had an arm or a leg cut off, many of them babies, many with nothing for the pain. I am a mother. I do not have to imagine the table, the child, the saw. The children of Gaza have been asking questions, and the people who sit with them have written the questions down. When the missile falls, will it hurt? When they bomb the tent, will we burn? Do children whose legs are cut off grow new ones? Do the pilots who bomb children have children? I don’t want to die in pieces. These are not poems. They are the working minds of small children trying to draw a map of a world that has decided they should not exist. The Commission gave the damage a name. It said the freedom to play, to imagine, to hope, to become a person, has been taken from these children, and that what was done to them cannot be undone. I have spent my whole working life inside that sentence. To occupy a people is not only to take their land and ration their water. It is to climb inside a child and turn the sky into the place the bombs come from, and to leave a six-year-old asking whether she will feel it when it lands. None of this is weather. None of this is fate. It is made by people, and it is bought by people, and a great deal of the buying is ours. American tax dollars, and the European money behind them, the imperial subsidy that keeps the bombs falling. The United States is Israel’s largest weapons supplier, the arms dealer to a genocide the UN has now named twice. A Brown University accounting puts US military aid to Israel at more than $21.7 billion since October 2023 alone, on top of more than a quarter of a trillion dollars since 1959, more than this country has handed any nation on earth. Your taxes bought the bomb that fell on the tent. Your taxes paid the wage of the sniper who chose the child’s head. Two years of these weapons is more than 80,000 homes we did not build, a year of after-school care for 14 million children we did not fund. We chose the missile instead. We are choosing it again this week. And we are breaking our own laws to do it. The Leahy Law forbids US aid to any military unit credibly found to have committed gross human rights violations, among them torture, rape, and the unlawful killing of civilians. Section 502B of the Foreign Assistance Act forbids security assistance to any government that commits a consistent pattern of those violations. Section 620I of the same Act forbids military aid to any government that blocks the delivery of US humanitarian aid, which Israel has done in Gaza for months at a time, with children starving on the other side of the gate. The Arms Export Control Act allows American weapons to be used for self-defense, not for what the Commission has just finished describing. These laws are not obscure. They are not ambiguous. Our government breaks them in daylight, on purpose, and dares us not to notice. The Commission asked every government to stop arming a state it has twice found to be committing genocide. For an American there is no distance in that sentence. The body that approves the money is Congress, and Congress answers to you. That is why the Palestine-Global and Shatāt-USA Palestine Mental Health Networks started a campaign called If This Were Your Child. It sets the questions of Gaza’s children beside the record of who pays for their killing, and it asks one thing of the people paying the bill. Write to your representatives and your senators, and do not stop there. Call them. Call the next day again, and the day after that, until your name is a weight they carry into every vote. Stop arming Israel. Make this government obey the laws it wrote. A phone call is a small thing to set against a slaughter. It is also one of the few things a person in Ohio or Lyon or Leeds can actually do, and the killing goes on because we keep deciding it is not worth the trouble. You, reading this, are the only thing the people doing this have to fear. Not the courts, which look away. Not the governments, which sign the checks. You. The ones who profit are betting that you will feel this for the length of an article and then file it next to Hind Rajab and move on. Prove them wrong. I cannot make you keep feeling it. The mind is built to set down what it cannot carry, and a whole government and arms industry sit on top of that to make sure you set this down too. But I will tell you what I tell myself, as a mother who raised two children of her own and got to watch them grow. The applause ends. The lights come up. The only question that has ever mattered is what you do once you can no longer hear the child’s voice. Hind Rajab asked for someone to come. Tens of thousands asked, and no one came, and they are asking still. Do the pilots who bomb children have children? It is a question about whether you still recognize a child when you see one, and whether you will keep paying not to. If you are a US citizen, do not only write to Congress. Call. The Capitol switchboard is (202) 224-3121. Call today, and call again tomorrow, and keep calling. Write to Congress here: Your Taxes, Their Children: Tell Congress to Enforce the Law. Follow this link. Follow @if_this_were_your_child for more ways to act. You are the only hope. Do not stop. Keep talking about Palestine. Keep posting. Keep sharing. Keep disrupting and never stop believing that Palestine will be free. The post There are Tens of Thousands of Hind Rajabs appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Lama Khouri.
Ceasefire But Not a Grand Bargain Between the United States and Iran
The Iran–US Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) emerged not from reconciliation, but from exhaustion and strategic failure by the United States and its allies. It was the product of a war that had reached its political limits. Washington and Tel Aviv presented their illegal war of aggression as a necessary response to Iran’s nuclear energy programme, More The post Ceasefire But Not a Grand Bargain Between the United States and Iran appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Trump signs a Memorandum of Understanding between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the United States of America at the Palace of Versailles. (Official White House Photo by Daniel Torok.) The Iran–US Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) emerged not from reconciliation, but from exhaustion and strategic failure by the United States and its allies. It was the product of a war that had reached its political limits. Washington and Tel Aviv presented their illegal war of aggression as a necessary response to Iran’s nuclear energy programme, missile capabilities, and regional alliances. Yet behind this language of security lay a broader objective: to weaken Iran decisively and restore a regional order centred on unquestioned US and Israeli dominance. For more than two decades, successive US administrations had sought to contain Iran through sanctions, diplomatic isolation, covert operations, cyberwarfare, and targeted assassinations. The recent war represented the most intense expression of this strategy. The assumption in Washington and Tel Aviv was that overwhelming force would cripple Iran’s military infrastructure, fracture its state capacity, provoke internal instability, and perhaps open the way for political transformation. That expectation was not fulfilled. Iran suffered extensive damage to military facilities, infrastructure, and economic assets. Civilian life was severely disrupted. But the Iranian state did not collapse. Its command structures continued to function, its armed forces retained retaliatory capacity, and its leadership preserved enough cohesion to withstand the assault. Despite the murder of several key leaders of the Islamic Republic, it remains in authority and its legitimacy has in fact been strengthened. Equally important, Iran demonstrated that it could impose costs beyond its own borders. Missile and drone attacks reached Israeli territory and threatened strategic infrastructure across the Gulf Arab states. The conflict imposed by the US and Israel ended up with disrupted shipping routes, raised insurance costs, unsettled energy markets, and reminded governments across the world that instability in the Gulf cannot be contained within the region. As the war continued, the gap between military power and political achievement became increasingly visible. The United States and Israel possessed overwhelming military superiority, but they could not convert battlefield pressure into decisive political outcomes. Iran remained intact; regime change did not occur. The Axis of Resistance – from Iran to the Mediterranean Sea – was weakened but not eliminated. Continued escalation promised greater destruction, but not strategic victory. Due to this fact, the MoU is not a final peace treaty. It is a provisional framework designed to halt direct hostilities, reopen channels of negotiation, and prevent the conflict from spreading further. Its first and most immediate provision is a temporary cessation of direct military operations. The framework establishes a 60-day period during which the parties are expected to negotiate the terms of a more durable settlement. This pause does not resolve the underlying conflict, but it creates space to prevent accidental escalation and reduce the immediate risk of a wider regional war. Second, the MoU centres on the Strait of Hormuz. This is the agreement’s most economically significant feature. Roughly one-fifth of globally traded petroleum passes through this narrow waterway. During the war, threats to shipping demonstrated both Iran’s geographic leverage and the vulnerability of the global economy to instability in the Gulf. The MoU treats maritime deconfliction not as a technical matter, but as a central pillar of regional and global economic stability. Third, the agreement establishes a process for negotiations over Iran’s nuclear energy programme. Crucially, it does not impose immediate dismantlement of Iran’s nuclear infrastructure. Instead, it opens discussions on enrichment levels, inspection mechanisms, monitoring arrangements, and the possible return of international technical oversight. This marks a shift from coercion to bargaining: Iran is not being treated simply as a target, but as a state whose consent is required for any durable nuclear arrangement. Fourth, the MoU includes discussions on sanctions relief, oil exports, and the possible release or mobilisation of Iranian financial assets. The details remain contested. But the principle is clear: economic strangulation did not produce surrender. A sustainable settlement will require some degree of economic accommodation. Fifth, the agreement reportedly includes regional deconfliction mechanisms, particularly around Lebanon. This reflects the fact that the conflict was never only bilateral. Iran’s regional alliances, Israel’s military operations, US security commitments, and the fragile balance in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, and the Gulf are all connected. Any agreement that ignores this regional architecture will remain unstable. The most revealing aspect of the MoU is what it omits. It does not demand regime change, it does not require Iran to abandon its missile programme, and it does not force Tehran to withdraw entirely from regional political and security affairs. In short, the agreement recognises Iran as a regional power whose interests must be negotiated, not simply bombed away. The MoU exposes important differences between the strategic priorities of the United States and Israel. For Israel, the war was an opportunity to reshape the regional balance of power. Israeli policymakers have long regarded Iran as the principal obstacle to their strategic ambitions in West Asia. The weakening of Hezbollah, the fragmentation of resistance networks, and the isolation of Tehran were seen as necessary steps toward a regional order more favourable to Israel. The United States shared some of these objectives but operated under broader constraints. Washington had to consider not only military outcomes, but also oil markets, global trade, Gulf allies, domestic political pressures, and the risk of wider international involvement. As the costs mounted, US calculations increasingly diverged from Israeli maximalism. The result is an agreement that many in Israel are likely to regard as insufficient. The war did not eliminate Iran as a strategic actor. It did not produce regime change. It did not destroy Iran’s capacity to influence events beyond its borders. Most importantly, it ended not with capitulation, but with negotiation. This outcome reveals a deeper problem for Israeli strategy. Military superiority can inflict enormous damage, but it cannot by itself produce political legitimacy or regional acceptance. Israel can strike targets across West Asia, but it cannot determine the political future of societies beyond its borders through force alone. For the United States, the MoU represents the recognition of another reality: military dominance no longer guarantees political obedience. This lesson has been learned repeatedly in Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon, and now once again in relation to Iran. The Gulf Arab monarchies are among the most important observers of this agreement. Throughout the conflict, Gulf governments were caught between competing pressures. They remain dependent on US security guarantees and have expanded overt or covert relations with Israel. At the same time, they understand that any regional war with Iran places their own economic and social stability at risk. The disruption of shipping routes and threats to regional infrastructure made this vulnerability unmistakable. The Gulf states possess immense wealth, but their economies depend on secure maritime trade, stable energy exports, foreign investment, and the confidence of global markets. A prolonged war endangers all of these. The likely conclusion for Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, and Oman is pragmatic rather than ideological. They will continue to work with Washington. Some will maintain or deepen relations with Israel. But they will also seek channels with Tehran and avoid becoming direct platforms for escalation. This trend was already visible before the war. The Saudi–Iranian rapprochement facilitated by China in 2023 reflected a growing recognition that regional stability cannot be achieved through permanent confrontation. The war has reinforced that conclusion. The Gulf monarchies have learned that neither Iran nor the United States is going away. Their future depends not on choosing one side permanently against the other, but on managing the contradictions between them while protecting their own interests. Whether Iran has won depends on how victory is defined. If victory means avoiding destruction, Iran did not win. The country suffered severe economic losses, infrastructure damage, military degradation, and human costs. The burden of the war fell heavily on ordinary Iranians. But strategic outcomes are not measured only by damage suffered. They are also measured by political objectives achieved or prevented. The central objective of the United States and Israel was not merely to damage Iran. It was to fundamentally weaken Iran as an independent regional actor. On that measure, the campaign fell short. Iran remains sovereign and the government of the Islamic Republic remains in power. Its military capabilities have been reduced but not eliminated. Its diplomatic relevance has been strengthened by the fact that negotiations now revolve around securing Iranian consent rather than imposing foreign dictates. In this sense, Iran achieved what many states facing overwhelming military pressure have sought throughout history: survival. Survival is not romantic. It is often costly, brutal, and incomplete. But in international politics, survival can be the most important measure of strategic success. The larger significance of the war lies elsewhere. The conflict demonstrated once again that destruction is not the same as power. Military force can demolish infrastructure, kill combatants, and impose suffering. What it cannot always do is produce political transformation. The United States and Israel possessed vastly superior military capabilities, yet they could not secure the political outcome they desired. The Iran–US MoU is therefore not a story of decisive victory by either side. It is the story of a war that revealed the limits of coercion. Iran emerges battered but standing. The United States and Israel emerge powerful but unable to dictate terms. The Gulf states emerge more conscious of their vulnerability. The region enters a new phase in which negotiations, rather than battlefield victories, will determine the next chapter of West Asian politics. That is the deepest political meaning of the MoU: military power can destroy, but it cannot always rule. This article was produced by Globetrotter and No Cold War. The post Ceasefire But Not a Grand Bargain Between the United States and Iran appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Vijay Prashad.
When Is It Too Late? The NDAA, US-Israel Military Fusion, and the Point of No Return
We are long past the moment when we could pretend the warning signs were not there. Just as climate scientists have spent decades warning of tipping points — the irreversible collapse of ice sheets, the die-off of coral reefs, the sudden release of methane from thawing permafrost — a different kind of catastrophe has been More The post When Is It Too Late? The NDAA, US-Israel Military Fusion, and the Point of No Return appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Photograph by Michael Leonardi We are long past the moment when we could pretend the warning signs were not there. Just as climate scientists have spent decades warning of tipping points — the irreversible collapse of ice sheets, the die-off of coral reefs, the sudden release of methane from thawing permafrost — a different kind of catastrophe has been building in plain sight. This one is political, constitutional, and strategic. And like climate change, it has been enabled by denial, short-term thinking, and the capture of power by entrenched interests. The latest National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) moving through Congress represents one of those tipping points. In provisions that have received far too little public scrutiny, the bill begins the formal fusion of critical elements of the U.S. and Israeli militaries: shared command structures, integrated technology development, aligned intelligence architectures, and interlocking supply chains. What was once a close alliance is being quietly transformed into something far more dangerous — a de facto merged military apparatus. This is the political equivalent of passing 2°C. The feedback loops are strengthening. Once these structures are locked in, unwinding them will require a political effort on the scale of dismantling the entire military-industrial complex. The Constitutional Surrender These NDAA provisions do not simply increase aid or coordination. They create mechanisms for the “consolidation” and “alignment” of U.S. and Israeli military planning, technology, and operations across multiple federal agencies. This is the architecture of irreversible entanglement. The Constitution never envisioned — and does not permit — the quiet merger of American military sovereignty with that of any foreign power. Congress’s power to declare war and appropriate funds, and the President’s role as Commander-in-Chief, are being steadily undermined by institutional arrangements that treat Israel as something closer to a co-equal military partner than an ally. This is how republics erode: not through dramatic coups, but through the slow surrender of decision-making authority dressed up as strategic necessity. Meanwhile, Israel continues its genocidal campaign in Gaza (now with over 70,000 dead) and expands aggression into Lebanon. Rather than applying any restraint, the U.S. political class is locking future generations into even deeper complicity. Window Dressing in New York Even as this fusion advances, we are treated to the spectacle of “progressive” wins in places like New York elections — a little window dressing to make the system appear responsive. These occasional victories provide the illusion of democratic vitality while the deeper machinery of power cements a profound forfeiture of sovereignty. The empire continues its march, largely undisturbed by the occasional progressive headline. The European Crackdown and the Assault on International Law This forfeiture is mirrored and reinforced across the Atlantic. Europe, which once pretended to uphold certain standards of human rights and free speech, is undergoing a sweeping clampdown on pro-Palestinian voices. In Britain, Palestine Action activists face terrorism charges for non-violent direct action against arms factories. In Denmark, student encampments have been violently cleared and organizers prosecuted. In Germany, Jewish anti-Zionist voices are smeared and marginalized, as the state codifies Israel as the very embodiment of “Semitism” — a grotesque adulteration of the term that turns criticism of a genocidal state into a punishable thought crime. In Italy, persecution of activists continues, with draconian laws designed to criminalize dissent and any meaningful criticism of Israel. Palestinian activists remain imprisoned under harsh conditions. At the heart of this repression is the ongoing assault on UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese. The US government has imposed sanctions on her for her principled and unflinching reporting on Israeli crimes — an abhorrent affront to international law and a naked display of colonial impunity. These sanctions, currently held up in court, reveal the true face of Western “justice”: kangaroo courts more interested in protecting the crimes of empire than in upholding international law or delivering real accountability. Recent UN reports have laid bare the horror in even starker terms. In late June 2026, the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry concluded that Israeli authorities and security forces have deliberately targeted Palestinian children, resulting in genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes in Gaza, alongside war crimes in the West Bank. Another UN report documented systemic sexual violence, including rape and gang rape, against Palestinian detainees. Rather than face accountability, Israel responded with its typical monstrous strategy: viciously attacking the United Nations, its commissioners, and investigators — smearing them as “tools of Hamas” and seeking to delegitimize any institution that dares document its crimes. The broader pattern is unmistakable: the systematic delegitimization of international law and institutions like the United Nations, paired with Israel’s continued complete and total impunity. While the ICJ and ICC issue rulings and arrest warrants, Western powers ensure they remain unenforced. This is not the rule of law — it is the law of the strongest, enforced by those who profit from the carnage. When Is It Too Late? As former Congressman Dennis Kucinich warned in Antiwar.com, these NDAA provisions represent nothing less than “the surrender of American sovereignty on the eve of America’s 250th anniversary.” We are rapidly approaching a point of no return. The feedback loops are already strengthening: the Israel lobby’s stranglehold on both major parties, the massive profits flowing to defense contractors, and a national security state that treats criticism of this relationship as a greater threat than the moral and strategic disaster it has created. Just as climate denial delayed meaningful action until tipping points became visible and irreversible, political denial about the costs of total allegiance to Israel has brought us to this dangerous threshold. Each new layer of military, technological, and intelligence integration makes genuine independence harder to reclaim. The American people must demand that Congress reject these provisions. We must insist on reclaiming sovereignty over our own foreign policy and military decisions. Unconditional support for Israel’s wars is not strength — it is surrender. Because in regards to both climate change and geopolitics, the question is no longer abstract: When is it too late? We may be about to find out. The post When Is It Too Late? The NDAA, US-Israel Military Fusion, and the Point of No Return appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Michael Leonardi.
Does US AI Depend on Big Companies Throwing Money in the Toilet? The Chinese Competition
Here are the price-to-earnings ratios as of Friday, June 19. At 37.16, the average increased slightly over last week. Most of us tend to think that the people controlling billions, or even hundreds of billions of dollars, at major corporations have a pretty good idea of what they are doing with their companies’ money. But More The post Does US AI Depend on Big Companies Throwing Money in the Toilet? The Chinese Competition appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Still from Ghost in the Shell. Manga/Anchor Bay. Here are the price-to-earnings ratios as of Friday, June 19. At 37.16, the average increased slightly over last week. Most of us tend to think that the people controlling billions, or even hundreds of billions of dollars, at major corporations have a pretty good idea of what they are doing with their companies’ money. But that clearly is not always the case. For example, in 2000, Time-Warner, which was at the time the largest media company in the country, effectively sold itself for nothing to AOL. The sale went through just two months before the peak of the 1990s tech bubble and the beginning of the crash. AOL was one of the high-flyers of the bubble, with a market capitalization of more than $200 billion, which would be around $400 billion in today’s dollars. AOL paid for Time-Warner with $165 billion of its own stock. Shortly after the merger, the stock of the combined company plunged to roughly what would have been the value of Time-Warner’s stock if it remained an independent company. AOL’s business was adding virtually nothing. There are numerous other stories of extraordinarily bad business judgement from the tech bubble era. As I’ve mentioned before, many companies discovered that adding “dot.com” to their name was an effective way to juice their stock price. Bad business judgement did not go out of style with the collapse of the tech bubble. Meta lost as much as $80 billion pushing its Metaverse, which it largely abandoned at the end of last year. There is some question as to how much of this is actually a loss, since some of the spending may ultimately pay a dividend with AI, but it’s clear a large share of this investment was seriously misdirected. Is the AI Spending Party Over? This background is worth mentioning when it comes to the AI bubble, since a key question is this: How much are businesses willing to pay for AI? Until recently, AI enthusiasts were touting the rapid growth in revenue. It seems a big factor in that growth was companies spending money on AI, even if they didn’t have a productive use for it, because they thought it meant their companies were at the cutting edge in technology. That sounds crazy, but even large companies can often do things that are pretty crazy, as noted above. In recent weeks there have been several reports in the media of companies “tokenmaxxing,” where companies rewarded mid-level workers for using AI. This was not just small or midsize companies with poor management. Amazon, one of the largest companies in the world, had an AIleaderboard for their workers, where they could be rewarded for the amount of AI they used. Other companies were following similar practices. Apparently, companies are now looking at their AI bills and deciding that it may not be the smartest thing in the world to encourage employees to use AI as an end in itself. This is at the least likely to mean slower growth in AI usage, if not actually reduced usage in many companies. The change in attitudes may also lead to more cost-consciousness in choices of AI systems. This is where Chinese AI may come to be a bigger factor. If companies were just using AI to be cool, it is easy to go with the leading American companies, which would generally be Anthropic and OpenAI. The systems produced by these companies generally rank at or near the top by most measures. But they cost considerably more than the Chinese systems, the best of which are not far behind according to most ratings. To take a few illustrative examples, the cutting-edge Anthropic system costs $15 for 1 million output tokens. The leading OpenAI model charges $30, while Google’s frontier model costs $9 for 1 million tokens. By comparison, the leading model from Minimax costs just $2 per million output tokens, while Moonshot charges $3.00. Alibaba has a discount version available for just 60 cents per million output tokens. (Input tokens tend to cost around 20 percent as much, but the pricing follows the same pattern.) These comparisons are not comprehensive. The US makers offer older versions at somewhat lower prices and there are many more Chinese AI makers than just the three listed here. This is another advantage that China has. It has around a dozen highly competitive AI makers, while the US has just five. If AI consumers become more cost-conscious then they are likely to increasingly turn to Chinese AI companies. This will be the case even if the US producers can maintain a modest lead in producing cutting edge AI. The vast majority of users are not going to need cutting edge AI, just as the vast majority of computer users do not have any use for the top-of-the-line models produced by Dell or Apple. The Chinese AI also has the advantage that it is mostly open weight. This means that users can modify the models to better fit their needs. It also means that the systems can be downloaded and run on a company’s own computers. This allows companies to protect their data; they need not fear that they are handing it over to the Chinese government, although they may be handing it over to Elon Musk or Mark Zuckerberg with the US systems. China is Gaining Ground The lower cost and open-weight systems are a reason that Chinese AI is gaining ground around the world and even in the United States. According to data from OpenRouter, four of the top five models for worldwide usage in May were Chinese companies. Much of this usage is in China or in third countries; however, the cost advantage is also causing Chinese AI makers to gain ground in the United States. And it is not just small companies looking to skimp on costs that are turning to Chinese AI. Airbnb relies on Alibaba’s Qwen model because it is “fast and cheap.” Unless there is some big roadblock put in their path, it seems likely that the Chinese AI share of the US and world market is likely to grow in the months and years ahead. It is also important to note that even insofar as the US producers can retain their market, the low-cost Chinese competition will depress profit margins. It’s hard to sell a car for $40,000 if a comparable model is available for $4,000. Similarly, unless there is some massive productivity benefit from using US AI as opposed to Chinese models, it is difficult to see why companies would pay $15 to $30 for 1 million output tokens when they can pay top-line Chinese companies $2-$3 for a million tokens. It’s Trump Versus China One other factor to take into account in the international competition is that Donald Trump has decided to take a direct interest in promoting US AI over the Chinese producers. Ordinarily having a helping hand from the government might be seen as a plus in international competition, But this is not a story where the Commerce Department or other government agencies will be relying on people familiar with the industry to devise ways to favor US firms. This is a story where Donald Trump will be looking to favor the companies where the CEOs and other top executives have curried his favor and/or made large contributions to his various collection plates. He will also be looking to harm companies that may have done something to warrant his wrath, as recently seems to have been the case with Anthropic. While both China have many bright and hard-working people in their AI industries, the Chinese producers have the advantage that they don’t have Donald Trump on their side. There are many reasons why it already looked like the competition was going in China’s favor, but Trump might be more than enough to clinch the game. This first appeared on Dean Baker’s “AI Bubble Monitor” blog. The post Does US AI Depend on Big Companies Throwing Money in the Toilet? The Chinese Competition appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Dean Baker.
Trump Despotism: Fascist Repression in the United States on the Eve of the Nation’s 250th Anniversary
As the United States prepares to celebrate the 250th anniversary of its break from and against the “tyranny” and “despotism” of the British government, the fascist Trump47 regime is carrying out a draconian campaign of tyrannical and despotic repression against free speech and public assembly. NSPM-7 in Fascist Action in Texas and Minnesota Last March, More The post Trump Despotism: Fascist Repression in the United States on the Eve of the Nation’s 250th Anniversary appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
As the United States prepares to celebrate the 250th anniversary of its break from and against the “tyranny” and “despotism” of the British government, the fascist Trump47 regime is carrying out a draconian campaign of tyrannical and despotic repression against free speech and public assembly. NSPM-7 in Fascist Action in Texas and Minnesota Last March, the Trump Department of Justice (DOJ) successfully tried and convicted nine protesters on charges of “Antifa”-aligned terrorism for a July 4, 2025 action outside a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement concentration camp in Prairieland, Texas, just south of Dallas. The trial focused on a protest in which participants set off fireworks in solidarity with the camp’s detainees. During the action, three protesters broke away from the larger group and vandalized ICE vehicles. A police officer drew his weapon at one of the activists and was allegedly by a protester legally armed with an AR-15 (Texas is an open-carry state). The DOJ argued that the fact that the Prairieland activists all wore black clothes to the protest was sufficient to convict them of “material support for terrorism.” Also presented as supposed evidence of “terrorism” was the defendants’ use of the popular encrypted chat Signal. Trump’s DOJ changed its initial charge of those arrested from “attempted murder of a police officer,” to “terrorism” and “material support for terrorism” after the White House designated “antifa” as a “terror group” in its September 25, 2025 National Security Presidential Memorandum 7 (NSPM-7). This document directs federal law enforcement to target left-leaning groups and activities, all placed under the “antifa” rubric. (Antifa is simply an umbrella term for militant leftish groups that confront neo-Nazis and white supremacists at demonstrations.) NPSM-7 (titled ‘Countering Domestic Terrorism and Organized Political Violence’) designates as legitimate targets of federal counterterrorism enforcement any individuals or groups suspected of being “anti-fascist,” “anti-American,” “anti-capitalist,” “anti-Christian,” or “hostile to traditional American views on family, religion and morality.” Never mind the absence of any statute authorizing the federal government to treat protected political speech as terrorism. Yesterday, the Trump-appointed US District judge Reed O’Connor called the July 4, 2025 action “an assault on democracy” and collectively sentenced the Prairieland Eight to 450 years in prison. Benjamin Song (the alleged shooter), a former US Marine Corps reservist, convicted of attempted murder of a law enforcement officer, got 100 years. Maricela Rueda got 70 years; Cameron Arnold, Savanna Batten, Zachary Evetts, Bradford Morris, and Elizabeth Soto each got 50 years; Daniel Rolando Sanchez-Estrada got 30 years. Trump’s prosecutors argued that the eight are members of “antifa, a decentralized anti-fascist organization.” The defendants denied any affiliation with “antifa” and say they engaged in their action simply to support detained immigrants. “This is a bunch of kids and young adults who really have a really big heart and really wanted their voice to be heard,” Song’s lawyer told reporters after the sentences were imposed. “It was never intended that anybody get hurt. It was never intended that any shots would be fired.” According to ABC News: “Autumn Hill said the gathering ‘seemed more like a party to me than anything else’…she and others who participated ‘didn’t expect or want any violence or destruction of property to occur. Amber Lowrey told the judge that her sister, Savanna Batten, is a compassionate person with dreams of opening a bakery. She said Batten’s activism started with animal rights and evolved into anti-war and human rights advocacy. ‘She’s the best person I know,’ Lowrey said. Hill and Batten both received 50-year sentences.” “I am livid,” says Autumn Hill’s wife Lydia Koza. “The government wants to take her entire life away because she attended a protest. Nobody died.” The Trumpist prosecutor Frank Gatto urged the judge to order harsh sentences. “People with…extremist beliefs need extra time in prison,” Gatto said. Gatto got what he wanted. – (A ninth defendant, Ines Soto, will be sentenced on 1 July. Seven others involved in the incident pleaded guilty before the trial to one count of providing material support to terrorists. They face sentencing on July 1st.) Extreme Irony Trump’s personal attorney and acting US Attorney General Todd Blanche responded to the wildly disproportionate punishments by condemning political violence. “The sentences handed down today,” Blanche said, “make clear that Antifa terrorists who attack law enforcement and federal facilities will face swift and uncompromising justice.” The DOJ argues that the convicted activists were enlisted in a “North Texas Antifa Cell” that was part of a network dedicated to “the overthrow of the US government, law enforcement and the system of law.” These are darkly ironic words from the mouth of a January 6 cheerleader working for a president who pardoned 1600 thugs who were convicted by federal juries for trying to physically cancel the 2020 presidential during a bloody assault on the US Congress five and a half year ago! (Trump also commuted the prison sentences given to the nation’s top two fascist paramilitary leaders – Stewart Rhodes of the Oath Keepers and Enrique Tarrio of the Proud Boys – for helping coordinate the January 6 insurrection, whose culprits Trump wanted equipped with military assault weapons.) None of those convicted for participating in the Capitol Riot, a literal physical insurrectionary attack on the US Capitol, received sentences remotely close to the ones given to the Prairieland Eight. Adding to the Orwellian-fascist absurdity, the Trump DOJ has refused to investigate, much less charge, any US Border Patrol gendarmes for murdering two protesters in cold blood in Minneapolis last winter. Trump’s fascist Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth scandalously shared sensitive military information on the Signal messaging app last year. The Message: Stay Home, Shut Up, and Let Fascism Be The Prairieland prosecution, verdict, and sentencing set a terrifying precedent, advancing the criminalization of all dissent. Under its arch-repressive logic, noise demonstrations, pamphlets, zines, clothing, chants and mere physical presence at a protest can be used by the state to lock citizens up for decades. The arch-authoritarian message is clear as day: one now merely attends a protest of the Trump regime’s fascist, racist, and nativist mass detention and torture program at the risk of being locked up for most of one’s remaining life. This is a grave menace to basic constitutional freedoms of speech and public assembly. Minnesota Next That same message is being sent by the DOJ’s recent indictment of 15 anti-ICE activists who protested immigration sweeps in the Twin Cities last winter. The activists are accused of being with “antifa” groups that “violently oppose immigration law enforcement.” (The indictment names two real-life groups: Direct Action Minnesota and Black Cat Workers Collective.). There is a significant and menacing difference with the new anti-“antifa” indictments. The Prairieland case criminalizes protest outside an ICE concentration camp. The Minneapolis indictment paints rapid response networks well beyond camp locations as “criminal conspiracies to impede and threaten federal law enforcement” – a significant expansion of the target to include regular middle-class moms and dads in the fascist regime’s “enemy within” (see below) construct. The Wolf is Here Many liberals considered civil libertarian concerns over NSPM-7 as “boy who cried wolf” alarmism since Antifa isn’t an actual organization. Their dismissal missed the point. As the civil liberties advocate Corey Archibald notes, “when the villain is a made-up boogeyman, the target becomes ‘anyone who disagrees with Trump’ — and this is the result.” Mainstream Enemies Indicted It’s not just left activists like the Prairieland and Minneapolis defendants who have been targeted for repression by the Trump regime. Former FBI Director James Comey is currently under federal indictment for supposedly advocating Trump’s assassination because he posted a photograph of beach pebbles arranged to say “86-47.” US Congresswoman LaMonica McIver faces a federal trial on the charge of assaulting federal officers because she stood in solidarity with Newark, New Jersey’s mayor as he tried to investigate conditions in ICE’s Delaney Hall concentration camp last year. New York Attorney General Letetia James was indicted last October on subsequently dismissed charges of bank fraud and making false statements to a financial institution in retaliation for her civil fraud case against the Trump corporation. Former Trump National Security Adviser John Bolton has been indicted as retaliation for writing a book critical of Trump. The Trump regime has preposterously indicted former CNN anchor Don Lemon and eight others for “interfering with religious freedom” during the Minneapolis protests last winter. Last February, the regime sought but failed to secure a draconian indictment against six Democratic members of Congress after Trump accused them of “seditious behavior…punishable by death” because they released a video in which they said that U.S. service members could refuse illegal orders. Among those on Trump’s political enemy list that are currently under federal investigation: former Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell, Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook, US Senator Adam Schiff, US House Rep Eric Swalwell, former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, California Governor Gavin Newsom, former US Special Counsel and January 6 investigator Jack Smith, former US Homeland Security chief of staff Miles Taylor, former director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Chris Krebs, former CIA Director John Brennan, former White House staffer Cassidy Hutchinson, and E. Jean Carroll. “The Rolling Coup That is Already Underway” You don’t have to be a “radical leftist” or an “extreme” civil libertarian to smell the fascist authoritarianism the Trump administration is cooking up. As the retired leading US Congressmen Richard Gephardt and Tim Wirth have recently argued, these prosecutions and investigations are part of a broader “Rolling [fascist] Coup” undertaken by the Trump regime: “On September 25, 2025, the president signed a directive called a National Presidential Security Memorandum known as NPSM-7 (titled ‘Countering Domestic Terrorism and Organized Political Violence’). Its language designates as targets of federal counterterrorism authorities Americans whose sponsors are labeled ‘anti-American,’ ‘anti-capitalist,’ ‘anti-Christian,’ or ‘hostile to traditional American views on family, religion and morality.’ No statute authorizes the federal government to treat protected political speech as terrorism; NPSM-7 does it anyway. On September 30, 2025, the president stood before nearly 800 senior military commanders at Marine Base Quantico, an assembly without modern precedent, and told them that the United States was ‘under invasion from within.’ He said, ‘the enemy is not in Beijing or Moscow. The enemy is domestic,’ adding that US cities should serve as ‘training grounds’ for troops to target domestic ‘enemies.’ NPSM-7, the sweeping federal directive issued by the White House, orders federal agencies to aggressively investigate and disrupt groups or financial networks associated with political violence and domestic terrorism. It tasked the FBI, the IRS, and the Treasury Department with tracking the funding sources and supporters of organizations suspected of directly or indirectly facilitating political unrest, with no reference to the First Amendment. Soon thereafter the FBI organized a Joint Mission Center, drawing hundreds of personnel from 10 federal agencies to identify and prosecute the targets of NPSM-7. The director of the FBI, Kash Patel, subsequently testified to a 300 percent increase in domestic terrorism investigations. Former Attorney General Pam Bondi testified that thousands of US citizens and nongovernmental organizations are now on a secret watch list tied to the Joint Mission Center. Concurrently the Justice Department has opened grand-jury investigations and indictments aimed at officials of previous administrations including former CIA director John Brennan and former FBI director James Comey. The president’s deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, has publicly described political opposition as a ‘fifth column,’ and the president himself amplified this by posting on Truth Social, ‘Arrest them all. Prosecute them all. Incarcerate them all……… But first, Barack Obama.’ 0n May 6, 2026, the administration’s senior director for counterterrorism, Sebastian Gorka, released a new National Counterterrorism Strategy that names ‘violent left-wing extremists,’ ‘anti-fascists,’ and certain religious minorities as principal threats to the United States. Bondi provided a Department of Justice operational order that included a five-year plan for retroactive mining of data files and plea interrogations along with the requirement that financial donors be named. The Joint Mission Center uses its $12.5 billion budget to do the targeting. Trump v. The United States provides absolute immunity for official acts; and the president’s lead lawyers in the Office of Legal Counsel has preauthorized the use of domestic force. Meanwhile, the administration has appropriated $45 billion for construction of new ICE detention facilities, a 265 percent increase over previous years and more than four times the entire budget of the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Tom Homan, the president’s ‘border czar,’ has overseen the proposal for the acquisition of over 100,000 detention beds above the current capacity of 70,000, with contracts for permanent mega-centers whose scale far exceeds anything an immigration processing operation would require. These are undoubtedly prisons for political prisoners, even as 1974 federal law prohibit the detention of US citizens without an act of Congress. In the Caribbean and eastern Pacific US forces have killed more than 200 people across nearly 60 strikes on small boats designated as ‘narcoterrorists’ without indictment, trial, or judicial review. The commander of US Northern Command has said publicly he would ‘definitely’ execute lawful orders to apply this same authority on American soil. The White House has declined to rule out using lethal force against US citizens designated as members of domestic terrorist organizations, while the president has fired most of the Department of Defense officials responsible for overseeing the legality of military operations. And he is seeking yet more funding for what appears to be his private army of ICE and Border Patrol agents to be deployed in numerous target states, at airports, and at urban polling places in the states he lost in the 2024 election, where he has now begun to seize voter rolls and ballots. Political prisons, a domestic army, control of the military’s legal apparatus, the seizure of voter rolls, and much more presage the potential declaration of a national crisis and the implementation of various of the President’s Emergency Action Documents (PEADS). These are among the many individual actions and plans of the ‘rolling coup’ that is currently underway. Unlike what might be recognized as a coup with tanks in the streets, this is not the seizure of power on a single day but the methodical construction of an apparatus designed to identify, arrest, prosecute, and if necessary forcibly suppress Americans whose only offense is opposition to this administration, by an executive who has openly declared that opposition itself is the enemy.” Herr Miller: “The Radical Democrat Party Wants Total Anarchy Where Criminals Can Rape and Murder with Impunity” Trump’s top domestic political adviser, the open fascist Stephen “We are the Storm” Miller had this to say about progressive Democrats’ victories in this week’s New York Democratic primaries: “The Democrat party has adopted …radical, revolutionary, and in many cases, violent ideology that wants to tear America down and destroy everything that we know and love, from top to bottom. Right? Living in a state of total anarchy, without police, without law enforcement, where criminals can rape and maim and murder with impunity, where your kids are taught from the age of two to hate America, to hate their God, to hate their parents, to hate their family, to even hate their own gender, that’s their agenda…that’s just the death knell for America.” That is an expression of the paranoid-style fascism that informs NSPM-7, Gorka’s National Counterterrorism Strategy and the rest of the overall “rolling coup.” This is the mindset that makes the Trump fascist regime feel entitled to tear up the previously normative rule of law and rig elections in “the world’s greatest democracy.” Deadly Incrementalism Refuse Fascism (RF) has been warning about and detailing the Trump MAGA rolling coup for nearly a decade now! Why has this grave fascist assault on previously normative democracy and the rule of law not yet received the depth and degree of popular concern and resistance it deserves? Beyond the crippling and false American exceptionalist belief that “it [fascism] can’t happen here,” a good part of the answer is that the Trump regime has been inflicting its dictatorial project incrementally, step by step, with each of its authoritarian moves wrapped in the deceptive, pseudo-legitimate rhetoric of “national security” and “law enforcement.” Each step, Gephardt and Wirth write, has been “paired with a reassuring denial: We are not deploying the military domestically; we are not declaring an emergency over elections; we are not coming for citizens.” “Refusing to Face This is Unconscionable” The reality is that the fascist Trump regime has in fact domestically deployed the military and likely plans to do so on a significantly increased scale going forward. They may well declare an emergency over elections and are clearly working to create justifications for doing so. They are coming for citizens and building out a militarized police and prison state meant for “homegrown” dissenters and critics as well as so-called illegals. As RF says in its recent statement calling for mass protests on July 4th: “Trump/MAGA fascism is not collapsing. In fact, every setback they face compels them to escalate their attacks to lock in their fascist program using every means at their disposal, unbound by domestic or international law. The more ‘unpopular’ Trump becomes, the more he lashes out with revenge, hatred, and moral depravity, and the more hardened his fascist movement becomes, celebrating the use of intimidation, blackmail, and violence to eliminate opposition and crush dissent. The powerful sections of the rulers that back Trump, who have staked the future on changing the form of rule of this country, will not give up power easily. Refusing to face this reality is unconscionable. Accommodation and conciliation with this fascism is immoral. The danger we face is not only what the regime is doing. It is the millions who oppose fascism adjusting to, and being conditioned to, adapt to each new outrage. To tell themselves that the midterms or someone else will stop this. To learn to live with what they once swore they would never accept. History is full of moments when people deluded themselves there was still time—until suddenly there wasn’t. The question now is whether that will happen again—or whether a force can be forged that is capable of providing the leadership needed to change the course of history. As we approach this 250th anniversary, whether you believe in the promise of this country or think America has never been a land of the ‘free,’ facing the truth about this fascism and acting nonviolently with others to stop it will decide whether or not we even have a future worth living in.” The post Trump Despotism: Fascist Repression in the United States on the Eve of the Nation’s 250th Anniversary appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Paul Street.
The Cruelty and Futility of Criminalizing the Homeless
Two years ago this summer, the Supreme Court paved the way for more states and cities to fine or jail people for the “crime” of not having a roof over their head. In their June 28, 2024 Grants Pass v. Johnson decision, the court ruled that an Oregon city’s ordinance barring people from sleeping in More The post The Cruelty and Futility of Criminalizing the Homeless appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Sign at homeless camp, Grants Pass, Oregon. Photo: Jeffrey St. Clair. Two years ago this summer, the Supreme Court paved the way for more states and cities to fine or jail people for the “crime” of not having a roof over their head. In their June 28, 2024 Grants Pass v. Johnson decision, the court ruled that an Oregon city’s ordinance barring people from sleeping in public, even when shelter is unavailable, was not “cruel and unusual punishment.” Since then, more than 300 cities have passed bills criminalizing unhoused people. Statehouses have also followed suit. In April, Indiana’s governor signed a statewide prohibition on sleeping in public spaces punishable by up to $500 in fines and 60 days in jail. Louisiana, which has the nation’s highest rates of both incarceration and poverty, is the latest to embrace this cruel and counterproductive approach. The state’s recent “Streets to Success Act” criminalizes sleeping in public spaces with fines up to $500 and six months of imprisonment. The legislation also creates a “Homelessness Court” which will divert some people to a year-long mandatory treatment programto avoid jail time — but they would still be required to plead guilty and pay for treatment. The court can mandate unpaid labor for those unable to pay, and failure to complete the program could still result in a jail sentence. Far from reducing homelessness, a criminal record makes it more difficult for people to find employment, remain financially secure, and get into stable housing. The Grants Pass decision has normalized the dehumanization of people living unhoused. Over the past two years, localities have ramped up the forced clearing of encampments, where many people live when they have no other choice. Alongside other harms, these “sweeps” have resulted in authorities unlawfully seizing and destroying unhoused people’s survival gear and personal items. Last July, President Trump issued an executive order urging cities and states to forcibly institutionalize unhoused people to “restore public order.” The administration is shifting significant funds away from long-term housing to short-term transitional housing with treatment mandates. Forced treatment is constitutionally questionable to say the least. Short-term aid centered on treatment is also less effective at reducing homelessness than the bipartisan Housing First approach, which provides permanent housing without preconditions, along with voluntary supportive services to help people improve their well-being. Penalizing people fails to address the root of homelessness: the lack of affordable, permanent, and adequate housing. “I’m working, but I can’t afford to stay in the house,” Christopher Brumfield told Capital B in New Orleans. He’s been living unhoused “on and off” since 2020. Since Grants Pass, the cost of living has only gone up. Half of all renters pay more than what they can afford. Rising health care and housing costs leave more people one emergency away from falling into homelessness. Meanwhile, Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” has slashed funding for social safety net programs like SNAP and Medicaid in favor of tax breaks for billionaires. His proposed cuts to affordable housing and homelessness programs threaten housing support for families, veterans, people with disabilities, and seniors. Even the modest progress made during the Biden administration to reduce homelessness is at risk. Homelessness is a policy choice, not a personal failing. We can overcome it if our government finally treats housing as afundamental human right for all people, instead of a commodity controlled by billionaire investors and corporate landlords. Permanently affordable housing under public control, known as social housing, has achieved positive results in Vienna, Austria. U.S. cities would stand to benefit from this human rights-centered housing solution combined with stronger tenant protections and community-based health services. Housing for all requires sustained investment, but it’s the foundation for creating safe and healthy communities. Plus, it costs less to house people and fund the services they need than to jail them. As Shana, a dental hygienist from Louisiana who once lived unhoused, put it, “The solution isn’t a cell. It’s a front door.” The post The Cruelty and Futility of Criminalizing the Homeless appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Farrah Hassen.
In the past year, Israel and the US have twice used their advanced technology and massive firepower to launch surprise attacks on Iran and Lebanon, killing thousands of civilians and destroying ‘enemy’ weapons and boats, as well as mosques, churches, hospitals, museums, highways and bridges. Notwithstanding Trump’s pompous claims, Iran has defeated the US and More The post Why Iran Defeated the US and Israel appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
An Iranian missile hits the Israeli oil refineries near Haifa on March 19, 2026. Photo: Hanay, Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 4.0 In the past year, Israel and the US have twice used their advanced technology and massive firepower to launch surprise attacks on Iran and Lebanon, killing thousands of civilians and destroying ‘enemy’ weapons and boats, as well as mosques, churches, hospitals, museums, highways and bridges. Notwithstanding Trump’s pompous claims, Iran has defeated the US and Israel. Although Israel has continually had a laser-sharp focus on its goals, the US never had a clear view of why it was fighting. Unwilling to appear devoid of a rationale for his killing spree, Trump has recently begun to mechanically parrot Israeli fears of an Iranian nuclear bomb. Every time he repeats this war aim, the American public understands that the US is fighting a war for Israel, no matter how much Trump and his yes-boys deny it. None of Israel’s goals have been achieved, not the overthrow of the Islamic Republic, not an end to Iranian nuclear program, not a popular uprising against the regime. Immediately after the attacks of February 28, 2026, Iran took control of the Straight of Hormuz, the first successful contestation of US naval power since World War 2. Three US aircraft carriers were compelled to depart from the Persian Gulf. Besides its successful targeting of Israel, Iran rained destruction on US and Israel regional allies, including the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, Jordan, and Qatar—all of which facilitated attacks on Iran. The Islamic Republic so badly damaged nearby American military bases that many have been closed, and US troops billeted in hotels, proving to many small countries that US bases can be liabilities as much as they may be assets. Huge radar installation in Bahrain were destroyed, as were tens of billions of dollars of military infrastructure, including dozens of jets, helicopters, radar systems, and drones. At least 13 US troops were killed and 380 wounded, while more than 3,400 Iranians lost their lives, possibly as many as 7,000, half of them civilians. Facilitated by the US, Israeli attacks have killed at least 3,700 Lebanese. On June 15, the day after Trump announced the coming MOU, an editorial in The New York Times accepted bitter defeat: Headlined, ‘The President Has Lost This War’ they called the settlement, ‘a humiliating comedown for him and the nation he leads.’ Although the magnitude of the debacle may not yet be clear, Alfred McCoy has already clarified the historic meaning of the US defeat: ‘…when the bombs stop falling and the rubble is finally cleared from the streets of Tehran and Beirut, the impact on U.S. global power of such a de facto defeat will become all too clear — as alliances like NATO atrophy, American hegemony evaporates, legitimacy is lost, global disorder rises, and the world economy suffers.’ In the remarks below, I focus on specific ways the Islamic Republic’s battlefield superiority was achieved. Specific Reasons for Iran’s Victory 1. On the battlefield, Iran’s successful asymmetric warfare is key to its victory. Analogous to guerrilla war in Vietnam, Iran has inflicted significant damage on much larger military assets. Large US warships cannot easily maneuver in the narrow Hormuz Strait while Iran’s hundreds of small speedboats, some loaded with missiles and torpedoes, can suddenly attack from inlets, islands and coastal caves. Mini submarines have reportedly been able to hide underneath giant American aircraft carriers. Iran’s asymmetric swarm tactics, simultaneously combining dozens of drones, missiles, and its mosquito fleet overpowered the larger US Navy. After brief incursions in May and June, the US Navy suspended its efforts to re-open the Hormuz straights and unceremoniously withdrew. In the air, Iran’s ‘mosaic’ defense have caused far more damage than the US acknowledges. Dozens, possibly hundreds of aircraft have been downed, including seven Stratotankers, two MC-130s, one AWACS, one F-35, one F-15, and dozens of drones. Many others have been destroyed on the ground or by ‘friendly fire.’ Israeli cities have been continually attacked, and Hezbollah’s FPV drones have decapitated Israeli occupation forces in the south. During the war, the US and Israel expended a large majority of available stocks of “Tomahawk” missiles, Patriot interceptors and more advanced ATACMS, while Iran retains 70% of its prewar stockpile of launchers and missiles, as reported by The New York Times. In response to those articles, Trump called Times’ reporting “virtual treason.” 2. Fighting a war made for Israel versus a war of survival. Iran fights on its homeland with millions of people ready to give their lives for national independence. Israel and the US embarked on its ‘war of choice’ by killing Iran’s supreme leader and much of his family in its murderous opening salvo, compelling Iran to fight for its ‘existential existence.’ The Israeli-American strategy of killing key leaders (from Hezbollah’s Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah to Iranian Ayatollah Ali Hosseini Khamenei) fails to understand that the resistance movement is based upon stoic endurance and a mosaic defense doctrine, ‘a state-scale guerrilla geometry of autonomous provincial commands.’ Just as the martyrdom of US president John Kennedy made him an American hero, so murders of key leaders in Iran and Lebanon strengthened resistance against enemies and gave more power to autonomous fighting units arrayed across the region. Since the CIA overthrew of democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh in 1953, Iran has been fighting US imperial dictates. For the full 47 years of its existence, the Islamic Republic has been under attack, first by a proxy war led by one-time Iraqi CIA collaborator Saddam Hussein that cost the Iranian and Iraqi people at least half a million dead from 1982 to 1988. Although the US has never developed a coherent strategy, it now is close to an MOU that is less restrictive of Iran than the Obama administration’s 2015 JCPOA agreement, from which Trump arbitrarily withdrew in 2018. Given the long history of the US breaking nearly every treaty it signs, it is highly doubtful that the Trump administration will adhere to the terms of any MOU. Israel has already claimed it does not accept it. 3. US battlefield decisions are largely made by political appointees with limited competence. The Secretary of War, Peter Hegseth, is himself a Trump appointee with military experience limited to platoon command in the National Guard. His qualifications are unlimited fealty to Trump, white Christian nationalism, disdain for Congress, and service as a host on Fox News. He has removed women and minorities from promotions rather than assigning duties based upon ability and expertise. For new Director of National Intelligence, Trump originally chose Bill Pulte, Director of the Federal Housing Fiance Agency, a man who ‘stands out for having absolutely none of the experience, knowledge and skills needed for the critically important job Trump has given him.’ Among Pulte’s other qualifications were having given nearly $1 million to Trump and other Republican candidates, having posted on X that Trump is ‘the greatest president in history,’ and having invented unsupported charges of fraud against California Senator Adam Schiff and other Trump antagonists. After a widespread outcry that Trump was putting his own interests above those of the nation, Trump switched his choice to Jay Clayton, a federal attorney and former Chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission. While his loyalty to Trump but is unquestioned, he is a New York criminal prosecutor with no intelligence background. Poor American intelligence and stupidity at the top can be readily observed in Trump and Hegseth’s repeated public claims that Iran has no navy or air force. Last year, Trump threatened to invade Greenland, this year he has kidnapped the president of Venezuela and attacked Iran, and next he has Cuba in his sights, where he no doubt will be greeted with surprises aplenty. 4. While the 12-day war of Israeli-American aggression in 2025 and the 40-day war of 2026 have galvanized national unity in Iran, a solid majority of Americans oppose the war. Trump’s popularity has plummeted to its lowest levels while the price of oil has risen, leaving him desperate to sign an MOU. One widely cited reason for popular dissatisfaction is the war’s economic impact. While oil companies are projected to garner increased profits of hundreds of billions of dollars, US consumers have already spent more than $45 billion more on diesel and gas since February 28. Costs for basic foods like tomatoes, coffee and beef are up over 20%, and consumer inflation is currently 4.3%. Producer inflation at the end of May, an even more important predictor of the future, rose to 6.5%. Before he left for his recent trip to China, Trump declared he does “not even think about it,” that he is “not even a little bit concerned” with the economic pain the war inflicts on Americans. Pentagon officials have yet to reveal the war’s real cost in dollars, nor have they fully accounted for innocents murdered, for hospitals, schools, and mosques destroyed. Economic factors are one reason Americans do not support Trump and Satanyahu’s war of choice, but many people are horrified by murder of innocent Iranians and Lebanese. The dozens of Minab schoolgirls murdered on February 28 deeply affected people’s consciences. The Pope’s opposition to the war is supported by many Catholics. Toward a Real Anti-War Movement It is long past time for people to tolerate continuing war after war by nation-states armed with weapons of mass destruction. As Howard Zinn bluntly concluded, war itself is a crime. Rather than debating whether specific acts such as Israel’s genocide in Gaza are criminal, a real anti-war movement should oppose all state violence targeted at other states and peoples as themselves the problem. Weapons of mass destruction should be banned internationally, arms manufacturers criminalized, and advocates of war imprisoned. Even in considering a more limited anti-war movement, the principle of national self-determination may be ethically compelling, yet Iran’s suppression of the 2022 uprising for ‘Women, Life, Freedom’ and the killing of at least 3,000 people (including 200 state security personnel) during the 2025 uprising portray a less than peaceful regime. (Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi challenged the West’s version of the latter events, stating that the toll was less than 10% of Trump’s number of deaths.) Within the Vietnam anti-war movement in the US, Ho Chi Minh was romanticized as a sincere leader dedicated to the peace and freedom of his people. He famously said, ‘Nothing is more precious than independence and freedom.’ Ho was more popular on college campuses in 1970 than then-US president Richard Nixon. Whether or not it is a result of constant Islamophobic propaganda, no comparable individual can be found in Iran. For all its violence against women and Kurds, the Iranian regime has provided a huge boost to humanity by defeating US/Israeli wars of aggression. Not only has Iran dealt the US a major defeat, it has also punctured the long-term American strategy of surrounding China with military bases in preparation for what many US policymakers consider the coming war with China, which has emerged ever stronger from the ill-advised US/Israeli wars. On a recent visit to the Bandung Asia-Africa Museum that commemorates the 1955 conference that birthed the non-aligned movement, US newspapers from the early 1950s were displayed that consistently blared headlines warning of the imminent Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a scare tactic that has been repeated daily for more than 70 years. Since the 1949 Communist triumph, the government of China has been regarded as an ‘enemy’ just as the Islamic regime has been cast out, attacked and continually pressured since its inception in 1979. American fear-mongering today about an Iranian nuclear bomb serves to constrain humanity in a prison of wasteful and destructive military spending that squanders our vast social wealth. Militarism subverts enormous technological achievements of recent centuries by turning them into a form of domination, not liberation from drudgery and oppression. It is too soon to celebrate the demise of American world power and uninhibited wars of choice, but if we fail to recognize the resolve and steadfastness of the Iranian people, whose blood and steadfastness won a victory that has wounded a savage beast, we miss the chance to envision the future demise of a world system that privileges billionaires and corporations at the expense of billions of human beings. The post Why Iran Defeated the US and Israel appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by George Katsiaficas.
As I suggested last week, Jeremy Eichler can’t visit all memorials or write about them in his book, The Second World War, the Holocaust, and the Music of Remembrance. Let’s leave Eichler’s tour of monuments, musical and [ . . . ] The post Biking Berlin, Walking Watkins Glen appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
A dandelion grows in the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. Photo: David Yearsley. As I suggested last week, Jeremy Eichler can’t visit all memorials or write about them in his book, The Second World War, the Holocaust, and the Music of Remembrance. Let’s leave Eichler’s tour of monuments, musical and architectural, and head out on a different excursion—a bike ride through Berlin. Our itinerary begins in Schöneberg, where John F. Kennedy held his famous “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech in May of 1962 in front of the municipal hall with its clock tower. When I first moved to the district with my family in 2003, a friend pointed out a trio of old women sitting on a park bench in the Bayerischer Platz (Bavarian Square) and told me that they were SS widows still living in apartments stolen from Schöneberg’s many Jewish families evicted by Albert Speer, architect of their dispossession and deportation. In streets running off from the square, intermittent street signs affixed to lampposts grab the attention of passers-by. On one side of each is a striking image, for example, of a chess piece or a cat. Curious, one wants to see what’s on the other side and finds there a quotation from the relevant Nazi law, in these two cases, forbidding Jews to be members of chess clubs or from owning pets. The sidewalks of Schöneberg have many Stolpersteine (stumble-stones)—small brass plaques with the names, dates, and places of birth and death attached to cobbles in the sidewalks in front of the homes of the former Jewish owners. Unlike in Saarbrücken, these plaques are visible for those who care to notice these small sidewalk testaments. Inside the Schöneberg Rathaus, there is a permanent exhibit called “Wir waren Nachbarn” (We Were Neighbors) that includes a reading room where one can research the addresses of, and find information about, the district’s former Jewish residents. There are also film interviews with some of the survivors, such as the musicologist Helmut Kallmann, who, as a seventeen-year-old, escaped Berlin on one of the Kindertransport trains, eventually becoming a Canadian citizen and establishing the music division of the Canadian Library Archives. The Stolpersteine for Kallmann’s parents, who died at Terezin, and for his older sister, deported to Riga and murdered there, are to be found in the Geisbergstraße, a mile north of the “We Were Neighbors” exhibition. The street where the Kallmanns once lived takes me to the Nollendorfplatz, long a center of gay life in Berlin, and the place where W. H. Auden and Christopher Isherwood (two more literary figures in the cast of Time’s Echo) came to live in the late 1920s. A pink triangle monument inside the subway station commemorates Nazi raids on homosexuals in the area. From here it’s a short distance to the Kurfürstenstraße, where Walter Benjamin, also cited and mourned in Time’s Echo, lived for a time during his youth. Then it’s across the Landwehrkanal, laid out by the celebrated Prussian landscape architect Peter Joseph Lenné in the middle of the nineteenth century. The revolutionary Rosa Luxemburg’s body was pulled out of its waters in January 1919. On the northern bank of the canal is the Ministry of Defense. Within the complex—tiny by comparison to the American Pentagon—is a complex of fascist buildings surrounding a stone courtyard (the so-called Bendler Block). It was here that Claus von Stauffenberg and his co-conspirators nearly took control of Germany on July 20, 1944, in the hours after the failed attempt to blow up Hitler in the Wolf’s Lair in East Prussia. Stauffenberg was executed that night in the courtyard. The Center of Remembrance for the German Resistance is housed here. The dense green canopy of Berlin’s great central park, the Tiergarten, lies ahead. Turning east, a bike path follows the southern edge of the park past the Kulturforum and the Philharmonie, home of the Berlin Philharmonic. In front of the concert hall is a long blue glass wall that is a monument to the victims of the Nazi euthanasia program that oversaw the murder of some 70,000 people deemed genetically suspect. Continuing east for a few minutes, one crosses over the bricks built into the pavement marking the course of the Berlin Wall. Along this East-West Berlin border, just south of the Brandenburg Gate and the Bundestag (the federal parliament building), stretches the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. Until 1990, the area was in the No-Man’s-Land between the inner and outer sections of the Berlin Wall. Designed by the American architect Peter Eisenman, the Monument’s nearly 3,000 rectangular slabs are each the length and width of a very large coffin but emerge from the earth at varying heights. Some of the outer blocks reach your ankles, others your knees. Cramped, shoulder-width paths lead between blocks and descend toward the center of the matrix while the slabs rise above ground level. When you stand in the middle of the monument, the blocks tower above, nearly twice your height. Each is set at a slight angle, this out-of-plumbness contributing to a broad undulating effect across the entire field. In the fall of 2003, as work continued on the Memorial, which was dedicated two years later, a Swiss newspaper reported that a subsidiary of the construction company, Degussa, had produced the Zyklon B used in the gas chambers. After much debate and controversy, it was decided to continue working with the firm. Many, including the architect Eisenman, had to admit that it was impossible—or at least too expensive—to disentangle the project from the Nazi past. And its economic legacy. The Memorial lies at the moral center of Germany—its historical consciousness, its politics, its culture, its crimes. The Nazi Chancellery and Hitler’s bunker were nearby, though their exact location is not marked and therefore not available as a site of pilgrimage for Fascists. The Mohrenstraße (Street of the Moors) subway station is a block from the Memorial. Germany’s colonial past in Africa is increasingly a subject of the nation’s confrontation with its history and the name of the street is contested. Years ago, waggish activists took to adding the two dots of the German Umlaut above the “o”—converting “Street of Moors” to “Street of Carrots.” Various alternatives had been proposed and finally, in July of 2025, the street was renamed after Anton Wilhelm Arno, an eighteenth-century philosopher of African descent active in Germany. Yet the old name echoes still. As Eyal Weizman, founding director of Forensic Architecture and a Professor of Spatial and Visual Cultures at Goldsmith’s, University of London, reported in a recent issue of the London Review of Books, Germany refuses full acknowledgment of, and payment of reparations for, the colonial genocides of the early twentieth century that it perpetrated in what is now Namibia. This was a campaign that, between 1904 and 1908, led to the death of 65,000 Ovaherero people and 10,000 Nama—more than two-thirds of the entire Ovaherero population and half of the Nama. Weizman and his team have mapped the killing sites, many of them now threatened. In 2022, Weizman and Forensic Architecture joined with Ukrainian colleagues in mapping out Russian missile strikes directed at Jewish cemeteries and other cultural sites at Babi Yar, some of the same ones visited a few years earlier by Eichler. The Forensic Architecture website puts it this way: “Given Russian claims about the ‘de-Nazification’ of Ukraine, the damaging of one of the Holocaust’s most significant symbolic sites is particularly ironic.” (Forensic Architecture has also been detailing Israel’s targeting of medical facilities in Gaza and ongoing ethnic cleansing.) A few blocks away from the Monument for the Murdered Jews and the Anton-Wilhelm-Arno-Straße stands the Komische Oper—Comic Opera. As even this partial catalog shows, history looms everywhere when one is underway in Berlin, as from Schöneberg to the Comic Opera. Between 2012 and 2022 the company’s artistic director (intendant) was Barrie Kosky. Grandson of German Jewish immigrants to Australia, he concluded his decade-long tenure with what he called “Barrie Kosky’s All-Singing, All-Dancing Yiddish Revue.” I was lucky enough to be at the final matinee performance on a July Sunday in 2022, having arrived at the opera house, as always, by bike. Kosky saw his last show as a gift for the cadre of singers who had contributed so vitally to the great success of his productions and of the house more generally over the foregoing decade. He also wanted to thank the city of Berlin for following him down sometimes contentious artistic and political paths. He conceived of his final production as an affirming and necessary complement to the concrete graves a few blocks away. As he stressed in an interview printed in the program book, he had “wanted to open the public’s spirit to other facets of Jewish culture. Because when you hear the word ‘Jew’ in Germany, it always has to do with Auschwitz and Nazis, or Israel and its current politics. That’s it. The treasury of Jewish, and especially Yiddish culture of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries is, for the most part, simply ignored.” One tremendous source of their cultural contributions was made in the Catskill Mountains of New York State in the 1950s and 60s. Denied entry to country clubs, hotels, and resorts closer to New York City, many Jews spent their summers in the Borscht Belt, a proving ground for the leading entertainers of the age. Kosky and his colleague Adam Benzwi, the terrifically talented musical director who conducted the orchestra from a piano in the pit, sifted through thousands of musical sources from the period and selected two dozen that would play to the strengths of their cast and also come together in two hours devoted to the pleasures of the theater: songs of longing and joy, silliness and regret; dances (choreographed by Otto Pichler) both suave and spoofy, and ranging in styles from riotous to refined; off-color jokes and colorful costumes. This revue was a celebration, not a memorial. The lithe and powerful Ruth Brauer-Kvam as Mitzi Rubenstein (with the Otto Pickle Dancers) welcomed the audience (“Hallo Berlin!”) with the buoyant “Abi gezunt” (As long as you’re healthy), a huge hit in the late 1930s. The text by the original performer herself, Molly Picon, reminded us not only that we had come through a pandemic (even as infection rates soared in those summer months), but also that the best things in life are (or should be) free, even if this revue wasn’t: Di luft iz fray, far yedn glaykh, Di zun zi sheynt far yedn eynem orem oder raykh. The air is free for everyone equally, The sun shines for everyone, poor or rich. The variety of Koskian song and dance was far too rich to be précised here. But among the string of unstoppable winners (twenty-one numbers in all) were Hershey Baumann and Manny Renz (scantily camouflaged stage names of Helmut Baumann and Peter Renz), two aged entertainers on a park bench in Tel Aviv—though it could have been Miami Beach—indulging a reverie of their youthful loves with “Bay mir bistu sheyn” (To Me You’re Beautiful). As the nostalgic strains of the song’s first stanza hung in the air, the strings surged from below in the pit. The men shed their bathrobes to reveal smart dinner jackets as the blonde loves of their past lives entered, almost unseen, from the wings and the two pairs danced in defiance of the accumulated years. Soon after that, a quartet of Jewish Elvises rocked-out, and then a Berlin Jewish cowboy sang of sex and rodeos in Yiddish and told jokes in Berlinisch (the Berlin dialect of German), which, with its soft Gs and alternate grammar, shares much with Yiddish. Depths of sadness were plumbed by a mother imagining the wedding of her long-dead daughter that will never take place. Colossal hits were recast, as when the Yiddish translation of “My Way” (Mayn veg) was delivered in the cool Latin rhythms of a Catskill lounge by a male singer (Christoph Marti) dressed as an air hostess in a stunning thigh-length smock, lush blue with an orange placket down the middle, matching shoes and a hat featuring the imaginary airline’s insignia. Just before the rousing ensemble finale came the Barrie Kosky Sisters, a punning reference to the real Barry Sisters (Minnie and Clara Bagelmann), who reeled off a raucous medley of tunes that had been sung by that real Yiddish girl group of yore. The first of these was “Tropns fun regn oyf mayn kop” (Raindrops keep falling on my head), the music by Burt Bacharach, who had himself worked the Catskills in the 1950s. Many of the musical arrangements were taken from the original Borscht Belt (aka Yiddish Alps) or silver screen versions. Other numbers were set anew with pitch-perfect authenticity, nuance and charm by Benzwi. The dirty jokes and dazzling musical performances were not for everybody. The long-time season ticket holders next to me didn’t laugh once throughout the entire show and bolted before the bows. I was surprised that they had even come back after the intermission. In contrast to that couple staring sullenly at the high-calorie theatrical buffet, Kosky savors the deliciousness of sound and sight, movement and music, nonsense and profundity. This show had so much life and charm and humor and art that its two hours flew by even while the individual numbers held the attention and seemed to slow time. I’m no producer (by the way, Mel Brooks spent his youthful summers as a busboy in the Catskills, as Ulrich Lenz’s excellent program book essay on the Yiddish entertainment pointed out), but this show could have conquered Broadway, and then the world. But Kosky’s way is not to cash in. He didn’t regift his present of thanks for his decade at Berlin’s Comic Opera to the Great White Way and enrich himself in the process. Instead, he let theater be what it must be: evanescent on stage, thrilling in the moment, then living on in memory. Barrie Kosky takes his last bows as Artistic Director of the Comic Opera Berlin, July 10, 2022. Photo: David Yearsley. I read the first half of Time’s Echo while hiking on the Finger Lakes Trail in Central New York. I put the bulky book in my backpack with my sleeping bag and tent and other gear and headed up through Watkins Glen, one of the most spectacular gorges of the region. A brass plaque at the entrance to the gorge says that first purveyor of the place as a tourist attraction was Morvalden Ells, who “Opened this Book of Nature as a Private Enterprise on July Fourth, 1863.” That was the day after the Battle of Gettysburg had concluded 200 miles directly to the south. In the afternoon after walking for a few hours, I read a hundred pages of the book while sitting inside a Civilian Conservation Corps pavilion on the shoulder of the upper gorge. The titmice emitted their piercing calls from the hemlocks on that spring day, the sounds of nature harassed by the distant complaint of high-speed motors at the Watkins Glen International Raceway on a distant hilltop. That night in my tent I read another hundred pages before darkness set in. In the morning, I got up with dawn and hiked the fifteen miles back to the trailhead, the chaotic coloratura of the Louisiana Waterthrush echoed up from the watery gorge floor eighty feet below the rim trail. After a few hours I reached the entrance to the park. The Visitor Center and other facilities have been improved since I’d last been here before the pandemic. There were new interpretative signs about the flora and fauna, the Great Flood of 1935, the industrial and tourist developments in the gorge over the previous century-and-a-half. Closest to the lowest stretch of falls near where they tumble out of a twist in the rock was a plaque entitled “Seneca Homelands—1600s—1863.” Next to the sign, on a wide blue-stone balustrade were two bronze figures, each about two feet high, tiny against the cliff behind They would be dwarfed even by child visitors to the park. The pair of statues faced away from the creek behind and below them. Below on the stone wall, the explanatory label read: Homecoming, 2018 Peter Jones (Onondaga, Beaver Clan) 2018 This area around Seneca Lake was once occupied by several villages of Seneca people. One village was located near Catherine’s Town and Watkin’s Glen. In an effort to push the Iroquois north into Canada, the villages were removed during the Clinton-Sullivan Campaign of 1779. This sculpture commemorates the Seneca people and their spiritual ‘homecoming’ to this area. Peter Jones, Homecoming, bronze. Watkins Glen State Park. Photo: David Yearsley. After having read Eichler’s book the previous day, I had been pondering displacement and death, nature and art, music and memory while walking down along the gorge that morning. The bronze Haudenosaunee figures I regarded were tiny compared to the immensity of the loss. The Haudnosaunee are still here, even if not in the Glen. In Time’s Echo, Eichler donned earbuds at least one of his sites of pilgrimage to summon the music he required for the purpose and place. I do not own any earbuds. The bronze statues before me now were not remembered by grand requiems, sublime symphonies, or anguished atonal choruses. There was just the rushing of the water. The post Biking Berlin, Walking Watkins Glen appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by David Yearsley.
The Illusions of Western Virtue: Ursula von der Leyen and Europe’s Moral Bankruptcy
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has every right to condition European relations with any other country or bloc on respect for human rights. That, of course, would hold true if she genuinely cared about such values herself. In response to the June 19 signing of the memorandum of understanding between the United States More The post The Illusions of Western Virtue: Ursula von der Leyen and Europe’s Moral Bankruptcy appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has every right to condition European relations with any other country or bloc on respect for human rights. That, of course, would hold true if she genuinely cared about such values herself. In response to the June 19 signing of the memorandum of understanding between the United States and Iran—intended to bring an end to a destructive war—von der Leyen declared that the European Union does not intend to lift its sanctions on Tehran. Speaking on June 15, ahead of the G7 summit, she firmly conditioned any diplomatic thawing on domestic changes within the Islamic Republic. “The principle of sanctions is that we need real change on the ground before we can think about lifting them,” she stated, adding: “As long as there is no behavioral change, you cannot lift the sanctions because of human rights violations.” Viewed in isolation, the European position might appear principled, even commendable. In its broader geopolitical context, however, it exposes a staggering level of hypocrisy. On that very same day, the European Union’s duplicity was laid bare. During a Foreign Affairs Council meeting in Luxembourg, Europe effectively refused to take a unified stand on imposing trade sanctions on Israel, despite its ongoing genocide in the Gaza Strip and unchecked colonial violence and expansionist policies in the occupied West Bank. The discussion itself would not have taken place had it not been for the persistent efforts of Spain and Ireland, which have repeatedly urged the bloc to suspend the EU-Israel Association Agreement over Israel’s flagrant violations of international law. The initiative failed because the EU remains deeply divided, constrained by the requirement of unanimity on foreign policy and repeatedly blocked by pro-Israel governments. While Europe continues to engage Israel—providing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his extremist coalition with desperately needed political and economic lifelines—the European public has increasingly moved in the opposite direction. Recent polling across numerous countries has revealed growing opposition to Israel’s war and genocide in Gaza and increasing support for Palestinian rights. Across Europe, mass demonstrations, consumer boycotts, campus mobilizations, and divestment campaigns have reflected a widening gap between public opinion and official policy. This reality appears entirely irrelevant to von der Leyen, who remains preoccupied with the human rights records of states viewed as Western adversaries. Such concern is not motivated by solidarity with victims, but by the desire to maintain political leverage that can be invoked when convenient and ignored when necessary. Lest we forget, von der Leyen was among the first Western leaders to visit Israel following the events of October 7, arriving in Tel Aviv on October 13, 2023. Standing alongside Israeli leaders, she offered unconditional backing, declaring that “Europe stands with Israel.” She did so as Palestinians in Gaza were already being subjected to a devastating military assault that would soon claim tens of thousands of lives. Although her rhetoric became somewhat more cautious as international legal institutions began investigating Israel for genocide and pursuing war crimes cases against its leaders, her fundamental political alignment never truly changed. For anyone to believe that von der Leyen has suddenly discovered that human rights should occupy center stage in any responsible foreign policy is simply delusional. This is especially true given how restrained she remained, both in language and action, as the US-Israeli war on Iran expanded into a regional catastrophe that should never have been allowed to unfold. None of that matters to von der Leyen, of course, since such immense human suffering does not neatly fit within her geopolitical priorities. It is tempting to conclude that, for von der Leyen and many Western leaders, some human rights matter more than others. Yet even that assessment grants too much credibility to their position, because it assumes that human rights are the actual basis of policy. More often than not, they are merely invoked when politically convenient. Even the Catholic Church appears to be moving away from this selective moral framework. Since his election in May 2025, Pope Leo XIV has repeatedly emphasized a vision of “just peace” over the traditional doctrine of “just war,” warning against the use of moral and religious language to legitimize military aggression. During his Palm Sunday homily earlier this 2026, he stressed that “God rejects the prayers of those who wage war,” a direct challenge to the normalization of violence by political leaders. But von der Leyen cannot help herself. The instrumentalization of human rights has long been a staple of Western foreign policy, despite mounting evidence that such commitments are rarely applied consistently. In that sense, Europe appears increasingly bankrupt—not only morally, but politically as well. The war involving Iran, the subsequent US-Iran agreement, and the major geopolitical shifts surrounding both unfolded largely without meaningful European involvement. Reduced to the role of spectator—or occasional cheerleader—the EU exerted little influence over events, underscoring its diminishing relevance in Middle Eastern and global affairs. This helps explain why von der Leyen resorted to familiar rhetoric about human rights in Iran while remaining largely silent on Israel’s devastating actions in Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, and elsewhere in the region. With Europe’s influence steadily shrinking, moral posturing has become a substitute for meaningful diplomacy. Will the EU continue along this path of growing irrelevance, or will it finally heed the views of its own citizens, challenge Israel’s impunity, and pursue a foreign policy genuinely independent of Washington? The answer may determine whether Europe can reclaim political relevance—or continue its slide into long-term decline. The post The Illusions of Western Virtue: Ursula von der Leyen and Europe’s Moral Bankruptcy appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Ramzy Baroud.
US-Instigated Humanitarian Crisis Forces Cuba to Adopt Major Economic Changes
The tide may at last be turning in Cuba’s favor. Newly announced plans of Cuba’s government point to the beginning of rescue from the terrible humanitarian crisis currently weighing on the Cuban people. Prompting the crisis are the long US economic blockade of the island and the US-imposed oil blockade that began on January 28. More The post US-Instigated Humanitarian Crisis Forces Cuba to Adopt Major Economic Changes appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Street of Old Habana, Cuba. Photo: Emmanuel Huybrechts. Wikimedia Commons. CC BY 2.0 The tide may at last be turning in Cuba’s favor. Newly announced plans of Cuba’s government point to the beginning of rescue from the terrible humanitarian crisis currently weighing on the Cuban people. Prompting the crisis are the long US economic blockade of the island and the US-imposed oil blockade that began on January 28. Changes approved on June 19 at a special session of Cuba’s National Assembly had multiple purposes, among them: increasing production and generating wealth for the sake of economic development, securing financial resources to pay for for humanitarian relief, establishing guarantees of social well-being for Cuba’s beleaguered population, and achieving full utilization of Cuba’s farm land in order to build agricultural production. Throughout the discussions leading to these changes, government leaders testified to their common purpose of protecting and strengthening Cuba’s socialist model. Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel, speaking at a special plenum of the Cuba’s Communist Party offered these major goals: “Macroeconomic stabilization and the recovery of foreign revenue, transformation of the economic and social model, stimulation and recovery of the agricultural sector, strengthening of accounting and cost management, and anticipating and mitigating the social costs associated with the necessary transformations of the economic and social model.” The rapid-fire developments of recent days follow media reports over months of horrendous grief throughout the island, mounting US economic sanctions, threats of US military attack, and Cuba’s own preparations for a US invasion. Remarkably enough, only a rare word about Cuba’s military defense appears in the statements and speeches accompanying these proceedings. Consultations and planning sessions had been ongoing for weeks. The process yielded result 390 proposals to be evaluated by the National Assembly, of which 66.7% were accepted. On June 12, President Díaz-Canel held a press conference to introduce the government’s strategic response to the unfolding disaster. The Central Committee of Cuba’s Communist party held an extraordinary plenum session on June 17 to consider the plan. The National Assembly of 400 elected deputies met on June 18 and 19 to deliberate and give final approval. Remarks offered at these meetings inform what appears below. One big reform, presumably relating to bureaucratic excesses, centers on governmental re-organization and re-distribution of governmental authority. Government ministries are being halved, with governmental work being distributed among ministries that remain. Much of the national government’s decision-making authority will eventually end up with the governments of municipalities. These will soon be making arrangements for imports and exports, for pricing, for making supplies available to producers, for securing investments from abroad, and for establishing production goals. They will be accountable as regards financial transactions. The concept of local autonomy, which is not new, encompasses strategic planning, land-use management, food sovereignty, community services, and promotion of local development. Local authorities will be supervising projects belonging to Cubans abroad. State-owned enterprises get a boost in the form of “expansion of their powers and managerial autonomy.” They are free to “engage in any lawful activity,” set prices, and distribute profits. They will be paying increased wages and offering more generous pension benefits. Provincial and municipal governments will be able to merge or dissolve state-owned enterprises. Individuals and other “legal entities” are allowed to purchase shares in state enterprises. The agricultural sector gets renewed attention, in line with Cuba’s need for greater domestic food production, which has lagged. Now farmers and cooperatives gain usufruct rights for an indefinite period. Usufruct, instituted in 2008, is the means by which farmers secure the legal right to use state-owned land. Allocation of usufruct will depend on production needs. Cooperatives may now arrange for their own marketing, food exports, and imports of supplies. They may themselves secure loans and establish foreign currency accounts. According to President Díaz-Canel, “There is no sovereignty with empty plates. The Cuban people’s food will be treated for what it is: a matter of national security”. The government offered plans for social rescue. Wages and pensions will be increasing, and employment guaranteed. Social protection will depend in part on cooperation between state and private employers and the banking system. There will be “discounts or quotas for people at social risk.” Cubans will be receiving support in the form of medical transportation, sanitation improvements, and monthly deliveries of food packages to vulnerable individuals and families. From now on, there will be more priority given to services for individuals in trouble and less to assistance provided for everyone, equally. The new order of affairs features energy transformation. Chinese-assisted transition to solar power, and wind power too, has advanced in the past year. Cubans on their own initiative will be free to buy imported electric vehicles of all kinds. Plans call for the role of private and foreign capital in financing the purchases of electric vehicles and small solar power systems. State-owned companies will be free to use “international platforms” to buy fuels and vehicles associated with the energy transition. There will be new support for Cuba’s tourist industry, which historically has provided the state with significant income. The Covid-19 pandemic and US sanctions led to its deterioration. Among market mechanisms taking effect are reliance on foreign investors, usufruct arrangements, and sales of real estate to Cubans on the island and abroad. Other innovations include the use of joint ventures and private real estate management services to operate car rental agencies, marinas, and tourist agencies. Banking reform is a big part of the new order. Changes will include formation of a private banking sector to be supervised by the state’s central bank. Non-banking financial entities are on the way. Bank restrictions on Cubans’ use of foreign currencies, the US dollar included, for the purchase of imported goods will disappear. Private currency-exchange bureaus and a digital foreign exchange market are anticipated. By way of removing bureaucratic obstacles, banks will use digital technologies, new software products, and artificial intelligence to enable access to funds. Financial and legal accountability will be strengthened. Market forces will determine pricing. The overall goal of these reforms is that of promoting the flow of money so as to enhance production. President Díaz-Canel declared that, “Every unit of foreign currency that enters the country must be channeled to finance production, imports, investment, wages, and infrastructure.” And further: “Without wealth, there is nothing to distribute; we would be speaking of social justice in the abstract.” Díaz-Canel, speaking before the National Assembly, echoed remarks heard earlier in these several days of deliberation. Referring to “the longest, most criminal, most perverse, most unjust blockade in history,” he declared that, “We are not giving up on socialism.” He added that, “Our discussion is about how, with our own skills, and our own effort, we are going to be capable of building socialism in a sustainable way … Here we are not doing this because of pressure from the Yankees. We are acting in a sovereign manner, because we have arrived at a moment of maturity and reflection … The first thing we have to do is produce. If we do not produce, if we do not generate wealth, what kind of social justice will we be defending?” The president mentioned the largely unsuccessful attempts by Cuba’s government in the past to institute economic reforms. Acknowledging implementation lapses and bureaucratic impediments, Cuba’s president insisted that, “Cuba does not need further delays; it needs solutions. It is not a matter of creating more offices or holding more meetings, but of achieving concrete results.” Indeed, the present moment is different. The current threat to Cuba’s socialist revolution is as serious as was the US-organized Bay of Pigs attack in 1961 and the fall of the Soviet Bloc in 1991. Is the US-imposed humanitarian crisis so dangerous now that Cuba’s government is relenting on socialist methods and socialist purposes? Many of Cuba’s supporters think not. In fact, the grim realities and the suffering that Cubans have been enduring have left them little choice but to take action, now. What’s happening perhaps amounts to a holding action in anticipation of new circumstances allowing, eventually, for a socialist future. Cuba’s socialist government, it seems here, deserves enormous praise for making rational changes that may enable humanitarian relief and that may also permit survival of both the government and Cuba’s evolving form of socialism. Moreover, the US government, Cuba’s enemy, surely is learning that Cubans and their government are unified, resourceful, and full of resistance. The post US-Instigated Humanitarian Crisis Forces Cuba to Adopt Major Economic Changes appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by W. T. Whitney.
Over the last few months, the violence and atrocities imposed upon the Cuban people by the United States’ commander-in-chief have escalated to apocalyptic proportions. Since returning to office, Donald Trump has been choking the Cuban people by ramping up to an unprecedented degree the United States’ tremendously cruel and illegal blockade on the island. Since More The post The Cuban Revolution Will Live On appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Over the last few months, the violence and atrocities imposed upon the Cuban people by the United States’ commander-in-chief have escalated to apocalyptic proportions. Since returning to office, Donald Trump has been choking the Cuban people by ramping up to an unprecedented degree the United States’ tremendously cruel and illegal blockade on the island. Since May 1, the US has begun to sanction foreign companies for simply maintaining economic relations with Cuba. This means international companies that are in no way linked to the US can face banking restrictions, exclusion from dollar transactions, economic retaliation, and can even have their assets frozen by the US for simply trading with Cuba. As a result, major European businesses have been cancelling contracts and services because the risks are too high. Trump’s escalations are new, but their foundations have existed in some form since the embargo was first imposed in 1960, soon after Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, and their comrades overthrew Fulgencio Batista’s brutal dictatorship to establish a socialist state. The Revolution put first and foremost the rights of the downtrodden, of the campesinos and landless workers, who were previously subjugated by immense tyranny under Batista’s US-backed regime; for it, the Revolution has faced the wrath of the sanctions regime, which has gradually escalated every year. Among the latest steps in the American brutality on Cuba has been the US indicting and issuing criminal charges against Raúl Castro for shooting down two planes belonging to Miami-based, Cuban-born capitalists. These individuals were part of a terrorist group, Brothers to the Rescue, which sought to overthrow the Cuban government. José Basulto, the CIA agent and founder of the group, who had previously been involved in multiple plots to attack Cuba, including the failed Bay of Pigs invasion, infamously stated that he was “trained as a terrorist by the United States”. These charges against Castro, who is now 94 years old, came thirty years after the planes were shot down. They represent a renewed effort by Trump, his Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and the rest of the administration spearheading the rapidly declining American Empire, to manufacture consent for an invasion. In fact, it is remarkable that Trump’s escalation of an already heinous blockade has not yet dismantled the revolutionary government. The US president’s affinity for cruelty for cruelty’s sake has seen the island and its population of over 10 million suffer agonies previously unimagined. Cuba’s current crisis is a direct consequence of this intensified siege, which was further compounded by the illegal kidnapping of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in January, whose government used to supply Cuba with the oil it is unable to produce domestically – until, of course, Maduro was deposed in yet another of Washington’s endless coups across Latin America. As a result, there are now rolling blackouts for days on end. The entire island starves because there is nowhere near enough food to survive. People live in dilapidated, hollowed-out buildings that have not received repairs for decades. Cuban hospitals and their renowned healthcare system – the crowning jewel among the many achievements of the Revolution, which has inspired internationalists and socialists the world over – can no longer function due to a severe lack of resources and basic equipment. Surgeries have been indefinitely delayed. There are no ventilators, forcing doctors to hand-pump oxygen to newborn babies just to give them a chance to survive; they often do not. In March, the Cuban government estimated that there was a backlog of 96,387 people awaiting surgery, 11,193 of whom were children. Since the Revolution, Cuba has maintained some of the highest life expectancy rates (until recently, outpacing those of the US) and the lowest infant mortality rates in the region. These metrics are now collapsing too. Due to the US’s targeted cruelty, the infant mortality rate has skyrocketed. A recent study by the Centre for Economic and Policy Research found that Cuba’s infant mortality rate rose from 4 per 1,000 live births in 2018 to 9.9 in 2025 – a 148 per cent increase. The authors concluded that US sanctions are “very likely the primary cause of the current economic and humanitarian crisis in Cuba”. The situation is apocalyptic. It reflects the grim reality that those under the fearsome boot of neocolonialism and imperialism find themselves in: a world built from the ashes of the charred bodies of women and children starved and then eviscerated in Gaza; a wretched Social Darwinism in which cruelty reigns supreme. While the horrors the Cuban people are currently subjected to by Trump may be unprecedented in their severity, it bears repeating that they are only the continuation of the venomous siege imposed all the way back in 1960. It has been maintained by every single US administration since, barring a brief and insufficient detente under Obama. In 1960, when Castro and the 26th of July Movement successfully liberated the Cuban people from the yoke of a despot – backed, like so many Latin American dictators, by the imperialists – the US could not stomach it. Soon after, the CIA tried to overthrow the nascent revolutionary government, resulting in the infamously botched Bay of Pigs invasion on April 17, 1961. The plan was a spectacular failure. The invaders were contained almost as soon as they touched down. The US and the CIA had been profoundly embarrassed. Since then, the US has maintained and escalated its illegal blockade of Cuba, effectively preventing the island from trading normally with any nation that wishes to retain access to US markets. It stands as a textbook example of a rogue empire throwing its toys out of the pram when it does not get its way; only the toys it throws are murderous sanctions. The barbarity of this blockade is annually voted on in the United Nations General Assembly – an institution structured to ensure its impacts remain purely symbolic. Except for Israel and the United States, the rest of the world almost unanimously votes to end this barbarous siege every single year. Yet, regardless of the blockade, Cuba thrived in the years following the Revolution. It did so in ways that remain unprecedented. Spearheaded by a government that prioritised the interests of working people rather than capitalists and landowners – and backed by the financial and political support of the Soviet Union under Nikita Khrushchev – Cuba made monumental gains. To understand the sheer scale of these achievements, it is important to briefly examine the dire reality of pre-revolutionary Cuba. Before 1959, the country was a regional sex-tourism hub governed by a corrupt dictator brought to power by a US-backed coup in 1952. In his landmark 1953 courtroom defence, History Will Absolve Me, a 27-year-old Fidel Castro laid bare this systemic violence, detailing how the vast majority of small farmers faced constant eviction, productive land lay concentrated in foreign hands, and public hospitals were reduced to tools of political corruption while thousands of children died annually from a total lack of basic sanitary and medical facilities. On January 1, 1959, Batista fled to the Dominican Republic, siphoning between $300 million and $400 million of public money into private bank accounts. Cuba was left completely destitute, yet amid this financial ruin, a new dawn began. In the two-thirds of a century since, Cuba has stood as an example of egalitarian, progressive governance, despite the immense gravity of the embargo. Until recently, the country boasted a higher average life expectancy than the United States and a lower infant mortality rate. Since the Revolution, all medical care has remained entirely free, and Cuban doctors have played a monumental role in global healthcare missions. In 2015, Cuba became the first country in the world to successfully eliminate mother-to-child transmission of HIV and syphilis. This is merely the tip of the iceberg regarding the island’s biotechnology achievements, which include developing pioneering therapeutic vaccines for advanced non-small cell lung cancer, such as CIMAvax-EGF. When US sanctions prevented Cuba from acquiring foreign COVID-19 vaccines, domestic scientists developed their own native versions, fully inoculating nearly its entire population before subsequent viral waves could hit, and then exported these vaccines to several countries in the Global South. Michael Moore’s 2007 film Sicko documents Cuba’s massive strides in the field of medicine, contrasting them sharply with the parasitic, for-profit system inside the US. Today, 23 medical schools educate both citizens and overseas students entirely free of charge. Consequently, Cuba has one of the highest doctor-to-patient ratios in the world: more than 8 per 1,000 citizens – more than double the rate in the US or the UK. On the educational front, the metrics are even more striking. In 1958, half of Cuba’s children did not attend school at all. Today, the nation boasts a literacy rate of 99.7 per cent. In fact, the literacy rate had already climbed to 96 per cent by 1962, as one of Castro’s immediate initiatives was a massive nationwide literacy drive. The Revolution also turned this small island into a global Olympic powerhouse. Cuba holds more Olympic medals than any other nation in Latin America, despite a population of roughly 11 million. This sporting success stems directly from the state’s guarantee of free, universal access to specialised sports academies for every citizen. Even more progressive than these achievements is Cuba’s Family Code. It still stands as arguably the most progressive framework of civil law in the world, replacing abstract notions of parental custody with concrete “parental responsibilities” toward children, alongside sweeping protections for women and caregivers. It guarantees on-demand contraception, universal access to abortion, and fully subsidised gender-affirming healthcare for transgender individuals. Codified in 2022, these laws were developed over three years via direct democratic participation, undergoing thousands of neighbourhood meetings and public revisions before being approved by 67 per cent of voters in a high-turnout referendum. Then there is the historical commitment to supporting anti-colonial movements abroad undertaken, paradoxically to many Western analysts, at immense domestic cost for zero material gain. Angola could not have successfully liberated itself from the ruthlessness of warlord Jonas Savimbi and the apartheid South African army that financed him without direct Cuban military support. Apartheid South Africa itself, which engaged Cuban and Angolan MPLA forces directly, saw its regional hegemony shattered far more rapidly because of this intervention. The Battle of Cuito Cuanavale, where Cuban and MPLA forces decisively defeated South African units, became the turning point that triggered the eventual fall of apartheid domestically and secured true liberation for both Angola and Namibia. Cuba also sheltered Black liberation activists wanted by Washington, including Nehanda Abiodun and Assata Shakur, and met every demand for their return, and every bounty, with silence. The bottom line is that Cuba quickly transformed from a playground for Western elites, defined by inequality, racism, poverty, and systemic privatisation, into a genuine model of progressive governance, all while navigating a merciless embargo that inflicts severe annual shortages. However, as is the case for any state that successfully defies Washington, this defiance was met with extreme structural retaliation. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, conditions turned dire. While the fall of the Berlin Wall is consistently framed in Western media as a triumphant, historic moment of breaking chains, for the majority of the Third World, the unravelling of the USSR was a catastrophe. The blow was felt mostly acutely in countries that relied directly on Soviet trade to bypass US sanctions. Cuba was brutally hit, forcing the government to open its doors to international tourism just to survive. This economic restructuring rapidly gave rise to class dynamics and inequalities alien to the original socialist project, forcing a population liberated from the ignominy of serving foreign elites thirty years prior to perform once again for wealthy holiday-makers just to secure basic goods. Jon Alpert’s documentary Cuba and the Cameraman captures the heartbreaking reality of this shift and the alienation it caused. Yet, the revolutionary core was never entirely extinguished. Cuba successfully navigated the worst of this so-called Special Period, and by the turn of the century, conditions began to stabilise. By restructuring its economy around tourism and medical exports, and by developing new trade relationships with Russia, China, and Venezuela, Cuba managed to establish a new equilibrium. It never fully recovered the material security of the pre-1989 era, but it preserved its sovereignty, its internationalist commitments, and its socialist infrastructure. From 2015 onwards, under the Obama administration, Washington and Havana entered a historic detente. The US finally removed Cuba from its State Sponsors of Terrorism list, and Barack Obama visited the island, meeting directly with Raúl Castro. This loosening of the economic noose led to an immediate, tangible improvement in daily living conditions for ordinary Cubans. However, soon after, American voters decided to elect Donald Trump as president. Upon entering the Oval Office, Trump immediately terminated the thaw, reinstated Cuba onto the State Sponsors of Terrorism list, and tightened the economic chokehold. When Joe Biden took office in 2021, he conspicuously refused to restore relations to the Obama-era baseline, maintaining the economic pressure right up until his departure. His pathetic eleventh-hour removal of Cuba from the terrorism list was instantly reversed by Trump on his first day back in power. Since then, Trump and Marco Rubio have escalated the blockade to unprecedented, asphyxiating levels. The recent US illegal operation in Venezuela and the kidnapping of Maduro have stripped Cuba of its primary source of oil. Unable to produce its own petroleum, the island’s energy grid is collapsing, leaving its people to suffer under apocalyptic conditions. An invasion may follow when a deal to end the war with Iran is formally signed. Structurally, there is little to stop it. Having somehow, against all odds, persevered through unparalleled historical trials – be it the Bay of Pigs invasion, the October Crisis, the Special Period, and everything in between – it now seems that the sustained escalation of unfettered barbarity by Washington’s vilest administration may be too much for the island to weather. Left without the leadership of the Castro brothers, the Soviet Union, or Venezuelan oil, the Cuban Revolution faces its most existential threat yet. It may finally collapse under apocalyptic conditions that make the hardships following the collapse of the Soviet Union pale in comparison. Or it might not. If there is a single nation that has consistently defied the calculus of probability, it is Cuba. Even today, Trump is reportedly frustrated that the island and its government have not yet buckled amidst the violence of this intensified blockade; he cannot fathom why 11 million people are not in open revolt. Unlike the fractured political landscape in Venezuela, there remains a deep, popular baseline of support for the sovereignty and dignity that the island’s people have sacrificed so much to maintain. All things considered, it is a remarkable feat of collective endurance. We also know that the island’s defence apparatus has spent decades preparing for a direct US assault, drawing up asymmetric guerrilla tactics to resist an imminent attack, echoing the precise strategic spirit of the Argentine doctor who played such a monumental role in the birth of the Revolution. Furthermore, it is highly improbable that a surgical operation akin to the kidnapping of Maduro would succeed in Havana. Even if the US security state manages to secure a pliant asset like Delcy Rodriguez within the ranks, it is very unlikely that such a figure would be tolerated by the public or the party apparatus. Should a Batista-like proxy be forcefully imposed upon the island, it would almost certainly ignite an all-out civil war. I cannot predict what the coming months will bring; I can only watch, hope, and offer solidarity, fully aware that the situation is acutely perilous. Yet, even if the worst comes to pass – even if the American Empire, upon which the sun is now firmly setting, finally achieves the singular objective it has spent more than six decades engineering and completely unravels the Cuban government, dismantles socialism on the island, and reduces it to yet another capitalist vassal state in Latin America carved up for libertarian charter cities like Próspera – the spirit of the Cuban Revolution, much like that of the October Revolution, will remain immortal. What it achieved for the downtrodden around the world, whom it liberated from both physical and psychological shackles, can never be erased from historical memory. Angola will not be unliberated. Namibia won’t be recolonised. Apartheid will not return to South Africa. The movies won’t be unmade. The novels won’t be unwritten. The internationalism, fervour, love, and solidarity won’t be gutted. The guerrilla tactics and revolutionary optimism won’t vanish. They will remain, like the defiant images and murals of Che Guevara and Fidel Castro that adorn spaces around the world, firmly rooted in the minds of those who dream of a better world. The fight against the forces that leech the world of its beauty to turn it into misery, all in the name of endless accumulation, will continue. And it will always remember the Cuban revolutionaries who defined it. Who showed the wretched of the earth, the darker peoples, that resistance would never be futile. The post The Cuban Revolution Will Live On appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Hamza Shehryar.
Whether it’s an addiction or an illness I’m not sure, but all too many of us and our leaders, it seems, have war fever (and a distinctly high temperature). And here’s the strangest thing: when you consider our history since World War II or look around this planet any day of the week, it seems More The post Addicted to War? appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Image by Jeff Kingma. Whether it’s an addiction or an illness I’m not sure, but all too many of us and our leaders, it seems, have war fever (and a distinctly high temperature). And here’s the strangest thing: when you consider our history since World War II or look around this planet any day of the week, it seems as if all too many of our leaders simply can’t help themselves. They just (or do I mean unjust?) have to go to war. And it evidently matters not at all that the major powers on this planet can no longer seem to win any war they start. Not one in recent memory. And yet, explain it as you will — an addiction, a fever, a grim desire — at least two crucial leaders at this very moment, Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, seem incapable of stopping themselves. And here’s the OMG news story that shocked me the other day. At the New York Times, a piece by reporter Constant Méheut had this headline: “The War in Ukraine Has Now Gone On Longer Than World War I.” And here’s how his report began: “The war in Ukraine has often been compared to World War I for its brutal infantry assaults and heavy casualties. Yet the idea that it could, by any measure, surpass a conflict so long and bloody that French soldiers hoped it would be ‘the last of the last’ once seemed unthinkable.” No longer, unfortunately. And Russia is anything but alone. After all, my country spent three years in bloody strife in Korea, nearly 9 years in Iraq, almost 20 in Vietnam, and almost 20 more in Afghanistan (and, mind you, that’s hardly the full list of its various conflicts) without a victory in sight. Of course, only recently, “my” president launched the latest all-American conflict, this time with Iran and with an utterly predictable lack of success given our history over the last 80 years. That war is now in a strange, distinctly unsettling holding pattern, and who knows what will come next? In fact, given the history of this country and war since, in September 1945, it emerged victorious from World War II (having dropped atomic bombs on two Japanese cities to end it), it should be considered beyond remarkable that Americans would still be so willing to let staggering amounts of our tax dollars be eternally “invested” in the U.S. military. That’s year after year after year without the slightest bit of protest. The latest figure offered by Donald Trump: a Pentagon budget that’s no longer the usual almost a trillion dollars (itself nothing short of shocking) but an even more eye-opening (or do I mean eye-watering?) $1.5 trillion (yes, trillion!) dollars. And how strange, don’t you think, that, in a world where we humans already seem to go to war endlessly with other human beings, we’ve also evidently decided to go to war with this very planet itself? Of course, I’m thinking about what’s come to be known as “climate change,” but should undoubtedly have been labeled something more like “our war on the climate” (or “climate war”). And worse yet, war among us humans has proven to be perhaps the most devastating way of all to also make war on this planet itself, since nothing releases fossil fuels into the atmosphere quite the way war does. In fact, according to the Costs of War Project, the U.S. military is now believed to be “the single largest institutional producer of greenhouse gases in the world”! After all, whatever it doesn’t accomplish, the one thing that war actually does do remarkably successfully (along with killing so many of us and destroying villages, towns, cities, and sometimes whole countries) is pour ever more fossil fuels into our atmosphere and so add immeasurably to the overheating of this planet. Honestly, could we humans be more dystopian? We just — and yes, I know that I’ve already used that word just (sorry!) a couple of sentences ago, but what can I do, given this distinctly less than just planet of ours? We just — I can’t help it! — can’t seem to stop, can we? Obviously, both Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump have had distinct cases of war fever (and distinctly high temperatures to go with it) and, from the Ukraine to Iran, they have seemed all too eager to drive those atmospheric fevers even higher. Mind you, as CNN reported, by early June, the president had also announced no less than 38 different times that, when it came to his war on Iran, a deal was either imminent or had already happened. It is truly strange, don’t you think? I’m referring to “my” president’s never-ending urge, the second time around, to commit mayhem on this planet. (And yes, I keep putting “my” in quotation marks because I didn’t vote for him and I never wanted him to be president of the United States.) And yes again, every day there’s something, whether it’s the killing of a supposed Latin American gangster-in-chief, the kidnapping of the president of Venezuela and his wife, the blasting of Iran, the increasing threats against Cuba, or… well, I can’t even imagine what truly lies in our future (and, count on it, neither can Donald Trump), but nothing good, that’s for damn sure. And hey, Pete Hegseth, our secretary of war (which, as a label, is historically one hell of a lot more accurate than secretary of defense), couldn’t have been blunter about our situation back in 2025: “Everything starts and ends with warriors in training and on the battlefield. We are leaving wokeness and weakness behind. And refocusing on lethality, meritocracy, accountability, standards and readiness.” Yes, there is, it seems, nothing worth the bother but war and more war. That, sadly, is indeed our world and it seems like we just can’t help ourselves. War is and always has been a human addiction — or should we think of it as an illness? War fever, perhaps? And let’s face it, you should have known that this planet was in trouble deep when we Americans decided to elect Donald Trump again and, the second time around, as this country’s most ancient president, when he isn’t posting a million social texts or dozing off on the job, he turns the White House lawn, once upon a time used to play tennis, pardon turkeys, or treat children to Easter egg rolls into an arena for “cage fights,” which tells you all too much about the world we’re now in. And from his war on Iran to his urge to do anything he can to heat this planet to the boiling point (and wipe out any attempts to cut back on the fossil-fuelization of our world), he should all too literally be considered the president from hell. The only question, of course, is what’s next? And I’m not sure this almost 82-year-old fellow even wants to know. This piece first appeared on Tom’s Substack. The post Addicted to War? appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Tom Engelhardt.
Term Limits? OK, But Here’s How to Do Them Right
It comes, it goes, but seldom does a month go by without the notion of “term limits” popping up in the American political discussion. At the moment — and since Sheldon Whitehouse proposed legislation for it in 2023 — that discussion has mostly revolved around the Supreme Court, whose justices remain in office, according to More The post Term Limits? OK, But Here’s How to Do Them Right appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Senator Chuck Grassley, 92, at a recent town hall. Grassley entered Congress in 1975, after serving in the Iowa state house for 16 years. (Screengrab from video posted X.) It comes, it goes, but seldom does a month go by without the notion of “term limits” popping up in the American political discussion. At the moment — and since Sheldon Whitehouse proposed legislation for it in 2023 — that discussion has mostly revolved around the Supreme Court, whose justices remain in office, according to the Constitution, “during good Behaviour,” generally understood as “for life absent impeachment or voluntary retirement.” Whitehouse wants non-renewable 18-year terms. Really, though, term limits are a perpetual panacea. Congressional candidates talk about them a lot — usually when promising to serve no more than X terms in the US House of Representatives, and right up to the point where they decide to seek their X+1th terms “due to popular demand.” The president is already limited to two four-year terms. That limit required a constitutional amendment to implement, as would House or Senate term limits and, arguably, Supreme Court term limits. Some would like to see the presidential version changed to a single six-year term. I’m skeptical that term limits, as envisioned by their promoters, would do much to restrain or improve the quality of government, and as a political matter their opponents aren’t wrong when they point out that “we already have term limits, they’re called elections.” At the state level, in Missouri, I watched what happened after legislative term limits became law. Instead of one person sitting in a state house or senate seat forever, we got a “ladder and rope” system with politicians climbing the ladder from local office all the way to state senate (and possibly the executive branch), term-limiting out and moving up to the next rungs, while throwing down ropes and pulling hand-selected proteges behind them and into the offices they vacated. Different faces, same ideas … and a more difficult system for outsiders to break into at all than if vacated seats became “open” in any real sense. But if we want to give term limits a real try, I have some ideas on the matter. First, the limit should be one term. Second, the term should be fairly short – say, two years. Third, once a person has been elected to a particular office, that person becomes ineligible for election to any other office, and for employment by any branch of the government in question … ever, for life. That may sound extreme, but let’s look at the impact on the federal government (because it happens to be so, I’m treating local, state, and federal governments as separate governments), and include cabinet appointees and Supreme Court justices (even though they’re appointed rather than elected). That comes to 561 people (435 US Representatives, 100 US Senators, one president, one vice-president, 15 cabinet secretaries, and nine Supreme Court justices). With a population of 340 million, the US could fill each of those offices about 610,000 times. Single two-year terms and lifetime bans afterward wouldn’t lead to a labor shortage. What it would lead to is more difficulty building perpetual political machines and an entrenched political class. Which is why politicians would hate it. The post Term Limits? OK, But Here’s How to Do Them Right appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Thomas Knapp.
Empire at 250: Can the Principles of 1776 Survive the American Police State?
This is a year of strange anniversaries. Two hundred and fifty years ago, a band of revolutionaries declared their independence from a king. America’s founders rejected concentrated power. They denounced standing armies. They distrusted government secrecy. They risked their lives to escape a ruler who could tax without consent, wage war without accountability, and govern More The post Empire at 250: Can the Principles of 1776 Survive the American Police State? appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Image: Roaring River Comix. This is a year of strange anniversaries. Two hundred and fifty years ago, a band of revolutionaries declared their independence from a king. America’s founders rejected concentrated power. They denounced standing armies. They distrusted government secrecy. They risked their lives to escape a ruler who could tax without consent, wage war without accountability, and govern without meaningful restraint. Twenty-five years ago, after the attacks of September 11, 2001, America embarked on a very different journey. The federal government claimed extraordinary emergency powers. Surveillance expanded. Wars multiplied. Executive authority grew. Constitutional safeguards were weakened in the name of security. One anniversary marked a revolt against empire. The other marked the normalization of it. Now, as America prepares to celebrate 250 years of independence, we are confronted with a bitter irony: the republic born in rebellion against empire has become an empire in everything but name. Worse, the U.S. government is violating the very principles that justified the American Revolution. Graft, grift and corruption. Endless wars. Profiteering. Trillions squandered abroad while the nation sinks deeper into debt at home. A government that governs increasingly by executive order and emergency decree. A government that wastes taxpayer money with impunity, rewards political loyalty over constitutional fidelity, installs loyalists in positions meant to serve the public, dismantles safeguards against corruption, shields insiders from scrutiny, and treats accountability as an inconvenience. National states of emergency that never seem to end. Efforts to nullify constitutional guarantees such as birthright citizenship. Expanded death penalty powers. A growing willingness to bypass Congress, sidestep constitutional restraints and rule by fiat. Surveillance programs that track where we go, what we buy, who we know, what we say and what we believe. Fusion centers, facial recognition, license plate readers, AI-assisted monitoring, financial tracking, intelligence-sharing agreements and a sprawling security apparatus that treats privacy as a loophole and dissent as a threat. Military action undertaken without congressional authorization. National Guard deployments that blur the line between civilian government and military authority. The militarization of policing. Federal agents arresting people at courthouses. Protesters treated as security threats. Legal residents threatened with deportation because of their political speech and associations. Immigrants and asylum seekers swept up in raids, detained, deported or disappeared into a bureaucratic maze before courts can fully review the legality of what has been done. Whistleblowers, journalists, activists and critics targeted for speaking truth to power. Expanding “extremist” classifications that increasingly encompass lawful speech, political dissent and ideological opposition rather than criminal conduct. This is not freedom. This is the architecture of a police state. The American Revolution was not fought over minor policy disagreements. It was fought over the danger of unaccountable power. The colonists objected to a king who could deploy troops, impose taxes, conduct searches, punish dissent and wage war without meaningful consent of the governed. The Declaration of Independence was not merely a list of grievances. It was an indictment. The founders understood that power is inherently expansive. Given enough time, every government seeks more authority, more secrecy and more control. That is why they created a constitutional system in which power was divided. The branches were intended to restrain one another. No person was to be trusted with too much authority. Yet history shows how quickly constitutional restraints weaken in times of fear. John Adams signed the Alien and Sedition Acts and criminalized political dissent. Abraham Lincoln suspended habeas corpus. Woodrow Wilson prosecuted anti-war activists. Franklin Roosevelt ordered the internment of more than 120,000 Japanese Americans. Richard Nixon weaponized federal agencies against political opponents. Each expansion of executive power was justified as necessary. Each left constitutional scars. Then came September 11, 2001. In the months and years that followed, Congress passed the USA PATRIOT Act, vastly expanding government surveillance powers. The Department of Homeland Security was created. Military tribunals were revived. Warrantless surveillance became commonplace. Watchlists multiplied. Fusion centers spread across the country. Indefinite detention became normalized. War abroad justified surveillance at home. Terror threats justified government secrecy. National crises justified executive emergency powers. What began as a response to a terrorist attack gradually became a governing philosophy. Twenty-five years later, the emergency state has become embedded in the architecture of government. The result is a government that often functions by executive decree rather than representative self-government. The presidency has evolved into something the framers would scarcely recognize. What Donald Trump has done is expose the fatal flaw in the system Americans allowed to be built after 9/11: once government is handed the machinery of permanent emergency, all that remains is for the wrong person to seize the controls. This is how tyranny rises and freedom falls. The lesson is the same one the founders learned from bitter experience: power granted in the name of necessity rarely remains confined to necessity. Every emergency becomes a precedent. Every precedent becomes a power. Every power becomes permanent. The uncomfortable truth is that many of the abuses that sparked the American Revolution have returned, only this time they arrive wrapped in the language of national security, public safety, emergency management and administrative necessity. The faces have changed. The technology has changed. The rhetoric has changed. The danger remains the same. Which brings us back to this strange anniversary year. The 250th anniversary of American independence should have been an opportunity to renew our commitment to limited government, constitutional accountability and the principle that no one is above the law. Instead, the lesson of 9/11 is being repeated in a different form. Twenty-five years ago, fear became the pretext for permanent emergency. Today, patriotism is becoming the backdrop for presidential spectacle, military pageantry and the celebration of the very concentration of power the American Revolution was fought to resist. Yet the founders did not launch a revolution so Americans could celebrate authoritarian power. They launched a revolution to remind future generations that power is dangerous, liberty is fragile and no ruler should ever be elevated above the Constitution. For 250 years, Americans have treated the Declaration of Independence as the nation’s birth certificate. What we have failed to recognize is that the Declaration of Independence was also a warning: freedom is fragile, power is relentless, and no generation remains free simply because a previous generation fought for liberty. As America approaches its 250th anniversary, the most important question is not whether the nation survived. The real question, as I make clear in Battlefield America: The War on the American People and its fictional counterpart The Erik Blair Diaries, is whether the principles of 1776 can survive the American police state. The post Empire at 250: Can the Principles of 1776 Survive the American Police State? appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by John W. Whitehead – Nisha Whitehead.
The Defiant Republic: The Ideological Imperative of a Strong Iran
The February 2026 Iran war cannot be understood as an isolated event; but rather the outcome of over four decades of coordinated American and Israeli efforts to contain and topple the Islamic Republic. Similarly, Iran’s ability to withstand the military onslaught and emerge victorious must also be situated within that historical context. After weeks of More The post The Defiant Republic: The Ideological Imperative of a Strong Iran appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Residents in Tehran on the third day of US-Israeli airstrikes, March 3, 2026. Photo: Avash Media. CC BY 4.0. The February 2026 Iran war cannot be understood as an isolated event; but rather the outcome of over four decades of coordinated American and Israeli efforts to contain and topple the Islamic Republic. Similarly, Iran’s ability to withstand the military onslaught and emerge victorious must also be situated within that historical context. After weeks of U.S-Israeli bombardment, Iran has shown not only that it has been able to withstand an assault by the world’s strongest militaries, but that it could successfully exact substantial military, geopolitical and economic costs on its adversaries. Despite suffering significant damage, and the martyrdom of senior military commanders, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the state survived. Tehran’s ability to maintain institutional continuity and operational resilience despite intense pressures could ultimately reshape the geopolitical landscape of West Asia. Using asymmetric tactics and threatening global energy chokepoints, Iran forced a diplomatic standoff with Washington, which led to the signing on 17 June of the Islamabad memorandum of understanding, establishing an immediate cessation of hostilities across all fronts, including Lebanon. The document also launched the first round of negotiations on 21 June towards securing a final agreement. It is reasonable to conclude that a secular government or monarchy, like that of the former Shah, would likely have yielded to military duress. Ending the conflict on Iran’s terms, however, required a defiant government driven by an ideological mandate of resistance to oppressors and oppression. Even fierce government critics concede that the Islamic Republic successfully preserved the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and handed the U.S. and Israel an unprecedented defeat. By recognizing the centrality of the ancient, deeply-rooted cultural concept of Iranzamin (the Land of Iran), that views defense of the physical and sovereign integrity of the historical homeland a sacred trust and government duty, we can better understand the Islamic Republic and the people’s response to the U.S.-Israeli unprovoked wars. How well, over its 5,000-year history, Iranian monarchs fulfilled this sacred trust is the epic story of military triumphs and devastating territorial amputations. The 19th and 20th centuries, among the lowest points in Iran’s dynastic history, can be described as “centuries of amputation.” For example, during the 19th century Qajar dynasty, Iran lost vast territories to Russia and Britain; in what came to be known as the “Great Game”—the competition for power between two competing empires. Through war and subsequent treaties, Iran was permanently stripped of its South Caucasus territories (Georgia, Dagestan and Azerbaijan) in the Treaty of Golestan (1813). Today in Iran, the Treaty of Turkmenchay (1828) which required Iran to give up modern-day Armenia, remains a cultural wound, synonymous with national humiliation. In addition, in 1857, under Qajar Shah Naser al-Din, Iran was forced by the British to give up its historical claims to the strategic Afghan city of Herat, permanently severing Western Afghanistan from Iran. And in the Treaty of Akhai (1881), Russia dictated that Iran relinquish all historic claims to Turkmenistan and parts of Uzbekistan. Due to the heedlessness of another Shah, Iran was compromised once again when Anglo-Soviet forces invaded and occupied the country during World War II. The Pahlavi dynasty (1925-1979), founded by Reza Shah, was the last monarchy to rule Iran. His son, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, like his predecessors, proved incapable of defending the country from Western encroachment. That, as well as his fealty to a foreign power, led to his downfall in 1979. To gain insight into present-day Iran, it is important to recognize that the 1979 Islamic Revolution and radicalization that followed is also rooted in the legacy of Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh, and in the memory of the American CIA-backed coup that overthrew his democratic government in 1953. It can also be traced to the oppressive 26-year reign of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (1941-1979), who subcontracted Iranian interests to the United States. Understanding Mossadegh’s actions, ideals and meaning to generations of Iranians is essential in apprehending how the 1953 coup set Iran on a path that culminated in the 1979 Revolution and the creation of the staunch anti-imperialism of the Islamic Republic. Mossadegh, an ardent constitutionalist and democratic reformer, viewed oil nationalization as an economic necessity, but also as the ultimate declaration of independence to free Iran from decades of foreign colonial exploitation. His policy resonated deeply with a public eager for self-determination. Decades of British monopolization of Iran’s oil wealth was shattered in 1951, when Mosaddegh nationalized the oil industry. His fierce defense of Iran’s right to its own resources made him a target of Washington and London. Conversely, the Shah, yielding to American and British pressure, lent his support to their covert conspiracy. When the initial coup attempt failed, the fearful Shah fled the country, returning to reclaim the throne only after a second, successful putsch—code name “Operation Ajax”—toppled Mossadegh. The resurrected Shah, aligned once again with the West, oversaw the surrender of Iran’s oil autonomy, signing an agreement in 1954 that transferred significant extraction and development rights to a consortium of Western multinational corporations. Following in the footsteps of his disgraced father, the eldest son of the fallen Shah, Reza Pahlavi—who recently proclaimed himself “Reza Shah II”—made a pilgrimage to Israel in 2023 to appease his Zionist backers—a visit arranged by the Israeli regime. Once there, he shamelessly prostrated himself before the Western Wall in Jerusalem and sipped tea with genocider, Benjamin Netanyahu; the war criminal who would later bomb the land of his birth and kill 3,468 of the people Pahlavi claims to speak for. By bowing before the Western Wall, the wannabe king performed an act of submission to Israel and the United States. This gesture echoed the deeply internalized colonized mindset and belief in Western superiority that defined his father’s rule and era. Under monarchical rule, Iran’s autonomy was routinely compromised by foreign powers. Claiming true independence required a radical decisive severance to purge the nation from external control; but also to free it from its deeply entrenched pro-Western subservient mindset. Although kings and dynasties have risen and fallen throughout history, the ancient concept of Iranzamin has consistently prevailed, ultimately serving as an ideological foundation for the modern Islamic government of Iran. The political-religious framework of the Islamic Republic has institutionalized a distinct ideology of resistance. Iran’s defensive strength relies on this foundational ideology, that has framed enmity toward global arrogance and national survival into an existential religious imperative. This strategic theo-political integration has provided the resilience needed to survive foreign hostilities, maintain self-reliance, and repel the combined aggression of the U.S. and its Zionist proxy. For Iran, the coordinated U.S.-Israel bombing campaign (Operation Epic Fury), is a national trauma that will never be forgotten. Its sheer magnitude—measured in thousands of casualties, widespread infrastructural damage, and the assassination of a sovereign head of state—surpassed the tragedy of 9-11 many times over in destruction and lasting political fallout. For the Islamic Republic, the war was a watershed moment, testing its ability to fulfill the Iranzaminmandate to safeguard national security, repel external threats and preserve territorial integrity. Despite severe degradation to its conventional military and leadership, Tehran achieved major diplomatic concessions through its strategic use of the Strait of Hormuz blockade. The U.S. military intervention against Iran, initiated to achieve “regime” change and break apart the Iranian nation, on behalf of Israel, backfired. Rather than collapsing the government, Washington has been forced to capitulate and make significant concessions to Tehran, including an end to the U.S. naval blockade of the strait, sanctions relief, release of billions of dollars of frozen Iranian assets, and pledges for economic reconstruction. In addition, while struggling for the past 47 years to protect its own sovereignty, the Islamic Republic has not faltered in its commitment to the Palestinian cause, continuously championing their right to self-determination and statehood. For them, the liberation of Palestine and their own resistance against Western domination are inseparable. Tehran and its allies understand that Palestine symbolizes liberation and autonomy for the entire region. Breaking the spirit of Palestine—the long-standing aim of Israel and the U.S.—would remove the major obstacle to their ambitions to establish hegemony across West Asia. Having faced brutal military offensives, Iran has an existential obligation and absolute right to maintain a robust modernized defense to deter further destruction and to protect its citizens against U.S and Israeli aggression. The war has demonstrated the Islamic Republic’s capacity to adapt strategy to confront and resist overwhelming military force and reassert its position as a regional power. Iran has sent a forceful message to the bullies: the era of strong-arming, coercion and intimidation is over. The post The Defiant Republic: The Ideological Imperative of a Strong Iran appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by M. Reza Behnam.
“Reading Dangerous, Dirty, Violent, and Young, what struck me most was what utter pussies we all were.” – Emmett Rensin in the LA Review of Books Around the start of the millennium, I visited Mark Rudd, who was living i [ . . . ] The post I Am Not a “Pussy” and Never Was appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
A Vietnam War veteran throwing his medal at the US Capitol. Source: Vietnam Veterans Against the War. Public Domain. “Reading Dangerous, Dirty, Violent, and Young, what struck me most was what utter pussies we all were.” – Emmett Rensin in the LA Review of Books Around the start of the millennium, I visited Mark Rudd, who was living in New Mexico with his wife, Marla, and organizing workers into a union. He was also finishing his autobiography, which he was calling “Che and Me,” a cheeky title for sure that would be changed to Underground: My Life with SDS and the Weathermen. For most of the 1970s, Mark was a fugitive, though not a member of the Weather Underground. Racked by a sense of guilt when three of his comrades – Teddy Gold, Diana Oughton and Terry Robbins— blew themselves up, he distanced himself from the Weather Underground’s “central committee” that included Bernardine Dohrn, Jeff Jones and Bill Ayers. He survived mostly as a solitary operative, though he had his own support network that helped to keep him safe. In much of the world, his fans and followers thought of him as a principal figure in the annals of the Weather Underground. Mark showed me dozens of emails on his computer that lauded him for his work with Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohn, who he insisted would soon be forgotten figures on the left. That’s what he wanted. That didn’t happen. As it turns out, Dohrn and Ayers are almost as well known now as they were in 1969 when they went on a rampage in the streets of Chicago, trashing windows and cars in an action that Yippie Abbie Hoffman dubbed “the Days of Rage.”Abbie wasn’t a Weatherman, but he definitely liked the idea of rage in the streets and wanted to be inducted into the organization. He never was. Didn’t have the necessary skills to be a successful fugitive. Bernardine and Bill are well known now because they’re still alive, still loyal to their comrades and still endorsing revolutionary anti-imperialism, as good a cause as any for white kids at war with racist cops. They are also well-known because of the movie, One Battle After Another, and because of a new book by their elder son Zayd – named after a member of the Black Panther Party – which has been widely reviewed in the New York Times, the LA Review of Books and elsewhere including CounterPunch. Zayd is a nimble writer who has “negative capability,” which the poet John Keats defined as the ability to hold contradictory ideas in one’s head without seeking a resolution. Zayd approves and disapproves of the actions of his parents. He loves them and at the same time thinks that they were insane to do what they did – plant bombs in buildings like the US Capitol and the Headquarters of ITT. Zayd’s book is an important document necessary for an analysis and an understanding of the long 1960s, the era that began in 1955, with the Montgomery, Alabama bus boycott, and that ended twenty years later in 1975 when the Vietnam War came to a conclusion. In most of the reviews I’ve read, the reviewers state their credentials as former members of the New Left, the antiwar movement and SDS. For the most part, they still have resentments and carry grudges against Weatherman and the Weather Underground and blame Bill and Bernardine and their comrades for destroying SDS. I prefer Hunter S. Thompson’s view that internal contradictions were what destroyed SDS. Radicals dedicated to organizing the white working class could not coexist with those who idealized the Black Liberation movement and the hippie/ freaks in Yippie and the Youth International Party – and vice-versa. The review to which I most strongly object was published in the LA Review of Books. The author Emmett Rensin writes that “what utter pussies we all were.” I took that comment personally. Excuse me, but I don’t care for the word “pussies “which can mean “vagina,” the female sexual organ, or a man who is cowardly and thus by inference like a woman. Didn’t words like pussy and pussies go out of style along with cunt and bitch? I thought so. Looking back at the Sixties and Seventies, I don’t think that I was a “pussy” or that my comrades were somehow or other cowardly. We marched, protested, burned draft cards, sat in and sat down, stood up for human rights and civil liberties, firebombed ROTC offices, battled cops and went to jail, refused military service, fled to Canada and elsewhere, made bombs with sticks of dynamite and blew shit up, created chaos where chaos was necessary, confronted patriarchy and patriarchal institutions, wrote for and published underground newspaper, joined and endorsed gay liberation, and defied violence from Klans men and their kin. I regret not doing more, but I did all I thought I could do. I was arrested, beaten and tortured, lost my job and was blacklisted. I don’t feel guilty about what I did or didn’t do, but I regret having harbored resentments toward former and current comrades for something they did and said decades ago. When Zayd read from Dangerous, Dirty, Violent, and Young: A Fugitive Family in the Revolutionary Underground at Booksmith in San Francisco, I told him I wanted to let go of my resentments. If readers take anything away from his book, it ought to be that they not continue to fight ancient ideological battles and rather make peace with themselves and forgive themselves and those who once offended them or crossed them. When I was with the Weather Underground in the 1970s, I wasn’t sure if what I was doing was the right thing or if I was making a grievous error. I shared my doubts with Doris Lessing and Clancy Sigal, both of them former Communist Party members and neither of them especially sympathetic to the New Left or the counterculture and both of them foes of terrorism. But they both admired the members of the Weather Underground and argued that they had written a new and singularly important chapter in the history of the American left. Keep their comments in mind please and remember, too, that in 1970 when I asked Jean Genet about Weatherman he said in French, “The US has very big bombs. The Weathermen have very small ones.” After all these years, a sense of proportion still matters. The post I Am Not a “Pussy” and Never Was appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Jonah Raskin.
Trump’s Illegal Iran War Makes Nuclear Proliferation and a Nuclear Iran More Likely
Amid all the verbiage, pixels and printers’ ink being expended over whether President Trump achieved anything by launching his illegal war (along with Israel) on Iran, misses the worst impact, and that is the lesson that it has taught, not just to Iran, but to all the nations of the world that find themselves being More The post Trump’s Illegal Iran War Makes Nuclear Proliferation and a Nuclear Iran More Likely appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Amid all the verbiage, pixels and printers’ ink being expended over whether President Trump achieved anything by launching his illegal war (along with Israel) on Iran, misses the worst impact, and that is the lesson that it has taught, not just to Iran, but to all the nations of the world that find themselves being bullied by the US. That lesson is that in a world of nuclear bullies, any country that does not have a nuclear weapon is at the mercy that of those countries that do have such weapons. In such a world, the only choice then is between abject subjugation or acquisition a nuclear weapon. Does anyone think that if Iran possessed even a small number of nuclear weapons, the US, or even Israel with its 400 nukes, would have launched this latest war? Look how warily North Korea, one of the world’s poorest countries, is handled, even by the US government when Pyongyang engages in such provocative actions as test-firing a nuclear capable ICBM rocket over Japan or in the direction of Hawaii!! Nothing, Then look at China, with its large and growing stockpile of sophisticated nuclear bombs and equally sophisticated delivery systems. Notice how confidently China’s paramount leader Xi Jinping warned his guest, the visiting PresIdent Trump, of “potential clashes and even conflicts” if the issue of Taiwan, which China considers to be a “renegade island province,” is not “handled properly” by the US. Announced plans to provideTaiwan with advanced weapons have been quietly dropped by the usually blustery American president. Make no mistake: The lesson Iran’s leaders have learned from Trump’s war is that they must have an up-to-date credible nuclear force to prevent disaster. In other words, the Memorandum of Understanding Trump is touting as his “victory” does not, as he claims, mean Iran will “never have” a nuclear weapon. Iran has the technical knowledge and skill to make one, and, with the control they have demonstrated over passage of ships through the Hormuz Strait and their insistence that they will be charging fees for transit, even if their centrifuge arrays for producing bomb grade U-235 have been destroyed they will soon have little difficulty buying the U-235 or Plutonium they need to construct a stockpile of nukes even if they ultimately agree, in order to end the US war on their country, to reduce the enrichment of any stocks of that fissionable isotope they still have from 60% to 3.6% and promise not seek a nuke. Meanwhile,, Trump and Netanyahu keep hammering home to Iran the imperative of getting the bomb. I’m sure the governments of other countries that have been bullied by the US have also been watching the way Trump has been bullying Venezuela, Brazil and Cuba (and even Mexico), so don’t be surprised if countries like Japan, Brazil, Indonesia, or for that matter perhaps even Canada (which for a time during the World War II era’s joint US/British race to develop an atomic bomb before Nazi Germany, was itself an integral part of the project), decide to go nuclear. If people in the.US my age who lived through the 1950s and ‘60s Cold War with only two rival countries having nuclear weapons was nerve-wracking (and it was!), things are going to become a whole lot more fraught when the number of nations with nuclear weapons could easily double. Nuclear weapons were first developed by the US during a global war. The cost of developing them was staggering, with the Manhattan Project alone running to $2 billion (the equivalent of $30 billion in today’s dollars— and remember the budgeting of all that money, and the hiring of 130,000 people all in secret, happened while the US was fighting a two-front war in Europe and Asia. It was the kind of crash program that at the time only the US, with its vast industrial base undated by war, could manage. Even the Soviet Union, which did successfully test its own plutonium bomb four years after the US (a carbon copy of the US bomb used on Nagasaki), only managed that feat thanks to the work of spies in the Manhattan Project like Ted Hall and Klaus Fuchs. With its industry and finances shattered by the German invasion, the USSR could not have developed a nuclear bomb in that short a time without the benefit of all the information they got from those two was well as other spies working in the US, Britain (and even in Canada). Today however, nuclear weapons, relatively speaking, are mass-produced and are not anywhere near that costly. In fact, in 2024 The Harvard International Review published an article saying there are enough nuclear warheads and bombs sitting around in countries like Turkey (on a US foreign air base), Pakistan, North Korea and and Urenco Global in the Netherlands, a private company that makes the components and the fission material for both nuclear and thermonuclear bombs—all potential targets for black market purchases or thefts. All it would take would be disgruntled or hard-up employe looking to make a killing, or some rogue national entity with the resources and trained personnel, to buy or purloin a nuke. With the US no longer trusted in much of the world, some countries may well start thinking that joining the club of nuclear nations might be a smart move. Even in the US the theft of just a small nuke arsenal could succeed. I wrote an article in the October 2007 issue of The American Conservative magazine about how earlier that year a B-52 based at Barksdale AFB in Minot, North Dakota had somehow picked up six heavily-guarded long-range cruise missiles, all armed with nucler warheads, loaded them onto an under-wing mount, and flew them illegally across the US to Shreveport AFB in Louisiana, parking the SAC bomber at a remote part of the base. The illegal and allegedly unauthorized transport of those weapons. They were discovered by a stunned ground crew that went out to service the plane, when one of the team dutifully peeked in the little window on the warhead of one missile and saw a red color, meaning that the mounted missile was armed with a large nuclear bomb along with the other five wing-mounted missiles. He alerted the base commander, which clearly aborted whatever scheme may have been in play. How and why those six armed missiles were allowed to be removed successfully from a guarded bunker and were permitted to be mounted on A B-52 and then flown off from the Minot SAC base has never been explained, though several top Air Force Generals were sacked over the incident, accused of dereliction of duty. As I wrote, there were however also at least two allegedly “accidental” motorcycle deaths involving a member of that B-52 crew and of the Shreveport ground crew and also an alleged handgun “suicide” of the Marine who was guarding the bunker from which the six armed cruise missiles were removed. Three suspiciously timed deaths of three men, each of whom was a witness at a key point in the removal of the six cruise missiles and their warheads from the supposedly secure bunker should certainly have triggered an urgent national security alert and criminal investigation, but no such alert or investigation was apparently ever ordered, much less conducted. (I contacted the West Virginia medical examiner who certified the Marine guard’s death during a visit home shortly after the incident as a suicide. He told me no one from the federal government had contacted him. He also volunteered, without my asking, upon hearing from me that there had been two other deaths of persons involved in the unauthorized removal of the nuclear-tipped missiles from an Air Force storage bunker, that “If I’d had that information, I would have conducted my inquest quite differently and might have come to a different conclusion from suicide by handgun.”) Even if this was not a botched and then covered-up attempt to steal some nukes, perhaps as part of a CIA attempt to stage a black flag operation, this incident shows how easy such a heist could be to pull off. Clearly there urgently needs to be public pressure on the governments of the nuclear nations — and especially the US, the nation possessing the most advanced arsenal of bombs and delivery systems — to negotiate treaties designed to shrink the number of and eventually eliminate all nuclear weapons, and to comply with all existing international laws outlawing threats of war or of military attacks of any kind except in cases of genuine imminent threat or with UN Security Council approval. President Trump has impulsively pulled the US out of a few such treaties and has brazenly ignored crucial international laws, making wars of choice like his Iran war, his invasion of Venezuela, and his threat to invade Cuba—all war crimes of the highest order. President Obama too, skated close to or went over the line with his 10-year trillion-dollar program to “check out and replace or upgrade” the nation’s nuclear bomb and warhead stockpile. It was a project continued by Trump which was and remains intended to make the weapons in that huge stockpile “more useable” by rendering therm adjustable in their explosive force. In some cases this can mean a detonation can be as small as few kilotons to as large as 300 kilotons (in other words as small as one twentieth the size of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima to 15 times as powerful as that first atomic bomb to be used in war). Obviously, at the lower end such weapon could serve as a battlefield weapon, a bunker buster, ax government “decapitator,” or perhaps, if detonated in an air burst with its resulting electromagnetic pulse, as a localized communications disabler. Once a nuclear nation starts down that road in a military conflict, especially against another nuclear nation, the probability of escalation is enormous. Even if such low-power atomic bombs were used against a non-nuclear nation, the unwritten 8-decade taboo on nuclear weapons use will have been broken. Further use, including of vastly more destructive weapons, would be the predictable result. The American public must put an end to such recklessness and madness by our out-of-control government before that can happen. The post Trump’s Illegal Iran War Makes Nuclear Proliferation and a Nuclear Iran More Likely appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Dave Lindorff.
Florida’s Prison System Is Quietly Trying to Censor the Truth
I know crime statutes and dates can be boring and hard to read. Please bear with me for a minute. These laws are written a certain way for a reason. Staying in the dark about them is part of how this system keeps swallowing people, families, and whole communities, regardless of the harm it causes. More The post Florida’s Prison System Is Quietly Trying to Censor the Truth appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
I know crime statutes and dates can be boring and hard to read. Please bear with me for a minute. These laws are written a certain way for a reason. Staying in the dark about them is part of how this system keeps swallowing people, families, and whole communities, regardless of the harm it causes. This article isn’t just statutes and dates; it’s about what those choices do to real people. Rehabilitation is supposed to be the goal of Florida’s justice system, of every justice system. But Florida’s own laws say something different. Florida’s sentencing statute, section 921.002, states that the primary purpose of sentencing is to punish the offender, and that rehabilitation is only a “desired goal” secondary to punishment. Florida abolished parole for most offenses starting in the 1980s. For crimes committed after October 1, 1983, parole is basically gone, and by the mid‑1990s it was fully abolished for almost all new cases. People sentenced after that aren’t waiting on a parole board to see if they’ve changed. They’re serving fixed time. The law forces most of them to serve at least eighty-five percent of their sentence. Limited gain time is the only thing that can touch the rest, shaving down the years above that floor but never below it. Lawmakers have talked about lowering that floor and putting rehabilitation back into the language of sentencing, but bills to drop it to seventy two percent have died. People already sentenced under the old rules must still live under those rules. Punishment is still the baseline, and any talk of rehabilitation mostly affects the guidelines for new sentences. I’m glad people are finally pushing Florida to talk about rehabilitation and to think about changing the eighty five percent rule. That’s more than they used to do. But the men and women already trapped under the old statutes still must live inside them. The structure they built around punishment first and no real parole hasn’t gone away for us. In the 1980s and 1990s, Florida pushed hard into tough on crime politics. Lawmakers killed most real parole, stacked on minimum mandatory sentences, and built a Criminal Punishment Code that centers punishment and incapacitation. Those minimum mandatories tie judges’ hands. In 2010, the judge in my case told me he didn’t want to sentence me to ten years, but his hands were tied. The sentence was already written into the statute. The system’s true goal is punishment, not rehabilitation, and that isn’t just how it feels inside. It’s written into the law. Most states don’t do it this way. In other parts of the country, people still have a meaningful chance at parole. They can go in front of a board, show the work they’ve done, the programs they’ve completed, the ways they’ve changed, and sometimes come home early because someone believes rehabilitation is real. In Florida, for most of us, that door is welded shut. What other states call parole is not a real option in Florida DOC now. You can work, you can study, you can try to become a better man or woman, but the structure you’re stuck in was built to hold you, not to help you heal. On paper, they call it the criminal justice system, like it’s just a set of laws and offices “operating” the way they’re supposed to. Inside, it doesn’t feel like a system that’s running well. It feels like a machine that keeps grinding on and on, no matter how much damage it does. Florida also has a law that lets the state put a lien on any money tied to a literary or cinematic account of a crime: section 944.512, the state’s claim on proceeds from crime stories. Florida’s version of this law didn’t come out of nowhere. In the 1970s, states started passing “Son of Sam” laws after serial killers like David Berkowitz tried to sell their stories to publishers, and Florida followed in 1977 with section 944.512. Later, the state used this structure in high‑profile cases like the Gainesville murders tied to Danny Rolling, going after money from his artwork and a book and sending it to victims’ families and victim funds. That’s what they say this law is for: stopping people who turned their crimes into horror from cashing in. I’m not doing that. I’m not trying to sell murderabilia or glorify harm. I’m trying to tell the truth about what this system did to me and to the people around me, and what it’s still doing now. When I walked into my probation office to ask for a travel permit so I could ride horses on the beach with my fiancée in the Outer Banks, it felt like a small, ordinary thing. I’d worked for years to build a life that meant something. I lectured on prison reform and criminology, taught trauma‑informed yoga, edited my memoir COUNT TIME, read excerpts at the St. Augustine library, and spoke with students at Flagler College, St. Mary’s College of Maryland and other schools. I was finally starting to feel like a writer, a teacher, a partner, a dog‑dad, not just a DOC number, V19743. Instead of a simple permission slip (travel permit), the probation officer slid a new form across the desk and told me I had to sign it. At the top it said, “Acknowledgement of Understanding of Responsibilities for Notification of Involvement in Crime Accounts.” The language underneath said that all felons in Florida are prohibited from receiving any financial benefit from any literary or cinematic account of their crimes, and that I was required to notify the Department if I had, have or anticipate having such involvement. I stared at those words with COUNT TIME complete and now seeking representation. I’m querying agents and looking for the right one. I’ve already had two full manuscript requests, and my essays about prison and mental health are starting to find homes in places like CounterPunch. COUNT TIME began as a 250,000‑word monster, then 154,000, and after years of trimming it now sits at 79,799 words, ready for more queries and the right agent. That feeling didn’t come out of nowhere. My first job in DOC was wrapping bodies and taking the dead to the morgue. I must’ve done that over a hundred times. You learn to slide the sheet, tape it tight, push the gurney, and try not to look at the face too long. You tell yourself it’s just work, that death is part of the routine. It’s easier than admitting what it really is: a system chewing people up. It’s also a factory for profit. Sweat equity, mass incarceration, bodies turned into labor. A modern kind of slavery and human trafficking packaged as “corrections.” Underneath it all is a racist, discriminatory system that loves Jim Crow tactics and operates on a massive scale, swallowing lives and silencing and enslaving entire communities. That isn’t even the tip of the iceberg. The horror goes so deep you’d have to read all my articles and do your own research to get even a glimmer of it. What you’d find is architecture, a deliberate design meant to keep the truth quiet, whether through paperwork, the legal system, or fear. Later, in confinement, I remember hearing guys kill themselves. I’d be trying to write letters home, telling my family I was okay, and I’d hear feet bouncing off the wall. Then the scramble of officers, the door, the body wheeled out. Another time, a man climbed up on the bathroom sink and wall, tied a rope of bedsheets to a pipe above, and jumped. I remember grabbing him, lifting him with everything I had, feeling the full weight of his body in my arms and knowing that if I let go, he was gone. Signing that paper in the probation office felt like that weight too. This time the life I was trying to save was my own. Years earlier, at Lake Butler Reception and Medical Center, I watched officers spray a man with a chemical agent they jokingly called “Black Jesus.” They said that when they sprayed a Black inmate the gas made him holler for Jesus and they enjoyed it. After spraying him, they jumped on his swollen black head while he screamed. His “crime” was that his parents had called the prison to say they were worried about him after an officer threatened him. The day before, around four hundred of us had said we wanted to do a peaceful sit‑down, refusing to lock down during count time because we were tired of the beatings, the terror, the random deaths. When it actually happened, only about twenty‑five of us stayed the course. Watching that man get sprayed and stomped in front of everyone was the lesson. This is what happens when attention comes your way inside Florida DOC. Inside that world, brutality is routine, just another day. I learned not to tell my family what I saw. They were already worried and there was nothing they could do. I learned not to let myself think about it, because if I felt it too much, I might not make it through the day. Violence started to feel normal. Silence started to feel safe. Years later, in confinement at Suwannee Correctional Institution, I watched another man get murdered after officers beat and sprayed him. I was there on a minor disturbance charge (first, they called it a riot), part of that twenty‑five‑man group that had stood up to the administration at Lake Butler. From the cell I could hear the chains, the shouts, the hiss of Black Jesus, bodies hitting the floor, and “stop resisting” shouted over and over. Then the quiet. That story haunted me before I could even begin to write it. Staying silent has become normal, but once you come home, silence turns into something else. It starts to chip away at your mind at the worst possible times. On probation, I’d already gone through a confusing voter‑fraud case after Amendment 4. I was arrested despite acting in good faith. All the memories of my ten‑year sentence came flooding back. I’d built and remodeled the home where my fiancée, our dog Bear and I live. I was finally starting to breathe again. Being arrested and charged again made me feel like my life could be snatched away at any moment. So, when, after all that, I sat in that office and saw this new crime‑accounts form, the timing felt targeted. My old trauma lit up. It felt like DOC was placing a target on me again, just in a quieter way. That’s the mindset I brought home from Florida’s prisons. Violence feels normal. Silence feels safe. So when I’m told to sign a paper that says I can never profit from any literary or cinematic account of my crimes, it feels like the same system that once relied on beatings, chemical agents and terror is now using paperwork to keep my voice in check. Seeing that paper took the air out of the room. It felt like breathing Black Jesus again, the gas we grew used to inside, the one that made men scream for God. Everyone who enters Florida’s prison system is forced to sign a version of this crime‑accounts form at reception. When I first signed it, I didn’t have any designs to write a book; I thought it was just another way to keep me from sharing what was happening inside the prison walls, from writing home about the abuse I witnessed and what officers did. I had no idea it would follow me for the rest of my life. When I hesitated, when I tried to protect my right to tell my own story, I was threatened with spending my whole sentence in isolated confinement, with the very real possibility of being beaten. That’s the coercion that starts the moment you walk through the gate. By the time you get out, you’ve been taught that speaking honestly about what you’ve seen is dangerous, and then I’m handed a legal document that makes that threat feel real all over again, reminding me that the punishment for telling the truth might never really be over. You don’t have to be behind bars to live in a prison. Many of us carry one in our own minds. Trauma, shame and fear become chains that hold you even when the physical gates open. Writing and speaking honestly about past harm is one way I’ve tried to break those chains. That’s what COUNT TIME is about. That’s why I lecture, why I teach yoga, why I publish essays about prison and mental health. I’m trying to live as a better man and help others do the same. I’ll be honest. Part of me felt petty even sharing this. I don’t know everything that’s going on behind closed doors in Tallahassee or DOC headquarters. All I really know is what it feels like when that paper is slid across the desk after ten years inside and years of trying to live right on the outside. It felt terrible. I didn’t want this to sound like “woe is me.” But in the end, every word of this is true, and that’s what I can stand on. Truth‑telling is what I’m about. It’s what COUNT TIME is about. Naming what happened, how it felt and what it’s still doing to my mind is my way of taking count of my own life and of a system that prefers us to stay quiet. I wasn’t even planning to write about this form. I wanted to move on, keep teaching, keep telling stories, keep living my life. Then something in me wouldn’t let it go. A voice inside kept saying I had to name it, that I had to put it down in words instead of letting it claw at me, suffering in silence. My brain was a flood of emotions staring at that damn paper: ten years inside, all the bodies I’d moved, the beatings, Black Jesus, my memoir COUNT TIME that I worked tirelessly on, my writing. And my family, the people who believe in me, my fiancée, our dog, our home. That form pulled every one of those memories of trauma and all my new hopes back into the room. In 2010, I told the judge I’d be the rose that grows from concrete. I’m still trying my best to live up to those fucking words, even when the state tries to censor my voice or tell me I’m not allowed to profit from my own life. I’ve signed their form, and I’m choosing not to let it define me. I’m choosing to keep telling stories from my life, from inside Florida’s prisons and from the years of healing afterward, so people can see what this system does and what it takes to keep living anyway. My goal is to keep this space somewhere you can read the truth about what my time on this earth has been like and how I’m still learning to live with it. Florida’s prison system has spent years teaching people like me that the safest thing to do is say nothing. I’m writing this because I refuse to go back to that silence, no matter if the chains are made of steel, iron, other metals, or paper. The post Florida’s Prison System Is Quietly Trying to Censor the Truth appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Emmett Tatter.
The recent presidential election in Colombia highlighted a striking political paradox. New data from the country’s national statistics agency shows that the national poverty rate fell to 28% in 2025, the lowest level ever recorded. Nearly 1.8 million Colombians moved out of poverty in a single year, while extreme poverty and income inequality also declined. More The post The Paradox of Progressive Success appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Image by Depositphotos / Hernancho The recent presidential election in Colombia highlighted a striking political paradox. New data from the country’s national statistics agency shows that the national poverty rate fell to 28% in 2025, the lowest level ever recorded. Nearly 1.8 million Colombians moved out of poverty in a single year, while extreme poverty and income inequality also declined. The figures represent a significant social achievement and continue a multi-year trend of improving living standards. Yet, despite this advance, Colombians elected right-wing lawyer and businessman Abelardo De La Espriella, whose nationalist and law-and-order platform marks a sharp contrast with the policies of outgoing President Gustavo Petro. The outcome suggests that even significant social and economic progress does not necessarily translate into electoral support for the government that helped produce it. Nor is Colombia unique. Across the region, electoral cycles have repeatedly shown that social progress does not necessarily produce lasting political loyalty. Similar patterns can be seen in Argentina, Chile, Ecuador, and elsewhere in South America, where periods of progressive governance have often been followed by the election of more conservative leaders or governments with markedly different priorities. Former Ecuadorian president Rafael Correa offered one explanation for this phenomenon. He argued that when people escape poverty and enter the middle class, many become primarily concerned with preserving their newly acquired status. As a result, they may become less supportive of policies aimed at extending similar benefits to others. Whether or not one accepts this interpretation, it highlights an important political challenge: the very success of progressive social policies may alter the interests, expectations, and priorities of the people they benefit, making long-term political continuity more difficult to sustain. There is, however, one notable exception: Mexico. Mexico presents an important counterexample. The presidency of Andrés Manuel López Obrador was followed by the election of Claudia Sheinbaum, who belongs to the same political movement and has pledged to continue much of the same agenda. Rather than producing a backlash, the governing project maintained broad popular support through a successful leadership transition. Why was Mexico different? Part of the answer may lie not only in policy outcomes but also in political identity. While many progressive governments in South America have defined themselves primarily through ideological labels such as socialism or the left, Mexico’s governing movement increasingly describes itself through the concept of Mexican Humanism. Although its policies share many objectives with progressive governments elsewhere, the language is notably different. Mexican Humanism emphasizes dignity, community, solidarity, and national culture rather than ideological affiliation. This distinction may matter. Political projects framed primarily in ideological terms can reinforce divisions between supporters and opponents. Projects rooted in shared cultural and ethical values may be better positioned to build identification across traditional political boundaries. From this perspective, Mexico’s continuity may reflect not only the material results achieved by the government, but also the broader narrative through which those results were understood. The Colombian election therefore raises a broader question for Latin America. If poverty reduction, lower inequality, and improved social indicators are not enough to guarantee political continuity, what is missing? Is the decisive factor economic performance, security, media influence, political organization or something deeper within a nation’s culture? Mexico suggests that political durability may depend on more than effective governance alone. It may also require a shared sense of identity and purpose that transcends conventional ideological categories. The most interesting question may not be why some countries move from the left to the right, but why Mexico has not. This piece first appeared on Pressenza. The post The Paradox of Progressive Success appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by David Andersson.
The First Emancipation: The Forgotten Story of Abolition in Revolutionary France
On Aug. 21, 1789, just a month after the storming of the Bastille that launched the French Revolution, France’s new governing body, the National Assembly, approved the first article of its historic Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen. The French document proclaimed that “Men are born and remain free and equal in rights,” More The post The First Emancipation: The Forgotten Story of Abolition in Revolutionary France appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Portrait of Jean-Baptiste Belley, a native of Senegal and former enslaved person who during the period of the French Revolution became a member of the National Convention. by Anne-Louis Girodet De Roucy-Trioson. Public Domain. On Aug. 21, 1789, just a month after the storming of the Bastille that launched the French Revolution, France’s new governing body, the National Assembly, approved the first article of its historic Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen. The French document proclaimed that “Men are born and remain free and equal in rights,” echoing the most famous line of the American Declaration of Independence that marks its 250th anniversary on July 4, 2026. Yet while the American revolutionaries famously stated that all men were entitled to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” they avoided any reference to the fact that nearly a fifth of the population of what was to become the United States were enslaved Black people. In revolutionary France, however, Count Mirabeau, the most prominent member of the National Assembly, immediately wrote in his newspaper that if the words of the French declaration were to have any meaning, then there could not be, “either in France, or in any other territory under France’s laws, any men except free men, except men equal to one another.” As a longtime expert on French history, I believe the role of revolutionary France in confronting slavery has long been overshadowed by subsequent trans-Atlantic movements for abolitionism. But as I show in my new book, “The First Emancipation,” it is in France where a national government first outlawed slavery – and indeed made steps toward racial equality. What is also striking about this period beyond the remarkably swift achievements for Black people living under French rule, however, is the fragility of the nature of progress. Within a decade, Napoleon would reimpose slavery in French colonies – and shut the door on abolitionism for several decades. Revolutionary impulses – but for whom? Mirabeau’s words in support of universal equality were addressed to the plantation owners in France’s overseas colonies who had fought vigorously to be allowed to have deputies in the National Assembly. In 1789 there were more enslaved people in those colonies – some 800,000 – than in the 13 American states. These colonies included present-day Haiti and the now overseas French departments of Guadeloupe, Martinique and Réunion. The crops of sugar, coffee and indigo raised on colonial plantations were a vital part of France’s economy. From France’s port cities, dozens of ships sailed for Africa every year, where merchants purchased human captives to be sold in the colonies. As in the United States, many people in revolutionary France claimed rights for themselves while finding reasons to deny them to the Black people from whose enslavement they profited. In the U.S., it would take almost a century before the promise embedded in the Declaration of Independence in 1776 was finally translated into reality with the passage of the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery at the end of the Civil War. In revolutionary France, however, change came more quickly. The National Assembly, it is true, ignored the force of Mirabeau’s logic and voted, in May 1791, to make it a constitutional principle that no changes would be made to what it delicately called “the status of persons” in the colonies without the explicit approval of the white plantation owners. Just a few weeks after the National Assembly ended its session in October 1791, the deputies to France’s second revolutionary legislature learned that the Black population of Haiti, the country’s most important colony and then called Saint-Domingue, had risen up in revolt. The French government’s reaction was to send troops to put down what quickly became the largest slave uprising in history. But when those French military units were ordered to replace their flags, which bore the motto “Live Free or Die,” with banners inscribed with the words “The Nation, the Law, and the King,” the contradiction between revolutionary principles and the reality of slavery became painfully obvious. The beginning of the end for French slavery It would take another two years before the revolutionary officials sent to Saint-Domingue to combat the slave insurrection – two men, named Léger-Félicité Sonthonax and Etienne Polverel – concluded that they had to grant freedom to the colony’s Black population or else see it taken over by France’s enemies, Spain and Britain. When news of what Sonthonax and Polverel had done reached Paris at the beginning of 1794, France’s third revolutionary legislature, the National Convention, finally did what Mirabeau had urged their predecessors to do in 1789: It decreed the abolition of slavery in all the French colonies. The abolition decree passed on Feb. 4, 1794, was the most radical emancipation law in the entire history of the struggle against slavery. Not only were slaves freed, with no compensation to their owners, but they were immediately granted all the rights of French citizens. To underline its determination to do away with racial inequality, the convention seated two men of African descent as full voting members, entitled to share in making laws for the French nation. At a grand celebration in Notre-Dame Cathedral, a Black resident of Paris, Marie-Thérése Lucidor Corbin, sang a “Hymn of the Citizens of Color” to the tune of “La Marseillaise.” For the next five years the revolutionary French republic formed something the world had never seen: a trans-Atlantic republic officially committed to ensuring equal rights for men of all races. Women were still denied the right to vote, but progressive laws passed during the revolution gave them equal rights within the family and the option of divorce. Racial laws in the U.S. would not catch up to those passed in revolutionary France until after the Civil War. Undoing abolition Tragically, France’s revolutionary experiment with abolition proved short-lived. When Napoleon took power in November 1799, he eliminated the Declaration of Rights from the French national constitution. In spite of the 1794 abolition law, slavery had survived in the French colony of Martinique, which was under British military occupation, and in the remote French island colonies in the Indian Ocean. As part of his program to regain control of France’s overseas empire, Napoleon sent military expeditions to restore slavery in France’s other colonies. A bloody campaign forced the Black inhabitants of Guadeloupe back into slavery in 1802. In the larger colony of Saint-Domingue, however, the Black general Toussaint Louverture had prepared the population to defend the rights they had gained during the revolution. Napoleon’s troops captured Louverture, but they could not overcome the popular resistance they faced. After two years of violent struggle, Napoleon had to concede defeat. Saint-Domingue became the independent Black nation of Haiti in 1804. It was the second country in the Americas to free itself from imperial rule after the U.S. itself. When the French government that succeeded Napoleon grudgingly recognized Haitian independence in 1825, however, Haiti had to pay a heavy indemnity to the former colonial slaveholders, a burden that slowed the country’s economic development. The Black populations of France’s other colonies had to wait until 1848, when another revolution in Paris led to the passage of a second emancipation law – still 15 years in advance of Abraham Lincoln’s emancipation decree. Bringing to light the story of abolition in revolutionary France adds a new dimension to our understanding of one of history’s most dramatic events and provides many lessons relevant to our own day. Witnessing the revolutionaries’ painful efforts to implement the seemingly straightforward principles of their Declaration of Rights reminds us that the struggle for justice is never a simple one. Napoleon’s reversal of the French Revolution’s most radical action is a warning that advances in freedom can be undone. In the long run, however, the deputies who passed the French revolutionary abolition decree of 1794 succeeded in a key way. While injustice certainly still exists in the world, no one can still pretend that slavery can be reconciled with individual human rights. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. The post The First Emancipation: The Forgotten Story of Abolition in Revolutionary France appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Jeremy D. Popkin.
Making Us Conscious of the Things We Don’t See
In his 1962 essay titled “The Creative Dilemma,” James Baldwin wrote, “The role of the artist is exactly the same as the role of the lover. If I love you, I have to make you conscious of the things you don’t see.” Baldwin goes on to state that the role of the artist is to More The post Making Us Conscious of the Things We Don’t See appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
In his 1962 essay titled “The Creative Dilemma,” James Baldwin wrote, “The role of the artist is exactly the same as the role of the lover. If I love you, I have to make you conscious of the things you don’t see.” Baldwin goes on to state that the role of the artist is to reveal the deeper truths of the society they live and work in; a situation which ultimately means that the artist is always at war with that society. It may be what he calls “a lover’s war,” but it is a war nonetheless. The ideal result of this struggle between the artist and the society they live in is progress towards greater social justice. Of course, art cannot change society on its own, but it can change people who in turn can change society. Artist Susan Simensky Bietila has been moving people in just this way for over sixty years. After breaking free of the social restrictions and expectations of her parents and their culture in the early 1960s, Bietila joined the antiwar and anti-racist movements of the time, marching, organizing and creating art for political posters and the burgeoning underground newspaper movement, specifically the New York City paper The Subterranean Rat. By 1969, she was also already part of a growing feminist movement as a member of Women’s International Terrorist Conspiracy from Hell (W.I.T.C.H.) For those who don’t know (or don’t remember), The Rat had one of the larger circulations of an underground paper; it was political, countercultural and, like too many other New Left and counterculture organizations in the 1960s, almost as sexist as the mainstream culture. In early 1970, the women working for The Rat (mostly as typists, secretaries and other such jobs) took over the paper and changed its focus. Indeed, the lead editorial in the first issue following the takeover was a searing attack on the sexism of the counterculture and New Left written by Robin Morgan and titled “Enough of All That.” After leaving The Rat, Bietila hired on with the National Guardian, a leftist paper established in the 1940s that was shifting from an Old Left attitude to a more modern approach, incorporating the New Left and Black Liberation politics that dominated the expanding US Left. As part of this shift, the paper hired Bietila to do some graphics work in addition to her writing. Ultimately, as her newly released memoir Front Lines: A Lifetime of Drawing Resistance reveals, Bietila ended up working as part of the collective that produces the World War Three Illustrated comics series. She continues to do so in addition to organizing and creating art for political groups and manifestations. The memoir is filled with comics telling stories of protests against pipelines and mines, posters opposing the US wars, and collages for the front pages of newspapers she worked on. In between the graphics are brief textual explanations that place the artwork in both historical and personal context. The comic art is strikingly powerful and demands a response, hopefully one that addresses the grievance being described. The works represent current abuses of power and those from history. David Lester has drawn a number of what might be termed graphic histories. Three of them have involved working with historian Marcus Rediker and historian and comics editor Paul Buhle. These include the newly-published presentation of the rebellion by several dozen Mende people kidnapped by slavers enroute to the Americas on the ship known as the Amistad. Titled The Black Schooner: Rebellion on the Amistad, this attractively composed book re-tells the story of the rebellion, the arrests of the rebels and the trials that followed. In the retelling, the books composers return the focus back to those who rebelled, giving them the agency often denied in most tellings; an agency they of course deserve. For those reading this text who remember the Steven Spielberg film on the Amistad, they should easily recognize the difference between his rendering and that of the composers of The Black Schooner. As Buhle notes in his afterword, summing up the works of WEB DuBois and CLR James, “Black people had, contrary to previous histories and popular expectations, fought for their freedoms.” My stating this is not to diminish the role previous portrayals played in bringing the history of the fight against slavery in the United States to the public, but to emphasize that there is considerably more to the story. It was DuBois and James—two Black scholars—who first made this evident; it is Rediker, Lester and Buhle who have continued to carry this history forward, inspired by Black liberation groups in the US and around the world. Lester’s artwork is sharply inscribed, his black and white portraits of the rebels’ representative of their resolute and righteous struggle; the story is told from the viewpoint of a ten-year old girl named Magru who was among the kidnapped. It moves quickly from the rebellion (portrayed rather graphically by Lester) to the freedom fighters’ flight up the Atlantic coast and ultimately to the moment they are back in their homeland many, many months after their uprising unfolded. It’s a history told through art and from the perspective of the many, not the few; the oppressed, not the oppressor. Bertolt Brecht is supposed to have once said, “Art is not a mirror held up to reality, but a hammer with which to shape it.” Leon Trotsky wrote something similar in his 1924 text Literature and Revolution. The truth is that it doesn’t matter who said it and how or when, but that its sentiment is a revolutionary sentiment. The art discussed here and displayed in the two books discussed underline the truth and revolutionary essence of this sentiment. The post Making Us Conscious of the Things We Don’t See appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Ron Jacobs.
Remembering Artists From Another Time: Andy Warhol
Fictional Truths My period of making portraits appear in the rear view mirror like a collection of a rogues gallery and the inimitable. My camera has interacted with a lot of art, an army of artists, and art-world figure [ . . . ] The post Remembering Artists From Another Time: Andy Warhol appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Warhol in his studio. Photo: Richard Schulman. Fictional Truths My period of making portraits appear in the rear view mirror like a collection of a rogues gallery and the inimitable. My camera has interacted with a lot of art, an army of artists, and art-world figures. It is something that rests comfortably in the shadows of my archives. One evening, I huddled with cultural icons of another era: Senator Edward Kennedy, Jackie Kennedy Onassis, Andrew Wyeth and Andy Warhol. The Red Sea parted; the waltz of fame ensued, looking part Fantasia; part Charlton Heston’s The Ten Commandments. It was me being a Zelig for a few seconds. It was among a few days that I was tapestried in moments, not mine. History is home to many interpretations: I have an affinity for looking back into my history through a slew of negatives and positives. So many places and faces, I have spent years meandering silently aside the ancient and contemporary phenomena: The inside of my mind appears like bountiful holiday sparklers. In person, I may appear achingly shuffling, like a Mynah bird in heat on heroin and steroidal treats. Yet it is merely me making sense of time behind my camera. So many types of fame in view, so much posturing. I do not belong, in milieus not mine. My future with celluloid captures was only a vehicle to somewhere. Somewhere is a place where a dream is a reality. Time is truly a slice of evidence. I have traveled in ancient and contemporary architectural history: Turkey’s Basilica Cistern, Rome’s Aqua Virgo and Vicus Caprarius, Corbusier, Mies, Gehry and Oscar. I have composed apertures with a Kennedy, Miles, Warhol, Niemeyer, Hollywood’s Douglases, Astaires, and Kellys and other dream/reality milestones. The fame game became a stamp in time, but not my camera’s intention. The intention was to feel a bit the Earth’s rotation. It was great to be young and walking in history’s formidable footprints. There was a man who knew everything about Bernini. I have never known the meaning of being an expert. I did not know him, but envied him. I dreamed my camera might photograph the history of that knowledge. My camera would become an expert in all things seen. The man who knew everything about Bernini–knew the secrets–secret moments alone to caress the Berninis I merely imagined. There was a time when everyone knew of Bernini. There was a time when everyone knew of Andy Warhol. If Bernini was a populist pioneer, Warhol was a distant cousin. Bernini had the Pope and the Cardinal Borghese. Warhol had a different kind of guile for a different age. They were both icons of their times. They both blurred the lines of the private and public. They both dominated the visual culture. If imagined together, I am certain it would have been a marriage of unconditional love. For a time, I merely wanted my camera to draw a visual line between the two. If the world could see my fingerprints atop the Berninis, they would see the evidence of the caress: The enviable position of caressing magic. If people could see the giant Andy Warhol painting of Mao Zedong in an art collector’s home, they would understand the furiously envious yelp heard throughout the home: I caressed the painting as if it were mine. Mao was mine for fractional seconds. I have spent a considerable amount of time caressing the brilliance of others. Warhol invited me to his Montauk estate. I dreamed that Bernini invited me to his Via della Mercede in Rome. In both matters, I have and would have passed. I am not a mingler. I shared these fantasies with a famous art curator. He said “Not to worry about mingling, you will find your special moments in time”. His good friend was a photographer of Donatello’s sculpture. The curator outrageously said that my portraits of artists remind him of those Donatello portraits: Light caressing life. I told him that it is not about the light for me. I only wanted to be somewhere. He warned me about the necessity of patience. “You will be where you need to be in time”. There is never enough time, I thought. I told him that my light and the photographer’s Donatello light are not manufactured–they come from a special place: From the wind of another time: A time when I might pause and press my fingers on greatness. I am an Ostrich… Warhol outside Union Square in NYC near his former studio. The post Remembering Artists From Another Time: Andy Warhol appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Richard Schulman.
The Left and Breaching Capitalism’s Digital Fortress
The battle for socialist liberation in the twenty-first century cannot be fought with the weapons of the last century. In an era in which algorithms hold sway, in which the influence of artificial intelligence over media, culture, education, and labor continues to expand, and in which economic policies and strategies are formulated on the basis More The post The Left and Breaching Capitalism’s Digital Fortress appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Still from Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner (1982). Warner Bros. The battle for socialist liberation in the twenty-first century cannot be fought with the weapons of the last century. In an era in which algorithms hold sway, in which the influence of artificial intelligence over media, culture, education, and labor continues to expand, and in which economic policies and strategies are formulated on the basis of big data and algorithmic analysis, the left finds itself confronted with an existential question: how can movements that still organize themselves according to traditional logic confront a digital capitalism that has become technologically advanced to an unprecedented degree? This text is not merely a call to develop tools; it is a call to transform organizational and intellectual consciousness toward a deep understanding of the nature of the digital battle. The gap in question is not simply a gap in ‘technical mastery’; it is a gap in grasping that digital space has become a class battlefield in which capitalism dominates, programs, and subjugates, while the left suffers from a diminished presence and the absence of a clear digital vision. Closing this gap is no longer a luxury; it is a condition for the survival of the left itself, since today’s battle is waged in algorithms and networks just as much as it is waged on the ground. The struggle over technology is not a battle against science; it is a battle against the monopoly that dominant powers hold over it in order to boost their profits. Artificial intelligence should not be regarded as a threat in itself, but rather as a field of struggle whose features are shaped by the balance of social, political, and economic forces. Recent years have witnessed an unprecedented acceleration in the concentration of digital power within a limited number of giant corporations that control the infrastructure of artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and global data, granting them economic, political, and cultural influence that at times surpasses the influence of numerous states. Technology as Capitalism’s Means of Overcoming Its Crises When confronted with crises, capitalism resorts to reproducing itself through advanced scientific tools that allow it to overcome challenges without touching its exploitative core. In the 2008 crisis, technology and scientific methods were used to rescue the financial system while loading the cost of the losses onto the working classes. During the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020, capitalism managed to overcome the crisis by reinforcing automation, artificial intelligence, and remote work, which ensured the continuity of production through new mechanisms that reduced reliance on human labor and increased corporate profits, at the cost of unstable working conditions for millions. With the broad surge of artificial intelligence since 2023, capitalism has entered a new phase of restructuring the labor market. Reliance on automation and intelligent systems has expanded across numerous sectors, and growing concerns have emerged over the future of millions of jobs, even as technology companies achieve enormous profits as a result of their monopoly over the new digital and knowledge infrastructure. These policies show how capitalism benefits from science as a tool for structuring the system and ensuring its continuity. At times, it even borrows certain socialist ideas, such as state intervention, as temporary measures to guarantee stability, only to retreat from those gains once the crisis has passed and to reproduce exploitation through more advanced mechanisms. Scientific Flexibility and the Digital Revolution as a Modern Class Struggle In light of these challenges, the left must draw on scientific progress by reformulating its discourse and its tools in a scientific manner. This requires using modern tools to analyze social issues and developing a realistic discourse along with flexible organizational mechanisms capable of attracting young people who have grown up in a world dominated by technology. Investing in scientific tools does not mean identifying with capitalist values; it is a strategy for harnessing them in the service of social justice and reducing class inequality, as a step toward building a more humane socialist system. If the previous industrial revolutions transformed the equations of production through the machine and steam, then electricity, then computing, the current phase, founded on artificial intelligence, big data, and digital platforms, is reshaping production, labor, knowledge, and human communication in a manner that is more profound and far-reaching. In this era, data, algorithms, and artificial intelligence systems have become central tools for reproducing domination in relatively invisible ways, through influencing public opinion, directing individual and collective behavior, and controlling access to knowledge and information. Yet most left organizations remain digitally backward, which places them in a position of weakness. This lag reflects a failure to grasp that digital development has become an existential condition for socialist struggle. The left’s lack of modern digital and knowledge tools places it in an unequal confrontation with a capitalist system that owns the global platforms, the data, and the computing and artificial intelligence infrastructure, tools that grant it an unprecedented capacity to shape consciousness and influence social and political behavior. Reclaiming the Initiative While the left is currently losing one of the battles because it treats technology as a secondary tool, the war has not yet been decided. Victory requires translating vision into concrete programs of action grounded in the conscious use of technology. The left cannot remain in a defensive position; it must become an active party in reshaping the future of technology so as to integrate it into its liberatory project. Even so, technology is no substitute for conscious human organization. Real power lies in organized human beings capable of harnessing these means in the service of their goals. Artificial intelligence is an effective tool for mobilization, organization, and analysis, yet it will never replace the solidarity and grassroots work that remains the primary engine of change. Toward Left Digital Alternatives: Breaching the Fortress and Liberating the Tools As a left, we have historically succeeded in offering alternatives in the fields of economics, justice, and politics, yet today we face a fateful challenge: we have not yet developed a comprehensive, alternative digital vision capable of breaking capitalism’s technological grip. The most important dialectical lesson we must absorb is that technology is not a ‘neutral tool’ that falls from the sky; rather, it is a class battlefield par excellence. The fundamental problem does not lie in the essence of artificial intelligence or automation, but in the ‘relations of ownership’ that govern them, that is, in the monopoly that major corporations hold over these tools in order to deepen class conflict, surveil the masses, and standardize human consciousness in the service of accumulating profit. On this basis, it is no longer sufficient for the left to stand in the position of ‘critic’ or ‘spectator,’ since it must put forward new and bold mechanisms for using technology within democratic, participatory, and transparent frameworks. We need a ‘popular artificial intelligence’ that operates under societal oversight and is developed through digital cooperatives, aiming to distribute wealth and organize production in the service of genuine human needs rather than the whims of the market and the strengthening of domination and militarism. We also need open-source models, progressive digital platforms, and cooperative technological initiatives that are not subject to the logic of commercial monopoly, and that allow communities and the masses to participate in managing knowledge and data and in developing new technologies. A genuine confrontation requires us to ‘breach the digital fortress’ of capitalism, which means entering into the very heart of the technical process, and understanding the logic of algorithms in order to dismantle them and rebuild them with a liberatory orientation. Merely standing at the walls of this technology and crying out in condemnation of its exploitation will change nothing in reality and will leave the left isolated within outdated intellectual ghettos. We are called upon to take possession of the tools of our age, since just as Marx and Engels transformed the economic and philosophical sciences of their time from tools that justified the existing order into a theoretical and practical weapon in the hands of the working class, the left today is called upon to be an active and programming force in this arena. We must move from the position of the ‘passive user’ subject to the terms of capitalist platforms, to the position of the ‘alternative producer’ who puts forward a technology that is communal, open, and liberated. The struggle over artificial intelligence is no longer simply about the future of technology; it concerns the future of labor, democracy, culture, and social justice. Without an active left presence in this field, digital capitalism will continue to determine the direction of technological development in the service of its own interests and will continue to control the development of the human mind and the human future. The true strength of the left lies in its ability to integrate grassroots human organization with digital mastery, so that digital space becomes a supportive and effective arena, not a substitute for struggle; rather, a wing on which it can soar toward a more humane and more just socialist future. This article was produced by Globetrotter. The post The Left and Breaching Capitalism’s Digital Fortress appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Rezgar Akrawi.
Conservative Media Giant Creates a New Antisemitic Stereotype
The American right has a long history of stereotyping Jews in pernicious ways. Vice President Dan Quayle, running for re-election in 1992, denounced the Hollywood “cultural elite” for contravening traditional American values. In response, actor Billy Crystal said, “Every time they say the phrase ‘Hollywood elite’ you can hear the unspoken word ‘Jew.'”, a sentiment More The post Conservative Media Giant Creates a New Antisemitic Stereotype appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
The American right has a long history of stereotyping Jews in pernicious ways. Vice President Dan Quayle, running for re-election in 1992, denounced the Hollywood “cultural elite” for contravening traditional American values. In response, actor Billy Crystal said, “Every time they say the phrase ‘Hollywood elite’ you can hear the unspoken word ‘Jew.'”, a sentiment which, according to essayist Frank Rich, was echoed at the time by many entertainment executives. Those who resisted the Civil Rights Movement saw Jews as the evil geniuses behind this disciplined, effective movement. The American Right at times has blamed Jews for feminism, communism, socialism, the labor movement, and more. Now we have a new right-wing antisemitic stereotype–the Crybaby Jew. The Crybaby Jew is perpetually aggrieved, equating criticism of Israel with antisemitism and acting as if disagreeing with a Jew is the same as threatening a Jew. The influential conservative Free Press, founded in 2021 by Bari Weiss, editor-in-chief of CBS News, is the leading purveyor of this new antisemitic stereotype. Its purpose is to encourage American Jews to fear the left and view the Republican Party as the only safe place for Jews. To whip up sentiment against the left, the Free Press exaggerates and distorts otherwise anodyne events to make them look like anti-Jewish hate. In doing so, they speciously depict American Jews as crybabies. The Free Press’ most recent effort–Olivia Reingold’s How Vermont Became Ground Zero for the Anti-Israel Movement–is typical. The Press tells us Jews in Vermont are “buying weapons and guard dogs” because Vermont has become “hostile territory” where Jews are “fearful”. One Jewish resident says, “People in Germany one day didn’t wake up and ship people to gas chambers”, that he feels like he’s “wearing a bright yellow star attached to my jacket”, and that for him and other local Jews, Vermonters are “leaving us with exactly one option: Move to Israel.” Another says Vermonters “want to kill me”, while a third compares recent events in Vermont to the Second Intifada. What caused such fears? Four small towns in Vermont passed resolutions stating: “WE AFFIRM our commitment to freedom, justice, and equality for the Palestinian people and all people; WE OPPOSE all forms of racism, bigotry, discrimination, and oppression; and WE DECLARE ourselves an apartheid-free community and to that end, WE PLEDGE to join others in working to end all support to Israel’s apartheid regime, settler colonialism, and military occupation.” While one can debate these characterizations of Israel and its policies, they are not antisemitic, much less threatening. In fact, they are common internationally and not uncommon even within Israel itself. The Israeli human rights groups B’tselem and Yesh Din, as well as HRW, Amnesty International, and others, have all accused Israel of apartheid. For decades Zionists themselves used the word “colonization” to refer to their attempts to create a Jewish state in Palestine. And under United Nations Security Council Resolution 446, passed in 1979 and reaffirmed in 2016, the UN “determines that the policy and practices of Israel in establishing settlements in the Palestinian and other Arab territories occupied since 1967 have no legal validity.” Israeli Defense Force figures acknowledge that by January of this year, 70,000 Palestinians had died in the Israeli siege of Gaza, and that nearly 2/3rds were civilians. Other estimates are higher, often far higher. Since late 2023 the US has provided or agreed to provide at least $16.3 billion in direct military aid to Israel. These are facts, regardless of how one feels about them. How could pro-Israeli Jews, or anyone else, be surprised when these events lead to protests? Even Donald Trump, who calls Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “an amazing prime minister” with whom “we’ve had an amazing partnership”, has lost patience with Israel’s actions, recently scolding Netanyahu “You don’t need to knock down a building”–i.e., kill dozens or hundreds of civlians–”every time someone walks into it who happens to be from Hezbollah” American taxpayers aren’t allowed to debate what their money is funding. Question it and you’re an antisemite and a threat to your Jewish neighbors. When smalltown Vermont supporters of Bernie Sanders push back on decades of carte blanche for Israel, they’re akin to Nazi stormtroopers poised to attack their Jewish neighbors. The Free Press’ documentary U.S. Colleges Teaching Hate: American Miseducation, narrated by Reingold, also promotes the Crybaby Jew stereotype. One of the documentary’s primary sources, political scientist Yascha Mounk, accuses University of Michigan pro-Palestinian activists of “want[ing] to intimidate…anybody who happens to be Jewish.” To illustrate, as he makes this allegation, we’re shown a film clip of angry pro-Palestinian demonstrators flooding into a campus building. Apparently the viewer is not supposed to notice that two of the first pro-Palestinian “antisemitic” protesters into the building are holding up signs which say “University of Michigan Jews say Boycott, Divest, Sanction.” American Miseducation claims there was a wave of attacks on Jewish students at Tulane University in Louisiana. The incident featured is a scuffle that broke out between pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian demonstrators when pro-Palestinian demonstrators started to set an Israeli flag on fire, and pro-Israel protesters tried to tear away the flag. Whatever one thinks of this method of protest, the US Supreme Court ruled in Texas v. Johnson (1989) that flag burning counts as symbolic speech and political speech, and is protected speech under the First Amendment. While the Free Press highlights the incident as an antisemitic outrage, what it actually is an attempt by pro-Israel demonstrators to deprive pro-Palestinian demonstrators of a legitimate, constitutionally-protected form of protest. The only example of violence shown is when a lone pro-Palestinian protester walks up and slaps a man standing with the pro-Israel protesters. American Miseducation is absolutely correct to condemn this, but a ~5’ 6” woman slapping a ~6’ 3” young man is not exactly a modern pogrom. Re: pro-Palestinian protests, Reingold advises us “attend enough of these demonstrations and you’ll start to see the swastikas”, leaving the impression that pro-Palestinian protesters are sympathetic to the Nazis and are wielding Nazi symbols and Nazi-like rhetoric against Jewish students. Yet while some of the pro-Palestinian protesters’ swastika use is ill-advised, in each of the cases the documentary points to, the swastikas are used to draw analogies to Israeli government actions that the demonstrators oppose. In propaganda, the problem often is not what they tell you, but what they don’t tell you. In the Free Press, there’s the October 7 attack then a horrific wave of antisemitism–what Israel did to the Palestinians before October 7 that led to the attack, and Israel’s internationally-condemned manhandling of Gaza Palestinians after the attack, are ignored. None of this is to say that American Jews don’t face real dangers. In the cruel idiocy of Muslim fundamentalism, there is little distinction between military and civilian targets. The Pentagon and the White House targeted on September 11 and the Israeli Defense Force bases attacked on October 7 were at least legitimate military targets, but both attacks also criminally and indefensibly targeted civilians. Jewish leaders and press often portray non-Israeli Jews as devoted supporters of Israel who see the Jewish state as an essential, integral part of their being. Sometimes those who imagine themselves to be defenders of the Palestinians believe them, and in turn target non-Israeli Jews. Jews worldwide are now tarred with Israel’s crimes, putting all in harm’s way. The Free Press isn’t trying to offend, and negative ethnic stereotypes aren’t always created by people who seek to wound that ethnicity. Regardless, though Jews do face genuine challenges, to portray Jews as so sensitive and fragile that any criticism of Israel sends them into a state of fear and desperation is a tremendous disservice. This is the pernicious new antisemitic stereotype the Free Press promotes–the Crybaby Jew. The post Conservative Media Giant Creates a New Antisemitic Stereotype appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Glenn Sacks.
Before the Flood: Ramzy Baroud’s Masterpiece of Memory, Resistance and Unyielding Sumud
In Before the Flood, Ramzy Baroud has written not merely a family memoir but a living testament to the Palestinian soul — a work that pulses with the blood of generations, the salt of the Mediterranean, and the unbreakable will of a people who refuse to disappear. This is more than a book. It is More The post Before the Flood: Ramzy Baroud’s Masterpiece of Memory, Resistance and Unyielding Sumud appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
In Before the Flood, Ramzy Baroud has written not merely a family memoir but a living testament to the Palestinian soul — a work that pulses with the blood of generations, the salt of the Mediterranean, and the unbreakable will of a people who refuse to disappear. This is more than a book. It is an act of defiance, a literary sumud that stands as one of the most powerful indictments of Zionist settler-colonialism and Western complicity ever penned. Across three generations, Baroud traces the al-Badrasawi family from the olive groves of Beit Daras to the refugee camps of Gaza, revealing how colonial invasion, occupation, and genocide have tried — and failed — to erase a people’s history, dignity, and future. From the very first pages, Baroud’s prose cuts like a blade through the numbness of numbers and statistics that too often reduce Palestinians to abstractions. “One cannot give oneself courage if one does not have it,” he writes, quoting Alessandro Manzoni. Courage, like resistance itself, is not granted from above. It is forged in the long march of history, in the longue durée that French historians understood and that Baroud masterfully deploys here. This is no ordinary family story. It is the story of Palestine itself. The book opens with the haunting figure of Madallah Abdulnabi, Baroud’s great-aunt, whose “companion” — a jinn, a spiritual presence — arrives at the village well. When her father, Mohammed, is martyred, covered in swallowtail butterflies by the waters of Beit Daras Valley, Madallah falls silent for months. Her pain is not individual; it is collective. “The dreams continued,” Baroud writes, “confined to the intangible world, as the news grew grim.” This merging of the mystical and the brutally material sets the tone for the entire narrative: Palestinians do not merely endure history — they carry it in their bones, their dreams, and their unyielding faith. Madallah’s son, Abdallah, emerges as a towering figure of quiet resilience. Forced into exile during the Nakba, he becomes the “man of the house” at a heartbreakingly young age. The family’s arrival in Shati refugee camp is rendered with devastating intimacy: “The al-Badrasawi family eventually settled there in a small tent, initially with just a few used blankets and no mattresses.” Baroud does not romanticize poverty. He lays bare the slow death of dignity under siege — the hunger, the disease, the constant humiliation — while showing how the family’s sumud transforms suffering into something transcendent. One of the book’s most powerful threads is the story of Ehab al-Badrasawi, whose life becomes a living bridge between past and present resistance. From painting revolutionary graffiti as a boy to digging tunnels and fighting in the Al-Aqsa Flood, Ehab embodies the unbroken chain of defiance. Baroud writes of Ehab’s final stand with heartbreaking clarity: “Ehab didn’t join in. He calmly reloaded his weapon and fired again, striking another tank… ‘Allahu Akbar,’ his voice echoed in the empty neighborhood… He tossed his weapon aside. He took off his green coat and ran towards the personnel carrier. ‘God is great,’ he yelled one last time.” Ehab’s martyrdom is not glorified for its own sake. It is presented as the inevitable outcome of a life spent refusing submission. In these passages, Baroud achieves something rare: he makes the reader feel the weight of every bullet, every lost child, every demolished home. The personal becomes profoundly political without ever losing its humanity. Ilan Pappé’s foreword rightly frames the book as a necessary antidote to the “numbness” of numbers. “Too often numbers numb us,” Pappé writes. Baroud’s genius is in restoring flesh, breath, and soul to those statistics. Over 70,000 Palestinians slaughtered since October 2023. Entire bloodlines erased. Hospitals reduced to rubble. Children amputated without anesthesia. Baroud does not let us look away. He forces us to see the grandmother clutching her dead grandson, the father searching for his children’s remains, the mother giving birth under siege to a child named after a martyred aunt. The book’s treatment of longue durée is particularly brilliant. Baroud rejects the Zionist narrative that reduces Palestinian resistance to “terrorism” or Iranian proxies. Instead, he traces a continuum from ancient defiance against Alexander the Great’s Macedonians through Izz al-Din al-Qassam to the fighters of today. “Batis may seem to be a footnote in this book,” he writes, “but, in fact, if read carefully, you will discover that he is the central character.” This historical depth dismantles the lie that Palestinian resistance is a recent invention. It is as old as the land itself. What makes Before the Flood essential reading in 2026 is its unflinching confrontation with the ongoing genocide. Baroud does not soften the horror. He documents the deliberate targeting of medical staff (including his own sister, Dr. Soma Baroud), the destruction of entire neighborhoods, and the sadistic cruelty of Israeli officials who speak openly of turning Gaza into a “Riviera” while Palestinians rot in tents. The final chapters read like dispatches from hell — yet they are infused with a stubborn, almost miraculous hope. “The Palestinian people will eventually win their freedom because they have invested in a long-term trajectory of ideas, memories, and communal aspirations,” Baroud writes, “which often translate to spirituality, or rather, a deep, immovable faith that grows stronger, even during times of genocide.” This faith is not naive. It is hard-won, tempered in the fire of multiple Nakbas. Baroud shows how each generation — from Madallah’s silence to Ehab’s final charge — adds another layer to the collective refusal to surrender. The tunnels of Gaza are not mere military infrastructure; they are the physical manifestation of a people who have learned to survive beneath the surface of colonial violence, waiting for the moment to rise. The book’s power lies equally in its tenderness. Baroud writes of love, loss, and ordinary acts of survival with exquisite sensitivity. The small details — a golden bracelet, a jarrah carried on the head, the scent of baklava at weddings — humanize what the world too often reduces to conflict footage. When Madallah loses her voice after her father’s martyrdom, we feel the silence in our own throats. When Asia searches for her son’s body after an Israeli strike, we walk with her through the rubble. As someone who has spent years immersed in Palestinian solidarity work — coordinating with the Freedom Flotilla Italia’s “100 Ports, 100 Cities” campaign and helping build durable networks of support — I recognize in Baroud’s pages the same spirit that drives dockworkers in Genoa and Livorno to block arms shipments, that fuels the Gaza Generation’s mobilizations in Rome, and that sustains the global BDS movement. This is not abstract solidarity. It is the recognition that the al-Badrasawis’ struggle is our struggle. Before the Flood arrives at a critical moment. As Israel’s genocidal campaign spreads into Lebanon and Western governments continue their criminal complicity, Baroud reminds us that resistance is not futile — it is inevitable. The book does not end in despair but in a quiet, fierce affirmation of Palestinian agency. “Palestinians are not history’s passive victims,” he writes, “but, over the course of generations, its masters.” Ramzy Baroud has given us a masterpiece. Before the Flood belongs alongside the great works of Palestinian literature — from Ghassan Kanafani to Mahmoud Darwish — and deserves the widest possible readership. It is a book that will educate, enrage, and inspire in equal measure. For those who have grown numb to the daily horrors from Gaza, it restores feeling. For those already in solidarity, it deepens commitment. For the Palestinian people themselves, it is an act of profound love and historical reclamation. In the end, Baroud does what only the greatest writers can: he makes the particular universal. The al-Badrasawi family becomes every Palestinian family. Their pain, their resistance, their dreams of return become the shared inheritance of humanity’s conscience. Before the Flood is not just a memoir of one family’s survival. It is a demand that the world finally bear witness — and act. There can be no peace without justice. There can be no future while Palestine remains dispossessed. Ramzy Baroud has written the book that this moment demands. Now it is up to us to read it, to share it, and to join the long struggle it so beautifully illuminates. The post Before the Flood: Ramzy Baroud’s Masterpiece of Memory, Resistance and Unyielding Sumud appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Michael Leonardi.
Few political systems are as intricately engineered as Lebanon’s. Power is constitutionally divided among a Maronite Christian president, a Sunni prime minister, and a Shia speaker of parliament, an arrangement known as the “three presidencies.” Parliamentary seats, meanwhile, are split evenly between Christians and Muslims, and cabinet posts are parceled out by sect. This design More The post Lebanon’s Failure to Disaasociate appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
Few political systems are as intricately engineered as Lebanon’s. Power is constitutionally divided among a Maronite Christian president, a Sunni prime minister, and a Shia speaker of parliament, an arrangement known as the “three presidencies.” Parliamentary seats, meanwhile, are split evenly between Christians and Muslims, and cabinet posts are parceled out by sect. This design reflects Lebanon’s extraordinary religious and ethnic diversity, and this heterogeneity carries through to its parliament: more than a dozen blocs and a cluster of independents share the 128 seats, a majority takes 65, and no single party comes anywhere close. In fact, no party in Lebanon’s history has ever held more than roughly a quarter of the seats. Power must therefore be assembled through shifting sectarian coalitions rather than won outright, which produces serious gridlock. Given Lebanon’s geographic positioning, small size, consistent attacks from Israel, and entanglement with Hezbollah, it might ordinarily be forced into a hardline foreign policy that capitulates to Iran. Instead, Lebanon has operated under a model of “disassociation.” This commitment to stay out of regional conflicts was adopted as the Syrian civil war threatened to pull the country back into sectarian violence. Remaining aloof through disassociation is particularly difficult when foreign actors not only influence the government but undermine foreign policy alignments by adopting a warring posture against their host nation’s desires. This, unfortunately, is the case for Lebanon. Foreign powers have long meddled in Lebanon. The Saudis, for instance, have played a hand in backing Lebanon’s Sunni populace. Syria, meanwhile, occupied the country from 1976 until 2005, retaining allied factions even after the assassination of Rafik Hariri triggered the Cedar Revolution and forced its troops out. Most notably, however, the Iranian-backed Hezbollah has done the most to damage disassociation. Almost immediately after the doctrine was adopted through the Baabda Declaration of 2012, Hezbollah responded to the dictates of Tehran, rather than Beirut, by entering the war in Syria on the side of the government of Bashar al-Assad. It has, since then, been responsible for importing jihadist car bombings and incursions across the border by groups like the Nusra Front and ISIS onto Lebanese soil. Again following Tehran’s orders without Beirut’s consent, Hezbollah dragged Lebanon into a war with Israel that began with cross-border exchanges in October 2023 and escalated into full-scale war in 2024. In this regard, Hezbollah injures Lebanese foreign policy by maintaining its own armed force and its loyalty to Iran, which lets it commit the entire country to conflicts it repeatedly enters. Despite the Lebanese government’s official aversion to these decisions, the world has treated Hezbollah’s actions as Lebanon’s, both because they originate on Lebanese soil and because Hezbollah has held seats in parliament and the cabinet. So, although much of the country and its divided parliament resents Hezbollah, Lebanon cannot credibly claim a single, unified foreign policy, because one faction answering to Tehran overrides the state’s declared neutrality at will, and the country as a whole shoulders the brunt of the blame as well as the consequences, which include a rupture with the Gulf states, frequent Israeli shelling, and serious security challenges for residents of southern Lebanon. Even without Hezbollah, though, Lebanon’s confessional power-sharing system prevents a genuine national identity or a unified foreign policy from forming. Lebanon is not alone in the region in its pursuit of a strategy of disassociation. Sometimes the policy works and sometimes it does not. Oman is perhaps the best model of success. The small Gulf state follows a posture of active neutrality, a state-centric doctrine rather than ideological sympathy for any side or sect. It keeps open channels to everyone, which is why it has spent years as the back channel between Washington and Tehran. Iraq is the example of when conditions, very similar to Lebanon’s, cause disassociation to fail. Iraq is split among Shia, Sunni, and Kurds. It hosts Iranian-backed Shia militias, the Popular Mobilization Forces, that function much like Hezbollah, holding weapons outside the regular army and answering in part to Tehran. Its official policy is to stay out of regional wars and avoid becoming, quite literally, a battleground between the United States and Iran. Just like Lebanon, that declared neutrality is repeatedly undercut when the militias act on their own, firing on U.S. forces or Israel regardless of the wishes of Baghdad and the Iraqi people. It is because of this fragmentation, amplified by Tehran’s influence, that Lebanon’s policy of disassociation fails. But this might, at last, be starting to change, because of the weakening of Hezbollah, the death of the movement’s leader, Nasrallah, and the fall of Assad. Since taking office in early 2025, President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam have moved to reclaim the state’s monopoly over force and foreign policy. This shift offers the first real prospect of making disassociation viable. This first appeared on FPIF. The post Lebanon’s Failure to Disaasociate appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Nicolas Garon.
In 1978 in Guyana some 918 people—one-third of them children—were poisoned or shot dead in a religious sect community, Jonestown. Until 9.11.2001 it was the largest mass murder of civilians in US history. Of course, both those terrible events would pale alongside the civilian death count of any nuclear war, which could even end human More The post Trumptown—a Planetary Jonestown appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
In 1978 in Guyana some 918 people—one-third of them children—were poisoned or shot dead in a religious sect community, Jonestown. Until 9.11.2001 it was the largest mass murder of civilians in US history. Of course, both those terrible events would pale alongside the civilian death count of any nuclear war, which could even end human life on Earth if waged full scale. Lucky thing we have treaties making that impossible, right? Obviously not. Every nuclear treaty helped inch us away from that apocalyptic potential, but the mere existence of nuclear bombs threatens mass death. And every treaty that ends is a direct step toward waging nuclear war. Treaty history and the Trump Effect The first actual nuclear treaty was the Partial Test Ban Treaty of 1963, between the Soviet Union (SU) and the US. It ended open-air bomb testing. There were many more testing treaties, some signed and ratified, some not. Trump posted on his social media that he was ordering the War Department to resume nuclear testing “immediately.” The so-called treaties that ensued were generally called the Strategic Arms Limitations Talks—SALT, begun in 1969 and featured two bilateral treaties by 1972. Nuclear critics labeled them “production schedules” because they only capped numbers of missiles and warheads of the US and SU, never reducing them. Finally, after eight years of citizen uprisings in Europe and North America beginning in 1979 (Nuclear Freeze, Plowshares, Euromissile crisis) Reagan and Gorbachev signed the first actual nuclear disarmament treaty in December 1987, the bilateral agreement to end some Intermediate Nuclear Forces weaponry—generally regarded as the most destabilizing class of nukes. It was a landmark treaty, it worked perfectly, and yet Trump cancelled it in his first term in 2018, a huge blow to the nuclear disarmament movement. Continuing in that vein, the bilateral Strategic Arms Limitations Treaties (START I and START II) reduced numbers of warheads and delivery vehicles (missiles, bombers) and so of course Trump simply let that expire this year. Another landmark treaty that Trump ended was the Open SkiesTreaty, again with US and Russia. Of course the Iran treaty is top of mind generally at this time, since Trump launched war on Iran with one stated goal to achieve a guarantee that Iran would never get a nuclear weapon. The saddest part of all this is that the nuclear deal achieved in 2015 solely with negotiation and sanction under Obama is significantly better than what Trump gets now, at a cost of $113 billion, 16 deadAmerican troops, 400+ wounded, and at least 3468 Iranians, often civilians, including schoolgirls. Indeed, there were noschoolgirls killed by the Obama deal, and the Strait of Hormuz was always open—until Trump’s decidedly maladaptive attacks. The sum total of Trump’s erosion of nuclear safeguards belie his rhetoric about nuclear safety; he has done more to make Americans and the world less safe from nuclear annihilation than any US leader ever. The post Trumptown—a Planetary Jonestown appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Tom H. Hastings.
The Battle of the Little Bighorn came as a complete shock to white America. Today we must worry about an even greater shock with an essentially infinite radioactive death toll. The stunning defeat of General George Armstrong Custer and the U.S. 7th Cavalry came on the Great Plains at the hands of the Lakota warrior-chiefs More The post From Custer to Radioactive Death appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
The Battle of the Little Bighorn came as a complete shock to white America. Today we must worry about an even greater shock with an essentially infinite radioactive death toll. The stunning defeat of General George Armstrong Custer and the U.S. 7th Cavalry came on the Great Plains at the hands of the Lakota warrior-chiefs Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse on June 25, 1876, 150 years ago this week. The U.S. was in the throes of celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Its centerpiece was a huge global exposition in Philadelphia, which bragged to the world about America’s technological innovations. The military defeat came as an astonishing, very public gut punch to American arrogance and pride. It was epitomized by Custer, the celebrated son of Monroe, Michigan, where his statue still stands in the town square, a short distance from the Fermi Atomic Power Plant. Fermi Unit One nearly blew up on October 5, 1966. Unit Two has recently been threatened by fire, an “incident” potentially capable of irradiating much of the Great Lakes and continental U.S. Today the nuclear power industry is pushing, Custer-like, for still more reactors that could do inconceivable harm to all of us. To say Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse were endowed with unique genius is to vastly understate their legacy. They were both truly great political leaders and military strategists. (A superb two-part documentary just out on Netflix today helps tell their story.) In its pride and power, white America never believed a nation of “mere Indigenous” could defeat the white industrial army that had just conquered the South….and most of the continent. But America’s atomic arrogance was pre-cursed in the mind-set of Custer, whose infamous failure on the battlefield led to his immediate death, along with some 250 soldiers under his command. Today, the U.S. nuclear power industry is on the brink of repeating such history, born of arrogance, on an apocalyptic scale. Now run by Donald Trump, America’s atomic power industry considers itself to be invincible. Its operators are exempted by federal law from accident liability. All homeowner policies in this country contain language explaining that the insurance company is not liable for damage done by radioactive fallout from a commercial reactor. Neither is the owner of the reactor. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has for decades rubber stamped nearly everything the reactor industry has demanded. It did provide a modicum of expertise with a qualified staff that would sometimes raise critical safety issues. In one case, for example, NRC site inspector Dr. Michael Peck warned that California’s Diablo Canyon reactors might not withstand the earthquake we all expect to shatter the plant someday soon. The NRC’s official response was to caustically ignore Peck’s findings. Predictably, Dr. Peck is no longer with the commission. Last year Elon Musk’s DOGE purged the NRC of a hundred or more experts like Peck. Trump became the first U.S. president to fire an NRC Chair. Meanwhile, he made direct financial investments in the industry. He explicitly ordered the commission to “rubber stamp” all industry demands. The NRC has complied by gutting radiation health standards, deeply endangering the millions of innocent downwinders who live near the reactors. The Trump regime is now pouring billions of public dollars into building still more untested, unproven, unsafe, profoundly uneconomic and uncompetitive reactors, from which the Trump Family will personally profit. Thus its legendary grift has gone officially radioactive. Among other things, the industry is pushing to re-open a deeply defective shut reactor at Palisades, Michigan, a plant whose own engineers warn of impending disaster. At Fermi Two, around the corner from the statue of Custer, fire has threatened an accident that could forever contaminate the Great Lakes. The Trump regime—in partnership with “green” Governor Gavin Newsom—continues to operate the hideously costly, decayed and devastatingly dangerous reactors at Diablo Canyon. There is much, much more, all of it both infuriating and terrifying. After Little Bighorn, both Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse were heartlessly murdered by white captors. Their death was accompanied by the genocidal slaughter of some 60 million buffalo, ordered by General William Tecumseh Sherman as part of his “scorched earth” strategy aimed at ridding the continent of its Indigenous population. This week, on the 150th anniversary of Little Bighorn, we all face a form of radioactive payback at the hands of ever more arrogant incompetence. But this time, all these years later, we are all in the downwinder role of the Indigenous….and the fallout promises to be truly apocalyptic in scope. The post From Custer to Radioactive Death appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Karl Grossman - Harvey Wasserman.
There is a narrative running through the western zeitgeist and slowly trickling out to its various victims in the Third World that ‘Queer’ or at least ‘LGBTQ’ is somehow synonymous with colonialism and imperialism; that queerness in and of itself is an inherently western ‘ideology’ being enforced upon the indigenous people of the Near East More The post Queers are Everywhere You Bomb appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
There is a narrative running through the western zeitgeist and slowly trickling out to its various victims in the Third World that ‘Queer’ or at least ‘LGBTQ’ is somehow synonymous with colonialism and imperialism; that queerness in and of itself is an inherently western ‘ideology’ being enforced upon the indigenous people of the Near East and the Global South by the barrel of a gun. This notion sickens me to the core because I am, perhaps above all else, a Queer anti-imperialist… But I get it. It is a sad and disturbing fact that the white supremacist cis hetero chauvinists behind the mirage factory that is Atlantic neoliberalism have adopted the notion of ‘LGBTQ rights’ as one of their many excuses for flattening the planet and turning it into a colossal beige fulfillment center at the service of the global 1%. But this must be seen for what it truly is; fickle, empty and totally deceptive propaganda. Over the decades, as the metropolitan West has grown increasingly diverse as a direct result of its endless international adventurism, the same predominantly white Anglo-Saxon Protestant cisgender men who have always run this imperial cartel have had to get increasingly creative to sell their mission of vanilla hegemony to the increasingly Neapolitan masses within their own palace gates. ‘White power for straight white men’ just doesn’t quite have the audience it once had even if it still does very much represent the intentions and demographics of its masters. So, we have been sold secular humanism, liberal progressivism and humanitarian interventionism among other sexy new brand names for western cultural domination. Cis women have been afforded a very well-publicized selection of spaces amidst the power elite so long as they kill like men and cover for their rapist husbands. And the Queer community has been tokenized and sanitized beneath the logo of LGBT. Thus now, whenever some fag-bashing Evangelical Zionist goes on a murder spree he can claim to the more sensitive westerners in the audience that he is merely cleansing the Arab savage beasts with fire in the name of rainbow flags and girl power. Never mind any of the inconvenient facts: That Queer people are much more likely to be found in western prisons, asylums, foster care harems and the various other bureaucratic dungeons than we are in goddamn parades, or that we are far more likely to become victims of the rape culture cultivated by the Epstein Class than our more conventional peers, or that said predator class still remains overwhelmingly cis-het male-WASP in its own cultural make-up… ‘Some Muslims kill Queers and flog their wives, so dropping bombs on their children is a celebration of diversity!’ This is not Queer culture. This is a bunch of bloodthirsty breeders hiding behind a sanitized mockery of Queer culture. Queer culture; truly Queer culture, is not a pink monolith, in fact, it is the polar opposite by nature. Queer culture is above all else indigenous and individualist in nature. Indigenous in that it is a call for a return to the local tribal diversity of interpretations regarding sexuality and gender identity once commonplace in pagan society. Individualist in that we reject the ability of any material body, be they church or state, to define said sexuality and gender identity. All of which is quite violently anathema not only to imperialism but liberal progressivism as well. Queer culture was born out of the maelstrom of Romanized Christianity. Colonialism of the modern western variety began with the forced Christianization of Pagan Europe and quickly advanced to the forced Christianization of Africa and the New World. Before this Queer culture was Norse culture, Yoruba culture, Apache culture… A million tribes with a billion gods and just as many interpretations of gender and sexuality… All violently snuffed out by the cultural universalism of organized Christianity which would go on to inform the cultural universalism of liberal progressivism after the Enlightenment declared the state and its various institutions to be the new gods. Modern Queer culture was a tapestry of heathen shards gathered by wounded hands in the shadows until the anti-colonialist movements of the 1950s and 60s created a platform for us to define ourselves outside of the closet. There would be no Queer liberation without Black Power and Chicano pride and there would be no Black Power or Chicano pride without the Battle of Algiers and the reckoning at Dien Bien Phu. Stonewall was an uprising against police brutality lead by Black and brown gender outlaws like Marsha P. Johnson, Storme DeLarverie and Sylvia Rivera, all of whom had track records with the American Third Worldist Movement and it showed through the movements that rose from the flames of the Stonewall Inn. The various Gay Liberation Fronts founded across the West in the late-sixties and early-seventies chose that name in reference to the Algerian National Liberation Front and the Vietnamese National Liberation Front. The Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries founded by Rivera and Johnson included references to the Black Panthers, Pagan Third Genders and Third World liberation in their founding documents. And a chapter of the GLF participated in the Black Panthers’ 1970 Revolutionary Peoples Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia right alongside the Young Lords and the American Indian Movement with Huey P. Newton’s vocal support and approval. The current mainstream LGBT movement is a domesticated farce. Queerness is an expression of anti-imperialism writ intimate and much of the bigotry towards this expression in the Third World is actually a relic of imperialism. Indigenous gender identities and sexualities throughout the Global South were violently altered and criminalized under colonial rule and even after this rule, many otherwise liberated nations failed to liberate themselves from legal constructs introduced by the supposedly tolerant West. But even this is not the case universally. The Islamic Republic of Iran, the latest target of American imperial bombardment may allow the death penalty for homosexuality, but they are also the only Islamic nation on earth to recognize gender confirmation surgery, not just as a right but as a responsibility of a truly Islamic society, with none other than the Ayatollah Khomeini issuing fatwas regarding the right to gender confirmation as early as 1964 and Shia Islamic jurists deciding that since it is not possible to change the soul but it is possible to change the body then not only should such surgical interventions be permitted but they should be treated as a kind of rebirth complete with corresponding ID and certification. There are still many horrible things about the treatment of trans people in Iran but the fact that their laws on the issue are more humane than most Bible Belt states proves the total absurdity of the notion of imperial queerness. Persia has recognized the existence of Third Genders for over 3000 years and has totally indigenous laws that represent this history, and American bombs have murdered Iranian transwomen right alongside their cisgender sisters. Those bombs have also killed feminists struggling against the Mullahs and children who will never come out to their parents. I mourn those people because they are my people and they were killed by bombs from a government that pays for them with the money they take from my purse with their taxes. This is also the same reason that I will not march in any parade sponsored by Raytheon or Lockheed Martin. Because I am a Queer person, and that is why I am an anti-imperialist. The post Queers are Everywhere You Bomb appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Nicky Reid.
There is a narrative running through the Western zeitgeist and slowly trickling out to its various victims in the Third World that ‘Queer’ or at least ‘LGBTQ’ is somehow synonymous with colonialism and imperialism; that queerness in and of itself is an inherently Western ‘ideology’ being enforced upon the indigenous people of the Near East and the Global South by the barrel of a gun. This notion sickens me to the core because I am, perhaps above all else, a Queer anti-imperialist… But I get it. It is a sad and disturbing fact that the white supremacist cis hetero chauvinists behind the mirage factory that is Atlantic neoliberalism have adopted the notion of ‘LGBTQ rights’ as one of their many excuses for flattening the planet and turning it into a colossal beige fulfillment center at the service of the global 1%. But this must be seen for what it truly is; fickle, empty and totally deceptive propaganda. Over the decades, as the metropolitan West has grown increasingly diverse as a direct result of its endless international adventurism, the same predominantly white Anglo-Saxon Protestant cisgender men who have always run this imperial cartel have had to get increasingly creative to sell their mission of vanilla hegemony to the increasingly Neapolitan masses within their own palace gates. ‘White power for straight white men’ just doesn’t quite have the audience it once had even if it still does very much represent the intentions and demographics of its masters. So, we have been sold secular humanism, liberal progressivism and humanitarian interventionism among other sexy new brand names for western cultural domination. Cis women have been afforded a very well-publicized selection of spaces amidst the power elite so long as they kill like men and cover for their rapist husbands. And the Queer community has been tokenized and sanitized beneath the logo of LGBT. Thus, now, whenever some fag-bashing Evangelical Zionist goes on a murder spree, he can claim to the more sensitive westerners in the audience that he is merely cleansing the Arab savage beasts with fire in the name of rainbow flags and girl power. Never mind any of the inconvenient facts: That Queer people are much more likely to be found in western prisons, asylums, foster care harems and the various other bureaucratic dungeons than we are in goddamn parades, or that we are far more likely to become victims of the rape culture cultivated by the Epstein Class than our more conventional peers, or that said predator class still remains overwhelmingly cis-het male-WASP in its own cultural make-up… ‘Some Muslims kill Queers and flog their wives, so dropping bombs on their children is a celebration of diversity!’ This is not Queer culture. This is a bunch of bloodthirsty breeders hiding behind a sanitized mockery of Queer culture. Queer culture, truly Queer culture, is not a pink monolith; in fact, it is the polar opposite by nature. Queer culture is, above all else, indigenous and individualist in nature. Indigenous in that it is a call for a return to the local tribal diversity of interpretations regarding sexuality and gender identity, once commonplace in pagan society. Individualists in that we reject the ability of any material body, be they church or the state, to define said sexuality and gender identity. All of which is quite violently anathema not only to imperialism but liberal progressivism as well. Queer culture was born out of the maelstrom of Romanized Christianity. Colonialism of the modern Western variety began with the forced Christianization of Pagan Europe and quickly advanced to the forced Christianization of Africa and the New World. Before this Queer culture was Norse culture, Yoruba culture, Apache culture… A million tribes with a billion gods and just as many interpretations of gender and sexuality… All were violently snuffed out by the cultural universalism of organized Christianity, which would go on to inform the cultural universalism of liberal progressivism after the Enlightenment declared the state and its various institutions to be the new gods. Modern Queer culture was a tapestry of heathen shards gathered by wounded hands in the shadows until the anti-colonialist movements of the 1950s and 60s created a platform for us to define ourselves outside of the closet. There would be no Queer liberation without Black Power and Chicano pride and there would be no Black Power or Chicano pride without the Battle of Algiers and the reckoning at Dien Bien Phu. Stonewall was an uprising against police brutality led by Black and brown gender outlaws like Marsha P. Johnson, Storme DeLarverie, and Sylvia Rivera, all of whom had track records with the American Third Worldist Movement, and it showed through the movements that rose from the flames of the Stonewall Inn. The various Gay Liberation Fronts founded across the West in the late sixties and early seventies chose that name in reference to the Algerian National Liberation Front and the Vietnamese National Liberation Front. The Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries, founded by Rivera and Johnson, included references to the Black Panthers, Pagan Third Genders, and Third World liberation in their founding documents. A chapter of the GLF participated in the Black Panthers’ 1970 Revolutionary Peoples Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, right alongside the Young Lords and the American Indian Movement, with Huey P. Newton’s vocal support and approval. The current mainstream LGBT movement is a domesticated farce. Queerness is an expression of anti-imperialism writ intimate and much of the bigotry towards this expression in the Third World is actually a relic of imperialism. Indigenous gender identities and sexualities throughout the Global South were violently altered and criminalized under colonial rule and even after this rule, many otherwise liberated nations failed to liberate themselves from legal constructs introduced by the supposedly tolerant West. But even this is not the case universally. The Islamic Republic of Iran, the latest target of American imperial bombardment may allow the death penalty for homosexuality, but they are also the only Islamic nation on earth to recognize gender confirmation surgery, not just as a right but as a responsibility of a truly Islamic society, with none other than the Ayatollah Khomeini issuing fatwas regarding the right to gender confirmation as early as 1964 and Shia Islamic jurists deciding that since it is not possible to change the soul but it is possible to change the body then not only should such surgical interventions be permitted but they should be treated as a kind of rebirth complete with corresponding ID and certification. There are still many horrible things about the treatment of trans people in Iran, but the fact that their laws on the issue are more humane than those of most Bible Belt states proves the total absurdity of the notion of imperial queerness. Persia has recognized the existence of Third Genders for over 3000 years and has totally indigenous laws that represent this history, and American bombs have murdered Iranian transwomen right alongside their cisgender sisters. Those bombs have also killed feminists struggling against the Mullahs and children who will never come out to their parents. I mourn those people because they are my people, and they were killed by bombs from a government that pays for them with the money they take from my purse with their taxes. This is also the same reason that I will not march in any parade sponsored by Raytheon or Lockheed Martin. Because I am a Queer person, and that is why I am an anti-imperialist. The post Queers Are Everywhere You Bomb appeared first on CounterPunch.org. This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Nicky Reid.
From Zionist Crackdowns to Trump, Academic Freedom Is Dead in the US w/ Dr. Steven Thrasher
Palestinians in Gaza Are Waiting for Godot
The people of Gaza are waiting for reconstruction, with little hope that it will actually come.
The people of Gaza are waiting for reconstruction, with little hope that it will actually come. This content originally appeared on The Progressive — A voice for peace, social justice, and the common good and was authored by Nourdine Shnino.
‘We’re Still Here, and We Are Part of This History’
An interview with Joan Ilacqua of Queer History Boston.
An interview with Joan Ilacqua of Queer History Boston. This content originally appeared on The Progressive — A voice for peace, social justice, and the common good and was authored by Michaela Brant.
Hasan Piker reacts to DSA victories in New York
A look into the first bar in Chicago, Illinois, to exclusively show women’s sports.
A look into the first bar in Chicago, Illinois, to exclusively show women’s sports. This content originally appeared on The Progressive — A voice for peace, social justice, and the common good and was authored by Zoë Takaki.
Fiji will remain unstable while Indigenous people are economically sidelined, says ex-coup convict
By Margot Staunton of RNZ Pacific A former coup convict in Fiji claims the country will remain unstable while the Indigenous iTaukei are economically marginalised. Josefa ‘Jo’ Nata, who spent 24 years in jail for treason, told the Fiji government’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission that “the lot of iTaukei has not improved a single bit
By Margot Staunton of RNZ Pacific A former coup convict in Fiji claims the country will remain unstable while the Indigenous iTaukei are economically marginalised. Josefa ‘Jo’ Nata, who spent 24 years in jail for treason, told the Fiji government’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission that “the lot of iTaukei has not improved a single bit [as a result of the coups], if anything their situation has regressed”. “Indigenous [iTaukei] should never again be hoodwinked into supporting any coup supposedly carried out in their name, to raise their standard of living or correct supposed past injustices,” the 68-year-old said. READ MORE: Fiji’s Jo Nata reflects on the 2000 coup: ‘We let the racism genie out of the bottle’ Other Jo Nata reports Fiji has been rocked by four coups since gaining independence in 1970. The first two, in May and September 1987, were led by then-military Lieutenant-Colonel Sitiveni Rabuka, who is the current prime minister. In 1999, Mahendra Chaudhry was sworn in as the country’s first Indo-Fijian prime minister. Nata, a former journalist, was a political adviser to the Fijian Association Party, a coalition partner in the Labour-led government. Chaudhry’s election stoked racial tension in Fiji and a year later, the Republic of Fiji Military Forces (RFMF) rebel Counter-Revolutionary Warfare (CRW) unit soldiers, led by businessman George Speight, staged an armed takeover. Chaudhry and his government were held hostage for 56 days. Coup public face Nata became the public face of the coup on 14 May 2000, and although he told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in May that he was not involved in planning it, he admits he played a key role as a negotiator. “Without realising it, I was getting myself involved. So much so that I was the one administering the oath of office at [swearing-in] before usurper-nominated President Ratu Jope Seniloli,” he told the Commission. “My face was plastered on TV on every home around Fiji and around the world. The overseas parachute press had started to drop in. If I think back now, the whole charade was a burlesque of Pygmalion proportion.” Nata told the commission that despite the negative press over the role of the CRW unit in the coup, its soldiers prevented even worse atrocities from occurring to the hostages — including the “last cannibal feast” and “planned assassinations of key people”. He also claimed that the unit prevented Parliament House in the capital, Suva, from being torched to the ground once it was empty. According to Nata, the CRW unit was abandoned by those who had allegedly orchestrated events from behind the scenes. “The unit was left in the lurch carrying the baby. The masters did not show up,” he said. <img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-101441" src="https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Nata-on-2000-coup-IB-680wide.png" alt="Jo Nata's journey from the dark" width="680" height="380" srcset="https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Nata-on-2000-coup-IB-680wide.png 680w, https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Nata-on-2000-coup-IB-680wide-300x168.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px" /> Jo Nata’s journey from the dark, Islands Business, April 2024. Image: IB/USP Journalism Branded as ‘mastermind’ Nata said that while the court later branded him as one of the masterminds of the coup, that honour belonged elsewhere. Since his release from jail on 20 December 2023, he has campaigned against coups. “No coup, in my view, can ever be justified … for those misadventures we know as coups were based on lies, visions of grandeur and opportunism,” Nata told the commission. “I have been labelled an opportunist. I do not push back. I accept, worse, I was a hypocrite.” “I was a traitor, as the court rightly described me. I betrayed my chief, the late Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, the government, the people I worked with and the profession that gave me wings,” he said. “The reality of unlawful takeovers is that one group of people will suffer more than others. In 1987 and 2000, it was the Indians that suffered. 2006 gave Fijians our fair dessert,” he said. Despite living together for more than 150 years, indigenous Fijians and Fijians of Indian heritage continued to live largely separate lives, Nata claimed. Exceptional situations Although he admitted that there were examples of strong inter-ethnic relations in certain towns and districts, such as the old capital Levuka, Savusavu, Labasa and Ba, he said these were exceptional situations. Nata told the commission that politics was not the answer, and that Fiji needed intentional and deliberate collaboration at the community level to bridge the divide. “There should be a willingness to come together. Our ethnic and collective identity and openness are not necessarily opposing poles. It could be the vehicle to bring us together,” he said. Nata also warned against becoming trapped in the past, saying ignoring difficult truths would not pave the way for true reconciliation. He urged all Fijians to confront unresolved issues together to build a brighter future. “We should revisit, untangle, rebuild and move forward together,” he told the commission. This story was first published on This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.
Today is Orwell's birthday. We're celebrating with the recording of the Mrs. Orwell live-taping – available in full this Sunday, only on Patreon and Substack for our supporters who make Gaslit Nation possible. For now, here's our special primary election recap. The message from New York's elections is clear: voters want fighters. Brad Lander built trust by showing up at immigration court to protect vulnerable people. Progressive challengers are defeating establishment politicians tied to AIPAC. Across the country, voters are demanding consequences for lawlessness and attacks on democracy–the unholy trinity of strongmen: Trump and his two buddies Netanyahu and Putin. But our solidarity must be morally consistent. Progressives cannot just rightfully condemn Netanyahu's violations of international law while repeating Kremlin propaganda that blames the United States or NATO for Russia's genocidal invasion of Ukraine. Putin and Netanyahu belong to the same transnational crime syndicate, as Gaslit Nation is here to remind you. Ukraine is not the reason Americans lack universal healthcare and a functioning social safety net. We can tax the rich, confront corporate greed, invest in our communities, and help Ukraine defeat Russian imperialism. The struggle against authoritarianism is global. Our solidarity must be, too. Join our community of listeners and get bonus shows, ad free listening, group chats with other listeners, ways to shape the show, invites to exclusive events like our Monday political salons at 4pm ET over Zoom, and more! Discounted annual memberships are available. Become a Democracy Defender at Patreon.com/Gaslit or GaslitNation.Substack.com Show Notes: NATO - The largest military alliance in the world | DW Documentary https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cTFk6MNUHQ Brad Lander New York Primary Night Victory Remarks https://www.c-span.org/program/campaign-2026/brad-lander-new-york-primary-night-victory-remarks/681601 Federal agents track down Syracuse woman, demand she remove Instagram post about ICE https://www.syracuse.com/news/2026/06/federal-agents-track-down-syracuse-woman-demand-she-remove-instagram-post-about-ice.html Darializa Avila Chevalier: pro-Palestinian doctoral student steps into politics with 'faith in the future' https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jun/24/darializa-avila-chevalier-win-new-york Where AI, pro-Israel and other big-money groups spent millions, won and lost in Tuesday's primaries https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2026-election/ai-israel-groups-big-money-spent-millions-won-lost-tuesdays-primaries-rcna351599 The Bibi Files documentary on Gaslit Nation: https://www.gaslitnationpod.com/episodes/hitler-youth/ Mamdani-backed congressional candidate deleted posts calling to seize private property, abolish police, borders, prisons https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/01/politics/kfile-ny-13-darializa-avila-chevalier-deleted-tweets-defund-abolish-police-prisons-deportations Brad Lander found not guilty in trial over immigration court arrest https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/brad-lander-guilty-immigration-court-arrest/ What the Prairieland Prosecutions Reveal About Trump's America https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/2026/06/trump-justice-antifa-texas-january-6/687707/?gift=5sEjti6FimVYKnwaLcONjEJ8wOgaBa9e-kSI9ttDNhI&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share Glen Greenwald cheers on lack of support for Ukraine among progressives: https://x.com/KareemRifai/status/2069977490765021387
Today is Orwell's birthday. We're celebrating with the recording of the Mrs. Orwell live-taping – available in full this Sunday, only on Patreon and Substack for our supporters who make Gaslit Nation possible. For now, here's our special primary election recap. The message from New York's elections is clear: voters want fighters. Brad Lander built trust by showing up at immigration court to protect vulnerable people. Progressive challengers are defeating establishment politicians tied to AIPAC. Across the country, voters are demanding consequences for lawlessness and attacks on democracy–the unholy trinity of strongmen: Trump and his two buddies Netanyahu and Putin. But our solidarity must be morally consistent. Progressives cannot just rightfully condemn Netanyahu's violations of international law while repeating Kremlin propaganda that blames the United States or NATO for Russia's genocidal invasion of Ukraine. Putin and Netanyahu belong to the same transnational crime syndicate, as Gaslit Nation is here to remind you. Ukraine is not the reason Americans lack universal healthcare and a functioning social safety net. We can tax the rich, confront corporate greed, invest in our communities, and help Ukraine defeat Russian imperialism. The struggle against authoritarianism is global. Our solidarity must be, too. Join our community of listeners and get bonus shows, ad free listening, group chats with other listeners, ways to shape the show, invites to exclusive events like our Monday political salons at 4pm ET over Zoom, and more! Discounted annual memberships are available. Become a Democracy Defender at Patreon.com/Gaslit or GaslitNation.Substack.com Show Notes: NATO - The largest military alliance in the world | DW Documentary https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cTFk6MNUHQ Brad Lander New York Primary Night Victory Remarks https://www.c-span.org/program/campaign-2026/brad-lander-new-york-primary-night-victory-remarks/681601 Federal agents track down Syracuse woman, demand she remove Instagram post about ICE https://www.syracuse.com/news/2026/06/federal-agents-track-down-syracuse-woman-demand-she-remove-instagram-post-about-ice.html Darializa Avila Chevalier: pro-Palestinian doctoral student steps into politics with 'faith in the future' https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jun/24/darializa-avila-chevalier-win-new-york Where AI, pro-Israel and other big-money groups spent millions, won and lost in Tuesday's primaries https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2026-election/ai-israel-groups-big-money-spent-millions-won-lost-tuesdays-primaries-rcna351599 The Bibi Files documentary on Gaslit Nation: https://www.gaslitnationpod.com/episodes/hitler-youth/ Mamdani-backed congressional candidate deleted posts calling to seize private property, abolish police, borders, prisons https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/01/politics/kfile-ny-13-darializa-avila-chevalier-deleted-tweets-defund-abolish-police-prisons-deportations Brad Lander found not guilty in trial over immigration court arrest https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/brad-lander-guilty-immigration-court-arrest/ What the Prairieland Prosecutions Reveal About Trump's America https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/2026/06/trump-justice-antifa-texas-january-6/687707/?gift=5sEjti6FimVYKnwaLcONjEJ8wOgaBa9e-kSI9ttDNhI&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share Glen Greenwald cheers on lack of support for Ukraine among progressives: https://x.com/KareemRifai/status/2069977490765021387 This content originally appeared on Gaslit Nation and was authored by Andrea Chalupa.
BITORI + ZERUI DEPINA (Praia, Cabo Verde)
Celebrating 250 Years of No Religious Kings
Christian nationalism is incompatible with the American experiment. Our founders knew that.
Christian nationalism is incompatible with the American experiment. Our founders knew that. This content originally appeared on The Progressive — A voice for peace, social justice, and the common good and was authored by Rachel Laser.
Ken Burns: How Will History Remember Us?